Pierced
(A work in progress)
Author: Malachite
Disclaimer: BTR is not mine. This story is. Please Review!
"Crapcrapcrapcrap…" Kendall muttered over and over as he jiggled his leg against the car door. His mother's car was stuck in traffic…probably partly caused by him waking up half an hour late, but not many any worse by the accident they drove past, not to mention slower-than-a-turtle pedestrians crossing every single crosswalk they had to left turn across.
He breathed a breath of relief as his mother pulled their family-friendly car pulled in front of the school office. "Thanks mom, love you!" he called as he grabbed his backpack and dashed madly out the car and towards the glass doors, tucking in his shirttail as he ran.
"Stupid late pass policy procedure crap…" he mumbled as he stepped into the front office, looking around to see how many other students had a similar fate to his own. The office was strangely empty, except for a site that caused his jaw to drop. "LOGAN!"
Curled up in chair against a corner was the dark-haired boy, head down and trying to make himself look as small as possible.
Kendall just stood there in the middle of the room, gawking wide-eyed at the perfect student waiting outside the principal's office. "Logan," he breathed, blinking and rubbing his eyes to make sure it wasn't a lookalike or his still-sleepy brain playing tricks on him.
His eyes darted to the reception desk, which was empty…apparently they were short staffed or busy or something. He quickly reached around and scribbled himself a late pass, shoving it into his pocket before turning towards the more important thing: his best friend.
He gently slid into the seat next to Logan, placing a hand on the boy's knee. "Hey, Logan?" Receiving no response at all, he bit his lip and wrapped an arm around Logan's shoulders. "Dude, what's wrong?"
Logan whimpered, shaking his head, face covered by his hands. "They pulled me out of class, Kendall…"
Kendall swallowed hard, bracing himself to not get riled up. Last thing Logan needed was him yelling and throwing one of his righteous temper tantrums. He took a deep breath and rubbed Logan's back, trying to get the boy to at least look up. "Logie, what happened? Are you in trouble?"
Logan kept shaking his head. "I never…I didn't think…I wasn't thinking…I just…I just…" He sighed shakily.
Kendall grit his teeth, voice coming out as more of a growl from his locked jaw. He'd never seen Logan, the rational, intelligent, geeky one, so upset at school. "Logan, look at me, tell me what's wrong."
"I can't believe this…I can't believe this...What are my parents gonna say…" Logan rocked back and forth, panic-filled voice rising in pitch.
Kendall grabbed Logan's shoulder tightly, almost bruising, leaning forward to murmur gently in his friend's ear. "Why are you here?"
Logan stopped rocking, taking a deep breath before finally sitting up, big brown eyes staring right into Kendall's green ones. "My ears."
Kendall's eyes grew huge as he took in the tiny, very discrete, almost downright conservative and all-around Logan-y crystal studs sparkling in his best friend's earlobes. It was the most beautiful thing he'd seen in a long time. Forgetting himself for a moment, he gently reached up and brushed his fingertips over Logan's cheek, tracing back over to the boy's ear. "They're beautiful…"
A single tear trickled down Logan's cheek before he gasped softly and pulled back scrubbing at his eyes with the back of his hoodie sleeve. He lowered his face back into his hands, shutting down to the world.
Kendall was still dazzled from the gorgeous sight he had observed just seconds ago. The word slipped out of his mouth before he could think about it. "Why?"
If all his senses hadn't already been on edge, he probably would have missed Logan's shaky whispered reply. "You said you thought guys with earrings were hot…"
Kendall could have died right there, hearing that confession. His head spun as a furious whirlwind of lust, love, anger, sadness, and a million other emotions hit him. He was jerked out his reverie when the office phone rang, a pleasant-looking older woman walking swiftly around a corner to pick it up. "They won't let you go to class?" he whispered hoarsely.
"I have to stay here in the office," Logan replied sadly, resolutely covering his reddened ears. He was obviously dying of embarrassment. The poor boy had never experienced this kind of shame.
The receptionist-secretary-lady put down the phone, seemingly finally taking notice of Kendall. "Mr. Knight, you should get to class."
"Oh, yeah, right…" Kendall got up and took a few steps towards the door before doubling back and walking up to the receptionist's desk. "Hey, can't he at least have his schoolwork?" he asked, shocked at how calm and polite his voice came out.
The woman nodded her head a bit, voice soft as she motioned Kendall closer. "I called his teachers." She paused for a moment, motioning Kendall to move to the side. She then shook her head, pointing towards Logan. "He's been reading that thing since they brought him in here. He's going to drive himself crazy."
Kendall's gaze darted towards Logan, who was curled up into the corner again, the school's handbook in his hands, opened to the dress code page. Kendall could see the boy reading that same damned paragraph about male students' jewelry over and over. "Oh, fuck me…" he muttered under his breath.
The receptionist nodded in agreement and understanding, but shooed Kendall out the door nonetheless.
"DAMN IT!" Kendall slammed his fist into his locker door again, and would have punched it a third time if James hadn't grabbed his arm and pulled it against his chest.
"What's wrong?" he asked, obviously worried.
"Logan," Kendall replied flatly, trying to tear his arm away from James' grip, a task that was incredibly difficult considering how buff the taller boy was.
Carlos decided to pop up then, making Kendall and James both jump and separate as he somehow popped up between the two. "Where is he anyways?"
"In the office," Kendall growled, clenching his fists to his sides, "And they won't let him go to class."
