Logan Mitchell ran a frantic hand through his already disheveled hair. His Spanish finale was in the morning and he was confusing his vocabulary and conjugating his verbs wrong. He dropped his head onto his desk with a loud groan.
This was it, he was going to fail, and would have to take Spanish over again next year. And if he failed something so basic, there was no way he was going to pass any of the AP classes he hoped to take, and no good college would want him! He was going to end up a back ally doctor in some ghetto with a medical degree that he purchased off of eBay, and still be unable to speak Spanish.
He felt tears of frustration build behind his eyes and tried to force them back. His whole future was going down the drain and he was barley fourteen!
There was a soft, hesitant tap on the door. Not feeling up to moving Logan mumbled a muffled come in, expecting his mom to tip toe in with a warm cup of green tea and the overused advice to just keep practicing! Regardless of the fact that she had no idea what he was even doing.
"Dude are you crying" Logan's eyes snapped open and his body jerked in surprise, effectively tipping his chair over and throwing the text book, previously in his lap, against the wall. He stared up from his new position on the floor at his very unexpected visitor.
"Ca-Carlos? what are you doing here!" Carlos gave him a mixed look, half amusement and half concern. He offered a hand down to Logan, who took it gratefully.
"I haven't heard from you all weekend so I figured I'd stop by and see if you where still alive. And your mom asked me to bring you some tea... she said you where stressing over school again?" Logan whipped at his eyes, embarrassed that Carlos had seen his frustration, and stared down at his favorite Darth Vader mug currently clutched in his best friends hand. Of course his mom had to use the most embarrassing mug in the cupboard.
"Here" Carlos stated, handing him the mug before going for the abused chair. Logan slumped down on his bed with a sigh, thankful he had the tea to distract his hands with. "So what are you stressing over anyways?" Carlos asked plopping down in the seat. Logan mumbled his rely into his mug. "Huh?" Carlos asked, an adorable look of bewilderment on his face. Logan groaned and gave up trying to drown himself in his tea.
"Spanish okay! Its just- I mean- Ugh, I just can't wrap my brain around it!" He stared down into the depths of his mug, debating trying for the drowning thing again. He didn't want to see what was sure to be a hardly restrained look of mirth on his friends face. Carlos was too nice of a guy to openly laugh at Logan, but he also had a hard time keeping his giggles to himself. And there was no doubt that he was amused, after all Logan was the smart one, the one with all the answers, who was supposed to surpass everyone else and become the worlds greatest doctor. Yet here he was crying like a little kid because he couldn't manage something that was second nature to the other boy. There was a tense awkward silence before Carlos suddenly grabbed Logan's hand.
"C'mon, I know just what to do!" Logan gapped at Carlos as he had just enough time to set down his mug before being yanked down the stairs and out of the house.
"Whoa! Dude Carlos, slow down!" Logan yelled, snapped out of his surprise as his friends fast pace caused him to slip down his icy porch stairs. Carlos helped steady him with an apologetic smile. "Where are we going anyway?" he asked as they started walking again, thankfully at a much slower pace.
"My house of course!" Carlos stated throwing a grin over his shoulder, his whole body seeming to burst with excited energy. Logan felt himself blush, and felt surprisingly thankful that Carlos had rushed him out so fast that he had forgotten his coat and thus had a reasonable excuse for his blazing cheeks.
"Why?" He asked, mentally listing all the reasons Carlos would feel the need to suddenly drag him home like a lost kitten. Carlos snorted and used there still clasped hands to pull Logan foreword. Despite the fact that Carlos was still a good foot shorter his hyper steps always left Logan in his dust.
"You ARE trying to learn Spanish Logan. Where could you do that better then at my place?" Logan's eyes opened in surprise. This was not good, not good at all!
"I-I don't need to bug your family Carlos! I'm perfectly fine with my text book and dictionary!" Logan tried hard not to stammer, very hyper aware of the warm hand wrapped around his, and the soft thumb stroking circles against his skin. Carlos threw him an annoyed look, which instantly turned to one of concern.
"Oh crap Logan, you look like your freezing to death! I totally forgot about your jacket. Here-" Carlos yanked off his puffy over sized jacket and threw it over Logan's shoulders. Logan tried to protest the actions, but he knew it was a failure as soon as warm material wrapped around his shivering body. The jacket was beyond warm, still retaining the natural heat from Carlos' unnaturally warm body.
"Won't you be cold?" Logan asked, burying his face in the warm material as Carlos zipped it up. He could smell Carlos within it, a strange mix of chocolate, mint, Neosporin, bandages, and sweat. For some reason it all smelled spicy to him. For a brief moment he allowed himself to wonder what the other boys skin would taste like. He imagined it would be like some exotic spice you could only find if you traveled far south of the equator, to one of the beautiful, untainted towns often featured in his moms travel magazines.
