A/N: Greeting! Story explaining why I haven't uploaded this chapter yet and expressing how sorry I am for not updating earlier. Secondary statement about how the update is finally up. Tertiary statement expressing joy about the new year! Quaternary statement restating my apologies with an excited interjection at the end!
Statement regarding required recognition of people. List expressing thanks to the voice of singing clouds, CudaChick7, Bfly-Ronaldita, dbz7000, Sonaaa, Dorney77, JuliaBearr, btrlover-reader4life, kendallsgirl12, NoireVerteFemme, Carphanie, Rocketsfan, shayshay11, its Steph, Lewkis, couellette, Vampire-Goth-Girl, duckduck4, Miacnnr, Sum1cooler, waitingFORthePERFECTsong9092, Edward Changed Me, ThatOtherGorgeousGirlYouKnow, bubzchoc, W0ND3R, BieberHendersongrl, and Mayday Henderson for their reviews, favorites, and story alerts. Statement of how much the aforementioned reviews, favorites, and story alerts mean to me!
Obligatory statement about author's note being too long. Exclamation involving something having to do with starting the story!
Chapter XII
Carlos walked down the street in a huff, a couple of people looking at him strangely. The tan boy didn't really mind him, some of them were just curious as to why he was mad, a couple of people were probably wondering why he wasn't singing or dancing while walking since that's what he always does. But Carlos was just mad at James for now, he didn't want anyone else to deal with him right now.
His introversion couldn't be kept for long though, a loud, familiar voice breaking his concentration.
"Goddammit, I'm done with this. I'm out." The Latino turned to see Jett storming away from his apart, having shut the door with a loud slam. The brunet turned to face him, covering his face with his palm and letting out a loud sigh. "Great, it's fucking hot out and I found just what I need, another faggot…"
Carlos' face turned bright red at the word, but suddenly the color disappeared. Did he just say…
"Move out of the way, papi. I can't deal with three fags right now." The taller boy tried to push past him, but Carlos blocked the way.
"What do you mean 'three'?" Jett sighed, stepping back for a second.
"Why don't you go ask the two fags in there. Now move." Jett had no problem forcing the tan boy out of his path, quickly walking away down the sidewalk and leaving Carlos a little more confused. Turning to the front door of Jett's apartment, he slowly walked up and was about to knock until he heard muffled talking on the other side. He put his ear up to take a listen, the thin wood of the door allowing him to hear every word.
"Come on Aaron, nothing really bad happened."
"Dak, Jett still lives here, and I don't want to be called that every day."
"But it was just this once. Remember, there's two of us and only one of him. Plus, we have the support of James and Carlos."
"Look, I'm sorry Dak, but—"
Aaron's voice abruptly stopped, all talking in the apartment suddenly ceasing. Confused, Carlos pulled his ear away from the door. He waited a couple minutes, no more sound coming from the opposite side. The tan boy raised his fist, rapping on the door a couple times and hearing shuffling sounds in response. Dak opened the door seconds later.
"Oh, hi Carlos. What're you doing here?" the brunet asked, a smirk forming on his face. "I thought you were having a sleepover with your new friend." The tan boy blushed, but then scowled.
"I was, but James sorta…" Carlos trailed off, raising an eyebrow at Dak. "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"
Dak looked down, his eyes widening seemingly in surprise… did he not notice that he wasn't wearing a shirt? Looking back up, the brunet put on a very fake looking smile.
"Uh… well, you see, there's a couple reasons for that." The tan boy's raised eyebrow didn't drop. "First off, as you can probably tell, it's ninety degrees out today." Still no reaction from Carlos. "Uh, secondly, our air conditioning is busted."
"Uh-huh…"
"And then Aaron and I were about to go down to the pool. Yeah, the pool. That's it." The tan boy smirked at him. Those reasons didn't really add up all the way, and Carlos thought he knew why.
"Well, I can tell that it's hot out. And your story about the pool seems to be mostly legit. But you should probably make sure that I can't hear your air conditioning running before you try to make that excuse." Dak's face turned pale for a second, and then he sighed loudly.
"Okay, so you caught that bluff. That doesn't mean that the other two aren't true."
