Disclaimer: I don't own Big Time Rush.
Warning: Contains slash, fluff. James/Carlos.
Innocent Gestures
"And that's why Carlos is in love with James," finished Kendall.
"I'm not!" cried the accused the raven. He twiddled his thumbs timidly, the half-annoyed expression on his face turned down to the floor.
"It's probably more of an erratic obsession," corrected Logan.
"Erratic obsession?" repeated James with a tone so full of perplexity and sarcasm. "He spied on me—on my date. Date!" His words clearly shone with disapproval of Logan's theory; his friends' answers were definitely starting to irritate him.
Kendall was being ignorant and calling it a love fetish—which was disturbingly odd, even for Carlos' nature—and Logan was actually saying that it was an erratic obsession, and none of those where nowhere near correct, or at least, sensible. For the past two months Carlos had been pouncing the poor brunette; he also wanted to sleep with him, having the excuse of 'I'm lonely' whenever one hour before midnight came; and even having the nerve to interrupt conversations between James and a girl James liked. It was pretty psycho-ish, but Carlos refused to recognize that.
He admitted, though, that in the first week when Carlos had smiled shyly with admiring eyes and squeezed him to death, whispering cutesy things, the brunette was baffled, but in a good way. But now it was just plain creepy. There was no evidence to proclaim as to why Carlos was acting like this. It had all just come spontaneously. James had thought it would've ended by now, but when he woke up this morning at the smell of his favourite breakfast, which was made by Carlos, that just freaked him out—and the fact that he wasn't even sick scared him. Sure, it was thoughtful, but the spoon-feeding part had been really unnecessary.
Carlos was momentarily red, avoiding James' poisonous gaze.
They were all sitting on the orange couch at the moment, having a 'therapy session'. And Katie was the so-called therapist. The boys figured it would be too embarrassing if they asked Mrs. Knight. Mostly because she thought that Carlos' behaviour was normal—and it wasn't; if he'd swallowed three cups of sugar, sure, it would explain very well, but he hadn't. And it was getting worse every day. In the last few weeks his liking towards James had increased dramatically.
For example, he never left his side. Not even for the bathroom; Carlos would wait outside the door like a lost puppy, waiting for James' face to pop up in front of his waiting eyes. Even Kendall and Logan agreed that that was a tad bit bizarre. After this happened five or more times they decided to call Katie; she was woken up at ten in the morning, a sleepy frown on her lips when they begged her. Currently, her eyes were drooping, head lolling to the side, clipboard almost falling from her limp hands.
"Katie!" they all shouted, except for the raven. The girl woke up with a startle.
"This is not helping!" exclaimed James. Once that was said, a low rumbling sound snaked itself into his ear. He turned his head and looked to the side; Carlos was snoring softly, head on the brunette's tense shoulder. James' eyes grew big. "And Carlos is sleeping on me!"
Kendall waved a hand to conclude the obvious. "See? Totally in love." He smirked at the sleeping raven.
"Totally not!" protested Carlos, suddenly waking up. He hastily jumped to his feet and ran into his room.
"Okay, therapy over!" said Katie happily. "I'm going back to sleep. Wake me up again and you will all find yourselves in the middle of the sea when you wake up tomorrow," she threatened sweetly, and then disappeared.
The three remaining boys groaned. "Maybe Carlos has Hollywood Fever again?" said Logan, shrugging then at the odd faces James and Kendall gave him. "Just taking a guess," he added.
After that, the living room was muted, and different kinds of breathing could be heard. Then, the peculiar soft sounds were buried when Carlos' voice screamed James' name, the yell muffled slightly by the door. James groaned. "I'll go see what he wants." He really didn't, but he had to if he wanted to shut Carlos' absurd howls down.
He stood lazily, and walked towards his and the raven's room, not amused in any level. He opened the door and left it ajar just a smidge in case he got locked in. He certainly did not want to be trapped in there with Carlos during these moments. Once he was inside, his eyes searched the room carefully, but they found no small, 3-D human form. He took a step forward, slow and cautious, then two, three and then a final fourth. James chewed on his bottom lip, waiting for the raven to appear, but he never did. "Where–"
"James!" sang Carlos out of nowhere, his voice so agonizingly close.
