Chapter 25

"Logan, wait! Where are you going?" James cried as he chased after the short boy running through the mall, pushing person after person out of the way.

Logan had always been the panicky one. Kendall was almost always calm when trouble hit him, James… James was pretty emotionally stable, and Carlos just cried about it. But Logan tried to hide it, tried to run away from people when he felt like breaking down.

James didn't know what had happened when they entered the mall, but he could tell some sort of memory or something stirred in Logan's head. James didn't know where Logan was.

He looked around, scanning the mall. Worry weighed his chest down. He'd left Carlos alone with Kendall, and now Logan was gone, too. Where would he have gone?

James thought for a second. Tried to get into Logan's head and see where someone like him would go.

And then it struck him. The bookstore. Logan had always said that the smell of books comforted him. James thought it was strange, but it kind of made sense with Logan. After all, Logan loved reading books. Something you loved always gave you comfort, didn't it?

No, you love Kendall, but all he causes is pain. He's just a burden… James shook away the cruel voice in his head. He did love Kendall, but he wasn't a burden. He wasn't…

A bell jingled as James walked into the bookstore. He headed for the bathrooms, and wasn't surprised to find Logan sitting in one of the bathroom's chairs, his face in his hands.

He wasn't crying, but he was breathing pretty loudly. James closed the bathroom door softly, walking over to sit down next to Logan. "Hey, man." Logan glanced up, but then looked down again.

James sighed. "Dude, what happened? What's wrong?"

For a second, Logan didn't respond. James was afraid he didn't trust him. But then, he sniffled and took a shaky breath. "James… I… had a dream."

James nodded for Logan to go on. "It was that time when we were, like, 6, and… and I fell when we were playing in the park? And Kendall…" Logan trailed off, tears in his eyes.

James waited patiently, knowing where this was headed. "Kendall told me not to cry… cuz he'd get help. A-and he held my hand, and told me…" Logan let out a tiny sob, not able to go on. But James knew what he was about to say.

Kendall had told him he loved him.

Logan buried his face in James's shoulders, and James felt tears in his own eyes. It had been so long since he'd seen his friends smile for real. Too long.

Logan sobbed loudly, trying to keep it in but failing to. "Shh, it's alright, Logan, just let it out. I know it hurts." James soothed him quietly.

Logan sniffled. "I… I just wish it hadn't happened, James…" He whispered softly.

James nodded. "I know, buddy, I know."

They stayed that way for a while, Logan's sobs quietly down and James letting out a few tears of his own. They were all so broken, and James didn't know if they could ever be fixed.

After a while, Logan stood up and smoothed his shirt. "I-I'm sorry… I'm supposed to take care of Kendall and make sure Carlos doesn't get sick again… and here I am crying my eyes out."

James stood up too, putting his hand on Logan's shoulder. "Dude, don't worry about it. It's okay to cry. Hey, my doctor even told me that it's good for you." Logan cracked a tiny smile, and it made James smile, too.

"I just… the dream just felt so real. I mean, it was real, but still… it's not real. You know?"

James laughed a little. "Maybe. But I know how you feel, Logan. We all feel it."

Logan smiled. "I can't believe no one's come into the bathroom yet and find us here sobbing like little girls."

James laughed. "Yeah, and I'm glad no one came in." He was also glad to see that Logan was back to normal. Well, as normal as the circumstances allowed them to be.

Logan turned on the sink, splashed water onto his face. "How'd you know to find me here?"

James shrugged. "You always tell us the smell of books comfort you.' He replied simply.

Logan blushed, looking down. "Well, thanks."

Their eyes met for a second, and James had never remembered Logan crying this hard in a long time. "No problem."

"Now how 'bout we get going? I bet Carlos has destroyed the whole mall by now."

line line line

Carlos sniffled, wiping his nose on his sleeve. Kendall bounced around happily, saying to "hi" to everyone who came his way in that drunk voice of his. Carlos didn't know what to call it; anyone could tell Kendall… had issues.

"Kendall, buddy, why don't you sit down for a while?" Kendall looked at him for a second. Then, he shook his head.

"No, I wanna buy toys!" He squealed. Carlos nodded.

"I know you do, but I… I don't have to money. We gotta wait until James and Logan come back." Carlos didn't know what had happened with Logan, and he was worried James hadn't found him yet.

