Carlos felt like his chest would explode from happiness. He was currently laying on top of Jay, his head on his chest to her the dark haired boy's heartbeat. They'd left the dance shortly after their first kiss together. By unspoken agreement they'd showered, separately to Jays disappointment, before crawling into their bed. That was two hours ago. Neither boy moved much just enjoying the closeness of the other, sure they'd laid like this a million times before but now it felt different. With a smile Carlos shifted to catch Jays lips again, silently cheering the fact that he could do that now.
Jay grinned as Carlos captured his lips again, for someone with next to no experience, he seemed to enjoy the activity quite a lot. After a moment it ended and Carlos put his head back on his chest. Jay absently threaded his fingers through the smaller boys hair, he'd always assumed it would feel rough and tangled but it was nearly as soft as his own hair. Jay was happy he and Carlos had finally gotten together. Apparently they'd liked each other from the same night and had both hidden their feelings, perhaps a little too well.
Jay ran from the hag who was brandishing a broom at him. He had run out of rooftops to jump across, one of the things he hated about the buildings on the ends of town. Now it was a mad dash into the woods. With a silent cheer he ran up a tree trunk and sat on one of the branches, watching from above as the hag tried to find him. After a few minutes she gave up and he jumped down with a soft thud. He was out farther than usual, almost to Hell Hall. He figured if he was out this far he may as well go say hi to Carlos, he hasn't seen the smaller boy in a few days and with his psychotic mother that isn't a good thing. Walking past Hell Hall he easily found the less worn path that lead to the back of the building and Carlos' tree house.
As the lopsided building came into view Jay smiled, Carlos had started it at only six years old, in four years it had slowly grown. At this point Jay was sure magic was all that kept it in the tree, but Carlos insisted it was physics. A quick check in the tree house told him Carlos was inside Hell Hall, that left Jay with a problem, he wanted to see his friend, not his friends mother. He examined the windows from the tree house as if he would be able to see which room was Carlos' from all the way out here. Then he noticed it, in the bottom of one corner of a window was a bit of white fuzz. Jay was willing to bet all the loot in his pockets that was Carlos, probably trying to read or something. With ease that came from living on the Isle he scaled the building on loose bricks and window sills before he clambered on the roof and walked across to where Carlos was, he didn't want to scare the boy to death, but since he hadn't looked up yet that was exactly what happened when he tapped lightly at the window.
Jay froze, someone, no doubt his mother, had beaten the boy badly. Carlos had two black eyes, a split lip and some purple near his throat that was not natural. Carlos was always skiddish, and Jay had just found out why. Carlos opened the window a crack and whispered, his voice rough, probably from yelling, "What are you doing here?"
Jay tried to keep his infamous temper in check, he didn't want to scare Carlos more. "We hadn't seen you in days, wanted to make sure I wasn't missing a big score in that tree house of yours. Where's your mom?" Jay answered him after a moment.
"Passed out down stairs. Obviously my tree house is not available for looting yet." Carlos smiled which made his lip split and ooze another drop of blood.
"She did this didn't she?" Jay asked anger lacing his voice. His answer was silence followed by a tiny nod. With a sigh Jay stood and pulled the window the rest of the way open, ducking through it with practiced ease. Carlos looked terrified. "Calm down, no one will know I was here. I just wanna make sure you're okay."
That didn't help the fear, "W- wh- why?" Carlos stuttered out, practically shaking by now.
"You're what seven? Even the worst villains make sure their own kids don't bleed to death. And this stupid Isle thinks Mal's mom is bad."
"I'm actually nine." Carlos said, he wanted to believe someone was going to help him. He'd spent years already wishing someone, anyone, would notice and help him. No one ever did, until now. Jay knelt on the floor at started pulling things from his pockets. "How do you carry so much?" Carlos asked.
"You got your tree-house magic, I have my thief magic, they work the same" Jay said while stilling digging out random things.
"Okay, that's all the first aid stuff I've found today, which all things considered is a lot." Jay said. "First off, what hurts?"
Carlos had to hide a laugh, the image of Jay, town bad-ass and thief being caring was too conflicting. "My shoulder is bad, but you can't help that, it was dislocated, I popped it back in against the wall. Right ankle is sprained, then just a bunch of bruises and shit. Oh and I might have cracked ribs, not too sure." Carlos rattled off, he'd had plenty of time to asses his injures and think of how he could heal them.
"If I run back to town will you still be here?" Jay asked, the silent question was if Carlos would be alone.
"She should be out for the night, I'm not moving anytime soon." Carlos said, he liked the spot by the window, his room didn't have one.
