AUTHOR'S NOTE: Don't ask questions. Just read, damn it!

EXPRESSING MY LOVE

- 9 -

Passage of Time

Thursday morning was beautiful. The town of Autumn could have very well just changed its name to Summer, for the sky was cloudless and blue, birds sang their sweet and melodious tunes, the trees were all lush and green, and the air was crisp and clean. For both Logan and Kendall, it was as if all the time since their last conversation had been cold, torturous, and unfeeling, with Thursday's sunrise being the promise of a new beginning.

Logan was about half the distance between his grandma's house and Kendall's trailer, and his heart was racing. It had been a long time since he'd spent a day with a boy who he knew for a fact could potentially be someone special in his life. Truth be told, he really never knew how to properly act on "dates." It was always Ethan who'd taken the reins, and even now, it was Kendall who was planning a "surprise." Of course, he still hoped that Kendall wouldn't suddenly decide that this whole "gay thing" wasn't for him, but even worse than that...what if Kendall decided that the "gay thing" was fine, it was just Logan that he was having second thoughts about? Yes, this day was going to be extremely crucial.

No, he told himself. It's not a big deal at all. And maybe if he made himself believe that, his nerves would calm down.

Not that Kendall was any more calm, of course. He hoped to God that his idea of a surprise wouldn't fall flat with Logan. A picnic on the high Kansas prairie followed by shopping and a movie in nearby Palmerville. He felt a little guilty because this was the "surprise" he'd always have for the girls he'd attempt to be interested in in the past. It had worked for them, though (even if they had never really worked for him), so he hoped Logan would have a good time, too.

He's different, though. He's so much different.

The basket was filled with a couple of sandwiches, some bottles of water, and, lo and behold, fresh fruit he'd managed to pick up at the grocery store on his way home from work the night before. Gotta show him that I care. He'd gotten paid that week, too, so shopping and the movie, and any other activities they'd partake in, would all be on him. He couldn't think of a better way to spend his money.

When he heard the Mustang pull up in his driveway, a sudden rush of jitters shot through him, but it was okay. He breathed in, breathed out, and gave himself a quick look in the mirror. I look good. Before he knew it, Logan was on the porch and knocking on the screen door.

"Uh, come in," he stammered. It was the very presence of Logan that knocked him slightly off-kilter.

Logan stepped inside like an angel sent from heaven, visible beams of light very obnoxiously highlighting his figure. Kendall stood in awe as his eyes went over Logan's smooth, creamy skin, short, jet black hair, and fit body.

"Hey," he managed to let slip out, but it was such a raw, unformed syllable, almost like a reflex.

"Hi," Logan replied, totally aware of Kendall's attraction. He slowly walked toward him, and, for a hot second, it almost looked like he would have kissed him, but instead, his hands went straight to Kendall's forehead to tend to what was left of his wounds from Saturday night.

"Looks like it's healing well," Logan said, avoiding eye contact as he gently pulled back the bandage and lightly touched the scabby membrane. "You've been cleaning it twice a day, right?"

"Yeah," Kendall answered, still caring more about the beautiful young man standing in front of him than he did about the broken skin on his forehead. "I did just what you told me to."

"Good," Logan said. He pressed a little bit at the wound once more before readhering the bandage, but just as their skin-to-skin contact was about to cease, Kendall slowly took hold of both of his arms and looked squarely into his eyes. Logan issued no detectable protest as Kendall pulled him closer and their lips met, the pent-up wanting that had been growing in the both of them all week long suddenly released.

When it was over, at first, there were no words, just eyes...glances...smiles...expressions. Logan's was of surprise but also relief. That wasn't a mistake. He knows what he's doing. He knows. And Kendall's was of discovery and excitement. It keeps getting better.

"Hey...friend," Kendall said, the eyes never parting.

"Hey," Logan replied. His look of surprise and Kendall's look of discovery turned into matching looks of satisfaction.

"So...what's this surprise you've been planning?" Logan asked.

"Follow me," Kendall offered, and he took Logan by the hand as he went to grab the picnic basket. "Get my guitar, will ya?"

"Sure," Logan obeyed. He took great care at picking up what he subconsciously assumed was Kendall's most prized possession, but his eyes remained on the picnic basket. His stomach was filling with butterflies. The mere thought of country boy Kendall being romantic enough to come up with a picnic sent little lust fairies all throughout his body.

