Half and Half

Chapter Sixteen

Ben's friends were five and yet they had more loyalty in them than some grown ups.

"Is it safe or am I going to be run down by a carpet?" Mal asked as she rolled her way into Ben's room.

"It's safe," Chip told her. "Unless Emir and Akiho decide to give you a hug."

"They do that, I roll over their feet," Mal said but anyone would have been able to tell she was merely joking, the same way she would have joked with Uma or Harry. "I didn't see Aladdin or Jasmine or Anna or Kristoff arrive though."

Emiri and Akiho both shrugged.

"...You two both know your mamans and papas are going to be upset when they find out you're gone right?" Ben asked with a small sigh.

"Don't care," Emir said. "Aziz was hanging out with Lonnie's brother anyway so the only one who'd know we were gone is Ashaki and she's a baby."

"But...I don't want you two getting into trouble..."

Akiho shook his head. "Ben, being your best friend means that when you're upset, we're there for you."

"Excuse me, but he's got me for that," Mal said, crossing her arms.

"And I'm sure you've done great," Akiho said, looking over at her. "But let us have a turn?"

"...We don't share easily on the Isle."

"Yeah well, we're in Auradon. By the way, get in here. Group hugs are weird when you leave someone out."

Before Mal could react, she found herself pulled into the hug. She had to admit, she liked it.

Of course she'd like it even more if she was out of the cast and therefore out of the wheelchair, but according to Lady Steph, it'd be a couple more weeks!

"So...Teacup...do I want to know why there's about two too many kiddos in your brother's room?"

Chip jumped slightly at the sound of his friend's voice. "Lucas? What are you doing here?"

"What, you think I was just going to be happy with only sending you a text?" Lucas asked, pushing his hair out of his eyes as he walked into the room. How he knew which room Chip was in, the former teacup had no idea though he suspected either his older brothers, older sister, or his mother had told him. Or even Lumiere or Cogsworth if Lucas had gotten lost—the castle was rather big after all. "Nah, I wanted to see you and make sure you were okay. I know how close you were to King Beast."

Chip couldn't help but shoot his friend a small smile out of thanks...even as his heart fluttered slightly at the sight of Lucas' smile in return. He shoved it into the back of his mind, he could wonder about the odd going's on about his body when Ben wasn't feeling upset.

Or you know, when there weren't two errant Princelings in Ben's bedroom.

"You two need to call your parents to at least let them know you're here and you're okay," Chip said. "I'm sure they're worried about you."

Emir shrugged. "Mama and papa have Aziz and Ashaki to worry about...though Jordan might have told Auntie Dalia where we were going. She saw us when we were borrowing Carpet."

"I gave her a block of chocolate to keep her quiet," Akiho said.

Ben shook his head. "You bribed her?"

"I've definitely been a bad influence then," Mal said with a grin that clearly said 'I regret nothing'.

"We had to come see you!" Akiho said with a small shrug. "And mama and papa have said we'd visit you at some point but for right now your mama probably doesn't want to deal with company on top of everything that's been going on."