Hi, what do you think of this Bal dynamic?
Later in the afternoon, round 3 P.M., Mal sat around the table, sitting across her boyfriend, King Ben, with her hands under the table nervously fidgeting the hem of her lavender dress while constantly flickering her light green eyes at Ben, who was happily enjoying his strawberry tiramisu. He was blissfully unaware about his girlfriend not eating.
Mal glanced at her boyfriend for a moment and bit her lip slightly. She could feel a large, hard pill stuck in her throat.
Mal had felt uneasy since Anxelin challenged her earlier about she(Mal) wasn’t planning on telling Ben the real truth about the spell, then Anxelin would do it herself. Since that moment, Mal had mentally cursed Anxelin about bringing up the spell in the first place but then again, Mal thought it over and even if Anxelin hadn’t brought up the spell, Mal’s conscience about the spell would eventually catch up to her.
Now, a multitude of thoughts running through Mal’s mind, most of it being on whether she should tell Ben about the love potion or not. A part of Mal wanted to tell Ben the truth, but another part of Mal refused to because if she tell him, she feared that either Ben would get angry at her(like what he did the last time with the spell book and rightfully so) or he would be upset with her for not telling him this from earlier in their relationship and because of this, he’d probably stay far from her or leave her.
Mal became visibly worried, she didn’t want this. Her relationship with Ben was going so well after they reconciled back in June until the potion was brought up again. It’s like that stain on a shirt that wouldn’t be removed. She didn’t want to lose Ben again.
While the purple haired girl was drowned in worry, Ben had just finished his strawberry tiramisu and began to rub his tummy in delight. The dessert was delicious! He could taste the tiramisu aftertaste in his mouth after eating it. He then looked up at his girlfriend and noticed that she hadn’t touched her dessert at all and was slightly pale.
Ben frowned and knitted his thick eyebrows at her. “Mal?” He called, sounding concerned.
Hearing her name being called, Mal immediately looked up at Ben, snapping out of her thoughts. “Uh, yes?”
“Are you okay?” He asked gently. “You hadn’t touched your strawberry tiramisu which was absolutely rare for you as you love strawberries.”
Hearing Ben’s question caused Mal to fix her eyes on the dessert, and tiramisu stood there, looking back at her and she lightly smacked her forehead. “Oh shoot, I’ve been thinking so much that I almost forgot about it. Haha.” She then took up the fork and dug into the dessert, taking off a piece of the tiramisu and placed it into her mouth. Mal hummed as the strawberry tiramisu melted on her tongue, releasing the strong flavor of strawberry.
Ben watched his girlfriend enjoying her dessert and couldn’t help it but gave her a small smile.
“I’ll take that you like the tiramisu?” The young monarch asked slowly, his eyebrows arched. He knew that Mal liked the dessert but he wanted to be sure.
After she ate a piece of the tiramisu, Mal placed the fork on the saucer and took up a napkin to wipe her mouth. After she did this, Mal cleared her throat and smiled at Ben.
“I…love it!” She beamed. “It’s so delicious! It’s like I’m eating a slice of heaven.”
Hearing her result made Ben leaned back in his chair, smiling.
“I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed the dessert,” Ben told his purple haired girlfriend, his voice sounded genuine. “Mrs. Potts is a great cook and baker, so her dishes are always on point.”
“So…it wouldn’t be greedy of me to want another strawberry tiramisu after I had this one?”
Ben shook his head. “Oh no! Not at all! I think that Mrs. Potts is baking some more, if she hasn’t already.”
Mal placed her left hand on her chest as she breathed a sigh of relief.
Ben shook his head in amusement. “So, Mal, before you had your dessert, you were in deep thoughts. Are you okay?” He tilted his head slightly. “Is there something bothering you? Do you not like the dress that Madame De La Grande Bouche made?”
Mal’s smile faltered instantly the moment when Ben asked her that. The daughter of Maleficent went back to being pale and immediately felt her palms becoming sweaty and her heart raced faster than horses on a race track.
Ben saw this and leaned forward, stretched his hand across the table, and took Mal’s hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“It’s okay, Mal,” Ben reassured her, his voice soft. “It’s okay, whatever you have to tell me, I’m not going to judge you for it.”
You sure about it, Ben? If I tell you about me casting a spell on you to get the wand, I’m sure as hell you’d judge me for that. Mal thought skeptically.
Mal then lowered her green eyes for a moment before fixing them onto Ben’s, and bit her bottom lip.
Ben, whose face was filled with concern and worry said, “Mal?”
“Are you sure you’re okay? Like I said, don’t be afraid to tell me how you’re doing. I’m here for you, always.” He proceeded to squeeze Mal’s delicate hand a bit tighter. Ben did this so that he wanted to urge Mal what was bothering her.
Mal on the other hand remained silent. A part of her wants to tell Ben the truth behind the cookie but another part of her is scared to reveal the truth to him.
So, as painful as it seems, Mal bit her lip harder and went with the latter, slipping her hand from under Ben’s, causing him to look surprised.
“Um, first of all,” Mal began. “I adore the dress that Madame Grande made for me and secondly, I’m doing fine-”
Mal mentally slapped herself.
Ben arched a brow at her.
And the purple haired girl cleared her throat. “As I was saying, I’m fine. Just some thoughts running through my head a bit.”
As much as Ben didn’t show it on his face, he was a tad disappointed that Mal didn’t reveal what was bothering her to him, and Ben knew very well that despite Mal stating that she was fine, deep down she was eaten inside.
Although, if Ben was honest with himself, he felt slightly guilty for forcing Mal to open up to him. The last time he did something like this was the near ending of May when they had their last date, with Ben putting pressure on Mal since she was the Lady of the Court, which caused a quarrel between them, and resulting Mal to run away from Auradon to the Isle. He mentally slapped himself for doing that as he didn’t want him and Mal to fall out again.
So with a defeated sigh, Ben leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “Alright, you won this time but you won’t be so lucky next time,” he smirked slightly.
Mal let out a soft and small chuckle as she rubbed her sweaty palms on the hem of her dress under the table. “Okay, okay, I promise I’ll tell you soon, Benny boo.” She teased.
Are you sure about that, Mal?
Ben just shook his head in amusement at his nickname, a name that his ex girlfriend, Princess Audrey used to call him. “You really can’t stop calling me that, huh?”
“Nope, I actually like that nickname. It suits you.”
Hearing Mal’s reason made Ben laugh softly.
As the young couple continued to have their light conversation, they didn’t notice that someone was approaching them at the gazebo.
“Well, well, well, long time no see, Benjamin Florian,” the voice said.
Mal and Ben paused their conversation abruptly the moment they heard an unfamiliar voice. Mal turned in her chair while Ben looked up and saw who it was. It didn’t take long for the young king’s eyes to widen in absolute shock at the sight of the unexpected visitor.
The visitor appeared to be a tall, toned young man, who looked around in his late twenties with his neck length blonde hair done in a curtain bang style. He wore a cobalt blue vest with a white long sleeved shirt beneath and a pair of khaki pants. His bright blue eyes sparkled with delight and joy as he had a huge smile on his face on Ben and Mal, in particular Ben.
I like it! It makes too much sense that both Ben and mal would spend so much time mentally blaming themselves for everything that they forget to actually communicate with each other.
Personally I believe that Ben always knew the real reason for the love spell(due to a variety of things said in the franchise and the fact that he's not stupid) but having an actual scene where he is told and apologized to would have done wonders for Bal.
