Chapter 6: A Queen’s Birthday Ball
A/N: hi! I’m so sorry this chapter took so long to come out. It took a while to edit because it is 5.5k words and I wanted this chapter to be right. I’m so excited for you to read this chapter, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I had writing it.
Mom and dad both reach out and give me a hug as mom unfastens the robe around my neck and sets it on the chair, “thank you, it was heavy,” I laugh as my dad chuckles.
Dad looks at me as I see myself in the mirror for the first time as Queen, “is your speech ready?”
I laugh as I turn around and look at him, “well, it would be a little too late now, but yes it is,” as I’m speaking I can hear noise coming down the hallway from the guards and staff.
As I look towards the door, my favorite member of our staff, more like our family, Lumiere, walks in, “it’s time, your majesty.”
We walk down the hallway guided by the staff and greet Fairy Godmother and she gives me a hug, “head on in, Belle and Adam, we’ll get your girl inside in just a minute.”
Mom and dad each squeeze my hand before the doors open for them. As they both start at the top of the staircase, from behind the door I hear the ballroom go silent as Fairy Godmother slips in after them, sending me an encouraging wink as the doors shut.
Now it’s just me and the guards in the hallway as I hear the trumpets once more, “beloved guests, tonight we are celebrating not only the coronation of Auradon’s new Queen, but also the eighteenth birthday of the same person. Now everyone, for the first time, presenting her majesty, Queen Y/N!”
As I walk through the doors and get to the top of the grand staircase, I see that there are blue, white, and yellow roses everywhere representing Auradon…my kingdom. I also notice everyone bowing, but I’m trying to not pay attention to that.
As I go down the stairs, I look amongst the people around the ballroom, and one person catches my eye specifically. I see Max giving me a small smirk and nod as I continue my descent down the stairs.
Once I make it to the bottom of the stairs my mom gives me a twirl as I face the center of the ballroom as I lean into her to whisper, “are you sure that I can’t hide behind a pillar?”
My mom laughs and says, “tonight? Only once,” as she gives me a nudge forward where I meet my dad who had his hand outstretched towards me for my first dance as Queen.
He brings me to the center of the room, and bows as I nod my head and he places his hands in mine. As the orchestra starts, I feel myself smiling as the music to everyone’s surprise starts to become more lively than the waltz I’m assuming that they were expecting.
Dad and I planned a fun waltz for my first dance. The last few days have already been sad, didn’t need to make it drag on. As the quicker waltz music ended, dad bows as I curtsy and he pulls me into a hug, and as I’m rising, everyone around us applauds.
I turn and look amongst the people as I see them all staring at me around the ballroom, and I feel ready to make my speech as I nod towards mom, and hear her clink her glass to get everyones attention for me, “I know everyone has been staring at me and questioning about what will happen next, but today, I’m not here just as your new queen…I’m here as Ben’s sister, and I lost my brother, and my sister-in-law. I won’t replace my brother, I know I can’t, but I hope you all come to love and understand the way I want to honor him and Mal with every decision I’m going to make.”
I smile at my friends who are all giving me encouraging looks from their side of the ballroom, “I am not my brother, and I never will be, but I am his sister. Our parents taught us the same morals and values. Kindness. Courage. Choosing to see the good in people and the belief that everyone deserves a chance. I hope you all give me that chance, too.“
Almost everyone in the ballroom applauds when I get finished as I smile, “now let’s party!”
I see Pink and see her start to quickly come over to me and give me a hug, “I’ve been waiting to give the best hug possible to the queen!”
Hazel follows behind and puts a hand on my shoulder, “we were timing her for how long she waited until you were free.”
I walk torwards the orchestra, as Felix sees me and gives an attempt at his best bow, ”I’ve been practicing,” he says as I laugh, making him smile in return.
Robbie steps forward and gives me a side hug as he points towards the dessert table towards the Smees, “they have already been sneaking desserts at the table,” as if they know, both of the twins look over at me and give me two thumbs up. Robbie leans in and whispers, “I think Squirmy was distracting himself though, I saw him tearing up during your speech.”
I laugh as I look at all of my friends, I know I have to dance with others tonight, but we are all dancing later.” I point at each of them, “Queen’s orders,” I smirk at them.
