Chapter Text
On the Isle of the Lost fathers day and mothers day were never celebrated, it was too hard to keep track of the dates without new up to date calendars. Except for when Cruella saw an opportunity to punish Carlos more than usual, on any day of the year she would announce, her voice rattling around Hell Hall, that it was Mothers Day and that her son would pay for the lack of a card and gifts. In Auradon, however, fathers day and mothers day were celebrated, sparing no expense.
On Sunday the 16th of June, an event just like family day was planned. Everyone’s families from all of the kingdoms were coming to Auradon Prep. The only thing that made this fathers day event different from the rest was that the children of the kingdom's sworn enemies would be there, the VKs, Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos, and they were not looking forward to it.
A crumpled up piece of paper flew across the room, landing at the growing pile by the bin.
“This is so stupid” Mal growled.
“Tell me something i don’t know” Jay droned from where he was sprawled on Evie’s bed, next to Carlos, who seemed to be deep in thought, eyebrows creased staring at his clear piece of paper.
There was a tradition that the Aurodonians did at every fathers day event, one by one the students had to go up on stage and say what they love about their fathers and their favourite memories of their dads. As much as the core four had complained and pleaded their cases to the Fairy Godmother so wouldn’t let them not participate.
The sound of pencil against paper came from where Evie perched at her desk, leaning on countless dress designs and scraps of fabric.
“What the actual fuck could you possibly be writing, E?” Mal questioned.
Evie twisted in the chair so she was facing the other, she cleared her throat, then read. “My favourite memory of my dad was the time he took horseback riding, my horse was called princess.” She smiled as if she were remembering it fondly.
Mal, Carlos and Jay exchanged confused glances before Mal threw her head back with a laugh. Carlos reached out a hand, Evie handed him the paper, turning back around to reapply her blush in the mirror above the desk.
“Correct me if I'm wrong, I thought you didn't know who your dad was” Dude jumped up onto Carlos’s lap so he handed the paper to Jay.
“That’s right,” Evie answered as she pulled various poses and expressions in the mirror, frowning when a crease appeared.
“So how exactly did he take you horseback riding?” Jay asked, handing the paper back to Evie. She gave him a look, tilting her head. “Ohh, I get it, you’re making shit up. Smart”
Evie stood up, dragging Mal in front of the mirror “Come on, I need to make sure it fits. Strip”
“Not even gonna buy me dinner first?” Mal teased, undressing.
“God no, where do you think I'm from? Auradon” Evie began taking the outfit she had been working on, for Mal to wear to Fathers day off the mannequin, taking a moment to admire her handiwork.
The outfit was made from a purple and green plaid material, Evie had created a pleated mini skirt with a matching corset top with a sweetheart neckline.
“How’s this” Jay stood up from the bed “My most cherished”
Mal chuckled at a word like cherished coming from Jay.
“Memory with my father was one of the many, many, times we built jigsaw puzzles together, a few of the pieces were missing but he hugged me and said, don't worry son, nobody is perfect.” Jay held his hand over his heart.
The VKs laughed, Carlos shaking his head, before his expression turned sad, memories like those shouldn’t have to be made up. He stared down at his paper, his dad was some slave that Cruella had scared off, that’s all he knew, only once or twice when Cruella had been particularly out of it, she had mumbled something about Carlos having his fathers freckles and eyes. Maybe he could write something about that. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t care about who his dad was. When he used to stalk the streets of the Isle, the rest of Mal’s gang at his side, the prey, the vulnerable would try to hide on the sides of the streets and in alley ways, cowering away, he’d always look for freckles and brown, chocolate eyes. He didn’t exactly blame the guy, he’d have done exactly the same in his fathers position, he’d tried to get away from Cruella by joining Mal’s dragons. A lick from Dude, who was curled up on his lap, brought him back.
He glanced back up from the paper, Mal and Evie still stood by the mirror, Mal had the skirt on, but not the top yet.
As Evie added a few pins to the skirt, Mal placed her hands on her hips “That’s great… very heartwarming” Mal added sarcastically “Now, was that before or after he locked you in a suitcase for literal days”
“After actually.” Jay quipped. “Nice bra” Mal pulled a face at him.
He returned to his story, re-reading it. He was glad he and his dad weren’t like that, he told himself, jigsaw’s are totally lame, his dad taught him something much better, how to steal, how to fight, how to survive. When Jay was six years old, one day, he had been out for hours, trying to find something good, something to impress his dad, something good enough so that he’ll be allowed to sleep inside. He had failed, he was a failure, his dad must’ve been low on supplies because he beat six year old Jay until he bled over a few dusty pieces of jewellery. Jay doesn’t really remember how he left his dads shop, or how he ended in a dirty alley, right by what would end up being Mal’s gang's hideout a little while later. He just knew he needed something good to bargain his way inside to sleep on his mat.
