Disclaimer: I do not own Descendants.

Mal woke up shivering. At first, she wasn't sure why on earth her room would be so cold, but then she rolled over. "What are you doing?" she asked.

Evie stood at the window of their dorm room, the door-like windowpanes opened outward. What looked like white powder was blowing into the room from outside. The blue-haired girl was grinning. She pointed outside, keeping her arms tight to her chest as she did so. She was shivering too, her hair blown back from the slight breeze. "Look." Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Mal and then back outside. "Doug told us it was going to snow this week."

Mal blinked and sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "What?" She dragged the topmost blanket off her bed as she stood and walked to the window. Looking outside, she wrapped the blanket around both their shoulders.

Brisk, cold air hit her in the face, making her cheeks and nose sting with the bite. She shivered again and frowned as strange white wisps floated toward them on the air.

Evie extended a hand and caught one of the wisps in her palm. It stayed there for a moment, looking like a white star with extra points, though it was much more intricate than any star. Then it melted. All that remained in her hand was a few drops of water. She giggled. "It's snow."

"It's cold," Mal corrected her, drawing her side of the blanket up over the lower half of her face. "What is it exactly?"

"It's water droplets that have frozen into crystals in the atmosphere to be hexagonal shapes and-"

"E. English, not whatever Doug told you," Mal mumbled.

"Oh." Evie blushed brightly. "Right. It's like fancy ice. This is snow, but each individual piece is called a snowflake."

"Cool," Mal said, only mildly interested because the snow was freezing her ears and toes off. "Why don't we have it on the Isle?"

Evie shrugged a shoulder. "Doug thinks it might be because of the barrier. Some people consider snow magical, so I guess the no-magic barrier keeps even this out."

Laughter from outside pulled Mal's attention back to the window. She edged closer to it, careful not to step on the damp spots on the carpet from where the snow had melted. She and Evie looked down into the courtyard below. Some of the other Auradon students were running around in the ankle-deep snow, throwing balls of it at each other. Another group had a stack of three large balls of the snow, each in decreasing size so the larger was on the bottom. Someone had stuck a carrot in the middle of the top snowball.

Mal frowned. "What are they doing? It's freezing out there." She noticed that all of the people outside were wearing large coats, hats, scarves, and gloves. To Mal, it just looked like a lot of trouble to make oneself comfortable in such cold weather.

Evie grinned. "It's a snowball fight! Mal, let's go! It'll be fun!"

Mal groaned and made to pull away. But her name shouted from outside made her stop. She looked back outside into the courtyard.

Ben was below, grinning up at them. His face was red, and snowflakes clung to his scarf like white glitter. "Hey, Mal, Evie! you guys should come down!"

Evie shot Mal a pleading look, her eyes large. "Please, Mal," she whispered.

Mal rolled her eyes. "I'm not stopping you." She looked down at Ben and shook her head. "It's too cold."

"It'll be more fun with you," Evie muttered.

Ben just laughed. "So? Lonnie's making everyone hot chocolate afterwards. Come on, you'll love it."

Mal grimaced, highly doubting she would 'love it'. "What's hot chocolate?" she asked.

Ben's eyes widened. "You're kidding, right?"

Mal shook her head. "Chocolate things don't really make it to the Isle. We don't even get snow."

"This is your first snow?" Ben looked horrified at the thought of someone not knowing what snow was.

"Yeah. I don't get the big deal though."

Beside her, Evie huffed and pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's a new experience. And it's pretty," she mumbled.

"Look," Ben said, "don't make me come up there. You're going to experience one snow day if it kills me."

"Let's not get drastic," Mal said. But she rolled her eyes. "Fine, we'll be down in a minute." With that, she reached forward and pulled the window shut. After locking it, she shed her blanket and dropped it back onto her bed. "So what are we supposed to wear?" she asked. She looked over her shoulder when Evie didn't answer.

Evie was grinning wickedly. "Oh, I get it, you won't agree to go when I want to, but Ben is a different story."

"I-" Mal huffed and looked away from her, a blush burning on her frozen cheeks.

"Admit it, you just can't resist that goofy smile he gets on his face when you make him happy," Evie teased.

Cheeks still burning, Mal turned on her. She put her hands on her hips. "Maybe. Seriously, what do we wear?"