"I'll be back as quick as I can, me and Mal have a slightly better first aid kit in town" Jay said while leaving the window, Carlos didn't hear a sound as the thief disappeared into the night.
Ten minutes later he was back through the window. He tossed Carlos a small white bag, the younger yelped, it was cold, really cold, things on the isle don't get that cold.
Seeing his shock Jay smiled "It's called an ice pack, it makes the pain go away. Me and Mal had a whole case. They said they were expired, but they still get cold." Carlos smiled as he put the bag on his shoulder, it soothed the pain almost instantly. While he was distracted by the lack of pain in his shoulder Jay had moved and pulled up his pants leg. With a curse the older boy leaned down and unwrapped something from his own leg before wrapping it around Carols leg and foot.
"What is that, it feels like thick rope"
"Sort of, it's called an elastic bandage. We share this one, so get it back to me sometime." Jay said
"I don't want to take it, I mean you just took it off, you must need it." Jay was silent, he did need it, he'd screwed his knee up pretty good falling off a roof, but Carlos looked like he needed it more. "I'll be fine, my knee isn't that bad anymore, I have a scarf I can use if it bothers me too much."
"Oh, uhm thanks." Carlos said. Jay just looked at him, no one said thanks on the Isle, then again no one worried about each other either. He and Mal had broken that rule a thousand times over, maybe him and Carlos would too.
"No biggie" Jay said, "I bandage Mal up all the time, she tends to think she can fly and so far she can't"
Carlos laughed, he'd met the purple haired girl four months ago, with Jay. She gave the persona of someone you don't want to mess with, the thought of her not being able to do something was oddly funny.
"I don't have anything for bruises, the ice pack can help them, but I think your shoulder probably hurts more. I can't do much with the split lip either, any other cuts?"
Carlos wanted to scream no, but at the same time if Jay could make things stop hurting. He took a deep breath and hoped he wasn't making a mistake. In one jerky move he pulled his shirt off over his head leaving it to dangle on his injured arm.
"Holy fucking shit dude!" Jay said loudly. He was shocked the small boy in front of him was alive. He was deathly thin, jay could count his ribs if he tried, but that wasn't the startling part. His arms and torso were covered in cuts and small round burns. It looked as if someone had literally held him down and carved lines into his skin before putting out their cigarette on him. Then upon closer inspection he realized they hadn't happened all at once, some were nearly healed, others still oozed blood and the worst ones were definitely infected. His left side was covered in angry bruises, it looked like he'd been kicked repeatedly, but looking at him that was a very real possibility.
"Well, a band aid won't fix that." Jay muttered, hoping to get another laugh from the small boy. He didn't. "Okay, I really don't have much I can do. I have stuff that can clean it and I have that scarf I can wrap around to try and protect the cuts and your ribs." Jay worked silently using a cloth he rubbed peroxide across the cuts taking care to drip some into any that looked infected, he ignored Carlos hisses of pain. When he was done he took the scarf out, glad it was a long one and wrapped it around Carlos' torso, he tucked the end into itself and smiled at his handiwork.
"He scooted back and sat next to the small boy. So you wanna talk about how you got those injuries?" Jay asked.
"Not really." Carlos said.
"Eh, okay. How about Harriett Hooks new hair?" Jay asked with a grin. Hooks daughter was currently sporting a Mohawk, thanks to a prank. So they gossiped about the other villain kids, after a while Carlos started to fall asleep and leaned on Jay. The older boy though about shoving him so he leaned on the wall instead, but something stopped him. Carlos was always seeking contact with people, but he'd jump through the roof if you touched him first. Usually it was just a brush of arms or bumping against you, Jay didn't think Carlos knew he did it. So with a sigh he threw his arm over the small boys shoulder, being careful not to jostle the ice pack that was quickly turning warm, and let him rest for a while. When the sun started to peek through the window behind him he slid away gently sliding Carlos on the floor, the boy never woke up as he climbed out the window and closed it behind him.
The two of them never mentioned that night again, but Jay would often bandage Carlos' wounds and often sneaked food to him. He didn't know why but he liked protecting the smaller boy. Carlos similarly liked Jay better than anyone else, as a kid he didn't know it but as he got older he knew he loved the dark haired boy.
Laying there in the darkness of the dorm Jay took time to ponder the end of the school year, after the coronation all of them had to decide if they wanted to stay at Auradon or if they'd move back to the Isle. Carlos had made his decision before he'd even left the Isle, Jay was sure he'd go back when he left. But now, with the white hair youth admitting the feeling was mutual he couldn't imagine leaving him behind. He also couldn't imagine the rest of his life at Auradon, sure he fit in well enough but it wasn't home, that was still the Isle.