I see Max smirking at me as he steps forward, “already abusing Queen privileges are ya? Well then if I-“
“Your Majesty, may I have this dance?” Someone interupts Max, as I give him an apologetic glance, as I take the strangers hand.
“Yes, you may,” I say as we start to walk back towards the ballroom floor, now joining in on the other couples spinning around. Once I face this prince, I see Luis and Felix pat Max on the back….weird.
I curtsy as this prince takes my hands, “I’m Prince Theo…Theodore, actually, but no one calls me that except my mother.”
“Your mother?” I question as the next round of music starts.
“Snow White and Florian…we used to hang out together all of the time when we were younger.” He says as I feel my jaw drop in an un-royal way.
“I’m so sorry, I feel awful, that I don’t really remember,” I laugh as he spins me around.
As he pulls me back in to him, “I’m not surprised, your majesty, it’s been a long time since either of us have seen each other, but when I heard it was your birthday and coronation, I knew I had to come in support of my childhood friend.”
I smile as he explains, “well, thank you, Theo, for making the journey. I do know my mother was good friends with yours once upon a time.”
Theo suddenly gets a serious look on his face as he tilts his head, “may I ask you something, your majesty?” I nod my head furthering him to continue as I get spun around again, “I know some day you’ll be expected to have a partnership. When that day comes, I wouldn’t mind being one of the people who gets put on your potential list.”
I feel my jaw drop as I turn back in his arms to face him, “I’m..I’m sorry, what?”
I feel Theo’s grip tighten against my own hand as he sighs, “think of it. The son of Snow White, the daughter of Belle…we’d be an unstoppable duo as king and queen. Just think about it, okay?”
Thankfully, the dance is over as I curtsy, “I will, thank you for the dance, Prince Theo,” I say and walk away before he can ask me for another one.
I quickly turn and spot the empty sitting room the opposite direction and pick up the skirt of my gown and try to quickly walk towards the open door, without trying to catch the attention of too many people. As I get in the door, I see Lumiere poke his head in.
“Your majesty? Is everything alright?” He asks as I plop myself down onto the sofa.
“I’m fine, Lumiere, thank you. I just need a minute.” I tell him as he nods as I see the girls rushing into the room, Hazel shutting the door behind her.
“What just happened?” Red asked as she stood next to the sofa.
“Well he…um, he asked me about partnerships.” I mumble as I look towards the window.
“Partnerships?” Pink asks, trying to confirm since I whispered as I nodded.
I see the girls all exchange looks as Chloe sits to the right of me, “I know it’s scary, but did you at least give him an answer?”
“I told him I’d think about it, but my heart just didn’t feel it. I want butterflies, and the feeling of being nervous when I see him walk into the room, but I didn’t feel that with him,” I tell them as I see them all staring at me, “I mean I should just get used to it. I’m queen now, he is not going to be the only prince to question me about…partnerships,” I say sadly as I look down at my hands.
“That doesn’t mean you’re ready for those conversations though. You turned eighteen today. You don’t need to be ready right now.” Chloe says brushing a piece of hair back behind my ear that fell forward.
“That’s the problem. Marriage doesn’t actually scare me, it never did. Now I’m scared because people are going to want to marry the queen, not just marry me because I’m me,” I say as I fiddle with the family crested ring on my finger.
“Oh,” Red says as she looks at me. She walks over and squeezes my hand, “you don’t need to say yes to anything you don’t want to. The right person will want to marry you for you, not the crown or throne.”
I squeeze her hand as I look up at her, “thanks, Red. Everything has just changed so quickly. First my brother and Mal, and then I’m being told I’m going to be queen, and then Max and I almo-“ I cut my sentence off, freezing as the girls all turn to look at me.
Hazel points her hook at me, I may be queen but she is still the intimidating one, “you and Max almost what?”
“Um…nothing that was the end of my sentence,” I rush out as I tried to stand up when Pink pulls me back down to the couch
“Um nothing. Tell us everything.” Pink says as I feel all of their eyes on me.
“Well, the last night in the dorm, I was really upset and couldn’t sleep all night. I went for a walk to the rose garden and Max followed me outside.” I explain, as I see them all listening intently.
