Because People

A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else belongs to Disney!

Okay, so in all honesty this was inspired by a review by Bananaboat2009 over at Crossing the Water. I was going through the reviews one day and stumbled across this review and it wouldn't leave my head. So this is going to be a five shot—Mal, Evie, Jay, and Ben will all have their 'because people' moment as well. :D

Hope you all enjoy this! Let me know what you think! :D

Carlos sighed as he made his way through the halls of Auradon Prep. It was early days in the 'Let's bring over four kids from the Isle because we all feel bad for them' campaign Auradon had going on.

Oh sure, they called it a different name but they all knew what they meant.

The worst part was people wouldn't leave him alone! And by people, Carlos meant not Jay, Mal, or Evie. Carlos knew them, trusted them. They were his allies, his confidants.

He could talk about his concern for his cat Beelzebub because they knew it was a legitimate concern and they wouldn't act like it was some mortal sin for the son of Cruella DeVil to actually be concerned about an animal.

He had tried to express concern with the Tourney team but Chad had just scoffed and made some comment about how Carlos couldn't wait to get a pair of new cat fur gloves.

Granted, Bee (as Carlos called her sometimes) was Lucifer's daughter—the cat, not the devil though you'd be forgiven if you didn't make the distinction. And Lucifer was one of the beings who had made Queen Cinderella miserable before she met King Kit.

Though that didn't mean that Carlos didn't like seeing Jay pound that pampered Prince into the dirt during practice.

Gods…I hope my cat knows to avoid Hell Hall now that I'm not there, Carlos thought. Either that or she goes to either Harry or Jace Baddun. They were my friends before I joined with Mal and Jay—and mom still considers them my minions. Gods, what was Evie thinking? Giving me a cat? Only reason why Bee lived so long was because mom wanted to use her fur for something and she was too small as a kitten to even make cat fur earmuffs.

"Hey Carlos!" Someone called and waved at him. Carlos waved back slightly but he'd be honest, he didn't know who that person was. He didn't know who most of the people were to be honest. There were a lot more people in Auradon as there were on the Isle.

The Isle was easy, you had to know who everyone was so you didn't make the mistake of accidentally insulting someone ranked higher than you or lowering yourself by conversing with a minion.

Granted Carlos wasn't exactly the highest ranked person on the Isle but he ran with Mal which elevated his status. The fact that his mom was part of Maleficent's gang only helped him with that.

But in Auradon, everyone seemed to be friendly with everyone else—to some extent anyway. Granted there were still rankings but the highest ranked didn't rub his ranking in everyone's face.

Ben's an odd duck, Carlos thought. Gods and now I have to work with him on my Tourney stuff. The kicker is he seems legitimately like he wants to help me get better at the sport. He doesn't want to rub my small status in my face or the fact that he's a Prince soon to be King. Now if it was Chad, that'd be a dragon of a different color.

Suddenly, a rush of students appeared in the hall and Carlos internally cursed as he realized the bell had rung.

Yeah, he'd been skipping class. But why wouldn't he? Over at Dragon Hall, such activity was encouraged after all. Besides, he wasn't exactly in the mood to be turned into a prissy Prince over at Basic Chivalry.

Okay so he might have borrowed a bit of Mal's terminology but he was also a VK. No one should be surprised to hear him say something like that.

"Ooh sorry Carlos!" Someone said as the sensation of trodding on his foot brought Carlos back to the present. "You need some ice for that foot?"

"Nah I'm good," Carlos said. Never let them see they got to you, he thought. I may be a jumpy 'fur freak' as Maleficent called me once but I know how to be a VK just as much as Mal, Evie, or Jay. I just need to get out of this mass of people before I get crushed!

Ducking out of the crowd, Carlos sighed in relief as he strolled out onto the quad. There truly were too many people just at Auradon Prep alone. He needed a place where he could be with his thoughts. Or at least a place where people wouldn't step on him!

"Huh…that'll do," Carlos chuckled slightly as he saw a tree. Quickly climbing it, Carlos leaned against the trunk as he rested on the branch. While there might not have been many trees on the Isle, climbing was still a skill well known to all VKs. Climbing was what got you out of trouble sometimes.

Of course, climbing could also get you into trouble so there was that.

"Carlos!"

Carlos blinked as he looked down to see Ben waiving at him. Huh. When did he get there?

"Sorry to wake you," Ben called, the same smile on his face as was alway there whenever he saw the VKs. "I just wanted to get your attention since it's time for Tourney! You want to come down?"

"…nah I'm good," Carlos said. "And I wasn't sleeping."

"Oh…why not come down though? It's got to be lonely up there by yourself."

Carlos snorted. "There's people down there, increasing my chances of getting robbed or jumped. I'm good with being in the tree."

Ben sighed and Carlos watched as he walked off. Knowing Ben as they did for only knowing him for about a week, Carlos knew there were three options.

Option one: Ben returned with Jay.

Option two: Ben returned with Fairy Godmother.

Option three: Ben returned with Coach Jenkins, Fairy Godmother, and Jay.

"Carlos!"

Okay, looks like it's option one with an additional Mal, Carlos thought as Jay and Mal made their way to the tree with Ben in tow.

"Come on Carlos, time to come down," Jay said, shaking his head. "You're lucky that Ben went to get us and not Fairy Godmother or the coach."

"I'm not coming down," Carlos said. "And since when do you care about getting in trouble Jay?"

"I don't," Jay scoffed. "But I know you do."

Mal rolled her eyes. "Why aren't you coming down Carlos?"

"Because people," was all Carlos said as he leaned back against the trunk of the tree once more.

Mal and Jay looked at each other for a second.

"Fair enough," Mal nodded as she looked back at Carlos. "Come down for dinner and don't get pooped on by birds."

"I can't control that and you know it Mal!"

Mal snorted in amusement as she and Jay turned to leave.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Ben asked as he followed them. "Aren't you going to get them down?"

"Why?" Jay asked. "Carlos gave a perfect reason for not coming down from the tree."

"Because people?"

Mal nodded. "Glad to see you get it," she said. "And just a hint for you Bennyboo since you probably won't let this go, there are a lot more people here in Auradon than there are on the Isle. Carlos probably just wanted a moment to himself."

"Hold up," Evie's voice said as the blue haired girl walked up to them. "Carlos is alone?"

"He's in a tree that he climbed because of people," Mal said. "He's not hurt or being attacked so he'll be fine."

Evie rolled her eyes and Ben blinked as she pulled a…blanket out of her bag along with some chips.

"Honestly, if you actually listen to Carlos, you'd know that this has been something he's been threatening for a while," she said. "So he may be fine but I'm going to make sure he's at least comfortable. Jay, come with me."

"Why?!"

"You've got the longer arms," Evie stated as she dragged Jay back to the tree. Using Jay to throw Carlos the blanket and the chips, both VKs nestled under the tree with Mal quickly joining them with her sketchbook.

Carlos might have claimed his branch because of people…but the other VKs weren't people. They were his family and they'd stick with him.