Hey everyone! I actually have a big update today, there's this chapter and I also have a new fic in the same AU posting tonight.

This chapter is set near the beginning of the film, right around when they're first starting their classes and before the love spell. It's a Pre-Mal/Ben.

The companion fic is called Diplomacy and Other Such Dangerous Games and you can find it on my profile. It's set about a year after the events of the film and is rated M for sexuality.

I hope you enjoy.

"I don't like how much time you've been spending with them."

"They're new to Auradon, they need someone to-"

"Show them around? You gave them Doug," Audrey snapped and he had to drop his pen when it cracked in his grip. She'd called him to her room to look over her refreshment plans for Family Day, he should have known it would never be that simple, not with all the recent changes. He could hear her pacing behind the desk chair, each tight click of her heels against the floor perfectly measured and even.

"Doug is one person, he can't be there all the time. What do you want me to do, turn them down when they have a question?"

"And does answering questions mean midnight sleepovers too? I'm not even allowed to do that."

"Nothing happened." There was no point in arguing, she just used the moment to take a breath and continue on like he hadn't spoken.

"They're villains Bennyboo, they're not the kind of people you want to be associated with."

"Their parents are villains. That's why I invited them here, remember? To give them a chance at a normal life. That's all I'm trying to do."

"But they're not normal." Audrey had stopped her pacing right behind him but it was her words that had the hair on the back of his neck rising, had his stomach tightening. He swallowed and half turned in the chair to look at her. "And you're the future king, you need to be around people like you."

"They are people like me." It came out before he could really think about the consequences of saying it and far louder than he intended. He was on his feet in a moment, hands clasped at his sides. It was impossible to read the look on Audrey's face, carefully blank as she stared at him. He took a deep breath in through his nose and crossed his arm over his chest. Now was as good a time as any to let the secret out.

Not like he'd ever been keen on hiding it in the first place.

"Audrey, I… You know those stories our parents used to tell us about people who can turn into animals. Who can…" His voice faltered, his throat going dry. It had been so much easier to tell Mal, Mal who suspected before he said anything, Mal who wasn't human just like him. "I'm magic. Like the kids from the Isle."

"Like your father used to be."

"In a way. I think that's where I got it from." Audrey sighed, ducked her head, and when she looked back up at him she was smiling, grinning even, looking like everything suddenly made perfect sense. She closed the distance between them, slid her hands down his arms, unfolding them to take his hands. She looked so open, he could match her smile, why had he been nervous to tell her in the first place, this was Audrey she was-

"If you're like your father then it's easy. We can just fix you."

He dropped her hands.

"Audrey. You can't fix me. I'm not broken." His heart pounded in his ears, his stomach felt like it had dropped out of his body, and he crossed his arms again, nails digging into his biceps. He could feel, physically feel, the shift under his skin, clawing at him, to change, to run, to- "There is nothing wrong with me."

"Well you would think that Bennyboo, you're the one who's under the curse."

"I'm-" He swallowed and met her eyes, trying to be calm and impassive, the way his mother had taught him to be for the cameras at state events. He forced a passive smile, muscle memory starting to soothe his frantic heart. "Look Audrey, it's not a curse, I don't want-"

"Is that what they've been telling you?" Her voice had taken a shrill undertone and his stomach flopped, the last thing he wanted to do was upset her. She laughed again but the sound was anything but happy. "Listen to me. Magic is dangerous, your dad outlawed it for a reason. And if they're encouraging it that makes them dangerous too."

"But why does magic have to be dangerous? There's more than just evil spells and curses in the world. There's good magic too. Your mother-"

"My mom was cursed by an evil fairy! That girl's mother."

Everything suddenly felt very, very calm.

There was nothing, absolutely nothing, he could say that would have any impact on this conversation.

"I'm sorry that I have upset you. I truly am." And when she didn't interrupt him again he dropped his shoulders and allowed himself to relax a bit. "But I am not- I'm not looking to change what I am. Now, if you will excuse me, I should be going."

"Going where?"

"I have to prepare for tourney practice."

