Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It has been three days since he last ate.

Two since his last drink of water.

One since he last felt the sting of a fist, a cigarette, a heeled foot, a cane.

It has been One-Hundred-Ninety-Three days since he heard the last lie he will ever believe.

Carlos keeps himself sane by counting the time.

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The sharp clicking of high-heels on hardwood brings him back from unconsciousness. He struggles to his knees in the dark, a bruised—or is it broken?—rib impairing his movements. He just barely manages to prop himself in some semblance of an upright position against the wall, when the lock clicks and the door to the small closet is thrown open.

A tall figure wrapped in multiple furs towers in the doorway, Carlos struggles to make out the features of the figure due to the harsh light streaming in. Despite not being able to see properly, the figure is unmistakable.

It's in the way the figure holds itself, the way it's mere presence makes Carlos' skin crawl, and most of all its the fact that the figure is adorned in a plethora of furs—those damned furs. Carlos has spent a lifetime studying this figure, ways to please, ways to avoid it, ways to escape it.

Ha! As if. Carlos knows better, he learned that lesson long ago.

There is no escape.

There was a time, when Carlos had seen the smallest glimmer of hope pierce through the gloom of the isle, but that had been stamped out. That hope had been stamped out 163 days ago, and what took its place was cynicism, detachment, and spite. In the place of the once bright, youthful boy now was a hardened teenager.

It had been all their fault. No, no it was his. He made the foolish mistake of trusting them, putting his faith in them. He knew better than to trust anyone. He had seen the smallest sliver of a chance at companionship, and like the naive little boy that he was he had jumped at it. That would be a mistake that he would never make again.

"Don't worry Carlos, we'll come back for you."

"Of course, we'll come back for him, don't be stupid."

"We wouldn't leave our favorite little scientist behind, now would we?"

Their voices, laced with false sincerity, still rung in his head making him want to scream. Of course they had left him behind, who wouldn't? They had seen their chance to get away from the Isle, their shitty lives here, their even shittier parents, and him.

Thinking back on it, he was asinine to trust them in the first place. They had only ever befriended him to use him. Mal used him for his aptitude at schoolwork, Jay quickly realized his size was perfect for stealing, and Evie...well Evie just wanted someone to tell her she was pretty.

A forceful crack sound draws him back into the present, and he belatedly feels the sting in his left cheek. He gently touches the bleeding gash on his cheek, and peers up at the woman he is supposed to call mother.

"What are you doing, laying about while you should be doing your chores?" she shrieks at him.

"You. Lazy. Ungrateful. Little. Shit," she continues, punctuating each viscous word with a kick, hit, or slap.

I couldn't do the chores, because you locked me in a closet! Carlos wants to scream back, but he has long since learned that responding only makes things worse. Much, much worse.

So instead, Carlos gets up on shaky legs and slips past Cruella to start the tedious task of completing his "chores".

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The sun has already set by the time Carlos is finishing the last of the tasks on his seemingly never-ending list of chores. He double-checks—and triple-checks—to make sure that every last detail is perfect because there'll be hell to pay if anything is not up to Cruella's standards.

After his thorough inspection of all the rooms, he quietly slips his way out of the front door and into the cool night air. Carlos doesn't think he will ever get acclimated to the sense of freedom that the outdoors brings; and he surely never takes it for granted.

Carlos sticks to the edge of the island taking the long way to his destination as to avoid the marketplace; growing up on the Isle you learn quickly to avoid certain places past dusk, and the marketplace is unquestionably one of them.

It takes him an hour to reach the other side of the island, partly due to the fact he has to stop every ten minutes to calm the wheezing in his chest. When he rounds the corner to Ursula's Fish and Chips the place is already bustling with activity. Carlos sighs, he's in for a long night.

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Weaving his way through the many boisterous patrons of the crowded bar is difficult enough on an average night, tonight is made worse by the special occasion. Carlos had completely forgotten, and had he not come tonight would have not even noticed, that tonight is a grand celebration indeed. Well, a grand celebration for the pompous assholes over in Auradon that is.

Carlos is quickly reminded of that fact when he enters, and the TV positioned above the bar booms with the voice of the announcer. Snow—something or another, Carlos can't be bothered to remember her name—practically chirps out her excited announcement.

"Oh! Here they come now with Prince—I mean King! With King Ben!"

Carlos glances up at the somewhat staticky television as he makes his way to the bar, and what he sees makes him wish he hadn't.

The bright, and once familiar, faces of his friends Mal, Evie, and Jay cover the screen. They're smiling, they look happy, they look clean and healthy; all things that they weren't here. For a fleeting moment Carlos is happy for them, happy that they are safe and cared for away from this hellhole of an island; however, that thought is rapidly pushed out of his mind when he remembers their betrayal.

As he finds an empty spot at the bar to sit, he gives one last scornful glare at the shoddy television wishing that he had never fixed it. However, if he had never fixed it, Uma wouldn't allow his presence here at all, so he guesses it's a small sacrifice to pay.

He contemplates throwing a fork at the TV and blaming it on one of the rowdy pirates filling the establishment, but before he has a chance to analyze how to get away with it, someone hurdles a big piece of glop—mashed potatoes?—at it.

Carlos watches as the food—or what passes for food on the Isle—slowly slides down the screen before landing with a splat! behind the counter. His eyes dart around looking for the culprit before they land on aqua-colored braids.

Uma stands behind the counter, scowling at the now partially covered face of Mal. Harry saunters out from the kitchen, stopping to wipe some of the potatoes from the screen to eat. He sidles up next to Uma, glancing at her wrathful face, before turning his attention to the TV as well.

"I like what you've done with her. Don't cha think she looks better like this, pup?"

Carlos hates the pet name Harry insists on calling him but knows that bringing it up again will only be met with ridicule from him. He just rolls his eyes in way of answer. Uma who had been so busy staring at the screen turns to face Carlos, making him squirm a little in his seat. He loathes having someone's full attention on him because it almost always results in pain.

"When did you decide to grace us with your presence?" her tone says cheerful, but her face says otherwise; her face says, you're dead.

"Missed me?" Carlos manages to retort, though he coughs for a solid ten seconds after.

"Where have you been?" she asks, dropping the faux cheeriness.

"In a closet, but I came out," he tries to joke, but given Uma's unimpressed look, it fell flat.

"How long," she questions, gently bringing her hand to ghost over the gash on his cheek that he'd forgotten about.

"Not even a full twenty-four hours, I don't think..." he replies trailing off. Truthfully, he doesn't know how long he had been in there. He had slipped into unconsciousness—a small comfort—and had lost all sense of time.

"You were gone for two days," Uma accuses, now glaring at Carlos.

"I've had worse," Carlos replies, not meeting her heated gaze.

Gil decides to make his entrance just then, much to Carlos's relief.

"Uma the stove isn't working again and—oh hi Carlos, nice to see ya—and I burned the clam chowder...again."

Carlos raises his hand in a lazy wave, dutifully ignoring Uma's hissed 'We aren't finished talking about this'.

"I think that's a job for you, Pup!" Harry merrily interjects when the silence gets too heavy and drawn-out. Carlos huffs, glaring at Harry before moving to slide off the barstool. Before he can get even an inch away a hand clutches his wrist, and Carlos hates himself for it but he flinches. He turns back to see Uma holding tightly onto him and feels relieved that it's just her, and terrified that it's just her.

"Not so fast, pup. We might be pirates," she says as motions to Gil, "but we don't let our workers go hungry." Carlos must look shocked, because she adds, "Bad for morale."

Although to any outsider Uma's tone and body language scream disinterest, Carlos knows there's concern for his well-being hidden under all that apathy. Sometimes he thinks that he is making it all up again, going as insane as his mother already is; but as Uma turns her back on him, he sees the slightest look of pity.

And damn if that doesn't hurt. Out of all the hateful things his mother throws at him every day, both physically and verbally, pity always hurts the most. He might not be the strongest person on the Isle and he might be in a shitty situation with Cruella, but he is not a thing to be pitied. He makes the best out of a bad situation, same as anyone else on this worthless rock.

But if pity will get him protection from some of the people he's stuck sharing space with, then that's just something he will have to live with. For now.

"Here ya go 'los," Gil smiles, and for the first time tonight it's a genuine smile not like the curl of lips he gets from Harry and Uma. Gil sort of makes it worth it, he would even call him a friend if he still allowed himself to have friends.

Carlos smiles as Gil sets the tray of deep-fried fish in front of him, it smells like death, but Carlos knows better than to be picky about food on the Isle.

"You hurt yourself," Gil pouts, taking notice of Carlos's cheek, real concern coloring his words.

"I like to live life on the wild side," Carlos states, returning a genuine smile to Gil, who beams back. Harry snorts from beside Uma, "Yeah, real wild, eh?" he purrs giving Carlos a wink. Uma swats him.

"Shut up, I'm trying to listen to this," she hisses.

"Didn't cha jus thra pertatoes a it," Carlos mumbles around the food he's shoveling into his mouth.

Uma shoots him a disgusted glare and shoves Gil toward the TV throwing a rag at him.

"We can't take over Auradon if we don't learn their weaknesses, now can we pup?" she snaps.

Carlos puts up his hands in defense muttering, "Sorry," as they all turn their attention to the now cleaned off-screen.

"-and now we go to King Ben and Mal for their special announcement!" that Snow chick exclaims as the screen pans to the right bringing Mal and what must be the boy "King" into view.

"Hello," the king—Ben—begins glancing at Mal, "we are very excited to be here tonight."

There's a pause, where Ben looks at Mal as if waiting for her to interject, but when she says nothing he continues.

"Right, so we are here to celebrate the integration of Mal, Evie, and Jay into Auradon, and to celebrate them becoming official residents here..." He pauses to smile at Mal and when she nods and smiles back he finishes with, "we will be bringing over more kids from the Isle of the Lost to live here in Auradon!"

Carlos starts choking on his food, Gil stares dumbly at the screen, Harry drops the tray of chips he had been eating and Uma... Uma smiles like Christmas had just come early.

Chapter Text

"Carlos...Carlos! CARLOS!!"

The room is spinning, everything is too loud, and is that the...ceiling? Why is he staring at the ceiling?

Two big hands suddenly grab Carlos by the front of his shirt causing him to flinch and effectively snapping him back into reality.

Gil hauls him up from the sticky floor like he’s weightless and gently deposits him back onto the barstool he was occupying before...

Before.

"Did I...did I pass out?" he asks tentatively, looking around at the unimpressed look Uma is giving him, Harry feigning disinterest and a concerned Gil.

"You fell-" Uma starts, nonchalantly.

"Quite hilarious, pup," Harry interjects, receiving a smack on the back of the head from Uma.

"You fell," she restates, glaring at Harry, "after those Auradonian shits made their little announcement."

"Little announcement?" Gil questions loudly drawing the attention of several rowdy patrons, "I thought that was pretty big news! Them inviting more of us to live among them and stuff."

Gil doesn’t notice the seething look Uma shoots his way, but he definitely takes notice when she cuffs him on the back of the head.

“Ow,” Gil pouts, rubbing the back of his head as if she had actually done damage.

“Has my whole crew turned into a bunch of blundering morons,” she questions as she sweeps her gaze over the three boys, “where is CJ when I need her?”

“I believe ya sent her out ta pillage.”

“Yes, thank you, Harry. I didn’t realize that.”

Carlos would say that Uma’s eyes were going to roll right out of her head if he didn’t know that to be scientifically impossible.

Avoiding Uma’s seething gaze Carlos rubs the back of his throbbing head, hissing when his hand moves further up. He pulls his hand away, finding red-tinted fingertips.  

"Are you bleeding?" Gil's voice sounds worried and way too loud. In fact, the whole place feels too loud, too cramped, too hot. Too much everything.

"Great, you're bleeding all over my floor, just what I needed tonight," Uma snaps, throwing a rag at Harry's head.

"What em I supposed ta do wit that?" Harry asks, sounding offended.

"Work for once in your pitiful life, Harry!"

"What? That's not fair, 's his blood!" Harry points his finger accusingly at Carlos, not unlike a toddler.

One glare from Uma has Harry's arguments dying in his throat, a dark smile creeping on to his face.

"Anything fer you, Captain," he coos as he hops over the counter to wipe at the bloodstain.

"That's more like it," she replies, her smile curling to match Harry's own.

Carlos’s head swims as he watches the pair’s rapid change in demeanor, still not used to how quickly Harry can change from a petulant five-year-old to a creepily obedient first mate.

"Finish your food," Uma snaps, turning her attention back to Carlos.

The sight of the slop on his plate is even more unappealing than before - if that's even possible - and the smell has his stomach lurching and head spinning. He forces himself to eat it anyway, though he can taste acid in the back of his throat. He knows better than to disobey Uma, besides who knows when he'll next be offered food.

As Carlos quickly finishes the rancid food, swallowing several times to keep it down, he lets his eyes wander through the overly packed bar.

The scene is the same as any other night if not a bit more crowded.

A rowdy group of pirates takes up one side of the bar, gambling away what meager money they have. Villains and their henchmen occupy the other half of the bar, several of them breaking into both verbal and physical fights over one thing or another.

The back of the bar, in the darkest corner, the seediest inhabitants of the isle drink quietly not partaking in the gambling or the fighting—for they have come here seeking something else entirely.

Carlos lets his gaze linger in the dark corner of the bar, eventually making eye contact with a particularly gnarly looking pirate, a sinister smile making its way to the man's’ face when Carlos doesn’t shy away but instead maintains eye contact.

"I, I have to go to work..." Carlos trails off, uncomfortable when he feels Uma's heated gaze on the back of his head.

Harry suddenly gains interest in their discussion again, while Gil avoids eye contact visibly uncomfortable with the mention of Carlos' "work".

"You know," Uma growls out, "that I do not sanction that kind of work in my establishment."

Carlos does not point out the fact that technically it is her mom's establishment, he might be socially awkward but he's not suicidal.

"Gotta make a living somehow," Carlos tries to joke, knowing before it leaves his mouth that no will find it funny. Nobody ever appreciates his sense of humor. "Not like you're going to pay me," he stupidly mumbles under his breath.

"What was that?" The heat in Uma's eyes is hot enough to rival the damn sun and Carlos struggles not to wither under it.

"I said I'll fix the stove when I'm done with... my other obligations."

"Did I not just tell you that I will not tolerate that shit in here!"

"Technically it's behind your establishment, not in it," Carlos quips hopping off the barstool and making his way to the back door.

He knows that Uma will let him go without glancing back just like he knows tall, dark, and creepy is following him with bated breath.

He barely makes it to the doorway, hand twisting the doorknob when Uma's voice rings out loud and clear.

"Oh, pup! You know just after you passed out they announced what miserable saps they're hauling over to Auradon next."

After pausing for dramatic effect, and so that she's certain she has Carlos' attention, Uma spits out.

"Looks like the four of us will be packing our bags, we leave Sunday."

Carlos is sure he would have passed out again if it weren’t for the sudden hand gripping him on the back of the neck, manhandling him into the alley with urgent desire.

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We leave Sunday. Pack your bags. We leave Sunday.

He can’t get her damned words to stop ringing in his head. They play over and over again in a demented loop, mocking him and driving him closer to insanity.

They leave in three days. Three more days and he’ll never have to set foot on this godforsaken rock again. Three more days and he’ll never have to see his mother again. Three more days and he’ll never have to get down on his knees again. Three more days.

Six months ago he would have been on cloud nine, high on excitement and anticipation, but six months ago he didn’t know the sting of betrayal.

Three days until he has to see them again. Three days until he has to live among entitled princes and princesses who will no doubt look down their noses at him. Three days until his whole world will change forever. Three days until-

“Heeey, puppy.”

Carlos flinches, internally cursing Harry for popularizing the demeaning nickname that everyone on the isle insists on calling him these days. He turns his, hopefully, seducing gaze onto the burly pirate stumbling up to him. As the man draws nearer Carlos quickly takes in his rancid breath and drunken stupor.

Carlos was planning on being done for the night, already sore from the countless other people who had wandered their way into the alley seeking his attention, but the man crowds his easy exit from the alleyway. Besides, Carlos tells himself that it will be easy money if the half-empty bottle of rum the man continues to chug from, as he attempts to pat down Carlos’s unruly curls, is anything to go by.

Pushing aside his problems for the task at hand, Carlos does his best to use a sultry voice as he gazes up at the man and asks, “What’ll it be, sweetheart?”

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Packing, if you could even call it that, had taken Carlos all of two minutes. When he gets home Thursday night he throws his notebooks, spare jacket, and one of his small gadgets into a bag. As much as it pains him, Carlos knows that he can’t bring all the machines that he has spent countless hours on from his treehouse over to Auradon. Carlos settles for bringing over the most important one; a small device, roughly the size of a lunchbox.

After gathering his meager belongings he creeps silently into the kitchen, retrieving a black trash bag he deftly shoves his things inside and ties it closed. With great caution, he opens the creaky back door and stashes his bag in the wilted rhododendron next to the back patio.

With his things packed and hidden out of his mother’s sight, Carlos returns to his makeshift bed and feels something akin to relief wash over him as he quickly falls into a dreamless slumber.

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Waking up to screeching is something you grow accustomed to on the Isle, especially when you live with someone as batshit as Cruella.

Carlos groans as he rolls over, quickly scrambling backward when he almost rolls directly into a bear trap. As he pulls himself up from the floor wincing at the sore feeling in his… everywhere, he hears it again, long and shrill and all too familiar.

“Caaarlooooooos! Get in here you insolent brat!”

“Today’s going to be a fantastic day,” he mumbles to himself sarcastically as he slinks past the kitchen and into the parlor where his mother angrily paces from one side of the room to the other.

