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").
"I swear if I have to watch him flirt with one more fucking girl I am going to scream!" Carlos exclaimed while sitting on Evie's bed. Mal was out with Ben and Jay was busy with some girl they'd passed on the way to Evie and Mal's room.
"Why?" Evie said, startled by her friends sudden outburst. He had his mothers temper, but it usually took a really good cause to bring it out.
Carlos fell back on the bed, letting his arms cross on his face, one on his eyes the other his mouth.
"Ah af a ush n ay" Carlos said against his arm.
Evie walked over and sat on the bed at his head. She gently lifted both arms to look into his chocolate brown eyes, "Once more time, so I can hear you sweetie".
"I think I might sort of have a crush on Jay" Carlos murmured, promptly blushing bright red.
Evie bit her lip to keep in the shriek she wanted to let out, after taking a minute to compose herself she smiled at her best friend, "so why haven't you told our big bad thief he stole your heart"
"Ugh!" Carlos said rolling over to hide his face in his arms. Maybe telling Evie wasn't his best idea, her romantic ideals may just drive him insane.
"Oh come on 'Los, if we talk maybe we can get a solution!" Evie said running her fingers through his hair.
"He likes girls. There isn't a solution to a gay guy being in love with his straight best friend" Carlos said tipping his head so Evie wouldn't make him say it a second time.
"Straight best friend? I know we're not still discussing Jay" Evie said. Carlos rolled back over to look at her.
"Of course I am, he flirts with every girl that so much as walks near him!"
Evie giggled and shook her head, "Oh sweetie, you need to pay attention better. He spends as much time checking out the guys as you do."
"Yeah, okay" Carlos said with an eye roll, Jay was secretly gay and he was Santa Claus.
"I'm serious." Evie insisted, she fell silent as the door was shoved open to admit their purple haired friend.
"Whatcha serious about this time?" Mal asked, tossing her purse on a chair and going to sit against the headboard of Evie's bed.
"Don't you fucking dare" Carlos said looking up at Evie, she smirked at him before looking at Mal.
"Someone has a crush on Jay and is delusion in thinking our thief is straight." Evie said while Carlos hid is face under his arms again. Mal started laughing, "Seriously, Jay? Straight?" she continued to laugh at the thought, "He's at least bi, if not straight out gay. But either way why not just tell him?" she asked the freckled boy that was trying to hide in front of her.
"No thanks" Carlos said
"Boys!" Evie said exasperated at the whole thing.
"No, our boys!" Mal corrected, "why don't I just go tell Jay now and save everyone the headache?"
"No!" Evie and Carlos said at once.
"I have an idea, I wanna try it, if it fails then you can try whatever" Evie said.
"Ugh!" Carlos groaned.
"Oh shush. You know that Halloween costume we talked about that I said you were crazy for?" Evie said to Carlos
"Well yeah, I planned in making it myself if you wouldn't"
"I'll make it, someone has to convince Jay to let us dress him up though.
"No problem at all, what will they be going as and how the hell is that plan going to get anything done?"
"Jay will be going as the Joker and Carlos is staying a surprise" Evie said, Carlos was silently glad Evie would let him keep that secret for now.
"You two have an unhealthy Batman obsession, should be easy to convince him, what's your plan though?"
"Just get the two of them in costume; I'm hoping that handles it."
"Oh please tell me he's going as nurse Harley!"
"I'm not saying a word" Evie said with a smirk.
"So do you have a costume idea for this Halloween Ball thing yet?" Mal asked Jay one evening while Evie and Carlos worked on his costume. She'd been unceremoniously kicked out of her own room for the project.
"Not really. I'm thinking something from a comic book, but can't choose one" Jay told her "I don't want it to be too corny"
"Humm, either Poison Ivy or the Joker."
"Poison Ivy?" Jay asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Sure I can spell your hair red and-"Jay cut her off with a yelled, "Don't even think about going near my hair with a spell!" Mal started laughing, "okay, so The Joker with black hair".
