Author's Note: Surprise! I didn't think I'd be posting another story on here so soon, but inspiration struck. Monday night Kendall and Logan attended Dancing With The Stars again, and their black jackets were of contrasting styles, and I thought I'd write a drabble for my blog. But, when I got to 4700 words and they still hadn't kissed yet, I realized it was a bit more than a drabble, and since I was making them younger than real life, I set it in a showverse AU and those can be posted here, so, here it is. Chapter 2 is done (I think), I'll post it later on today. Now all the usual mumbo jumbo: I don't own these characters, but boy if I did; rated M for man on man stuff; please review! I hope everyone in the US is having a happy Memorial Day weekend, and for the rest of the world, I hope your weekend was/is the bees knees!

Kendall Knight was as all American as they come. Born and bred in the nation's heartland, solid B student, star athlete of his hometown high school. Had an after school job bagging groceries, sang the national anthem at town assemblies, and was dating a cheerleader. He was actively being recruited by the best universities in Kansas, they all wanted him to come play basketball for them and continue his education past high school. A scholarship from any school would be a godsend, his mom worked hard to make ends meet raising Kendall and his little sister.

Since money was so tight, when Kendall went on his college visits, he went by bus. His mom couldn't get off work for the three days he was taking to go to all of them, but she'd be able to go to the last one in Wichita, which was the school closest to home and where he had already pretty much decided he would go to, all the universities sight unseen, since he'd be able to commute from home to go there and continue to help out at home as much as possible. Unless one of the other schools offered a bigger scholarship deal that would net the family bigger savings, Wichita State would be where Kendall would go.

The night before Kendall's WSU interview, he was in a bus station in Lawrence, Kansas. The University of Kansas had a huge campus, and Kendall's student guide had shown him every inch of it, it felt like. By the time Kendall dragged himself into the bus station and bought his ticket, he was exhausted.

A little after midnight, the bus station was almost completely deserted. A young man completely dressed in black walked through the main doors and went to the one ticket window that was open. The employee in the glassed in booth started yelling at the young man before he was even up to the window.

"What are you doing back here, punk? I told you the next time I saw you I'd call the cops."

"Good evening to you, too," the punk smiled. "Friendly as always. I just want to know…"

"No one's seen her, no one's ever seen her. And if I had seen her, I'd help her to run away from you, now GO."

"Look, buddy, it's a free country. And this is public property. I can ask around and see if any of the travelers have seen her."

"There are no other travelers. Last bus pulled out about half an hour ago and there aren't any more on the schedule till after seven AM and you can't loiter around here waiting."

The young man looked around the deserted depot and saw one guy asleep on a bench.

"What about him?" the young man asked the hostile ticket seller.

"Who?"

"That guy. You're going to let him sleep on a bench all night? Isn't that loitering or vagrancy or something?"

"He has a ticket, he bought it from me."

"So if I buy a ticket, I can stay till morning?"

"NO! His ticket isn't for the morning…"

The young man shook his head. "You're not exactly observant, are you? You couldn't wake the poor bastard up so he didn't miss his bus?"

The young man went to the sleeping blond on the bench and shook his shoulder. "Hey, buddy. Buddy, wake up. You missed the bus."

Kendall was a slow waker. "Wha….?" He took in the stranger standing over him. His first impression was, "Whoa, that's a lot of black." Black hair, black leather jacket, black boots, black jeans…

"You leave him alone, I'm calling the cops right now!" the ticket seller was yelling through the thick plastic of his booth.

"Aw, Christ. Hey, look, pal, I don't know where you're heading, but you've got all night to wait for the next bus, so would you mind coming outside with me before that jerk calls the cops and look at a picture for me? I'm trying to find someone."

Kendall had no idea what the hell was going on. Missed the bus? All night to wait? He didn't have all night, he needed to be on Wichita State's campus at eight the next morning for his interview. He ran over to the ticket window. "What time's the next bus to Wichita?" he asked the man behind the window.

The guy put the phone down with a heavy sigh. He wasn't really calling the cops, but he wanted that other punk guy out of his station. "Next bus is at seven AM."

"How long does it take to get to Wichita from here?" Kendall was beginning to panic.

