don't look so surprised, I'm a little smarter now (you can thank college for that)
Without a doubt, one of Jane's favourite places in all of Auradon City was her mother's brownstone. Well, more Jane's brownstone now, her mother so rarely had the opportunity to even spend the night. Three floors and a basement, hardwood panelling, a gorgeous view of the city skyline, a space to breathe. And best of all - privacy. Few of her peers even knew of the existence of the building, nevermind that as far as Jane was concerned, it was home. (Well, the brownstone and the chateau in Charmington.) Her mother originally purchased the building upon its original construction, just as Auradon City was becoming, well, a city. Its original purpose was to be a place to go home to, when politics and helping create a union of countries got so taxing that Abigail just needed to leave, but now it served as a home-away-from-school for Jane. She had a bedroom, a media room, a library filled with books on almost every subject (magic theory and history included), and her personal favourite - the hive of bees on the roof. Her mother cultivated the creatures, originally a personal source of honey and wax and other ingredients for magic spells and potions, now just a mother-daughter hobby and love, one of the few things the two both enjoyed wholeheartedly.
Jane sat on the roof, cuddled up in blankets and the knit sweater in her favourite blue-grey yarn, one of the first she'd knitted for herself successfully. A steaming mug of honeyed tea on the table in front of her, her knitting project in her lap, she was giving her hands a rest as she watched the sun slowly set on the horizon. The steady buzzing of the hive filled her sensitive pointed ears, drowning out the city sounds with white noise. Gently, Jane breathed on her drink, and felt the liquid inside warm up even more. She smiled softly, feeling the discharge of the energy.
"Now there's a thing no-one sees very often."
Jane whipped her head around, facing the voice she'd forgotten was there.
Standing well over a foot above her, her eldest honorary brother was smiling at her, his own dimples showing on his face. Jane patted the empty side of the wicker couch she was sitting on. He joined her, turning to the sunset.
Nineteen, in his first year of college over in Prince Eric's land of Atlantica Bay that sat on the edge of the old mer-king Triton's territory; square-jawed with green eyes and curly hair, Charlemagne Belmonte Charming was one of the most eligible bachelors in the Auradon high society circuit. And the first-born son of Cinderella and her prince, the closest thing Jane had in Auradon to extended family.
"What's a thing no-one sees very often?" Jane asked.
"A smile on your face."
Jane quirked her brow and tilted her mouth to one side as Charlie grinned impishly. Jane fought to keep her expression and not grin back.
"Is that so?"
"Indeed it is."
"Maybe I smile all the time, and it's just that no-one sees it."
"Or maybe you just like convincing people that you're stoic as hell and that smiling is a thing other people do."
"Or that." Jane smiled the way she knew Charlie was trying to get her to. "How did you know I was here?" It wasn't as if she shouted her weekend address in the streets.
"Well, I called your mother, who said you weren't at your school, and I called my mum and she said you weren't at the castle, and I called your house and no one answered. So I asked myself, where does my favourite misanthrope go when she wants to see exactly no one for days on end? And then I remembered I have the key Aunt Abby gave me the last time I bunked here for a night."
"Quite the deduction."
"And you're not the least bit happy to see me."
"Obviously," Jane retorted as she yanked Charlie into a hug she hadn't had since two months before when they'd last seen each other. Charlie took the time to squeeze her tight.
She didn't question why he'd come to see her, and he didn't make a comment. Instead, he asked the question that apparently, half their family wanted to know about Jane - "How are you doing?"
Jane tensed. Jane lied. "I'm fine. School's good, everyone's fine. Not much to report." Except her emotional state (constant anxiety, more or less), what her hobbies were (knitting, as per the last six years, and magic, as per the last three weeks (except no-one knew that and she wasn't about to bring it up), and how her closest friends were (she'd need to actually have some to answer that).
Charlie, very smartly, detected the lie. Not-so-smartly, he called her out on it. "Now there's a lie."
"What am I lying about?"
"That you're fine. You're not fine. You haven't been fine in so long I don't think you remember what it's like."
"That's rude."
"You're rude. You're lying to people that are worried about you."
"Is that why you're here? Checking up on me on behalf of our family?"
Charlie was watching her. "No. I'm checking up on you on behalf of me."
Jane watched him back. She refused to say anything first. Or fifth.
