A/N: Hay guise, I'm kinda being held hostage in Maine for the week under the constant surveillance of my parents and my somewhat homophobic best friend (he's accepting, but still weirded out by it). So writing is gonna be a little sparse. I hate Maine (no offense to people who live here) and I hate family vacations. Anyways, this idea just randomly popped into my head while we were driving since we live in Indiana and for about an hour all we saw was corn and soybeans. Corn is more interesting and more useful than soybeans for a story though. How? You'll find out now, from Logan's point of view. This is 'Maize'.
Disclaimers: I don't own any of the many random things mentioned in here. If I did own any of those I'd be beyond rich and probably wouldn't be reading any Fanfiction. Which would be bad.
Indiana- not exactly the most exciting state in the union from what I've seen. I hadn't yet seen that mythical "Indianapolis Motor Speedway", or the beautiful "Soldier's and Sailors Monument" or the supposedly amazing "Children's Museum". All that's met my eyes so far is flat, which is perfectly fine of course, albeit boring. But alongside the flat, there's another thing: corn. Everywhere. Honestly, if were sentient and able to move on its own I think that the folks of the Midwest would be in pretty serious trouble.
The tour bus had to drive through the so-called "Hoosier State" on our way from Minneapolis to Cleveland, and I was getting bored of just staring out the large tinted windows at the "scenery". There was nothing to see except the very occasional house, some cows, and endless seas of corn. The other guys were perfectly happy, Kendall and James playing a few games of Speed with the cards that James had packed with him and Carlos sitting on the floor with his old Gameboy Color playing his Pokémon Crystal Version that he had found at the bottom of his backpack.
He was concentrating really hard on that game, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth. I always thought that it was kind of cute seeing the little pink stub poke its way out of the Latino's mouth. Heck, it was adorable. Carlos had to be the cutest guy ever, he always knew how to make me smile, and I may or may not have had an insane crush on my tan bandmate. Realizing I was staring at him, I blushed and turned my gaze back out the window for a few more minutes, only turning when I heard noises.
"Ugh, Pikachu, stop dying!" the Latino exclaimed semi-randomly, causing the three of us to laugh.
"Carlos, they 'faint', they don't die," Kendall commented on the tan boy's mistake, putting up air quotes while saying faint, and Carlos just gave him a quick glance before turning back to the game.
"Saying that they died is easier and more fun to yell," he shot back, just receiving another bout of laughter from the rest of the group. None of us really talked for another little while after that, and I returned to looking out the window at the fields of yellowish-green that swayed back and forth in the wind. I noticed the nice, neat rows that the stalks were laid out in, the farmland divided into big, straight squares of dirt and plants. Occasionally, the corn would cut away and show large plots of smaller plants (which I assumed were soybeans), and for some reason I felt my lips turn downward whenever the tall plants disappeared to be replaced by almost pitifully small ones.
About half an hour later, Kendall asked if anyone wanted to play a quick game of Euchre. James and I were both mediocre at the card game, since I was told to "learn by watching" instead of being taught. Carlos was an absolute monster at the game, and that's why I always chose him for partner. We sat around the tour bus' table, the tan boy across from me shuffling and dealing. As soon as the last card hit the table, however, we heard a series of small explosions and a final, loud bang coming from the forward end of the bus. All four of us looked toward the front to see black smoke billowing from the hood of the bus outside the windshield.
The large vehicle pulled over to the side of the road, finally stopping after about two hundred extra feet of rolling. There were more loud sounds, screeching brakes and a slamming car door that followed and out of nowhere Gustavo stomped his way loudly up the steps and into our current living space. Carlos waved happily, his smile making my heart flutter a bit, and Gustavo glared in return, causing the tan boy's hand to quickly fall back down.
"Dogs! What the hell did you do to your bus?" he accused, and I shrank back at the loud voice. James placed a hand on my shoulder, looking at me, then turned back to look at the large man.
"What could you possibly be talking about?" Kendall replied with a sly wink and smirk in the director's direction. "Could you possibly be referring to that loud bunch of cracks and snaps that we had nothing to do with?"
"Your bus. It's broken. You idiots had to be involved somehow," he boomed angrily, but Kendall's grin didn't fade. "So one of you has to fix this. Now."
"Well guys, we figured out what those noises were," the blond joked, causing Gustavo to turn red in annoyance and anger. Noticing the look on his face, Kendall sighed. "Well, a bus and a car can't be too different, and since I'm the one always working on the Big-Time-Rush-Mobile, I guess I'll give it a try."
