OMWGNOTE: Womp hello! If you're reading this for the first time, then consider yourself lucky because this is the new-and-improved Monster! If you're re-reading this, then I hope you enjoy the changes! Most of it is grammatical stuff and general improvements in the quality of the writing. I haven't decided if there are going to be actual story line changes since I haven't really edited the entire story yet. But stay tuned and you'll find out!

HUGE thank yous to jdmazz for being wonderful and beta-ing this for me, to Miss Fenway for being ever-supportive of anything I do, and to EpicInTheLibrary for having so much faith in this story it's actually sometimes overwhelming. Also a shout-out to my tumblr buds, who encouraged the re-write of this story.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Big Time Rush or any characters affiliated with the show. Richard Rolle, Kurt & Shane Diamond, and The Stray are entirely my own creations (ahem especially Shane Diamond because I introduced him to this fandom).

It had been a long day.

Although dead tired from all of the work Gustavo had put them through, Kendall, James, Carlos and Logan were no strangers to long days of hard work. Their demo tracks had gotten approved, and now Gustavo was working them harder than ever to make the first album perfect. They had spent hours recording the same song over and over again, working out the harmonies and deciding who sounded best on which verse and whose voice should be the loudest during the chorus. All of this had gone on with little to no break time, and after twelve hours cramped up in the studio, Gustavo had finally let them go at eight-thirty.

The four boys had left the studio tired, irritated, but most importantly, with the appetites of fully grown elephants.

There's really only one place they went when they were as hungry as they were. As they all piled into Logan's car—the first to get his license, he was deemed the chauffeur of the group—they didn't even have to speak to know where they were going. Their stomachs were only growling in anticipation as they got off the exit that would take them to the absolute best fast food in all of Los Angeles.

Five Guys, of course.

Five Guys was a fast food joint located in a quiet L.A. plaza, only a few small stores being its neighbors. Across the parking lot sat an assortment of storage lockers and empty warehouses. Five Guys was the only place in the entire plaza that was even remotely busy, and with an In-N-Out right down the road, it usually wasn't bustling with people.

From Rocque Records, it was a fifteen minute drive. And even though it was closer to the studio than the Palm Woods was, their hunger was something they couldn't put on hold.

"Logan," Kendall said melodramatically, clutching his stomach. "Can you please drive faster? I'm starving." The request was almost pointless, since Logan, ever-cautious, was always one to go the speed limit. Although he knew he wouldn't get busted for going a few miles over the posted limit, he always became anxious when he did.

"Will you shut up?" He growled, never taking his eyes off the road. "I'm going faster than I'm supposed to be right now, so stop whining and deal with it." Logan usually only got this harsh when he was irritable, and after the long day they've had combined with his hunger, he was definitely on edge.

Thankfully, Kendall didn't protest any further, nor did the other boys in the car. Before they knew it, though, they were pulling into the Five Guys parking lot. Once Logan's car was still, Kendall and James were already shooting out of the car and they quickly walked inside the eatery. After chuckling at their two friends' eagerness, Carlos and Logan made their way inside.

By the time Carlos and Logan had gotten inside, they could see the other half of Big Time Rush already at the counter, wallets out and giving the employees at the counter their orders. The smell of pure grease assaulted Carlos and Logan's senses, and instead of being disgusted by it, it only made them hungrier. They quickly got into line behind their other two friends, eager to order.

Eventually, all four of them retrieved their food and sat down at an empty table, Carlos and Logan on one side and James and Kendall on the other. They didn't even bother to speak; instead, they began indulging themselves in greasy goodness.

After half of all of their burgers were gone and most of their French fries, they were finally satisfied enough to talk. It was mostly whines about how late Gustavo had kept them and how hard he had worked them, each of them throwing in something they had found particularly horrible about the day. It was always good to vent after tiring work days, and even when it seemed they had run out of things to complain about, one of them would bring up something that would set off a chain of more agonizing memories from the day.

It was quiet between their horror stories from work, aside from the groans of tasting particularly delicious food. They continued to eat through their on-and-off conversation, though with each bite, their food became less and less appealing. Although Five Guys was delicious and made some of the best burgers and fries known to man, too much of it makes a person sick. Having it more than once a month can cause heart attacks.