"Practice isn't for an hour yet." He was at the door before she tried to stop him, his back hit the doorframe when he pulled out of her touch.

"Audrey, please," he didn't know what he was asking for, he just had to get out of there, had to- "I'll see you later."

"Ben!"

He was already pulling off his jacket and shirt when he hit the treeline, hands shaking as he tried to fold them in a neat pile, nearly tripping over one leg of his pants in his haste to get out of them. He knew these woods, knew them better than anyone, knew exactly where he could hide so no one would see him change. It didn't hurt anymore, didn't hurt to slip from one form to another, to hit the ground running and stretch his legs. The dirt was cool beneath his paws, the grass still wet from the morning dew, the smell of damp earth filled his lungs.

The wind shifted and he skidded to a halt, catching a new scent. The sharp, verdant scent of the faerie.

Mal.

He bolted to his left, towards the main path, planning on heading her off. Audrey had been right about one thing, he wanted to spend more time with them than anyone from Auradon. He ducked under a fallen tree, enjoying the scratch of bark through his fur and across his back, a few paces from the path, just close enough to see her.

He barked, once, to get her attention, before bounding forward.

She didn't even flinch, not the way Audrey would if he ever showed her his wolf.

She grinned.

His heart raced again, for an entirely different reason this time, felt light in a way he hasn't in months, maybe years. He laughed, it came out in a soft chuffing bark that she must have found funny, her nose scrunched up and she turned her head away to laugh. He dug his claws into the dirt, hunched up his shoulders and wagged his tail, before he jerked his head to the side, towards the trees.

Come run with me.

She glanced at the trees, off the path, and the next thing he knew she was bending to toe off her boots.

Then she took off, bare feet making no sound on the soft ground and he bolted after her; tracking on scent and the sharp laugher echoing back at him through the trees. She was faster than he expected her to be, fast enough to keep him on his toes. A flash of purple through the leaves and he darted forward, crossing over her path and letting her chase him for a while.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise when she tackled him to the ground.

Grass and dirt flew as they wrestled, a tangle of limbs and leaves, and they rolled down the hill leading back to the school, tumbling one over the other. At some point he'd shifted back, laughing as they came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, his back hit the ground, knocking the air from his lungs, her hands on his arms, her hair falling into his face. She looked like she was trying not to laugh, her cheeks flushed from the run.

"Pinned you."

"Yeah, you did. You win," he said quietly. She was smirking down at him and there was a warm flutter in his chest. He leaned back against the ground, a cool counter point to the heat of her hands on his skin, her knees against the sides of his hips. She was still looking him in the eyes, hadn't seemed to have noticed, "You know I'm naked, right?'

"You're-" Her eyes flicked down, her cheeks bloomed red, and he couldn't help the giggle that escaped him. She met his eyes again, looking like she was determined to not look anywhere but his face, the smirk had dropped completely from her lips. She made a sound that was halfway between shock and outrage, sharp and short. "Where are your clothes?"

"About five feet in that direction," he gestured with one hand as far as he could, still pinned flat on his back. The movement brought her attention to his hand and she seemed to just realise she was still holding him down. She rolled off him faster than he could blink and he bit his lip to keep from laughing again. She stood and faced away from him, arms crossed over her chest.

"Why are you naked?"

"Because I can't exactly wear anything as a wolf and I wanted to go for a run." He stood and brushed the dirt off the backs of his legs before making his way over to where he'd hidden his clothes. He was just stepping into his boxers, "You don't have to be embarrassed, Mal. I'm the one who's-"

"I'm not emb-" He jumped when she cut off with another sharp sound and looked up to see her half turned towards him, wide eyed. He tugged his boxers the rest of the way up his hips, she huffed and turned back around. "I'm not embarrassed," she snapped and he watched the way her shoulders shrugged as she crossed her arms again.

But the real question was why wasn't he embarrassed to be around her?