"We have a full day ahead of us," Kendall teased as he opened the door and allowed Logan out before himself.

"Should I be worried?" Logan half-joked. Kendall closed the door behind them and headed down the porch steps.

"No," Kendall answered. "You're with me, remember?"

Logan was usually an easy-going guy, but there were some things that he was just extremely uptight and paranoid about. One of those things was his 2011 Ford Mustang GT. It was candy apple red with white racing stripes, and neither his friends nor his parents had ever believed that it really fit his personality. It had roar and power, and it was a titan on the road, and the thought of nerdy, sophisticated Logan driving it was enough to make anyone who knew him scratch their forehead. His parents had thought for sure he'd want a Prius or something, but nope, he'd gone straight for the Mustang, no questions asked.

Whenever one particular question would come up, though - "Can I drive?" - Logan's answer was always a resounding No. The only time he'd allow anyone else to drive his baby was when he'd go to get routine maintenance done on her, and that was only because the garage had liability policies to follow. As far as anyone else, though? It was understood that Logan drove Logan's car. And that was that.

"Here it is," Kendall announced as Logan carefully put his foot down on the brake. Oh, Kendall had insisted and insisted upon driving, but Logan was polite in having absolutely none of that. "It's hard to explain where the spot's at - I should just drive." "I know the roads better than you do, though." "I promise I'm a good driver." "Please." The rambunctious man in Kendall wanted desperately to get behind the wheel of that car, almost as much as he wanted to get closer to Logan. Almost.

They were about ten miles outside of Autumn, and it looked like the middle of nowhere. At least, it was more middle-of-nowhere than the average Cooper County locale. Still, though, there was an unmistakable beauty and charm to the area. A wide prairie that stretched for miles and miles on either side of the cracked back road, a silence broken only by the sound of wind blowing through the plains and birdsong.

The boys got out of the car and toted the picnic basket along for a few yards into the prairie, plopping it and themselves down in a nice little clearing that allowed them to see for days around them.

"So, this is your idea of a surprise, huh?" Logan asked, trying to act like he wasn't totally smitten.

"It's only the beginning," Kendall replied defensively, but he knew Logan was just teasing. "There's more. Just be patient."

A tingly chill went through Logan's body. "I can be patient."

They ate lunch and made small talk about the scenery. Logan, of course, knew the geography of the area well. Once his parents had told him that he'd be spending the summer in Kansas, he went about researching all the information he could find about it. Though he wasn't completely crazy about the one-horse town society, it still excited him to be here amongst the flora and fauna he'd read so much about. More than that, though, he was excited to be here with a boy - a man - who wanted to show him a good time.

Both silence and tension grew as they finished eating and sucked on their bottles of water. This whole thing was just feeling...right, but neither one of them wanted to outright express his glee. If they shared nothing else in common, it was a history of screwing things up.

Kendall observed as Logan tilted his head back and let the water flow past his lips, over his tongue, and down his throat, his Adam's apple bobbing with each current. He's just a boy. Nothing to be scared of.

"What's it like...in the city?" he finally asked, his soft country twang blending in with the sound of the waving fields.

Logan was caught just a little by surprise, but he put his bottle down and let his answer formulate in his head. "Well, it's...it's very different from anything here," he said. "Lots of people...lots of things. Lots of movement. Just...constant activities."

Kendall just nodded. "I bet they got a lotta things to do on a day like today."

"Oh yeah," Logan confirmed. "Museums...libraries...theaters. All kinds of good stuff." Way to sound like a dork! "And, I mean...you know, malls and gyms and nightclubs and stuff, too."

"Probably makes Kansas look like hell on earth, huh?"

Logan chuckled, but he started to shake his head. "Come on, it's not that bad."

"Yeah, says the feller who wanted to get away as soon as he got here!"

"Hey! That's not fair! That was before...you know...before everything."

Their voices lulled to a silence, with Logan looking over at Kendall, hoping he wouldn't have to further explain himself and Kendall just looking down, plucking blades of grass out of the ground.

"Before what?" Kendall asked, never looking up, but a tell-tale grin appeared on his face.

"You know...everything," Logan iterated nudgingly.

"Everything like what?" Kendall asked again. He looked up at Logan through his bangs.

Logan pouted and rolled his eyes. "Like the speed-knitting club that meets every Tuesday at the VFW Hall."

