Half and Half

Chapter Twenty One

Beast sighed softly as he noticed Ben seemed to be almost underfoot once more. No matter where he was, whether he was working at Lord Hades' restaurant or if he was hanging around the Underworld or if he was merely walking around the Isle, Ben was almost always close at hand.

Don't get him wrong, Beast loved being able to see his son whenever he wanted; never mind being able to have him in the same area. However, Beast could also see how Ben's insistence on clinging to him seemed to be ostracizing him from the other kids of the Isle.

Uma and Harry specifically seemed to grow annoyed with Ben and even Mal seemed to be distancing herself from Ben though Ben hadn't seemed to notice that much to Beast's relief. It was clear that the two of them had become friends over in Auradon and with everything that had happened, Beast didn't want Ben to lose any more friends than the ones he had.

Yeah, Beast was aware of Audrey's letter. Belle had sent him a letter about it in case Ben seemed to be sadder than normal the next time Beast saw him.

But that was beside the point. He didn't want to think about that for right now, instead he wanted to address his son's newfound clinginess. And so that was what he was going to do.

"Hey Ben?" Beast asked, sticking his head into his son's room.

"Yeah papa?" Ben said, looking up from the book he was reading, a rare moment when he wasn't within arms reach of Beast. "Did you need something?"

Beast sighed and sat down on the edge of Ben's bed, wincing slightly as he felt the uneven lumps on the mattress. Ben was seemingly ignoring them so Beast wouldn't say anything. For now. "I was wondering if I could talk to you?"

"Of course papa!" Ben nodded, sitting up before pausing slightly. "Did...did I do something wrong?"

"What? No, no Ben," Beast said, shaking his head. "Why would you think that?"

"Because when Chip does something wrong, his maman likes to talk to him alone," Ben said softly as he sat his book down. "And sometimes if I do something wrong, maman will sit on the edge of my bed like you're doing now."

Beast sighed. "You haven't done anything wrong Ben. I can promise you that. I just wanted to talk with you about somethings I've...I've noticed."

"Oh you mean things about the Isle? Did...did you want to make a list to give to maman when she calls next?" Ben asked as he seemed to perk up a little.

"I mean we can do that in a bit," Beast told him. "But more importantly I want to talk about you. I notice you're...you're around me a lot."

"I missed you," Ben said, the words almost spewing out of him.

"And I missed you too," Beast told hm. "Please, never think that I don't miss you or your sister or your maman. But Ben, you were never this...insistent to be around me back when we were all in the castle back home. Did...did something happen before you came here?"

Ben grew silent and while part of Beast knew he was likely just trying to find the right word, another part of him worried that he'd scared Ben off from talking.

"Nothing...nothing happened papa," Ben said after a few minutes of silence. "I just..."

"Yes Ben?" Beast said, gently nudging his son to answer.

Ben sighed softly. "I just...I don't want you to go away again," he said and his soft voice was almost like a dagger to Beast's heart. "The...the last time I let you go, you had to come here and if...if I let you go again..."

"Hey, hey, bud, listen to me," Beast said and quickly got on his knees so that he was eye level with Ben. "I know I had to leave you and that was one of the worst moments of my life but I can promise you Ben, I will always be here when you need me."