Hey, everybody! It's been a while since I've been online. Sorry that my first story in forever is in a new fandom. But I wrote this, like, last year and it's been collecting dust in my docs and I recently started watching the Magic School Bus again, so I decided to upload this little gem. Anyway, this is a little one-shot friendship fluff for Carlos and Phoebe because why not?
It was too late at night to actually do stuff. That's why Carlos just lounged lazily on the couch in his pajama pants, flipping through TV channels. His Spanish homework lay forgotten on the coffee table. He was fluent. He could finish it in homeroom tomorrow.
He heard two dull thuds on the door and wondered who could possibly be visiting at this hour. Carlos groaned and got off the couch. He picked a shirt off of the floor and pulled it over his head. Running his hand through his hair, he stumbled toward the door. With a yawn, he opened the door to answer his question of who could possibly be visiting at this hour.
Standing on his porch in a sparkly red dress was Phoebe Terese with mascara running down her face and her lithe body shaking with sobs. Her black headband didn't stand a chance against her mussed up, usually perfect, reddish-brown hair. Her makeup was a mess and her dress was slightly torn. She looked up at him with big, hazel, doe eyes filled with tears.
"Pheebs!" Carlos exclaimed, "What happened?!"
She sucked in a shaky breath and whispered, "Please don't say I told you so," before the sobs overtook her again.
"Oh, Phoebe," Carlos said, opening his arms to her. She ran into his hug and buried her face into his chest. He rested his chin on her head and stroked her hair as she cried into his shirt.
When her sobs had quieted, he pulled back and said, "Tell me what happened." He led her inside to the couch that he was previously lounging on.
Her voice was shaky and watery, but she managed to say, "I-It was Dan-Daniel." She felt Carlos's arms hug tighter against her waist. She curled up against him and said, "He-he tried to- he tried to-" She gave up on trying to get it out, so instead she stood up and turned around. She pulled her hair over her shoulder - it had grown much longer since third grade - so he could see that the top half of her dress had been ripped.
Carlos stood up and yelled in outrage, "I can't believe him!"
Phoebe held her hands up to his chest to calm down the fifteen-year-old boy. She slowly sat him back down on the couch and sat down next to him. He was still glaring angrily and his leg was bouncing up and down impatiently. She continued, "When I kept resisting, he tried to force my dress off, but I hit him. H-he stopped the car a few blocks away from here and he grabbed my hair and threw me out the car. I landed on the sidewalk. When he drove away, I started walking to your house."
Phoebe hadn't seen the usually bubbly Mexican boy this mad since the school bullies shoved Arnold into a locker eighth grade year. His dark brown eyes were filled with fire, his fists were clenched in fury, and he looked as red as his tan skin would allow. He spoke with a seething rage and determination when he ground out, "I'm gonna kill him. I swear I'm gonna kill him."
"What?! Carlos, no!" Phoebe exclaimed, putting a hand on his arm. "Don't be stupid."
"You're right," Carlos agreed, nodding, and, for a second, Phoebe felt relieved until he said, "I've gotta call Tim, and Arnold, and Wanda, and DA, and Ralphie, and Keesha, and then... then we'll kill him."
"Not today," Phoebe said tiredly. Carlos turned to look at her. She wasn't shaking with sobs anymore; she just looked hurt. Carlos's face softened. She shrank back into his couch and asked, "Can I stay here tonight? My parents are staying out late and I don't want to be alone."
"Sure," Carlos acquiesced, sitting back with her.
"Okay," she whispered. She leaned against him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
They sat there all night staring at the TV in companionable silence till they both fell asleep. And they woke up to many questions the next morning.
Okay, so it's pretty random but these two never get to do anything together. And despite his jokester attitude, Carlos always seemed like the overprotective type to me. If you have any questions, compliments, or criticisms, feel free to leave a review. I also take prompts and if you must, you can go ahead and flame. I also love talking headcanons, but as caution for you all, I ship C/DA, A/W, T/P, and R/K. Go, lovelies, and review.