"About three hours, give or take. You'll be hitting morning rush hour…"

Kendall wasn't even listening anymore. "No! No, no, no, no! I need to be there by eight!"

"I'm sorry, son. That's just not going to happen, not by bus anyway."

Kendall didn't know what to do. His mom was working a night shift at her second job-no way could she leave and drive three hours to get Kendall now and then the three hours back. She'd lose her job, for one thing. Maybe in the morning he could call WSU and move his appointment-but that was unlikely. He was set up to meet not only people from admissions but also the basketball coach and some of the players. But, what else could he do but try?

"I'd like to trade in my ticket, please," he told the man behind the glass, taking it out of his varsity jacket pocket.

The man behind the glass looked truly sorry as he told Kendall, "No refunds, son. I'm sorry."

Kendall was ready to burst into tears. He had like five bucks left on him, he had planned to be at home some point late tonight. He didn't have money for another bus ticket.

"Buddy? Do you need a ride somewhere?" Kendall heard a voice ask behind him.

"Now just one minute, you punk. You're not just going to abduct this young man…"

"Settle down, Pops. Here," the young man dug his wallet out of his back pocket and handed his license to the ticket seller. "Photocopy that and if you hear about a young man gone missing in the next couple of days, you can give it to the cops. I'm not a serial killer or anything."

"You're only eighteen?" the ticket man asked.

"Good for you, you're good at math," the young man replied.

"What about that girl you're always in here looking for, what did she run away from you for?" the older man asked.

"If you EVER paid attention when I was trying to get you to keep an eye out for her, you'd know she's my cousin, she ran away from her abusive boyfriend at her college, and her summer camp roommate from when she was fourteen lives in Lawrence and I'm hoping she'll turn up here. I can't think who else she'd go to, the asshole boyfriend knows all her other friends and relatives and she wouldn't want to put them in danger."

"How do I know you're not the abusive boyfriend?" the ticket seller asked.

Kendall spoke up. "Because he's worried about her. He doesn't want to find her to hurt her, he wants to find her to help her."

The dark haired boy tilted his head and looked at the blond. For just an instant, he looked, well, adorable. Even the ticket seller saw it.

"This here is a Texas license," the ticket seller said.

"Wow, you're on a real roll of observations here. It's a Texas license because that's where I live. Texas," he added with exaggerated sarcasm.

"I'm just saying, I don't think this boy here should trust a stranger."

"Well, I'm the only free ride in town right now."

Kendall was biting his thumbnail. "I…uh, I need to get to Wichita. That's not close by and I don't have much money I can give you for gas or anything…"

"Look, I've got nothing else to do. I've been looking for my cousin all around Lawrence for a couple of weeks now, and nothing's come of it. Might as well have my time here do someone some good. Come on, I'll give you a ride."

Kendall didn't see a reason to say no, except for the nagging voice of his mother in the back of his head screaming "NOOOOO!" But he was almost an adult now, almost out in the real world. He had to start trusting people from outside his bubble sometime.

The ticket taker printed them a set of turn by turn directions from his computer, feeling like the kid deserved something for the price of his ticket, and slid them under the glass, glaring at the dark-haired boy all the while.

Right when they got out the door, where the light was as good as it was going to be, the young man in black stopped and took a picture out of his inside jacket pocket. "You, uh, haven't happened to see anyone like this, have you?" he asked, a sliver of hope, despite everything, in his voice.

Kendall took his time looking at the photo. The girl was extremely pretty in a fresh faced sort of way. Dark hair, dark eyes, a pretty smile, and dimples. "She's beautiful; I can see the family resemblance."

Those two thoughts were completely disconnected in Kendall's mind (or WERE they?) but the other man didn't hear it that way. He flashed a perfect smile at the blond, but then remembered he hadn't answered the important question.

"But have you seen her?"

"Sorry, no. I mean, I saw about five hundred girls today on the KU campus, but I THINK I would've remembered her? Because she's so pretty," Kendall was starting to blush from the unblinking way the pretty girl's cousin was staring at him.

"All right. Let's git goin'," the dark haired boy said. They walked over to the bus station's parking lot, and Logan walked right up to a motorcycle, and unstrapped a helmet off the back and turned to hand it to Kendall. Kendall literally took a step back.

