Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After the treacherous journey through Tartarus with Will. Nico now has to deal with his children, now known as The Cocopuffs. At first, they were just a reminder of his failures and trauma, but now they're more of an accomplishment of his growth. Back in Cabin 13, there was Will. Once again, cleaning the mess that the Cocopuffs made, and with no Nico helping him to control them. The more chaos. 

By the time that Nico got back to the cabin, the bed was in shambles, the closet door was broken, and multiple items were on the floor. Standing in shock, Nico called the Cocopuffs back. 

“I thought you were going to take care of them today” Nico said, while attending to the hyperactive balls of trauma.

“I tried. I went to the bathroom for 2 minutes, and when I came back, the bed was practically upside down, and the frame was split in three. The chaos just escalated from there…”

With a plain face, Nico gathered all of the Cocopuffs and sat them on the small couch. Then, they ordered them to behave themselves —despite knowing that they probably were going to start bickering with each other soon.  With Nico’s sudden appearance at the couple’s cabin, even though he was supposed to be back until dinner, Will already suspected something happened early in the day. 

“How come you came back early”

“Well you know how I had to meet up with my dad”

“Yeah—” “So he asked me if I could go and complete a quest for him —which is not like him but—”

“Every god does it at some point” said Will. “Exactly. Anyways, he asked for us to go to this place called Auradon. Apparently, his powers have been blocked off in that world—yes, world—and we're tasked in helping him. We will get knowledge of the system, but only the basic stuff.”

Processing the new information given to him by his boyfriend, Will sat down with the Cocopuffs. With a long sigh, he asked, “Did he say how we are going to get there, or how long?” “Well he said that he would have someone to send us there, but he didn't mention how long –or how time passes compared to our world”. Will hummed in acknowledgment. “Okay, when are we leaving?” “Tomorrow morning.” 

Standing back up. Will started walking closer to Nico and grabbed his hands. Tilting his head down to enable eye contact with the shorter male. “Okay, I’ll start packing clothes and the basic medical necessities”. Nico nodded at his suggestion and replied “I should probably also start packing then, but only one bag each. We don't want unnecessary attention if we're going undercover. ""Did your dad ever say what exactly we are going to do?” 

A long silence started to grow between the couple as Nico realized that he didn't know the important details since Hades sent him back to camp after lunch at the palace. “He didn't say anything besides that, did he?…” Nico shook his head, signaling that he had no more information about the journey they were supposed to make in less than 24 hours.

“I guess we just have to wait until tomorrow morning”

“Yup”

After sleeping in one of the spare rooms that Cabin 13 had, both Nico and Will started getting ready. Although not without a fight. Will always managed to wake up when the sun was rising, just like his siblings in the Apollo Cabin—Cabin 7—even if he only slept 2 hours. Nico, on the other hand, could never wake up before 7 in the morning, despite having to wake up at that time when he was in Camp Jupiter. Because of this change in routine, now Will was in charge of waking him up for breakfast most mornings, and this morning was not that different. Nico grunted at the feeling of someone shaking him, grabbing the blanket and rolling over he suddenly felt the blanket being ripped off of him. Opening his eyes out of annoyance, ready to glare, and probably kill, whoever decided on walking him up, he sees a frustrated and obviously annoyed blonde towering over him. 

“Are you ready to get up now Sunshine” said Will with frustration in his voice.

“ Uhh... yeah..” Nico replied with caution, as he knew that Will was at breakpoint. 

“Good.”

After making sure that all the necessary stuff was in two bags, Nico and Will went out to tell Chiron what was happening, to make sure that no one thought they both went missing. Therefore, promising the safety and good behavior of each other to Chiron. After preparing themselves for their journey to the underworld —which became a common occurrence after Persephone insisted on having family meetings that mostly consisted of playing games, having dinner, or watching a movie, that somehow always turned out in Nico and Will sleeping over—they shadow traveled. 

Shadow traveling to the Underworld was always the hard part even after Nico received Hades and Persephone's blessing. It wasn't as draining as before, but it still took a bit more energy than most of his abilities. On the plus side, he wasn't in danger of passing out –unless he really overused his powers, which was now difficult to do– or fading into the shadows. 

When they arrived at the grand hall of the palace, there was Hades sitting on the throne with Persephone already walking up to them.  "It's good to see you, Nico, Will!" stated Persephone. "Hello/It's nice to see you too, Lady Persephone!" Said both fifth teen year-olds. "Oh Will, I told you that you're able to call me just Persephone."Right, sorry," replied Will apologetically.

“Are you boys ready?” Asked Hades as he was starting to walk over to both of them. “Yeah we are,” responded Nico, “what exactly are we supposed to do besides helping you get your powers back”

"My first priority is you boys having a normal life in this world, I'm not sure if that will be the case as the Fates can be...well, you know. My powers aren't as important to me if it means that both of you can be away from monsters. " "Really?!" "Yes, it will be like a small vacation. I'll have Hermes send you both to the Auradon, and Apollo will give his blessing to you, Will." 

"I'll see you later, Nico, Will."Okay." And with that, both Nico and Will were consumed with light and the feeling of feathers, falling into a deep sleep.

Chapter Text

"I'll see you later Nico, Will." "Okay." And with that, Nico and Will were consumed with light and the feeling of feathers, falling into a deep sleep.

 Nico wakes up on a bed similar to the one at Hades's Palace in the Underworld. After getting up groggily, he noticed that it wasn't his room but it was similar. Hades walks in with blue hair and leather clothes —nothing like the clothes that he usually wore back in the underworld.

 "You finally work up," said Hades "How are you feeling, shifting worlds can have a toll on the body, even for demigods". While Nico was observing Hades's new look, he couldn't help but burst into laughter and ask what his dad was wearing. "I was trying something new and then I got painted as a villain, and got most of my power locked away, so I can't change my form unfortunately" 

"Mhmm, totally Dad” replied Nico sarcastically. “Where's Will? Did he wake up before me?" asked Nico.

Hades looks at Nico with a sad look, "I don't think that he's here, but I'm sure you'll be able to find him"

"I hope so too..."

After getting settled in the new room he would need to call home—which wasn't hard considering there wasn't much to unpack. Nico went out to look for his father, which wasn't difficult considering that the place was extremely small compared to the enormous palace in the underworld. 

Seeing his father sitting on an old couch in the middle of what seemed to be a cave. The rock on the walls was noticeably carved by humanity to be used as a mining facility. Probably used many years ago and abandoned, the wooden floors seemed to be newer than the beams holding the man-made cave from collapsing, it was dim but there was a fair amount of lighting from the lamps that were on the small makeshift tables around the room. Going down the steps to go to the main floor, he notices another two entrances besides the one that he came from. Both lead towards long cave entrances that could be some type of hall or pathway during the facility's usage. On the main floor, pots were hanging on a rack, a few mirrors here and there, and a trash can full of used cans that could have been food rations or similar. It seemed like a pretty shitty place to live, Nico thought, considering he had lived in a Jar for months.

Looking back at his father, who seemed unmoving, he decided to try and wake him up from the small nap. Opening his eyes before Nico got to him, which caused Nico to stop in his tracks, he straightened up on the couch that was made from an abandoned mine cart that contained a small cushion, animal fur, and a make-shift cup holder to make it a bit more comfortable. 

“Were you able to settle in alright?” Asked Hades while leaning on his knees.

“Yeah, I was. I think I’m going to explore a bit more to get a better feel of this world” Replied Nico.

“Alright, just don't go in sketchy areas if you decide to look outside of the house —well it's more of a lair, to be honest…” Hades said awkwardly. 

“I’ll be fine dad, remember I always have an enchanted skull ring that turns into a stygian sword and I’m the third best swordsman at camp half-blood,” He said confidently with his hands in his pockets. (Author : I know that the ring isn't a sword in the books, but I like the idea )

“Make sure that you have your ring with you and do not lose it” 

“I can't lose it, it just appears back on my finger like Percy’s sword, Riptide, so it's practically impossible to lose it or have someone steal it.” 

“Alright, well, have fun out there. If you need anything just give a signal, nothing too noticeable to the public eye but enough—” 

“ —to have you notice, yes I know.”

“Okay, be sure to be back by sunset. Oh and make sure that no one sees your powers, this place is supposed to block magic”

Nico nodded in acknowledgement and hugged his father telling him that he would be back soon, and started to go down the hall that contained a bridge. Later ending up near a gate with plates in the shape of a skull. Moving the gate to be able to go outside, he closed it back up and stepped back. Then seeing the GET LOST sign on the gate. Turning around and walking out of the cave, a staircase leading up to what seemed to be an alleyway. Looking around at the buildings, which were probably houses, he spots a cathedral-like building in the dead center. Walking up towards the building, he spots a few teenagers —around his age or older—graffiti-ing a building. Ignoring it, he continues walking. 

While doing so, the tallest of the group –who was definitely over six feet– notices Nico walking around.  Separating from the main group, he slowly creeps behind Nico in an attempt to pickpocket the 5 '6 goth-looking teenager, he catches the attention of the other three of the group. 

Feeling something tugging at his jacket, turning around he sees a tan guy wearing a red-yellow-blue leather vest, a beanie, and cropped leather gloves. 

“Hey, nice jacket. Where’d you get it?” said the tall male too casually for Nico’s liking.

“It was a gift,” Nico replied not wanting to socialize with the guy.

“I see. I’m-” the male was interrupted by another voice “What's happening over here?” said a girl with black-navy blue curled medium-length hair.

 “Nothing much, just getting to know the new guy.” 

Humming in acknowledgment, “I guess that explains why I have never seen you before,” she replied with a cheerful greeting that seemed staged, “what part of the isle are you from”, trying to start a conversation.

At the same time, the male was looking at anything that could be worth something. Immediately noticing the jewelry around the fifteen-year-old’s neck, hands, and head. On his hands, there were two rings, the one on his right hand contained a silver skull with ruby eyes and on his left, there was a gold ring with half a sun that contained white diamonds ( Click Here ). On his head, some gold headpiece could be found, it was as if this kid was trying to get robbed and that didn't include the other jewelry around his neck. 

Looking at the blue-haired girl, he smirked and started to reach for the kid’s headpiece, as it was the easiest to get. “I wouldn't do that if I were you,” said the black-haired kid suddenly.

“Do what?” asked the girl in front of Nico.

Turning his head around, Nico looked at the male with a glare –who was frozen in place from the shock– “trying to rob me, it wasn't hard to look past your act.” 

“How were you able to-” 

Chapter Text

“How were you able to” 

“Do you really believe I’ll go out without knowing how to counter thieves?” Nico replied. “So what do you want?”

Speechless, the tall male looked at the emo kid questioningly as if asking himself ‘then why wear all of that gold if you're probably going to get mugged’. Then deciding that he liked the kid’s confidence and bravery. Looking at his companions and nodding, which led Nico to believe this was some kind of signal for another one of their not so sneaky plans. Sighing in annoyance, Nico was about to get his sword ready just in case when the tall male suddenly introduced himself.

“Well, I’m Jay. Son of Jafar.” Said Jay.

“And I’m Evie Grimhilde, daughter of Queen Grimhilde. Also known as the Evil Queen.” said the blue haired girl. “The other two are Carlos de Vil, son of Cruella de Vil and Mal, daughter of Maleficent Faery, who is also known as just Maleficent.”

“I see…Well the name’s Niccolò di Angelo, just call me Nico…”

“Well, Nico. How come we’ve never seen you around here?” Said the purple haired girl, who was now known as Mal.

“Never really left my father’s place. If that answers your question.” Nico said without much restrictiveness, as he was telling the truth. This was his first time out of his father’s place here in the Isle of the Lost. “Just exploring the environment out here”

“Well you have a lot to learn if you want to survive” said Mal.

“I doubt I need to learn anything new, I have my own training.”

While looking at the others of the group, Mal looked skeptical of the ‘training’ that the new kid had. Nico, noticing this look, sighed and reassured her that he would be fine and didn't need anyone to protect him. 

Months have passed. Nico has learned the ways of the isle and was more familiar with the social standing that Mal and her gang had, although it did seem as they were mostly feared because of their parents and not their own actions. He mostly stayed in the shadows of the gang, which he learned to be called The Dragons ( JJ: This was inspired by Thebeastinsideofme , please go read their story, it's amazing!! ). So it was common for people to gossip about his presence, many believed that he was real, and some believed that The Dragons having a 5th main member was just that, a rumor. Throughout these months he made a pretty good reputation for himself, the different rumors about him helped in letting him avoid others, or have others avoid him as he was sometimes seen talking to Mal and the others. 

The main points that all the different gossips had was that there was a human-like figure with gold, silver lining surrounding them that would appear and disappear almost with the shadows of the main members. Many would say that he was tall and could kill you with just a thought, while others would say that they were around the size of Carlos de Vil –about 5’7 and to be honest they weren't completely wrong. Nico was short compared to Jay and most of the guys in the Isle –and especially when compared to Will. With just the thought of Will, Nico started sulking next to Evie, who noticed the sudden change of mood as the room temperature slowly but noticeably started to drop. 

“Nico, are you okay? You seem more gloomy than usual…Not that it's bad…or good. Well you know what I mean.” she said fastly.

“It's nothing Evie” As he started to calm himself down, and with him, the temperature started to rise once again. “I was just thinking”

“Come on, you have to start opening up to us a bit more. We’ve been together as a group for so long”

“Uhuh, look I respect all of you a lot, it's just…I’m not used to doing that. Talking and stuff” Nico replied picking up one of cheap glass jars Jay stole that wasn’t good enough for his fathers shop.

“Oh, I know.” Evie sighs “But I mean, none of us are going to judge you. We all have our own problems, you wouldn’t judge us right?”

“No! Of course not!” Nico replies.

“Well, then won’t it make you feel better to talk about it?” Evie asks, taking the hand that Nico is using to fiddle with the glass bottle. 

 “I don’t know, everything is so complicated and I don’t have all the answers. That’s the worst part, the not knowing.” Nico says, staring into the distance. He lets Evie hold his hand as he starts to retreat into his mind. He feels himself pick up another one of Jay’s bobbles to fiddle with. Just as Nico is about to settle into his dissociation the door to the layers top room bursts open.

“We have a problem” rang out from the doorway. Andres, one of the kids that kept eyes on the Isle, stood there, not daring to cross the threshold.  

“And what, exactly, is this problem that we have?” Mal asks, her eyes flashing green and her intimidating demeanor kicking up a few notches higher than usual. She did not like people interrupting them during the quiet hours of the morning. When everyone else on the Isle was supposed to be asleep. Or at least at home. 

“Um..well” Andres stutters, taking a step back.

“Stairs” Nico calls out from his spot on the couch. The landing was small, if the kid walked back much more he would fall down. 

Mal huffed, annoyed at Nico’s frustrating moral compass that no matter what her and their parents did he never could let people just deal with the consequences of their stupidity. 

“Enough, Andres, what is the problem?” Mal asks. If it’s something to do with Uma’s crew right after last week's scuffle (Read: miniature turf war) she might actually hurt someone. 

Andres gulps in fear. “Ms. Cruella and..um Mr.Jafar are asking after you two” He says, sinking in on himself while looking at Carlos and Jay. “I um I don’t know why”

“I’m not sure that constitutes a problem Andres” Evie calls from beside Nico. 

“Well yeah but…Jafar was yelling real loud.” The kid responds looking close to tears for his perceived mistake.

Nico stands up from the couch and stretches his arms over his head, coming back into his body now that there's something to do. His vision blacks out a little and he has to reach out a hand to Evie to catch his balance. Huh, maybe he should eat something today. 

“Alright let's go steal some stuff” Jay says “Can’t go back empty handed” he says with a rather concerning grin on his face if you ask Nico.

Eh food could wait.

“That will be all Andres,” Mal says. As the kid scurries out the door and closes it behind him Mal grabs her spray paint. 

“I want to finish that mural I was working on the other day and then we can head over” She says to the group while pulling on her fingerless gloves.

“Cool, it’s a good day for me so I’m good for going out the window” Carlos says with a grin as he opens the window.

“Oh this is gonna be so fun!” Evie says before hopping out the window, Jay and the others following.

Mal pauses in the window, “You coming Nico?” she asks. 

“Yeah, I think I’ll take the shadows, meet you at your mural” He says as he slips into the nearest one, popping back up at the uncompleted Live/Evil painted on the side of the wall. 

About fifteen minutes later Nico regretted every life decision ever. Why, by all the gods, did he and Will get sent here? 

Mal had started singing. They all started singing. Nico actually might cry. He was the only one without the choreography that the entire Isle for some reason knew. What. The. Fuck. Genuinely. Nico watched from the roof as Mal and a group of some random people danced down the street.

Rotten to the core core 

Who could ask for more

Chapter Text

They say i’m trouble

They say i’m bad

They say I’m evil 

And that makes me glad

Music had started playing from everywhere and Nico had no clue just exactly how that happened. That never happened in his original universe, and not since he’s been here either. It was confusing and terrifying especially considering that opening verse, which was possibly the cringiest thing he's ever heard was stuck in his head. And he had to watch the camp orientation video. Twice.

It was especially awful that he couldn’t get the song out of his head considering right now he was pretty sure he was being talked to. Or at. 

He was standing in Maleficent's house, living room with the others parents as well. Maleficent was giving some sort of speech and now was in a staring contest? Nico was very confused. What did a staring contest have to do with everyone not wanting to go to Auridon?

20 minutes earlier

 Nico stood on the rooftop, in the shadows. He gazed down in abject horror at his half-sister as she led her gang in a choreographed dance with half the neighborhood. How this was related to getting to Jay and Carlos’ parents he did not know. Maybe it was an intimidation tactic. But everyone knew the dance so really Nico was just confused. And very glad to not be participating.

The terror that was the dance finally ended and the music that was somehow playing down from the sky filtered away. Once the people who were not the Fantastic Four as he liked to call them started walking away, Mal turned around and stole a lollipop from one of the children rolling by. Nico wasn’t sure why she was proud of that but considering Nico once called the ghost of King Minos his best friend he really couldn’t judge.

Just as Nico was about to shadow travel down and possibly ask what exactly that was, Maleficent started walking towards Mal. Nico watched as Maleficent lectured her daughter. It was definitely not the most comfortable thing to eavesdrop on and just as Mal was saying she would do better he felt eyes on him. 

Nico turned back around and met Maleficent's eyes. She was looking at him, and Nico had no idea what she was thinking but he knew it wasn’t positive. That glare was…cold. Why did he always get step-mothers who hate him? Can’t he just have one that immediately likes him? And unlike persephone Nico was pretty sure Maleficent wouldn’t come around on that front. 

“Oh I have news! Boy it’s for you too.” Maleficent says while addressing the four but staring at him. Nico got the sinking feeling that he wasn’t slipping out of this. 

Nico stepped out of a shadow on the ground and walked towards Mal, standing slightly behind her. Coincidentally blocking Maleficent's view of Carlos a little bit. 

“What kind? And for Nico, nobody even knows him.” Mal responded, shoulders tensing in fear. The news couldn’t possibly be good. Nothing on the Isle, coming from Maleficent was. Except for Mal but Nico was pretty sure none of the Fantastic Four had good enough self-esteem to believe that. 

“Oh! I buried the lead. You four have been chosen to go to a different school... In Auradon” Maleficent said as her henchmen walked around the group. 

Carlos, Jay and Evie tried to bolt but the goons caught them, holding them in place. 

“What? I'm not going to some boarding school filled to the brim with prissy pink princesses!” Mal responded in outrage. 

“And perfect princes” Evie said now beside her, the goon letting her go once she calmed down. “I mean gross” Evie added, nobody really believed her though. 

“Yeah, and I don't do uniforms. Unless it's leather. You feel me?” Jay added also standing on his own now. He reached up to high five Carlos but the younger boy just looked worried and distracted.

Carlos stepped up beside Maleficent and addressed her “Aren’t their dogs in Auradon? I heard there were dogs. Mom said they're rabid pack animals who eat boys who don't behave” his voice trembling in fear. 

As Jay was trying to scare Carlos and Mal was saying they weren’t going Nico suddenly had an overwhelming feeling of hope. Will wasn’t on the Isle. Nico had looked, it had been eight months, if the love of his life was here he would have found him. Will would be looking too Nico had to believe that. Anyway if he wasn’t on the Isle then he must be in Auradon, or the continent in any case. 

The world seemed to narrow down on that one thought, Nico followed the others wherever they were walking. He had to get to Auradon.

The Present Time

There was an angle of course. Maleficent wanted them to get the Fairy Godmother's wand, bring down the barrier etc. Nico didn’t really care. If helping Mal do so kept her and his new friends safe from their parents he would help. Maleficent seemed to notice Nico was finally paying attention and turned to him. 

“Child your letter came to me for some reason, I suppose your father is just too good to reach.” Maleficent said to him, disdain dripping from her voice. She pulled out a letter and threw it towards him. It hit him in the face and Nico had to suppress the urge to pull out his sword. He reached down and picked up the letter as the attention shifted to Cruella.

“Well, they're not taking my Carlos, because I'd miss him too much.” she said, turning up her nose at Maleficent's plan.

“Really mom?” Carlos asked, hope and admiration shining in his eyes.

“Yes. Who would touch up my roots, fluff my fur and scrape the bunions off my feet?” She responded without even looking at him.

“Yeha, maybe a new school wouldn’t be so bad,” Carlos said, eyes downcast. Personally Nico thought a new school would be good for Carlos, he was smart and deserved to explore it. The Gods know that the Isle school was shit.

Chapter Text

“Yeha, maybe a new school wouldn’t be so bad,” Carlos said, eyes downcast. Personally Nico thought a new school would be good for Carlos, he was smart and deserved to explore it. The Gods know that the Isle school was shit.

“There are dogs in Auradon, Carlos” Cruella responds looking at Carlos and resting her hand on his shoulder. His eyes widened in fear.

“Didn’t you have a pet dog once?” Nico asks Cruella, he probably shouldn’t have but he remembered reading that somewhere, in one of his dads files. Cruella turns and glares at him but before she can say anything Maleficent interrupts the conversation, as well as Evie and Jays conversation with their own parents. Nico should probably tell his dad about all this. 

“What is wrong with you all? People used to cower at the mention of our names! For 20 years, I have searched for a way off this island. For 20 years, they have robbed us of our revenge! Revenge on Snow White and her horrible little men.” Maleficent shouts into the room. The evil queen exclaims in shock at the reminder.

“Revenge on Aladdin and his bloated Genie.” the fae said, turning towards Jafar. Jay reached towards his dad to calm him down as rage clouded his vision. Nico thought the fact that Jay knew to do that was definitely not a good sign. Not that Maleficent cared. 

“Revenge on every sneaky dalmatian that ever escaped your clutches” She said finally turning to Cruella.

“But they didn’t get baby…not they didn’t get baby!”Cruella said, talking to her broach. Carlos winced at his mothers antics. Nico really hoped Cruella knew her…baby was a stuffed animal.

“And I, Maleficent...The evilest of them all. I will finally have my revenge on Sleeping Beauty and her relentless little prince. Villains!”

There was a chorus of agreement from all the adults. The Evil Queen handed her daughter a miniature magic mirror. Yikes, even Hades’ dilapidated ember had more magic than that. Although Nico supposes he shouldn’t compare a God’s power to a mortals.

Maleficent had EQ as she called her to open the fridge to get her magic book. Nico almost started laughing at that. He could almost hear Leo saying ‘Ok Boomer’ in the back of his head. And wasn’t that a sobering thought.

 Nico stopped paying attention. The Fantastic Four would catch him up on the ride to Auradon anyway. Meanwhile he needed to plan. He wasn’t ever going to see his friends again. The seven were lost to him and all he had left was Will, he needed to find him once he got to Auradon and he couldn’t rely on luck. There was no guarantee that Will would be at the preppy high school and while he wanted to make sure none of his new friends failed and therefore got punished by their parents, finding his boyfriend needed to be his first priority. For everyone's sanity. 

Nico shadow traveled to his dads…well it wasn’t really a house. A basement maybe? Anyway he had to get a bag together and fast, if he knew Maleficent and well he had been living here for eight months he could only guess the transportation was already on it’s way. 

Nico found his dad lounging on his chair eating beans out of a can. Yeah…Nico really had to get him reunited with persephone. Half the beans were on his shirt. It was depressing. 

But also a problem for another time. Nico shoved the letter into hades’ face and shadow traveled to his room. He half-hazerdly shoved his meager belongings into a duffle bag. 

“What is this, Auradon?!” Hades called from the other room.

“I’m going. I’m gonna find Will.” Nico called back. 

Suddenly Hades stood in front of him. “Just like that, your still a kid Nico and according to that human parenting book Celia got for me I need to be present in your…life”

Nico stared at him. What? What did that even mean? “Yeah well neither of us are human, if you want to be present for someone be there for Mal.” Nico responded, shoving past him to grab his bomber jacket. The air in the room got colder and Nico paused. 

“Look…dad, it’s just I’m not a kid, I haven't been for five years and Auradon…Will could be there and I need him.” Nico said, turning to his dad. “And, and Persephone is probably over there too, I could deliver a message if you want.” 

Hades’ eyes lit up. “Ok. give her this.” he pulled out a letter from his jacket pocket and handed it to Nico. Nico carefully put it in his own jacket pocket. 

“I have to go dad” 

“I know. Be safe Nico, Auradon may look nice but some of the people there are far more dangerous than the Isle. Watch your back. And Wills.” Hades said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I will” Nico responded looking up at his dad before shadow traveling away. 

Once he stepped out of the shadows a sleek black limo stood in front of him. A crowd of people and villains surrounding it. 

“Get in” Mal called to him from the door. Nico threw his bag in the trunk and looked out over his home for the last eight months. He couldn’t decide whether or not he really wanted to see it again. Jay pulled him into the car and the door shut behind him. 

“The Jackals have landed” the driver said into his earpiece. 

Nico supposes he didn’t really have a choice. The car started driving through the rundown streets in the Isle.

“You're looking a little washed out. Let me help you out.” Evie said, reaching towards Mal with her makeup kit in hand.

“Eww no i’m plotting” Mal responds with a face scrunched in disgust.

“Well it’s not very attractive” Evie huffs putting her makeup away. 

Nico closes his eyes as Jay and Carlos start fighting over the candy. As much as he missed chocolate, he missed Will more and that thought is really the only thing that kept him from screaming as the driver almost drove off the cliff. It didn’t stop Evie from clinging to him, but Nico found himself surprised to think he didn’t really mind it. Maybe Auradon wouldn’t be so bad. As long as he found Will, he would be fine. Nico closed his eyes with that thought, his father's warning already forgotten. 

Chapter Text

By the time that he woke up, they were already rolling onto land in the Auradon borders. A golden gate was in sight stating Belle’s Harbor and based on the letters that they have gotten, they were probably close to Auradon Prep. After a few minutes, all they saw was more of the city until they finally passed Beast’s Castle . It took a bit longer to go up all the hills that were on the way to Auradon Prep , it was around midday when they finally arrived at the school. 

As they rolled up to the school Carlos and Jay began bickering over the last of the peanut butter cups. Apparently neither of them could fathom letting the other have the last one. Which happened to be a little frustrating considering Jay was a year older, but it wasn’t like Nico was going to say anything. 

The door is opened by some unseen chauffeur,  Evie and Mal step out, graceful as usual. Carlos and Jay on the other hand…well they roll out more than anything.

“Oh! Ow! Ow! Stop! You got everything else! Why do you want whatever this is” Carlos exclaims as they stumble out. 

“‘Cause you want it!” Jay responds equally as loud but thankfully less covered in melted chocolate. 

Nico would really like to melt into the shadows now. Was Auradon even worth it? Nico could see the looks on all the Prince and Princess’ faces. He could see the school building towering behind them all. He had a sinking feeling that this was all going to be a lot harder than he thought. It would be worth it. The judgment, the exclusion, the looks in the hall, the being shoved into lockers. Nico was used to all that. He was used to far worse. He could survive this if it meant he could see Will again. Now he just had to get out of the car. 

“Guys, guys, guys! We have an audience.” Mal says through gritted teeth at Jay and Carlos’ squabbling. 

Evie looked back into the car where Nico sat, shrouded by the shadows the tinted window provided.

“Nico, come on” she said in a low voice while the Fairy Godmother said something about leaving the car like they found it. Nico wanted to move, to get out, he did but he couldn’t seem to get his legs to work. His eyes start glowing, he can feel it. He looks past Evie and makes eye contact with a girl in a pink dress with blue trim. She flinches away from what probably looks like two randomly glowing white eyes. She covers it up with a scowl before carefully schooling his face. 

“Nico, we’ll all be there, the whole time, you know that.” Evie whispers to him, reaching out a hand. He doesn’t take it but he does step out of the car, doing his best to look as dramatic as possible. He breaks his act a little to smile at Evie. The last thing he wants is her to feel slighted. 

The others seem to pick up on Nico’s hesitation but don’t say anything. Thank the gods. 

“Welcome to Auradon Prep. I'm Fairy Godmother. Headmistress” the overly energetic woman says to their group. 

“The fairy godmother? As in, "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo?” Mal asks, raising an eyebrow. 

“Bibbidi-bobbidi you know it.” The Fairy Godmother responds, her smile stretching wider. Nico thought it was  a little inhumane, but not threatening like Maleficent's smile was. It was comforting even. Nico wondered if she was casting a spell, maybe  unconsciously. 

“Yeah, I always wondered what it felt like for Cinderella when you just appeared, out of nowhere, with that sparkly wand and warm smile.” Mal says, matching Fairy Godmother's smile with her own unnatural one. 

“Oh” she responds, her smile fading back into the more normal humane range. Nico got the sense that she didn’t know how to respond to that.

“And that sparkling wand,” Mal continued with the same smile. Wow could she be any more obvious? Nico thought. He closed his eyes against the bright sun as he tried his best not to just walk away. 

“That was a long time ago. And as I always say, "Don't focus on the past or you'll miss the future!” Fairy Godmother says making almost Jazz hands. 

“It's so good to finally meet you all. I'm Ben.” the boy standing behind Fairy Godmother says moving to the front.

“Prince Benjamin. Soon to be King.” the pink girl next to him says, latching onto his arm. The same girl Nico had made eye contact with before. He already hated her, she gave him Octavian vibes only…maybe less. 

Evie oblivious to Audreys clinging looks at Prince Benjamin with stars in her eyes. “You had me at prince. My mom’s a queen, which makes me a princess.” 

“The Evil Queen has no royal status here and neither do you.” the pink girl responds scowling at Evie. Evie’s face falls a little and Nico has decided that maybe this girl isn't worse than Octavian. He glares at her as the Fantastic Fours shadows reach towards him. 

“This is Audrey” Prince Benjamin says, his voice tight and hsi body language screaming ‘uncomfortable’. Oh good now Nico has a name for her other than Octavian 2.0.

“Princess Audrey. His girlfriend. Right, Bennyboo?” She says, somehow clinging tighter to his arm. The second Nico hears that atrocious nickname he feels like gagging. Apparently Jay has less self-control as he makes his show of disgust obvious. Nico would be annoyed if it didn’t make Carlos laugh. DeVils' son doesn’t laugh nearly enough.

 “Ben and Audrey are going to show you all around, and I'll see you tomorrow. The doors of wisdom are never shut! But the library hours are from 8:00 to 11:00. And as you may have heard, I have a little thing about curfews” Fairy Godmother cuts in, popping in front of the couple. Why in the world would they have heard about curfew preferences? Nico wonders. Did these people forget they were all raised on a secluded island where the only news they got of Auradon was extremely late. 

“It is so, so, so good to finally meet you all.” Prince Benjamin starts saying as the Fairy Godmother leaves. He goes to shake everyone's hands and Nico takes a few steps back, practically hiding behind Evie. 

“This is a momentous occasion, and one that I hope will go down in history... Is that chocolate?” Ben asks as he gets to Carlos. Nico really wishes the ground would swallow him. Then he wouldn’t have to listen to this horrendous speech. He does not shake Prince Benjamin's hand. 

 “As the day our two peoples began to heal.” Prince Benjamin finishes his speech, standing back in front of the group.

“Or the day that you showed five people where the bathrooms are,” Mal says, staring at Prince Benjamin, thoroughly unimpressed. Nico was glad he and Mal were on the same page about that speech. 

“A little over the top?” Prince Benjamin asks, staring back at Mal with a much more open expression.

“A little more than a little bit,” Mal responds with a little smirk. Oh no Nico thinks, he can feel the foreshadowing. If Mal starts flirting with Prince Benjamin, Nico might actually make the ground swallow him. 

“Well, so much for my first impression.” Prince Benjamin says with a dazzling smile projected at the whole group. Ugh.

“Hey! You're Maleficent's daughter, aren't you? Yeah, you know what? I totally do not blame you for your mother trying to kill my parents and stuff. Oh, my mom's Aurora. Sleeping--” Audrey starts to say, picking up on the tension.

“Beauty. Yeah, I've heard the name. You know, and I totally do not blame your grandparents for inviting everyone in the whole world but my mother to their stupid christening after mutilating my mothers body and magic!” Mal cuts in with her own sickeningly sweet smile fury burning in her eyes. 

Everyone pauses at that. That last  bit was definitely new to Nico. He thought back to the scars on Maleficent's back (which he had only seen once when she wore a dress to upstage Cruella like four months ago. Carlos slept at the hideout that night). Yeah…that could totally be true. 

Audrey looked shocked before schooling her expression “Water under the bridge” she said trying to get the situation back under control.

“Totes!” Mal responds. Her smile looked strained now, the anger still echoing in her eyes. All the VK’s looked at Mal worried. Prince Benjamin looked confused and a little sad as he stepped forward. He smiled, trying to appear casual.

“Okay! So, how about a tour? Yeah? We can show you to your dorms in a minute.” Prince Ben says, trying to break the tension. 

Evie, ever the negotiator, steps forward “Sure” she says smiling. 

Prince Benjamin starts walking backwards through an ornate garden. The bushes are all carved into shapes and the statue in front of the school steps looks like it's a statue of his father.

“Auradon Prep, originally built over 300 years ago and converted into a high school by my father when he became king.” Prince Benjamin claps his hands twice and the statue morphs into a humanoid beast. Honestly Nico thinks it just looks like a Furry costume. The twins had once forced an aphrodite kid to wear one as part of a deal back at camp. Nico for a moment is filled with sorrowful nostalgia. It's broken though when Carlos leaps backwards into Jay’s arms at the sudden change with a yelp.

Now Nico’s thinking about this one video that Will showed him once. It was a TikTok we're there was a dancing Gorilla with a bikini, pole dancing. Nico can almost see the Beast doing that to Toxic by Britney Spears. He has to bite down on his lip hard enough to draw blood to keep himself from laughing. Unfortunately he doesn’t succeed. He chuckles a little bit and everyone turns to look at him.

Carlos stares at him like he’s crazy. “Dude, how is this funny?!” he asks incredulously from Jay’s arms.

“Sorry, sorry, continue with the tour.” Nico responds, waving his arms while trying to keep his laughter under control. Prince Benjamin gives him a confused look before turning to Carlos

“Carlos, it's okay. My father wanted his statue to morph from beast to man to remind us that anything is possible” Prince Benjamin says with a smile. Audrey scoffs.

“Does he shed much?” Mal asks as Jay sets Carlos down. 

“Yes, mom won’t let him on the couch” Prince Ben deadpans. Ugh and so the foreshadowing thickens. This is going to be a hell of a year Nico thinks. 

Mal continues to ask painfully obvious questions as they enter through the front doors. The giant front doors, although after seeing Greek architecture and Annabeth's drawing they really aren’t impressive. 

“So you guys have a lot of magic here in Auradon? Like wands and things like that?” Mal asks.

“Yeah, it exists of course, but It's pretty much retired. Most of us here are just ordinary mortals” Prince Benjamin responds. 

Nico rolls his eyes. None of them probably realize how much magic they use or that surrounds them. He can already feel his strength coming back. On The Isle he could Shadow Travel, but not much. He had to have been to the place he was traveling or see it. But here, here he could feel the shadows again. Feel the connection between the shadows, the bones. It was like drinking water for the first time after being stuck in a Jar. Nico was beginning to get really annoyed with these people's assumptions and ignorance. They we're the ones that shoved their parent into that hellscape and they don’t even know what it's like there

Nico starts humming Toxic under his breath. It’s stuck in his head now. Thanks ADHD.

“Doug. Doug, come down. This is Doug. He's going to help you with your class schedules and show you the rest of the dorms. I'll see you later, okay? And If there is anything you need, feel free to--” Ben motions to a shortish boy coming down the stairs. 

The conversation must have moved on while Nico was sulking. Oops. He probably should have been paying attention. Oh well. He’ll just ask Evie later.

“Ask Doug” Audrey cuts in, draggin Prince Benjamin behind her. Nico really doesn’t like that girl. The silence was loud after the not so hidden but yet semi-concealed awkward and cringy tantrum that Audrey was doing. 

“Hi, guys. I'm Dopey's son. As in Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, and... Heigh-Ho.” As he looked at Evie with dreamy eyes.

“Evie. Evil Queen's daughter.” Nico could immediately tell that this was going to be the couple of the year here at Auradon and nothing could change his mind. Well.. maybe Will could but he was nowhere to be found. 

Snapped out of his depressing thoughts, he hears part of what Doug said to them. “[Okay. So about your classes, I, uh,] put in the requirements already... History of Woodsmen and Pirates, Safety Rules for the Internet, and, uh, Remedial Goodness 101.”  The fuck is Remedial Goodness, some type of off brand therapy? 

“Let me guess. New class? Come on, guys, let's go find our dorms” Mal said, turning around and going up a flight of stairs. Looking at Doug, Nico noticed the Fantastic Four starting to move –the wrong way of course but they were moving. So what did he do…Well he just stood there waiting for them to realize that they were going the wrong direction.

“Oh, uh, yeah, your dorms are that way, guys.” Doug informed them. Mal was embarrassed by the mistake but acted as if nothing had happened, Nico of course was giggling to himself —which wasn't something he did regularly. May he inform you, yes you. Looking back at Doug, Nico noticed that he was whispering to himself some names. 

“Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, and…” 

“Sneezy.” Said both Carlos and Nico.

 “Oh…”

Walking towards the dormitory area, it split into three different hallways. Turning to the left, there were a few doors and it looked relatively new…suspicious :/

‘oh well, I guess this is where we’re going to stay’ Nico thought to himself. 

“Oh umm” Said Doug looking at Nico

“Nico.”

“Yes! Nico, your dorm isn't in this hall.” 

“What…”

Chapter Text

“What…”

“Your dorm is actually in one of the other hallways. It's not that far from these ones though!”

“Alright…” Replied Nico. The dorm probably was at the right of the hallway intersection, Nico thought while walking along with Doug. 

“Your roommate should be here soon or is already inside of the dorm” Informed Doug.

Nodding to Dougs words, he grabbed the key that was being handed to him. Nico looked at the key and then at Doug, not being sure if he should open the dorm right then and there or wait and go back with the rest of the Fantastic Four –who are probably in Mal’s and Evie’s room.

“Alright, thanks. I’ll go back with the rest of the VK’s –as you call them– and then go check out my room and roommate.” Nodding to Nico’s words, Doug leaves to do…well whatever he was doing before he was made to show them around.

Walking back to the girl’s side of the dorms, he can hear the boys being loud. While walking into the dorm all he hears is Mal complaining about the aesthetic of the room and Evie awkwardly agreeing with her. 

“---need some serious sunscreen” said Evie’s voice muffled from the weird privacy magic that the dorm walls had. Which don’t get Nico wrong, it's a good thing, but the small detail that magic was “retired” was absolutely Bullshit , cause it was very much not “retired”.

Nico pushed open the door and stepped into a room he could only describe as princessy. Noticing Mal closing the curtains in the room, the brightness went down significantly. With the sudden drop of brightness, the call of the shadows grew inside of Nico. The brightness was perfect for him and Will –who is still not anywhere near them – to live in.  

“E. Phew! That is much better.” Mal said in a relief. The brightness wasn't that bad, Nico thought. Sure he’s the son of Hades but he still likes the small warmth of the Sun –more like the familiar warmth of his boyfriend but that doesnt matter…

Following Evie, who was following Mal, into Jay’s and Carlos’ room, it was clear to see that the privacy spell on the walls and door didn't work with those two together. “Whoo! Whoa! Ah! Whoa!” Carlos yelled excitedly. 

“Jay, what are you doing?” said Mal was disappointed at the lame action that Jay was doing.

“It’s called stealing.” Jay replied

“But what’s the point”

“It’s like buying whatever you want…but for free” Said Jay sarcastically. Now after many months Nico regrets teaching Jay a better form of sarcasm.

“Okay.” replied Mal while rolling her eyes. “So, you could do that, or you could leave all of this here and pick it up when we take over the world” 

“Or you can heal your trauma…” said Nico quietly

“What was that Neeks?” Asked Evie

“Hm? Oh nothing…” Nico replied dismissively 

“Okay..” 

Evie went to reply to Mal’s comment, saying that she was like her mom. And of course Mal thanked Evie for the comment. Ya know ‘cause of trauma.

“Well you do it your way and I’ll do it my way” Jay said while turning back to his collection, dismissing Mal’s previous statements.

“Die, suckers!” Carlos yelled at the video game. “Jay, come check this thing out. Man, It's awesome.” the fourteen year old stated while playing.

Right when Jay was going to join Carlos’s gaming experience, Mal stomped towards the middle of the room and shouted at them.

“Guys! Do I have to remind you what we're all here for?”

“Fairy Godmother, blah, blah, blah. Magic wand, blah, blah, blah.” Jay said, waving his hand in a very particular manner that showed Mal that he didn't care. Nico realizing this jest started giggling under his breath, which caused Jay to laugh with him.

Now frustrated Mal turned around and started pacing around the room. “Don't you guys get it. This is our one chance to prove ourselves to our parents. To prove that we are evil and vicious and ruthless and cruel. Yeah?” 

Now looking at Mal, they all replied “Yeah” with a more monotone form. Seeing that they finally were paying attention to her, she instructed Evie to “Mirror her” which was weird but who was Nico to judge the references that Disney had. Evie, now with the shard, started chanting “Mirror, mirror on the... in my hand, where does fairy godmother's wand... stand?”.

“There it is!” Mal exclaimed.

“Make it zoom out” Carlos stated while looking over Nico’s shoulder.

“Magic mirror, not so close.” This caused it to zoom out so far that you were able to see the Earth or what was supposed to be Earth. “ Closer. Closer. Closer.” 

“Stop!” Mal shouted. Now at the perfect view, they were able to see a sign.

“Can I go back to my game? I'm on level three.” Carlos said boredly.

“It's in a museum. Do we know where that is?” Mal questioned. As if it was the perfect timing, Carlos started walking towards them with the stolen laptop. The laptop had a website on it, which seemed like it was google maps, or at least the Auradon version except that it seemed more complicated, looking at the link on top, it seems as if it was supposed to be a private site, not something that an “every day civilian” was suppose to access. Nico supposed everyone but Evie had to break the law the first day. 

Nico sighed looking at the screen, “2.3 Miles from here” he said looking at the screen. Hearing shuffling behind him, Nico turned to see Mal, Evie, and a reluctant Jay running out of the door. Right when Nico was going to tap Carlos’s shoulder to tell him that the others were leaving, Mal shouted at them to hurry up.

“Coming!” shouted Carlos while closing the laptop. He started running towards the rest of the Fantastic Four. Nico, sighing in exhaustion, reluctantly started to light jog towards the group, he knew that it was probable that they would get caught –well not him, he was just too good to get caught.

Chapter Text

Arriving at the Museum of Cultural History, they started to sneak around the building –well mostly the Fantastic Four, Nico just stayed in the shadows. Going by the side of the museum probably was one of the best ways to get caught in Nico’s book, but hey who was he to judge? Peeking through the window, they were able to see a security guard looking at their phone. 

“Come on. Check your mirror.” Mal instructed Evie.

“Is my mascara smudged” Evie asks frantically, as she pulls out her mirror.

“Yeah,” Mal said, rolling her eyes. “And, hey, while you're at it, why don't you see If you can find us the wand?”

Evie looks up from the mirror to shoot a glare at Mal before instructing it to show them where the wand was. Moving towards one of the entrances, which was closest to the guard. They looked through the large window that the door had.

“That's your mother's spinning wheel?” Asked Jay.

“Yeah, It's kinda dorky.” replied Carlos disappointedly. Especially since they have heard the story of the Evil Sorceress Maleficent. Nico on the other hand was surprised that they didn't know why the spinning wheel looked like that. 

“It’s supposed to be a subtle trap.” Nico informed them.

“Yeah. It's magic, it doesn't need to look scary.” Mal defended her mother’s wheel. Now looking at the spinning wheel and the guard, she started chanting a spell from her mother’s spellbook. “Magic spindle, do not linger. Make my victim prick a finger”. Making them wait to see if anything would occur. Which it didn't.

“Impressive” said Jay sarcastically.

“I got chills,” Carlos giggled while supporting Jay’s comment.

Rolling her eyes at them “Okay you know what…Prick the finger, prick it deep. Send my enemy off to sleep”. It was more aggressive than the previous spell, which worried Nico as this was considered dark magic. 

They watched the guard suddenly get up and show interest towards the now active enchanted wheel. He walked around his desk and reached out towards the spindle. It drew a single drop of blood when he touched it. The guard stumbled forward and sat down against the base of the exhibit, his eyes drooping as he fell asleep. 

