Disclaimer: no, I do not own Descendants

Trigger Warning: slight, tiny mention of child abuse but a lot of general crappy parenting in the first part so either don't read or skip to where the italics stop, it's not important to the general plot

"CARLOOOOOSSS!" Cruella screeched in her high-pitched, ear splitting tone from somewhere in Hell Hall.

Carlos jumped in fright and dropped the book he was reading on mechanics,

"Yes, Mother?" He called tentatively.

"I need you to come here!" She paused, "NOW!"

Carlos leapt up from his seat in one of the old, dilapidated chairs, they called sofas and ran into the kitchen where he found Cruella standing by the sink, looking straight at him with the look on her face that told him he had done something wrong.

"Carlos, my darling, what have you been up to today?" Cruella said, sweetly – this was the worst tone she could take with Carlos, it set his teeth on edge and didn't fool him one bit.

"I was reading Mom. I did my chores and then I did some reading." He said back, his voice low and barely audible.

"Oh… you were reading? Did you not think that your other responsibilities were more important than your precious reading?!" She started to raise her voice again at the end of the question and had a crazed look in her eye.

"I d-did my chores Mother. I did them a-all." Carlos stammered.

"Oh you did, did you?" Cruella approached Carlos then, her voice still too calm.

She reached Carlos and stroked his cheek delicately before striking him hard across the face, a loud slapping sound echoing through the sparsely furnished room,

"DO NOT LIE TO ME CARLOS!" She returned to shrieking.

Carlos held his face, wincing in pain and looked up at Cruella with tears in his eyes,

"I-I'm not l-lying, Mother, I did them, I p-promise." He said, holding back tears – crying only made it worse for him.

"Then what is this?!" Cruella yelled as she went back over to the sink and pulled out one of her damp, fur coats that Carlos had forgotten to wash as she had asked.

Carlos' eyes widened in realisation and watched as a smirk appeared across his mother's face. She dropped the garment back into the sink with a splash and started moving again towards Carlos. He retreated slowly towards the door, desperately trying to remain out of her reach.

"M-Mother, I'm s-sorry. I-I can do it now, I just forgot. P-please don't hurt me." He cried, tears threatening to spill over his eye lids.

"Oh Darling, Mommy wouldn't hurt you. But you know that you have to learn your lesson. What would happen if you forgot to wash my coats every day? Well that just wouldn't do. Now, come here."

"N-no!" Carlos shouted in pure terror.

"Carlos… Come. Here!"

"No!"

"CARLOS DE VIL YOU COME HERE TO YOUR MOTHER RIGHT THIS SECOND OR I PROMISE YOU, YOU WILL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!"

Even Carlos was shocked at just how shrill and loud his mother's voice was. Of course, this wasn't the first time she had shouted at him but never before had it been quite this bad.

He kept walking backwards, not really looking where he was going but just trying to stay as far away from Cruella as he could, he knew she wouldn't run to get him, she would just expect him to come to her like the good little pet he always was. But Carlos was too afraid to even stop in his tracks, let alone go towards his mother so he kept backing up, hoping he would run into the bathroom door or his bedroom door at some point. Cruella didn't stop either, she took large, slow steps towards her son, the menace and anger in her face only growing with each one she took. Her shadow loomed over Carlos and he suddenly felt 2ft tall and up against a giant.

"Carlos… Come to Mommyyy." Cruella cooed, the demonic smirk on her face only deepening.

Carlos then felt his back hit a wall – he was trapped. He fumbled around behind him, too scared to take his eyes of his mother that was keeping her slow pace but getting too close for Carlos' liking. He moved his hands around rapidly until he felt the cold metal of a doorknob. Without looking away from Cruella, he twisted the handle and pulled open the door, throwing himself inside into darkness. This wasn't the bathroom and it wasn't his bedroom. This was potentially even worse than being out there with his mother. It was her coat closet. Carlos stood very still, aware of what dangers were waiting for him in the closet… the bear traps.

"CARLOS! LET ME IN, DON'T RUIN MY BABIES! DON'T TOUCH MY COATS!" Cruella screamed from outside the door.

Carlos turned around to face the door, locking it from the inside so she couldn't get in. Cruella pounded on the door, growing more and more impatient and angry. Carlos was frozen in fear, he wanted to get as far away from the door as possible but didn't want to risk his leg being clamped by the traps that were littered over the floor around him – it was too dark to see where he was going or where they were. All of a sudden, the banging on the door stopped and everything went quiet. Carlos tried to steady his rapid breathing, hoping that his mother had got bored and given up and all he would have to do was wait it out until she had calmed down. He listened intently, not knowing what to think or where his mother now was. He shifted his weight a little, the coats that filled the small space to the brim, brushing against his face as he did so.

