Chapter Text
mal sees audrey. she sees how she clings to her beloved prince and she sees how her pretty doe eyes stay on mal as if she’s a threat. unfortunately, it seems that audrey sees her too. she watches her like any second mal will jump out and curse her.
if they were in a different world, mal would’ve thought audrey had a crush on her. but not here, not where every perfectly polished corner you turned there was a handsome prince holding hands oh so sweetly with his darling princess. so mal would never even think about gracing her satin/silk embroidered pastels or whatever the hell they were called with her sneaky, crime infested fingers.
this particular day was extra sickening because of the twinkling bell sounding laugh coming from audrey’s perfect pink lips. thankfully, mal’s toture ended as said pretty princess pulled away from her beloved boyfriend with a delicate kiss and seemed to strut away, like she owned the damn school. and, to be fair, it seemed like she did. audrey certainly had power at auradon prep, that was one thing mal knew that had to be true. girls were jealous of her and boys couldn’t seem to keep their eyes off of her. on the isle it was different, mostly because everybody feared those in charge (ie; mal). but some wanted her too, only there were no distinct gender divisions.
mal smirked seeing ben’s innocent gaze follow audrey, and from the look of it his eyes weren’t all that innocent after all. it seemed that even audrey’s precious prince couldn't handle himself around her. it wasn’t like she could blame him, mal supposed audrey was easy on the eyes after all. but enough about that, mal had to seduce the cute little prince, soon to be king. and audrey not being around left her with a golden opportunity to destroy.
“hey benny-boo!” she called teasingly, taunting him. ben whirled around, precious face a deep red. “what were you two talking about?” he laughed sheepishly, embarrassed and faked, she could tell mal was successful in her efforts to make him uncomfortable.
“audrey’s worried about the way she looks. you know, with all of your makeovers and everything.” mal laughs, a princess blessed with beauty and she’s dreadfully insecure. how wickedly pathetic. “she doesn’t like magic, with everything that happened with her mom and stuff.” mal pouts and fakes her condolences.
“you should tell her she’s pretty,” mal offers. “girls like that. and it’s not like you would be lying or anything either.” she says it with a tone of mischievousness that he doesn’t catch. he blushed as she patted his cheek. “oh don’t worry, i still think you’re pretty too.”
“i try to,” he looks like he's thinking deeply with his finger on his chin. “i try my best to be a good boyfriend. i really do, mal.” he chews on his lip nervously. “she’s just-”
“-needy.” mal finishes for him, a smirk on her face that she expertly disguises as a comforting grin. it’s obvious he would never insult his sweet, beloved princess on purpose. “it’s alright, she’s not going to come over here and kill you.” that gets him to laugh, so she continues. “she’s pretty, but she’s not an angel or anything, nobody’s perfect. not even your beautiful princess is good all the time.” he nods slowly, understanding. but something flashes over his face, like he just realized what he’s agreeing with.
“she means a lot to me,” he backtracks and she can tell he’s scared of what might happen if he betrays his dearest girlfriend. “i know sometimes i can seem distant, o-or uninterested. but i really do care about her.”
mal smiled, as sweet as she could muster. “it’s alright, benny-boo. i know you care about, you’re just fun to tease, that’s all.” and then the purple-haired girl leaves with a wink and a charming hair toss.
ben calls after her with a goodbye, but she continues on her way, mimicking the same strut his own girlfriend had done minutes earlier. it’s interesting where she was headed, because she was going to discuss seducing the little prince with evie. it’s fun to play chase but mal honestly wishes evie could’ve done this considering she was the expert on all things princes after all. or even jay, who could flirt his way out of anything. she’s sure the only reason they let her do this was because she was the leader of their group and mal was also the only one who could curse the prince if needed.
evie had spent nearly an hour doing mal’s makeup just to talk to the prince, which mal herself thought was entirely ridiculous. but, the blue-haired girl being passionate and excited about something made mal a little happy too. currently, evie was preaching to her all of the ways she could sway ben to fall in love with her.
“it doesn’t matter, eve. i’ll probably just end up spelling him anyways.” evie tuts disapprovingly and continues on her ramblings. mal wasn’t really listening, but she pretended she did to please her blue-haired consort.
“she’s right, mal. you can’t let this rely on telling ben how much you like his girlfriend making him fall in love with you.” mal scoffs at carlos’ words, because he’s right. flirting with audrey via ben won’t really work, but it certainly made ben react. “he has to have some affection to build off of, you're only half fae.” she rolls her eyes, but he’s still right.
”he likes me enough already, you should’ve seen him earlier. he was tripping over himself like a baby deer.” she mocks his voice, “oh mal, you’re such a bad girl.” jay snickers from across the room and evie throws a pillow at him. the princess glares at mal before crossing her arms.
”stop it, it’s important we don’t blow this.” mal swatted at evie with a laugh as she fell over with a wheeze. “i’m serious m, you want to stay here without helping our parents? it’s your funeral.”
”whatever eves, you’re such a buzzkill.” evie muttered something under her breath as mal stood up to get her spellbook. it took some flipping of pages to get through the extensive warnings and research on the bad results of love spells before she found one that would suffice.
mal tells jane to busy audrey while she gives her dutiful boyfriend the spelled cookie. didn’t say why, but jane owes her a favor after her makeover. so she ran off obediently. the purple-haired girl had to resist smirking, but she managed as she went over to ben. she did her best to pull a charming face, trying to perfect it to make evie proud. said girl was miming a hair flip and pushing her fingers in the apples of her cheeks, to remind mal to smile.
mal rolls her eyes and tosses her an amused smirk. she refocuses her attention on the honey-haired boy in front of her. “hey benny-boo!” he jumps and mutters a hello as well. she takes the cookies from her pocket and shakes them like a dog treat, “want one?” she pouts and tilts her head to the side. “they’re chocolate chi-ip.” she draws out her words.
he shakes his head, “no, i’m sorry. i don't- i don’t eat before a game.” she laughs and pouts, taking one out. mal practically waves it in front of her nose. he shakes his head again, and she can tell he’s trying to prove a point. “no, i’m sorry. it’s bad luck.”
she purses her lips, “it’s bad luck to take food from a villain kid, i understand.” she goes to turn and suddenly the cookie it ripped out of her hand.
“no, no. it’s fine, i’ll eat it, see!” and then she lets a smirk grow onto her face before she waves her friends over. his excited smile faded slowly as it slipped through his lips and he began chewing. and she lets him be, to murmur about whatever he’s talking about. until, of course. she hears the telltale sound of clicking heels.
”benny-boo?” and then jay’s standing in front of the princess, behind ben to try and block her from seeing what was happening. ben started saying something, but mal held a hand over his mouth, way too focused on what a caramel haired sweetheart was saying behind him.
and as if it couldn’t get any worse, despite the protests of everyone else, ben hands audrey the cookie. and he says it so sweet and innocent, mal doesn’t really blame her for taking a bite. the fairy has half a mind to shove jay in front of her, thinking it’ll work on jay instead of her. but, ben pulls her to his side to look at mal, and audrey looks up to find green eyes looking oh so beautiful. it’s disgusting.
”oh mal, you’re so pretty. have i ever told you that?”