“Not so dorky now, huh?” Mal asked rhetorically. Nico agreed, that was some powerful shit. He was pretty sure none of the fantastic four realized just how potent Mals magic was, including herself. 

“Stand back” Jay said, going to kick the door open. 

Mal beat him to the punch saying “Make it easy, make it quick, open up without a kick." Jay fell through the door with a quiet yelp as it swung open. Mal walked over Jay and into the museum. 

“Coming?” Mal asks. 

Nico really hoped Carlos knew how to scrub security cameras. Nico grabs Carlos’ arm as they all walk inside. Carlos stares at him with wide eyes, surprised that Nico would initiate any sort of touch even if it were to pull him aside. 

“You can loop those security cameras, right?” Nico asks, glancing back at the security desk.

“Oh! Yeah I didn’t even think about that” Carlos leaps over the security desk and begins typing on the computers. Nico has no idea what he’s doing but he hopes that it's working.

“Guys come on!” Mal insists from the stairway. 

“We’re looping the cameras, we’ll catch up” Nico responds as Carlos focuses on the keyboards. Mal looks upset but she continues up the stairs.

“Don’t get caught,” she calls back. Like Nico would ever get caught. A few minutes pass before Carlos pops back up and heads for the stairs.

“Finished, come on before Mal has our heads” he says, bounding up two steps at a time. Nico grabs one of the museum maps as he saunters up the stairs after him. He opens up the map seeing many different sections, one entitled Villains, which is where they are heading. The adjoining rooms are labeled Heroes and Olympians. 

“I’m never forgetting mothers day again” Carlos says from the middle of the Villains room. He was staring at an admittedly quite accurate wax statue of his mother. The statue was surrounded by miniature wax statues of dead dogs. What the Fuck? Was Nico’s first thought. They even had red wax for the blood. What was wrong with these people?

“Did…did she actually kill dogs like that?” Nico asks, staring at the realistic looking dead eyes of the puppy’s. 

“I..I don’t think so. Mom always talks about dogs being dangerous but…but not killing them. She loves Baby she wouldn’t…I don’t think she would” Carlos responds, stuttering his way through the sentence as tears stream down his face. 

“Ok let's go to the Olympians room” Nico says, taking Carlos’ arm and guiding him away from the gruesome statue.

“But we have to catch up with Mal-”

“Mal’s set, she’ll be fine, she has Evie and Jay. Neither of us are gonna be of much help until the end” Nico responds, pulling him into the brightly lit room full of the Gods' own wax statues. Well mostly brightly lit, theirs one corner that seems to intentionally be in perpetual darkness. Nico would bet his non-existent life savings that was his dads corner. 

He pulls both of them over to the bench and deposits Carlos on it. Nico turns away to give Carlos some privacy to grapple with the sight of his own mother surrounded by the corpses of puppy’s. There is something seriously wrong in Auradon Nico decides, as he gazes at his fathers statue.

Nico looks at the under modification sign under the statue, he can see why. It’s posed with Hades’ hand resting on his cheek looking out at the viewers with a sly knowing look. Hades’ blue hair is teased in an asymmetrical spiky hairdo. It's wearing a striped black and white scarf, black and white gloves, and a black denim jacket. White and black eyeliner decorate his father’s face. It's all coupled with a Mayday Parade T-shirt. Nico stares at it in abject horror, it's not as bad as dead dogs but Jesus Christ.( Here )  Nico can all but taste Persephone's magic rolling off the statue. Obviously these wax monstrosities have served as good entertainment for his aunts and uncles. 

Nico looks around at the other ones, Apollo’s statue is obviously extremely glamorous ( HIM ). His hair is even moving even though he’s made out of wax. Nico scans the rest of the room, his eyes catching on Persephone's statue. It's across the room from his fathers and is in a matching style. Except for the fact that the pose made Nico want to tear his eyes out ( HER ). She seems to be sitting in some sort of criss-cross style and is looking at the audience with an expression that makes Nico want to vomit considering that's his step-mom. The stripes and makeup look just as emo as his dads outfit, but the hairstyle is admittedly better. 

Nico sits down next to Carlos who’s stopped crying at this point and is now staring dejectedly into space. 

“I think I might hate Auradon,” Nico says. Carlos blinks back into reality and turns to Nico.

“Why? It wasn’t your parent covered in dog blood.” Carlos says bluntly before cringing. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that” he mumbles.

“True, my dads statue is not nearly as bad as your moms, but I never needed to see my dad with that expression.” Nico responds

“Wait, where were your dads?” Carlos asks, looking back into the Villains room. Nico stares at him for a moment.

“Have none of you figured it out?” Nico asks.

“Figure out what?” Carlos asks, confused.

“Ancients, ok look I’ll tell you but you can’t tell anyone else. I think it's funny that they don’t know, they can figure it out on their own. Also try not to freak out. Ok?” Nico asks.

“Yeah of course!” Carlos responds.

“My dad…is Hades.” Nico states. Carlos’ jaw drops. Carlos looks at the Hades statue.

“Th-that's your dad” he asks looking as if that's the first time he notices the statue.

“Yes, well he doesn’t really look like…that. I mean that is his vibe but he doesn’t look like that. He’s more punk than that.” Nico responds glancing back at the admittedly hilarious horror show that Persephone crafted. 

“Oh…wow. That’s…wait so is that why no one saw you for years on the Isle?” Carlos asks, trying to tear his eyes away from the emo wax statue. 

“Yeah, basically” Nico responds, awkwardly glancing around the room. Usually when he tells people his dad is the god of the dead it's not in a wax museum that serves as a playing ground for the gods. Objectively, Nico thinks, the outfits and poses aren’t that bad. It's just…in context…compared to the Greek togas that the other gods are wearing. It's just not it. Not that Nico would ever say that to Persephone's face, he doesn’t want to be a dandelion again.

Carlos and Nico sit there staring at the statues for around five more minutes. Nico looks  at Carlos, he seems to be processing the fact that Nico is a demi-god. Nico can basically see the calculations running through Carlos’ head. It’s like seeing that one meme with all the chalk in real time ( this one ). 

Just as Nico is about to ask Carlos where his brain is spiraling, the alarms start blaring and flashing red. Well fuck, Nico really thought Mal and the others could handle this.

Chapter Text

 Nico covered his ears as he stood up and he and Carlos rushed into the Villains room. They entered at the same time as the others. 

“What happened?” Carlos asks, panicked. Jay looks panicked.

“I don’t know! I just grabbed it when Mal asked! It's like I couldn’t stop.” Jay responds panicked as they all descend the stairs.

“It doesn’t matter!” Mal snaps, sounding furious. They all reach the bottom of the steps and Carlos vaults back over the security desk. 

“Come on!” Mal says.

“Hello? Uh, uh, just give me one second. One second. Uh, yeah, yeah. No, false alarm. It was a malfunction in the, uh, in the 714 chip in the breadboard circuit. Yeah. Okay. Say hi to the missus” Carlos talks into the phone next to the computers. Damn, Nico thinks, Carlos is a lot smarter than people give him credit for. 

“Carlos!” Mal calls as they rush out the door.

“You're welcome!” Carlos calls as they all run outside. They all keep running until they’re near the dorms. 

“Way to go, Jay. Now we have to go to school tomorrow.” Mal says as they enter the hallway leading into their dorms. 

“Hey! It wasn’t my fault, I didn’t mean to, I don’t know what the fuck happened ok?!” Jay responds, stopping in front of the girls' dorm. He looked super freaked out and his hands were shaking. 

“Ok, look let's all just sleep on it. We have to be up at like 7 in the morning, we’ll figure it out then.” Evie says, pushing Mal towards the door. 

“Will you boys be good walking back to the dorms yourselves?” Evie continues, standing in their doorway as Mal throws her spellbook onto the bed. 

“We’ll be fine, thank you Evie.” Nico responds, smiling at her. Nico doesn’t think anyone in this group would have survived without her. 

He walks Jay and Carlos towards their dorm and waits for them to get inside. Now walking to his own dorm, he pulls out his key and unlocked the door. Going into the dark room, looking for the light switch against the wall. He suddenly hears a voice.

“You just have to clap” the unknown voice said and then clap, letting the dorm light up.

“Oh. Thank you umm..” Nico says, looking at the young boy in front of him.

“Im Kaito, also known as the youngest son of Ariel and Prince…or well now King Eric” replied the redhead, well it was darker than what Ariel’s hair looked like in the movies. In Nico’s opinion, it seemed more ruby-like color ( here ) than straight red. Now seeing the resemblance of Ariel and now King Eric in Kaito, he finally took notice of Kaito's eyes. Well fuck , Nico thought, not another Posidon descendant .

“Im Nico, also known as one of the VKs.” Nico said while looking around the room.

“Oh. Sorry if the room is a bit messy, they told me I would have a roommate a few hours ago” Kaito informed Nico nervously. The room was clearly moved around, some of the decorations being moved across the room and on the floor or anywhere they could land. On the other side, the walls were sparkling, but instead of glitter it was a bunch of seashells and other related things. The room was well organized and with a clear intention, it was supposed to look like home ( Here ). The bed was a bit messy but it looked cute with the blanket looking as a wave was washing to shore with on theme pillows decorating the side closest to the wall. Behind the bed there was a backdrop with pictures pinned up, which were clearly pictures of family and friends. Another thing that was very noticeable was the cover on top of the bed, it was an aqua colored lace with fairy lights. On the floor there were some decorative seashells, which seemed displaced, over a carpet. 

“I had to move some of the decorations in the last minute.” Kaito said trying to break the awkward silence that was being created. 

“Oh that's fine, it just reminds me of a friend of mine. He liked the ocean as well.”

“Liked? Is he..” Kaito tried asking

“Oh no! He’s alive.” Nico said, correcting Kaito. “So don’t worry, I doubt he’s dead yet” Nico commented. Now walking towards his side of the room, he sat down on the bed. Looking up at Kaito and then to his side of the room, and then back to Kaito. He asks if it was okay if he was able to decorate his side of the room however he liked. Kaito of course was okay with the request, and said yes, and Nico glanced over at what he was starting with. Some of Kaito’s stuff was still on his side, but mostly it was the same basic room as Jay and Carlos had. Minus the…interesting shell walls. 

Nico walked over to the bed, it only had sheets on it which was fine since it wasn’t cold yet. Nico glanced back at Kaito who was standing there awkwardly, and perhaps a little fearfully, but Nico got the impression that Kaito inherited some of Poseidon's blind courage. 

“So are you all set? Oh! Do you want blankets? I only really have blue ones, oh! What about more pillows? Do you need that? I’m sorry I've never really had a roommate before, especially a villain one so I just don’t know how to act. Usually I have this need for everyone to like me so sorry if I’m overbearing. What about food? And have you had the tour yet, we’re past curfew but-”

“Stop.” Nico says, eyes wide. Kaito apparently has a skill for rambling that he hasn’t experienced since camp. Nico just notices Kaito is in his pajamas too, Nico probably woke him up. Kaito looks back at him, worry painting his features.

“I’m fine. We have school in the morning. We should sleep” Nico continues, although in Nico’s case he’ll probably just stare at the ceiling until morning and drown in coffee before class. Or maybe he’ll decorate.

“Oh yeah, of course, that's a good idea” Kaito responds, climbing back into his own ruffled bed. 

“And Kaito” Nico says just as he’s about to clap the lights off “I’m not a villain. Neither are my friends”

“Oh…sorry,” Kaito says from where he’s laying.

“I get it, I've seen your museum, just try not to judge us based on our parents and we’ll do the same. Deal?”

“Yeah, yeah deal” the red-head says, staring at Nico with a shy look.

“Night” Nico says and dramatically claps the lights off before crawling under his own sheets. Perhaps he will decorate once Kaito goes to sleep. 

Chapter Text

“Night” Nico says and dramatically claps the lights off before crawling under his own sheets. Perhaps he will decorate once Kaito goes to sleep. 

Now confirming that Kaito was asleep, as per the steady breathing, Nico got up to see that the decorative fairy lights were on and there was enough light to see –well maybe for him. Opening one of the bags under the bed, he saw it contained some of his clothes and necessities but it also had a stuffed bear. The one that Will gave him, it was a soft yellow with a small decorative sun. Pressing the left paw of the bear, it started humming softly. It was Will's voice that was playing through the bear's slightly tiny speaker. Hugging the bear, he reluctantly put it down on the bed and started putting his clothes in different piles. 

By the time that he was done with putting away his clothes, he grabbed his necessities and went to the connecting bathroom. Seeing that most of the bathroom was taken over by Kaito, he opened some of the drawers to check if they were empty or had space. Seeing that two were empty, he put his stuff there –not bothering to organize it. Walking out of the restroom, he opened a box. Yes, he did buy a few things with his dad’s card; it's not like they had a limit. Although buying things on Nozama was a lot more difficult than his own world's Amaz0n ( JJ: Not Sponsored ). Pulling out some sheets, pillows, and different blankets; he decided to organize his bed. Now getting another box, which contained some of his dad’s stuff. Such as decorative skulls, dark colored tarot cards, and some cute flowers –and the most important of all, the letter to Persephone from his jacket. 

After opening all the different boxes and packages, he has finally finished decorating his side of the dorm. Some photos of him and Will by his desk, other photos of camp by the bookshelf and the most important of all the family dinner in Hades’ palace. Which includes: Nico, Will, Hades, Persephone, Hazel, and surprisingly Apollo. ( JJ: Here is a Photo to have some sort of idea of the room )

Deciding that he was finished, he looked at Kaito who was sleeping without a care in the world. Turning to his bed, he then went under the blankets and looked at the wall. “Good night Will…wherever you are” Nico whispered.

By the time that Nico had finally fallen asleep, he had only gotten a couple hours of sleep until he had to get up for school. 

As Kaito woke up from the sound of his alarm, he stretched and reluctantly sat up on his bed. Finally opening his eyes, he saw that part of the dorm had a whole different aesthetic than Kaito’s usual. The room was way darker than what it usually was, it also felt colder. It was kinda creepy but Kaito couldn’t fault his new roommate for wanting something familiar. Kaito also got homesick when he first got to Auradon Prep. Standing from his bed and turning off the alarm on his phone, he got up to check on the thermostat. 

Going towards Nico’s side of the room, the temperature was getting colder with each step he took. Finally at the thermostat, it said that it was several degrees colder than what it was before he went to sleep. Right when he was about to change the thermostat, he saw Nico sit up and then fall back down towards his bed. Softly giggling at Nico’s display, he started walking towards the restroom to do his morning routine. 

Hearing the door to the restroom close, Nico finally got up and decided to change into his school uniform. He didn't really like it, it was constricting, definitely not meant for combat if he was attacked suddenly, and he couldn't really breath with the high neckline that the suit had. So what was the best way to solve this problem…Cut– just kidding he just didn't wear the shirt that came with it. Instead he wore his usual black shirt under the obnoxious bright royal blue blazer. Nico was pretty sure Carlos’ mom would throw a fit if she saw the fashion crime that was this uniform. 

Kaito was still in the bathroom so Nico laid back down on his bed. The fact that he was actually doing this came crashing down on him. He was going to an actual high school, albeit one with what Nico can only assume will be a fucked curriculum. He’d never assumed this was where his life would be headed, who would? He definitely hadn’t thought he would be going to school without Will by his side. Nico reached out and hugged the teddy bear to his chest again. He just had to remember that Will was the reason that he was in Auradon in the first place. He could survive awful uniforms and stupid rich pricks if it meant finding the love of his life. He just had to remember that Will had to be in Auradon somewhere.

He was cut off from his musings by the shower turning off and the bathroom door opening. Nico brushed off the teddy bear, flinging it off the side of his bed. Being vulnerable would get you messed up on the Isle and Nico didn’t know if it was different here. Of course flinging the bear would have been more effective if it hadn’t started humming in the tiny teddy bear speaker the moment it hit the floor. Nico stood up as Kaito raised an eyebrow at him but said no more. Kaito turned around to look for a shirt in his wardrobe, apparently he had forgotten to take one in with him. Nico headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth when the main door opened. 

Evie burst in with a grand smile on her face, she looked truly excited to meet all the princes here at school. Kaito let out a little yelp and reached for the nearest cloth to half-hazardly cover his chest. Unfortunately it happened to be a t-shirt that read Lets Shell-ebrate in bright blue letters. Percy would have loved it, Nico thought.

“Um girls aren’t supposed to be in our dorms!” Kaito squeaked out, obviously embarrassed to be caught unawares. Evie waved him off.

“Gender is a social construct and has no bearing on how…well…i guess here it would be how good you can be” Evie responded, “Aren’t you taught that in school?” she asked, looking confused and completely oblivious to Kaito’s nervousness. 

“Oh..uh…well no?” Kaito finished lamely, grabbing a button down from his wardrobe now that he saw Nico and Evie’s non-reactions. “Um, I just thought all humans were super concerned about it  since everyone here is.” Kaito continued, his face growing slightly red.

“You’re not human?” Evie asked, looking confused. Nico had assumed Kaito was part mermaid or something. He had read the little mermaid when he was at the hotel, early on. Bianca had loved it, but he hadn’t watched the movie yet. It had been on his and Will’s ‘After Tartarus Watch List’, obviously they hadn’t gotten around to it. 

“Oh” Kaitos eyes widened, seemingly as if he hadn’t meant to admit that. “Uh, well I’m like part human?”

“Is that a question or an answer?” Nico asked.

“Look, please just don’t tell anyone. I know its kinda obvious but nobody really knows me and my sister can turn back into mermaids, and I-I don’t think people would like it very much” Kaito responded, getting quieter as he spoke. He seemed to shrink in on himself, hugging his arms to his chest as if he were scared. Not of them, the VK’s, but of what people would think.

“I would think people would be fine with it, I mean Fairy Godmother is, well, a fairy isn’t she?” Evie asked, gazing at Kaito’s nervous form while fiddling with her mirror.

“You really aren’t supposed to say that!” Kaito said, his eyes widening and gazing at Evie as if she had just told him the Fairy Godmother was a blobfish. 

“Why not?” Nico asks, suddenly this whole Auradon thing was looking a lot less easy. If they couldn’t handle someone in a position of power being fae, how the hell would people react when they found out he was a demigod? Or that Jay was a Djinn? Not to mention whatever Mal was, all Nico knew was she was part god and definitely not human.

“Well, I mean everyone knows, but King Adam made a declaration limiting or prohibiting knowledge and practice of all magic, and well that includes creatures of magic so…” Kaito trailed off looking incredibly self-conscious.  Nico and Evie shared a look, there was something seriously wrong in this place. 

“And here I thought it was only the Isle that was completely fucked” Nico said angrily before turning around and slamming the bathroom door. Auradon may have problems, but for now Nico and the Fantastic Four were stuck here and he still had to brush his teeth. 

Nico found himself walking beside Kaito, trailing behind the VK’s and Prince Benjamin who was showing them around. Kaito said he would help make sure everyone found their way but Nico was pretty sure the red-head was just curious about the new perspective they offered. When you grow up in a controlling environment anything that looks different tastes like freedom. 

That's what Nico was thinking about when Evie abruptly stopped walking. Nico almost ran into her, he couldn’t fathom why she had stopped. They were just in the parking lot. His question got answered when a bright, and he meant bright, yellow pickup truck sped around the curve into the lot. ‘No Fucking Way’ Nico thought

“Hey Nico, Is that your boyfriend?” Evie asks, staring at the yellow pickup that Nico could now tell was adorned with homemade stickers that we're definitely referencing things Auradon did not have.

“How-” Nico began to ask when Evie cut him off.

“I mean, who other than the son of Apollo would pull up in that” she responded, anticipating his incredulity. 

She wasn’t wrong. The yellow pickup parked, the Texas flag in the back window facing the school. 

Chapter Text

Will hops out of the car turning off Dolly Parton's angelic voice. He reaches over the middle compartment to pull his new royal blue backpack out. He had a bad feeling going to this preppy prince school was going to suck. Just because his dad was Apollo did not mean he needed an invite to go to the worse version of  private school. At least when he went to high school he got to go to camp in the summer. Now he didn’t even have that. The only saving grace of going here was that there was a slim chance Nico could be here too. 

Will took a deep breath before turning around towards the school. He immediately felt his breath leave him. Only twenty yards away stood his boyfriend, golden sun rays reflecting off of his black hair. He was wearing the school uniform with a plain black t-shirt, and maybe it was because Will hadn’t seen him in months, but it was the most beautiful Nico had ever looked. Nico must have been standing with others but honestly Will wasn't paying that much attention when he took off running. 

When the car door opened and Nico’s boyfriend stepped out, Nico was pretty sure he had forgotten how to breathe. He was wearing the awful school uniform, but he had his cowboy hat and even with that annoyed look on his face Nico was sure Will had never looked better. When Will turned around the sun caught on his hair and the light danced around like the very presence of Will meant there was joy to be had. Nico couldn’t help but agree. ( Will as a Cowboy )

Nico couldn’t do anything but stare, hidden in the shadows of the awning. He must not have looked all that impressive, surrounded by princes and princesses with his wonky school uniform and what must have been dark eyebags decorating his face. 

They make eye contact and it's like Nico had his first drink of water in months. Which was a feeling he knew very well. He couldn't wait for Will to lecture him on it, he thought as a grin took over his face.

Prince Benjamin's annoying girlfriend gasped and took a step back when Will started running towards them, the open car door forgotten. 

“Are you two enemies?!” Audrey squeaked out, at which point Nico decided, fuck this royal no magic bullshit and promptly stepped into the shadow behind him. 

Nico stepped out of one of the cars shadows and immediately full force tackled Will in a hug. Not like a normal hug, one of those Koala hugs that ended up sending both of them tumbling to the asphalt. Neither of them cared as they laid there in the parking lot clinging to each other like it was the last time they were going to see each other. He could hear the Fantastic Four and probably the others running towards them and he realized they were on a time limit for heartwarming reunions. 

“I missed you” Nico said in a small voice, sitting up but still wrapped around Will, pressing his face into where his neck and shoulder met. 

“I missed you more” Will mumbled back, before taking Nicos face with one hand and laying a soft kiss on his lips. He tried to keep Nico in his arms as tight as possible as if he would disappear if he let go. Nico looked at Will with teary eyes, more than happy to see his boyfriend again after almost a year without him.

They pulled apart when the VK’s reached them, Ben and Kaito were there too but Audrey was standing back near the school building looking like she wanted to go call a teacher. The snitch. Mal pulled out one of her many hidden daggers. 

“You really shouldn’t have that on school grounds.” Will said, looking at the dagger. Mal glared at him like he had just spit in her mud coffee. A staple on the Isle.

“Is it any worse than the gun?” Mal asks, Nico thinks she's just being snarky, but honestly it's not like they searched any of them when they got to the Isle. Prince Benjamin catches up to them right as she's saying that.

“What?!” Prince Benjamin asks, incredulously.

“Yeah, that's not a good thing to have on your person, you should keep it in the car like I do” Will responds from the asphalt. 

“What?!” Prince Benjamin turns around slightly to look at Will, his voice climbing higher. Will might actually have one of those celestial guns, and here Nico was thinking there would be no entertainment this morning. Nico stood up, pulling Will with him.

“Don’t worry they’re kidding, but just in case let's all walk over to Will’s car non-suspiciously to close the door, and if any not-allowed-on-school-grounds weapons happen to find their way into the dashboard, well then we don’t have to talk about it.” Nico responds, walking towards Will's truck while not letting go of his hand. 

“Wait, who is this guy, how do you even know each other?” Mal asks, glaring at Will. Nico and Will share a look.

“Will’s my boyfriend, his dads Apollo, the Gods don’t care much for mortal borders” Nico responded, sharing a look with Evie, hoping she wouldn’t call him out. Nico wasn’t ready for all the Auradon bullshit that would come from a child of Hades and a child of Apollo dating.

“So, Will’s been to the Isle, for what?” Mal asks, the grip on her dagger tightening.

“For the cuisine” Will responds, completely deadpan, staring Mal in the eye.

“Will, please” Nico said, trying not to laugh, “Sometimes the Gods need to talk to Hades, they use their children to deliver messages, right?” He turned to his boyfriend, hopefully Will caught that nobody knew his own parentage. 

“Yeah, sorry, just trying to break the tension. Hermes doesn’t have any kids right now so my dad sends me to talk with Hades sometimes. Running the underworld is hard I guess, the ones in charge right now are not exactly…experienced” Will responded, squeezing Nico’s hand. Nico was so grateful for his boyfriend's ability to improvise. Now they just had to hope Persephone didn’t take that as a slight. 

“So who wants to put weapons where they wont get confiscated so that we can, ya know, not get expelled and sent back to the Isle” Nico said, looking at Mal pointedly. If his half-sister wanted to steal the Fairy Godmother's wand she would need to be near that museum to do so. 

“Right, fine. I’ll put my dagger in your boyfriend's car” Mal rolled her eyes and walked towards the pickup truck. She sent Will a glare and he grinned back at her.

“I like her” Will whispered in Nico’s ear as they all started towards the car. Nico really hoped Mal would set it in Will's car instead of like stabbing it into the seats or something else her mother would approve of. 

“Ok, ok, ok, um so that's…not something the government knows about. It's fine. Totally fine that the gods to that” Prince Benjamin  mumbles to himself.  “Also um, I don’t know about the Isle but just to inform all of you, no weapons are allowed on school grounds” Prince Benjamin continues, eyeing Mal’s dagger with apprehension as they all walk to the car. 

“Really?!” Jay asks, jogging up to Prince Benjamins side and slinging an arm around his shoulders.

“Um…yes.” Ben says, obviously shocked with Jay’s immediate familiarity. 

“Not even, like, flash bombs? Or swords? What about axes? Or arrows, or bows? How about really small knives? Or medium sized knives? Of course big knives are just swords and I already said swords. What about Clubs? Really big sticks? Baseball bats? Tridents? Nunchucks? Weird swords that turn into other things? Polearms? Java-” Jay is cut off from continuing his disturbing list by Prince Benjamin. 

“Uh no, nope, just none of that” Prince Benjamin says, taking a step away from Jay and letting his arm fall off his shoulders. 

“Really?” Jay asks again, looking disappointed, and a little worried. “What do you all do when someone comes at you then?” 

“Um…if by that you mean attack, here people…don’t do that” Prince Benjamin responds looking increasingly concerned. Which is fair, no one in this group is what any self-respecting psychiatrist would call ‘ok’. 

“Oh then like, what do you all do in the hallways?” Carlos asks once they've stopped at the car. Nico and Will are still clinging to each other and pretending not to notice Mal and Jay depositing some of their hidden weapons into Will's passenger side. 

“Um…we walk to class, like we were doing earlier this morning” Prince Benjamin says, eyeing the weapons being haphazardly thrown into the car with nothing short of mild horror, and possibly a little impressed. Mal and Jay finish taking out what they want to and Mal takes the liberty of slamming Will's door shut. Everyone's a little quiet for a second before Nico pipes up again.

“So you’re keeping some of them then?” He asks, knowing that was definitely not all the weapons they had on them. 

Prince Benjamin's head whips around, “That wasn’t all of them?!” he asks incredulously.

“All the ones I ain’t gonna carry” Jay responds with a crooked grin “I don’t quite believe that whole no-attacks thing” he continues, making quotation marks in the air around the words no-attacks. 

“Wait,” Kaito, who’s been quiet the rest of the time, continues “did you hide weapons in our room?” he asks Nico. 

“...no.” Nico responds, you know, like a liar. 

“Right….” Kaito says, looking at him suspiciously. 

“Technically, according to the school code, we are allowed to have fencing swords and tourney sticks” Will says from Nicos side, “and both could be used as a weapon.” 

“You’ve read the school code?” Nico asks, looking at his boyfriend with raised eyebrows. That packet was huge (at least 150 pages), and in Nicos opinion not worth opening.

“Of course, I need to know just how to get away with things like holding hands with my boyfriend” Will responds, giving Nico a cheeky smile.

“Holding hands is against the code?” Nico asks, leaning into Will more.

“Only in the classroom, It's a PDA thing and now if a teacher says something I can cite the section. Aren’t you glad I read the book?” Will says, running his hand through Nico’s hair. 

“Well, let no one say you don’t have your uses” Nico says, turning his head to kiss Will. 

“And on that note, we are going to be late for class!” Evie says, rudely interrupting them in Nicos opinion, “and, maybe keep that for a room where you two are alone” she continues in a teasing voice while ushering them all back into the school building.

Nico glances down at his schedule, first period: Remedial Goodness 101 with the Fairy Godmother. Well, shit, this was gonna be awful.  

Chapter Text

“Nico, you have to let go of Will,” Mal said in a frustrated voice. 

“No.” Nico said from where he was clinging to Will's side, wrapped around him like a koala. 

“Um, you do have to go to class Nico, Fairy Godmother will probably come fetch you if you skip this class. Detention isn’t fun, I’ve heard.” Prince Benjamin said from Nicos side, he seemed anxious to get to his own class.

“Will can come with me” Nico responded, not making any moves to remove himself from his boyfriend's torso. 

“I have class too, sunshine” Will says from above him, “I don’t particularly want the office calling my dad for skipping on the first day”

“Oh my gods, he wouldn’t come here would he?” Nico asked, dropping his feet to the ground but not extracting himself from the hug. 

“He might, and your…step-mom might find out considering Apollo has never taken a call off-speaker in his entire life” Will responds. Mal and the VK’s walked into the class, Mal with a huff and a roll of her eyes. Nico guessed she would develop a healthy fear of Persephone once she got turned into a dandelion too.

“...fine, I’ll meet you outside after class” Nico said with the most put-upon voice possible as he let go of Will. Nico walks into the classroom after the Fantastic Four. 

“Nico is…a lot” Kaito says, staring after the closed door. 

“Yeah” Will responds with a soft smile on his face, “I missed him a lot” 

“Ok, we should probably show you to your class Will, don’t want to be late” Ben says, moving towards the other end of the hallway. 

“Right, ok, what class was it again?” Will asks, following the prince.

“Oh it's smiling,” Ben answered, fully deadpan.

“What? What's smiling?” Will asks, completely confused.

“Oh, no that's the class, it's about controlling facial expressions mostly” Ben says as they walk down the hall.

“...I don’t think I’m gonna last very long here” Will answers, staring into the distance with a dejected look on his face. 

“It’s ok, facial expressions just take practice, don’t worry you’ll be great” Ben says, slapping him on the back. Will turns to him, dead-eyed. 

“Yeah, that really isn’t the problem” Will responds. Ben looks at him confused. 

“Well, i’m not sure what you mean but Kaito will be with you, I actually have to go because my parents want me to attend a meeting” Ben responds before motioning to Kaito to continue to show Will his class before jogging off down the side hall. 

“It's just this way,” Kaito says quietly as they make their way through the students rushing to class at the last minute. Now at the front of the classroom door, Will sighs in frustration and mutters to himself.

“Fuck my life…” 

“If someone hands you a crying baby, do you, A, curse it? B, lock it in a tower? C, give it a bottle? Or D, carve out its heart?” Looking back towards the five students, Fairy Godmother sees Evie with her hand up, “Evie.” They’re about fifteen minutes in and Nico is so fucking done. 

“What was the second question again?” Evie asks, putting her hand down. 

“Oh, okay. Anyone else?” She asks again. Nico raises his hand, if he’s going to be stuck in this Fields of Asphodel type shit, he’s gonna have some fun with it. 

“Oh! Nico” Fairy Godmother calls excitedly and hopeful. 

“Where do we find the baby?” Nico asks, crushing her dreams of a good VK student.

“Oh…ummm that doesn’t really matter in this situation” she explains.

“What? Of course it matters! Is the baby sick or healthy? Is it in danger or being hunted? If it's in danger, having it in a tower might keep it safe. What's in the bottle? Is it poison? Is it breastmilk or formula? Because if it's a different type of milk it might as well be poison because babies can’t digest other animal milk well. Or is it water? A baby shouldn’t be given water when it's younger than six months and we don’t know how old the baby is.” Nico explains.

“Well, this is all just a hypoth-” Fairy Godmother starts to explain when Nico cuts her off.

“And where are we getting the bottle? Is it on the side of the road? Is it from a doctor? Or a shop? What kind of bottle is it? Is it suitable for the baby to drink from? What temperature is it? It has to be a certain temperature. Also, whose baby is this? Do we need to call CPS? Why are they handing a 90 pound soaking wet goth boy a child? Are they mentally ok? Do they need help?” Nico continues asking. The VK’s sat enraptured as Nico spewed his stream of questions. Evie was pretty sure it had never been more apparent that Nico had ADHD. 

“It's a normal , healthy baby! It's not sick, or hurt or-” At that moment the door to the classroom opened to reveal a young girl with short brown hair wearing a light blue knee-length dress with a small pink bow near the collar area. Standing in a frozen state, she hears Fairy Godmother call out to her.

“ Hello, dear one.”

 The girl hesitantly starts walking towards the front of the class and then speeds up right when she passes the VKs and squeaks right when she sees Nico looking intensely at her. Nico didn't mean to scare her but something was off with this girl. She didn't feel human. She was a fairy of some sort but it seems that her magic wasn't under control.

“Hi. You need to sign off on early dismissal for the coronation.” Jane told Fairy Godmother in a soft voice.

“Everyone here remembers my daughter, Jane?”

“This is our first day in Auradon” Nico responds, staring at Fairy Godmother with a calculating look. He really wanted to know why she hasn’t taught her daughter to control her magic yet. Fae magic is powerful, so Jane was a safety hazard not just herself but to the entire school and probably more if she doesn't know how to control her magic.

“Ah right. Jane, this is everyone” Fairy Godmother gestures to all the VKs, looking specifically at Nico with a pleading look. Nico can only assume he's getting on her nerves. Mission achieved. 

“Hi. That's okay, don't mind me. As you were.” Jane says in a high pitched voice as she scurries out the room. 

“Ahem. Let's continue. You find a vial of poison. Do you, A, put it in the king's wine? B, paint it on an apple? Or C, turn it over to the proper authorities?” she says, hopeful again. Nico raises his hand again, jumping up in his seat again.

“Somebody other than Nico please!” she says, before noticing Mal drawing in her notebook “What about you Mal?”

“C, turn it over to the proper authorities” Mal answers in a monotone voice, without looking up from her drawing.

“Correct!” 

“You are on fire, girl!” Carlos says, shifting in his seat.

“Just pick the one that doesn’t sound like any fun” Mal responds.

“You're such a suck-up” Jay responds, putting Carlos in a playful headlock. Obviously Jay was not entertained by these shitty questions. 

“Ow!” Carlos exclaims trying to get out of Jay's hold. They end up roughhousing on the desk while Jay calls Carlos names. It's pretty funny, especially considering Jay doesn’t mean any of them. Carlos is the youngest so obviously he has to get teased. Fairy Godmother looks at the two boys for a second, contemplating her life choices. 

“Boys. Boys! I am gonna encourage you to use that energy on the tourney field.” she says loudly from the front of the class, taping her pointing stick on the desk up front. Jay releases Carlos.

“Oh, no. That's okay. Whatever that is, We'll... We'll pass.” Carlos says, sitting back down and stretching his bad leg out under the desk subtly.

“It sounds like a game, I hope it's not like a tag” Evie whispers to Nico. Nico can’t help but agree considering the Isle’s version of the game. 

Chapter Text

Carlos, Jay, and Nico made their way to the tourney field. Fairy Godmother explained that tourney can often stand in for gym class which in Nico’s opinion is horrific. What if someone hates tourney?

Carlos stops once they get outside, they all gaze at the boys running around in American football looking outfits. Not that Carlos and Jay recognize that.

“I can’t do this,” Carlos says, watching one of the boys on the field get tackled. “I can’t do this today, I must have overdone it last night” he repeats, clenching his hands into fists at his sides. 

“Your leg acting up?” Jay asks, Carlos nods wordlessly. 

“Think we can just sit on the benches?” Nico asks, glancing over to the bleachers. He spots Will talking to the coach. He can’t read their lips but Will seems animated. “That’s where Will is”

Carlos nods and the three of them make their way around the field. Carlos starts limping soon after they start walking. He hadn’t brought his cane today.

“I thought I would be fine, Auradon doesn’t have parkour classes like Dragon Hall, ” Carlos says as he pauses. Nico notices that he’s trying to disguise the movement and the limp. That can’t make it feel better. Nico grabs Jay and Carlos’ arms and leads them to the shadow of a near-by tree. 

“Dude!” Carlos says, glaring a little.

“Carlos, do you need your cane?” Nico asks. Carlos glances around at the semi-crowded field.

“I don’t know if I should use it here, plus the dorms are, like, so far away, and all of us have this class,” Carlos responds, fidgeting with his hands self-consciously. 

“I doubt that Coach would fault you for it, plus this way you don’t have to play right?” Jay says grinning, trying to lighten the mood. It doesn’t really work. Nico realizes at that moment that they’re all still playing by the rules of the Isle. That isn’t going to work here.

“Carlos, on top of the fact that your health matters far more than any of these rich assholes' opinions, I don’t think that it's nearly as dangerous to be seen as weak here,” he says, glancing at the other kids sitting on the bleachers, “remember that kid that showed us the dorm, he looked like he was in charge of shit and I bet he doesn’t play tourney.”

Carlos stays silent for a moment, staring at Nico and thinking about what he said. “Yeah, ok, but I still don’t have a cane and there's no way I'm asking someone here.” 

Nico sighs, looks around and snaps his fingers, using the mist manipulation like Thalia taught him. It won’t be as effective here with all the magical kids but it should keep eyes off him as he uses his powers.

“Look, don’t tell anyone I can do this. I’m not ready for people to know, especially in Auradon,” Nico says as he opens a shadow pocket in one of the tree branch shadows. Nico reaches in and pulls out a spare cane he had made for Carlos a few months ago. 

Both the boys’ jaws drop open as Nico pulls out the black, white, and silver cane from the shadows. Nico silently hands it over to Carlos as the shadow pocket closes. Carlos takes the cane and leans some of his weight on it. 

“How the hell did you do that?!” Jay asks in a hushed whisper. 

“It’s something I got from my dad. Look you can’t tell anyone but Evie and Will ok? Not even Mal, I think it’ll be better if she figures it out on her own,” Nico responds, casting a glance out towards the field to make sure no ones paying attention to them. They’re lucky enough that Will is still distracting Coach and the other teenagers are too busy doing cheerleading flips and running into each other. Carlos and Jay share a look.

“Ok, fine,” Carlos says, “But I don’t think I can lie to Mal if she asks where I got the cane.”

“Don’t worry I’ll do it for you,” Jay responds, grinning.

“Yeah…there is no way Mal will believe you Jay,” Carlos states, giving Jay an unimpressed look.

“Of course not! But lying is still fun!” Jay's smile widens as he says it, his eyes glowing a little bit. That was odd Nico thought, Jay’s eyes had never glowed on the Isle. They would all have to be careful about latent magic since the barrier was no longer there to block anything. Well maybe not Carlos, but all the rest of them. 

“Hey you three!” a loud voice called from over near the bleachers, “No lollygagging. Get on over here or you will be marked absent.” That must be Coach, Nico thought. Nico turns towards the bleachers and sees Will angrily putting on the padded outfits for the tourney game. Well now he has no excuse to skip this class. Nico isn't an athletic type. Sure he may now be the second best swordsman in Camp Halfblood (a lot of people have died), but that doesn't mean he likes it. 

“Fuck…” Nico said, now looking at the coach.

“What about your leg Carlos?” Asked Jay, showing concern for the younger’s health.

“It’s the first day of classes, I’ll be fine…” Carlos tried to say reassuringly.

“Yeah, like it's normal to wince every step that you take.” Nico said bluntly. “It's best for you to inform the damn guy about your injury rather than making it worse. Plus you have a cane, he can’t ignore that. Probably.”

Turning back at the bleachers, they see that both Will and Coach were approaching their spot under the tree. Nico turns and starts walking towards the two. They all meet a little less than halfway with Carlos walking slower than normal. They're a little ways away from the field where the teenage boys are doing a mock-practice. 

“Come on, class is only an hour and we don’t have time to laze around unless you have a double-period for tourney and even then I don’t accept low effort in my class.” Coach says sternly. 

“Sorry sir, we’ve just never played tourney before,” Carlos says meekly from behind Jay. Jay had moved to block Carlos’ cane from view. 

“Well anyone can play and all three of you look relatively healthy,” his eyes paused on Nico which was really just unfair. Nico wasn’t that unhealthy! He even ate three meals most days! Well, sorta, he did skip breakfast today, and lunch yesterday, and - well who was counting.

“Right yeah, about that…” Carlos trailed as one of the boys from the tourney field jogged up to them.  

“Coach! When can we start? Oh, these villains aren’t joining us are they?” the boy with blond hair asked, spitting out the word villain like it was poison on his tongue. 

“Chad, like I said yesterday, anyone enrolled and capable participates for the mandatory hour of either tourney or cheerleading,” Coach responded, sending an admonishing look at the boy. 

“Uh huh,” Chad answers, his frat boy smile slipping off his face. Nico glared at him, relishing in the scared look Chad gives him before turning back to Coach.

“Jay can play. I won’t, Carlos can’t,” Nico says shortly, he can already feel his social battery draining and it's only ten. Will winces from where he stands next to the Coach, glancing at his own tourney armor with a defeated look. The Coach looks at Nico with a raised eyebrow. 

“Is that so?” he asks before turning to Carlos, “setting aside the emo boys attitude, why can’t you play?” his voice was laced with disbelief. 

“Umm…” Carlos hesitates before glancing at Chad's mocking grin “I can play.” 

“No!” Will, Nico and Jay say all at the same time. 

“I can try!” Carlos protests, a protest made far less convincing as he has to lean more of his weight on the cane. Not that Coach can see that. Jay was really built like a brick house, which definitely had its advantages. 

“Look, I may not be registered here in France or wherever we are,” Will cuts in, “but my dad is the god of healing and I have more than enough experience to say that Carlos, you really shouldn’t. Neither should Nico for that matter, since he hasn’t eaten since some time early yesterday.”

“How do you always know that?” Nico says under his breath, glaring a little at his boyfriend. Coach raises an eyebrow again, looking back at Nico and Carlos. 

“Well that’s definitely a good reason for Nico not to participate but I still need a valid reason for Carlos,” Coach crosses his arms as he speaks, “for the paperwork.”

“I have a bad leg,” Carlos answers quietly, avoiding eye contact. Carlos steps out from behind Jay. “It really isn’t that bad most days, I can probably participate sometimes but today's just kind of a bad day and I swear I’m not lying-” Carlos’ rambling is cut off by a laugh by Chad. 

“Oh my god, I’m surprised you’ve lived this long growing up on an island full of criminals like that!” Chad exclaims, laughing some more. 

Jay surges forward, Nico reaches out and grabs his arm before he can get to Chad. Coach gets in between them, putting a hand out towards Jay. Getting kicked out of Auradon wouldn’t be great. Speaking of which, Nico reaches into the shadows and slips Jay’s knife out of his hand before Coach can see it.

“We use our words here not our bodies so control the physical violence” 

“You Vill-”

“Chad, that's enough. You’re benched, and I will be having a talk with you later,” Coach says, cutting off whatever fucked up thing Chad was going to say next. Nico stepped up in front of Jay and forced him back another foot. Jay’s eyes had started to glow the same lingering red from the museum. Chad runs away, eyes wide, Will starts after him fists clenched. 

“William!” Coach calls.

“I’m just gonna talk with him,” Will says, turning around to look at Coach, his eyes devoid of emotion. Yeah Nico doesn’t think Chads gonna get out of this semester alive. Coach looks at Will for a long moment while Jay calms down. Coach lets Jay go.

“There will be no maiming on my field, understood?” Coach asks, looking specifically at Jay and Will. Jay just snarls back before turning to Carlos to ask if he’s ok. 

“Of course,” Will replies, giving Coach a shining smile that doesn’t quite meet his eyes.

“Carlos, I apologize for my student’s behavior, that will not be happening again. Chad will be suspended if I have anything to say about it. Which I do.” 

Carlos looks back at the coach with a blank look, his eyes staring off into the distance and his shoulders tense. “Ok” he says in a monotone voice, obviously not believing him. Or not truly hearing him, Nico isn’t sure which. 

Nico looks back over Coach’s shoulder to see Will talking to Chad. The prince looks scared, Will is probably giving him his, ‘I can break every bone in your body while naming them,’ talk. That’s good, he thinks. It's especially good because Will actually can and would do so.

“Now would you like to sit on the benches or go back inside?” Coach asks Carlos. “There’s a robotics club happening right now, as well as other places to sit away from people. Ben can show you where.” Nico can only assume the robotics club bit was due to Carlos’ obviously homemade tamagotchi keychain. 

Some light seems to return to Carlos’ eyes at the opportunity to get away from the tourney field. “Ok sure.” 

“Ben!” Coach calls out to the field, “Come over here” he doesn’t have to shout very loud considering about a third of the field had stopped to watch when Jay broke Chad's nos e. Prince Benjamin jogs over, stopping just a few feet away from where Jay still shook from anger. 

“What's going on Coach?” Ben asks, eyes catching on Carlos’ cane and slightly glazed eyes.

“I’m gonna need you to show Carlos around, to the robotics club or wherever else he needs. I’ll write you both slips for the next two periods as well as this one.” 

“Ok, um sure, is that good with you Carlos?” Prince Benjamin asks, turning towards Carlos.

“Yes”, Carlos responds in that same monotone voice, already turning away from the field. Jay goes to follow when Carlos turns around. 