Evie laughed and strode over to her work table where she kept her sewing machine. "Put on your regular clothes and then put this stuff on over it." She dumped a bundle of green and purple clothes on Mal's bed. "I've been working on winter clothes for the both of us since some of us knew it would get cold."

Mal gave her a dark look. "I knew it would get cold," she grumbled.

She and Evie got dressed in silence. Evie focused on making sure her outfit looked cute in the mirror, while Mal picked through the garments on her bed after dressing in her usual jeans and fitted leather jacket. Evie had made her a large purple coat with a green fur trim around the inside of the hood and matching scarf and gloves.

"How do I look?" Mal asked Evie once she was done dressing. It wasn't like she cared. She was focused on staying warm, not impressing Ben. Well, maybe she wanted to look ok for him. She didn't want to look like a bloated troll or anything.

Evie looked away from her reflection and smiled. "You look great, Mal." She turned back to the mirror and adjusted the hem of her blue and black flannel shirt before pulling on her navy blue coat over it. She flipped her hair back, making sure none of it was caught under the collar of the coat. She smiled and posed for herself in the mirror. "Ok, we're good. Let's go."

Mal and Evie walked downstairs and out the double doors to the courtyard together. The wind hit Mal in the face for the second time that morning, and she made a mental note to smack Ben upside the head if this hot chocolate and snow day experience wasn't worth it.

"Hey, guys! Glad you two sleepyheads got up and joined us." It was Jay. He was dressed warmly like everyone else, and he was working a mound of snow into a firm ball between his hands.

Mal wrinkled her nose at him. "This is disgusting."

Jay laughed. "Lighten up. You might have fun for once."

Carlos ran up, Dude trotting after him. "Hey, guys!" His hat had a cord that hung down on either side of his face. Each cord ended in a ball tassel. "Jay, some guys on the team are building an igloo on the tourney field."

"What's that?"

"An ice fort or something."

"I'm so there." Jay grinned at Evie and Mal. "Have fun. Watch out for snowballs." He handed the one in his hands to Mal and ran off after Carlos and Dude, the trio quickly disappearing around the corner.

Evie looked around and giggled. "Look, there's Doug."

Mal looked to where she was pointing. Doug was bent over, rolling a ball of snow on the ground, presumably to add it to a second tower of three snowballs. The first one that Mal had seen from the window now had rocks pressed into the front to make a face, making the carrot the nose. Some sticks had been shoved into the middle snowball to make arms. Mal frowned, thinking that snow really was an absurd concept.

"I'll see you in a bit, Mal," Evie said and ran off to join Doug, Lonnie, and Jane in building the snowpeople.

Mal sighed and frowned at the snow. Then warm arms seized her, hugging her from behind. She squealed at the initial contact and then smiled, tipping her head back against the attacker's shoulder to look up at them. "Hi, Ben." It was as if he had been purposefully waiting for all her friends to leave her so he could ambush her.

"Hi, Mal," Ben said. He released her, and she turned around so they were face-to-face. "Excited?"

Mal laughed. "Hardly." But, as much as the snow was uninviting, the prospect of spending more time with Ben definitely made it more appealing. "Ok, what's first?"

"First?" Ben grinned, the sparkle in his eye charming. He took a few steps back and bent down. He gathered some snow in his hands and stood, pressing it into a ball. Mal's insides jolted as she realized what was coming. "We initiate you to the cold."

Mal barely had time to duck out of the way as he threw the snowball at her torso. It ended up hitting her thigh. She laughed even as the snow that clung to her pants immediately began to melt and seep through her jeans as frigid water. "You call that a throw?" She raised her arm and chucked the snowball Jay had given her hard at Ben's head.

Ben ducked, dodging out of the way and immediately going down to grab more snow to make more ammunition. "Missed me."

Mal laughed and scooped up a fresh handful of snow from beside her feet. She formed it into a ball, watching Ben as he straightened up, a snowball in each hand. She grinned and swung the snowball forward in a solid pitch at the same time that one of his snowballs hit her in the abdomen. Her snowball hit Ben square in the jaw, but he just laughed.

