"God, Carlos. I trusted you! I thought I was helping you out, protecting you in some way, but you were just using me this whole time? Have you even been telling the truth?" Jay had so many questions, so many emotions, because out of all people, he did not expect Carlos to be the one to use him, just like every other person had back on the Isle.

"Oh, that's so not fair!" Carlos shouted, laughing angrily as he clenched his hands by his sides.

"What's not fair? Care to elaborate, C?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but the fact that Carlos was laughing pissed him the hell off.

"Don't act like you're mister perfect. You've been using me just as much as I've been using you."

"I'm sorry, what?" Jay's voice drops low. His eyes lower and he takes a dangerous step forward, bewildered by Carlos' accusation.

Carlos knew that had been the wrong thing to say. It had definitely been the wrong thing to say, because he wasn't even positive Jay had been using him, and god if he was wrong, he was in for one hell of an argument.

"Yeah, Jay." Carlos laughs again, and he's not sure why, because none of this is remotely funny, but he just can't stop. "I'm not the one who initiates make out sessions when there's no one around. The whole point of this stupid thing was for everyone else to see us. So tell me, Jay. What was the point of manhandling me in a closet, where no one can see us? Aside for your own personal enjoyment, What. Was. The. Fucking. Point?"

Carlos doesn't know why he's letting himself yell at Jay. He doesn't know why he let this turn into a fight. It didn't surprise him, because everything turned into a fight with them, but he had hoped, that maybe this time it would be different.

"Fuck you, Carlos," Jay growls after a quick beat, and Carlos wants to feel threatened, wants to stop this before it gets more out of hand, but his damn mouth couldn't stay shut, no matter how hard he tried.

"Oh yeah, fuck me." Carlos laughed, "You're just bitchy because I caught you and you can't defend yourself." When Jay doesn't respond immediately, Carlos laughs again, loud and twisted, tainted with anger.

The tension in the air only seemed to get thicker. The two of them were circling each other, as if preparing to pounce with fists at any moment. Carlos didn't want to fight. Jay didn't want to fight, either. But that was the thing about Carlos. Once you got him going, he couldn't stop, he never could, and Jay wished that he could learn to not respond when Carlos got the way he did.

Jay wonders how this happened. How Carlos managed to turn this on him; managed to paint him as the villain and blame him when Carlos had been the one lying the entire time. It hits him, then, as he watches Carlos laugh, concentrates on the way Carlos' eyes are wide, filled with the same dark laughter flowing from his mouth; The way Carlos won't stop yelling for the death of him and is pushing the blame away from him. He's his mother. In the way he walks, the way he laughs at things that should never be laughed at, and all the yelling and the need to always put someone down in order to feel superior, all Jay saw was Cruella. He knows it's not Carlos' fault, she is the one who raised him after all. Once he realizes it, this similarity, he wants to use it against Carlos. To yell it right in his face, and tell him the one thing he never wanted to hear, that he was his mother. Then Jay would win this fight. But he'd also lose something—someone— else, too. It doesn't stop him from contemplating it, though.

Jay knew he was a shitty person. But not that shitty, at least not today. So, instead of taking those words that could do so much damage to the already broken boy in front of him, he bites his tongue and forces the demons inside his head screaming at him to just fucking say it, far away. This arguing was going to get them nowhere, and he knew if someone was to stop the fight, it would have to be himself.

"Alright," Jay finally says, voice shaky, fighting back the urge to hurl the insults swirling in his mind, right at Carlos. "We both need to calm down. We won't get anywhere with us yelling back and forth. When we've both calmed down, we can explain what this whole mess is. But we need to stop right now, before we say something we'll regret."

"Too late."

"Carlos," Jay warned, pleading for him to just give it a rest. "We both know we don't mean anything we say when we argue, but we need to leave each other alone for right now. You know that."

Carlos gnaws at his lip and Jay can sense the urge in Carlos to continue yelling, to continue hurling insults that will help Carlos repair his heart by hurting one of the few people he cares about in order to feel better about himself. Jay never understood that about him. How putting down other people, making them feel like shit, could make himself feel better. Carlos and Mal got along that way, they both hurt people to make themselves happy, it was the only thing they truly understood about each other. So Jay watches as Carlos squeezes his nails into his palms and rocks onto each leg, as if he might leap forward and attack at any moment. He watches as Carlos fights to end this, to be stronger than before and to become a better person. After several long minutes, his body seems to deflate, and the anger escapes from his eyes and is flooded back in with a defeated sadness.

"Okay," Carlos agreed, releasing his hands from their fisted position. "I shouldn't have yelled."

Jay nods. He gets what he's trying to say: "I'm sorry". Jay doesn't want to forgive him, afraid that if those words: "You're Forgiven" are spoken, Carlos will misunderstand and think that Jay forgives him for lying and deceiving him. Because Jay wasn't going to forgive Carlos for that. He had never been this angry with Carlos, and he was surprised at himself for being so well composed.

