I'll Hold My Breath
a/n: Since I'm contributing to some drabble and fic fest stuff, I thought I'd start putting together here all my drabbles, which all happen to be a good deal longer than I guess a drabble should be? Anyway, no theme between them, pairings or otherwise. I don't own BTR.
First drabble is for a prompt from liliako on LJ that said "OT4 fluff where the boys find/have to take care of a basket of kittens."
…
And You Are Soft and Fuzzy
Logan heard them before he saw them. Little mewls and scritches on cardboard as James walked into the apartment with a box in his arms, already looking guilty. Logan's eyes widened as he tossed aside this month's issue of Future Doctor, panicked, and sprung to his feet, running to stop James from coming too far in.
"No... no, no, no, no, no! James! You know better!" He scolded, pushing the purring box against James' chest.
"But Logan!"
"No!" he insisted, despite the way James' bottom lip jutted out and his eyes sparkled with the beginnings of carefully-trained fake tears. "Take that back where you got it quick before Carlos—"
Too late. In a short thunder of footsteps, Carlos rounded into the living room from the hallway, chin raised and eyes sharp like he could smell the intruding force. It was like he had a sixth sense. Logan tried to step in front of James and cover the box, but Carlos' head snapped toward them like a prowling animal. Logan took a wide stance, arms spread before James, trying to keep himself as a wall between the box and Carlos. If Carlos actually got to the box's contents, there was no going back. "Carlos, no, you stay right there, you know we can't—"
"Kittens!" Carlos exploded, his face bursting into a grin as he leapt in the air a moment before lurching forward, ducking under Logan's arm and gazing excitedly into the box. Logan sighed, dropping his arms and turning to look in the box with Carlos, but not before giving James a very stern look. "Aww! They're so cute! Where'd they come from?" Carlos already had one of the kittens out of the box, a tiny calico which was now tucked under his chin, mewling and whining and getting its baby claws stuck in Carlos' shirt.
James shouldered past Logan, satisfied now that the kittens could stay since the worst was over. Logan, however, groaned, setting his jaw as he glanced down the hallway, wondering where Kendall was to come fix this. "Someone just left them outside the Palmwoods. How sick is that?" James was saying, taking two more kittens out of the box and cradling one next to his chest with a huge smile on his face as the second climbed up his sleeve. Logan should have fought more, but the way James didn't even flinch when the tiny white kitten rubbed against his hair made his shoulders slump.
He caved. Logan always caved. He joined Carlos and James at the coffee table and picked up a kitten of his own, the orange tabby crying loud as he scratched under its chin. Okay, fine, so it was kind of adorable. And it's not like Logan was capable of making James take them back outside.
Carlos dropped down on the couch, setting his kitten on the cushion next to him and began rubbing its belly, little legs wrapping around his finger and tiny teeth gnawing mercilessly at him. "Guys, have you ever seen anything so cute? I love kittens…"
"We know," James and Logan said in unison, and although Logan tried to sound exasperated with this, he couldn't help smiling as he leaned down to nuzzle his nose against the kitten's little one. Who doesn't smile when they're playing with kittens?
"Woah, what is going on?" Logan looked up from the tabby in his hand to Kendall, standing near the dining table with a worried frown. When no one answered, he tilted his head suspiciously and pointed at the creature Logan was holding. "Are those kittens?"
As Logan gave Kendall a look—because, seriously, what did they look like? Bears?—James just nodded enthusiastically and reached into the box to hand Kendall the fifth and final kitten. "I found them. And now we—" he gestured to the four of them with the kitten in his hands, "—are going to be their new mommies!" James seemed entirely too excited about being a mommy.
Kendall's eyes blew wide and he tried handing his kitten back to James, but James offered no assistance, forcing Kendall to hold onto it. "Oh, no. No, we are not being anyone's mommies! Logan! Help me out here!"
Logan looked up from the kitten cradled against his chest in surprise at being called out. He should have expected it. He was supposed to be the reasonable one, after all. But… the things were just so darn cute… He gave Kendall a sheepish, apologetic smile as he held the kitten up next to his face, directing it's little, helpless mews at him.
"Oh, no! Baby Logan!" Carlos exclaimed, falling to his knees and scrambling to catch the kitten that had apparently toppled off the couch and tried to make an escape across the floor.
Logan spun around, making a face at Carlos. "What did you just call that?"
Carlos, having caught the animal, held it under his chin, scratching it behind the ears with a wide grin. "Baby Logan!" he repeated proudly. Then nodded at the kitten Logan had. "And that's Baby James." Then towards the two on James, "And Baby Carlos and Baby Kendall." His proud smile held true while Kendall, James, and Logan just sort of stared with their heads tilted confusedly. It was nice of Carlos to name the kittens after them, but… well, it was also sort of weird. Not to mention…
"Carlos, there are five kittens," Kendall finally explained, holding up the kitten in his hand unenthusiastically. He was definitely not pleased with this whole situation.
"Oh," Carlos said, his grin falling. It returned quickly, though, and he perked up. "That one's Spider-Man!"
Logan frowned. Because that made sense. Of course, how could they forget the fifth member of BTR, Spider-Man?
"Guys," James said, apparently unfazed by the addition of a fictional superhero to their group. "I think Baby Carlos is hungry." He was holding both kittens in his arms now and making little kisses at them both. Even Kendall seemed to be warming up to Spider-Man now, holding him a little closer and running his thumb across its back to ease out little purrs that sounded like marbles on a hardwood floor.