"Uh, is that what you're driving?" Kendall asked nervously.

"Yep."

"Oh."

The dark haired boy jabbed the helmet towards Kendall again, and he reluctantly took it and put it on. The dark haired boy took another helmet that was dangling off the handle bars and jammed it onto his head. He turned and looked at his passenger.

"Hop on. I won't bite-until you want me to," he smiled. He flipped down the clear visor on his helmet and when Kendall just stood there motionless, flipped his visor down for him and gave him a little head bump between the two helmets.

"Jump on and hang on, this is gonna be a fun ride!" Logan smiled brightly behind the helmet.

The dark haired boy got on the bike with ease from long years of practice, and then Kendall gingerly threw one long leg over the seat behind the boy and lightly put his hands on the other boy's waist.

The driver craned his neck around, "Gonna have to hug me tight, once I git goin'," he yelled as he started the motorcycle up. Kendall hesitated for about three seconds and then wrapped his arms around his driver as tight as he could as they drove out of the parking lot. The boy in the leather jacket probably put a lot more swing than was necessary into turning onto to the road to get his passenger to grip him tight, but, hey, safety first, right? He did it for the blond's own good.

After an a little more than an hour, the driver pulled off the highway to an all night truck stop. The riders got off the bike, one much more stiffly than the other. They both took off their helmets.

"You doin' all right, buddy? Riding for the first time can be hell on your ass and on your balls."

Kendall just nodded numbly. His chauffeur certainly spoke the truth, plus Kendall felt like he had never needed to pee so badly in his life.

"Keep the helmet with ya-this ain't no farm town deserted bus station," his companion told him, leading the way to the door of the truck stop without a look back.

When they got in the door, the driver took a quick look at his charge. He looked absolutely pale, but it seemed to be turning to green. "Hey, buddy, you all right? You're not gonna hurl, are ya?"

"Nnnn…no," Kendall managed to eke out. In truth it was probably only because he hadn't eaten in over twelve hours since lunch at one of the KU dining halls. "Uh, I really need to pee…"

"Bathroom's right over there," the other boy said, pointing with his helmet while he took Kendall's helmet with his other hand. "I'll grab a table."

When Kendall returned from the bathroom, he didn't look much better.

"Hey, sit down before you fall down," the dark haired boy told him. Just then a waitress came to their table.

"What'll it be, boys?"

Kendall was trying to say something to the dark haired boy about money, but was being ignored.

"Tell ya wut," he was saying to the waitress as Kendall tried to get his attention. "My friend here's feeling a little scrambled, so why don't we start him off with a Coca-cola and some toast. Do you happen to have cinnamon and sugar to put on that?" He flashed the waitress a brilliant smile and she flushed and said she was sure she could put some together, the cook had both those ingredients for making apple pie. "Great!" the dark haired boy beamed. "And I'll git a Coke too, and a hamburger, cooked medium, with everything…ooh, wait, hold the onions, please. And since toast is so quick and easy, please bring his food as soon as it's ready. No need to have him waitin' on me."

The waitress scurried off to put the order in, and the dark haired boy looked back at his fellow traveler.

"Glad I remembered about the onions. When the helmet's on and you start breathing in onion breath…" he noticed Kendall was starting to look green again. "How about we just wait till we git some food in ya and settle your stomach?"

"Um, speaking of the food, I only have five bucks…" Kendall began.

"Don't worry about it, this midnight snack can be on me. We're only about halfway there, you're gonna need something in ya-when's the last time you ate?"

"Lunch." As Kendall was answering, the waitress came back and gave them each their Cokes and placed a plate with the toast on it in front of Kendall. He looked at the other boy inquiringly.

"Dig in! Can't have you fainting away," he told Kendall.

"Uh, yeah, thanks…er, I don't know your name?" Kendall said, as he took a nibble on the toast. It was warm and good.

"Logan."

Kendall was surprised. For some reason he wasn't expecting something so melodic and unique. He hadn't really thought about it, but he expected him to just have a blunt "guy" name like Dan or Jack or Mike or something.

"I'm Kendall."

