Disclaimer: Descendants would be more gay if I owned it

Jay was sure he would never get used to the food at Auradon Prep. After years of going hungry and living off of rotten left overs, getting to eat the fresh, real thing was bliss. The amount of food they made each day, Jay often thought that it was no wonder they had enough leftovers to feed another island. He'd found Chad sitting at a table in the far corner when he entered the cafeteria so decided to join him. Not that Chad really offered much in the way of deep, meaningful conversation but it was company whilst Carlos was off doing whatever.

"Hey Jay?" Chad said as if he was about to ask for something before Jay even had a chance to sit down.

"Yeah?" Jay responded flatly.

"Look I know you and Carlos said I couldn't use the 3D printer so I didn't get in your way or something but if I went in when you weren't there, would that be cool? Keep out of your way and all that?" Chad flashed Jay a toothy grin as his way of trying to persuade him.

"What? No." Jay chuckled.

Chad sighed, dropping the grin for a more aggravated expression.

"How will my father ever take me seriously without props?!" He said dramatically as if it was the end of the world… or Jay's problem.

Jay just shrugged as an answer as he bit into a chocolate chip cookie, making sure to savour every bite as if it would be his last as he did with everything he had eaten since he arrived in Auradon. Chad tutted and sighed again before checking his watch and standing up quickly as if he was late to some big event,

"Well, it's been another hour. Time to call Audrey again! See you later Dude." He said before walking off and out of the big hall.

Jay gave a gesture that vaguely resembled a wave, his mouth still busy with his lunch. He wondered why Chad was still trying; Audrey had kicked him to the curb a month ago and he was still pining over her. Perhaps it was from living on the Isle all his life but Jay had never understood the big deal about girls and 'love' and certainly had never felt it himself before. Of course, it was always nice teasing the girls that threw themselves at him but that was always more of a game to him than anything else, as bad as that sounded. Sure, they were all pretty and they wore nice clothes and smelt nice but they were mostly all the same.

Jay finished off his food and walked back to his dorm to play a video game or maybe meet up with Carlos – if he was there. He was getting kind of restless and everyone seemed to be falling off the face of the earth one at a time so maybe burning some of his restless energy with a game or two wasn't such a bad idea.

"…and then Mal, of all people tries to deny that there's anything going on but I know Carlos, I know something is wrong! Ugh, I thought we're meant to be friends… I thought we were meant to be family! God, it's just like being back on the Isle! All the secrets and scheming behind my back; I mean, I thought we were behind all that, you know? Do you think I'm being crazy?" Evie said as she paced quickly and angrily, ranting to Doug who was sitting down, following her with his eyes, listening quietly.

"No, I-" He began to speak.

"And Carlos of all people," Evie cut him off, "he usually tells me things! Does he not trust me? Does he just hate me now? UGH!" She finally stopped pacing and sat down sulkily on a chair across from Doug.

"I don't think Carlos hates you. I don't think either of them do. It would be impossible for someone to hate you." Doug blushed slightly, achieving the small smile he wanted from Evie as she looked down and giggled slightly, "maybe there really isn't anything go on after all. Or maybe they just need some time." He finished, trying his best to reassure her and calm her down.

Evie sighed and nodded; Doug was probably right and she knew she was over reacting but was hurt by her friends keeping things from her.

"Well I'm going to go back to my room now, try and finish off some of the final cotillion outfits. Thanks for listening to me yell at you." Evie smiled sweetly as she stood up, placing a peck on Doug's cheek in thanks.

"You can come and yell at me any time." He replied, the colour returning to his cheeks again.

Evie gave a small wave before leaving, shutting the door gently behind her, feeling a lot better than when she arrived at Doug's door and nearly broke it with the force of her slamming it shut when she entered. She strode down the halls, back to her usual, chirpy self and filled her head with thoughts of sewing and dresses rather than of her friends' deceit. She wanted to understand and give them the space they needed and didn't know why she was allowing herself to get so upset over it all; maybe it was the Isle in her or just the flashbacks to how she and Mal didn't exactly click straight away when they were kids – or even two years ago. Still, whatever was going on, it was beneath her at that moment, she had other things to be busying herself with.

Once back at her own room, Evie took another calming breath and let herself in, smiling to herself, partially to convince herself that she was happy but also because she was; spending time with Doug always made her feel much better. She closed the door softly behind her and turned around, practically jumping out of her skin when she saw Carlos jump up from her desk across the room, the same routine as earlier when she had walked in on him dozing on her bed.

'Great.' She thought, 'another round of 20 unanswered questions'

"Oh! Carlos. What are you doing back here, I thought you had things to do and took off?" Evie asked, a little down but trying to sound unbothered.

"Yeah… I did. But then I came back." Carlos replied nervously, knowing that Evie was probably mad at him.

"Right. And what's wrong with your own room?" Evie asked a little more snarky than she intended.

Carlos couldn't and didn't want to lie,

"Jay's there." He shrugged, "look, Evie I'm really sorry about earlier. I should have told you what's going on."

Evie stared him down, concerned for her friend and glad he was apologising. She gave a small sigh before taking off her bag, sitting down on the edge of her bed and tapping the space next to her for Carlos to sit down.

"Did something happen between you and Jay?" She asked once he sat down next to her.

"No… not exactly."