"Yea I'm fine, I've got lots of layers on so I was over heating anyways." He grasped Logan's hands and began to rub them between his own. "besides, I don't freeze as easily as you do. It's all that inner Latino fire you know." He chuckled and blew warm air onto Logan's numb fingers, causing them to tingle. Logan rolled his eyes at the cheesy joke and tried not to blush at his friends actions. What was with him tonight? He never blushed this much damn it! Carlos laced there fingers together again and began walking. Logan lost his inner battle and blushed a deeper shade of red. Innocent Carlos probably didn't realize that they had outgrown holding hands already. It was something you did in elementary school, not junior high! "Now back to what I was going to say. You can't learn Spanish from a book Logan! It's a language of passion and fire! The kind of thing that star crossed lovers whisper to each others ears at night, knowing that at any second they can be torn apart forever! A book can't teach you passion like that Logan, there nothing but paper and ink!"
"Wordy are plenty passionate" Logan mumbled in defense. Carlos choose to ignore the comment.
"Aaand, my family loves you! Your like another son to them! Hell they've been nagging at Tina to pick you up and make you an official Garcia before some other family steals you away!" Carlos chuckled while Logan's eye started to twitch. Carlos knew very well that his older sister Tina had given Logan the heebie geebies since they where six and she had locked him in her closet, declaring that he either marry her or stay in the overly clustered space until he died.
Thankfully after an hour of arguing between the door, crying, begging, and the annoying on off of the light switch, Carlos had found and saved him from her evil clutches.
Logan still refused to have a door on his closet.
"I will not marry Tina!" He declared, with a little more venom in his voice then was necessary. Carlos laughed and squeezed his hand tighter.
"As if I would let her marry you!" Carlos pushed open his gate and ran up the porch, dropping Logan's hand in the process. He let them both inside where they immediately stripped off there wet shoes and extra layers. Unlike the Mitchell's home, which was kept at a nice and constant 68 degrees all year long, Carlos' home tended to be in the 90's during the winter and close to the 50's during summer. Logan internally groaned at the fact that he had opted out of an under shirt and now couldn't take off his thick long sleeve shirt.
"Mom, I'm home! And I brought you Logan!" Carlos yelled into the noisy house. Another difference from the Mitchell's home, with Logan as the only child it was usually pretty tame and quite. Carlos had 6 brothers and sisters, and multiple cousins who came to visit or stay for random periods of time. Logan was pretty sure that there house has never been quite. He pulled Loan towards the kitchen where they met his mom and older brother Alex, both of whom where covered in a nice amount of flour and other ingredients. She gave them both warm, motherly hugs with a warm smile.
Out of everyone in Carlos' family, his mom was Logan's favorite. She was always warm, loving, and full of energy, life, and joy. Just like Carlos. Although Alex had to be a close second. Unlike everyone else in his family he was shy, quiet, and calm, which made it rather uncanny as he looked the most like Carlos.
"Logan, you don't come over here near enough! Are you staying for dinner?" Carlos gave a quick nod, causing his mom to clap in excitement. "Oh good, good. Alex mi amor could you whip him up some hot coco? Just look at him! He looks frozen stiff! And skinny, you need to eat more, your about too wither away!" Alex laughed and did what he was asked, exchanging amused looks with Carlos, who had taken up stirring the food on the stove for him mom as she continued to mother Logan. He was used to the treatment by now as she tended to react the same way whenever he went loner then three days without coming over, and it must have been two weeks since his last visit. He was way over due. Eventually she stopped her ramblings and gave Logan another hug. "What have you been doing all this time hijo?" She questioned, releasing Logan as Alex handed him a large mug of chocolate. Logan shrugged.
"Studying mostly." Mrs. Garcia nodded in understanding, fully prepared to get back to her cooking as Carlos choose to but in.
"He's been studying for Spanish actually. That's how I got him over here, where's a better place to learn Spanish then here! Could you believe that he was trying to use a book to learn! I mean, a book." Carlos shook his head in disbelief, as if learning from a book was the most unusual thing he had ever heard of. Mrs. Garcia's eyes lift up, and soon Logan found himself swamped in all of the Garcia family.
He talked about everything that was to be covered on his test, and more. Eventually he forgot all about his test and just enjoyed himself. Soon the night began to wind down, Carlos was dragged off to the kitchen with his brother Sammy to do the dishes, leaving Logan alone at a table of Garcia's, which would have been fine, except Tina was eyeing him like she wanted to lock him in her closet again and sweat was starting to pool down his back. With a polite excuse he worked his way through the dinning room and out the back door, where the frost ridden air instantly bit at his fingers and face. He breathed in the cold, clean air and looked up at the millions of stars twinkling above him.
