Chapter Text
It was an overwhelming afternoon, and one Chad didn’t get to entirely indulge in because Ben received an emergency call from Auradon Castle no more than ten minutes into their celebrations.
“Fucking fuck this being an adult bullshit,” Mal muttered, straightening her clothes with a sigh. “For the record, Uma’s going to be Queen of Auradon so she can deal with all this stupid ass bullshit.”
“Suck it up, Poser,” Uma said from her happy pile with Evie, the princess stripped down to her pretty lingerie and moaning under her all the while, Uma’s fingers safely tucked into the soaked fabric of her panties. “Someone’s going to have to be Queen of Agrabah and Sardinia and Hanover, so you’re going to be ruling something.”
“Ugh,” Mal whined, pausing her efforts to get straightened up to reach over the couch and tweak Carlos’ nipples, who took the attention with a swallowed whine. “I guess I’ll take Auradon then.”
“Nope, I’ve got dibs on it now,” Uma hummed, doing something that made Evie writhe in her grasp. “Gotta have Auradon or Sardinia – sorry, Aziz, but Agrabah’s landlocked and I need access to an ocean.”
“No um- worries,” Aziz gasped from where Gil was slowly but surely stretching him out. “I totally get it.”
“Chad will be queen of Auradon,” Ben growled, straightening his suit jacket with a look of dark hunger. “Uma can have Sardinia.”
“Fuck it, we’ll sort out the titles later,” Mal declared, pausing to dote on as many of her lovers as possible before they headed out the door.
Technically, Chad hadn’t been invited for this emergency meeting, but Ben seemed to have certain feelings about being parted from the blond. As in, he didn’t want to do it, so Chad had come with him, his hand comfortably curled into Ben’s just like it had been in the other world.
“Honestly, Chad,” Mal muttered when she pushed Chad into Ben’s lap for the limo ride over to the castle, the half-Fae taking the opportunity to let her hands trace his body while she nipped at his lips. “You think too highly of us. You didn’t notice how little Ben and I interacted in that other world?”
“I felt really bad about that,” Chad admitted, gasping when Ben started sucking a mark under his jaw. “I figured it was because I screwed something up.”
“We’re both alphas,” Mal declared simply. “We avoided each other because we knew that if we were alone, we’d spend the entire time growling and fighting each other. We only work when we have others we can dote on together, which in hindsight, is probably why we had so many issues here.”
“I was never with Audrey intimately,” Ben rumbled. “And she was the first person I ever dated. I was the first person Mal ever dated, and we love each other, we connected on an emotional level, but on a physical level…”
“It was always a fight,” Mal deduced, seeming sorely tempted to grope between Chad’s legs but managing to restrain herself at the last moment. “What we have now- what we had then – it works better for us than anything else ever could. In truth, we could probably be devoted to solely one person, but it could never be each other. That was why you and Ben worked so well in the other world, why me and Jay fit together, because both of you smoothed out our rough edges and didn’t fight us for control.”
“I love you so much,” Ben repeated, kept repeating like he was afraid Chad would forget it. “I was so afraid of overwhelming you with my beast because you’d just come back into my life, and instead of saying ‘No, I don’t want to fake date you, I want to be your real boyfriend’ I just took what you offered.”
“Which in hindsight worked out for us,” Mal said. “Because that was what created the safe space that led to orgies and group appreciation and the large but lovely accumulation of people we have in our relationship now.”
“I thought maybe if I could just show you how much I loved you, eventually you’d pick it up,” Ben continued. “But you looked up to what Mal and I had so much, you respected it, respected us, that you never registered it. But I do love you, Chad, please believe that.”
“I know,” Chad murmured, his cheeks feeling hot. “I um- I might have gotten a crush on you halfway through that year, but I felt terrible about it, so I tried extra hard to just stay fake boyfriends-”
Ben cut him off with a desperate kiss that left Chad whining, letting out more insistent rumbles that had Chad shaking in his grasp.
“Ben,” Chad whimpered against his lips, turning so he could sink more into the king. “Ben.”
“Do you love me?” Ben asked, voice full of a hope Chad did not deserve.
“I do,” Chad said, and he wasn’t even scared, because at some point, he really did need to learn to trust his partners. “I love you a lot, Ben. I love you so much, and the others- I just felt so bad-”
“Well, not anymore,” Mal growled, and then she was stealing kisses too, the three of them making out until they were finally let out in the Auradon Castle private parking garage.
