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Auradon had some strange winter traditions, Jay thought, as he helped his tourney team put up strings of lights around the school.
Of course, he's known about Christmas, but if he went off of the mad ravings of Old Man Frollo, he wouldn't envision the cheery colorfully lit landscape the school was turning into. Jay wonders if any of the stories about staying quiet before the midnight monster came was tru-
Before Jay could finish that thought, he slams into a solid wall muscle that yells "ow!"
"OOOOOOHHH looks like the captains' have been caught under some mistletoe." His teammates sing-song as Jay composes himself.
Jay glowers at his teammates, not really understanding what they meant as he turns back to his unattended victim.
"Hey, sorry about that!" He says before realizing it's Lonnie that he slammed into. "Lonnie! Oh damn, well at least I know why I felt like I hit a statue."
Lonnie snorts, "Well, you're not so bad yourself, ex-captain."
His teammates have managed to form a loose circle around them, snickering and waggling their eyebrows.
"So... do you know why my team are acting like dickheads?" Jay says flatly with an unamused eyeroll.
Lonnie raises an eyebrow at them before looking up, "Oh, we're under some mistletoe."
Jay looks up as well, seeing a small plant hanging from the ceiling, bright green with red berries, sparkling as the sun hit it though also most likely with some sort of decorative magic.
"Mistletoe?" Jay asks suspiciously.
Lonnie laughs at Jay's tone, "It's nothing to be wprried about! It's a bit of a cheeky tradition in Auradon, catching someone under the mistletoe means you have to kiss each other."
"Kiss? What the hell?" Jay says with a grunt, he's learned kisses have much more meaning here in Auradon and he was hoping his first one would be- um, someone else. Not that Lonnie wasn't amazing, she was, Jay just thought...
"A girl might wilt with that kind of reaction Mr. MVP." Lonnie says with a knowing smirk, pulling Jay out of his thoughts, "Don't worry I won't take your precious moment but I do have to give you a kiss cause these mistletoe are enchanted. Now lean down, doe-eyes."
Jay obeys more out of confusion than anything and Lonnie plants a chaste kiss on his nose. The telltale pop of a satisfied enchantment echoes in his ears and Lonnie smiles at him.
"Well, I do hope you use this new knowledge well. I'd like to think the guy who promoted me had a little bit of brains." Lonmie says with a wave.
Jay smiles back, blushing a bit as he realizes what Lonnie meant.
Carlos groaned as Dude dragged him across the snow covered track. The dog apparently didn't care that it was below freezing outside, running time was running time and Carlos was apparently not allowed to forget about it.
"Just because I've survived worse condidtions doesn't mean I like it, goddammit Dude." Carlos mumbles under his breath as they finish up the fifth, and thankfully final, lap of the day.
He's not completely out of breath but he is tired enough not to notice Evie creeping up on him and grabbing his arm suddenly.
"C!! Auradon has the most adorable winter tradition I've ever known!" She says excitedly pulling him into a brisk walk.
Carlos laughs, "I think any Auradon winter tradition is more adorable than 'freezing your toes off in iced over garbage water', E."
Evie makes a disgusted you-know-what-I-meant face before morphong back into bubbly as they step under a doorway and Carlos finds himself unable to move.
"Look! Ben says it's called a mistletoe." Evie says, pointing upward. “And if two people end up under it, they have to kiss.”
Evie grins at me and gives me a small peck on the nose. I scrunch it up at her and roll my eyes but smile anyway. It really was an adorable tradition.
“So, that’s cool and all but why did you drag me here to tell me.”
Evie laughs a familiar I’ve-got-plans-you-don’t-know-about laugh and shrugs. “You’ll find out, C.”
Carlos sighed, “I’m sure I will.”
Jay yawned as he draped himself over the couch, catlike and lazy. The remaining party guests of Auradon’s Holiday Celebration mingled around the fire, chatting sleepily around the enchanted fireplace.
Carlos walks up to the couch and plops himself down with an, “Oof.”
Jay turns his head slow and content, “Sup dude, first winter on Auradon ain’t too bad, huh?”
Carlos smiles, “I dunno Jay, kinda miss being able to throw gross icy sludge at you from the treehouse.”
Jay wrinkles his nose at the thought, “And they say you’re the sweet one.”
“Mm, you love me anyway.” Carlos sing-songs before realizing his words.
Jay blushes slightly, unbeknownst to the younger boy and rolls his eyes, “Whatever nerd. So, ready to go back to the dorm?”
Carlos nods before shoving Jay off the couch and laughing, “Race ya, loser.”
Jay tumbles, not expecting the sudden attack though he manages to get him back on his feet with a perfectly executed roll through instinct alone.
Jay grins and bursts forward, “Cheater!”
Carlos laughs ahead of him, “Ain’t the only one.”
They run through the halls and Jay catches Carlos’ foot through the railing on the staircase, causing the younger to trip as Jay leaps over him, “Haha, see ya later, nerd.”
Carlos glares without malice, his hand stretching out and grabbing onto the back of the ex-thief’s shirt, pulling Jay back enough for Carlos to catch up. This causes Jay to surge forward in retaliation, Carlos loses his grip as he falls forward into roll that causes Jay to trip as well.
They slam into a wall and lose themselves in a fit of giggles and exhausted gasps.
Jay recovers first, standing with a few short burst of laughter still managing to come from him. He turns and stops. “C.”
Carlos looks him, still clutching his stomach from laughter. “Wha- what the fuck?”
Jay had pulled back and slammed himself into the wall they hit. The surprise coming from the fact that it was an invisible wall. Carlos stands and his eyebrows wrinkle as he raises his hand to touch the invisible wall in the archway between the common rooms and the dormitories.
He steps back only to find a similar wall had appeared behind them.
“What is this, a prank?” Jay says with an annoyed tone.
Carlos shrugs, looking around to find out the source of the enchantment before seeing a semi-familiar sprig of green hanging above them.
Carlos sighs and points upward. “Did anyone tell you about that?”
Jay looks and brightens, “Oh! Yeah Lonnie told me earlier, it’s an Auradon tradition, right? Something abou-”
Jay stops in his tracks as he realizes what Carlos was going to say. “We have to?”
“Yep.”
“Who set you up?”
“Evie.”
“You think Mal’s in on it?”
“Obviously.”
“Do you think we have to-”
“Probably, knowing them.”
Jay sighs at the short exchange. Before looking up and rubbing his eyes to hide his warming face. “Are you okay with this?”
Carlos looks a bit uncomfortable, moving his weight from foot to foot, “Are you?”
Jay looks at the younger, shrugs and smiles nervously. “Oh you know me, playboy extraordinaire, down with anything.”
Carlos looks up, stopping the nervous movement and raises an eyebrow, “We both know that’s not true.”
Jay stills as well, knowing full well the younger knew he wasn’t the flirt he portrayed himself to be. “I’m okay with it if it’s you.”
Carlos feels himself start to blush. Taking a breath before, “Just me or ?”
Jay startles, looking into the younger’s eyes directly now. Wondering if he meant what Jay thought he meant. The determination in Carlos’ eyes confirmed Jay’s thoughts and the older boy smiles, “Yeah. Just you.”
Carlos breathes a sigh of relief before smiling a bit shyly at Jay, “Good ‘cause I feel the same way. So are you gonna kiss me or are you just gonna stand there?”
Jay laughs, nuzzling the other’s cheek first, “And they say I’m the cheeky one.”
“You love me anyway.”
“True.”