Ben and Lonnie are Actually BFF’s - headcanon/meta brought to you by Rani and her need for her faves to have been friends and also a little wish-fulfillment. I wrote this forever ago and it’s A Lot but I’m posting it before it gets jossed by Descendants 2 (which….who knows maybe my broship will be canon but whateva).
So for my First Piece of Evidence…it’s less evidence and more me spit balling (I’ll get to actual evidence later). But they’re pretty evenly matched in temperament, they’re both happy, cheerful, and kind kids with a general positive outlook on life which would make me think they would get along. I mean, Ben seems to get along with everyone so its not far of a stretch that him and Lonnie would get along.
Second, she seems pretty down with the proclamation. Which could be chalked up to her just being a good person but uh. Considering the pushback Ben got from it (warranted or not), it doesn’t seem very likely that’s the reason. Or likely all on it’s own anyway. I mean most of the parents are against it, at the very least the more popular kids are against it (minus Ben), so that’s a lot of people around Lonnie that don’t like it, but she seems sorta down with it, even if she’s a bit reluctant. Which obviously means that Ben was like “look literally even my parents aren’t in love with this idea I need someone in my corner Lonnie pls I will do your math homework for a month” and she went along with it bc THEY ARE BFFS.
Third point which is - Lonnie tries quite often to be their friend, initially in a way that looks like she was put up to it by someone else (…maybe…idk…Ben…) but then keeps trying
she’s one of the first to reach out to the four and she does so fairly early on
also. why would she go to them for magic hairdo she’s the kid of two big military leaders i am positive she has the money to go to a nice hairdresser or like, her grandmother.
she also comes across a bit better than chad and jane do - evie wants a boyfriend, chad plays on this by using her to do his homework, mal has to chase after jane and jane only stays bc mal makes her popular. the minute audrey and them accept jane, she drops mal fairly quickly. lonnie wants them to do something for her yeah, but she offers to pay for it, so it’s not like she’s taking advantage or anything.
her reaction after she gets her hair done like she’s SO EXCITED AND SHE WANTS MAL TO KNOW THAT and then she rips her skirt in a really obvious i’m-gonna-be-cool-like-you way
she continually reaches out to them, not just for her hair and her own gain but she goes when they’re making cookies and mentions everyone wants Mal to do their hair, which points to her talking Mal’s makeover skills up.
Which. LET ME TALK ABOUT THAT SCENE. She tries to make conversation during that scene, she offers help, she’s genuinely trying to be nice, and wants to know about their lives. And when their lives turn out to be worse than she thought, she doesn’t brush it off or blame them for t heir shitty lives like other characters do, she is KIND AND SYMPATHETIC and tries to offer comfort!!! It even seems to work for a half a second but you know, plot happens and all.
She also sits with the girls at the game even tho she obviously has other friends, but she reaches out anyway.
she is literally the only character besides Ben to constantly reach out to them, in what is initially a way that is her not happpy with it (like she’s been put up to it by a friend) but then keeps trying to be their friend
Piece the Fourth - evidence she’s friends (good friends!!) with Ben. [note: some of this would do better if I had gifs to back it up but I can’t gif. So I have caps, altho it might be a little hard to tell but it’s the best I can do sorry]
Again, first person to actively seek them out (Chad and Jane sorta fall into their laps, and Doug is their guide thing. She’s the one who makes first contact).
the way she phrases it “you hate us and well…you’re evil” strikes me as someone put her up to it. like your friend is like go talk to the new kid they seem nice and you’re like fine and you’re a bit of an asshole initially cuz u don’t want to be there. Considering the fact that Ben has seen they’re having some issues blending in, and then the weirdness of Mal chasing Jane into the bathroom, it would make sense that he’d want to make them feel more welcome so he sends a friend he knows won’t be a dick to go talk to them. Lonnie agrees bc Ben and also she’s nice.
She’s so happy for Ben and Mal during Did I Mention
Like seriously she’s like squealing and grabbing Mal and pointing at Ben, like there’s excited and then there’s Lonnie during that scene.
[Image Description: Lonnie smiling gleefully while Ben makes his way towards a nervous looking Mal]
^^^^^^^^^^^that is the face of a girl who wants her bff to date someone she approves of at long last
During the Family Day debacle, everyone else starts walking away after Chad wakes up, but she stays
[image description: Chad and Audrey walking away from Ben during Family Day, while Lonnie and Doug look on, Doug looking very dejected while Lonnie looks sad and possibly worried]
She starts walking towards Ben
[image description: Lonnie has walked forward several steps towards Ben. Doug has a hand on her arm, and Ben looks on]
and only leaves when Doug takes her hand and literally pulls her away from Ben
[image description: Doug is pulling on Lonnie’s arm and walking away, pulling her with while Ben watches on, his shoulders sagging. Lonnie wears the same worried and sad look]
Later, she doesn’t gossip like Jane or Audrey, she lookes upset like Doug and a bit mad about what just happened.She also loks v disappointed in Doug when he rejects Evie and then sorta shakes her head and looks annoyed when Jane and Audrey come over after they had just insulted Mal. I don’t have great caps for this bc she’s not the focus on the scene (this is where giffing skills would come in siiiigh) but I did find one cap that isn’t too terrible
[image description: doug sitting down after chad called him over from being with evie. lonnie watches doug, looking disappointed and a bit sad]
She does leave with the group but unlike everyone else, she doesn’t look afraid, she’s just pulling a Chad away from the group (probably stopping him from getting his ass put to sleep again bc come on nobody is happy during that scene)
So she very obviosly is not happy about this, attempts to comfort Ben, and is not ok with the petty shit Chad, Jane, and Audrey pull off, and disappointed in Doug not reaching out to Evie. To me, it seems less like she’s in with the other kids, and more like she feels very torn and not sure of how to react to the situation. So, similar to Doug - which, I was very annoyed with Doug and while it is disappointing that Lonnie wouldn’t say something either, peer pressure is a hell of a motivator and when you go to school with literal princes and princesses, that peer pressure is probably multiplied by 10000. Not to mention, we know characters like the dwarves are treated badly by Auradon per Isle of the Lost. While Mulan and Shang are human, they’re also not royalty and I wonder how well they would be treated.
And then in Set It Off, she just jumps into the happy right away. She doesn’t need to be cheered up and she’s not a love interest, she’s just genuinely happy for everyone. Which is a) part of part three in that she’s just a really nice person and b) she’s happy bc her best friend is at least dating someone she likes I mean idk about any of you, but I’m always much happier when I approve of my friends’ dating choices
In conclusion I just love Lonnie so much, she’s so nice to the rotten four and she wants to give them a chance and I want Ben to have friends that actually support him and I want Lonnie to have friends that aren’t catty as hell and I think it would be cute if they were friends, I think there’s a decent amount of evidence that points towards them being friends, and it’s my headcanon and I say so :P
