Mal and Ben made their way down the hall to the amphitheater, where Jay and the other team members were busy at practice. Ben couldn't help but give a sad smile at the sight; while he did like being king, there was a lot that he had to give up that he missed.
Unfortunately, one couldn't risk the king getting hurt in a game of Tourney or in a fencing match.
"Alright, practice is over!" Jay called, gaining the attention of the team and breaking Ben out of his thoughts. "Great work today guys."
"You're just saying that because Lonnie didn't kick your butt," Emir grumbled playfully, rubbing his shoulder.
"Not my fault you don't pay attention," Lonnie chuckled.
"So Jay, you too tired or do you think you could show these pampered princes and Lonnie how we do things on the Isle?" Mal called out from her spot in the doorway. Jay turned his head to look at her and smirked.
"If you think you can handle it, my lady," Jay told her, giving Mal a small bow with a flourish of his hands. Mal rolled her eyes as she walked toward him.
"You call me that again, this sword goes up your nose," Mal told him as Emir handed her his sword. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Emir said. "My lady," he added with a small smirk.
Mal shook her head and stood in the middle of the amphitheater, holding the sword out in front of her.
"You going to spar Jay? Some of us are growing old here," she called with a smirk of her own.
"So impatient. You know patience is a virtue," Jay chuckled as he drew his own sword. Ben went to stand by the others as they sat on the blocks that surrounded the training floor.
"En garde!"
"En garde yourself, I shall give you the honor of a quick and painless death!"
"Hey! Pick your own banter!" Emir called with a chuckle and Ben shook his head. He should have known. That sort of banter had Emir and Akiho written all over it.
Mal smirked and quickly lunged into an attack that Jay blocked with seemingly little difficulty before spinning into his own attack. Mal seemed to have no trouble blocking that as well and the spar was quickly underway.
"Was this what it was like when you watched them the day before Cotillion?" Ben muttered as the sound of clanging swords once again filled the amphitheater. Emir and Akiho had done nothing but rave about what it was like watching Mal and Jay spar. Watching them in action, Ben could understand why.
"Pretty much," Emir muttered back, smirking a little as Mal lashed out her foot toward Jay's shin. "They don't seem to mix it up much."
"Well I mean they're sparring the same people," Akiho chimed in. "Plus it's a friendly match. I'm sure if it was like in the viewing, they'd mix up their attacks."
"Of course we would. Hook and his pirates would aim to kill rather than mildly embarrass the other person," Carlos snorted, causing the others to jump in surprise, forgetting the rest of the team was there. "Granted Mal and Jay have been sparring each other since I've known them. They could beat each other in a sparring match with their eyes closed at this point, that's how well they know each other's moves."
"So what you're saying is that either Mal or Jay need a new sparring partner?" William asked.
"Pretty much," Carlos nodded, though he couldn't help but smile at the sight of Mal and Jay grinning ear to ear as they matched each other blow for blow.
"Say Ben," Miguel spoke up, "how long's it been since you sparred?"
"Probably not since before coronation. I've been busy getting used to being king," Ben told him before pausing. "Why?"
"Well Carlos just said that Mal needed a new sparring partner. You think you're too rusty to spar your girlfriend?"
Ben rolled his eyes and gestured to his outfit. "I'm not exactly dressed for sparring, Miguel."
"Since when has that ever stopped you?" Brenden asked with a chuckle. "Ben, with the exception of practices and matches, you're practically always in a suit. Surely you know how to move in one by now?"
"Unless Ben's afraid he'll lose to Mal?" Lonnie teased and causing Ben to chuckle.
"If Mal's up to it," Ben said. "I don't want to spar her if she's too tired."
"Fair enough," Akiho nodded and the team turned back to watch the sparring match just as Mal reached out to grab Jay's wrist to pull him toward her.
"Seriously Mal, get a new trick," Jay told her as he avoided her arm and spun out of range.
"If your next move is a jumping sidekick, I'm making Carlos my next sparring partner," Mal told him but getting out of range herself just to be on the safe side.
"Hey!" Carlos exclaimed with a chuckle.
"You know we don't mean anything by it Carlos," Mal called over to him while blocking one of Jay's attacks.
"Oh so then I can spar Mal next?" Carlos teased.
"Only if you're prepared to wait an hour," Akiho told him as Mal and Jay turned back to their sparring. "Cause that's how long their sparring match went the day before Cotillion."
"Huh, guess they were tired or something," Carlos said. "Evie and I have seen their sparring matches go two, sometimes three hours."