Kendall chuckled dryly, Logan's sense of humor turning him on more and more with every joke.

"Everything like you," Logan said loosely, not giving himself time to overanalyze whether or not he should admit these feelings to Kendall.

Kendall looked at him with serene eyes. "You're just saying that."

"No, I am not just saying that!" Logan protested, shaking his head and laughing at Kendall's relentless modesty.

Kendall smiled, but he didn't laugh, and he never took his eyes off of Logan. "Then what is it that makes me so special to you, then?"

Logan's eyes widened. "I mean, I don't know..."

"Uh?"

"No, I do know! I know! It's just...it's hard to explain. You're hard to explain. I don't know. And maybe that's part of the reason why I...the reason why I'm interested in you." Is 'interested' a good word? Can I use that? Can we call it that? "You're still a little bit of a mystery to me, and I like that, and I want to know more. And the things I know about you now are enough to make me want to know more." His eyes were desperate, hoping Kendall could find sense in the stew of words he'd just stumbled over.

True to form, Kendall offered little more than a nod as he looked down at the Kansas earth. "I guess what makes you special to me is simple." A beat, and then his intense eyes were on Logan's. "I just like being with you."

"I swear, I don't need any new clothes."

"Oh god, you're such a liar. In the month we've known each other, I've seen you wear that ratty old Autumn High shirt maybe three times, and I know you rotate no more than like four pairs of jeans."

"Four pairs of jeans is a lot!"

"Well, six is even more."

They were at the Palmerville Mall, casually looking through the merchandise inside Bethancourt, a somewhat trendy clothing store geared towards teens and twentysomethings. Kendall had insisted that Logan "have at it" in regards to buying new outfits for himself. What he hadn't counted on, however, was Logan trying to launch a mini makeover on him.

"Why do I need two more pairs of jeans?" Kendall asked, protesting just enough to keep this interesting but not too much to make Logan change his mind.

Logan inspected a stack of men's jeans in the cozy corner in which the store kept its denim wall. A large glass window opened out into the mall, where fast-moving shoppers carried bags, pushed strollers, and sipped on smoothies. It was hard to believe that the hustle and bustle of a suburban mall could exist so close to the mom-and-pop life of Autumn.

"Here," Logan said, pulling out a pair of slim-fit jeans. He knew he'd probably never get Kendall into skinnies, so this was the closest thing.

"Oh, no," Kendall said, shaking his head. "You're gonna have a hard time gettin' me into those things."

"Come on!" Logan insisted. He opened the jeans and held them up for inspection. "These jeans are made specifically for people built like you."

"Oh...?" Kendall noted with a slight turn of the head and a somewhat arrogant glint in his eye. I'm pretty built.

"Yeah. Long, wiry legs...not much of a butt..."

"Uh!" Kendall scoffed, immediately grabbing his own behind with both of his hands. "You take that back!"

"Eh, well, I like to keep things honest," Logan said wryly. He was just a little bit proud of his flirt game.

"Well, if we're being honest," Kendall said as he grabbed the pants, "let's just say that I don't think you'd fit that well in them, not with all that you have back there. What are you, one of those Kardashians?"

"Hey, I think I'll take that as a compliment," Logan said, blushing, as Kendall led the way to the fitting rooms.

The girl working the fitting rooms couldn't have been any more than sixteen, and the poor thing was swamped with clothes to fold, hang, and return to the salesfloor. As soon as Kendall and Logan approached her, however, she stopped what she was doing and greeted them with a big smile.

"Hi, guys," she said in a standard "customer service" voice. "Trying on?"

"He is," Logan said, clumsily handing some shirts over to Kendall to go with the jeans that apparently were gonna be tried on after all. A sudden nervousness hit him, and he knew not where it came from.

"All right," the girl confirmed. "Follow me."

Kendall followed the girl down the corridor of dressing rooms to the very last one on the left. He glanced back at Logan, who sorta wandered away, before disappearing into his stall.

Several minutes later, Kendall emerged from his stall.

"I can take what didn't work out for you," the girl offered, but he shook his head.

"It's all good. Thanks."

She smiled and wished him a good day.

He looked around the store for his friend, his...friend, but after his search proved fruitless, he simply paid for his new merchandise and went back into the mall, where he found Logan sitting on a bench just outside Bethancourt, his elbows on his knees and his head down. Fuck, fuck...what did I do?

"Good to go?" Logan asked, very clearly feigning normality.

