prince taylor of maldonia was a diligent and industrious individual, much like his mother who had instilled the value of hard work in him from an early age. however, he struggled to find a balance between work and play, unlike his sister and parents...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Taylor wore a plain green tee with black shorts and running sneakers. He held a clipboard in his hands as he looked at Carlos, who stood at the end of the field. "Okay, Carlos, we're gonna do some sprints," Taylor informed him. "You ready?"
Taylor removed the stopwatch he borrowed from Coach and pressed the button when he saw Carlos sprinting. The prince ignored his screams as he ran past him until he noticed Dude chasing after him. Carlos screamed louder as he ran into the woods. "Carlos? Carlos!"
Taylor sprinted after the boy, following him into the woods to return him back to the field. It took a while before Taylor could hear Dude barking loudly. He followed the sound of Dude's barking to see Carlos tightly clinging to a tree out of fear.
"Carlos!" Taylor called out, panting just a bit from how fast he had to run.
"Taylor? Taylor?" Carlos called until he saw the prince in his panicked gaze. Taylor glanced down at Dude before letting his soft light-brown fur. "Taylor, help me! This thing is a killer! He's gonna chase me down and rip out my throat. This is a vicious, rabid pack animal!"
"Who told you that?" Taylor laughed at the false information that Carlos spewed out of apprehension. He now held Dude in his hands as he tried to calm Carlos down.
"My mother," Carlos answered.
"Cruella de Vil?" Taylor asked.
"She's a dog expert. A dog yellerer," Carlos explained. When he finally realized that Taylor was holding Dude, his fear rose. "Why are you holding him? He's gonna attack you!"
"Carlos... have you ever actually met a dog?" Taylor asked as he let Dude's head.
"Of course not," the boy responded. His grip on the tree not loosening one bit.
"Dude, meet Carlos de Vil, the son of Cruella," Taylor let out softly to the dog. Dude merely licked his snout in response. "Carlos this us Dude, our campus mutt."
"He doesn't look like a vicious, rabid pack animal," Carlos mumbled as his grip began to reduce.
"Wanna pet him?" Taylor asked as he rubbed Dude's back. The white-haired boy hesitantly nodded his head and dropped from the tree he had been previously gripping tightly. He licked his lips nervously as he approached the dog. "I can help you... if you want?"
Carlos nodded his head before focusing on Dude. "You're a good boy, aren't you?" he spoke to Dude. Taylor took hold of Carlos' gloved hand and ran it over Dude's head, allowing him to feel his soft light-brown fur. The smaller boy smiled and scoffed happily as he began to rub Dude's back without Taylor's guidance.
"Here," Taylor said in a delicate tone. He began to place Dude in Carlos' arms, and though the boy was hesitant, he still took him in his arms.
"You're a good boy," Carlos praised. The boy chuckled as he continued to rub Dude's chest. As he did, Taylor watched with attentive and amused eyes. That was when he something popped up in his head. "You guys have it pretty rough on the Isle, huh?" he asked the boy. Carlos glimpsed up at Taylor before answering while continuing to rub Dude's chest, "Yeah, let's just say we don't get a lot of belly rubs."
Taylor smiled sadly at the answer. He knew the conditions on the Isle were bad but he hadn't known that it would cause anything other than hard-shelled wrongdoers. Instead, it just created scared children. Taylor tugged the boy into a hug, being careful enough of the dog in Carlos' hands. Carlos' eyes widened at the sudden embrace. After a few moments, he placed his head on Taylor's shoulder, leaning into the warm embrace.
Taylor pulled away and cleared his throat. "Good job, uh, by the way," he spoke to the white-haired boy. "Y-You're a good runner. A fast one. Th-That's great."
"Thank you," Carlos smiled.
"Yeah," Taylor said. "I'm gonna give you guys some space. You can get to know each other and I'll just be out on the field when you're ready, okay?"
"Okay," Carlos nodded his head. Taylor gave him one more smile before heading out of the woods. He spared one final look back to Carlos, now seeing him sit on a tree branch with Dude in his lap and rubbing his head. He mumbled words and questions to the dog as they both got more comfortable with each other.