Cogsworth was waiting for them when they arrived and immediately started showing them towards what would have likely been a private sitting room if Duke Adam had the patience for such a thing. As it was, they were in the grand hallway when the duke came upon them, one hand desperately clutching onto Duchess Belle, both wearing expressions of conflict.
“Miss Bertha,” Duke Adam rumbled, sounding the closest to beastly Chad had ever heard him. There was that time at coronation where he was shouting for everyone to get back, but even then there had been some component of his humanity. This sounded like he was barely holding onto his composure, and Duchess Belle seemed so shaken that she wasn’t even concerned with it. “Do you have any knowledge regarding a certain surge of magic that just erupted from downtown?”
Mal froze, and in that time Chad realized Fairy Godmother was present as well, clutching her wand with a worried expression.
“I cast a spell,” Mal confirmed. “But that should have stayed local.”
“It didn’t,” Fairy Godmother said, making Chad pause at the implications. “I’m not sure who all was affected, but it extended past the casting area.”
“What was the meaning of that?” Duke Adam growled, clutching his wife close to his side. “All those false memories-”
“Not false,” Fairy Godmother said, shaking her head. “I told you those weren’t fake, Adam, they were real. A real glimpse of an alternate world.”
“What were you playing at?” the king asked. “To show us a world without Belle-”
“That was my fault, your lordship,” Chad said, finding the strength to speak up. “That wasn’t Mal, she was just-”
“Adam?!” a voice – and that was Chad’s father strolling down the hall, a worried footman trailing after him. “Fairy Godmother, what- Chad,” he said, his face crumbling as he rushed over to the prince, and it was a shock to see his father, who seemed to be a mix of his old self and the new – depression and competency and pain and charisma rolled into one.
The next moment found Chad desperately clutched to the king’s chest, and while they’d had a few video calls monitored by Fairy Godmother since his grandfather’s arrest, they had just worked their way up to in-person meetings, which was why the king was likely in the city at all. Despite this, they hadn’t had any prolonged contact since the other world.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” his father croaked. “He hurt you here and he hurt you then and I don’t- I don’t know what those memories were but I saw what you could be if I just stepped up and was your damn parent and I- I failed you,” he croaked, crying terrible tears. “I’m so sorry, Kit. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
“Dad,” Chad said, eyes flooded with heat. “I want- I want what we had there, please. I’m sorry I had to undo it- you were happy and I had to take that away-”
“What are you talking about?” his father said, reaching to cup Chad’s face. “Kit, that spell wasn’t yours.”
“It was,” Chad croaked. “Or, it was grandpa’s. That was what set him off in the first place. Because I accidentally activated his spell and created that other world, but then I changed it back and that was- those memories, that’s what you’re remembering.”
“You did that?” Duke Adam said, his voice grave. “So it actually happened? Belle really died?”
“I’m sorry,” Chad pressed. “I tried to fix it as quickly as I could. I put everything back-”
“Chadwick,” and there was Duchess Belle pushing into their group hug, wrapping herself around the two crying royals of Sardinia. “What happened was not your fault. It was your grandfather’s.”
“But-”
“No,” she said, tone firm. “You would no sooner kill me than you would a fly. That other world- it had its ups and downs, but you never stopped working to bring me back.” She turned her gaze back over her shoulder, towards Duke Adam. “And we’re not holding onto things that didn’t happen. We can learn from that other world, but you will not be swallowed by the grief of my death when I am perfectly alive, nor will you surrender to guilt for having the bravery to love another.”
At that, more than one of them paused.
“Dad loved someone else?” Ben said, his brows drawn together. “But who? I would have noticed-”
“No, you would not have,” Mal informed him sagely, which Chad couldn’t really argue because he hadn’t seen it either.
At least, not until he glanced at his father’s face and saw a look of shy longing that seemed to be mixed with a terrible shame.
Duchess Belle’s focus remained on her husband. “I know you, Adam,” she said. “And if I didn’t condemn my son for liking multiple people, why would I condemn you?”
“Nothing will come of it,” Duke Adam said, making Chad’s father flinch. “It’s fine-”
“It is not,” Queen Snow said, because apparently she was there too, strolling down the hall, trailed after by yet another worried footman. “It is fortunate that I was in town to work with one of the subcommittees, because if that isn’t the biggest declaration of nonsense I have ever damn heard-”
“Snow,” Duke Adam said, but she ignored him in favor of wrapping around the back of Chad’s father.