A low gurgle from the floor caused Logan to look back at Carlos, who in turn looked at his stomach. "I think Big Carlos is hungry, too," he said, laughing, and offered a hand to help Carlos up.
Fifteen minutes later, Carlos had a plate of corndogs and Babies Carlos, Kendall, Logan, James, and Spider-Man had a bowl of warm milk and a couple slices of turkey lunch meat. The boys sat together on the couch watching their newest sources of responsibility carefully to make sure none got away or got stuck under the couch or crawled into the dishwasher… or worse. They didn't need a repeat of Sparky.
Kendall took a deep breath before leaning forward to look past Logan to Carlos on his other side. "You know what I'm going to say, Carlos." Carlos dipped his head a little, and then pulled his knees up to his chin, refusing to look at Kendall. Logan sighed a little as he put his arm around Carlos' shoulders, turning to raise his eyebrows at Kendall. Of course he knew they couldn't keep the kittens, but they didn't need to get rid of them so soon, did they? He tried to ask that of Kendall with just a look, really unprepared to have Carlos burst into tears today. Kendall, however, purposefully ignored Logan's stare and continued. "We'll find them homes that aren't ours."
"Home!" Carlos practically interrupted, head snapping to look determinedly at Kendall. "One home. You can't split them up! They belong together. They're brothers."
Logan wanted to tell Carlos that he was pretty sure at least Baby James was a girl, but he got Carlos' point. They would never split up, so why would they force that on their kitten counterparts? And Spider-Man? He smiled at Kendall, knowing there was no way the fierce leader would try and fight that argument. Even if he wanted to, he'd certainly lose. As it was, Kendall just shook his head and smiled, leaning back against the couch to watch the kittens again.
On Kendall's other side, James was sort of glaring at him. "They're my kittens," he muttered, crossing his arms. "I'm the one who found them." He slumped a little, pouting like a grounded child with his arms crossed across his chest like that. Logan raised his eyebrows, a little surprised. He hadn't thought anyone would throw more of a fit than Carlos, but James was always ultra-dramatic.
"James," Kendall sighed, throwing his head back and sounding entirely like he did not want to do this right now. "You know my mom would end up being the one to take care of them. And besides!" he continued quickly when James sat up and opened his mouth to protest. "What time do you actually have for kittens? When you're not at the studio or at school, you're flirting or getting engaged or whatever you do with girls anymore. Do you really think you'd have time to play with them?" James struggled with himself a few moments and finally threw himself back against the couch with his arms crossed again. Still, Kendall added, "And you know kittens turn into cats, right?"
"I know," James snapped. Even though Logan was pretty sure there was a flash over James' face that said he hadn't thought about that.
Even Kendall wasn't heartless, though, and he put his hand on James' shoulder, squeezing it gently. "We'll find them somewhere nice, promise. A good home. Singular." He added the last word with a smile at Carlos, who reached across Logan and Kendall, practically laying across Logan's lap, to pat James' knee understandingly.
"Who would take five kittens, though?" Logan asked Kendall quietly, giving him a worried look.
Kendall was quiet for a few moments, thinking as he watched the little animals tear the lunchmeat apart between them. "I think I have an idea…"
…
Buddha Bob was more than willing to take Baby BTR plus Spider-Man, and, upon Carlos' serious request, agreed to leave their names the same. James nearly wouldn't let go of the box, and Logan was pretty sure that this time the glossiness in his eyes was actual tears, but he couldn't be sure. Carlos surprisingly seemed to take the separation better than James, who had to be practically dragged back upstairs.
Once back in the apartment, Kendall collapsed on the couch, exhausted, and Carlos skipped after Logan into the kitchen as he went to clean the dishes the kittens had eaten off of. James just sulked on the other side of the counter.
"Aww, it's okay, James," Carlos offered, touching the other boy's hand. "Buddha Bob said we could visit them whenever we want, right?"
James muttered an acknowledgement, but his pout didn't disappear. James didn't like having his things taken away, and Logan figured it would be awhile before he got over this particular loss. Still, he rolled his eyes, loading the plate and bowl into the dishwasher and started back into the living room.
Kendall was staring at the spot on the other side of the coffee table with a weird look on his face. Logan followed his line of sight to find… well, floor, then looked back at Kendall before sitting next to him on the couch. "What's up?" he asked, touching his friend's knee briefly.
Kendall was hesitant to reply, as though he didn't really want to, but he finally sighed. "I… think I sort of miss Baby Kendall. And Baby Logan and Baby Carlos and Baby James. And Spider-Man."
Out of nowhere, Carlos launched over the back of the couch to Kendall's other side, wrapping around his arm tight. "You loved them! You big softie!" he teased, poking Kendall in the cheek.
James was suddenly on Logan's other side with his arm over the back of the couch behind him, and Logan grinned at him, then back at Kendall and Carlos, feeling more warmth off them than had come from snuggling close to the kittens.
"Well, hey," Logan offered. "You've got the real Logan, James, and Carlos right here. And we have the real Kendall."
"But not the real Spider-Man," Kendall cut in with a cockily raised eyebrow.
Logan chuckled and shook his head, leaning back against James' arm. Carlos laid his head against Kendall's arm, keeping a hold on him as he did so. "I'd take the real Kendall and Logan and James over kittens any day, though," he said, a smile practically showing through his tone alone. Logan silently agreed, directing a smile at James, who seemed to be brightening up a little with the closeness of his friends. Kittens were great, but nothing would ever beat this sort of love.