On Monday after school…

Jamilah and Shang were sitting at their usual seats in the library with Jamilah telling her close friend about what she and her two brothers had discussed with their parents about Jay. And based on what Shang was understanding, he guessed they were going somewhere.

"So did Az tell Aunt Jasmine and Uncle Aladdin about pain empathy?" Shang asked as he placed his elbow on the edge of the table and tilted his head so that his cheek rested in his palm.

Jamilah nodded. "Yeah, and as expected, Mom and Dad were shocked by this and Dad was livid."

"That's pretty understandable," Shang said, nodding slightly. "I'm still reeling from the shock that the VKs don't get any food on the Isle and as we speak, they're getting abused on top of it too."

"Oh yeah," Jamilah agreed. "Me too. I didn't know either and now that I think about it, I firmly believe Carlos got the worst treatment on the Isle."

"Carlos?" Shang frowned.

"Yeah. Y'know Carlos, that guy with the black and white hair who ran away from the field because of Dude the dog…?"

As Jamilah explained who Carlos was to Shang, the memory of Cruella's son became clearer to him.

"Oh, Carlos! I remember him now!" Shang said softly, not wanting to exclaim too much because he didn't want to disturb anyone in the library. "I remember Lonnie told me sometime back about how the Villains don't love their kids and based on what I'm getting, it seems as if Carlos either doesn't know what love is or it's foreign to him."

"I feel like it's both and speaking of Carlos, it looks as if he got the worst treatment."

"How so?" The older guy asked.

"He told me that he doesn't want to talk about his past after he told me that he slept on the cold floor with no remotely good mattress or blanket," Jamilah explained. "And his mother instilled fear in him about dogs."

As he listened keenly to what his friend told him what she knew about Carlos so far, Shang just stared at her with his eyebrows raised, nibbling on his fingernail, utterly speechless.

And Jamilah stared right back at him. Jamilah knows when things are so bad that Shang isn't saying anything, and he usually speaks when he hears something awful like the VKs not getting proper food.

The two teens stared at each other for a few minutes before Jamilah reached for Shang's large hand across the table and gave it a gentle as she spoke.

"….let's continue to talk about Jay and I'm sorry for bringing up bits of Carlos's backstory," she apologized genuinely.

And Jamilah stared right back at him. Jamilah knows when things are so bad that Shang isn't saying anything, and he usually speaks when he hears something awful like the VKs not getting proper food.

The two teens stared at each other for a few minutes before Jamilah reached for Shang's large hand across the table and gave it a gentle as she spoke.

"….let's continue to talk about Jay and I'm sorry for bringing up bits of Carlos's backstory," she apologized genuinely.

Shang shook his head as he came out of his shock and laced his fingers with Jamie's, nodding. "Yeah, and you don't have to apologize, and I'm glad you brought it up. It's just that I'm at a loss of words."

"Yeah, I could see that."

"So what else did you and your family find out about Jay?" Shang questioned. "Az didn't tell me this as I'm guessing he has way too many things preoccupying his mind."

Jamilah pursed her lips. "Well, nothing out of the ordinary. I told Mom and Dad that Jay likes tigers and Emir told them that Jay kind of reminds him of Aziz and Dad because of his personality. I can hardly see anything that's remotely Jafar on him."

"What did Aunt Jas and Uncle Al think?"

"They thought that the three of us are making some progress, but they're kinda concerned because they're wondering if looking for Jahir would affect our schoolwork and extracurricular activities," the young princess explained, softly clicking her tongue.

Shang hummed. "I mean, the three of you are managing well."

"Yeah…" Jamilah shook her shoulders slightly. "Though I have my doubts as the more I learn about Jay, the more I'm trying to figure out if he's our brother or Jafar's son."

"I understand, but you're Jamilah, you're a determined girl and you're not going to give up so easily. So, I'd say keep on looking for him until you, Az, and Emir find him," Shang told the princess encouragingly.

