A/N: Happy New Year! I am so sorry for saying I was going to update this story soon, only to disappear. I have actually planned for updating more often but sometimes life gets to be too much. Luckily, I haven't given up typing and I hope you all haven't given up reading! Enjoy! :D
When Kendall woke up, he saw Carlos sitting on the floor, still watching Once Upon a Time. The boy had one of Kendall's blankets wrapped around his body while he watched. Kendall looked over at his alarm and sighed, knowing that he had woken up five minutes before his alarm was supposed to go off. He deactivated it as he sat up. "Carlos, have you been up all night?" Kendall asked him.
"Yes, I'm on the second season."
"Carlos, you have to get some sleep."
"I know it's just I've never seen anything like this." Carlos said, pausing the show.
"Were you on the floor all night?"
"No, I went to the bathroom and I didn't want to wake you, so, I sat here on the floor."
"Well, come get in the bed." Kendall said as he got up to get his clothes ready for school. Carlos moved from the floor to the bed and sat in the same position with the blanket wrapped around him before he pressed play again.
"Carlos, you're going to sleep all day if you keep watching." Kendall said as he picked out his shoes he was going to wear.
"But I'm not even tired." Kendall knew the effects of binge watching through the night, so, he just let Carlos continue to watch. The boy would be out sometime soon. Kendall entered the bathroom and when he looked for his toothbrush, he remembered that he used it in the hallway bathroom after he ate his dinner while Carlos was in the shower. Kendall went to the hallway bathroom and groaned when he realized that Katie was in there.
"Katie, can you hand me my tooth brush?" Kendall asked, knocking. There was a groan before something hit the counter followed by shuffling and the door unlocking.
"Thanks." Kendall said, taking the tooth brush from her and she groaned in response.
When Kendall entered his room, Carlos was laid out on his side, sleep. Kendall shook his head as he went over to pause the show and finish getting ready for school. After brushing his teeth and fixing his hair, Kendall headed over to his closet to put on the clothes that he had picked out earlier. After his clothes were on, he noticed that Carlos was in a rather uncomfortable looking position. Kendall maneuvered Carlos into a more comfortable position and in the process, woke him back up.
"Where are you going?" Carlos asked, drowsily.
"I have to go to school but I'll be back later."
"Oh okay." Carlos said before he was out again.
Kendall knew that telling something to someone while they're sleep is either a hit or miss in the terms of understanding so he opted to write the boy a note for when he did wake up. Kendall got the text from James that came every morning meaning that he had five minutes left to get ready. After responding to James, Kendall sent Jett a good morning text before grabbing his book bag and heading into the kitchen.
"Good morning, Mom."
"Good morning, Kendall." The woman said, taking a sip of her coffee. Kendall reached into the cabinet and grabbed a pack of PopTarts.
"So, what is your friend going to do all day while you're at school?"
"He's going to be here. He stayed up all night binge watching this show called Once Upon a Time. I don't really care for the show but he loves it an-"
"He's going to stay here?"
"Yeah." Kendall, said, opening the packet and taking a piece of the pastry.
"Kendall, I don't want him in here alone."
"Well, he's going to be sleep and by the time I get back it'll be like I never left."
"I don't think you're understanding me. You brought him here without asking me and last night he ate like he had never eating spaghetti before."
"That's because he hasn't." Kendall said and the look on his mother's face made him wish he had never spoke.
"Kendall, I don't like this whole situation and I know that you're lying to me. I just want to know the truth." She said and Kendall felt his phone vibrating.
"Mom, I just need you to trust that I know what I'm doing."
"How can I if I don't even know what you're doing?"
"I'm helping someone in need."
"Someone you don't even know."
"I do know him, Mom. I know that he deserves better than what he had. That's what I'm doing. I have to go to school."
"We're going to talk more about this." She said as Kendall stepped out of the house. James was sitting outside with Logan in the passenger seat. Kendall climbed in the back instead of taking the driver seat and the two other boys immediately knew something was up.
"Kendall, what happened?" Logan asked as James pulled away from the house.
"Nothing, just my mom getting on my nerves." Kendall said, pulling out his phone.