"I'll help you out Kenny," James chimed in with a smile, standing, clapping a hand on his best friend's back and earning the Knight family trademarked grin in response. The taller brunet turned to me and Carlos with a look that asked if we were helping out as well, but before I could open my mouth, Carlos responded for both of us.
"Logie and I are gonna go on an adventure, we'll be back in a bit!" he happily chirped, grabbing my hand and tugging me off the bus. The skin on skin contact made my face turn hot and probably flush bright red.
"Carlos, I never agreed to this!"
"You didn't disagree either."
Jumping down the three short steps, he landed on the soft dark-greenish grass and took a deep breath. Watching him, I mimicked the action and got a whiff of the scent of hundreds of corn stalks mixed with fresh air. That was probably the thing I missed most while in LA: the pollution free air. It just smelled so beautiful here, like nature, plants and happiness instead of hydrogen sulfide, petroleum, and death.
"It's really pretty out here, huh Logie?" the tan boy next to me asked, turning to me and bouncing excitedly on his heels.
"Yeah, it is. I miss the calm of Minnesota when I see something like this," I returned with a saddened sigh. Carlos frowned, but his lips turned back up when he grabbed my hand again and pulled me into the cornfield. "Carlos, what are you doing?" I spouted off hastily, trying to keep myself from falling as he ran and dragged me along between the six-foot tall stalks. Stopping, he turned his head and smiled, his pearly white teeth lighting up brilliantly in the filtered light from above and contrasting heavily with his shadowed tan face.
"I told them that we were going on an adventure. And we are!" His voice was bubbling with enthusiasm as he spoke, smiling brightly. It was simply adorable. It always was adorable. Every time he smiled and spoke like that, I couldn't help but grin back; his happiness was contagious. He took a hold of my hand again and began to run, laughing giddily as he guided me through the shadows of the tall plants. I joined in his laughter, shutting my eyes and letting him pull me along with him as we twisted and turned through the corn.
After what felt like forever, we stopped running somewhat abruptly. I reopened my eyes, and looked around, seeing nothing around but six-foot tall stalks. Other than the huge boulder that we were standing next to. Carlos ran his fingers along the side of the rock for a couple seconds before placing both hands on a flat portion and jumping, hoisting himself onto it. I was imagining all the ways that the boulder could have possibly gotten there when a tan hand reached down in front of me. Looking up, I found him staring me in the eyes, his own dark brown orbs mesmerizing.
"Coming up?" he asked, tilting his head to the side like a curious little puppy. The corners of my lips turned up as I imagined two little black dog ears springing out of his raven locks, but I quickly shook the idea away, grasping the offered hand. He tried to pull my body up on top of the rock, and I watched as all the muscles in his arms and upper chest flexed to support my weight. "Logie, you have do something to help or you're not getting up here," he wheezed as he attempted to get me up there alone. I snapped back to reality, bracing my legs against the rock and pushing myself up. It was strangely flat on top, almost like a miniature mesa.
"Sorry Carlitos. Can you forgive me?" I looked at him sadly and he just smiled back.
"It's okay Logie, I still love you." He reached his right arm over my shoulders and gave me a pat on my chest with his other hand. My face turned a bit pink, but it faded away when I turned to look around us. We were on a stone island in the middle of a sea of plant life. The vast green surrounded us, stretching to the horizon almost all the way around us. The only other island was the faint gleam of the metal tour bus far in the distance. I saw small figures moving around in front of it, realizing that Kendall, James and Gustavo had no idea where we were right now.
"So Logie, how do you like the destination of our little adventure?" I turned back to my Latino friend. He still had an arm around my shoulders, but he was motioning with his eyes for us to sit down. I took his advice and moved to the center of the boulder to sit, him following my example.
"It's very nice Carlos, how did you know this thing was here?"
"I didn't. I just picked a direction and ran, and we eventually just ran into it." I laughed at the statement, but then saw the deadpan look on his face, which confused me. "I'm serious, I actually ran into the rock, see?" He held up his left arm and I took in the dark spot that was quickly turning blackish-blue on his forearm.
"O-oh my God, Carlos, a-are you okay?" I struggled to get the words out, grabbing onto his tan skin and pulling the limb towards me. I used all of my doctor experience to judge the damage. It wasn't grievous, but it was a pretty serious bruise. What he needed was ice, but there was no ice within a short distance, so I just nuzzled my face against the wound like a cat. I knew that it wouldn't actually help, but for some reason it just felt like the right thing to do. Like how when you're a little kid and you get hurt, you ask your mom to kiss it even though that won't make it any better. He chuckled at my actions.
