I realize I am super late to posting this, but I wrote this for the BTR Writers' Support and Plot Adoption Forum's holiday challenge. I hope you all enjoy.

"I hate Christmas shopping," Kendall says with a huff. His legs give out from underneath him as he plops down on Apartment 2J's bright orange couch, his gaze falling on Katie, who up to that point, had had her face buried in a Pop Tiger magazine.

"Why is that?" Katie asks, without looking at him. "I thought you liked giving people gifts."

"I do. It's just…" Kendall trails off as his eyes wander around the room. There is a 7-foot tall Christmas tree standing in the corner of the living room, hugged by white lights and bright red tinsel. Ornaments in different combinations of red, white and green hang from its branches. There are also Christmas lights hanging on the walls – courtesy of Carlos, who had insisted the whole living room had to be decorated. He smiles faintly at the sight of it, before letting his shoulders drop, the frown returning to his face. "I don't know what to get Logan."

"Logan?" Katie raises an eyebrow at him, her magazine now forgotten. "That's easy. Get him a book. I'm sure he'll like that."

"But I got him a book last year," Kendall says.

"So? He loves books."

"Yeah, but…"

"But…?" Katie asks, raising an eyebrow at him.

Kendall shrugs, his gaze falling on his lap. "I don't know. I'm overthinking it."

"Why are you overthinking it?"

"Well, you know…"

Katie shakes her head at him and crosses her arms over her chest. "Kendall."

"What?" Kendall asks, turning to Katie with a puzzled look on his face.

"You make it so obvious."

"Make what so obvious?"

Katie looks around the room, as if to make sure nobody else is listening. She then leans toward Kendall, a smile tugging at her lips. "That you like Logan," she whispers, a look of surprise coming to her face when Kendall's face pales at her words.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Katie, I don't know what—"

"Oh, come on, Kendall. You do a very poor job at hiding it."

"What? No I don't!"

Katie smirks. "See? You didn't even deny that it's true."

"I don't like—" Kendall starts to say, but stops when he realizes he's talking way too loudly and James might be able to hear him from his room. "I don't like Logan," he says in a quieter tone. "I don't know where you got that idea."

Katie gives him a knowing look.

"What?"

"I can read you like a book, big brother," Katie says simply. "You tend to roll your eyes when you're lying… which you just did."

Kendall shakes his head and stands up, but a hand around his wrist stops him. "Why are you afraid to admit it?" Katie asks as she looks up at Kendall. "He's your best friend. It's normal."

Kendall swallows thickly and pulls his arm away from Katie and toward his chest. "I'm not afraid," he says, looking around the room. "I'm… I'm petrified."

"Of?"

Sighing, Kendall sits back down. He looks down at the floor when he speaks next.

"I'm not afraid to admit it," he mumbles. "Not to you. I'm afraid to tell him about how I feel."

"That's normal, too."

"He's my best friend. He's straight. He would never feel the same way."

"What makes you so sure?"

"He dated Camille for over two years."

"You dated Jo," Katie reminds him. "Didn't mean you weren't into guys."

"No, I know that. I just… I don't think he'd like me. I don't think he likes guys, and even if he did, why would he like me? He wouldn't."

"You won't know if you don't ask him."

Kendall feels his eyes sting, so he rises from the couch, his back now to Katie. "I can't do that," he says, before walking away from her and toward his room.

He expects to find the room empty, since when he had left to the store to look for a gift for Logan, Logan had run off to the library nearby, to do some studying. But when he opens the door, Logan's sitting on his bed, textbook spread open on his lap and earbuds in his ears.

"Oh, hey," he says uneasily, unsure if he should walk into the room or turn back around.

Logan's eyes are scanning his textbook, but he seems to take notice of Kendall's presence because he looks up and removes one of his earbuds from his ear. "Hey," he says, smiling widely. "How did Christmas shopping go?"

Kendall forces a smile onto his face as he takes a seat on the edge of Logan's bed. "Fine," he says, unable to mask the sadness in his voice.

"Everything okay?" Logan asks, the smile on his face vanishing. He detaches himself from his headboard and leans forward, placing a hand on Kendall's knee. "Did something happen?"

Kendall shakes his head and looks up at the ceiling, unable to look Logan in the eye.

Logan's frown deepens. He places his textbook on the bed next to him and rubs Kendall's back gently, with the hand that's not on his knee. This just makes Kendall feel even more pathetic. Deep down, he thinks their friendship could survive him confessing his love for Logan and Logan not feeling the same way. But the problem lies in that he doesn't know that for sure. What if he tells Logan how he feels and things get awkward between the two of them? Or what if Logan is completely weirded out by Kendall's confession and starts to distance himself from him? He doesn't think he could handle either of those two scenarios.