Jay sat there to think it over, "Think Eve's would use some of your purple fabric on me?"
"I think for this she would, besides you're bigger than me, she can make the outfit smaller and I'll wear it year round." Mal said knowing that would help his decision along, despite being off the Isle they all did what they could to help the other. Something like Halloween made no sense to them because why have an outfit you only wore once? It was wasteful, but Mal wasn't kidding, she'd wear a Joker outfit year round and Evie would probably get what Carlos wore, unless he kept it himself.
"I wonder who will turn more heads, you or Carlos?" Evie asked. Mal stood on a foot stool in the middle of their room. Evie held a pair of scissors, carefully cutting the finishing details into the purple haired girls outfit. Evie had decided they should all dress as comic book characters, and Mal refused to wear anything skin tight. Apparently though she had no problem showing off large amounts of skin.
"Between the four of us we will make quite a sight." Mal said, "how are you handling the make up situation, both boys will need you"
"No they won't. I'll do Jay, Carlos can do his own."
"Perfect" Mal said, "I'll bring my stuff and get ready in his room, just so Jay doesn't move around trying to gawk at me"
"He wouldn't do-" Evie trailed off at Mals look, "Okay he totally would, but have you seen yourself in that outfit?" Evie said with a small laugh. Mal jumped off the stool and went to look in the mirror, "Take another inch off the shirt" she said walking back to the stool.
"If I do that it won't be a shirt, it will be a glorified bra"
"Call it what you will, chop this bitch!" Mal said holding her arms over her head with a smirk. Evie did as she was asked.
"Holy fucking shit" Carlos said when Mal walked out of the bathroom "Did you lose part of your costume?"
"Nope" Mal gave a twirl so her cape flared up
"And I'm gay. I feel so bad for every straight male at the dance, Bat girl." Carlos said shaking his head.
Mal had taken a black shirt with the batman logo and cut the sleeves off it, the bottom fell less than an inch below her boobs leaving her entire stomach exposed. For pants she had on a pair of black shorts with yellow stitched onto the seams, they only had a two inch inseam, at best. A pair of thigh high black vinyl boots with yellow lacing nearly touched the shorts. On her head she had tucked her hair up under a classic Batman mask that effectively concealed half her face and most of her identity. A black and yellow cape pulled the entire look together, while showcasing her every move.
"They'll survive. I'm sure the four of us will make an impression. Now lets see your outfit, I know you are going as Harley but she has a thousand looks. Carlos grabbed the bag he'd stuff his costume into and went into the bathroom. When he walked out Mal understood exactly how Evie's plan was going to work, Carlos made a damn good Harley.
A pair of black and red leather pants were slung low on his hips, a black belt with two rows of silver grommets didn't look like it held anything up, but looked good. A pair of slightly higher than knee-high boots, also in black and red, alternating with his pants made him taller, Mal had to look up at him. His shirt looked like Evie had modified an old corset, it was black and red with a bunch of buckles and D-rings. Carlos had exposed most of his stomach, showing off a belly ring that he was silently waiting for Mal to notice. His arms had elbow length gloves in black and red, that switched to the other color on his hands, the gloves were finger-less, of course.
He sat and quickly painted his nails alternating black and red. He spun around in his desk chair waiting for the polish to dry.
"So when'd you get your belly button done?" Mal asked.
"Back on the Isle, Diego did it for me with a fishing hook"
"Fucking hell that had to hurt!"
"More than a little, but that was years ago"
"How many years ago" Mal asked with a raised eye brow.
"I was nine"
"Fucking psychos" she said with a laugh. Carlos deemed his nails dry enough and started working on his make up, he'd decided against painting his whole face white, he didn't want to hide his freckles. So he did black eye-shadow and ruby red lips. He handed Mal a spiked collar to hook on his throat before checking the look in the mirror.