"You should probably go back first. If Audrey sees us coming out of the woods together, you all undressed and dishevelled with twigs in your hair," he ran a hand through his hair, almost self-consciously, liberating a couple of leaves and a twig and probably messing it further in the process. "She'll really have a fit and I don't need some prissy princess poking her nose into my business."

"Has she said something to you?"

"I just called your girlfriend a prissy princess and you didn't defend her. What happened, did Mr and Mrs Perfect Goodness have a fight?" His stomach jolted, but whether it was because he felt guilty over what happened with Audrey or because Mal had so easily lumped them in the same category he couldn't tell. So he stayed silent, settling for pulling on his slacks and shirt instead. From the corner of his eye he caught Mal glance over her shoulder at him. "You really had a fight? Huh, didn't know you had it in you."

"At will I can turn into a bloodthirsty animal, you don't think I'm capable of having argument?"

"Bloodthirsty, that's what you call that? 'Cause I remember someone with his butt in the air wagging his tail going 'come play with me Mal'." She was facing him properly again and had stepped closer so she could lean against a tree. "So you really are a wolf then."

"What, did you think I could just do fancy tricks with my eyes?" He shrugged into his jacket and made a vain attempt at flattening his hair.

"What's it like?" He froze and looked up at her. She wasn't looking at him, her eyes trained on something to his side, her expression had turned inward, contemplative. "Turning into something else?"

"It hurt, a lot, when I was young and first trying. I tried to fight against it for a while, the whole 'ban on magic' thing. And that makes it worse." He toed into his shoes and kicked a rock into the underbrush. "But after that… Nothing's better. You just can't be afraid to go for it."

"I'm not afraid," she said it quietly, her expression tight and intense, meeting his eyes again. Then she smirked. "You going to turn me in for using magic, highness?"

"No," he laughed, ducking his head to get away from those piercing green eyes. "But be more careful or Audrey might. She's not happy with how you've been doing everyone's hair."

"Oh? Not her style?"

"Something like that." She shook her head and might have rolled her eyes. "We should go get your boots."

"I actually- I might have a spell for that." She pushed her sleeves up off her wrists and planted her feet. She glanced at him, a sharp movement that flopped her hair over her shoulder before she looked out into the forest. She cleared her throat, "Now I demand, boots to my hand."

Nothing happened for a moment, two, then-

"Mal, duck!" One boot had landed neatly in her outstretched hand but the other had come flying at her head, inches from striking her temple before she ducked her head, and sailed past her and hit the tree by Ben.

"That was… Close to what I intended."

"Maybe try with one object next time," he said and stooped to hand her the second boot.

"I'll keep that in mind." Her head ducked down, busied herself in pulling her laces tight. "You should be heading back. Someone's bound to be missing their prince."

"There are plenty of princes in Auradon," Ben said. "They're not going to notice one gone."

"None of those princes are the future king." He winced, that's what it always came down to. He'd always be King Ben before just being himself. Even to someone like Mal.

"They don't noticed as much as you think they might." He moved into step beside her when she started walking back towards the school. "No one will miss me for a half hour at least, I'm expected at tourney practice." He lifted a low handing branch from her path and caught her eyes a moment when she glanced at him. "Want to come watch? If you like it, Lonnie's been trying to get a girls team running. You're really fast, you'd be good at it."

"No," she said quickly and he tried not to take it personally. It must have shown, on his face or his posture or maybe something she could sense. "I have to go… study. With Evie. Goodness class, it's all really new to us. Lots to learn."

And if it sounded a little forced, he decided not to mention it.

"It'll get easier, it won't always be new. I bet," he said with a grin, nudging her in the side with his elbow and internally preening when she didn't pull away. "That you won't even have to take it next semester."

"No I don't think we'll need it by then."

They breeched the treeline and something pulled at his shoulders, his heart, longing to run back into the forest. He squared his shoulder, straightened his jacket and took a deep breath; ignoring the sharp look he got from Mal.

Back to real life.

"Well you know where I'll be, if…" If you want to come remind me that I'm still me, even if I'm surrounded by humans. "If you have any questions. Or if Evie does."

"Of course. We'll come find you. If we need you."