Work Text:
It’s silly and stupid and over almost before it starts. Evie’s tailoring a new jacket for Ben, teasing him about not wriggling around lest she prick him with a needle. She rolls up her measuring tape and surveys her work. “You look great,” she comments.
“Thanks to you.”
“Don’t you forget it,” she laughs, leaning forward to fix his collar. Her hand skims his top button and the room is a buzzing kind of quiet like fireflies and suddenly Evie’s got her lips pressed against Ben’s.
She says a very unprincess-like word and stumbles backward. “Evie?” Ben says, looking too pale.
“I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry, that was dumb, I’m sorry,” she rambles, knocking a pair of scissors off her sewing table. “I didn’t mean to… oh, Mal’s gonna kill me.”
“It was my fault,” he says, and he thinks that’s true. It happened so fast; he might believe he even made it up, if it weren’t for the fact that he can still taste Evie’s sour green apple lip balm. “Mal’s not going to kill you.”
“She’s going to hate me,” Evie laments, wringing her hands together. “I’m no better than Uma. Oh my God, Chad was right. I am a gold-digger and a cheater. Oh, oh…”
Ben watches her helplessly for a second before stepping off his platform and putting his hands on her shoulders. “You could never be any of those things,” he says. “You’re my friend. And you’re a good person.”
“I’m sorry,” Evie says again.
Ben’s eyes soften, but there’s something hidden there, something sad and guilty. “It’s okay,” he says, his voice nothing but light and easy. “It was obviously just the jacket,” he smirks. “You’re too good at what you do. This thing makes me irresistible.”
“Yeah, that must be it,” Evie says.
“We’ll blame the jacket,” Ben jokes. “I mean, in all seriousness, when I tell Mal, I’ll make sure she knows it was all my fault--”
“Wait, wait, tell Mal?” Evie says, panic rising in her chest. “We can’t tell her. Ever! She’ll be so upset.”
“No, Evie, trust me, I’ve seen enough episodes of Three’s Company to know that lying only leads to misunderstandings and then big fiascos and I’m not taking any chances. The right thing to do is tell the truth.”
“No, no, no, you don’t understand,” Evie says, grabbing his arm. “Mal won’t ever trust me, ever. And I can’t have that, I really really can’t. Ben! Mal is my best friend. I lo-- I care about her so much and what if she never talks to me again? Please don’t tell her.”
Ben frowns. “Secrets never last, especially not at this school,” he says. “How crushed do you think Mal would feel if she found out from someone else?”
Evie’s shoulders sag. She knows he’s right. “I just… can’t lose her.”
“You won’t,” he says.
The next day, Ben finally manages to get a moment alone with Mal in between kingly duties. They’re standing in the middle of her bedroom, and she’s complaining about homework. “Mal,” he says suddenly, his mouth feeling dry. “I need to tell you something.”
She blinks up at him. “What’s wrong?”
“Sit down.” He takes both her hands and leads her to the foot of her bed, sitting on the edge beside her. “I messed up, and I’m really sorry. Evie and I kissed.”
Mal stares at him. “Who did you and Evie kiss?”
“No, I mean… we kissed each other. She and I.”
“Oh.” Mal blinks again. “Did someone dare you to or something?”
“No, no,” Ben says, burying his face in his hands and speaking through his intertwined fingers. “It happened so fast, and I swear I don’t want to hurt you. I feel terrible, I’m so sorry, Mal.”
“Ben--”
“And I need you to know, I love you. I love you so much and I never want to do anything to damage what we have.”
“Ben, I’m not mad at you,” Mal says, putting a hand on his shoulder.
He looks up at her, eyes wide and upset. “You will be,” he says. “Because it’s… look, it’s not just that we kissed. There’s… there’s stuff I’ve been trying not to think about but I can’t ignore it anymore. And I’m so confused, because Mal, I really do love you. So much. But… I think I also love her.”
“Ben,” Mal says softly.
He keeps going. “I think… I mean, I know it. I know I do. I love you, Mal, but I love her too. I’m in love with Evie.”
At that moment, Evie barges in the door. “Mal, I’m in love with you,” she says, sounding out-of-breath. And then her mind catches up with her mouth and she realizes what she overheard when she stormed in. She looks at Ben. “You love me?”
“I’m sorry,” he tells her.
There’s silence, and then Mal suddenly covers her face in her hands, shaking uncontrollably. She sounds hysterical. “I’m so sorry, Mal,” Evie says.
Ben looks at Mal, his eyebrows wrinkled in worry. “Mal, please don’t cry.”
She looks up at him and only then do Evie and Ben realize she’s not crying. She’s laughing. “You… complete… doofuses ,” she giggles, slinging an arm around Ben and beckoning for Evie to join them on the bed. “I’ve been waiting for you to figure it out for months .”
Cautiously, Evie sits down on Mal’s other side. “Figure it out?” Ben looks confused, too.
Mal blows her hangs out of her face, taking Evie’s hand in hers. “E, you know I love you. And I love Ben too. I’ve been watching the two of you, those little glances, the smiles, the way you dance together at parties… It’s you and me and him. That’s just how it is. It was obvious to me, but you doofuses ,” she says again with love, “took forever.”
“Oh,” Ben says, getting it. He looks at Mal, then Evie. “Oh.” He smiles.
Mal kisses both of them on the cheeks. “I think you two have some stuff to talk about,” she grins. “So I’ll come pick you up later for dinner.”
“It’s a date,” Evie says. Mal beams, and then turns and goes out the door, leaving her boyfriend and girlfriend behind in the room. Evie looks at Ben. “I love you, too, did I say that? I feel like I meant to say that but then I got distracted.”
“You didn’t say it.”
“I love you.” Ben smiles like a puppy dog. He loves the girls so much, and listening to his heart… his heart just wants all the love it can hold. “So… just so we’re on the same page now, Mal’s dating both of us?”
“Think so.”
“Probably for the best,” Evie says. “I don’t think one of us could handle her alone.”