Tuesday - Bully/protection

Plot: Carlos gets cornered by Chad in the locker room after practice. Chad is horrible but it's okay because Jay comes to the rescue. Even if it is in a kind of brutal way.

Warnings: explicit language, mentions of past child abuse and violence.

Disclaimer: Me no own.

Not Worth Going Back

Carlos sighed, exhausted. Most of the team had already left as Carlos entered the locker rooms, he had stayed back to help coach and a few of the others pack up after practice.

Tourney had been hard! He'd never understood the concept of sports but he stayed on the team for Jay. A smile lit up his face. They had organised to meet up after practice at 7pm in their dorm and then were going to go out for dinner. He looked at the clock. 7:05. Darn, already late. He still couldn't wipe the smile off his face and promised himself he'd be quick.

Carlos peeled off his shirt and his smile dropped as he saw his skin in the mirror. Scars and bruises still littered his chest from his mother's punishment. He could still hear her shrill voice screaming at him as he looked at each scar. The nail marks, knife cuts, the burns, the whip welts, belt marks, the list goes on. Only Jay, Mal and Evie knew about the scars and his mother as they had, over the years on the Isle, witnessed it firsthand. He hoped it stayed that way. Then he smiled slightly, again, remembering that he was away from her. She couldn't touch him anymore.

Carlos started walking towards the showers, pants hanging loosely around his hips when he was suddenly slammed into the wall.

"Hey, fag. Your boyfriend give you those nasty little booboos?" Chad Charming. Anything but Charming in reality. He sneered down at Carlos, holding the boy's neck, forcing him against the wall. Carlos wished he could just sink into it and fade away from this situation.

"I bet you begged him to do it. Am I right, you little runt?" Carlos' air was being cut off now, face going red. He started trembling.

"Why don't you fight back? You're supposed to be a villain kid, right? Grew up on the Isle and all. Yet you do nothing. You really are pathetic." Carlos squeezed his eyes shut. There was a crash and suddenly the pressure around his throat was gone. He opened his eyes hesitantly and slid down the wall, sinking to the floor. He looked around.

Chad was laying on the ground, nose bleeding profusely and he was crying. Jay stood over him, fists trembling and face furious.

"Don't you ever fucking talk to him like that ever again! At least not like that! And if I ever see you lay a hand anywhere on him ever again, nobody will ever find your body because it will be strewn in tiny pieces all over Auradon and the Isle of the Lost! Fucking got it!?" Jay screamed at him. Chad whimpered.

"Maybe if he wasn't such a runt, people wouldn't have a go at him!" the blonde cried.

Should not have done that. Before Chad could do another thing, Jay was on top of him, punching him in the face repeatedly. Carlos had to do something.

He quickly jumped up, running over to the two. He tried pulling on Jay's arm to no avail.

"Jay he is not worth it! C'mon! He's not worth going back to the Isle!"

By this time, a few of the boys that were standing outside and had heard the commotion had finally ran up to the boys, Ben leading them.

"Jay!" the young king yelled, attempting to pull his friend off of Cinderella's prestigious son. It took several of the Tourney boys to finally pull him off. When they did, Carlos got a good look at Chad's face. There was tons of blood all over his face, so much so that he was unrecognisable. Jay went easy on him. Good, Carlos thought.

Jay wrenched himself out of the other boy's grip and spat on Chad who was still writhing on the ground.

"And never, ever, call him a runt."

Ben told Jay and Carlos to leave so they could get Chad to the infirmary. Jay gladly pulled Carlos to his side and they walked out of the locker rooms together.

As soon as they were in their dorm room, Jay turned to Carlos looking him over worriedly, hands on his shoulders and asking a million questions a minute.

"Where did he hurt you? Are you okay? What did he say to you? If this were the Isle, he wouldn't have gotten out that easily. He would've been dead."

Carlos chuckled, "Jay. Jay. Jay! Calm down, I'm fine. You went way overboard… You're lucky you didn't kill the guy."

The brunette frowned, "I should've…"

Carlos shook his head gently, "No, you shouldn't have. He doesn't know any better, it doesn't matter. It's over now and besides, I don't think he's going to be harassing any one of us anytime soon. I think you did a pretty good job of scaring the shit out of him."

Jay laughed quietly, "Well, okay. As long as you're okay and still up for it, should we go on that date now?"

Carlos smiled brightly, and walked over to his wardrobe to grab some clothes before walking to the bathroom for the shower he never got to.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea."