Into the Depths

Chapter 9

Ben stared in shock as he stared at Mal's planner which laid open on his desk. Emir had 'helpfully' procured it a couple of weeks ago though Ben wasn't exactly happy about how he did it. The last thing Ben wanted to do was make it seem like he was going behind Mal's back or trying to control Mal's schedule. Especially after the last viewing had shown the dangers of keeping secrets from each other.

That being said, he wasn't going to lie and say he was unhappy with his friend. Emir knew Ben was concerned about Mal's schedule. Unfortunately, Ben's own schedule prevented him from actually being able to talk to Mal. Even by cutting back some duties, a king's work was never done. Even though Fairy Godmother had offered to allow Ben to graduate early, there were still final exams Ben had to sit through and therefore needed to prepare for.

Whipping out his phone, Ben was prepared to dial Mal's number. They needed to talk about this. How long had her schedule been like this? Been packed to the brim to the point that it was worse than Ben's schedule had been when he was preparing for coronation?

"You know, some people are going to think that you live in this office Benny," Mal's voice broke through Ben's thoughts and Ben couldn't help but smile at seeing his girlfriend standing in his office. He hadn't even heard her come in though he rarely did. It must have been something left over from the Isle, being able to get from place to place without making a sound. Though Mal had often stated that Ben was just as guilty, saying she needed to put a bell on him so she'd know when he was sneaking up on her.

Dean had grown so used to Mal just walking in, he had stopped letting Ben know she had arrived unless Ben was on a call or in a meeting. Though Mal seemed to know when Ben was doing the aforementioned things as she only ever walked in when Ben was doing paperwork.

Secretly, Ben suspected Dean and Mal had teamed up to stop him from working too hard but Ben didn't have anything to prove it. Only his suspicions since other than Jane, Dean was the only one who knew Ben's schedule-and you could bet Ben made sure to block out time to clear out the necessary paperwork. Otherwise, he'd have so many meetings he'd have to do the paperwork after dinner. Which would cut into his time with Mal and then they'd be back to where they were before the viewing.

Honestly he was seriously considering digitizing most of his paperwork to save time-otherwise there'd be no trees left in Auradon with all the stuff he had to sign and fill out. Auradon was an odd place technologically. They had cell phones and laptops-but still used physical copies of paperwork and Ben sometimes used a quill of all things instead of a pen. Carlos had a ten minute laughing fit when he had seen it the first time the four VKs had been inside Ben's office.

"I was just going to call you to ask you to come over here," Ben chuckled as he stood up to kiss Mal on the cheek, Mal leaning slightly over his desk so she was almost sitting on it.

"Really? What's up?"

Ben sighed and held up Mal's planner. "This."

Mal froze as she stared at the planner in Ben's hand. "Ben...how did you get that?"

"Emir gave it to me, said I should take a look at it," Ben said, setting the planner down on his desk, making sure it was open to the current week. "Mal, this schedule's insane! You've had fourteen events in the past two days alone! How are you even awake right now? You should be dead on your feet or at the very least nursing your third cup of coffee!"

Mal shrugged and slid off his desk so she was now standing in front of it. "I didn't really expect the schedule to get calmer once I became a Lady of the Court, Ben. Besides, sure it's a little stressful but I'm handling it. It's a bit better now that I don't have to pretend to be some painted princess and knowing that no one expects that of me either. Also, dragons and coffee? Don't really mix all that well."