"What! WHY!" James and Carlos shouted at the same time, pouncing on the blonde and each grabbing an arm.
"He got his ears pierced. They're so small too, you can barely see them! It's NOT that big a deal…"
"Dude, our dress code sucks," James muttered, shaking his head. Carlos nodded in agreement.
Kendall growled as he shook his head violently, voice rising in anger. "They let all these bitches dress like prostitutes, but a guy gets some tiny little earrings and he's not allowed to go to class…"
"Not to mention their nasty hair," James muttered darkly as the three boys watched a very unfortunate blonde-and-black dye job of a girl wrapped up in unfortunately tight in all the wrong places jeans strut down the hallway. He shook his head, running his fingers through his hair.
"I KNOW!" Kendall grabbed James and Carlos by the shoulders. "Guys, he just looks so sad in there…"
James placed a reassuring hand over Kendall's. The pretty boy's hazel eyes showed his own anger at the situation. "So, now what? Are they going to make him take them out?"
Carlos kicked at the ground, shaking his head. "Not going to class is going to kill him…he needs school. It's his thing."
"You're right." Kendall nodded as he quickly decided on a plan. "The first thing I need to do is help distract him…and stop him from worrying about missing class. I'll go get his work for him. After that…well, I'll think of something."
"We'll cover for you next period," Carlos chirped, fist bumping James.
"Tell him we've got his back. Let us know what the plan is once you think of one." After a quick glance at his watch, James grabbed Carlos' arm and started dragging him towards their next class.
Kendall smiled to himself as he made his way to Logan's first period. He was lucky to have James and Carlos on his side…as was Logan. Between the three of them, he knew they could find a way to help Logan.
Gathering Logan's schoolwork was easy for a smooth talker like Kendall. None of the teachers had been informed of anything other than a generic "send work down for Logan to the office" message. Kendall easily asked for Logan's work "because he can't make it to class", dutifully scratching down teacher instructions on a sticky note one of the teachers had given him.
The Lit teacher (the only real "cool" one out of Logan's AP Advanced Top of the Class schedule) was the only one he shared the reason why her star pupil wasn't coming to class. She shook her head with a huff, obviously disappointed, and chided administration and the out-of-date conservative dress code. Having her agree with him didn't do much to calm Kendall's rage though. The more he thought about just how unfair it all was, and how much it was hurting someone so innocent, the angrier he grew. Logan looked amazing with his ears pierced…it was awful that they were making it seem like such a bad thing.
Kendall slunk back into the office, heart breaking as he saw Logan now had his black hoodie pulled up all the way up over his forehead and eyes, knees drawn up to his chin.
He gently placed the pile of schoolwork on a chair as he sat down next to the smaller boy, gently pulling back the cloth hood from over Logan's face. Logan refused to look up, or even move, his face buried in his arms across over his knees. Kendall gently rubbed the other boy's shoulder. "Logan…"
Logan finally looked up, blinking rapidly as he barely held back tears. "Kendall…" he whispered, voice catching.
Kendall winced as his heart throbbed. Seeing the person he loved most in the world was tearing him apart. "Oh, no, Logie…no tears..." He wrapped Logan into a bone-crushing bear hug, holding the boy tight. "Don't cry, Logie…it's going to be okay. I promise. I'm going to take care of everything. I'm not gonna let them hurt you anymore."
Logan nuzzled Kendall's neck, relaxing into the boy's embrace. "I can't take them out," he whispered softly.
"Yeah, cause of infection and all that or something…" Kendall pressed a kiss to Logan's cheek. "And you shouldn't take them out. You look incredible. So sexy."
Logan blushed, but then caught sight of the schoolwork. He smiled in appreciation. "You got my work for me!" He pulled back, opening his arms towards the pile of textbooks and worksheets.
"Yup!" Kendall picked everything up, shifting through it to show Logan all that he gathered. "So this worksheet is for Lit, and goes with the chapter we're on…here, I got you a book too. And then you do this for Government, these are from your freaky Chemistry teacher, and this packet is from your Calculus class." Logan gratefully accepted the armload of work, traces of his crooked smile shining on his face as he embraced the schoolwork. "Thank you" he murmured, tilting his head and attempting to smile. The movement caused the sunlight streaming in through the window to sparkle off the tiny studs in his ears, making Kendall's breath hitch. He leaned forward and captured Logan's lips in a gentle kiss. Pulling back to gaze adoringly at the other boy, he couldn't keep the bright smile off his face as he noticed the light come back into Logan's eyes. "Please don't take them out. You're beautiful."
Logan swallowed hard, pale cheeks flushed red. "But…Kendall, I have to go to class. And my mom is going to be here soon…" He groaned, leaning back his head in the seat, resting against the wall. "Oh man, she is going to be so pissed…"
"Wait, she doesn't know?"
"Neither does my dad…they both had a twenty-four hour shift starting yesterday afternoon. I went to the mall after they left." Logan's voice grew a little stronger, a bit of his usual pride and bravado seeping in as he boasted about his rare show of independence and rebellion.
"I would have gone with you…you know, held your hand." He grabbed on to Logan's hand at that, squeezing it tightly in his.
Logan shrugged. "Actually it didn't really hurt. And…" He bit his lip, looking incredibly adorable. "I wanted to surprise you."
"Best surprise I've ever had at school." Kendall smiled warmly, feeling himself relax in Logan's presence despite the circumstances. He always was comfortable when he was spending time with Logan.