No matter how quiet Carlos is Cruella seems to have a sixth sense for his presence. He barely makes it into the room before she’s turning on him, face twisted in disgust.

“I left the money on the kitchen counter last night,” Carlos tries, hoping to diffuse the situation before it gets worse.

It’s then that Carlos notices the crumpled paper held tightly in Cruella’s fist. Not the tainted stationery of the Isle, no the stationery Cruella has a death grip on is bright white and pristine. Upon further inspection, Carlos can also make out the flawless golden script that screams Auradon.

Carlos’ stomach does a flip as he realizes that she hasn’t woken him up screaming about a late payment again but something else entirely, something much,much worse.

Carlos briskly turns to dash out of there, but Cruella has always been quick even in her old age and she has perfected her aim over the years. Carlos makes it just past the doorway before he feels the impact of the glass bottle and the subsequent shattering.

His head wound from the previous night reopens as the glass shatters against his skull, the impact making him trip and fall landing directly in the glass. He braces his hands on the floor to avoid further injury to his head, wincing as his hands are cut up by the jagged glass shards. He scrambles to his feet as his vision swims and he sways on shaking legs.

He makes it to the kitchen before Cruella catches up to him. She grabs him by the neck and yanks him backward to throw him into the counter. A sickening crack sound reverberates throughout the house as Carlos’ left cheek makes contact with the sharp corner of the wooden countertop.

He topples to the floor again as his eyes unfocus and black spots dance across his field of vision, unconsciousness threatening to consume him. Carlos battles the desire to collapse into a heap on the floor, if he can just make it out of here he’s home free; quite literally.

He waits until she’s looming right above him with her defenses down, thinking she has won yet again, to make his strike. He kicks her left kneecap as hard and fast as he can, jumping right over her as she crumples to the floor screeching in shock and anger.

He wastes no time as he makes a swift exit out the back door grabbing his stowed bag before dashing across the backyard and out into the winding streets of the isle. He does his best to suppress the fear that creeps up his spine as he hears that shrill voice scream his name from far off behind him, instead focusing on weaving his way through the early morning marketplace crowd.

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Sunday comes too quickly.

Sunday doesn’t come quickly enough.

Ever since Carlos's encounter with Cruella, Uma had granted him asylum on the Jolly Roger with the condition that he help fix things around the place. He stayed out of view, just in case Horace and Jasper came sniffing around, working on repairs below the deck or above deck only during the cover of night.

There were both upsides and downsides to spending all his time among Uma’s crew, and these two days with them reminded him why he hadn’t run away from Cruella sooner. Due to the seemingly endless list of problems around the ship and the shop, Carlos was kept busier than Cruella ever had him with her list of chores. Harry was a nuisance on a regular basis but with Carlos around 24/7 to harass and belittle, it just got increasingly worse. Two days, Carlos had to remind himself, two days and then he wouldn’t have to put up with the constant work and criticism.

Besides, Uma banned him from doing any more work behind the shop and since he no longer had to bring home money to please his mother it was now unnecessary anyway. The biggest, and best, perk of staying with the pirates was he got to spend his nights on the floor of Gil’s room. The room was kept warm, unlike the drafty closet he typically slept in and Gil even gave him one of his soft blankets to curl up into.

Sunday morning Carlos wakes with a start to insistent knocking followed by an all-too-familiar gruff voice.

“Gil, pup, get yar asses up and moving. The fancy limo thing is due here in less than an hour.”

Carlos bolts upright as he hears Harry’s familiar stride fade into the distance, looking to his left he notices Gil groggily do the same.

Gil has a half-asleep smile on his face as he mumbles, “Today’s the day ‘los.”

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Carlos stands in the town square with Uma and Harry talking quietly on his right and Gil excitedly bouncing in place to his left. As Carlos watches the sun start to peek up from the East he feels unease creep all around him at the quiet stillness that is forever rare on the isle.

Five-thirty is too early for gang activity yet too late for sexual activity, so most people are either passed out in back alleys due to the activities from the previous night or they have yet to begin their troublemaking of the day. It seems as if they are the only four residents up and moving at this hour.

“Why are they picking us up so early,” Carlos asks no one in particular.

He remembers that the other three were picked up in broad daylight, the whole isle of residents were present to send them off. If he tries hard enough he can still picture it, the pristine limo - so out of place among the filth of the isle - pulling into the town square. He can still hear the excited murmurs of the crowd and the stern voices of the parents instructing their children on how to get the wand and free the isle. He can still picture the tears that Evie refused to let fall as she hugged Carlos for the last time, the set to Jay’s jaw as he squeezed all the breath out of Carlos’ frail body in his version of a hug, the scoff that Mal used to cover up her own gloom at the situation. Of course, looking back, Carlos knows that weren’t truly sad at their departure. It was all an act, an act that Carlos had fallen for, but not again. Never again.

Carlos snaps out of his angry memories as Uma scoffs at his question.

“They didn’t want to make a whole ordeal out of our departure like they did last time. Didn’t you read the letter pup?”

Right, the letter.

Carlos looks down at his bandaged hands and hopes, not for the first time, that Cruella hadn’t looked closely at that letter. He, not-so-discreetly, glances around the shadowy streets of the isle and jumps when he notices the shadow of a person heading their way.

“Guys…”

“What now? Do you have more stupid questi-”

Uma cut herself short as she turns and follows Carlos’s line of sight, spotting the shadow as well; Gil squeaks when he notices it and Harry draws his hook.

“Come out, come out lil one,” Harry darkly coos to the shadow, sinister smirk plastered to his face.

The shadow stops all movement at his words and pauses for several long seconds before a mess of orange hair accompanied by pink glasses pokes around the corner.

“Dizzy?”

“Hi, Carlos,” comes the small reply as the young girl stays half-hidden in the dark alleyway.

Carlos follows her gaze to where it is locked onto Harry’s raised hook held menacingly in his left hand waiting to swing down. Carlos walks over and swats it out of Harry’s hand, hiding his smirk when Harry gives him a dumbfounded look as the hook clatters along the cobblestone.

“What was tat for?” Harry whines as he bends down to retrieve his treasured hook.

“Stop scaring the little girl,” Dizzy huffs bitterly at his words but Carlos shoots her a look and continues addressing Harry, “besides you know that we aren’t allowed to bring weapons with us to Auradon.”

Harry meets him with a Cheshire cat smile as he stands back up and tucks his hook back inside his long coat, “What are those Auradonian pricks gonna do, give me a pat-down? Maybe a strip-search? Betcha’d like tat, wouldn’t cha, pup?”

“Knock it off, Harry,” Uma states with a swat to his head, “What are you doing here, Tremaine?”

Dizzy flushes as all four of the teenagers’ attention returns to her. She had moved all the way out of the alleyway as they bickered but she looks as if she wants to run right back in now.

“I...I’m supposed to be… here,” Dizzy stutters as she produces a familiar white envelope from her purse, a gold embellished Dizzy scrawled onto the front.

“Let me see that.” Uma snatches the invitation out of her hand, quickly scanning it before grinning. “That’s right Tremaine, I forgot little Evie had a soft spot for you. Wonder what she had to do to swing this one.”

Dizzy glares at Uma at the mention of Evie’s name, and secretly Carlos wishes he could do the same.

Choosing to ignore Uma’s attempt at provocation, Carlos instead addresses Dizzy as he asks, “Aren’t you a little young to be attending Auradon Prep?”

“I am fourteen Carlos,” she huffs, “I’m not a little girl anymore.”

The sound of an approaching car cuts off any reply Carlos would have given as everybody's attention snaps to the street. As the other three teenagers are distracted by the shiny limousine pulling up, Carlos feels a tug on his sleeve and looks down to see Dizzy.

“Look I’m sorry I called you a little girl-”

Dizzy stops him with a wave of her hand, glancing over at the group of pirates to make sure they aren’t paying any attention before whispering to Carlos.

“Look, I know your cat-”

“Beelzebub?”

“-right, Beelzebub. I know Beelzebub means a lot to you, so I smuggled him here.”

Carlos looks around a little frantically until Dizzy smacks him on the arm and points to the alleyway she had come out of.

“Thanks, Dizzy,” Carlos mumbles back as he practically runs over to the alleyway.

He quickly finds Beelzebub among a stack of soggy cardboard and he scoops her up and strokes her as she nuzzles him and purrs contently.

“I thought Cruella had finally gotten to you buddy, where have you been?”

Beelzebub only answers with a loud yowl as she stretches to get more comfortable in Carlos’s hold. Carlos adjusts her and covers her with his jacket as he hears the limousine come to a stop outside the alleyway. He ignores the questioning glance he gets from Uma as he helps load their suitcases in the trunk. He throws his garbage bag on top and they all start to pile into the backseat.

Nobody notices how the driver stares at the tail hanging out of Carlos’ jacket or his muttered, “Weird fucking isle kids” as he drives them towards their future.

Chapter Text

A golden road takes them to their future and Carlos thinks it’s poetic.

And by poetic what he really means is predictable of those pretentious assholes over in Auradon to literally have a road made out of gold.

I mean they actually have a road materialize out of thin air bridging together Auradon and the Isle. If they go to such extreme lengths to make a magical, golden bridge to a place they have been a grand total of once in the 20 years since its making Carlos wonders what Auradon itself will be like.

Carlos ponders the possibility of replicating—and improving upon—the golden bridge design but quickly realizes that it’s probably just the workings of Auradonian magic. The more he examines the glimmering bridge the more certain he is that it is simply the use of magic, something he’s heard that Auradon has in excess.

As the limo takes the group of villains farther from the Isle Carlos glances out the limo’s window and takes notice of the sea beneath them. The farther they get from the grime of the Isle the clearer the water becomes. While the water surrounding the Isle is thick and murky with garbage and evil knows what else, the stretch of water that is now below them appears to be a clean, sparkling blue. As the sun rises over the horizon it paints the sea with brilliant orange and pink highlights. Carlos stares in awe at the beautiful expanse of the calming waves, lost in thoughts of what clean drinking water is going to taste like until Harry throws an arm around his shoulders.

“She’s a beaut ain’t she,” Harry asks as he pulls Carlos tightly into his side.

“What?” Carlos looks up at Harry from his poor vantage point, practically crammed into Harry’s armpit, however, Harry isn’t looking at him but instead out at the vast sea below them.

“The ocean, the true ocean, she’s everything dad said she’d she be.”

“Well, actually, that is technically the sea, not the ocean. A lot of people think those two terms are interchangeable when in reality the difference between them is…”

Carlos trails off as Harry shoots him a loathful look, squeezing him farther into his side as he goes back to gazing at the expansive body of water.

“Ya really do ruin everything don’t cha, pup?”

“So I’ve been told.”

Harry releases Carlos, snickering at him as he sidles back up to Uma who glances over at Carlos with a mixed expression of pity and amusement, making him duck his head in embarrassment.

He has these moments, these tiny little moments, where Harry seems normal or Uma is nice to him and he forgets. He forgets these people aren’t his friends, they’re in a purely professional relationship, mutually beneficial to both parties.

Carlos has a total of three different kinds of relationships with people: mutually beneficial associates, people to avoid, and people you never say no to.

Most of the Isle falls into the ‘people to avoid’ category since most people either want to harass him, exploit him, or hurt him. His mother and a select few clients fall into the ‘people you never say no to’ category, for obvious reasons. Uma and her gang are the only ones who fall into the first category.

There was a brief time in Carlos’ life where he had created a fourth category of human relationships: friends. He quickly learned that fourth categories were meant for naive children and those fake people in discarded Auradonian magazines and he had since outgrown the fourth category; Carlos didn’t like to dwell on when he had let himself believe in the possibility of the fourth category.

A rumbling purr emitting from the lump of fur rested on his chest pulls Carlos out of his thoughts and he reaches down to scratch Beelzebub on the chin, making the purring intensify. As he strokes Beelzebub from head to toe he lets himself count to one in his head, one friend, seeing as Beelzebub is not human he supposes he’ll allow himself this one exception to the rule.

“Hey ‘los,” Gil suddenly whispers from his side.

“Yeah, Gil.” Carlos turns to look at Gil earning a small smile from him.

“What is the difference between the ocean and the sea?”

Carlos smiles, almost allowing himself to count to two in his head.

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

The limo pulls up to what must be the most ostentatious set of buildings Carlos has ever seen in his life. Of course, he should have been expecting the absolute abundance and exhibition of wealth that the school gives off, he had after all seen the same building on TV multiple times but to see it on a 9-inch screen and in real life were two completely different experiences.

Calling the buildings that surround them castles doesn’t seem to do them justice, especially since Carlos has seen his fair share of castles or what passes for castles on the Isle. Nobody back on the Isle had a house or business that looked anything like what was before them, much less Carlos’s old school. Hell, he used to go to school in a literal dungeon, so he supposes anything is an upgrade from that.

Carlos startles when the front door of the limo shuts with a thump signaling that the driver has exited and Carlos glances back to see that the rest of his group is already exiting the limo. He scurries to join them, tucking Beelzebub back into his jacket as he goes. Carlos goes around the back of the limo to collect his bag from the limo driver, flushing slightly when the man gives him a weird look as he hands him the trash bag.

“Thanks,” he mumbles, gaining him a glare from Uma.

After the last bag is unloaded the driver promptly closes the trunk, gets back into the limo, and drives off. The group of five watch him drive off, faces ranging from irritation to confusion to sorrowful.

“Well, what the fuck are we supposed to do now?”

Everybody turns their gaze to Uma as she stands with one hand on her hip, watching the limo in the far distance, irritation coming off her in waves.

“Drink, pillage, plunder?”

A small smile forms on Uma’s lips as Harry proudly flashes all his teeth at her.

“I like the way you think, Harry.”

Harry practically beams under the praise as Uma reaches up to ruffle his hair, causing the other three to look away in embarrassment or disgust.

“Uh, hey guys,” Carlos mutters drawing the reluctant attention of everyone else.

“Wha is it, pup? If ya hadn’t noticed we were havin' a moment,” Harry snarls, glaring over at Carlos. Carlos points his finger to behind the group and everyone’s gaze follows to the castle behind them.

A golden-haired boy - that Carlos instantly recognizes as King Ben - and a raven-haired girl walk out the castle doors, identical pleasant smiles plastered on their faces. The group of five villains stand awkwardly on the road where the limo deposited them, not moving. The king and his dark-haired companion stop just short of them and for a while neither group so much as moves or makes a noise, Carlos doesn’t think Dizzy is even breathing at this point.

After a while the duo makes the first move, stepping even closer to the group. Carlos has to fight to not back up as the two get within reaching distance of the villains and out of the corner of his eye he can see Dizzy having the same struggle. Harry and Uma don’t have the same problem, instead they take a step forward meeting the duo head-on.

Gil is the middleman, neither resisting the urge to step back nor stepping forward, instead, he takes a half step to the side effectively blocking Carlos from everyone, and Carlos knows he should feel insulted by that but honestly he feels relieved. Carlos notes that this is starting to feel a lot like a twisted game of chess; two pawns move forward, two more meeting them head-on, one knight steps to the side guarding, wait does that make Carlos the Queen?

The boy-king is the first to speak, breaking the intense silence with his annoyingly joyful voice.

“Hello, welcome to Auradon! It is so good to finally meet you all. I am Pr- King Ben and this is Lonnie,” he says gesturing to the raven-haired girl who in turn gives them a practiced smile and polite wave.

“We are all so excited to have you all here and we can’t wait to-”

“How many times did you practice this in your mirror this morning?” Uma questions, cutting off Ben as she examines her nails like she couldn’t care less.

“I’m sorry, what?” Ben has gone tomato red in the face, completely thrown off by being interrupted and Carlos wonders if this is the first time in his life that it has happened to him.

“This little speech, heartwarming as it is,” Uma grasps her chest in faux sentiment causing Harry to grin, “has obviously been practiced many, many times. Are you nervous, your majesty?” The purr that Uma has to her tone sets Carlos on edge because he knows exactly what that tone means.

“Oh, uh, I...It’s just Ben, not, you don’t have to call me that I mean. Ben, Ben is fine.”

“Well, just Ben, were we not important enough for you?” At Ben’s confused and somewhat mortified expression, Uma takes a step forward as she continues tormenting the innocent boy. “As I recall, there was a grand celebration when Mal and her little gang arrived yet I look around now and all I see is this welcome party of… two. So, are we not high status enough to draw a bigger crowd?”

Ben appears to have lost the ability to speak as he looks from Uma to the other villains as if they are going to save him from Uma’s wrath. Uma takes delight in the effect she has on the king and she frowns when Lonnie swats Ben lightly on the arm and steps slightly forward to take the lead.

“You are absolutely correct... Uma is it?” Uma scowls at Lonnie’s confidence and nonchalance over the situation, thrown off by her ease at controlling the conversation where others would normally cower at Uma’s feet.

“Yeah, Uma’s the name, don’t wear it out.” Harry snickers slightly from behind Uma as she replies to Lonnie but one look over her shoulder silences Harry.

“Pleasure to meet you Uma, I’m Lonnie. You are correct, when Mal, Jay, and Evie arrived we welcomed them with a grand celebration but unfortunately, that was not very well received at all. You see we overwhelmed them quite a bit with the abundance of people and all the loud music, quite a culture shock we realize now. We decided to take a simpler approach this time around, based on Mal’s advice, as to not overwhelm the five of you.”

When Lonnie explains it like that it makes perfect sense to Carlos and honestly he is grateful that there is not a bunch of people or loud noises to worry about, he doesn’t think he could handle that right now… or ever…

But Uma is clearly not happy with that explanation, especially since it was Mal’s idea or maybe just because it was Mal’s idea.

