#polyshipweek23

Carlos tucks both his feet on the rung of the stool, balancing. "Nah. Not usually. S'too much like a weakness, right? If people know I have a soulmate then he could be a target too. Even though it’s just a family soulmark." 

"I don't think you're a target." Evie says, brow furrowing for a moment before smoothing out again. She's good at keeping her face smooth and pretty. Unreadable. She's going to be a great villain someday. She’s way better than anyone else in the class. 

"Well, not anymore," Carlos says, almost cheerfully. He's still proud of this one. "Not since I stole some chemicals from weird science and sort of threw some fireballs at the twins." 

Evie tilts her head this time, instead of wrinkling her face. It makes her look kind of like the robot butler who’s on the old TV shows that come in sometimes. "Who?" 

Evie's new, and a girl, and a pretty one at that. She’s probably one of the only people in their class who wouldn’t know who the twins are.  "Junior and Third. The Gaston twins. They were fine, the fire wasn't very big." 

"But they stopped bothering you after that?" 

"I mean, yeah? Setting people on fire usually makes them stop bothering me. Unless it's my mom, but she doesn't really mind what I do, so long as I get my chores done. If anyone's bothering you I could steal more magnesium and set them on fire too, if you want." 

"Thanks, but nobody's bothering me right now." 

"But they were before, right?" 

Evie frowns. "Don't--" 

Carlos hooks his feet through the rungs of the stool for balance and leans over so he can whisper more effectively. It’s not like it’s a secret who Evie has a one-sided blood feud with, but it never hurts to try and keep things on the down-low at school. "Mal and Jay were giving you shit, right? We could get them to leave you alone. I know where they live." 

Evie looks over her shoulder first, but she leans in too. There’s not much space between them. They’re not quite soulmate-close, because Evie’s basically the closest thing to a princess that they have on the isle, and she likes to be proper, but still. Friendship-close.

It’s nice. 

 “Mal lives in Maleficent's castle, doesn't she?" Evie whispers. “I’ve seen go in there all the time.” 

"Well, yeah.” Carlos whispers back, trying not to let his voice crack. It’s been doing that a bunch lately. It’s super annoying. “Sometimes. But I know where she lives when she's not there." 

Evie’s mouth drops open the tiniest bit. "How?" 

"I followed her home,” Carlos says proudly, forgetting to keep his voice down. “She’s the worst, right, so I wanted to see if I could glue her front door shut and keep her out of school for a while.” 

Evie frowns. "You did not,” she says. “I see you leave school every day, and you run right to Hell Hall to feed that gray cat that hangs out there.  I live across from you, remember?" 

Right. "You're at school when I leave, how d'you know?" 

Evie rolls her eyes, and then remembers that she’s supposed to be proper and relaxes her face again. "Castle schooled, remember? I saw you every day for nine years." 

Damnit. Making friends is easier when they don’t live nearby and he can just lie to them.  “Right. I followed her home from the market one time, after school. She stays in one of the warehouses with her henchmen."

“Henchmen?" Evie says doubtfully. "I've only seen her with one boy." 

"Henchman, singular then. They stay in a warehouse not far from the bridge, near the apple vendor. If you wanna do something to get back at them, I could help." 

"I don't need to get back at them." 

"Why not? Mal locked you in my mom's closet, remember?" 

“And then you let me out, and it was fine,” Evie says, twirling the piece of hair she’s got hanging out of her braid as she talks. Around and around and around until it slips off her finger in a spiraling curl, and then she catches it with her fingertips to twirl it again. Even her nervous habits are princess-y. “I don't need to get back at her because of it. Maybe I just want to go to school and not cause trouble." 

"You're scared?" Carlos asks. It might be a stupid question, but usually nobody at school will ever admit to being scared of anything, so it’s sort of crazy that Evie’s visibly nervous about confronting Mal and her henchman. Usually it feels like he’s the only one who’s ever scared of anything. But maybe this is what friends are supposed to do, and it’s okay to be nervous around each other. Evie’s already been nice to him once, and maybe she’ll keep being nice, and they can be nervous together sometimes. 

Evie freezes. “I'm what?" 

Or maybe not. Evie’s probably being nice because she wants him to fix something for her. It was probably stupid to think that she’d want to show her real emotions to Carlos, of all people. So that’s fine. He can be normal about this. 

“Of Mal?” Carlos asks, putting as much of an incredulous, almost mocking tone in his voice as he possibly can. “Seriously?" 

Evie’s cheeks are so pink he’d almost think she was marked that way. “Oh, like you can say anything,” she snaps. “I've seen the way you hide from her in the hall." 

Carlos tips his head to the side, and lets his face go flat and blank like he usually does at school. It’s safer. Maybe Evie can be a friend outside of school, but it’s stupid to think she could be anything other than a reluctant ally while they’re here. “I hide from her because she steals my lunch. What's your excuse, princess?"

Evie snaps her mirror shut. “Oh look, class is starting." she says sweetly, and turns around to face the front. “I can’t talk anymore. Too bad.” 

Ugh. 

"I'll meet you by the school gate later.” Carlos whispers, and gets a tiny nod in return.