"I hope Evie and Jay look half as good as we do" Mal said resting her forearm on his shoulder. A knock on the door signaled the arrival of their friends.
"It's open" Carlos yelled. Evie came in first.
She had magicked her hair to a vibrant red and pinned it back from her face using clips with fake poison ivy leaves. She'd covered a corset and what, Carlos assumed, were panties in the same green leaves. She had elbow length green gloves with fake ivy vines twisting up to her shoulders from her wrists. Her legs had thigh high boots in the same green as her gloves, more fake vines twisted up her legs and around her torso.
"Poison Apple!" Carlos joked when she walked in.
"Poison Ivy, damn it!"
"She's a little testy" Jay said walking through the door, "Something about super villains wearing fucking underpants as clothes, no idea what she's talking about". Jay had on a purple tuxedo with a gold vest and green shirt, a purple tie hung loosely around his throat. He'd given in and let Evie turn his hair green for the night with a threat that if she couldn't fix it he'd shave her head. It still hung to his shoulders, but they'd put gel in it and made it look messy. His face was painted white with a sinister red smile, his own lips adding to the effect as his signature smirk graced his face.
Jay looked at Carlos and smirked, "Aww I get my Harley" he walked over and dropped his arm around Carlos's shoulders. The freckled boy raised an eyebrow, "your Harley humm?"
"Of course, unless you have another Joker around here somewhere."
"Oh no, you're the only joker in my life" Carlos said laughing at the double meaning. Mal snorted as she caught on, Evie was busy getting her camera to take photos of them all.
The four of them walked into the dance, as luck would have it they ran into Audrey, dressed as Cleopatra first.
"Let's see, a whorey Bat Girl, Marijuana Woman, and our closet homos as the comic embodiment of a dysfunctional relationship. Good job, really shows the inner you" the princess said.
"Well now I know why you're dressed as a sneaky harlot" Carlos said with a smile. Ben walked up before Audrey could retaliate. Carlos's friends couldn't believe Carlos had said that to the girl.
"Hey guys, you look great. That Bat girl is down right evil Mal." He smiled while offering her his hand "Wanna dance with me?"
"No, but it is a dance, so lets go" She followed him out. Evie went to find Doug, harshly bumping her shoulder against Audrey as she walked past.
Jay looked over to Carlos, part of him wanted to run, part of him wanted to find out if that lipstick was kiss proof. Wait, where the hell did that thought come from. He'd accepted a long time ago he was bi-sexual, even if he wouldn't admit it to anyone, but liking Carlos was a new development. He'd always been more like an annoying little brother. Jay noticed the smirk on his friends face, he was so busted staring that time.
"See something interesting?" Carlos smirked at him.
"Trying to figure out when the hell you grew up, I think it's the boots" Jay grinned.
"Come along Mr. Jay" Carlos said with a grin dragging the older boy towards the food table.
Jay looked over at his friend, wondering if he was being a wise ass or just playing his character. He walked along behind Carlos, taking a moment to admire his ass, those pants really shouldn't have been allowed out of the dorms.
"That costume really is amazing" Jay said around a mouthful of food.
"Thanks, best compliments always come with a crumb shower" Carlos smiled, Jay had all the manners you learn on the isle, which is none, but somehow he still managed to make Carlos's stomach fill with butterflies.
"She's crazy you know" Jay said looking at Mal who was busying grinding against Ben.
"Who, Mal?" Carlos asked
"Nah, Santa, of course Mal! Crazy is always Mal, or occasionally me"
"It's been a while since you did something crazy"
"Yeah it has, maybe later tonight, for now, wanna dance?" Jay said offering the freckled boy his hand
"If you want, just a warning, I plan on dancing more like Mal than you'll like"
Jay looked the lithe boy over again, "I think I'll be fine, I doubt you can move like that anyway". Mal was currently going through what looked like a Shakira routine.
"Your funeral" Carlos muttered too low for the other to hear it while walking to the dance floor, he was the one who taught Mal to dance like that.