Knowing they weren’t going to give up, I sigh and continue, “when Max and I were in the garden…we almost…well…we almost….kissed,” I whispered the last bit stumbling over my words.
There was about ten seconds of silence before pure chaos.
“And you didn’t tell us?” Red asked smirking.
“Darn it, now I owe Felix ten bucks too,” Hazel remarks as she places something in Chloe’s outstretched hand.
“Guys!” I exclaim as they all stop talking, “what do I do?”
Hazel smirks as she walks closer, “can I just ask one question?”
I reluctantly nod as she points her hook at me once more, “were you only upset because it wasn’t someone…specific who asked about marriage?”
“HAZEL!” I exclaim as I put my face in my hands.
Red and Pink laugh as Chloe rubs circles on my back, “oh, this is too good,” Red laughs slightly as we hear a knock on the door.
“It’s just me, can I come in?” I hear Max’s voice come through the door.
I look around at the now too quiet room and yell, “yes!”
Just as the girls yell, “no!”
I scowl at all of them, making them giggle, as I yell out again, “you’re all set Max, come on in.”
He opens the door and sees us all in there as he raises his eyebrow, “are you okay?” He asks as he focuses in on me.
The girls all exchange look at they start towards the exit, “we’re um…we’re gonna go.” Hazel says as they all rush out of the room, clicking the door shut as they exit. I glare at the door as it shuts.
“I heard them, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.” Max said as he walked over to me, sitting beside me on the sofa.
I groan as I lean back against the sofa, covering my face with my hands, “Max, I’m so sorry that you had to hear-“
“You like him, that’s okay. You looked comfortable with him while you were dancing,” he cut me off as I snapped my head towards him.
“Wait, what?” I ask as I sit back up quickly.
“Prince Theo? I heard you talking about dancing, and then things got mumbled, and how you almost kissed…” he explains as he looks anywhere but at me.
Mustering up some courage, I place my hand on top of his eyes snap up as he meets my gaze, “oh, Max, that’s not what happened,” I let out a laugh. I take a deep breath and let it out as I also can see his shoulders tense, “I was actually talking about u-“
“Darling?” My mom comes in the door as Max and I jump apart on the sofa.
I hear Max let out a quiet chuckle as I mumble, “you’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Was I interrupting?” Mom asks as I see a small smirk fighting to make its way onto her face.
I frown and feel my eyes slightly roll as she walks over, “everyone is wondering where the Queen went. I figured you still might have been in here because I saw the girls come out but not you two.”
I stand up and give a slight nod, “duty calls.”
Mom grabs my hand before I reach for the door, “I saw you dancing with Prince Theo, did you at least enjoy it?”
I shrug my shoulders before reaching for the door, “it was alright. I’ll go greet more people.” I quickly say as I exit the door, leaving my mom and Max in the room together…that was probably a mistake….
Belle sighed as she looked at the young man in front of her, “you know, Max, you have been a great friend to her.”
Max smiles at her recognition, “I’ve tried,” he says with a laugh.
Belle looks at the door and then back towards Max, walking closer to him to talk quieter, “she trusts you, and I know that you know she doesn’t trust that many people. Especially now with Ben gone, he was her number one confidant.”
Max nodded and Belle took that as her sign to continue when he didn’t speak up, “and if I’m being truthful, Max, I’ve never seen her look at anyone the way she looks at you.”
Belle watches him go completely still when she speaks that last sentence as she smiles, “your majesty, with all due respect, I don’t think-“
“She said the dance with Prince Theo was alright? I think I know who she would say she enjoyed a dance with. Don’t keep her waiting too long for a dance, Max. I saved my husband from being a beast forever before the last petal of the rose fell…don’t let the last petal fall before the two of you get a chance, “Belle said as she patted Max on the shoulder and then left the room, leaving him sitting there with his thoughts.
As Belle walked out she saw another prince dancing with her daughter…
“Thank you for accepting my dance, your majesty,” he says as he starts leading the next dance.
“Of course, Prince Alex, thank you for coming tonight.” I tell him as he spins me around.