“Sweetheart,” she said, making the king shudder. “I don’t entirely understand what I just saw, but I have enough magical prowess to know you all saw the same thing, felt the same things-”
“Snow,” Chad’s father said, tears leaking from the corner of his eyes. “I’m not who I was. I’m broken-”
“You’re hurting,” Queen Snow corrected. “As you were when I first met you, but I will stand for it no more. The threads of fate have decided that you are my husband, and I took a vow to stand beside you in sickness and in health no matter what reality we are in.” She cupped his cheek, gently wiping his tears away. “I would stand by your side again, if you would let me.”
“You would be getting the worser end of the deal,” Chad’s father said, somewhat hopelessly.
“I would not,” the queen said, her tone solemn. “Chadwick, mein herz, if I may, I would like to be your mother again.”
“I… yes,” Chad said, thankful for the support Ben offered him by wrapping around his back, Mal stepping close to hold his hand. He had never fully committed to having a mom in the other world because he knew it was temporary, but here, she wanted- “I’m um- I’m not-”
“My boys,” Queen Snow sighed, though her grin was fond. “Always doubting themselves. You are every inch the person you are here that you were there, Chadwick, whether you are the heir to the United Kingdoms or not. We do not forget the work you did. How hard you fought for reform. How hard you fought for everyone to be given the basic decency you thought they deserved. I know that prince, and I would be honored to be his mother, I would be honored to be a part of his family and love him for the rest of my life, and I would be honored even if you had not done those things, because you do not now, nor ever have, had to earn my love. It is given freely, and you can accept or decline it as you will.”
“I- m-mom,” Chad said, and then Mal and Ben were stepping back so he could be hugged by his parents, Queen Snow nuzzling his hair while he and his dad cried weakly. “Don’t go, please. Dad, please.”
“I won’t,” his father pledged, squeezing him tight. “I’ve already missed so much, I’m not missing a second more. We’re going to be together.”
“We just need to get our daughter back and things will be complete,” Queen Snow said, making Chad think of Dizzy, wonder if she remembered everything too. “At least, almost complete.”
“Snow,” Duke Adam rumbled, but the queen deftly ignored him, passing Chad back to his partners before she turned to face the Duke and Duchess head on.
“No,” the queen said, firmly holding the hand of Chad’s father. “We’re not pretending something didn’t grow between us just because it was in another world. Just because Belle is alive.” The duke moved to bare his teeth, but Queen Snow merely rolled her eyes. “She was always going to be included, you idiot. She is your heart. You think we don’t love her as much as we love you? As much as we all loved Ella?” Chad blinked at the mention of his biological mother, but none of the rest of them seemed to stir. “Our children sparked a new path for how our love can go forward, and we will not shirk away from it now because it is easy.”
“It’s true, Adam,” Duchess Belle said, giving her husband a firm look. “And you know it hurts your beast to deny itself.”
“You are enough,” the duke growled.
It was kind of bizarre to see Ben’s mom roll her eyes. “I have never been enough,” she said. “I have been mostly enough, and going forward, we will be entirely enough.”
“Now kiss your damn mate,” Queen Snow said, more or less shoving Chad’s father into Duke Adam’s arms.
He stood there, flushed and awkward for all of a second before the duke let out a familiar rumble, and then the two were- yes, definitely kissing while their two wives just sort of looked on.
“Um,” Ben said, blinking dumbly. “I hope your dad knows that I’m not going to stop dating you just because he’s with my dad.”
“I think that’s a given, sweetheart,” Queen Snow said, absently patting Ben’s arm while her focus remained on the two royals now making out in the grand hallway. “Perhaps we should take this somewhere private?”
“Perhaps,” Duchess Belle hummed, moving over to deftly hook her arm through Queen Snow’s. “Thank you for taking care of him.”
“It was our pleasure,” Queen Snow replied, and then she fixed her gaze to the former queen, her expression shifting into something more heated. “And now, if you don’t mind, we’d like to take care of you as well.”
“Oh,” Ben’s mom said, a light flush spilling across the bridge of her nose. “Yes, I think I’d like that.”
“We’ll um- go check on Dizzy,” Chad offered. “Give you guys some privacy.”