“I’m fine Jay, stay here,” he commands, staring Jay in the eyes. The older boy looks a bit confused but stays put as Prince Benjamin and Carlos walk away. Silence stretches for a few seconds as Coach runs his hands through his hair. 

“C'mon boys. Jay let's get you onto the field. Get some of that anger out. After you read that rule book,” Coach Jenkins calls back as he turns to walk back to the benches. 

“What about him?” Jay asks, waving a hand towards Chad’s general direction –where he was sitting on the bleachers whining about getting detention. He spat out the last word like it personally offended his mother. Not that Nico thought that was undeserved. He would very much like to crumple Chad’s nose like it was a piece of paper. That sound would be playing back in Nico’s good dreams (not that he really had those) for a while. 

“I’ll deal with him. In the meantime I’ll have the team co-captain explain the rules.”

They reach the benches in relative calm. Coach tells them to meet at the far end, away from where Will is still giving what Nico can only assume is a terrifying description of how he was going to dismember Chad's body piece by piece considering the fact that Chad looked like he was about to wet himself. Coach walked up to them and Nico couldn’t hear what was said but Coach and Chad ended up walking back into school after talking with some of the other players.

One of the tourney players jogged up to them, an awkward smile on his face. 

“Hey, I’m the co-captain. Coach asked me to explain the rules and get you situated,” the boy with curly brown hair said to them. 

“And what the fuck makes you think I want to listen after your teammates display?” Jay asks, getting up in the slightly shorter boy's face. It definitely would be seen as threatening to someone who hadn’t fought a god before. That being said, Nico just thought it was kinda funny. Apparently Will (who had just walked over) did too as he let out a snort of laughter. 

“Um…well I kinda have to, I do not want to get on Coach Jenkins' bad side,” he said with a nervous chuckle, taking a step back from Jay. “And um sorry about Chad, nobody really likes him but we all have to be quiet about it since he’s King Charming’s son and well….” 

“So what you're saying is, he’s just allowed to be an ableist shithead just because his dad is a King that people like more than yours?” Will asks, glaring at the boy, although Nico could tell that Will was far more pissed at society than this kid.

“Uh, yeah basically. I mean my dads just Sultan Aladdin not, well, not King Charming,” the kid chuckles nervously, wringing his hands. 

“So? They are both kings, are they not?” Nico asks, crossing his arms.

“Plus, your parents have their own damn country. All Charming has is a piece of France,” Will continues, looking no less angry than before. Ancients, Nico was in love with him. 

“Yeah but….it’s more complicated than that. We’re really not supposed to talk about it like that,” the kid laughs nervously again, “I’ve never really had to explain it before…”

“Your parents are Aladdin and Princess Jasmine?” Jay interrupts, looking far more interested. That spark that Nico recognized from the Isle returned to his eyes.

“Oh, um yes! Although my parents are Sultans now. Anyway I don’t know how much it matters, I should really explain the rules of Tourney before Coach gets back,” the boy's eyes flitted sideways. Nico narrowed his eyes, he could tell when someone was trying to change the subject because they were scared and this kid wasn’t particularly good at it. 

“You haven’t told us your name,” Jay pointed out, crossing his arms. Nico got the impression he had no intention of dropping the subject.

“Oh, Right! Introductions. I’m Aziz Bobolonius of Agrabah . You’re Jay right?” Aziz turned to Nico and Will before waiting for an answer, “And what are your guys’ names?”

“I’m Will Solace, this is Nico Di Angelo. He's not playing but Coach didn’t explain the rules to me either. Do you actually kill people in the Kill Zone or is that just a name?” 

Aziz stared at Will like he had just asked if they kicked babies here in Auradon. “Are you from the Isle too?”

“No, I’m from Greece,” Will answered confusedly.

“Oh,” Aziz looked at him again with a disbelieving glance, “No, uh nobody dies on school grounds-” 

Nico interrupts him with a snort of laughter. Yeah right, Nico had felt at least three souls that died in just the last two days. 

“Sorry,” Nico said, trying to muffle his laughter. 

“Well, ok, the Kill Zone is just where you have to get the ball for the most points. The goal is to have the ball when it hits the ground. It's called that because you get tackled a lot in the Kill Zone. Oh! and if the ball touches the ground when it's not in the Kill Zone your team loses a point.”  Aziz kept talking but Nico was in no way interested in listening. It's not like he was going to play anyway. 

At least he’d be able to watch Will run around. Nico smiled at the thought, and here he thought PE was going to be boring. 

Chapter Text

Class Schedules:

Carlos sat down on the bench, resting against the tree behind him. He rubbed his leg as another shooting pain went through his muscles. Nerve damage was so f*cking awful . Carlos smiled a little bit thinking about what his friends would think if they knew he cursed in his head. 

“Sorry this courtyard is kinda far away from the tourney field, it's the quietest place on campus” Ben says from next to him on the bench. 

“It’s fine, it’s really not that bad” that was a lie, but he didn’t need the literal Reigning Prince doing any more for him. 

“Hey, I think I know something that might make you feel better, or well it does for most people” Ben stood up smiling at him. 

“Is it drugs? Because I don’t do that” Carlos responds. Ben looks at Carlos like he had just asked if Ben was going to chop off someone's head and stick it on a pike. 

“No, no we don’t really…is that…do you get offered that a lot on the Isle?”

“Yes,” Carlos responds, completely deadpan. Ben stares off into the distance, seemingly doing breathing exercises. Carlos doesn’t know why, it's not that unusual. Plus, weed and poppies are two of the few things that will grow on the Isle. 

“Ok, well that's something on the to do list of things i need to fix” he says running a hand through his hair “anyway no, its an animal” 

“Yeah, sure” Carlos responds, the world was going a little fuzzy again so he didn’t really comprehend Ben leaving but at some point he sees him return. He kinda just materializes out of thin air, although Carlos was pretty sure only Nico could do that. He was holding something in his arms, something fuzzy. As Carlos’ vision swam into focus he looked more closely at it. It was relatively small, although the only animal Carlos had for reference was birds and alligators. Now that he was looking closer though, it seemed to have sharp teeth, and beady eyes, and - holy f*ck that was a dog! Carlos tried to jump up and away from the dog but his leg spasmed and he went tumbling to the ground. Cane forgotten on the bench in favor of getting away from the vicious pack animal. 

“Ben, that's a dog! They’re vicious rabid pack animals, why are you holding it?! It’s gonna attack you!”

“Hey, woah woah woah, no it's ok here I’m sorry” Ben turns around and sets the dog down far away from them, telling it to stay. Like it would listen! Ben turns back and hands Carlos his cane.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think-wait who told you that?”

“My mom” Carlos says, while using Ben's hand to stand up while he watches the dog sitting at the edge of the small courtyard. Why was it actually staying? 

“Cruella?”

“She’s a dog expert, a dog yellerer” Carlos responds “Whenever i talked about Auradon she would tell me stories about vicious all the dogs and how they can kill you! And chase you off cliffs!”

“You’ve never actually met a dog before have you?” Ben asks, walking back over to the thing. Carlos leans heavily on his cane. 

“No, of course not! She tried to protect me from them”

“Huh..ok. Dude, meet Carlos” the dog wags its tail “Carlos meet dude, he’s the campus mutt.”

“He doesn't look like a vicious, rabid pack animal. Jeez.” Carlos walks towards Dude slowly.

“You can hold your hand out to meet him”

“Dogs can shake hands?” 

“Haha, yeah but they like to smell people when they first meet them”

“Do they smell fear?” Carlos whispers. Ben smiles.

“No, not really, especially not Dude. He loves people” 

Carlos holds out his hand to the dog. Dude trots over to him and sniffs at his hand before full on licking it. Carlos yelps before laughing a little bit. Carlos sits down on the bench again and Dude hops up next to him. 

“You're a good boy, aren't you? You're a good boy” Carlos says to Dude, mimicking how he’s heard Uma and Harry talk to the alligators. 

“I guess you guys have it pretty rough on the island” Ben says from where he’s standing a few feet away.

“Yeah. Let's just say we don't get a lot of belly rubs” 

“Do you want to see the robotics club?” 

Carlos thinks for a moment, petting Dude as the dog lays its head on his good leg. “Can you show it to me in a little bit?” 

“Sure” Ben says smiling “I’ll come back in a little bit, alright? I’ll be near the library, I’ve gotta get some books but you can come find me too. There should be a map on the school website. You did get the school phone right?” 

“Yeah, I’m good you can go” Carlos got the feeling Ben was a bit of a worrier. He smiled as he saw Ben jog out of the courtyard. Carlos was very glad that dogs weren't what his mother said they were. Dude was pretty awesome.  

After drooling over Will's ridiculously fit body while he was playing tourney, Nico started walking over to Evie, Ben, Audrey, and an unfamiliar guy.  Nico wondered why Prince Benjamin was here, he thought he was showing Carlos around. 

“Where is he?” Nico asks bluntly, glaring at Prince Benjamin. Will puts a hand on Nico’s shoulder to calm him down. Prince Benjamin turned around in shock, in fact everyone jumped a little when Nico spoke. He hadn’t even been walking that quietly, and Will was with him. People in Auradon we're so oblivious. 

“Oh, um you mean Carlos? He really enjoyed the robotics club so he’s still there for the next class period” the prince then gave Nico one of those dazzling smiles that must have taken years to perfect. Nico kept glaring at him. 

“Oh, did something happen to Carlos?” Evie asks, dragging her eyes away from the unknown teenager standing next to Audrey. 

“He’s fine. We’ll talk later.” Nico turns around and starts walking off to his next class, Will and Evie in tow. Evie waves goodbye to the stranger with a megawatt smile on her face before turning back to Nico more seriously. 

“So, what happened? A fight? You were at a tourney right? Oh no, did Jay punch someone? He knows that doesn’t give you extra credit here on Auradon right?” 

“Sorta, Carlos needed to step out and this asshole said some shit. Jay broke his nose.” Nico explained, grinning like a feral possum. 

“Ben showed Carlos somewhere else and Coach Jenkins forced Jay to play tourney for double periods. The asshole should still be in the principal's office.” Will continued, wrapping an arm around Nico’s shoulders. Evie frowned and glanced around them.

“Don’t tell Mal this,” she said lowering her voice “I like it here. But if Carlos is in more danger here than the Isle I don’t give a fudge about some wand” 

“I don’t think any of us are. Coach Jenkins seemed pretty alright. Hopefully most of the adults are like that” 

“I don’t know Will, everyone here is pretty fucking hypocritical” Nico responds.

“I don’t know about that weird little goth kid. I think he may have brainwashed the new kid,” Li Xiao, the son of Mulan, says to Ben. 

“You think a quote ‘weird little goth kid’ brainwashed the son of a god?” Ben asks Li Xiao, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. 

“No offense, Bennybear, but you're just too trusting. Look, I know your mom fell in love with a big nasty beast who turned out to be a prince. But with my mom, the evil fairy was just the evil fairy. That girl's mother.” Audray says, clinging to Ben and pointing a little ways down the hall where Mal was vandalizing her locker. 

“I think you’re wrong about them, I’ll see you later!” Ben responds, obviously distracted by Mal. He extracts himself from Audreys arms and walks off towards Mal. 

“Well, I mean, the blue haired girl is pretty at least. She seemed ok at the chemistry too. Mostly pretty though” Li Xiao says to Audrey as they watch Ben walk off. Audrey turns around in a huff and Li Xiao follows. 

“Don’t you have a big tourney thing coming up? Maybe Ms. Pretty at least can do your homework for you” Audrey says before turning down a hallway to her next class. Li Xiao watches her walk off before continuing towards his own class. That wouldn’t be a bad idea, as long as his parents never find out of course. 

“Hey,” Ben says as he walks up to Mal.

“Hey”

“How was your first day?” 

“Super.” Mal responds in a monotone voice, slamming her locker shut. 

Looking at Mal’s locker, Ben awkwardly changed the conversation to her artwork that could be very much considered vandalism, but hey art is a way to express one’s emotions, so who was he to judge? Plus it was really good, and it obviously took a lot of time to make.

“You should really think about taking this talent off the locker and into art class. I could, uh, sign you up. What do you think?” Ben said, looking at Mal and her locker.

“Way to take all the fun out of it” Mal replied dryly.

“Huh.”

The last bell of the day finally goes off with an ear splitting shriek. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration but Nico is about fucking done with all the loud noises today. He would really like to just sit in his dark bed with Will and not do or see anything for the rest of the day. Unfortunately other people still existed, not to mention Kaito, and Will was rooming with someone named Herkie. Nico honestly couldn’t think of a more awful name, other than maybe Octavian. He walked out of his last class of the day, cooking. Which was particularly unfortunate considering Nico was now doused in so much powdered sugar he was pretty sure it looked like he had just fallen into a truck full of cocaine. 

Nico stalked down the hall, trailing an unidentified powder behind him. Honestly these Auradon kids we're testing his patience. Not only did some idiot manage to dump an entire bag of powdered sugar on him but they managed to do it right at the end of class so he couldn’t skip to get cleaned up. Nico wasn’t stupid enough to pretend it wasn’t on purpose. It was fine, he’d been bullied before. The key was to slip into the shadows before Will found out and went batshit on what's his face that couldn’t seem to correctly hold a bag of sugar. Nico stepped into the bathroom, thankfully no one was in there and Nico’s natural affinity to being hidden kept anybody from doing more than whisper and giggle. 

He managed to wash his face off and was about to shadow travel back to the dorms to shower before he had to meet Will when he heard voices coming from the adjacent bathroom. It wasn’t any of his business what went on in the girls bathroom but then he could feel the magic coming from the adjacent room. 

“Wow! You almost don't notice your... Other features anymore” Mals voice drifted from the other room.

“Do my nose!” another voice echoed, one that Nico only barely recognized. What was his sister doing?

“Oh, I can't. I've been practicing, but you know, I can't do really big magic. Not like your mom with her wand. I mean, one swoosh from that thing and you could probably have whatever features you wanted” 

Oh well that was just bullshit. Nico rolled his eyes. If Mal wanted to fuck with the preppy Auradon girls insecurities who was Nico to stop her? Especially after today. Although maybe it was perpetuating the patriarchy or something. Well, Mal was probably just trying to get the wand and as long as nobody was getting violently physically hurt Nico did not have the bandwidth to do anything about it. He stepped into one of the shadows just as Mal was convincing whatever poor girl it was to get her an audience with Fairy Godmother's wand. Oh well, Nicos priority was showering and lying to Will about why he smelled like the tooth fairy's worst nightmare (sugar obviously). 

Chapter Text

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During chemistry, Evie was talking with Doug –who apparently knew everything about everyone. Although their conversation wasn’t that interesting, she did want to know more of the handsome prince that was hanging out with Ben. 

Turning to Doug, who was sitting to her right, she leans over to him.

“Hey by any chance is he in line for a throne? Anywhere in line?” Evie asked, whispering as to not get caught by the teacher.

“Xiao. Li Xiao. General Mulan and General Li Shang’s eldest son. Li Xiao inherited the looks, but not a lot of personality, know what I mean?” Doug replies to Evie’s questions, although not as quiet.

“Looks like personality to me” She says tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Evie. Perhaps this is just a review for you. So tell me, what is the average atomic weight of silver?” Mr. Deley  said annoyed at Evie and Doug not paying attention to the lecture. Even though everyone knew that he wasn't being paid enough to care, but hey pop off.

Standing from her desk, Evie walked to the front of the class where the blackboard was. Grabbing the chalk that Mr. Deley had in his hand. She stares at the problem, sighs and starts writing.

“Atomic weight? Uh, well, not very much. I mean, It's an atom, right? Let's see. How do I find the average atomic weight of silver? That would be 106.905 times .5200, plus 108.905 times .4800, which, Mr. Deley, would give us 107.9 amu…” Sure Evie was smart and was probably able to do it without the mirror in her sleeve, but why waste her energy on something so unimportant.

"A.M.U," Doug called out, correcting her pronunciation. He was still amazed by her problem solving skills, especially since he believed that it was a question from a unit that was months away.

“I forget. Always a mistake to underestimate…” he said in a scornful tone, really not expecting her to answer the question, much less answer it correctly.

“A villain?” Evie interrupted. “Don't make it again.” She tossed the chalk back at Mr. Deley. Turning back to walk to her seat, tossing her hair over her shoulder confidently.

Nico finally got out of the shower, apparently it's a lot harder to get flour out of your hair than he thought. It should not have taken 3 washes to get it all out, he was surprised that Will didn't ask if he was okay –since he did spend 1 ½ hours trying to wash it all out. After finally drying his hair and getting the outfit that he laid out, he was able to meet Will in front of the dorm entrance.

Talking to each other while walking around campus, Nico and Will spotted the bleachers –a place that shouldn’t have anyone around at the time and was secluded enough that no one would be around to disturb any activities that they wanted to do.

Walking behind the bleachers, they sat down on the soft grass. Will pulled out a small basket that contained some of Nico's favorite food and some dessert ( JJ: You guys thought it was a smut scene huh?) . 

Nico had wanted some alone time with Will, but somehow he was never able to get what he wanted. As suddenly both Will and Nico heard Evie and Li Xiao talking farther along the bleachers. They moved closer, careful to avoid Doug who was also there for some reason.Well, its not like either of them would turn down entertainment. Plus, Nico had to make sure Li Xiao wasn’t trying to take advantage of Evie.

“Is everybody at home as pretty as you?” Li Xiao said flirtatiously at Evie. Will and Nico looked at each other, Li Xiao definitely had other motives for his flirting.

“I like to think I'm the fairest of them all.” Evie replied, tugging her hair behind her ear. “Now. How many rooms are there in your castle?”

“It's more like a palace. So, there's too many rooms to count.” He said smiling at Evie. “You really nailed that chemistry problem today. You're gonna have all the nerds in love with you,”

“Oh..I'm not that smart.” Evie said shyly while looking at the ground.

“Oh, come on. No one was able to even start to answer the problem. Much less get it correct.” Li Xiao complemented the girl. Although it seemed as if he actually meant it, which surprised Nico.

“No,really, I'm not. But I'm…I'm really good at sewing and cooking..Oh and cleaning. You know like your mo- …umm father. I've heard he's really good.” She said correcting her small mistake. It wasn't everyday where the husband was the one cooking, sewing, or cleaning, especially in Auradon .

“He is a great cook, his food is to die for.” Li Xiao said proudly. Of course right after admitting his fondness of his father's cooking, he tried to compose himself; bringing the flirtatious act back.

Pulling out the small shard of the enchanted mirror out of her pocket. Evie goes to show Li Xiao the magical object. 

“See this? If I ask it things, it tells me.”

“You're kidding…” he said, shocked at the revelation of the small mirror.

“No!”

“Where's my phone?”

“It won't work for you, silly.”

“It's fine. My parents will buy me a new one if it's malfunctioning.”

“General Mulan and General Li Shang?” She asks.

“Yes.”

“And the magical dragon?” 

“Yes…” Li Xiao now uncomfortable with Evie listing off his family members. It was weird, no girl has ever done this.

“Talking of magical beings…Fairy Godmother is a magical creature right?” Evie suddenly changed the subject, which relieved Li Xiao.

“Well, yeah. She's a fairy.” Li Xiao answered her question as if it was common knowledge, which it was.

“Her wand…I heard it’s stuck in some dumb boring museum. Do they always keep it there?”

“Well, I would really like to continue our conversation, but… Well you see I'm very swamped. Unless…”

“Unless?”

“If you can knock all my homework out along with yours. Then maybe we could… I dont know… hang out sometime?” 

“Okay!” Evie replied. Her only goal at the moment was to get close to Li Xiao and be able to later live in that sweet castle…or palace. It didn't matter, his family was of high status and that was enough for Evie.

“Thanks, băobèi.” He said, winking at her and walking back towards the dorms.

“Yeah…bye.” She said, not understanding the last word that he said. It was probably something sweet in Mandarin. Evie now looked disappointed with herself for not learning the language. 

“I couldn’t help but overhear…” Doug out of nowhere spoke. Evie jumped at his voice, not expecting him to appear.

“Are You stalking me?!” Evie shouted at him. 

Nico and Will share a look. Worry creased Nico’s face, Li Xiao's words were not exactly charming, and her safety may be in question if Doug was stalking her. Evie was a pretty girl, and back in their original world, stalking can turn dangerous at any moment. Nico stood up, ready for anything the nerdy guy was about to do. Will grabs Nico's arm.

“Just wait a moment, let's keep listening and if there are any signs that something bad is going to happen, I’ll handle it. It's better for me to get in fights Nico, you're still a villain here and I can’t lose you to the Isle again” Will whispered, dragging him back down. Nico nodded, lacing their hands together. Nico couldn't lose Will again either. 

“Technically…yes.” Doug said boldly. Taking both Will and Nico back, cause what the fuck. Who just admits to that shit? 

“I too, have a fascination with Fairy Godmother's wand. Which is another reason I look forward to coronation day. Perhaps we could sit next to each other and discuss its attributes.” That wasn't what Nico was expecting at all. He was glad that it didn't take a turn for the worst, but that was a really weird way of asking someone out.

“Are you saying they use it in the coronation?” Evie asked Doug. Nico blinked in disbelief, that really wasn’t the question he would have started with. 

“Yes. And asking you out…” Doug said to Evie, nervous about her answer. But that answer wasn't given to him, it honestly made Nico feel bad for him. Evie just thanked him and walked past him with one goal in mind ( JJ: Make it back alive to our homeland! ), tell Mal the new information she had. 

Nico turned to Will, “I think that’s enough excitement for one unfinished picnic, want to go make sure the next plan Mal comes up with isn’t as dangerous as the last?” 

“Or stupid” Will muttered under his breath as they started packing up the picnic. Nico paused to watch Doug walk away dejectedly before realising what his boyfriend just said. 

“Hey, that’s my sister your talking about”

“I know, I know, it's just that robbing the museum had a very high percentage of getting caught. I mean, if Carlos hadn’t been there y’all totally would’ve been caught. Did you guys even have a plan for the barrier?” Will asked, standing up to face Nico, picnic forgotten. 

“Well, we’re kinda on a time limit here-”

“Not that much of one! The first night, really? I mean, you could have at least waited for literally anybody to trust you guys first!”

“Well I wasn’t the one making the plan! And my mom isn’t gonna hang me outside the castle if we fail or whatever jacked up shit Maleficent likes to do! This isn’t exactly low stakes for us!” Nico responded, raising his voice. 

“How is not making a decent plan doing anything positive?! You can be so reckless sometimes!”

“Me?! I’m reckless, I'm not the one with weapons in my car!” Nico responded, stepping forward. His face flushing and his voice turning into an angry whisper. 

“I can afford to have that-”

“Oh well, excuse me for wanting to help the people that were there for me for 8 months including my own-” Nico cut himself off, stepping back. “Wait, I hadn’t told you about the museum yet. How did you know all that?”

Will stayed quiet, looking down at their abandoned picnic, his face going red. 

“Holy fuck, Apollo was there wasn’t he?” Nico asked in a hush whisper, “I knew that dam wax statue was too realistic to be true”

“I’m sorry, I should have said something-”

“Yeah Will, it would have been nice to know your dad was spying on us while one of my friends was having a mental breakdown and the other three were doing something exceptionally illegal!”

“Yes, I know! Look, it's not like my dad is gonna say anything to the mortals, and we haven't really had time to talk!”

“You don’t think you could have pulled me aside and, oh I don’t know, said something about-”

“Nico” Will cut him off, he glared up at his boyfriend “I’m sorry…it’s just, I’m scared ok? We're not in peril of dying but we're still in danger and neither of us can do anything about it!”

Nico turned away from him, looking across the field at the school. “We can.”

“What?”

“We can do something about it,” Nico clarified, turning back to Will. 

“You don’t actually think giving the wand to Maleficent is the right choice, do you? I mean if you do I’ll back you but-”

“No, no. But we can help Mal and the others survive until we come up with a better plan.” Nico said, interrupting Wills rant.

“How can you be sure we’ll figure out a plan? Especially before Mal.”

“Because, amore mio, we always do” Nico responded, taking Will’s hand in his own. “Now let's get back inside before Evie gets finished with the whole schools homework, that might cause even more problems”

Will chuckled and helped Nico pack up the picnic. They would figure this out, Nico decided. How hard could it be?

Chapter Text

Nico stared at the door in front of him. He definitely regretted his last statement. They were definitely planning something and like Will predicted,  it could go totally wrong. Maybe his boyfriends new powers were useful after all —since before he was stuck reciting haikus(That was really the worst 10 minutes of his life). 

Nico and Will had wanted to go back to one of their dorms but with the risk of Herkie or Kaito walking in on them kissing they decided to come here instead. It was safer to just come here, to Mal and Evie's dorm, even if they had to hear the awful plan Mal was bound to come up with. Nico sighed and knocked on the door.  

Opening the door and seeing the two males outside, Evie stands in surprise. “How come you guys are here?” she asks.

“Safest place for us to be us and no one will walk in.” Will responded as they walked in “Also because Nico didn't want to be in our dorms, in his words ‘The aesthetics are clashing’, which is weird cause he usually doesn't care about that…”

“I can hear you guys.” Nico said, rolling his eyes at both of them, causing Will to smile at him and learn forwards to kiss the crown of his head. Blushing at Will's action, he hugs his boyfriends and hides his face on Will's chest. It was an adorable sight until Mal interrupted their affection session. 

“Can you both not be all sappy in my dorm, it's disgusting and we have a mission to complete.” She said, annoyed at their display. Shaking his head in disagreement, Will heard someone knock at the open door. Looking back, he sees Jane at the door. 

“Hi…hope I'm not interrupting anything.” Jane says quietly. It was obvious that she wanted to talk to Mal, probably about her hairdo or makeup or outfit. 

Will and Nico looked at each other, they knew that they wouldn't have the privacy of being with each other like they wanted. Sighing in annoyance Nico dragged Will to Evie's empty bed and layed down, moving a bit in order for Will to join him. In the next few seconds, Nico was close to falling asleep in Will's arms; if only there wasn't any company with them, he probably would have been sleeping like a baby ( here ). Will knew that Nico needed the extra hours of sleep, his face said it all and as Nico's health provider and boyfriend, it was his job to make sure Nico was healthy.

After Mal layed down on her bed while doing what seemed to be her homework and Evie grabbed some leftover fabric for a new outfit she was making, Jane started to vent. Venting was fine in Nico's book, but not when he was trying to rest in his boyfriend's arms. Shifting from his position, Nico turned to face the girls while still laying down by Will.

"Mom said, 'If a boy can't see the beauty within‘, then he's not worth it.’ Can you believe it? What world does she live in?” Jane exclaimed, throwing her hands up.

"She sounds like my dad…” Nico replied to Jane's ranting. "It seems that she's trying to protect you from dirtbags here at Auradon Prep. From my experience parents' protectiveness comes in handy. Why do you think I'm in a healthy relationship? My father threatened Will that if anything happened to me he would be tortured for all eternity.” Nico said with the utmost monotone voice possible while gesturing to Will. Jane stared at them like Nico had just said his dad kicked babies for fun. 

"That's true. Took a long time in order to get his favor and also the trust of his mom and mamma.” Will mentioned. (The second time Nico had ever summoned his mamma she met Will, she was not all that impressed although Nico still thinks that was the language barrier). Nico blushed, he was flustered at the title that Persephone has, it hasn't been that long that he started calling her that and was still trying to get used to it.

“Nico, Mal. Do you like?” Evie asked, holding up her creation.

"Looks good E.” Nico said, glancing at the coat.

"Yeah. It's cute. It brings out your eyes.” Mal replied to Evie's question.

"I'll never get a boyfriend.” Jane exclaimed while collapsing besides Mal on the bed.

"Boyfriends are overrated,” Mal interrupted Jane. Then looking at Will, "No offence.” 

"No worries Mal.” Will reassured, then looking at Jane, "Mal's right though, most guys aren't as romantic as the fairytales like to make them seem. I think the only romantic I've met that can be seen in that light is Hades. Hades and Persephone's story is romantic, just ignore the kidnapping.”

"I get Nico and Will. But how would you know, Mal? You've never had one." Evie said, her face twisting into confusion right after, after hearing Will's statement about one of the biggest villains as the Most Romantic.

"It's 'cause I don't need one, E, They're a waste of time.“ 

Suddenly gasping, Evie starts to panic. Causing everyone to look at her alarmed. "I forgot to do Li Xiao's homework! Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no.” she then got up from her corner to go look in her bag for the stack of papers.

"And that's exactly what I mean” 

Hearing a knocking from the still open door, Lonnie comes in. Nico and Will had History with her so they’d met. He contemplated telling her what Li Xiao was doing, but seeing Evie already starting, he decided to wait until the right time came around. Plus, Lonnie looked like she was on a journey of self discovery and Nico didn’t want to interrupt that. 

"I'm Lonnie."She said waiting for a response from Evie and Mal,  she was met with silence and confused stares. "My mom's Mulan…” 

 “Hey Lonnie.” Will replied. Being happy that she knew someone besides Jane, she waved at them. 

"Anyways. I love what you've done with Jane's hair. And I know you hate us, and,well, based on the rumors you're evil. But do you think you could do mine?” 

Surprised at her question, Mal quickly turned her head towards Lonnie and asked "Why would I do that for you?”

"I'll pay you 150 dollars” Lonnie said, taking out a pouch full of clinking coins. 

“Good answer. I need to buy more material. Let's see, I'm thinking, we lose the bangs, maybe some layers and some highlights.” Evie says, taking the money and pushing Lonnie towards the mirror.

“Yeah, yeah, I want it cool like Mals,” she says. Nico snorts, the one thing he didn’t expect coming to Auradon was becoming a trendsetter. 

“Really?” Mal asks, glaring at Nico a bit. SHe gets off the bed and flips through her spellbook.

“The split ends too?” Evie asks. Mal walks to the side of Lonnie and studies her spellbook for a few minutes before pointing at Lonnie.

“Okay... Beware, forswear, replace the old with cool hair." Mal chants, waving her hand around. Everyone pauses looking at Lonnie's new hair. Well it could be worse Nico thinks. 

“I know. I know. It looks like a mop on your head. You know what? Let's cut it off, layer it…” Evie starts, taking out hair cutting scissors from the gods know where.

“No, no, no, no, no, no! I love it.” Lonnie says, hurriedly brushing Evie away and stepping up to the mirror. 

“You do?” Evie asks, still not putting the scissors away.

“It's just…” Lonnie grabs the bottom of her skirt and rips it. Nico stares at her surprised. That skirt was definitely designer. 

“Now I’m cool.” Lonnie says, staring at herself in the mirror. Nico visibly cringes.

“What the fuck” He mutters under his breath, he simply cannot deal with the ridiculousness of these preppy kids. Jane gasps from where she sits on Mal's bed. Lonnie looks over to him and grins.

“Now that's cool!” she says. Nico grimaces and his face turns red. Him saying the f-word is not cool, it's just cursing! Will laughs at Nico's second hand embarrassment, although he would admit that while Lonnie's words were cringe but he has heard worse.

Jane stands up from Mal's bed and walks towards the mirror and grabs the bottom of her dress. Then proceeding to rip it to create the same slit that Lonnie had in her skirt. Nico died inside, again. 

Gasping at her own actions, she looks into the mirror. “What did I just do?! Mom's gonna kill me!” 

Chapter Text

At the tourney field, Jay and the coach were sitting on the bleachers ( MS: I was over on the bench!) . The coach wanted something from Jay, which Jay wasn't used to. Usually Jay was the one asking for things…well more like taking things without asking. That’s basically the same thing. 

“I could really use a tough guy like you. The team's a bunch of…princes, if you know what I mean.”

“You're telling me,” Jay said, rolling his eyes. “It's all ‘After you old chum. Oh pardon me, did I bump into you?’” Jay then continued by mocking his teammate. The coach listened and silently laughed at Jay's remarks. 

“Where I come from, it's “Prepare to die, fu– sucker!” Quickly correcting himself and then slamming a stack of what seems to be papers to the bench in front of them. “As my father says,” Jay stands up from his seat he continues to rant, “‘The only way to win is to make sure everyone else loses! You rip…’”  starting to go into a fighting position that seems as if he is about to murder someone. 

Seeing this change in Jay, the Coach stands up to try and calm Jay down.

“Jay! Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay. Let me explain a team.” The coach says slowly bring down Jay to the bench. “It's like a family.”

“You do not want to be at my house at dinner time.” Jay says casually informing the coach. The coach, obviously concerned with the broad information that Jay had given him, knew that he would need to think of a new way to explain a team for Jay to understand. And also maybe look into a school counseling program for these kids.

“Okay, okay.” He went silent for a bit before continuing “You know how a body has a lot of different parts? The legs, elbows, ears. But they all need each other. Well, that's what a team is.” Seeing that Jay was finally piecing the parts together, the Coach continues with his explanation.

“Different players who work together to win. Does that make any sense?” The coach says hoping that Jay understood his explanation. Feeling Jay's arm wrapped around him, he turns to Jay smiling.

“Can I be the fist?” Jay asks excitedly, showing his fist to the coach. The coach knew that Jay had the spirit and nervously laughed at first, as he was worried that it could go badly in the future. But he had hope for this kid, plus Jay just had a lot of energy that he needed to get out. Now comfortably laughing with Jay, he grabs Jay's fist and chuckles. Then he grabs the jersey that was lying on the bench next to them. He unfolds it, the name ‘Jay’ was imprinted on the back with the number 8. The kid grins at him and takes the jersey in his hands. 

“So cool!” 

Nico relaxed against Will and was just starting to doze off. Lonnie and Jane had left and Evie’s sewing machine created a nice even sound. Like a white noise machine. Of course the universe hated Nico and couldn’t possibly abide by him getting enough sleep because right at that moment the door banged open again. 

“Yo-ho-ho” Jay said, way too loudly. Nico jolted up and threw one of Evie’s pillows at him with deadly accuracy. Well, it was a pillow so it wasn’t deadly, but it did hit Jay in the head. 

“Hey, what was that for?” he asked, pouting as he tossed the pillow back at Nico. Carlos snickered behind him. 

“Did the plan work?” Carlos asked as he sat down on the ottoman between the beds. 

“Yeah are ya going to go see the magic stick?” Jay asks, flopping onto the end of the bed where Nico and Will were cuddling. Nico just wanted to sleep, not hear the fantastic four panic about the deadline.

“Do you think that I would be going through every spell in this book? If I hadn't completely struck out?” Mal yells out at Carlos, immediately regretting her actions once she sees Carlos flinch and lower his head. Will, who was right next to Nico, saw Carlos’ shoulders start to shake in silent crying. Getting up from the bed, much to Nico's silent protest, he goes to comfort Carlos. Slowly guiding him over towards Nico, then having Carlos sit between the both of them. Both Nico and Will were used to this action, as they did it a lot for the campers back home when they needed parental figures for a short while.

"Sorry Carlos, I've been so stressed… I shouldn't have yelled at you but my mom's counting on me. Our lives are in danger if we don't finish this mission before the school year ends.”

“I know, I don’t even know why I'm crying, everything has just been a lot.” Carlos says in between sniffles and silent tears.

Jay then speaks up, wanting to lighten the mood. "We can do this… If we stick together ".

Slightly smiling at Jay, Mal then replies "And we won't go back until we do. Because we're rotten…” then waited for their reply.

"To the core.” The fantastic four replied, well except Carlos. He was still crying slightly in Will's arms while Nico caressed his head, like he used to do with Hazel.

" Oh, yeah.” Evie said suddenly. Which caused everyone to look at her, waiting for her to continue. "I found out that Fairy Godmother blesses Ben with the wand at the coronation and we all get to go. I have nothing to wear, of course.” Coming out of her thoughts, she looks around and finds herself to be met with stares. "What?”

Shaking her head, Mal then hears a knock at the door. "Hold that thought”, she then goes to open the door, only to be met with Prince Benjamin himself.

"Hey, Mal. I didn't see you guys later today. I was just wondering if you had any questions or anything ... That ... you needed" seeing the other people in the dorm.

"Not that I know of." Mal says to Ben,

"Okay. All right. Well, uh, if you need anything, just, uh…” Ben tried to answer while finding the right words.

Suddenly getting an idea, Mal decides to ask a question. " Oh , wait! Um... is it true that we all get to go to your coronation?”

Happy that he could be of use, Ben speaks up "Yeah, the whole school goes.”

"Wow. That is beyond exciting. Do you think that it's possible that the five… uh… six of us could stand in the front row next to Fairy Godmother, just so we could soak up all that goodness?" Mal says, realizing this was the perfect chance to set up the plan to get the wand. Nico can’t help but think that maybe Will was right about this all ending in disaster. Stealing the wand at coronation? Seriously?

 "I wish you could. Up front, it's just me, my folks, and my girlfriend.” Ben says, frowning. ‘Thank the gods’ Nico thinks. 

"And your girlfriend?”

"Yeah, I'm sorry.”

"Okay. Thanks, bye" She then proceeds to slam the door.

Ben tries to cheer up Mal right as the door gets slammed in his face. "Oh, but no, there's plenty of …” Sighing when the door is closed, Ben turns around and walks back towards the entrance of the dorms. He really hoped that Mal would open up to him and the other VK’s too. This program wouldn’t work if they didn’t work with him. And if the program didn’t work, then nobody would be coming off the Isle and his parents might suspend the coronation. Of course that’s just a worse case scenario, but nobody really wanted his dad running the kingdom anymore and… (Ben’s anxious thoughts continue as he walks down the hallway, trapped in his own head)

Inside the dorm, Mal had an idea in order to get the wand. 

"I think it's time that Bennyboo got himself a new girlfriend…And I need a love spell.” Mal said, smirking to herself.

Well that’s the worst idea Nico had ever heard, and it's not like it would work. Done with their bullshit, Nico turned away from them and proceeded to fall asleep with Carlos dozing off next to him and them both wrapped protectively in Wills arms. Hopefully Mal didn’t wake them up to help with whatever snake oil love potion she would come up with.

Chapter Text

After 4 hours, Nico, Will and Carlos were woken up by the rest of the Fantastic Four to go to the kitchen. Apparently the new plan was to make Ben fall in love with Mal in order to get the wand at coronation.

Reluctant of going out and making this inane love potion, Nico slowly dragged himself out of bed to go with the rest of the group. Walking next to Will, who was holding a very sleepy Carlos steady, towards the communal kitchen of the dorm. Why somewhere as posh as Auradon had a student kitchen, Nico just could not figure out.

As they made it to the kitchen, Mal opened the door, when out of nowhere she stopped in her tracks. Looking past her, Nico saw a figure.

Looking around at the group, he wondered why no one decided to turn on the lights. Shifting towards the wall, he feels the wall for a light switch. Finding the Switch, he then flicks it, bringing light to the room. The figure flinched at the light. Panic filtered into their eyes, probably because it was past curfew.

The figure that was now revealed as a person looked at them. They were about 5'5, wearing silk pajamas with hearts all over (here). They had short red hair but it was a different shade than Kaito's and less fluffy too. There was a heart shaped birthmark or tattoo on their right eye. What really completed the outfit was the long chained heart earrings. Could anyone in this universe not be completely derivative? Although, Nico thought, he was wearing all black and Will did wear a lot of yellow so…(Here)

“My goodness. You guys scared me. Do you need anything?” The redhead asked while moving to go check on the oven. The kitchen smelled amazing, Nico assumed that they were baking something, he couldn't place what he was baking but it smelled delicious.

"Oh no. We were…going to…” Evie tried to reply, but couldn't make an excuse fast enough.

"Going to make cookies!" Mal said quickly, thankfully leaving out the part about the love potion.

"What is your name? I don't think I've seen you around.” Will asked the stranger.

“Oh apologies. I am Elizander Hearts, Heir and Prince of Wonderland, and my pronouns are they/them… but he/him is fine too…” The person, now known as Elizander, said. Nico felt that Elizander just came to get used to the Auradon kids not respecting their pronouns, which made sense considering the sexism Nico had already seen in just three days.

“Well, nice to meet you, Elizander. My name is William Solace but everyone calls me Will.” Will said introducing himself. Then he started to introduce everyone else. “This is Nicolo di Angelo, but everyone calls him Nico. This one falling asleep is Carlos, that one is Jay. The purple one is Mal and the blue one is Evie.”

“Oh I love when people are color coded!” Elizander said, chuckling a little bit at their joke. When no one laughed they seemed to get more self conscious, fidgeting with the oven mitt. “Sorry…that was a joke”

“Oh, that makes a lot more sense,” Carlos responds sleepily.

“Well, I assume the kitchen can be shared?” Mal asks, undeterred in her mission to create this love spell. Nico was considering the possibility that Mal's second more hidden mission was to make his life insurmountably harder.

“Oh, of course,” Elizander said, “the baking trays are over here and you’ll find all the ingredients behind that door to your right” , a smile decorating their features. It made them look good, Nico observed before Will poked him in the side.

“What?” Nico muttered under his breath as he moved into the room.

“Ogling is considered rude” Will teased with a grin, also talking under his breath.

“Oh shut it” Nico responds blushing.

“Ya know, monogamy is like so out-“ Will starts saying in his awful fake Californian accent when a clang echoes to their left. Nico and Will both whirl around , Nico pulling out his shadow sword. He quickly hid it behind his back when he saw the noise was just made by Jay knocking over approximately ten pans. Nico was honestly impressed. He knew that Jay was stealthy, which made sense why no one noticed Jay around the pans, the new thing was the clumsiness.

"Sorry." Jay stated as he looked back at the group. Then walked to another part of the kitchen.

"Well I'm done with the oven. So it's all yours,” Elizander said while cleaning, when they stopped and looked back up. "Just don't make a lot of noise, it's past curfew. I'm sure you guys don't want to get in trouble.”

After Elizander left the kitchen, Mal opened her jacket in order to grab her spell book. Reading over the spell materials and directions, she started giving orders.

Already done with most of the instructions, Mal stopped and read the last ingredient.

"All right. It says that we still need one tear, and I never cry" Mal said, annoyed at the book.

"Why not just chop up some onions?” Carlos asked while sitting on the counter.

Looking over Mal's shoulder, Nico turns over to Carlos. "It says a tear of human sadness. which rules out all of us but you and Evie.”

"A tear's a tear. What's so special about the emotion?” Jay said, annoyed at how precise the book's instructions are.

"Well Jay, they both have antibodies and enzymes, "Evie stated, turning to Jay "An emotional fear has more protein-based hormones than a reflex tear.”

A silence started to build in the room, right then Jay spoke up while crossing his arms. "Yeah, I knew that.”

"Nuh uh " Carlos said, teasing him.

" Yeah huh.”

Hearing the door to the kitchen open, they all froze, Nico did as well —mostly because he was eating some cookie dough he found in the large pantry. Seeing that it was just Lonnie, he continued to eat the cookie dough.

"There you are, Mal! I was looking for you. You know, all the girls want you to do their hair!” Looking at the big mixing bowl, she asks what they are making.

"Nothing special. Just cookies.” Mal informed Lonnie. Then she saw her stick her hand in the batter and ate some of it. Gasping at what she witnessed, "Oh, no, no!” she said, while Carlos yelled "Wait, wait, wait!”

"What? I'm not gonna double dip.“ Lonnie said, trying to calm them down.

"Feel anything?" Evie asked.

" Yeah, like maybe… it might be missing something?” Mal continued.

"Hey!” Jay said, waving at Lonnie. She then waved back, although not familiar with the new face.

"It could use some chips.” Lonnie commented.

Seeing the fantastic four confused. " You love chocolate chips, right Nico?” Will mentioned. Nodding in a confirming way, Nico laid his head on Will's shoulder.

"You know… chocolate chips. Just the most important food group. " Lonnie says, although she’s only answered by blank stares. The room quiets for a minute. Not getting an answer, she continued her rant. "Wait, didn't your moms ever make you guys, like, chocolate chip cookies? Like, when you're feeling sad, and they're fresh from the oven, with a big old glass of milk, and she just makes you laugh and puts everything.… why are you guys looking at me like that?”

"It's just different where we're from.“ Mal said, scratching her head.

"Yeah, I know. I just, You know, I thought… Even villains love their kids. Oh... How awful.“ Lonnie said, shedding some tears at the thought. At the moment where one fell from her face, Evie catched it and dropped it in the big bowl. Giving a not so subtle thumbs up at Mal. "My mom is dead," Nico informed them in a complete deadpan. Lonnie paled another tear escaping her eye. “Cowabummer” Jay says from where he leans against the counter. Will turns and glares at him. "Yeah, well, Nicos lucky blah blah, but we have to get these into the oven. So thank you so much for coming by.” Mal said as she started guiding Lonnie towards the door. “Really, really have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow. Evil dreams.”

"Goodnight." Lonnie said towards the rest of the group as she excited the door.

"See you tomorrow," Mal said, closing the Kitchen door. “Okay, boys, cookie sheet. Evie, oven.”

"Yes, ma'am.”

“Wait, what about the whole consent aspect of this situation?” Will asked, careful not to jostle Nico who was just dozing off again.

“What do you mean?” Mal asked, annoyed at being interrupted.

“We’ll you’re not going to kiss Ben while he’s under this spell, right? Or anything else for that matter. He can’t give fully informed consent while under the influence” Will explained, giving his full doctor glare to Mal. Nico blinked awake.

“He has a point,” Nico says while yawning. “There should be rules.”

Mal rolls her eyes, “fine, no kissing. Anyway this is only for until the coronation.”