“Of course, of course,” Uma gushes and Carlos can’t help but smirk a little at the amount of sass dripping off her words. “I mean, we,” she sighs dramatically grabbing onto Harry with one arm and Dizzy with the other, “are just so grateful to be here in your beautiful country and I just don’t know if we could have handled it if there was any more excitement today!”

Ben looks like he’s about to sweat right through his suit and Lonnie’s smile is so forced at this point her face looks as if it might be stuck that way forever.

Uma squeezes Dizzy and Harry closer against her, not dropping eye contact with Lonnie.

“Right, guys?”

“Right, captain!”

“Yep!”

“Wait I thought we weren’t excited to be here?”

“Of course!”

“Well, now that we have that covered, why don’t we show you around your new school and get you situated in your dorms!” Lonnie’s voice is clipped with forced cheeriness and she’s already eyeing Uma with distrust.

Great first impression they’ve made!

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

“So this is the boy's dormitory. Gil, Harry, you’ll be bunking together in this dorm, Carlos you’ll be in the next room over.” Ben glides down the hallway gesturing to rooms with practiced ease, looking every bit the ruler he comes across as on TV.

He is obviously calmer now with Uma gone, Carlos had practically watched the tension drain out of Ben when Lonnie had suggested taking the girls to their dorms while Ben showed the boys theirs—and honestly, nobody can blame the poor guy, Uma just has that effect on people. Unfortunately for Ben neither him nor Lonnie accounted for Harry Hook.

“No fair,” Harry dramatically pouts causing Ben to turn back to look at the three of them, apprehension already evident on his face. “Why does the puppy get his own room?”

Harry grabs Carlos by the back of the neck and drags him to the front as if to show Ben exactly who he’s talking about. No amount of hitting his arm makes Harry loosen his death grip so Carlos settles for scowling until Harry gets his answer. Beelzebub, sensing Carlos’ tension, decides to make her presence known with a loud, exasperated yowl.

“Are you okay, Carlos?” Ben’s voice carries true concern, a sentiment that deeply bothers Carlos but before he is able to answer Ben’s dumbass question Harry interjects.

“Ah, ta lad is fine, jus' a lil light teasing and an upset stomach is all.” Carlos is begrudgingly grateful for the lie that Harry told for him but his gratefulness is short-lived as Harry shakes him a by the neck as if that is going to prove his point. “Ain’t that right, pup?”

“I’m fine.” Carlos’s words carry so much venom in them he’s pretty sure he sees the king flinch away from him slightly but he doesn’t care enough to tell the boy that the animosity he is displaying isn’t directed at him.

“Right, um, well…” Carlos sighs as Ben starts to lose the ability to speak yet again.

Ben for his part is quicker on the uptake this time and rapidly rights himself into his King Stance, the one he always uses on TV, to address Harry.

“Right, well, to answer your question Carlos has his own room because there are only two beds per room and there is an odd amount of you so one of you has to bunk alone. Sorry, that’s just the way it is.” Ben puffs his chest out a fraction causing Harry to narrow his eyes at the challenge.

“Well, ya see here yar highness, my good lad Gil snores quite loudly in his sleep so I think it’d be best fer the all of us if Carlos and I bunked together. Gil can have the spare.” Harry flashes all his teeth in what is supposed to be a smile but comes across more like a wolf baring its teeth.

“I don’t snore,” Gil pouts at Harry.

“How would ya know Gil, yar asleep when it happens?”

“Oh…”

Ben looks at the three of them as if they are a difficult puzzle he is desperately trying to solve and honestly Carlos can’t help but feel as if he is in the same boat.

“No, I’m sorry it’s against school policy to simply trade rooms with other people. You’ll have to submit an official Dormitory Transference Form with the school administration.” Ben has gained back all his confidence and Carlos is starting to see the king that he tries so hard to be shine through.

Harry looks at him as if he is speaking another language, face twisted in irritated befuddlement, and Carlos revels in it. Carlos also uses this opportunity to sneak past his two companions to where Ben is standing outside his door.

“This one’s mine, right?” Ben gives him a small nod accompanied by an irritatingly nice smile.

“Okay, if there’s nothing else I’ll just be getting a jumpstart on settling in.”

Ben nods again before handing Carlos a piece of paper explaining “This is your class schedule,” and Carlos mumbling back a hurried “Thanks”.

The last thing he hears before he shuts his door is Harry mumbling, “Now wait a goddamn minute.”

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

“We could turn Mal’s hair seaweed green… or give Jay a mohawk… or, or make Evie bald!”

Uma huffs from where she lays sprawled out on her bed, leg reaching out to kick Gil in the back of the head.

“Think bigger Gil!”

Harry looks over at Gil from his position on a chair, legs annoyingly propped on Carlos’ back but he supposes he asked for it when he decided to lay on the floor.

“Gil, lad, why do all yer plans involve hair?”

Gil shifts on the floor, a small frown on his face. “I dunno, they all seem to strongly identify with their hair.”

“Mal don’t identify wit her locks enough to not bleach ta shit of them,” Harry mumbles causing Carlos to chuckle on the floor. He stopped fully paying attention a half hour ago when they started this stupid discussion but even he has to admit that was funny.

“Enough talk about hair!” Uma fumes, sitting up on her bed and glaring at the three of them. Dizzy glances up from her new phone, taking one earbud out to look at them.

“Did I say you could participate in this conversation,” Uma snarkily questions, not even glancing in Dizzy’s direction. Dizzy immediately crams the earbud back in with a squeak and turns over on her bed to face away from the rest of them.

“That’s better. Now,” Uma swings her legs over the bed and paces over to her desk where a bunch of papers are laid out, “all of you dimwits are thinking too small. We are not here to play petty pranks on a bunch of cockroaches from our past, I’m not interested in mere revenge.” Uma makes a point of stopping in front of Carlos, her boot almost crushing the wires on the project he is currently working on.

Carlos sighs and looks up at Uma, “So, what’s the plan?”

The smile she gives him would make most people’s hearts wither up and die but Carlos has become accustomed to her strange ways so he just returns the show of teeth.

“I’m glad someone finally asked.” Uma continues her pacing, which is never a good sign but Carlos supposes with Uma there are no good signs. “We’re going to steal the wand.”

“Wha-at?”

“I love the way you think, Captain!”

“What’s a wand?”

Uma smiles as she continues her pacing, to the desk, by the bed, past Carlos, to the door, and back again. Carlos would almost appreciate the rhythmic repetitiveness of it if it weren’t for the bomb she just dropped on them.

“Okay, okay no.” Carlos shoves Harry’s offending legs off of his back in order to push himself off the floor, making direct eye contact with Uma. “That’s insane Uma, even for you!”

Uma’s lips just curl into a bigger smile, taking Carlos’ words as a compliment instead of the blatant insult that they are meant to be.

“We, we don’t even know where the wand is! And even if we did there is no way that Auradon is going to let a ragtag group of villainous children get their hands on it a second time!” Carlos splutters trying and failing, to defuse the situation.

“A second time?” Gil questions, getting up to rejoin the conversation.

“Yes, Gil, a second time .” Uma’s smile hasn’t gone away, in fact, it has intensified which is cause for much concern. “You see Mal and her little gang tried to get the wand themselves when they came over, even succeeded in doing so, but then instead of following through with their plan like any true villain would do they gave up, chose good. Which leads us to where we are today, with those three goodie-goodies playing the role of reformed villains. Enter the four of us as the real villains, the ones who will succeed in our plan for the wand.”

“And what exactly do you plan on doing with the wand if we obtain it? Letting out all the people of the Isle? Mass destruction of Auradon? Overthrowing the throne?” Carlos has become a tad hysterical as he questions Uma, he has finally found a real home and he’s not about to let it all go to shit for a half-assed plan of world domination.

Uma steps closer to Carlos until she’s chest to chest with him, making Carlos distantly thankful for the growth spurt that made him taller than her, eyes expressing a myriad of bad emotions.

“Releasing the entire Isle, overthrowing the throne, mass destruction of Auradon; that was all Mal’s plan. I’m not that stupid. When I get the wand, and trust me I will get that wand, I will release all the people that we left behind in that hellhole.” Uma arches an eyebrow at Carlos causing his heart rate to soar, he nods shakily eyes unable to leave hers.

She spins and paces back to the desk to examine the papers laid out, leaving Carlos looking at the floor like a chastised child.

“Oh and Carlos.” His head whips up to look at her but she still has her back turned to him. “Don’t you ever mistake me for her again.”

Chapter Text

Carlos wakes with a start, a scream caught in his throat as the images from his nightmare fade into the darkness.

He jerkily glances around taking in his surroundings as he tries to calm his breathing and he quickly realizes that he is not in his room. The place he is in is shrouded in darkness and he can’t figure out if he passed out in Gil’s room again or possibly a back alley.

The floor he is on is hard and he has to untangle himself from the blanket that has managed to nearly suffocate him in his sleep.

He stumbles in the darkness looking for something familiar but wherever he is he’s certain he has never been here before. He finds a bed and his heart drops as the realization that he went home with someone hits him. As he carefully and quietly feels around some more in the dark he is confused by how soft everything around him is, whoever’s house he is in is rich… which could be good or very, very bad.

He makes his way to what he hopes is the window and throws back the ornate drapes. The sun has yet to rise but Carlos can still make out miles of lush green grass and perfectly manicured gardens.

Carlos briskly shuts the drapes and turns around to glance around the room again, truly taking it in now that his brain has fully woken up and he has shaken off his nightmare-induced anxiety. He takes a deep breath as he slumps to the floor, finally realizing where he is.

Of all the places he has randomly woke up in, he’s glad it is finally somewhere he feels relatively safe.

Carlos rubs the sleep out of his eyes as he reaches over to check the time on his new phone, and it doesn’t go unnoticed by him how attached to the damn thing he already is. He rubs his face again as he reads 4:30 and decides he might as well stay awake since he usually wakes up around this time anyway.

A muffled yowl to his right startles Carlos and he slowly gets up and moves away from the noise. Another yowl emits from the drapes that spill onto the floor and Carlos grabs a book, wielding it above his head ready to strike as the drapes rustle some more with movement.

A big, furry thing springs out from behind the drapes and Carlos nearly throws the book right at it but before he can it trots over to him, affectionately rubbing against his leg. Carlos sighs and lets the book fall onto his bed as he sits back down to let Beelzebub climb into his lap.

Beelzebub contently purrs as Carlos strokes her, stretching out and yawning across his lap.

“You scared me, buddy,” he tells her. She looks up at him with pondering eyes and lets out a loud meow in return.

After a while, Carlos’s arm gets tired of the repetitive motion and Beelzebub lets out a mournful yowl as Carlos moves to get up.

“I gotta shower buddy, you can’t join me.”

Beelzebub meows loudly in protest, getting up to follow Carlos in defiance.

Carlos moves around his room in the dark with practiced quietness, already having mentally mapped out which floorboards squeak; Beelzebub pads after him with the same hushed movements. Beelzebub is thoroughly perturbed when Carlos makes his way to the bathroom and promptly shuts the door right in her face. She retaliates by dragging his pillow under his bed.

Carlos spends the next twenty-three minutes figuring out how a shower works before finally finding out what clean, hot water feels like.

He loses all sense of time as the hot water sprays against his back and he feels the tension drain out of his muscles for the first time since… forever. When he finally gets out of the shower the bathroom is full of what Carlos at first thinks is smoke but he quickly realizes is steam; it pours out into his dorm room and swirls around in hypnotizing patterns as it catches the light of the rising sun.

Carlos wanders over to the window, mesmerized by the rising sun as it paints the landscape below with light. The sunrises on the Isle never truly broke through the heavy clouds that consistently surround the Isle with their gloom and darkness. The sunrise in Auradon is different in every way; it slowly comes up and Carlos watches in awe as the world wakes up with it.

“Are ya always this sappy in ta mornin’?”

Carlos nearly jumps out of his skin as he spins around on none other than Harry Hook lounging on his spare bed. Carlos scrambles to throw on a shirt and a pair of boxers, uncomfortable with being in just a towel around Harry in any capacity.

“When did you come in?” Carlos hides behind his bed as he changes, much to Harry’s satisfaction.

“While ya were using all ta hot water in the building fer yar shower, love,” Harry purrs, sprawling out across the spare bed, “guess you were a little distracted by ta sunrise huh pup?”

Carlos manages a glare as he shrugs into his jacket and pulls on his pants, although it does nothing to diminish the smug look that seems permanently stuck on Harry’s stupid face.

“Why are you here Harry,” Carlos huffs, leaning over to tie his shoes and batting Harry’s roaming hands off his ass in the process.

Harry sighs noisily behind him and he finds himself fighting the urge to punch him in his happy place.

“Well since ya asked so nicely pup,” Harry murmurs in his ear, moving to grab his hips and pull him closer, “Uma wants us all ta meet her and discuss our plans fer ta wand.”

Carlos pushes Harry off himself and strides over to the door, grabbing his bag on the way.

“Then what are we waiting for?”

With that he leaves the room, Harry prowling after him grin in full force.

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

“And I’ll remind you again, we don’t even know where the wand is!”

If looks could kill Carlos would be dead.

“Have you not been paying attention at all for the last hour, pup?”

Carlos glances up from his machine, making brief eye contact with Uma, “No, actually, I haven’t.”

“Honestly, why do we keep ta runt around anymore?”

“Cause he’s smarter than the rest of us combined?”

Carlos smiles smugly at Harry, “Thanks Gil.”

“Welcome ‘los!”

Uma huffs as she moves to sit in a chair, exasperation evident on her face. “Why couldn’t they have sent me over here with some people who aren’t brain dead?”

“Hey,” Harry shouts offended, sad puppy eyes staring at Uma.

Uma doesn’t give an inch, eyes boring into Harry who continues to pout at her.

“You all are bickering like a bunch of children instead of helping me plan!”

Harry looks personally offended by Uma’s words as if she isn’t telling the truth.

“I wasn’t actin' like a child,” Harry pouts dramatically, foot scuffing the floor as he sulks.

“No more pouting,” Uma snaps, drawing the attention of all three boys.

“Now, I’ll go over this one last time, so pay attention!”

Carlos sits up straighter, eyes actually leaving his contraption for the first time this morning, begrudgingly paying attention. Harry stops pouting, which is a miracle in itself, eyes devoutly on Uma. Gil happily pays attention, seemingly the only one who is actually excited about this plan.

“As Carlos has oh so helpfully reminded us, we don’t know where the wand is, so that is step one.”

Carlos glances over at Gil and notices him scratching away on a notepad, tongue sticking out the side of his mouth and determination on his face.

“Are you taking notes,” Carlos whispers dumbfounded.

Gil glances his way, “Could be a quiz on this later, you never know with Uma, ‘los.”

Carlos holds in a laugh as he looks back up to where Uma is pacing in front of the desk, reminding Carlos of some kind of military leader preparing for battle.

“So, as we know the wand used to reside in the Museum of Cultural History before those dumbasses decided to steal it or should I say attempted to steal it?” Smugness radiates from Uma as she proudly recounts Mal’s failure at retrieving the wand and Carlos can’t help but roll his eyes.

“Since then it’s been moved to who knows where?”

“Oh, oh, the Fairy Godmother! She’s who knows!” Gil proudly exclaims.

“That was rhetorical Gil,” Uma chastises causing Gil to pout as he morosely looks at his notes.

Carlos leans over to Gil, glancing at his notes before whispering in his ear.

“You got it right, buddy.”

Gil beams at him in response, showing all his teeth, eyes filled with happiness.

“Thanks ‘los.”

“If you guys are finished,” Uma’s irritation has seemed to reach its peak but Carlos being Carlos wants to see if he can push her just a little further.

“Actually,” Carlos starts flopping across Gil’s lap, “I wanted to talk to Gil about his hair care regimen because I’m loving what he’s doing with these golden locks.”

“Fish juice,” Gil states proudly, looking down at Carlos.

“Ew, seriously?”

“Mhmm. Just a little bit; gets your hair real glossy but you’ll have to figure out how to get off the smell yourself cause I haven’t gotten that far yet.”

“If you two are done!” This time Uma leaves no room for question and Carlos gives in, moving to get out of Gil’s lap.

“Okay, so the Fairy Godmother most likely has the wand. So how do you plan on learning exactly where she moved it to?”

“If you would shut up for two seconds puppy, I’m getting to that.”

Carlos mimes zipping his mouth shut, mouth curling into a slight smile despite Uma’s death glare.

“Harry and I obviously intimidate our little king so we’ll use that to our advantage.” Harry smiles ferally at this, obviously pleased with his contribution.

“Gil, you’re good at playing dumb and getting people to say things in front of you, use that.” Gil nods along, still taking notes.

“Finally, puppy, you’re cute and unassuming which makes adults instantly trust you. I want you to use that to your advantage, manipulate them into giving away anything and everything.”

“Yeah, I’ll just go right up to Fairy Godmother and be like ‘hey, so look at my cute lil freckles. Also since we’re on the topic of cute things, I was just wondering, where’s that famous wand at’ and she’ll melt and tell me everything.” Carlos rolls his eyes for what must be the hundredth time today and it’s only seven-thirty.

“Perfect,” Uma exclaims cheerily, “then we all know what we are supposed to be doing. Now, once we have the location of the wand we’ll move on to phase two.”

Uma shuffles some papers around on the table searching for a specific drawing when the door suddenly opens.

The four villains swivel their heads in unison, peering at the door with suspicion and faint concern. Dizzy meekly pokes her head into the room taking in their expressions before entering and quietly shutting the door behind her.

