I don't own any of the recognizable places or characters. This story is part of a series that is called Descendants A-Z and is cross posted (always under "IvyNyx").
Four jaws hung open in wonder, their entire Isle could have fit in this building with room to spare. Ben laughed at their expressions. He'd convinced Fairy Godmother to let them take a trip to the local mall. A way to let the kids see some of Auradon as well as to get some clothes and personal belongings, now that they didn't live on the Isle. Each kid had a plastic card pre-loaded with money on it and had been told to buy some clothes and anything else they liked.
"It's not that impressive" Ben said after a solid two minutes of the core four staring at all the shops.
"There is so much stuff!" Evie said, still half dazed
"Are we staying together or nah?" Jay asked, he saw a shop he was itching to get to
"We can split up since Fairy Godmother gave you cell phones, we can call each other to meet up." Ben said.
"Bye guys!" Evie said tearing off to a store full of shiny accessories. Jay started off towards the stairs that would take him to the store he'd seen, mildly surprised when Carlos followed him. The two boys left Ben and Mal on their own.
"What store has you so excited?" Carlos asked his friend as they jogged down the stairs.
"Dunno, it had fake graffiti walls, looked really out of place here." Jay said jumping the last two steps. Carlos slid down the railing to catch his friend. Carlos grinned as he saw the store that had Jays attention, it looked awesome. Inside it was darker than the rest of the mall, with varying lights and lasers spinning around. The walls were lined with bongs, shot glasses, t-shirts and other novelty items.
Neither boy wasted anytime reading the shirts laughing at some of the phrases. This store had to be for the darker side of Auradon because they hadn't expected anything like it here.
"Can I help you find anything?" A salesman asked both boys as they got near him.
"Just looking around." Jay said.
"You're the Isle boys right?" he asked
Carlos nodded.
"You should check out the store five shops down, it's like this one. I think the local paper calls us the bane of their existence." he told the isle boys with a laugh.
"Sounds good" Carlos said halfheartedly pulling out a shirt in his size.
"I love innocent animals in a good gravy" Jay read the shirt laughing, "I think Ben wanted us to be less evil here."
"I know, but I want to be comfortable, which means jeans and t-shirts. I can't help it if I have a dark sense of humor." Carlos smirked before moving to look at the lasers.
Twenty minutes later they left with a bag each, both had a few shirts, Carlos got a laser and Jay picked four shot glasses in hopes that they would find alcohol to be fairly easy to get.
As the walked towards the store the clerk had indicated, they heard it first. A drumming beat with words screamed rather than sang. Carlos broke into a grin, that was the first time he'd heard good music since they left the Isle. Carlos grabbed Jay's hand and dragged him through the doors that were adorned with a giant metal spiderweb. Jay let his arm drop around Carlos's shoulders, mostly to keep the smaller boy from running too far in his excitement. Inside the shop was a punk rock haven.
Carlos found a new pair of sneakers just inside the door, and it got better from there. He picked out a studded belt, pants with straps, a wallet that had a chain on it and enough thin plastic bracelets to run halfway up his arm. Jay more or less matched his purchases in different colors. On the Isle they'd dressed practically, Jay avoided sleeves because it was one more thing to watch when stealing. Carlos always wore sleeves to hide his wounds so no one could pick on a weak spot. Now that they could dress how they wanted they actually had a very similar style. Carlos liked to include bursts of really bright colors though, Jay was happy if the brightest color he owned was maroon.
Carlos stood in front of the body piercings, Jay still using him as an arm rest.
"Think Ben will have a heart attack if I pierce a few things?"
"I think I might" Jay said, only half joking " you are willing to let someone jab a piece of metal through you?"
"Mhmm, I like the look, besides I doubt it hurts that much." Carlos said.
"What would you get done, and so help me if you say your dick" Jay asked.
"My dick." Carlos deadpanned while stepping back to avoid the playful punch Jay threw. "Seriously my lip and eyebrow, no one is getting near my junk with anything stabby"
Jay looked at his friend and tried to picture him with a pierced lip, he gave that thought up quickly as he discovered just how much he liked the idea.
