Port had been good so far. He’d obeyed the unspoken rule between himself and the Pogues – don’t talk to us, and we won’t talk to you; unless you make prolonged eye contact, in which case Juno gets to insult you. He wasn’t a fan of that particular stipulation, but there wasn’t much he could do about it beyond taking the necessary precautions. But a fistfight was rather hard to ignore. 

Topper had started it – he always did. 

He’d meant to break them up, put space between Topper’s volatile outburst and John B’s innate need to pry JJ away from any conflict and throw himself into it instead. But Topper had pushed, and Port hadn't been able to help himself. It had been his fault, really. 

It was a blur of motion, Port grabbing Topper’s shirt, trying to haul him back, and JJ – perpetually amped up – had taken it as a sign of aggression. The punch had been fast and solid, knocking him off balance, and sending him reeling back against the sand. 

Which brought him to now, with his heart beating in his chest so hard he thought it might burst, and wet sand digging into his skin. He could hear the sounds of the fight escalating, scattered cheers breaking out from the crowd. He had just propped his arms beneath him, pushing himself up off the sand, when a force knocked him back down.

Pope’s palm pressed firmly to Port’s shoulders, keeping him trapped against the ground. “Stay down – you’re only making it worse.” There’s a severity to his voice that settles deep in Port’s chest, a heavy and immovable weight. His cap is askew, and his collection of leather and beaded necklaces hangs in the air between them. If Port could manage to get any air into his lungs, something he was struggling with at the moment, he’d be able to touch them. Pope waits a beat, expectant, even as his attention is split back to the commotion in the water. Port nods, once – the most movement he can muster up beneath Pope’s intense stare.

The pressure on his shoulders releases, and like that, Pope is gone, and Port is left staring dazed up at the night sky., surrounded by jeers and chants of; Fight! Fight! Fight!. He tried to tune it out, and steady his breathing, as a slow steady throbbing pain bloomed from the hinge of his jaw. 

Something burns in the back of his throat – regret, maybe, or more likely the five beers he’d knocked back. He could spend the night here, in the damp sand. Maybe he’d contract pneumonia, maybe he’d be okay with that. Port had just decided to live out the last of his days plastered across the beach, when a shot rang through the air – loud and crystal clear. 

He jumped to his feet. Everyone was running from the water, fracturing his focus as they fled in a mass panic. Everyone – with the exception of his sister, who crashed into him the way a wave would crash on the shore. Full force and with little mercy, before she hooked her arm through his and tugged – trying to draw him away. His feet stuck to the sand.

With the crowd gone, he could see the full picture laying out in front of him. Topper and Sarah had split, likely in the fleeing crowd. And they left behind JJ wielding a gun at the sky even with no one left to intimidate – who had trusted him with a gun? – while Pope seethed beside him. The crashing waves drowned out his words, but it wasn’t hard to put together. Juno and Kiara had their arms looped around John B, and were both unceremoniously dragging him out of the surf. 

“Come on, Cal.” Starla tugs at his arm again, her voice coming out through gritted teeth. 

He can’t drag his eyes away. Even with the tension weaving through their little group, the Pogues still drift together, drawn to each other like magnets. As if sensing his gaze, Pope glances up from his one-sided argument with JJ, and Port’s stomach drops.

and then, THE CRAZY THING HAPPENS, and he gets an opportunity. a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get away. and he takes it. because at the end of the day he IS his sister's brother and he DOES want a better life and he DOES want what she has. and even crazier, he gets it!!! all of it!!!! he gets the prince and the castle and the found family who loves him. it turns out he's EXACTLY like his sister, and they both get to live happily ever after. and YET. she still haunts him. the idea of her looms over him his entire time at auradon. she hasn't come to meet him; does she not want to? does she hate him for being his mother's son? does she not think of him the way he thinks of her?

and then CHAD, of all people, is like. 'well why don't You Go To Her. you can do that. and figure all of that out.' and well why didn't gage think of that! so they go (and they go together, bc gage wasn't gonna go on his OWN, he's a scaredy cat at heart and if he's gonna go meet her prince he's gonna bring his) and just DROP IN bc. dumb and dumber did not plan ahead. (cue Gage and Chad's Big Summer Abroad my beloved.)

and of course rapunzel sees them, and of course she didn't know about him (i like to think the other kingdoms have better stuff to do than keep up with auradon's mess ANLNLNFNK like she probs knew there were vks there, but not aware a Gothel Kid existed, let alone that one was at auradon prep), because she would've. come to get him and taken care of him. and he's skeptical bc it's who he is and resentful bc that's really who he is, and things are awkward and bitter and kind-of tense, because he's spent all this time wanting what she has, resenting her, wanting to know why. but now he has all that, and maybe she has it just as bad (different, but just as), and maybe there was no why. it just happened. and she welcomes him with open arms and she loves him and they're family and it's everything he's ever wanted, but he can't just let himself have this. he has to work for it. they both do.

so it's time to move on, but he doesn't know how (forgiving and forgetting isn't really an isle trait lmao) and it's not just. magically fixable with love, as much as rapunzel wishes it were. but she'll help him get there regardless. there are long, tearful, trauma-bonding conversations to be had, and screws loose in gage's head to pop back in place, and toxic bullshit to be unlearned. so it'll be a long journey to recovery, but one that's worth it. and for once in his life, gage is no longer second, but equal.