"It's fine Logie," he smiled at me. "It's not the worst I've ever done, you know that. And I don't want to ruin our little adventure over a stupid blue spot." He tried to pull his arm away and I reluctantly let it go. We just continued to sit on the large gray stone, staying silent for a couple minutes and just enjoying a cool cross breeze as I looked out across the sea of swaying green plant life. The silence didn't last very long, because Carlos suddenly burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" I quirked my head to the side, a little confused. The Latino just grabbed his side and held up a finger to tell me to wait while his fit of laughter ended; it took a while, with him lying on his back laughing his head off for a reason I still hadn't ascertained. When he finally sat up, he looked me straight in the eyes, a smile still spread across his face.
"What're we sitting on?" He asked randomly. That confused me even more than I already was, but I just decided to play along.
"A big rock?"
"Exactly. That's what's funny. I remembered that one episode of iCarly where they had the train and they were all like 'Woo-woo, woo-woo!' and then Sam just yelled 'Now big rock!' and that rock fell down and crushed the train for no reason. It was on last night." Well, that explained his laughter. It really wasn't all that funny, but Carlos was the type to like random comedy. iCarly was his favorite show because of that, with their random dancing, random objects bursting into flames, and random guests. He also liked watching Sam beat up Freddie for some reason. "You don't think it's all that funny, do you?"
"What? Of course it's funny. It's hilar-"
"Logan, you don't have to lie just to make me happy. I'm a big boy now, not the same old seven year old who couldn't handle himself. Hell, I'm older than you are even and you treat me like I'm still a kid." He sighed loudly and turned his vision back towards the broken down bus in the far distance. I turned my head as well, staring off at the shining silver gleam. We sat in silence for a little longer before he broke it another time. "I just remembered another episode I saw in the hotel last night."
I raised an eyebrow at him, recalling the events of the night before. We had stayed in a not-very-luxurious hotel in Minneapolis, and it had been me and Carlos in one room with James and Kendall next door. We were all beat from the intense concert earlier that day, and I had walked into our room and fallen directly asleep the instant I touched my bed. He must have stayed up and watched some television. "What would that be?"
"It was the kissing episode." He got unusually quiet with the statement, and I noticed a twinge of pink adorning the sides of his face. His dark brown eyes were shifting back and forth, staring at the cold stone between us and an air of nervousness hung around his body. "And I just wanted to ask you- who was your first kiss?"
"My first? Well, you know Camille really likes kissing me…"
The inner edges of his eyebrows turned downward at the name. Just before we left she had ambushed me with what felt like hundreds of goodbye kisses and hugs while all of the other guys were nearby. I left the Palm Woods with a face absolutely covered in lipstick and a single dark mark on my neck. Camille knew that I was actually somewhat infatuated with my tan friend, and she agreed to be my cover. But she took massive advantage of being a cover. "Was she your first?" he asked, obvious disdain poking through the word "she".
"Actually, no, she wasn't," I replied, and I watched his previously stony expression grow softer.
"Oh, then who?"
"You remember that girl Catherine back in Minnesota?"
"Yeah, the one who you dated for almost six months and then she broke your heart. Remember, you spent almost a week afterwards coming to my house every day after school to cry on my shoulder." For some strange reason, he smiled at the memory, even though it wasn't a particularly good one. The only good part was that I got to spend pretty much a week in my best friend's arms.
"Well, that was kind of a moment of weakness. Anyways, she was actually my first kiss. It wasn't really all that romantic; I took her to a movie, then when we got back to her house she let me walk her up to her door, and then she just leaned up and kissed me… I didn't see the fireworks though. Not even a spark." I frowned, looking down at my feet and putting my hands against the cold stone. A tan hand landed on top of my own, and I looked up to see a sympathetic look on my friend's face.
"It's alright man, there's a special someone out there for everybody. Maybe you just haven't met them yet or realized who yours is." He smiled sadly, picking my hand up off the rock and rubbing it slowly with his. I looked into his eyes and saw a faint glimmer of hope for… something. That made me curious, so I decided to continue the conversation.
"So who was your first kiss?" He face adopted a somewhat nervous look, and he tried to laugh to keep me from noticing. The sound came out strained and somewhat raspy.
"Oh, well, you see… um… I don't want to bore you with details or anything."
"Carlos, I won't say anything negative. You know me, I'm not out to hurt anyone."
"Uh," he drawled, dragging out the single syllable. He was definitely nervous about something. It was as if he was debating something in his head, and I had a vague idea of what it might be.