"Yeah," Kendall said as he sat next to Logan, but not too close because...is he mad about something? Did I do something wrong? "You won your war, by the way," he said.

"Huh?"

"I got the jeans." Somehow, Kendall assumed this would cheer Logan right up and they'd be back on track.

Logan smiled. "See, I told you they'd look all right," he said with just enough pep to compensate for his sudden change of mood, but Kendall wasn't easily fooled.

Oh, shit! What happened? he thought as they watched in silence as other people passed by, apparently having the time of their lives. What did I do? What did I do?

"What did I do?" he finally asked aloud, giving himself a bit of a shock. "I mean, what's the matter?"

"Nothing," Logan said, lying through his teeth and avoiding Kendall's eyes. You're the matter...we're the matter.

"Then why are we sitting here?" Kendall asked, not about the bullshit and very, very slowly starting to get unnerved.

"I was waiting for you."

"You could have waited for me in there...I mean, I figured since you picked all this out for me, you might've wanted to see how it looked on me."

Logan turned to him and saw a bit of hurt, or was it disappointment, in Kendall's face. Damn it. "Look, it's not you. I promise."

"Then, what is it?" Kendall asked earnestly.

Logan sighed and pursed his lips together. "I just have things that I need to get over, okay? I promise, it's nothing serious or Earth-shattering. Just...things."

Kendall nodded. Sure, he'd accept that answer. "Well, you know you can talk to me, right? You listened to all my stuff, so the least I can do is listen to yours."

Logan smiled, this time for real. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

For a moment, their eyes were suspended in motion, but when they snapped back into reality, they realized just how close they'd gotten on the bench.

Kendall kinda slid away. "I'm sorry," he said.

"No, don't apologize," Logan said.

A moment. Just long enough for Kendall to muster up the nerve.

"Let's go for a walk," he said, "by the river."

"It really is a pretty day today," Logan commented as he and Kendall walked along the Calumet River. A long railed sidewalk and tree-covered park paralleled the river for as long as the eye could see.

"Yep," Kendall agreed. "I think I picked a good one for our little...outing, or whatever you want to call it."

Logan gulped a little. It's a date. "Heh. I'm not too crazy about labels. Why call it anything?"

"We don't have to call it anything."

There was no doubt an unmistakable layer of tension in the air. Logan's swift change of attitude at the mall, coupled with Kendall's lifelong tendency to retreat into passiveness whenever he was faced with a challenge of the heart, had the potential to completely sour the mood for the rest of the day, but neither one of them wanted it to go like that. It just wasn't meant to be like that. Today was supposed to be special and good and beautiful and...

"You know, I could see myself living in a town like this," Logan announced crisply as their walking ceased and they leaned over the railing.

"What, Palmerville?" Kendall asked, hoping he'd seen the last of emo Logan for the day.

"Yeah. It's a pretty decent-sized place. You have all of the things that you'd ever really need, but it doesn't seem too crowded."

"It's a nice place," Kendall agreed. He kept agreeing with Logan without forcing himself. "We almost moved here, me and my mama and my sister, but then...well Mama got sick, and you know the rest."

Logan turned to Kendall with concerned eyes and a frown. He could have said he was sorry, but he knew Kendall could already feel his pity and wasn't particularly fond of it constantly being voiced.

Look at me, fuckin' up again, Kendall thought. He tries to cheer things up a bit, and I mention Mama.

"Maybe one day you'll live here," Logan offered. "Close enough to Autumn to visit people there as much as you want to, but far away enough for you to live your own life without everybody butting in."

"Heh, true story," Kendall chuckled. "Where do you want to live most in the world?"

"Ha. I've thought about this a lot, and I swear, I change my mind probably every time I think about it. For a long time, I wanted to live in New York, because, I mean...it has everything, right? But then I became fascinated with the Midwest, and I was deadset on moving to Carbondale, Illinois."

"Never heard of it."

"Most people haven't. It's a college town, kinda like this, and it's very quaint, and I've read a lot about it, and it just seems really, really calm."

"Well, I'm sure you'll end up there one day."

"Right, but that's just the thing. Ever since coming out here, I've become fascinated with everything here, so it's like...maybe somewhere in Kansas wouldn't be so bad."

"Anywhere but Autumn, right?" Kendall laughed, jabbing Logan's shoulder.