She is balancing three trays of varying foods in her hands and looks as if she is about to drop it all. Before Dizzy and the trays can topple to the ground Gil and Carlos hop up to help her with them, carrying them to the desk under Uma’s scornful gaze.

“Did I say you could come back?”

Dizzy shrinks back under Uma’s sharp tone and gaze. Dizzy splutters to answer but before she can get anything out, Carlos steps in front of her.

“Leave her alone.”

“Aww, would ya look at that? Ta runt is comin ta her defense, how cute!”

“Shut up, Harry.”

Everybody stares at Gil in utter befuddlement, not believing what just came out of his mouth. Judging by the look on Gil’s face, he didn’t expect it either.

“Did I say that out loud?”

Carlos slowly nods and Gil flushes bright red as he turns to look at Harry, opening his mouth to apologize.

“Look who finally grew a pair! I’m proud of ya lad.” Harry pulls Gil into a tight side-hug and ruffles his hair good-heartedly. Gil looks a mixed of relieved and shocked, mouth hesitantly pulling into a smile.

A loud bell suddenly rings through the building causing the five villains to startle, glancing around the room for the source.

“Is that the school bell?”

“This place has a school bell ?”

“Apparently.”

Carlos huffs reaching for some kind of biscuit off the food tray, “This place is weird as shit,” he mumbles crumbs falling out of his mouth in the process.

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Carlos wanders down the seemingly endless maze of halls and corridors that Auradon Prep is comprised of. He comes to yet another four-way intersection and at this point, it’s a coin toss that decides if he goes left, right, or straight. He glances down the three hallways attempting to deduce which one will lead him to the cafeteria.

Third period had just ended and Carlos was attempting to find where the food was at but somewhere between second and third period he had lost his map of the school. The campus is large enough that there should be maps posted at every intersection but obviously no one had given this building structure much forethought at all.

All the perfectly pink princesses and pretentiously proper princes that pass him in the hall seem to know exactly where they’re going, years of practice on their side as they navigate the halls with calculated ease. Of course he could ask one of these bozos where the cafeteria is but that would require actually communicating with one of them and Carlos had spent the whole morning tactfully avoiding just that. And he was very successful, thank you very much.

Ben wasn’t kidding when he had told Carlos and the rest of his group that their arrival hadn’t been announced like the last time. Nobody in the halls or in his classes seemed to notice him or pay him any attention at all, which was a huge relief if he was being honest. Even though Carlos stuck out like a sore thumb thanks to his abnormal hair and distinctive fashion sense nobody so much as gave him a second glance, Carlos accredited this to his unique ability to blend into any environment--a skill he had perfected living with Cruella.

He was also relieved to only have one close encounter with one of his former friends Evie in his second period Chemistry class; he had practically dove into the back row of desks when he spotted her but she was distracted by a scrawny guy wearing glasses. The rest of his classes so far were villain free—thank evil—and he hadn’t seen nor heard from any of them since this morning. Carlos hoped to keep up this streak for the rest of the day but he figured one of his classes would line up with someone he knew sooner or later.

Carlos takes another left, frustration beginning to creep up on him as he gets more lost. He’s about to swallow his damn pride and anxiety and approach one of these bubbly Auradonians when he is swiftly grabbed from behind, his scream of surprise muffled by a gloved hand.

Carlos throws his elbow back forcefully but his perpetrator is quicker, shifting him out of reach just in time. He angrily chomps down at the hand that is still firmly placed over his mouth and is rewarded by a small groan of pain in his ear. Although instead of dropping him his attacker swings him around and unceremoniously slings him over his shoulder and Carlos is met with the unfortunately familiar sight of Harry Hook’s backside.

“Harry, what the fuck are you doing? Put me down, people are going to stare!” Carlos struggles in his hold, unsuccessful in his attempts he gives up and hangs there blood rapidly rushing to his head.  

“Now why would I do tha?” Harry coos as he roughly repositions Carlos, his shoulder blade now sharply digging into Carlos’ abdomen.

“Besides, I thought ya were a voyeurist.”

Carlos huffs, trying to get more comfortable in Harry’s hold to no avail.

“The word you’re looking for is exhibitionist. Voyeurism is the act of watching, exhibitionism is the displaying.” Carlos doesn’t know why he bothers correcting him at this point, his intelligence is wasted in the company of Harry Hook.

“Potato, tomato, pup. Point is ya like the attention whether yar willing to admit it or not.”

Carlos doesn’t even bother arguing at this point, it would only serve to prove Harry’s statement by drawing more attention to the pair and they already have enough eyes on them as it is. Besides as the saying goes, never argue with someone stupid they’ll drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.

Instead, Carlos asks, “Where are we going, Hook?”

“Uma wanted us to all meet during lunch, evil schemes to plan and whatnot.”

“Of course she does.”

Carlos sighs, getting as comfortable as he can as Harry winds them through the corridors.

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

The bell rings and Carlos doesn’t think he’s ever been happier to hear any other sound in his life; one more class and he’s free. He glances down at his school schedule reading Sixth Period: Remedial Goodness 101~ Room 407.

Logically Carlos knows that this class is going to have all the Isle kids in attendance—most likely only the Isle kids in attendance—but part of him still clings to the naive hope that remedial goodness is a normal Auradonian class.

Using his new map Carlos navigates the halls in record speed and ends up at the door to room 407 with five minutes to spare. He hovers outside the door, ears straining to pick up on the muted conversations going on inside. Before he is able to work up the nerve to go in, he hears heavy footsteps approaching from the opposite hallway.

Gil turns the corner spotting Carlos he breaks into a cheesy grin and approaches happily. Upon seeing the unease in Carlos’s features, he slows his stroll and stops right outside the door next to him.

“Everything okay ‘los?”

“Yeah, I just don’t know if I’m ready to do this.”

“You’re Carlos De vil, you can do anything.”

Carlos smiles at the sincerity in Gil’s words and the earnest smile on his face.

“Together?”

“Together.”

They are the last two to enter the room it seems.

Fairy Godmother is at the front of the classroom organizing her notes, mumbling to herself completely oblivious to the world around her. Carlos quickly spots Dizzy excitedly chattering away to Evie and Mal to the left, Jay barely paying attention as he looks at something on his phone.

Uma and Harry are lowly conversing in the back right, glancing at Mal and the others every now and then. When Uma notices him and Gil she motions them over, sliding their bags out of the way to make room.

Carlos is so focused on Jay and the three girls as he makes his way over to the table that he stumbles over his own feet and falls face first into the ground with a rather loud thump.

Carlos groans as Gil helps him off the floor, rubbing his sore - but thankfully not bloody - nose. As he brushes himself off he notices that all eyes are on him and he wants to shrink back under the immense attention.

“Are you quite alright, young man?” He knew that people here talked kinda different but he didn’t except Fairy Godmother’s voice to be so irritatingly perky.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Carlos mumbles, straightening out his rumpled clothing.

And then he does the stupidest thing he has done since he arrived in Auradon; he looks over at his group of former friends and makes direct eye contact with Jay.

Jay nearly falls out of his chair when he sees him and Carlos takes that as his cue to sit down as quickly as possible. Unfortunately in his haste, he sits right next to Harry and before he can move Gil is in the seat next to him.

“You okay ‘los?”

“Yeah, no, I’m fine.”

The bell rings signaling the start of class and Carlos feels relief flood him as everybody takes a seat. He can still feel the eyes of Jay and the two girls on him but he pushes it to the back of his mind.

“Okay, we’ll begin with some review today as we have some new students joining the class!” Fairy Godmother’s twinkling voice easily carries throughout the room and everybody turns their attention to her as she flits around in front of the chalkboard.

“Oh, before we begin a few ground rules. Young man, no feet on the desks.”

Carlos glances over to his right where Harry has nonchalantly propped his feet up on the table, chair leaned back so far he looks as if he’s about to fall.

“No problem, love,” Harry states as he heavily drops his legs directly into Carlos’s lap.

“Ow,” Carlos hisses at Harry under his breath, only getting a grin of acknowledgment in return. He grumpily shoves the offending feet off him as he hears Uma whisper, “We’re trying to impress them remember?”

Harry gives in with a huffed, “Fine” but still nudges Carlos under the desk with his foot prompting Carlos to elbow him sharply in the ribs, satisfied when that earns him a grunt.

Carlos fails to notice how Evie and Mal are having to hold Jay back from storming over to where he and Harry are bickering, too preoccupied with trying to subtly kick Harry’s chair out from under him.

“Boys, boys, I love all this enthusiasm but I’m gonna encourage you to use that in the Tourney field and not in the classroom.”

Harry and Carlos side-eye each other, befuddlement evident on both their faces.

“Ta hell is a tourney field ?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea.”

Fairy Godmother taps her wooden pointer against the chalkboard, once again gaining the reluctant attention of the group.

“Alright, let’s start with question number one. If someone hands you a crying baby, do you;

A: Curse it? B: Lock it in a tower? C: Give it a bottle? Or D: Carve out its heart?” Fairy Godmother dramatically punctuates each option with vivid animation and Carlos can’t tell if she’s being serious or not.

Uma’s hand shoots up, face serious but Carlos can tell when somebody is up to no good and Uma is barely concealing one of her sinister smiles.

“Yes, Uma,” Fairy Godmother excitedly calls.

Carlos doesn’t miss the way that Mal’s head jerks back to stare at Uma when she’s called on.

“If someone hands me a crying baby, I’ll obviously hand it to Carlos,” Uma proudly states, charming smile pointed right at Carlos.

Harry bursts out laughing with Uma and Carlos can hear Gil trying to suppress laughter on his other side.

“Hey, screw you guys, that happened one time !”

“Nu-uh, it happened twice remember? The second time was when that one guy was f-”

Carlos stomps hard on Gil’s foot effectively cutting off whatever he was going to say but Harry is already staring at Carlos with an intrigued expression in his eyes so Carlos can’t quite count it as a win.

“Sorry,” Gil mumbles apologetically.

“Carlos, dear, we don’t use that kind of language here in Auradon,” Fairy Godmother obliviously chimes in, “and Uma that wasn’t quite right.”

“Ta be fair, Ms. Fairy Godmother ma’am, Carlos was practically runnin’ a daycare back on ta Isle.”

Carlos groans as Uma and Harry continue to snicker at him, and Fairy Godmother continues to be oblivious to the fact that they aren’t being serious. Or at least not one-hundred percent serious.

“Oh, how charitable Carlos, now that’s true Auradonian compassion!”

“Would ya look at that pup, already fittin’ in!”

Carlos faceplants into the table with a dull thud and prays for death to consume him.

“Who else wants to give this a try,” Fairy Godmother kindly questions, directing everybody's attention back to the board.

“Carlos how about you dear?”

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the answer that Fairy Godmother is looking for.

“C: Give it a bottle.”

“Wonderful Carlos, that is correct!”

Carlos slaps on a fake smile to try and match the enthusiasm that Fairy Godmother is radiating from every fiber of her being. When she turns back to the board to ask the next question, Carlos slumps and hopes that the rest of class goes by quickly.

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Carlos watches the hypnotic tick and tock of the clock on the far wall, counting down the seconds until the bell rings and he can be rid of this dreaded classroom. Every second, every tick of the little hand, seems to take an eternity and Carlos feels as if he has been in this room forever.

He had spent the last hour staring at this clock and counting, participating when necessary or when Harry kicked him. He is zoned out thinking about his machine back in his room so when the final bell rings he nearly topples out of his chair.

He makes a mad dash for the door before anyone can stop him and in his haste, he stupidly forgets his backpack. He turns around to go retrieve it from the classroom and runs directly into a wall of abs.

He nearly falls backward onto his ass but is luckily caught by his shirt, two strong arms pulling him up and face-to-face with none other than Jay.

“Thanks,” he mumbles, physically removing Jay’s hands from his shirt.

“Oh, sorry.” Jay blushes when Carlos removes his hands. “I just, I can’t believe you’re really here C.”

“Hey Carlos,” Evie says softly, peeking up from behind Jay, “you forgot this in class.”

Evie steps around Jay to hand Carlos his bag, a smile breaking out on her face as he takes it. Mal comes up behind the two of them, smile matching Jay and Evie’s.

“Hey Carlos, it’s good to see you. Ben said you all were coming over soon but we weren’t sure exactly when and no amount of pestering or bribing him would get him to reveal it.”

Carlos slowly looks from Jay to Evie to Mal, realizing that he is supposed to be saying something back to them but he can’t seem to get his mouth to work.

“Right,” he finally manages, still staring dumbly at the three of them.

It seems to be enough for Jay though because he breaks out into an even bigger grin as soon as the word leaves Carlos’s mouth.

“Oh, dude, I don’t even know what to say to you it’s been so long! I mean, you look so different, like you’ve grown eight inches.”

Carlos nods a little, not bothering to correct Jay.

“You all look different too,” Carlos comments dryly, boot scuffing the floor nervously.

“They sure do look different, don’t ya think lass?”

Carlos feels both relief and panic as Harry, Uma, and Gil come up behind him meeting Mal, Jay, and Evie head-on.

“You know,” Uma starts dramatically polite, “the four of us were just talking about your hair last night Mal! Really love what you’ve done with it, bleach is the new black!”

The trio tense slightly at Uma’s words but Auradon must have had some sort of magic spell on them because they don’t go to blows.

“And I just adore your lil braids shrimpy, so cute!”

Harry holds Uma back as she starts to take a step forward and Carlos is dumbfounded that he is the one to have self-control in this situation.

“Remember ta long game, love,” he whispers in her ear, effectively causing her to calm down and merely glare at Mal instead of punching the condescending look off her face.

Jay reaches out to grab Carlos’s attention but Carlos flinches before he can get anywhere close, ingrained reaction muddling his brain before he realizes that it wasn’t meant as a threat.

“Uh, C, why don’t we go somewhere else and catch up,” Jay inquires, eyes carefully cataloging Harry’s every move.

“No,” Carlos says before he can even think about it.

Uma smiles deliciously behind him causing Mal to glare at her.

“Come on Carlos, you don’t have to hang out with them anymore,” Mal states and damn if that voice doesn’t make Carlos want to go against everything she says.

“No,” Carlos states again, firmer this time, looking Mal directly in the eye.

“What’s gotten into you,” Mal asks, clearly offended.

“I waited,” Carlos spits at them, rapidly losing his indifferent facade.

The trio of reformed villain kids automatically takes a step back from the venomous words that their former friend sends their way.

“I waited,” he repeats voice cracking, “for thirty days. Four weeks. Seventy-two hours. It took me forty-three-thousand-two-hundred minutes to realize that you weren’t coming back for me. It was a naive little child that you left on that forsaken rock, but I am not that same little boy… and I don’t need you anymore.”

With that Carlos spins on his heel and hurries down the corridor before the tears that burn his eyes can fall. The trio is left in stunned shock at the sudden change in Carlos, never having seen this side of him before.

“Harry.” Uma nods towards Carlos’s retreating back, and like the obedient first-mate he is, Harry strides down the hallway to catch up to him.

“Looks like the puppy found new masters,” Uma sneers turning to Mal, delighting in the flash of green she receives for her efforts.

“Don’t call him that,” Mal grinds out, jaw clenched so tight it is a miracle she doesn’t break something.

“Aw, looks like I hit a nerve,” Uma pouts, “sad that the little nerd is no longer yours to control?”

“Carlos isn’t anybody's property Uma!”

It’s Jay who speaks up now, face red and eyes dark, the only thing holding him back being Evie’s tight grasp on his forearm.

“Careful Jay, wouldn’t want to ruin that goody-goody reputation you have.” She pats Jay on the arm, right over Evie’s hand, for good measure.

“I swear to god if you hurt him-”

“Please Mal, the pup is ours now. And I don’t mistreat my things.”

Uma steps into Mal’s face, tucking a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, and whispers.

“I also don’t share, so stay away from me and mine.”

With a feral smirk, she turns and strides down the hall in the same way that Carlos and Harry had gone minutes before.

The three VKs all release a collective breath, deflating now that Uma is out of sight. A small cough has the trio all whipping their heads to the right, noticing that Gil has remained.

Gil glances at them meekly before quietly speaking, “Carlos was in real bad shape when he realized you guys weren’t coming back.”

When nobody replies to him, Gil knowingly nods to himself before departing down the hallway after the rest of his posse.

“What the hell happened to Carlos after we left him?” Jay utters, staring down the hallway.

Nobody answers.

Chapter Text

Carlos looks out at the perfectly manicured lawn before him. The green grass clipped to perfection, the field’s white lines drawn to perfection, pristinely white goals cleaned to perfection.

Everything perfect, 

                              perfect, 

                                         perfect.

It gives Carlos a headache to look at it.

He drops his head into his hands, scrubbing his eyes. He freezes as he feels a presence behind him, relaxes as the familiar footfalls draw closer.

“Aw what’s ta matter pup?” Harry coos obnoxiously as he drops into the bleachers behind Carlos. Warm hands settle gently on Carlos’ shoulders, rubbing soothing circles into the tense muscles found there. 

Carlos hates to admit it but he relaxes into the touch, his headache easing with the gentle movement of Harry’s hands. 

“Feels good,” Carlos mutters, leaning back into Harry without thinking about it. 

Harry hums, letting his hands roam farther down Carlos’s body until his nimble fingers are teasing at the top of his shorts. 

“Aaand there it is,” Carlos sighs heavily, shoving Harry’s hands away and sitting up and away from his warm embrace.

“No, please continue,” Uma drawls, eyeing Carlos and Harry easily from where she’s propped against the fence separating the bleachers from the field. “We were enjoying the show.”

Beside her Gil stands smiling, a slight blush coloring his cheeks. Uma flicks her hair over her shoulder as she beckons Harry with her other hand. Harry happily obliges, hopping down the couple of bleachers that separate them.

