Ben + what would make him walk away? (Or relationship with his body)
"You're still growing," Evie says, making a note on her tablet. "Impressive. I thought we were the only ones who would have last-minute growth spurts. You are...two inches taller than the last time I took your measurements."
Ben ducks his head. The floor is lovely this time of year. A really nice shade of dirty beige. The housekeeping staff is doing a wonderful job.Β
"No, no reason to apologize. I didn't mean it as a complaint, just a comment." Evie says, waving a hand. "You're very tall and kingly. It's a feature. I just need to lengthen some sleeves."Β
Tall is fine. Plenty of people are tall.Β
"I have a tailor," Ben tries, shoving away theΒ and kinglyΒ part. Evie means it as a compliment. He knows that. She's striving to be as perfect and royal as possible, so he will take her words in the spirit that they were intended, and accept the compliment. "You really don't have to take time away from your commissions to work on me."Β
"Your tailor styles your father," Evie says, landing right on the heart of the matter with the same flawless precision as her needle. "He makes you look about eighty years old. All you need is some extra gray hairs and you'd be the spitting image of your father."Β
"I don't like your father."Β
"You can't say that." Ben says, around the rock that seems to have gotten stuck in his throat. "Not in the castle. It's not safe."Β
"A people who cannot express displeasure in their government aren't a fairly governed people," Evie says, making another note on the tablet. It's like she doesn't even care that she's skirting the edge of treason. She's never been in a room alone with his father. She doesn't know that it's not his political power that she should be afraid of. "I don't like him. I think he wears unflattering suits to evoke his image as a war hero, and his unwillingness to evolve in his fashion is just a symptom of his larger inflexibility and fascination with a past that won't come back just because he never stopped dressing for it."Β
In for three, out for three. Let the tingling in his hands recede. Keep breathing. Slow and steady.Β
"You really shouldn't say things like that," Ben says, once he's got the riptide of anxiety under control. Technically, his father has access to the school security cameras, but the odds that he's checking them, especially with sound, are low. Most of the dorm cameras don't even have sound. The VK dorms probably do, and Ben's own dorm does, but most of them don't. His father might not even remember that sound is an option, if he does check the tapes. "Auradon doesn't like to talk about it."
"You mean your dad doesn't like to talk about it."Β
Evie shrugs, still tapping away. She's looking down, and the fall of her hair is probably obscuring her mouth from the security cameras. "Well, I grew up isolated on a prison island because of the war, so I'm going to keep talking about it. If your dad doesn't want to hear about the consequences of his actions, maybe he should retire about it already."Β
"Maybe," Ben agrees. His voice feels thin. "But in the meantime, can you make me look better than him?"Β
"Ben. Babe. Was that even a question?"Β
"I am going to make you look so much better than he could ever hope to be," Evie says, "I'm going to tailor the hell out of you, and by the time I'm done, they're going to think you're the original, and he's the crappy knock-off version."Β
Slow breathing. He's not being hunted for sport. It's okay to look like his dad. It's okay that he's somehow still growing, and that his dad stands head and shoulders above a crowd, and if he passed on his height and his looks, than who knows what else he passed on, and Ben's never allowed himself to get angry butΒ his body is just like his dad,Β and--
"I'm fine," Ben tells Evie's hand, which is about a centimeter in front of his face all of a sudden. "Just zoned out for a second."Β
Evie frowns. "Right. Well. I'm going to make you look gorgeous, and if you're so tired that you'reΒ zoning out--"Β
Oh, right. The isle doesn't have psychology courses. The VKs never learned about all of the weird things that human brains will do to protect themselves, so they say they're 'just thinking' when they tune their professors out in class, and 'zoning out' is specifically reserved for when one of them needs to tune out so badly that their body takes over and starts dissociating.Β
Evie pushes him off her fitting stand. "--go sit down and drink something sweet. It's too warm today anyway, and you've been in a suit all morning, you deserve a break."Β
He's in shirtsleeves. Shirt unbuttoned at the collar, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His jacket and tie are both gone, and have been sitting neatly on a chair for the last hour. He's not actually in a full suit anymore, nor is he overheating, but the thought of sitting down is nice. He's allowed to take a break sometimes.Β
