Lighting crashed and thunder shook the entire apartment. It barely rained in southern California, but a this storm had been threatening to hit for days. Kendall clenched his teeth as another bolt of lighting struck. Every time it hit he felt like was being stabbed in the chest and dunked in ice water all at once. Rain made Kendall paranoid to the extent of panic attacks. He knew had had to get out of the apartment for a while. It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience when his friends found him in this state. He slowly left his seat by the window, grabbed his keys and ran for the elevator. When he finally reached the car he was crying. "You need to stop," he thought to himself, "You can't be weak, you have to be strong… for Katie… for Mom… for the guys." He wiped his tears and drove away.

Three boys entered their apartment, soaking wet. The rain had yet to clear and the thunder was only getting worse.

"I don't think Kendall is here guys, and I didn't see him downstairs." Said Logan, the claimed genius of the group.

"Where would he be? It's raining. He wouldn't have taken a step outside if he could avoid it." Said Carlos with concern. "I'll go check if his car is here" He left the room and ran toward the elevator.

"I don't know why he is even bothering. We all know Kendall is probably crying upstairs or something. There is no way he would even consider driving in this weather. He would be scared shitless." James said with a factious tone, as he checked his reflection in the mirror he kept on his person at all times.

"James." Logan said sternly. "Do you think this is a joke? It's obvious he's not here and you know how rain affects him. I bet you would be twice as bad if your dad died in car accident during a storm as well."

"Yeah, well luckily I never had the misfortune of meeting my dad." James spat.

Before Logan could reply Carlos entered the room again, looking more worried than before. "Guys his car is gone, and Camille said she saw him crying earlier. This can't be good."

"Maybe you should just try calling him, he probably just need to go out, or something." Answered James unconvincingly. Logan got out his phone and called Kendall. The buzzing they heard coming from the couch signified that he had left his phone in 2J.

"We should go out and look for him. I'll get the studio, Carlos you get the Movie Theater, and James you get the ice rink. Call if you find him." Logan said and then rushed out the door, with Carlos at his feet.

James just sat there for a few moments confused. Why the hell would Kendall just leave with out telling anyone, especially in this weather? He grabbed his keys and headed for the ice rink.

Sure enough Kendall's car was at the ice rink. It was the only car in the lot, seeing as it was Sunday. "That idiot." James muttered to himself as he climbed the steps the door. When he got inside and out of the rain he quickly texted the other two members of the band to tell the he found Kendall and almost immediately received replies of relief. He then walked further towards the actual ice to find that it was empty. Worried he looked about to see if he could find the other boy. When he saw him, his heart sank. Kendall was sitting on a bench, with out having touched his skates, sobbing. James wasn't sure what to do. There was almost nothing he could say to make this situation better. Slowly he approached Kendall.

"Hey… Kendall?" James asked softly. He stood motionless, awaiting a reply, but none came. He spoke again unsure if Kendall didn't hear him, or had ignored him. "Kendall, are you ok?" All he got in response was and incoherent mumble. "Kendall please talk to me…" James was desperate for a response now.

"What to you want me to say?" Kendall croaked with out looking up. "What is there to even say?"

"I want you to tell me what's wrong." James said, in hopes that the other teen would actually open up.

"Goddammit, James you know what's wrong, please leave me alone!" Kendall shouted in an unexpected out burst of rage, which surprised the both of them.

"Um," spoke James, trying to keep his cool. "I am morally and quite possibly legally obligated to stay here, I am involved in what ever the hell you're going through now."

"I said leave me the fuck alone!" Kendall shouted even louder, as though his volume was the only thing that could get his point across.

"Dude, what is your problem? I was just trying to help!" James shouted defensively.

"No, James, you were never trying to help. You don't give a damn. And you really wanna know what my problem is?"

"Please, enlighten me."

"My problem is you, James. Every time there is something wrong in my life, I have to put on my best brave face and act like it's not tearing me apart inside, just to avoid you smart-ass comments. Honestly, there is nothing I could do to impress you, and when I hit rock bottom, like today, you are always there to rub it in my face." Kendall stood up, still crying, and was now eye to eye with James.

"What do you want me to pity you just 'cause your daddy died and now you're afraid of rain? Well then fuck you, because I never had a dad in the first place. Isn't better to have loved and lost then to never have loved and all and all of that bull shit. Seriously Kendall, you need to shut down this little pity party." Both Kendall and James were now fuming.

'No, James, I don't want your fucking pity, quite frankly I don't even want your friendship if it means you're going to continue to treat me like this. And you know what? I bet your dad stepped out as soon as he saw what a shit person you were gonna turn out to be. He couldn't handle the failure." As soon as the words left Kendall's mouth he regretted. What he had said was low. James looked like he was just slapped and before Kendall could apologize James swung back his fist and punched Kendall in the jaw.

Kendall fell sideways, hitting his ribs on the bench where he had previously been sitting. Regaining his posture he looked at James and punched him as hard as he could in the gut. With that the two were now rolling around on the floor, trying to inflict as much pain to the other as possible. Soon Kendall had James pinned to the floor, his nose gushing blood and the right side of his face was swelling really badly.

"I left the apartment because I knew you would treat me like this. When you talk to me like that it makes it so much harder to…" Kendall let his sentence trail off, afraid that he would reveal too much'

"Harder to what, Kendall?" James winced as he spoke with his split lip. "So much harder to do what."

Kendall was silent for a moment. He looked as if he was about to punch James again, but he didn't. Instead he forced his lips on James'. To Kendall's surprise James kissed him back. Kendall moved his hand to deepen the kiss, one to the back of James' neck, the other to his hip. Soon the kiss grew more passionate; teeth clashing and tongues in a battle for dominance. Kendall finally broke the kiss and gasped for air, holding on to the other boy has hard as he could. After a few moments he spoke.

"Harder to love you." he spoke so softly that James could barely hear what he had said.

"You love me?" James questioned in disbelief, having heard the phrase so little in his lifetime.

"Please, don't hate me…"

"No, No I don't hate you Kendall. I love you, too."

"Really?"

"Yes, from the day I met you, I knew that you would be the one I loved."

Kendall was in awe at what he was hearing. He sat up and James did too. They held each other until the rain stopped.