Harry wraps himself around Uma once he reaches her, reminding Carlos of an octopus. He sets his dark eyes on Carlos as he licks a strip up Uma’s neck. Carlos rolls his eyes at the lewd gesture receiving a dark laugh from both Uma and Harry. 

“What’s the matter pup? Don’t tell me this pompous place is making you soft already,” Uma says, exaggerating a pout.

“Say that to the guy draped across your back,” Carlos retorts, smile creeping onto his face when Harry gives him an affronted look. 

“Aww there’s the pup we all know and love,” Uma exclaims, pushing Harry off her back as she moves to sit on the first row of bleachers. She straddles the seat sideways, keeping an eye on the bleachers and on the field. 

“I’m not soft at all,” Harry quips, stalking towards Carlos again. 

Carlos catches Uma raising her eyebrow at Harry’s backside out of the corner of his eye, he hides his smile in a fake cough. Harry catches on, throwing a glance over his shoulder at Uma as he continues his advance towards Carlos.

Carlos straightens up as Harry heavily sets his booted foot down dangerously close to Carlos’s lap, leaning over to get in his face.

“Not at all,” Harry repeats in a hushed purr, grabbing Carlos’s hand and setting it gently between his own legs. “Plenty hard.”

“Eww, gross,” Carlos exclaims, shoving Harry backward forcefully enough that he almost topples down the bleachers. 

Below them Uma laughs loudly, delighting in Carlos’s blush and Harry’s momentary clumsiness as he regains his balance. 

“Aww since when do ya shy away from swords, love?” Harry asks sweetly as he positions himself in the bleachers behind Carlos again, trapping Carlos’ shoulders between his legs.

Carlos twists to look up at Harry, gently setting a hand on his knee. “Please Hook, I’ve seen it, you can barely call that thing a toothpick.”

Uma bursts out laughing again and even Gil joins in, snickering under his breath. Harry smiles darkly down at Carlos as he runs his blunt nails through Carlos’s unruly curls. Harry leans forward to nip at Carlos's ear, sending shivers down his spine.

“That’s not what ya said when ya first saw it, lass,” he murmurs gently, caressing Carlos’s hair gently as his hot breath whispers against cold skin.

Carlos is saved from having to come up with a response when people start filing onto the field. The four of them take immediate notice of the way everyone is dressed, bulky uniforms protecting their most vulnerable areas, and hiding their features behind small face cages. Big numbers are displayed across their backs in bright gold lettering. 

“Are we in a gang war?” Gil asks cautiously, shifting closer to Uma as more people file onto the field before them. 

“Please, with those clowns?” Uma sneers, eyeing the bright colors and thin cloth with abhorrence. Despite her calm words, Uma tenses slightly, preparing for anything. 

Harry leans over Carlos’ shoulder to get a better look at the people on the field, face scrunching in confusion at the odd-looking apparel. 

“What good are those sticks? They’re not even sharp. What are they gonna do, whack us ta death?” Harry questions, eyeing the matching sticks everyone is carrying.

“They look more like paddles,” Gil observes, coming to sit next to Uma as they all assess the strange scene.

“They’re too short to be used for effective rowing and the curve of the top is atypical for an oar. Also if you look at the grip on the-”

Carlos is cut off by Harry’s hand over his mouth, which is becoming too common of an occurrence. 

“I would love ta see yar grip on ma oar,” Harry coos, spreading his legs wider around Carlos. 

Carlos pushes Harry’s hand off his mouth, elbow striking him in his thigh.

“Toothpick,” Carlos mutters, earning him a condescending pat on the head.

“In that case, why don’t ya put it in yer mouth an-”

It’s Carlos’ turn to cut Harry off, twisting around quickly to tackle Harry off his seat. Carlos catches him off guard, successfully toppling him off the bleachers. He lands with a dull thud onto the dirt ground. 

Harry is quick to recover, using his low position to catch Carlos’s legs before he can move away. Carlos comes tumbling down onto Harry, who quickly gains the upper hand, expertly moving Carlos’s thin frame until he is pinned to the hard ground beneath them. 

Harry straddles Carlos’ hips and pins his arms above his head with one hand, his hook gently caressing Carlos’ cheek. He looks fondly down at Carlos, slowly rolling his hips once teasingly.

“That’s enough boys,” Uma scolds, moving to lean against the fence and glancing down at them. “We have an audience.”

Harry leans fully over Carlos, planting a soft kiss to his jawline before pushing himself off the ground. Once up he holds out his hook to help Carlos up, smiling cheekily when Carlos bats him away.

Carlos brushes the dirt off himself once he’s up, twisting to reach his back. 

“You missed a spot ‘los,” Gil informs him, hands gently brushing dirt off Carlos’ shoulders.

“Thanks.”

Now standing, Carlos takes in his surroundings. More players have gathered along with a group of girls in bright blue and gold skirts that mimic the player’s uniforms. All the girls are holding strange shiny, frilly spheres with the same gold and blue coloring as seemingly everything else here. 

Everyone snaps to attention when the sharp sound of a whistle cuts through the air. Carlos turns to see a man outfitted in, you guessed it, a gold cap and shirt with a blue vest walking across the field. He walks with an air of authority, one that Carlos finds diminished by the whistle hanging loosely in his mouth and the clipboard at his side. 

The players loosely huddle as the man approaches, piquing Uma’s interest. She hops up to sit precariously on the fence, keeping her distance but observing closely. Harry comes up behind her, leaning over with his arms on either side of Uma, head resting on her shoulder. Carlos and Gil stand off to the side, neither of them in any rush to get closer.

“Beautiful day for practice everyone,” comes the man’s booming voice, easily addressing the big crowd. “I see we have some newcomers, welcome, you can call me Coach Jenkins.”

When no one responds to him Coach Jenkins glances down at his clipboard, rifling through the pages until he finds what he’s looking for. 

“Let’s see… Harry… Gil… and Carlos, is it? I’m excited to see what you guys bring to the game. We had great success from Jay over here, just had to work a little on teamwork.” 

Carlos can’t help but look over at where the coach motions, locking eyes with Jay who gives him a small smile. Dropping his gaze, Carlos rubs nervously at the back of his neck. 

“Do we… have to..?” Gil asks meekly, looking cautiously over all the padded up players casually holding big, wooden sticks.

Coach Jenkins falters as he looks over at Gil, giving him a once over to take in his burly build, he turns befuddled eyes in Ben’s direction.

“Of course no one is forced to play,” Ben states easily, moving around the coach to better address Gil. “While tourney is encouraged as a part of school spirit, you can choose any extracurricular activity for your P.E. credit.”

“Count me out too,” Carlos quickly adds, taking a seat on the front row of bleachers to better make his point. Gil happily follows suit, taking a seat next to Carlos.

“Well, unlike these two scardey cats, I am more than willing to play. Where do I sign up?” Uma asks, grinning deviously.

“You can’t play tourney,” argues one of the tourney players, with golden hair and pale skin, as he looks down his nose at Uma, “you’re a girl.”

Uma smiles at the boy, her teeth showing in a threatening snarl as her eyes dance with a challenging glint. Carlos isn’t surprised when the boy takes a step back. 

“Well, it’s good to see that Auradon isn’t one hundred percent perfect,” Uma comments dryly, watching the boy with careful, considering eyes.

“Excuse me?” Coach Jenkins asks sternly, turning his intense gaze onto Uma. She meets his gaze evenly, unimpressed expression clearly written across her face.

“Oh, I mean no disrespect, sir,” Uma smiles nicely, posture anything but. “It’s just that the Isle grew out of outdated gender roles and inequality so long ago, it’s like we moved to the dark ages coming over here.”

“Every culture is different, for proper intercultural communication, we have to respect these differences even if we don’t necessarily agree with them,” Carlos chimes in, sounding like an Audorian textbook. 

The coach stares at the four of them in shocked silence for a few moments before regaining his composure. He pretends to make some quick notes on his clipboard before clearing his throat and addressing the group again.

“Of course you can try out for the tourney team… Uma,” the coach says, pausing when he gets to her name. “We just don’t want to see anyone get hurt and it can get pretty rough out there.” 

Uma scoffs at the man’s words, and Carlos can barely hold in a laugh, Harry and Gil share a smile as they glance at one another.

“Ya think it gets rough out thar,” Harry questions mockingly, eyeing the coach with amusement. “Try living with a bunch of rapists an’ murderers fer seventeen years an’ then we’ll talk, yeah?”

The color drains from the coach’s face as Harry’s words sink in, the whole atmosphere getting tense. 

“So,” Uma states, hopping down from where she’s perched on the fence, “where do we get suited with one of those ridiculous outfits?” 

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Carlos can feel Evie’s gaze on him, burning a hole in the back of his head. He shifts on the bleachers, trying to find Uma and Harry in the sea of blue and gold fabric. 

His finally spots numbers 89 and 91 amidst the other players who are all huddled up listening to the coach talk. The two of them stand off to the side of the other players, intertwined in one another as they whisper back and forth.

“I wonder what he’s talking to them about for so long” Gil ponders aloud, looking over at the coach and gathered players.

“Probably just going over the rules of the game,” Carlos responds, dropping his gaze when player number eight glances towards the bleachers.

“Rules?” Gil questions, face scrunching in confusion.

Carlos chuckles warmly, looking over at Gil as he continues to gaze questioningly over at the group.

“Yeah buddy, I don’t think they want Uma or Harry running out there wild and hitting everybody with their sticks.”

Gil’s face scrunches up more and he finally tears his gaze away from the field long enough to turn his puzzled eyes onto Carlos. 

“They’re handing out big sticks and they expect people to not hit each other with them? What’s the point then?”

Carlos opens his mouth to answer, shutting it a moment later when he realizes he doesn’t know the answer. He lets his gaze fall onto the players once more, his confusion now matching Gil’s own.

“I don’t know,” he says, which is a first for him. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Carlos and Gil watch from the stands as Uma scores for a third time in a row. Even through the layers of padding, smugness radiates off her as she passes the blond-haired boy who is scowling at her. 

The coach blows the whistle sharply and all the players slowly make their way off the field to the sidelines. Many of them take off their helmets on the way, some of them throwing perturbed glances over their shoulders at Uma.

Uma’s smile is smug when she takes off her helmet, setting it on a bench as she looks for Harry. He starts to stride over to her from the other side of the field, his own grin stretching across his face. 

The coach walks up to Uma from behind, letting out a low whistle of appreciation as he approaches. Carlos watches as Uma starts to turn towards the man at the sound of his approach, skepticism written all over her face as his arm starts to come up and he closes in on her.

Everything moves in slow motion. 

Carlos watches in stunned silence as the coach’s hand lands heavily on Uma’s left shoulder. He picks it up to lightly pat her not once, not twice, but three times. He leaves it there after, gently squeezing her shoulder as he begins to congratulate her, mumbling about her aptitude for the field. What baffles Carlos the most is that he has the audacity to look casual about it too.

Harry moves first, although Gil is close behind him. Carlos sprints down the bleachers and is over the flimsy gate before his mind even catches up to what is going on. 

Uma already has the coach pinned to the ground by the time Harry and Gil make it to her and by the time Carlos gets there he thinks the dude is almost unconscious. Uma has the man’s offending hand so far twisted behind his own backside Carlos will be surprised if it isn’t broken or at least displaced. 

A high pitched shriek catches Carlos off guard and he whips his head to look at the culprit of such an obnoxious noise. The golden-haired tourney player stands off to the side, fanning himself profusely and looking on the verge of passing out. 

Around him, the rest of the team and all the cheerleaders don’t look like they are faring much better. Carlos locks eyes with Jay as he pushes through the crowd, Mal and Evie right behind him. They wear matching faces of shock at the scene laid out before them.

It takes both Harry and Gil to pry Uma off the now unconscious coach. She doesn’t stop kicking as they pull her back, one on each arm. The whole crowd gasps as she spits and curses at the unmoving body.

“Calm down, love,” Harry murmurs to her, embracing her fully in his arms now that she’s a fair distance from the coach.

“People are watching,” Gil points out nervously, glancing around as the crowd draws nearer. 

Most of the tourney players gather around the coach, propping him up and checking for a pulse. Ben instructs the golden-haired boy, Carlos thinks his name is Chad, to go get help. Most of the cheerleaders huddle off to the side, glaring at Uma with fear and disgust in their eyes. 

Jay glances at the coach as he passes him, concern etched into his features, but he keeps moving. He makes eye contact with Carlos as he slowly approaches, looking apprehensive.

“We should go,” Carlos says, turning to make eye contact with Harry. “She needs to calm down and we need to think about our next move.”

Harry nods sharply as he scoops Uma up to carry her tightly, eyeing the still unconscious coach. Harry ducks behind the bleachers heading off the field with a still struggling Uma in his arms. 

Carlos grabs Gil’s arm as he follows quickly behind Harry, ignoring Jay as he reaches for him when they pass. 

“Shouldn’t we help…” Gil questions nervously, glancing back to the anxious crowd behind them. No one seems to have noticed their quick exit, everybody too focused on the man laid out on the grass. Carlos doesn’t have to look back to know that Jay is watching them leave, watching him leave. 

“No,” Carlos answers, sounding more sure of himself than he actually is. “We’ll only make things worse than they already are.”

Gil lets himself be lead, apprehensively looking over his shoulder every few steps, and the three of them quickly put as much distance between themselves and the field as possible. 

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Jay watches Carlos’s retreating back, waiting for him to turn around and look at Jay but he never does. Gil, however, glances back, locking eyes with Jay and giving him a nervous smile before he is pulled out of sight by Carlos. Jay sighs heavily turning back to focus on the commotion going on behind him. 

The coach has been laid out on the bleachers, his head propped up with a bunched up jacket. Most of the tourney players are anxiously huddled around him, talking in panic laced voices. Chad has disappeared from the field, hopefully on his way to find Fairy Godmother, but Jay half suspects that he’s passed out in a hallway somewhere.

Evie is talking in hushed tones to the cheerleaders, most of whom look about ready to faint themselves. Mal stands off to the other side, talking brusquely with Ben. Jay makes eye contact with Evie as he approaches, nodding his head towards Mal. They share a knowing look, Evie nodding her head before turning back towards the cheerleaders. 

“Hey,” Jay says as he comes up behind Mal. Her face is pinched in clear displeasure and her eyes have a subtle green tint to them. She relaxes minimally when she turns to see Jay, her shoulders slumping in exhaustion.

“Well, this is a mess,” Jay tries, smirking slightly to try and ease the tense atmosphere. 

Mal glares at him, punching him gently on the shoulder, before turning her gaze back to Ben.

“I warned you this would happen,” Mal informs him evenly, “I told you that Uma was trouble, Ben.”

“You drugged me when you first came over,” Ben points out, grimacing when Mal shoots him a betrayed and offended look.

“Look, look, what I mean to say is that we all have room to grow… and, and change,” Ben quickly backtracks. “Uma just needs some time…”

“Like all of us did,” Evie adds, wrapping her arms around Mal from behind. 

Mal bats Evie’s hand away when she goes to tuck a stray strand of purple hair behind her ear. Evie flicks her ear in retaliation, kissing it gently as Mal struggles in her hold. 

“We all took time, M,” Evie whispers, lightly arranging Mal’s hair, “think about what it felt like when we first got here. Think about how scared we were.” 

Mal scoffs at the notion, messing up her hair as she shakes it out in her irritation. Evie instantly reaches out to smooth it back again.

“I wasn’t scared,” Mal argues vehemently, Evie dramatically pouts at her mockingly. “I wasn’t.”

“Well, I was,” Jay admits, glancing over to the bleachers to avoid Mal’s surprised staring. “I mean scared isn’t the word I would use… but yeah, apprehensive maybe. I mean I was… tense about, well everything. I didn’t think we’d get to stay after the whole wand thing and even before that I didn’t know what to say or where to go or how to act.”

Jay sighs as he trails off weakly, finally letting himself make tentative eye contact with Mal. She looks a little heartbroken at Jay’s words, but she quickly shakes the emotion from her face as Jay continues to stare at her.

“I didn’t know you felt like that… before,” Mal starts, pausing on the word 'before' until Jay nods, “and I guess I had some similar feelings coming here.”

Evie smiles as she squeezes Mal’s shoulders, kissing her cheek for good measure.

“Alright, alright,” Mal groans, pushing at Evie, “don’t get sappy on me, princess.”

“We should go find them,” Evie says, grabbing for Jay’s hand as she directs them off the field, “see if we can help.”

“Right, help,” Jay sighs, letting himself be drug along behind the girls. “Being good is annoying.”

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Harry stalks heavily from one side of the hallway to the other, squeaking floorboards and scuffing his boots along the way. 

Carlos follows him with his eyes. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and for-

“Can you stop?” Carlos asks quietly, voice resounding in the otherwise tense silence of the room.

Harry stops dead in his tracks, pivoting to fully face Carlos with a befuddled look.

“You’re tracking dirt all over the floor and you’re scuffing your boots…”

Harry rolls his eyes at Carlos’ whispered words, but pulls out a chair and drops heavily into it all the same. He instantly starts drumming his fingers on the chair’s arm, knee anxiously bouncing up and down to the same rhythm of his fingers. 

“She’s been in there a while,” Gil states, looking at the ominously closed door before them. “Think Fairy Godmother is going to punish her?”

Neither of them answers Gil’s question, but all of them ponder the answer in their minds. Carlos knows what punishment means on the Isle, all of them had experienced one form or another over the years, but none of them know what to expect from Auradonian punishment.

