Chapter Text
There they were again. Carlos was locked up, again. Back on the Isle, that only happened when Cruella punished him more than usual. But now, they were lost.
It was nighttime, and Carlos had been in the bathroom longer than usual. Minutes had passed since Jay had heard the water running. He hadn’t heard a sound at all, which made him worried.
He knocked three times. “Pup, is everything alright?” Nothing. “Do you need help with anything?”
“Pup?” His voice started to tense. “Carlos, open the door.” Then he realized he might scare Carlos, so he softened his tone. “C, I’m not angry with you. I’m just worried. May I come in? Or just… talk to make sure you’re alright?”
There was a pause before Carlos spoke softly. “It’s not locked, you can come.” Jay hadn’t heard his voice in two whole days.
He opened the door to see Carlos sitting in a corner, hugging his legs, crying. Jay hated seeing him like this, especially when he didn’t know what was wrong. That way, he couldn’t help.
“Hey,” Jay said, sitting in front of him but careful not to touch him. “Hey, what’s going on? What’s wrong?”
Carlos only cried harder, sniffing audibly.
“Pup, not this again. Don’t shut down like this. I want to help you. I’m not saying you can’t feel bad or express it, but I need you to talk to me. If you don’t, I can’t help you.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t,” Carlos said between soft sniffs, so quiet Jay almost thought he hadn’t heard him.
“What?” Jay felt the need to cry too. “What do you mean? What’s going on, Pup? We know something’s wrong.”
“They’ve been… being bad to me,” he said, still crying uncontrollably.
“Someone’s been messing with you?” Jay asked, anger burning in his chest as Carlos nodded. “Who?” he added, realizing he might be letting his emotions show too much. “I’m not angry, I just want to know.”
Carlos paused. “Chad and Audrey,” he said, looking at the floor.
Though Jay was furious at them, and at himself for not noticing sooner, he knew that right now, the most important thing was Carlos feeling okay. He could talk to Mal and Evie later. To help Carlos, he needed to understand exactly what had been said that affected him so much.
“Pup, I’m so, so sorry. That’s… that’s wrong. I promise you, you don’t deserve that. They’re just mean. Here they just don’t get it, but we’ll do whatever it takes so you don’t have to go through it anymore.”
“You shouldn’t do that,” Carlos said again.
“What? Carlos, you keep saying that, but I need you to actually talk to me. What did they say? Can you tell me?”
“Nothing, just- what do you imagine they said? Probably exactly that! I don’t-they’re right, Jay! You can’t do anything because they’re right!” He didn’t even let Jay reply.
“And don’t excuse it with the Isle or Auradon. Here or there, I’m a freak. They also messed with me back there, and you know it, right?” He almost screamed, freezing Jay in place.
“I-Pup, they just don’t know you, they-” Carlos cut him off.
“So? Don’t say that. You know me. I know myself, and that doesn’t make it less weird. Yeah, you guys know why I’m like this. You knew my mother in person. But they- the ones who bark at me in the halls, throw stuff at me for me to get them back, pet my hair to mock me, pull me from my collar, and so many more things- they know who my mother is. They’re familiar with her story. They know she’s… crazy. And they don’t care.”
“C, that’s not your fault. You can’t help it.”
Carlos was calmer now, crying quietly, his voice trembling. “It’s not… I’m not normal, Jay. Not at all. I’m a fourteen-year-old boy who goes around acting like he believes he’s a dog because my mother made me a freak.”
“But that’s the point, Carlos. You don’t believe you’re a dog. You know you’re not. You speak, you walk on two legs, you go to class. You behave like a normal person… because you are. So what if you like to curl up, sit on the floor, or wear your collar? It’s okay. We love you just like this, and you deserve it.” He paused and gently put his hand near Carlos’s. When Carlos didn’t pull away, Jay held it. They looked at each other. “Don’t let anyone ever make you believe otherwise.”
After a minute of silence, with Carlos still looking at the floor, Jay spoke again.
“Do you want to go to bed?” Carlos nodded. “Yours or mine?” Carlos squeezed Jay’s hand and glanced away, enough for Jay to know he preferred sleeping with him.
“Can you walk?” Jay asked softly.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, then. Let’s go.” Carlos let go of Jay’s hand to get up.
Next to the bed, they paused awkwardly for a few seconds before Jay lay down, and Carlos followed. It didn’t take more than ten seconds for them to get fully comfortable, thanks to the experience of the last time.
“Can I touch your hair?” Jay asked, unsure.
Carlos hesitated. “Uhm… yeah.”
Jay did so. “If it makes you feel comfortable, that’s all I need to hear. There’s nothing wrong with it. You like it, and…and I do too. I’m not thinking about whether it’s dog-like or not. I understand why you do it, but there’s no need to overthink. If it ever genuinely makes you uncomfortable, we’ll stop, talk with the girls, and figure it out. But don’t do it for the comments of people who don’t care or don’t know anything about you except your mother’s name. Believe me, Pup, that’s not the same as knowing what you went through. These spoiled preppy brats couldn’t begin to imagine.”
Jay heard a sniff. “Are you crying?”
“No… it’s… thanks, Jay. Just… thanks.”
“No, there’s no need. I mean it, C. We love you. And we’ll do something about Chad and Audrey. Us, not you. But of course we’ll handle it right, they’re the bad ones, not us. We’ll talk with Ben, the Fairy Godmother, or whoever. But we’ll do something.”
Carlos curled up more.
“Well, we can talk about this tomorrow. For now, rest. You need it.” Carlos didn’t answer. “Alright?”
“Alright,” Carlos said. “Good night, Jay.”
Jay adjusted the covers so they would properly cover both of them. “Good night, Pup.”