Hello again! There are a couple of things I want to explain about this story, and this is to say that, given how protection stories with these two are a little overrated with Chad and the Gastons and everyone being mean to Carlos I wanted this little something to be special, to have something that made it different from all the other stories you can read in this very same page about the exact same couple.
First I thought about making this about Cruella herself, but in the end I couldn't find a plot for that one. Then, while discussing this particular day with a friend we came up with a story that had nothing to do with the theme other than protection. It was still good, don't get me wrong, but I didn't like it for this day.
In the end, I came up with a character that I hope is not as overused when it comes to Jay protecting Carlos from her, and that other story that is complicated and darker is something you will be able to read tomorrow!
I hope you enjoy this little something!
Tuesday-Bullies/Protection stories
Broken Pieces
If you had asked what Carlos de Vil's relationship with Mal was, he would have answered complicated.
That was to say they didn't hate each other, though they weren't close either. Plainly, he was much too insignificant for Mal to pay attention to, and that was neither good nor bad—that was just a fact, the way things were done.
Not that a bunch of people treated him any differently, only minding him when they needed something from him, either ignoring him or mistreating him when they didn't.
Honestly, Carlos wasn't even bothered by that statement anymore—as long as Mal wasn't against him he could deal with her nonchalance.
Which hadn't been the case for the last two days, with the whole thing about breaking the magical barrier going on.
It wasn't that he didn't want the barrier to be trespassed, it wasn't that he didn't wish to open a crack in it big enough for him to take off and leave that rotten place, it wasn't that he wasn't trying hard enough to find a way out of this hell of a life—it was plainly that he couldn't manage to do it.
Unfortunately for him, Mal didn't seem to understand that.
"I'm telling you for the last time, Carlos, I need this thing done!" she yelled, letting her open hands fall on the surface of the table the boy was working on, making the piece of furniture shake under the impulse.
"I'm trying, Mal, I just have no material to work with!" he managed to reply, knowing he was no match against the girl's anger.
"And how is that my fault? If you're missing material then what in the world are you doing here lazing around? Get your ass to move and go find it!" the daughter of Maleficent continued, leaning over the table closer and closer, until she was practically screaming at his face. Cowering, Carlos could only shut his eyes in an attempt to block the words from entering his mind.
"I told you, Mal, even if I try to find it the only thing we have here at the Isle is garbage! I have nothing to work with!" he replied again, clenching his fists and chewing on his lower lip in defeat.
"Well, then look harder!" the girl pressured through he gritted teeth. "But listen to me, stupid piece of—"
"Enough" Jay suddenly pipped in, stepping away from the wall he had been leaning on.
"Pardon me?" Mal replied, blinking in something akin to surprise, as if she couldn't possibly believe someone had dared refute her words.
"As you heard, Mal, stop bugging" the son of Jafar added, walking up to them so he stood between a furious Mal and an astonished Carlos, the younger boy too unsettled to believe his eyes. "If your useless magic can't conjure what he needs then it's not Carlos' fault you ain't trying hard enough".
"How—how dare you?" the purple-haired girl replied, raising both her chin and her voice in disbelief.
There was something fierce in her emerald eyes, Carlos noted almost with fear. She was, as a matter of fact, a dangerous person to have as an enemy, both because of who her mother was, but mostly because of who she was, of the influences she had and of the facility with which she could make your life in the isle a living hell more than it already was.
And yet—Jay was willing to do that, to risk a feud with her, for him.
Jay and Mal were not friends, of course not —friends didn't exist in the Isle—, but they were partners in mischief and had each other's back. Sure thing, the son of Jafar didn't always agree with what the daughter of Maleficent did or ordered him to do, but he was nonchalant enough to do it anyways.
But not now—there was something just as fierce and threatening in Jay's chocolate orbs as in Mal's green ones. There was something noble and passionate in how the son of Jafar was standing, sheltering the younger boy from the daughter of Maleficent with his own body.
"I can't believe it!" Mal concluded, turning on her heels to leave the treehouse in two exaggeratedly long strides.
In contrast to the worried glance with which Carlos followed the girl's departure, Jay merely shrugged and turned to meet the son of Cruella's eyes, being forced to kneel down as the boy didn't seem to hold any desire of raising his gaze.
"Listen, Carlos, I know you're trying" he attempted, failing to bring the younger's attention to him. "See, Mal is under a lot of pressure herself, and I know she can be a pain in the ass, but—"
But Carlos had stopped listening because he couldn't hold tears any longer and how stupid, how stupid was this, and so he drew his arms around Jay's waist like he'd seen the people in those stupid Auradonian programs do, unable to stand still for any longer.
He knew he was being an idiot, a weakling, he knew he would regret it and yet—at the time… at the time he just wanted to feel the warm, human contact of someone next to him.
"Now, now, you're not supposed to be doing this" Jay murmured in the kindest, most awkward voice Carlos had heard him use, already regretting having done such an idiotic thing.
However, out of pure human reflexes the son of Jafar circled the younger boy's shaky shoulders and held him close, his strong arms the one true shelter Carlos knew in that rotten place.
That was the first time Carlos allowed himself to just show how broken and useless he was instead of faking indifference and nonchalance towards how he was treated. That was the first time he even dared break down into tears in the presence of someone else. The first time he decided it didn't matter anymore, when overall it did, because that was the first time he allowed Jay to see how shattered he truly was and the son of Jafar decided to stay by his side and collect the broken pieces.
How did that go? Please let me know in your comments! Okay, I get it, it's a little cheesy, and yes, I made Mal a little too much of a bitch, I declare myself guilty. The thing is (and you know it as well as I do), I'm a sucker for the Rotten Four, and I especially have something with the sibling-like relationships, so, yes, it was hard for me too because, most of times, I write with Mal protecting Carlos herself, not putting him down (not on purposem anyways), so... yes, sorry about that, I hope tomorrow's story makes up for this one. At least I can assure you something—tomorrow's story is way longer than this one!
Read you soon!