Will frowns, “Right, but still if Ben asks, you have to say no even if it breaks cover. He won’t actually be consenting.”

“Yes, of course. Look nothings gonna happen. I don’t want to be pretending to be that rich self-important, ridiculously good looking asshole’s girlfriend either, ok?! But I don’t have a choice unless someone here has a better idea” Mal ranted, gesturing wildly with her hand at the group, nobody answered her. A thick tension coated the room.

“Fine, then we’re doing this,” Mal says, turning around. Nico swears he saw tears in her eyes. “Evie, oven.”

Nico turned to Will and whispered to him “We didn’t get a guarantee to be here for more than the school year”

Will's eyes widened, “Oh.”

“And I trust her, this is a last resort for them.”

“And you?” Will asked, still whispering.

“My dad won’t kill or beat me if I don’t bring back a wand, they aren’t so lucky”

Will took Nico’s hand in his own and they walked to the edge of the kitchen for a more private conversation. “Sorry…” Will said quietly. “I didn’t realize you all might be sent back, I thought that…well I thought…”

“I know,” Nico says, leaning his head on Will's shoulder again. “Hopefully it'll turn out ok, hopefully the program will continue and… well It's good that you said what you did. This whole love potion thing would not be approved in Fairy Godmothers Goodness 101 class”

“Yeah, as long as Mal keeps it strictly emotional and not physical…”

“And who knows maybe Benny boo will fall in love with Mal the non-drug-induced way,” Nico said sarcastically.

“Yeah, like that’ll happen”

Chapter Text

Going back to the dorms, Will and Nico hug and give each other a small kiss. Even though Nico didn't want to go to sleep without Will, they would get in trouble if one of them was caught in the other's dorm after curfew.

Finally separating and going to their respective dorms, it wasn't long before they went to sleep. 

In the morning, they all met in front of the dorms. Nico was still half asleep and clinging to Will's arm.  He could barely stand on his own. 

"Look it's Mal” Nico heard a random girl say. Opening his eyes, he sees multiple girls looking at Mal.

“Hi Mal! Love my hair, Mal!” A different girl said. Seeing that all of their hair was done, they all had curls and a nice conditioner, making it look healthy.

"Are you feeling kind of weird about this?” Jay said,  stopping his sentence before continuing, “I mean, it's not so bad here, you know “

"Are you insane? Long live evil! You're mean! You're awful! You're bad news? Snap out of it!” Mal says as she snaps her fingers in his face.

"Thanks Mal! I needed that.” Jay said as if he was enlightened. Nico rolled his eyes.

Further down the hall Audrey approaches Ben, she looks over at the girls talking about hair. "Do you think they actually paid for those?” 

Jay walked over to the balcony. Leaning over the railing, he sees the girls get closer. " Oh, hello~ The name's Jay. You all going to the tourney game tonight?" Jay said with a flirtatious tone.

"Yeah ~ “ They girls responded back.

" Keep a look out for number eight, all right? Scoring the winning goal."

"Okay~” The girls said while giggling and fidgeting around. Nico rolled his eyes again.

Not that far away Audrey and Ben stood talking, Nico could just make out what they were saying. 

"She did it to Jane's hair too and Fairy Godmother is not happy about it.” Audrey commented to Ben.

"What's the harm?" Ben asked Audrey, he didn’t see any problem with a little hair change.

"It's gateway magic!” Audrey said while whispering a bit loudly in order to get the point across. "Sure it starts with the hair… Next thing you know it's the lips and the legs, and then the clothes. Then everybody looks good and… where will I be?” At that moment Nico seriously thought she sounded like a 'pick me' as Leo and Percy would put it. Or just insecure and desperate, which was in Nico’s experience a dangerous combination and all too common.

Uncomfortable about being put on the spot, Ben tried to reason with her.  "Listen... Audrey—” 

Audrey put her hand on his chest, causing him to stop talking, "I will see you at the game after my dress-fitting for the coronation, okay?” Audrey informed Ben.

"Okay”

"Bye, Bennie-boo.” Then kissing Ben's cheek and leaving.

"Bye..." Ben said bummed out.

"Hey Bennie-boo!” Mal said loudly after shutting her locker and walking towards Ben. Nico and Will stood back, watching what was sure to turn into a train wreck from afar.

"Hey!” Ben said cheerfully, then walking towards Mal.

“I just made a batch of cookies, Double-Chocolate Chip. Do you want one?” Mal said while showing him a plastic bag with the totally-normal-not-at-all-drugged cookies.

Trying to make an excuse, Ben then replied "I have a big game. I don't eat before a game, but thank you so, so much. Next time, next time.”

"No, yeah! I completely understand… be careful of treats offered by kids of Villains”

"No, no!" Ben tried to reassure.

"No, I'm sure every Auradon kid knows that.” Mal said, feeding the guilt that Ben had.

"No , no, no. That's not it! I do have… I have …”

"No, I get it. You're cautious. That's smart… Well, more for me... I guess," Mal says as she pulls a cookie out of the bag and goes to pretend to eat it until Ben grabs it out of her hand and shoves part of it into his mouth.

“See that. Totally trust you" Ben said, chewing the cookie. "Totally…” At that moment Mal looks back at the group, who was waiting for Ben's reaction to the cookie. She looks back at Ben, worry lacing her features.

"They're good. They're great…amazing actually! They're … I mean, they're chewy and you know… are those walnuts?” Looking at Mal nodding her head, he continues. "I love walnuts.” 

Giggling out of nowhere, which concerned both Nico and Will. "The chocolate… the chocolate… The chocolate chips are… I'm sorry, um… they're warm and soft." He finally said after getting his thoughts together. 

Will then led the group a bit closer. Grabbing a small flashlight out of his pocket, Will stood in front of Ben. He held it to the prince's eyes, seeing normal dilation he backed off but was still concerned even if Ben didn't have physical changes or side effects besides the small pink ring around his pupil.

“Woah, man” Ben said, waving Will’s hand away from his face even though he missed completely. Will frowned deeper. 

“Maybe-” Will started to say when he was cut off by Ben turning to Mal.

Ben stared into her eyes. "Mal, have you always had those gold little flakes in your eyes?" 

He then went for another bite of the cookie, but Nico went and grabbed it, putting it away as the spell was already too strong. Jay went around and grabbed Ben's shoulder.

"How are you feeling, bro?”

"I feel… I feel… I feel like singing your name. " Pausing for a moment he then starts 'singing’ Mal's name. 

♫ “Mal!

Mal~” ♫

Mal quickly covered Ben's mouth, but he continued to sing. Jay grabbed the cookie bag and whistled in astonishment. Nico shook his head before he and Jay walked Ben to the tourney field and left them both with the team. Ben was their problem now.

"Do you think he'll be fine?” Nico asked Will, who was putting on his jersey with the number 13. 

"I believe so, hopefully nothing too bad psychologically…” Will responded to his boyfriend's question. Turning around to show Nico the jersey number, he then asks if he likes it.

"Is that my cabin number?” 

"Yes”

"Oh, amore mio. I love it.” Nico said, giving Will a kiss and a hug. "You should get going, the game is about to start and I need a seat in order to cheer for you.”

"Okay, see you after the game?" Will asked Nico.

"Mhm" Nico responded back and gave Will another quick hiss before walking towards the bleachers where he sat between Mal and Evie.

Chapter Text

They were at the end of the game and Nico was actually into it. Apparently when your boyfriend is the one running around it gets a lot more exciting. 

“Will, amore mio! Hai capito, battili tutti!!” Nico shouted, catching Will's attention. Will threw Nico a kiss before continuing to dash across the field.

"What did you say?” Evie asked Nico, not familiar with many of the words, only understanding that it was for Will. 

"Hmm? Oh, just to beat them all” Nico said grinning. While this wasn’t nearly as good as weapon training Nico never could abandon the competitive streak that came with growing up in the greek and roman camps. ( JJ: This might not be accurate, since it's Google Translate)

The game was a close match, both teams trying their hardest to score. The coach substituted one of the players in order to have Jay give them an advantage in scoring. Both teams went in between attack and defense, players dodging or being tackled to the ground. Nico thought they looked weird, as if it was rehearsed for a kid's movie. Jay started gaining momentum, dodging the enemy team and then passing the ball to Ben. The prince made the finishing goal, winning them the game.

"What a victory! An absolutely wonderful end to one of the best games ever, here they come, folks. The winners of the first tourn-" Said the announcer, suddenly getting interrupted by the Soon-to-be King of Auradon. 

"Excuse me. Excuse me." Ben said, grabbing the announcer's microphone, hesitating for a moment. “Can I have your attention, please? Can you give me an 'M’!” He looks confused at what he's saying but the crowd follows along. The whole crowd shouts out in a deafening volume. Nico winces, really wishing he were anywhere else. Damn, and he had just started to enjoy the game.

“Give me an A!” Ben continued, still looking confused. The crowd shouts out the letter as Nico puts his hands over his ears, trying to look for Will in the tourney players below.

“Give me an L!” Ben shouts, Nico’s eyes widened in horror. He knew a love spell was a bad idea, this was just mortifying and he wasn’t even the target. 

“What does that spell?!” 

“MAL!” the crowd shouts out, Nico turns to the side as the call echoes out. Mal is standing next to him, fists clenched in fury, face beet red. On his other side Nico sees Evie grinning with her evil smirk as she shouts with the crowd. A dark hole in the ground is looking very good to him right about now. 

“Come on, I can't hear you!” Ben continues, brimming with confidence at this point. Nico knows it's not his fault, but he might just have to give Ben the shovel talk just so he never does this shit again.  

“MAL”

“I love you Mal! Did I mention that?” Ben says, directing his eyes and the crowd to where Mal was standing next to him. Nico dove under the bench to escape their eyes, blending in with the shadows. Hopefully nobody saw him. 

Nico slips away but not before Mal mutters darkly about what the hell they’d put in the cookie. He pops up near the bottom of the bleachers, unfortunately right next to Audrey. The card kid from the kitchen last night is hugging her as she stares at her…oh shit, her boyfriend. They look pissed, Nico remembers their name being Elander or something. It looks like the fantastic four and he managed to forget that Ben has a girlfriend. Fuuuuuuuuuck. 

“Give me a beat!” Ben says as he points to the band that was there for the game. Nicos eyes widened in horror. No no no no no, this cannot be happening again! 

♫ Did I mention ♫

♫ That I’m in love with you? ♫

♫ Did I mention ♫

♫ There’s nothing I can do ♫

♫ And did I happen to say ♫

♫ I dream of you everyday ♫

Everybody started dancing, well everyone on the team and the cheerleaders. Jay is trying very hard to follow along with Auradon style dancing. It's a truly terrifying thing to watch, everybody knows the song and dance, the crowd seems to like it, and terribly Ben still has a microphone. Nico sees Will with the tourney team, doing the dance. Although Will looks more like a Dance Dance Revolution actor than a student. They make eye contact. Nico stares back in horror and begins to shake his head. Will starts dancing towards him, dancing! Nico backs up quickly, bumping into Elander. 

“Sorry,” he mutters, the momentary distraction enough for Will’s hand to close around his wrist and spin Nico towards him. 

♫ But let me shout it out loud ♫

♫ If that’s okay-ay-ay (Hey!) ♫

♫ If that’s okay (Hey!) ♫

♫ I met this girl that rocked my world ♫

♫ Like it’s never been rocked ♫

♫ And now I’m living just for her ♫

♫ And I won’t ever stop ♫

♫ I never thought it can happen to a guy like me ♫

♫ But now look at what you’ve done ♫

♫ You got down on my knees ♫

Will drags him into the sun and field, dancing with him, or trying to. Nico feels a lot more like a horrified marionette doll than a dancer.

♫ Because my love for you is ridiculous ♫

♫ Because my love for you is ridiculous ♫

♫ I never knew (Who knew?) ♫

♫ That it can be like this ♫

♫ My love for you is ridiculous ♫

♫ My love is R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S! (R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S!) ♫

♫ It's (RIDICULOUS!) ♫

♫ Just (RIDICULOUS!) ♫

♫ And I would give my kingdom for just one kiss ♫

“No, I'm not doing this, I don’t care if your dad is involved” Nico whispers furiously, twisting around Will to get to his boyfriend's shadow. Magic rules be damned he refuses to lower his dignity to the depths it would take to participate in this fucked up clown fest*1. Nico steps into the shadow, Will's hand still around his wrist. He pulls them both in. The sound quiets as they descend into the shadowy darkness. 

Nico lands on something soft and has about a split second to be grateful when Will lands right on top of him. Nico grunts and shoves his boyfriend off, glaring at him. He’s just about to start his long and tedious lecture (read: rant) when a voice yells from the other side of the room.

“What the actual fuck?” Kaito, Nico’s new roommate, exclaims rather hysterically. Oh good Nico landed them in his dorm room.

“Uh-” Nico goes to explain when Will bursts into peals of laughter. He is momentarily stunned, for being a son of Apollo, Will really doesn’t laugh a lot. Kaito however doesn't seem to be at such a loss for words. 

“Since when can you teleport? Since when can almost anyone teleport?! What the fuck?” the red head says, slamming down the slushy cup he’s holding onto his bedside table. Only then does Nico realize that Kaito is holding what seems to be a shopping bag in his right hand. He’s also wearing another graphic T-shirt with an awful pun. It says ‘Where did the shark ghost go? Into fin air!’. Nico is so disgusted at the pun and everything else today that the only thing he can do is collapse backwards on the bed.

 This of course would be a lot more dramatic and effective if Will would just stop laughing!

“Is anyone gonna answer me?” Kaito complains, “Wait, are either of you ok?”

“Mentally or physically?” Nico asks from where he’s attempting to suffocate himself in his pillow (mostly metaphorically). 

“Either, er, both?” 

“Probably not,” Will responds, gasping for breath.

Kaito sighs, “I wish that didn’t make sense. Seriously though, teleportation? Also why are you here if you're in your tourney armor?” 

“It’s shadow travel, its ‘cause of my dad. Only I can do it, for now. We’re here because I’m pretty sure Ben went insane and it might be our fault” Nico answered while Will started giggling. Honest to the gods giggling.

“Wait, is he ok? Is anyone hurt?” Kaito asks, starting to panic. 

“No, the only thing irreparably damaged is my sister's reputation and my dignity.” Nico says with a heavy sigh. 

“Wait, you have a sister? Is it Evie? Wait nevermind, what happened? Why is it your fault?”

“Ben started singing” Will says through his laughter, “To Mal, and we all started dancing. It was amazing!” he says, wiping a tear from his face.

“First of all,” Nico says, sitting up and pointing at Will, “we have very different definitions of amazing. And second of all Ben sang a love song to Mal in front of the whole school, Will tried to get me to dance and I would rather out myself than do such a thing”

Kaito stayed quiet for a moment before sitting on his bed heavily. “So Ben broke up with Audrey and then sang a love song to…Mal, in front of the whole school” he concludes. 

Will and Nico share a look as Will sobers up at the mention of Audrey. It was starting to become apparent that none of them had really thought this plan through. Maybe they should stop making decisions out of desperation. 

“Well, he hadn’t exactly talked to Audrey…”

Mal stared at Ben dancing and singing below. This was a mistake, a huge mistake. She didn’t know whether or not she should kill herself or him at this point. If the plan works, is it even worth this humiliation? This better be the last time he does this or Mal might just get homicidal, barrier and prophetic dreams be damned.  

♫ And now I’m living just for her ♫

♫ And I won’t ever stop ♫

Well, at least the spell worked. Mal smiled tightly, at least the song was catchy. She deserved this didn’t she? Just as she was starting down her daily thought spiral she caught sight of Will somehow dancing while still pulling Nico into the field and choreography. He wasn’t dancing very well, it was a little embarrassing. That didn’t matter though, because she saw him dip around Will while the blonde still held him. She thought maybe Nico would start fighting but instead he stepped into Will's shadow. 

The shadow began to warp around Will's feet, Nico started to sink into the darkening shade. She was about to shout at him to stop before he got in trouble when she saw the shadow start to move. It got wider, stretching in unnatural ways like liquid ink. A heavy weight settled in her chest as she noticed Will still holding the boy's wrist. The shadow crept up the dancing boys legs as the tourney team remained oblivious. The crowd didn’t. She could hear the sound level going down but she couldn’t pull her eyes away from how Nico seemed to be doused in darkness, his feet had already disappeared. With one sharp pull both boys fell into the undulating mass of darkness. The last thing she noticed was Will's hair glowing slightly? That couldn’t be natural. She blinked and the shadow was gone, as were Nico and Will. 

A silence descended upon the crowd, the band stopped playing, and (thank the gods) Ben and his team stopped dancing. 

“What the hell?” she heard Ben whisper into the microphone. 

Ben paced the hall near the boys locker room. It was a hidden corridor, well, as hidden as anything at this school gets. The point was very few people knew about it so he could have his mild panic attack in peace. What the Fuck had just happened? Seriously, what the fuck? He had just started dancing, and singing! He hadn’t even practiced! And sure, it could have been his magic freaking out because of this weird new crush on Mal. 

She’s hot. 

Yes, thank you random voice. Not helpful. If he’d used magic, without meaning to, that was bad. Very, very bad. And he’d roped his team into it too! Ben knew that he had enchantress ancestry but he hadn’t lost control since he was thirteen and now was not the time to start!

Mal is worth it. We love her.

Of course, who doesn’t love Mal? But seriously he needed to get a fucking grip. He hadn’t even broken up with Audrey yet. 

Audrey doesn’t matter.

Yes she does! Everyone matters, and Audreys been friends with me since I was in diapers, why the fuck did he just abandon her like that? Sure, he never had actually wanted to date her all that much, it was just expected of them. But he should have said something, literally anything! Before he did whatever that was. What was wrong with him? Was he going insane? Was his subconscious rebelling because he was repressing huge parts of himself and his identity? Was it using Magic to rebel? What if his dad was right? What if him using magic was really leading to the ruin of the kingdom and this is just the start? What if he could never use magic again? 

Mal is more important. She’s so smart, and pretty, and creative, and-

Obviously! But Ben really didn’t think it would help anyone if his dad arrested him, or disowned him for doing magic. Then how would he help Mal? Or even get to see her? 

As Ben was about to descend into another thought spiral, the panel in the wall that led to this hallway was thrown open with a loud bang. Audrey stormed through the opening, Elizander close behind. They looked furious. 

“I can explain” Ben started, he really couldn’t but it didn’t really matter anyway as Audrey interrupted him.

“Like I care! You, selfish…selfish…” Audrey began, struggling to find the word. 

“Asswipe?” Elizander added helpfully, their voice cold as they glared at Ben. 

“Yes! That! I don’t need your stupid pity date Benjamin and if you want to act like I haven’t been there for the last…like forever then you go ahead and do that!”

“Audrey please-” Ben began, desperate to… well he didn’t really know. It's not like he could tell Audrey about the magic. 

“No! I’m done being your friend or your date, I’m going to the coronation with Elizander and you can come running back to me when, when…” Audrey said, again trying to think of a good word without cursing. 

“You can pull that stick out of your ass?” Elizander helpfully suggested. 

“Yes! That! So you can do that, and shove off!” Audrey exclaimed, turning away and storming back out the entrance to the corridor. Ben started to go after her but Elizander placed a hand on his chest, shoving him back lightly.

“Eli, please”

“No! You’re gonna listen to me. What is wrong with you? Singing a love song to some person you’ve barely met without so much as a word to Audrey? Or me?” They said, throwing their hands in the air. 

“I know Mal!” Ben insisted. You love her.

“That’s what you focus on? Seriously?”

“Eli, I-”

“No! Just, stop, you’re like a brother to me. Or you’re supposed to be. But I can’t just sit here and let you disrespect Audrey like that. And I know it was you because with all that magic that you insist on hiding would overrule whatever excuse you can come up with” 

“Oh so you’re really gonna go to the coronation with her? Because let's be honest, this isn’t about Audrey for you” Ben scoffed.

“First of all, no of course not, because unlike some people I am not an absolute dick to my lover! Second of all, I’m friends with Audrey too, it isn’t my fault you seem to be wracking up mistakes like its fucking monopoly money.”

“You’re fucking single!!”

“WATCH YOUR FUCKING LANGUAGE BENJAMIN FLORIAN FRENCH BEOWULF BEAST! DON’T SAY THE S WORD ASSHOLE! AND WHO CARES IF I'M SINGLE, YOU WERENT! YOU CHEATED ON AUDREY!!” Elizander yelled at Ben, a hint of madness sparkling in their eyes. 

“It wasn’t cheating! Me and Mal haven’t done anything yet! ALSO DON'T CALL ME THAT!” Ben insisted, and it doesn’t matter, only Mal matters.

“Oh really?! SO it was was just PUBLIC FUCKING HUMILIATION? NOW YOU PASSED GO AND COLLECT $200!!!” 

“I-What?” Ben asked, all he knew of monopoly was that it was some wonderland thing.

“No, just NO.” Elizander says, their voice slipping into a warble usually only found in Wonderland. They grab the bracelet on their wrist. Its pink and blue plastic beads with E and B letters scattered throughout. Ben watches in horror as their basically-sibling takes off the friendship bracelet they’d made three years ago. 

“And you can take this shit back.” Elizander says with a screech. 

They throw the bracelet at Ben, he tries to dodge but it flies right at his face. He feels the beads hit his skin right before they burst into a flurry of cards with enough force to send him reeling against the wall behind him. He watches the cards scatter to the ground in the silence, he feels a stinging sensation on his cheek. Ben reaches up with a shaky hand, his hand brushes his cheek, coming away red. He looks at his sibling. Elizander stands where they were, eyes wide, hands shaking. 

“Ben-” Elizander tries to take a step forward.

They hate you, they hurt you. They’ll hurt Mal. 

“You’re just like your mother” Ben says, voice distant and cold in a way neither of them have heard before. Elizander freezes, tears pooling in their eyes. 

“And you're just like your father, and we both know that's worse” Eli says in a quiet voice, hands trembling as they take a step back. Ben's eyes widened. Elizander turns around and marches out the entrance, the panel sliding closed behind them. Ben slides down the wall behind him. Cards scattered in front of him, blood trickling down his cheek and mixing with tears he didn't register spilling. He brings his knees up to his chest, the hallway slipping away as memory distorts his vision.

Chapter Text

Ben slides down the wall behind him. Cards scattered in front, blood trickling down his cheek and mixing with tears he doesn’t register spilling. He brings his knees up to his chest, the hallway slipping away as memory distorts his vision.

Elizander stood in the forest next to their dad, wind whistling through their hair. Their dads hand is calloused and sweaty. Elizander looks up at their fathers face, tears sparkling in his eyes.

“Dad, can we go home now? I’m cold.” they say in a small voice, whispering. Their mom isn’t here but you never can know when she's listening, that's what Madox always says. 

“My Child” their dad kneels down “I need you to listen to me now. You’re my first born, and I love you. I’m doing this because I love you.” their father stares at the ground as he says this, tears leaking out of his eyes. Elizander reaches for their fathers face. Their dad never cries, it looks wrong, they wipe the tears away trying to fix it. It doesn’t work, he cries harder. 

“You are far too kind for this place, I can only hope this will work” their father said, his crown dipping off his head. 

“Did I do something wrong?” Elizander sniffled as tears pooled in their eyes “Is mom mad at me again?” They started crying in full, they could do better, really they could! They were turning thirteen soon, they would do a better job! “I’m sorry I told Red she could draw roses, I didn’t know it was a rule I promise!”

“No love , you haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Then why aren’t we going home?” they say as the tears dry on their faces. Their father stands, roughly letting go of their hand.

“Dad, what are you doing?” Elizander asks fear creeping into their voice as they see their father eye the pearlescent puddle near them.

“I’m sorry, i'm so sorry”

A hand closes around the back of Elizanders neck as their father roughly guides them near the puddle. 

“Dad, please I just want to go home, I promised Red we would have a tea party” they plead as their dad guides them closer to the ominously glowing water. 

“I know,” their father whispers. “I love you my child, my sweetest joy I've ever known”

Elizander feels the hand disappear from their neck, only to feel it again at his back. But only for a moment as their father pushes. Elizander twists around as they fall, arms flailing. The last thing they see is their fathers tear streaked face before everything goes pearly white. 

Prince Benjamin does not like the palace. It's stupid and clean and nothing like the forest. His dad keeps saying that the forest is dangerous, that magic is dangerous, that the fae folk are dangerous. But if that were true then why does everybody like the Fairy Godmother?! It doesn’t make any sense! And that stupid island is right outside his window all the time! And he can’t talk to his dad about the fact that he keeps waking up with claw marks on his bed frame. He kicks another rock. It goes farther than it would for a normal human, Ben can’t talk to his parents about that either. 

Ben glares at the ground as he walks, not looking where he’s going. He goes to kick another rock when a branch hits Ben's face. Falling to the ground, holding his face in pain, he sits up to see small high heeled shoes. Well not small, just like, childrens heels. The shoes look to be Ben's size too. He looks further to his right and sees playing cards laying on the forest floor. The oddest thing is they aren’t even very scattered. 

Ben picks up the heels and cards. Peering around a bush he sees a dress on the ground, not far off there's a red leather satchel with clothes spilling out. It's obviously expensive with red hearts decorating it. Suddenly Ben hears a crying sound, he can't tell where it's coming from. He closes his eyes. The wind whispers in his ears, sometimes it tells him things, he just has to pay attention. Ben crouches down, digging his hand into the ground. His eyes fly open but he’s not seeing the forest floor, he’s seeing a pond a little ways away. He knows that pond, what's unusual is the kid his age crying in it. They’re sitting in the middle, and are wearing black and red silk pajamas, for some reason?! Ben gasps as the vision retreats. His eyes clear, feeling a sense of urgency (sometimes his visions are wrong), he drops the cards and heels and they scatter across the forest floor. Ben runs towards the pond, bursting through the foliage he sees the kid soaked in the water. The warm summer air means that whoever they are won’t get cold but Ben is still worried. It's not exactly common to see kids in pajamas crying in ponds. 

“Are you ok?” He asks, trying to keep his voice calm as he approaches. It’s not very successful as the person jumps up with a small shriek before falling backwards into the pond again. 

“Who-Who are you? Where am I?” they ask in a scared voice. 

“I’m Prince Ben, of um-of Auradon. Whatever's wrong I can help, I promise” 

“I-my father- he” the kid starts to explain before bursting into tears.

“Hey, it’s alright, you’re safe now.” Ben says, eyes widening and imagination going wild. “My dad sucks too” he continues letting out an awkward chuckle. 

“What? No, he just pushed me through an interdimensional portal. My mom…” the kids voice lowers into a whisper as they look around wildly like she could be listening “she’s the one that sucks”

“Oh, well, um…I don’t really know how to do this but I think maybe you might want to leave the pond? It doesn’t…look like a portal anymore” Ben says, doubt coloring his voice slightly. The kid looks at the water surrounding them and slowly stands up. They walk towards Ben but pause before stepping on dry land.

“I can’t go back. It closed and I can’t go back. My sister ‘s stuck there and I can’t go back” they burst into tears again. Ben freezes for a moment before stepping into the water and wrapping them in his arms.  

“It’s alright-”

“No it's not!”

“No, but it will be, you can stay with me.” Ben says, “And maybe we can figure out how to get back to your sister!”

“Re-really?” the kid says, hands still covering their face.

“Of course, I’m heir to the throne. It's my job to help everyone!” Ben responds, pulling them the last few steps out of the water. “What’s your name?”

“Elizander” they respond, wiping away tears. 

“Well, I think I found most of your stuff” Ben says grinning, leading them to where the few thrown items lay untouched on the forest floor. They both stay in silence for a moment as Elizander puts their stuff in their bag.

“Why aren’t you wearing shoes?” They ask, their own heels still held in their hands. Ben shrugs in response.

“Don’t like ‘em. When I'm in the forest my dad can’t make me wear them. He says not wearing shoes is beastly” Ben explains scrunching his nose and letting out a humorless chuckle. “Ironic isn’t it?”

“What’s ironic?”

“It’s when something is contrary to-”

“I know what it is” Elizander laughs a little “But in this situation what's ironic?”

“Oh” Ben grins sheepishly, “My dad is King Adam, moms Queen Belle”

Elizanders eyes widen at the mention of a queen and they flinch a little. “Who…who’s Queen Belle?” they ask in a whisper, eyes searching the forest like Ben’s mom was just gonna appear behind them. Ben furrows his brow, confused. The Forest seems to share his reaction, leaves rustle quieter, the birds pause momentarily, insects become quiet, a squirrel nearby stares at Elizander. Something is wrong . Ben suddenly has the feeling that Elizander is a lot farther from home than he originally thought.

“Where did you say you were from?”

“Um…I was summering at the Diamond Keep” Elizander asks, also deeply confused. “Can I ask you something?” they ask before Ben can ask what the fuck they are talking about. The Diamond Keep has never appeared in his studies and he’s a good student. ( Wonderland Map )

“Uh…ok but-”

“Where are all the mushrooms? And why is everything so small here?” they ask, looking just as thoroughly confused as Ben feels.

“...what?” His forest wasn’t small! The trees were a perfectly average size and they didn’t appreciate that thank you very much. A rustling sound echoed through the forest as the branches swayed at this childs insolence. 

“The mushrooms.” Elizander says again as if that clarifies anything. 

“There's some on the north side of the tree behind you” Ben answers, not knowing how he knew that. Elizander peered around the tree and then looked back at Ben.

“But they're so small, and brown” they respond, concern leaching into their voice “Is your forest sick?”

“No!” Ben says, not really understanding why he’s getting so upset. Elizander takes a hesitant step back “sorry” they mutter. 

“No, no it's fine, it's just, I think you are pretty far from home. All the forests here look kinda like this.”

“But it-it’s so…dull,” Elizander says, moving some of the dirt around with their own bare feet. Not so slowly a branch creeps up behind them and curls around their ankle. That was not Bens doing! The branch yanks Elizander back as they let out a shout. 

“No stop!” Ben says, shouting at the forest. They probably hadn’t meant it. The forest wasn’t listening. Ben watched in horror, frozen to the ground, as his new friend was pulled into the shadows behind them by the trees. 

Finally getting his feet to move Ben dashed into the forest, following the screams.

3 hours later

Ben stared ahead at his castle in the distance as him and his new friend trudged out of the forest. He was more caked in mud than he’d ever been in his life and he was pretty sure Elizanders pajamas were ruined beyond repair. Ben was suddenly very glad he’d left his shoes at home, they were expensive and his mom would be pissed if he’d ruined them. The trees rustled around them and Ben tensed, grabbing Elizanders elbow and leading them further away from the forest. Usually the trees were his friends but after today…

“That was awesome!” Elizander said, tone light in a way it hadn’t been since Ben had met them three hours ago. He laughed.

“It was terrifying” Ben responded but couldn’t help the grin splitting across his face. He watched the new birds nest (literally) in Elizanders tangled hair as they skipped to keep up with him. 

“That thing you did was so cool!”

Ben grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck “thanks”.

“And the woosh, with the magic, and that move, where’d you learn to do that?” Elizander asked, voice climbing higher in excitement. Ben slowed down his walking and Elizander almost bumped into him. 

“Oh, it just sorta happens sometimes” Ben said nervously, “but you can’t tell anyone. My dad…he made magic sorta, not well. It's not illegal if you're a creature but for a human like me…I’m not supposed to be able to do it.”

Elizander stared at him for a moment, the bird that had made a home in his hair returning with some more twigs. “Magic is illegal here?” they asked in a serious voice. 

“Not technically” Ben said, eyes downcast, not wanting to see what his new friend thought of him. “You’re the only person that knows.”

The silence stretched on for a few more excruciating moments, broken only by the wind and birds.

“Ok, I promise,” they said. Ben looked up in surprise, their face was serious, more serious than it had been within the last three hours.  

“Thank you,” Ben said, letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Elizander grabbed his hand and started pulling them to the castle. 

“C’mon I'm hungry, this is your house right?”

“Uh, yeah, well it's where I live. Not sure it qualifies as a house,” Ben responded looking up at the towering walls and polished stone. The towers spiraled into the air, almost looking like they were touching the sky. They crossed into the gardens, elaborate hedges lined the walls and roses flowed in neat decorative rows. Flags waved in the air and gold glinted along the edges of every roof and balcony. 

“I like it, it's quaint,” Elizander said, not letting go of his hand. Ben choked on the air a little. 

“Quaint?!” 

Elizander didn’t respond and Ben tried not to think about it. He wasn’t entirely sure where they’d come from but he was honestly starting to get a little nervous. No turning back now. Ben showed Elizander around to the servants entrance and thankfully no one was there. The matron would be sooo upset if she’d seen him trudging into the castle covered in mud like this. She would probably still be upset but at least she wouldn’t see him. 

Ben started to relax, they had managed to sneak around to the family wing, avoiding everyone in the busy castle (no thanks to Elizanders conspiratorial giggling). Ben was just reaching for the handle to his door, having just come out of the secret passage in the hall when he heard footsteps down the way. He and Elizander looked around wildly, but there was nowhere to hide. No way to get out of this. Ben turned to the end of the hall, awaiting his fate with a dread unbecoming of a crown prince. He really did not want to get grounded again. 

He watched as his father rounded the corner, gazing down at a tablet that undoubtedly had some sort of budget thing on it. Ben prayed for just a moment to the spirit of the forests that his dad wouldn’t notice him, but it looked like she was still mad about earlier. His dad looked up, catching his gaze, eyes flickering to where Elizander stood behind him and then to the mud covering the carpet.

“What is going on here?” He asked, voice booming in a way only kings seemed to achieve. 

“Um, so it's a funny story actually you see-” Ben tried to explain nervously when his father held up a hand. 

“I’m just gonna…go get your mother. I’ll see you at dinner Son, with a full explanation I hope." The great King Adam then fled down the hallway in the direction he came. Presumably to get Ben's mother. Great. 

“Ok, so I’ll just wait here then…” Ben responds, his dad already disappeared around the hall. “Cmon Eli, my mom will know we’re in my room,” he turned back around and opened his door, marching inside. 

“Eli?” they squeeked from the doorway, face going redder than the heart shaped birthmark around their eye. Ben's own eyes widened.

“Oh, sorry, I just thought, friends always have nicknames for each other, right?” He said, wringing his hands nervously. He really hopes he didn’t already mess up with his new friend. His fears are dashed when they smile and walk into his room. 

“We should probably change before your mom gets here.”

“Yeah,” Ben said, smiling and heading to his wardrobe for a change of clothes. 

Ben didn’t really know how they had ended up on the floor making friendship bracelets thirty minutes later but he wasn’t complaining. Elizander was somehow molding his deck of cards into beads for them to use and Ben had pulled out the box of paints Audrey had given him for his eleventh birthday. Eli had taken initiative, deciding that they had to have pink and blue for theirs and Ben should have yellow and pink for his. He was perfectly happy with this, yellow was his color. Ben smiled up at his new friend, the cards must be magic but neither of them said anything. He felt more relaxed than he had in a while. Him and Eli we're going to be friends forever, he just knew it.  

Ben blinked tears out of his vision, the hallway surrounding him swimming back into focus. Everything was still blurry but he could see the white tiled floor and the glare of the LED lights above him. Some voice was talking to him, he couldn’t tell who’s but it was nice. 

“With getting ready to rule…. VK’s. You seem pretty good… on your own. I guess it’d be…Maybe you don’t… if you asked them. Like your friend with…Kitchen Kid. They seem…..you guys are good again, you could ask.” The voice faded in and out but Ben caught some of it. 

Mal

The voice in his head whispered again. Huh that would make…no sense at all actually. And who was the kitchen kid? That doesn’t seem like a good name, Ben should fix that. 

“He seems reasonable. Mostly. I guess Kitchen Kid got to you pretty good though.” the voice continued talking, the purples of Mal’s outfit now becoming clearer. Huh, the voice was right.

“Elizander.” Ben said, voice more of a whisper than anything. Elizander got him pretty good, what did that mean? Ben felt something wet still on his cheek. Oh right, the cards. It was always cards with them, wasn’t it? Always, always the cards. 

Chapter Text

The secret passageway was new. Who knew Auradon could have something as interesting as that. Mal watched as Audrey came through a small doorway hidden next to the locker rooms and headed down the hallway and out of sight. She figured that wherever that door led was where Ben was hiding, a perfectly valid response considering what happened less than an hour ago. 

She waited a moment, making sure that no one else was looking for Ben, and debating whether she would kill Ben or just talk to him when she found him. After a minute of no one walking by, she quickly walked to the door and slipped inside silently. It was dim, with only a few fluorescent lights overhead. The tunnel itself was surprisingly clean, considering it was supposedly secret. Mal had seen quite a few secret passageways, and they normally had a lot more cobwebs and a lot less LEDs. Only Auradon could find a way to take all the fun out of a secret tunnel. 

She had only taken a few steps forward, when she heard voices arguing. One was definitely Ben, but she couldn’t quite place the other. She moved forward as quietly as possible and found that the tunnel opened into what looked to be an old storage room. There were crates scattered around the room, as well as a conveniently placed curtain on wheels next to the opening she was standing at. She ducked behind it and peaked out to find that the other voice was from the kitchen kid who was definitely from Wonderland. 

“You’re fucking single!!” Ben shouted. Mal though that was a bit of a weak defence to use, but hey. To each their own. 

“WATCH YOUR FUCKING LANGUAGE BENJAMIN FLORIAN FRENCH BEOWULF BEAST! DON’T SAY THE S WORD ASSHOLE! AND WHO CARES IF I'M SINGLE, YOU WERENT! YOU CHEATED ON AUDREY!!” What in the unholy fuck was that name? Mal had always hated her middle name, but apparently it could have been a lot worse. She hadn’t realized that Auradon parents could hate their kids as much as Ilse parents could. Mal almost felt bad for them. Almost. 

“It wasn’t cheating! Me and Mal haven’t done anything yet! ALSO DON'T CALL ME THAT!” Drop the yet , Mal thought. Better yet, replace it with ever , because it wasn’t going to happen. Ever . 

“Oh really?! SO it was was just PUBLIC FUCKING HUMILIATION? NOW YOU PASSED GO AND COLLECT $200!!!” 

“I-What?” Ben asked, confused. Mal seconded the question. What was this kid talking about? 

“No, just NO.” Kitchen Kid started talking in complete gibberish. Or at least that's what it sounded like to Mal. It was like her ability to read verbalized, with the words and letters floating all over the place. It was one of the reasons Mal hated reading. She never understood how Carlos could stand all those books he loves with how the words never made sense. 

“And you can take this shit back,” Kitchen Kid grabbed something on their wrist that looked suspiciously like a friendship bracelet and threw it at Ben. Somehow, the bracelet turned into a bunch of cards right before hitting Ben in the face with enough force that he was slammed into the wall behind him. For some reason, Mal wanted to jump out and smack Kitchen Kid for that and shout that it wasn’t even Ben’s fault that the Horrifying Song Incident TM happened. 

Ben looked shell shocked as he reached up to touch the new cut on his face. “Ben-” Kitchen Kid started as Ben looked at the blood on his fingers angrily. 

“You’re just like your mother,” Ben whispered, his tone dangerously calm. Mal was surprised that someone as outgoing as Ben could get that mad. 

Kitchen Kid clenched their fists so hard it was a wonder they didn’t draw blood and answered in the same tone as Ben, albeit a bit more upset sounding. 

“And you're just like your father, and we both know that's worse.” With that, Kitchen Kid turned and left, breezing past Mal. She heard the doorway close a second later and was about to reveal herself, when she saw Ben’s face change to one of panic and self-hatred. It was a face Mal knew all too well. She saw it in the mirror every time her mother yelled at her, which was often. She watched as Ben slid down the wall onto the floor, pulling his knees to his chest and breathing hard. His gaze was distant as he stared at the floor. Mal knew that reaction as well. Ben was having a panic attack. 

Mal stood up and slowly stepped out from behind the curtain. She took a few steps towards Ben, then tentatively said, “Hey.” 

Ben didn’t move. He didn’t even seem to notice Mal. Mal walked over to where Ben was sitting and sat down beside him. 

“You probably shouldn't listen to them,” she said after a moment, her voice steady and calm. “You guys seem close, so they’ll probably come around eventually. I think. I’m not exactly good at the whole friendship thing.”

Ben stayed quiet, but he seemed to be calming down a little. Mal continued, “It’s not really your fault, you know. Sometimes people just do stupid things without thinking it through. Sometimes they do those things because they don’t have a choice. People are complicated.”

Mal was quiet for a minute. She didn’t know why she was telling Ben these things. She had meant to just keep talking to try and pull Ben back to the present. It didn’t have to be anything personal, and yet, here she was, telling Ben nuanced things she’d heard people say before. Maybe she was trying to justify her use of the love potion. She sat, just listening to Ben's breathing. It was getting steadier. She just needed to keep talking. 

“I know what it feels like. I mean, this,” she gestured to Ben. “It’s happened to me before and it’s never fun. It’s worse when you're alone though. I can’t imagine all the stress you've been under, with getting ready to rule the kingdom and dealing with us VK’s. You seem pretty good at handling it on your own. I guess it’d be better if you didn’t have to do it on your own. Maybe you don’t have to. I’m sure there are people who’d help if you asked them. Like your friend with the cards. Kitchen Kid. They seem to care about you a lot. Maybe once you guys are good again, you could ask.”

Mal thought about what she said. Maybe she’d have an easier time of things if she let the other VK’s actually help instead of just bossing them around. They probably had some good ideas. Especially Nico. Who knew what kinds of things were going on in his antisocial mind. 

“He seems reasonable. Mostly. I guess Kitchen Kid got to you pretty good though.”

“Elizander.” 

“What?” Mal asked. It was a good sign that Ben was talking now. 

“Their name is Elizander.”

“Oh. I didn’t catch that the first time we met.”

“You met in the kitchen?” Ben asked, turning towards Mal a little. 

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“You kept calling them Kitchen Kid,” Ben replied, his breath still a little unsteady.

“Right.” Now that Ben was actually talking to her, she wasn’t sure what to say. They sat in a bit of an awkward silence. 

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” Ben mumbled. “One minute I’m fine, the next I feel super weird and can’t stop myself from doing something stupid.”

Mal didn’t answer. She knew exactly what was wrong, and she was starting to feel really bad about it. She wished she had listened to Will when he started lecturing them on consent. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. Fuck. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Mom would be so disappointed. 

“For what?” Ben asked. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” If only you knew, Mal thought. 

“Nothing.” 

“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I did… that thing.” Ben shuddered. It seemed he was just as horrified as Mal was about that. “Um, I know now it's like the worst possible time to ask, but would you want to go to the coronation with me?”

Mal was caught off guard. She was sure that even a love potion couldn’t make her plan work now. 

“Why?” Mal asked bluntly. Great job Mal, she thought sarcastically. Maybe now Ben could see through her plan instead of just suspecting something. 

“W- well… I just thought…” Ben stuttered, now visibly nervous. He hurriedly continued. “Maybe, since neither of us is really popular right now, we could go together. You know, as friends? You don’t have to say yes. It’s fine. It was stupid to ask. Sorry.”

Dam, she hadn’t meant to make Ben so self conscious. Although, she supposed she thought the love potion would have made Ben more confident. 

“No, no. It’s fine. Yeah, I’ll go with you,” Mal assured Ben. 

“Really?” Ben asked, surprised. 

“Yeah,” Mal shrugged. Ben smiled, back to his normal self for the most part. If you don’t count the love potion and several adverse emotions as a result of the events of the last hour. 

“Cool,” Ben said awkwardly. Mal was no expert in these things, but she thought that wasn’t the kind of answer you’d expect from something like this. Maybe Ben wasn't used to being the one to ask someone else out. 

Mal smiled. Maybe this wasn’t so bad. She stood up and offered her hand to Ben. He took it, and Mal pulled him to his feet. 

“And, um, thanks. For helping me,” Ben said. 

“Of course. I wasn’t about to leave you hanging like that,” Mal replied nonchalantly. 

Ben looked at her with an odd smile. Almost like he was proud of Mal. Maybe, Mal wasn’t super familiar with the look. It could have been something else entirely. 

“What?” she asked, unable to resist the curiosity. 

“Nothing,” Ben replied, still giving her that weird look. He glanced around the room and his expression changed. He looked at Mal, then back at the room around them, then at Mal again. 

“How did you find this room?” Ben asked, confused. 

“Ummm….”

Chapter Text

Nico sat in the uncomfortable white and gilded chairs in front of Fairy Godmother's desk ( Here ). It was crowded with papers that she was hurriedly shuffling to the side. The whole room was extravagant, Nico couldn’t help but stare at the marble bust of Merlin she had next to her desk. Nico was pretty sure it didn’t even look like Merlin, but that's what the plaque said. 

“Now young man, I’ve been getting a lot of calls from parents in the last twenty four hours and I expect a full explanation for what exactly happened. I know this is Prince Ben’s declaration but if any of my students are in danger I’ll have no choice but to consider expulsion,” Fairy Godmother says sternly, finally shuffling away all her papers. 

Nico stared at Fairy Godmother, hands curling into fists. How was his existence reason for expulsion? Nobody got hurt, the nurse had already checked over Will. How could Fairy godmother, a fae herself, not understand?!

“No one got hurt,” Nico responded through gritted teeth, trying his best not to shadow travel again. He didn’t know how successful he was considering Fairy Godmother seemed to notice the shadows around her desk flickering. 

“Can you guarantee that the next time you won’t lose control?” she asked, her tone dripping in the condensation adults seemed to be experts at every time Nico showed up. 