Over Prince Alex’s shoulder, I see Max step out of the room, readjusting my head every time we spin, Alex spins me towards him, “your majesty? You’ve looked over my shoulder about ten times. Am I boring you that much?” He asks with a laugh as he turns his head to try to see what I’ve been looking at.
I feel myself tense up as I look at Alex, “what? No I haven’t,” I try to brush it off but as I see Max make eye contact with me I feel my face get hotter. Darn you, Hatter.
I feel Alex chuckle as he looks at me, “I don’t think your attention is really on this dance, or at least dancing with me. From when everyone saw you dancing with Prince Theo, I think he has been waiting for a dance too.”
“I’m so sorry, I just-“ I start before he cuts me off.
“Do not apologize, your majesty. The heart wants what the heart wants. I know most young men here today are going to offer their advances, but I’d rather us be friends. Create a camaraderie between our kingdoms.” He says as I let out a sigh and feel myself smile.
“Thank you, that has been one of the most relaxing things I’ve heard all day,” I tell him as we both let out a quiet laugh.
He looks at me for a second as the music stops and I curtsy as he bows before he says, “you don’t like being the center of attention do you?”
I laugh as we start to walk off the dance floor, “is it that obvious?”
He smiles at me as he hands me a glass of punch, “a little, but you weren’t supposed to be queen. Life threw that title at you.”
I look around the ballroom, as I see multiple people looking over at us, “I’m still getting used to everyone watching me, and guards following me all of the time. These past few days have been…rough. For obvious, multiple reasons.”
I see him nod, as my group of friends start to walk over, “if my opinion is worth anything, even though we just met, I think you’ll be a great queen.”
I smile at him as I set my punch back on the table, “thank you, Alex,” I tell him appreciatively, as he bows and walks away.
“Another one?” Squeaky asks as he takes a cookie off of the tray in front of him.
I smile as I shake my head, “nope, I think I just made a new friend though.”
As I look around the room I see my dad walking over to Max….oh boy
Adam smiles as he walks up to Max and stands beside him, “hello, Max, are you enjoying yourself.”
Max looked at Adam as he nodded, “yes, sir, it looks beautiful.”
Adam raised an eyebrow at him, “the ballroom? Or my daughter?” He asked nonchalantly as he saw Max’s jaw drop.
“Your highness, all I meant-“ Max started before Adam cut him off.
“Do you know why I like you Max?” He asked as he watched the people dance.
Max made a face of surprise before chuckling, “I wasn’t aware you did.”
Adam laughs at Max’s honesty before putting a hand on his shoulder, “when you look at my daughter, it’s not her being Queen, it’s just her.”
Max nods as Adam continues, “Ben and Mal liked you as well, Max. He was glad someone was there to always look after her since he wasn’t there. Mal liked when she talked about you because you actually make her laugh.”
Max looked at Adam and smirked as he listen to him, “I try my hardest.”
Adam gave him a pat on the back as he leaned closer to whisper, “I don’t think my daughter was upset because Prince Theodore or Prince Alex asked. I think she was upset about the partnership and the dancing because it wasn’t the person she wanted to ask her.”
Max’s eyes widened as he listened, looking in every direction except at Adam.
“Tonight won’t be the last night a prince will ask her to dance, some will probably ask her for her hand in marriage. If someone asked her tonight, I know she’d say no, but between you and me, if you asked, I think she’d tell every other young man off in here…”
Max freezes as he looks at Adam, the two almost in a staring contest before Adam saw Max’s cheeks turn slightly pink.
“You know, Max, sometimes the best person to sit beside someone on a throne isn’t royal. Belle wasn’t royal, Mal was from the Isle, maybe we need someone who is part of both the Isle and Wonderland too.“ Adam says, patting Max on the back, walking away before he has a chance to say anything.
Max stands there for a few moments trying to process that whole conversations as he takes a breath and makes a decision and starts to walk across the ballroom.
I’m standing with the girls, laughing, as they catch me up about something Robbie and Luis did the other day.
I turned around as Max bumped into me making us face to face. I only wonder what my dad said to him because I see him fiddling with his ring, “um, hello?” I laugh as he looks startled.
“Your parents just told me pretty much the same exact thing,” he whispered as I noticed the girls getting quiet behind me.