He doesn't even know when his feelings for Logan changed. It seemed to happen slowly, without him even realizing it, until one day, after breaking up with Jo, it all just hit him all of a sudden. It all made so much sense. It was like the feelings in his brain had been put together like a puzzle, and for a moment, he didn't feel suffocated anymore. That is, until he realized that Logan would never love him the same, even if he was no longer with Camille. Even if he wasn't actually straight, he could never love him like that. Not the same way Kendall loved him.

Logan's hand all of a sudden stills. "You can talk to me. You know that, right?" Logan asks, to which Kendall lets out a humorless chuckle.

"I don't think I can talk to you about this," he says and turns to Logan. The look of hurt that crosses Logan's face makes his heart ache.

"Oh." Logan pulls his hand away and brings his knees up to his chest, his arms wrapping tightly around them. "Why not?"

"Because…" Kendall chews on the inside of his cheek and looks down at the blue comforter on Logan's bed. "If I tell you, things might change, and I don't want them to change."

"Why would things change?"

Kendall fights off the urge to shrug at Logan's question and instead forces himself to look at Logan – to properly look at him. He's sitting with his chin resting on his knees, his big brown eyes staring up at Kendall, as if waiting for him to respond, to explain himself.

"I don't… I don't know how to explain things without making things weird."

Confusion clouds Logan's features. He hesitantly reaches for Kendall and wraps a hand around his arm. "I don't know what it is that you feel like you can't tell me," he says slowly, "but I'm sure nothing you have to say would make things weird between us."

I wouldn't be so sure, Kendall wants to say, but he simply nods and lets out a small sigh, clasping his hands together on his lap.

"We've been best friends for over a decade," Logan adds. "We've seen each other through our best days and through our worst. Nothing you say will make me see you any differently or change things between us in any way."

Slowly, Kendall turns to look back at Logan again. A part of him wants to say it. He opens and closes his mouth, the words on the tip of his tongue but unable to come out. He stares down at his lap again, not wanting to see the look that Logan will send his way once he actually speaks the words out loud. "Do you, uh, remember when I came out to you when we were fourteen?"

"Yeah," Logan says, the word sounding more like a question than a statement.

A shaky breath leaves Kendall's lips as he hugs his arms around himself. "I was so unhappy with Jo. Not because I didn't like her, because I did, but because I think I had feelings for someone else, even though I didn't really know it at the time."

He hears Logan's breath hitch. "Is that why the two of you broke up?" he asks quietly.

"Not really," Kendall says, his voice sounding strained. "We argued a lot, over the smallest of things. I mean, you already know that, but… It wasn't until after we broke up that I realized I liked this other person. And it was all so confusing, because I should have been grieving our relationship. At least, I think I should have been. But I just…"

"When you argue a lot in a relationship or have problems of some sort, it can sometimes make it feel like the relationship is over before it's even actually over," Logan says gently. "Maybe you'd had time to process it all, before the two of you actually broke up, and that's why when you did break up, you didn't dwell on it as much."

Kendall swallows thickly and stares at Logan, feeling dumb-founded. "I'd never thought of it like that," he admits, "but now that you've brought it up, that makes a lot of sense."

Logan gives him a small, shy smile. "You also can't help how you feel. You didn't cheat on her. You stayed loyal to her, until the very end, even when things weren't going so well."

"Yeah, I know," Kendall says. "It was all just kind of shocking, I guess? I never expected to fall for this person. Not in a million years. But once I realized how I felt, it all made so much sense, you know? Everything just fell into place."

He watches as Logan nods in response, urging him to go on. He's not sure he can, because if he does, the next thing that'll come out of his mouth is that he likes Logan, and he can't bear to see his reaction. What if he storms off? What if he looks at him with a look of disgust? What if things are never the same between them after this? It feels like his heart is beating at a thousand beats per minute. Like the air supply in the room has decreased to practically nothing.

"Logan, I… I think I—I think I like you."

I think I like you. He doesn't think, he knows. What he does think is that he's in love with his best friend, but he doesn't know how to tell him that.

Once the words are out, there's no taking them back.

For a moment, the expression on Logan's face remains fairly neutral, but as it all starts to dawn on him, a look of surprise comes to his face. "Oh," he manages to say. His arms unwind from around his knees, and then he crosses his legs and rests his arms on top of them. "I wasn't expecting that."