“I didn’t lose control!” Nico yelled, standing up with enough force to knock the chair over and slamming his hands on the deck. Lose control?! Who the fuck does she think she is?! Nico doesn’t lose control, he doesn’t hurt anything but monsters, and he certainly doesn’t take this Bullshit from someone who is evidently fine with trapping young children on an island with murderers. 

“Now young man that is quite enough!” Fairy Godmother says, standing as well. Nico noticed the room had gotten darker. Nico’s hands were shaking. He put the shadows back and picked up his chair. 

“Sit down,” she said, her voice remarkably colder than it had been. Nico did as she said. 

“Now,” Fairy Godmother continued as she too sat “I’m not in the practice of abandoning children-”

Nico let out a disbelieving laugh at that. If she wasn’t abandoning children then what the fuck was the Isle?

“So,” she said, sending a stern look Nico’s way, “I will be calling your guardian and I can only hope they can talk some sense into you. I doubt you will listen to me.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Magic is banned unless under careful observance and only then if you’re a magical creature. It's the law young man, magic is dangerous.” she explained.

“Fucking barbaric,” Nico muttered under his breath. Fairy Godmother pretended not to hear as she pulled his file out from a drawer. Because apparently he had a file. Nico was comforted by the fact that it seemed to only have one page and not much information on it. 

“Who are your parents, Mr. Di Angelo?” she asked, scanning the paper, “there is only a number listed here. I was under the impression heritage had been listed in the declaration.”

Nico shrugged, looking to the side. He wasn’t telling her shit. Fairy Godmother sighed before grabbing her desk phone. 

“How are you gonna call anyone on the Isle? There's no service” Nico asked, eyeing the phone suspiciously. 

“I have my ways,” She answered, suddenly looking rather tired. 

“You’re using magic” Nico accused, pointing a daming finger at her hypocrisy. 

“I am a trusted individual with decades of practice and a moral code. You are a child” she responded with a finality that left a shiver running down Nico’s spine. Child of a villain was implied (no matter he was born in 1924). He really wished Will was here right now. Fairy Godmother dialed the phone, it rang for all of twenty seconds before an automated voice echoed out. 

“You have reached the underworld telephone service. To contact Charon please press ɑ. To request a death please press β. To ask about the living please press 𝛾. To request Elysium please press δ. To suggest a torture method please press ε. To review vows to the River Styx please press ϝ. To talk to Lord Hades please leave a message at the tone. If it is winter, to talk to Lady Persephone please press 𝞯.” the phone echoed into the silent office. Nico sat staring at it, his only thought being fuck . Fairy Godmother stared at it confused for a moment. She pressed 𝛾, why she knew greek numerals Nico did not know ( Greek Numerals ). 

“This is the living and dead department, what d’ya want?” a rasping voice echoed out from the telephone. Fairy Godmother looked very put out. Nico glued his eyes to the floor, she wouldn’t expel him just for this right? That’s the whole point of Prince Ben’s initiative. Not that Ben knew who his father was. The only thing anybody seemed to know is that he and the VK’s were a package deal. That was enough right?

“Yes,” Fairy Godmother cleared her throat “My name is Fairy Godmother and I’m the principal of Auradon Prep. I’m calling about one of my students.”

“If a student has died under your care they cannot be brought back to life. Or anyones care. It really ain’t my fuckin’ problem lady,” the raspy voice (that sounded suspiciously like a fury) responded. 

“Wait, no! My student is alive-”

“Then why the fuck are you calling me?” the voice asked. The Fairy Godmother looked extremely uncomfortable at all this cursing. She glanced at Nico, he didn’t look up. 

“This number was left as a contact. I believe my student's guardian may be dead, could you put me in contact with them please?” 

Nico’s eyes widened, well that was one hell of a conclusion. He guessed it made about as much sense as his dad being Hades himself. Nico looked up and accidentally made eye contact with Fairy Godmother. She was looking at him with eyes filled with pity and sadness. Nico looked back down and forced himself to breath. He did not need to punch someone over misplaced pity. He didn’t. Really. Even if he really really wanted to. 

“Ah,” loud coughing sounded from the phone and Fairy Godmother held it away from her face in barely disguised disgust, “Sure, whatever. What's the brat’s name?”

“Nico di Angelo”

Nico hadn’t realized how much sound was coming from the phone until it cut off. At the Fairy Godmother saying his name the background noise that Nico now registered were screams we're gone. The raspy voice didn’t respond for what felt like minutes. 

“What?” the voice asked, the rasp more prominent in the silence. Nico cringed, he really hoped whoever was on the other end didn’t make a big deal out of this. He didn’t care much for Auradon but he didn’t want to be separated from Will again. 

“Nico di Angelo,” Fairy Godmother repeated, concern wavering in her voice. “He’s a recent transfer and I would like to talk to his guardian. Assuming this number was listed correctly in his file.”

“Right,” the voice coughed again, the screams we're still silent. “Sure, uh just lemme-” and with that The Fairy Godmother was put on hold. She looked at the phone surprised. 

“Mr. Di Angelo, do you know why this…adventurous number was listed for your guardian?” Fairy Godmother asked, the atrocious hold music blaring from the speaker. Nico shook his head, he was perfectly fine letting Fairy Godmother assume what she would. He didn’t have to look up to know she didn’t believe him. Suddenly the phone went quiet and both occupants jumped at the sudden silence. 

“They hung up on me,” Fairy Godmother said in disbelief. Nico really hoped that was a good thing, that because they couldn’t reach Hades, Fairy Godmother would drop it and Nico could go back to his dorm and his boyfriend and sleep for the next twenty four hours. Nico was never that lucky though, was he? The office began to smell like flowers and fresh cut grass. Like soil and pomegranate seeds. Nico’s breath quickened as the scent of pomegranate overwhelmed his senses. No this couldn’t be happening, not again. He couldn’t be trapped again, he couldn't do this. Panic blinded him, he couldn’t see Fairy Godmother's desk. Where was he? He didn’t know where he was! He struggled to his feet, trying to get away from-from something. Stumbling over something behind him, he fell. He felt something under his fingers, it didn’t feel like glass but that didn’t mean much. 

Then suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder. It was soft but not small. It was strong and the scent of pomegranates was still there but…it didn’t feel like a problem anymore. Didn’t feel like danger.  

“Open your eyes little one,” a familiar voice commanded him. 

Nico obeyed, because what else could he do? He saw Fairy Godmother's office, he saw the wooden floor and carpet. He saw the uncomfortable white and gold chairs. He saw Fairy Godmother staring at him and something beside him in shock from behind her desk. He saw papers flung about. He looked to the side, the unmistakable Persephone's face greeted him, and for the life of him the only thing he could think to say was, “I have a letter for you”.

Chapter Text

Nico was sitting back in the uncomfortable chair. Persephone was to his right on her own, they were a matching set. Across the desk Fairy Godmother sat in her own chair, looking about as uncomfortable as Nico felt. Having a flashback in the principal's office was really not how he’d hope the day would go but he guessed it could be worse. It could always be worse. Persephone was putting the letter he had handed her…somewhere. Nico had never bothered to ask if the gods wore pockets or not. 

“So, you are Nico Di Angelo's mother?” Fairy Godmother asked, her voice stilted in a way he hadn’t expected. 

“In a way” Persephone responded, smiling dangerously. “All that needs to be known is that while Nico is here I am his legal guardian. Now, why exactly is he in the principal's office after only one month at this…school?” 

“Ah, well, you see Mr. Di Angelo teleported yesterday in a rather unconventional way. A great distance too and-”

“Oh don’t worry Nico is very competent” Persephone interrupted, her smile getting slightly sharper. She rested a hand on his head, effectively petting him. Nico found he didn’t mind. Huh, maybe he was touch starved. Will would have to work on that. 

“Hmm, yes but you see that kind of magic is not allowed unsupervised” Fairy Godmother explained suddenly looking rather uncomfortable. Nico relished in it. 

“I see” Persephone's smile dropped but she continued to pet Nico, “I have read your nation's laws. Nico classifies as a Magical Creature and is therefore entitled to scheduled time to practice his form of magic. The oversight that your school has enacted will not be forgotten, and I expect a copy of Nico’s schedule with this fixed”

Fairy Godmother frowned at the Goddess but nodded. “What kind of magical creature, may I ask? So that I can better teach him.”

“You may not.” Persephone finally removed her hand from Nico’s hair. “Nico and Will are perfectly capable of understanding their own capabilities.”

Fairy Godmother's eyes grew wide in understanding. “Of course” she responded, but not looking all that happy about it. Nico was just letting his shoulders relax, just letting himself hope that he would get out of this gaudy office soon when the doors burst open. Nico turned around, ready to draw his sword but it was just Ben.

“It’s not his fault Fairy Godmother, he didn’t do anything wrong-” Ben began to rant in Nico’s defence. He couldn’t help but be touched. He hadn’t even known Ben for very long. 

“I understand Prince Ben,” Fairy Godmother said kindly, much kinder than she had been talking to Nico. At this Ben seemed to relax as he stepped further in the office, only then noticing the presence of the goddess. He fell to one knee. Nico’s eyebrows rose, not a lot of mortals showed that much respect. Persephone smiled and basked in Ben’s apparent reverence for a moment. 

“Rise, child” she commanded, Ben obeyed. 

“Are you a child of Aphrodite?” Persephone asked, standing in front of him. Nico furrowed his brow and tilted his head, why would she think that of all things?

“Uh..no” Ben said, confused at the same time as Fairy Godmother's exclamation of “No!”

Persephone hummed, “Interesting. Nico, I hope you and your sister haven’t done anything I need to be disappointed by.” she said, turning to him seriously. Nico suddenly had a very vivid image in his head of getting turned into a dandelion. Fuck . 

“What? Of course not, my sisters have died” Nico said in a small voice, one of his sisters had even stayed that way. It obviously wouldn’t fool Persephone but hopefully Ben and Fairy Godmother's pity would overshadow whatever suspicion they harbored. And it wasn’t technically a lie. It seemed to work seeing as Ben let out a little gasp and Fairy Godmother looked mildly horrified. 

“Hmmm,” Persephone did not look pleased. She pulled out a slip of paper from…somewhere. “I expect you to call once a week and explain everything ” the meaning of everything was not lost on him. 

The smell of fresh cut grass and pomegranates filled the air once more, only this time Nico didn’t feel like he was about to die. That was good. Nico blinked and Persephone was gone, a single dandelion growing through the floor was the only evidence she had been there at all. Nico tried to swallow around the lump in his throat. Again, fuck . He looked at the card in his hand and really hoped that Persephone would be understanding, or at least amused. 

“Well, that was certainly eventful” Fairy Godmother said after a moment of awkward silence. “Nico I’ll be updating your file, how would you like me to list…Persephone?”

“Uh…just a legal guardian I guess” Nico said, dazed. He could feel reality start to slip away. Well, he hadn’t had a good dissociation since coming to Auradon, now was as good a time as any. 

“Well, I’m sure that was stressful. I want to make it clear that with this new information you are not in trouble. Ben, why don’t you escort Nico back to the dorms? I’ll have a new schedule for him in a few days.” Fairy Godmother said in a clear dismissal. Nico didn’t really understand what she had said but knew she wanted him to leave. Nico stood up and let Ben guide him out of the office. Ben was nice, he’d be good for Mal if it weren’t for…for something. Nico couldn’t remember right now. 

When Nico could remember things again he was sitting against the wall in an empty hallway. Ben was beside him rubbing circles into his back. It looked like they were in the dorm building. 

“What happened to getting to my dorm?” Nico asked without turning to Ben. Moving sounded exhausting right now. 

“You seemed kinda out of it-”

Nico snorted in surprised laughter, that was probably an understatement. 

“I wanted to make sure you were ok first. Um, I can get Will now if you’d like but you were pretty unresponsive before and I didn’t know…” Ben trailed off. 

Nico turned his head to the side, resting it on his knees as he gazed at the prince sitting next to him. “You’re a good person Ben.”

“Oh,” his eyes widened and he drew his hand back, “I’m not so sure of that but thanks” he responded with a sad smile. 

“Why?” Nico asked, blinking in confusion. 

“Well, yesterday I…” Ben trailed off again before putting on a fake smile that seemed to be a royal skill “don’t worry about it. Can you walk? I’m sure Will is worried, and your other friends.”

Nico stared at him. Then kept staring. Two minutes passed with neither of them moving all that much. Ben broke first. 

“Ok,” he sighed, “The whole dancing and singing, I thought it was a good idea at the time but…I hurt Audrey and Eli’s mad at me. I got you in trouble and I just, I just never know what to do! Everyone expects me to be able to rule this continent but I can’t even, I can’t-” he cut himself off again and they descended back into silence. 

Nico hummed, not unlike Persephone had. “I don’t think that the bar is very high, you’ll do fine” Nico said, a surety in his voice that he hadn’t felt in a while. 

“What?” Ben asked, completely baffled. 

“Well your dad. Not a high bar.” Nico responded, yawning. 

“He’s king, he’s been ruling this country for over twenty years and I- I’m-”

“You are sixteen and have already done more good than your father.”

“You don’t know that. I’ve hurt people.” Ben responded, an unusual self-loathing in his eyes. Selfishly, Nico really hoped this wasn’t all because of the love potion. 

“Everybody hurts somebody. Even good people, the world isn’t so black and white Ben. And it isn’t so unforgiving.” Nico said, closing his eyes, remembering the mistakes he had made. Mistakes much more dangerous than a song and dance. 

They sat in silence for a few moments more. Nico was perfectly happy to doze off here, Ben keeping watch or whatever he was doing, dissociation and flashbacks were a lot more tiring than people thought. 

“Ben, can I ask you a question?” Nico asks, against his better judgment.

“Yeah sure, what's up?” Ben responds, refocusing on him.

“When…did you start liking Mal?”

“Oh well, I've always liked her!” Ben says, looking confused by the question.

“...really?” Nico asks, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. That potion did a number on him.

“Well, no, obviously but- well, I guess I had this dream and I know it sounds crazy but I met her in the dream and, look I know I should have said something to Audrey, but I really think I started liking Mal then.” Ben explains, looking unsure as to whether he should be telling him this. Nico’s eyes widened…being a demigod, dreams like that really aren’t that crazy. 

“So, what about recently? Like right before the tourney game?” Nico asks. He would feel a lot less guilty if the potion hadn’t done anything.

“I mean yeah, I guess my feelings have grown a little since she was talking to me. It was so nice of her to offer me that cookie, wasn’t it?” Ben kept talking but Nico wasn’t listening. So the potion had done something…but Ben had already liked her. Which means they really didn’t need that potion, fuck, now he really had to convince Mal to reverse the spell. If she can. Nico sighed and leaned his head back against the locker. 

“Oh sorry, you must be tired. I can walk you back to the dorms if you’d like?” Ben asks, sounding self conscious but Nico doesn’t feel like he can care about that right now.

“Hmmm” Nico yawns again, “tired.”

“Oh right-” Ben began when a shout echoed from the end of the hall. 

“Nico!” Will’s voice sounded out as the blonde came into view. 

“Mmhm” Nico responds. Will smiles.

“Where the hell have you been, loca?” Will asks grinning evilly.

“Ugh” Nico groans, wrinkling his nose in disgust. He can only stand a certain amount of twilight references. Ben stands up from where he was sitting against the lockers.

“Is that from something?” he asks, helping Nico to his feet. Nico stands, leaning against his arm. 

“Yeah but don’t worry about it” Will says before furrowing his brow at Nico, “do you want me to carry you home sweetheart?” his southern accent thickening in worry. Nico smiles, he loves when his boyfriends accent comes out. 

“Alright,” Will continues, chuckling. Nico lets his boyfriend pick him up bridal style. 

“Word of advice Ben, get a partner that can carry you. It's so much easier than walking” Nico says to the prince as Will carries him back to his dorm. He can hear Ben chuckling lightly as they leave. Hopefully Nico and his friends won’t totally ruin his life with this scheme, he doesn’t deserve that. 

Chapter Text

Stomping off to wherever the hell the tunnels were taking them, Elizander stepped on a tile on the floor, which opened to the school's secret library. It probably used to belong to Merlin, but he wasn’t here to claim it so it's Elizander’s now. Red hearts were spray painted along the bookshelves, Eli was always careful not to touch the books themselves. Who knows what kind of curses that crazy old geezer laid on them. 

The one thing they did know about the books is that one of them had a key that opened the bottom of the big desk in the back of the room. The small latch under the desk was a slide (well it was more of a really steep dirty stone ramp, but whos counting) that connected to a big storage room before, although Elizander now claimed it to be their Holy-Shit-Auradon-is-Fucked room. They even have a sign. (See Room)  

They found the place while exploring Ben's castle one night. They'd been having a nightmare about their mother again; it was a recurring thing, and there was no way they were going to wake Ben up again. They really should have been looking where they were going. At the time, they'd only lived in the castle for a few months. 

Alas, they hadn’t been looking, and when they took a wrong turn they ended up tumbling down a flight of stairs and ending up in front of a small door. It was so nostalgic and wonderland-esq that they couldn’t help but open the door. It opened to a tunnel and when Eli walked through they found themself sliding down some sort of stone ramp and into a drab room. It had a few brooms and that was it. All in all, incredibly boring. They tried to turn around and go back to their room but the door had disappeared. It really should have been more concerning but, well, Eli really hadn’t grasped the difference between Auradon and Wonderland yet.

 So instead of panicking they turned towards the only door left in the small room and found themselves in another tunnel. When they reached the surface they found the library. When they climbed the steps they found some sort of cliche highschool. It was dark so there was no one around, but they could tell it was cliche. They thought it must be the one Ben was so excited to go to. Elizander had not wanted to get caught, so instead of calling someone they tried to walk back to the castle. It would have worked too if they hadn’t been caught by one of the highschoolers near the dorm building. 

A blond girl had jumped down from one of the first story windows down at them. She had a sword in hand and pointed it at them, it was just one of those fencing ones but for a thirteen year old it had been terrifying. She had assumed (correctly) that they were from Wonderland and said he was a villain and a tyrant, that he was probably no better than his mother. Obviously Eli had burst out into tears (they still weren’t used to all the misgendering in Auradon) which had thankfully got her to lower the sword. Eventually she offered to drive them home. Sobbing apparently worked a lot better here in Auradon. In Wonderland it just got you dead. It took another year before Eli found out that her name was Ally and she was the daughter of Alice. ( JJ: ON TOP OF THE H DVHHOVBFOVUEDBVHDO hfbffrgugebfuvheuoh….helpppp….hvbdvbehdvbecboudbc ) In any case they were able to get back to their new pseudo-brother and King Adam, at least, was none the wiser. 

Elizander walked over to the mushroom chair they had grown in the corner of the room —well it wasn't so much a chair as it was a throne— and pulled out the picture they had of Ben and them hanging out last summer. The lack of the friendship bracelet seemed to weigh them down. When they first met, Ben had promised to try and get them back to their sister, to do something, anything, to make sure Red didn’t have to grow up with their mother. 

Eli had assumed Ben just didn’t have enough power to do so, politically or magically, but with this declaration about the Isle, Eli knew that couldn’t be true. If he could save the Isle kids, why couldn’t he at least try to help Red? Elizander knew that they were a little bit of a freeloader, just showing up and Ben being kind enough to give them a home devoid of the terror they had grown up with. Was that the problem? Was Ben tired of them? Was that why he refused to help Red? Elizander was just too much and Ben didn’t want to bring another havoc into his kingdom. It would have been nice if he had said something, if that was the case. Instead of pretending everything was fine. 

Elizander knew that Ben was going through something, he definitely wasn’t ok. They probably shouldn’t have yelled at him like that. But…Eli just couldn’t bring themselves to care after everything with Red and then, well, the stunt Ben pulled today with Audrey. Shit, if Eli was feeling this awful Audrey must feel terrible. They sighed and tossed the picture to the side. They should go talk to Audrey, she really didn’t have that many true friends and well, she seemed to be under the impression that Elizander would go to the coronation with her. Yeah, that needed to be addressed. 

It took Elizander an entire hour to find Audrey, the sky was growing dark and they were very close to just giving up when they heard a crash from the dorm room they were walking past. They knocked on the slightly ajar door and heard the incensed ranting come to a pause. A slightly dazed girl opened the door, she had long blond hair that was trailing after her as she met their eyes. 

“Uh…is Audrey here?”

“Oh! Elizander, I didn’t quite recognize you. I like the eye makeup,” she responded, giving them that royally trained smile everyone on Auradon had. 

“What?”

“The heart around your eye, what did you use? Face paint or eyeliner? I can never get my eyeliner to be that vibrant,” she asked, opening the door wider and waving them into her dorm room. 

“Oh, right, yes. Eye makeup. Um..it was face paint, some powder, and setting spray, sorry.” Elizander told her, shit they hadn’t realized they took their concealer off. No one was supposed to know where they were from, it was too dangerous.

“Oh no, I understand. Audrey is in the bathroom, I’m pretty sure she’s eating ice cream in the tub,”she continued, walking over to her bed and grabbing her phone where she’d laid it on the pillow. Eli could hear the shower running. 

“Why isn’t she in her dorm?” Elizander asked as they watched Ruby grab her purse. 

“Oh, I think she just wanted someone to hang out with,” her voice dropped into a whisper, “look I get that her boyfriend broke up with her, but it's not like they were in love. And anyway she’s loud and I think she broke my hairdryer so you can handle her and I’m going anywhere else. Deal?” 

“I mean Ben-”

“Is the prince and yeah ok not a good move to break up with her like that, but don’t you think him and Mal are cute? It's like Romeo and Juliet or something. Plus they look like actually in love and-”

Elizander zoned out as Ruby was talking and braiding her hair. What Ben did wasn’t justified, did people really think it was? Now that Eli thought about it, it was really out of character for Ben to do that…but Audrey obviously needed help. Which was never more obvious than when the bathroom door banged open. Ruby was almost out the door but they both turned around at the sound. Audrey was standing in the doorway, fully clothed, and soaking wet with a tub of ice cream in her hand. The shower was still running in the background and Audrey's mascara was streaming down her face. She marched across the carpet in wet socks (Eli shivered just thinking about it) and pointed a daming finger at Ruby. 

“I-I thought that we were friends! He broke up with me in front of the entire school!” She shrieked. Ruby definitely hadn’t been wrong about the loud part. “And that stupid, cretin, that wretch with her stupid purple hair just stole my boyfriend and you're over here saying he was in the right?!”

“Well,” Ruby began with a huff, “like I said it's not like you were in love.”

“ I was!” Audrey yelled again, fresh tears running down her face. Ruby scoffed at walked out the door. Elizander glared at her as she walked away. 

“Asshole,” they muttered under their voice before turning to Audrey. “Don’t listen to her, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

They put their hand on her shaking shoulders and she flung herself at them, clinging to them like a dying man. They were instantly soaked with water and they both definitely had chocolate ice cream on them. They guided her down on the chaise ( Here ) and let her cry on their shoulder for a while. They stood up once Audrey’s sobs turned quieter and turned off the shower. When they got back to the room Audrey was moving around the half melted ice cream with her spoon, staring listlessly at what was effectively chocolate soup. 

“Audrey, do you want to talk about it?” Eli asked against their better judgement. Her eyes lit up. 

“Yes!” She flung the ice cream down on the end of the chaise and started pacing around the room. “I am the princess of one of the most powerful kingdoms! I’m supposed to be queen! I have a right to the title, do you understand? I was going to be Queen! And then Ben just threw that away, threw me away, and for what? Some purple haired vulgar pig! I'm such a catch, I’m humble, I’m smart and pretty and in a high position of power, what does she have?”

Eli looks to the side as to not say ‘authenticity’, that probably wouldn’t make Audrey feel better. The ice cream has now spilled all over the pink fabric, Ruby is not going to be happy about that. Oops. 

“And now instead of going to the first coronation in over twenty years with the actual future King, I’m going with some stray he picked up three years ago!” she continued, gesturing at Eli. Well that was fucking hurtful. Stray, really? At least Elizander was here, which is more than she could say of her friends. 

“What?” Eli asked, crossing their arms and setting a light glare on Audrey. 

“Oh, well, I mean - it's just…that’s the truth of it. You don’t even have a title Eli, and I'm a future Queen. My grandmother is going to be so upset,” she turned away from him again. 

“Hey, I have royal status! And anyway, I never said I was going to the coronation with you.” 

Audrey froze, not even catching the first part of what they said, “What? Why wouldn’t you? You have everything to gain, and let’s be honest, nothing to lose.” Elizander felt as if they were going insane after listening to that comment, but hey, even in despair, she at least maintains a healthy ego.

Eli sighed, uncrossing their arms and standing in front of her “It’s not about that. Look Audrey, I know how you’ve been raised. Believe me I get it, but royal status doesn’t matter to most people nearly as much as it does to you.”

“Well it should!” She threw her hands up and stomped a few feet away from him, “It matters! It's practically the only thing that matters. It's what we're taught at school, how we are raised, the entire future of our lives! People say marriage and relationships are about love,” she turned around, marching back to Eli and shoving a finger in front of his face “They’re not! Not for us!”

“Audrey, they can be-”

“No! I was going to be Queen! Like of the kingdom, that was my entire future, it was everything I've been preparing my entire life for! And I grew to really like Ben, and-and I thought he liked me too,” she started crying again, covering her face with her hands. 

“Oh Audrey,” Elizander breathed out, wrapping the crying girl in their arms “everything is going to be okay”

“I won’t be queen anymore, I won’t be anything…”

“Hey look at me,” Eli pulled her hands from her face and held her shoulders, “You are so much more than your status or your boyfriend. You’ll still be a queen of your own kingdom, or you can be anything else. Don’t you see? You can do anything, be anything, that you want to now”

Audrey stared at them, not speaking before burying her head in their shoulder and hugging them again. 

“You know, for some near-peasant guy, you're pretty cool,” she says after a few moments. Elizander winces but doesn’t correct her. They take a deep breath, one battle at a time. 

Evie was digging through her bag, looking for her mirror. Where was it? It wasn’t like she was stupid enough to leave it lying around. It was way too important, and also probably contraband. And maybe illegal. Either way, it wasn’t in her bag and she was starting to freak out. Doug looked over, concerned and opened his mouth to say something when Mr. Deley came over. 

“Looking for something?” he said, holding up the mirror. Fuck, how did he find it? How did he know to find it? She glanced around to see if anyone looked suspicious and found Li Xiao smirking at her. That traitorous prick! He sold her out! And to think she did his homework. Well, he can forget about her ever doing anything for him again. Shit, Mr. Deley was still talking. 

“Thank you Li Xiao. It's gratifying to see that someone still respects the honor code.” He turned to Evie. “It will be my recommendation that you be expelled.” 

“Mr. Deley, I-” Evie started. 

“But that isn’t fair,” Doug cut in, standing up. “Obviously she wasn't cheating since she didn't have that... Whatever it is.”

“It’s called a magic mirror,” Evie offered.

“You’re not helping,” Doug whispered to Evie. Turning back to Mr. Deley, he continued. “Maybe she needed another pencil.”

“Actually, I was-” Evie tried again. 

“Really, don’t help,” Doug stated, louder this time. Evie dutifully shut her mouth. She had gotten that look enough times to know it meant ‘Be quiet and let me do the talking.’

“Please,” Doug said, talking to Mr. Deley. 

“Please,” Evie added. She also knew how to chime in helpfully, when she was supposed to be quiet. It was a trick she had learned from her mother. 

“Well,” Mr. Deley started, clearly flustered at not getting to reprimand obvious cheating, “If you can pass this test, I'll return your property and let the matter drop.”

Evie nodded and sat down, muttering a quick thank you to Doug, who smiled in return. She looked down at the test that had been placed in front of her. The first question read ‘Write the name or chemical formula for HBr.’ Evie knew the answer to that, it was hydrobromic acid. She wrote it down. Maybe this test wouldn’t be as bad as she thought. 

When Evie had got her paper back the next day, she had been more than surprised. She hadn’t thought she had done that well on it. Well, she thought she did well enough to pass, but a B-? That was more than she expected. She wasn’t about to complain though, and after looking over it and seeing she really did do that well, she ran off to find Doug. She found him at a picnic table under a tree out in the courtyard. Evie excitedly bounced over to him and showed him her B-, sitting beside him. 

“For the first time, it’s like I’m more than a pretty face,” she said, unable to stop smiling. 

“Shocker, huh?” Doug teased, smiling back. Now that she thought about it, he was kind of cute. 

“You were pretty great in there,” she said. 

“So were you.”

“I bet I can get an ‘A’ on the next test without the mirror.” 

“Yeah. Well, maybe we can get together and hang out sometime.” Doug smiled nervously. He really was cute. Evie smiled. 

“Yeah, let’s get together,” she answered, earning another smile from him. She was about to ask where they should go when they were interrupted by an angry fae. 

“There you are! Fuck’s sake, Evie, I have been looking for you everywhere!” Mal shouted. Heads turned at the sound of swearing, but Mal didn’t seem to notice. 

“What’s wrong?” Evie asked, concerned. Mal usually didn’t get this mad at Evie. 

“Ben just asked me out on…” Mal glanced around at the other people in the courtyard. She seemed somewhat scared, which was definitely not like her. Turning back to Evie she whispered, “a date.” 

Ohh. That explains the uncharacteristic nervousness Mal had. She had never been on a date before, and it was clearly freaking her out. It also didn’t help that Doug had just said “Nice,” and nodded. 

“Okay, well, we can handle this. Bye,” she said to Doug, giving him a look. He nodded his understanding. Although what he was understanding may have just been that they would talk later, rather than the fact that he wasn’t helping with Mal’s anxiety. Either way they headed in the direction of the dorms, leaving Doug at the table. 

“You’re looking a little pale,” Evie stated. 

“Yeah, obviously,” Mal replied snarkily. The attitude wasn’t going to help the situation, but at least Evie knew she wasn’t a total mess. 

“I can fix that with some gloss and some blush.”

“NO.”

“Mal, I can use the-”

“No, no, no.”

The back and forth continued all the way back to their dorm room, where Evie had the opportunity to sit Mal down and do her makeup. Nico and Will were for some reason hanging out there (something about a new schedule and magic, Evie was far too busy to listen) and insisted on staying and giving advice about her date. Mal was not happy about any of this, but she couldn’t exactly stop it. 

Chapter Text

Nico sat against a blossoming apple tree in one of the more hidden courtyards of Auradon Prep. He’d gotten Ben to show him to it. Nico looked up at the falling petals. How it was blooming considering he was pretty sure it was always spring here, Nico had no idea. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and scrolled to the bottom of his eight person contact list. To be honest there wasn’t much scrolling. He tapped on Persephone’s number, holding his breath as it rang. Maybe she wasn’t serious about the calling thing. Maybe she didn’t want to be bothered. With Hades on the Isle, she was busy running the underworld. Not to mention it was always spring. Maybe-

“Hello, dear” Persephone’s gentle voice echoed through the phone speaker. Nico let out a breath.

“Hey, um…mom” Nico responded awkwardly, pulling his knees up to his chest.

“How are those magic classes going?”

“They’re alright. There’s one other kid with us and she’s cool, does stuff with flowers. I’ve just been practicing shadow pockets, little stuff the mentor won’t freak out about,” Nico picked at the grass next to him.

“Hmmm, the mentor is not Fairy Godmother?” Persephone asks, voice sounding slightly colder.

“Uh, no it's Ms. Chenoweth” he answers, “she’s alright, just likes Will’s magic more I think. She teaches Bad Fairies”
Persephone scoffed, “Bad Fairies? This is a class?”

“Yeah, it sucks. The school sucks. Better than the Isle though, I guess” Nico says, picking up a grass blade to tie knots in.

“Yes I imagine it would be. Has the shadow regulation come easier? Your father mentioned it in his letter”

“Oh,” Nico blushes at the implication, “My magic regulation wasn’t that bad. My friends have it way worse. I think I’ve seen Jay’s eyes turn red like forty six times now during turney”

“Hmmm, and how have you been? With this plot you and your sister have cooked up?”

“Hey, I was barely involved!” Nico said defensively.

“Of course dear, did it work then? As expected?”

Nico sighed, “No, does anything ever work as expected? We’ll fix it, Mals going to fix the love potion tomorrow. Ben had already liked her anyway” he said, guilt melting into his voice.

“And what was the point? The reason for this…extreme measure?” Persephone asks, her voice more comforting than Nico expected.

“Maleficent,” he answered, voice dropping lower in case of eavesdroppers, “Asked us to get the wand. We don’t know when we’ll get sent back to the Isle. If we don’t get it…well, dad won’t do anything but their parents aren’t…the nicest people. Not after being trapped on the Isle for so long”

“They are scared of what their parents will do? The fae in particular?”

“Yes,” Nico closed his eyes. He remembers Mal walking into their ‘meetings’ with bruises. He remembers tears streaked down Carlos’ face as he wonders if his mom will remember him tomorrow. He remembers Jay sleeping at their hideout because his dad won’t let him in the house unless he has something to sell. He remembers Evie staring at the mirror for just a little too long, the hidden moments when her confident facade slips. He doesn’t want to go back to that, doesn’t know if he can. Can’t go back to the feeling of helplessness, of watching these people he’s grown to care about buckle under the weight of their parents expectations.

“I don’t know what to do mom” Nico says, resting his head on his knees.

“I’m sorry child, this weight should not be on your shoulders. I’ll see what I can do. In any case I do believe you all will most likely stay on Auradon if you choose to.” Well, that was slightly ominous, Nico thought. “Now I must go,” Persephone continues, “But if any issues arise, or if you wish to talk my phone is always on, love”

“Thank you.”

“Stay safe and stay hopeful Nico Di Angelo. I expect a call next week”

“I know, I will”

“Good” Persephone's voice cut off with a beep as the phone hung up. Nico stared at it a moment before putting it back in his pocket. Fuck, this was going to be a long two months.

Chapter Text

Nico startled as the door to his sister's dorm room flung upon, Evie and Mal rushing in and not-so-carefully shutting the door behind them. He was exhausted but this seemed important.

“What happened? Mal, you don’t look so good.” Nico asks, sitting up from where he was leaning against Will, and Evie’s headboard.

“I’m fine. Why are you in my dorm?” she looks at him confused, but doesn’t stop on her way to fling open the wardrobe.

“Just hanging out, Kaito asked if he could have the dorm for a few hours so he could study-” Will snorted at that and Nico swatted at him, “and no one wants to hang out with Herkie.”

“What's wrong with Herkie?” Evie asks as she pulls out her giant makeup box. Not a bag, a box. Nico feels like he’s in the Aphrodite cabin all over again.

“He’s fine.” Will says wrinkling his nose a bit, “just very…Zeus-esq.” Thunder rolled outside as Will responded, despite the clear skies.

“Yeah, ok well, Mal has a date!” Evil squeals, jumping up and down in excitement.

“You don’t have to make a big deal about it!” Mal almost yells, nerves obviously filtering through her voice.

“Oh, with Ben, right?” Nico asks. Everyone turns to him with a flat look. “Just checking,” he says, throwing up his hands in indignation.

“Right well, we’ve got lots to prep for,” Evie says, “Now let’s go over makeup before you change. I’m thinking-“

“Um, actually Evie, I was wondering if I could talk to Mal for a second” Nico interrupts, looking at her imploringly. Evie is one of the only people who knows Mal is his sister so she’ll probably understand. Nico knows this is important, but Mal needs to hear what Ben said to him the other night. She stares right back, almost like those weird staring competitions Maleficent does. Evie breaks first.

“Fine, fine. Will, help me pick out an outfit” she huffs, ushering Will to the wardrobe.

“Uh…I don’t think-” Will looks at Nico, panic evident.

“Well…go on~” Nico says, an evil smirk on his face as he pulls Mal into the hall. As he closes the door the last thing he sees is Will’s betrayed look.

“Nico, what is it? Because as you can see, this is super important. I have no idea what to wear and I haven’t cut my hair in a year so I have so many split ends. Evie will definitely try and do something preppy for my makeup and also, I have no idea what to fucking do!” Mal says, managing to yell that last part loud enough to hurt Nico’s eardrums. It's been four days since the whole dancing thing and Mal’s already freaking out. Nico really should have talked with her sooner.

“Look Mal-” Nico attempts to start when Mal interrupts him.

“Also the plan, of course” she says, clearing her throat and brushing her hair to the side, obviously trying to disguise the fact that she actually cares about the date. Nico closes his eyes for a moment, he really hopes he wasn’t this obvious when he was pining after Will. Or gods forbid Percy.

“Yeah about that, I’m pretty sure the love potion was unnecessary, which means we really fucked up. Also, did you dream about him before we got here?” Nico rushes out, trying his best to get a word in before Mal starts to spiral again. She stares at him for a solid thirty seconds, her eyes flickering brighter green.

“What?” she finally asks, voice monotone and hands clenching at her sides. Nico winces.

“Um…so like, I was talking to Ben the other day, because he was walking me back from the principal's office. Anyway I asked about his feelings for you because I wanted to know the potions effects because wow was that a bad idea. Not that I’m completely blaming you, we were all complacent in making it. Point being, we need to make a counter spell, and it wouldn’t even mess up your plan!”

Mal stares back at him, processing what he just revealed. “You're going to have to be far more coherent about this Nico.” she finally says. Nico sighs heavily and starts fidgeting with his hands.

“Ben likes you”

“Yes I know, we were in the kitchen for like an hour making those stupid cookies” she responds rolling her eyes, but Nico can see the guilt hidden in her posture.

“No, I mean- yes, the potion helped, but he liked you before.”

Her eyes widen as she focuses her gaze on Nico. “He liked me before?” she asks, looking way more devastated than Nico expected.

“Yes, I mean maybe not as much since you guys didn’t know each other, but yes. That’s what he said the other day. Said he had a dream about you, he even said he just didn’t know how to break up with Audrey. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, it's just…I didn’t know how” Nico rants, moving his hands as he talks.

Mal closes her eyes for a moment, obviously upset. “So…that was all for nothing? The cookies?”

“I mean…basically. I guess they sped up or-” Nico grimaced at his own words, “encouraged Ben to break up with Audrey.”

“Huh… well ok.”

“What?”

“I said, ok,” Mal said, crossing her arms, “look, this is good information, good to know. But I don’t have time to think about this right now. Ben’s picking me up in thirty minutes, there's no way I can find and bake a counter spell. So-” she points a finger at his face, “no thinking about it, no talking about it. Ok?”

Nico stared at her like she’d lost her mind. A real possibility. She just found out that Ben has real, non-fabricated, feelings for her and that the consent-breaking love potion was unnecessary and she's just going to not think about it?!

“Do you really think total compartmentalization is what you need right now? I mean-” Nico starts, before being rudely interrupted by glowing green eyes and the smell of smoke.

“I can’t deal with this right now Nico. I need this date to work for the plan and for…the plan. I can’t fail at getting that stupid wand. We can’t fail.” Mal says quietly but threateningly through narrowed eyes. The air in the hallway became colder and Nico got the distinct feeling of suffocation. If he hadn’t faced Nyx before, he’d even be scared. They stared at each other for a moment.

“Fine, but once the date is done-”

“Yes, obviously” Mal interrupted, crossing her arms again. They stayed there in the hall for a few moments more, neither of them wanting to go back into the room. Will's voice echoing through the door brought the world crashing back down. He sighed.

“C’mon, it’ll still be fun. Plus, Ben does actually really like you so you may want to do something about your hair” Nico said to Mal, a grin slipping back on his face.

“What’s wrong with my hair? Other than the split ends?” Mal asked indignantly, pushing past Nico and shoving the door back open.

Nico really wasn’t expecting the scene that greeted them. Evie and Will we're standing in the middle of the dorm, facing off like some bad western movie. Clothes were strewn across the beds and floor, somehow they managed to get the wardrobe to be directly behind them, it was open and Nico had never seen a more eclectic group of clothes before. And he’d lived in the Lotus Hotel so that was really saying something. Evie was holding multiple cowboy hats in both hands and Will was holding some ridiculously garish green dress.

“Cowboy hats are not a fashion statement, they are a lifestyle! A state of mind! We have twenty five minutes, which is not nearly enough time to teach either of you the true meaning of the hat!” Will was saying, gesturing at Evie and now Mal.

“Well, she is not wearing that ridiculous dress! Where did that even come from?” Evie says, throwing two of the cowboy hats to the side but keeping the black and purple ones.

“Ben likes plants! I think, which makes it a better plan than cowboy hats!” Will responds, haphazardly shoving the dress back into the wardrobe.

Nico walks over to the bed, and after shoving a pile of clothes off, sits down. “Why doesn’t she wear something more…Mal,” he suggests, kicking at a pink high heel that lay on the floor.

That set Evie into a flurry of action and Will to collapse onto the bed next to Nico. Ten minutes later Evie and Mal were finally sitting down. An outfit had finally been picked and Evie was putting on Mal’s makeup before she got changed.

“Okay. Easy on the blush. I don't want to scare him away. Not that I could,” Mal says, pushing down Evie’s hand and glancing at Nico.

“Please. My mom taught me how to apply blush before I could talk. Always use upward strokes,” Evie says before applying more. Mal rolls her eyes a little but lets Evie have her way.

“My mom was never really big on makeup tips. I never had a sister,” Mal responds, Nico tries not to laugh. If only she knew, if only anyone but Will knew.

“Well, now you do, and three brothers. We're going to need all the family we can get, if we don't pull this off. My mother's not a barrel of laughs when she doesn't get her way. Just ask Snow White,” Evie says with a self deprecating laugh. A moment passes in silence as Evie applies the mascara.

“Are you afraid of her?” Mal asks in a quiet voice. Nico sits up straighter at that, Will tensing next to him. Mal being vulnerable? He never thought he’d see the day.

“Sometimes. Are you afraid of your mom?” Evie asks casually as she puts away her makeup.

“I just really want her to be proud of me. She gets so angry with me when I disappoint her. And sh... yeah, she's my mom, so I know she loves me... in her own way.” Mal says, fidgeting with her school pants. “What about you?” Mal asks suddenly, focusing her gaze on Nico.

“Oh well-”

“You’re still here?” Evie and Mal ask at the same time, looking at Will.

“Yes?” he says, voice uncertain as he looks at his hands. Nico presumes he's making sure he's still corporeal, and he can’t help but laugh at his boyfriend.

“I thought you left after the cowboy hats” Evie says, staring at Will dumbfounded.

“Nope, been here the whole time. I literally glow in the dark guys, how did you not see me?”

Mal shrugs, “You kind of just blend into the background, everything glows in Auradon.”

Nico laughs, “Look who’s in the shadows now.”

“So mean,” Will says, “see how mean he is to me?” he asks rhetorically.

“Yeah, whatever” Mal answers, “So? Are you?” she asks, focusing back on Nico.

“Am I what?”

“Gay” Will mutters under his breath. Nico looks at him with the most unimpressed look he can muster.

“No one needs that question answered Will, we all know. The question I was asking is are you afraid of your parents?” Mal says, rolling her eyes.

“Well…my Mama’s dead. But I guess my mom is terrifying when she wants to be. I’m about as afraid of my dad as you are of yours,” Nico responds, Evie snorts in laughter from where she’s shoving clothes back into the wardrobe.

“Wait, you’re calling her mom now?” Will asks, obviously trying to keep his tone neutral, “when did this happen?”

“Oh, very recently. You know, had a flashback in the principal's office, she helped with the whole magic thing. Said I had to call her once a week” Nico responds, stretching out on the bed.

“A flashback? I thought you just dissociated, you have got to start telling me these things.” Will says, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

“Wait, a mom, a dad, and mama?” Mal asks in confusion.

“Oh yeah. My mama’s dead. Mom’s…something. Dad’s on the Isle” Nico explained in the most unhelpful way possible. Before Mal could start her interrogation Evie interrupted. She had somehow cleared the room of the previous mess and the mirror was now free.

“C’mon” she said, pulling Mal in front of it.

“Oh, I look…” Mal trails off, gazing into the mirror, seeing the knee-length purple sequined dress. Her hair was slightly curled at the bottom, letting her see the silk straps. The makeup emphasized the features of her face perfectly. Although the boots were not it and certainly did not match the outfit, it was screaming Mal.

“Say it” Evie encourages from behind her.

“Not hideous” Mal says, a smile gracing her features.

“Not even close,” Evie says excitedly, “and in thirty minutes too. I think that’s a new record!”

“You look nice Mal,” Nico says smiling, just then there's a knock at the door and Mal marches over to swing the door open. Ben stands on the other side of the door in a navy blue leather jacket overtop a basic ass blue shirt and white khakis. Nico really hoped the future king could find some better fashion advice soon.

“For the first time, I understand the difference between pretty and beautiful. I hope you like bikes” Ben says, handing a helmet over to Mal. She freezes for a moment and looks back at Nico. He gives her a thumbs up. Evie is next to him making a shooing motion with her hands.

“I do,” Mal responds, “like bikes that is.”

Nico grimaces a little, well it's a start he guesses. Mal walks out the door arm in arm with Ben. Nico really hopes this goes well for everyone involved. He’s about to collapse back onto the bed and go to sleep when he’s stopped by Evie shaking him by the shoulder.

“Hey, what's that for?” he asks.

“I thought we didn’t want Mal to know you have the same dad?” she asks, incredulous.

“Eh, I just think it's better if she figures it out at her own pace. There’s already a lot to deal with.” he responds, yawning.