"Carlos–" Before he had time to express his fear, James crashed to the floor. The wind was heavily knocked out of him as he felt Carlos' weight settle on him. "Dammit…" he mumbled painfully.
James was on his stomach on the floor while Carlos was on his stomach on James' back, face nuzzled into the crook of his friend's neck and arms wrapped tightly around the slim waist. "Hi, James," giggled Carlos as he tightened his grip.
The brunette's eyes rolled at the silly comment; he could feel the small boy's breath on his neck, hot and shallow on the surface of his tingling skin.
"Carlos," James' voice was strained as he repeated the raven's name for the third time, struggling to push down the aching feeling that seeped languidly into his muscles. "Seriously–"
On instinct, he cursed again and quickly made a big effort, flipping their positions. It was a rushed moment, and he felt his muscles relax abruptly; the pain promptly settled down, then faded. Now that James was on top of Carlos, and was no longer focusing on his past pain, he could feel the raven's heartbeat instantly flutter, pulsate fast, then return to normal; James' did the same, but it never ceased to thump at a fast pace. Carlos smiled, a simple smile that disguised his craziness as he gradually wrapped his arms around James' neck, slightly bringing the brunette's head down; the tall boy's face went instantly hot at this. James, heavily trying to control himself, tried to move, but his body was frozen in place. Carlos' big eyes were suddenly alluring. His lips looked plump and soft—and if it wasn't for Kendall and Logan coming in at that second without a warning, he would've almost kissed the boy.
"Kendall, I think you were right…" whispered Logan, dumbfounded as he stared at the position the pair was in.
Kendall's eyebrows rose, but before he could say anything there was a knock on the door. He rubbed his eyes, as if making sure he was still in reality, and walked out and opened the entrance door, revealing Jo with a guilty smile. Meanwhile, James, Logan and Carlos settled themselves in the living room. James' face was a slight red as he came out of his room, whereas Carlos returned back to his unstable joy, hair messed up a bit.
"I need your help," said Jo sheepishly; she waved to the boys behind Kendall, acknowledging their presence.
"With what?" questioned Kendall.
"Promise you won't freak out?"
Kendall thought for a second, then nodded. "Promise."
Jo took a deep breath and let her words run slowly out of her mouth, "Jett and I–"
"Jett?" screamed Kendall.
"Kendall, you promised you wouldn't freak out." Jo gave him a serious look, which made the blonde pout angrily as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Now if I can continue… Jett and I were required to raise money for a charity by the people who are producing our movie. So…" She gave them all a genuine grin. "Can you guys help? We're kind of short of people…"
"We'll help," they all answered.
"As long as I don't get to see that bastard," added Kendall, mumbling.
Jo chuckled. "Don't worry, he won't be there. He said he was too busy," she put air quotes on the last word, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, there are four positions left. We need two people for the kissing booths and two people to bake, at least, seven batches of chocolate chip cookies," she explained.
Upon hearing some of his favourite words, Carlos licked his lips subconsciously and intertwined his fingers with James', then raised both their hands instantaneously. "James and I will make the cookies!" he declared gleefully, then beamed up at the brunette. But the expression James gave him next was one he had not been anticipating. The smile on his lips dissolved a bit, converting into an uncertain line.
"No way am I being set up with you," said James as he pulled his hand away. "Sorry, Carlos, but I don't want splinters in my eyes when you try to hug me." Then James smiled, as if he'd said nothing a second ago, and quickly pulled Logan in front of him, locking his hands on the fair-skinned boy's shoulders. "Logan and I will work on the kissing booths."
Carlos growled under his breath, and crossed his arms, but James ignored the sound.
Kendall sighed, and gave the disappointed raven a half-smile. "Alright, Carlos, let's get started, shall we?" He pushed the small boy into the kitchen, afraid that if he'd left him in the living room James might have ended up with broken bones; not from a fight, but a heavy pouncing that meant Carlos didn't want James to leave—without him.
Then Jo spoke again after awkwardly observing all of this, "Are you sure you don't have any problem?"
"Not at all, Jo," replied Kendall, winking at her.
"Great! Thanks again, guys!" She waved and before she left she added one more thing, "James, Logan, meet me at the park. You two, too," she pointed to Kendall and Carlos and then exited the apartment.