Tears begin to blur Kendall's vision. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"What? Why are you sorry?" Logan asks. "You haven't done anything wrong."

It feels like I have. "I don't know. I just feel the need to apologize, I guess."

"Kendall." A frown comes to Logan's face. "You like me. It's okay."

"Is it?"

"Yes."

"I'm still sorry," Kendall says. "I've probably put you in a very awkward position."

"We're good," Logan reassures him with a small smile. "But… can I have some time to think about it?"

Think about it? He wants to think about it?

"Uh, sure." He stands on shaky legs and runs a hand through his hair. "I should probably go." He doesn't give Logan much of a chance to respond as he makes his way to the bedroom door and starts turning the doorknob. "I'll see you later."

"See you," Logan says quietly, before Kendall walks out of the room and closes the door behind him.

That evening, as the boys are hanging up more Christmas lights around the apartment, Logan can't keep his eyes off Kendall. He also can't stop replaying the conversation they had that afternoon. Kendall likes him. He actually likes him. Logan can't even fathom why, but a part of him feels giddy with excitement.

"Logan, you dropped the lights again!"

Hearing James' voice, Logan looks down from where he's standing up on a ladder, his hands still held up, as if he's about to hang Christmas lights around the front door. He feels his cheeks heat up as his eyes land on the lights, which sure enough, are now laying on a heap on the floor. Kendall, who is standing on a chair next to him, gives him a small smile, before getting down from the chair, grabbing the lights, and handing them up to him.

"Thanks," Logan manages. He takes the lights in his hand and begins to hang them around the wall surrounding the door, forcing himself to look away from Kendall.

"No problem."

"Just how many more lights are we gonna have to hang up?" he asks, sighing softly. "The apartment looks like a Christmas festival." He chuckles as he stares at the Christmas lights hanging on every wall in sight. They've been doing this for the last hour. He's not even sure why, because they won't even be here for Christmas, but Carlos had insisted it would make the apartment look more festive and put them in a more cheerful, Christamssy mood.

"Just two more!" Carlos responds from the other side of the room. He's standing on another chair, trying to put up a star on top of the Christmas tree. Logan has to hold his breath and look away, hoping Carlos doesn't topple over and take the tree down along with him.

Sighing, Logan gets down from the ladder and makes his way to the couch, where he then takes a seat. He watches as Kendall grabs a string of lights that James is handing up to him, and then proceeds to put them up.

"Everything okay?"

He jumps at the voice, his eyes growing wide when he realizes it's James who has spoken and is now standing in front of him. Just how long had he zoned out for?

"What?"

"Is everything okay?" James repeats as he takes a seat next to him, resting an arm against the back of the couch, head leaning against it. "You look a bit… out of it."

"Oh." Logan looks down at his hands, and then back up at James. "Yeah, everything's fine," he says, breathing out softly. "But… I do want to talk to you and Carlos about something…"

"Me and Carlos? Why only me and Carlos?" he asks, looking puzzled. Logan can't really blame him for being confused. Whenever he has some kind of dilemma, Kendall is the one he goes to for advice, because he's more level-headed than the other two, and even when he asks for James' and Carlos' opinion on things, Kendall is usually involved. "Did you and Kendall get into some kind of fight or something? Because it didn't really look like it, but now that I think about it, he's been acting a bit off, too."

Logan quickly shakes his head. "No, no. Kendall and I are fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's not anything like that."

James nods slowly. "Okay. Well, let us know when you wanna talk, okay?"

Logan feels his lips pull up into a small smile. "I will. Thanks."

James gives him a smile of his own. "Anytime, bud," he says, before patting him on the knee and standing up.

The talk with James and Carlos doesn't end up happening until two days later, after they all head back to Minnesota to spend Christmas there with their families. Logan is sitting on his bedroom floor, with Carlos sitting next to him and James sitting on the edge of his bed.

"So, what is it that you wanted to talk to us about?" James asks, leaning toward Logan. "And why is Kendall not included in this?"

"Because…" Logan sighs as he stares at Carlos and then up at James, "what I have to say is about Kendall."

"Is Kendall okay?" Carlos asks. He places the Rubik's cube he had been fiddling with down on the carpet and turns his attention to Logan. His eyebrows are knitted together, a frown present on his face.

"Yeah," Logan says, even though he's not sure if that is true. Ever since their talk from the other day, Kendall has seemed distant – or distant from him, anyway. Logan had a feeling it had to do with what he had told him and with Logan's lack of a response.

"Then what is it?"

"Kendall, uh… He told me something the other day."

"Something like…?" James presses.

"Something like… thathelikesme."

