The way you understand it, the situation's like this:
Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos were all considered to be success stories. Sure, there was a bit of a bump in the road what with Jane taking her mother's wand and Maleficent getting free, but ultimately the villain kids proves that they weren't their parents.
So naturally, Ben invited more children to attend Auradon Prep. Anthony Tremaine: Son of Anastasia Tremaine and grandson of the Evil Step-Mother. Dizzy Tremaine: Daughter of Drizella Tremaine and granddaughter of the Evil Step-Mother. Mad Maddy: Granddaughter of Madam Mim. Ginny Gothel: Daughter of Mother Gothel. That was the line-up he presented to the royal families of Auradon.
Said royal families were quick to point out that Ben had yet to welcome the children of his own family villain despite welcoming those of everyone else's. Ever the People's King, Ben was quick to suggest a fifth villain's kid. Ever the demanding royals, the families fired back that five villain kids was simply too much! And so, as a compromise that really doesn't seem like a compromise, Ben suggested a son of Gaston instead of Dizzy.
And that's how you ended up sitting in a fancy limo, with the first variety of unspoiled food you'd ever seen, in mostly awkward silence. The first four where lucky, you mused as you watched Auradon's landscape from the limo window. They were friends when they left. You and the others? Not so much.
Well, the others where friends as far as you could tell. Or at the very least they knew each other. They also knew your older brothers, if you recalled correctly, and probably would've preferred either of those two compared to you. Because your brothers, Gaston Jr and Gaston the Third, were what Gaston's sons should look and act like. They were bulky brutes who liked to have ladies on each arm while they boasted about whatever evil schemes and manly acts they'd be up to.
You, on the other hand, were a scrawny kid, who liked to read and would rather outwit your enemies rather than hit them. According to your father you reminded him of Belle, if Belle were a boy. You weren't sure how you felt about that comment, but you didn't mind being the black sheep of your family. It helped you stay under the radar most of the time, always out shadowed by your brothers. Which was great for thieving.
Plus, if you hadn't been born sickly, you're pretty sure your father would have named you Gaston the Fourth and that would've sucked. Instead, your father didn't even name you himself. LeFou was the one to name you. And practically the one to raise you. So much so that you're as likely to be thought of as LeFou's son as you are to be ignored by your peers.
Not that you minded any of that, really. It just led to an incredibly awkward limo ride.
"I would have thought one of your brothers would have come, not you." It took you a moment to realize one of the other villains was actually talking to you, and when you did you turned with a raised eyebrow to find Ginny eyeing you.
"Have you met my brothers? It wasn't exactly hard to convince them to let me go instead." You shrugged. It really hadn't been, one comment about the twin that stayed behind becoming Dad's favourite or getting the girl they were both crushing on and suddenly they were shoving you towards the limo to defend their title as 'favourite son' or something like that.
"Why would you want to come?" The girl pressed, eyes narrowed. "What are you up to?" Her suspicion wasn't all that surprising, even if she'd barely glanced your way before today. You were raised by villains after all.
"None of your business." You retort, turning back to the car window. You weren't up to anything, not really. You wanted to go to Auradon for two reasons: the first was to see an old friend and the second was to deliver a letter LeFou had written for Belle and Beast. Neither were particularly evil, or evil at all really, but you'd learnt it was always better to let people think you were up to something even when you weren't.
You left the car with more candy in your pockets than you'd actually eaten on the trip, but you were confident no one would notice it. Even compared to the Isle kids you were a great thief, not that anyone really knew that. You'd never even been suspected for stealing, even when taking items from villains that actually cared enough to track them down. And you weren't likely to boast like your brothers, leaving only one person completely aware of all your scores.
And that person came to meet you when left the limo and stood before the fancy castle of Auradon Prep.
"Carlos!" You grinned, spotting your only friend who quickly grinned back and suddenly wrapped his arms around you. The hug took you by surprised, hugging wasn't really a thing on the Isle after all and Carlos wasn't one to try to stand out, but you returned it.
"Hey (F/N), welcome to Auradon." Carlos greeted when he let you go. "What do you think so far?"
"It's bright, and I can practically taste the goodness." You joked, earning an eye-roll and a much more Isle-traditional punch on the arm. Carlos was reason number one why you'd wanted to come to Auradon. Before he'd left, he'd been your only friend on the Isle. Sure you were close with LeFou Duex, but you were close with him in the way Carlos was close with Harry and Jace.
It'd been a lonely few months without him.
"Welcome to Auradon Prep." A boy who you're assuming is King Ben, what with the crown and all, greeted you all. "I'm King Ben. And I, guess you guys all know each other."
"Unfortunately." Mad Maddy said, glaring darkly at Mal who barely seemed phased. Of course she wasn't, you thought. What's Mad Maddy to facing down Maleficent?
"Well I know them," Jay started, gesturing to the other three villains, "but I was expecting Dumb or Dumber, who're you?" He asked, finger pointing to you.
"(F/N), Gatson's third son." You answered, despite the fact you remember sharing classes with Jay. From the corner of your eye you noticed Ben tense, just for a second. It seemed even the great Kind of Accepting others has his bias'.
You weren't going to admit it, not even to yourself, but you had a third reason for wanting to go to Auradon. Back home you were either overlooked or considered a disappointment compared to your brothers. You thought that, just maybe, things might be different at Auradon. You hoped maybe people would stop seeing your family every time they looked at you.
Considering the way Ben acted as he gave you all the grand tour, you figured that was a pipe dream.
Still, it wasn't so bad. You had Carlos back and you became fast friends with Mal, Evie, and Jay. They didn't care about your family tree, at least. Although Jay did care that you were the one to steal from the Prince of Thieves (as the son of Jafar like to call himself).
And then the royal of Auradon had to flip your new expectations on their heads.
It was after the tour and after you'd spent the rest of the day catching up with your best friend. You were headed back to the dorm room (that you had to share with Anthony, you weren't looking forward to that) when Ben caught up with you.
"(F/N)!" He called out with a bright smile on his face. Hesitantly you turned to face him, concerned over why the King seemed so happy to see you. Had he found an excuse to send you back to the Isle? You hadn't even been there one day!
"Uh, hi." You greeted a little nervously.
"I just wanted to apologize for how I was acting earlier." Ben said. "I don't hold any grudge against you for what happened with our parents, it was just a different thing to think that than to face it." He said.
"It's, that's fine." You quickly dismissed, not sure how to react to that kindness. Apologies definitely weren't a thing on the Isle, and anyway he was fully in the right to have acted as he did, you thought. Your dad tried to kill his!
"No, it wasn't." Ben said firmly. "But I swear, I'm over that and it wouldn't happen again." He added, with the same determined tone and gaze. His eyes were staring into yours and you were hoping you weren't blushing, your heart pounding in your chest.
"I want us to be friends. Not just because it'd be a great example of our two peoples getting along, but also because I want to get to know you." The King added, grabbing your hand to shake it properly (he hadn't done that at the limo earlier). Your father always said a handshake showed you just what kind of man you were dealing with, he thought the best handshakes were ones that proved you were stronger than the other person. You thought Ben, with his confident but kind grip that wasn't firm enough to hurt, had the best kind of handshake.
"That'd be, uh, that'd be wicked." You managed to stutter out. Ben grinned at you, held your hand a moment more, and then pulled away.
"Wonderful, I'll see you tomorrow." You watched him walk away, unable to get your legs to move until Ben's out of sight. You headed back to Carlos' room and hoped Jay wouldn't tease you too much.
Now you have a fourth reason to want to be at Auradon. A fourth reason that made your heart skip a beat and wore very well fitted pants.