It took Jay less than one song to seriously regret his decision to dance with Carlos. Not only was he able to move like Mal, he was able to move better. As the first song ended his own Harley let him in on a secret.
"I'm the one who taught Mal to dance like that" Carlos said, his voice right next to Jay's ear. Jay felt his heart skip a beat, that was something he didn't know about the other boy. He knew he could dance, but not like a stripper whose rent was due. Jay smiled and let his hands trail from Carlos's shoulders down his chest to his hips. "She must be a shitty student, you're way better than her" Jay said just loud enough for Carlos to hear. He watched the other boy blush and smiled, it was always easy to make Carlos blush. Glancing around the room he saw most of the students dancing like them, it surprised him the teachers were allowing such undignified behavior at a school dance, then he noticed he really hadn't seen any adults all night. It seemed most of the guys had their hands on the girls hips, Jay decided if Carlos wanted to dance like a girl Jay may as well do his part. He let his hands slip down the other boys chest to settle on his hips.
"Oh finally decided to copy everyone else?" Carlos said with a smirk.
"Mhmm, besides it'll be easier to make you blush this way" Jay said grinning at his friend.
"How so?" Carlos didn't see how Jay's hands on his clothed hips could be any worse than resting on his bare shoulders. Jay didn't answer him, but let his thumbs gently trail along the skin above Carlos's belt.
Carlos slowly let out a breath focusing on his dance steps rather than the boy touching him. He knew he could get through this without blushing, he just needed to ignore whatever Jay was doing. That plan began to fail when Jay ran his hand across his stomach, pausing briefly to wiggle his piercing. Carlos spun so he was facing Jay, hoping that would ruin the other boys fun.
After a few more songs they stopped dancing to get a drink.
"You two are adorable!" Lonnie said from behind them.
"Thanks" Carlos said.
"And your dancing, where did you learn that!"
"Lots of free time on the Isle" Carlos told her.
"Can you teach me sometime? I can show you some hip-hop in exchange" Lonnie asked.
"I can show you, no need to teach me something I know. If you want I can show you a little now" Carlos offered.
"Oh my god yes! I've barely danced tonight because I have no idea how to move like that!" Lonnie told him.
"You coming Mr. Jay?" Carlos asked Jay with a smirk.
"You two have fun, I do expect more dancing later though Harley" Jay said deciding the Mr. Jay thing had to be Carlos trying out his character. Carlos started to walk away before spinning to walk backwards, he blew Jay a kiss and winked at him before spinning back around and walking to an empty corner with Lonnie.
"Is there a reason Carlos is and I got matching costumes?" Jay asked seeing Mal leaning against the wall by herself. He had a suspicion, but Mal would confirm it for him.
"Can't say, E will kill me."
"She hasn't killed you yet!"
Mal looked at him for a minute before she asked, "did you have fun dancing with him?"
"Yeah, and don't try to change the subject."
"I wasn't, I was getting more information. Making an informed decision and all that crap" Mal said.
"Would it help if I guess and you just tell me if I'm right or insane?"
"You are evil" Mal smiled.
Jay took a deep breath, "I think 'Los likes me and either you or Evie though up the costumes to make me realize what the hell is going on."
"Basically. Carlos was going as Harley anyway, Evie had the idea. For the record, is it working?"
"I don't know. I can tell you his ass looks fucking amazing in those pants though"
Mal started laughing uncontrollably. "Evie will be thrilled, something about the sexual tension between you two giving her age spots" she told him through her laughter.
"We don't have sexual anything!" Jay protested, making Mal laugh harder.
"So where is lover boy?" she asked as she calmed down.
"Showing Lonnie how to dance like you two"
"Oh you should go watch that, it's even better looking in slow motion like he does to teach" Mal said
Jay blushed, but took her advice and waved to Mal walking over towards the corner Carlos had took Lonnie to.
His reward was Carlos and Lonnie dancing in what would have been a very compromising position if he wasn't one hundred and one percent sure Carlos was gay.