It was Logan who gave in first. He dropped the last portion of his burger and stared at his oily fingers, repulsion evident on his face as he wiped away the greasy residue. The others continued to eat, but not for long. Carlos, despite chattering about how good the food was in between complaints about the work day, was the next to put the remaining quarter of his burger down and slump, completely full, into his seat. However, this didn't stop him from staring longingly at the rest of his burger, wishing he had the will power to eat it. Two minutes after Carlos gave up, Kendall had surrendered to his protesting stomach, pushing the food away from him and looking away so that he wouldn't get sick. James was the only one who remained eating, and it didn't go unnoticed.

Kendall glanced at his best friend.

"Holy crap," He said, watching in amazement as James completely finished his burger. "I've never seen anyone finish a Five Guys burger before. You're seriously talented, man."

At this, James smiled proudly. And although he was beaming on the outside, his insides were churning. It was seriously unsettling, and James absolutely hated to vomit. He let out a large burp, desperately hoping it would help him, but it didn't. As if to torture him further, he could feel his dinner beginning to leave his stomach.

On cue, Carlos said, "I'm surprised he hasn't upchucked yet," and the three guys laughed. However, James was far from laughing. In fact, he put his hand to his mouth, and without another word, rushed out of the restaurant. This only made Carlos, Kendall, and Logan laugh harder.

"Dude, you spoke too soon!" said Logan in between laughs. "I've never seen James run so fast!" They all continued to laugh at the misfortune of their friend, but outdoors, James wasn't laughing at all.

Actually, he was being re-introduced to his dinner, coughing it up into the foliage surrounding the area. It was disgusting. James absolutely loathed throwing up, and it was rare for him to do so since he had a very good immune system. He can only remember throwing up twice in his entire lifetime, so throwing up now is especially gross.

After retching up what he hoped to be the last of the food he'd just consumed, he straightened himself from the hunched position he was in. Smoothing his hair, he took in his surrounding area.

For Los Angeles, Five Guys was in a fairly remote location. James could see a thrift store, a pawn shop, and a music store, but that was it. With the exception of Five Guys, all of the stores closed at nine. Knowing the closing times because he had been to the plaza so many times, James pulled out his phone and noted it was a quarter past closing for the surrounding stores. He slipped his cellular back into his pocket, turning his attention away from the various shops and turning towards the parking lot. He recognized Logan's car, and a few others that he assumed belonged to either the employees or customers currently in the restaurant. His eyes then wandered to the warehouses and storage lockers across the street.

He didn't know why, but there was just something about these buildings that made him cringe every time he and the guys came here. He supposed he had watched too many crime and murder shows involving brutal murders in warehouses or frozen corpses stored in the lockers. Just thinking about all of the cases he'd seen involving warehouses and storage lockers made a sense of uneasiness wash over him.

Feeling panicked and a little ridiculous, James turned back to the restaurant and hurried inside. However, in his sudden desire to get away from what was spooking him so, he seemed to forget why he had went outside in the first place. The minute he opened the door, the smell of grease hit him like a bullet, making his stomach lurch. Kendall, Carlos and Logan all saw James' expression and watched in amusement as he clamped his hand to his mouth again and ran back outside.

James found himself at the bushes again, bile burning his throat as he vomited. He was clutching his stomach, hoping that was the absolute last of whatever he had left in his body. He stood straight again, self-consciously wiping his mouth on his sleeve to get rid of the throw up or whatever he could feel there. As he backed away from the bushes, choosing not to look what he had just produced, he noticed something—or rather, someone—that he had not seen just thirty seconds ago.

The man must have just arrived here, because there was certainly no one there when James had first come out to throw up. The man was standing around six sidewalk-blocks away from James, not making eye contact with him. He seemed to be waiting for something, but James wasn't sure. He was really just standing in front of the fast food joint with his hands in the pockets of his large coat.

James decided not to assume things about what the man was doing here, because as he had told his little brother many times, "When you assume, you make an ass out of 'u' and 'me.'" Shane had always gotten angry at James for saying this to him, but it was a true statement and a good life lesson to not judge people by how they appear. Although the man appeared to be some sort of drug dealer judging by the bulk in his jacket, James washed away all presumptions of the man and came to the conclusion to ignore him.

Instead, James resolved to playing Monopoly on his phone. Although it was a four hour game with other people, playing against a computer was much easier. James always won his monopoly games, but that was partly because he always put the computer on the easiest setting.