"How so?" James asked.
"She's questioning me about Carlos because she doesn't know him. I mean, I get it that this is weird but she acts like she doesn't have any trust in me."
"What did you tell her?"
"That Carlos was homeless and he needed my help." Kendall said and both boys held back their sighs.
"That wasn't what we came up with."
"I know Logan but him just being a friend isn't enough to explain that he'll be staying in the house. I thought it worked but she just pissed me off."
"What did you tell her exactly?" James asked again.
"I didn't say anything significant but she just was pissing me off. She's talking about she wants the truth and how the conversation isn't over." There was a silence between the boys as they drove. When they pulled into the parking lot of the school, James turned off the engine and sighed.
"You have to tell her."
"What? I-"
"Kendall, just hear me out. If she knows, she'll understand more and we can have another person to help. An adult, who knows how things work way more than we do."
"James, we are adults." Kendall said, looking at his friend like he was crazy.
"I know but we can only do so much in terms of protecting Carlos. I'm sure wherever he came from isn't just happy that some teenager took him."
"You don't know how they treated him. The-"
"All of that doesn't matter anymore. What's done is done. I just think that telling her is the best plan of action."
"Let's just tell the world then." Kendall said, opening the car door and stepping out. James and Logan quickly followed.
"Kendall, you know that's not what I'm saying." James said, trying to catch up to the blonde as he walked away. "All I'm saying is that it won't hurt to tell your mom the truth."
"What if she doesn't believe me? Huh?" Kendall said, stopping and turning to his friend.
"Kend-"
"What if the second she finds out that I'm not joking she wants to hand him back over to the government? Then they're going to take him and do who knows what to him. Do you know what happened to the only people that actually cared about him? One of them died and the other one is on the one run, trying to keep the government from finding out where he is. So to just get him handed over to the government, not only means that I failed them by not keeping him safe but I fail him. Logan, I'm sure you read what they did to him in there. Do you want to just send him back to that?" Kendall asked and Logan looked like a deer in headlights.
"Kendall, look, I know that this is stressful for you but your mom will not just call the government and hand him over." Logan said. "And before you ask how we know, think about it. This is the same woman that saved your ass after you stole all of that candy-"
"I was five."
"It doesn't matter. I think she's going to be skeptical but she's going to be by your side when she sees how much you care." Logan said and James nodded in agreement. Kendall let out an exaggerated sigh as he rubbed away whatever tears were coming up when he was speaking.
"And if none of this works, we can keep him over my house." James offered and Kendall rolled his eyes at that.
"Oh now you're offering up your place." Kendall said, making both boys laugh.
"Let's just get through this day before we talk details." James said, wrapping an arm around his best friend and holding his boyfriend's hand.
As soon as the last bell of the day rang, Kendall got up and threw all of his things into his bag. He raced to his locker and took out the books that he didn't need for his homework. When he closed his locker, Jett was on the other side. "Hey babe." Kendall said, before he moved passed his boyfriend, kissing him on the cheek.
"That's all I get? A 'hey babe'?" Jett said, following his boyfriend.
"What? I kissed you on the cheek."
"I haven't seen you in forever and this is how you respond to seeing me?"
"We literally just saw each other earlier." Kendall said as they reached the front of the school. Kendall leaned up against the wall near one of the doors and waited for James and Logan.
"What are you stopping here for?" Jett asked his boyfriend.
"What do you mean?" Kendall asked and Jett sighed.
"You're not going to come watch me during practice? It's been so long since you've been and it's not like you have practice today, so you're just going to be at home bored."
"Actually, Princess." James said, coming up to the couple. "Coach has called for us to have practice today too."
"For what?" Kendall asked before he groaned.
"I don't know, he said something about it being a beautiful day for practice. I tried to talk him out of it but he, well, you know how he is." James said, placing a hand on his best friend's shoulder. Kendall's groan increased in volume and length, especially when he realized that Carlos would be woke by now. There was a silence between the four as Kendall thought about what he could possibly do. He knew he couldn't miss practice and he knew he couldn't leave Carlos at home, especially with how he left things with his mother. She would probably question Carlos and who knows how he would respond.
