Hey y'all. This oneshot is Logan's birthday and the guys take him to a museum (the Southern California Medical Museum, but unfortunately this place closed down and I've never been, so I've taken what I can from the website and the rest is just—imagination). He's really excited, but of course, something bad has to happen to ruin the day. This is heavily Jagan, much like Big Time Signs was, sans panic attack. Enjoy!
Logan's seventeenth birthday started off in the worst way possible. It was Carlos's fault.
They were all gathered around the table, enjoying their breakfast. Everyone has said happy birthday to Logan, who, as per usual nodded, smiled and tried to hide his blush from all the attention. James was glancing at Logan every now and then, but the younger boy didn't seem to notice, too preoccupied by his own embarrassment. Then, James shared a look with Kendall, who shook his head.
Not yet, Kendall mouthed.
Unfortunately, this silent communication had been missed completely by Carlos. Hence, this was his fault.
"Logie, guess where we're taking you for your birthday?" Carlos bravely dared to ask, not seeming to care that James and Kendall were wide eyed, sending every possible signal meaning negative, no way, stop, abort mission that they could think of.
Logan's head snapped up. The edge of his mouth curled into a smile. "Where?"
That's when Kendall flailed around uselessly, trying to cover Carlos's mouth with his hand. As previously stated, it was useless. Because Carlos dodged Kendall and exclaimed," The Southern California Medical Museum!"
Fast forward to the very present moment, which was James, about to bang his head against the steering wheel. Kendall, in the passenger seat beside him, doing a very good job of restraining himself from doing the same thing. The dashboard's hard surface looked rather inviting to his forehead. Carlos, who was bored out of his mind, about to strangle Logan. And Logan, talking excitedly about, what exactly? Fifteenth-century syringes or something.
It was going to be the longest four hours of his life, trapped in that car with Medieval Medicine Man in the backseat, reaching Carlos-levels of hyperactivity.
"Kendall," James whispered. "If Logan doesn't shut up—"
"You'll kill him," Kendall tried to flash a grin at his friend, but he was annoyed too. It came out more like a grimace. "I know. But it's his birthday."
"Might not live to see the end of it," James muttered, gripping the steering wheel harder.
The rest of the car ride consisted of Logan's weird medical tidbits of information, Logan asking when they were going to get there, and Logan wondering aloud if James was going below the speed limit.
"I'm in the fast lane, Loges. I'm even five miles over the speed limit, just for you. Can't go any faster unless you want me to get pulled over. By the cops. Which, I think, would slow us down."
That shut him up.
James had never been so excited to finally see a dingy, dusty, old, crumbling museum in his life.
That was, until Logan started talking again, the excited babble bubbling out of him, loudly, into James's ear.
—
(We're having a quick line break intermission to discuss the new status of my mind. I think I just converted myself from Kogan to Jagan friendship in the timespan of one day, one and a half chapters. I might have to change the story description now. I might also have to watch Big Time Dance/Big Time Sneakers again to fill the Jagan shaped hole in my heart. This one shot specifically has now become a Jagan fic. Moving on.)
The museum is mostly empty. It's just the four of them, their tour guide, and another group, these Cub Scouts that must be nine or ten. Their was a younger girl with them too, probably the scout master's kid. She looked only seven or something. Mostly, they try to stay out of each other's way.
This was a great strategy, until somehow, the professor talking to the Boy Scouts got loud enough for them to hear. Immediately, Logan's attention shifted, dividing himself between the two conversations going around him.
The guide was explaining the history of the museum at the moment, which was interesting, but not as interesting as the questions the professor was asking the Boy Scouts. So Logan wandered over a bit closer, to lean in and listen.
This was not a problem. It only became one when Logan started answering some of the questions the Boy Scouts were being asked. Not that the Boy Scouts would care. James could see even from his spot in the corner that their eyes were glazed over with a bored stare, their mouths slightly parted like they were sleeping. Every now and again one of the boys would whisper something or poke someone, causing the group to laugh. But they didn't really care about this museum place.
James might have heard the off-handed comment of, That guy is weird. What is he doing here, he's not a scout. He's really weird.
James dismissed the comments for now, currently occupied with waking Carlos up, who had his head leaning against the wall. Kendall was positioned similarly. He shrugged when Carlos shot him a glare.
Even so, with all the comments they were making about Logan, the scouts didn't mind all that much that he was so involved in their little field trip.
The scout master, however, this was a different story.
"Excuse me," he said to Logan, who was maintaining a complicated conversation on the advancement of medical technology. Logan wasn't paying attention to this guy, too engrossed in the conversation topic to even realize the scout master was talking to him.
"Excuse me," he repeated, when the little girl that was probably his daughter, interrupted him.
"Daddy!" she exclaimed, shooting her father a glare. She pointed to Logan, eyes wide. "That's Logan Mitchell! He's from Big Time Rush."
