Chapter 2
Loud bells, and even louder knocking.
“Jay! Carlos! Get out here!”
Ugh. Why’d he need to get up? It was cozy.
“Jay! Carlos! It’s V.K. day!”
Oh. Well, that’s a good reason.
About a year ago King Ben had decided that the original V.K.s- that being Jay, Carlos, Mal, and Evie- were no longer the only ones able to escort the new Villain Kids from the Isle to Auradon. The only ones still on the Isle were big-time villains, villains that ‘proved’ they could take care of their kids, V.K.s kept in hiding, and the V.K.s deemed ‘too unstable.’ So the new escorts were various Auradonian guards. Which they all had their doubts about, but given the situation… it was their best bet.
Carlos and Jay hurried through their morning routine, getting down to the main entrance of Auradon in record time. Which just happened to be the equivalent of right on time. Luckily. Because… well, though these V.K.s didn’t look like much, the guards escorting them did. Two of them were easily identifiable: Garrett, Mother Gothel’s son- identifiable by his sickly pale skin and tattered red vest- Hannah, daughter of Hans- ginger hair and millions of bandages her identifying factor- and two others that no one recognized. Honestly? They looked too fancy to be from the Isle. The shorter of the two, pale with white hair and a frilly pink and turquoise dress, opened her parasol and stared at the citizens of Auradon. She looked confused, chocolatey brown eyes staring at them blankly. The stuffed animals hanging from both the dress and the parasol were too nice to be from anywhere near the Isle. The other mystery V.K., whose color scheme was similar to the blond’s, was clad in a striped sweater and mismatched pants adorned with a corset and suspenders. They ruffled through their messy blue-and-pink highlighted hair, keeping a hand on the blond’s arm.
As the four stepped forward and the guards stepped back, Ben approached. He wasn’t as cautious as he was three years ago- but that didn’t mean he wasn’t off his guard. These V.K.s were either the worst of the worst, or just overly protected kids with the misfortune of being born there. And you could tell who was who. Garrett had never even been led out of his mother’s tower, so his reason for being left on the Isle was obvious. Hannah’s was rather similar- Hans had lied his way through the custody battle so she was left on the Isle. But the other two… as stated before; complete mysteries. Even just looking at them felt… weird. Like it was wrong. Like they weren’t supposed to be here.
Ignoring the odd feeling the two gave him, the newly crowned King Ben smiled warmly at them.
“Welcome to Auradon! I am King Ben, and this is my newly wedded wife, Mal. She is also from the Isle!” No matter how many times he did it, it never got less awkward. The four V.K.s just continued to stare. Eventually, after a few beats of silence, Hannah stepped forward. She gave a flourishing bow out of more spite than anything.
“Why thank you, oh Great King of Auradon! Pleasure to finally meet you. Name’s Hannah.” She came out of her bow, hands in the pockets of her baggy bike shorts.
Ben’s bright smile wavered a bit. She wasn’t unlike Mal when she first arrived… just more princess-y. She was a half–and-half Auradon and Isle kid, that was obvious.
Upon seeing it was safe to do so, the sickly pale kid stepped up to her side. His hair was matted and messy, though his turtleneck and vest looked well-kept. He was the kind of kid you’d see and immediately take as a thief. He bowed his head respectfully.
“Garrett. I’m- Garrett.” He introduced himself. He looked nervous, nothing like his regal yet desperate mother. After another beat of uncomfortable silence. Finally, one of the last two kids stepped forward.
Shaking out their wild and frizzy hair, they stuck out a hand.
“Maurice.” They spoke curtly. The final V.K. of the year stepped out from behind them.
“Hello, King Ben! I’ve heard about you, yes, yes! My, my, you’re so much more regal than expected! Care for some tea? I have much to spare!” They closed their turquoise and pink parasol, the stuffed animals previously hanging off of it disappearing with a quiet ‘poof!’
“Yes, yes! Ben, Mal, meet the new V.K.s. Hannah- daughter of Hans- Garrett, son of Mother Gothel… and Maurice. We don’t know the other one’s name.” She whispered to Ben and Mal in a hushed voice. Maurice cocked an eyebrow and their frilly companion just looked utterly lost.
“They’re… from Wonderland.” Fairy Godmother finished. Ben was… well, he was confused. Why did that matter? He opened his mouth to question it but upon seeing the look of surprise and upset on Mal’s face, he decided against it. Fairy Godmother turned back to the four new V.K.s.
“Come along! Ben, Mal, show them to their rooms, why don’t you? Bippity-boppity!” She smiled sweetly- casually commanding the six along.
