Did I Mention?

Cold as Ice

Summary: The first time Mal meets Ben, they're standing in the throne room of Olympus and his training crown is stupidly straight.

An AU where Mal is raised by Hades and she meets Ben when they're eight years old. An attack by a vampire, though, changes a few things for them.

The first time Mal meets Ben, they're standing in the throne room of Olympus and his training crown is stupidly straight. She wouldn't care, but he's the only one near her age (size, she reminds herself, since age is a bit different for the children of gods). Her dad had told her to try and make friends, but he'd forgotten to tell her to behave, so before he can stop her, she rips her hand from his and darts forward to knock the crown off of Ben's head.

"Hey!"

The crown topples to the ground and unfortunately, so do Ben and Mal. She still isn't used to the long dress Auntie Hera had put her in and apparently it's longer than she'd thought. She'd successfully knocked his crown off his head, though, so she'll count it as a win for now.

"Ben!"

"Mal!"

"Hello." Mal grins down at the boy now pinned beneath her as her dad shouts at her from across the room. "I'm Mal."

Below her, the boy smiles up at her shyly. "I'm Ben."

Before Mal can tell him that he has a stupid name, she's being pulled off of him and into her dad's arms.

"Daddy," she says, twisting around in his arms, "That's Ben. He's my new friend, but he has a stupid name."

"Mal," Hades chides, looking more amused than upset. "Don't insult the little prince."

Mal frowns and turns back around to look at Ben. His parents had pulled him up off the floor and his mom appeared to be fussing over his suit, but what annoys her the most is that his crown had been retrieved and placed on his head again. It's perfectly straight.

"Mal," Hades says, "this is the King and Queen of Auradon. You just knocked over their son."

"Didn't mean to," Mal mutters as her dad sets her on the ground.

Standing in front of her father, she's now facing not only Ben, but both of his parents who are much taller than she was. Not sure what to do, Mal doesn't say anything.

Above her head, her father apologises to the King and Queen while Ben avoids her stare. That won't do, Mal decides. Much more carefully than before, Mal steps forward and tips his crown until it is no longer straight. Once she's satisfied with her work, she takes a step back and grins.

"Why'd you do that?" Ben asks, reaching up to fix his crown. Mal swats at his hand and Ben frowns. "Ow!"

"You should always wear it like that," she tells him, tilting the crown again. "You look like Uncle Zeus with it the other way."

Ben's eyes widen and he turns his gaze to across the throne room where Zeus is talking loudly with her Uncle Hermes.

"He looks like a good king," Ben says.

Mal follows his gaze and shrugs. "He's boring."

"Mal."

Mal looks up to see her dad and Ben's parents looking at them both. Before she can explain herself though, Hades says, "How about you show Prince Ben the gardens?"

She doesn't need any more encouragement before she grabs Ben's hand and yanks him off in the direction of the gardens. Without her father peering down over her shoulder, she was going to show her new friend how to properly wear a crown and maybe her secret hiding spot too.