Once she was gone, Logan turned a light red and began stuttering, "I-I don't think I can do th–"
"Oh, don't be a baby. At least you get to kiss girls," said Kendall, throwing him a taunting smirk.
Logan then shook his head, going stiff. He gave a quirky grin, "I'll just stay here and watch TV," he mumbled timorously, "And–"
"It'll be fun," said James as he grabbed Logan by his back collar shirt, dragging him out.
Carlos, with a glum look, stared at the now closed door. Kendall, noticing this, grabbed a nearby spatula, and hit Carlos gently on the head with it.
"Ow!" yelped the raven, instinctively putting his hands on his head for protection.
Kendall grinned at that. "C'mon, dude, you gotta help me or we'll never get to the park."
Carlos' ears opened at this and he quickly recognized at what Kendall was trying to get at. He sighed sadly. "Can I borrow that spatula for a sec?"
"Uh, sure."
Carlos smiled devilishly and immediately thwacked the blonde on the head with the silver utensil.
"Ow!" Kendall winced; he heard Carlos laugh, then gave a painful smile, "Okay, I deserved that."
ooo
"I don't understand why you're so mopey about this," repeated James for the third time.
"Think about it, James. Kissing a lot of girls. They're all waiting in one line. Doesn't that seem rash?" wondered Logan, looking at the brunette anxiously.
"That's why it's called a kissing booth," said James, rolling his eyes to show how foolish his friend was being.
Having walked all the way, they finally arrived at the park and right away spotted the charity event. There were a lot of booths, but they noticed there weren't that many people. Puzzled about this, they decided to look for Jo. It wasn't necessary though; she was already walking towards them with a gentle smile that showed she really appreciated it that they had volunteered.
"Hey!" She waved and ran the last feet that closed their distances.
"Why isn't anyone here?" questioned Logan, looking around.
"Ah, there is." Jo clasped her hands together, and signaled towards the few people by the booths. "These are just the ones that are helping for set up, and they'll get involved, too. And now that you guys are here, all we need now is Kendall and Carlos and we can get started. " She unclasped her hands and urged for them to come. "I'll show you your places."
The booths were huge, but they were set up in different spots.
"I'll see you guys later."
They waved goodbye to her. Once Logan sat in his seat, he groaned. "This is too hasty, James–"
"Just relax, Logan, and have some fun for once," said James.
He left Logan pouting and walked towards his booth, sitting on the wooden seat. He was getting somewhat annoyed with Logan's protests, and in a very small part of his brain he admitted that maybe he should've gone with Carlos instead. But that meant extreme pouncing time, sing-songy sneaky attacks and weird helping acts; he didn't want to deal with that at the moment, so he settled for a calm feeling, glad his booth wasn't close to Logan's. And although he was beginning to relax, he just hoped Kendall was doing okay.
ooo
"Carlos, don't–! That's not–!"
However, it was too late. Kendall watched, anguish rapidly washing over him, as the raven poured the whole bag of salt into the mix. It wouldn't have been a huge problem if only this wasn't their fifth time trying to make the chocolate chip cookies. It was ridiculous. Salt wasn't the worst, though. Every time Kendall had turned around so he could look for the sugar (which he still hadn't gotten to because of Carlos' preposterous mistakes) Carlos had grabbed either random bags or jars, and dumped what was inside into the mix.
First it had been pepper, then hot sauce, followed by a vast amount of butter and last but not least, jelly. Luckily, Kendall caught him each time, and then Carlos claimed it would make the cookies taste much better; Kendall had totally disagreed. By now the blonde had a good idea that he wasn't paying enough attention—which deemed him as careless, yet it still seemed ultimately scary in a way—and the fact that he hadn't blinked the whole time showed how much Kendall was being vigilant upon Carlos' reckless form; because of this his eyes stung when his pupils moved from side to side.
"Salt? Really, Carlos?" complained Kendall, his voice high-pitched. He rolled his head back until he was facing the ceiling and let out a loud moan. "Tell me, why?" He gave the raven a pleading look. "I told you that we're looking for the sugar! Were you listening to me?"
Carlos looked blankly at him. "I-I was pretty sure this was sugar." It looked as if he was about to cry and this caused for Kendall to start panicking.
Luckily, the front door opened and in came the hero of the day, Mrs. Knight. Both boys turned their heads, simultaneously surprised by her uncalled-for entrance.
