A/N: Last but certainly not least, from Logan's PoV, this is 'They Can Keep It.' Enjoy!
Note: The section of italics is a flashback.
Carlos was the first one up on the roof, the other three of us slowly following him up. He was really excited to see Los Angeles from above again. I was the last to get up there, my shorter legs not exactly ideal for climbing stairs.
I settled for practicing a few dance moves with James and then talking to Kendall for a bit, but occasionally I would glance over to the Latino, who was standing right up near the edge of the roof every time I looked. Kendall laughed every time I looked past him to make sure that Carlos was still okay, nudging me gently and telling me to just go over and be with him.
"You two are dating, after all. You might as well let me worry about the video and go have a bit of fun with Carlos," the blond said with a playful little push to my left shoulder, motioning to the tan boy behind him with his head. I sighed in return.
"Kendall, you know that I promised your mom to be the responsible one for tonight." Without looking I pulled James out of the way of a falling spotlight, raising an eyebrow at Kendall at the same time. He laughed softly, grabbing James' sleeve from my hand.
"Look, I can handle myself and James, just go have a good time with your boyfriend before we have to start recording," Kendall urged me, holding tightly to James' shirt as the tall brunet attempted to wander off again. I was going to shake my head and refuse when I heard Carlos' voice call to me.
"Logan, look at this view!" The Latino happily, turning to see him still near the very edge. The blond pushed me from behind, forcing me to go forward. I slowly walked over, fighting to keep my acrophobia from acting up. Looking over to his face, I could see a wide smile spreading across his lips. "I think I can see the Palm Woods from here."
"You probably can, Carlos." He took a couple steps backwards, turning to face me, his smile never dropping. His energy was starting to become contagious, a smirk trying to work its way onto my face, but I forced my face to stay straight; I had to be the serious one since Gustavo was otherwise occupied with… something. Carlos sighed and sat down, watching the sky turn mixed shades of orange and pink as the sun started to set. It was getting late in the day, which was exactly what we needed, as the "Superstar" video was set to take place at night.
"Aren't you excited? We get to do another music video tonight, and I get a solo in this one!" He looked back at me over his shoulder, not getting a response right away. "I think it's really exciting."
"Yeah, it certainly is…" His arms stretched out above his head, one hand then coming to rest on the ground behind him as the other shielded his face from the light that was angling into his eyes. I couldn't keep up this stern façade any further, his childish enthusiasm infecting me. A smile broke out on my face as I sat down next to him, wrapping my right arm protectively over his shoulders.
We sat there for almost half an hour, the sun eventually descending below the horizon and the city lights coming on. Carlos would point at random things and talk about them, and I would sit and half-listen, nod my head, and hum a quick "mhm", the rest of my mind just focusing on making sure that he didn't stand up and do something stupid that would end up getting him hurt. Something about a helicopter overhead, and then something about the cars below, and then—
"Logan, focus please," I heard him say, turning my head to look at him as my eyes refocused from their zoned-out state. His face was kind of blank, and he was pointing at the top of a building that was sort of far away, the roof hard for me to see with the bright lights in the way. My arm had fallen from his shoulders in the time that I hadn't been paying attention, his own arm placing itself in a mirrored fashion over my own back. "Do you recognize that building?"
I contemplated the question, turning to stare at him again, eyebrow raised.
"Am I supposed to?"
"Yes! Think harder Logie, come on!" It took me a while, but realization finally dawned on me.
"Is that the flash-party building? The one where we recorded the video for 'The City is Ours'?" He smiled brightly, hugging me closer.
"Yeah, it is! And do you remember what else happened there?" I returned one of my signature half-smiles.
"How could I forget?"
"The city is ours…" Kendall sang the last few words of the song, all of the people around cheering loudly and releasing the balloons that they were holding out into the sky. The sun was beginning to set, the four of us standing at the middle of the now talking crowd of people. I saw Carlos' characteristic smile drop and a blank expression take to his face, but I ignored it. I just watched as our blond leader raised his hand and whistled loudly to gain everyone's attention.
"Hey guys, thank you all for helping out with this." People clapped and cheered. "Now, how about we start the real party?"
The music started up again, of course playing one of our songs first. Everyone scattered, many heading for the table of food sitting under the large billboard, a few (the professionals that Griffin hired) heading straight to the dancefloor to show off, and our little core group staying where we were to laugh and talk. At least, sort of. Jo and Kendall were talking to James, Camille hanging off my arm and listening in to their conversation.
I immediately noticed the lack of presence of a certain tan boy, searching the roof with my eyes and eventually spotting him. He was sitting near the edge, legs kicked over the side of the building and hands resting on the railing. Camille followed my gaze, noting the unhappy look on my face and smiling sadly. Her arm unlinked from my own, her hand came to rest on my shoulder with my own hand coming down lightly on top of it. She leaned up onto her toes to whisper in my ear.