"Well?" Carlos asks, and Jay shifts his eyes in confusion.

"Well what?" Jay snapped accidentally. He cringed inwardly at himself as he watched the frown form back onto Carlos' freckled face, anger quickly seeping back into the boys' features.

Carlos stands there silently, gazing at Jay like he should know. He sighs in annoyance and stares Jay down harder, flexing his jaw as he waits for Jay to understand whatever the hell he is trying to communicate. Carlos cocks his head and licks his lips, keeping his eyes focused on Jay's and Jay feels awkward as hell, because he has no idea what the hell Carlos wants him to say. When Jay's eyes shift to the left far too many times, Carlos gives up, rubbing at his temple as he starts for the door.

"I guess we'll talk later." And then he's gone.

Carlos hadn't been mad at Jay. Yes, he had been terrified when Jay had spotted the necklace because he had been caught, but he hadn't been mad, not initially. What pissed him off and bothered him so badly was the fact that Jay had the nerve to claim that Carlos had been the one doing all the using. Did Carlos know he was using Jay? Absolutely. Did he feel bad? Sometimes. But was he the one doing all the using? Hell to the fucking no. If he had to admit it, then Jay did too. If Jay would just freaking admit it, then Carlos would be fine. But Jay had to go and pretend like everything they had been through in the past months hadn't happened, and that hurt the most. Jay had to go and play the victim, when really, they were both the victims in their twisted game. And now, he realized, all he wanted to do was talk with Jay, to get these damn tricky emotions out, but he also didn't even feel like going within ten feet of the thief with the ridiculously long hair.

So they both do what they do best: avoid each other. It's not in a childish way, because when they happen to pass each other in the hall they do acknowledge the other with a small wave or shy smile, but they're distancing themselves to calm down. It's a long weekend, and Jay can't bother to care if he gets in trouble for sleeping on the floor for the weekend in Mal and Evie's room. All he knows is that he doesn't want to sleep in the same room as Carlos, because all he needs for the weekend is to get his thoughts together, and then they can sort it out. Mal and Evie don't say anything about it. They let him sleep on the floor with open arms and they try to keep the talk about Carlos to a minimum.

When Mal and Evie do finally ask why him and Carlos had a falling out, Jay tells them Carlos lied. When they ask Carlos the same question, Carlos shrugs his shoulders and says he doesn't want to talk about it. They don't ask any more questions after that, no matter how much Mal wants to bug them about it. Evie thinks it's a little hard to deal with, because they can't hang out with Jay and Carlos at the same time, which she thinks is utterly ridiculous. But she supposed it could be worse. Jay could be ranting about Carlos, or vice versa, and they could be causing fights instead of the casual five word conversation they start up every time they accidentally bump into each other. Evie finds that funny. No matter how hard they desperately try to avoid one another, they always ended up together.

"I don't understand, why don't you just talk to Carlos and get it over with?" Mal huffed as she gazed across the cafeteria, watching Evie talk intently with Carlos. Her eyes lingered as she watched Carlos laugh, and then her eyes snap back to Jay as he spoke.

"I'm not ready to forgive him yet," Jay grumbled as he poked at his food with his fork. Mal looked back up at Evie and Carlos as they laughed again. She had a feeling they were having a much better time than her and Jay.

Mal bites her lip in frustration and watches Jay curiously. She would never understand the two boys. How they could turn such a simple thing into an over dramatic play that seemed to last months, she would never know.

"Well, I think that's stupid," Mal admitted, smirking as Jay snapped his eyes up at her, glaring hard.

"Great, Mal. I don't remember asking."

"Yeah, you sorta did when you made such a stupid comment. I mean, how can you even know what you're," she raises her fingers dramatically, " 'forgiving' him for, if he didn't even get to tell you what actually happened? You can't forgive him for something that you think happened."

Jay clenches his jaw and rolls his eyes, sighing dramatically. She was right, in a sense, but Carlos had lied. Carlos didn't need to tell him the story for him to understand that aspect. Maybe it was wrong of him to assume he had been using him, but he had been lying.

"Whatever, Mal." Jay's eyes shifted uncomfortably, and a long silence filled afterwards. She analyzed his face carefully, watching the way his eyes continued to shift as his eyebrows seemed to be scrunched in concentration. She had hooked and reeled. He was going to talk to him, she just knew it.

Mal smirked, leaning back in her chair, eyes gleaming with her victory. Her job had been done, now she hoped Evie would be just as successful.

"C, I know he said some mean things. Like, you've told me the story about five times now, and I get that he was being totally unfair, but babe, Carlos, wouldn't it just be so much better to relieve this stress? Get this off of your chest and prove that you aren't the bad guy. I know you're not a bad guy, Carlos, and if you go and talk to him and just explain, he'll realize it was just a huge misunderstanding." Evie smiled as she propped her head onto her hand, elbow on table. Carlos laughed when Evie smiled, but he knew what she was trying to do.

