Mark My Words (A Carlos DeVil Fanfiction)

Chapter 9

Petra's POV

"The King and Queen?" I said in disbelief. "Nibs-" "Petra!" Two voices called from the ship. I looked up at the deck and saw the twins, Screw and Nails, looking down at me. "You're back!" Well, no turning back now. "Yeah, I'll be right up." I yelled back at them. I shot Nibs a quick glare before flying up and onto the deck of the ship.
On the deck of the yacht, I was immediately greeted by the lost boys. They all asked me multiple questions about the Isle and whether or not I was okay and all that, but soon cleared out once Nibs made his way on board. Tay flew over to me next. "You look awful." She retorted, landing on my shoulder. But last and certainly not least, from the far side of the deck, I was greeted by King Adam and Queen Belle in the flesh.
I had never formally met royalty before, but my mother often told me stories all about them and how everyone would bow at their presence. "Your majesties." I said, bowing down just like I had seen in the pictures. I heard the two laugh and I looked back up, confused. Did I do it wrong? "You don't have to bow to us, dear." The Queen said. "You're friends with Ben, and therefore friends of ours." I stood back up straight and rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. I could hear Tay snickering in my ear. "Um, sorry Madam." I said, holding out my hand to them. "I'm Petra Pan, it's a pleasure to meet you." My mother seemed to always push me to have good manners if nothing else.
I shook hands with the Queen, then the King. "Ah, yes. How are the Darlings these days?" The King asked. I shrugged and put my hands behind my back. "My Mother is fine, she's still living in London working on her writing. Uncle John is still traveling, I think he's in Agrabah right now? Oh, and Uncle Michael recently got married!" The royalty smiled. "Tell Michael congratulations from us." The King replied. I nodded. "I will." I assured them. My mother and uncles were often closer to the King and Queen then my dad, so it'd make sense that they asked about them. Though I'd never met Belle and Adam before today, I'd often gotten gifts from them on my birthdays and things like that. It was kind of like meeting some long lost relative.
But I wasn't able to talk long, we did have work to do after all. The king and queen wanted to watch us perform to see what exactly would be played at their Cotillion. I flipped through the pages of lyrics and rapped my fingers on my music stand. "This is a little soft for us, don't ya think?" Slightly asked, strumming a few chords on his bass. I sighed and nodded. Usually our songs were a bit edgier, but this one was a little out of our ball park. "This isn't some musical festival, it's a royal event." I replied, grabbing my mic. "So we'll just have to adapt."
I'll admit, rehearsal was a bit more stressful when the royal family is judging your every move. But by the end, we seemed to have nailed it. "It sounds perfect." The Queen said as we began to pack up. "Thank you so much for your cooperation." I shrugged and blew a stray piece of hair from my face. "Don't worry about it, it's an honor. Like you said earlier, Ben and Mal are our friends. We're glad to help them on their big day."
As much as I wanted to continue talking with the King and Queen, I knew I had to find Carlos. But as I was about to leave, Tay stopped me. "Hey, where are you going?" She asked. "You have your dress fitting with Evie, remember?" I gasped, she was right. I was running out of time to get my dress. I was never going to get around to talking to Carlos before Cotillion at this rate. "Fine, come on let's hurry!"
And with that I had gone to meet Evie at her dorm.

Carlos' POV

"Ok Carlos, you're the one who wanted us to open up more." Evie said, shifting her sitting position on the grass. "So let's talk about you and Petra."
After we got back from the Isle Jay, Mal, Evie and I had a 'heart to heart'. Things between the four of us had been so distant lately, and with everything that's happened we needed to talk. But now apparently it was my turn to pour my heart out to the group.
"I, uh, well, what about us?" I asked hesitantly, holding Dude in my lap. I never really talked about Petra that often to anyone since we got together. "You two haven't even looked at each other since we left the Isle." Jay piped up. "Now I don't know about you, but if my girlfriend was kidnapped by pirates and held hostage for a whole day, I would be a little concerned afterwards. So spill; what happened."
There were 2 reasons why I didn't want to tell my friends what had happened. Number 1: the second I mentioned I let my rage 'slip' again I would be greeted by a giant 'I told you so' from Evie and Jay. Number 2: I told Petra that I loved her. I didn't know what kind of reaction I would get from that one yet. None of us knew much about the whole concept of love, but when I said it to Petra it felt so right.
"Well." I began. How do I put it into words? "Remember when Harry jumped into the water earlier to get his hook?" Jay nodded. "Yeah, Petra threw it in the water. I saw it. I couldn't believe he went in after it, he can't swim can he?" "Nope. And obviously Petra didn't know that." Mal said. "That's why she jumped in after him, right?" They were all looking back at me now. I shrugged. "I mean, yeah. But that's not the whole story." I explained. I sighed. I knew I was in for a lecture. "Petra didn't throw Harry's hook into the water. I did. I knew Harry would go in after it and I hoped he would-" I began to choke on my words. I actually tried to murder someone. I almost killed someone. "I was just so mad, Harry had always pushed us around back when we lived on the Isle and Petra was just going to let him walk with no consequences! But I've been thinking about it, and Petra wasn't taking pity on him. She was forgiving him. And I was too caught up in my own anger to realize that."
I didn't even have to explicitly say what had came over me for Jay and Evie to know what happened. I felt Evie's hand on my shoulder and I looked up at her. "I'm not saying that your 'slips' are a good thing." She said. "It'll take time to control them, and we'll be there for you to help you through it. But it does mean that you're getting more confident, which is great!" "And it means that you really care for Petra." Jay chimed in. I decided to cut in. "Speaking of Petra, there's something else I need to tell you guys."
Once everyone's eyes were on me, I finally spoke.
"ItoldPetrathatIlovedher!"
Everyone looked at me with blank stares. "You want to run that by us again?" Mal asked. Why was I so nervous? They were my friends, right? They'd understand. And they deserved to know. "I-I possibly may or may not have told Petra that I might love her?" It came out as more of a question then a statement. Still, they all understood me perfectly. Evie reacted first. "Oh. My. Godmother." Evie squealed and gave me a huge smile. "Carlos, that's amazing! What did she say?!" I rubbed the back of my neck. "Well, she didn't really respond. She was kind of under the water by that time." While Evie was obviously thrilled, Mal and Jay looked a little uneasy.
"You told the daughter of 'the boy who never grows up' that you loved her?" Mal shook her head with a deadpanned look. "Are you forgetting that Peter still doesn't kiss Wendy because he thinks it's 'grown up stuff'? It doesn't sound to me like she was raised in a household where romance played a factor in literally anything. And let's not forget that the Lost Boys were kicked out of Neverland because one of them-" "I think what Mal is getting at" Jay cut her off and put a hand on my shoulder. "is that we're happy for you. Just be careful, okay?" This was about the reaction I expected from all of them, and I wasn't sure whether it was a good or bad thing. I nodded and put my hand on Jay's opposite shoulder. "Thanks, man."
Suddenly, Evie gasped. "Petra's gown!" She said, jumping to her feet. "We still have to do her fitting! Come on, Mal. I'll do yours real quick too. I made a couple of improvements to your dress." She smiled and helped Mal to her feet. Before they left, I stopped them. "Hey! Don't say anything to Petra about this!" That was a conversation I dreaded to have, but I'd rather talk to Petra about it then have Evie and Mal do it for me. "Of course not! You worry too much!" Evie replied. And as the girls ran off, I looked down at Dude in my arms.
"They're going to say something aren't they?"
"I can almost guarantee it."