A/N: Happy Fourth of July everyone. Well, my American readers lol. It's kind of weird saying that but I'll get use to it. I'm trying to keep this update thing as frequent as possible but you all know how life gets in the way.
It had been about an hour since Logan arrived to James' house and he's spent most of his time reading over Carlos' files. Kendall tried to explain to Logan that everything after Carlos' birth was completely normal but the science obsessed boy wasn't going to listen. So, Kendall just kept Carlos occupied while explaining things around the world to him.
Carlos had a fair understanding of how the world worked but he still wasn't sure about a lot of things. The two of them walked around James' mother's garden and Carlos tried to guess the flowers that were planted. Kendall was surprised that Carlos knew all of the flowers in the garden. As they stood at the last flower bush, Carlos reached out to touch one of the roses.
"Be careful." Kendall warned and Carlos nodded.
"Kendall!" Someone yelled from the house, scaring the two boys. They both turned to see that it was James standing at the door. He gestured for the two of them to come inside and when they did Carlos looked at Logan as the boy jumped up from his seat.
"Hello." Carlos said, seeing the boy for the first time.
"Oh, um, hello. My name is Logan." Logan said slowly, making Kendall raise an eyebrow at him while James laughed.
"Logan, he's not stupid. You don't have to talk to him like that." Kendall told him and Logan nodded.
"Sorry. It's just so…I don't know."
"Can we go back outside?" Carlos asked Kendall.
"Wait, I wanted to talk to Kendall about something." Logan said.
"Okay, Carlos, you can go, I'll be out in a second." Carlos nodded before he went back outside.
"What's up?"
"Have you looked through all of these files?" Logan asked the blonde and he shook his head. Logan reached over and grabbed one of the folders and handed it to Kendall. "This folder talks about how they found something different within Carlos' blood. It's not dated that far away from when we first went to the science facility."
Kendall read over the file and when he saw the note about the second, higher dosage, he closed the folder with a little more force than what he meant and his friends looked at him in shock. "Logan, I don't care what these files say. The only thing that's different about Carlos is where he came from."
"Kendall, are you seriously going to ignore everything in this file?"
"Fuck those files, I've been spending time with Carlos and he is perfectly fine."
"…What do you mean you've been spending time with him?" Logan said looking at the blonde in shock.
"You know that job at the science facility? I got it because I found Carlos that day we went to the science facility. Ever since then, I have been spending time with him every time I went to work."
"And you haven't seen anything different?"
"No." Kendall said, tossing the folder onto the table.
"Look, can we just put this stuff away before someone sees it?" James nodded at Kendall's words before he helped the blonde put the folders back into the book bag.
"Is something wrong?" Carlos asked, walking into the house.
"No, everything is fine." Kendall said, walking over to the boy.
"Kendall, what if we just-"
"Logan, let it go. We aren't doing anything."
"All I'm suggesting that we do a little experiment, maybe draw some blood or-" Carlos gasped at that and hid behind Kendall, squeezing onto the blonde's arm for dear life.
"Ow! No, Logan! Geez! He's been through enough already. What he doesn't need right now is for another person only interested in him for experiments." Kendall said before he realized that he'd managed to scare everyone in the room. The first person Kendall turned to was Carlos and he ushered the boy into a hug to show him that he wasn't mad at him.
"Kendall, I didn't mean for-"
"I know you didn't but he's been through a lot in the past few days and I just…I don't want people messing with him. I want him to be treated like everyone else. So from now on, no more science talk, at least about him, please." Kendall requested and Logan nodded.
"Kendall, you have to understand that you can't show someone this and expect them to just move on without having questions." James said, coming to the defense of his boyfriend.
"I do understand but in the same way you need to understand that this is Carlos' first time in the outside world. The last thing he needs is to be treated the same way he was before." Kendall told them and James and Logan both nodded. There was an awkward silence between them and Kendall broke the silence by moving to grab the book bag with Carlos' folders in it. He took the bag and sat it on the steps before returning to where everyone was standing.
