A/n: This ones a bit short, but I promise there's more to come! Been very busy so here's a quick one :)
As time went on, Carlos began to struggle with his sexuality more and more. Being Gay here was accepted, people could love whoever they wanted, and were free to marry whomever they wanted. The more he tried to suppress his thoughts and desires, he got depressed. He had stopped needing to go to therapy weekly when he got depressed and started struggling. Rather than confess his thoughts to another, he buried them in hopes that they would go away. What didn't help was when he saw his crush flirting with another, and them asking another out on a date. When he witnessed that, it made his heart feel cold, his chest warm with an emotion he didn't understand and he wanted to go to bed for a long time. As the end of the year dawned closer, his friends got busy studying for finals- that meant they all were hitting the books trying to cram what they could into their memory.
They studied together, but the focus was on the material, not each other, as these were really important tests and they were all worried they would not pass. Evie took to studying with Doug, and sometimes with the group. The duo was highly intelligent and didn't need much outside help. Mal and Ben studied together, and with Jane, Jay, Lonnie and a few others. Carlos would study with them, but found that he worked better in smaller groups. Asilynn had been studying with her friend group, and had been involved with other after school activities, that left her busy most days, leaving her not much time to spend with her twin.
Despite how much Carlos was studying, it seemed that his grades were slipping slightly. It wasn't much at first, but it was enough for him to notice. He usually got 80%-90% on his work but he'd been getting a high of 85% in all his classes and as low as 70%. His teachers figured that as it was the end of the year, most students do see a point where they start to slip as, they have been worn out by the semester. Anita and Roger had done what they could to help him study, but it seemed that the content of the lessons were starting to be hard and go over his head, especially with English class.
As the work got more into the writing and sentence structure, he struggled more and more. Being younger than everyone else sucked. When his sister had been found- she herself was in a grade lower, it was realized that he wasn't the age they thought he was. By calculation, he was probably about 14-15 to what he thought, but according to his sister, she was 14- meaning Carlos was in classes for 16-17 year olds, and that he skipped nearly two grades.
With his adjusting to puberty- He'd already gone through most of it before, while on the Isle, but that didn't mean he understood what was happening to his body at the time. As of late, he was seeing that he was more muscular and fit- or at least he was when he played tourney, now he was on the lanky side again. He had to shave his face, which he found weird- having to ask Roger for help was embarrassing to say the least, but the other man explained it to him without making him feel ashamed for not knowing.
The hardest thing he had was adjusting to the idea of relationships. Cruella was less of a mother, and more of a slave owner. Carlos slaved to her every demand out of fear of being beaten. Issac used him to get Cruella off the Island. Mal had used him when he was younger to throw a party at hell house, Jay used to steal Cruella's stuff and also torment him with Mal, Evie was, well she was his first friend, if you could call it friendship on the Isle. It was closer to being allies. So when they came to Auradon- they were allies, but not quite friends, and in time they became friends, and a family of sorts. Every family has the one that doesn't fit in, the one who gets ignored at dinner time, the one forgotten behind at the store, and that was Carlos.
He didn't see the point in relationships- most of the ones he had were bad or forced. So when he developed a crush, he was internally freaking out- it went against his internal code, his desire to be distanced from emotions like Love and Lust. His internal struggles manifested on the outside. By the end of the year, he'd lost weight again- not that anyone had noticed yet, as it wasn't a huge amount. When he saw the way his bones contrasted with his skin, he felt attractive for once. His jawline and cheek structure were well defined, leaving him looking more attractive- or at least he thought he did- as he read it in one of Evie's gossip magazines that girls liked defined facial features. His anxiety attacks had brought his general disinterest in food, and a lack of appetite. Soon it became something he could control- he could control what he ate and when, whereas he couldn't control things like situations, and his paralyzation.
By summer time, he was thinner but still pretending to eat and be normal. Anita and Roger had no clue what was going on, and Carlos made sure they never put it together. Asilynn had spent more time with him and saw he wasn't himself a little bit, but didn't think much of it as she still didn't know her brother the best and they were still strangers on some levels. His friends did try to come and visit more, but it was hard. Jay was training for the next season- he was trying to become the best athlete he could in hopes of going pro. Mal was a lady of the court and had Royal things to attend to, as well as planning events for the next school year. Evie was designing clothes for students and other royals. Her business kept her busy most days, as she usually spent it sewing and designing. Once again, Carlos was on his own, but this time he didn't mind, he wanted to be alone. What he felt on the inside, he didn't want to have to explain, it was hard enough to understand, let alone explain.
When he'd woke up in the middle of the night because of a weird dream he didn't understand, he would lie there until he fell back asleep, and most nights he never did. Eventually Anita and Roger picked up on his sleeping schedule being off, but they figured it was summer and that he should relax and sleep in. His room got messier as he stayed at home. He lacked motivation to clean, pick up dirty clothes, and overall just do anything. His interest in science was dying, as was his interest in technology. Anita and Roger saw the small changes in him. They saw how he began to retreat in on himself, and they couldn't understand why. By the middle of summer, they wanted him to go back to therapy. When he refused and threw a fit, they backed off. Their intentions were from a good place but Carlos reacted negatively, saying that he wasn't, "crazy", or "Psychotic like his mother". They didn't know how to help him because they didn't know what was wrong.
By the end of the summer, Carlos had lost interest in most of the things he once liked.