A shimmering reflection of light caught his eye. There was a girl, she seemed a little smaller than him, in the dusky night he couldn’t tell that she was the purple haired little devil so many people spoke about, Maleficent's girl. On her hip, in a holster was a dark purple dagger, the handle encrusted with purple and green stones. It was a dagger which would become infamous on the isle, along with Mal and Jay themselves. He made the biggest mistake, which ended up being one of the best mistakes he’d ever made, he stumbled forward, reaching for her dagger. With remarkable speed she spun around, before he could process what was happening he was on the floor with a dark purple dagger, encrusted with gems pointed against his chest. If he hadn't already been injured he could have fought back with just as much speed and stealth. Mal smirked pressing the tip of her dagger into his chest, any other time she’d have maimed him but something stopped her.
“You’re the Jafar boy right?” She inquired, twisting her blade slightly. Without waiting for an answer, scanning his body, the fresh split lip and black eye, “Who did this?”
His body ached against the freezing stone floor, his wounds adding to the bloodstains and dirt. “My dad” He doesn’t know why he told her, normally he’d have just told her to fuck off.
Something shifts in Mal, she inhales deeply, “Want to join me, i’m going to terrorise some goblins” Still with her dagger pressing into him.
“Sure”
An object hitting him and cupping his head snaps him out of the memory, a cackle came from Mal, dropping the paper and taking off the object he realised she’d thrown her bra at him. He glared at her through the mirror.
“What? You said you liked it” Mal snickered. Evie shook her head, reprimanding Mal under her breath. Mal stood topless in front of Evie, Mal and Jay were carefree like that, confident like that, Evie wasn’t. Back on the Isle, in the safety of the hideout Mal and Jay strode around bare all the time, they found it funny that Evie, at first, got so flustered about it.Innumerable instances occurred where one or more of them had injuries and had to undress in order for someone to tend to their wounds and clean them.
The first and only thing Grimheld had told Evie about her father was that he was disgustingly huge, that it was in Evie’s DNA to put on weight and she had to work hard to stay skinny, to stay pretty enough for a princess. Evie now realises that no one on the isle ever got enough food to be fat, everyone was malnourished living off the scraps sent by Auradon and that it was just another manipulation tactic by her mom. Evie’s eyes were a shade of brown, her mothers were green. Evie used to think that Mal's emerald green eyes were stunning, and she would quietly curse her father for having brown eyes. Her entire life, she had strived to be flawless—thin, makeup-free, with thick, silky hair. Green eyes would be the icing on the cake.
“So what story are you making up?” Evie asked Mal, handing her the top to put on.
“Oh I’ll come up with something tomorrow” On her third try at getting to the ribbon, Mal reached back with her arms to try to knot up the back of the corset. Evie smirked to herself and went to tie it. Similar to Mal's eyes, the ribbon had a rich velvety emerald green colour. Evie embraced Mal from behind, throwing her arms around her neck. She observed her ensemble in the mirror and finally met Mal's emerald eyes.. “I am so talented.”
“That you are” Mal agreed, “But, we could always make it more revealing”
Evie slapped Mal’s shoulder playfully, “if it were up to you, you’d be wearing those god awful leather shorts and matching bra”
Mal turned around to face Evie, with an offended expression.
“Hey, I like that outfit”
“I do too” Jay chimed in with a wink, Mal responded by flipping him off, while taking the outfit off, standing in her underwear.
“You’re a lady now M” Evie reminded her, placing the skirt and top on to hangers neatly.
“Some lady I am.” Mal muttered, looking at herself in the mirror. “Hey!” She called to Jay “can i have my bra back”
Mischief glinted in Jay’s eye’s “If you can get it”
Mal lunged towards Jay, swerving around her and vaulting over Carlos to land on the bed. "Hey!" Carlos shouted, covering Dude with his arms, "Watch it." Mal leaped on Jay's back and pursued him. Amused, Carlos and Evie observed their friends. Mal was able to wrestle him and bring him down. To the core four, this was a typical day, but if any Aurodonians could see them now, they would be in a state of shock and outrage. Jay managed to land a punch in Mal’s stomach, winding her slightly. Jay let out a groan when Mal kneed him in the groin, curling in on himself. Mal peeled away from Jay, grining.
“I win” She dangled the bra in Jay's face before returning to the mirror to get dressed.
“No fair,” Jay whined from the floor. “You got me in the dick”
“Loser” Mal sang, putting on the first item of clothing she found, one of Carlos’s shirts. She pulled it over her head. She stared at her reflection, they started using the glamour spell as soon as they crossed the barrier, hiding their impressive collection of scars. Funnily enough, Mal couldn’t decide whether she preferred her body with or without them. Every single one of them has a twisted tale that would turn the stomachs of most people. Jay had always been almost impressed by them, and her about his scars.
“Sick” He’d say. He thought the scars made them look badass. Jay and Mal knew each other long before Evie, Carlos and the other dragons came along. Carlos and Evie had their own scars too but had been more sheltered than Jay and Mal so the first few times they saw Mal and Jay’s bare bodies they sported sympathetic looks, eventually it became normal to them, the worst scars were replaced with worser ones and faded into the background.
“We’ll be okay tomorrow,” Mal announced. Evie and Carlos gave her small smiles.
“Duh, i have my jigsaw story” Jay joked as he got up from the floor, he laid on Mal’s bed, hands behind his head. They laughed.
Mal moved to lay on her bed next to Jay, harshly shoving him to give her more room, once she had settled, she spoke up. “Dad’s are fucking useless anyway”