"Oh no, not this again!" Logan laughed in return. "You people really get a bee under your bonnet when someone doesn't fall in love with your little town right away, don't you?"

"Hey, you already know, at this point, I don't owe Autumn nothin', so it's whatever. Love it or hate it, don't matter much to me. These days, I'm hatin' it more and more myself, so yeah."

"But it's your home, though! That counts for something, doesn't it?"

Kendall went and grabbed a large, flat stone. He inspected as Logan continued to talk, and in one graceful motion, he sent it gliding through the air and they watched as it skipped across the river.

"My dad talks a whole lot of shit about Autumn," Logan continued, "but when we came here, I could see how excited he was to be back. He wouldn't shut up about his days growing up there."

"Yeah, well, maybe it was one way back then. But you seen the crowd we have now. Not a whole lot of interesting people, if you ask me."

"But you have friends! Those guys from the roadhouse."

"Who? Lance and Dustin? Please! I work with them, we play cards every once and a while. They're idiots. Total morons, and if it wasn't for me, they both woulda got killed a long time ago."

Logan shook his head. "Tsk tsk tsk. That's not the way we talk about idiots."

"And then you got the girl, Tara," Kendall went on, feeling a little bit of fire growing inside of him as he called out all of his Autumn cronies. "She's just desperate for any kind of male attention from anybody that she could get it from. I'm pretty sure after we left the Wild Cherry that night, she probably ended up with Lance or Dustin or the both of them, doing God knows what!"

"Well," Logan said, "she seemed to be really interested in you."

Kendall nodded, his head down, only slightly sidelined by that comment. "Yeah. She is. But she ain't gettin' it from me, so she's wastin' her time."

Logan smirked, chuckled even. He so wanted to ask, "Gettin' what?" but he practiced self-control.

"And then you got Billy Joe Conley's big, dumb, simple-minded ass, stompin' around like he runs shit. And everybody else is pissin' their pants because they're scared of him."

"And those who aren't afraid of him just get punched in the face, right?"

Kendall paused and looked at Logan, who made a quick, cheesy grin.

"Oh, you little fucker!"

Kendall chased Logan into the park, but Logan had speed, and he dotted in and around trees and playground equipment faster than Kendall could keep up with him. He hopped over a fire hydrant and into a sandbox, falling flat on his knees. Kendall came tumbling after, and he pinned Logan down.

"I get my face pounded over you, and you think it's funny?" Kendall asked, both of them breathing hard, their hearts beating out of their chests.

"It was pretty funny," Logan declared, enjoying every minute of riling his new friend up.

"You know what else was funny?" Kendall asked. "When I did this."

And he went in for a kiss, and suddenly, Logan's strength collapsed, and he had a head full of sand.

Luckily, no one was around, but that probably wouldn't have mattered anyway. This was Palmerville, the university town, where no one particularly cared too much about two guys kissing in a sandbox.

That wonderful day would lead to more wonderful days. And as the days turned into weeks, those weeks felt like years. Time was slow in Autumn, and two weeks and two days could very well feel like two years and two months.

But no, in reality, it had only been two weeks and two days since the Palmerville trip, and things were going well.

Over the course of those two weeks and two days, Kendall and Logan grew closer. It was now routine for Logan to come over and cook for Kendall two or three nights out of the week, and they'd have dinner together while watching one of Kendall's favorite westerns. Then the guitar would come out, and Kendall would teach Logan how to play. Usually, it'd just end up being Kendall playing and Logan singing, but that was all right with them.

Thursdays were always special because a trip to Palmerville, complete with a roadside picnic, would be the usual plan for the day.

At last, Kendall Knight had someone to spend his Thursdays with. Who would have ever thought it'd be the cute little stranger from the diner?

In the midst of their getting closer, there were conversations about who they were and what they were and what they wanted to be. Kendall wanted desperately to believe that this was going to be something long-lasting, and so did Logan, but both boys, ever terrified of doing the wrong things, kept quiet about it so as not to jinx it. But, oh, how they both wanted to take things to the next level.

Two weeks and two days had passed, and they kissed every time they met and every time they parted, but neither one could bring himself to explore the other's body beyond the mouth.

That would soon change.

A bolt of lightning struck no more than two or three miles outside of Autumn, and the crash of thunder that followed nearly shook Kendall's trailer off of its foundation. The rain that had only seemed like a small sprinkle earlier that Saturday had very quickly turned into a raging storm, and it carried with it a thin layer of chill that permeated every corner of the home until Kendall calmly turned on the ancient but efficient central heating.