"I guess I'll see you at practice then." Jett said, kissing his boyfriend on the cheek.
"James, can I borrow your keys?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I need to go home really quick."
"If you miss practice-"
"I'm not going to miss practice but I might be a little late so I need for you to stall for me. Just for a little bit, please."
"I'll try but if I'm stuck doing extra exercises or anything because of you-"
"I'll happily do them for you." Kendall said, trying to compromise.
"Fine." James said, handing the keys over.
"Thanks. Logan, can you meet me back here when I text you."
"Uh sure."
"Thanks." Kendall said before he was running out the door. When Kendall pulled up to his house, he checked his phone to see he had several texts from James. He told Kendall to get the book bag out of the trunk and to hurry up with whatever he was doing. Kendall sighed before opening the trunk and getting out of the car. He decided to leave it running since he wasn't going to be long. He grabbed the bag and went in the house. When he got to his bedroom, he opened the door to see Carlos sitting there watching television.
"Hi Kendall."
"Hey, Carlos. I need for you to get dressed."
"Dressed?"
"Yes." Kendall said, sitting the bag down in the closet before he went through his things for something Carlos could wear. When he finally got it, he handed it to the boy with a smile.
"Are we going outside?" Carlos asked as Kendall went through his closet again.
"Something like that." The blonde said as he grabbed his football stuff. He hurriedly threw everything in the bag before he turned to see Carlos was fully dressed. "Great, let's go." Kendall said before he looked down to see that Carlos didn't have on shoes.
"Hold on." Kendall handed Carlos a pair of his smallest shoes that he owned and helped the boy put them on. He quickly laced up the shoes before grabbing his bag. Carlos made sure he paused the show before Kendall ushered him out of the room.
"Isn't that James' car?" Carlos asked as they stepped outside.
"Yup, hop in the passenger side." Kendall said as they walked up to the car and he threw his things in the back. Just as the two got into their seats, Kendall's phone was ringing. "Hello?"
"Kendall, I stalled all I could."
"I feel like that's a lie but okay. I'm getting back in the car now."
"Okay, I'll let Coach know."
"No, don't what the-" Kendall said, censoring himself as James hung up. Kendall was about to help Carlos with his seatbelt but he saw that he was already buckled in.
"Emma always does this when she gets into her car." Carlos said with a smile and Kendall faintly remembered that one of the women in the show had that name as he nodded and headed back to school.
As James and the rest of the football team came out onto the field, Jett was looking for his boyfriend. When he didn't see him, he got James' attention just as the brunette was passing him. "Where's Kendall?"
"He had to run home and get some things for practice."
"Oh."
"Don't worry, he'll be here to watch you roll on the ground and scream."
"Shut up." Jett said, nudging him. "And we do more than just roll around and scream." Jett added as James caught up with the rest of the team.
"Oh, I'm sorry, and flip." James yelled across the field, laughing when he received a middle finger from Jett.
"Alright ladies, let's do some stretching." Jett said before he saw James look up in the stands. He followed his line of vision and saw that Logan was getting up from his seat and leaving all of his stuff behind. He wondered what that was all about before he focused on stretching for practice. However, when Logan came back he had someone with him, who looked like they had never seen a football field before.
"Who is that?" One of the cheerleaders asked him.
"I don't know." Jett said as the guy looked at them. Jett closed his eyes in frustration when he recognized who the guy was.
"Oh, he's cute." The cheerleader said and Jett rolled his eyes at her.
"Aren't you supposed to be stretching?" Jett asked before he squatted down. When his boyfriend came onto the football field, Jett made sure to stop him before he ran passed him.
"You're late."
"I know." Kendall said, kissing Jett on the cheek.
"Why is he here?" Jett asked and Kendall looked at him in confusion.
"Oh, Carlos. He didn't have anything else to do."
"Is he why you're late?"
"No." Kendall said before his name was called by the coach.
"Gotta go, bye."
"Bye." Jett said as he eyed his boyfriend before looking up at Carlos in the stands.
