Harry has seen plenty of magic in his day. He's seen women turn into fish and back again, colors change with the flick of a wrist, heck, he'd even seen when Maleficent transformed into a raging dragon on TV, but this? This was unnatural.

A plane.

"What do you mean they don't use magic?" Harry had practically squealed, gripping the arms of his seat as the plane rose to cruising altitude.

Ben chuckled, placing a hand over the one Harry had over their shared arm rest. "It's technology, Harry, it doesn't need magic. It stays in the air because of how it's built."

"S' unnatural." Harry griped, eyes closed and head back against the seat with a tight jaw.

Carlos' head poked over the seat in front of them, turned around to look at them as he grinned, "You should've seen Jay that one time when Mal put a spell on his skateboard and it flew." He said. "He was terrified!"

Jay popped up next, crossing his arms over the back of the seat, "My dad said inanimate objects shouldn't fly. So I was a little spooked," he smacked Carlos' arm, "but I wasn't terrified."

"He gripped the board with both his arms and legs and squealed like a girl."

Jay elbowed him hard in the shoulder, "Shut up. You remember when you met Duke for the first time?"

Carlos opened his mouth to retort, but Harry held up a hand and looked like he was getting a headache.

"You don't have to worry," Lonnie chimed in from behind them. "I've taken a lot of planes before. It's perfectly safe."

Harry grumbled, loosely swinging his head towards Ben in a way that screamed 'out of patience but full of drama', "Remind me why we brought these three along with us?"

Ben smiled, unaffected by Harry's chilly demeanor, "Lonnie's mother is going to be there to help Jasmine with the classes and Jay's father is from Agrabah, we thought it would be good for him to see it."

"And I tagged along for Jay." Carlos chirped in happily, looking relieved to make his mate smile genuinely. Jay wrapped an arm around his neck.

"Aight, now turn back around before I smack ye both." Harry said, "I need ta concentrate."

Lonnie snorted but sat back down in her seat, Jay shrugging next and following her lead, leaving Carlos to be the last one to turn around and face forward with a barking huff.

Finally.

Ben smiled and leaned his head against Harry's shoulder. He held Harry's hand tightly in his own, protecting calmness and comfort to help him relax. The moment was so tender and soothing Harry found himself starting to grin, of course, he'd practically had to when Ben started humming sweet songs under his breath.

The plane landing went about as well as expected, but Ben held Harry's hand and Carlos told him a joke that was actually quite funny(even if Jay had to finish the joke for it to actually make sense).

Harry requested they sail back to Auradon when they were done instead. He'd been devastated to find out there weren't any large bodies of water close by.

The palace was immaculate, with copper roofs at the top of each tower that swooped out and up into a fine tip. Balconies, styled windows and a painted stone that radiated warmth and light made it feel only fitting for the hot desert that surrounded it. You could see the castle from anywhere in Agrabah, and from the castle, even horrible eyes could make out the endlessly dragging stretch of desert.

The inside was plush too, lined with bright colored cloths and tapestries, swords, and displays of decorative armor that put Arabian knights to shame.

The five of them were ushered in by a sect of guards, and when they entered the throne room (struck dumb with all the images to take in so quickly) Lonnie's mother, Mulan, Jasmine and Aladdin were right there to greet them, Jasmine holding her arms out to them in warm greeting (towards Ben especially).

"It's lovely to meet you in person, Benjamin!" Jasmine smiled, shaking his hand after a brief hug.

"Thank you, it's a pleasure to meet you too." He noticed her eyes wandering to Harry standing just behind his side and took a step back to introduce him, "And this is my mate, Harry."

"Yes," she said, and Harry lifted his chin to mimic the lift of hers. "It's a pleasure to meet you too."

Harry nodded and shook her hand, then Aladdin's beside her. His lip quirked up in a grin when he shook Milan's hand; a firm, self assured grip.

When the shaking of hands went down the line and came towards the end, the last of the line was Jay. He held his hand out with a tight stiffness to Jasmine, and knowingly caught the hesitation in her reach when he was introduced.