“Ahuh, well, you can deal with the fallout,” Evie says before turning around and sitting at her sewing table. “Now I need total concentration to finish this sewing project, so you two,” she points a finger at him and Will, “need to go find something to do elsewhere.”

“What? Nooo, Kaito is still studying in my dorm. What are we supposed to do?” Nico complains but stands up anyway.

“Go on a walk or something,” she says distractedly, already absorbed in the stitching.

“That’s not a bad idea, c’mon, let's have a little date,” Will turns to Nico, grabbing his hand.

“Fine, but only if we’re walking off campus. I cannot deal with this school,” Nico leads them out the door.

“Sounds good to me,” Will kisses Nico on the cheek and pulls his keys out of his pocket, “we can go anywhere you’d like.”

Nico smiles, leans into his boyfriend's side and lets Will lead him wherever.

The wind rustles in the trees, a music brought only by nature. The sun glinted through the canopy and met Will's eyes with a shine that made Nico weak at the knees. His boyfriend had managed to acquire strawberries with chocolate and had earlier managed to smudge some on his nose in the most adorable way. A few moments ago they had been walking along the forest trail, enjoying the weather and each other's company. Basking in the light breeze and the glinting sun. It would have been the perfect date if Nico weren’t so close to slamming his head against a tree.

Will and him had managed to go on a walk, on a date, to the one place that Ben and Mal were! Was this the fates playing him? What did he ever do to them? Why did he have to wander onto his sister's date? He hadn’t even known where she was going! Which in retrospect, he really should have asked. Will and Nico were standing on a ledge of a hill, overlooking an honestly majestic lake. It would be even more majestic if he weren’t practically, accidentally, spying on Mal's date! And spying on her existential crisis, ya know, as an added bonus!

“Do you want to go somewhere else?” Will asked Nico, who was observing the not-yet couple.

“Yeah…we should probably go. Who knows what type of shit they will start singing.”

As they start to turn away Nico hears Mal start to talk. “I’m 16. I’m an only child.” BITCH WHAT?! THEN WHAT WAS NICO, CHOPPED LIVER?!! “And I’ve only ever lived in one place.” Nico closed his eyes as if in pain.

“Nico, what's wrong?” Will spoke softly, taking hold of Nico's waist and caressing his face.

“Please, for the love of the gods, tell me I’m not as oblivious as her,” Nico complained, while leaning towards Will's touch.

“Well…”

Nico glared at his boyfriend. They both turned around and walked onto a different trail. Hopefully this one would lead away from the date.

“Maybe you should tell her?” Will asked, leading them back towards the path.

“No way, she has too much on her mind, plus it's good to figure it out yourself” Nico said, breathing a sigh of relief as his sister's voice faded out of earshot. The sun continued to sparkle through the canopy and made Will look like he was glowing. Nico leaned further into his boyfriend and Will’s arm tightened around his waist as they continued to walk. Maybe not all was lost, maybe the date could still go well.

(AJ: fcnejfvjerbf jrveuaujbfcrjlba, MS: that was actually JJ stealing the computer, like a thief, JJ: Nuh, MS: Evil Evil Thief)

“Tell me something about yourself that you've never told anyone.”

Mal swayed from side to side on the rope bridge, completely ignoring the 100 foot drop to a river separated by barely an inch of wood under her feet. She tried to think of an answer that was preferably not embarrassing. Unfortunately, her first thought was the exact opposite, and she said it before thinking better of it.

“Um... my middle name is Bertha.” She immediately regretted saying it. Even Evie didn’t know that.

“Bertha?” Ben snickered. He was one to talk.

“Yeah. Bertha. Just my mom doing what she does best. Being really, really evil. Mal Bertha Faery.”

“Well,” Ben said, trying to hold back laughter, “It could be worse.”

“Oh yeah? You mean like Benjamin Florian French Beowulf Beast?” Mal asked, smirking.

Ben stopped. “How did you–?”

“I may have seen a bit more in that secret room than I let on.”

Ben stared at her for a second, then smiled softly. “Well, that does explain how you knew what Eli and I were talking about. You won't tell anyone?”

Mal shrugged and kept walking. “Nope. Not my secret to tell.”

“Thank you,” Ben said, following her.

They walked for a few more minutes, talking about everything and nothing, when they came to a small clearing. Ben had asked her to close her eyes, so the next part could be a surprise. Mal was hesitant at first, but decided to go with it. Even if she wasn’t super fond of putting her entire trust into someone she didn’t really know all that well. Ben was spelled so it's not like he would attack her. Plus she wasn’t even sure Ben knew how to use anything other than those dorky fencing swords.

“Watch your step,” Ben said, guiding her down a staircase. Maybe not the best thing to do blind, but Mal wasn’t worried. “You good?” Ben asked. Mal nodded.

“Okay, now step up. There. You ready?” Another nod. “Okay.” He lowered her hands from Mal’s eyes.

“There.” Ben watched as Mal took in the area. It was a small lake surrounded by a few short cliffs on the far side, and the forest stretched out all around. A little ways in front of them was a small outcropping that used to be a small temple. It was pretty old and had fallen into disrepair over time. Now it was just two columns holding up a curved piece of stone facing the lake on a stone foundation. On the platform a picnic was set up, basket and all.

The scenery was beautiful. Mal didn’t know what to say. She had never seen anything like this. No, wait. She had seen this place once before. She had had a dream here before she left the Isle. Now that she thought about it, Ben had also been in the dream. Normally, she would think nothing of this. However, she had recently found out that dreams being visions of the past, present, and future was apparently not normal. She had spent a few days reeling over that fact, anyway now her thoughts were wandering. That also happened a lot.

She focused on Ben, who had led her to the picnic and sat down. He gestured for Mal to follow, and she sat down beside the prince. Ben offered her some sort of pastry and started asking her questions about herself. Mal made sure to answer without giving too much away. She didn’t need Ben learning about her plans before they happened. The only problem was, for some reason, Mal wanted to answer with the complete honest truth. She was starting to get concerned that she might actually care about Ben. She regretted the love potion, really, but she had to admit, it was nice to have someone care about you, even if it was fake.

“Is this your first time?” Ben asked. They had been talking for a bit now, learning about each other.

“Mm,” Mal hummed. “We don't really date much on the island. It's more like... gang activity.” There were definitely some relationships on the Isle, Mal had just never cared enough to pay attention to them. Ben laughed softly. It was a sound that Mal couldn’t help but smile at.

“I, uh, I meant, is this your first time eating a jelly doughnut?” He clarified. Oh. Mal felt her face heat up a little. This was a new feeling. She seemed to be having a lot of those recently.

“Is it bad?” Mal asked.

“You got a... Just a... I mean, yeah, do this.” He mimicked licking his lips, and Mal copied the motion. She wasn’t at all distracted by Ben doing it first. Definitely not.

“Gone?” Ben nodded. Mal smiled looking down, “You can't take me anywhere, I guess.”

“You know, I've done all the talking. Your turn. I really don't know that much about you. Tell me something,” Ben said. Apparently Mal hadn’t been doing as well as she thought she was. Man, people were confusing. She thought for a moment.

“Well, I'm 16. I'm an only child. And I've only ever lived in one place.”

“Me too! Well, not the only child thing. I mean biologically, I am, but Eli is basically my brother. But the other stuff… me too,” Ben answered, smiling in that infectious way he always does. “We have so much in common already.”

“No,” Mal scoffed, “Trust me. We do not.”

“Maybe we have more in common than you think,” Ben said quietly. That was cryptic. Mal started to wonder if maybe there was more to this guy than she thought. She figured there was only one way to find out.

“And now you’re going to be King,” she said, curious how he would respond.

Ben scoffed bitterly. “Yeah.” That was… unexpected.

“What?” Mal asked softly.

“A crown doesn’t make you a King.”

“Well, it kind of does.”

“No it…” Ben started. He thought for a moment, then said, “Having authority and knowing how to use it are two different things. Take my dad for instance. He may have the authority to rule the kingdom, but that doesn’t mean he does a good job. He actually kind of sucks at it. He outlawed magic, stuck anyone who ever committed any crime no matter how small on a prison island for life with no supervision and seems to think that the children that are the result of that decision are just as bad as their parents without even giving them a chance, he strong arms all of his advisors into agreeing with him all the time. I honestly think they're kind of scared of him. At the very least they seemed surprised when I listened to their opinions the first time I led a meeting with them.

“But despite all this, people seem to think that he’s a good king. Maybe they just don’t know better. Either way, I’m afraid that I’ll end up as the same kind of ruler, especially with how much my dad pushes me to be the same kind of monarch. But being related to him doesn't mean I have to be like him. The same goes for you. Your mother is Mistress of Evil and I've got the poster parents for goodness, or that’s what people say. But we're not automatically like them. We get to choose who we're gonna be. I don’t have to rule with an iron fist, and you don’t have to be evil. And I don’t think you want to be. I look into your eyes, and I can tell, you’re not evil.”

Mal was silent for a minute. That was not an answer she expected. It was surprisingly self aware. She definitely had not given Ben enough credit. She had pegged him as some generic rich kid who didn’t think anything was wrong with the world because they had never seen anything that would prove otherwise. But Ben wasn’t like that. He seemed to understand that things weren’t as great for everyone as they were for him. He actually wanted to help make things better for the people of Auradon, and sees where a lot of the problems start.

“Well,” Ben said suddenly. “That’s enough emotional vulnerability for today.” Mal smirked. She couldn’t not, it was the kind of response she would give too. She did stop smiling when Ben said,

“Let’s go for a swim.” Nope to the nopity-nope.

“Uh, what? Right now?” Mal did not feel like drowning today. Sure, bodies of water in Auradon weren’t filled with killer crocodiles or man-eating sharks or bitchy pirates, but still.

“Yeah, right now,” Ben said, standing up, not noticing Mal's discomfort.

“I think I’m just gonna stay here.”

“No no no, come on.”

“I think I'm gonna stay behind and try a strawberry. I've literally never tried a strawberry before.” She picked up one of the red fruits and took a bite. “Mmm,” she pretended to sound fond of the taste. That was, until the taste actually hit her. Good gods, it was amazing. She made the sound again, but for real this time. Ben chuckled and nodded.

“Okay, then. Don’t eat all of them,” He said as he headed off.

“I make no promises,” Mal answered as she grabbed a third strawberry.

A few minutes later, she spotted Ben on the top of a small cliff across the lake. He was wearing a royal blue swimming suit with small yellow spots. It was an odd design, but as Mal stood up, looking closer, she realized that they weren’t spots.

“Are those little crowns on your shorts?!” She shouted with a smile.

Ben smiled sheepishly. “Maybe.” He let out a loud roar, because Ben was a weird kid. Mal laughed as Ben jumped off the cliff and into the lake. He surfaced a moment later, smiling, his hair stuck to his face in an almost perfect way. Which Mal was not attracted to, not at all. Definitely not. Ben swam around, disappearing behind the cliff.

Mal leaned her head against one of the columns of the temple.

♫ A million thoughts in my head ♫
♫ Should I let my heart keep listening? ♫
♫ Cause up 'til now, I've walked the line ♫
♫ Nothing lost but something missing ♫
♫ I can't decide what's wrong, what's right ♫
♫ Which way should I go? ♫

She turned back towards the picnic, memories flashing through her mind.

♫ If only I knew what my heart was telling me ♫
♫ Don't know what I'm feeling ♫
♫ Is this just a dream? ♫
♫ Ah oh, yeah ♫
♫ If only I could read the signs in front of me ♫
♫ I could find the way to who I'm meant to be ♫
♫ Ah oh, if only ♫
♫ If only ♫
♫ If only ♫
♫ If only ♫

♫ Every step, every word ♫
♫ With every hour I'm falling in ♫
♫ To something new, something brave ♫
♫ To someone I've never been ♫
♫ I can't decide what's wrong, what's right ♫
♫ Which way should I go ♫

Gods, she wished she had the answer to that. She knew what way her mother would tell her to go, and she knew which way Ben would say, but she didn’t know where she wanted to go. And that was more frustrating than anything.

♫ If only I knew what my heart was telling me ♫
♫ Don't know what I'm feeling ♫
♫ Is this just a dream? ♫
♫ Ah oh, yeah ♫
♫ If only I could read the signs in front of me ♫
♫ I could find the way to who I'm meant to be ♫
♫ Ah oh, If only ♫
Yeah ♫

♫ Am I crazy? ♫
♫ Maybe ♫
♫ We could happen ♫
♫ Yeah ♫
♫ Will you still be with me ♫
♫ When the magic's all run out? ♫

She was almost scared of the answer to that question. There was some part of her that wanted Ben to stay, and it kept getting louder and louder the longer she played this part.

♫ If only I knew what my heart was telling me ♫
♫ Don't know what I'm feeling ♫
♫ Is this just a dream? ♫
♫ Ah oh... ♫
♫ If only I could read the signs in front of me ♫
♫ I could find the way to who I'm meant to be ♫
♫ Ah oh... ♫

♫ If only, yeah ♫
♫ If only, yeah ♫
♫ If only, yeah ♫
♫ If only, yeah ♫

♫ If only ♫
♫ If only ♫

She leaned against the column, staring into the water. Why did things have to be so fucking complicated? Life would be so much easier if it was straightforward and simple. Maybe it would be boring, but at least she wouldn’t be so damn confused. Maybe Ben could help her figure out what she wanted. She looked around for Ben, but didn’t see him. That was when she realized that she hadn’t seen Ben in some time. That was too long to be out of sight, so where was he?

“Ben?” Mal called out. No answer. “Ben?” She shouted a bit louder, the concern in her voice more apparent. Still no reply. That wasn’t good. She steeled herself for what she was about to do. She jumped in the water, clothes and all. Was it noble? Yes. Was it stupid? Also yes, especially because she could not swim. Auradon was really getting to her.

She called out for Ben a few more times, before her boots slipped off the edge of the underwater drop that she was standing on, and suddenly she was sinking. She kicked and thrashed, trying to not inhale the water. It wasn’t working. Then something grabbed her from under the water. Maybe bodies of water in Auradon were as dangerous as the ones on the Isle. She kicked, trying to get away from whatever it was, when she felt herself being lifted above the water. She found herself in Ben’s arms, dripping wet.

Ben set her down on the edge of the stone foundation and asked if she was okay. Mal nodded, then shouted,

“You scared me!” She punched his arm.

“You can’t swim?” Ben asked incredulously.

“No!”

“You live on an island!”

“Yeah, with a barrier around it!”

Ben looked at her for a moment, seeming to calm down. “And you still tried to save me.”

“Yeah. And do you thank me? No! All I get is soaking wet!” Mal gestured to her dress, now sticking to her in that annoying way fabric always does.

“And, uh, and this fancy rock,” Ben pulled out a white crystal from his pocket and handed it to Mal. “It's yours. Make a wish and throw it back in the lake.” Ben smiled at her. Mal looked back, unimpressed. A rock? Seriously? Did this man actually think a rock would fix this? Apparently he did, because Ben looked at her expectantly. Mal rolled her eyes and threw the rock straight down into the water. Ben’s smile faded as he realized that this was not a situation that could be made better with a cool stone. This seemed to make him sad. Well, damn, now Mal felt a little bad.

She shivered, the cold of the water seeping into her bones. Ben jumped out of the lake, and grabbed his jacket, putting it around Mal's shoulders. It was a sweet gesture, and Mal couldn’t help but feel a bit better about the situation. Ben sat down in front of her. They sat in comfortable silence, looking at each other for a minute. There was something different about Ben, but Mal wasn’t quite sure of what.

“Mal,” Ben started. He seemed nervous. “I told you that I loved you. What about you? Do you love me?”

Jesus fuck, that was a loaded question. Especially for a first date. Mal stared for a minute, trying to think of something to say. She couldn’t just say no, that was far too blunt, and it wasn’t entirely true. But she also couldn’t say yes, she didn’t really know if that was true either. How she felt was much more complicated than a simple yes or no. After a minute of deliberation, she settled on an answer. She looked down, not able to look at Ben as she said,

“I don’t know what love feels like,” It was the truth. She really didn’t know what love meant. Gods know she never felt it from her mother. She was pretty sure the only people Maleficent had ever loved was Aurora and that stupid bird, Diablo. Certainly never Mal. Apparently Mal just wasn’t good enough. Not like perfect little Aurora. Always, confident and doing the right thing, helping people, and caring about others. She couldn’t even be evil like her mother, Mistress of Evil and all that. Mal had never been able to live up to any of it. At some point she just stopped trying.

Ben pulled her out of her bitter musings by touching her face gently. He smiled, and all of Mal’s problems just seemed to melt away. Things may be complicated and confusing, but it would be okay. Because she had Ben with her. He may have been spelled, but the way he was looking at Mal seemed much more real than ever before. She couldn’t help but be put at ease.

“Maybe I can teach you.”

When Ben decided on a picnic at the Enchanted Lake as his first date with Mal, he had not intended to fix his weird-and-kinda-horny-voices-in-his-head problem. That was just a happy accident. Or, at least, he was pretty sure it was. That voice had made it really hard to think sometimes.

A few hours earlier, he had set up the picnic and was back at his dorm, getting ready. He put on a dress shirt and pants as well as his biker jacket. It was in Auradon’s colors, blue and gold. He usually wore it when he wanted to blend into town. Seriously, everything important in Auradon was covered in either blue, gold, or both. As bad a king as he was, his dad could certainly stick to a color scheme. Even Ben had to wear the colors most of the time. Most of the time he didn’t mind, blue and gold were good colors, but sometimes he wanted to wear something that didn’t turn him into walking propaganda. Auradon wasn’t that great after all, it had its problems like everywhere else. It just liked to pretend it was perfect when it wasn’t, and that was more annoying than anything.

Ben styled his hair into that classic 2010’s white boy style as he thought about how he had decided years ago that when he became king, he would fix things. He couldn’t let things stay the way they were, it just wasn’t right. Even as a kid, he understood that. No sixteen year old should be put on the throne, but at this point he figured he could do a better job than his dad. It wasn’t a high bar by any means, in terms of being a king, the man sucked at his job.

He shook his head, deciding to avoid ruining his good mood further by lamenting about how his dad should not have been put in charge of a kingdom. Any kingdom. Today was about him and Mal, and that alone meant it was going to be great.

Mal is great. Oh, boy, the voice was back. He just hoped it wouldn’t get out of hand today, that was another thing he didn’t need.

I promise I’ll be good. ‘You had better,’ Ben thought back.

He smiled to himself, grabbing his helmet and an extra one for Mal, before heading to the girls' dorms to pick up his date.

Ten minutes later Ben stood outside the door, waiting for Mal to answer and hoping that he wasn’t too early. He didn’t want Mal to feel rushed about all of this.

Yes, we can’t do anything that might make her leave us.

‘Calm down, it’s only our first date.’ Ben thought back at the voice.

Which is the most likely time for her to leave. And then the world will end.

‘The world will not end if she decides to not date us.’

Uhh, it’ll end for us, stupid. Duh.

‘Gods you’re dramatic.’

Like you aren’t thinking the same thing. And don’t say you aren’t, because I’m in your head and can read your thoughts and I know that you are.

Ben really needed to find a way to get rid of this voice. It was getting kind of annoying.

Hey!

Oops. Luckily, Mal saved him from a mental barrating at that moment, when she opened the door. Both Ben and The Voice promptly short-circuited. She was wearing a deep purple dress that matched her eyes so well, and a leather jacket over top that added a rebel flair that was just so Mal. Her hair was done in soft curls that fell over her shoulders and Ben almost missed it, but Mal’s eyes lit up when she saw her. That alone was enough to melt Ben.

Holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck… For once, Ben agreed wholeheartedly with The Voice. Mal was absolutely beautiful, and Ben just had to tell her as much.

“For the first time, I understand the difference between pretty and beautiful.” That was cheesy, but Mal seemed to like it, since she blushed a little and smiled. Ben glanced behind her and found her dorm full of people. Most notably, Will and Nico, who seemed deeply concerned about Ben’s outfit as they gave an exasperated sigh once they saw what he was wearing. Ben wasn’t sure why, there was nothing wrong with his outfit. It was just a blue dress shirt and light khaki pants, what was wrong with that? Ben focused back on Mal. There was no reasoning with someone with a bad fashion sense after all.

“I hope you like bikes,” he said.

“I do,” Mal said. “Like bikes, that is.” She told her friends goodbye, and they headed off.

“Let's go for a swim,” Ben said. Mal seemed a little freaked out when she heard that, but that was probably just because Ben had just ranted about his dad being a horrible monarch. Ben just wanted something to lighten the mood. Swimming was good for that.

“Uh, What? Right now?” Mal asked.

“Yeah, right now,” Ben said, standing up. He held out his hand to Mal, who shook her head in response.

“I think I’m just gonna stay here.”

“No no no, come on.”

“I think I'm gonna stay behind and try a strawberry. I've literally never tried a strawberry before.” She picked up one of the red fruits and took a bite. “Mmm.” She seemed to be mimicking liking it at first, but then it turned into actual joy. Strawberries were apparently a good choice, Ben thought as he smiled.

“Okay, then. Don’t eat all of them,” Ben said as he headed towards the path up the cliff.

“I make no promises,” Mal called behind him. Ben grinned. He would have to remember that Mal liked strawberries.

Of course. We shall have only strawberries for the next date.

‘Slow down. First of all, Mal hasn’t even agreed to a second date, and we are still on the first one,’

We can ask her.

‘And second of all, you can’t have just strawberries. It’s better to have a couple of options.’

Why? Strawberries are the only one that would matter.

‘It’s still nice to have a choice and not just strawberries.’

But strawberries are good.

‘I know that, but it’s called being considerate. Just strawberries might seem kind of cheap.’

What about strawberry flavored things?

‘I mean, maybe, but it’s still strawberries.’

Strawberry crepes.

‘Crepes, yes. Strawberries, no.’

Strawberry turnovers.

‘Now you’re not even listening.’

The Voice gasped. Strawberry creme filled croissants!

‘Okay, that actually sounds really good.’ Ben finally reached the top of the cliff and found himself standing ten feet away from the edge. He pulled off his clothes, revealing his bathing suit underneath, and set them aside on a large rock. He stepped up to the edge and looked towards Mal, now seeming small from his vantage point. Mal spotted Ben and stood up.

“Are those little crowns on your shorts?!” She shouted with a smile.

Ben smiled sheepishly. “Maybe!” He let out a properly beastly roar and jumped.

Wait, is this the enchanted lake?

‘Yeah, obviously. You’re the one that suggested it. Why?’

Oh no…

That was when Ben hit the water. It felt great, cool, but not cold. He sank five feet down below the surface, and admired the way the water distorted the view outside. It was beautiful in a way, kind of like looking through crystals. He felt his mind clear up as he swam towards the surface. That was odd, since The Voice usually had something to say. Of course, now Ben realized what it really was; the manifestation of a love potion.

He surfaced and saw Mal smiling at him. That smile really could fix the world’s problems. Ben swam around moving behind an outcropping of rock. His mind was still just his now. The Voice seemed to be gone. Well, not completely. Right then The Voice spoke one last time.

Goddamnit. Stupid Lake. Well, only one thing left to do. Ben waited. What was it–

AGGGGG!!! TELLL MYY STORRRRYYYYY!!!! Ben winced. Good lord that voice was dramatic. At least now it was gone. Ben could have peace. Although, some part of him did feel a little sad, his mind felt kind of empty now. But now that Ben thought about it, if The Voice was because of a love potion, that meant that Mal had spelled him. Which meant that Mal was okay with being seen with Ben. Which also meant, if Ben’s calculations were right, that Ben actually had a chance of being with Mal!

Ben smiled. Mal might actually like him back. That would be amazing. Ben just needed a way to see. He thought about what he should do. Some movies had couples teasing each other, but that just felt weird to do. Others showed a person just staying quiet and paranoid, and Ben didn’t really feel like doing that either. He decided that it would be best to just ask Mal. That was the quickest way to get an answer to the question after all. A little something else might help too though, Ben thought with a grin. He looked down under the water and spotted the perfect thing. A white crystal rock. Ben dived down to grab it. Rocks made everything better! Mal was going to love it.

Chapter Text

Nico leaned against the wall outside of Mal’s dorm. It had been one week since Mal and Ben had officially started dating, and honestly being around them was hard. They both obviously liked each other but Mal refused to admit it. At least Mal was finally giving Ben the truffle today, it had taken her a few days to figure out the spell, so maybe the ridiculous pining would go down. Ah shit, now that song was stuck in his head. 

“Hey,” Will's beautiful face came into Nico’s line of sight like a breath of fresh air. His uniform untucked and for some reason he had a cowboy hat on. Nico would never stop finding him beautiful. 

“Oh thank fuck,” Nico said, wrapping his boyfriend in a hug, “I cannot do this awful studying alone”

Will, the betrayer, laughed at him. “What class is it?”

“Ugh, History of Auradon.”

“Uuugh, why? That's the worst one. And I’m including the class on smiling!”

Nico smiled at his boyfriend's antics, “Really? You don’t absolutely love learning about how Medusa was born a gorgon or how Thanatos is for some reason the god of death and sleep? I absolutely looove the rewrites”

Will smiled slightly at Nico’s exaggerated sarcasm and reached to push open the door. Nico pulled him back for a moment and softly kissed his lips. 

“Ok, now I’m ready” Nico says, pulling back and pushing open the door, pulling a slightly flustered Will in behind him. On the other side of the door the Fantastic Four are already setting up the table in the middle of the room. They like to drag a round table into the girls dorm to study, Mal insists it's better that way. Well, Evie and Carlos are setting up and Mal is flipping through her spellbook. Jay is, for some reason, hanging upside down from Evie's bed frame, the pink curtains draping over his face and blocking his vision. All in all an average scene.

“Oh good! Now we can get started. We have three worksheets and some of us haven’t finished our essays,” Evie says, looking pointedly at Will, Nico, and Jay.

Mal smirks, “Yeah, some of us.”

“Hey, the only reason you finished so early is ‘cause you got Jane to help you,” Nico says pointing a daming finger at Mal as he sits at the round table with Will.

“Yes, and I did a fantastic job convincing her,” Mal says, tossing her spellbook into her bedside drawer.

“You mean you bribed her,” Jay responds grinning and bounding over to the table. Mal flips him off as Evie and Carlos laugh. 

Will leans into Nico’s ear and mutters, “See it won’t be that bad.” 

Mal manages to catch what he says, “Just wait until you see the worksheet,” she responds ominously. 

Once everyone has taken a seat at the table, Evie pulls out her gigantic binder and starts passing out the worksheet copies. Nico and Will are endlessly impressed by her organization. Carlos and Evie manage to treat school like it's some heist mission, not that Nico’s complaining. Getting good grades without a support system is nigh impossible for them, and it's not like anyone in this group was about to admit they needed help, at least not to anyone else. Nico pulled the paper towards himself, maybe Will was right and the next two hours wouldn’t be so bad. 

“This shit is fucking exhausting” Mal exclaims, throwing her pen down unto the table and standing up. 

“It’s only a history worksheet Mal, at least we’ve got Evie for the chemistry stuff” Jay says grinning, leaning back in his chair.

“I’m not doing your homework again Jay, you’ve got to start it before class this time,” Evie responds, rolling her eyes.

“Oh come on! Fine, if you want to betray me like this, Carlos will help me,” he jokes, pulling Carlos into a headlock.

“Ugh, hey!” the smaller boy shouts, managing to slip out of Jay’s hold and run around to the other end of the table. “We both know the only reason you’re doing homework with us is because you don’t want to get kicked off the tourney team.”

“Well, obviously, homework is stupid anyway. Right Mal?” he asks her, tipping his chair back in such a way that Nico is sure he’ll fall. Not that he’s gonna say anything, it’ll be funny when it happens. 

“Well, this certainly is, how can Ms. What's-Her-Name expect us to complete two worksheets by tomorrow?”

“Especially when it's all fake,” Evie says while shaking her head, “that or my mirror is wrong, and I seriously doubt that.”

“Huh? Whaddya mean?” Jay asks, sadly landing his chair back on all fours instead of falling. 

“What? You mean you guys haven’t noticed? About the history classes?” Evie says, looking at everyone with concern.

“Glad I’m not the only one that caught it,” Nico says while folding his worksheet into a paper airplane. If Ms. Jollie wanted un-wrinkled paper then she should have said so. 

“Ya gonna explain or just make origami?” Mal snaps, sitting back down with a huff. 

“Well, it's just all so contradictory!” Evie exclaims, throwing her hands up in the air, “The book says one thing, the worksheet is asking for another, and my mirror says something completely different!” 

“What?” Carlos says, walking back around the table to examine the textbook and mirror, “Holy crap, those are two very different answers, I just thought the history at Dragon Prep was fake”

“That’s what I’m saying!”

“How could that be possible? We’re on the history of the Gods, that’s not something you get wrong lightly.” Mal says from her seat. Nico stands up to collect his now slightly more crumpled airplane and look at the textbook. He then immediately sits back down, the words are moving around far too much to read over someone's shoulder. 

“Yeah…this is odd. Maybe we should bring it up to Fairy Godmother? Maybe she doesn’t know Ms. Jollie is teaching the wrong history.” Evie says, twirling her hair around nervously. 

“Maybe we’re supposed to notice and correct it?” Will suggests, “like some convoluted anti-propaganda class.”

“I doubt that” Carlos says, pulling the textbook closer to him and flipping through it, “This is all very heavy on the…heroic jargon now that I think about it”

“Well, obviously,” Jay interrupts, “we’re in Auradon, it's gonna be all about the heroes.”

“None of the gods are heroes,” Will says bitterly. Jay furrows his brow. “Except Hestia. Love her, bless her soul.”

“Is she a hero or just not a total dick?” Nico asks as he grabs Will's worksheet to fold into a plane. 

“What do you mean?” Carlos asks, continuing to flip through the textbook.

“Well a hero embarks on a journey, right? And possess noble qualities or some shit, isn’t that the definition?” Nico explains, tossing the paper airplane up into the air. The table is silent for a few minutes as they all watch the plane crash into the side of the recycling bin. 

“Well, then what the fuck do we put on the worksheet?” Mal says once everyone's attention is back to the table.

Evie sighs and runs her hands through her hair, “I don’t know. I mean… shouldn’t we be accurate?”

“I think we should focus more on just passing the class than being accurate,” Will says while walking over to pick up his now crumpled worksheet.  

“But that's…aren’t we here to learn?” Carlos asks the table as Will sits back down. 

“No. We’re here to get the wand and then get off this fucksicle of a continent. Who cares if Auradon is teaching their kids propaganda, once we bring down the barrier they won’t be able to teach anything,” Mal says darkly, standing back up and marching over to her bed. She grabs her spellbook and starts angrily flipping through it. Nico doubts she's actually reading any of the words. Everyone’s silent for a moment, Nico smooths out his worksheet again. 

“But…” Evie starts to say and then falls quiet. No one really wants to argue with Mal when she gets like this. No one wants to say what everyone’s thinking. 

“It’s fucking nice here Mal!” Jay says, standing up and walking over to Mal. Well, apparently Jay wants to start this argument. Shit, Nico can feel the headache building behind his eyes. 

“What?” She asks quietly, dangerously, as she puts down her spellbook. 

“It’s good here, we’re all thinking it. Everyone likes it here! Carlos has a robotics club and friends other than us! Evie has the start of a business. I have a tourney, Nico has…uh well Will I guess,” Jay says. 

“What am I? A cockroach?!” Will mutters under his breath. Everyone ignores him but Nico makes sure to pat him on the shoulder, for comfort. 

“And you have a boyfriend that you actually like! Potion be damned.” Jay continues. Nico cringes at the blunt honesty. This is not going to go well.

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” Mal asks rhetorically, a growling sound echoes across the room. Nico’s eyebrows raise. Since when could she growl? What was this, Court of Thorns and Roses? Jay takes a step back but holds his ground. 

“You heard me. We all like it here. We’re not scared all the time, I have an actual bed for the gods sake. I don’t use it, but it’s there! Why would we go back?” Jay says, getting angry. 

The wind in the room starts to pick up, the dust moving and turning to a glowing red sand. Mal starts shouting back and Jay matches her energy. The temperature was rising and the air was getting drier around Jay. Nico edged around the table pulling Carlos back to where Evie was. The temperature on this side of the room was dropping so much, Nico could see frost forming on the windows. He really hoped no one walked by. ‘Well, shit was hitting the fan (or in this case sand)’ Nico thought to himself. Glancing to Will, he silently asked if they should intervene or evacuate Evie and Carlos, Will nodded his head in the direction of Evie. Nico began moving the shadows, enveloping himself, Will, Evie, and Carlos, preparing to shadow travel them to a safer location. Sand began forming at a higher volume as the wind picked up. Nico had no idea how Jay was doing this but he figured now was not the time to find out. The last thing he saw before pulling them all into the shadows was fangs descending from Mal’s gums and her lunging at Jay. Well, that was fucking weird, Nico really hoped Jay was alive when they came back. 

Aziz liked going on walks by the dorms. It was usually quiet with very few people around, no one to bother him about tourney, ROAR, or ask him to help write an essay that always turned into him writing the whole thing. He had just switched his music to the new hit album some indie artist named Orpheus recently came out with when he heard yelling. Aziz looked up and around him but didn’t see anyone. It must be coming from the dorms up ahead, he understood, roommates fight. 

He turned his music up and kept walking, this time a little further away from the windows. The soft blues and guitar tones did well to drown out the noise until he heard a loud crash from the dorm just ahead. The thing about Auradon preps dorms was that they were only soundproofed on the inner walls (King Adam was cheap), which wasn’t usually a problem and Aziz was very good at ignoring people. Unless someone was hurt, he couldn’t help himself, he felt like he had to intervene. He jogged up to the window only to be met with possibly the weirdest thing he’d seen at school so far. And he was counting that creepy kid teleporting. 

Inside the windows he saw what had made the thumping noise, a chair had been thrown against the frosted glass. Why the hell did the window have frost on it? Aziz couldn’t remember it ever getting cold enough in Auradon to have frosted windows. He really couldn’t see much else though, the entire room was consumed by some sort of glowing red sand storm. It was also weirdly dark, like night time had been cast over the room. He looked up to the sky, yep, it was still midday. Aziz stared in shock, trying to see through the dust and the dark. He could just make out the four poster beds to the left of the room and some sort of floating figure in the middle. Red, grey, and beige sand swirling around it. He thought he could just make out the back of Jay’s vest when glowing green eyes popped out from the gloom. Aziz took a stumbling step back, the only thought running through his head being ‘nope, nope, no, to the noppity, nope’. Aziz did not want to know whatever the heck that was and he certainly didn’t want to know what made it angry. 

He spun around and ran back the way he came, only coming to a stop once he got to the entrance of the dorms. Sweat poured down his forehead and his breathing was heavy. His earbuds had managed to fall out of his ears and he was suddenly glad his dad had gotten him the old wired version.

What the heck was that? Why was it in the dorms? Why was it even in Auradon-? Aziz cut his thoughts off. He stood up and gazed back in the direction he’d come from. That room was about where the VK’s dorm was, the girls' dorm in any case. ‘There’s no way’ he thought, ‘Ben wouldn’t have brought these kids over if they were actually dangerous, right? Because there was no denying whatever that sandstorm thing was, was dangerous. He slid down the wall. It couldn’t have been Jay right? He’s always been so upbeat and he’s awesome on the tourney field! More importantly he’s also a human person and not a giant sandstorm. 

He leaned his head back against the wall. He should get an adult right? Yeah that sounded like a good idea, a responsible idea. He could get Fairy Godmother, for you know, the magic stuff, but…wasn’t she always a little weird about magic? Always warning so heavily against it. And hey, don’t get him wrong, magic could be dangerous and whatever the hell was in the VK’s dorms was definitely dangerous. On the other hand…Coach would probably be better if that thing was Jay. Or if it ate Jay. In any case Jay knows Coach (or knew, if he’s been eaten) so Aziz should get Coach. Yeah, that was a plan, and the plan coincidentally took him far away from the dorms. 

When Coach Jenkins had agreed to take a teaching job in the most prestigious high school in Auradon he had not pictured himself covered in sand and talking down a Djinn. Actually, he had never pictured himself talking a Djinn down in any circumstance. But here he was, in the wrong section of the dorms, sand flying around as a Djinn and a small dark colored animal fought viciously. 

“Hey!” Coach started, not that it did much with the sound of the wind, the sand, and some sort of infernal screeching sound that made Coach feel like Jay might be facing off a banshee. That would certainly explain the fluctuating temperature. Not that Coach was discounting Aziz’ theory that the sandstorm ate Jay…but it was a rather stupid idea when you remember that Jay was most likely part Djinn. Technically nobody knew who his mother was but Coach had seen his eyes flash red enough times to make an educated guess. He unclipped the megaphone from his belt and turned it on, angling it downward in hopes of less sand getting in it. 

“Jay! That you kiddo?” Coach said, speaking into the megaphone as best as he could. He was starting to think the sound had been drowned out again when the wind started to quiet down. Unfortunately the less wind and flying sand was accompanied by the sound of something small crashing into the lamp on the desk. Coach really hoped whatever it was wasn’t alive, or was still alive, depending. The sand started to settle on the ground in piles, a thin layer coating everything, including Coach. That was going to be hell to clean. As the sand settled and the red glow died down he saw Jay floating up in the air, five feet from the ground and eyes glowing bright red. The kid's signature jacket was torn up from the sand and there was a tired slump to his shoulders. The room started to warm up again. 

“Hey kid,” Coach continued, putting his megaphone down, unfortunately into the pile of sand next to him but that was a problem for later Coach. He dragged his feet out of the sand that had accumulated on top of them and made his way to his star player. 

“Why don’t you come down from there? Looks like the danger is gone,” or unconscious Coach thought. Jay turned his head to him but Coach got the feeling he wasn’t actually seeing much. Red eyes seemed to bore into his soul and if this wasn’t  his kid a kid on the team he might be a little scared. “Come on, we’ll go to the tourney field. Run off some of that energy” 

That seemed to break through the haze of whatever was going on with Jay. The kid floats down to the ground, settling next to Coach on a sand dune. Slowly he reaches out his hand, resting it on the kid's shoulder. Jay’s eyes widen as they clear up, fading to a salmon pink before turning back to their normal dark brown. 

“Coach?” Jay asks, voice rough like he hasn’t had water in days. 

“Yeah, it's me, kid. That was one hell of a sandstorm” Coach responds.

“Oh…” Jay's eyes widen as he takes in the room. Small sand dunes lay across the floor, rippling like a red and grey ocean. His eyes land on the broken lamp and then the darker colored lump next to the desk, Coach can tell at this point that it's obviously some kind of creature that (like everything else) has been covered in sand. 

Jay scrambles back, jerking his shoulder away from Coach as he falls into the sand. 

“Oh fuck, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” Jay repeats as his eyes start to fill with tears. The kid starts to shiver like he’s cold despiste the room being back to a normal temperature.  

“Hey, hey it's alright. Are you hurt?” Coach asks, then glances back at the small creature, “Is someone else hurt?”

“I-I don’t know,” tears start streaming down his face, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know I could do that. Please don’t make me leave, please I don’t want to leave,” Jay sobs, curling in on himself.

“Hey, hey no, hey it's alright. You can stay, I promise you can stay,” Coach says, reaching towards Jay again. He pulls the kid into a hug and rubs circles into his back. He read in some article that it's a good strategy for comforting crying people. Coach furrowed his brow in confusion, the kid was ice cold, how was that even possible? He supposed he’d have to ask later. Minutes past with them both crouched in the sand like that, Jay sobbing into his shoulder and clinging to him desperately. He wondered if the kid had ever been hugged before. After a few minutes Coach noticed that Jay was covered in small cat-like scratches, although they were obviously from a different animal. 

Eventually the tears and shivering stopped and Jay’s breathing evened out. Unfortunately that was right around the time when they both heard sand rustling from the side of the desk. They tensed and looked over. Coach grabbed for his megaphone but found the belt loop empty. Right he’d left it on a different sand dune. He looked back over as he saw movement in the corner of his eye. He positioned himself in front of the kid, he’d be damned if Jay got hurt any more. He felt Jay tense behind him, the sand surrounding them glowing a soft red and starting to swirl when a small head popped out of the pile near the desk. The head was obviously connected to the creature, it looked almost reptilian with black and purple scales, but it had a mane. A mane that was absolutely filled with sand. The creature narrowed its eyes at the both of them before seeming to notice the sand. Somehow, its eyes got wider, the second eyelid sliding over them in what Coach assumed was blinking. It then glanced back at them, and if lizard things could smile Coach would definitely assume that’s what it was doing. 

“Hey-” Coach’s attempt to reach out was interrupted by the creature shaking its mane and flinging sand everywhere, effectively filling his mouth with sand in the process. Could this day get worse? Coach thought, and then immediately regretted it, things could always get worse. Thankfully the lizard lion looking thing didn’t seem that interested in them after it managed to fill his mouth with whatever dusty magical sand this was. Instead it stared at the sand dunes around it and in a move that he could only describe as fox-like, it leaped out of its current pile and dove head first into another one; disappearing for a moment, before popping right back out and jumping again. The creature continued to do this until its mane was filled with sand. It then shook out its fur before jumping again, successfully once again showering them with sand. Coach sighed. 

“Come on, Jay lets go while it looks like the creature is… having fun” Coach says, pulling Jay up and edging towards the door, careful to avoid the creatures' tunnels.

“Okay,” Jay said, following out the door much less carefully. 

Coach pushed open the door, just a crack, trying to make sure most of the sand stayed in the room. He wasn’t entirely successful. By the time he and Jay got out into the hallway a small pile had formed. Together they pushed the door shut, hopefully keeping the creature in there.

They didn’t talk as they walked to the tourney field. Coach let the silence continue until he was done patching up Jay’s scratches. The kid was pretty despondent, staring blankly ahead for most of the time, not even flinching when Coach applied antiseptic wipes. The sun hung low in the sky over the field. 

“So… that was a dragon right?” Coach asked, now that he’d had time to think it was definitely not just a lizard.

“Yeah” Jay responds, fiddling with one of the extra tourney sticks. 

“Ok.” Coach sighed, “Look kid, I don’t know how you managed to smuggle a dragon here but as long as that sandstorm stuff is kept to a minimum I won’t snitch, alright?”

Jay grins softly, some of his usual attitude coming back, “Ok”

“Next time, just come to me and I’ll set you up on the field. Drills always made me feel better back in school,” he says, not that he had to deal with budding Djinn powers, but tomāto, tomáto. 

Jay’s shoulders fell again and one of the saddest faces he’d ever seen fell over it. The kid didn’t just look sad though, he looked scared. For a moment Coach was angry, angry at whoever had made this sixteen year old kid so afraid. But his anger slowly trickled down, it wouldn’t be helpful anyway, plus Coach had a feeling the real problem was locked on the Isle and it's not like Jay was going back there. Not as long as Coach had anything to say about it. 

“Don’t worry Jay, I think I know what will make you feel better,” Coach says smiling.

“You have cocaine?” Jay asks, slightly confused but also way too enthusiastic. 

“What?! No! You don’t have that on the Isle right?” Coach asks, looking at Jay like he’s just grown an extra head. Jay stares back at him with a completely blank face.

“Of course not Coach. I have never been offered cocaine by an authority figure in my life. And I also have no idea what Goblins Blood is either,” Jay responds in the most unconvincing voice Coach has ever heard in all his years teaching and possibly his life. It was almost impressive. 

Coach closes his eyes and prays to…well, anybody listening for patience. 

“Ok, so cocaine is not legal, it's in fact extremely dangerous and considered a hard drug…none of you brought drugs right?” Coach asks. Jay continues to stare at him with a blank face. “Since you didn’t know, you won’t get in trouble. I promise”

“No, I already used them” the kid responds, shaking his head. Coach’s eyes widen in horror, what in the actual fuck was the Isle?

“So you did.”

“Not much! Never had the money for much, plus it was only weed which doesn’t grow well on the Isle and all the better stuff only the teachers had.”

“...the teachers? They wouldn’t…give them to you, right?” Coach asks, brow creasing in concern. 

“Well, not when we got older. Gaston sometimes I guess but everyone thinks he’s a whiny little bitch so most people didn’t take it. Mostly it was just cough syrup and poppy when we were kids if we were throwing tantrums.” Jay says, casually shrugging. 

“You know thats fucked, right Jay?” Coach says, staring at Jay with what could only be described as pity. 

Jay shifts uncomfortably, “I thought people on Auradon didn’t curse,” he says grinning. 

Coach didn’t find it all that funny, especially considering Jay basically told him the kids on the Isle were getting poisoned by their parents and nobody was doing shit. If this is what the Isle was like, if the kings and queens knew and did nothing…well Coach didn’t know what he’d do but it wouldn’t be pretty. 

“Alright kid, let's run through some drills and talk about why drugs are illegal,” Coach said standing up, hopefully he’d be able to explain before the sun went down. 

“Ok, as long as we can throw things,” Jay says as he stands up, grinning and tossing the tourney ball around.  

Nico carefully moved towards the door to Evie and Mal’s room. Evie was standing behind him and Carlos to his right. Will was a few paces back with a med kit slung over his shoulder, just in case. He could see a small amount of sand pooling around the door. Nico grabbed the handle, it was cold to the touch. Quickly he turned it and swung open the door, sand poured out of the room, knocking him over and covering his legs.