"That it doesn't. But," Carlos paused for a second, choosing his words carefully, "I just ran into Jett, and he was raging about 'the two fags in there', so I think that there's something you aren't telling me." A large hand landed on Dak's shoulder, Carlos seeing Aaron's face from behind the brunet.
"Dak, can we take this conversation inside if we're going to have it." Dak placed his own hand on top of the muscular boy's.
"Sure. Please do come in, Carlos." The two disappeared from the doorway, leaving Carlos on the doorstep. He heard a whispered conversation starting between the two brunets, unable to make out any words but easily able to figure out what they must be talking about. Taking the invitation, the tan boy stepped up into the apartment and closed the door behind him, walking further inside.
The apartment was like his and James'. It had the same sort of layout, with a small kitchen open to a sort of living area. There was an ugly brown sofa sitting near a similarly colored armchair, both pieces facing toward a television that looked about ten years old, same as his and James'. There were doors off to the sides, one likely leading to the bathroom and the other two probably leading to bedrooms. Dak and Aaron were seated on the sofa, Dak having pulled on an undershirt and the two brunets conversing quietly. Carlos sat down in the chair, turning it to face the sofa as the two finished whatever they were talking about.
"So, what do you two have to tell me?" Carlos asked bluntly, an amused expression developing when he saw the awkward way that the two brunets were acting. Aaron shifted uncomfortably at the question and Dak sighed.
"Well, I'm guessing you already figured out that Aaron and I are… well, we're together." Dak attempted to take Aaron's hand with his, but the short-haired boy pulled his hand away as if Dak's was on fire. Carlos simply nodded.
"Okay. And why does Aaron seem to be avoiding you like the plague right now?" Dak sighed again, a frown taking over his face. Aaron could obviously feel Carlos' eyes on him, and he had flinched at the tan boy's question.
"There's no need to be harsh," Dak mumbled, causing Carlos frown.
"Sorry. Now seriously Aaron, why are you so reserved about all this?" Carlos asked. The three sat in silence for a few seconds. "It's okay, I'm not gonna bite your head off or anything, man. We're all friends here." Aaron let out a heavy sigh.
"I just don't think I can deal with it." Dak and Carlos both blinked and looked at each other. Carlos motioned to Aaron with his eyes, an obvious question hanging in the air between the two. Dak shrugged, he was the one to ask.
"Deal with what?"
"What you two do," Aaron gave as a shaky reply, a shiver going down the short-haired brunet's spine. Dak attempted once again to comfort the muscular boy, but he just shrunk away from what was supposed to be a soothing touch. Carlos frowned.
"I don't understand."
"Look, Carlos. I don't think I can put up with walking out of my bedroom every morning to have Jett look at me in disgust like he does to Dak." Carlos' eyes shifted to Dak, the brunet now staring at the ground. There was an empty look to his face right then, as if what Aaron mentioned had drained all emotion from him.
"Does he really—"
"Yes, he does. No matter how much Dak will deny it, every morning Jett will walk out here, give him a look of pure hatred and say something using the word faggot before leaving for his morning workout." Aaron turned to face the boy he was mentioning, finally bringing himself to place his hand over his boyfriend's, making the first contact since they had sat down. "And no matter how much Dak will deny it, he's cried about it. Once Jett is gone he'll either come lie down in bed with me or I'll come over and comfort him at the counter." Removing his hand and placing it over his eyes, the short-haired boy shook his head.
"But even with the support of Dak, and you, and James, and whoever you guys are seeing now, I don't think I'm strong enough to have Jett treat me the same way. I can help Dak through that, but I'm just not that solid."
Nobody spoke for a short time. Carlos was attempting to absorb what he had heard, watching as Dak slowly sat up from his dazed state and rubbed his hand in a circle over the other boy's back. The Latino drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair.
"I still don't quite understand why you care so much what Jett thinks, Aaron."
"Well Jett's the first friend I made in college, I can't lose that over—"
"I think that's a little silly, don't you?" Carlos interrupted. "Doesn't Dak mean a little more than what Jett thinks of you two?" Aaron looked Dak in the eyes, seeing them shining a bit with unreleased tears. "Don't you think that you should probably…" Carlos trailed off when he saw Aaron raise his hand and use it to cup Dak's cheek.