Charlie's expression was nothing but ernest. And concerned. The worry was in his eyes. "You're not happy Jane. Not really. You're just pretending you are, because you know that's what people want to see. Mum noticed the other day, when you were at the castle for the gala. Dad noticed too. I asked Chad, and he said you've been quiet and sad all over the place."
"And Chad pays so much attention to me."
"Chad is the only one who can. You might ignore each other, but you do know each other. You can read each other. I can read you. You're sad. Aunt Abby isn't that great at paying close attention to you, she's so busy, so the rest of us have to pick up the slack. What's been bugging you?"
Jane sighed, low and deep, emptying her lungs. She didn't want to fight.
"No-one likes me. At school, no one likes me. Okay, not in a hates-me kind of way, I've got people I'm friendly with. I just don't have friends. And I don't know what to do about it." Charlie said nothing, and Jane continued. "I make people uncomfortable. They just . . don't relax around me, I guess. It's a magic thing, the whole 'fae-aura-is-discomforting' thing. They don't like spending time around me of their own violation. There's also the whole, my-brain-is-more-advanced-in-maturity thing, so bonding through tutoring thing that your dad suggested didn't work. Turns out, people don't like it when you're just effortlessly more advanced in schoolwork than they are no matter how much they study. I'm not Mum. I don't make people relax just by being in the room, I make people irritated by being in the room. Generally because I know the answers to all the questions. I'm the school weirdo. Happiness is not required for that role. That's for the princesses and princes that I have to suffer through every day."
They sat in silence as Charlie absorbed what she said. When he had, they were silent some more. The sun dipped under the horizon, leaving the stars in the sky and the light pollution of the city to illuminate the world.
Jane went downstairs to make some dinner. Charlie followed her. They didn't say anything.
It was only later, when Charlie realised that if he was gonna stay the night at the brownstone the way he'd figured he would, then he'd better say something before the silence got even more painfully awkward, that he voiced the first words in the building for two and a half hours.
"Okay. I know I can't compare anything I've ever gone through to anything that you're going through. But . . I'm gonna say something. So, speaking as someone who's learned just how much what people think of you during high school does not matter, being a weirdo is a good thing. It makes you unique and interesting. The fae aura thing shouldn't be something that people can't handle. It's easy to handle, our family's been dealing with it your whole life. We love you because of it, not in spite of it."
Jane looked at him, expecting more.
"Anyone that doesn't even try to get past the initial feelings you give them doesn't deserve to call you a friend. If you think that people don't like you because you're smart, then they really are the idiots they're trying not to be. If no one in school really cares about you, not in a loyal permanent way, then you don't need to care about them. And I don't mean that in that they think you're not worth anything as a person . . they just don't know you as a person, and they don't care to. Why care what they think? I don't care, I want you to be able to be happy as you are. So do my parents. So does yours. And if there's only one thing I do know, its that before all that high school crap you're dealing with now, you were proud of being a weirdo. You were a proud, happy, eclectic-taste having weirdo."
All of this was true.
"I just wish you could go back to that pride, even just for a minute. And I do know, that in a way, you could. That nothing is stopping you but you. Just . . if you're not happy with the way you are right now, change yourself. Fuck everyone else. Be whoever you want to be, and try not to break too many laws while you're at it."
Jane snorted, a small smile lighting her face. "Thanks Charlie. I miss your college-age wisdom."
"As you should." He said, an air of sage wisdom sarcastically hanging over his words.
They hugged.
And then they put on some socks Jane had made, because the wooden floor was dropping temperature very quickly, and neither of them were wearing shoes.
(notes: In his way, Charlie is right. He's also a little wrong, seeing as how, as with evidence from previous chapters, there's a LOT wrong with Auradon for fae, but he's in Jane's corner.
I don't know if we're ever given names for a lot of places in the Descedants canon, but im too lazy to check and this is my story and i do what i want. Also, if you think that the kids of Cinderella and Fairy Godmother weren't raised together, then I'm gonna stick that headcanon up your butt. Jane is using magic, from the previous chapter's happenings, but she hasn't told anyone yet. She's keeping it to herself for a while.
anyone who can guess where i'm drawing inspiration from w the brownstone and the bees gets a cookie.
also, i fancast daniel shaman as charlie charming, and you should too.)
(two chapters in a day, i am on a ROLL)