"And that's why Coach made Jay captain," Lonnie chuckled at the dumbfounded looks on some of the other boys' faces. "You'd need that kind of endurance to do well here."
"Yeah well I want to see Mal spar Ben and I'd rather not wait three hours," William said. "Hey, Mal? Jay? You feel like switching partners?"
"It hasn't even been fifteen minutes!" Jay exclaimed.
"Actually it's been twenty!" Emir called back. "And you, dear captain, just went through a two hour practice."
Mal looked over at Jay. The last thing she'd want to do is tire him out—winning a sparring match was always better when your opponent was fresh. "Call it a tie?"
"One of these days one of us is going to win a sparring match here in Auradon."
"But it is not this day."
Ben perked up as Mal sheathed her sword. "Did you just quote Tolkien?"
"Belle recommended his books at Cotillion when I had a chance to speak with her," Mal told him, smiling at how excited he got. "I figured I'd give them a try. I have to say, I like the Eowyn chick."
"You're already on the second book?"
"Nope. The third one." Mal said. "I haven't read the other two yet."
She wasn't going to tell anyone this, but after hearing that one was Ben's favorite of the trilogy she had decided to start with it. It was like getting a glimpse into Ben's mind, when it wasn't all kingly or boyfriendly. When he was just pure...Ben.
"Oh dear Gods, just spar already," Chad groaned with a small chuckle. "You two can geek out about books later."
"Knowing Ben, he'll do both," Miguel chuckled.
"That is if his brain hasn't turned to goo at the sight of Mal with a sword," Emir smirked.
Mal smirked as Ben rolled his eyes at his friends' teasing. "Well your highness? You up for experiencing Isle style sparing up close and personal?"
"A king is always up for new experiences, my lady," Ben told her, taking a sword from Akiho and shrugging off his suit jacket to allow for better range of motion.
"Don't hurt him too badly Mal!" Carlos called.
"Yeah, we still need our king!" Conner chuckled.
"I love how much faith our friends have in my abilities, Mal," Ben said with a small smirk.
"You've never faced off against Isle style sparring before Ben," Mal shot back, a smirk on her face as well.
"Don't worry Ben. As long as Mal keeps it clean, you'll be fine," Jay called out and Mal shot him a look. "What? You fight dirty, or did you forget that time when you were fourteen and you 'accidentally' hit me in the groin?"
"All's fair in sparring Jay," Mal shrugged as all the guys winced and Lonnie smirked. "Besides, if you were that close to me you really should have protected that section better."
"I don't have to worry about that do I?" Ben asked.
"Stay out of range and we won't have to answer that question," Mal teased. Ben chuckled and held up his sword, almost like one would a fencing saber. Mal chuckled but held up her own sword, similar to the way she held it back in the viewing.
Not giving Ben a moment to prepare, Mal lunged into her attack but Ben was able to quickly block it. Ben quickly launched into his own attack but Mal blocked that with ease, almost like swatting a fly. With the opening attacks out of the way, it was as if a signal had gone off for the sparring to begin.
"You know, you can't be all prim and proper in sparring," Mal teased as she quickly got out of range for one of Ben's attacks.
"And you normally wouldn't be allow to use your feet," Ben teased back as he jumped back from Mal's kick, doing a flip as the skills he'd gained from his time on the R.O.A.R team came back to him. Hey, they didn't make him captain for nothing!
"Oh but keeping them on their toes is what I do best," Mal chuckled.
"Now don't be using your feminine wiles to win this match Mal!" Jay called out.
"That would imply I have wiles to use Jay," Mal shot back, quickly raising up her sword to block Ben's attack, "and no fair distracting me!"
"You said it yourself Mal, all's fair in sparring!"
"That's when you're the one sparring!"
Ben chuckled. "You know, it wouldn't exactly be fair if you used your wiles against me. After all, it's not like men have wiles."
"Tell that to Jay!" Carlos called out. "I'm pretty sure he's turned half the female population of this school into puddles."
"Okay, okay," Ben nodded and brought his sword down to block a low hit from Mal. "Revising my previous statement—It's not like I have wiles to use against you to make it fair if you used yours, Mal."
Several members of the team snorted in amusement.
"Ben hasn't been on the other side of his puppy dog eyes then has he?" William chuckled.
"His what?" Carlos snorted.
"You know. That look he gives you when he's disappointed in you but doesn't want to say it because he doesn't want to make a fuss."
"Well I mean it makes sense," Jay shrugged. "He's Belle's son and Gaston always said Belle was the 'prettiest girl in town' when he'd go on his drunken rants about her."
"Huh you're right," Lonnie nodded, tilting her head as if she hadn't considered it before Jay pointed it out. "Ben was always one of the more attractive guys in school, now that I think about it."
"Hey!"
"Am I wrong?" Lonnie asked. "And I say this from an almost sibling standpoint. The light brown hair and the hazel green eyes, it's a combo alright."
The team chuckled and turned back to watch the sparring.
"Oh come on Ben! You could have blocked that!" Jay shouted, the captain in him coming out as he watched the match.
"No way, he might have tripped Mal." Carlos told him, shaking his head.
"Mal doesn't seem to care about that!"
"This is Ben we're talking about though. He wouldn't dream of actually tripping someone on purpose," William chuckled.
"Did he have to wear a suit today?" Emir groaned. Even though he'd taken off the jacket, Ben still seemed a bit stiff in the dress shirt he was wearing. Not to mention the slacks and the dress shoes made for a harder time than the more casual clothes Mal was wearing.
"When does he not?" Akiho sighed.
"One might have thought he'd change before coming into the amphitheater!"
"He probably didn't expect to be sparring!"
Mal chuckled. "Your cheering section seems more obsessed with your wardrobe than the match," she teased, twisting to avoid Ben's attack.
Ben rolled his eyes. "They're always obsessed with my wardrobe," he told her as Mal kicked out with her leg. "Oh so that's how we're playing this Mal?"
"It's not like you can fight Isle style Ben, and I've been sparring like this the whole time. You're only just noticing?" Mal teased. Ben rolled his eyes before reaching out to grab Mal's arm, remembering the move from the viewing and from Mal's sparring match with Jay. Mal, though, only smirked and twisted out of his reach.
The team continued to watch the sparring as Mal and Ben kept going, Ben trying to match Mal in terms of the Isle style part of sparring. They all had to chuckle about an hour in as Mal tripped Ben before catching him to keep him from falling over.
"I know I'm charming Benny but you don't have to fall for me," she said with a smirk. "Glad I caught you though."
"That joke was bad and you should feel bad!" Jay called out to her. Mal turned and looked over at Jay, rolling her eyes and never noticing Ben readjusting his arm.
"Well if you insist on having me fall Mal, let's do it together," Ben said with a smirk, gently twisting her arm so that Mal was lying on her back on the amphitheater floor, Ben's hand behind her head as to prevent any injury.
"Ben!" Mal exclaimed before chuckling. "Nice move."
"Why thank—"
Mal twisted before Ben could finish his sentence, making it so that they both rolled and Ben wound up on the floor with Mal on top.
"I prefer the top," she said with a smirk.
"I think Ben's fine with that!" Li called out.
"Mal doesn't look too bothered either," Brendon chuckled.
"Jay, you can smack him!" Mal and Ben both called out, neither one in a hurry to get up from the floor.
Jay shook his head but did exactly that, whacking both his teammates upside the head. "Keep it PG, you guys," he told his team mates. "Though I think the same should be said for you Mal!"
"If we were on the Isle, you wouldn't have blinked twice at me pulling that move," Mal shook her head but climbed off of Ben. "Besides, that was perfectly clean! It was the same as a hug."
"If you ever pulled that move on the Isle, we'd have worried you lost your mind considering the only ones you would have been able to pull it on would have been me and Carlos," Jay shot back.
"Good point."
"You do know what that means though?" Jay smirked. "You, my lady, finally lost a sparring match!"
Mal shrugged though she rolled her eyes at once again being called 'my lady'. "My record against you is still solid."
"And really I'd say it was more of a tie," Ben said. "Mal was the one to end the match on top after all."
Mal smirked. "I like the sound of that."
"I'm glad," Ben smiled and kissed the top of Mal's head before looking over at the others, shaking his head at how surprised they looked. "You guys want me to leave so you can say bad words? Cause I'm pretty sure I've heard them all before."
"Ben!"
Ben chuckled at their surprised looks. "Surrogate older brother with a nine year age gap, plus unfettered access to the library at home. If I could read it, I had access to it."
"I feel I should be surprised but I'm honestly not," Li sighed.
"Yeah, he's still our Golden Boy," William chuckled. "King Bookworm would break the rules by reading the stuff he shouldn't."
"Compared to Chad, Ben's practically a saint," Conner snorted.
"Okay, someone else needs to become the bad example of the team," Chad grumbled.
"Oh but you wear shame so well," Emir chuckled, draping an arm around Chad's shoulders. While there were times he honestly couldn't stand Chad, he was okay in small doses. Or when he wasn't doing extraordinary stupid things.