"How about we all go outside." James suggested and Carlos smiled at that and led the way. When they all stepped outside, James grabbed a ball that was in the yard and started a game of catch between Carlos. Kendall was glad that James quickly started treating Carlos like a normal person. Kendall sat down on the steps of the back porch and watched the two play, smiling when Carlos caught the ball.
"I'm sorry for how I reacted in there." Logan said, sitting down next to Kendall.
"Logan-"
"I mean, I sounded like some mad scientist." Kendall couldn't help but nod along with that statement. "I wasn't thinking about him and how he felt about everything."
"I know you didn't mean it like that. I know how much you're interested in science."
"So you're kind of like his protector?" Logan asked.
"Yeah, I guess I am. I promised someone that I would take care of him."
"That's so nice of you."
"I feel like anyone would've done it. You know, stepped up to the plate."
"Kendall, there are people out here who don't even claim their child. What you're doing is beyond nice."
"Alright, stop talking before I blush and James thinks somethings up." Kendall said, nudging Logan playfully. The two boys looked on as James started extending his throws. Carlos started catching the throws but one particular throw Carlos dove to grab it, sending him to the ground. Kendall stood up the second Carlos went down and Logan couldn't help but chuckle.
"Kendall, calm down. All he did was fall." Logan said, making the blonde blush as he sat down. Carlos brushed the pieces of grass off of his clothes but noticed the brown dirt mostly on his white pants.
"You okay?" James asked and Carlos nodded before throwing the ball back, continuing the game.
At some point, Kendall and Logan moved back into the house while James and Carlos played. Logan was laying down while looking at stuff on his laptop and Kendall was playing games on his phone while it charged.
"Uh, guys." James said from the door and when both boys looked up, Logan covered his mouth in shock while Kendall gasped. Carlos smiled from where he stood covered in dirt and grass stains.
"What happened?" Kendall said, getting up and taking strides to get to the two boys.
"Carlos caught the ball." James said and Carlos held the ball proudly.
"James-"
"I told him not to go for it." James said, holding his hands up.
"I knew I could catch it." Carlos said before he handed James the dirty ball back.
"He landed in the bushes." James explained as Kendall took a small stick and leaves out of the boy's hair.
"My skin feels itchy." Carlos said and Kendall sighed.
"You need to get in the shower. You both do."
"You do too." James said, taking slight offense to Kendall's words.
"I don't have any other clothes." Carlos said, looking down at his dirty ones.
"Don't worry, Kendall has some clothes he left over."
"What about me?" Kendall asked.
"You underestimate how much of your clothes is over here." James said before he led the way to his room. When they walked into James' room, Carlos was surprised by the size of it just like the rest of the house.
"All of Kendall's clothes are behind the door in the closet." James told them. Kendall rushed over to the closet and turned on the light before looking behind the door.
"James! Why do you have so much of my stuff?"
"Kendall, we've been friends for years."
"I've been looking for this shirt!" Kendall said, grabbing a shirt off the hanger.
"It's been here since I had that party and you ended up leaving with Jett."
"Shirtless?"
"Shirtless." James confirmed, smirking, making Kendall blush. Carlos smiled at their friendly banter before turning to the mirror James had in his room.
"What am I going to do with my clothes?" Carlos asked them.
"Well, seeing as your clothes are potential evidence tha-"
"James, shut up." Kendall said, nudging the boy. "Just leave your clothes on the floor when you get out of the shower."
James walked over to his dresser and fished out clothes for him to put on before he grabbed a towel and wash cloth out of the linen closet. "I'm going to use my mom's shower. You guys can use my shower and the shower in the hall." He said before he left the two boys.
"Follow me and I'll show you how the shower works." Kendall said going into James' bathroom. Carlos was slowly starting to just expect everything in James' house to be big and amazing.
"His shower is super weird if you didn't know how to use it but luckily you're in good hands. The nozzle on the left is for the cold water, the nozzle on the right is for the hot water. I don't know which type of shower head you would like but this switch is for the regular shower head and this one is for the waterfall shower head." Kendall said, gesturing to each item. When Kendall turned to Carlos, the boy was already undressing.