“Ah, what the fuck?” Nico exclaimed, trying to pull himself from the slightly glowing sand. He heard Carlos and Evie gasp behind him and Will cursed quietly under his breath. Will grabbed his hand and helped pull him up, sand had managed to find its way into Nico’s socks during the process. His socks! He could feel the horrible grains of sand against his skin, trapped in the fabric. Not even bothering to look into the room, he figured it was safe since Carlos had walked in, he stripped off both his shoes and socks. Breathing heavily from the whole experience Nico tried to calm himself. 

“Nico you alright? It doesn’t seem like the sand harms” Will asks, rubbing Nico’s arm in comfort. 

“It got in my socks! Sand, and fabric, at the same time!” Nico says with urgency, grabbing onto Will's shoulders and shaking him slightly, “I feel like I need to peel my skin off, I swear to the gods it's the worst sensation. I would rather get stabbed! And I can say that with personal experience!”

Will stares at his overwhelmed and slightly hysterical boyfriend. “Do you want to move somewhere without sand,” he glances over Nico’s shoulder, “no one seems injured but…the room is filled with like a lot of sand.”

“No,” Nico scowls, “It’s already on my feet,” he says while tossing his socks and shoes into the sand pile. “But I'm never wearing either of those again,” Nico declares with finality before turning and marching into the dorm room. He stops just inside the door, Evie and Carlos in front of him blocking his view. 

“What's wrong?” Nico asks grouchily.

“There’s something in there, the sand keeps moving,” Carlos whispered as Will came up behind them. 

Nico stared around Evie spotting the movement. There was a dune a few feet in front of him, Carlos was right, something was inside it. Something that seemed to have spotted them. The moving stopped, for just a moment, before the sand started rippling in their direction. It was like something was moving towards them, something small, but still Nico did not want to stick around to be eaten by some bad beetlejuice reference. He grabbed Evie and pulled them both back through the door. Carlos yelped as it got closer and jumped back, Will just barely catching them before they both went tumbling backwards in the sand. Nico lunged towards them but before he could reach, something popped out of the sand and landed directly in front of him. He scrambled back and drew his sword before he could even process what he was seeing. 

“Nico, don’t!” Evie yelled from behind him. He blinked at her before turning back to the creature in front of him. He blinked again…it was a dragon. A very small purple and black cat sized dragon. Said dragon was swishing its tail back and forth in the sand, its mane was filled with sand and it looked remarkably content. The creature blinked at him before sniffing at his sword, and then for some fucking reason, the dragon licked it. Nico jerked back again and hurriedly put his sword away. Why the fuck did the thing lick his sword? While Nico was busy having an existential crisis and looking incredibly confused and lost, Evie and Carlos burst out laughing, Nico glared at them both. Traitors. 

The small dragon shook out its main, spraying them all with sand and cutting off the laughter, or at least dwindling it. The dragon walked around Nico and settled contently in Evie’s lap, a growling purr emanating from it. 

“Can I just ask,” Will began, “what in the fuck?”

Carlos shrugged helplessly and stood up, picking his way through the small sand dunes to where he last left his backpack. 

“I think,” Evie said, petting the purring creature, “that this is Mal,” she says quietly. Everyone turns and stares at her, because what? Since when can Mal, a fae, transform into a dragon? That didn’t even-

“Oh that makes sense,” Carlos says while tugging his backpack out from a pile of three feet high sand. Seriously, there was so much fucking sand.

Will's eye twitched, “It does?”

“Yeah, I mean, her mom can do that so why can’t she? Although Maleficent was always bigger in the stories- oof” Carlos explained as he fell back, backpack in hand. 

“Ugh,” Nico vocalizes before falling back too, successfully hitting another dune and filling his own hair with sand, well more sand. And now that he thought about it there was probably quite a bit of dust, thank the gods none of them were allergic.

Evie smiled mischievously before standing up, Mal (apparently), in hand. “We should close the door before Audrey or something walks by and has an aneurism.”

That got a chuckle out of everyone and they all helped in shoving as much sand as they could back in the dorm while still being able to close the door. Evie stared around the dorm with a frown once they were done, Mal still held securely in her arms. 

“Now, how the heck are we gonna clean all this?” she asks the room. 

“Jay made it, right? Where even is he?” Carlos asks, staring at the dune piles in mild horror. 

“Oh god, he’s not buried is he?” Evie exclaims in horror. She holds Dragon-Mal up from her underarms and shakes her slightly. “Mal, snap out of it! Where’s Jay?!”

Dragon-Mal slowly blinks at her, her second eyelid sliding very slowly over her eyes. She opens her maw and everyone holds their breath. But the only sound she makes is a quiet “Mlep” before tasing the air with her tongue and wriggling in Evie’s hands. Nico’s starting to suspect Mal either doesn’t know english right now or is doing a very thorough job of fucking with them. 

Will closes his eyes, Nico recognizes it as him reaching out for the injured, trying to sense Jay under the sand he can only assume. “No one’s here except us,” he concludes, tossing his medical bag on the bed and sitting down. Piles of sand slide off the edge as he puts weight on the previously pink fabric. 

Evie furrows her brow, she shakes Dragon-Mal again, “Where did he go mal? We’ve got to find him! Oh god what did he do? What if he has been caught? They can’t send him back, can they? Mal, where-”

While Evie is nervously interrogating Mal, Nico and Will both notice the door to the dorm open slightly. The sand they had worked so hard to push in spilling back out. Jay stands in the doorway, bandages covering scratches on his arms but otherwise looking all right. A tourney bag is slung over his shoulder. 

“Uh..What are you guys doing?” Jay from the doorway, surveying the scene with Evie and Mal. 

“Quiet Jay, we’re looking for Jay!” Evie says as she shakes Mal once more before turning around so fast Nico’s pretty sure he got whiplash just from watching. “Jay?”

“Where have you been!” Carlos asks, marching over to Jay and crossing his arms, “No note, car gone!” he shrieks in a shrill voice. Everyone stares at him with a blank face before bursting into laughter. Even Will cracks a smile. 

“There’s Harry Potter on the Isle?” Will asks under his breath. 

“Yeah, well they don’t have magic anymore so they gotta make stories” Nico responds, whispering so as not to ruin the moment. 

“Sorry,” Jay says in between gasping breaths of laughter, “Went to the tourney field to blow of steam”

“The sand storm wasn’t enough?” Evie asks, concerned once everyone stops laughing. 

“Yeah, that was your first time doing big magic. Are you tired? Does your head hurt?” Will asks, going into full medic mode. He grabs a small flashlight from his bag. “Let me check your pupil dilation, make sure it's reacting at an adequate rate. I should also check the bandages that you have, make sure they are clean and placed correctly, and for that matter I should check Mal too. Do you think you can shift back, Mal? It's not uncommon to get stuck the first time shifting, I think.”

Dragon-Mal stares at Will and lets out a quiet “merp” from Evie’s hands before jumping out and wriggling back under the sand.

“All right, guess I’m checking on you first, Jay. Who patched up the cuts?” Will walks over to Jay and shines the light into his eyes. 

Nico crosses his arms amused, this was gonna take a while. It felt good to not be the one needing Will’s check ups for once. Now they all could suffer through the lectures about proper nutrition in relation to magical output. Nico sighed and laid down sideways on the bed, content to watch Jay get fussed over as Carlos tried to find Mal in the sand. Maybe everything would be alright, right after they figure out how to get rid of all this fucking sand.

Shit…they still have homework. Nico flopped onto his back in despair. School sucked. 

The pear tree Ben chose for their second date was in bloom. A checkered blanket was set under the tree with food spread out. Mal was continuously surprised at the amount of food in Auradon, a younger version of herself would have totally freaked out over it. She waited in the shade of the tree, her purple dress clashing with the picnic blanket. She gripped the box of chocolates in her hands, it felt like she was holding a couple of bricks instead of a few spell-breaking truffles. 

The weight of what she’d done and what she was about to do was almost overwhelming. What would happen to her if this plan failed? If Ben had never actually liked her and once the spell was broken she would be sent back to the Isle? What would happen to her friends? Jay hadn’t been totally wrong, at least not about the others, it was nice here for them. Carlos had friends at robotics and seemed to enjoy Tourney when he could play. Evie loved the fabric choices, and Jay…what would happen to him if he had to stuff all that magic back inside? None of them had even known for sure that he was Djinn before they got here. Would he survive, would any of them? What if-

Mal was broken out of her thoughts by the sound of footsteps. Her hand closed over one of the knives that had been set out for cheese, presumably. Slowly she turned around, only to see Ben walking towards her. He looked good, he was wearing an outfit that was very different from their first date. Mal was rather shocked he had developed a sense of style in only a few days. He was wearing a white button down with a light blue sweater vest. His shirt was untucked from his pants in an attractive way. It was much better than the polo and khaki combo. (Here)

“Another picnic? And some new clothes I see” Mal asks with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. 

“It’s kinda a thing here in Auradon, and Eli saw me in the hall. Forced me to change, that’s why I'm late,” he responds nervously, rubbing the back of his neck in a self-conscious way. Mal smiles as he sits down. 

“So are you back on talking terms with them?” Mal asks, trying to stay casual.

“Sorta, they said we needed to talk after this” he says, smoothing out his vest. Ben notices the box in her hands with a grin.

“I hope that’s more cookies, the last ones were really good! Whatever you did made them amazing,” he says, reaching out to open the box. Mals eyes widen and she feels her stomach clench with nerves. He didn’t know, right? Of course not, there's no way he would still be anywhere near Mal if he did.

“Oh!” she laughs nervously, “Not quite, I made chocolate truffles” Mal tries for a smile but she has a feeling it doesn’t quite meet her eyes. Ben opens the box and stuffs one of the truffles into his mouth with excitement.

“Mm. Mm... Mm! This is really good.” Ben exclaimed as the chocolate melted on his tongue.

“Uh, do you…” She asked, reaching towards him but falling short. 

“Mal?”

“Do you feel okay?”

“You bet” he says, licking the chocolate off his fingers and grinning. 

“Would you say that you're still in... that... that you have very strong feelings for me?” Mal asked, wincing. That was way to forward, what if he-

“I’m not sure. I mean, let's give the anti-love potion a few minutes to take effect.” Ben says, shrugging casually.

“Yeah... Okay. What? What? You knew?” Mals eyes widened in horror. Fuuuuck was the only word going through her head.

“That you spelled me? Yeah. Yeah, I knew.” Ben shrugs again and leans against the tree. 

“I'm... I can explain myself. Me and my friends, we can’t-” Mal starts, trying to explain her actions. To tell him why they…why she broke his trust. 

“No, look, It's fine. I mean, you had a crush on me because of the dream we shared. I was with Audrey. You didn't trust that it could happen on its own. Am I right?” Ben asks, taking Mal’s hand in his own. 

“Yes. You're so right. So, then, how long have you known?” She answers too quickly. That was not right at all, but how did he share the same dream with her? That was months before she came to Auradon. 

“A few days ago. Your spell washed away in the Enchanted Lake”

“So then what? You've just been... faking it since then?” Mal asks, confused and frustrated. She knew Ben probably didn’t actually like her, despite what Nico said, but the idea that he would fake it, well she guesses she would probably deserve that after what she did. 

“I haven't been faking anything.” Ben says, tearing away any leftover preconceptions Mal had about the boy. She finally looked at Ben, staring into his eyes, trying to find the lie. There wasn’t one.

“I…I hurt you. Why would you still want to be with me?” She asks.

“Because I really like you Mal, plus I feel a little responsible for you not knowing that love potions are wrong. The whole Isle thing, ya know?” Ben says, grinning. “Anyway, I was already in love with you so very little harm was done.”

Mal furrowed her brow, not entirely convinced. Was that true? Could any of this be real? She didn’t deserve this. She wasn’t a good person and she’d violated his consent. How could he possibly just forgive her like this? But then Ben smiled at her and she thought…maybe it would be ok. Maybe they could put this behind them, start over. 

Ben stood in front of Eli’s dorm, his hand hovering over the doorknob. He’d promised to talk to them. He’d promised that he would explain why he broke up with Audrey and everything else. But…now he had to explain the love potion and Eli was not going to like that. He took a deep breath and opened the door. Eli was sitting on their bed scrolling aimlessly on their phone. They looked up at him and then went back to scrolling. 

“The fuck you want?”

“You.. uh. You said we needed to talk right?”

“Yeah. I did say that. So, talk.” 

“Right…so I um…so I went on that date with Mal. I’m still in love with her” Ben started. Elizander looked back at him with an unimpressed look. 

“I just wanted to make that clear before I explain what happened because you’re totally gonna freak out and I really don’t want you to be mad because I really really like her,” Ben rushed out, not pausing to breathe once. 

“Okay Simp, that still doesn't explain your actions. And sure my response was not it, and I apologize for that, but WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH YOU?!”

“Right, yes, just, I need you to promise me something, ok? Promise you won’t hurt Mal.”

“Do I need to hurt Mal?” Eli says, voice dangerous. 

“No! That's why I need you to promise not to!” Ben says, voice rising in volume. 

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Eli shouts back, standing up.

“Just Promise!”

“Fine, I promise.” They say, rolling their eyes and crossing their arms. 

“Okay, I also need you to not freak out. There may have been magic love drugs involved. “

“You made magic love drugs?! And you didn't give me any, the fuck!” Elizander says, thinking of MDMA. 

“NO! Mal did,” Ben responded way too casually.

“IS SHE YOUR DRUG DEALER?!!”

Aziz has decided to start walking on the guys' side of the dorms. It's not as close to the forest but he’s hoping to see less magical sand storms this way. He jogs down the side of the building, a pep in his step, music in his ears. He is almost certain that he made the right decision when his peaceful walk is interrupted by yelling. Oh no, not again……Aziz walks forward carefully. Fear trickled down his spine. Usually he would ignore yelling, it being none of his business, but considering the last time, he decides to check it out. Please don’t be another sand storm.  

Fortunately by the time Aziz reaches the window no magic is involved. Unfortunately the Prince of the entire kingdom and his adopted brother (who is wearing a skirt ? what?) are involved. They’re shouting about not freaking out about..something. He is just about to turn away when Elizander yells at Ben so loud that Aziz manages to catch every word. 

“IS SHE YOUR DRUG DEALER?!!” Elizander yells, throwing his arms up and pointing at Ben accusingly. 

Aziz’s only thought is ‘what the fuuuck’. He stares for a moment, mind going blank and not even comprehending what the two boys are still talking about. Prince Benjamin is on drugs? Holy fuuuck. Should he tell Coach? Or Ben's Mom? He turns and walks away from the window, wandering aimlessly in a random direction. Aziz’s world has been turned upside down today. He decides to deal with it in the best, most heroic, and healthiest way possible. He pushes it down, locks it in a vault, and decides to never think about it again. His dad does that all the time, it'll be fine~. 

“NO, Obviously not!!” Ben shouted defensively. 

“Then what are you talking about?!” Eli shouted, exasperated. 

Ben takes a deep breath then says, all at once, “Mal made cookies with a love spell on them so I would fall in love with her.” 

“... What?” Eli said, dangerously quiet. 

“It didn’t change much, I already liked her,” Ben said quickly. “It just gave me a weird voice in my head.” 

“That doesn't make it any better!!!” Elizander said, starting to pace around their room with hands tugging at their hair.

“Well, I mean, like I said I don’t have a problem with it so…Oh! And I will apologize to Audrey, that’s the one thing I do regret. Maybe I can ask Mal to say something too.” Ben said, muttering that last part to himself. 

Elizander sighed exasperatedly, “That’s not how consent works, Ben! You should have a problem with it! A Very Big Problem TM !”

“Well I don’t! And it's my choice on whether or not to have a problem!”

They stare at each other for what seemed like minutes. Elizander with their crossed arms and Ben looking about two seconds away from growling. 

“Fine,” Eli says through gritted teeth. 

“Yes, so…we good?” Ben asks.

“No!” Elizander throws up their arms again, “First of all, I should apologize more. Second of all, your VK’s obviously need to learn what consent is! At least Nico and Will…wait Will isn’t a VK…at least Nico knows and actively shows what consent is!” They said, correcting themselves about Will's status.

“Also, you hurt my feelings” Elizander finishes, crossing his arms and sitting on the bed. 

“Ya ok, I know.. But we are good now right?” Ben asks, sighing and crossing his arms as well. 

“Ya sure Ben …I know you were literally on drugs against your will but could you make an effort to at least pretend like you are apologizing?” Eli asks in a huff. 

“Ok, Ok, I’m sorry. I mean it Eli I am sorry. I know it feels like I chose the VK’s over you but I didn’t. You’re still my sibling, my only sibling and I love you. I promise that once I’m king I’ll write to Wonderland like I did to the Isle. But you know my dad, this was safer than wonderland.” Ben responds, stepping closer to them. 

“How is it safer? Your father hates Maleficent” Eli complains. 

“Look my dad may be oblivious but how do you think he’s gonna react when he finds out a child of the Queen of Hearts has been living under his roof without his knowledge? He will totally freak!” Ben says, raising his voice again and moving his hands wildly. 

“Oh. I didn’t think of that….” Eli says, sinking further into the bed.

“Yeah…” Ben responds as he moves to sit on the floor. They stay like that for minutes, the clock on Eli’s nightstand ticking by as they both process what has been just admitted. What they had known but didn’t want to think about. 

“Do you think he’d actually do something to one of us?” Eli asks, hugging themselves. 

“With my whole thing and your whole thing with the magic? Yeah I think he would” Ben said, thunking his head back against the mattress. 

“But, he hasn’t before. Right?” Elizander asks, desperation in his voice. Ben stares at his sibling for a few moments and then looks away.  “Right Ben?”

“Yeah I mean of course not, it's just…well you hear my parents arguing as often as I do. And the plates crashing. And well, they keep it behind closed doors but…” Ben explains, not meeting their eyes. 

“Sound travels in castles. But isn’t that normal? I mean I know its not good in relationships but when you're married to royalty isn’t that what happens?” Elizander responds, fidgeting with their skirt, worry creasing their brow. 

Ben looks at him insulted. “No, I would never do that to Mal. Just the thought of yelling at her makes me want to vomit!”

“Oh…well shit”

“Yeah..” Ben says again. Neither of them look at each other. Silence echoes around the room. 

“And you promise right?” Eli finally asks. 

“What?”

“To save my sister, you promise? Right after you're coronated? Or as soon as you can?” Elizander says, dropping to the floor next to Ben. 

“Of course Eli!”

“Well then…I think, I think we’re good. Oh, well actually, I’m sorry for cutting you. I didn’t mean to do that but I know it's still wrong. I promise I’m trying so hard not to be like my mom. Or your dad I guess.” they say, grabbing hold of Ben’s hand in a peace offering. 

“I know Eli,” Ben takes their hand, “I don’t blame you for that. You didn’t even know I was…under the influence.”

“Ugh,” Eli makes a noise of disgust, “Your friends are getting the lecture of their fucking lives.

Ben laughs. “Hey, you know what we could do now that we’re brothers again?

“What?”

“I’ll be right back,” Ben said excitedly before running out of the room. He came back a few minutes later, breathing hard from running, and holding a box in his hands.

 “I believe we need some new bracelets.” Ben said, grinning like a madman. 

“Well, if you insist, but I’m still forcing your girlfriend and co. to learn about consent,” Eli said, smirking at Ben’s enthusiasm. They gestured to the bed they were sitting on before. Ben sat down, Eli following, and opened the box. They each pulled out different colors and beads and got to work. There was still some tension, but they both knew that wasn’t going to last for long. Things would be just fine. 

Chapter Text

It had been little over a month since Mal had given Ben the truffle and they got all that sorted out. Of course, nobody knew that the VK’s wanted the wand, and almost no one knew about the love potion. Ben had mentioned talking to Elizander about it, but so far nothing had come of it except Eli staring at them in confusion during the passing period. Nico had kept busy, everyone had. Ben and Mal kept going on dates, the school kept supporting them, and Nico was trying very hard not to roll his eyes when they held hands and gazed into each other's eyes. He was resisting giving Ben another shovel talk. Since Mal hadn’t realized they were siblings, it was probably best not to. 

Everyone was busy with school and for the most part things had been quiet. Nico really wanted to keep his hopes up but considering Chad was coming back today he had very low expectations for how the next few weeks would turn out. Not to mention parents day was coming up in a few days and according to Fairy Godmother, everyone had to help out with that. They all thought this was quite unfair considering none of their parents could/would come. Or well, the Fantastic Four would be concerned if they weren’t so preoccupied with other things. Everybody in the group seemed to have their own activity nowadays. Carlos had robotics, Jay had tourney, Evie had her new sewing business, Mal had spells and Ben. Honestly, Nico was starting to miss just being able to hang out in their Isle hideout together. They had only known each other for ten months but it felt longer. 

The saving grace, between school and activities, was being able to hang out with Will more. The eight months apart had made both of them appreciate the time they got together even more. Plus, as Persephone had pointed out repeatedly, this gave Nico an opportunity to talk to more people. Not that he really did so, except for Kaito and the girl in his magic class on occasion. Of course, this was one of those very few times in which Nico regretted not knowing more people. 

He stood in the hallway at three PM looking like a deer in headlights. Will had been roped into trying out for something called ROAR, the rest of the VK’s had clubs, and the room for his magic class thing had been moved. Normally he would shadow travel, but practicing in the hallways was forbidden. Not to mention this school was weirdly hard to figure out, if Nico didn’t know any better he’d say the hallways changed, but it was probably that they all just looked the same. As he gazed into the sea of bodies, memories began to filter in. Memories of the lotus hotel, of the labyrinth. The walls shifted from lockers to stone and back again, the clamber of noise became screams of pain for moments and then returned to teenage garble. Nico’s breath quickened and he backed up, he could feel the cool hard metal of the ridged locker door behind him. 

He was trying to focus on that metal, when a hand tapped his shoulder twice. He looked to the side, the world shifting back into focus for a moment as he noticed the 5’ 3” fourteen year old girl standing next to him. Her name was Orfea and she was in his magic class. She did something with flowers. She was wearing the school uniform but had tall boots on as well as a lyre necklace. She was also, apparently talking to him, but between his anxiety and the din of teenagers Nico couldn’t hear a word she was saying. 

The girl grabbed his arm and dragged him down the hallway, in the opposite way he’d been going. She didn’t need to push through the mass of bodies, the teenagers seemed to move around her, and in this case, Nico too. Some glanced at her but most seemed to do so unconsciously, the observation almost broke through the haze that his mind had become. In what felt like moments and hours Orfea was pushing the door to the outside open and leading him to a courtyard. They stopped in front of a group of about seven other freshmen who all looked very confused as to why Orfea had brought him here. To be honest, Nico wasn’t very clear on that himself. The only thing he knew about the girl was that she had a habit of singing strangely on-theme songs for the moment. One time when he and Will were holding hands in class she sang the entirety of Work Song by Hozier. Nico hadn’t even known he was a person in this dimension. 

Orfea let go of his hand and Nico decided that, instead of focusing on the 9th graders, he was going to turn around and take some deep breaths to clear away the sound of screaming. And so he did, he turned and focused on his breath and the cool breeze until he could hear the children (who were really only two years younger than him) talking in hushed voices.

“I’m not really sure what that was but I think I should thank you,” Nico said to Orfea when he turned around, who had climbed up on top of the picnic table and was sitting cross legged. 

She smiled, “You’re welcome. I thought you looked a little panicked since the classroom has been moved.”

“Oh! You're from her magic class! That makes so much more sense,” one of the freshmen cut in. He was wearing the uniform but had added embroidered patterns in intricate triangular designs along the bottom of it. Nico didn’t recognize the patterns but they looked quite good on the uniform.

“Where did you think he was from? It's not like Orfea makes a habit of talking to cool people,” one of the other kids said. This one was blond and wearing a pointed teal hat that didn’t really go with the school colors.

Nico’s eyes widened at the ‘cool’ part. “Um, what? I’m not…cool,” he said with quotation marks around the last word. 

“Yes you are. You’re popular. That makes you cool.” the kid said with such determination that Nico actually started to believe it for a moment. 

“Anyway, class starts in forty eight point two three seconds,” a third kid announced, interrupting Nico’s protests, while pulling a comically large pocket watch out of his bag. It was gold with a chain and everything. 

“Right! Come on then Tock, let's go. Nice to meet you, cool kid,” Teal Hat said with a smirk before leading most of the kids away. They all left in a burst of giggles, except for ‘Tock’ who was trying very hard to put the pocket watch back in their bag. 

In a few moments it was just Orfea and Nico left. “Class then?” Nico asked awkwardly, for having spent the last month in the same classroom they really hadn’t talked. 

She stared at Nico from her position on the picnic table, unblinkingly, for far too long to be normal. Nico began to shift away towards class when she finally spoke. 

“Everyone thinks you're a child of Persephone. Is that true?”

“Uh…yes?” Nico responded, technically since he called her mom, it wasn’t not true.

“I mean, biologically speaking”

“Gods don’t have DNA,” he said, matching her gaze. An interrogation right after a panic attack was a hell of a way to go. 

She sighed in exasperation before hoping down from the table, “Fine, but she’s not your only godly parent, right?”

“Are you a demigod too?” Nico asks, trying to avoid the question as they make their way to the door. 

“Sort of, my mom is a nymph and then my dad was blessed by the gods,” she responds, “your turn.”

“Persephone is not my only godly parent,” he said as they walked into the blessedly empty halls. This did mean, however, that they were late. Oh well. 

“Hmm. You’re good at this. Most people here get flustered when I stare at them and then ask uncomfortable questions.”

“Oh, so you’re aware of what you’re doing?” Nico asked as Orfea led them down the winding halls.

“Yep!” she responds, popping the p sound. “I don’t care, I was just curious. There’s only a few true Greeks here. I mean you have Ariel’s kids who are obviously Descendants, pun intended, but most children of Olympus live and learn nearer to there”

“Huh, how is that a pun?” Nico asks as they near the door. She doesn’t answer for a few moments but just as Nico moves to open it, Orfea steps in front of him and stares into his eyes. For a moment it's like she can see into his very soul. Like she can read everything about him just by the look in his eyes, or the ripple of his body language. 

“I think you know.” she says, her voice a little deeper than before, her eyes a little darker. And then she smiles and the moment is over. She pushes open the classroom door and skips inside, like it never happened. The only thing Nico is capable of thinking is ‘what the actual fuck?’ He really hopes this day doesn’t get any weirder. 

Nico knows he shouldn’t have thought that. That he had tempted the fates and jinxed himself. It was an hour later. He was curled up next to his boyfriend on a picnic bench in the main courtyard of the school. His friends surrounded him, as well as Jane and Doug for some reason. Nico knew Doug and Evie were courting but…they were just so awkward about it. Worse than Ben and Mal, honestly. Ben wasn’t here though, princely duties for the coronation in two week's or something. They were all eating dinner in the warm evening of late spring. Of course, it was always spring so none of the Auradon kids thought this was special. Nico had more respect for it after living on the cold damp Isle for so long. 

In any case, he had been trying to enjoy his evening. He wanted to relax after Orfeas ominous words and silent magic class. He wanted to sit next to his boyfriend and nibble on his food in peace. But instead, Nico was cursed. He was truly starting to believe this, because just as he was getting comfortable, settling down with his friends, he saw Chad. 

Chad was walking, no, marching, across the courtyard towards his table. It was slow going, it was not an empty courtyard. Students milled about with dinner and picnic tables were laid all over the grass. By the time he had managed to make it to their group, everyone at the table had noticed him. All of this wasn’t too shocking. He was back at school today, everyone knew that, and it made sense to come to the people who had “gotten” him suspended. No, the shocking part was the book in his hand. All eyes we're drawn to it. 

“You can read?” Carlos asked, genuine surprise in his voice. Nico tried to suppress his laughter, many of the others did not. Jay actually fell off the table laughing. Of course that's the first thing anyone says to him. 

“Um, yes. I’m in school. Anyway, sorry about what I said to you Carlos,” Chad announced, and boy did that sober everyone up, “it wasn’t right. And I want to come over here to thank Will and Nico for helping me realize that.”

Everyone at the table was dead silent. Confusion was evident on everyone’s faces, except for Nico and Jay who just looked suspicious. 

“Um…what?” Will asked, glancing back at the book in Chad's hand, “I actually don’t ever remember talking to you.”

“Oh no you haven’t,” Chad added in the most unhelpful manner possible, switching to hold the book in front of him. 

Everyone continued to stare at each other for a few moments. Chad was looking at Nico and Will like he knew them and the whole table was starting to get uncomfortable when they heard a loud crunch. Heads swiveled to identify the sound. Mal was sitting at the end of the table, green apple in hand, one bite taken out of it. 

“What?” she asked with a mouth full of fruit. As they all stared at her in silence, no one knowing what to do, a clear membrane slid sideways across her eyes. 

“Oh what the heck!” Jane jumped backwards, almost falling off the table. Doug dropped his own apple at the sight. Chad’s book fell to the ground and he scrambled to pick it up. Even Will looked shocked. In fact the only people who seemed un-bothered were the Isle kids (Nico included).

Mal rolled her eyes, “Oh don’t be weird. I’m literally just blinking.”

“Yeah, sideways! And with something…clear!” Doug exclaimed while picking up the fallen apple. 

“It’s just a nictitating membrane Doug, chill,” Nico explained, picking up a carrot stick and waving it at the offending group member. 

“A what?” Jane asks in a whisper.

“A nictitating membrane, reptiles and Mal have them,” Carlos responded, patting Jane on the shoulder.

 “Technically the rest of us do too, they just aren’t developed,” Will elaborated, evidently haven gotten over the shock. Him and Nico clasped hands as Nico nodded along with his boyfriend. 

“You guys are so totally my OTP.” Chad interrupts. Nico blinks then slowly turns his head towards the hovering boy.

“What did you just say?” Nico asks, his voice dropping dangerously quiet. Will doesn’t appear to be any less threatening. 

“My OTP, no matter what the adults say.” Chad continues, as oblivious as ever, “Of course you lost out with Percy, but you and Will are perfect for each other.”

The table stares at him silently again. Nico’s free hand has closed solidly over his plastic knife. Him and Chad hold eye contact. Chad blinks first and Nico lunges across the table, knife in hand. Will just barely grabs him by the waist and wrestles him to be sitting back down. 

“Nico- Nico stop, we can’t stab him with this many people watching. Plus he’s not wrong. Percy is hot,” Will says, still holding Nico down. Nico glares at Chad. The table stays silent as Chad slowly sits next to Doug, across from Nico. Which may not be the smartest decision considering the knife still in his hand. 

“Anyway, I found these books about you. That’s why you’re my OTP. Can you sign it?” Chad asks, sliding the book across the table.

Nico and Will stare at the cover. Its title was The Titans Curse, some author named Ricky Hiordan was written at the bottom. The art was beautiful, with an elaborate pegasus in front of a pale version of the earth. Atlas sits, holding it up atop a pillar of stone. 

“It’s the first one you appear in,” Chad explained while looking at Nico. 

“Wait, let me get this straight, you just happened to find what looks like a fanfiction book of two of your new classmates? Randomly? In what? Your family library?” Carlos asks, incredulous. Honestly that about sums up how everyone at the table is feeling.

“Yep! You’re so much smarter than I thought, Carlos,” Chad responds as he continues to be completely incapable of reading a room. Mal narrows her eyes and the suspicion of everyone grows. 

“I don’t believe you,” Mal announces, taking another bite of her apple. 

“Well, it's true, you can read it if you want. But I can’t find the last book. There were only four, I think the author hasn’t published the rest yet,” Chad explains, sadly flipping through his book, which is apparently a biography of Nico and Wills lives. Or maybe Percy’s life? This seems like something the Muses would curse Percy with more than Nico and Will. 

“Ooh can I read it?” Jay says with a teasing smirk. 

“How about nobody reads it,” Will says while grabbing the book and flipping through it, his brow furrows as he goes through it. 

Nico glances over his shoulder when he pauses at a specific page. Nico can just make out the word Bianca when he grabs the book himself. 

“How about we burn it?” Nico suggests, attempting to keep the pain out of his voice.

“Oh come on man! It's the first book I’ve read…in…well, maybe ever actually” Chad says in a whining sort of voice. Everybody started to say something at that, mostly in support of Nico and also mostly confused. 

“Yeah, well, it also mentions my dead sister which nobody should know about so, I vote for burning,” Nico interrupts. The chatter dies out almost immediately at the phrase ‘dead sister’. That really does always work like a charm. 

Will snorts a little in laughter.

“Alright, what's funny?” Nico asks, staring at Will like he just grew two heads.

“I mean, are these not your formative and most traumatic years wrapped up in a shitty binding job? That the school bully just read and now…likes you for?” Will asks, mirth in his voice, “I mean who else does this kind of shit happen to?”

Nico continues to stare at his boyfriend. It's not like he’s wrong. Nico glances up at the sky, wondering which gods he pissed off enough to do this to him. Was it just an accident of his birth? Did Hades kids have no options other than ridiculous schemes or WWII? Did Khaos have it out for him? 

“Look, Chad, if we sign the book will you leave us alone. For the rest of the year? And also ask us no questions?” Will asked the ridiculous Prince Charming Jr.  

“Yes! Of course,” Chad says, agreeing with far too much gusto for Nico’s liking. Nico groans and passes over the book to Will so he can sign his name. It goes quickly, Nico makes sure to be as sloppy as possible. Chad bounces up, grabbing the book and grinning. 

“Awesome! Can I just ask, how did Ga-” he begins to question before Will stands up and presses a plastic knife to his throat. Heads across the courtyard swiveled. Nico really hoped that the students would chalk this up to Will just being Greek. 

“Alright, we signed it. You agreed to the deal. Just to be completely clear, it is your turn to keep your side of the deal, because I will break every bone in your body while naming them if you give either of us flashbacks with stupid questions. Or maybe I’ll just give you Covid, start a Pandemic, just for fun,” Will says, his voice taking on the same tone he uses with particularly annoying patients. 

Chad nods his head rapidly and with a grin before running off. Will sits back down, he buries his head in his hands and Nico just stares into the distance. Silence passes for a few moments as the rest of the group watches Chad flounce off. 

“So…” Jane begins, “We’re all in agreement that Chad totally just wrote that fanfiction right? And that Ricky Hiordan must just be some PI that dug stuff up about Nico’s life?” she asks, voice uncertain. Nico turns very slowly to her as Will groans in despair.

“Of course,” he says in the most unconvincing tone, “and you should tell everyone you meet, that”

Everyone at the table nods quickly, that is a far more believable story than the truth anyway. Plus, no one wants to get on Will’s bad side after that threat. Nico continues to stare vapidly into the distance, food forgotten. So, now he and Will we're trapped in a corrupt kingdom with some insane prophet or something that knew his entire life story and was writing it down. Not only that, but Chad had read the books and who knows how many other people. And this was supposed to be a vacation. Nico supposed the only saving grace was that people would think that Chad was writing fanfiction about his classmates. Which was still…not great. Nico thunked his head on the table. Teal Hat was right, wasn’t she? He was popular. Fuck. 

Nico sat under the apple tree again. He had made it a habit to come here for his weekly calls with Persephone. It was around six PM and Nico was about ready to just fall asleep. A few days ago Chad had come back to school and dropped the bomb that was The Titans Curse on them. That same day Orfea had said some really ominous and suspicious shit and Nico was just done. With everything. He was so tired and ever since that day he felt like he kept looking behind his shoulder, waiting for some inter-dimensional shoe to drop. He knew he had to ask Persephone about it. He couldn’t not, with Parents Day being a week away. He picked up the phone and slowly clicked on her icon.

The phone rang three times before Persephone picked up. “Hello dear,” she spoke. He could hear voices talking in the background. 

“Hey mom, is this an ok time?” Nico responds, staring listlessly at the brick wall across the small courtyard.

“Of course, I’m just at brunch with your grandmother and her friends. Nothing important. You seem down, are you alright? There are no more potion shenanigans, are there? Or sandstorms?” 

“No. Well, some stuff has happened,” Nico said before going quite again. He really just did not want to talk right now. But he had to communicate. Stupid human vocal limitations. 

“Are you going to tell me, sweetheart? I can always drop by the school if there's something wrong. Threatening Fay was quite entertaining.”

Nico blanched at Persephone calling Fairy Godmother by what he could only assume was her fae name. 

“Um, yeah no, definitely do not need you to do that,” Nico chuckled nervously. 

“Well then what is it dear?” 

“Mom…am I” Nico cringed at what he was about to say next, a certain amount of disgust rising up in him, “popular?”

Persephone was quiet for a few moments before laughing. Laughing at him, Nico was pretty sure. He buried his head on his knees. 

“Please just answer”

“Well, you do have a certain charm Nico. And you’re quite interesting. Isn’t being popular a good thing?”

“Not in Auradon! Some random guy named Ricky of all things wrote a book! Multiple books!!”

“Oh, I see, you have found the aptly named Percy Jackson books. I thought I had removed those from all public libraries. They’re not my favorites, they're rather inaccurate.”

“What about bookstores? Can you remove them from there?” Nico asked desperately.

“Oh honey, no one is buying those books, not in this universe. It's rather sad, Ricky had a much better series about the magicians, the Egyptian ones. No one bought those either, although I thought they were underrated. Why?”

Nico cringed, “My…classmate found them at his house.”

“Oh, did he say something to you? Do I need to have a talk with his parents? I’ll just talk with them…probably”

“No, no, it's fine. For now. All things considered it could have been a lot worse. It's not even that important.” Nico said, shrugging even though no one could see him. 

“Hmmm, if you say so. Now, what else is bothering you?”

“Umm, well, do you know of a girl named Orfea? She said some pretty ominous shit yesterday. Something about Descendants? I don’t really get it but I thought it may have something to do with the gods.” 

“Ah yes, I have never met the girl but I knew her father, Orpheus. As far as I know they are both - what? Yes mother I will be back soon - apologies, that was Demeter. Where was I?” Persephone continued distractedly. Nico could imagine her in the gardens of Olympeus, her mother at the brunch table behind her. If Demeter was there she probably was drinking too, which made sense considering how non-cryptic she was being. 

“Wait, Orfea is the daughter of the Orpheus, like Eurydice and Orpheus?”

“Yes, although not a child of Eurydice. Anyway, she and her father can sometimes see into the lives and doings of gods. It's rather annoying, although Orpheus’ new album about Eros is rather hilarious.”

“Huh,” Nico said, “I don’t think I like that.”

“No one does, but as far as I know she’s not malicious. Do I need to have a talk with her mother? I do like insulting Chloris, she is far too sure of herself”

Nico laughed at that,”No it's fine. Everything is pretty much fine, hectic since Parents Day is soon though”

“Parents Day? What's this?”

“Oh, they didn’t tell you? Um, it's like where all the parents of the students come to school and hang out for the day”

“Hmmm”

“It’s ok, you don’t have to come. None of VK's parents are coming so it might be a little weird. Not even Apollo is coming”

“He told Will this?” Persephone asks, voice neutral in a way that says there's definitely a right answer to this question. 

“Yes? Well, he didn’t not tell Will that so…”

“Interesting. Well, don’t worry about all that. I’ll sort it all out”

“Oh um, you really don’t have to do that-” Nico’s protests were cut off by a voice in the background of the call.

“Oh, I’m sorry dear I must go, but seriously, don’t worry. Just relax, have fun. Eat some Wendy’s, I hear they have some sort of seasoning that looks like fairy dust. I really must go. Goodbye dear, I shall see you soon” Persephone ended the call with a click.

Nico stared at his phone for a moment, processing the information that Wendy from Peter Pan apparently had a fast food restaurant before sliding it back in his pocket. He really hoped Persephone didn’t ruin the Parent’s Day, he was already enough of the center of attention. He dreaded what Teal Hat would say about him if anything god-like happened this Saturday. 

Chapter Text

Contrary to what he let Mal believe, Carlos did not want to go back to the Isle. Sure he missed his mom, well sorta, but he also definitely didn’t. He knows he should feel more guilty about staying in Auradon, or wanting to. He knows that a good son would want to go back, to return to his mom and make sure she was ok, that her episodes weren’t getting longer, that she had someone to rub her bunions or whatever. But Carlos just could not bring himself to want to go back to her, or anyone else on the Isle. Everyone that loved him and that he loved was here, at Auradon. Well, maybe his mother still loved him, but honestly she was so bad at showing it, did it even matter at this point? Did anything back on the Isle really matter? Of course the other kids mattered but- what was that noise?

Carlos blinked away the fog from his vision, the circuit board in front of him coming back into focus. There was some sort of noise, louder than the usual buzz of electricity, and the music from earlier had been turned off. 

“-los…Carlos!” Jimmy was talking to him. Well, calling his name at least. Carlos shook his head to clear head. He turned to the right.

“Sorry, were you saying something?”

“Yeah, I wanted your opinion on the board I’m modifying, but you looked kind of out of it. Are you good?”

Carlos ignored his new friend's question and hopped up from his seat. He dramatically jumped over one of the desks with a grin, pushing away the earlier brain fog and relishing in the way his leg didn’t falter under his own weight. He heard Jimmy chuckle behind him at his antics. Jimmy, or Jimena to teachers, was a grade below himself and the VK’s, but she was probably the same age as Carlos.

“It’s your dads old solar vehicle, right?” Carlos asks as he ducks under the two desks the board is balanced on. It's set up like a makeshift car jack. He’s pretty sure none of them are actually allowed to be using the classroom for fixing real vehicles, but he’s also pretty sure Ms. McClain doesn’t care as long as they don’t blow anything up. 

“Yep! From when he was around my age. I had Azaes re-do the sail, or the fabric part of it anyway. I’m looking into the oxygen field. Anyway I can’t get the ignition to work right. I tried to ask my dad but he just suggested to scrape it against a canyon wall and then he laughed” she scrunched up her nose, “I don’t even know what that means”

Carlos chuckled, oh to be a kid with normal parental problems. He quickly shook that thought away and looked at the plate above his head, separating him from the glorious intricate wire work. Well, it wasn’t that intricate, but Carlos was still constantly impressed by the tech Auradon had access to. Another reason to stay far away from the Isle. 

“You got that flathead?” he asked Jimmy, who was now hovering nearby.

“Yep!” she hands her blue and gold screwdriver over. She swears it's not painted that way because of school colors, but Carlos doesn’t believe her.

He pops open the panel and peers inside for a few minutes, taking his time studying the way her dad programmed it some twenty five years ago. 

Carlos slid out from under it right as Azeas put the music back on.

“Who’s this?” He asked, motioning to the little speaker they had brought.

“Oh! You know that girl Orfea? She’s in my grade, it's her dads music. She was talking about it yesterday so I thought we could listen” they answered bopping around their own circuit board. Carlos smiled, another thing he liked about Auradon, kids happiness wasn’t fleeting. He couldn’t remember a time he’d really seen a fourteen year old dance around (other than Dizzy). Azeas was particularly bubbly but not fake like most of the kids around here, it probably had something to do with their parents being from Atlantis. 

“Well, it sounds good,” he responded.

“It sounds weird” Jimmy cut in, blunt as ever. Azeas stuck her tongue out.

“It’s not weird, it's Indie, or something” they said, glaring.

“Sure it is, but have you considered that its still-“

“Jimena, what have we said about bullying 9th graders?” Ms.McClain interrupts her as she steps into the room, door banging open and heels clacking on the floor. 

“To not throw them down the stairs even though they deserve it” Jimmy responds with a long sigh.

(Not JJ trying to do this when we were in High School -MS) (They deserve it, they were blocking the halls -JJ)

Carlos lets a snort of laughter out as he climbs on top of the board where it's balanced between two desks.

“Mr. De Vil, what do you think you’re doing? Is that a solar vehicle? Jimena unless you two are taking it apart and not fixing it I don’t want it in this room. Understand?”

Carlos and Jimmy let out long sighs. 

“Fine.” Jimmy says as she helps Carlos up from the board, but before Carlos can give his grand speech about why they should be allowed to work on real working vehicles, Jimmy jumps up onto the board and hits the ignition with her back foot.

Carlos jumps back as it sparks to life, singing the desk, it hovers into air and Jimmy whoops in joy.

“Jimena Hawkins you better get off that board or I swear I will tell Fairy Godmother” Ms. McClain scolds.

Azeas snorts “Really? You want the principal to shut down your club?”

In the momentary distraction in which Ms.McClain glares at Azeas, Carlos sees Jimmy lean forward.

“Wait-“ he tries to warn, but it's too late, she’s already out the door, the top of the sail just barely scraping the doorway before she takes off into the hall. Carlos runs after her. The sails sparkle in hexagonal shapes as she glides about a foot off the ground. He takes off after her but she’s out the doors to the lawn before he can reach her. 

‘Well, I guess she didn’t want to know that I didn’t get the chance to finish screwing the wiring panel back on. Whoopsies,’ Carlos thinks, rubbing his forehead in exasperation.

He hears footsteps behind him, the clack of Ms. McClains heels and the squeak of Azeas’ sneakers. He glances back at his fuming teacher, well this day has not gone as planned. 

Evie watches as Carlos’ robot club friend speeds out of the doors and promptly gets herself stuck in a tree, a metal panel falling off the bottom of some sort of sailboat surfboard that was also a hoverboard? Evie really wasn’t sure what it was but she wasn’t all that impressed if it broke so easily. Especially when it left the owner hanging upside down in a tree in a tangle of fabric and metal. Although the fabric looked surprisingly sturdy, it hadn’t ripped and it was shining in some sort of geometrical pattern.

“What is that?” Evie called up to the tree.

“What?” Carlos’ friend called back down to her. She should really learn the girl's name.

“The fabric, what is it made of?”