Suddenly, he felt Kendall's hand grabbing his, dragging him down the mall. "Woah, Kendall, what are you doing?"

Kendall giggled. "To da toy shop!" He shouted excitedly, and almost crashed into a mom with two babies. Twins, probably.

Carlos tried to slow Kendall down, but Kendall had always been taller and stronger than him. Even now, when his mind wasn't as strong anymore. Finally, Kendall stopped, out of breath.

"Ken…dall," Carlos gasped, trying to catch his breath. "Wait a second. We have… have to wait for James and Logan to come back, remember?"

Kendall looked like he'd just figured something out. "Okay! Okey dokey!" He then turned around and stared at the sky. Carlos sat down, his heart beating fast. He didn't even know where Kendall had dragged him. He'd never been to this part of the mall before. It looked like an alley, and Carlos figured he was probably in the middle of two stores.

The pace was empty, and there was no sign of life. Carlos didn't what motivated Kendall to pull him over here. He probably had no sense of where he was going, either.

"Carlos?" Carlos turned, staring at Kendall, who was staring at him.

"Y-yeah?" Kendall had sounded… normal for a second.

"How old am I?"

Carlos froze. "Why… why'd you ask that?"

Kendall grinned like nothing was wrong. "I saw a bersday cake and it had candles on it. When it's my bersday, how many am I gonna have?"

Carlos didn't know what to tell him. How could he explain to Kendall that was already 18 years old, an adult? How would Kendall take that?

Carlos decided to be honest, because he couldn't lie. Especially not to Kendall. "You're… 18 years old. Ten years plus 8."

Kendall seemed to be comprehending this for a few moments. Then he wrinkled his eyebrows. "Dat's old. How old are you and Jamie and Logie?"

"Jamie is 18 too, and Logie's 17. And I'm almost 17. Like, in a few months." Carlos felt like he was talking to a regular person for a second. But then Kendall started laughing like crazy for no good reason, and Carlos was jerked back into the horrible present.

"Look at dose people! Dere eating candy!" Kendall said loudly. Carlos turned and followed his finger. They weren't eating candy. They were smoking. And there was a whole crew of them, maybe five or six.

"Kendall, those people are not good. They're bad guys. We should go, alright?" But Kendall didn't listen.

"Can I have candy? Can I?" He asked, grinning cheerfully. The teenagers turned around, an annoyed look in their eyes. Carlos gulped.

"Come on, Kendall, we really have to go. I'll get you candy. Just come on." Carlos urged the blonde boy softly. But it was too late.

The boys turned around and marched over to where Kendall was bouncing around happily. Carlos bit his lip. Oh no…

"Hey, you!" The tallest member of the gang or whatever it was shouted. Kendall turned and waved at them. "Are you retarded or something?" They all laughed, and Carlos felt anger rising up inside him. How dare they call Kendall retarded?

But before he could muster up the courage to say anything, another one of the guys laughed. "He's a retard. Boys, I think we could have some fun with this boy. Right, retard?" He smirked, walking closer towards Kendall and Carlos.

Carlos whipped his phone out with trembling hands. He searched James's number up on the contact list, and was just about to press the call button, when he felt someone grab his wrist.

"Put that phone down." The voice was so ice cold that Carlos widened his eyes and gulped again. But he held the phone tightly in his hands.

The guy scoffed. "Fine, if you don't listen…" He grabbed the phone out of Carlos's hand and smashed it into the ground with his shoe. "There. All done."

"Hey! That's my phone!" Carlos protested, though he knew there was nothing he could do about it.

One of the guys with a nose piercing laughed. "Don't worry, you Mexicans are cheap anyways. You Papi can get you a new one." He sneered. Carlos balled up his fists, but then stopped. He couldn't fight these people. They were all taller than him by quite a lot, and there were 5 of them.

"Can I have some of your candy?" Kendall suddenly piped up. He didn't even have a clue as to what was going on.

One of the guys laughed. "Sure. Kevin, hit him." The Kevin guy grabbed a cigar out of his pocket. He laughed, lighting it up.

"Wait, stop! Don't give him that! H-he doesn't know any better!" Carlos said, his voice small. Kevin shrugged.

"Fine. Then why don't you eat the candy for him?" He sneered, his eyes glaring.

Carlos looked down at his shoes. "Just… just leave us alone."

The boys laughed. It was cruel and mocking, and it made Carlos feel uncomfortable. He grabbed Kendall's shoulder, and started to pull him away.