"I dunno, Eve. He probably won't even let me explain." Carlos played with the hem of his shirt, and missed the frown Evie gave as she quickly thought of something else to latch him on.

"Well, if you try, and he doesn't let you explain, then we know he has been a douche all along, and it will save you so much heartbreak in the long run, right?" Evie cringed at her words, knowing Jay was not even close to a douche. But sadly, at this point she was so desperate to reconcile the two boys that she would say anything to just get them to shut up and stop moping around. It had only been three days and she felt as if she would lose her mind, and she was getting really tired of tripping over Jay every morning.

Carlos scratches at his neck, and smiles lightly. "I guess you're right."

Evie pops up from her slouched position, hair bouncing off her shoulders in waves. "Of course I am!"

"Oh, be quiet," Carlos laughed, shoving her shoulder.

Evie is dragged out of the cafeteria by a highly energized Mal. "Did you do it?"

"I think so," Evie replies.

Mal squeals, "Oh thank God."

The two hurry off, as to not be spotted by Jay or Carlos.

Jay doesn't know if he should be doing this, but he doesn't give himself time to think on it. Once he's down the hallway, he barges into his room. He stumbles in, tripping over clothes that were thrown haphazardly on the floor. Carlos whips around at the sound of the door and Dude barking, startled by the sudden intrusion. When Carlos' eyes land on Jay, and Jay's on Carlos, they both manage to blurt out "We need to talk."

An awkward laughter fills the air after that, and Jay scratches at the back of his neck. "You should go first." Jay motioned towards Carlos.

"Oh, okay." Carlos stuttered, and his mind seemed to go blank. "Um, so I did really accidentally tell Jane I was dating you in order to make her leave me alone. And for about a month she was still pestering me about it. Then, um, two-ish weeks ago, I think? I don't know, but, yeah, she just sorta came up to me and apologized for everything, and I just, forgave her, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Yeah." Carlos shrugs.

Jay doesn't say anything for a minute, pondering what he should say. Carlos just admitted to lying, he knows that, but he also doesn't want to get into another fight, so he settles for, "Why did you forgive her?" Jay paused, and then continued quickly after,"I mean, not that, I mean...I'm not trying to ask in an aggressive way...just curious." His heart was beating out of his chest, and he could barely speak, afraid that he might say the wrong thing and set Carlos off.

The question seems to catch Carlos off guard as he slouches slightly. "I guess..." He begins, and then stops. "I wanted...needed a new friend. Someone else to confide in besides you and Mal and Evie, and she was offering, and then she gave me a gift, and I don't know. I just needed a friend, and at the moment she apologized I just sorta forgot about what she had done because I realized she could potentially be my friend..?"

Jay was hurt by the comment, but he also understood. Sometimes he wished he had other people to talk to, too. "So why didn't you tell me she wasn't pining after you anymore?" The question was hesitant and tension seemed to fill the air again.

"I don't know." Carlos laughed, because they both knew the answer. "Maybe the same reason you agreed to help me? Why you drag me into closets to kiss me countless times when no one is watching?" The words got caught in his throat, but once they were out, he felt as if a weight had been lifted.

Jay blushes at that, but then he laughs, because yeah, that was exactly it. His laugh comes out dry and humorless almost, and he responds, "Yeah," as he takes his beanie off of his head and rakes his hands through his hair, "Yeah," he says again, and this time Carlos chortles, kicking at the ground. Because, in their own way, they both just admitted it; everything they had been feeling and hiding.

"We're fucked," Jay admitted, and he said it as a statement, and god, Carlos couldn't agree more.

Carlos looked at Jay, quickly admiring the laugh lines gracing his face, and responds again, almost breathlessly. "Yep." He licks his lips. "Have been for a while." And god he wants to kiss him right then and there. And he laughs when the thought enters his mind because that would prove that, yes, they have been fucked way before this thing even started.

Jay doesn't know what to do, because now they're both standing in the middle of the room, laughing nervously like idiots, after admitting something without specifically even saying the words, but he knows, and here they are, like fucking idiots, because they can't even say it correctly. And that's a problem, and he realizes that, and so before he knows it, he's saying something that he hadn't even really wanted to say.

"So, I guess...since Jane isn't after you now, we can stop pretending and go do what...or whoever we want?" When the words leave his mouth Jay wants to slap himself in the face. He can tell it shocks Carlos because his mouth opens slightly before closing immediately as his body seems to go rigid.

"Yeah." Carlos nodded his head. "We can go do what, or.. whoever we want." He laughs dryly, hands shoved roughly in his pockets.

Jay cringes as his mouth deceives him and speaks, "Okay, cool."