So yeah, like he said, small doses.
"This was fun," Ben said as he grabbed his suit jacket.
"Yeah, this is what the rest of the world looks like when you're not contained in your office Ben," Akiho chuckled and Ben rolled his eyes.
"Well I have to get—"
"Nope!" The team declared.
"Guys, come on I have to get back to work—"
"Ben, you're not going to win with them," Lonnie chuckled. "At the very least, they're going to drag you down to dinner."
Ben shook his head. "Fair enough. I haven't had a team dinner with these guys in a while."
"As you command, your highness," Conner exclaimed.
"Sorry guys, I've got to head over to Charmington for the weekend," Chad said. "Mom's got some news that she wants to give in person."
Ben nodded with a small smile. He knew what Cinderella's news was—Anastasia had accepted the invitation he'd sent the day before Cotillion but he wasn't going to spoil the surprise for Cinderella.
"Hope everything's okay," William said.
"Maybe it's good news," Conner suggested. "Hey, maybe she's pregnant again!"
Chad chuckled. "I'm pretty sure after Alexandria surprised us all, mom and dad put a stop to having any more kids."
"You never know," Conner teased. "Your mom and dad might try to catch up to Queen Rapunzel and King Eugene."
"Conner, stop it," Ben said gently.
Conner nodded. "Sorry Ben, sorry Chad."
"Ah we're used to your insanity," William snorted. "I mean, you're not as bad as Emir and Akiho but you're pretty strange."
"Hey!"
"Can you two seriously deny that you're insane?" Jay asked, looking at the two of them.
"Oh we know we're strange," Emir nodded.
"Yeah, our outrage was based on the fact that William seemed to think our strangeness was a bad thing. Keep in mind your dad runs around with a guy who flies on the back of an armored robot, Will."
"And yet you're still the strangest guys I know and I'm comparing you two to Uncle Fred," William said as he shook his head in amusement.
"Being normal is vastly overrated," Emir smirked.
"That's what you always say."
"Well when your dad is best friends with a genie and has a flying carpet, your definition of 'normal' is different than most people's," Emir said.
"Plus your mom has a tiger." Jay added.
"Oh yeah, can't forget about Rajah," Emir nodded. "Which as everyone knows are the best kind of creatures."
"Um, excuse me but you can't possibly think a tiger is better than a reindeer?" Akiho asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ben shook his head and put an arm over each of his friends' shoulders. "Boys, boys, boys. Have you heard about the awesomeness that is a dragon?"
"No fair using the creature your girlfriend turns into!"
"Eh I'm on Ben's side there," Lonnie chuckled. "Mushu's pretty great even if he almost broke my parents up."
"Yeah I'm with Lonnie there," Li nodded. "He's the reason mom was able to get out of the arraigned marriage with the Middle Kingdom, same with Aunt Mai and Aunt Su."
"So that's three votes for dragons," Mal chuckled, "while there's only one vote for reindeers and one for tigers."
"Two votes for tigers," Jay said. "I got your back dude."
"Thank you Jay!"
"After Maleficent's show at coronation, I think I'm going to vote for the safer pick of the three options," Chad said.
"Yeah, King Kristoff did say 'reindeer are better than people'," William nodded. "He wouldn't say that if it wasn't true."
Carlos snorted. "Sorry guys, but dogs have all those choices beat!"
"...yeah he has a point," Brenden nodded.
"I don't know. Clearly you haven't curled up with a tiger, Carlos," Emir said.
"No I haven't. But you haven't curled up with ninety nine Dalmatian puppies Emir," Carlos shot back with a chuckle.
"Clearly there's no winner here," Mal shook her head in amusement. "But if it matters, my vote's for dragons."
"Dragons win! That's four votes," Ben grinned. "You know they truly are fascinating. Did you know that there's a legend that if you bathe in a dragon's blood, it can help you see into the future?"
The team and Mal stared at Ben for a second.
"I don't even want to know how you know that," Mal sighed.
"Why would you do that?" Chad asked, looking slightly disturbed.
"How does that even work?" Conner inquired.
"I don't know, the book I was reading didn't go into details," Ben sighed. "Mom and dad's library didn't have a lot of books on dragons."
"Never underestimate the power of a bookworm," Akiho snorted in amusement and Ben chuckled as the group began to make their way to dinner, each one teasing each other and just generally goofing around even as Chad broke off to head over to his castle. Mal smiled and slipped her hand into Ben's.
She definitely would need to make sparring with Ben a regular thing.