Hey y'all. New chapter! This chapter is dedicated to Saltbayy (Guest) for the request. Oh, and can we just have a brief chat about how ugly everyone kinda looks in that recent photo the boys posted on Twitter? Like, I'm excited for this news on Valentine's Day but, that picture is unsettlingly unappealing. I can only look at Logan, everyone else is just—not the best photo.

Anyway.

Happy reading! Enjoy!

"James, help, please."

Logan's standing by the sleeping boy's bed. The room is still dark, Carlos is still asleep too, on the top bunk. Logan's desperate, nervous, so he resorts to shaking James's shoulders.

His nerves are so wild that he's the one who jumps when James's hand clamps over his, pushing him away. "What time is it?"

James would be mad at him for waking him up so early, but he couldn't lie. There was a clock in the room, too, he could just look at that to check Logan's honesty. He wants to avoid that, so he is honest from the beginning.

"It's four-thirty."

"In the morning?"

Logan pauses. He's already woken James up, and not saying anything would technically be a lie, because it wouldn't be the truth. "Yes."

James groans, turning away, covering his head with a pillow. "Go back to bed, Logan."

But he can't. He's been awake since three, overthinking this whole event. He's excited, he's nervous, he's wide awake. He's ready to prepare.

"But I can't!"

James groans again, muttering something under his breath. He says something else that's probably supposed to equate to real English words, but it's incoherent, so it doesn't.

"James, please? I'm so nervous, and I don't know what to wear, I barely know what to say—"

"Wear for what?"

The science fair presentations. They start at eight, right as school begins. There's no classes today, since the science fair takes up most of the time. And Logan worked really hard on his project, he might even win. But there's no point in even going if he's not dressed appropriately, and hasn't memorized his speech. He hates costumes, and he hates speeches. However, this is why he enlisted James. James could help him figure out what to wear, and Kendall could help him figure out his speech.

"The science fair!"

Finally, James lifts the covers off himself, running a hand through his hair. He yawns, rubbing his temples. "Okay. What do you need me to do?"

Logan pulls his friend to his feet, carefully tiptoeing back into his and Kendall's room. Kendall's awake too, but only because Logan woke him up a few minutes ago. He's falling back asleep, but that doesn't matter yet. Logan hasn't thought about the speech yet.

This whole waking everyone up at four-thirty in the morning might be a counterproductive method. Kendall is tired, there's no way he'll come up with a good speech in less than four hours. James is tired, too, his sense of style could be—distorted. Logan's not entirely sure how his friends' brains work, but this is how his brain works.

His brain was awake.

"I don't know what to wear," he admits quietly. "I mean, I think it's business casual, since all we're doing is presenting our projects, but maybe nobody else knows what that is? And we could be wearing lab coats, but I'm just not sure—"

He has to stop his own thoughts from overriding.

"Help," he clarifies.

Luckily, James isn't too tired to open the closets.

The two shirts James is holding up by the hangers are dress shirts. One is dark green and the other is light blue. James squints, pressing the green shirt into Logan's hands. He holds it up in front of him. James shakes his head, taking the shirt back.

"The blue one is better."

Logan doesn't think so, he thinks the green one is better, but won't argue with James. James usually knows what he's talking about when it comes to clothes.

"And," James is rifling through the bottom drawer of the dresser, tossing a pair of tan khakis at him. "That should be good."

"I need shoes."

James shrugs, shutting the cabinet closed. "We can get your shoes later. I'm going back to bed. Goodnight. You're welcome."

Logan folds the pants over his desk chair, hooking the shirt hanger on the armrest. "You're welcome," he murmurs.

Suddenly, he's back on his bed. James pushed him.

"You're tired too, Logan. Get some more sleep."

Logan stands back up, about to flip open his laptop. It's right there. It would be so easy to turn it on and check that he's done everything, followed all the rules. And that he's done well enough. He's already done that compulsively, constantly throughout the week, it won't hurt to check again. But he can't, because James has shoved hm back on the bed, and lifted his legs under the covers.

"But the presentation—"

"I'll wake you up so you have enough time to get ready."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

—

Logan woke up at seven, per James shaking his shoulders. Although, he noticed James's tactic was much more violent than his own.