"And this is Jay."

Jasmine paused, hand half out but not looking willing to move forward the rest of the way, "Jafar's—" she started, but behind them there was a loud crash, turning heads and cutting the cord of conversation.

The party turned to see one of the serving girls hurriedly scooping up a dropped tea set (thankfully tin and not shattered) back onto it's tray.

Jasmine had retracted her hand completely when the commotion distracted them, but she didn't offer it again. Aladdin however, took a breath, gave him a big smile and stuck out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Jay."

Jay shook his hand with thankful enthusiasm.

"First impressions aren't everything." Aladdin said, and nudged Jasmine until she softened, relented and finally shook with him as well.

Carlos held Jay's hand tightly in his own as soon as they were done.

Mulan pulled Lonnie into a tight, warm, side hug as Jasmine smiled, and Ben seemed to be taking mental note as she straightened her posture and addressed them all.

"Well, we have some time before lunch will be ready," She said, "why don't you all take some time to look around the palace? Our home is open to you you all as long as you're careful with that you touch."

She looked apologetically over to Jay, who grinned mischievously, "I promise to leave only with what I came with, princess."

She grinned, "Oh I'm not worried. Living with Aladdin has taught me a lot. Everything is insured. I'm just worried one of you will get hurt if you start messing with the armor or the balconies."

"Hah." Harry laughed, "No empty tin can is gonna get the best of a cap'n."

Jasmine smiled with amusement and looked to Ben who bashfully inclined his head and before starting to pull Harry away.

The first day goes smoothly, filled mainly with sight seeing and itinerary planning. After taking the next morning to sleep in, lounging amongst a myriad of blankets, pillows and throw decor.

The days get busier, Ben pops off to class with Lonnie and Harry explores. Carlos likes to keep him company, and amuses Harry with dramatic re-enactments using the armor they definitely shouldn't be touching. Jay sometimes plays as his co-star, and one particularly afternoon (after drinking some palace wine and being bribed with chocolate) Harry even picks up a sword.

Of course they're caught by a few maids, who chide them in a way that's really more friendly and fond than stern, and offer them a better use of their downtime by giving them jobs.

At first there's lots of grumbling, but they all take to 'special security' like Uma takes to water. Their job is really just to explore the palace, use their own skills and—frankly—shady pasts to see if there are weak spots.

Carlos is good with ground level; sneaky back doors, windows, etc. Jay is up top. He jumps between support beams and shimmies up columns. Harry would find his weird gymnastics impressive if he hadn't seen Jay slowly slide down a particular bannister, clinging and... slipping.

Harry, for his part, handles brute force entry. Their garden, for example, needs work. The vines braid up to the top of the wall, making what should be an impenetrable wall more vulnerable. The decorative statues along the same wall mean there's a way to climb the outside too. Really, it's like they want to be attacked.

It's an odd job, but it's interesting enough to eat up the time for them between sight seeing and when Ben and Lonnie get out of lecture.

As Lonnie waves them off after classes late in the week Harry takes Ben's hand. They start in on their trek back to their room, the seat of their steps lightly swinging their arms between them.

Harry feels a little sick with how grossly cute it is. He decides to ask, just to speak and get his own attention off of it, "Sooo why's the coolest lass in Auradon sitting in on Omega classes, love? She's a beta, aye?"

"She may be a beta, but she's very headstrong. Her mother holds a very powerful position in the Chinese palace. Practically a half-step down from emperor. She's planning to take over for her mother when she retires and I think she'll be great." Ben said, sighing a little as they walked, eyes on their hands, "While its very uncommon to find Beta leaders... She doesn't need an Alpha mate to help her. She's perfectly capable all on her own."

"She doesn't want a mate?" Harry asked, "Like, at all?"

"It's not that... I think she just really wants to prove that she's as fierce as her mom. She's very strong willed. I think she's honestly content without one, but if one came along I don't know that she'd say no."