"Carlos, bud, just say anything you want to. I'll listen." I spoke in a low whisper even though there was nobody around to eavesdrop. The Latino calmed down just a smidge, then looked me in the eyes. Taking a deep breath, he leaned forward a little.
"I haven't had my first kiss, and-"
"That's perfectly fine Carlos."
"Don't interrupt, it's rude. What I was saying was that I haven't had my first kiss, and I was kind of hoping that it would be with you. So I'm going to take my chances here." I didn't really know what he meant by the way he finished, but I realized when I felt a soft pair of lips brush across my own. My eyes widened, then slowly fluttered shut as I felt my best friend's mouth start to move, and I finally saw the mythical fireworks that everyone talks about. I moaned lowly into the kiss, starting to lean back to lie against the hard surface beneath me as he pushed himself forward on top of me. Our lips never separated, even during the movement.
I felt his mouth open a little wider, a tongue swiping across my lower lip. I granted him access, allowing the small muscle to slip between my lips and swirl with my own. His tongue quickly went on an adventure of its own, mapping out every single crevice and nook in my mouth, and I moaned loudly when it hit a particularly sensitive spot. We spent all of two minutes with him lying pretty much on top of me as our mouths moved in-sync, only separating when we felt our lungs starting to shrivel and die. His face hovered a few inches above my own, his warm, panted breaths ghosting over my currently sensitive lips. I grinned widely at him.
"Carlos…"
"Did it work?"
I grabbed onto the back of his neck with my left hand. "You tell me," I replied happily, pulling his lips back down to my own, this time hearing him moaning into the lip lock. Upon separating, he collapsed down onto the rock next to me, pulling his body right up next to my own. He ran a hand through my somewhat messy hair, and placed his mouth right up next to my ear.
"I love you Logan, and it hurts a bit to see you with Camille almost every day. I just knew that when I got you alone I would have to try this. It was my only chance."
"Well I think you succeeded in getting me away from her."
"Really?"
"In truth, she never actually had me in the first place. I've just been too nervous to do what you just did." We both stood from our laying positions and I quickly snaked my arms around his neck as his wrapped around my waist. I placed my head down in the crook of his neck, feeling his face land in my hair.
"You're not just lying to make me feel good, are you? I'm not-"
"I know you're not seven Carlos, and I'm definitely not lying. This is the best I've felt in ages, and I won't do anything to hurt you. Ever. I love you." I tilted my head up to look him in the eyes, and he leaned in to place one more kiss on my lips.
"Wonderful."
We spent about half an hour more just standing in each other's arms on the rock and gazing out across the sea of green. It was then that we decided to head back to the tour bus. This time, I led the way, interlacing my fingers with his and leading him between the six-foot tall corn plants. We ran and laughed the whole way back, arriving just in time to see an oil stained James and Kendall closing the hood of the bus. The blond smiled at us when he noticed our interlocked fingers, nudging the tall brunet and motioning towards it with his eyes.
"So I see that your adventure went over well, huh guys?" he asked with a grin. Carlos glanced over at me before responding, a smile etched across his face.
"I don't think it could have gone any better." We all stood silently for a minute longer before some loud clapping off to the side drew our attention. We looked over to see Gustavo with a smug smirk on his face.
"Well this is all fine and dandy, but we have a concert to put on and since you dogs took so long fixing this damn bus, we may be late to Cincinatti. Now get on the bus and let's get going!"
All four of us laughed as the large man stomped off to his car, getting in and slamming the door. Carlos opened the door to the tour bus, allowing Kendall and James to get on. He stopped me just before my foot landed on the first step, taking me into his arms, holding the back of my neck, and bringing me into one more private kiss. Or at least, what we thought was private, hearing laughter from the top of the steps. I turned to glare at the two taller teens who were spying on us, seeing their faces turn red and disappear over the edge of the railing. My eyes returned to Carlos', and he just chuckled before planting his lips quickly on mine once again. When he pulled away, he whispered one last thing into my ear.
"This is the start of something beautiful. And to think it all came about because of a rock and some corn."
A/N: Hooray for random story ideas while in the car. Now I haven't forgotten about the other two of course, but this one was just a kind of spur of the moment thing. I basically just looked out the car window, saw a huge rock in the center of a cornfield, and thought, "Wow, that's the perfect place to take someone that you care about. Story time!" Anyways, I'll make sure to update my multi-chapter stories soon, but until next time, please review and please have a great time doing whatever it is you do!