Carlos wonders if magic will be involved, and that adds another layer to the unknown. There’s no telling what a magic punishment would be like. How much it could hurt, how long it could last, how it could affect you in the long term.

His mind swims with all the possibilities, all the unknowns. His brain starts to hurt with all the unknowns, so he focuses on what’s before him.

It’s a set of heavy, wooden doors, Carlos thinks it’s oak, that separates Uma from the three of them. He counts four knots, three nicks, and seven scratches in the otherwise perfect wooden doors. Four knots, three nicks, seven scratches. Four, three, seven. Four, three, seven.

“Ta hell does that mean?” 

Harry’s voice booms loudly through the corridor pulling Carlos from his thoughts. He pulls his gaze from the imposing wooden doors to glance sideways at Harry.

“What?” He mumbles, meeting Harry’s heated gaze.

“Four three seven,” Harry grumbles, glancing back at the door to make sure it hasn’t gone anywhere in the absence of his intense gaze.

“Was I saying that out loud?” Carlos questions uneasily, fidgeting with a loose thread on his shirt.

“No lass, I suddenly have ta power ta read minds.”

Multiple heavy footfalls are heard approaching from down the hall and the three boys jump to attention. Harry pushes Gil behind him as he draws his hook, Gil turns and guides Carlos behind him as he squares his shoulders and plants his feet. Carlos scrambles and grabs the vase on the table next to him, dumping the flowers and water and wielding it above his head.

“It’s good to see things don’t change,” comes an all too familiar drawl.

Carlos gets on his tippy toes to peek around Gil’s shoulder spotting a head of purple followed by blue and then… 

Oh fuck, he made eye contact with Jay again.

Carlos ducks back behind Gil, lowering the vase in his hands as he looks around anxiously. He sets the vase back on the side table as he subtly kicks the flowers under the chair. He runs his hands through his hair and straightens his clothes before moving around Gil to stand next to Harry. 

“What are ya doin’ here?” Harry bites out, hook still held up menacingly. He glares as Mal, Evie, and Jay approach.

Mal scoffs as Harry points his hook at them accusingly, with a flick of her wrist the hook flies off his hand and down the hall away from them. Harry watches it go, eyes huge with shock. 

“Go fetch,” Harry commands, shoving Carlos in the general direction of the hook. 

Jay starts to lunge forward, stopped only by Evie and Mal grabbing an arm each. 

“He’s not a damn dog, Hook,” Jay growls, getting in Harry’s face. Harry smiles devilishly in turn, showing all his teeth.

Carlos starts down the hall, heading for the damned hook, thankful to have a reason to walk away from all the crazy people.

“Carlos,” Mal calls after him, voice stern, “you don’t have to listen to him. He can retrieve his own precious, little hook.”

Carlos doesn’t falter in his steps towards the hook, perhaps he even speeds up a little. Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three and he’s there. He bends down to pick it up, rubbing his thumb over the smooth metal that’s taunted him countless times. 

He stands back up to find all eyes on him, Harry giving him a pleased smile before turning back towards Mal.

“Good dog,” Harry praises loudly, chuckling darkly when Mal’s face pinches at his words.

Carlos calmly walks over to the large, French windows that line the hallway giving one a gentle push to open it. He holds his hand out the window, letting the hook hang by a single extended finger.

“Hey Harry,” Carlos calls, interrupting the argument Harry and Jay seem to be having, “fetch.”

With that Carlos lets the hook fall from his finger, flipping Harry off with his other hand before turning and walking away. He’s gone by the time Harry charges down the hall, jumping face-first through the second-story window.  

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

“There’s only so many places he could have gone,” Evie reasons, high heels clicking as she hurries to keep up with Jay and Mal. “This way is a dead end.”

“Hook is lucky he jumped out that window,” Jay growls, pausing to throw open another door. He huffs when it turns up empty, shutting with enough force to shake the paintings on the wall. He quickens his pace as he moves onto the next. 

Mal mirrors his movements on the other side of the hallway. Open, look, shut, walk, repeat. Evie strides down the middle of the hallway, trying to keep pace with their somewhat frantic searching.

“Maybe he wants to be left alone,” Evie reasons, trying to gain their attention. 

Jay pauses in his search, gently shutting the door he had just opened.

“I thought alone was the whole problem,” he says, hand rubbing at his temples as he sags against the wall.

Across from them, Mal pauses too, looking from Jay to Evie. 

“Don’t be stupid Jay, Evie’s right.” 

Jay lets out a long sigh, running his hands through his hair as he peeks up at them.

“C always wanted to be left alone with his thoughts after any kind of confrontation…”

Both girls nod, resting against the wall next to Jay. Evie reaches out for Jay’s hand, bending down to give his knuckles a gentle kiss. 

“He’s probably overthinking things right now,” Jay continues morosely, squeezing Evie’s hand.

“Running all the statistics in that big brain of his,” Mal adds, cuddling up to Evie’s other side in a rare show of vulnerability. 

“That’s our Carlos,” Evie smiles, squeezing both of them closer to her.

The three of them stand against the wall in tired silence until the sound of muttered curses carries through the hallway.

“Fuck, shit… did I already come this way or did I…”

The voice trails off as it draws closer and Jay looks up to the beautiful sight of white, black, and red.

“Carlos!” He exclaims excitedly, pushing off the wall to greet him. Carlos hovers awkwardly, looking half-ready to bolt.

“This place is a fucking maze,” Carlos states plainly, looking at a spot over Jay’s shoulder.

Jay stands there stupidly, taking in every detail of the boy before him. From the sharp cut of his jaw down to the holes in his boots. Jay counts every freckle on his face and stares in awe of how the sun bleeding in from the window makes his white curls glow angelically. He gets lost in chocolate brown eyes that have always glinted with mischief. 

“You should have seen us our first week here,” Evie says softly, coming up behind Jay and pulling him from his thoughts. “We didn’t know how to get anywhere. I think Mal even ended up in Fairy Godmother’s private bathroom once.”

Carlos nods numbly, looking past the three of them. He sways unevenly on his feet like he wants to move closer but won’t allow himself to. 

“Yeah, um, I should get going,” Carlos tells the floor, moving slowly around the trio as he tries to walk past them and down the hall.

“Wait Carlos,” Mal almost shouts, arm shooting out to grab his arm. “We can help you find your way around… if, if you want help.”

“No, I’m um, I’m good,” Carlos replies, shaking off Mal’s hand as he backs away from them. “I should go check on Uma, make sure she’s okay… they’re probably wondering where I am.”

Mal prickles at the sound of her name and Evie subtly moves to rub calming circles on her back.

“You don’t have to hang out with them anymore now that you’re here, you know.”

“I want to hang out with them,” Carlos states, an edge to his tone as he finally makes eye contact with them. “I like Uma, and I’m worried about her after what happened earlier.”

“Carlos! You know that Uma isn’t good, she doesn’t care about you!” Mal pleads.

“Don’t! You don’t get to do that. You don’t care about me either. At least I know where I stand with Uma, we have a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

“Carlos,” Evie tries, “she’s not the kind of person you want to be making deals with.”

“No,” he shouts voice rising, “it’s no longer your place to tell me who I can or can’t hang out with.”

“We’re not trying to tell you who to hang out with ‘los, but you know that hanging around Uma isn’t a smart choice.”

“I thought I was the brains, Jay,” Carlos snarks, losing some of the heat to his words.

A small smile graces Jay's lips as he replies, “Yeah, you’re my brain and I’m your brawn.”

“Not anymore,” Carlos whispers under his breath.

“What?” Jay asks, trying to step closer to Carlos.

Carlos backs away from Jay as he shakes his head, tensing up with anger and resentment. 

“If I’m the brain then let me make my own goddamned decisions. I’m not a child!” Carlos seethes, sprinting down the hallway and out of sight before anybody can react.

Jay stands there frozen with one arm extended into the empty air, dazed expression on his face.

“That’s the second time this week he’s walked away from us in the middle of a conversation,” Mal huffs angrily, glaring at the space Carlos occupied moments ago. 

“Can you really blame him?” Evie replies, sadness coloring her words.

Both Mal and Jay turn to her, matching expressions of bewilderment on their faces.

“We were coming back for him, Evie. We were always going to come back,” Jay insists, sounding as if he is trying to convince himself as much as he is her.

“Put yourself in Carlos’ shoes,” she explains, “Same situation, would you believe that?”

“Evie,” Mal frowns, “what are you trying to say?”

Evie looks at them both mournfully. “Do you think you could survive the Isle for six months alone?”

Mal opens her mouth to argue, closes it after a moment with a heavy sigh. She glances over in the direction Carlos went, her anger now replaced with careful contemplation. 

“What are you thinking?” Evie questions carefully, eyeing Mal closely. “That’s your trouble face.”

Mal pivots to Evie, a smirk curling her lips. She takes Evie’s hand and then reaches around to grab Jay.

“If Carlos doesn’t want to talk… fine. We need to go to the source.”

Jay nods determinedly as he follows Mal, Evie sighs letting Mal and Jay lead the way. 

Chapter Text

The sun has yet to rise and the hallways are shrouded in darkness making Mal and Jay look like shadows as they move quickly in front of her. Evie fiddles with her hair anxiously, feeling panicked at the lack of product in it. 

Mal had awoken at four o’clock sharp, pacing their room none too quietly until her heavy footfalls caused a disgruntled Evie to be torn from her precious beauty sleep. Evie had been able to convince Mal back into bed with soft kisses and hushed words, delighting in the warmth that Mal emitted as Evie wrapped around her back and buried her face in soft, purple hair.

Evie had just started to drift when the creaking of their dorm door caused both girls to bolt upright in bed, bleary eyes turned to the silhouetted figure in their doorway. Jay had a somewhat guilty expression on his face as he quickly entered their room, closing the door softly behind himself. 

“We need to talk about Uma,” Jay had announced, looking as if he hadn’t slept a wink.

Evie had groaned as Mal shoved Evie’s arms off her and stood to meet Jay, a determined look on her face. 

“I was thinking the same thing,” Mal nodded as she searched around in the dark for her boots, slipping them on as she spun around to grab her jacket. Evie had sighed heavily as she watched the two of them move around the dark room in quick, practiced silence.

Evie stretched leisurely as she padded over to her vanity, flicking on the small lamp. She grabbed her hairbrush and brushed her hair in careful, even strokes. 

“No time for that, princess,” Mal said as she pulled Evie from the vanity, shoving a jacket into her arms as she pulled her from the room.

“Mal,” Evie had protested, looking mournfully back at her hairbrush and makeup bag. “I didn’t even put on mascara.”

“And you don’t need it,” Jay insisted as he looped his arm on her other side, gently helping Mal drag Evie along down the hall. 

“It’s an intimidation tactic too, you know?” Evie argued, shoving Mal and Jay off her so she could slip into her jacket. 

Jay huffed a laugh, his white teeth glinting in the moonlight as he smirked. “No amount of makeup will compete with Hook’s eyeliner anyway,” he mumbled, picking up his pace to keep up with Mal. 

They are almost to Uma’s room now and Evie feels her stomach tighten in a way that hasn’t happened since… 

“Which way?” Mal asks, coming to an abrupt stop in front of Evie and spinning on her heel to face her.

Evie shifts from foot to foot as she looks past Mal, not wanting to answer. Dizzy had been so eager as she had dragged Evie through the halls after class on Monday. Dizzy had shown her all around her and Uma’s room, practically vibrating with excitement. 

Mal had wanted to know every detail of Uma’s room as soon as Evie got back. Evie had felt uncomfortable getting in the middle of anything, her mother had always taught her to stay out of conflict. Let the men handle it , rings in her mind as clear as the first day she heard it. Women shouldn’t worry themselves with such things, it’ll give you a rash.

“Hey,” Mal whispers, stroking Evie’s cheek with her thumb in gentle strokes. “We’re in Auradon. She’s not here. I love you.”

Evie breathes deeply as she repeats the three simple phrases in her mind until her heart stops trying to beat out of her chest.

“I love you,” Evie smiles back, squeezing Mal’s hand. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this…”

Mal sighs deeply, cupping Evie’s chin in her warm hand. “You stopped me from going over there last night-”

“Because I’m pretty sure you would have killed her on the spot-”

“-but I’ve had the whole night to sleep on it and with a calm and clear mind and I still need to talk to… Uma.” 

It doesn’t go unnoticed that Mal spits out Uma’s name like a curse.

Evie begrudgingly nods to the left corridor, letting Mal pull her down the poorly lit hallway as she continues her determined strut.  

“They might not even be up yet,” Evie tries, pulling on Mal’s arm, trying to get her to turn around.

“Oh they’re up alright,” Mal states confidently, “they’re still on Isle time.”

Evie slows down as they approach the end of the hall, signaling silently to Mal which room is Uma’s.

Evie watches as Mal pauses outside the double doors, feeling the full weight of what awaits them on the other side. With a steadying breath in and out, Mal nods to herself and throws open the doors leading the three of them inside. 

The first thing Evie spots is little Dizzy, bundled up in a dozen or so blankets and passed out on the twin-sized bed in the back left corner of the room. 

Tucked into the other back corner is an identical bed, although this one is occupied by multiple bodies. Gil, Carlos, and Harry lay crammed onto the small bed all of them entangled with each other creating a mess of limbs. Jay bristles when his eyes land on Hook, who is practically on top of Carlos and Gil. 

Uma sits at the table in the center of the room, eyeing the three of them with a small smirk. Her booted feet are propped up on the table amongst scattered papers and notebooks, large drawings and harsh cursive. 

“I didn’t know Auradon provided housekeeping,” Uma says mildly, letting her feet fall heavily to the floor, “how hospitable of you.”

A groan emits from the back of the room as the heap of boys shifts, bed frame creaking loudly in protest. Harry stretches across the bed, cracking his back as he lets out a soft yawn. He rubs his eyes as he stretches across the bed to plant a kiss on Gil’s head before doing the same to Carlos. He practically falls off the bed as he reaches for his boots, hopping into them one at a time.

He stops in his tracks as he glances up and spots the three of them standing in the doorway, Jay staring him down. He grins as he saunters across the room to the bathroom door, leaving it open as he relieves himself. 

His eyeliner is thicker when he exits the bathroom, making his eyes look black. He stoops to drop a loud kiss on Uma’s cheek as he passes, he lets his dark eyes sweep over the trio as he settles on the wall behind her. 

The three of them stand in tense silence for several long minutes as the pair of villains stare blankly back at them, waiting. Evie isn’t new to this waiting game, none of them are. They’re all waiting to see who will crack first. 

Evie glances at Mal as she lets out a deep sigh, hand coming to rest on her cocked hip.

“What happened yesterday, on the field, can’t happen again,” Mal states evenly, chin tipping up slightly. 

Uma stares at Mal, eyes roving over her every feature, before eventually responding with the same deadly even tone.

“I agree.”

Mal narrows her eyes imperceptibly at Uma’s words, but when Uma doesn’t continue talking Mal takes a step forward.

“How you acted was inappropriate,” Mal explains coolly, “you are representing the whole Isle and with that kind of behavior the counsel will never let more kids come over.”

“And that’s always at the forefront of your mind,” Uma responds, twirling a pencil in her hand casually.

“Is this about Carlos again?” Jay asks harshly, stepping forward so he is standing next to Mal. 

Uma doesn’t answer, stretching out on her chair as she continues to twirl the pencil around in a hypnotizing pattern. Mal rolls her eyes at the gesture, squaring her stance with an air of confidence. 

“We’re all very grateful that you looked out for Carlos in our absence, but you need to stop controlling him,” Mal says, as nicely as she is capable of… which is to say not that nicely at all. 

Harry laughs darkly, twirling his hook as he glances at Mal from under his lashes. 

“Carlos came to us,” Uma states, “we didn’t hunt him down, we didn’t coerce him, we didn’t choose him. He chose us.”

Uma lets her words sink in for a moment, dropping her pencil onto the table as she leans forward in her chair.

“You left and he had nothing. Nothing but a crazy, controlling mother and a lot of people who saw him as an easy target. What did you expect him to do?”

Mal pales at her words, her voice weaker as she says, “I never thought about it that wa-”

“That’s right,” Uma cuts her off with a mocking edge to her tone. “ You never thought.”

Harry snickers under his breath, leaning back farther against the wall as he happily watches the events unfold. Uma isn’t laughing though, her face is carefully devoid of emotion, hard gaze sweeping over the three of them.

“You didn’t think about anybody but yourself,” Uma states evenly, leaving no room for question.

Mal’s eyes flicker green, her body automatically tensing for a fight. Beside her she feels Jay do the same, even Evie shifts her body into a loose fight stance.

Uma cocks her head to the side assessing, looking indifferent to the sudden change in the room’s atmosphere. Behind her Harry watches Uma, waiting to make his move if she so much as flicks her hand in his direction.

“Don’t act like you’re any different,” Mal spits with anger, her emotions getting the better of her.

Uma smiles then, the first real emotion she has shown since Mal walked in the door. The curve of her lips doesn’t show humor or happiness though, instead a hint of smugness is present.

“I’m not the one who left Carlos behind, left us all behind. You know what that place is like, you know the horrors just as well as I do. And yet you left, moved on. Well, the thing is I didn’t. We,” she gestures over her shoulder to Harry, the boys sleeping on the bed, and Dizzy, “ didn’t .” 

She circles the table with a purposeful stride, never taking her eyes off Mal. She stops within an arm's length of Mal, body loose as she addresses her.

“We were still there, we still had to survive. You were here, in this cushy little place... living it up.”

Uma turns her back to Mal, striding back to her spot on the other side of the table. She stares out the window on the far side of the room, keeping her back to Mal as she asks, “Tell me, did you ever think about him?”