"Well, I couldn't live without ya."

"Sweet talker." Ben smiled.

Harry grinned, leaning in to slip his hands over Ben's waist, spinning him every so slightly so that he could slot himself in right behind, cheek over shoulder. He kissed the underside of Ben's ear, putting on a sultry voice as he said, "Ya know... with tweedledee and tweedledum sharing our room... we havn't really been able ta..."

He trailed off intentionally, leaving Ben to scoff, admittedly amused if not bashful. He batted at Harry's arm playfully. "Yes, but they're still our roommates Harry. We can't-"

"What about a little stop off before heading back then?" Harry asked, steering Ben towards what looked to be a broom closet.

"A closet, Harry? Really?"

Harry opened the door, giggling and about to push Ben inside when they stopped, pale.

"Oh my gosh!" Carlos yelped in alarm, pulling a few discarded clothes over his... lower half.

Harry covered Ben's eyes with his hand

"Didn't see a thing." Harry said, ushering Ben out of the doorway and leaning forward to pull it shut again, "take yer time, gents."

When the door was reshut, Jay and Carlos shouting pleads for their innocence, Harry took Ben's hand, started the trek back to their room, shaking his head and claiming he was no longer in the room.

After wrapping up the last of his 'security' work and having seen all the sights he could possibly see, Harry found himself without preoccupation while Ben attended his classes.

He'd spent time in the room, uncomfortable amongst all the plush furniture, thrown about pillows and glittery draping things coming from seemingly everywhere. It was beautiful, certainly, but he just felt extremely out of place. Getting used to Ben's castle had been hard enough, nevermind this bedazzled drapery madness.

Harry was up and out the door before an hour had even passed, and found himself loitering in the hallways, checking out the palace structure and finally at a balcony, overlooking the city and the desert beyond.

He missed the ocean.

Harry ran a hand down his face before leaning over the marble railing that kept a fellow from tumbling down into the courtyard. He was tired. Flying without magic, visiting new palaces, meeting kings and queens...

This was his life now.

It was one thing adjusting to palace life when he could spend every waking moment right beside Ben, not even needing to talk out his frustrations because his mate was right there, overseeing it all and rubbing his back comfortingly— or... rubbing other things when he got stressed. Harry huffed to himself with mild amusement.

Now they could go days without seeing one another sometimes, wrapped up in different areas, Ben with his responsibilities as King and Harry with trying to keep the crew still together while not actually being at the Isle. Nevermind trying to juggle all the paperwork it was going to take to get them and the Revenge over to Auradon like he eventually wanted.

And what about taking her out to the sea? What would he and Ben do when Harry was finally able to sail his ship?

Sure, they planned to have their honeymoon out on open waters, Ben's special gift to him, but that would only be temporary wouldn't it? A month or two at most...

And Ben wanted wee ones.

Not that Harry didn't like kids, they just weren't his style. Sammy and Squirmy were probably about as close as he got to dishing out anything close to fatherly affection.

"Cod liver oil and fish sticks." Harry groaned to himself, dropping his forehead to his arms.

What a mess...

Harry never got around to bringing up the topic to Ben before they get ready to leave. He didn't bring it up re-boarding the plane either, as much as Harry feels he should start spouting his final words. They should talk about it, Harry knows, it's one of those things Ben will chide him for later when he finally finds out, dishing out his normal spiel of "talking out our problems" and "Being good usually means being honest". There's just never really a moment free and unhindered by other people swarmed in around them to casually bring it up.

So, Harry resides himself to not talking about it. It's definitely not the best decision, probably not even a good decision, but it's the decision he lands on. He settles himself in, Ben's kind hand a welcome warmth over his own, and stews in self hatred.

Maybe it'll be easier to talk when they're back home, after the wedding? Wherever and whenever it's less crazy. Then Harry can muscle up enough to talk about—argh—his feelings.

Right. He'll do it.

Back home.

When it's less crazy...