"Wait, hold on." Kendall said, grabbing Carlos' hands, stopping him from pulling his pants down. "Let me get you the stuff you need for your shower before you get completely undressed. Try getting the temperature right while I'm gone." Kendall said before he left the room. When he came back, Carlos was still standing in the same position he was when Kendall had left but this time the water was on.
"Is everything okay?" Kendall asked as he walked into the bathroom, sitting the towel and washcloth on the sink.
"I turned on the water." Carlos said, smiling.
"I see that but is the temperature okay?"
"I think so." Carlos said as Kendall reached into the shower.
"Jesus! Carlos the water is burning hot."
"It is? It seemed warm enough when I felt it."
"Did you turn on the hot and cold?" Kendall asked and Carlos shook his head.
"I didn't want cold water."
"No, the cold balances out the hot water." Kendall said as he maneuvered so that he could turn on the cold water.
"Oh."
"There, it should be warm enough now."
"Thank you." Carlos said and Kendall nodded before he left the room. Kendall gathered up his clothes and stuff he needed for his shower and just before he left James' bedroom, he heard Carlos call him.
"K-Kendall."
"Yeah?" Kendall said turning to face the bathroom.
"I-I'm scared."
"Scared?"
"Yes." Carlos said, coming to the door of the bathroom.
"Of what?"
"T-The shower. It-It reminds me of…"
"Right." Kendall said, going back into the bathroom. The shower looked like a miniature version of Carlos' room now that Kendall thought about it.
"This is built so that even if the water did collect at your feet, it would never completely fill up and there's a drain."
"I-I know but it just…"
"You're nervous, I understand. Um, keep the bathroom door open and keep the shower door open, if you want. That way, there's no way it could flood." Carlos nodded at that and stepped closer to the shower, reaching out to touch the water, watching the dirt get rinsed from his hand.
"You know how to wash yourself?" Kendall asked just to make sure he wasn't called back for anything else. Carlos nodded while he blushed at Kendall's question before the blonde left the bathroom.
Carlos took off the rest of his clothes before he grabbed his wash cloth and stepped into the shower. He kept the door open as he stepped under the spray of water. The warm water felt nice on his skin and he when he noticed that the water from the shower was wetting up the floor, he stopped for a moment and slowly reached out to close the shower door.
As the sound of the door closing hit Carlos' ears, he almost immediately had a flash back to when the water first flooded his empty room. He stepped back out of the water and accidentally knocked the bottles that laid on the small shelves down. He gasped and tried to catch the bottles but they all fell from his hands. He leaned down and picked up the bottles while avoiding his face from going under the spray of the water.
Once all of the bottles were back on the shelves, he grabbed his wash cloth and looked at all of the labels. Back at the facility, there were two bottles simply labeled with soap and shampoo but in James' house all of the bottles said something different.
"Axe Dark Temptations shower gel." Carlos said as he read the label. He figured this was the one to use on his body since the rest seemed to be for the face or hair.
When he poured the soap onto his wash cloth, he noticed that the scent didn't smell anything like chocolate as the label said. The gold like color looked pretty to him and he ran his fingers through it. He took some off the wash cloth and put it on his skin, rubbing it in. He noticed it was just like the soap he used in the facility but it had a smell to it.
As he washed away the dirt, he thought about how different things were and how new and exciting everything was. He thought about how different things were from what he saw on television to what he experienced outside. Once he was finished washing all of his body, he stopped and stared at the water falling. He knew he had to wash his face but he didn't know if he could. Every time the water touched his face, he had a small flashback to when the water was flowing above his head. He jumped when there was a knock on the door.
"Carlos, are you okay?" It was Kendall. Carlos sighed when he realized that it was Kendall. The boy who had saved him from General Griffin. He was like Carlos' very own superhero. He saved him, he's taking care of him, and he's protecting him. Carlos smiled a little at that before there was another knock on the door.
"Carlos?"
"Y-Yes?"
"Are you okay?"
"I-I-" Carlos didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to even say it. He was afraid of the water on his face. How was he going to tell Kendall that?
"Carlos, I'm coming in." Kendall said before he was standing on the other side of the door. Carlos didn't know what came over him but he felt this urge to cry.