“I’d greatly appreciate that, sweetheart,” Queen Snow said, giving him a smile full of fondness and love, one that wasn’t temporary, one he would get to keep for the rest of his life. “Give us a few hours to get this sorted out, and then we’ll start planning family dinners. Vacations. Private time together.” Her smile widened. “We have a lot of catching up to do, and I greatly look forward to it.”
If Chad cried a few more tears of joy in that moment, he didn’t think anyone would truly blame him.
“Come,” Duke Adam rumbled, holding Chad’s father close, who looked dazed and flushed but ultimately happy. “There is reassurance I need to give. Apologies to make.”
Chad’s father shook his head. “I’m not-”
“We abandoned you,” Duke Adam said. “Your wife died and all of us allowed your father to push us away. It is not forgivable, but we will try to make up for it, my heart.”
“Adam,” Chad’s father gasped, but the duke merely dragged him onward, followed by their two smiling wives.
“Chris,” the duke rumbled. “We are going to dote on each and every one of your names.”
“Sardinian tradition-”
“Is wonderful,” Queen Snow finished, and they were probably lucky that the door swung closed after that, leaving the rest of them to process what had just happened in awkward silence.
“…what was that about his names?” Mal asked, seemingly confused.
Chad felt his cheeks heat in a flush. “It’s a tradition for our rulers to adopt the name of all the rulers that came before them, so our names are kind of long.”
Mal stopped. Stared. “So your full name would be what, exactly?”
It was Ben that answered her question. “Chadwick Christopher Rupert Windemere Vladimir Charles Alexander François Reginal Lancelot Herman Gregory James.”
Slowly over the course of this explanation, Mal’s lips pulled wide in an unrepentant grin. “That sounds like some prime fanboy knowledge right there.”
“Look,” Ben growled, his own cheeks dusted in a flush. “I may or may not have had a huge fucking crush on him in the other world, but it was for all the reasons we both currently love him for, so-”
“His royal highness,” Mal began to sing. “Chadwick Rupert-”
“Chadwick Christopher,” Ben corrected with a rumble.
“Nerd,” Mal shot back. “Giant, fanboy nerd.”
“Guys,” Chad sighed, hopelessly embarrassed.
“It’s okay,” Ben said, tugging them past a befuddled Cogsworth back towards the parking garage. “She made fun of me like this in the other world too.”
“We have so many more options now,” Mal cackled. “So many possibilities. I didn’t realize how wonderful it was to poke at you. Oh, and when you sucked Doug off-”
“Mal,” Ben hissed, like he was just remembering that memory. “This hallway isn’t that private.”
“Listen,” Mal said. “If you don’t think the rest of the world is going to learn about our relationship by the end of the day, you are out of your mind. For one, there are at least three of us who are going to shout it from the mountaintops, and I’m pretty sure you’re one of them.”
“Obviously,” Ben sniffed, holding Chad closer. “Fuck.”
“Indeed,” Mal preened. “Now, let’s hurry up and check on Dizzy so we can get back to the lovely orgies taking place at the penthouse.”
“I need to get each of you settled in the castle,” Ben rumbled.
“We need to get those teleportation runes set up so we can get settled in everyone’s castle, greedy,” Mal said. “Evie’s not giving up her cottage just because of us. She worked too damn hard to get it.”
“I agree with that,” Chad said. “And um- I’d like to keep the penthouse as a backup option. It’s just- it’s really pretty-”
“Like that wasn’t a declaration of love,” Mal murmured, leaning over to bury her lips into the crook of his neck. “I don’t know why we didn’t see it sooner, that was practically a love letter to all of us.”
“Just-” Chad tensed. “I knew we weren’t friends anymore, but I still wanted to keep a piece of you around. Something to remember you by.”
“Now you have us to remember us by,” Ben growled. “Love you, sweetling, love you so much.”
“I love you too, Ben,” Chad said, gratefully melting into the eager kisses the king doted upon him.
“That’s it,” Mal declared as the chauffeur scrambled to open the limo for them, likely not expecting their fast return. “We are definitely having sex in the car this time.”
“Agreed,” Ben growled instead of sputtering his usual protests for the sake of decency, and Chad was too busy laughing at his own good fortune to bear basic decorum any mind, too happy to fall into the arms of individuals that really, truly loved him for him.
-:-:-
Dizzy turned out to be fine, if horribly confused, before ultimately settling into an overwhelmed feeling of gratitude, something she expressed by clinging to Chad’s front and bawling her eyes out.