“Uhhhh, what a good question!” the girl yelled down at her.

“You don’t know? Isn’t it yours?” Evie asks, crossing her arms. Maybe Carlos’ friend wasn’t the best influence. He was a year (or so) younger than them and needed looking out for. That’s what she, Mal, and Jay had decided long ago. If this new friend was stealing things here in auradon that was not good.

‘Isn’t that…incredibly hypocritical?’ A voice in her head that sounded way too much like Jay asked her. She decided to ignore it.

“Well, it's my dads” the girl responded while trying to wriggle out of where the mystery fabric had wrapped around her ankle.

Well, maybe Evie overacted a little. Oops.

“Can you ask your dad?” Evie just had to make something out of that sail. 

“What?” the girl calls down, looking confused, “about what?”

“The fabric!”

“What's wrong with the fabric?”

At this point Evie was about two seconds away from just walking away and getting Carlos but she felt she had to help this girl that he was friends with. She reached down to her boot and pulled out her scissors. They had an attached scabbard made of steel that was almost as sharp as the blades themselves. They were her fabric scissors, and if she didn’t get these back after she was going to poison someone. She flipped them around and let them fly from her hand, slicing the fabric trapping the girl up in the tree.

“AHHHHHHH” The girl yelled while trying to catch herself before landing on the floor.

‘Who tries to grab air while falling?’ Evie thought to herself, then remembering that she tried to grab water after she slipped in the fancy shower in her dorm a few days ago. So she wasn't one to judge the girl's actions —okay she was judging….a bit….okay a lot, but still.

“Are you alright?” Evie asked, looking down on the girl.

Evie took a step back as the girl suddenly jumped up from where she had fallen. 

“Yup! I'm okay. I think? I  might have scratches and bruises but besides that… I'm okay!” She whooped, pumping one hand into the hair.

“Okay…” Evie said in an uncertain tone. “Welp, see you later I guess.” Evie waved back at the girl while walking away. As she turned she saw Carlos and their math teacher rush out of the building, jogging towards the jumping girl. Evie smiled at the fact that Carlos was moving well today, the stress of being in a new place had been taking a toll on him (all of them, really) and seeing him rush towards her, well she couldn’t help the unlady-like grin that spread across her face.

“Oh. Hey Carlos, your new friend is over there,” Evie informed Carlos while ruffling his soft fluffy hair when he drew close enough and then crossing her arms, “She crash landed on a tree, and I had to get her down.” She nodded in the general direction of the crash.

“Thank you Evie, the rest of the robotics club was wondering where she flew off to. Well, the rest of the robotics club is really just me and Azeas. The guys we're off doing something else. See you at the dorms later?” 

“Yeah, we're planning on giving Nico a new look” Evie responded,  chuckling to herself.

Carlos narrowed his eyes in suspicion “Does he now about this?”

“Nope! But a little makeover has never hurt anyone.” Evie grinned devilishly, “Plus we’ll just say we’re making him pretty for Will. He won’t be able to refuse”

“Okay,” Carlos giggled at the thought of a grumpy Nico in bright pastel colors, “See you later then!”

“Cya!” Evie said, blowing a kiss at her young friend, who, really, she thought of as a little brother. 

‘Wow…that was rude.’ Jimmy thought to herself as she was getting the board out of the tree.  ‘She was so cool, how does our nerd Carlos hang out with them? They're so scary… and amazing, I wonder if she will help me find a stronger fabric for the surfer.’

“Hey Jimmy! You okay? I heard you hit a tree. Literally. I heard it.” She heard Carlos’ voice behind her.

“Oh I'm fine, a few bruises here and there.  Nothing that could kill me.” Jimmy stumbles back after dislodging the surfer from the tree. “Fuck, that a bit of damage…I need a better solar panels, these are a bit outdated, and new fabric that strong enough to hold up against some light tree smashing…probably…” Jimena started mumbling to herself.

“How about we focus on treating those scratches first before working again?” Carlos tried to reason with her. 

“Right. Having infected cuts due to the tools and debris would not be fun,” Jimmy commented to herself. Turning to face Carlos, she then asked the one million dollar question. “By the way, how did you —one of the nerdiest people I know— get to meet such cool people!? It just doesn't make sense to me. Explain.”

“Ah…well… its a funny story” Carlos said while rubbing  the back of his neck nervously. 

“Well say it~” Jimmy said, pushing to hear the story.

“Umm…maybe another day, we need to take you to the nurse.” Carlos said, trying to change the topic. The tale of how he met the rest of the VKs was not funny at all, it was gruesome and something that he would never wish on others, not even his enemies.

 Taking a deep breath, he goes to help Jimena pick up the board. “Come on, let's take this to the classroom and then take you to the nurse.”

“Okay. I still want to know but I will wait until you want to tell us.” she responded, not really looking like she could muster up that kind of patience.

“Thanks Jimmy, but we should hurry, we should make sure you didn't hurt yourself more than what we think. Better make sure you didn’t hit your head when you crashed into the tree.”

“Eh, I’m fine. Did you see Ms. McClain’s face? It was hilarious!” she jumped up again, clicking her heels together in a show of ridiculous joy.

Sometimes Carlos couldn’t believe she was Jim Hawkins daughter and not actually the child of a leprechaun. Carlos grinned back, savoring the moment of unfettered joy and shenanigans that had nothing to do with life or death. He really hoped all the VK’s could stay here, with the sun shining and the new friends and not having to see their parents. Things we're really starting to look up for them. As long as he could ignore Mal’s plan. Yeah…ignoring it sounds good for today. 

He looked up at the sky and took one last deep breath of the clean, dry air before dragging Jimmy into the building and towards the nurses office and Ms.McClains disappointed rant. 

Chapter Text

Nico sat in Remedial Goodness 101 with the other VK’s. They all stared in boredom as Fairy Godmother fiddled with some old television set, like seriously old. Nico hadn’t seen anything like it since the early 80’s. Will sat next to him, having decided to skip his useless Smiling Class. He had reasoned that his face hurt and Fairy Godmother had let him stay with Nico. She finally connected one of the cords in the back and sprang up. 

“Children, excuse me. Um, as you know, uh, this Saturday is family day here at Auradon Prep. And because your parents can't be here due to, uh, distance, we've arranged for a special treat,” Fairy Godmother announced, hurrying towards them and then back to the TV.

The button to the side was clicked and Maleficent's face suddenly popped up in front of all of them.  Nico flinched back; it was far too early in the day for that kind of jump scare. 

“Oh fuck. Shit.” Nico whispered furiously as he hit his knee on the metal bar of the table. He was focused on his own pain until he heard Will start cracking up. Turning to him in betrayal he whispered, “Oh fuck you too.”

“My little reaper, you and I both know who is doing the fucking in this relationship,” Will whispers back at him.

“Oh shut it Carebear, that kind of bottom/top ideology is so last century,” Nico responds in a low voice, rolling his eyes.

“Well we are Greek,” Will says. “I’m just honoring tradition,” a smirk playing across his features. 

“I don't see anything, nor do I hear,” Maleficiant's agitating, grating voice echoed across the classroom, interrupting their banter. Fairy Godmother beckoned everyone to the front near the television. 

They all walked up to the front as Maleficent tried to figure out how a computer worked. Jafar was to her right telling her to press enter. The evil queen was behind her and Cruella to her left. Nico spied his dad lurking in the shadows behind them all. They didn’t seem to notice he was there. 

Finally the VK's parents seemed to get a grip and were able to see them. The Evil Queen announced this very loudly. 

“Evie, it's mommy. Oh! Look how beautiful. Oh, you know what they say, the poison apple doesn't fall far from the tree,” the Evil Queen exclaimed from behind Mal’s mom. 

“Don't you mean the weeds?” Maleficent asked snidely.

Nico and Will stood slightly behind Mal. Nico tensed and laced his hand through Will’s as he felt Maleficiant’s gaze land on him. 

“Ooh! Who's the old bat,” Cruella asked in a shrill voice. 

“This is Fairy Godmother,” Mal responded. Mal already looked weighed down by this conversation.

“Still doing tricks with eggplants?” Maleficent asked, cruelty seeping through her voice.

“I turned a pumpkin into a beautiful carriage!” Fairy Godmother responded, stomping her foot in exasperation.

“You really couldn't give Cinderella till one A.M.? I mean, really. What, the hamsters had to be back on their little wheels? -” Maleficent says snidely.

“They were mice! They were not... they were mice. They were not…” 

“Thank you so much. Thank you,” Mal interrupted, shoving Fairy Gomother out of the room as the woman muttered about them being mice. “Hi, mom,” Mal said, turning back to the television. 

“Mal! I m-m-miss you,” Maleficent struggled to say as she slid her cold gaze back towards Nico. “However I must ask, what is that Bastard doing with your group?” her voice was cold with the impossible anger only a hypocrite could hold. 

Nico was about to shove his way in front, to defend his mother and his father, when Mal spoke first. 

“Oh, don’t worry, that’s just Nico’s boytoy,” she said gesturing at Will.

“Ah good job young man, it's always good to find a prince you can use. Evie are you taking notes?” The Evil Queen said to her daughter.

Nico let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. They thought Maleficent was talking about Will. Nico held the Fae's gaze for a few moments as she stared at him. Her eyes turned green but all Nico had to do was look behind her, where the shadows held his father. Nico wasn’t entirely sure how he knew they were making eye contact through the cameras but he wasn’t about to question it. Maleficent huffed and turned back to Mal. Thankfully the evil woman had decided to avoid the question of his heritage.

Nico leaned into his boyfriend's side, “I'm sorry, and thank you,” he whispered in Will's ear.

“It's fine. I've been called worse than boy toy, and really you do use me,” Will responded with a small smile.  Grabbing Nico’s shoulder and pressing his face into his lover’s hair. They basked in each other's presence for a few moments as the Fantastic Four had what Nico was sure was an emotionally traumatizing conversation with their parents. They were interrupted by Cruella shrieking at Carlos’ dog. Technically it was the school’s dog but…whatever. Nico stepped apart from Will, but kept their hands intertwined.

“This dog loves me, and I love him. And FYI, your dog is stuffed!” Carlos shouted at his mom.

“Oh!” Cruella looked scandalized at her son's outburst and Nico couldn't help but grin at that. 

“So give it a rest!” Carlos shouts.

“Oh-ho! Burn!” Jafar says laughing at Cruella.

Cruella tensed, a venomous word on her tongue before she paused and glanced at her son. She shifted back in her chair and fidgeted with her stuffed dog for a moment. Everyone tensed before Cruella's posture seemed to change. She focused her gaze back on Carlos and he visibly relaxed. He smiled at her for the first time since the video came on.

“How are you, love? Did you finally make normal friends? Oh! have you met Artie?” Cruella asked Carlos in a soft sweet voice. “You would love to meet him. He would take you in with open arms. You have seen the family mansion right? Fairy Godmother must have taken you all to your inherited property, right?”

The VK’s stared back at her with blank looks that we're slowly transforming into anger.

“Well, I doubt that human-loving bitch would let my child access any of the Moors,” Maleficent says, scoffing at even the thought. 

“I…I have an Uncle?” Carlos asked in a whisper.

“Yes, haven’t I mentioned Artie?” Cruella asks in a distracted manner.

Carlos shook his head. Jay placed his hand on the younger's shoulder for comfort. 

“Oh, well I suppose until now there wouldn’t have been any hope of meeting him,” Cruella responded, fidgeting with her stuffed dog again.

“And my castles? That little girl should have only inherited a few of them,” the Evil Queen asks, addressing her daughter.

Mal frowns, a familiar kind of anger crossing her features. “None of us have been told of  any property or relatives we may have here. We were just thrown into classes.” 

All the parents look incensed at this information, rightfully so, Nico thinks. All of them really were thrown into the deep end. The parents burst into the overlapping shouts of parents faced with the mistreatment of children. Well, in the villains' case their own children. Nico doubted they cared about those that were not their offspring. Nico glanced behind the main four parents to his father’s frowning eyes glowing a light blue. Hades was no doubt angry at the mistreatment of his daughter, she was all the way at Auradon and she was still being treated as lesser. 

“Uh, why is there that weird shadow behind you guys?” Jay says, motioning behind the villains towards Hades. The parents quiet down at Jay’s interruption. 

“Son, you and your spectres. There’s nothing behind us,”  Jafar says, turning to Maleficiant. “See this is why the boy had to sleep under the shelves.”

Nico raised an eyebrow at Jafar's comments, and here Nico was thinking that having to sleep in the Apollo cabin was bad. He moved his eyes to focus on the very real shadow behind his friends’ parents. Nico’s father slowly stepped out of the shadows, Mal gasped from beside Nico. She was probably surprised to see their father. Hades never did have a solid grasp on mortal time. 

Hades walked forward and placed a hand on Jafar’s shoulder. Slowly all the parents turned around and stared with mixed reactions at the god occupying Maleficiant’s home. 

“What did you just say to my children’s friend?” he asked the quivering man, voice cold and unyielding. 

“Uh…I” Jafar began to stutter an answer when Mal stepped closer to the TV. 

“Dad?” she asked, voice in a whisper. 

“Dad?!” Jay exclaimed, much louder and looking at Mal with wild confusion. Carlos' jaw had dropped and Evie gazed on in tense fear. 

“Dad.” Nico says in a complete deadpan, just barely avoiding rolling his eyes at his fathers antics. 

“WHAT?” Maleficent and Mal both screech at the same time, all eyes turning to Nico.

“What?” Nico responds shrugging, “Did I forget to mention that or something?” 

Maleficent looks like she's about to combust. The other parents don't look much happier. Nico’s friends are looking at him with a mix of betrayal and shock. 

“You’ve had a child with someone else?” Maleficent shouts, turning to Hades.

Hades turned towards her, confused. “I’m a 4000+ year old Greek god, and you think you're the only person who I've ever slept with? Have you met my brother?”

“Obviously I haven’t, or else-” Maleficent starts to say when they all hear the echo of high-heeled shoes from outside the classroom door.

“Say nothing of this,” Hades orders the room, parents and kids included. His eyes flash bright blue, a fire burning behind them. 

He disappears from view right as the door opens and Fairy Godmother walks through the doorway.

“I’m so sorry children, others, but the bell is about to ring. I’m afraid that’s all the time we have,” she says with a smile. 

Everyone stares at her silently. The silence stretches for a long moment before Fairy Godmother moves to the TV. 

“Ummm, so-” she starts to say before Jay cuts her off.

“Bye, dad,” Jay says, and presses the power button on the television. 

“Oh, did something go…wrong?” Fairy Godmother asks the group as the TV blinks to black. 

“Nope!” Evie says, voice edging into hysteria, "everything's absolutely fantastic and great!”

Now, Fairy Godmother may have left it at that, or may have just sent them on their way. She may have rolled the TV into the back room, gave them all a comforting pat on the back, ignored their glares and walked away. Nico really wishes that’s what happened. But then Carlos bursts into tears and when he cries Evie starts to cry and when Evie and Carlos start to cry, Jay tears up, and when Jay tears up Mal starts backing away like a scared animal. It was a pattern that happened a few times on the Isle and Nico was really wishing it wasn’t happening right now. 

“Oh! Oh, dear! What happened?” Fairy Godmother asks, immediately going to comfort Carlos. She tries to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he just shakes her off.

“No-nobody told, told me-” cries broke through his sentence, “that, that I had a-a family other than mom,” tears poured down his face. Nico cringed and tried to back away like Mal was doing. Emotions were really not his thing. 

“Oh, hunny-”

“Stop it!” Carlos bit out, anger breaking through the sadness, “you knew! You had to have known! Why didn’t you tell us? You and the Prince just threw us into this new place where half the people hate us without telling us anything!” He gestured wildly to Jay, “Jay didn’t even know we were allowed to sleep on the beds! I thought we’d have to fight for the food! But-but we don’t and everything is so nice here but nobody told us anything and we’ve had to figure out everything ourselves and soon you’ll send us back to the Isle like we're fucking charity cases instead of people that matter!”

Everyone in the room stared at Carlos, frozen. The boy still had tears streaming down his face but now his hands were balled into fists.

“So,” he seemed to gather himself, “so just stop. Stop pretending to care or-or be nice or whatever when you can’t even tell me I have an uncle. That I have an adult that might actually like me. Or that Evie has castles in her name that she could at least visit, or even that Mal has whatever a ‘More’ is. Ok?” Carlos finishes and turns around, his shoes and cane echo across the linoleum floor leaving the other occupants shocked. 

Silence echoes once the door slams shut. Nico stared at the door for a long while, he did not think Carlos had that in him. Evie still had a few tears running down her face. Jay and Mal mostly just look angry as they think of what Carlos said. Will grabs Nico’s hand again, holding tight like he might lose him again.

Fairy Godmother, for the first time, looks lost. Like she has no idea how to react, her hands hover in mid air and a tear rolls down her own cheek. 

Mal breaks the silence with a huff as she walks over to the desks and grabs her and Carlos’ bags. She follows his path out the door, Jay, Nico, and Will not far behind. As Nico holds the door open for Evie he hears her distantly thank the Fairy Godmother for letting them talk to their parents and apologizes for the yelling. 

Evie walks out just a little ways behind the rest of them and Nico slows down so they can walk side by side.

“You’re too nice Eves” Nico says to her, voice barely above a whisper.

“I know,” she responds.

Nico sighs, looking up at the sky in dramatic despair. He’s sitting under a tree in the courtyard he preemptively dubbed his own. He’d broken off from the main four a little while ago, needing some time to process that disastrous video call. The others needed time too. None of them looked particularly happy that he’d hidden not only his true parentage but also that Mal was his sister. She was especially angry about that part. 

 He guessed he should probably head to the boys’ dorm now. Mal requested everyone but Will be there, so they could plan how they would take the wand on Sunday. Mal knows that Will knows, but she also thinks that he has more morals than the rest of them so she didn’t want him there during their talk. He absolutely doesn’t, but people usually take a little while to realize that. 

He gets up and stretches his arms above his head for a minute before heading to the door. He checked his phone. It was about five minutes after the time he was supposed to be there. Nico would be more worried about it except he was pretty sure both him and Mal agreed time was an illusion. 

His shoes sounded loud on the tile floor of the hallway. No other students were really in the halls, everyone having gone back to their dorms or extracurriculars. Nico’s gaze was planted firmly in front of him, a frown creasing his features. He was really not looking forward to explaining anything to the Fantastic Four. Hopefully they would just let it go. But Nico was nothing if not a pessimist, and he knew that was improbable. What would they ask, though? Why did he lie to them? Why hadn't he told Mal that she had family other than an absent dad and a shitty mom? By now they probably knew that Evie had figured it out. Would it rupture the group? They were all in, for lack of a better term, enemy territory. Could their friendships withstand- 

Nico’s musings were cut off by a young voice appearing in front of him.

“You look sad.”

Nico jumped back in surprise, sword in hand he glanced up. He was thankful to find the voice; the voice was not disembodied and was in fact connected to Orfea, the freshmen from his magic class. 

“What the fuck?” Nico breathed out, hastily putting away his sword before a teacher walked by. 

“You look sad. Did something happen?” the girl asked again. Her head tilted to the side like a concerned puppy and her voice had an echoing feature to it in the empty hall.

“You’re creepy, ya know that?” Nico responded, huffing as he moved to walk past her. She didn’t block his way but she did tag alongside him.

“I’ve been told it comes with being not quite human. You are slightly creepy as well,” Orfea responded. She was carrying about seven books in her arms and all of them with titles like ‘Personal Uses of Magic’ and ‘Magic as a Living Thing’ and ‘Music in Magic', Nico raised an eyebrow at this.

“Aren’t books like that banned?” Nico asks, warily glancing at the girl only a few years younger than him.

“Yes,” she responded “Are you a snitch?”

“What? No!” Nico said with a slight smile, “why would I be a snitch? It's not like I made the laws. Why would I care if you break them?”

She smiled at his response. “Good. Plus I’m sure you and your friends are planning things worse than I am.”

Nico froze where he stood. The entrance to the boys’ dorm was in front of them. Orfea went to push the doors open when she noticed he was no longer beside her. Darkness spread further out from the shadows. 

“What?” Nico asks, his voice losing the joking manner it had before. Orfea walked back to him, tilting her head to the side again.

“Isn’t that why you’re sad? You’re scared of having to leave because of the plan, right?”

“How, how…did you-” Nico stuttered out.

“I hear things in the wind,” Orfea responded casually, cutting him off. 

“Well…that's completely normal,” he muttered under his breath. She gave him a slight smile. They stared at each other for a moment before he asked, “Are you a snitch?” 

Her grin widens, “I don’t know what you all are planning, but as long as it doesn’t hurt my friends I don’t care,” she giggled “Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest, and all.”

Nico just stared at her. He’d met a lot of weird kids at Camp Halfblood but Orfea was really taking the cake with that last part. 

She blinked at him, “Diderot said that I think. Do you not read French philosophers? Technically King Adam tried to ban his works but Queen Belle won’t stand for censorship of books. Or that’s what I heard.” 

Nico closed his eyes, counting down from ten. He prayed to his father to give him patience. 

“Ok. Well, this conversation was equal parts enlightening and disturbing, thanks Orfea. Anyway I really gotta get going,” Nico told her, only just sparing her a glance as he pushed open the doors and fled down the hall towards Carlos and Jay's room. Running from fourteen year olds, oh how far he’d fallen.  

He stopped at the door to Mal’s room, taking a few breaths before knocking. The door swung open and Carlos stood in front of him, eyes rimmed red from crying earlier.

“Hey,” he said softly and stepped aside to let Nico in. Mal and Evie were already conversing as Mal set out blueprints. Nico did not know how she got those but he wasn't about to question it. 

“M? What do you think our parents are gonna do to us? If we don't pull this off?” Evie asked while wringing her hands together.

“I think they will be quietly disappointed in us, but ultimately... proud of us for doing our best,” Mal responded, completely deadpan. Nico can’t help but smile at that.

“Really?” Evie asked.

“No, I think we are definitely goners,” Mal said, turning to her friend. Her eyes caught on Nico and the room seemed to hold its breath.

They stare at each other for a moment. 

“So, brother, how many people can you shadow travel at a time?” she asked, leaning on the table and holding his gaze. Emotions flit across her face. Nico had a sinking feeling there was only one right answer to this.

“As many as you need,” he said. The corner of Mal’s mouth twitched up before she set it back in a frown.

“Okay, we all know what this looks like,” she said, motioning for everyone to gather around the table. “So it'll be up on the dais under the beast's spell jar, and we'll be coming in from here. I will be in the very front. You all will be up on the balcony. Okay. Carlos?” Mal pointed at the blueprints for the cathedral. 

Carlos eased himself onto one of the chairs surrounding the table. “Okay, so I'll find our limo, so we can break the barrier, and, uh, get back on the island with the wand,” he said. Nico frowned; not a very tight plan.

“Perfect. Evie?” Mal says.

“Yeah?” Evie responded leaning in.

“You’ll use this on the driver. Two sprays and he’ll be out like a light,” Mal said, pulling out a small spray bottle and handing it to her. ‘Yay, more drugs,’ Nico thought sarcastically. Not that he was really in a position to say anything. 

“Nico,” Mal turned to him and hesitated for a moment, obviously everyone was still tense, “uou will be with Evie and Jay. You can shadow travel them out to the limo. After that, try and get back to me but I have another escape plan if not possible.”

Nico nodded at her. “Not a lot anyone will be able to do when you have the wand.”

Mal smiles, “Exactly.”

“What about Ben?” Jay asked. He’s been standing off to the side during the conversation. It's clear he doesn’t want to do this, not that anyone really does.

Mal tensed, “What about him?” she asks coldly. 

“Well, he still thinks you guys are dating right? I mean I know he knows about the love potion but-”

“I’m breaking up with him when I get the wand,” Mal responded, interrupting Jay.

“Really?” Evie asked. Nico raised an eyebrow too, it might be a little hard to ward off all the guards and break up with one’s boyfriend at the same time.

“Yeah. You know, I don't... I've just been thinking, you know, when the villains finally do invade Auradon, and begin to loot and kick everyone out of their castles and imprison their leaders and destroy all that is good and beautiful, Ben still thinking we’re dating… just seems a little extra... cruel.”

“M?” Evie says, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. The room stands silently for a moment before Nico cleared his throat.

“Um…I’m bringing Will too.” Nico says.

“No.” Mal says, jerking out of her thoughts about Ben.

“Excuse me?” Nico says he knows Mal’s probably pissed about the lying but seriously?

“I get he’s the love of your life or whatever but you can’t bring him with us to the Isle. It's too suspicious,” Mal says.

“Ok I  understand the lack of trust but Will already knows what we’re going to do, sorta, and not including him is just-”

“Nico, she’s right,” Jay says. Nico turns to glare at him. “Look, when we come back to loot and kick everyone out of their castles and destroy all that is good and beautiful and stuff you can find him again but there’s no way you can bring him to the Isle,” Jay continued. 

“He is not some prissy hero’s kid like Ben is. He started the whole pand-” Nico started to argue more, preparing a scathing speech, when the door to the dorm room burst open. ‘What the fuck?’ Nico thought, ‘No one else should be here’.

Carlos and Mal hurriedly try to hide the blueprints under the table while Jay and Evie move to block the view, trying to act casual. It's not working.

Elizander stands in the doorway. They were dressed in a blood red ruffled blouse with dark patterned pants that were all held together with two belts. It looked prince-ly, not like anything Nico had seen them with. They’re holding a laptop that was covered to the brim with different stickers and notecards. 

“Uh…if you’re looking for a study group, it's not here,” Jay says to them.

Elizander just raises an unimpressed eyebrow. Nico tenses as Ben and Will step into the room as well. 

“I’m sorry, I tried to stop them but, well-” Ben starts to say as he gestures to Elizander but they interrupt him.

“Ok assholes, look, I’ve been working on this for six weeks and trying to get an assembly so the whole school can watch it, but noooo it's ‘not in the curriculum’,” Elizander said, rolling their eyes, “so instead I’m presenting to you all.”

They march over to the TV and start fiddling with the HDMI cords. Everyone stares in shock, except for Ben who buries his head in his hands. After connecting the laptop to the room's TV, he turns to the group and continues to say, “And you’re gonna sit here and pay attention and take notes or I'm going to Queen Belle and telling her you drugged her son. Got it?”

No one in the room said anything, Nico could swear that he would be able to cut the tension with a knife if he wanted to.

 “Good, now finish clearing off these random papers and books, You guys will need space for how long this presentation is,” Elizander said. “Well what are you guys waiting for? Try and get comfy.” 

“And what exactly is ‘this’?” Nico asked, raising an eyebrow at Will. His boyfriend unhelpfully just shrugs. Sighing, Nico sits on the new beanbag that the boys got a few days ago. It was comfy and big enough to lay down on. Carlos and Evie follow. Carlos flopping down on the couch and Evie sitting primly next to him. 

“Okay everyone is comfy right? If you’re not, that's your own problem. Now let’s start.” Elizander said. The screen lit up and a gradient blue and purple slide covered the screen, consent was written on it in big looping letters. ‘Oh…fuck,’ Nico thought.

“So, Consent, it is evident to me that nobody here really knows what that is. Growing up on the Isle, that makes sense. I, however, hadn’t realized the terrible lack of education that Auradon-folk had about it as well. SO consider this remedial education, or in other words fixing the generational trauma everyone on this fucked up clown fest of a continent has.” Elizander monologued, turning to the next slides that contained..a Table of Contents …and damn it was long. Like so long that the list had to be split up. 

Will covered the lower half of his face in shock. Mal stood ramrod straight. Jay kept glancing at the door. Carlos groaned and covered his eyes with a hand. Evie just frowned at the screen in consideration. Ben was so red Nico was shocked he hadn’t actually transformed into a tomato.

“Alright, Jay sit down, no one is leaving until this presentation is over. Mal you too,” Elizander said, glaring at her.

“I don’t take orders from you.” Mal said, glaring right back.

Elizander just shrugged, “Ok,” he pulled out their phone.

“What are you doing?” Ben asked, standing.

“Hi Belle! Yeah I was just calling ‘cause I thought you might want to know-” Elizander was saying into their phone when Ben lunged at them and grabbed the phone from them.

“Mom! Hi!” Ben said into the phone. Nico crossed his arms, this was all kinda dramatic to him. Nico glanced over at Mal, he’d never seen her so tense.

“Honey, what is going on? It's nine pm, and your dad and I were heading to bed.” Queen Belle’s voice echoed quietly from the phone. Elizander was trying to grab the phone back, Ben’s hand was on their chest, barely holding them back. Everyone else just stared on, none of the VK’s wanted to risk giving Elizander more of a reason to dislike them, considering he apparently had Queen Belle’s personal phone number.

“Oh, Eli’s just being ridiculous, you know how us teenagers are,” Ben says, running around the table, Elizander on the other side glaring at him. Nico and the rest turned to watch the fight.

“Oh? Are you sure? You know you two are always welcome to stay the night over here, I know the last couple years have been hard on Eli-”

“Nope! We’re good, got it all handled,” Ben said, taking the phone away from his ear and going to press the button to hang up when Elizander leaped over the table, tackling Ben to the ground. 

The phone flew out of the Prince’s hand, sliding near Mal’s feet. As Ben and Elizander were wrestling, Mal slowly reached down and pressed the red button herself. Elizander turned and glared at her from where they had Ben’s arm pinned down. 

“We’ll watch your presentation,” Mal said, picking up the phone, “there’s no need for all this drama.” She plastered on the fakest looking smile and walked over to Eli, handing the phone back to them. 

“Great!” Elizander said, jumping up and flouncing back over to the front of the room to continue his slideshow. 

Will raised his hand.

“Yes?” Elizander asked, motioning to him. 

“Yeah, what the fuck just happened?” Will asked incredulously. 

“Does it really matter?” Elizander asked.

A chorus of yes’ echoed around the room. Ignoring them, Elizander clicked the button to the next slide. Mal sat down on the floor, leaning against one of the beds and the noise tapered out. It looked like they were all stuck watching this thing. Ben sat next to Mal and Elizander started talking.  

“So, like I was saying, Consent. It's an important ethical concept,” they  switched to the next slide entitled ‘What is Consent’ “like the slide says consent is permission for something to happen or agreement to do something granted by someone who is capable of providing it. Now this is based on the concept of autonomy, the idea that all sentient beings have the right to their own bodies.” Elizander paused their speech as Evie raised her hand. Elizander pointed at her like a teacher.

“Why?” she asks, completely serious.

“...what?” Eli responds, staring at her a little dumbfounded. Nico tried to hide a snort of laughter, yeah…Elizander has their work cut out for them.

“Well, the whole right to one’s body thing. I’ve never heard of it before, so, why?” Evie asked, explaining her question. Nico turned around, just in time to see Ben’s horrified expression. Honestly, Ben coming to terms with the horror his dad puts kids through daily, might just be the best part of Auradon.

“Um… ok so, there's these things called natural rights. At least in most of the continent, that's what a lot of philosophy and ethics are based on…here. And basically they're civil and other kinds of sentient rights that one gets simply for being alive. So like, the right to food, water, shelter, religion, family, and autonomy are incorporated in those. Breaking them is considered very immoral and well…Evil.” Silence permeated the room as Elizander finished talking. 

“So…yeah, we can talk more about that later, ok? For now, let's focus on how coercion is not consent!” they continue, cheerfully marching through the tension in the room onto the next topic. Nico rested his head on Will’s shoulder as they watched Eli lecture (mostly) the others on consent. 

“So consent is necessary in all aspects of life, but especially relationships. Here’s some more reasons why,” the slide switched, “so a big moral code is Non-malfeasance” they glance at Mal, “and no, I don't mean your mom. It's just Latin for ‘do no harm’…I think. Anyway it definitely is about not inflicting harm onto others, on purpose. Another big ethical responsibility we have is to respect ourselves and others….”

Elizander's voice continued on as Nico started to doze off on Will’s shoulder. He can tell time is passing as he slipped in and out of consciousness but the only real thought he had is that he’s grateful Elizander isn’t waking him up. 

“Because, Fairy Godmother sucks!” an overly cheerful and loud voice cut through the haze of Nico’s mind and he jolts awake.

“Wha..” Nico says, wiping the drool off the corner of his mouth. He glanced down at Will’s shirt that now had a small pool of saliva on it. He looked at his boyfriend apologetically.

“Well, she does. Now as I was saying Non-verbal signs of consent are a little harder to tell. If you’re ever confused or worried, stop and ask. An uncomfortable conversation or interrupting a perceived good time is always better than hurting those you care about or violating anyone’s consent.” Elizander continued, ignoring the fact that Nico obviously had been  asleep, thank the gods. 

Nico looked at the screen. On the slide there are big letters that said “Consent under the influence” and under that is a list of what he assumed were examples of intoxicants. Love Potion is bolded, underlined, italicized and had about seven arrows pointing at it. Nico’s got to hand it to Eli, they certainly had a flair for the dramatic.

He glanced around at the others in the room. Everyone else was awake. Ben looked more interested than uncomfortable now, and Mal still looked tense, but far more contemplative. Jay and Evie looked confused and Carlos just looked concerned. The three C’s. Satisfied that nobody looked murderous Nico grabbed a throw pillow from the floor, leaned it against Will’s shoulder and then promptly dozed back off, Will’s clothes now safely protected by the pillow. 

“Well, sometimes people have a hard time speaking up when they’re uncomfortable. Which brings us to non-verbal signs that one should stop or pause the activity. Now, if you’ll look at the slide, you’ll see that ‘Being Unconscious’ is emboldened.” Elizander’s cheerful voice echoed through Nico’s mind, breaking through the haze of sleep. 

“Like Nico is right now! So for example, Will, would you  kiss Nico at the moment?”Eli questioned. Nico cracked open one eye, the reason for the conversation, at the moment escaping him.

“No” Will responded, his tone serious.

“Wha…why?” Nico responds, shoving himself up from where he’d managed to curl around Will like a particularly clingy koala. He looked at Will, betrayal in his eyes, “I like your kisses,” he continued, words still slurred by sleep.

He sees Will suppress a smile before his boyfriend responded, "Because you were unconscious, it would’ve been immoral,ut I can kiss you now, if you’d like?”

Nico smiles, “Mmm yes please,” he says as he leans into his boyfriend's space again. Will leans in as well, as they press their lips together Nico hears clapping. 

He turns to the side to see Elizander’s unironic claps. He levels a glare at them, but they begin speaking instead of cowering like most people. So annoying. 

“And that, folks, is a perfect example of respecting the rules of consent while in an established relationship!” Eli announces, grinning like the Cheshire cat. 

Nico glanced around ateveryone staring at him and Will. Evie had, at some point while he’d been asleep, pulled out a notebook and was now furiously scribbling away. Jay was nodding like he finally understood something and Carlos gave him a thumbs up. 

Nico groaned and hid his reddening face with his hand.

“Can we stop ogling my brother and go back to the presentation please?” Mal’s uncomfortable voice said from somewhere behind them. Nico saw Ben turn sharply to stare at Mal, apparently he hadn’t gotten the whole brother memo. 

“Oh! Right, so like I was saying, and like Will so graciously demonstrated,” Nico buried his head into Will’s side as Elizander drew attention back to them, again, “being unconscious is a big no-no for participating in any activity. Now I know this slide is pretty focused on romantic signs of non-consent but this can also go for other scenarios.” Eli continued, oblivious to Will’s quiet laughter or Nico’s tragic embarrassment. 

 “Speaking of scenarios, here’s another one!” they said, way too cheerfully for ten at night.

Nico glancesdup as Elizander switched slides. The new slide had the same purple and blue color scheme but this one had pictures too. To the left was some pixelated guy running with a green flag and to the right the same guy with a red flag. The photos were labeled ‘Consensual’ and ‘Non-Consensual’ as well as a third photo labeled ‘Check-In’ in the middle with the same guy. For some reason the middle photo is way higher quality. 

“Now I know we just went over this in real life, and it's really too bad that Doug isn't here, but I'll read the text anyway. So the scenario is as follows: A sees B lying either dead or unconscious in the forest. A group of people encourages him and A kisses B. And for fun we can just picture Snow White and Prince Florian, ya know if you want,” Elizander said, using their red laser pointer to circle the text above the photos. Mal snorted in laughter. Eli grinned back at her.

“So, is this a red flag, or a green flag?” Eli asked the group. Carlos and Jay both raise their hands, each trying to push the other's hand down and only really succeeding at jostling Evie. 

“Yes, uhhhh, Jay,” Elizander calls out.

“Red Flag!” Jay shouted, as Carlos leaned back in a pout. 

“Exactly, good job! Now here's another scenario, sorry if it's a little too personal,” Eli said, clicking to the next slide. The same picture format shows up but this time with different text. “A drugs an apple and lies to B, saying it is a perfectly good apple. Because of this, B eats the apple,” they read off from the slide. 

From the corner of his eye Nico sees Evie’s hand shoot up. 

“Yes, Evie?” Eli says, bouncing on their heels.

“It wasn’t really drugged, it was poisoned,” Evie said firmly, putting her hand back down.

“Hmmm? Oh these are all completely hypothetical situations, ya know, for legal purposes., Eli responded, mischief glinting in their eyes. 

“Uhuh,” Evie says, looking unimpressed, “well it's a red flag,” she continued. 

“Are most of these scenarios related to what villains do or are there more like the Snow White  ones? I enjoyed that one,” Mal said, her tone bored.

“Of course they're not all about y'all's parents! I mean…they are about hypothetical situations that may or may not be related to real villain things…ya know, legally,” Eli responded, looking affronted and then a little sheepish. “Ok so I know that apple one may have hit a little hard, but we also havethat one about the underage contract!” Eli continued.

“You mean the one about Ursula?” Carlos asked, his tone rather judgemental. 

“‘Twas not! ‘Tis a complete coincidence that it's the only one that uses the letter U instead of B,” they respond rather unconvincingly as they click to the next slide.

“Did you just use, like, Shakespearean English?” Jay asked, an eyebrow raised. 

“Yeah, they do that when they lie,” Ben responded for Eli. 

“I do not! Your libel is uncouth you knave!” they huffed. “Now moving on!” 

“Can we really move on from that?” Evie muttered under her breath. Nico snorted in laughter as Eli stared at her and pointedly turned their laser pointer back on. 

A new scenario slide popped up, this one obviously about Queen Belle and King Adam’s not-so-cute ‘meet cute’. Nico grinned and glanced back at Ben who suddenly looked rather uncomfortable. 

“Alright! So, hypothetically : A forces B to stay in his castle. B is coerced into joining him for dinners and cannot leave the grounds. Is it a Red Flag, a Green Flag, or does it need a check in?” Eli says. 

The room echoes with silence. They all glance back at Ben simultaneously. Ben sighed and thunked his head back against the footboard. He raised his hand.

“Ben, yes?” Eli quipped, way too cheerfully. They have got to learn how to read a room, or maybe they're doing this on purpose.  

“It’s a red flag,” Ben said with a long, suffering look at Eli.

“Perfect! You got the completely hypothetical situation correct!”

“Yeah, it's almost like it's not hypothetical and you’ve been ranting about my parents since you came to live with us six years ago,” Ben said, voice dripping with more sarcasm than Nico was unaware he even possessed. 

“Exactly! Ok, now onto “‘Knowing What You Want’,” Eli responded, masterfully ignoring the tension and Ben’s sarcasm. They clicked to the next slide and text popped up on the screen.

“So the first step is to ask yourself questions. What are you personally comfortable with? It's helpful to think through scenarios. Now these questions are all focused on relationships but you can also ask yourself about other scenarios. Oh! And always focus on communication, including saying what you like as well as what you don’t like. For example, am I ok with my mom putting her hand on my shoulder? In my case it would be a no, and I would then consider setting a boundary for it. But that’s different for everyone, for example, Ben may like that motherly affection and so he could ask his mom for a hug. I personally can’t imagine that but some people’s parents like…love them. So weird. Anyway my mom’s in a different dimension so it's a moot point right now…” Eli monologued, trailing off at the end. They shook themselves a little before clicking to the next slide. 

“Alright, in a continuation of the last slide, how does one ask for consent? This can be a barrier because it can be awkward but it's always better to be awkward than to be an asshole. Laying out ground rules and periodically checking in are the best ways to go about it. Some examples are on the screen and I’m pretty sure there’s scripts you can follow online!” Eli said, clicking to the last slide, labelled sources, with a flourish and bow.

“Any Questions?” they ask the room. Nico shook his head as Will shrugged. 

“Yes, Mal?” Eli said, pointing behind Nico to where Mal is set up against the footboard. 

"So, consent boils down to how comfortable you are when pretty much anything happens when you interact with another person. Ultimately, you have the final say in what happens to you and it's okay to say no or remove yourself from a situation if it makes you uncomfortable or feel bad, even if that's just how things have always been between you and the other person?" The room fell silent as everyone looked at her with varying levels of shock. Nico blinked at her, maybe this presentation wasn’t such a bad idea. Nico saw a shocked grin spread across Eli’s face. 

"What?" She asked, sounding a little offended at everyone's looks. "It's not like I'm stupid or anything." She rolled her eyes and turned away from the group.

“Of course not!” Ben hurriedly said, “It’s just not an easy thing to grasp, I mean, I was still a little confused. That summary really helped though,” he said, smiling at her shyly. 

“Oh,” Mal said, a blush spread across her cheeks as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

“Yes!” Eli exclaimed, interrupting the moment, “that’s exactly right.” They looked very satisfied. 

The room all nodded, well the people in the room nodded. Tthe room itself stayed still, thank the gods. After a few moments of silence, Eli moved to the cords he’d connected to the TV.

“Well, that’s all I had for all’ o’ y’all,” they said with their backs turned. “I shall take my leave and let you guys get back to your mysterious papers that I do not want to know about. If any of you have any questions you can just come to me and ask, ok?”

Nods went around the room again, and most of them stood. Mal helpped Ben up, Jay passed Carlos his cane, Evie grabbed her notes. Nico stood up, stretching like a cat as Will put the pillow (only slightly drooled on) back in its place. 

Carlos walked towards Eli, “thanks, that was all really helpful. It's pretty late and the next couple of days are pretty busy but um…maybe you could help me figure out how to um…talk to Jane? I want to be really good about it!”

Elizander smiled softly at him, “Sure, Carlos, I can try to help. I’m pretty Aro/Ace but I can help you practice,” they explained as they walked to the door, Carlos following behind.

Ben and Mal spoke quietly but soon he headed out the door as well and the VK’s plus Will are left alone again.

Carlos sits down on the couch heavily, Evie shuffled her notes into her bag, Jay flopped down on his bed, and Mal stood staring at the door.

“That was…a lot for one day,” Will said into the otherwise silent room. 

“Ugh, yeah,” Jay groaned from the bed. “I’m not sure how much I actually absorbed”

“Don’t worry I took notes,” Evie said, her tone contemplative.

“Still better than Fairy Godmother's class,” Carlos said.

“And it looks like Elizander likes us again, which could be helpful for the plan,” Mal responded distantly, arms crossed.

The room fell into silence again. “Right. M.” Evie eventually says, slinging her bag into her shoulder, “I’m going back to our dorm. I have dresses to finish for the coronation.”

Evie marched out. Nico watched Mal's shoulders tense. Carlos stood up again, crossing the room over to Mal. It looked as if he’s about to put a hand on her shoulder but he stopspedhalfway.

“What’s her problem?” Mal asked defensively. Carlos let his hand fall back to his side as they all glanced at the door, still cracked open.

“Maybe she’s tired Mal,” Jay said heavily. Nico got the sense that he was not just talking about sleep. 

Mal huffed and marched out after Evie. Nico and Will stood awkwardly for a moment, before Will grabbed his hand. “We should go to bed too, it’s parents’ day tomorrow and I guess we all have to show up for some reason,” Will says, tugging Nico towards the door.

“Yeah, night guys,” Nico said waving at Carlos and Jay. They waved back with grim determined looks on their faces. 

The weight of what they all, for some reason, still planned to do the day after tomorrow weighed on his shoulders as he walked the short way down the hall towards his dorm. Him and Will stopped at his dorm door, hands still intertwined. 

“Ya gonna tell me what y’all are planning?” Will asked, his southern accent slipping through his tired voice.

Nico smiled at it for a moment, letting himself get washed away by his lover's tune before the words Will actually said crashed back down on him.

“We’re gonna steal it. And then run. Mal doesn’t want me to bring you,” Nico responded, toying with Will's fingers where their hands stay clasped. 

“Hmmm, you gonna go along with it?” Will aseds, cupping the base of Nico’s face in his hand. 

“I don’t know,” Nico responded in a whisper, leaning into Will’s hand.

“Ok,” Will whispered back.

“You’re really ok with it?”

“Nico, mi amore, I don’t care what you do  as long as you come back to me. It doesn’t even have to be in one piece, you just gotta come back, ok?” Will commanded, voice dropping with desperate adoration.

Nico nodded quickly, “I promise. I’ll always come back to you,” he said, pressing a kiss to Will’s cheek before wrapping him in a hug.

They held each other for a moment, like one of them might disappear. Like Tartarus might tear them apart and never loosen its hold. 

Nico blinked away the moment and took a step back. He squeezed Will's hand one more time before darting into his dorm room, letting the door shut softly behind him. 

Chapter Text

BrodyYeen21

Context: JJ: A former reader, now friend, of our fic drew this for me cause he forgot my birthday was two days ago at the time, so he decided to draw a mspaint rendition of Eli in 10 minutes