Mal was laughing to, feeling like it might not be so bad. But she was still freezing. It didn't help her case when Ben's second snowball collided with the side of her face. She gasped and recoiled, fresh cold numbing her cheek. "You're going to pay for that, Benny-Boo," she taunted and charged at him.

They were both laughing as she chased him through the courtyard. They were still laughing even when she tackled him to the ground and they went rolling through the snow.

"Your hair is white," Ben told her, grinning.

Mal glanced down at her shoulder where she could see the edge of her hair caked with snow. "Your fault," she said. "Honestly, dragging me out in this weather." But she was smiling. She had somehow ended up laying almost on top of him, their chests pressed together. They were lying to one side of the courtyard, out of earshot of Evie and the others building the snowpeople.

"Well, I like it. I think it suits you. It means you're having fun."

Mal rolled her eyes. "You're ridiculous."

"Yes, I thought I established that well within the first few days of meeting you." Ben grinned when she laughed, and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You're going to freeze. This can't be comfortable with your back in the snow," Mal said.

Ben shook his head. "It's not bothering me. I have you to distract me."

Again, Mal felt the hot prickle of a blush in her cheeks. She glanced away from him, unable to hold his gaze when her attraction to him was showing so clearly on her face like a white flag of surrender.

But then he kissed her cheek. It was soft and sweet, his lips pressing against her skin for a single moment. When he pulled back, she turned to look at him. He seemed content, just lying there in the snow calmly as if he hadn't just caused an explosion of nerves in Mal's stomach.

Mal put one hand on his chest, easing herself up and out of his arms. She moved so she was just sitting beside him, her eyes trained on the ground in front of her.

Ben sat up, his knee pressing against hers so their thighs were touching. "Mal? I'm sorry, I crossed a line, didn't I?"

Mal wasn't sure. She hadn't been given hugs on the Isle or shown any physical affection like that, yet she had already allowed that much from Ben. But, kissing was different. It was just a peck on the cheek, but Mal knew it was a only a half-step more to her lips. Was she ready to commit that to Ben - her first kiss?

She turned her face back to him. "No," she decided. "You didn't. I just wasn't expecting it." She gave him a small smile, but he was frowning.

Ben pulled off one of his gloves and raised his hand to cup her cheek. His touch was warm to her skin, and she leaned into his hand. "You just tell me how slow you want to go," he told her.

Mal gave a short nod, nerves creeping through her veins like poison ivy. The vines wrapped around her torso, and her chest constricted as he leaned closer. When his mouth was only a few centimeters from hers, her eyes closed. His breath fanned over her lips, warm and inviting. Then it was she who leaned in the final few millimeters and pressed her lips to his, eager to dispel the tension that had wound itself around her heart in suspense.

Electricity shot through Mal's body in the tenth of a second it took for his mouth to move against hers. Then the pleasant shock sensation curled up in her stomach and beat its wings like a waking baby dragon, tickling her insides. Ben's lips caught her soft exhale of pleasure, and his hand slid from her cheek to her neck, only his thumb remaining on her jaw as his fingers brushed the warm skin of her neck under her scarf.

His other hand pressed into the small of her back, and she edged a bit closer, her arms pinned in the space between their chests. His mouth pressed more firmly against hers, and she curled her fingers into his jacket. Then, after a moment's breathless kiss, he pulled back and rested his forehead against hers.

She kept her eyes closed, enjoying the sound of him breathing. It was a little faster after their kiss, as if he had just gotten back from a quick jog. His hand on her neck stroked her skin, sending tingles down her spine as he caressed the area beneath her chin and along the prominent vein in her neck to her collarbone.

Mal didn't want to open her eyes, afraid to destroy the wonderment of the moment that was bound up in their closeness. If this was what magic felt like, she understood now what she had been missing out on her whole life. Furthermore, if the hot chocolate tasted as good as Ben's kiss, she was sure she would never drink anything else ever again.

I was so excited to post this piece for you guys. I hope you enjoyed it. If you liked it, please consider giving it a fave and a review. This is a oneshot, so it will NOT be updated or continued. If you want to read more of my work in the future and wish to be notified when new stuff is posted, I'd suggest giving me an author follow. Also, a friendly reminder that you can check my profile for periodic updates on stories and other going-ons, such as news that does not get posted in these author's notes. Thanks so much!

Foarrin