As soon as the coat made contact with him, a voice from behind him shrieked,

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH MY COATS!"

Carlos screamed and backed up against the door, clawing at it to try and escape his mother who was somehow now in the closet with him but it was no use, he struggled whilst she practically barked at him, not moving but screaming through the darkness,

"Carlos! Carlos!"

"Carlos!" Jay's voice replaced Cruella's as Carlos jumped to a sitting position and opened his eyes with a start to see Jay sitting on the bed in front of him with his hands placed firmly on both of his arms, shaking him slightly to wake him up from the nightmare he was having.

Without thinking, in the same jolted action, Carlos grabbed hold of Jay in a similar way to how he was holding Carlos and held a tight grip, clinging on for some sort of protection. Jay was more than happy to provide this for the half-asleep Carlos as he pulled him a little closer into his chest and held him there. He was used to his roommate having nightmares, and vice-versa, so knew how to comfort him and bring him out of it.

"Carlos, hey, it's okay, it's okay." Jay continued, soothing his friend who was still shaking as he hugged him, tears streaming down his face which was still vacant and lost in his dream.

"Jay?" Carlos mumbled, still sounding panicked.

"Yeah, I'm here. It's okay, it was just a nightmare." Jay said calmingly, softly stroking Carlos' back in reassurance.

Carlos blinked into the darkness, trying to focus on Jay's outline in front of him as he eyes adjusted to the dark. The two sat there for a moment, Jay's fingers still gently rubbing Carlos' back.

"Sorry I woke you." Carlos said after a minute, quietly.

"I've told you before, you don't have to be sorry, it's okay." Jay told him, "Was it your mother again?" He asked, letting Carlos go and moving his arms away to prop himself up on the bed.

Carlos nodded and sighed, leaning forward to place his head in his hands. Jay placed his hand on Carlos' shoulder,

"Do you wanna… talk about it?" He asked, almost awkwardly.

Carlos wiped away the tears he didn't know he had shed and lifted his head again. He took a shaky breath before saying,

"No. I think I'm okay now. I'm kinda used to it at this point."

Jay scoffed,

"Aren't we all?" He smiled briefly before letting it drop and continuing, "If you want to talk though, we can. We both know you only get nightmares anymore when you're stressing out about something, so… are you sure you're okay?"

Carlos felt the niggling sensation of the truth gummy at the back of his throat, probing him to blurt out the whole ugly truth and at that point, he was seriously considering it just to end the big mess he had caused. Besides, Jay was right; since coming to Auradon, the only time Carlos had nightmares was when he was stressed about something and for a second, Carlos considered just telling Jay to try and stop the stress and put an end to the nightmares that had haunted him his whole life.

"Honestly," Carlos started, "I'm don't think I am okay… but… I will be tomorrow." He continued, smiling weakly, remembering that the effects of the truth potion would be gone the next day.

Jay nodded, he was a bit confused but decided he was too tired and it was too tricky to get anything out of Carlos recently so stood up then and said,

"If you're sure." Before walking back over to his own bed and getting under the covers, "Night." He called over to Carlos.

Carlos mumbled a goodnight back but was pretty sure Jay was snoring before he could even hear him. He always envied his ability to fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Carlos, on the other hand, laid back down and struggled to fall asleep again; either through his head being too busy or fear of having another nightmare. He tossed and turned and only dozed briefly before his alarm clock woke him up for class. He sighed deeply and smacked the clock with his hand, putting a stop to the awful, screeching noise.

As per usual, Jay slept through the alarm and had to awoken by Carlos throwing a cushion at him and shouting for him to get up for school. With a groan, he rolled over and sat on the edge of his bed, stretching and flexing his muscular arms. Carlos couldn't help but catch a glance… or two… or three… okay, he kind of stared for a hot second but only because he was jealous of how someone could look so good first thing in the morning. Even Jay's messy, long hair looked kind of perfect for bedhead and Carlos just wanted to know the secret because he was pretty sure he looked like literal road kill when he woke up in the morning. And that was the only reason he looked. The one and only reason. And besides, whenever Carlos realised he was maybe staring a little tiny bit, he would yawn and stretch and try to look away as quickly and subtly as possible. He hadn't been caught out as of yet. Although with the string of events that had happened over the last fourteen hours, he wouldn't be surprised if it would be just his luck for Jay to catch him maybe staring just a little and think he was either weird or still mad at him. Carlos shook himself out of his very minor trance and stretched his arms above his head, yawning as he did. He didn't even give Jay a second glance when he walked over to the bathroom to start getting ready; instead, he rolled over to his bedside table and picked up his phone, unsure whether he was hoping for a text from Jane or hoping that there wasn't one. Either way, his heart still skipped a beat when he pressed the home button to see Jane's name and the message icon on the screen. He took in a deep breath before unlocking the phone to face the music.