"I'm at Kendall's," Logan said to his mom, holding his phone close to his ear. It was hard to hear with the roar of the storm vibrating through the walls, but he recognized the tone of her voice and knew he'd have to reassure her at least a hundred times that he was okay before he'd get her to hang up the phone. "Mom, we'll be fine. Yes, it's a trailer. Yes. I know what a trailer is, Mom. Kendall says it's survived three twisters. We'll be okay!"

Kendall eased back into the living room after adjusting the heat in the hallway. Logan turned to him and shook his head, indicating his henpecked mom, and Kendall just shook his head back. I wish I still had my mom. But he wouldn't hold that against Logan.

"Mom, of course we're not gonna go anywhere in a storm like this! It's pouring down!" Now he just wanted to get her off the line. "We're just gonna hang out here until the storm passes. I'll call you whenever I get ready to head home."

Kendall sat in the recliner, paying close attention to this conversation. Logan assumed it was because he was just as ready to get rid of Mrs. Mitchell as he was, but there were other thoughts going through Kendall's head.

"You've been spending a lot of time over there," Mrs. Mitchell said. "You boys are...getting closer?"

"Mom!" Logan replied, but he checked himself. "We...um...we are, but that's besides the point. We'll stay safe, I promise. Good-bye."

She was able to squeeze one more nag before Logan coud hang up. He immediately apologized. "I'm so sorry. She gets so worried over the smallest things sometimes." And, right on cue, thunder sounded, once again shaking the trailer. Logan's eyes darted around the room, and his fear was suddenly evident.

"I don't know," Kendall said wryly. "That sounded like somethin' to worry about."

Logan calmed down, careful not to look ridiculous. "It's just a storm. They happen all the time." Another crash, and he pulled himself in closer to his seat on the couch as Kendall just watched him. "It'll be over in no time."

It was 12:45 in the afternoon, but it looked no earlier than maybe nine or ten o'clock at night. The storm had brought with it a shroud of darkness that made the usually sunny fields of Autumn look like a perpetual graveyard, stretching further and further like something out of a drug-induced hallucination. The boys had planned to spend the day outside, working Logan's car, but once the rain came down, they'd settled on staying in. By this point, Kendall's idiot "friends" didn't even bother to call him on Saturdays anymore because they knew he'd be too "busy" to play poker.

Logan had made sandwiches for what they'd thought would be an outside lunch, but it had taken no longer than a minute for he and his restless friend to plow through them all. Now, the food was gone, and the electricity was out, and options for passing the time were few.

Kendall stood up and looked out the window overlooking the backyard. A dark blue sky over the silhouette of wheat fields. There was something romantic about it...something intimate, and he was feeling it.

Logan, who sat silently, felt it, too, and deep down, maybe they both knew what the other was feeling. There was just something in them in that moment that told them...today would be the day.

"Does she know?" Kendall suddenly asked, joining Logan on the couch.

"Know what?"

"About...us." We're an us now. Ain't we? We gotta be by now...

"Oh. No...I haven't told her anything, I swear."

"Oh."

Kendall reached over and took Logan's hand, rubbing it with his thumb and gently squeezing it. "You can tell them...if you want to. I'm ready whenever you are."

Logan gulped. Kendall's touch did so much to him and made him feel so much, and he almost lost his train of thought. "What should I tell them?"

"Whatever you wanna tell 'em."

"I'm not even sure I know what that is. What are we?"

Kendall put Logan's hand down and used all of his fingers to massage his temples, reaching deep into his mind to find an answer that would make sense to the both of them. "We're two people...who enjoy each other's company. We...we make each other smile. Ain't much more to it than that, I'd say."

Oh, but was that answer enough for Logan? It was loaded enough with deeper meanings for Kendall to understand, but Logan, whose scientific mind needed to have everything out on the table for it to be real, wanted more.

"I...really, really like you," he whispered carefully to Kendall. He quivered nervously, partly because of the chill but more because he was not used to initiating things. He put a shaky hand on Kendall's neck, letting his palm rest on the warmth of his skin. "And I want you."

