The meeting was two parts strategizing, one part calming down sound tech Martin, who seemed convinced Gustavo would fire him for his involvement in the ruin of everyone's careers. Martin was doing little to ease Logan's own internal panic. With some help from the irate overnight staff, who were more than pissed at being stuck in the hotel without the morning crew's relief, they determined that the fastest they could hope to be driving on clear roads again was the next day. Until then, they were at loose ends.

The band sat around a table in the dining hall, picking at what food the staff had put together. Apparently the actual cooks didn't arrive until the morning, or, in their case, whenever the roads were clear.

"So, fruit, cereal, vending machines, and the snacks in the gift shop," Carlos recited. "We're going to starve!"

"It takes weeks for humans to starve to death. As long as we have water—"

"Not helping, Logan."

Kendall's cell rang, and he put it on speaker when he realized it was Kelly.

"We're doing the best we can to deal with the situation in Detroit, but you're going to have to do your part, too."

James' frowned. "What can we do from the hotel?"

"—In which we're going to starve to death!" put in Carlos.

"You'll need to make an apology video explaining the situation. Upload it to as many places as you can—get Martin to help you with everything. Make it good. I think we might be able to salvage this situation."

"What should we say?" Logan asked.

"I don't care, but make them love you for it. Oh yeah, and we're releasing one of your new songs free online to everyone who bought a ticket to Detroit. Hopefully you'll still have jobs in a couple days. Talk to you soon."

She hung up and the boys immediately began throwing out ideas. You could say a lot of things about Big Time Rush's incompetence in other aspects of daily life, but they did work well under pressure. At the last second. When most everyone else had given up on them. It seemed to happen quite a bit, actually; Logan wondered why that was.

James was advising that they all appear shirtless, so Logan was forced out of his head and back into the conversation to filter out the ridiculous ideas from the ones that would actually work.

XXXXXXXX

Three takes later (Carlos kept laughing), they left Martin to edit and upload the video while they snuck out the back to finally play in the snow. After all, what good was a five-going-on-five-and-a-half-foot snowfall if they didn't get to go out in it?

Logan honestly couldn't remember snow this deep, despite having lived in Minnesota most of his life. The most he'd ever seen was less than four feet, and that had turned the city into a quiet winter wonderland for days. He wondered what his family would think of this buildup—weather reports said the blizzard had missed northern Minnesota and his hometown. His mother would probably tell him to be careful in it. So much snow could easily trap a person and hide the body for days.

They pushed out the door that led to the courtyard with the fenced-in pool and stood under the awning that had protected a four-by-four square of concrete from more than a foot-high drift. Snow built up all around them to Logan's shoulders. The surface of the snow was smooth and clean, peppered with the occasional set of bird tracks or tops of shrubbery. It was beautiful, but it was also dense and solid, and Logan had a hard time imagining they'd be rescued in a day.

"Geronimo!" Carlos shouted, launching himself into the drift. He sank a good three feet into it before the harder-packed slush near the bottom stopped him. His elated laughing was slightly muffled by the snow.

Kendall began pushing his way through the stuff, leaving a man-sized tunnel in his wake. "I reckon," he said, "we can create an interlocking network of tunnels through this whole area."

"Why?" Logan asked.

"Why not?" Kendall said, throwing a grin over his shoulder as he forged on. James was right behind him, creating a new tunnel at a right angle to Kendall's.

"Help?" Carlos called. Logan dragged him out of the snow, shaking his head when Carlos immediately jumped back in, attempting to backstroke his way across the surface. Logan kept an eye on him, thinking of what his mother would say about getting lost and freezing to death.

"If you get too cold, come back in," Logan yelled to the courtyard in general. "Whatever you do, don't fall asleep!" There were general murmurs of assent from the other three, but Logan worried anyway.

He walked over to an untouched area of snow and prodded at it, bending to inspect the various layers. Weather patterns were another aspect of natural science that fascinated him. He attempted to guesstimate the surface tension of the snow until a snowball hit him in the back of the head. Years and years of being best friends with the other three had left him well-trained, and he was already packing a ball in his hands as he turned to search for the offender.

It was James and Kendall both, who had apparently given up on their dream of creating a rabbit warren out of the courtyard and had combined forces to dig a fort about four yards away from the awning. Acting fast, Logan pulled Carlos out of the snow again and stomped out to where the snow was deepest. He fired off his snowball and hunkered down to strategize with Carlos.

They stayed out for nearly two hours. It was noon when they trooped back in, shedding layers and running straight into My Chemical Romance. It was the whole band this time, apparently down for lunch. Logan eyed Ray Toro and Frank Iero with interest, but found himself mostly level headed over the prospect of meeting them. It was probably that weird conversation they'd had last night. Carlos was looking much the same.

"Hey, it's um, wait, no I've got this—Big Time Rush!" Mikey said, and the whole band turned to look. Big Time Rush was sweaty and tired from the snow, but Logan knew James wouldn't pass up the opportunity to network.

They made introductions and agreed to get lunch with the other band—what lunch there was; the staff appeared to have mostly given up on serving food. A loaf of bread and a few jars of peanut butter and jelly were laid out on one of the tables. Logan was starved after the snowball fight-cum-wrestling-match and the prospect of pb&j had his mouth watering, but the other band seemed less enthusiastic.