From: Jane

Meet me before Grammar,

outside class and we'll

talk then.

Carlos let out the breath he had been holding in unknowingly and sighed, the message wasn't as bad as he was expecting but also still filled him with fear and dread ever so slightly at the thought of not knowing what Jane was going to say. He put his phone back down on his bedside table and then stood up to get himself read for the day. Jay walked out of the shower with only a towel wrapped around his waist, but Carlos was too distracted to even pay attention to that as he took his place in the small bathroom to get showered and ready to leave and get to class early in order to get a chance to speak with Jane.

Although Carlos was upholding his and Jay's rule of no talking before 7:30, Jay still looked at him strangely as if he was doing something wrong when he dashed out of the bathroom and started getting dressed as quickly as possible on his respective side of the room without saying a word. Carlos barely noticed as he rushed around and then headed towards the door, his books under one arm and hair still tousled from the storming around the bedroom.

"Woah, bro, slow down." Jay chuckled before Carlos could hurl himself out of the door, "it's only seven fifteen, we don't have to go to breakfast for another twenty minutes at least. What's your rush?"

"Uhh, I have to talk to Jane about something, before grammar, so I thought I'd eat early and then go." Carlos replied, hoping that Jay didn't have any more pressing questions.

"This wouldn't be anything to do with you kissing her yesterday, would it?" Jay asked, well aware that he was pushing his luck but finding it quite amusing.

Carlos froze and felt his face get hot as he blushed,

"Yo- you know about that?"

"Yeah, I told you I ran into her yesterday and she was mad. She told me what happened."

"She d-did? What did- uhh, what did she say?" Carlos went into panic mode yet again.

The rational part of Carlos' brain was telling him that there was no way Jane could have told Jay exactly what happened with them yesterday because Jay would have said something, and Jane's messages said she hadn't told anyone… yet. However, the bigger, more irrational part was screaming at him that she had told Jay everything and his life was officially over.

"That you kissed her and then ran away. I mean, well done for finally growing a pair and making a move but you can't chicken out and leave a girl hanging like that. That's probably why she was so ready to slap me for even talking about you yesterday." Jay said.

Carlos could feel the breath he'd been holding in release as he calmed down slightly,

"Oh. Yeah, I messed up, so I thought I should go apologise to her."

Jay nodded,

"Is that what last night was about to? Like, the nightmare, was that what you were stressing about?"

"Yeah… partly. I need to go, or I won't have time to grab something to eat. I'll see you later."

Before Jay could say another thing, Carlos was off and shutting the door behind him.

"Yeah… bye." Jay called after him.

Jay shook his head and went back to trying to finish off the remedial goodness homework he'd neglected over the last week. He had found that it wasn't difficult to get the answers right anymore but that made it even more dull, there was no need to put effort into it and he didn't see the point in carrying it on for another semester.

Once Carlos got to the hall, he grabbed a croissant and glass of orange juice and sat at one of the many empty tables spread across the room. He ate and drank as quickly as he could to make sure he didn't miss Jane but soon realised just how hungry he was after not eating dinner the night before. He considered just leaving and making up for it at lunch, but his rumbling stomach had other plans. Carlos grabbed two slices of buttered toast to go and headed towards his grammar classroom. By the time Carlos reached the class, he had finished his toast and satisfied his empty stomach, so all he could do then was pace around as he waited for Jane. He hoped she wouldn't be long if only for the sake of his nerves which were screaming at that point.

Just as he was about to decide he couldn't take it anymore and call her, Carlos turned around to see Jane coming around the corner, looking less than pleased.

"Jane! Hi! How… are you?" Carlos trailed off as she got closer, "look, I'm really, really sorry about yesterday, I didn't mean for that to happen. I'm just… struggling I guess and I didn't mean to hurt you, you have to believe me."

Jane took a deep breath before answering,

"I know Carlos. But you still did. You know, that was my… my first… I'd never kissed anyone before that, okay? And you took my perfect, fairy-tale fantasy of what my first kiss would be like away from me. If you liked me that way, it would have been great but for you to tell me you're into someone else and then kiss me… it was a really crappy thing to do."