"Good for you, Kindle." And there it was again, that roughness and apathy. Maybe Kendall looked a little hurt, because Logan added, "Since we're gonna be here a while, why don't you tell me what's your deal?"

"My…deal?"

"Yeah, you know, what you're up to, why you were asleep in a bus station in the middle of the night…"

"Oh, well, I'm a high school senior, I've been visiting colleges. Yesterday I was in Manhattan to visit Kansas State, and today I was at KU in Lawrence…well, I guess technically that was yesterday, now." He nibbled on the toast some more, and took a sip of Coke.

"Feeling any better?" Logan asked.

"Much, thank you. Anyway, I guess that's about it-I go to school, I hope to go to Wichita State, got a mom and little sister, I work after school and weekends at a grocery store, that's it. What about you?"

"No school, no sister. I've got a mom and a dad, they divorced when I was little. They're both out of work now, the economy and stuff." Logan scowled.

"And you live in Texas? With one of them?"

"Well, Dad's living in a rundown little trailer now-and he's been awful bitter since the bank took the house. I used to live with him before that. My mom's been in a tiny apartment ever since I can remember, so I try to stay out of her hair. I stay more with friends and other relatives if I can help it, and only go to one of the parents' couches when I'm out of options."

"Oh," Kendall's voice was quiet. He couldn't imagine this. No matter how bad things might ever get, that would just make him want to be near his mom and Katie more, not less. He tried to think of something to say. "Your bike's cool."

"Yeah."

Okay, not the icebreaker Kendall was hoping it would be.

"Do you work?"

"Here and there, now and then," Logan said. "Enough about me-what are you going to college for?"

"Like, to study?" Logan nodded at Kendall patiently. "Uh, I'm not really sure yet. Maybe engineering? Something that leads to a job, I guess."

"Can't you do that at any of those schools? Why are you looking at three?" Logan's burger arrived and he took a big bite out of it while waiting for Kendall's answer.

"Well, I play basketball, so whatever school gives me the best scholarship is where I'll go-IF any of them offer me a scholarship," he amended.

"You some sort of big deal basketball player?"

"Not really. I mean, in our district I'm considered one of the top players, but it's a really small district."

"But all the Kansas schools have really good teams, you have to be pretty good if they're considering you."

For some reason, Logan telling him that made him blush. "Naw, they're giving me a look because I'm already in Kansas, I think. If I made any of those teams, I definitely be a role player at best-or maybe just another body to have at practice."

"No NBA dreams, then?" Logan asked.

Kendall giggled, he actually giggled. "Uh, no. I'm just barely 6 feet tall and most guys in the NBA have arms that are thicker than my legs. So, no. If I get college help out of my basketball 'talent' it'll be more than enough."

For some reason, Logan didn't like how Kendall referred to his talent in a belittling way, but he decided it wasn't any of his business. Neither was his next question, but he had more than half his burger to go and they needed to talk about something. "So, how about friends, girlfriends…?"

Kendall turned bright red. "Well, uh, I do have a girlfriend. Um, she actually goes to Rutgers now-she's a freshman there, almost done with her first year. She's exactly one year older than me, we have the same birthday."

"How did you kids meet?" Logan really didn't care, but he'd rather chew than talk, so he wanted Kendall to keep talking.

"Went to school together. Um, she was a cheerleader so we got to know each other on bus rides and at fundraisers and stuff."

"Is it serious?"

"Uh, well, yeah, I guess. Maybe? We're kind of engaged to be engaged, you know?"

"So that ring, it's like an engagement ring?" Logan asked around a mouth full of French fry. He pointed with his next fry at the plain silver band on Kendall's left hand ring finger. Kendall had been holding the last triangle of his toast with that hand, but he dropped it like it burned and stuck his hand under the table and rested it on his lap.

"Well, um, I GUESS in a way that's what it is-it's a purity ring."

Logan snorted the sip of soda he had just taken. "Cola up my nose," he muttered. He hacked a cough. "It's a WHAT now?"

Kendall's face was positively lobster red now. "A purity ring. It means we won't, you know, fool around or anything, till…later." His voice was muffled and low. If a person could die of embarrassment they'd be calling an undertaker for Kendall right about now now.