As Carlos sat down on the bleachers, he could feel the heat of them through his pants. He looked over to see that Logan was writing something down while he looked at a book that was on the other side of him.
"Logan." Carlos asked.
"Yes?"
"What are you doing?"
"Homework."
"Oh." Carlos said before he looked around again.
Everything was so big and open and he had never seen something like this before. Carlos smiled when he recognized Kendall running out onto the field. His smile faltered slightly when he saw Kendall kiss Jett. Logan saw this on Carlos' face and couldn't help but smirk to himself. When Jett looked over at the two of them, Carlos waved to the boy. When he didn't respond, Carlos thought to himself before he turned to Logan.
"Do you think Jett likes me?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I'm aware that he thinks that Kendall and I are together but Kendall told him that I am only a friend. But Jett still hasn't treated me like how you and James have."
"Wow, I didn't think you caught all of that."
"So he doesn't like me." Carlos said, more to himself.
"No, he's just complicated." Logan said quickly when he saw how Carlos seem to get sad at his realization.
"Can you explain?"
"Well, when we first met Jett he wasn't very social, so, in ways, he expresses his feelings in ways that people don't usually do. He has an odd way of showing his feelings. I don't think he doesn't like you per se but rather he just doesn't know you very well and he doesn't know how to deal with Kendall having a new friend since me and James have been around since they started dating."
"Oh."
"Don't worry about it. He'll be…nicer soon enough."
"Okay." Carlos said before there was the sound of a whistle. He looked out on the field, looking for Kendall.
"White jersey." Logan said, impressing Carlos since he hadn't looked up from his homework while speaking. The guys finished up their stretching before they formed two separate teams. Carlos watched on as the team went through a play. Carlos gasped when Kendall was tackled while he tried to run the ball. Logan chuckled at that while Carlos looked on in concern.
"You've never seen football before, have you?"
"I know of it but I didn't know it would be like this." Carlos said as he looked on.
"Relax, they're fine. They have on protection to keep them from getting hurt."
"Oh."
"I know it looks bad. I was the same way when I first watched James out there." Logan said and Carlos nodded.
"I had a feeling you were going to bring him here." James said to Kendall as they prepared for the next play.
"Well, I couldn't leave him at home." Kendall told him before the coach blew his whistle again.
"You know he looked terrified when you got tackled."
"He did?" Kendall asked, looking over at Carlos in the stands. The boy waved when he noticed Kendall looking at him and Kendall waved back.
"Jett, who the hell is Kendall waving at?" A cheerleader asked him.
"His friend." Jett said, not looking over at the girl.
"Are you sure that he's just his friend."
"What are you implying?" Jett said, finally looking over at her.
"Nothing." She said before resuming her stretching. Jett called for everyone to stop stretching before they started the run through their first routine. Carlos watched Jett's routine and was amazed at how they boy could flip so effortlessly. His eyes widened when they launched a girl high into the air before catching her.
"Logan, how do they do that?" Carlos asked the boy next to him.
"Do what?" Logan asked, looking up from his homework. The team launched another girl high into the air and Carlos pointed. "That."
"Oh, well, all of their strength combined are able to push her that high, plus, she jumps herself."
"Oh." Carlos said before he looked over to see Kendall and his team lining up for another play.
All of the guys clashed into each other and Carlos got a little lost as to what was supposed to be happening before he saw Kendall run passed a few guys and down the field. The coach blew the whistle and Kendall stopped running and returned to the rest of the team. Carlos could hear the coach yelling but he couldn't figure out what he was saying. He figured that it probably was something mean because of how angry he sounded.
Practice was almost over for both the football team and the cheerleading team as the sun started to set. Logan had finished his homework and was reading his book he brought with him while Carlos continued to watch both practices. Kendall took a break from practicing and jogged over to the front of the bleachers where Carlos was. He gestured for the boy to come over to him and he nodded before making his way down the bleachers.
"How are you doing? Are you good?" Kendall asked when Carlos got close enough.
"Yeah. I'm okay." Carlos said, sitting down in front of the blonde.
"Are you bored?"