He was still submerged in playing the cell phone version of the board game when he heard the door chime behind him. He turned around, hoping that the mysterious man had gone inside, but he instead saw someone coming out of the restaurant. And this was no stranger; this was his best friend.

James watched as Kendall walked toward him, a small smirk tugging at his lips. Kendall was always smirking; it was practically his default expression.

"Hey," Kendall said when he reached James, looking James up and down as if he were checking him out.

"How you doin'?" He asked flirtatiously. They both laughed, knowing that Kendall was only joking. They'd always acted like this towards each other, starting when they were fourteen.

"Well, you know," said James, folding his arms over his chest, "aside from throwing up my dinner twice, I'd say I'm doing okay."

"Oh really?" Kendall asked skeptically, holding something behind his back. James instantly became very suspicious and very afraid, knowing perfectly well what his best friend was capable of.

"How you doin' now?" Kendall asked in the same tone, and revealed what he had behind his back: a Five Guys French fry.

He waved it menacingly in front of James' face, and James eyes followed it, trying to hold his breath. However, Kendall would not be having James ruining his master plan. Quickly, he ran behind James, covering the taller boy's mouth with his hand and putting the French fry under his nose. James hadn't gotten the chance to breathe before this happened, and now his lungs were burning.

He bit Kendall's hand, desperately hoping he would release his grip on James' mouth so he could run away, but apparently Kendall had a high tolerance for biting, because he didn't let go. James really had no choice but to breathe from his nose now, and he instantly regretted it.

His stomach flipped again, and Kendall quickly removed his hand as James bolted for the bushes. Laughing, he popped the offending fry into his mouth.

It's not that Kendall was mean and liked seeing his friend throw up—though it was slightly hilarious how violently James has reacted to a single French fry—he was simply getting payback for what James had done to him when they were seven years old.

One day in June, Kendall had been feeling extremely sick. He was disappointed because he had really wanted to go play hockey in the street with James because it was such a nice day. Kendall had had to cancel their plans, but James, being the good 'bestest friend' that he is, went over to Kendall's house instead to give him some company. He didn't care if this caused him to get sick as well, but he knew he was probably safe because his immune system was so strong, even at such a young age.

A few minutes after James had gotten there—and had a thorough discussion with Knedall about Power Rangers—Mrs. Knight had decided that it was time for Kendall to take his medicine. She had her husband pick up some orange-flavored children's Motrin before he left for work, and was eager to see how it worked on Kendall. No one knew why, but Mrs. Knight absolutely loved it when he kids were stick. For her, it was an opportunity to get out her big spoon and nurse her babies back to health.

However, all didn't go according to plan. The Motrin reeked of citrus, and Kendall had to plug his nose just to get it into his mouth. Even then, there was the strong after-taste of the medicine, and he felt worse than he did before he had taken it. Five minutes later, Kendall had produced an orange mess on the floor. After that, James fled from Kendall's bedside and went home to watch more television.

Kendall hadn't been able to eat oranges since, or even anything citrus, but he had recovered from his cold a few days after the incident. However, Kendall was the complete opposite of James. He was one who would catch absolutely any and every virus that was going around, and thus, a month later, he was on bed rest with a stomach flu.

James, being the good friend he is, visited Kendall yet again. Kendall had been laying in his bed, James sitting next to him in a chair they discussed a recent episode of Hey Arnold! that had aired the night before. However, James had something devious and sort of mean planned, but he felt that Kendall deserved what was coming; after all, Kendall didbreak James' favorite hockey stick two weeks before, and revenge is a little twisted for seven year olds.

James' master plan was quite simple, really. In his backpack, along with his Power Rangers action figures, was a single orange.

Of course Kendall didn't know this, and James put his acting skills to the test. He pretended as though he wasn't secretly planning for Kendall's barf fest, and Kendall went along with everything. When Kendall had been expecting for James to pull out his last action figure, instead James had pulled out his orange and began peeling it.

Kendall threw up several times that day.

Now that James was throwing up, courtesy of Kendall, the blonde didn't feel that bad. His revenge plan, nine years in the making, had finally been put into action and justice had finally been served.

Apparently, however, James seemed to have forgotten the Power Ranger/orange incident, because he came back from the bushes with an angry glare on his face.

"What the hell was that for?" he demanded, wiping his mouth yet again.