"That he what?" both James and Carlos say at the same time. Logan feels his cheeks heat up.

"That he likes me," Logan repeats as he messes with the cord on his black hoodie.

"Damn," James says. He pushes himself off the bed and slides down until he's sitting in between Logan and Carlos. "Guess I wasn't wrong about that."

"Wrong about what?"

James lightly chuckles. "I had a feeling he did, but I didn't know for sure."

"Wait. Why would you think that?"

Shrugging, James replies with, "Well, have you seen the way he looks at you?"

"Uh, no?"

"He looks at you the same way Carlos looks at corndogs."

Next to them, Carlos smiles. "I do love corndogs."

James rolls his eyes at his response and lightly nudges Carlos on the side. "But seriously, I've noticed it for a while now. I just wasn't sure what to make of it, since he never said anything about liking you."

"Maybe he was scared," Carlos says.

"Scared about what?" James asks. "We know he likes guys."

Carlos shrugs. "Yeah, but… it's Logan. I imagine that'd be scarier than admitting he likes some random person from school he barely knows."

"He has a point," Logan says as he grabs the Rubik's cube and starts messing with it. "But, anyway. I don't… I don't know what to do."

"What did you tell him?" James asks as he pats him lightly on the shoulder.

"That I'd think about it."

"Well, there's not a lot that you can do," Carlos tells him. "The only thing you can do is let him down slowly and make sure he knows that nothing's gonna change between the two of you because of it. Just be honest with him."

"Yeah, but the thing is…"

"Yeah?"

"I think I—I think I might have feelings for him, too."

"Seriously?" James asks, while Carlos just stares at him, mouth wide open.

"Y-Yeah," Logan stammers out. He can feel the tips of his ears growing warm. He stares at the wall opposite to him, unable to look either of them in the eye. "I… I've been questioning things for a while now. Questioning my, uh, sexuality. I hadn't said anything because I was just so confused and unsure, and I think a part of me still is, but… I think I… I think I love him."

Without warning, Carlos grabs Logan's hands, which are resting on his lap, and gives him a small smile. "We're glad you told us."

Next to him, James wraps an arm around his shoulders. "And it's okay to take your time with figuring things out. We know that couldn't have been easy for you."

Logan presses his lips into a tight smile. "It wasn't," he says as he pulls one hand out of Carlos' hold and wipes at his eyes, which have grown moist with tears. "But it feels nice to have finally said it out loud."

"So, Kendall doesn't know?" Carlos asks.

"No," Logan replies, shaking his head. "I wanted to tell him, the day that he told me he liked me. I just… I didn't know how. I've never been good at things like this."

"He already likes you," James says as he squeezes at his arm. "All you have to do is tell him you like him back."

"Yeah, but… I don't know. I'm scared."

"Of what?" Carlos asks.

"Of doing something wrong. Of messing up what we have. He's my best friend. I don't want to ruin that."

"He's still gonna be your best friend," Carlos tells him.

"Yeah, but…"

"You're scared things won't work out and that you'll stop being best friends because of it?" James suggests, to which Logan wordlessly nods. "I'm sure that's not gonna happen. Even if things don't work out, the two of you will figure things out."

"You think so?"

"No. I know so."

Logan sighs as he stares down at the carpet. "So, you think I should tell him?"

Carlos and James turn to look at each other, then back at him. "Definitely," they both say in unison.

"Okay," Logan says, giving them both an uneasy smile. "I guess I… I guess I'll tell him."

On Christmas morning, Kendall wakes up to a text message from Logan.

Meet me by the pond.

Kendall doesn't even have to ask what pond, because he knows it's the pond the four of them skated in when they were younger – the same pond in which he spent a whole evening teaching Logan how to skate when they were eight.

He gets dressed in a hurry and walks out of his room as quietly as he can, grabbing Logan's present from his nightstand on his way out. He was going to give it to him later, once all their families got together for Christmas dinner, but he figured he'd give it to him now. He had taken Katie's advice and picked up a few books from the bookstore downtown. He just hoped Logan liked them.

The cold winter air greets him as soon as he steps out of his house, chilling him to the bone. Wrapping his arms tightly around himself, he makes his way down his walkway and toward the pond, which is only a couple of blocks away. By the time he gets there, he's shaking from head to toe, no longer being as used to this weather as he once had been.

"Logan?" he calls out, not seeing Logan anywhere in sight. Not receiving a response, he pulls out his phone and types out a quick text to him.

I'm at the pond. Where are you?

He hits "send" and waits for a response, but when a couple of minutes pass and there still isn't one, he takes a seat on a bench next to the pond.