Jane wrapped her arms around herself protectively and looked down at the floor with a sigh.

"I know. I'm sorry." Carlos sighed then as well, feeling even worse than he did before knowing how he'd hurt Jane which was the last thing he wanted to do, "look, I am really sorry, but… I would really… I mean, I know I'm not in a position to ask for anything from you, but could you maybe not tell anyone about what I said? About me liking Jay."

Jane looked up then and turned her self-protective arms into folded, angrier ones,

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. On one condition." She said, a look of strength and determinism one her face.

"What's that?" Carlos asked, slightly worried but willing to do whatever to at least try to make it up to Jane.

"Well, you need me to keep a secret about who you really like, and I need a reason to not be chained to the refreshments table at cotillion… again. I think we can help each other."

"Okay… how?"

"Carlos, will you be my boyfriend?" Jane said, moving her arms again from her chest to her hips.

"What? No! Me wanting to go out with you was what started this whole mess, how can that help solve anything? Besides, haven't you been paying any attention? I like… Jay." Carlos exclaimed, taking a step back.

"Not my real boyfriend, stupid, we just need to pretend until cotillion and then we can say we were better off as friends and decided to go our separate ways. It will put anyone off the idea that you like Jay and be beneficial to me by getting my mother off my back and giving me a chance to actually experience cotillion for real. I don't see the issue here."

"I don't know… I don't think it's a good idea. For starters, I can't lie for like another eight hours and stuff like this never turns out well. Someone is bound to get hurt and, and-"

"Come on, you already took my first kiss away from me, we might as well make it mean something more than a desperate attempt to convince yourself you're something you're not."

Carlos said nothing and still stood there, in shock and silently disagreeing to the awful plan.

"Fine, Carlos, but I guess I'll just have to tell Jay what you told me then." Jane said agitatedly.

Carlos stood in silence for a second, thinking as quickly as his muddled mind would let him about what Jane had just said. Jane began to back away,

"Jane, wait. Okay fine, yes. I will be your boyfriend." Carlos said defeatedly but panicked.

Jane smiled,

"Thank you. And as for the lying thing, I'll do all the talking and you know, just dodge any questions directed at you. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Carlos nodded, looking at the ground, not sure what to do or say next. When he thought he wanted to make things up to Jane, this wasn't exactly what he's had in mind and was really doubting anything about the idea was going to work out for the better.

"Oh, one more thing. I don't really know how to act like a couple. I never really had any great examples of strong couples in my life and I don't think I'd know how to be 'couply' if it was real, let alone when I'm just pretending." Carlos said, still looking at the ground, feeling vulnerable and embarrassed.

"It's okay, just follow my lead." Jane said reassuringly as she took a step towards Carlos and placed a hand on his upper arm at an attempt to comfort him.

Carlos looked up a little then, so he could be eye-to-eye with Jane and nodded, feeling only slightly relieved and like he was capable to putting up this big act. Jane smiled back at him, looking pleased at the arrangement that was currently terrifying Carlos.

Just as Carlos heard some people coming around the corner and was about to make a move towards the classroom and away from Jane, she wrapped her arm around his neck and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek which was met by 'oooo's' and whoops from small crowd of onlookers that had formed outside the door to the classroom. Jane let go of Carlos and began to walk away from him to the small crowd of students, smiling sweetly at him and everyone who had gathered to wait for the lesson to begin. Lonnie was the first to approach her and ask what she had just seen. Whatever Jane had said, it was followed and met by the two girls giggling to each other and looking over at Carlos in turn. Carlos still hadn't made any attempt to move and didn't plan on doing so if only to try and avoid anyone asking him any questions about him and Jane.

The chiming bells, to signal first period beginning, sounded and everyone gathered around the classroom entrance and began to go in and take their seats. Carlos stayed behind the crowd and kind of stumbled in and took his seat without making eye contact or conversation with anyone, still in a state of confusion over the whole thing. He sat next to Garret, Grumpy's son in the lesson so took his place and hoped that he wouldn't say anything. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't in luck.

"So, you and Jane, huh?" Garret said after a few moments of quiet other than the teacher introducing the lesson.

Although it was posed as a question, Carlos decided it was more of a statement and didn't need an answer so just moved his head slightly downwards to what could have been considered a nod or acknowledgement but not enough that it set his truth gummy brain off on one about how they weren't actually a couple.

"Just my luck," Garret continued, "one of the prettiest girls in school that actually pays attention to me and she's taken." He grumbled – just like his father, Garrett could be a little… grumpy, for lack of a better word.

