and darling, we can build this dream together

Eva smiled as she took Ben’s hand. “Show me the way!” She said with a slight  chuckle. “I sure hope so. Luckily, I know how to take care of kids very well so it shouldn’t be too hard to handle them” 

“It’s an amazing feeling.” He said with a smile. Walking through the front doors, Ben pulled Eva towards the playground where most of the children were playing. He heard his name come from a group on the left, several more running up to get a hug. Quickly hugging all of them, Ben looked back up at Eva. “This is Mateo, Lucas, Owen, Malia, CJ, Maci, and Kolar.” Pointing out each as he said their names he looked back at the kids. “This is my friend Eva.”

“Really? That’s so sweet” Eva exclaimed with a soft smile. “I understand why you do though, the children are really cute!” She gushed as she watched the young kids run around and play with each other. Maybe coming here and help other people was what she needed to get her mind off of stuff and forget her own problems. 

“I could help you, if you want. I really need the distraction” 

“It has helped me get through the past few months.” Ben said with a smile. He noted that she was watching them and knew that she would love it just as much as he did. “I think that sounds great.” Offering his hand, Ben waited for her to take it. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to them. They’ll love you.” 

Tayen nodded. “I get it. And, monarch to monarch, I can see how easy it is to get caught up doing stuff being a ruler and forget to handle things with the people.” She winced. “Then again, we don’t rule the same way so it’s probably not the same.”

Originally posted by jynerso

Ben shrugged as he looked up at her. “Sometimes we let people tell us what we think is best without really looking at it ourselves.” He said with a small smile. “Just because we don’t rule the same doesn’t mean we don’t face similar situations.” 

“And who is it that the great Benjamin Florian wants to be?” Tayen asked. She was very happy to see Ben so… well, happy. It had been a while since she’d seen a genuine smile on his face.

Originally posted by blackcanarywrites

Ben paused at the question. His memory thought back to the past few weeks, how happy he had been when he was away from the stress. How Lucas, Mateo, and Owen would run up to him and give him a hug when he walked in the room. He was someone they trusted, and he knew that he had to make Auradon better. He had to give them the best chance at a good future. “I want to be a good person. I want to help people. I guess I lost sight of what my mission really was for a while, but I know now.”

Tayen grinned at seeing Ben with children. She knew he’d been having issues since what happened with Mal, and she also knew how stressful being the head of an entire population was. So when she noticed he was leaving the school, she decided to follow him to make sure he was okay.

Originally posted by blackcanarywrites

“I could say the same about you,” Tayen called back, smiling. “But as king you are supposed to kiss babies and shake hands, so what else could I expect?”

Chuckling as he saw Tayen and heard her comment, Ben took a few steps closer to her. “What can I say, being around them reminds me of who I really want to be.” He felt peaceful, more peaceful than he had in a long time. For just a few hours a day he was able to be in touch with the person he always wanted to be. If he wasn’t already King, he knew what he would be doing with his life. He would be a teacher. 

“What can I say, sometimes I can be pretty surprising” Eva joked as she approached Ben. To be honest, she didn’t expect to be this far from school either. She felt so overwhelmed and upset after her recent breakup with her boyfriend and her pile of work that she knew she had to take some fresh air, away from Auradon Prep and its nosy students. Rumours spread fast there, and she knew that she couldn’t hide from them if she stayed on the school grounds, so she went for a walk, a walk that led her here. She hadn’t talked to Ben in a while, considering how much she’s isolated herself from everyone. She was happy to see him though, and hoped that he was feeling better than she was at the moment. She especially hoped that she didn’t look too upset; the last thing she wanted was to worry Ben. 

“What are you doing all the way here?”

Ben missed being around Eva. He could tell that already, and he knew it the entire time he had been trying to pull himself together. He had heard the rumors spreading through the school, about her break up. He wanted to reach out to her but never found himself doing it for fear of upsetting her. But he was here now, and he wanted to be there for her. 

“You really are.” He said with a chuckle as he looked back at the building behind him. “Oh I volunteer here when I get free time.” Ben said with a small smile. “The kids here are fantastic and I love getting to play with and know them.” 

James turns on his heel, surprised, then slightly amused. “I wandered the universe for fun before I got sent here. What do you mean, you didn’t expect it?”

He shrugs. “I got bored just hanging around the school.”

Originally posted by dailyaleclightwood

“Most people don’t wander far off from the campus. It’s nice to see others walking out and enjoying what Auradon has to offer.” Ben said with a smile as he walked towards the other. 