Hearing this from Shang made Jamilah feel better, and that's why she'd like to tell Shang anything that comes to her mind as he was so calm and encouraging. Another person that Jamilah loves to talk to is her best friend, Nina, as she makes Jamilah feel more at ease.

"Thanks, Shang," Jamilah smiled at her friend before her brown eyes handed her left hand on the table that was still laced with Shang's. Shang followed suit and blushed.

"Oh!" Shang released his hand from Jamilah's but he couldn't help it as Jamilah's hand was extra soft.

Jamilah on the other hand, she too blushed as couldn't help but admit that Shang's large hand was warm despite it having calluses.

"…sorry," Jamilah apologized sheepishly.

Shang smiled at her softly. "It's fine."

If Jamilah was honest, she was starting to like Shang more than a friend but as he said, she had to look for her brother and she was going to do just that for the time being. Finding her missing brother was her main priority and hopefully when shedoesfind him, then she might see what Shang's relationship would be like.

Another brief silence passed the two teens for a moment until Shang spoke.

"So are we done talking about Jay?" Jr asked. "We have to continue our Chemistry review as your Chemistry end-of-month test is coming up this week."

Jamilah nodded quickly. "Yeah I think so, but I'll let you know if I could find anything about him. And Shang?"

Shang looked up from his Chemistry textbook to Jamilah. "Yeah? Sup?"

The long-haired girl thought of the question she was going to ask Lonnie's brother for a moment before she opened her mouth. "Say, did you feel I dunno, kinda weird Friday night? Like something's happening to your body but you don't know it because you're asleep?"

Shang paused as he let his friend's question cement in his mind before he answered. "Uh, I think so?" He sounded unsure. "Why'd you ask?"

Jamilah hummed for a moment as she cocked her head to the side and shrugged. "Well, I dunno, maybe I felt something changed. Like my body."

Shang didn't say anything, he just stared at the princess.

What Jamilah said about her body kind of changing wasn't a lie, hers as well as the others were turned into toddlers by Genie, with Jamilah and her brother Emir being the youngest at a year old each. Genie turned the teens into toddlers so that they were easier to carry. They then transformed back into their original selves when they were put into their respective rooms.

"And Shang?"

"Yes?"

Jamilah gave her friend a mischievous smirk, a smirk that Shang knew quite well. "You have a cute butt," she then covered her mouth and giggled.

'I knew it,' Shang thought as he playfully rolled his eyes and turned the page of his textbook.

Over the past weekend, Jamilah had been teasing Shang about his bum since they were enjoying themselves in the large palace pool. The princess thought it was a neat comeback since Shang loves to tap her nose.

"Let's continue to revise," he told her and Jamilah continued to giggle.

"Okay, Captain Cute Butt," Jamilah laughed softly as she stretched her head over to look at which page Shang was on, and when she did find the page, she leaned back into her chair and turn the page in her Chemistry textbook.

Shang flickered his dark eyes from the book to the young Agrabah princess with a tiny smile on his face, and Jamilah noticed.

"See?" Jamilah grinned.

Shang shook his head in amusement and paid back his attention to his textbook. Jamilah then followed suit.

…..

On the field after Tourney practice…

"Whew!" Aziz breathed as he used the back of his hand to wipe off beads of sweat that were forming on his forehead before taking a seat beside Jay, who was untying his shoes, and taking off his socks so that his foot could get some fresh air.

Aziz fanned himself with his hand before turning to Jay. "What a practice, huh Jay?" He was breathing heavily.

Hearing this from the Crown prince made Jay turn his head and face Aziz with a smirk as he tied his long hair in a man bun.

"Oh yeah," Jay replied as he breathed slightly. "My feet are aching me right now but I enjoyed myself. Coach Jenkins is a cool guy."

Aziz nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he's probably the best teacher in Auradon Prep. And he seems to be very fond of you."

