Carlos woke up in a cheerful mood, which rarely happened. Last night he'd taken Mila out to a bar and though they weren't old enough to drink, unlike Carlos, the two of them had people-watched and had a lot of fun doing it. It was nice, and Carlos found he enjoyed spending time with them.

"Morning," Thy looked shocked to see him. "You're awake before 1pm!"

"Yeah, I know," he grinned. "What can I say?"

"You can say 'I'll come plant shopping with you, Thy'!"

"Woah, woah, woah," Carlos's eyes widened. "Let's back up a bit. Why do you need to go plant shopping? What are you going to do with these plants?"

Thy put his hands on the counter dramatically. "Have you seen the state of this place? Not a single plant anywhere! I spoke to Frankie, and she said I could 'knock myself out' when I asked if I could get some plants to brighten the place up."

"So you're spending your own money on some plants you're going to leave here just so there will be plants here?"

He smiled. "Yep!"

Carlos chuckled. "You pay for the petrol, and I'll take you wherever you want to go."

<<*>>

"Hey," Mila smiled at Giani, who was searching through the contents of the fridge. "Everything okay?"

"We have no food," the Italian girl stuck her head in the fridge once more to check, before sighing loudly. "Definitely no food."

"Oh." They shrugged. "I'll head off to the supermarket then."

Gi called her back. "Hey, Mila! There's not much point. We'll be in Alcatraz Island in two days and then we're only back here for half a week before moving to the next country."

"We've still got to spend today and tomorrow here with seven hungry young adults, plus a packed lunch for the trip to the Island. Maybe we could prep our meals instead?" They mused.

"Eh?" Giani's frown was understandable.

"Sorry," Mila apologised. "What I mean is we could research recipes and get some ingredients that we know we'll use, rather than doing a regular shop. We could cook today and tomorrow and take the leftovers with us on the trip to Alcatraz."

"Cooking?" She considered this. "I've never really cooked. I could ask Mum for her pesto pasta recipe though. It's one of my favourite things to eat."

"That's sorted then!" They turned away, looking rather pleased with themself.

<<*>>

"Remind me why I agreed to come again?" Aster asked Carlos after looking at the twelfth plant photo Thy had thrust in her face on this car journey alone.

If she was being honest, she was beginning to feel slightly motion sick.

Carlos smirked, trying to hide how much it amused him. "Because you owed me for taking all of those photos for you?"

"Touché."

"Ooh, look at this tomato plant!"

"It's very... Carlos, help me come up with a positive adjective I haven't used already."

She was met with the sound of his laughter.

<<*>>

They spent the day before their trip to Alcatraz cooking and filming videos for their respective Instagrams, packing a forgotten activity that tomorrow morning would have to deal with. Three days at Alcatraz Island was a big deal, but with months of travelling stretched out ahead of them, it didn't feel so significant. It was exciting, nonetheless, and they couldn't wait.

<<*>>

The following morning was significantly less peaceful.

"HAS ANYBODY SEEN MY PURPLE BUCKET HAT?"

"WHO'S UNDERWEAR IS THIS?"

"I THINK I LOST MY TOOTHPASTE!"

Thy was rushing between rooms, trying to be as helpful as possible whilst Carlos watched him, sipping coffee and shaking his head in disapproval.

Lou raised an eyebrow at him. "Going to help?"

"Nah. Although in my defence, it doesn't look like you're doing anything either."

She chuckled. "Fair point, Mr..." Lou frowned. "What is your surname?"

"Rossi."

"Cool."

He scoffed. "How is it cool?"

"I don't know, I didn't know what to say and not responding felt rude," she argued, going slightly red.

He laughed. "That's very English of you."

Lou mimed swatting him with the tea towel that had been left on the countertop.

<<*>>

Soon enough, they were on their way to get the ferry to Alcatraz Island, a ferry which they were, inevitably, late for.

"Wait!" Aster called as they raced down to Pier 33.

"I— told— you we shouldn't have— walked," Mila panted. "I was not made for running."

"We do not have time to stop," Ginny guided Mila towards the ferry, which was about to leave the docks. "You can rest on the boat."

"Hi," Aster was first at the ticket booth. She slid their tickets across the counter, and the person serving them waved them on.

"You handled that very well," Thy complimented her as they got onto the ferry.

"All I did was hand someone some tickets."

"You also organised everyone, purchased the tickets, and checked the timings."

Aster shot him a look. "You're ignoring the fact that we barely made it here by the skin of our teeth, and you had to help me pack everything this morning because I forgot. You were the one who found the toothpaste at the bottom of the cabinet under the sink." As they sat down, she nudged him playfully. "But I appreciate the compliment, Thy."

He beamed at her.

Aster smiled back. Maybe she stood a chance after all.

A/N

day 2 of advent! my knowledge of alcatraz island is so limited I've gotta do insane research before I write the next one (no I haven't written it in advance, I'm a crazy person who's trying to wing it)

this chapter was kind of just filling in the filler days, but I hope you enjoyed in nonetheless 

also carlos's pov is fun to write so he will probably have a pov in the next one too