"Beautiful night huh.." Logan jumped at the sudden, deep voice.
"Jesus Alex, I didn't see you over there." Alex chuckled from his seat on the side patio where he seemed to have escaped for a smoke. "Your mom know about that?" Logan asked, motioning to the cigarette and joining him on the patio. Alex smirked.
"Think I'd still be alive if she did?" He asked, taking another drag. Logan chuckled. Mrs. Garcia, despite her motherly exposition, was well known for her harsh punishments. "You're doing pretty well with your Spanish, and your accents not half bad either, Rather cute actually. A lot of the kids i know who take Spanish can write it, but not speak if for shit." Logan blushed, hyper aware of the way the older boy was staring at him. "T-Thanks, I -uh- guess Carlos was right, you can't really learn it all from a book." Alex rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"Make sure you never tell him that, that kid seems to have a personal vendetta against books. Once when he was little he went around the whole house, collecting all the books he could find, and hid them under his bed." Logan laughed at his friends expense, imagining a little Carlos trying to shove a mass amount of books under his small twin sized bed. Alex continued to eye him as he did so. "It may sound cute, but that little twerp ruined the spin of my favorite book." Logan gasped in mock horror and clutched his chest.
"That's blasphemy" He stated, knowing just how the other boy felt. Two of his other best friends, Kendall and James, had once used his favorite book as a makeshift hockey puck while Logan was distracted trying to help Carlos get there actual puck out of his helmets face guard. Alex nodded and put his cigarette out on the table before flicking it into the neighbors yard.
"So how old are you now anyways?" Alex asked, leaning back on his arms. Logan mimicked the position.
"Just turned 14, I'm about 5 and 1/2 months older then Carlos." Alex nodded, looking slightly disappointed.
"What about you?" Logan asked trying to remember if Alex was the second or third oldest Garcia.
"17" Alex stated, staring at him again. Logan nodded, that made him the 2nd oldest and Sammy the 3rd. "Here, you look cold" Alex stated, giving Logan his jacket. Logan smiled to himself, wondering if there was something in the Garcia genes that made them compulsively give there clothes to others.
Unlike Carlos' huge, orange, puff ball jacket that seemed to devour whoever wore it, Alex's jacket was a thin leather that was designed to hug the body snugly, like an extra layer of skin. Although it two dwarfed Logan, who had no where near the broad shoulder length of the older boy.
"Thanks" he mumbled, wondering if he should reuse Carlos's very cheesy joke about Latin fire, but figured that the moment was lost when Alex pulled out another cigarette. It couldn't be healthy to smoke that much he decided, snuggling into the warm folds of leather. The jacket was well worn, and had obviously seen better days, it smelled of musky, like cigarette smoke, grease, and Febreeze. Logan was surprised that it didn't smell more like Carlos. The two brothers looked so much alike that Carlos could easily pass off old pictures of Alex as his own. The thought made Logan a little uneasy. It was far to simple to imagine Carlos growing up to be like Alex, sneaking out into the could to smoke, and only having a job as a mechanic at a small family shop to look forward too. Logan shook the thought off. He didn't like that scenario, sure it was fine for Alex, who was always so still and calm, and loved working with his hands and thinking things over. He didn't mind waiting, or taking his time to get something perfect. But it would be torture for Carlos, who couldn't stop moving for longer then five seconds and liked to plunge into everything head on, consequences be damned. Logan would have to find a profession for his hyper friend, one that would allow him to move and laugh and do all the crazy things he wanted, while simultaneously keeping him out of the ER.
"You know Tina like you, quite a bit actually." Alex stated, looking up at the sky. Logan's eye twitched. Why did everyone have to keep mentioning her?
" I'm not really interested in her, that way you know? Or anyone else for that matter..." Logan stated, looking towards the house and wondering if Carlos was done with the dishes yet. Alex smirked and released a lung full of smoke.
"Really now? Don't see why. Tina's a very pretty girl after all, there's no reason to not go for her, unless you don't swing that way." Logan's eyes grew wide as Alex stared at him, a confident, cocky smirk smeared across his face.
He couldn't be implying that Logan was gay could he? Sure, Logan still didn't give much notice to the fairer sex, but then again neither did Carlos, or Kendall. And really James gave them enough attention for four boys combined anyways. Besides, why would Alex even care? Wasn't he the one James and Carlos had spied on kissing Jenny Tinkler's older brother Jason... He couldn't be hitting on Logan could he! Logan felt his face turn at least eight different shades of red at the thought, causing Alex to chuckle.