Mal’s brows furrow in confusion, completely thrown off by the question. She glances over her shoulder to Evie who is glancing sadly at the floor and Jay who looks as if he’s about to deck Uma. 

Mal turns back around to find Uma facing her again, her annoyingly blank face gazing down at her. She holds an air of pride from her spot on the other side of the table, looking at the three VKs as if they’re peasants. Uma always did have a way to make people feel small in her presence, too bad it never worked on Mal.

“Of course we thought about Carlos, he’s our friend,” Mal states evenly, letting her body loosen to match Uma’s casual stance. Two can play this game… or five.

“Some friends ya are,” Harry coos sweetly under his breath as he plays with the sharp end of his hook.

“We looked out for him as long as we could,” Mal seethes, angry at having to explain herself to Harry of all people. “We had to leave but we were always coming back for him. We didn’t want to leave him on his own, but we had no other choice.”

“Oh, he wasn’t alone lass. I kept our lil wee pup plenty of company while ya were away,” Harry purrs, swaying his hips slightly as he glances up at them. 

“What did you just say?” Jay growls, lunging forward to shove his forearm against Harry’s neck, effectively slamming him into the wall. The whole room shakes with the movement, paintings shifting and books teetering precariously on their shelves.

Uma rolls her eyes at the two boys as Harry grins sardonically at Jay, neither of them making a move to get out of their position against the wall.

“Yeah, jus like that,” Harry tells him softly, “pin him right up against ma bed. He likes it rough ya know, always beggin me ta-”

Harry is cut off when Jay reels back in anger, fist coming back hard to land a solid punch to Harry’s abdomen. Harry sputters slightly, the wind knocked out of him, he drops his hook and it rolls across the floor.

Harry grabs onto a chair for leverage as he regains his breath. Evie gently pulls Jay back, hands ghosting over his rapidly bruising knuckles. 

Uma continues to stare Mal down as if there is no one else in the room, seemingly indifferent to the chaos that just occurred.

“Harry’s not wrong you know,” Uma drawls, finally glancing over her shoulder at Harry. He flashes her a quick show of teeth, letting her know he’s fine as he props himself back against the wall casually. 

She turns back to find Mal sneering at her, a subtle look of concern flitting across Mal’s features when she glances past Uma to look at Harry.

“He wasn’t alone.”

Mal grits her teeth, unable to come up with a response to that. Harry, having regained his confidence and his hook from the floor, steps forward to drape himself over Uma’s back. He nuzzles her hair and neck as his arms wrap around her midsection.

“He sought us out,” Uma continues, reaching up to gently scratch Harry’s chin. “ He found us, he wanted to be with us, he chose us.” 

Mal trembles and she wishes it was from rage. She can feel her eyes start to itch, liquid pooling in the corners. She turns around before Uma has the satisfaction of seeing her be weak. 

Mal grabs Evie’s hand and drags her out of the room with her, hears Jay follow suit. All it takes is a flick of her finger for the door to slam shut behind the trio. 

She only makes it a few steps down the hallway when the first tear slides down her face, hitting the hardwood floor silently. Mal feels her face get hot as more tears pour out, can feel Evie’s silent sobbing as they clutch to one another.

Jay keeps them moving down the hallway, face stoic but body trembling. He guides them easily through the winding corridors until they make it back to the girls’ dorm. As soon as the door shuts behind them they all sink into Mal’s bed.

No one says a word, but everyone’s minds are racing, bodies tense, and faces wet. They stay lying still and breathing heavily for a long time.

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

A hand in his hair guides him roughly down, his knees slamming into cold concrete. He struggles against the harsh grip, receives an abrupt slap across the face for his efforts.

“No,” he whispers, hands scrabbling against concrete in an attempt to push off the ground cutting himself on glass from a broken bottle. 

He reaches up to the hand still wound tightly in his hair, grabbing futilely at an unmoving arm. Blood drips down his arm as the strong stench of alcohol burns his eyes and blurs his vision.

He tries to back away from the pungent smell that swirls around but hits a solid, broad chest. Two more hands wrap around him from behind, forcing him forward into more grabbing hands.

He writhes in the solid hold of two, four, six arms…

Another set comes from seemingly nowhere, wrapping tightly around his throat in a vise grip. He struggles for air as they encapsulate him, closing in.

Another hand grabs at him and rip his clothes, two more twine and pull his hair, several hold him down, more try to pull him up, shove him this way, tug him that way, keep him in place, rip, twine, hold, pull, shove, tug, keep… 

A scream rips through his throat as hard concrete melts into soft comforters, the suffocating hands disappearing… except for two wrapped tightly around his wrists holding him down.

He tries to blink away the heavy tears that cloud his vision as he kicks out at the unmovable mass above him. He is pushed harder into the unusually soft surface below himself, and he doubles his efforts to break free. 

“Carlos,” comes a familiar voice from above, “stop strugglin’, love.”

Carlos momentarily pauses in his movements, breathing heavily as he tries to focus on the room around him. The first thing he spots is dark eyes, a sight that would usually have him kicking again but these eyes swim with familiar concern.

“Jus a dream, love,” Harry murmurs, releasing his iron grip of Carlos’ wrists to softly wipe the tear tracks from his wet cheeks. “Jus a dream,” he repeats softly as he moves to lay next to Carlos, propping up on his elbow as he stares down at him. 

“Nightmare,” Carlos corrects easily once his erratic breathing has calmed down enough to speak. 

“Thar he is,” Harry exclaims, gently flicking Carlos in the ear. “Same one…?”

Carlos sighs heavily in answer, shoving Harry’s face away when his heavy gaze gets to be too much. Harry stares up at the ceiling as he lays on his back next to Carlos and they both pretend that he doesn’t glance at Carlos out of the corner of his eye every few seconds. 

“…the choking… was new…” Carlos says to the ceiling, fidgeting when Harry glances at him again. He pushes his face, more firmly this time, until his eyes stay on the ceiling.

“Did tha ever happen fer rea-”

“No,” Carlos cuts him off, rubbing his neck subconsciously at the thought. “…you?”

Harry smiles darkly but keeps his eyes obediently on the ceiling, it’s Carlos’ turn to peek over as Harry lets the question hang in the air.

“A couple tried it when I was younger,” he recalls quietly as he plays with his hook, “ya learn who ta avoid real quick.”

Carlos hums in agreement, shuffling closer to the heat radiating off Harry. 

“Hey!” Harry protests, shoving Carlos away with his hooked hand, “yar all sweaty!”

Carlos throws Harry’s hook across the room, draping his arm over Harry’s chest and snuggling even closer.

“You can shower,” Carlos mumbles, sighing at the warmth that envelopes him as he tangles himself up in Harry.

“Ya can’t wash leather,” Harry yelps, attempting to push himself up and off the bed to get away from Carlos. 

“Then take it off,” Carlos whines, releasing Harry long enough for him to quickly wiggle out of the offending material. 

“I like where this is going,” Harry coos, now pantless and grinning. Carlos turns his back to Harry, pulling Harry’s arms until he is wrapped around his back. 

“If you mean back to sleep then so do I.”

“We should go meet up wit Uma and Gil,” Harry argues half-heartedly, making no attempt at moving from his spot behind Carlos. 

“Five more minutes,” Carlos groans, burrowing closer to Harry’s warmth as he lets himself drift. Harry hides his smile in the curls atop Carlos’ head as the younger boy gets situated. Harry waits until Carlos’ breathing evens out to settle down and close his eyes. 

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Carlos is pulled back to consciousness by the sound of a heavy, creaking door. He keeps his eyes shut as he catalogs his surroundings. 

Several booted feet scuff the hardwood floor as they draw nearer and Carlos’ body tenses on instinct. 

“Shh, lass,” Harry breathes into his hair as he holds him a little closer, “jus Uma and Gil.”

Carlos opens his eyes at that, focusing on the screaming pink room around him. Uma shoots him an unimpressed look as Gil stands behind her, offering a sheepish wave. 

“Feeling rested?” Uma drawls, looking from Carlos to Harry with a mildly amused gaze. 

“Yes we are, captain,” Harry purrs as he stretches out across the bed in a show of exaggerated comfort. 

Uma shakes her head with a smile as she pulls out a seat at the table, eyes never leaving the two boys entwined on the bed. 

Carlos lets his eyes wander to the open window, squinting at the harsh light that floods in. He listens to the annoying chirp of the bird that has taken up residence in the tree right outside, his head thrumming in time with its insistent tweeting. 

“Ugh,” Carlos groans, burying his face in his pillow to escape the insufferable noise and brightness of Uma’s room. “What time is it?”

“Noon,” Uma informs him, tone on the edge of derisive.

Carlos shoots upright, nearly knocking Harry clear off the tiny bed. He stares at Uma incredulously for several long moments before rubbing his eyes and checking over his shoulder to where the clock hangs on the wall. Sure enough, the little hand points to the twelve with the big hand three ticks ahead. 

“If you even try and correct me by three minutes,” Uma warns heatedly, not having to finish her sentence to get her point across.

Carlos shoots a grin at her. “Who me?” 

“Don’t push it, De Vil.”

Carlos throws up his hands in surrender, letting himself sink back into the soft mattress as he gives Uma his best innocent look. Uma rolls her eyes, turning to the table behind her as she rummages around for notes.

“I got you out of your morning classes,” Uma informs them as she shifts through stacks of paper, “both of you.”

Harry shoves Carlos out of bed as he gets up, grinning when Carlos lands heavily on the other side of the bed and shoots him a disgruntled look from under the mess of sheets he is entangled in. 

“This is the part where you thank me,” Uma states evenly as they all take a seat around the table. 

“Thank you,” they say in a sarcastic unison, earning them both a smack upside the head.

“You’re welcome,” Uma says, sickly sweet causing all three boys to stare at her uncomfortably.

“What? We need to blend,” Uma instructs matter-of-factly, “and part of that blending is being… nice. How do you think I got out of trouble with Fairy Godmother yesterday?” 

“Someone’s been paying attention in Remedial Goodness,” Harry snarks eliciting a small giggle from Gil. “C: give it a bottle,” he continues, elbowing Carlos. 

Carlos rolls his eyes, shoving Harry’s sharp elbow off himself. Uma slams the book she was rifling through closed, glaring at all of them in turn.

“We all need to be paying attention. This isn’t a vacation. We aren’t here for fun. We need to blend in and we need to gather information. That means not skipping classes, not drawing attention to ourselves. We need to be friendly with the right people and wait for them to put their defenses down.”

The three boys silently nod along, not daring to speak as Uma begins pacing the room in short, purposeful strides. She commands the attention of the room with ease and Carlos can’t help but follow her hypnotizing back and forth pattern as she walks the room. 

“So… what’s the plan, captain?” Gil asks, surprising Carlos by breaking the silence first.

“I’m glad you asked,” Uma says as she comes to a stop in front of them. “After yesterday I realized that Fairy Godmother is not going to give up information as easily as I had predicted. Turns out the old bat might have actually learned from her mistakes with Mal…”

Uma trails off at her own mention of Mal’s name as her gaze wanders to the door, she comes back to herself after a moment and turns back to address the boys. 

“Fairy Godmother has a daughter and from the way she spoke about her, she is an easy mark. She’s insecure, shy, and more than willing to please.”

“Oooo, this should be fun,” Harry exclaims giddily, looking like a kid in a candy shop as he leans forward in his chair with excitement. Uma smiles approvingly at Harry’s excitement. 

“Now, if we’re going to learn anything we need to socialize,” Uma instructs, herding the three of them out the door and into the hallway. “Lunch is over in forty-five minutes, so let’s get a move on.”

Harry happily runs ahead, followed quickly by an equally excited Gil. Uma hangs back, looping her arm with Carlos’ as she murmurs, “And I have a special job for you, pup.”

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

The outdoor cafeteria is spacious, seemingly never-ending green grass is laid out before them. Round tables are scattered throughout the field with small groups of people sharing spreads of finger sandwiches, baby carrots, and cookies. 

Uma strides into the middle of the fray, not a care in the world. She stops at the base of a giant oak tree where a checkered blanket is laid out as if for a picnic. 

She happily sits down against the sturdy trunk of the tree, quickly getting comfortable as she surveys her surroundings. She’s seamless with everything around her, looking as if she belongs there and always has.

Carlos on the other hand now knows how Beelzebub feels when she accidentally falls into the water at the docks, out of his depth and drowning.

Harry pulls Carlos down and practically into his lap before Carlos has a chance to react, face growing hot at the closeness and everybody who can see it. Carlos quickly shoves himself out of Harry’s lap, adjusting his coat as he looks up at the tree. 

Uma’s gaze is on him as soon as they get comfortable, eyeing him expectantly. A lesser man would squirm under her gaze, he thinks. 

“Now?” Carlos practically whines, already knowing the answer before the question is out of his mouth.

“Don’t even start with me,” she states casually, giving him a look that is anything but.

“How I am supposed to get her to reveal her greatest secrets, exactly?” Carlos questions, gaze finding the brunette across the field hunched over a book as she self consciously worries the fabric of her dress in her hand.

“Talk to her, threaten her, flirt with her, I don’t care just gather information.” 

Harry laughs loudly, drawing more than a few looks from the tables surrounding them, as he pulls Carlos tight against his chest.

“Can ya imagine tha,” Harry mocks, ruffling Carlos’s hair, “Carlos flirting!” Harry laughs loudly at his own joke, the only one to find it funny. 

“Well if it works on you, I guess it’ll work on anyone,” Carlos shoots back before thinking better of it, frustrated when Harry just laughs louder at that. 

“Aww, pup, I’m touched truly,” Harry manages to get out between laughs. 

“Nice to see you have a heart.”

“I never said where I was touched,” Harry coos, hand creeping up Carlos’s leg.

Carlos shoves Harry away as he pushes himself off the ground, straightening out his shorts as he stands.

“Watch and learn, Hook.”

Carlos feels Harry’s eyes on his backside as he makes his way across the field, and if he puts a little more sway in his hips that’s nobody's business. 

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

It’s not long before Carlos saunters back over to the group, letting his smugness shine through as he plops down in the grass beside Uma.

“Well…” Uma questions indifferently, barely glancing up at him from the book she is pretending to read. 

“We’ve got a date this Saturday,” Carlos states proudly, looking over his shoulder at Jane to throw her a carefully crafted smile. 

“Good boy,” Uma praises, ruffling Carlos’s hair easily. 

Chapter Text

“Ow,” cries out the lump on Carlos’ bed as he blindly throws his left shoe over his shoulder. He spares a glance as the lump moves under the weight of nearly half his wardrobe. 

“If you don’t want to get hit you shouldn’t be in the firing zone.”

“Ta whole damn room is yar firing zone,” retorts the lump, burrowing further into the heap of clothing strewn across the unused bed. 

“Well then maybe you shouldn’t be in here,” Carlos replies easily as he continues to rifle through the tall, wooden wardrobe.

Beezlebub meows in agreement, glaring at the fidgeting heap that is occupying her normal napping area.

“Please,” says the lump mockingly, “ya need me here, pup.”

Carlos groans, briefly pausing in his movements, regretting the next question before it even passes his lips.

“And why is that?”

A triumphant cry emits from the lump as a hook shoots out of the corner closest to Carlos, nearly piercing him in the thigh. A pair of Carlos’ underwear hangs limply from the hook, skewered precariously on the tip. Carlos quickly snatches them off, kicking them under the bed just in time for Harry to poke his smug face out.

“Hello lass,” Harry grins up at him, dark eyes meeting Carlos’ own. “So you do need me.”

Carlos rolls his eyes at Harry’s dramatics, turning back around to continue digging through the numerous open drawers of his dresser.

“Asking you why I need you doesn’t mean I need you.”

Even with his back to him, Carlos can feel as Harry shifts on the bed before getting off and striding up behind him.

“Ya couldn’t talk ta a girl, let alone look at one if it weren’t for me,” Harry reminds him gently, his words tickling the back of Carlos’ neck.

“So are you going to help me pick something out or what?” Carlos retorts, not stopping in his movements.

“All ya had ta do was ask, love,” Harry murmurs, sickly sweet. He pulls Carlos away from the wardrobe by his wrist and over to the pile of clothes that has been steadily growing for the past two hours. 

Harry wastes no time, finding what he is looking for quickly and holding it up to Carlos’ form with a smile.

The shirt is plain enough, black with a couple of white highlights. The shorts are red leather, tighter than what he would normally wear. 

“I don’t know,” Carlos mumbles, glancing over his shoulder at the deserted dresser, still so full of clothes for him to choose from.

Harry smacks him in the face with the leather shorts, which hurt more than he would have thought but he doesn’t let it show on his face. Instead, he turns back towards Harry with a scowl.

“Trust me,” Harry encourages, shaking the two pieces of clothing at him forcefully.

“Trust yo -”

Harry cuts him off by shoving the clothing into his face until Carlos grabs them with his hands.

“Fine, fine,” Carlos gives in, crossing to the bathroom door.

“I forgot ta princess needed her privacy,” Harry mocks as Carlos closes the door to the bathroom, “wouldn’t want ta ruin yar modesty.” 

Carlos can hear Harry laugh at his own joke, the boisterous laughter muffled by the sturdy wooden door separating them. He quickly strips and changes into the clothes Harry picked out for him before Harry comes in and changes Carlos himself. 

He nearly falls over pulling up the leather shorts, the tight fit feeling unusual on his legs as well as other places. He pulls and tugs at them until they’re comfortably situated everywhere. With a quick glance in the mirror, which he instantly regrets when he makes eye contact with himself, he reluctantly heads back to his dorm room. 

“There,” Carlos states grumpily as he exits the bathroom, “happy?”