"Carlos, why did you close the shower door?"
"I-I, the floor was getting wet."
"Can I open the door?"
"I-, um…"
"Carlos, is something wrong?"
"N-No." Carlos lied and he bit his lip, knowing that his voice sounded shaky. He gasped when Kendall opened the door and took a step back. He unknowingly stepped under the spray of water and screamed before falling to the ground, covering his mouth to keep the water from going in. Kendall was holding onto him a second later, moving him out of the spray of water. Carlos gasped for air and held onto Kendall for his life.
"Don't worry, you're not under water. Carlos, listen to me. You're okay, you're fine. We're here at James' house and you're completely safe." Kendall said as he rubbed the boys back. He was only in his underwear when he noticed that Carlos was still in the shower. He had expected Carlos to be out and getting dressed when he entered the room.
When he saw Carlos just standing there through the steam of the shower, he got worried, especially when he noticed the shower door was closed. He hadn't meant to scare the boy when he opened the shower door but the reaction Carlos had when the water covered his face, scared Kendall more than anything. Carlos looked exactly how he was when Kendall had pulled him out of the facility.
"Carlos, Carlos, I'm here, look at me." Kendall said, turning Carlos' head towards him.
"Kendall."
"Yeah, I'm here." Kendall said and for a moment there was silence between them before Carlos started crying.
"Kendall, I-I can't do it."
"Do what?"
"I-I can't say."
"Carlos, it's okay. You can tell me."
"I-I can't put my face near th-the water. It makes me-"
"Don't worry, it was stupid of me to leave you here to do it all by yourself after what happened. Where's your wash cloth?" Kendall asked and Carlos looked to see that it was on the drain. When he saw the water starting to fill up, he held onto Kendall tighter.
"It's okay. It's okay. Look, see, I pick up the wash cloth and the water goes down the drain." Kendall said as he held the wash cloth in his hand. He rung out all of the water before he took come of James' face wash.
"Hold still okay."
"K-Kendall-"
"Don't worry, I'm right here. Hold onto my arm." Kendall said before he moved the wash cloth across Carlos' chin. Carlos tensed up as the wash cloth moved over parts of his face.
"Just close your eyes for me."
"I can't."
"I'm going to be right here. I don't want to get soap in your eyes." There was a silence between the two of them after that and Carlos kept eye contact with Kendall as the wash cloth got closer and closer to his eyes.
"Carlos." Kendall said and the boy just nodded and closed his eyes, holding onto Kendall tight. Kendall wiped the wash cloth over Carlos' face, removing all of the dirt.
"Don't move, hold still." Kendall said as he washed all of the soap off the wash cloth before he wiped the soap off of Carlos' face.
"Done. You can open your eyes now. See how easy that was." Carlos couldn't help but smile as Kendall smiled at him.
"Thank you." Carlos said. Kendall stood up and helped Carlos.
"We have to wash your hair." Carlos looked panicked at that and Kendall was expecting it.
"Don't worry, I have a little sister and I use to wash her hair all the time."
"Kendall, I really don't want to do that." Carlos told him and Kendall stood there for a moment as he thought.
"Okay." He said before he turned off the water.
"We can wash your hair in the sink. That way, you won't even have to worry about your face getting wet."
"Okay." Carlos said, smiling at that.
Kendall helped him out of the shower and handed him a towel. They walked into James' room and dried off. Kendall put on his pants after he dried off his legs. He knew his underwear wasn't that wet and would dry quickly so he didn't bother changing them. Carlos put on a pair of underwear that was with his clothes before he heard footsteps.
"Kendall, I said, Jett is here. What are yo-uh oh." James said before he was standing at the doorway.
"Kendall?" Jett said before he moved pass James. Kendall closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh when he realized how this looked.
"Jett…this is not what it looks like."
A/N: Uh oh, Kendall has found himself in a compromising position. What I love about this chapter is how cute Carlos is when he comes in the house with James, covered in dirt. He's just so care free its adorable. Stay tuned for another update. Thanks for reading and reviews are much appreciated! :D