"Of course, I'm the new MVP after all," Jay boasted with a proud grin. "Are you jealous?"

Aziz scoffed and fanned himself with his Tourney jersey. "Jealous? Nah. Go tell that to Chad."

Jay rolled his eyes and scoffed, and Aziz chuckled.

"I know that you're not a fan of Chad, nobody does but he's a good player."

Jay huffed. "Yeah, until I came along."

"True, though I must say that you're a natural," Aziz complimented.

"Thanks, man," Jay said, a small smile tugging his lips. "You're not so bad yourself, almost as agile as I am."

Aziz had a light flush on his cheeks. "Thanks. Almost everyone I know tells me the same thing. Though, I think you might like ROAR with your natural strength and skills."

Upon hearing the sport, Jay arched a brow. "ROAR? What's that?"

"It's a sport mixed with parkour and fencing and Shang's the captain. After Tourney season is over in spring, ROAR season kicks in," Aziz explained.

"Ohh…" Jay said in understanding as he rubbed his chin. If Jay was honest, he found this sport intriguing and he might as well join next year to see what it was like.

"Sounds like a sport I'd enjoy," Jay said.

"You will enjoy it."

After they had their conversation, the boys went silent, probably unsure what to talk about next. In the meantime, they looked around the field just casually gazing around while cooling down from the intense training that ended moments ago.

However, the silence between Aziz and Jay was short-lived as Jay spoke.

"Say, Aziz," Jay began, turning to the Crown Prince. "Like how we're friends now, I just wanna ask you a simple question."

Aziz was slightly taken aback, but said, "Sure, I'm all ears." Aziz wondered what kind of question Jay was going to ask him.

'I'm wondering what kind of question Jay is going to ask?'Aziz thought. He might as well have an idea.

"Why are you, Jamilah, and Emir so close to me?" Jay asked, sounding curious but genuine. "Like I get that we're from Agrabah but all three of you are just…attached to me. What's going on? Are you looking for someone?"

'Shit, we're caught!'Aziz thought as his brown eyes widened in panic. It seems as if Jay was watching the trio most of the time without them noticing.

However, since Jay was suspicious of the Agrabah siblings, Aziz had to shake his head and reply rather calmly. "Well, first of all, we like you because you're cool and secondly, yes we're looking for someone: our missing brother," Aziz proceeded to bite his bottom lip slightly.

Jay huffed and folded his arms. "Hm okay, seems fair enough. And how long are you looking for this 'missing brother?' " He unfolded his arms and made air quotes with 'missing brother.'

"We've been looking for him since late August, but he's been missing as a baby for 17 years. He was kidnapped at 3 weeks old and his name is Jahir," Aziz answered. He felt his palms becoming sweaty.

Jay pursed his lips in a firm line and gave a short nod. "Hmm. That seems tragic. I'm sorry to hear that and lemme guess, you were born in August, right?"

Aziz nodded. "Yeah, I was born on the 14th and Jahir is my fraternal twin brother."

It was Jay's turn to be surprised. "No way, you're a twin! I didn't know!"

Aziz scratched the back of his neck as he was a bit embarrassed. "I didn't talk about it much until I found out late that I was a twin."

"Oh and you said you were born in August, am I correct?" The long-haired boy asked and Aziz nodded. "Well, I think I was born in that month too but I'm not too sure since the Isle doesn't have a hospital or a clinic to record any date of birth. There's only a calendar but I'm not too sure, to be honest."

Aziz frowned as he heard Jay mention that the Isle doesn't have a hospital or a clinic. "No hospital or clinic on the Isle? That's just plain bad and cruel. How do Isle kids manage to survive?"

Jay shrugged. "Just by eating remotely good scraps of food, we found at the wharf."

"And I'm assuming that most kids there die as a result of malnutrition and starvation?"

"Yup. We just happened to be lucky ones."

After listening to the horrifying details about the Isle, Aziz leaned back on the seat, shaking his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe that Former King Beast allowed the kids to suffer harsh conditions on the Isle.