"Mom!" Kendall blurted out happily.
Hearing his voice, the woman turned to him with a smile, about to say hi, but that all vanished when she noticed the mess of scattered batter, bags and utensils all over the kitchen. Her face features went still for a second—even her breathing had seemed to cease—as if mimicking a frightened mime. "Oh, my God… What happened to my–"
"Mom, can you forget about the kitchen for a second and help us with–"
"What are you boys up to?"
Both Kendall and Carlos gave sheepish looks at the startled woman.
"Jo's holding this charity event," said Kendall, purposely leaving out Jett.
"And we're helping her by baking cookies," added Carlos.
Kendall shot a glare at the raven, and Carlos just returned a set of red-painted cheeks with a coy smile.
"So…can you help us? Um, make the cookies?" asked the blonde. This wasn't the therapy session like earlier; this was cooking. And though his mother wasn't a good cook, it would be great help from one who was already experienced—kind of. Instead of Carlos, who just threw in anything that looked good to him.
Mrs. Knight gave them a look, then it turned into sympathy and she answered, "Okay, I will."
She entered the kitchen, muscles cringing as she tried to avoid the mess that seized her thoughts for a second. She then fixed her attention to the bowl full of mix on the slimy counter.
"No wait, mom, not–" shouted Kendall when he noticed his mother take the bowl in her hands, and dip a finger into the faulty mix.
She scooped up a bit of it with her finger, and licked the batter. She smiled awkwardly at the odd taste, and a moment later the bowl dropped from her hands and she ran to the bathroom.
Carlos stared for at least ten seconds as Mrs. Knight sprinted into the bathroom. He turned to Kendall abruptly with raised eyebrows, and then gave him a sudden gleeful look. "Can I make a batch for James?" he asked directly.
Kendall gave him a deadpan look. He grabbed the spatula once again, and Carlos winced as he raised the utensil. But instead of smacking the raven on the head again, Kendall slapped the spatula to his forehead—making it a bright shade of red—and fell to the floor. Carlos stared down at him, wide eyes confused.
"Why did you just do that?"
Kendall stood up, legs wobbling a bit, and rubbed his forehead, whining low from the pain. "I just got an idea that I should've gotten twenty minutes ago." Then he walked towards the bathroom door, feeling stupid, and knocked on it softly. "Mom…?"
"Uh… Yes, honey…?" came her slurred, sick words.
"When you're, um, done, get your car keys. And…you might need your wallet, too."
Carlos' brows furrowed. "Are we going to the store?" he whispered.
With his back still to the small boy, Kendall raised a hand and gave Carlos a silly thumbs up.
ooo
A loud, echoing song was playing in the park. Actually, it was someone's voice and it wasn't even a song. Fifteen minutes ago, Kendall and Carlos had arrived—and after Jo had helped them set up, Carlos was now screaming James' name, looking for him, hoping to get a reply from the hidden brunette. But there was none; it seemed as if James was doing it on purpose, figured the raven. The place had been opened five minutes ago, so there were few people that Carlos had to avoid to keep from bumping into him. He took a few more random steps, and with a struck of luck he found James sitting in his booth.
Just on the other side of it was a girl with long, brown hair tied back in a stylish ponytail. She was looking at James with a sensuous smile as she handed him a dollar, feet shuffling eagerly on the grass. James was about to take it willingly, but the girl snatched it away before his fingers could touch green paper. She gave him a daring smirk, and James understood what she was thinking. They both leaned forward to share a kiss—that is, until Carlos shouted James' name one more time, which caused for the pair to bump noses.
"Ugh—Carlos! What do you want?" demanded James, rubbing his nose. He gave the girl an apologetic look as she walked away, quietly embarrassed; then he turned his face towards the coming raven, a fierce glare tainting his eyes. "You just ruined my kiss, man. Just like you ruined my date." He narrowed his eyes.
Carlos ignored his furious look and smiled. "Is there anything I can help with?"
James raised an eyebrow at him, a serious look overcoming his face. "Aren't you supposed to be with Kendall?"
The raven pursed his lips, and decided to counteract that, "Aren't you supposed to be kissing someone?"
"I was just about to– Never mind…" uttered James, knowing that if he had went on his words wouldn't have gone through the small boy's head.