Carlos told Evie everything in a quick and panicked voice, Evie reacting with gasps and shaking of her head where appropriate and furrowing her brows when Carlos finished his dramatic tale, trying to think about a solution to the mess Carlos had gotten himself in, instantly rid of any feelings of anger towards him from earlier. The room was silent for a second before Evie took a deep breath and sighed deeply; even she was rendered speechless at all the information Carlos had just thrown her way.

"Please say something." Carlos said in a small voice.

"Umm…" Evie said to fill the gap, still wracking her brain for some sort of solution she could offer up.

Carlos sighed then and put his face in his hand, defeated.

"Well… Mal owes me a makeover!" Evie said cheerfully, trying to make light of the situation and maybe make Carlos laugh.

He chuckled quietly in response and looked up from his hands to smile at Evie.

"I don't think this is a big deal." Evie then said, more seriously.

"What? How can you not think this is a big deal? I've been avoiding Jay, I kissed Jane and then ran off and I can't even lie to anyone about it because of this stupid potion! This is the biggest deal!" Carlos replied.

"Listen to me. You are Carlos Oscar De Vil. You are the smartest person I know as well as the most compassionate and kind. And everyone else can see that too. Yes, kissing Jane was not the smartest move on your part and was a kind of unfair thing to do but I'm sure if you apologised, she'd forgive you in a heartbeat. Jane doesn't strike me as the type to hold a grudge. And maybe you should tell Jay how you feel. I mean, the worst that will happen is he doesn't feel the same and then you can get over it and go back to being friends. And you never know! He might feel the same… If he does though, I owe Mal a custom made leather jacket, just so you know." Evie said, nudging Carlos playfully with her elbow.

Carlos smiled a little but was also freaking out about what she had just suggested. Maybe Evie was right and it was better to just tell Jay and then get over it. But what if she was wrong and that wasn't the worst case scenario? What if that was that Jay thought he was an absolute freak and never wanted to speak to him again? That was something Carlos was afraid about more than his rejection… losing Jay as a friend all together.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't think Jane will want to speak to me right now though… I should give her a while to cool off and get away from me. I think I've harassed her enough today." Carlos sighed, "But Jay… I don't know. I wouldn't even know where to start. And then what if he hates me afterwards?"

"First of all, I think that truth gummy will do all the talking for you once he starts asking where you've been all day. And secondly, Jay could never hate you. Why do you think Mal and I had bets on all this? We see how close you two are; you're like, thick as thieves… excuse the pun." Evie smiled dazzlingly again, causing a small laugh from Carlos who was now much calmer.

Carlos was glad that he'd told Evie. Mal was usually an efficient problem solver which was what Carlos needed but Evie appealed to the part of Carlos that needed more emotional support than a military operation-style plan.

"What were these bets I've been hearing so much about anyway?" Carlos asked still smiling.

"Well it was sort of a joke. And you weren't meant to know about them. But I bet that you'd be the first of the two of you to tell either me or Mal and Mal bet it would be Jay. Then we switched it up and I said Jay would be the one to tell you and Mal said you would be the one to tell Jay. If I knew this would have actually happened though I would have bet something better than a one-time makeover." Evie answered matter-of-factly.

Carlos was a little irked that his friends had been making bets at the expense of his love life but couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all; how had they seen what Carlos hadn't even really considered before? Besides, he couldn't mind too much; he and Jay had had a similar conversation once about Evie and Mal; although Carlos wasn't about to tell Evie that – it wasn't a lie if she wasn't asking.

"So what are you going to do?" Evie asked him softly, adopting a slightly more serious tone.

"I guess I'm gonna go find Jay…" Carlos said quietly.

"It will be fine. I promise you!"

Carlos nodded slowly and stood up from the bed. Evie was right, the truth gummy was probably going to be enough to tell Jay almost everything without much effort and he figured that was going to be the hardest part – actually getting the words out. He walked over to the door, Evie following behind to see him out, and took a deep breath as he opened it.

"Wish me luck!" He said.

"Good luck!" Evie replied sweetly.

Once Carlos had left, Evie shut the door and smiled – not only had her friends not been plotting something wicked behind her back but she had won a bet against Mal, a rare occurrence in their friendship. She took out her phone and typed a quick and joking text to Mal,

To: Mal

Carlos spilled, I'm ready to do

the makeover when you are!

Hope your date's going well, sorry

about earlier. E x

She then got back to her original task of sketching and making alterations, making sure to check her phone precisely every minute and half in case she got a text from Carlos saying everything had gone awfully wrong.

Carlos took his time walking back to his dorm where he either presumed Jay was or planned to wait for him. He was not in any rush to put everything on the line like he was about to do. The usual less than five minute journey up the stairs and across the dorm building took closer to fifteen and he spent every second trying to string together a comprehensible speech to say to Jay when he asked where he had been and why he was acting weird. It was even harder to do with the truth gummy's spell lingering over his mind but eventually managed to pull together a few sentences by the time he reached the door to his room.

Carlos had just put the key in the lock when the door was pulled away from him before he could even turn it. He jumped back with a small yelp in surprise and looked up at the figure standing in the doorway, looking slightly startled by Carlos' jumpiness. It was Jay. Every word he'd managed to come up with before immediately fell out of his brain and all he could do was look at him, dumbfounded.

A/N - This is like half the length of my last update, I'm sorry, I've had exams and stuff at school and been super stressed and got writer's block and blah blah blah so yah, sorry. Also I know this might be getting real boring with all the just talking about it but I'm trying to make it all work time wise and I guess it's slow build or whatever but I promise it'll get more exciting next chapter and from now on! Just stick with me please and thank :)