"Having fun with my girl?" Jay joked, leaning against the wall.
"Loads, ze would make an excellent gymnast."
"What the hell is a 'ze'" Carlos asked.
"Non gender pronoun, since you're a he, but dressed like a she it just confuses my head less." Lonnie said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Welcome to Auradon" Jay muttered under his breath.
"You want something. Or just watching puddin'" Carlos asked leaning on Jay.
"You are so not allowed anymore comics with Harley in them, you're too good at being her" Jay told him, ignoring the pout his words caused. "I'm gonna head out soon, I'm just stealing you to dance a bit more first."
"Well I'd hate to ruin your plans. Come on" Carlos said grabbing Jay's hand and pulling him to the dance floor. Last time Carlos had left a tiny bit of room between them, this time Jay wasn't so lucky. He knew from experience a sleepy Carlos was almost as bad as a drunk one when it came to losing any and all inhibitions. It wasn't really late, but he'd danced for most of the dance.
"You getting sleepy 'Los?" he asked, his hands on the other boys lower back.
"I little, I'll probably leave when you do"
Jay sighed, "so basically you're dead on your feet, come on sleepy" Jay wrapped his arm around Carlos's waist and guided him from the ballroom, he was grateful to see Mal on the way out, just to signal they were leaving. Despite being off the Isle, they still tried to keep track of each other.
Carlos walked along, leaning on Jay like usual. Now that they were away from the noise that is a school dance Jay started to think. He did like holding Carlos, it was basically second nature. As they walked he recalled shared smiles, touches that really weren't needed. So many little things ran through his head.
"How the hell did I miss that" he murmured, not realizing he'd spoken out loud.
"Whatcha miss?" Carlos asked.
"Nothing important, I really want to get this make up off."
"You shower first, I can stay awake that long."
"I planned on going first" Jay laughed, they often had fights over the shower, maybe sometime they'd try sharing it.
Twenty minutes later Jay walked out of the bathroom in his boxers, his wet hair had returned to it's natural black and dripped down his back. He looked towards his bed but watched Carlos out of the corner of his eye. Sure enough as soon as the other boy was sure Jay wasn't watching him he stared at him. Jay shifted his head so his hair hid his smirk as Carlos went in to the bathroom. Jay stretched out on Carlos's bed, they often slept next to each other, so Carlos didn't even think twice about sliding into bed next to the thief fifteen minutes later.
"You missed some lipstick" Jay said, noticing Carlos's lips were still ruby red.
"It's an Evie special, I forgot to get the remover from her to take it off so I'm stuck with bright red until morning."
"Suck to be you, you made a really good Harley though"
"Thanks, you're not too bad of a Joker. Probably helps that you're never serious about anything anyway"
Jay smiled, "I can be serious".
Carlos raised one eyebrow at him, his face clearly calling bullshit.
"I can, I had a serious conversation with Mal earlier."
"About what? Which of you could hide more food in their costume? Cuz I'd bet on Mal" Carlos smiled.
"Nope" Jay said letting the 'P' make a soft popping noise. "It was about a certain freckled boy and his best friend"
"That's only half a serious conversation, remember nothing with you is serious."
"It is when Mal of all people is talking feelings"
Carlos felt his pulse pick up, no way would Mal have told Jay, she wasn't that evil. Jay noticed how Carlos stiffened and his breathing became erratic.
"No freaking out 'Los" Jay said letting his arm slide around the slim boys waist, amused when it actually seemed to calm him rather than make him freak out more, "I think I might like you too".
Carlos stared at him with wide eyes, trying to process that new bit of information, then as if a switch had been flipped he realized, Jay was offering him a chance to explore whatever was between them. He shifted so his face was inches from Jay's, "So what I'm hearing is, go ahead and kiss me because there's a chance I'm just as gay as you are"
Jay chuckled, "maybe gayer" he said before closing the gap between them.