"It's pretty amusing to watch all the expressions on your face right now." He leaned in closer, starring at Logan's face. "And i don't think I've seen someone blush that dark before. And look, it got even darker!" Logan felt frozen as Alex stared at him. There was a look of friendly amusement in his eyes, showing Logan that he wasn't being mocked at least. They sat there awkwardly, both Alex's smirk and Logan's eyes growing by the second. Logan watched as Alex's eyes flicked downwards, and couldn't help but notice how different they where from Carlos. Alex's eyes where darker, a solid woodsy brown, so dark that they seemed to blend right into his pupil in the little light. Where as Carlos eyes where more of a honey brown, flecked with deep flakes of green, and outlined in a dark blue. Logan swallowed, becoming hyper aware of the air around him, and of the others warm breath ghosting over his own face. His pulse quickened in response. It smelt like Mrs. Garcia's cooking, and like smoke, like fire... Logan didn't know how to respond. He couldn't handle this! Didn't understand what the other wanted. Surly he couldn't be-
"Hey Logie, you out here?" Carlos called, sticking his house out of the sliding glass door and glancing around. Logan instinctively jumped back at his friends voice and tried to look busy, to look innocent. Which was ridiculous as he didn't even have a reason to feel guilty in the first place! He looked down at the iced over grass and bit his lip, completely missing the death glare Carlos sent his brother, and the smug smirk he received in reply. "C'mon Logie, moms bringing out dessert." Carlos helped Logan stand and removed the heavy leather jacket. "Here" Carlos stated, tossing it back at Alex before pulling Logan towards the house. "You know you could have worn one of my jackets Logan, your going to catch a cold if you keep going outside without one." Logan nodded as Carlos continued to lecture him. Deliberately not looking back at Alex, who he could feel starring at them as they left.
Dessert flew by quickly with Carlos as a constant by his side. Alex had disappeared and Tina seemed to be interested in eying her dessert and magazine then Logan. All too soon Logan was giving hugs goodbye, promising Carlos younger twin sisters that he would come back and play dolls, agreeing to take Mrs. Garcia's doggy back home to his parents, and watching Mr. Garcia's demonstrations on what they should do if approached by a stranger.
On there way home Logan got to wear the orange puff ball and Carlos wore his dads work jacket.
"So what do you think of your Spanish now?" Carlos asked, linking there hands together. Logan really needed to explain appropriate touching to him one day.
"Es muy bueno" Logan responded, sharing a warm smile with his friend. They continued to talk to each other in Spanish, Carlos trying to teach Logan to roll his r's. Which only made Logan giggle as the other boy kept sticking out his tongue and wiggling it as part of his demonstration. Finally they reached Logans porch, where Carlos pulled him in for a tight hug.
Logan would never admit it out loud, but he loved hugs from Carlos. Hs parents hugs where brief and quick, and the hugs he received from family members where always stiff and awkward. Even the hugs he received from Mrs. Garcia, which where long and motherly, where stiff on his end.
But with Carlos it was different. They where best friends who did everything together, and when they hugged it could be anything from soft, gentle, and lazy to forceful, violent, and full of energy. They had never been stiff or awkward. Rather, no matter what kind of hug Carlos was giving, they where always warm, comforting, inviting, and long. They left you feeling safe, wanted, and maybe even a little bit loved. His hugs where the reason Logan knew he would never get around to yelling about inappropriate touching, even if Kendall and James did tease him about it.
"Te amo Logie." Carlos mumbled against his hair. Logan blushed and ducked his head as Carlos pulled back and smiled. "Good luck on your test tomorrow!" Carlos stated, practically skipping down the walkway and leaving Logan standing on his doorstep.
"What about your jacket?" Logan yelled, realizing that he still wore it. Carlos waved him off before cupping his hands around his mouth and yelling back.
"Keep it! Moms getting me a new one anyways, plus you need it more!" And with that he was gone, running through the ice and the sleet, laughing as he did so.
Logan cuddled into his new jacket and headed inside, going straight to his Spanish-English dictionary and looking up 'Te amo.'
The next day Logan aced his Spanish final, and refused to explain why he kept blushing when it was mentioned.
A/N: Alrighty, what do you guys think? T-T I feel like Alex came off as being far too creepy!
But yea, I'm thinking about doing a second part to this story, where they are older and such. _ I haven't decided yet, I guess it depends on if anyone likes this or not. Thanks for reading ^_^
And as always, this is dedicated to lindseyl0ve who is my wonderful Beta 3
