Descendents Oneshots

Insecure (BAL)

Set after Cotillion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Mal's POV~

The bell rang, signifying the end of school on Friday. Finally. I couldn't wait another minute to get out of there. Another week of torture over, and that wasn't just speaking academically. I was fine in all my classes. It was just some of the people that bugged me. And it was only a few.

Audrey, Sara (daughter of Tiana and Naveen), and Nicole (daughter of Wendy Darling) were my main tormentors. They'd teased me about my looks (my purple hair specifically), my uncommon but not impossible bad mark, and how Ben was just using me to improve his image by pretending to like me.

It's been going on for a while, and they've managed to drill a hole in my mental walls. Now I found myself listening to them as they brought up points that I saw as actually reasonable. I had serious doubts about nearly everything now. Maybe the teachers only gave me good marks because I was Lady of the Court. Maybe Evie, Jay, and Carlos have found real friends in Auradon and only tolerated me anymore because they were scared I'd turn into a dragon on them or something. Maybe Ben was just dating me for publicity. He could be sneaking around with another girl behind my back.

On the way back to my dorm, all these thoughts were swirling around in my head, making tears prick at my eyes. I looked down at my feet as I walked down the hallway, my backpack hanging from one shoulder.

I probably should've been watching where I was going, because I bumped straight into someone.

"Oh- sorry," I said automatically, before raising my head and seeing that I'd run into Ben.

"It's fine, Mal," he said. Then he noticed my watery eyes. "Is there something wrong?" he asked, visibly switching to 'sweet caring boyfriend' mode.

"Uh," I blinked away the tears rapidly. "No."

"C'mon baby. You know I know you better then that."

I opened my mouth to say something before he grabbed my hand and took me to his dorm. Fortunately, no one else was in the hallway to see us. He shut and locked the door behind him, then turned to face me.

"Now, what's going on?" he asked.

"N-nothing," I stuttered, barely keeping it together.

He walked over to me and grabbed both of my hands, my backpack falling to the floor. He led me to a small loveseat couch in the corner of the room nestled amongst several bookshelves. One of them, I noticed, was full of framed pictures of Ben and me and a few sketches I'd given him.

I managed to tear my gaze away from that shelf when Ben pulled me down with him so I was sitting in his lap. His arms wrapped tightly around my waist as his mouth pressed a tiny kiss to my neck. He would wait here for an eternity, I realized. Until I told him what was wrong.

Just thinking about everything that'd been going through my head was almost enough to make me start sobbing. I started shaking a little. Ben only tightened his grip on me.

"Why..." I started, my breathing uneven. "Why am I with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you choose me as your Lady?" I started my rant with tears freely streaming down my face. "I'm not a perfect princess like you deserve. I don't deserve you, and you deserve someone much better then a Isle girl like me."

"Who's telling you all these?" Ben demanded. "All these lies?"

"N-no one," I stuttered, now full-on sobbing. And yes, I hated the fact that I was breaking down like this, in front of Ben.

"Mal," he said sternly, moving me off his lap and raising my chin so my teary eyes had no choice but to see his. "Tell me. You didn't get all these ideas yourself."

I managed to choke out the names. "Audrey, Sara, and Nicole."

His expression hardened with anger for a split second, then softened as he focused on my face. His fingers wiped away every tear that ran down my cheeks. I calmed down slowly, all with him. He pulled me into his arms gently. I buried my head into his chest. I felt his lips on the top of my head.

"Calm down, Mal. It's okay," he said, though his tone said the exact opposite thing.

I stopped crying and looked up at him. He looked me in the eyes and kissed me softly.

That day didn't end all my insecurities, but it definitely helped.