Carlos woke up with part of him still throbbing from the smattering of love bite bruises all over him. Ben was already awake and, in the shower, so he got up and padded to the bathroom, opening the curtain and slipping in with him. He stopped washing himself with soapy hands and worked on Carlos' body smiling.
"Morning sleepy. I was gonna wake you up after my shower cause you looked like you were having a good dream." He beamed peppering kisses over his face as his soapy hands made slow circles over Carlos' body. He relaxed into Ben's touch letting the smile spread over his face.
"Yeah, actually I had a really good dream about us." He took some of the body wash, lathered it up in his hands and worked on finishing cleaning Ben's ruggedly handsome body. He let out a hum of approval at his lover's actions and they fell into a peaceful silence just cleaning each other and waking up in the process. Ben soaped Carlos' hair with shampoo and styled it into a mohawk grinning.
"See I think you could pull it off." Ben gestured at the mirror as Carlos crooned out of the shower at an awkward angle to look in the mirror. It made him look a lot more punk rock but he couldn't help but laugh. It was such a childish and lighthearted thing to do that it felt nice for something to be innocent and not so serious. It just made Carlos realize how serious things had been since he came to Auradon, sure the Isle can get pretty serious but there were days of just having fun sometimes. A part of his heart missed the simple innocence of just having fun. Thankfully Ben was willing to be playful with him, so Carlos gave Ben a mohawk too once he worked the shampoo into his hair. They both laughed at how ridiculous he looked with a mohawk, it just didn't suit him. He rinsed his hair out destroying Carlos' masterpiece and stepped out of the showering chuckling at the pout his isle lover had.
"Come on, we gotta hurry up, you didn't bring clothes for tonight, so we have to get you back to your dorm for clean ones," Ben commented while drying himself off in a way that Carlos could easily just peer through the gap in the curtain and fully admire. Ben had such a classically handsome body between the muscles and the shape. It distracted him until he realized he was staring then worked the shampoo out of his hair.
Once the two were dried off and Carlos put his clothes back on they hopped into Ben's royal blue car and drove to school. With a sweet kiss, they parted ways, Ben heading to class and Carlos sprinting to his dorm to swap out clothes. Jay was just leaving nearly running right into Carlos. The look on his face flashed a mixture of emotion first surprise, then recognition, then confusion and finally disappointment. With little time before class, he didn't have time to sit and question why he looked so disappointed, so he just snagged clothes and quickly changed in the bathroom before heading to class.
It was during class that Carlos could hear the whispers. He occasionally heard his name and it made his ears perk up, but he could never quite make out what people were talking about. It made him extremely self-conscious. Once lunchtime rolled around, he went to sit with the group, Ben and Jay sitting on opposite sides of the table, mildly tense before he sat down with his tray containing the essential food group that is pizza. Evie, Lonnie, and Mal all looked at Carlos before whispering to each other giggling. Losing his patience, Carlos groaned and looked directly at Evie.
"Okay, why is everyone whispering around me today. Do I have a sign on my back or something?" He whined making Ben momentarily smirk triumphantly at how oblivious his lover was to the swath of bruises on his neck and chest that were visible. Jay just scowled stabbing into his muffin with his fork looking at it like it had personally offended him.
"' Los, You're covered in hickeys. Look." Evie held up her little travel-sized heart mirror for him and he inspected himself. Sure enough, he was properly speckled with them in a very obvious way. A deep crimson blush crept up his cheeks and he looked to his smirking lover with an accusatory glare.
"I told you I was marking my territory last night baby" Ben cooed, and Carlos rolled his eyes grinning. The girls burst into Awws and giggles, but Jay's face darkened as he glared straight at Ben like he just spoke something forbidden.
"Carlos isn't your "Territory" he's a person and he doesn't belong to you. Just because he's shacking up with you doesn't mean anything." Jay seethed from across the table. Ben's eyebrows knit together in confusion then disapproval not sure what to say. Carlos' blush went from one of cute embarrassment to a flush of anger in seconds.
"You don't get to speak for me, Jay. Ben is my boyfriend and I don't mind him claiming me. You're the one with the problem." Carlos growled and Jay only scrunched up his face in anger before launching himself deftly over the table tackling Ben to the ground. The two started wrestling as Jay attempted to fight him while Ben was trying to restrain Jay not wanting to fight. The entire cafeteria had turned to look and Jay was completely fuming with jealousy and anger.
"This is your stupid fault. You're turning Carlos against me you stupid fucking prick." Jay spat in Ben's face before being rolled over and pinned down by Ben who glared angrily at him.
"I'm not doing anything. You're the one who is upsetting him." Ben growled before Carlos pulled Ben off of Jay. Jay stood up and started to go back after Ben but Carlos got in the way looking angry and disappointed.
"You need a major attitude check bro. I don't know what your damage is but your need to fix it because this isn't okay. You just attacked my boyfriend for doing nothing. Think about that Jay. If you care about me why are you trying to hurt the things I care about?" He had tears of frustration prickling at the corners of his eyes as Ben was wiping spit off himself with a napkin. Jay just huffed and walked off leaving everyone stunned, confused, and pretty mad. Ben pulled Carlos into a hug and they sat back down comforting each other. Mal got up and ran after Jay, knowing better than to let him run off on his own again.