Chapter Text
Carlos rolled his eyes at the sock on the door to his dorm. It as an old, outdated custom, but one Ben consistently used whenever him and Mal were alone in their room together. The first time he’d done it, Carlos had taken the time to remind him that it usually meant their roommate was getting laid, not in a screaming match with his ex-girlfriend as they debated how long they would be “taking a break.” He sighed heavily and turned around, heading back toward the lounge. A few doors down to wait for the slam of the door that always indicated his room was safe to reenter.
“They at it again?” Carlos nodded at Chad who sat, reading some book about his father’s bravery.
“That makes what? Eight times in the past weeks?” Carlos asks as he plops down beside him. “Where’s Audrey? Aren’t you two usually studying together.”
“Yeah, she’s with Harry,” Carlos shoved down the rage that unfurled deep in his gut and smiled. “What’re they up to?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that they kicked me out of her room and locked the door,” Chad shrugged. “Besides. I’m not really doing homework. Just reading up on some of the things Dad did. I have to figure out what to do for Dizzy when she comes back, and my dad is literally Charming, so I’m trying to get some pointers.”
“Buy her a set of good beautician material and support her. Can’t go wrong there,” Carlos said and pulled out his phone, texting Uma about Harry and Audrey’s apparent location. She’d been asking for her First Mate all day but wouldn’t tell Carlos what for. It was seriously beginning to drive him insane, but he was a good crewmate. He’d tell his captain what he knew first and seethe second.
“You know, I like you a lot better than I liked Jay, Mal, or Evie.”
“Is that so?” Carlos asked with a small smirk
“Well, I don’t like you,” Chad conceded before closing his book and facing him. “But I dislike you a lot less than I thought I would.”
“Probably because you’re actually talking to me and not shouting from your high-horse,” Carlos said and Chad gave a full-bellied laugh. They chatted for a while before Audrey found them, offering Carlos a sweet smile and Chad an actual smile.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be, Carlos?” She asked, voice dripping in syrup. He knew, objectively, that Audrey wasn’t pure evil. She was nice enough and others seemed to like her. She had a solid relationship with Evie and Mal, and Even Uma liked the girl enough to let Harry spend time with her. But he felt something off with her. Apparently she used to date Ben, but he said she may be a little vain and vapid but altogether harmless.
But when she looked at him, her gaze steeled before it softened. She didn’t like him, and he could only imagine why. After all, according to Gil, she and Harry had grown very familiar though it hadn’t yet gone past flirting. And judging by her perfectly combed hair and unsmudged make up and what he knows of Harry as a lover, it still hadn’t. Carlos was beginning to wonder what he was waiting for. After all, Harry had been avoiding Carlos for a fucking month or ignoring him in the event he was forced into the same room as Carlos, and he had no fucking idea why other than the fact that he was an asshole and clearly incapable of speaking to someone he clearly had no sexual interest in anymore. God, Carlos felt fucking used.
“Nope, room’s occupied, Gil’s at practice, Harry’s fucked off somewhere, probably with some girl, Uma’s on a warpath looking for him, and Gonzo, Jonas, Bonny and Desiree are doing maintenance on the Lost Revenge since we did it last month, so I’m just fine right her,” He smiled, taking silent joy in the wince of frustration he got at ‘some girl.’ Yeah, he could do highschool girl. He could do that very fucking well.
“Right, well, we’ll just head out then, right Chad? I wanna get something for your cousin too, so We’re gonna go shopping!” Audrey said, pointedly not inviting Carlos. Stupid, vapid fucking girl.
“I hate her,” he mumbled to the shadows as soon as they were gone. He got a small ‘meow’ for his efforts as Beelzebub hopped onto the back of the long sofa. The sleek black cat trotted around lazily before plopping itself into his lap and curling up with a contented purr. “Yeah, you hate her too, don’t you buddy?”
“Yeah, she’s a rude bitch and Harry’s an ignorant douche, isn’t he?” Carlos cooed as he stroked the cats fur until it pawed at him to stop and act like a good bed.
“I don’ think I’m that bad,” Carlos scowled as he looked up to see Harry, hair still neatly combed and still annoyingly hot.
“You are,” Carlos said. “You’re an asshole who went from screwing me damn near every day to not talking to me for nearly a month and getting all buddy-buddy with an Auradonian princes.”
“Right,” Harry said as he crossed the room to drop down beside Carlos. “Are you mad, pup?”
“About Audrey? No. We’re not exclusive. You made that remarkably clear. About the ignoring? Yes. Because even if you’re not attracted to me and you don’t want anything to do with me, we’re still crew. You still have to fucking talk to me.”
“When did I ever say you weren’ still beautiful, pup?” Harry asked, jaw suddenly clenched, jawline suddenly even sharper.
“You didn’t say anything, Harry. You just walked out of the fucking room every time I walked in. And you know what, judging by the way Uma was practically throwing tables over, you’re probably only here because she yelled at you to work it out,” Carlos said, hushing his voice as Bee glared up at him for silence. “I mean, I’m right, aren’t I?”
Harry’s silence is all the answer he needs. But he waits anyway until Harry speaks, “Aye. She did. An’ if anyone else was ‘ere, I wouldn’ be sayin this, but I wasn’ just ignoring ya for the sake of it. I… can we jus’ pretend these few weeks haven’ happened? I just… There’s been a lot goin on an’ I aven’t figured out this whole Auradon thing yet, and… I haven’ figured out what to say to ya abou’ us.”
“I’ve been having sex with other people.” Carlos said rather than directly respond. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Promise?” Carlos met the pirates gaze, expecting to find lust or something animalistic in his gaze. Instead, he found a kind of hopeful longing. Carlos nodded, acknowledging it for what it was: A return to form.
“So Island rules? I sleep with whoever and you sleep with whoever? That’s what’s happening?”
“If yer okay with that,” Harry said hesitantly.
“You still gonna be a dick in front of the others.”
“Island rules,” Harry grinned at him. Carlos rolled his eyes and heard a door slam in the distance.
“Island rules,” Carlos shrugged and placed Bee on his lap, confining the pirate to the couch lest he face the wrath of a spontaneously woken cat before walking out of the commons and entering the room as a head of purple hair walked off in the distance.
“You ignored the sock,” Ben said, the king lying on his back atop his too-big bed.
Carlos shrugged and plopped down so they were laying side-by-side, “I saw her leave. Figured it was safe.”
“We’re taking a break and she still won’t leave me alone to process,” Ben groaned and threw his phone over to Carlos’s bed where he’d inevitably forget about it.
Carlos just kept staring at the ceiling as the King recounted the latest of their fights. This time he’d been dragged into it, apparently. Ben’s apparently been spending too much time with good, old trash-talking Carlos. “…And I defended you! Promise! I was all like ‘Carlos doesn’t even trash-talk you! Dude’s ridiculously nice!”
“You don’t have to defend yourself, Ben. I trust you,” Carlos chuckled softly.
“Yeah, just felt like the right thing to do,” Ben huffed a breath and patted his abs in the silence. “You hanging out with Harry while you waited?”
“He was apologizing, I guess,” Carlos shrugged. “We’re going back to island rules. So He’ll be around more. Expect to be flirted with and/or threatened.”
They laid like that for a while, just still and pleasantly settled in each other’s company. Ben loosed a loud sigh and turned to look at Carlos even though the boy didn’t move to meet his gaze, focused instead on the large, wide ceiling. Ben breathed heavily out his nose, “Wanna have sex?”
Carlos sighed in contemplation and checked his phone. No new messages from Uma. “Yeah, sure.”