"Get off, James."

He grinned. "Just making sure you were awake."

"I am."

He hadn't stood up yet, but James grabbed his wrists, dragging him to the bathroom

"What are you doing?" he hissed, prying James's hands away.

James was already at the bathroom sink, opening the cabinets under the sink. He was pulling out random bottles of gel, hairspray, combs, and mousse. Before long, there was an elaborate display of hair products lined up, taunting him with their bright colors and manly names.

Barracuda Massive Hold. He could let that stay, he just wouldn't let James use it.

Barracuda Man Spray. Logan snatched that up quickly, but James tore it out from his grip.

He coughed on whatever chemicals were infused along with artificial the key lime scent, trying to swat the bottle out of James's hand. This failed. He coughed again.

Meanwhile, through his coughing fit, he could see James reaching over him and the sink, grabbing some jar of mousse or gel or something. He ducked, but it was to no avail. The jar opened, he could smell whatever the weird smell was that came from hair products.

He tried to duck again, but James was already working the mousse/gel/whatever through his hair. And, just, ugh. The texture of this mousse/gel/whatever was disgusting, and James was practically pulling his hair out.

Then it was over, just like that.

Logan sighs the largest sigh of relief he's ever held, running back to his bedroom, searching for dress shoes. He throws open the closet again. He can see Kendall's shoes, but they're too big for him, so he keeps searching.

Someone clears their throat behind him. Logan turns. It's Kendall, holding out his dress shoes.

"Positive energy," Kendall says once Logan's taken the shoes. He wiggles his fingers mysteriously.

Logan smiles. He's going to need all the positive energy he can get.

—

He's up there, presenting. About to, anyway. The kid before him is finishing up, shuffling his notecards nervously.

Logan realizes.

He didn't get Kendall to help with his speech. He doesn't have any note cards with him. He has nothing to help him out, and he's panicking now, just a little bit. He had been so excited, this could not get ruined this quickly.

Katie, in the back, squished between Kendall and her mother, wiggles her positive energy fingers at him. Mrs. Knight does too, and then Kendall. James.

Carlos's full-body immersion into the positive energy finger wiggling actually manages to make him laugh.

He can relax. He's got this.

He doesn't remember getting it, he talked too fast, probably. His excited babbling could hardly be controlled, especially not when it's about science.

His presentation was the last one, and it's over.

Now, the judges are huddling together, whispering amongst themselves. It will take at least five minutes for them to come to a conclusive decision on the winner, so Logan practically drags Kendall by the wrist over to his project. The others are following behind.

"What's your project about, Logie?" Carlos asks, eyes keenly focused on the different colored vials. He reaches for one, but Logan stops him, slapping his hand away.

"Lethal dosage measure. Toxicity of different chemical reactions. It's actually pretty cool, because I got to collect all these different samples—I got to collect mercury, no, not the planet, Carlos—and there was so much information, all this data…"

He's well aware how big his smile is as he leads each of his friends around the project, pointing out the vial of mercury specifically for Carlos. He showed Kendall each of the data tables, and James each of the toxic chemicals.

"That's awesome, Logan," James said. He didn't understand what Logan was talking about at all, but he was smiling so much.

Logan continued to talk on and on about this project of his. They almost missed the announcement.

"And the first place winner of this year's science fair is…Logan Mitchell!"

Logan froze, halfway through showing Mrs. Knight and Katie the project. "What?"

"Logan, you won," Kendall told him, a smile overtaking his own face.

"I won?" he asked, looking to each of his friends for confirmation. He shook his head, laughing. "No, I didn't. I didn't just—"

"Logan Mitchell, please come retrieve your first place ribbon," one of the moderators is saying.

Logan covers his mouth with his fist. "I–won."

With a firm push from James, Logan stumbles up to the moderators, who hand him his ribbon. He clutches it tightly, grinning.

"I can't believe it," he whispers to Kendall, who had to intervene when Logan was so frozen with disbelief he just didn't move.

"I can," he replies, confidently. "Whoa."

"It was almost worth getting woken up at four thirty in the morning," James adds, laughing harder when Logan frowns at him. "Totally worth it, Loges."

That proud smile is back on Logan's face, and it stays.