Hi guys! I know this is a little late for my Jaylos Week participation, but the truth is that I published this story on time via Tumblr and only now i have the time to add it to my other accounts. Sorry for the delay!

Well, here we are! Starting off with the Jaylos Week after more than a month (a very, very busy month, let it be said) of planning and writing and putting things together and everything. Hopefully, this won't crash and burn and you'll get to enjoy it! Just so you know, this is the first event of the kind that I will participate in.

Also, for all of you who don't know me very well, I'm not a big fan of AU's, but well, this time I couldn't say no, so here we are, and for the record, I actually had a lot of fun when writing this.

Here we go!

Monday-Real world

Fortuitous Event

It all went wrong when Evie, his long-known friend, asked him to watch over her store for a couple of hours. She had to go get something for her mother, but she couldn't close the place as it was a Friday afternoon and, supposedly, a lot of costumers would be entering the boutique.

The problem wasn't even to take care of the place. In fact, Carlos had only met the blue-haired girl because he was a costumer that dropped off way more often than normal and she was charismatic enough to break through his social awkwardness.

To be honest, he actually liked helping his friend with things like re-organizing the jewelry, carrying boxes and folding clothes. Several times, actually, Evie had offered to pay him, but he'd refused. Really, his mother had enough money to last a lifetime. The thing he needed was the girl's sparkling company.

No, he sincerely didn't mind Evie asking this small favor from him, more so, he was honored that she trusted him that much, but―he just didn't like to interact with the costumers, and that was surely what he'd have to do if he was to be the only one in the store.

However, he was a dutiful person, and thus accepted his luck resignedly and decided to take in whatever was to come.

Until then, fortunately, that had only consisted in a woman with her noisy yet cute daughters and a hurried teen that probably had just noticed she possessed no matching earrings for the outfit she'd be wearing in the night's party.

He had done well, Carlos mentally praised himself. He'd be just fine.

Too soon to think such a thing, he discovered barely a few seconds late, when two running teens entered the place, a purple-haired girl closing the door right after a tall boy got both of his feet inside the building, the girl sending glances over her shoulder, but not as if she were scared, more like she expected something to appear.

"May I help you with any―"

"Just take something you'd never wear and let's fucking get out of here" the girl spat, utterly ignoring Carlos as she entered the hallways that led to the different types of merchandise, going through shirts in pastel colors that looked nothing like the dark attire she was wearing at the time.

"Mister, can I help you?" the younger boy repeated when this presumed costumer didn't make any gesture to imitate his companion.

"Hm? What? Yeah, sure!" the teen muttered, blinking in what seemed to be his comeback to reality. "Look, em… Look…"

"Carlos".

"Yes, Carlos, look, I need a shirt in blue, the brightest blue you can find and a… a... I should probably tie my hair. Do you have any bands? Is that what they are called?"

"Certainly, mister, just let me―"

"We're in a bit of a hurry, Jay, I remind you!" the boy's company yelled from the dressing room.

"I'm getting at it, Mal, cut me some slack!" the boy yelled back, rolling a pair of eyes that Carlos now identified as chocolate brown.

"Well, we wouldn't be in this fucking problem if not for your stupid hero complex!" Mal continued to say, coming out of the room wearing a strapless shirt in pastel pink and a yellow skirt that she didn't quite look comfortable in. "I'm getting this and shoes… shoes… I need some sandals" she commanded, directing to Carlos, who had just returned with the blue shirt Jay had asked for, as she sent one last wistful glance towards her scattered clothes in the floor of the changing room. "What color don't I wear… White or silver? Silver sandals, do you have any?"

Alright, now, this wasn't your average costumer and Carlos sincerely didn't know what to do with these two other than go with what they were asking for.

"Great. Carlos, come with me!" the boy, that Carlos now identified as Jay, ordered, taking the presumed salesman by the shoulders and dragging him to the dressing room with the blue clothes in his hands.

"May I ask what's going on?" Carlos inquired, deciding it was better to try to talk with Jay than with Mal.

"Trust me, you don't want to know" the older boy replied, apparently not caring that he hadn't quite entered the changing room and already taking his shirt off.

"Oh, I'll tell you" Mal started to say, shifting her weight from one foot ―already in shoes with a pair of sandals she herself had set off to find― to the other, standing by the cash register of the boutique. "Jay here decided it was a good idea to get us both in trouble because he saw a pretty face".

"I already apologized!" Jay replied with a note of fake exasperation.

"Well, I'm sorry too, now, does that make it better?" the girl counter-attacked.

"Maybe not, but this certainly looks better on me than on the hook" the boy argued, trying on a shirt that certainly showed his well-built body, although it didn't quite seem like something he'd wear, especially taking in account the leather vest he'd just taken off. Turning his eyes to the floor, Carlos swallowed a laugh, as if to not say aloud that he agreed with the older boy.

"Whatever you say, Romeo" Mal satirized. "But we're still in a hurry, so get your shit together and let's get going!"

"Now, now, Mal, watch that mouth of yours, what will our friend Carlos think if you keep―?"

"Hurry up!" the purple-haired girl cut him off in a shout. "What will he think if your father finds us here!"