"Okay, but you gotta ask where to get it done." Jay said.
Carlos took the challenge and asked the girl at the register where he could get the piercings done. She told him about a body mod studio on the third floor, while unlocking the case so he could get out the jewelry he wanted. Before she locked it Jay pointed to a barbel he wanted, Carlos shot him a look but didn't bother to ask what his plan was.
"You two are really cute together, are you a couple?" the girl asked while ringing their stuff up.
Carlos shook his head no. "Nah, just best friends that occasionally do gay shit together." Jay said with a smirk.
The girl laughed, "My best-friend is like that too, we have a lot of fun at bars when guys try to hit on us."
"That's how this started, one of the girls back home wouldn't leave Jay alone so he shoved me against a locker, with his lips. She did seem to get the message though"
Jay laughed when Carlos said that, he'd had enough of Harriet's crap, and it did make the girl leave him alone.
"Where are you guys from?" the girl asked, picking up on the home remark.
"Isle of the Lost" Carlos said without thinking.
"Really? That's so cool! No wonder you looked so happy to come in here. Most people are at least flinch a little at the music."
"I love the music." Carlos said.
"There aren't many in Auradon that do. But there are enough of us to keep a couple stores open."
"Well I don't think Evie will continue dressing like this, but I bet Mal falls in love in here." Jay said.
"Evie is going to turn into a princess. Come on, I wanna go get my lip done before I lose the nerve."
Jay laughed as he was hauled from the shop. They both waved over their shoulder and went back to the stairs. On the third floor stuffed in a corner was a small shop offering tattoos and body modifications.
Inside the door they got asked for ID.
"Isle doesn't really have ID" Jay said.
"Isle of the lost?" the guy asked.
Both boys nodded.
"Come on then" he said leading them into a back room. "Whatcha here for?"
"I want my lip pierced on both sides, and my left eyebrow." Carlos said grabbing the little plastic cases from his bag.
"You too, or you moral support?"
"I want my tongue done" Jay said smirking when Carlos's head whipped around to look at him.
"And you were questioning me?" the pale boy said with a raised eyebrow.
"Shut up" Jay told him.
Both boys left the shop a bit later as happy as could be. Jay was having fun running the ball of his piercing along his teeth while Carlos kept chewing on the ring in his lip despite the little shocks of pain it sent through the fresh wound.
Jay spotted Evie through crowed, "Blueberry incoming" he said before the girl spotted them.
"Oh my god! You got piercings!" she said, trying to keep her voice at a normal level and failing.
"Mhmm, three of them." Carlos said. While Evie looked at Jay, who was keeping his mouth shut.
"I never thought you would be the sane one Jay" she said with a shake of her head. Jay took the opportunity to stick his tongue out at her before laughing at her gobsmacked expression. Carlos hung onto him shaking with laughter.
"You two! I knew someone with a brain should have baby sat you!" Evie said while both boys laughed.
Mal and Ben happened to see the three teens and went to see what had the boys dying. Ben noticed the new piercings and didn't say anything, he was pretty sure Mal would have some done as well before long.
"What is so funny?" Mal asked, not seeing a joke. It was surprising Carlos had gotten three piercings done considering he hated pain, but that didn't fit with their laughter.
"Evie complimented Jay on being sane, before he proved he wasn't"
"How'd he manage that?" Ben asked
Mal joined the boys in laughter when Jay stuck his tongue out.
"Am I the only sane one here?" Evie asked
"Probably, it's just piercings, nothing major."
"And what do you have done oh prince of mine?" Mal asked, expecting him to say his ear.
"A spot those three will never see." Ben grinned at his girlfriend.
"Fucking oww" Carlos said catching on.
"Wasn't that bad, after the first couple weeks. Now it's quite fun." Ben said with a faint blush.
"I don't get it" Evie said.
"Dude has an extra hole in his dick" Jay said at the same time Mal said "he has his cock pierced you twit."