“Oh? What did they tell you?” I question, turning my head to send a quick glare to Hazel as she snickered from behind me.
I see him take a breath before he puts his hand out, “that I should ask you to dance before anyone else can.”
“I would love that,” I say as I grab his hand and lead him to the middle of the ballroom, interweaving our way through the others dancing.
When the music starts I feel Max gently place his other hand at my waist as I can feel us both freeze for half a second, not quite sure what to do.
I can see his eyes widen because neither of us start to move, “I’m sorry, I just-“
I can’t help but smile at him as I squeeze his hand that’s holding mine, “it’s fine, Max, really. I’m fine, you are actually the one who looks nervous.” I tell him as we start to dance with the music.
He clears his throat as I send him a look, “I am not nervous…maybe a little. I am dancing with the Queen after all.”
I feel heat rush to my face and try to look anywhere but at him in front of me. I see Squeaky and Pink make their way to dance too.
Max must see my face, because I see him tilt his head to look at me, “are you blushing?”
I snap my head and look at him, “absolutely not, it’s all of the dancing, too many times being spun around tonight.”
I feel Max’s hand on my waist give a squeeze as he leans in and whispers, “funny, because your face wasn’t red when I walked over to ask you to dance.”
“Oh, can you stop it,” I laugh as I lean back and catch him already looking at me.
“You look beautiful by the way, I don’t get to tell you earlier.” He says as I tense up.
I force my eyes down to the floor to avoid his gaze, before I say something that I don’t want to in front of a full ballroom of people, “thank you.”
From across the room, Red, Felix, Hazel, and Luis are watching them. Red watches and looks at Hazel, “they don’t even realize everyone can tell how obvious they are.”
Hazel smirks as she watches, “it’s actually painful, but hopefully they’ll figure it out eventually. Maybe the two of them almost kissing in the garden woke them up.”
“They almost what?” Felix and Luis ask at the same time, getting the attention of those around them.
As I curtsied to Max, I saw the doors open and a big cake get wheeled out. Everyone…and I mean everyone sang me happy birthday…even the guards.
I blow out the candles as Squeaky looks towards me, “what did you wish for?”
I laugh as I look around the room, briefly making eye contact with Max, “you know you can’t tell anyone what you wish for.”
As soon as we were done with the cake, more lively music started to get played. Everyone in the ballroom was dancing… even Fairy Godmother was on the dance floor dancing with us.
For the first time since breakfast I felt like me, not the Queen. My friends all dragged me around the floor as I kept tripping over the front of my gown, making Max smirk every time.
As the night went on, shoes came off, hair became wild, others became out of breath, all for my celebration. During one of the songs I noticed the orchestra started to get quiet as Lumiere opened the doors to the balcony, and got everyone’s attention.
“It’s time, they’re ready, everyone to the balcony.” I heard him say as the guards led me, my parents, and my friends out first, Pink holding onto my arm in excitement.
I see everyone eventually get onto the balcony, or watching from inside, the huge windows still giving them a clear view, as I see the first firework light up the night sky.
Everyone cheers and my friends do the stereotypical “oohs” and “ahhhs” as I jokingly roll my eyes at them.
As it went onto the finale, one last big firework lit up the sky as those around me started clapping and cheering.
It got quiet and before I knew it people were hugging me goodbye, wishing me a happy birthday, telling me congratulations.
I turn and see my friends all standing there in a line, “what are you up to?”
I see all of them smile at each other as Pink runs up to me, “we’re all spending the night. All of us. It was planned, obviously, but surprise. We all wanted to be here for your first night as Queen!”
“You guys,” I say as I pull them all into a group hug.
Red looked at me and smiled as I see her smirk, “well it was mainly Max’s idea, but we all agreed,” she winks in my direction as I see him looking anywhere but at me, “speaking of sleepover. I don’t know about all of you, but I’m tired. It’s already almost midnight.”
My mom and dad come over and give me a hug on either side of me, “yes, this one needs her sleep, tomorrow being her first day of being queen and all.”
“Dad,” I groan as he squeezes me in a hug.
“I’m just saying, if you want to get through a council session without falling asleep like your brother did you should get some shut eye,” he says as mom pulls me in for a hug.