"Not even with each other?" Logan was incredulous.

Kendall nodded.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of!" Logan practically shouted. "What if she's a lousy lay? You don't get to find that out till the wedding night? The fuck?!"

Kendall was wishing Logan would lower his voice, some of the truckers and their waitress had definitely heard some, if not all, of that.

What Kendall said next just popped out of his mouth. He had no idea he was going to say it, it just happened. "What if I'm a lousy lay?" he whispered.

Logan's eyes got huge. "You've had complaints?"

"WHAT? NO! I mean," Kendall lowered his voice, everyone really was listening by this point. "I've never done…anything. So, I have no idea."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Never done anything? How did you get engaged to be engaged yet? You've had to have kissed her."

"Well, yeah, some. But, I've never really…felt…anything, even when doing that, you know?"

Logan didn't know. What was this guy's deal?

"So why are you with her?" was all Logan could think to ask.

"I dunno. At first everything was her idea, dating and getting pre-engaged and stuff and we saved up and bought the rings together. But then when she went away to college…"

Logan was listening. "Yeah? What happened?"

"Well I don't know, for sure, but when she came home for Christmas break, she wasn't wearing the ring anymore."

Logan raised his eyebrows. "What did she say?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? How did you ask her?" Logan said.

"I didn't ask her. I kept waiting for her to bring it up, but she never did. But, it's pretty obvious what it meant, isn't it?"

Logan thought about it. "Well, I guess. Like, if she just left it at school, or had lost it, she would've said, right? But, what about when you were together when she was home? Did she act the same, treat you like she did before?"

"Well, yeah, since before all we'd ever do was a goodbye kiss."

"Are you guys in some religious sect or something?" Logan asked.

"No, why?"

"I've just never heard of teenagers so not interested in physical contact. God, were one or both of you molested as children?"

"NO!"

"Hey, I'm just trying to make sense of this…" Logan said, holding up his hands in a mock defensive pose.

"Well, we weren't. And, besides, Jo is interested. She was always trying to get me to…make out, and I think it's a pretty good bet that once she got to Rutgers she found somebody who would. Hence taking off the ring?" Kendall looked down at his own ring.

"Why do you still wear yours?" Logan asked.

"Huh? Oh, you know. I didn't want people to notice I had taken it off and ask about it, especially since Jo and I never officially broke up," Kendall said.

"But unofficially?" Logan wondered.

"Go on her Facebook page-she says she's single."

Logan squinted at him and tilted his head.

"So people in your school must know this-why keep the ring on? And why wear it on these college visits where no one knows you yet."

Kendall shut his eyes. "If you must know, it keeps girls from hitting on me."

Logan gave him a huge smile. "I can see where that would be a big problem for ya. They'd probably be tearing your clothes off without that ring to protect you."

"I knew it was going to sound conceited before I even said it. It's not that-it's not that there'd be tons of them. It's just, even one would make me uncomfortable."

Logan was really beginning to suspect something. "Are you sure you're playing for the right team?"

"Uh, sure, the Shockers would be a great team to play for…"

Logan laughed out loud. "You're right, they're great. They'll be back to the Final Four next year, I bet. You want a burger? Your color is so much better now and we've still got a ways to go. It won't take us as long as the bus since we didn't have to make any stops but this, but if we had driven straight through it's still about a two and a half hour ride."

Kendall's eyes were full of hunger, but he didn't want Logan to have to pay for him. Logan caught the look and motioned the waitress over. "Can we get another burger, please? How do you like it cooked?"

Kendall smiled gratefully and said well done, and that he'd have his with everything but the onions too.

"You like bacon?" Logan asked. Kendall nodded. "Throw a couple strips of bacon on there too, we gotta fatten this kid's legs up. Oh, and more fries, please." The waitress winked and went off to get Kendall's order in.

"Logan, really, you don't have to spend so much…" Kendall began.

"Would you hush?" Hush? Kendall was once again surprised at a word coming out of Logan's mouth. "I'm gonna eat at least half of them, so to keep things fair, you better have some of these." He pushed his plate closer to Kendall's half of the table.

Kendall hesitated.

"Go on," Logan said.

