Descendants Promptshots.

Heal My Void.

( Prompt: Person one wakes up with a hangover, Person two is fine. )

Genre: Angst

Warnings: Chapter deals with - Substance Abuse, Child abuse/neglect, underage drinking.

~~~

Jay woke up to the smell of bacon, it was bouncing around the room and making him horribly hungry.

He sat up with a grumble, grabbing his head. "Gah-!" He muttered out as a wave of pain stabbed through his head, his brain was completely blurry, it felt full of fog. he could not recall anything.

He looked around the dorm room in a confusion, his hazed eyes landing on Carlos, who was humming and cooking some food.

"Carlos..?" Jay mumbled out, trying to clear his blurred vision.

"Morning sleepy head!" Carlos turned around, way too positive for Jay's sour mood.

"What happened?" Jay mumbled out, "why is my head killing me?"

He groaned as he flopped back into his bed, hiding his face from the sunlight.

Carlos cringed, "We went out drinking last night."

"We?" Jay raised an eyebrow, turning around to face him again.

Carlos nodded.

"How the hell are you so perky then.. how much did we drink?" Jay grumbled out, basically falling out of the bed and onto the floor in an attempt to get up.

Carlos watched him, amused. "You had three drinks, I had five. Strong liquor."

Jay sat up with wide eyes, looking even more stunned at that, "then how the hell are you doing that?" He emphatically gestured at the food Carlos was cooking.

Carlos winced, "strong alcohol tolerance."

Jay's face fell flat at that, "Carlos, you're only nineteen... how do you have a strong alcohol tolerance..?"

Carlos shrunk into himself, "can I explain after we eat?"

Jay narrowed his eyes, "you can explain while you cook," Jay huffed as he got up off the floor to go flop down onto one of their kitchen chairs.

"There's not much to explain," Carlos muttered out, turning back to his cooking. Clearly trying to shrug the topic off.

"It's just that i was living with Cruella is all."

Jay didn't like how nonchalant Carlos was being about this, "and how does that mean that you have a high alcohol tolerance? Did you steal her bottles or something?"

Carlos continued cooking, "she force fed them to me, hoping it would mellow me out.. it really did not. That's one of the reasons why I was so jumpy on the Isle, alcohol causes my anxiety to get worse. And because my anxiety got worse, she made me drink more.. and because I drank more my anxiety got worse, and.. yeah. The spiral continues, you get the point." Carlos rambled.

"It was not pretty."

Jay's eyes widened "Jesus.. 'Los.. wow-.. I-.." he didn't know what to say.

Carlos shrugged, "At least I had a place to stay."

Jay stood up, "if you can even call being forced to sleep in a closet with live bear traps 'a place to stay'.. then, yeah, I guess. but you shouldn't have had to deal with that. That's not how a parent is supposed to work. Even by isle standards."

Carlos sighed, "yeah.. probably.."

Jay looked at him cautiously, "Do you still drink? .. I mean, other than last night.."

Carlos was about to speak but Jay interrupted him with another question, "and, I can't remember anything, but.. why did we take you drinking?? Whose idea was that? We all know you get flashbacks around alcohol, so why would we take you drinking? And I can not see Mal and Evie touching a bottle, And why did you drink?? And HOW did you convince everyone to let you? Evie would be on you in an instant.." Jay was rambling out questions.

"Okay- slow down.. one at a time, please."

Jay huffed, "do you drink regularly?"

Carlos picked up the pan, effortlessly flipping the pancakes that Jay hadn't even noticed he was cooking. "No, I stopped as soon as we got off the isle. I had strong withdrawals as I had basically been consistently drinking since I was 12."

Jay narrowed his eyes, that could not be good for someone that young, "..why did we take you drinking?"

Carlos fiddled with his jacket as the food continued cooking, "there was no we. You had a hard day, snuck out without the girls noticing - you're probably write on the fact that they would not like either of us drinking.. and I was worried about you and followed, we got to the bar, I ended up getting triggered and having a few drinks." He shrugged.

Jay looks horrified, "I..I don't remember that, I'm sorry.."

Carlos shrugged, "it's fine."

"Stop being so chill about this! What happened to you is not fine and not normal, and I should not be encouraging that! Alcohol is not good for you in that much amounts."

Carlos was a little startled, "yeah, I guess.."

Jay sighed as he leaned back in his chair, "whatever, just don't do it again."

Carlos rolled his eyes but smiled, "alright."

They sat in silence for a bit as Carlos finished up, but Jay was Impatient. "When's food?"

Carlos let out a chuckle, "now."

He dished up the food and handed a plate to Jay, "here you go drama king."

Jay rolled his eyes but instantly started eating, Carlos snorted at how eager he was being.

"Since when did you cook this good?

Carlos rolled his eyes, "Since when you actually let me cook for you."

"To be fair I didn't actually let you cook for me, I woke up and you were kinda already cooking.."

"That's what you get for getting a hangover."

Jay raised an eyebrow, "you cooking for me? Damm, maybe I should drink more."

Carlos lightly smacked him on the arm, "you're an idiot."

Jay smirked, "says you."

Carlos couldn't stifle the laugh that bubbled out this time, and his laughter was contagious. Jay soon laughing with him,

And in this moment, Carlos felt the never-ending void that was his mother's hold on him lift. Maybe there was a way forward,

Maybe there was happiness, maybe there was peace, and maybe it was his friends.

Maybe he'd be free after all.

And he would be okay with that.