Catching the cue, Ben clapped his hands together and gave them a thin-lipped smile.
“Right, well, let’s get going!” Leading the new arrivals into the school, Mal and Ben began the customary tour of Auradon Prep.
As they did so, students and teachers alike all began to mill around or make their way back inside of the castle-turned-school. Well, everyone except for Carlos and Jay. Harry, Gil, and the rest of Uma’s crew were all out doing their own thing. Otherwise, they would have been with them at the moment. The V.K. day still made Uma pretty angry, so it was best to just keep her on her ship. Evie was in the process of hemming up a dress for Jane, so she ran off almost as soon as the whole ordeal ended. Which just left Carlos and Jay. Tourney practice wasn’t until the next week, and homework hadn’t been assigned yet, so the two were free for the first time in a while. Jay placed his hands on his hips all Dad-like and Carlos glanced up at him.
“So. What first, pup?” Jay gave Carlos his stupid little grin. In response, Carlos shrugged.
“Walk around, maybe-?” Carlos suggested. It was what they usually did when they had free time and didn’t want to be cooped up in their room. Jay nodded in response, giving Carlos a wave to lead the way. He began walking through the gardens, Jay following close behind. The two walked in comfortable silence for a little while before Carlos cleared his throat nervously.
“So, I had a… question. That I thought I could ask.”
To this, Jay perked his head up- one of his eyebrows raised in silent encouragement for Carlos to continue speaking.
“What happens if our parents get off the Isle? I mean, I know everything’s going to fall apart, but I wanted to know what you think the specifics of all of it would be. Y’know. Just out of curiosity?” Carlos badly hid the anxiety that had been building up as a simple question. It didn’t fool Jay, though he knew better than to ask about it upfront. You could do that with Mal sometimes, but with Carlos and Evie you had to just guess what it was and ask about it in as roundabout a way as possible. So that’s exactly what Jay did.
“If you’re worried about your mom getting her hands on you- or any of our parents getting their hands on us, really- then drop the worries. They aren’t getting out any time soon, I can say that for sure.” Jay tried his hand at comforting Carlos. He got a weak smile in response. Gods, how he loved that nerdy little smile of his… and whenever that smile happened to be directed at him, he absolutely melted inside.
“-Jay? Jay?” Carlos asked, waving a hand in front of Jay’s face. He’d been staring, huh?
“Oh, sorry.”
“Do I- do I have something on my face-?”
Yeah, that stupidly adorable smile.
“Yeah, uh- right there.” Jay mimicked wiping the corner of his mouth, giving Carlos an awkward thumbs-up when he mirrored the action. 10/10 lying, Jay.
After that interaction, the two continued to just sort of… stand there. Carlos obviously had more he wanted to say, and Jay did as well. But neither wanted to actually say it. So they stood there. In the middle of the gardens. Incredibly inconvenient place. But, unlike in most teen romance movies, no one came along to bump into them and ruin the moment. If Jay ever wanted some stupid Auradonian idea to happen to him, it was that exact moment. He had gotten wrapped up in watching them with Evie one day, which is how he knew it tended to happen to the main characters. Shit, did that make him a main character?
“So, uh-”
“You’re pretty.” Jay stated. Carlos blinked. Aaaaand there goes the absent-minded confidence from before.
“I’m sorry?” Carlos did a double-take.
“You’re pretty.” Jay shrugged simply. What he really meant was ‘you’re stunning, I love everything about you and I want to kiss you and hold you close and not let anything hurt you. I want to protect you from everything, I want you to ramble to me about all your latest inventions, I want you to time me for my laps around the track and then kiss me when I break my old records. I want to do all the stupid shit we laughed about as kids together.’ But he couldn’t say that. Because he just thought Carlos was pretty, that was all there was to it. Nothing else. Nope nope noppity nope. No feeling like he actually wanted to kiss his best friend. That was just his brain convincing him he did, because his brain did that sometimes.
“...thank you. You’re pretty, too. Or- handsome.” Carlos commented after fully processing everything because holy crap did that just happen?
“Yeah. Um. I know you’re dating Jane, but it just-” Jay gestured around. “Y’know? Anyway.”
“So, should we… head back to the castle? We don’t have Tourney today, so we could just… hang out, or practice on our own time-”
“Yeah! Why don’t we find the girls, too? We can’t just let them roam free like this. Evie’s gonna be terrorizing the new kids with her kindness and Mal’s probably having another self-doubt breakdown.” Jay suggested, as though he finally remembered his unbothered bad boy persona. Luckily, Carlos nodded. And they were off!