"I don't want to get motion sick again," Kendall said.

"Naw, you weren't motion sick. You were just queasy because you were hungry."

"How do you know that?" Kendall asked.

"Because the toast and Coke made you feel better right away. If you were motion sick you wouldn't want more food, and your eyes said you wanted a burger," Logan smiled.

"Wow, how do you know all that?"

"I'm not just a punk-I wanted to be a doctor at one point. I read everything I could get my hands on and even got to do a work study at my school where I worked at a health clinic. I didn't get to do anything but keep cabinets in the exam rooms stocked, but I got to talk to all the doctors and nurses the whole time I was there." Logan's face was happy and glowing thinking about it.

"Why 'at one point'? Don't you want to be a doctor still?" Kendall asked.

Logan's face lost the happy glow. "It's not in the cards for me."

"Why not? Lots of people work their way through school…" Kendall began.

"Yeah, well, lots of schools aren't impressed when they see you dropped out of high school. They're not exactly lining up to interview me."

"Do you have a GED?"

"Mind your own business," Logan said gruffly. The waitress brought Kendall's burger and fries.

"You do, don't you? You're too smart not to."

"You know me now? You know my life?" Logan snarled.

"What happened?" Kendall asked quietly. Logan remained silent, so Kendall added, "Look, I just told you about my girlfriend probably cheating on me the first chance she got-how bad can your story be?"

Logan picked up one of Kendall's fries and chomped on it. "You don't wanna know how bad it can be."

"I can take it," Kendall said, hoping he wasn't overestimating his ability to do so.

Logan let out a big sigh. "FINE. When I was sixteen, that's when my dad lost his house. Everything in his life had been turning to shit for quite a while, and he was drinking, a lot, to deal with it. One night he pushed me down a flight of stairs. Both my arms got broken and I was placed in foster care because my mother stood up at a custody hearing and said she couldn't take care of me if I couldn't take care of myself. In order to go to school, I was going to have to have an aide go to all my classes with me and transcribe everything for me. Plus everyone there knew what happened with my dad. It all seemed like way too much shit to go through, and I was old enough to quit school, so I did. Eat your burger."

It was the last thing Kendall wanted to do at the moment, but it also seemed like the only thing he could do for Logan, so he took a bite. Logan wasn't looking at him, he was staring down at the floor.

"This, um, this burger's really good. Thank you for getting it for me."

"Yeah, well, gotta keep you fueled up. This is the warmest I've ever been riding on a cool night, you're like a furnace back there-I can even feel your heat through my leather jacket," Logan said in a distracted voice.

Kendall had no idea if that was a compliment or not, but it made him feel funny down low in his stomach, a good kind of funny.

"You know, I don't know why it still bugs me my mom said that in court. It wasn't any kind of surprise. Both my parents told me from the time I was little I was a mistake and the main reason they got divorced, not to mention every other bad thing that happened during their lives since." He wasn't really talking to Kendall now, just musing aloud.

Kendall clenched his jaw to keep himself from saying something. He instinctively knew Logan wouldn't want him feeling sorry for him, and he wasn't. What he was feeling was a blinding, pissed off rage. How could parents treat their own son like that?

"You ready to roll?" Logan asked. Kendall gulped down the end of his burger. He could tell Logan just wanted to get out of there now, and stop talking.

When they got back out on the bike, instead of just wrapping his arms around Logan to hang on, Kendall put his arms around Logan as far as they would go and gave him a gentle squeeze. If he hadn't had the helmet on, he would've rested his head against Logan's back. He didn't know if Logan would get it that he was hugging him, but on the other hand Kendall felt maybe that was for the best-he wasn't sure if Logan would like him hugging him.

When they got to Kendall's house it was just a little after three AM.

"Do you want to come in? Maybe warm up with some coffee?" Kendall asked.

"I don't want to disturb anybody…"

"My mom's at work till six and my little sister is staying over at a friend's house since no one would be here to watch her tonight. Even if I hadn't missed the bus, I would've gotten in past her bedtime. Come on in, you must at least need to use the bathroom. Please?"

Logan stretched and cracked his neck from side to side. "Yeah, what the hell. Coffee's probably a good idea."