"I understand."
"Camille…"
"Don't worry about me." She patted me once on the back. "I can take care of myself, just go over and be with him." My eyes locked with hers. She was serious. We hugged.
"Thank you Camille."
"You're welcome. Good luck." Letting go, I gave a small wave, watching as she turned to talk to Jo about something girly (was it shoes?) before slowly and somewhat awkwardly ambling over to the boy sitting on the ledge. I knelt down next to him, arm landing on the railing. The metal railing shook a bit, and apparently that startled the Latino, his body jolting back a bit and his eyes widening at me before a flat look came over his face.
"Oh, hey Logan."
"Hey Carlos, what're you doing over here? You're missing the party. Y'know, 'The City is Ours' and all." He just sighed in return.
We stayed like that for a little while in silence, my fear of heights starting to act up as we looked down to the street. I pushed it away, willing myself to follow his gaze downward. There were all the usual sounds and lights of the city, but they seemed a little brighter tonight than most days. I heard Carlos sigh again, and I turned to look at him. He looked sad and… was it nervous? I couldn't really tell, his face was angled a bit away from me.
"Carlos," I started, "is there something you want to talk about?" He shifted uncomfortably.
"Logan, I'm fine, honestly."
"No, something's up."
"Seriously, there's nothing wrong." He looked down with empty eyes at the shining lights below, cars and taxis driving by on the street almost twenty stories down. I sat down completely, attempting to put a comforting arm around his shoulders, but he just shrunk away.
"Carlos, there's pretty obviously something wrong," I said sternly, turning my head. He continued to look down at the street, not responding. I sighed loudly, bringing my other hand up to his chin. "Look at me, Carlos."
"Logan, stop. I'm fine." He was blushing; I decided to push him a little more.
"Carlos."
"Stop it, Logan, you're starting to bug me." His face was beginning to turn a bit red, and he brought his hand up to try to pull mine away from his chin.
"Carlos!"
"WHAT?" He yelled, getting the attention of everyone around us. I was startled, but regained my composure. A couple of tears rolled down his face when I refocused on him, my arm having fallen down to rest behind him. Slowly, I moved my hands up to grab his, staring him in the eyes. The brown orbs avoided my glance.
"Just tell me what's bugging you, please. I want to help you out here, I'm your best friend and I—"
"I want to… to be more than that though, Logan." …what?
"Come again?" He blushed heavily, quickly trying to stand back up.
"I shouldn't have said that." My mind raced, my hands moving to hold down his knees without me thinking. The blush on the tan face turned darker, a couple more tears flowing down. "Logan, please, let me go. Go back to Camille, I bet she's waiting for you." As he continued to try to stand up, I searched for a response.
"Carlos, we just broke up though." Okay, so that wasn't exactly true. Technically it was a break-up, but… it was more of a realization on her part. He stopped momentarily, looking me in the eyes, but nothing changed.
"You're lying. You're just trying to make me feel better or something." I frowned. He was struggling to pull my hands from his legs still, but I was keeping him down.
"Carlos, I'm not lying. We really did."
"Stop trying to spare my feelings, I don't believe—" My lips against his interrupted the thought mid-sentence. I sat and waited for a couple seconds, fully expecting him to force me away and run. But he didn't. After a short time I began to move my lips, his sliding in perfect sync. We separated shortly after, my hand going up to his face to wipe away a couple of now drying tears.
"Do you believe me now?" I asked with a smirk, looking Carlos in the eyes. A shocked expression still sat on his face, one of his own hands going to his lips and lightly touching them. The hand then went up in front of his eyes, staring at his fingers in disbelief. He was in a confused daze, but he quickly got over it, eyes locking on my face. He smiled for the first time since we'd finished filming.
"…Maybe," he chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "I think I need more convincing."
"Gladly." I quickly crushed my mouth against his, hearing him sigh happily. Yup, he believed me.
I was snapped out of my flashback by the same pair of lips quickly touching against my own for a chaste kiss. Or at least, what was intended to be chaste. My hand wrapped around the back of the Latino's neck, forcing him to lean over on top of me. I fell backwards, landing on my back with him on top of me. When we separated our lips, he giggled happily and I smiled, placing a kiss on his forehead. He started to hum "The City is Ours" softly, making me chuckle.
The moon rose overhead as the spotlights turned on. "Superstar" began to play over the speakers nearby, Carlos and I just laying on the ground until Kendall walked over.
"You two ready?" I looked into the Latino's eyes, excitement shining in them.
"Music video!" He whispered happily, pecking me on the lips before jumping up and running toward the stage we would be dancing on. I sighed happily and shook my head, grabbing Kendall's offered hand and standing up. I smiled widely as I got onto the stage, receiving one more deep lip-lock before we started. I loved that.
Y'know what? Someone else can have the city for all I care. I already got what I wanted.