Chapter Text
“Hi Gideon!” Ben grinned, sitting beside his brother's crib and grabbing ahold of the bars.
Gideon gurgled in reply.
Belle smiled at her two boys from where she was folding clothes. “You sure love your brother, huh?”
Ben nodded. “He's… interesting!”
She chuckled. “Interesting, hmm? What’s so interesting about him?” Finished with the laundry, she joined Ben at Gideon’s crib.
The little brunette thought for a moment before answering. “Well, he's small….and he's always here…and he's all wiggly!”
“Those are some good observations, Ben.” Belle praised. “Once he’s a tad bit older, I bet you two will be good friends.”
“We're friends now.” The six year old pointed out, gently holding Gideon's tiny hand in his own. Causing the smaller boy to kick his legs happily.
“Well, yes, but babies can’t play or run around with you quite yet, right?” It occurred to Belle suddenly that, in the months following the children’s arrival and Blue’s defeat, Ben hadn’t done much socializing with anyone other than the adults.
“Yeah but I don't do thats anyway.”
“Why not?” Belle asked, suddenly nervous. She’d heard more than a few horrifying details about Ben’s previous life.
The boy just shrugged. “Jousting class was my playtime and we don't do thats here.”
A lightbulb went off in Belle’s head. “Well, if you wanted to, I have some friends with other children your age that I’m sure you’d love to play with. And we can invite that girl you mentioned…Jordan, I think her name was? How does that sound?”
Ben hesitated on answering. He wanted to, of course. His eyes said he wanted to. But… he wasn't sure if this was one of those test question thingys the Auradon adults liked to do to test his goodness. “That's okay maman. I’s okay with just sitting with Gideon.”
Belle could sense the hesitation in his voice. “Are you sure, love? You can say yes, it’s okay.”
“I’s grateful. I'm good. I promise maman.” He wiggled in place, fidgeting. Not meeting her eye.
Belle pursed her lips and thought for a moment. “Hmm…well, alright. If you really don’t want to. But I want to meet some new friends, so I’m going to invite my friends and their kids over. If you would like, you can join us.”
“Okay maman! Do yous need help setting it up?”