“I know, I know,” I tell them as we all exit the ballroom, “wait you all go, I forgot….something. I know the guard will wait for me. Love you all, goodnight!”
Once everyone waves at me, I slip back into the ballroom. It was now eerily quiet, and dark. Only the few candelabras on the mantles around the ballroom lit the space. The flowers were all still in their vases, but the orchestra and their instruments were gone. I can still feel myself dancing and spinning, but my friends are all somewhere else in the castle right now.
I gave a slow turn remembering the steps I did with my dad, then a quicker one as the skirt of my gown came back around my body when I jumped at the sound of someone clapping.
“Careful, Princess, someone might think their new ruler is crazy.” He says as he walks over to me.
“I thought I was Queen now.” I laugh at him as he smirks.
He takes my hand and twirls me as I look back at him, “well, you will always be Princess to me. Not Queen, it doesn’t roll off the tongue as well.”
I laugh as I look at him, truly look at him, and I can see him do the same. He takes both of my hands in his and steps back, “goodnight, princess.”
He starts to walk away as I stand there watching him go, before suddenly…. “Wait!”
I see him turn around and look at me as I take a deep breath.
“There are many scary things happening right now, and I’m scared about everything that’s changing, but I don’t want to be scared anymore.” I tell him as the distance still separates the two of us.
I can see him look at me questionably as I take a couple steps closer, “don’t want to be scared of what?” He asks before he has a moment of realization and quickly looks back at me, “oh…oh, is this…is this happening now?”
I shrug as I take a couple steps closer, “maybe…unless a guard comes back to get me again,” I laugh as I see him shake his head.
Before I can even take a step, I see him quickly walk over to me as I feel myself be pulled closer to him.
He stops right in front of me, so close yet so far in this instance. I give him a slight nod then I suddenly feel his lips against mine in a quick moment before he pulls away, before I could even process.
“I’m sorry-“ he started to say before I leaned in and kissed him, apparently a good way to stop him from rambling.
I feel him smile into the kiss as I feel him pull me closer. I pull away with a laugh as I shake my head at him, “do not apologize.”
He smirks as he squeezes my waist…when did his hands get there? I don’t even know, “how was that for a birthday present?”
I laugh as I pull him towards the door to the ballroom door, “um excuse you, you were about to leave. I think it was a birthday present that I granted upon myself.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, princess.“ he smirks as we get to the bottom of the staircase leading up to my room, “there is one more thing for you upstairs.”
“Max, you didn’t have to.” I say as I take the first step up still holding his hand.
“Well, I did anyway, so enjoy it,” he smirks at me as he lets go of my hand and presses a small kiss to my cheek. After, I see him back up as turns and starts to walk down the hallway to wherever his room his.
“Good night, Max,” I tell him when he turns around to look at me.
I see him mock bow as he tips his hat, “goodnight, and happy birthday, your majesty,” he must see me scowl at him cause he lets out a small laugh and winks at me before I see him turn around and continue walking to his room.
As I go up the stairs I see Lumiere standing there with my guard, “your highness-“
“Lumiere…you saw nothing,” I say as I see him pretend to zip his lips as I laugh.
As I get closer to my room, I see something in front of my door on the floor. As I get closer, I see that it is a single rose with a small note attached to the stem that says, “Happy Birthday, Your Majesty. I’m proud of you, and still older. - Max”
I roll my eyes as I walk in and see my gifts from this morning, and some unopened from there ball, at the end of my bed. I grab Ben’s book he made and place it on the nightstand next to my bed and put, now both, of Max’s roses next to it.
I shut my door as the guard gives me a slight nod and sits in the chair outside my door. That will be something I’ll have to get used to. No more sneaking to the kitchen or gardens for me.
For the first time all day, it’s just me. I walk over to the mirror and look at my reflection, the new *heavier* crown upon my head.
I take it off slowly and set it on the new designated spot on my dresser, and look back at my reflection once more.
I’m still me, just now, Queen. I smile as I look at myself, “I’m actually Queen. I did it.”
I feel a small laugh escape me as I look at the crown, “I hope you’re proud, big bro. You left me some pretty big shoes to fill.”
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