"Oh, you're not leaving, little guy. You and your retarded friend can stay right here. Unless you want this to be harder than it is." Carlos froze at the man's whisper. They were in serious trouble.

The leader, or who Carlos thought was the leader, stepped up. The boys slowly cornered him, an evil look in their eyes. "Looks like we were lucky to stumble on you guys." The leader said.

Carlos shrunk back as far as he could. He knew what was coming.

Sure enough, the guy brought his fist back and punched Carlos right in the face. Carlos felt the breath knocked out of him, and he couldn't help the whimper that escaped his lips.

"Aw, what's wrong? You couldn't take it? Let's see if little retard here can."

"N-no, stop!" Carlos cried. The leader froze, his fist in midair. He turned around and pulled Carlos up by the shirt.

"Don't tell me what to do, spic." He practically spit the insult, and Carlos squeezed his eyes shut. But instead of feeling more pain, he felt the guy put him down.

Carlos grabbed Kendall's shoulder, instinctively shielding himself behind his older friend. Kendall had always protected him before from mean people like these guys. But then he realized that Kendall couldn't do that anymore.

He had to stand up for Kendall.

And for the first time in his life, Carlos stood in front of Kendall, defiance shining in his eyes. He would not let Kendall get hurt.

One of the guys laughed. "Oh look! The retard's trying to stand up for his even bigger retard of a friend!" The boys laughed again. Carlos tried to tune it out.

The leader drew his face in closer to Carlos's. His breath reeked of cigarette smoke and alcohol. "Listen to me, you idiot. And listen to me well." He grabbed Carlos and slammed him into the brick wall. Carlos felt his body go limp, and he fell to the ground.

"Your retarded friend is a waste of space. No one needs him, no one wants him, and he should just be killed. Murdered. Drowned. S-" Carlos didn't why, but suddenly, he couldn't take it anymore. Them calling Kendall a retard. A waste of space. Kendall, his best friend, big brother, his savior, his leader.

Anger burst inside his chest, and he stood up, raised his fist, and punched the man right in the face. The man barely stumbled, but anger and disgust was written all over his face. Carlos knew he'd suffer the consequences, but he didn't regret it at all.

"You little beaner, how dare you punch me! You think you stand a chance against all of us?" He spit on the ground, cracked his knuckles.

"Well, I'll prove you wrong. Guys, everyone gets two hits out of this spic." Carlos trembled, fear overtaking him.

10 hits, but it felt like a hundred. Two kicks in the stomach, two in the ribs, five punches to his face, and in his stomach. After they were done with him, Carlos felt like he'd just learned twenty new insulting names for Hispanic people, and that he'd just been a punching bag for a boxer.

The leader, who in the midst of all the pain Carlos discovered was named Jerry, sighed in satisfaction. "Serves you right, you worthless little boy." Carlos was on his knees, gasping for air and in pain. He could barely see through his tears.

"Now, just one last thing." Carlos could barely comprehend what was happening until he heard Kendall start wailing. They'd done something to him. They'd hurt Kendall. But Carlos was in too much pain, too weak to do anything about it.

And maybe that was what hurt the most.

"Alright, we better get going now, but don't forget: You and you're retard buddy are just wastes of space. No one needs you. I suggest you just bring him with you and hop on back to where you came from." Carlos heard the laughs slowly vanish, and he cracked open on of his swollen eyes.

"K-Kendall…" Kendall was whimpering, but Carlos couldn't see any damage done to him. He almost sighed in relief. At least he'd protected Kendall, at least a little bit.

"Y-You all…alright?" Carlos gasped at the pain in his chest when he shifted his position a little. Kendall whimpered, but then looked sad for a moment.

"I just want candy…"

A/N- Okay… So you got a little bit of Logan whump and Jagan bromance/hurt/comfort thingy, and you saw Carlos getting beat up and Kendall being called a retard. Gosh. So much hate in one chapter, huh?

Anyways, watching BTR on Marvin Marvin on Saturday! At least, I think it's Saturday… But anyways, vote for BTR on the KCA's and Carlos for Best TV Actor (cuz, you know, he just got beat up)!

Oh, and the racist slurs I used… please don't take offense to it. I don't really think that in real life, it's just a story… yep.

Peace, Love, and Giraffes,

Anonymous Skrtle