Just a little weirdness
written for @descendantsgiftexchange for @telli1206 . hope you had a lovely holiday, and sorry for the wait!
Carlos liked to think that he knew Jay pretty well.
He knew that for all the bravado and swagger he performed, Jay was actually quiet and subtle. The brashness present sometimes was just an act, a learned defense thanks to the island's environment and living with Jafar. It was a tactic Jay used to hide the soft edges of himself, to mask how reflective and astute he could be.
Not to say that he wasn't confident. Jay's confidence didn't need to be showboated or faked or bolstered. Jay's confidence simply was.
Carlos knew the flirting was a front as well, just another method of getting people to let their guard down or to relax around him, because in reality, Jay was rarely free with his touches. He leaned into people's spaces, sure, made them think he was comfortable near them, but he rarely actually touched. And if someone touched him, he'd find a way to distance himself with the person none the wiser.
Not to say that Jay never touched anyone. He was more free around Mal, Evie, and Carlos than he was with anyone else, leaning against them or wrapping an arm around their shoulders. The four of them were islanders, had been around each other longer than anyone else in Auradon, so of course it was easier for Jay to be openly tactile with them.
Carlos liked to think that he knew Jay pretty well.
He'd even go as far as to think he knew Jay the best.
So he had it on good authority that Jay was acting strange.
He just had no idea why.
It was subtle at first.
Fitting, as that was Jay's way when it came to something important.
It was subtle, the way Jay grew quieter, just little moments, gone as quick as they began. But then those little moments grew. Gone was the flashiness, replaced by something akin to introspection.
And when his quietness settled, Jay's flirting began disappearing as well. He smiled, was still attentive, but he no longer leaned in, no longer gave anyone looks, and he definitely found ways to dodge touches altogether.
The changes drove Carlos crazy, both the fact that they were happening at all and the fact that Jay hadn't come talk to him about any of it.
They were pretty open with each other.
And yet.
And yet Jay didn't come to him.
And that made Carlos sick.
What if something terrible was happening to Jay? What if it was something no one could help with?
He'd been debating with himself for the last two days, worrying over whether he should just confront Jay himself, and he'd seen less and less of Jay, so much so that Carlos had taken to just hanging around Mal whenever she took the time to fill several pages of her notebook with sketches.
"Jay's acting weird," Carlos finally said when he couldn't hold it in any longer.
"As opposed to?" Mal asked, not even looking up from her notebook.
"As opposed to himself," Carlos said. He made a face. "Well, the himself he puts on for other people."
Mal glanced up at him. "Have you slept?"
Carlos rolled his eyes. "This isn't about me."
"Uh huh," Mal drawled, her focus back on her notebook, "and you're here instead of talking to Jay because…?"
Carlos sighed. "Maybe I was hoping his oldest friend could offer some insight."
Nodding, Mal said, "Reasonable. But this oldest friend of his hasn't noticed anything off."
"How could you not! It's practically in your face."
Mal put down her pencil and closed her notebook, causing Carlos to sit straighter. She eyed him, gaze not exactly critical but not exactly soft either, and she leaned back in her chair.
They sat in silence for a few moments longer than Carlos liked.
"Why are you paying so close attention to Jay?"
Carlos blinked, unprepared for the question, unprepared for the unusual seriousness in Mal's features.
Why are all his friends acting so weird?
Mal quirked an eyebrow, waiting.
Giving himself a minute shake, Carlos said, "He's my friend. It's natural to notice when he's acting weird."
Letting out a small huff, Mal said, "Seems to me you're thinking too much." She opened her notebook again. "If something was going on, Jay would tell you about it." She resumed her sketching.
"Would he?" Carlos asked quietly, and that was the other thing eating at him. What if Jay didn't trust him with whatever was going on?
"Well, he definitely wouldn't come to me; he knows I'll just call him an idiot. Don't think he'd go to Evie, either. I love her, but she likes to get too involved with things."
Carlos refrained from snorting.
"Which leaves you," Mal finished as she shaded in whatever she was drawing. "Unless you think he'd go to someone else."
Carlos blinked.