"You got me," Kendall replied in a voice so low Logan could barely hear him, but even if Kendall had said nothing at all, it was clear how he felt. He moved Logan's hand down his chest slowly, pausing for a second on his heartbeat. With his other hand, he began to rub Logan's thigh, but Kendall Knight was never one to beat around the bush. Within about fifteen seconds, he was straddling the upright Logan on the couch, and the two were making out.

There were no words, just the sounds of two people beginning to make love.

Kendall aggressively pressed his crotch into Logan's belly, and he could feel a rise in Logan's pants under him. That rise gave way to a rise of his own, and the next thing he felt was his T-shirt ascending his body until it was over his head and on the living room floor.

Logan pawed at Kendall's body, his hands roving over the tight muscles held in soft skin. With every move Kendall made, his muscles flexed, and the sensation sent Logan over. His own shirt was coming off next, and his thicker, doughy build was nothing at all like the other boy's, but Kendall immediately began to kiss a trail from his neck, down to his soft chest, and even further down to his belly.

"So sexy," Kendall muttered between kisses, and Logan felt a boost of confidence radiate throughout his body.

Like a panther, Kendall slid off of Logan's body and stood erect in front of him. He was pink from all of Logan's grabbing and pinching, and his chest rose and fell violently. Logan just reclined on the sofa, his body sinking deeper and deeper.

Their eyes were set on each other as Kendall pushed his mesh basketball shorts off. His underwear was loose, and Logan could see his cock through the hole. He froze on the sight, but only for a second, for as long as it had been since he'd been with a guy this way, he immediately remembered what to do.

He leaned forward, his eyes still on the member, and he reached into the hole in the boxers. He wrapped his fingers around it and tugged, feeling it grow in his hand. Nervously, he looked up at Kendall. Am I doing it right? The way Kendall licked his lips and closed his eyes answered his question.

Logan stood, and as they again made out, his worked his way out of his jeans and underwear, and Kendall finally rid himself of his boxers. They stood naked in the middle of the room, their mouths pressed together and their arms all over each other.

"Come on," Kendall nudged. He took Logan by the hand and led him to his bedroom.

What followed was the release of several weeks' worth of pent-up emotion and pent-up lust, all against the backdrop of the violent maelstrom carrying on outside.

In bed, Logan found himself under Kendall's weight, and the taller, skinnier boy shoved two fingers into his mouth. Logan sucked on them both, and within seconds, he could feel the same two fingers under his body, begging to enter him.

"Tell me if I hurt you," Kendall whispered. "I ain't never did this with a guy before."

Logan just nodded and pulled Kendall close. Before long, Kendall's full length was inside Logan, and yes, there was pain, but Logan remembered how it felt the very first time. Ethan had been so aggressive, so pushy, so...inconsiderate. Kendall, on the other hand, was being so careful, so tentative. For once, Logan felt as if he could be in charge, even if it was Kendall on top.

"I'll help you," he whispered back to Kendall, and it went on in that way. Kendall, unsure of exactly what he was doing, and Logan, showing him how to pleasure a man.

Maybe it was their nerves, maybe it was the continuous onslaught of rain, but they came together in a matter of minutes. There'd been no protection, so Logan had been mindful to push Kendall out of him before he'd reached his climax, but even still, there'd been an electric shock coursing through the both of them.

Kendall collapsed on the bed beside Logan.

"I'm sorry," Kendall sighed between breaths.

"For what?" Logan asked, and he turned to Kendall, cautiously resting his arm across Kendall's body. The warm, sticky cum on Kendall's chest could have belonged to either one of them.

"That was...quick."

"Mmmm." Logan couldn't disagree that it could have lasted longer, but who gave a fuck? You cared about such things when it was just sex for the sake of sex. Ethan always bragged about how many "rounds" he could last, never mind the fact that by round three or four, Logan would just be lying there, an almost inanimate receptacle for his jizz.

"It was perfect," Logan soothed in Kendall's ear. "You're perfect."

In the flashes of lightning, Kendall could see Logan's big, earnest, brown eyes. He turned to his side and kissed him.

"You're amazing. Everything I been wantin'."

The roar of thunder, the flash of lightening, the pouring of the rain...and the beginning of a new relationship.

A/N: I felt like writing. I can make no promises on when you'll get Ch. 10, but hey, if I could finish this one, who's to say it's gonna take over two years for another one? Just have some patience with me, peeps. Feel free to reread the previous chapters. Thanks for the continued love and support that my inbox is STILL receiving despite over 2 years of inactivity. Y'all are great!