"No, watching all of this is really fun. I didn't know you could run so fast. Oh, look at the sunset." Carlos said in awe, making Kendall smile. He loved Carlos' appreciation for everything. The space between them was suddenly filled with the sound of Carlos' stomach growling. Carlos' eyes widened in shock at the sound before he grabbed his stomach, making Kendall laugh.
"Don't worry, we'll stop and get something to eat on the way home." Kendall told him and Carlos nodded before a whistle was being blown. "Alright, catch you in a bit."
"Okay." Carlos said before Kendall ran back over to his team.
"Jett." The cheerleader said as she and Jett both watched the interaction between them.
"Don't." Jett said turning away from her. He called for them to go through the entire routine with music as he looked at his boyfriend. Carlos turned when he heard the sound of music being played and he was amazed at the synchronization of the cheerleading team. The football team even stopped what they were doing to watch the team perform.
Once the performance was over, everyone cheered for them and Jett made sure to catch Kendall's eye before they headed to the locker room. Kendall smirked when he saw the look his boyfriend was giving him and the rest of the team quickly caught on. Logan, on the other hand, just collected his things and rolled his eyes at Jett's antics before he headed to the bottom of the bleachers.
As everyone headed to the locker rooms, Carlos followed Logan out and waited in the hallway for James and Kendall to join them. Carlos went up to the trophy case that was on display and looked at all of the pictures of the different teams the school had. Logan watched the boy from a distance and thought about how Carlos paid attention to everything, even the little things.
When Kendall got into the locker room and Jett was waiting by his locker, shirtless. Kendall smiled at his boyfriend before he started to take off his gear. Kendall felt a hand on his chest as he lifted his shirt over his head and smiled. He pulled the gear fully off before being kissed. Jett pulled Kendall closer to him and Kendall remembered that he had Carlos waiting.
"We can't." Kendall said, already knowing what Jett was going to say.
"Oh come on. We can just get shower and go back to your place and do some things that's going to make us have to shower again."
"No, I can't."
"Or we could just not shower."
"Jett, I can't. Not right now."
"Why because that boy is with you?" Jett asked, taking a step back.
"Carlos isn't just some boy."
"He is to me."
"He's a friend and I'm going to need you to start treating him like one." Kendall said as he went into his locker. He grabbed his shirt and jeans from the locker and laid them out on the bench.
"Kendall, we need to talk." Jett said after there was a silence between them.
"Yeah, we do." Kendall said, as he took off his football pants and put his jeans on.
"I feel like you've been avoiding me or something."
"Jett, I've been a little busy with work and all but that doesn't excuse how you've been acting towards Carlos."
"Excuse me?" Jett said and Kendall stopped moving after he put his shirt on. Kendall stood there for a moment and stared at his boyfriend. "What?"
"You're jealous, aren't you?"
"What? No, what do I need to be jealous for?"
"I'm trying to figure that out for myself." Kendall said, putting on his shoes.
"I'm not jealous, Kendall."
"I hope not because there's nothing to be jealous for."
"Is it a crime to just want to spend time with your boyfriend?"
"No but it is when you start to treat his friends differently because of it." Kendall said as he put his things back. He decided that he would have to wash his gear before the next practice.
"Okay, fine. I'll be nicer."
"Thank you. I'll call you later." Kendall said, kissing his boyfriend before he went to find James. When he didn't see him, he figured he already went out to the front. When Kendall stepped into the hallway, he headed to the front and saw Carlos looking into the trophy cases.
"Kendall, have you seen this before?"
"Yeah, its past teams for the high school. The trophies next to them is some of the ones they won."
"That's so cool." Carlos said, making Kendall smile.
"It is." Kendall said before he saw James out the corner of his eye.
"You waste no time getting out of the locker room."
"Why do I need to stay in a room full of smelly guys when I just want to see this one?" James asked before he leaned in to kiss Logan.
"Did you just call me smelly?" Logan asked, moving away from the kiss.
"How about we just go home before you embarrass yourself some more." Kendall suggested to James and he nodded.
A/N: One thing I love about this chapter is the multiple point of views during football practice. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and is as excited as I am for thse updated that I've been doing. Thanks for reading and reviews are much appreciated! :D