"Well, um." Carlos' cheeks were suddenly light pink as he spoke, "Since," he looked at the empty jar on the booth, as if trying to come up with a clever excuse, "you haven't raised any money yet…can I be your first customer?" he questioned simply.
James almost laughed. "Wha– What?"
"Can I be your first customer?" asked Carlos, his voice a whisper now.
The brunette stared at him, extremely stupefied. "Dude, I–"
"It's just for charity," said Carlos, his voice seeming to tremble, eyes big and nervous.
James knew that look, and he wasn't too fond of it; it would usually lead to unavoidable pouts—so he said the only thing he could've said at that moment without even thinking twice, "Fine."
Carlos stared at him for a second, then grinned and gave James a dollar that he seemed to have pulled out of nowhere. Carlos was the first to lean in, followed by James. Time seemed to have frozen now; the moment wasn't awkward—it was unrefined, as in lacking good sense of timing and manners. Because really, James didn't know what to do—and he actually felt shy as their faces got closer. On the contrary, Carlos' atmosphere was swimming with an aura of greediness. Their lips were close, and both their faces were practically red now. None of them moved. In result, quite shockingly, James made the first move, crashing his lips against the small boy's.
It would've been a quick kiss, except that they both made the mistake of not closing their eyes, so the seconds ticking by were severely amateurish—more than it should've been. Carlos blinked. James' eyes shook as he wrinkled his nose. Then the unexpected happened. James gripped the underside of the table, leaned forward and deepened their kiss, which made Carlos' face turn as red as a rose, his eyes squeezing shut also. James kept his open, and stared as the raven's face scrunched up with each passing second; the expression wasn't bad though, he looked as if he was nervously enjoying it—but James' vision and mind took Carlos' features and defined them in another way. Ten more seconds passed, and imaginary hearts leaped into their throats, blocking their airways. They pulled away, gasping for air.
Carlos gazed at James, a trickle of perspiration running down from his forehead to his cheek. His face was flushed crimson. "I-I have to go help Kendall," he stuttered out.
"Carlos–" James called, but the boy had already ran, disappearing among the thick park trees.
Later on in the day, the orange and yellow glow in the sky faded and melted into blue and white puffs and soft-edged blots. A soft, warm wind was picking up, slithering itself upon people's faces and scalps. The few remaining people left, and the park was closed again so it could be torn down. Kendall laid back on his chair, tired from sitting down all day. He let out a loud mewl and stretched like a cat first, and then crossed his arms behind his head.
"I'm beat… How about you, Carlos?"
"Huh?" The raven lifted his face off the table, blinked, and looked at Kendall questioningly, looking tired.
Kendall half-smirked at him. "You wouldn't be of course. You slept through the whole thing. I find that weird. Kinda scary, eh?" He cocked an eyebrow, and peeled away a chocolate chip cookie that was stuck on Carlos' forehead. He looked at it for a second, twirled it in his hand and took a bite, chewing contentedly. "All I need is some milk," he joked. Kendall raised his other eyebrow, beginning to talk between small bites, "Here comes James."
Right when he said that, the tall brunette smiled, and leaned against the table. "What's up? How'd you guys do?"
"We sold a lot of cookies," answered Kendall.
James raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure you guys made them? They look too good to be true."
"Okay, you caught us. We bought them at the store. So shh about it," said Kendall, eyes shifting around, hoping Jo wasn't near enough to eavesdrop on the conversation. He had actually felt proud and happy when she'd said they'd tasted like cookie heaven, but the guiltiness had overcome him a bit. "So, how'd you do?" he asked, nudging the drowsy Carlos on the ribs with his elbow.
James sighed—not one of disappointment, though; he sounded a bit satisfied for some reason. "Kinda slow. Didn't get the chance to smooch a lot."
"Oh, boohoo," snickered Kendall.
"You didn't?" Carlos spoke, looking up at him in awe, the hint of exhaustion still there on his face.
"Um…no," answered the brunette, a light blush tainting the tip of his nose.
Kendall cut in, "Okay, did something happen earlier?" He was noticing the slight tension between the two, and it truly bothered him that he didn't know why or what caused it. But he had a vague idea that Carlos probably did something to James earlier when he had disappeared from their booth.
Instead of getting an answer, Logan's voice, tired and fuzzy, rang in their ears, "Something happened to me."
