The Last Night

By: Riley

Summary – Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James have one last night in the crib before they go their separate ways.

"Ok, I think that's everything we need," Carlos said as he dropped an arm load of pillow onto the floor. He jumped down on top of them, seconds after they hit the floor and stretched out on his stomach. He rested his chin in his hands and crossed his legs at the ankle behind him, gazing upon the bowls of colorful junk food sitting in front of him. "Our last night in the crib." He stuck out his lower lip for a moment. "Our last sleepover."

"Can we agree not to call them sleepovers?" Logan rolled his eyes as he reached out and stared to fill up his paper plate with goodies from each bowl; m&ms, pretzels, skittles, Hershey kisses, chips, popcorn, and even fish sticks and tots. They had begged Mrs. Knight to make it for them for their last night at the Palm Woods and she gladly accepted with no questions asked. Logan was sure he had even seen a tear fall down her cheek as she turned to get the pans out to cook them. "You sound like an eight year old girl when you do that."

"You're an eight year old girl," Carlos shot back.

"That doesn't even make sense," Logan protested.

"Your face doesn't make sense!"

"Carlos!"

"Logan!"

"Ok, ok, calm down." Kendall laughed as he walked out of his room, pulling up his pajama bottoms with his left hand as he went. With his right hand, he dropped four large blankets on the ground and sat down with Carlos and Logan. Using both his hands, he pushed his hair out of his face before leaning back, resting his hands on the ground behind him. He leaned back, directing his call towards the bathroom. "James! Come on!"

"I'm almost done with my nightly facial routine, hold on a minute!" James called back from the bathroom. "Chill." Kendall shrugged, swirling his head back around to smirk at Logan and Carlos. The two rolled their eyes and the three started laughing to themselves. "I heard that!" James called. "I know you're making fun of me out there. You're just jealous that your skin isn't as smooth and clear as mine."

"It's about as smooth and clear as my ass, James," Carlos replied. "Who cares?" He laughed loudly and Kendall reached out his hand for a high-five. Logan rolled his eyes once more, though he had a smirk on his face. James ignored them as he turned off the light in the bathroom and went to the living room to sit down with his friends. As he passed Carlos, he pressed a hand down to the back of his head and forced it into the mountain of pillows in front of him.

James sat down in between Kendall and Carlos to finish their circle. The circle of the four best friends that had been each other's rock through everything as their journey had progressed over the past four years. They had been best buds as long as they could remember, going from four hockey players in Minnesota to one of the bigger boy bands that the world has seen in the past years. They thought their journey would ever end and now…the next day…they were going their separate ways for the first time in their lives. Big Time Rush, the thing they never thought would ever come to an end... was coming to an end. Kendall was going to focus on hockey, James was going solo and while dabbling in an acting career, Logan was going to pursue his studies, and Carlos was going to do whatever he set his mind to.

So for the first time, they were going to be in four different places in the first time as long as any of them could remember. Hockey camps and trips to Camp Wonkey-Donkey weren't able to break their friendship apart. But that had been a few weeks at a time, who knew when the next time they were going to see each other again.

Carlos looked around at the cardboard boxes that sat by the front door of the crib, marked with each of their names. Soon they were going to be shipped to Minnesota, to different parts of California, and who knows where else. And when the crib was emptied out, someone else was going to move in. Someone else was going to move into the place they created and where they had called home for the past four years.

"Do you guys remember the first sleepover we had together?" Carlos mused, resting his chin in his hands. He smiled a little. "Like, the very first one?"

"Yeah," Kendall said slowly. He leaned forward and stuck a hand into the popcorn bowl sitting in front of him. "It was at my place, Katie begged to be able to stay and hang out too. Mom tried to get her to understand that she couldn't because it was a boy's thing, and she cried." He chuckled a little bit. "Then we stayed up all night drinking soda and eating and getting scared out of our wits watching horror movies so that we didn't sleep all night long." His smile widened. "We snuck out of the house and played roller hockey all night until we broke one of Mrs. Magicowski's car windows, snuck back home, and then went to sleep."

"Mrs. Magicowski," Logan said slowly. His nose wrinkled as he looked at the ceiling in thought. "Did we forget to do anything for her?" He started to count on his fingers. "She drove us to the audition and we promised to shovel her sidewalk all winter. We forgot."

"Then we said that we would drive her anywhere and forgot that," Kendall added.

"So we got her Sebastian and a limo," James concluded cheerfully. "Nope, I don't think we forgot anything with her again." He paused, looking down at his lap. "Though we do owe her a lot. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have been able to get out here to LA."

"Actually, if you want to be technical, if it wasn't for Kendall, we wouldn't be out here in LA," Logan pointed out. Kendall had the grace to look embarrassed as he looked away from the boys. He was never one that particularly liked to dwell on things he had done for his friends or family, he would help anyone whenever he was sure he could do it without a thanks in return. "I'm being serious; if you hadn't had told Gustavo to take all of us…who knows what would have happened."

"Ooh! Ooh! I know! I know!" Carlos waved his hand in the air. "We would all be back home playing hockey."

