Disclaimer: I do not own Descendants.
Carlos liked to think of himself as a fairly even keel sort of a guy. He had spent his formative years dealing with the hazards of navigating unpredictable emotional waters, and the last thing he wanted to do was make anyone around him have to develop a similar skill set. He actively avoided making a habit of bringing up his hang ups from his Isle upbringing. He did not have the world's most stellar childhood. That did not mean that he needed to be that guy - the one that always had a grievance to air or a complaint that he needed to be soothed with sympathy over (in other words, there was no reason to be Chad about it).
People were mostly good about not lingering on subjects that might be questionable; the problem was that what most people in Auradon considered potentially upsetting and what he actually found potentially upsetting were not always one and the same. He did not want to spend all of his time trying to explain (thus putting himself in the that guy category), so he just tried to trudge along and let the little annoyances roll off his back as best he could without making a big deal out of them.
It mostly worked. After all, why should it matter to anybody else if some of their vocabulary words grated on his nerves?
For example, he was decidedly uncomfortable when the people in Auradon referred to things like magic as powers. In his world, power was something different (and generally unpleasant) that involved combinations of pain and humiliation. His encounters with magical beings in this realm were comprised of dealings with those that were usually trying to be helpful (even if they sometimes fell short). It just didn't mesh with his connotations for the word power in his head, and he tried to tell himself that it was silly that he got so irritated over the way that people threw around the word. It was good that his new friends didn't have those same experiences with the word. He should just get over it. He even thought that he might be getting used to the Auradon usage of the word.
That was he had thought that until he encountered Elric. That guy somehow made all of his negative associations about the word power coming flooding back full force. He was not the only student at Auradon Prep to have "powers," but he was the only one that Carlos had encountered that seemed to begin each and every conversation by bringing it to the attention of everyone listening. Carlos couldn't figure out why more people didn't seem to realize what a bad sign that was.
Everyone who passed a basic history class knew that the teen's mother had struggled with control of her "powers" to the point that she had nearly caused an ecological collapse and mass exposure/potential starvation deaths in her kingdom over what Carlos essentially considered a temper tantrum (he did not care what the history books chose to say on the subject - in his view, the actual hero of the story was Princess Anna).
One would think that, knowing this about herself, she would have kept a closer eye on her kid. He supposed she had to a certain extent - he only joined their class as a senior (to polish him up for the political realm he had stated rather snidely). He knew that inter kingdom politics was a serious business, but he still did not feel like that was a reasonable reason to inflict Elric on an unsuspecting student population.
It might be that he would have liked the guy better if he did not seem so bizarrely focused in on his girlfriend. Given that the guy's own cousin avoided him like the plague (No! I won't do it. I have to suffer his presence when I'm home - school is supposed to be my refuge from the madness!), he felt it safe to assume that it was at least not just that that bothered him so.
Jane was always so helpful (and Fairy Godmother was strangely accustomed to using her to fill in for odd jobs), so he had kept his mouth shut when she spent what seemed to him a rather unreasonable amount of time showing the new kid around. He tolerated canceled plans and the way that the guy stood entirely too close to her whenever he could manage. He thought he had been pretty patient even when the smirky looks over Jane's head were getting thrown in his direction.
Approaching their arranged meeting place so they could walk to dinner together after yet another afternoon of her helping their new classmate learn the layout of the library (and hadn't that demand of Elric's just been a pathetic excuse for getting Jane's attention after the first three times) and hearing the words "are you trying to seduce me with your powers" coming out of Jane's mouth, however, meant that all attempts at patience or understanding or restraint were off the table.
He sped up fully prepared to give the other boy a piece of his mind (and a piece of his fist when the next words he heard Jane saying were "let go of me"). Before he could round the corner, however, a sharp cracking noise (a sound with which he was unfortunately all too familiar) could be heard. The fact that the offended whining voice that followed was decidedly of male origin was the only thing that stopped his charge toward the pair from becoming a blind rage.
The wall blocking his view was finally left behind him, and he could see his girlfriend squared off against the newest student - hands on her hips and foot tapping in agitation. Elric was clutching his hand against his chest as if the appendage was in danger of being lopped off and calling Jane a crazy person.
"I told you to let go," she was saying in a tone that reminded Carlos uncomfortably of her mother ordering a student to detention.
"You should be flattered," Elric began to tell her, "that I was willing to waste any of my time on you."
"I think you've got that backwards," Carlos commented.
"Why don't you mind your own business you . . .," whatever name Carlos was about to be called was lost to Jane's command.
"Silence!" She ordered. "I think you've been sufficiently guided." She said in a tone that would have made the high king himself reconsider attempting to argue. "I strongly suggest you keep both your hands and your powers to yourself - or you won't find yourself here very long."
She turned and gave a wide smile to her boyfriend (and managed to convey an air of dismissal to the other person in the hallway at the same time). "Dinner?"
"Yeah," Carlos answered trying his best to look the question of whether or not she was okay at her. The fact that Elric slipped and fell on a patch of his own ice when he tried to take a step toward Jane gave him his answer (or rather her pleased look at the sound and the slight wiggle of her fingers that were resting unobtrusively by her side that immediately proceeded his misstep did).
So, he might always have a little twinge at the way that the word powers got thrown around in Auradon, but he could probably learn to remember that how they were used was more important than what they called them.