Courage || Carlos De Vil (Disney's Descendants)

Chapter 41

"Ben!"

As Meredith, Carlos, Ben, Jay, Jane, Harry, and Gil walked up the lawn towards Evie's cottage, the front double doors swung open. Mal, Evie, and Celia came running out the doors and towards the group with relieved smiles on their faces.

Mal jumped into Ben's arms. The engaged couple tightly embraced one another, glad that they were safe and sound for now.

"Are you okay?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, I'm so much better right now," Mal scanned his face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

Celia, Jay, and Jane also exchanged hugs, as well as Evie with Meredith and Carlos. Even Uma, Harry, and Gil hugged one another and checked for injuries, showing just how much they cared about each other. Dude also licked and pawed at his friends before settling in one of the chairs at the front porch.

Although Ben was generally up to date with everything going on by now, it was still strange to see another set of VKs — especially Uma, who had caused such a ruckus not too long ago when she spelled him and crashed the cotillion — here in Auradon and working alongside his friends. However, he found himself smiling at the scene; this was how he pictured Auradon to be as king.

"I always knew you'd be part of the solution," he said, glancing at Uma and the other VKs. For once, Uma couldn't even make a sarcastic comeback. She simply rolled her eyes playfully, and even Harry and Gil could only chuckle to themselves.

"What is this?" Mal suddenly said, hands grazing over Ben's face.

"Oh, yeah," Ben grinned, lifting his head up slightly to properly show off his new facial hair.

"I could get used to this."

"You like it?"

"I love this."

"What about those?" Uma pointed at his mouth.

"Oh." Ben bared his teeth, revealing his two sharp canines.

"No," Mal giggled.

"I like them," Ben pouted, causing the group to laugh.

While everyone was busy reuniting with one another, Carlos took this window of opportunity to slip into house and make his way to the kitchen to retrieve something he hadn't been able to earlier. He hurriedly scanned the rows of drawers until he found it — the one where he'd shoved Meredith's gift into. He opened it, snatched it up, and placed it safely inside one of the deeper pockets of his jacket.

"Carlos."

The white-haired boy jumped and spun on his heel, feeling liked he'd been caught stealing from a cookie jar. However, when he noticed that it was just Evie, he relaxed.

"Oh, Evie. What's up?"

"Stealing something from my kitchen? That's more of Jay's thing, isn't it?" she teased, walking closer.

"Of course not," Carlos chuckled. "I, uh, sort of hid my gift for Meredith in here."

"Gift? What's the occasion?" Evie smirked knowingly, well aware that Meredith had also asked her for advice about a similar thing. She found it adorable that both of them had the same idea in mind to do something special for the other person.

"No specific occasion... or reason... nothing much."

"Sure," she said, drawing the word out. "Speaking of Mer, can I ask something?"

"Shoot."

"How is she awake?"

Carlos stilled, feeling the blood rush to his face.