A/N Hi! I decided to keep writing this story, because of all the places I could go with it. Please bear with me - I know there are some errors, but they just seem to somehow disappear until I read them after being published. Sorry! D:
I had to use a converter to change -10ºC into F because I'm Canadian. Fahrenheit makes no sense to me, I also can't seem to spell it. I also used to play Lava Monsters a lot, as well as Grounders. Lol.
I don't own Big Time Rush, but if you know them could you get them Logan to sign a marriage certificate with Kendall for me please.
Enjoy!
xoxo, JT.
Their second meeting wasn't much of a meeting.
March was still one of the colder months, especially in Minnesota. But it was the month where the sun started to peek out, the snow started to melt, and where everyone had built up their resistance to cold over the winter, making 17º weather feel much warmer than it really was, even with windchill. The first day the snow even started to dissolve into water, all the neighborhood kids had put on light jackets, wrestling with their parents over hats, gloves and scarves until the threat "put these on or you can't go outside" was uttered, and swarmed to the colorful ommunity playground.
Kendall Knight was one of these kids, more than eager to be granted permission to leave the house, even though it meant wearing his ugly beige scarf and wool mitts to match, accompanied with a green beanie that his grandmother had knitted for him, saying that it matched his eyes. Leaving the house bright and early at 9:30 on the dot, he stayed outside running around and playing, his jacket and other winter attire slowly being stripped off and left carelessly strewn on the snowy ground. He stayed outside until his mom called him in for lunch, where he scarfed down a hot grilled cheese sandwich with a glass of milk before bolting out the door towards the inviting outdoors again.
The second time around, the playground was different. The kids had changed - less than earlier, making it less chaotic. The game of Lava Monster they were playing earlier seemed to have dwindled down to only four other players, making it much harder for the monster and less entertaining for the survivors. He joined in nevertheless, plastering his small body against a blue plastic wall littered with little holes that let him peek outside of his established base.
Time passed, no one tagged him, the same monster from ten minutes ago refusing to come up onto the equipment, instead deciding to stay on the ground, trying to grab survivors to no avail. He didn't come up even when being called names. A bored Kendall stayed in his hiding spot, shifting down a little to make himself more comfortable, seeing that he was not going to be 'it' any time soon. He occasionally peered out the hole just in case, to see the progress the hunter was making. The blond lulled his head back in boredom, glancing out a hole, but instead of seeing the lava monster, he saw a small boy close to his age with familiar facial features, although he couldn't seem to pinpoint where he had seen him before. He was bundled up in a puffy jacket with a scarf, hat, gloves, boots and snow pants even though it was too warm even for early March weather. He was reading a flimsy paperback book with no pictures, eyes glued to the pages, flipping them occasionally.
After a few minutes, he suddenly froze, bookmarked his page with a finger, and turned around abruptly to where Kendall was, seemingly sensing that someone was observing him. The blonde whipped his head around in embarrassment, wind-bitten cheeks reddening more than they already were as he tried to hide by laying himself flat on the playground equipment. Luckily, the brunette didn't seem to spot him, and returned to reading his thick book. Noticing this out of the corner of his eye, the blonde let out a breath of relief, the warm air turning white as smoke as it was released from his mouth. Just in case, he soon relocated to the other side of the playground, not turning around even though he was itching to look at the other boy again.
When Kendall finally gathered up the nerve to look for the brunette, the boy was gone, leaving no trace of his ever being there but a few boot prints nearby - and even then Kendall couldn't distinguish his from others. He looked around from his post, shook off the slight disappointment, and returned back to the game. Another player had finally been tagged, though not entirely unwillingly - frankly, everybody was getting bored of the same old lava monster and sacrifices needed to be made. A couple more kids joined in as time passed, making the game slightly more difficult, so Kendall actually had to move, the boy from earlier finally able to temporarily slip from his mind. He stayed outside until it started getting dark, then finally returned home.
That night, the blonde squirmed under his covers, unable to find a comfortable sleeping position - his thoughts were always drifting back to the dark haired boy, even though he had no idea why. He barely even got glimpse of his face, yet it seemed to be haunting him even in his sleepy and exhausted state. He turned so that his face was in his pillow and groaned loudly, trying to fight off the thoughts being replayed over and over in his head. Every once in a while, he would turn over and glance at his clock, the blinking red numbers mocking him; showing the time passing so slowly, yet ever so quickly. He flipped over onto his back and covered his face with his blanket, pulling his legs up to his chin and squeezing his eyes shut, hoping the complete darkness would help with his sleep, until he felt like he was being suffocated under the thick cloth. He stayed under a bit too long before kicking the blanket off, head popping out, gasping for air - and in that one second of his thoughts shutting off and turning into a blank white slate of fear, he remembered where he had seen that face before.
He pictured it in his mind's eye, as he turned onto his right side, once again replaying the moment in his head - though not the same one. He recited the words the caring brunette had said to him on the busy street that day in his head over and over again, each time relaxing his muscles more and more, allowing him to sink deeper and deeper into his mattress, rocking him further and further into a warm, stuffy dreamless sleep.