“We can really be a family?” she croaked, burrowing into Chad’s chest. “You’ll be my brother and I’ll have a mama and a papa? We can be together again?”
“We can,” Chad confirmed, hugging her tight. “We will. You’re the best little sister I could ever hope for, and I’m glad to have you in my life.”
“Chad,” she croaked, shuddering against him. “It was like this dream, and then it was gone and I was alone again.”
“Never again,” Chad pledged. “Never, ever again.”
They worked together to pack her a bag before driving back to Auradon Castle, and though Dizzy was nervous the entire ride over, she still deferred to Chad’s judgement, even if her hands were shaking.
It was fortunate that their parents were done getting reacquainted by the time they pulled up to the front of the castle, because all of them were waiting when they got there, Queen Snow and Chad’s father rushing forward once Dizzy spilled out of the limousine.
“Mommy!” Dizzy croaked, hesitating for maybe a second before Queen Snow pulled her into a hug Chad’s father eagerly piled onto. “Daddy. Daddy.”
“Baby,” Chad’s father gasped, and Chad wasn’t even jealous of the attention because Dizzy deserved it. She deserved to have all the affection she wanted, she deserved a fairytale ending, and Chad was glad that he got to witness hers, that he got to see it happen for a second time, a permanent time, because this world wasn’t going anywhere.
They had a family again.
“Yeah,” Ben said, looping an arm over Chad’s shoulder and nuzzling him close. “That’s a nice picture.”
“Damn straight, it is,” Mal agreed with a hum, the lot of them exchanging cheerful waves with their parents before Dizzy was whisked into the depths of Auradon Castle, getting reacquainted with the family she already had.
Fairy Godmother was the one to get a feel for how far the released memories had unfolded. It seemed that aside from those they already knew about, Aziz’s family, as well as King Eugene and Queen Rapunzel, all retained their memories of the other world. Like Chad, they seemed dedicated to using this knowledge to improve their current world rather than worrying about as to how they’d acquired these memories in the first place.
With that, they could finally rest easy and return back to their penthouse were the others were waiting with open, if exhausted, arms.
Chad should probably be less surprised than he was to find Uma safely nestled in the depths of her pool in her mer-form, a writhing Carlos held safely in the teasing hold of her tentacles.
“Uma,” Carlos gasped, coming rather fantastically as the three of them walked out onto the deck. “I b-believe you, I know your affection is true-”
“Yeah, I heard you the first time,” Uma smirked. “But I don’t think I’m satisfied yet.”
“Uma,” he cried, voice rising to a dangerously wanton pitch as a tentacle delved between his cheeks, beginning to stretch him open nice and easy.
“Yes,” Mal decided as she shrugged out of her dress. “That is the punishment I like to see.”
“Hey, Mal,” Jay greeted from where he was teasing a sputtering Harry under the shelter of the overhang, a dark flush spilling down the first mate’s chest. “Was the emergency settled or whatever?”
“Settled enough,” Mal allowed, grinning wide as she shirked off the rest of her clothes. “We’ll give you guys the details later. For now, I want to make up for lost time.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Jay hummed, continuing to bite at the mess of bruises on Harry’s shoulder. “Because Harry’s been waiting for you.”
His gaze shifted rather meaningfully below Harry’s waist, the first mate’s lower half still clad in the clothes he’d been wearing earlier, though the groin of his pants was thoroughly soaked through, a wetness that seemed to be spreading down his inner thighs.
“Yesss,” Mal hissed as she happily skipped over towards her boys, pausing to give Jay a reward fondle before she set her sights on the fussy visage of Harry.
“Others retreated to the bedrooms,” Uma offered, angling Carlos so they could watch him get fucked good and proper on her tentacle.
“Uma,” Carlos croaked, his tone betrayed.
“Like you don’t love this,” Uma tisked, grabbing his chin to melt into a slow kiss. “I’m gonna have my way with you and then I’m gonna pass you off to Ben, okay?”
“Light,” Carlos moaned, likely knowing the king wouldn’t go any easier on him. “Guys-”
“Punishments and rewards,” Uma hummed while Ben pulled Chad into his lap then and there, having no issues reaching into the blond’s pants to tease him while they watched Carlos get taken apart.
Which, while not the view Chad had been expecting when he returned, wasn’t one that was in any way unwelcomed. And, he supposed, one he could look forward to receiving for a very long time to come, because this was permanent. This was theirs.
And that mattered.