Chapter Text
Her mind was racing and she thought of every single thing that could go wrong. The first words out of his mouth could be “let’s break up,” and she was trying to prepare to accept that. Getting the best of her were the butterflies that insisted on fluttering right before they were supposed to reunite.
It had been a little less than a year since they’d last seen each other in-person. Doug had gone back to Charmington to see his family for the holidays and he meant to fly to Auradon City to see her too, but his flight had been canceled. And in a similar turn of events during his Spring Break, Evie had visited Jay in Sherwood. Which meant their distance had continued longer than anticipated.
While it had been nice to explore Auradon on her own, Evie hadn’t really enjoyed sorting out a long-distance relationship. Especially considering how new it was for both of them to be… well whatever it was they had agreed to be.
As she walked through the long hallways of Beast Castle, she expected the butterflies in her stomach to lift her in the air and fly her away. Turning the corner that led to Ben’s office sharply, she collided with another body. Evie heard papers hit the floor, just as their heads knocked together. She almost fell, but they caught her.
“I am so sorry. I was looking for,” Evie began, her voice coming to a halt as soon as she opened her eyes to see the person who caught her. Taking in a breath to regain her emotions and feel her feet again, Evie’s beam was as bright as the light fixture hanging above their heads.
“You,” she finished.
For a delayed second they stared at each other, almost as if they couldn’t believe either person was standing right in front of them. Doug was first to pull her into a hug, the papers temporarily forgotten about.
Her nose caught a hint of amber, sage and bergamot—it was so familiar, it almost felt new.
When he finally let go, he stepped back to get a better look at her. He didn’t say anything and Evie awaited his first words to be what she conjured in her head.
“Hi. You look great,” he breathed out instead, his voice barely registering. Breathless, he drew her in for another hug and Evie relished in his tight embrace. Her arms hung around his neck and she even had to reach a bit with her toes.
“Hi. So do you,” she whispered back. As soon as he let go, she realized his hair had gotten shorter and no longer fell over his shoulders. His hair was combed back and just barely reached his neck. She laced her fingers through it, one hand still sitting on his shoulder. “You cut your hair, again!”
“What do you think?” He asked, touching it as well. She smiled and tilted her head.
“I love it. Did you by chance grow a few inches? I don’t remember your head being way up there,” she chuckled, sliding her hand from his shoulder down his arm.
He laughed, “Not that I'm aware of. You just shrunk,” he teased with a grin. Staring at each other with smiles sitting on their faces, a minute passed until they both remembered the papers still on the floor.
“Toasters and coasters!” Doug said, leaning towards the ground to pick up the papers that had flown out of the paper clip and folder. Evie leaned down to help. Glad it was only twenty-three pages, he evened out the stack he had and Evie handed him the rest.
“Sorry about that. Is this the Heroes Act?” She asked, placing her hand on his back as she rose to her feet again. He looked up from his squatting position and nodded. Putting the pages in chronological order, he evened them out and clipped them together a bit more securely.
“Yep, Ben just finished signing it. It was supposed to be off to Cogsworth for processing, but fortunately I literally ran into you,” He said with a smile, standing up. Evie ran her fingers through her hair and reciprocated the look. She handed him the folder it had been in, their hands brushing together.
“I’ll head down to the lobby with you and hopefully Cogsworth is still in his office.”
Being able to see his smiles in-person was making her giddy and she only just then realized that the butterflies must have gone back into their cocoons. Her stomach had long settled. They walked in sync around the corner and down the next winding hallway, Evie swinging their intertwined hands. She hadn’t noticed how much she simply missed his soft, slightly calloused hand that fit in hers just right. Though they weren’t as calloused as they used to be.
“Wait, did you decide against the spring session of MIT’s marching band?”
They turned another corner and stopped at the elevator, Evie pushing the button to go down. Doug shook his head, the light in his eyes dimming.
“Kind of. I wasn’t accepted. They limit the number of first-years to twenty per semester. I'm not even sure if I’ll be among the top second-year musicians at MIT. It’s almost like everyone who got into the school had mastered one or more instruments,” he chuckled, Evie sympathetically smiling.
“Well, if it helps any, Madame Contraire said I was very promising and might have been the best at Auradon Prep, but I still have a lot to learn,” Evie admitted.
She’d known about him applying for marching band, but somewhere, lost in their decreasing conversations were the things that actually concerned them. As they both got busier, their sporadic conversations ended up as small talk.
“Perhaps we needed our boarding school bubbles to burst,” Doug suggested, as they got in the elevator. He pushed the button to head to the lobby floor and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, Evie leaning into him.
“Perhaps. But I still think I’m one of the best in the design game though,” she murmured. Doug gently squeezed her shoulders in a small embrace.
“You are,” he complimented, the both of them starting to laugh.
The elevator pinged and as they stepped through the opening doors, they were met by Cogsworth who was briskly walking in circles with a clipboard. He didn’t say a word, brushing past them into the elevator. Not that they necessarily expected him too. The ‘wedding of the century’ was keeping everyone on-edge .
The elevator almost closed, Doug’s hand reaching through. “Sir Cogsworth?” he began, aware of the man’s very particular preference of being addressed. “His Majesty King Ben requested the processing of the Heroes Act,” he said, handing him the folder. With a nod, Cogsworth took the folder and when the door finally closed, he quite clearly cursed.
Evie turned to Doug, their surprised eyes locked. Starting on their way out of the lobby, Evie resumed swinging their hands.
“Well then,” she smiled, looking up toward him. “How was your flight?”