He hadn't thought that Jay would go to someone outside of their little circle if he had any problems, and the more he thought about it, the more he was sure Jay wouldn't. If Jay didn't feel comfortable being tactile with someone, it should stand to reason he wouldn't feel comfortable confiding in them either.
"Just go talk to Jay," Mal said through a huff. "You overthinking things is giving me a headache."
"Ha ha," Carlos deadpanned, but he did get up to leave.
He had been debating with himself, and it seemed that Mal was the final push he needed.
Not that he'd tell her that.
—
Carlos had been on his way to talk to Jay.
In fact, he had found Jay and had been about to call out to him.
Until he noticed that Jay was talking to Ben.
Until he noticed that Ben had his hand on Jay's shoulder.
Until he noticed that Jay had actually leaned into Ben, the both of them smiling.
Carlos had been on his way to talk to Jay.
But then he'd felt so sick that he had to retreat to his room, unable to get what he'd witnessed out of his head.
—
Carlos felt like an idiot.
How could he have missed something so obvious?
The reason Jay had been acting so weird was because he had a crush on Ben.
It made total sense, the quietness and introspection and no longer being flirty and open.
He could even understand why Jay hadn't come to him about his little situation. Carlos didn't have a good track record when it came to dating advice; he didn't really have much of a record at all.
Still, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little hurt that Jay hadn't trusted him enough to talk about it.
Maybe Ben doesn't want anyone to know about them, Carlos thought, knowing it was both irrational and ridiculous to think, and yet that was the only explanation he could think of for Jay not talking about it to anyone.
And so Carlos got it in his head that he needed to confront Ben.
He needed to make sure Jay was being treated well, after all.
"You've been hanging around Jay a lot," Carlos said as casually as he could when he found Ben alone.
Ben raised an eyebrow. "Technically, I think Jay's the one who's been hanging around me."
Trying not to frown, Carlos shrugged. "Still, you've been spending a lot of time with each other lately." He paused, realizing that he didn't really have a game plan for this conversation.
"Yes, and?" Ben prompted, curious.
"Because you're dating, right?" Carlos blurted out, freezing when Ben stared at him with wide eyes.
Then Ben laughed.
"Hey, you could do worse than Jay," Carlos said, offended on Jay's behalf.
"No doubt," Ben said, amusement still plain on his features, "but we're not dating."
Oh crap, had Jay not asked him out yet, did I just blow things for him, Carlos thought, growing sicker by the moment.
"Carlos," Ben said, pulling him out of his mental spiral. "Can you go stand under the great oak behind the library?"
"Why?"
"Trust me, all the answers are there."
Carlos could only nod, trusting Ben despite everything, and abruptly left, following the instruction.
—
Ben had said all the answers would be there, but so far, Carlos had no idea what he was doing, standing there under the great oak like a fool.
"Carlos."
Carlos jumped, blinking at Jay. "Jay," he said lamely, searching Jay's face.
Jay merely stared at him a few, long seconds before he sighed. "First you tell Mal I'm weird, and then ask Ben if he's dating me?"
Embarrassment warming his cheeks, Carlos huffed. "Well, yeah, I guess, but they weren't supposed to tell you."
Jay snorted. "Actually, they weren't supposed to tell you."
Carlos blinked. "Tell me what?"
"The reason I'm weird," Jay said, quirking an eyebrow at Carlos, and he smiled as Carlos squirmed. "I've been acting weird because I've been trying to figure out how to tell you how I feel about you."
Carlos blinked. He blinked again. And a third time. And then Jay's words clicked in his head. "Wait, you like me?"
The changes in Jay were because of him? The one Jay liked was him? Jay went to Ben for advice because of him?
"You know," Jay began, smile soft even as his eyes gleamed, "for someone so smart, you sure are dumb sometimes."
Carlos opened his mouth to argue because, one, he was definitely not dumb, he just overthought things sometimes, and two, Jay apparently had the ability to make his rationality jump out the window, so he couldn't really be blamed for his line of thinking.
Before he could form any words, though, Jay pulled him closer and kissed him.
Carlos liked to think that he knew Jay pretty well.
But that didn't mean Jay couldn't surprise him.