"Maybe not," James said quietly. He shrugged as all eyes turned to him. "To be honest, I wasn't sure how much longer I would have played if I stayed home." He slowly started to grin then motioned to his face. "I mean, I can't have this money maker get bashed in each and every day. Do you know how hard it is to make sure my face is perfect?"

"Yes," Carlos shot out, sticking out his tongue. "I've had to sit there and watch you, day after day, put that girlie goop on your face."

"It's not girly goop," James said calmly. "It's a facial cleanser."

"Yeah, right," Logan and Kendall chorused, starting to laugh.

James rolled his eyes, but he and Carlos joined in on their laughter. They then started to eat and talk; talking about everything and anything but the fact they were leaving the next day. Their laughter was contagious, going as far as to laughing at funny noises and faces each of them made. Carlos started to laugh so hard that he was continuously giggling over every little thing that was said. As per usual, things ended up in a mess with a food fight that Kendall had somehow started—much like the one he started when the boys first arrived at Rocque Records those four years ago—as well as a pillow right erupting, causing a pillow to explode and feathers to fly everywhere—much like the one that Carlos had started way back when. Mrs. Knight and Katie had come out of their room and screamed at the boys to clean everything up, which prompted the story to Katie about how they had managed to completely screw up Gustavo's mansion the one—and only—time he had asked them to house sit.

"I can't believe it's all going to end tomorrow," Logan murmured once they had finished cleaning and a comfortable lull fell over the group. He rolled over onto his back, resting his hands on his chest. "I mean, I was always prepared for it, just in case, but I never thought it was going to end." His voice cracked on the last word and he quickly brought a hand up to cover his face. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes and tried his hardest to blink them away.

"I know," Carlos agreed in a low, babyish voice. He pouted, making a whining sound, and pulled a pillow close to his stomach. "I don't know what I'm going to do without you guys around all the time. Who else am I going to hang out with?"

"We're still going to be friends, guys," James said. There was a desperate edge to his voice. He lowered his head and moved his hand to his forehead before dropping it back to his lap. When his hair was longer he had the habit of using his fringe to hide his face, now he didn't have anything to hide behind. James sniffed loudly, rubbing his nose.

Kendall looked at his three best friends, his three brothers. He was suddenly hit with a wave of sadness that almost knocked him over, completely. It just hit him. He was going to be going to Minnesota to work on a hockey career without his three best friends on the ice with him. For the first time since he could remember. He couldn't reach over in the middle of the night and tap Logan on the arm to wake him up and annoy him. He couldn't leave his room and go into the next one and find James and Carlos both snoring loudly. He wasn't going to be able to run around LA with his best friends getting into the most amount of trouble anyone could ever think of. He couldn't think of anyone else that he would have wanted to do it with.

"Guys," he said slowly, ignoring Carlos's mumble of 'I smell speech'. "I just want you to know that you really are my best friends, you're my brothers, and that when I'm playing hockey, and each goal I make is going to be for you three. I'm going to be playing for you."

"And when I'm a doctor...I'll keep pictures of you guys in my office," Logan said. He then chuckled. "And I'll tell my patients the stories of us breaking our arms and legs and all of the trouble we got into so my patients will stay healthy." He reached over and nudged Carlos. "If I don't see you in my office once a month. That helmet can't always protect you."

"And when I win awards for my singing and acting, I'll always thank you guys in my acceptance speeches," James added.

"And when I-" Carlos broke off. He wasn't sure what he was doing with his future, but whatever it was, he was going to go through it with all of the energy he put into everything else. "Um...I'll make an extra bedroom in my house for you guys. And...I just won't forget you guys." He gave a impish smile.

The corner of Kendall's mouth twitched upwards. "You all are my inspiration for this. You've been there to follow my dream with hockey since we all started playing together and even when we took the break to do Big Time Rush. I wouldn't have been able to do any of this without you three and…I just wanted to thank you. When I'm on the plane going back home…" he broke off, frowning. Kendall reached up and wiped at his eyes, bruising out the tears that clung to his eyelashes like water droplets, stopping them before they fell. The tip of his nose was red and his voice continually cracked. The strong leader was slowly breaking down at the prospect of leaving his best friends behind. "No, I'm going to be going to Minnesota. Because my home is with you guys, whether it be LA, Minnesota, or that tree house in James's backyard that we all fell out of. You guys are my home and nothing and no one's going to change that."

Carlos was crying quietly, tears continuously streaming down his cheeks. James was sniffing every now and then, keeping his head down so no one could see his face. Logan continued to wipe at his eyes, but his breathing was shaky, ready to crack and send him into sobs. Kendall continued to rub at his eyes and nose, trying to keep the tears at bay.

James let out a loud groan as he picked up his pillow and placed it in front of him. He lay down and started to pull the blanket up over him. Kendall, Logan, and Carlos followed his lead and they grabbed pillows—those that weren't broken—and placed them in the center of their circle like spokes of a wheel, so their heads were pressed together. They got settled for sleep, sniffles coming here and there. "I love you guys," James murmured, his voice already thick with tiredness. He dropped his head onto his pillow, bringing his blanket up closer to his chin.

"Love you, too."

That night had been fun for all of them, a great reminder of what they had. They knew the next morning was going to be worse, that much more emotional as they finally had to let go.

But they were brothers.

They could get through it.