It's less than a minute after he has sat down that he feels a tap on his shoulder and turns around, finding Logan standing behind him. The other boy's cheeks are a light pink from the cold, hair looking slightly tousled. He's holding a gift wrapped in green wrapping paper with little snowmen in his hands, a red bow surrounding it.

Smiling, he walks around the bench and takes a seat next to Kendall, holding the gift out to him.

"For me?" Kendall asks, looking slightly puzzled. This only causes the smile on Logan's face to grow in size.

"You're the only one here, aren't you?" Logan asks in a teasing manner.

"I think so?"

Logan laughs. Kendall feels his heart ache at the sound. "Yeah, it's for you," Logan says softly.

Before opening it, Kendall hands his own gift to Logan. It's wrapped in golden wrapping paper, with a small green bow on top. "You open yours first," Kendall tells him.

"Are you sure?"

Kendall nods. "Yeah."

He watches as Logan carefully unwraps the wrapping paper, and then proceeds to take out one book after the other, his smile growing wider when he realizes it's the Lord of the Rings collection.

"You got me the whole collection?" he asks excitedly as he holds one of the books up.

Kendall nods but doesn't even get a chance to respond as Logan wraps him in a hug. "Thank you, Kendall. I love it."

Hesitantly, Kendall wraps his arms around Logan as well. "I was hoping you would," he says quietly.

Logan starts to pull away slowly but keeps an arm wrapped around Kendall's shoulders. "Now you open yours," he says, nodding to the gift on Kendall's lap.

Kendall sucks in a sharp breath as he unties the bow from around the wrapping paper and then starts to pull it apart. Under the wrapping paper, he finds a small box, with a journal inside, along with about twenty pens.

"I know it's not much," Logan starts to say, "but I thought you could use it to write down song lyrics and things like that. I also got you this…"

Kendall watches as Logan reaches over the side of the bench and pulls up his backpack. He unzips it and pulls out a light brown ukulele from inside it. Kendall stares at it, mouth hanging open. "You got me a ukelele?"

Logan sheepishly smiles up at him. "I know it's not a guitar, but you already have one of those, and I thought you might like this."

"Like it?" Kendall says as he takes the ukulele in his hands. "Logan, I love it. Thank you. Really, this means so much."

Logan smiles widely at the look of happiness in Kendall's eyes. "No problem."

Kendall starts to position his fingers over the strings but stops as Logan starts to speak again. "Also, about the other day…"

He looks up, his heart sinking in his chest. "Logan, we don't have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable."

"I want to talk about it," Logan says, so Kendall places the ukulele down on his lap and stares down at his shaking hands. Taking notice of this, Logan reaches for them and holds them in between both of his. "Kendall, I… I've been thinking about what you said. And the truth is, I-I like you, too. Actually, scratch that. I love you. I just… I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't know how to bring it up. I was scared you wouldn't feel the same way, and that I'd scare you away somehow." He inhales sharply. "Then you told me that you liked me, and I just… I needed some time to process it. I couldn't even believe you liked me back—"

"You-You love me?" Kendall asks, his eyes growing wide.

Beside him, Logan nods.

A wobbly smile starts to appear on Kendall's face as he raises his mittened hand and places it on Logan's cheek. "I love you, too," he says softly. "But all this time, I thought I would scare you off."

Logan chuckles. "You never could have."

"Yeah, but I… I never in a million years thought you'd feel the same way."

"Well, I do," Logan says, "and I'd like to give us a try. If-If that's what you want, of course. I wouldn't want to pressure you or anything."

"I'd love that," Kendall says, unable to keep the smile off of his face as he pulls Logan into a hug. He feels Logan hug him back just as tightly as an airy laugh leaves his lips. "I'd love that a lot, actually."

"I'm glad," Logan whispers against his ear, before pulling away. He then stuffs his new collection of books into his backpack and stands up, offering Kendall his hand. "Now, how about we go get something warm to drink? My mom told me about this new coffee shop that opened near our old school, and I've been wanting to go ever since."

Still smiling from ear to ear, Kendall takes his hand and pulls Logan to his side. "That'd be lovely," he says and allows Logan to lead the way.

Just to clear things up, the guys are supposed to be around 19 or 20 in this, so this takes place sometime after the show ended. I was kind of in a hurry to get this up, since the deadline for the challenge ended last night, so I apologize if the ending (or any part of it) felt a bit rushed. I hope you enjoyed, regardless. Please make sure to check out the other stories for the challenge, too. :) Thank you for reading!

~ BigTimeRush-BTR :)