#dovesmitchell

Ben grins at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes that she usually likes.

“Are you scared?” he asks.

Right now she hates that glint.

If Mal had any common sense, she’d admit that she’s absolutely afraid. But being raised by the world’s most notorious villain doesn’t exactly encourage common sense. Mal’s always been the kind of person who charges headfirst into the things that scare her, just so she can defeat them and say she’s fearless.

Ben knows this, it’s an observation he made a couple of weeks after they started dating, although he phrased it a little more nobly. So Mal knows his words are a challenge, one she would never back down from.

“Of course I’m not scared,” she replies with as much attitude as she can muster.

Then she rips the bathing suit from Ben’s hands and storms off into the woods.

“Don’t forget sunscreen,” he calls after her.

Stomping back to take the bottle of sunscreen hurt her pride, but Mal knows that sunburn on her fair skin would hurt even more.

“Just so we’re clear,” Mal growls when she returns from changing, “I am being coerced into doing this, and I do not like it.”

It took a lot of effort to get the sunscreen on her entire back, but it was worth it to avoid asking Ben for help.

“Just be glad I didn’t find a spell that would force you to do it,” Ben jokes.

Mal blushes. Ben doesn’t seem to mind that she used a love spell on him when they first met, but that doesn’t change the fat that she’s embarrassed about it.

That embarrassment and guilt is enough to coax her into the water, but only up to her shoulders.

The stubborn look on her face must be obvious when she refuses to go any further, because all Ben says is, “Good enough for now.”

Step one is floating, and it begins with Mal lying on her back in the water, Ben’s hands supporting her from underneath.

“Not so bad, is it?” he asks once she’s had time to adjust to the feeling.

There’s a smart remark on the tip of her tongue, but she doesn’t make it. The water in her ears feels a little weird, but other than that it’s actually kind of pleasant.

“I’m gonna let go now, okay?,” Ben tells her, taking her silence as a positive sign. Mals’s body tenses up immediately. “I’m still right here, though. I’ve got your back.”

Mal takes a deep breath and says, “Okay.”

It takes her a moment to find her balance after Ben lets go, but soon enough she’s floating on her own.

It’s a baby step, really. Ben probably learned to do this before he even started school. But to Mal it feels like a giant leap.

“Ready to move on?” Ben asks after a break to splash around in the shallows.

Emboldened by her success so far, Mal nods.

“Okay then,” Ben clasps his hands together in a way that reminds Mal of their math teacher, “step two is the doggie paddle. So easy, even Dude can do it.”

It’s a terrible joke, but he delivers it with so much endearing enthusiasm that Mal can’t help but giggle.

“So you just kind of lie on your stomach and reach forwards and grab the water,” Ben sounds unsure of himself as he explains it. “Sorry, I didn’t really think this part through and it sounds kind of weird. Maybe if I show you?”

Sure enough, his own demonstration reminds Mal of that time Dude went for a swim in one of Auradon Prep’s fountains.

It also looks a lot harder than floating, but she’s already out here. Better to get it over with than to deal with Ben begging her to try again.

Or maybe she’s just feeling brace.

Even with Ben waiting nearby, her first attempt amounts to a little more than hopping around on her tiptoes and inhaling about half the lake.

Ben suggests that she had him hold her legs up while she practices paddling. Part of Mal is glad that no one’s around to watch, because they most look so silly like this, but it helps. She only chokes on the contents of a quarter of the lake.

Ben makes her practice her kicking next, while lying on her stomach at the edge of the lake. If it wasn’t for his encouragement, she’d feel way too ridiculous to follow through.

This time, when they put it all together, it doesn’t go too bad. Her body isn’t used to moving like this, so Mal has to stop a lot. But she manages to complete a full lap of the lake without any help from Ben.

Mal’s not sure if she actually likes swimming, or if she’s just enamored with having learned another Totally Normal Thing That Normal People Do In Auradon. Either way, it feels great.

She knows there’s a long list of normal activities that she’s been shying away from. Maybe this winder she’ll let Ben teach her how to ice skate.

Jane says group skating it a lot of fun. And skating with Ben sounds kind of romantic.

As an added bonus, the chances of drowning on a frozen lake are pretty low.

“I think we’ve earned that picnic lunch,” Ben calls her after they’ve been swimming for a while. Mal’s legs are starting to feel like jelly and the water’s getting cold, so she’s perfectly happy to agree.

“I know I earned lunch,” she can’t help but tease, “but you didn’t really do much.”

“I guess I’m just not at talented as you,” Ben’s teasing always feels more a compliment. He helps her climb out of the water.

Once they’re both comfortably wrapped in towels (Ben remembered to bring enough for both of them this time, so no one has to try and substitute his jacket for one), they dig into lunch. They definitely worked up an appetite.

They’re both quiet on the drive home, having accepted that it’s impossible to hold a conversation on the back of Ben’s bike that doesn’t involve screaming.

He drops her off at her room with plenty of time to shower, change, and recount every detail of their date to Evie before dinner.

“Thank you,” Mal says after giving him a light kiss on the cheek, “for making me give swimming a try.”

Like most things involving Ben, it turned out to be unexpectedly wonderful.

“You had fun?” he asks, eyes bright. “Good. Next time I’ll teach you the crawl stroke.”