"Maybe if you were a little less moody all the time, more girls would take notice." Carlos said, not even having the effort to try and hold that harsh, tiny truth in.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Garret said, taken aback by Carlos' comment.

"Just that you kinda take after your dad. You can be a little… unapproachable."

Garret mumbled something under his breath and then turned away from Carlos and put his head down in his notebook. At least they wouldn't be talking about Carlos and Jane anymore.

Both Carlos and Jane had maths second, so they held hands all the way there, getting looks from everyone they passed even some cheerful 'congratulations' from some of the girls to Jane as they walked along. It was weird being with Jane and completely not what Carlos thought it would be when he thought he wanted it the morning before. Carlos tried to smile back at people and act like he wanted the relationship and wasn't practically forced into it, but it was difficult when he had so much going on. Instead, the smiles were vacant and cold and didn't meet his eyes.

Maths was usually one of Carlos' preferred lessons, but it went by in a blur and by third period, Carlos was actually happy to have remedial goodness to be away from Jane and around some normal people for a while. As they parted ways, Jane kissed Carlos on the cheek again and said goodbye in an overly sweet way in front of everyone and practically skipped over to Lonnie to go to her next class. Carlos shook his head, took a deep breath and walked slowly to the classroom where he found Mal and Evie standing outside, waiting. They saw Carlos approach and stopped their conversation to turn to him and ask if he was okay.

"Is the truth gummy still working?" Mal asked quietly, checking to see who was around.

"Yup. Ugh it's a nightmare Mal, why did I ever think this was a good idea?" Carlos said, scrunching his face up.

"Look Carlos, people have been talking and I heard this rumour that you and Jane are… a couple? That's not true right? I mean-" Evie said, concerned.

"No, it's true. Well it's not entirely but yeah. We're pretending to be a couple until cotillion so that she can have a date." Carlos cut her off.

"What? That's stupid, doesn't she know you like-"

"Yeah, yes, she does. She said she wouldn't tell anyone as long as I agreed to be her boyfriend." Carlos said, cutting Mal off this time.

The two girls exchanged a look before Mal said,

"So, she's blackmailing you? That little bi-"

"I think what Mal is trying to say is that you can't let her do that, that's awful." Evie said.

"It's not that bad and it's better than the alternative of Jay finding out." Carlos assure her.

"Jay finding out about what?" Jay said as he approached the three friends, just coming into earshot as Carlos said his name.

Carlos flashed Evie and Mal a panicked look and Evie stepped up,

"Oh, that him and Jane are Auradon Prep's hottest new couple. He didn't want you to tease him but I said, news travels fast around here, you would've found out eventually."

Jay laughed and clapped Carlos on the back,

"Wow dude, I never thought you'd actually make a move. Good job." He said, ruffling Carlos' hair as he walked past and towards the entrance to the classroom.

"Thank you." Carlos whispered to Evie as they began to follow.

"You should tell him how you feel Carlos, we can't all keep lying for you all the time." She said back in a hushed tone before quickening her pace and passing Carlos to take her seat next to Mal at their desk.

Carlos sighed and took his own seat next to Jay, glad to be near him again and to feel a little more normal.

However, this 'normal' bubble was promptly burst after Jay turned to Carlos and asked him,

"So, how'd you pop the question?"

"What? I didn't propose! And… she asked me."

It was the truth.

"Interesting. Confident girls are cute. Are you happy?" He asked a little more seriously.

Carlos knew what he was referring to and panicked slightly at having to either tell the truth and say no or give some weird, backwards answer. Then he had an idea. Carlos turned to look at Jay straight on and gave himself a second before replying,

"Right now, yes, I am."

Carlos looked into Jay's eyes. It was the truth.

I HOPE THIS WAS CUTE (the first and last bits i mean) I KNOW I PROMISED CUTE BUT I KEEP GETTING SIDETRACKED WITH PLOT AND UGH I JUST HOPE IT WAS AS CUTE AS I MEANT TO WRITE IT IN MY HEAD. Alsooooo,,, evil! Jane. I thought about whether to do this or not for a long time but you see a bit of Jane's dark side in D1 when she's with Audrey and I wanted to explore that a little more and I hope y'all appreciate that. I know it's slow but now that the Jane thing has happened, I'm hoping it will get more interesting and if I do what I'm planning to, Jay will know about Carlos' feelings WAYYY before cotillion and probably before the truth gummy wears off so it's not long I promise! Just stick with me and my few and far between, irregularly posted and sized chapters! xox