*later they walk back to their rooms after the ball had ended, taking a little outside detour through the gardens to look at the stars a little*
Mal: today had been the best day of my life
Ben: good, that's what I was going for
Mal: god why are you so good at this?!
Ben: so good at what?
Mal: this, us, everything, I would have no idea how to do anything like this, I don't know how to show you how much I love you, I don't know how to do something romantic for you
Ben: Mal, I'm not with you for any of that kind of stuff, I'm with you because you're special and you're my one, every day with you is special without needing anything particularly exciting, I live quite a big life so I like to be casual when I'm with you
Mal: how am I so lucky? I don't deserve you
Ben: you deserve the world
Mal: I don't know what I did to get the lucky
Ben: that's how I feel about you, every day that I'm the luckiest guy alive to have you as mine, I don't deserve someone so amazing and unique and fantastic as you
Mal: what's so amazing about me?
Ben: everything, by mainly the fact that you don't know it
*he pulls her in for a slow kiss under the stars*
Ben: one day soon I'll get to call you my wife
Mal: it's terrifying to think that from that day on I will be a queen
Ben: maybe you'll be able to do something that I'm not able to do
Mal: what's that?
Ben: I've been trying to convince the kids from the isle of the lost to come here but they won't budge, not one of them will come apparently but I don't actually know because I'm not getting to talk to them I'm having to talk to one of the villains or another so the kids probably haven't even heard about the offer
Mal: I thought that might happen, they're confused and they feel betrayed
Ben: but you never betrayed the kids
Mal: from their standpoint I did, they're confused, they have no leader, it's chaotic, let me help, if you can get me a video chat with Evil Queen, Jafar and Cruella then I think I can do something about it, but you may need to be willing to negotiate a little, they'll want to feel like they've won in their own little way so they'll want something in return
Ben: how do you know so much about what they're thinking?
Mal: I used to think the same way remember, unfortunately it's still just like a switch in my head that I can just turn on and off to thinking like I'm supposed to and thinking like I used to, it's a thin line Ben, you're the only reason I stay grounded, you keep me on the good side of the edge
Ben: I always be here to do so
Mal: good, but seriously you will need to be open to negotiating
Ben: that's fine, I'll do my best to make it happen
----------------------------------------------
She can still think like them, but when dealing with them does she need to think like she's one of them or like she's the one that got away from them? Xoxo