Kendall just smirked. "I'll give you a hint: orange incident of 2001."

Realization dawned on James' face, and Kendall continued, folding his arms over his chest.

"Payback is a bitch, isn't it?" The smirk was back on his face again.

"Way to keep a grudge for nine years," James muttered, glancing away from Kendall.

"Baby…"

The word was said under James' breath, but he knew Kendall would be able to hear it. A sideways glance at the blonde, who was looking mock appalled, proved him right.

"What did you just call me?" demanded Kendall, pushing James playfully.

James smirked back in response, getting closer to Kendall and standing to his full height so he was looking down at his blonde friend. He loved to revel in the fact that although he was a month younger than Kendall—the youngest in the group, actually—he was still the tallest of the four of them, and therefore had the most physical advantage.

"A baby," he said now, pushing Kendall back. "What are you going to do about it?"

He raised his eyebrows, awaiting Kendall's answer.

Said boy got an evil glint in his eyes. "Bring it, Diamond." He immediately tensed, like he would if he were back home in Minnesota at a hockey game.

James only smiled in response, mirroring Kendall's stance. "It's already been brought, Knight," he responded, and with a final smirk at each other, they lunged.

For any wandering passerby, it might have been a bit odd to see two sixteen-year-old boys wrestling in the parking lot of a Five Guys restaurant. To Kendall and James, and even Carlos and Logan, it was completely normal.

In fact, Carlos and Logan were extremely familiar with Kendall and James' wrestling habits. They even often placed bets on who would win; Carlos usually favored Kendall, and Logan was almost always rooting for James. The outcome of the small rough-housing matches was always a surprise, though; although James worked out every day and was more gifted in the physical department than Kendall was, the winner was also heavily based on what mood James was in. If he was feeling crappy, Kendall's victory was almost guaranteed.

Considering James had thrown up three times in the last twenty minutes, one would think that he'd be losing the battle to. Kendall. But seeing that he was currently pinning Kendall to the sidewalk beneath him, mood obviously wasn't a deciding factor today.

"Payback is a bitch, isn't it?" James said, smiling. Kendall only smirked up at him because he had a secret weapon hidden in his pants pocket.

Both Carlos and Logan knew about this secret weapon—which was only a French fry—and this began to make Logan feel very uneasy. Suddenly, he whipped out his phone and dialed James' number, ignoring Carlos' screams of, "You interfered! That's an automatic win for Kendall!"

James, who was still pinning Kendall to the ground, heard the muffled tones of his phone ringing coming from out of his pocket. He brought both of Kendall's arms into one of his hands and used the other to fetch his phone from his pocket. "Hello?" He spoke into the receiver, though he already knew from caller ID that Logan was on the other line.

"Get out of there, Kendall's got another French fry!" It took a moment for James to register what Logan meant, but when he did it was already too late. In his momentary distraction, Kendall had gotten one of his arms free from James' grip and was reaching into his pocket to retrieve what James was sure would make him throw up for the third time that night.

James quickly got off of Kendall and started to run. "Thanks for the heads-up!" The words were rushed as James ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket. James turned the corner and began running behind the restaurant, and although he was running as fast as he could, he could still hear Kendall's footsteps behind him.

James rounded another corner that brought him back around to the front of the eatery, running by the man who had caught his attention earlier. As he was passing the man, Kendall finally caught up with him. He tossed the fry in the nearest trash can before pausing to catch his breath. "I wasn't going to really make you throw up," He said in between breaths, placing his hands on his knees. "But since you made me run, now I really have to pee. Later, man." Kendall waved goodbye before quickly running inside and heading straight towards the men's restroom. James simply just chuckled before taking in his surroundings again.

He noticed now that the man was staring at him, and barely registered that the stranger was now walking toward him. Although he still didn't want to assume things, James was prepared to be offered some form of illegal substance as the man stuck his hand out. Only after a few seconds of simply staring at the man's extended hand did James realize he was supposed to shake hands with the stranger.

He did, and noticed that the suspicious man had an incredibly strong grip. He also noticed that the guy had his other hand shoved into his jacket, and for a brief moment James wondered what was beneath that coat. But before he could think too hard on it, a deep voice caught his attention.

"Hello," the man said, smiling in a way that made James feel queasy all over again. "I'm Richard Rolle, but you can just call me Rick."