"You do mean a lot to me, babe," he heard Aaron whisper, a tear running down the other brunet's face as he heard his boyfriend say that. He wiped it away. "I mean, a whole lot."
"And?"
"…and I get what Carlos is saying. You mean more to me than what Jett thinks."
"I think I hear a 'but' at the end of that," Dak returned, causing Aaron to take a deep breath and release a quiet sigh.
"Just give me a bit. To get comfortable before we start anything really PDA. Or anything when Jett is home. That's all I ask." A sad smile took to Aaron's features as he pulled Dak in for a hug, the short-haired boy delivering a small kiss to his boyfriend's cheek. Carlos mimicked the smile, waiting for the two to separate before walking over to hug each of them.
Things were going to turn out fine.
Twenty minutes later, Carlos was standing on the doorstep of the brunets' apartment, Dak giving a few words of gratitude before closing the door. Carlos smiled, starting to walk away when the door opened again, Dak yelling his name. The tan boy turned back, smile wide on his face.
"Yes Dak?"
"Why were you over here in the first place?" The smile dropped, a scowl taking its place. Dak stared analytically for a second before smirking and crossing his arms over his chest.
"James?" Carlos let out an exasperated sigh.
"Yes."
"Was he being stupid?"
"Yes." Dak raised an eyebrow.
"Was he being really stupid? As in different from normal James stupid?"
"Yes." The brunet laughed, turning to go back into the apartment. He looked over his shoulder just before closing the door.
"Just do what you always do when James does something really stupid." Carlos stared blankly at him.
"And what would that be?"
"Wait a little while and the guilt will eventually eat away at him until he apologizes." The Latino laughed.
"Will do."
As soon as Carlos was out of view, Dak turned back into the apartment, closing the door behind him and seeing Aaron waiting on the couch with a smirk on his face. Dak imitated the look, slipping the undershirt back off his body and stalking back over to his boyfriend. Sitting down on his lap, Dak leaned forward and whispered in the other boy's ear.
"Now, where were we?"
James was already starting to feel a little guilty. Or a lot guilty. He couldn't really tell the difference. He should have known what day it was. But that's the problem with having time off of school, he loses track of what day it is.
Even if his phone tells him.
The pretty boy walked around his apartment somewhat aimlessly, trying to think of ways to apologize to his roommate. Most of his solutions so far had revolved around food. Would a trip to the cookie store work? Or maybe going for pizza tonight would work. Or maybe…
A series of beeps from his phone slowed James' thought process. Picking the device up, he slowly walked over to the couch.
Maybe a movie night full of Disney and lots of popcorn… and corndogs…
The last few texts were from Kendall, the blond curious as to today's situation with the roommate thing.
Kendall- so how's it going?
Me- He's not back yet
Kendall- really? it's been almost three hours since I dropped him off.
Me- I know
Kendall- …and you're not worried?
James sighed. Of course he wasn't worried about where the Latino was. Just worried about how to make it up to him. The brunet typed in a response.
"When you get Logan mad, how do you make it up to him?" The response was almost immediate.
"food and/or his favorite movie." James smirked. This is why he and the blond were so compatible. They were the same person in two different bodies. With different tastes in music. And different hair care regimens.
"Thanks. Tell Logan I'm sorry for cutting their time a little short." Well, there was a plan. Looks like it was time to go find a movie store with Tangled and UP.
Things were going to turn out fine.
A/N: I'm thinking of completely removing ending author's notes. Especially because I have little to say in this one other than that I'm thinking about taking them out and that I have no idea when I'll be updating again since school starts soon. Oh, and yay for supporting character development.
Okay, maybe I do have stuff to say and ending notes aren't just a way to make my chapters look longer than they are. I know you all were expecting more story about Carlos and Logan, and/or James and Kendall, but for one thing I had this planned to happen already and for another I had to build the beginnings of James' apology. Plus there's sort of a big set of events happening soon, and hopefully my mostly-successful attempt at writing sex will help me to do it again... so yeah.
I hope you enjoyed, please do review, and have a wonderful [insert length of time here].