Another moment of silence passed between the two before Aziz turned to Jay and spoke.

"I'm so very sorry about what happened to you guys," Aziz apologized, sounding genuine. "Honestly, none of you kids didn't deserve it. Also, I assume that you guys were abused as well?"

Jay flinched the moment Aziz asked about them being abused on the Isle. This was something that he and his friends didn't want the AKs to know as they didn't want to be shown as weak or sympathetic.

It took a couple of moments for Jay to answer and Aziz noticed.

"I'm sorry! I shouldn't-" he was cut off by Jay.

"It's fine, man, and….yes, we were abused on the Isle. It's something we don't want to talk about."

"So are you comfortable telling me about how Jafar abused you?" Aziz asked softly.

Jay stared at the Crown Prince hesitantly and Aziz bit his bottom lip. It was clear that Jay wasn't comfortable sharing his story. Additionally, it was a good thing that Aziz didn't bring up the scars that were on his back, or else Jay would be mad if he did.

"Sorry," Aziz apologized for the third time.

Jay flipped his hand back and forth to reassure his friend. "Eh, it's fine. It's just that I'm not quite ready to talk about my dark past, but I promise that I'll tell you in due time."

"Understand," Aziz said.

"Thanks and good luck finding your missing brother," Jay told Aziz. "I hope you guys get some closure when you find him."

Aziz gave Jay a small smile. "Thanks, man."

Jay returned the gesture as he began to stretch his legs.

Aziz turned his head away from the long-haired boy and looked out into the distance on the field. "I hope so too," he said under his breath softly.

….

In Aziz's dorm, 10 minutes before supper….

Aziz was filling in the details to his younger siblings about the conversation that he had with Jay earlier after Tourney practice.

"Jay was suspicious of us being close to him," Aziz said to his siblings. "So I had to think fast and told him that we like him because we thought he was cool."

"Wow, so all this time, Jay was suspicious of us?" Jamilah asked, blinking. She didn't realize that Jay was watching them all this time.

Aziz nodded. "Yeah, and I told him that we're searching for our missing brother and he asked if I was born in August."

Emir hummed as he scratched his chin in thought. "So lemme guess, you replied 'yes' and he said 'I was born in the same month as you?' Is that what Jay told you?" Emir then adjusted himself on Aziz's bed.

"Bingo, and he said that he wasn't so sure what day he was born in as there's no hospitals or clinics on the Isle," Aziz said. "Not even a calendar."

Jamilah gasped as she covered her mouth while Emir's eyes widened.

As Aziz saw his siblings' reactions, he couldn't help but nod. "Yup, you heard right. To make matters worse, they were struggling to get food and they were abused, like what we'd discussed on Friday.

"Oh my gosh," Jamilah shook her head sadly. "It kind of reminds me of Carlos. His mother made him sleep on the cold floor without a blanket or a pillow. Although, he didn't want to talk much about his past until he was ready."

Her two brothers stared at her, speechless and in disbelief. They were silent for a moment until Emir spoke.

"Now that you mentioned Carlos, Jamie, I think I saw Evie looking thin. I'm guessing that her mother didn't want her to gain fat to attract a prince. As for Mal, it looks like she had internal issues."

Aziz nodded in agreement with his brother. "Great observation, Emir. Despite Jay not wanting to talk about his past, he told me good luck finding our brother and he hopes he comes home."

Jamilah had a small smile on her face as she clasped her hands and brought them up to her chest. "Aw, that's sweet of him!"

"I know, and we're one step closer to finding him," Aziz said, sounding confident and hopeful. "I could feel it in my bones."

"True," Emir said. "We're getting warmer and warmer."

Hearing this, Aziz had a lopsided smile on his countenance. Indeed, they were getting warmer in finding their brother.

After the siblings had their conversation, the three of them left Aziz's dorm and went to supper in the cafeteria.