Carlos and Ben both lost it laughing at Evie's expression. "That is not what I expected from royalty." Evie muttered still bright red.
"Just human" Ben said with a grin. "I've had a line up my ear too but it got annoying with tourney."
"Lead the way, I want my ears done, no one on the Isle would do it, fear of my mother." Mal said with a pout.
"Oh fine, come on, Jack will do it for you I'm sure." Ben said leading her to the corner Jay and Carlos had just left.
"Insanity." Evie said before walking along behind them to go up to the top floor. Jay and Carlos continued along the floor they were on chatting and occasionally going into stores. At the end of the mall they went up to the fourth floor. Jay counted backwards from ten in his head, he made it to seven before Carlos grabbed his hand and tugged him through the doors in front of them. Inside was a roller ring, Carlos stood by the edge and watched people skate a smile plastered on his face.
"Go rent a pair of skates, I'll wait here."
"Come on, I know you can skate a little." Carlos turned on the puppy dog eyes and Jay tried to stay strong.
"Oh fine, just stop the eye thing, damn you're worse than Mal with that!" Jay whined letting himself be dragged to the rental window.
Five minutes later Carlos was skating in circles around Jay, literally. While Jay tried to find his balance, so far he'd found the wall. They didn't have very many places you could skate on the Isle, Carlos had used a flat roof top to learn, Jay didn't waste time with that saying it wasn't practical. As Carlos spun to skate backwards in front of him he thought maybe, just maybe he should have learned.
"Dude, loose up. You won't fall, you can jump off freaking roofs, this is nothing." Carlos grinned, he was not so secretly enjoying being good at something Jay wasn't. Jay ignored him.
"Oh fine. Give me your hands, I'll guide you so you can see the wall isn't a life line" Carlos held his hands out and waited.
Jay took his hands and muttered "it's almost scary this isn't the gayest thing I've done in my life".
Carlos ignored him and guided him away from the wall, without support Jay caught on quickly and in fifteen minutes he was skating alongside Carlos.
Carlos noticed the rink had emptied out, aside from one little girl who was holding the edge they were alone. He staked out as fast as he could before trying a couple spins. Jay stopped where he was to watch, "Dude! You're gonna kill yourself!" he said watching the pale boy spin around.
"I might fall, but it's fun!" Carlos said skating backwards to Jay.
Nearly an hour later Jay's cellphone went off.
"Speak" he said seeing Mal's number.
"Okay, we're just skating, be there in ten" he shut the phone before Mal could say another word.
"Come on, gotta meet the crew at the food court." Jay said skating to the exit of the rink, leaving the whole thing empty.
"One sec, I wanna try something now that you're outta the way." Carlos said.
Jay sat to pull his skates off watching to see what on Earth his friend was going to do now. He had a few guesses, a back flip was not one of them. He almost landed it too, but over corrected and fell back on his ass. Jay couldn't hold the laugh, while Carlos got up and skated to sit by him.
"That was really good, practice it and you'll have it." Jay said when Carlos gave him a dirty look.
"Shut up" Carlos said giving him a playful shove.
When they got to the food court they were still shoving each other. When they saw Mal, Ben and Evie, Jay dropped his arm around Carlos's shoulders effectively ending their shoving match.
"Aren't you two just adorable" Mal joked rolling her eyes. She was silently waiting for her friends to hook up, but they seemed to be happy with whatever they were.
Carlos flipped her off and Jay stuck out his tongue, which made Evie roll her eyes and Ben smile as he remembered the earlier conversation about everyone's sanity.
"So how are we doing this?" Ben asked.
"I want pizza" Mal said without pause.
"Ugh, I so don't want that again" Ben said, Mal was trying to live on pizza, and so far she was succeeding. "Why don't we all get our own thing and meet back at table?"
Four nods later he went to get Chinese, Mal got her pizza, Evie got a salad, Jay had a burger with fries and Carlos got a sandwich with chips. Everyone got a different type of soda.