Harry sweeps his gaze up and down Carlos’ form, eyes assessing instead of possessive for once. 

“Add this,” Harry says after a moment, nearly hitting Carlos in the face with his jacket.

Carlos easily slips into his own jacket, feeling instantly safer wrapped in the familiar fabric.

“Now do a spin,” Harry instructs, eyes still roaming up and down Carlos.

Carlos begrudgingly turns in a slow circle, feeling Harry’s eyes on him the whole time. When he’s facing forward again he catches Harry nodding to himself. Carlos cocks an eyebrow, waiting for him to say something.

“Perfect,” Harry praises, “those shorts do great things for yar ass, pup.”

Carlos rolls his eyes again, turning to grab his wallet and phone from his nightstand. And what a weird thing that is, to have things to remember to grab before leaving. Well, things besides the knife hidden in his waistband that is. 

“Well, I’m glad someone appreciates my new wardrobe because I don’t think Jane will be staring at my ass much.”

Harry scoffs in turn, following Carlos out of the dorm room and into the hallway. “In those shorts, nobody will be able ta take their eyes off ya, love.”

Harry waits for a beat, thinking something over as he follows Carlos through the halls, grabbing his arm and leading him when he starts down the wrong corridors. 

“Where did ya get new clothes anyway?” Harry asks, pulling Carlos along.

“Oh, um, well… Evie dropped them by my room yesterday. Well, after Remedial Goodness she just stopped by and… clothes…” Carlos trails off, looking anywhere but at Harry.

“Well, I’ll have ta put in an order,” Harry coos, “she obviously knows what she’s doin’.”

Carlos hums his agreement, relaxing when Harry doesn’t question why Carlos was hanging out with her. Although he’s not at all naive enough to think for a second this won’t get back to Uma. At least that gives him time to come up with a better excuse than mumbling “clothes”.

Besides he needs to focus on the task at hand.

“Well this is my stop,” Carlos announces as they reach the library entrance, “I’m sure I’ll be able to find my way back just fine.”

“No need, pup,” Harry happily informs him, slinging an arm around his shoulders as he drags them through the entrance. “Uma wants me ta keep a close eye on this, make sure ya don’ screw up yar big assignment.”

Carlos glances around the library as they pass multiple unoccupied tables, he feels relief flood through him when he doesn’t spot any brunette curls.

“Right,” Carlos agrees as they find a spot to sit by the floor to ceiling windows on the far side of the library, “but don’t you think it will be weird when Jane shows up? I don’t think teenagers are usually accompanied on these sorts of things.” 

Harry scowls as he thinks it over, twirling his hook into the soft wood of the table. Carlos tries not to think about the dent that the hard, metal tip is undoubtedly leaving on the otherwise perfectly polished wood. 

“Alright,” Harry concedes eventually, “I’ll be just over thar,” he motions vaguely to the front of the library, “you won’t even know I’m here.”

Harry grins as he gets up to leave which Carlos returns weakly. He watches as Harry strides to the front of the large room, his knee bouncing with anxiety. He finds a clock on the wall and watches the time slowly tick by. And he waits

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Jay paces the seemingly endless halls of Auradon Prep aimlessly, thoughts racing wild, with no clear destination in mind. His feet end up carrying him to the subject of his thoughts: the library. 

Not that Jay’s mind was endlessly supplying him with troubling thoughts of the library, although that was known to happen on occasion when tests were involved. However this time his mind brought him here because of the only person he knew who loved the library more than just about anywhere else in the world: Carlos.

Back on the Isle, the library was a sanctuary for the young boy. Jay remembers finding him buried in the stacks of mismatched, falling apart books more times than he can count. Carlos would soak in any bit of knowledge he could find from The Fascinating History of Footwear to Proper Sword Etiquette. 

Jay remembers a time when he used to mock Carlos for his weird fascination of books. The way he could get lost in the pages laid out before him, completely unaware of the world around him. Truth was, and is, that Jay wishes he had that ability sometimes. 

Jay shakes the reminiscent thoughts from his head as his feet carry him into the bright, open space that Auradon calls a library. So different from the images that Jay’s mind conjures when he thinks back to what passes for a library on the Isle.

Gone are the haphazard stacks of torn, half-books and rotting shelves; instead beautifully polished wooden bookcases line the walls of the two-story room. With every book in its place, lined neatly and fit perfectly row after row. Not thrown haphazardly on the floor in lazy disarray. 

There are spacious tables surrounded by matching chairs carved out of rich mahogany throughout. Comfy bean bag chairs and phone chargers reside in designated ‘Safe Spaces’ tucked away in nearly every cozy corner in the room, taking the place of the mildew and mold that reside in the library from Jay’s memory.

Gone is the damp smell of mold and rot, instead fresh air flows through the floor to ceiling balcony windows on the second floor, the ones that lead out to the cafe where fresh scones are baked daily. 

Not a speck of dust in this place. Not a book out of place. Not a scratch in sight.

Carlos would love this place. That was the first thing Jay thought when he first arrived in Auradon and received the grand tour. Damn, would Carlos love this place.

And Jay had planned on showing him, taking him by the hand and running down the halls just to see the way his face lit up when he laid eyes upon this magical room. 

But that plan had gone to shit. 

Jay tries not to dwell on the past, had always been a ‘live in the moment’ kind of guy. Living for the thrill of the next adventure. He just hadn’t planned on the next adventure being without Carlos.  

And even now that Carlos is here, he’s moved on. He made new friends, or whatever the Isle equivalent is. 

Jay can’t blame him, he can’t say he wouldn’t have done the same when put in those circumstances. But he still can’t help but feel a pang of anger and jealousy when he thinks of Carlos moving on from him, from all three of them. Especially with Harry Hook of all people!

Jay’s thoughts are ground to an abrupt halt when his eyes land on a shock of white curls. He does a double-take, his feet tripping on air as he lands with a soft thud against the railing overlooking the lower floor of the library.

Jay bolts down the set of stairs leading to the library’s main study area, gaining more than a few dirty looks from librarians and students alike. He feels nearly out of breath by the time he hits the first floor and rounds the corner into the main room. 

He quickly regains his composure, taking a few deep, steadying breaths before making his way closer to the group of tables.

Carlos is sat at the left-most table, farthest away from Jay, with his back to the stairs which gives Jay more time to assess him as he approaches. 

Jay looks over the jacket Carlos is wearing, finds comfort in the familiarity of the way it hugs Carlos’ slender frame. He spots the shorts that Evie had spent countless nights sewing and resewing to get just right because they had to be “Perfect for Carlos, Jay. I know he’ll just love them.” 

He takes in the way Carlos’ head keeps moving from watching the library’s first floor entrance to somewhere off to his left. Jay then takes in the way Carlos has positioned himself to see all his best exit strategies, the way his leg is bouncing with anxiety, his body tight in defense. Ready to run, fight, hide in a moment's notice.

Jay sees the way the Isle is still in his blood, the same way it’s in Jay’s. Always will be.

Although Jay has learned, the hard way, that Auradon isn’t the Isle. That he doesn’t always have to be afraid here. He yearns to teach Carlos the same. 

“Hey ‘los,” Jay says, keeping his tone neutral and body language relaxed as he finally approaches the table where Carlos is anxiously seated.

Carlos still jolts at the noise, trying hard to cover his negative reaction as he glances sideways at Jay. 

“Hey,” Carlos replies evenly, eyes quickly returning to something at the front of the library. Jay wonders what he’s looking at, leaning over the table to get a better view. Carlos senses his movement, quickly returning his gaze to Jay. “What do you want?”

Jay instantly feels himself get defensive at Carlos’ tone, his dismissive words. He reminds himself of the last few attempts at talking with Carlos, reminds himself that getting defensive will get him nowhere. 

Be cool, Jay. Just be cool. Don’t freak out, don’t freak him out. You’ve got this.

“Not much. Was just hanging out in the library when I noticed you, thought I’d just say hey.”

Carlos nods along to Jay’s words distractedly, eyes pulled back to the front of the room. 

Jay lets his words hang out in the open, content to wait in silence, or at least he can pretend he is. As long as he is with Carlos, he tells himself, that’s a win in itself.

“I’m surprised you don’t have half the books in the library stacked up next to you,” Jay jokes, offering a small smile when Carlos turns his attention back to him. His brows furrow in annoyed confusion for a few moments before Jay’s words catch up to him and Jay swears his lips twitch in a want-to-be smile before he lets out a soft sigh and that obnoxiously emotionless expression returns to his face.

“I don’t have time for reading right now,” Carlos states definitively, hoping that will be the end of this weird discussion.

“Don’t have time for reading?” Jay questions in disbelief, eyes wide in overexaggerated shock. “Who are you and what have you done with Carlos?” 

Carlos rolls his eyes at Jay’s loud, teasing voice making a point to look straight forward as to not encourage furthered conversation. That does not, however, discourage Jay from his continued prodding on the subject. 

“No, but seriously dude,” Jay continues, sliding into the seat next to Carlos, “what could be so important that it pulls Carlos De Vil away from books on a Saturday?” 

Carlos lets out a long, heavy sigh before answering, eyes still dutifully forward. 

“If you must know, I have a date.”

Jay wants to laugh. A date? Carlos? Carlos on a date ? 

The same Carlos who can barely make eye contact with people? The same Carlos that couldn’t stop blushing when Jay taught him about the birds and the bees? The same Carlos that can barely stutter out two words around a pretty girl? That Carlos?

I am not that same little boy. 

Carlos’s words ring loudly in Jay’s mind, painfully reminding him of all that has changed in the last six months. Reminding him that he doesn’t really know Carlos, not anymore. The Carlos that he knew is long gone, he just hopes that this new Carlos will allow Jay to get to know him too.

So he buries his initial reaction, the pain that this realization brings him, and puts on a happy face. 

“Wow Carlos,” Jay says enthusiastically, hoping Carlos can’t see through his bullshit. “That’s amazing dude!”

Carlos turns a pained smile towards the polished table as his hands fidget with his worn coat sleeves. 

“Yeah,” Carlos breathes out, voice full of nerves. “I’m nervous, but like, in a good way?” 

Carlos returns his gaze to the front of the library subconsciously, a small smile gracing his lips when his eyes land on whatever he keeps looking to over there.

Jay follows his gaze to the front of the room finally spotting what keeps drawing Carlos’s attention. A sudden jolt of pain explodes in Jay’s abodemen as if someone stabbed him, and nausea washes over him like a wave, as his eyes land on none other than Harry Hook.

Hook is propped up against the library’s front desk, leaning over it as he openly flirts with the librarian sitting there. Jay watches as the woman blushes at something Harry says to her, playfully swatting away his wandering hand as she giggles. 

Jay stares in dumbfounded silence, the whole world feeling as if it is crashing down around him. Only when he hears Carlos muttering something beside him does he snap out of it, turning back towards him as he gathers his thoughts and feelings.

“You okay?” Carlos asks tentatively, looking somewhere between worried and wary, eyes not quite meeting Jay’s.

“Yeah, no, I- I’m good, all good here.” 

Carlos doesn’t seem to buy his rambling, disjointed answer, but luckily he doesn’t bother asking about it either. 

“I just,” Jay starts again after a moment, “I didn’t know that was your… type .”

Carlos smiles at that, actually honest to god smiles . Jay thinks that’s the first genuine smile he’s seen since Carlos arrived in Auradon and it makes all the bad in the world melt away. Even if just for a moment.

“Yeah, well, I don’t know if I really have a type.” 

Jay nods along to Carlos’s words even though he doesn’t really understand what Carlos means by them.

“We have a lot more in common than I thought we would,” Carlos continues, “It’s nice talking to someone who understands.” 

Jay finds that one hard to believe, glancing from Harry to Carlos they can’t get more unalike. Still, Jay promised himself that he was going to be more supportive of the new Carlos. No matter how much that hurt.

“Yeah,” Jay says, choosing his words carefully, “I guess you never really know someone until you get to know them.”

Jay inwardly groans at his own awkwardness, wanting to slam his face into the table.

You never really know someone until you get to know them? Really Jay? That’s what you’re going with?

Carlos huffs a laugh at his words with a mumbled, “Yeah.”

Carlos always used to be the awkward one in their relationship and now Jay was starting to understand how it feels. 

“Well, I should… leave you two to it… have fun and all,” Jay fumbles out, voice cracking on the last few words as he gets up to leave.

Before he can turn and leave Carlos shoots out and grabs his arm, holding it tightly.

“Uh, sorry, um,” Carlos stutters out letting go of Jay’s arm when he turns back around. “I just wanted to say it was good seeing you.”

“You too, C.”

And with that Jay turns and leaves, heading for the stairs as he swallows down all the words that threaten to spill out. 

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Carlos tries to shake the cloud of emotions and memories that threaten to drown him in the past as the key to his future walks through the library doors. 

The key to his future, and arguably the Isle’s future, is dressed in a prim blue and white polka-dotted dress. Carlos tries to not think of razor-sharp claws and gnashing teeth as the dots seem to move across their fabric canvas.

Instead, he focuses on the soft brunette curls that drape across Jane’s shoulder, the way her blue eyes sparkle in the natural light pouring in from the windows all around them. He watches the way she seems to float across the room with practiced ease, head held high with deceptive confidence for how shy Carlos knows she is. 

Jane spots Carlos quickly in the mostly empty library, throwing a small wave in his direction as she makes her way over to the table. She passes the front reception without taking notice of the lewd looks being thrown her way by Harry, much to Carlos’ relief. 

“Hey,” Jane says when she makes it to the table, standing shyly on the opposite side of where Carlos is sitting.

“Hi.”

Jane's lips quirk into a smile when Carlos speaks, but she makes no move to sit down. She hovers for a few more moments, eyes shifting nervously between Carlos and the chair she is standing in front of. 

“Um, you can take a seat if you want,” Carlos tries, wondering if he is missing some strange Auradonian custom that requires permission before being seated on a date. He doesn’t recall Ben mentioning anything when he gave them the tour, nor have they covered it in Goodness 101. Nevertheless, Jane gives him a strained smile as she pulls out her chair and finally sits down so Carlos counts it as a win.

“You have… never been on a date. Have you?” Jane mumbles, almost to the table as her bright eyes swim with anxiety. 

Carlos almost says yes, because of course, he has been on dates, he has been on numerous dates. Upon further analysis Carlos reconsiders his answer, knowing that the kinds of dates he’s had would most definitely not meet Auradon standards.

For starters, his dates were never girls, especially not pretty ones who smelled of peach blossoms or whose cheeks had the faintest hint of a blush anytime Carlos looked in their direction. His dates had never been shy or gentle, had never met him in a library, or had smiled softly at him.

No, he hadn’t been on a date. Or at least not the kind of date she means.

“Is it that obvious?” Carlos asks, feeling anxious as Jane’s eyes meet his fully for the first time.

She laughs at his question, a gentle laugh that for once doesn’t make Carlos feel as if he is being mocked or ridiculed. Carlos doesn’t think Jane has a malicious bone in her body. 

Her laugh makes him feel light and warm, like the sunshine pouring in from the windows.

Jane doesn’t answer his question, at least not with words, which is really the only answer Carlos needs. But looking at the way Jane can’t stop fiddling with the bow on her dress, the way her eyes dart nervously around the room never landing on Carlos for more than a second, the way he can practically hear the butterflies in her stomach that rival only his own. Well, it makes him wonder.

“What about you? Have you ever been on a date?”

Jane looks at him suddenly at that, her face giving away her shock at the question before melting back into her naturally soft features. 

“It’s not nice to ask a lady such questions, Carlos.” She tries for a dignified tone bordering on reproachful, but she misses the mark by miles as her voice comes out on the verge of a laugh.

It’s Carlos’ turn to laugh as Jane tries to teasingly glare at him across the table, scrunched up face reminding him more of a drawing he saw in a discarded children’s book than someone who is truly mad.

Jane joins in with her own giggle, dropping her serious facade as her face lights up and her eyes shine. Carlos doesn’t know the last time he genuinely made someone laugh like that.

Yes, you do. His mind helpfully supplies. It was 200 days ago, the day that they left you. You made Jay laugh just like that. 

Carlos swallows down the bile that lurches up his throat as the vivid memory dances through his head, accompanied by several others just like it. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Jane asks softly, hand reaching out across the table in a small gesture of comfort. 

Carlos nods quickly, not trusting himself to speak without throwing up just yet. However, the rapid movement makes his vision swim as his head pounds in time with the ticking of the clock on the wall. 

Suddenly the sunlight streaming in through the windows that surround them doesn’t seem so magical anymore. Now the nearly blinding rays of light make Carlos fight not to squint at the intensity. All the while his stomach starts to churn in nauseating turmoil, what once was the anxious flit of butterfly wings morphs rapidly into the gnawing of hounds.

Carlos pushes aside all of his feelings, emotions, and pain that threatens to pull him into unconsciousness as they have done in the past instead he focuses on the task at hand. 

You’ve had worse. He tells himself. You have survived worse.

“Yeah, I’m alright, just a little nervous is all,” Carlos lies through his teeth, feeling guilt wash over him as Jane looks at him with earnest, open eyes.

“Yeah,” she whispers, “me too.”

Carlos feels like he’s been let in on a secret, one he needs to cherish. He feels like he’s let Jane in on a secret too, something shared just between them. For the first time in his life he feels okay not being okay, because she’s not okay too. And that’s okay. 

Carlos and Jane talk until long shadows draw across the library, they talk as the sun disappears, they talk as stars paint the night sky. They talk in their own little corner of the library, laughing and smiling just the two of them, until the library closes and the librarian shoos them out.

Carlos walks Jane back to her dorm under the light of the moon, not even realizing that for once he is not keeping track of time.