“Either way, it was very stupid of them” Eva commented with a frown. “I mean was it really necessary? I don’t know what their point was” she crossed her arms awkwardly and bit her lip. She probably wasn’t the best person to talk about that matter and that she was slightly being hypocritical but no one would even know right? She let out a little chuckle. 

“You sure are!” She winked slightly. “Should we get started on the cleaning then?”

“That is something we can both agree on.” He hated that this is the point they had come to. Everyone was already accusing each other of the act, and they had no real proof. No motive, no sign of who had actually committed the crime. 

“We shall”

Jordan furrowed her brows at the nervous edge in Ben’s voice. He had a tendency to be high-strung, it came with the job, but she wished there was something she could do to help. 

“Is it possible… magic could help? Trace the source of the paint?” Jordan raised an eyebrow, hoping Ben didn’t reprimand her for the suggestion.

Ben shrugged as he looked at the board. “I am sure it would help. However that would have to be Fairy Godmother’s call. As I have no magic myself.” Chewing on his lip he paused. “I am sure she’ll be against it though.”

Smirking slightly she chuckled, she liked Ben. He was sweet and kind, those were the qualities she liked in a person, and she was glad she found a…friend…well whatever they were, like that. She had seen it very seldom since she arrived at Auradon Prep. Most people she had met were ok, but some were just, cruel.

“I might just take you up on that Ben. Hey we missed quite a bit of lunch, would you like to come get some with me? I mean you don’t have to, you probably have much better things to do than hang out with me-” She rambled before realizing she was talking to much and abruptly stopping.

Being honest, he wished that he had approached Alia earlier. She was such a joy to be around and the fact that he waited so long made him want to jump on the opportunity. Being honest, he wasn't ready to go back to all the Kingly duties, even if he had only been away for a few minutes. 

"I would love to." Ben replied with a smile as he looked at her. "There is nothing I would rather be doing than getting lunch with you."

“Does this happen often?” He doubted it, but he was curious. In Camelot, he didn’t have to worry about people spray painting anything. Mainly because he would be the one to end them if that were the case. Camelot’s laws were a lot different than Auradon’s. Someone saying something like this in Camelot could technically be considered treason because they were putting the King and his people in danger. “Sometimes I feel this place should grasp some of Camelot’s laws. We may be stuck in medieval times, but I don’t think this would be a thing.” He gestured at the words on the bulletin board.

“Do you want some help cleaning it up?” He wasn’t born in a barn. He was raised with manners, so if he could help Ben clean up the graffiti, he would do it.

Shaking his head, Ben sighed. "No, it doesn't. In fact I think this is the first time it actually has." He wasn't sure how to handle the situation. No one had ever thought to vandalize something before, and being honest he wasn't prepared for something like this. Chuckling, Ben nodded. "Yeah we could learn a thing or two from Camelot." 

Eva giggled slightly as she looked back at Ben before turning to look at the bulletin board. “It’s obvious that such a thing wouldn’t have been done by a VK. I’d be surprised if any of them would purposely frame themselves to get sent back to the Isle. That already eliminates many students” Eva said pensively. “I bet it’s some AK trying to frame some VK” she finally shrugged. She knew how people here would do anything to get what they wanted, even if that thing happened to send the VKS back to the Isle. She finally rolled up her sleeves. “It won’t be easy to figure out exactly who did it, but at least it won’t be hard to clean this mess up. Lucky for you, I happen to know a lot about paints” she said with a little smile. She had no idea her bad experiences of the past would bring her knowledge that would one day be useful. 

Ben ran a hand through his hair as he looked at it. “Honestly it could be so many things. Maybe it’s not a frame job, maybe it’s a child from Auradon staking their claim on being evil. Or maybe I made a mistake and brought over someone who is going to hurt us all.” Chewing on his lip, Ben kept his focus on the board. “Well I’m lucky to have you on my team.”

“Hopefully. I’ll try my best to make you feel better as much as I can” Eva said while turning to him and giving him a wide comforting smile. “But promise me one thing though: I want you to take care of yourself, to take time to relax. I don’t like to see you in pain like that” she said in a serious tone. 

Ben pulled her in for a hug, although he wasn’t sure if it was more for himself or more for her. “I’ll try, I can’t promise.” Pausing before he went on to explain more, Ben continued. “I’m scared that if I stop distracting myself I’m going to drown in all my pain and fear.”