Carlos stole some of Jays fries making the older boy complain. "Want a bite of my sandwich to make up for it?" Carlos offered, Mal saw an evil glint in his eyes but didn't say anything. Jay grabbed the sandwich and took a bite which made Carlos start laughing, "might be a little spicy" he warned too late.
Jay swallowed while glaring at his friend, "You're seriously gonna eat that? It's like liquid fire" he chugged some soda hoping it would help. Carlos took a bite and grinned, "Yep, it's good."
"The hell is it? Mal asked.
"Buffalo chicken with hot sauce" Carlos said around another bite.
"I'm guessing you like spicy food?" Ben said around a mouthful of noodles.
"I'm guessing you have the manners of an Isle kid" Evie said wrinkling her nose in disgust at both boys talking with their mouth full.
"Only with friends" Ben said.
"Yeah I like spicy stuff" Carlos said, "Gives me a reason to eat more chocolate"
Ben started laughing.
"Whats so funny" Mal asked not seeing the connection.
"I did that when I was younger, drove my mum about insane. The chocolate helps stop your mouth from burning" He added seeing her confusion.
Ten minutes later they were on the move, this time together. Carlos was popping M&M's out of his pocket into his mouth. Jay deftly reached over and grabbed a handful out of his friends pocket, the smaller boy noticing but deciding to ignore him. When Jay went to grab a second handful Carlos caught his hand, "I'll just keep this thanks, you really suck at stealing from me." he said, unable to resist the barb.
"Wait you can catch him stealing? Mal said spinning to walk backwards.
"Mhmm. It's easy" Carlos told her.
"Sure, easy. We've been friends eight years and he can still steal from me without getting caught." Mal said.
Carlos raised one eyebrow, "you must not pay attention too well".
"Jay lets you catch him" Evie said with a smirk.
"Do not!" Jay immediately defended himself.
"Really?" Evie said sarcasm clear in her voice. "Carlos, who is the easiest mark in Auradon can catch the best thief on the Isle almost every time. I swear you two are like love sick puppies sometimes."
"We are not" Jay and Carlos defended at the same time. Which made Mal start laughing, "you're holding hands walking through the mall. Give up, even if you date other people you're still going to play jump rope with the line between friends and lovers."
Both boys blushed, but neither said anything. Like they'd told the cashier, they were best friends who occasionally did gay things together. At the moment that was holding hands in the mall.
"Me and Jordan used to be a bit like that. She'd pretend to be with me so the princesses would leave me the hell alone."
"Jordan? Genie Jordan?" Mal asked, as far as she knew Ben and Jordan didn't get along at all.
"Yeah we were really close, she ended up really falling for me though and I never felt the same. She distanced herself about a year ago and now she's dating Aziz so it's all good."
"Is that why she literally vaporizes in the hall when you show up?" Evie asked, she'd been talking to the girl one day when she did it.
"Probably" Ben said looking sheepishly at Mal.
"All good hum?" she asked with a raised brow, "Even my fucked up self knows that isn't normal."
"It's not, but it's how she's dealing with it so I'm not going to try to change it."
"Shit and they say us Isle kids are emotionally fucked, at least we admit we're not normal" Jay said with a smirk at Carlos.
"Pfft, were walking around the mall. You can't get more 'normal teenager' than that" Mal told them.
"Stereotypical maybe, not normal. We'll never be normal, its way too fun to be weird" Carlos said letting go of Jay's hand to loop his arm around his waist.
"You've got that mastered" Jay joked letting his arm fall around his friends shoulders. "What else are we doing here?"
"Wondering around until we decide to go back to school. Personally I'll be here until the place closes." Mal said.
"Well ladies" Ben said dropping his one arm around each girl, "I suggest we all go play laser tag"
Evie giggled while Mal tried not to laugh at her boyfriends antics. The girls linked arms behind his back, making Jay and Carlos smirk.
"Aren't lasers a little dangerous?"
"It's just infrared light, it's fun I promise" Ben said leading them off to the fourth floor again.