The boys turned their heads, eyes widening when they saw their friend's face; it was coloured with every possible lipstick color—on his cheeks, nose, forehead, chin, even his neck. It was the afternoon, and they were all tired and wanted to go home, but the scene was enough to make them drop on the floor and start laughing loudly that it made their stomachs hurt while Logan miserably relived his girl-attack experience in his scarred thoughts, shuddering terribly.
ooo
Once they'd arrived home Logan had gone to the bathroom to wash off his face, Kendall had went to his room to take a nap, James was in his room for unknown reasons, and Carlos was stuck in the kitchen, searching for something in a discreet manner. The kitchen was left clean when they had entered, though there were still some spots here and there, so Mrs. Knight had left a note saying that she'd left with Katie to go buy more cleaning supplies at the store. It was around five in the afternoon, and Carlos was scrambling all over the kitchen, looking for his wanted item: a cookie that'd he made in secrecy, the words 'James, I like you' written in icing on top of it.
Kendall came in then, his sleepy face obvious when he entered the kitchen. He gave the raven a tired smile before he opened the refrigerator. Carlos slowed down his movements, nervously jumping from place to place, frantically looking for the lost cookie.
"Kendall, have you s–"
"Oh, a cookie!" proclaimed the blonde joyously as he brought the snack to his lips, and took a firm bite.
Carlos stared, heart dropping in his stomach, mind going into a state of numb depression as he witnessed this. "Kendall!" he whined, slightly angry that the blonde had eaten the cookie that had been baked solely and only for James with love. Love.
"What– Holy, fr–" He wrapped his arms around his stomach, and ran into the bathroom.
Logan's shouts of surprise were resonant as the sounds of Kendall retching filled the house, enough to catch James' attention. The brunette came out of his room, ears throbbing from the sound. He looked around, attempting to ignore the unpleasant noises, and found Carlos standing still in the kitchen, hands over his mouth, looking a bit stunned yet indignant. There was a moment of silence, then more retching sounds. Carlos settled his arms on his sides, blushing furiously. When he raised his eyes he found James standing in front of him, causing him to blush harder.
"Uh, Carlos–"
"James–"
They both went quiet.
"You can go first. No, you," they said in synchronization.
"No, you," insisted Carlos, scowling, surprising James a little.
"Okay…" He took a deep breath. "Listen. At the park—I-I'm sorry about–"
"The kiss?"
"I didn't mean to–"
"Mean to what?"
"Um, make you uncomfortable…"
"Uncomfortable…? I wasn't uncomfortable…"
"But the face you made–"
"I was– James, I did actually want to kiss you…" mumbled Carlos.
That sentence alone blew up in James' face like a bomb filled with confetti. A lump formed in his throat, and he tried to swallow it as he got ready to speak, "Uh, what were you gonna say?"
Carlos bit his lip, and tried to get over the fact that Kendall had half-eaten James' cookie; the past couldn't be undone. "I-I… I-I like you," he squeaked out softly, closing his eyes tightly, finally admitting. "And-and I was going to give you a cookie, but stupid Kendall ate it and–"
His lips were shut as James crashed his onto Carlos'. "Is that why you were…crazy all this time?" he murmured lightly against the raven's lips.
Carlos' body trembled. How close his crush was was actually making him timid for once; maybe because it was a…a moment. James had just kissed him without him having to come up with any embarrassing excuses. "Y-yeah. I didn't want you to think I was weird–"
"Dude, you've been following me like a dog for two whole months. Everywhere. That is weird." James chuckled.
Carlos frowned. "I was trying to be nice–"
"By jumping me every time you saw me?"
"At least I was being normal!" complained Carlos, pouting slightly.
"Normal? Ha! You called that normal? Okay, then, what's crazy or psycho for you?"
Carlos chewed on the inside of his cheek, and swiftly wrapped his arms around James' neck. He looked up at the brunette with big, wanting yet bashful eyes. James smirked down at him. "I like you, too, Carlitos."
And while Kendall groaned and moaned in the bathroom with Logan trying hard to console him, James bent down—figuring he could get used to the raven's crazy lovin'—and captured Carlos' lips in a sweet, warm kiss.
And this time it was free.
A/N: I've been into fluff lately. Heh. [:
And yes, I know this was, err, kinda cheesy. xD