Probably, what Mal intended was to darken the mood, and if such a thing was her goal, then her words certainly achieved that―grimacing, Jay had no other option than to nod.

"Fair point, then" he accepted, turning to the young and inexperienced salesman. "Now, Carlos, we're taking all of this" he continued, gathering his belongings just before he threw a bunch of bills into Carlos' hands.

"Thank you, I'll just… I'll get you the…" the boy started to say, only to be interrupted by the girl of the bizarre due.

"Take it, keep the change and let's get out of here before―" in that moment, Mal herself was interrupted by the rustling of the door's hinges. Sending a warning glare towards Jay while she directed her right hand directed to her waist, as if wanting to take a gun out of its case, although Carlos noted that, if that was the case, it was merely a matter of intimidation, as the only thing she actually had around her waist was a sparkling belt.

"Carlos!" came the excited voice of Evie from the front door. "I'm back!"

"Right here!" he called, happy to have someone else to help him sort out this strange scenario.

Unfortunately, Jay and Mal didn't seem as enthusiastic with the newcomer, theory that was confirmed due to the girl mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like 'Damn it, Jay, I told you!' under her breath.

"Here you are!" Evie greeted excitedly before noticing they had company. "You?" Carlos heard her say just as she stared back at Mal. "How did you get here?"

For a moment, Carlos considered the possibility of this strange occurrence being all a misunderstanding, but the same recognition shone in Mal's emerald eyes.

"Oh dear, I can't believe it!" the purple-haired girl let out, smacking the palm of her hand on her forehead.

Noticing that even Jay wore a knowing expression, Carlos decided he'd had enough of being oblivious to everything.

"Alright, can one of you explain what in the world is this all about? Please?" he added after a glare of Mal.

"Well, you see, Carlos, these two right here stopped a man from stealing me" the boy's friend was thrilled to offer with a smile that suggested no such a thing. Still, Carlos knew better, and Evie was certainly good at keeping things to herself. Like how, sometimes, she needed makeup to cover bruises. Like how he actually had entered that girl's boutique with a very similar purpose.

"What―?" the boy let out in an outraged but high-pitched cry.

"Now, I couldn't let such a beauty be mistreated by my father, could I?" Jay replied, gesturing to take Evie's hand before the other girl stopped him by slapping his arm.

"Oh, no, don't you even think about it! Either you save her or you flirt with her, but not both!" Mal reprimanded, not really caring that her words sounded weird. "We're already in enough trouble with Jafar as it is!"

"Then I guess I'll have to flirt with someone else" Jay proposed, winking at Carlos which for some reason made the younger boy blush to the very tips of his hair. That at least before Jay's expression darkened. "And anyways, he's drunk, you know? He won't remember it tomorrow".

Just as the words left the boy's lips, Evie and Carlos shared a knowing glance. Sure, they knew enough about having problems with their parents. Grimacing, Mal could only shift her weight from one foot to the other.

"Well, if you… if you need somewhere to spend the night…" Carlos started, directing to Jay, after a few minutes of a tense silence. "Perhaps you could stay at my house…" as he finished, he didn't really know where the words had come from, they just―seemed right.

"Sure thing!" Evie applauded next to him, turning to Mal. "And you could stay with me if… if that's alright with you, of course".

Suddenly, Jay and Mal sent each other a look that was pure shock, as if they couldn't believe someone was offering them such a thing or as if they came from somewhere in where proposition like that one didn't even exist.

Probably they did, though, Carlos dwelled on numbly, just like Evie and he came from a world in which they could do something like that because their parents were too busy ignoring them to care about what they did.

But that confused expression was gone within a second from the duo's features as their resolution came back.

"I… I think that would be alright" Jay decided to break the ice, managing a huge grin that for Carlos felt as if he were lighting the entire room. "Plus, I get to check that nothing happens to you on your way home" he continued, and he winked once more, coquettishly, playfully, and that sent a shiver down Carlos' spine.

"All settled then!" Evie announced, closing windows and getting ready to close. "We'll leave in a second. Sorry, what's your name? Mad, Maddie? Mal! That's it, am I right?" she answered herself. "You guys should get going already" she ordered, giving the two boys a sparkling smile that almost rivaled Jay's grin.

"See you around" the older boy nodded, drawing an arm around Carlos' back comfortingly, so much so that the younger teen didn't even feel the need to jerk away.

Honestly, Carlos could only mutter a distant 'Good night' and he hardly heard the girls' replies, too caught up in the warmness that he could feel spread through his body due to Jay's touch―the presumed thief seems so… laid-back, as if he'd done this a thousand times and it didn't matter that he'd just met Carlos, who was usually too socially awkward to let such a casual touch happen.

To be sincere, he couldn't help but wish this would happen at least once more.

Who knew, great things did come from fortuitous events, after all, no matter how bizarre the beginning of them were.

Now, this is the end of it! I hope you like it, and if you did, please feel free to follow this story because, for the rest of the week, I will be publiching a new one-shot daily!

Just so you know, the stories I will be publishing for this event, are not related to each other in the least. Every single one of them is merely a one-shot thought for the occasion.

Read you soon and I love you!