She gasped when her eyes landed on James, who waved politely and appeared at Logan's side.
The girl looked like she might faint from excitement. "And that's James, he's my favorite. And Carlos, and Kendall. Daddy, look, they're all right there! I think Carlos is sleeping, though."
The scout master nodded and turned back to the scouts. His daughter disliked this and began steering him closer to James and Logan.
"Can I take a picture with you?" she asked James, blushing, a smile barely contained. "And Logan too. And Carlos and Kendall if they wake up."
"Of course," James responded, promptly waking his two sleeping friends up again. He explained about the picture. They nodded agreeably and smiled at the little girl.
The little girl's gaze wandered over to Logan. James understood and tapped the genius on the shoulder, who turned back to him, looking slightly annoyed.
"Logan, we're taking a picture," James explained. Logan waved to the little girl, who looked so over the moon she might just faint. The scout master took out his phone, snapped a picture, and led his daughter to the gaggle of scouts.
James thought the crisis was averted. It was not.
Because now it was the scout master's son talking to him. "Dad, I wonder what's wrong with that Logan guy."
The scout master sighs. "There's nothing he can do about it, son. That's just the way his brain works."
Obviously neither of the two know how to whisper. The tour guide leading the guys around glanced back behind her, then at Logan, and shook her head.
James thought he had enough self control not to beat up a grown man. He could be wrong.
—
He was partially wrong. He didn't beat up the guy, even though he could. He did, however, push (and he meant, physically, literally push, because those two needed to pick their faces off the floor) Kendall and Carlos ahead of him, after Logan and the scouts. That way, he was semi-alone with the scout master.
"Sir," he began respectfully. He surprised himself so far. "Look, I don't know what your problem is with Logan. But it's his birthday, and we all really want him to have a good day. So could you please just—I don't know, leave him alone, leave us alone."
He muttered a thank you as an afterthought. The scout master is about to reply, but is interrupted but the commotion coming from the next room.
It's the Cub Scouts fault. They're brandishing all the old, rusty syringes, and Logan is telling them to put everything back. The tour guide and the professor are doing their best to handle the situation, which isn't very good in the first place, because the Cub Scouts are trashing the place. The little sister, the one who took the picture, is curled up in the corner. Kendall and Carlos are finally up on their feet, ushering Logan away from the chaos.
The scout master yells, "Boys!"
The syringes clatter to the ground. Instantly, the scouts are rushing around, putting everything back into place, their heads hung low in shame.
"Come here, Loges," James says quietly. "The tour's over."
Logan shakes his head. He knows they still have twenty minutes, his discussions with the professor and tour guide have been very thorough. But he glances around, biting his lip. He nods and doesn't protest when James leads him out, an arm wrapped around his shoulders, Kendall and Carlos following behind.
—
They're back in the car, and ironically, James wishes they weren't. He looks in the mirror to see Logan sitting quietly, his hands in his lap. He's biting his lip and cracking his knuckles, as he usually does. It's almost a parallel universe, a far cry from earlier that day when Logan wouldn't shut up. Now, he would barely talk.
"Thank you, guys," Logan finally says. "It was a really great museum."
"If it wasn't for those idiot scouts, you probably would've liked it even more," James mutters, earning a confused look from Kendall.
"What scouts?"
James rolls his eyes, then keeps his gaze on the road outstretched before him. "You and Carlitos over there were asleep the whole time. Were you even awake for that picture?"
"Picture?" Carlos murmurs sleepily. "Sorry, Logie, I really did try to pay attention, but it was just so boring."
Logan shrugs. "It's nice that you did something like that for me."
"Did you have fun talking pill bottle labels with the hot tour guide?" Carlos asks. "Is that what you talked about?"
Logan smiles, and James relaxes. His friend's birthday isn't ruined. "Yeah, that's what I talked about with her."
The fact that Logan isn't being sarcastic makes James stifle a laugh.
"Good to know," Carlos replies. "Happy birthday, Logan."
As if on cue, Carlos closes his eyes to sleep. He's knocked out. Kendall is too.
"They really died of boredom, huh?" Logan laughs lightly. "Were you bored, James?"
No, not really, Logan, I was too busy trying not to beat this shit out of this ignorant man to be bored. But he can't say that. "You were really excited."
"It was fun. Thank you."
"Of course. Happy birthday."
"Happy birthday," Logan repeats, yawning. He's asleep now too.
James laughs to himself quietly, smiling. He is totally drawing on all their faces later.
And there's another chapter, done completely by my own efforts. My update schedule might fluctuate a bit (I'm working on maybe four different oneshots due to all y'all requests, thank you so much). I'll maybe be able to get something out tomorrow, but definitely over Friday and the long weekend. Hope you enjoyed! Have a lovely day.