The eight of them sat around two pushed-together tables and ate their sandwiches with a minimum of talking from either Ray or Frank—they seemed to be either bored with the situation or else— "Sorry about them. Hangovers," Gerard stage whispered.

"Ah," Logan replied.

"So what did your people get up to last night?" Gerard asked, that damnable mischief in his eyes.

"Uh, nothing, really. Sleeping," Logan said, at a loss. Gerard was a bit of a mystery to him. It seemed like whatever he said, thee layers of things he wasn't saying were buried beneath.

"But not like that," Kendall interjected with a glare. Kendall clearly hadn't gotten over his dislike.

"See how defensive they get?" Mikey told Ray gleefully. Ray managed a grunt and a deep swig of his water bottle.

"You?" Logan asked, ignoring them both.

"Eh, not much. Raided the mini bar. Passed out on the beds. Kicked Frank to stop his snoring."

"I don't snore," Frank protested weakly, turning huge hurt eyes on Gerard. Gerard shrugged.

"The real question, though, is what you're doing for the rest of the day," he said smoothly, apparently talking to all of them but turning to address the question to James, who sat to the left of where Logan headed the table.

Logan turned to look at James as well. The flush from the cold was receding from his face, highlighting just his cheekbones now. The heat inside the hotel was cranked up to at least seventy degrees, and after the chill of outside, they had all stripped down. James wore just his tank top and tight jeans, and with his damp hair flopping just so over his eyes and his muscled arms casually flexing as he spread more peanut butter on his sandwich, Logan couldn't help but admit he looked hot. No, more than that; he looked sexy. And from the way Gerard's eyes flickered over James' frame as he spoke, it was evident Gerard thought so too.

Logan was dimly aware of Mikey talking to Carlos and Kendall sitting in stony silence to match that of Ray and Frank, but all he could process was the wave of jealousy that washed over him at his realization. It was senseless. It lacked all reason. It went against logic. Logan was ashamed of himself.

"No plans," James said easily, flashing one of his toothpaste-model grins.

"I'd suggest strip poker, but I think your little friend might get mad," Gerard said, smirking and raising his eyebrows.

Apparently all Carlos had heard of that was the word 'poker,' because he piped up, "James is the best at poker. He's a total cardshark." Logan wanted to throttle him.

"Are you now?" Gerard said.

"I dabble," James demurred.

"You should come back up with us," Gerard said, scraping his teeth over his bottom lip, "and show me your technique."

Logan was flushing for James, but James didn't even bat an eye. "Are you sure you're ready for skills this advanced?"

Gerard laughed, leaning back in his chair. "Oh, I like him," he informed the table at large. "But seriously though, come with us. Five-person—er, I mean six-person," he corrected, glancing at Logan as if he'd forgotten he was there, "poker is hard to play with only four guys."

James opened his mouth, clearly about to accept, when Logan jumped in to save the situation. "Sounds like a great idea," he said. "I bet Kendall and Carlos would love to play. James, didn't you say you wanted to show me something? Er, later?"

James had been frowning at him in confusion, but at the word 'later,' recognition dawned. He smirked at Logan before turning back to Gerard.

"Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten about that. Carlos and Kendall are great at poker; you won't even miss me."

"Don't be too sure about that," Gerard said, running his eyes unashamedly down James' torso as James stood up. James preened.

"I'll see you later, Gerard." Tossing Gerard a wink—an actual wink, what the hell—James followed Logan out of the dining hall.

"See you later, Gerard," Logan mimicked in a girly voice once they were clear of the hall.

"What?" James said, laughing good-naturedly. "He's hot. C'mon, don't tell me you don't think so."

"Eh," Logan replied, waving the question away with a hand and determinedly not thinking of that dark night a few years ago he'd spent pretending it was Gerard's hand instead of his own on his cock. As far as he was concerned now, Gerard could fuck off.

"Gerard's bone structure aside, we still need condoms," James said, coming up beside him. "Unless you just want me to blow you." He sounded so matter-of-fact about it that Logan wheeled around to stare at him, finding James grinning at him devilishly.

And wow, that was a little too hot for the middle of a hotel hallway, so of course Logan retreated. "Technically safe sex would require a condom for blowjobs as well."

"Fuck that," James said lowly.

Logan bit his lip. "Condoms," he insisted.

"Then we're fucking."

"Fine."

"Fine," James replied snippily. They'd arrived at the hotel lobby, and James stalked over to the gift shop to grab a mini-pack of condoms off the wall. Logan would have been dying inside as the clerk rang them up, but James merely made small talk about their shared experience being snowed into a hotel.

"Where are we doing this?" he asked as he joined Logan once more. "Clearly not on a bed."

"We haven't done it on a bed since before the tour."

"Fond memories," James said, a hand to his heart. "So, who's the lucky bathroom-slash-supply-closet?"

"I have a hunch…" Logan said.

"I trust your hunches. Lead on."

They walked down a different hallway, one the directional plaques indicated led to the conference hall. Just as Logan suspected, it was empty and, from the looks of things, disused. A single-stall bathroom was set into the corner by the entrance to the hall.

"Sexy," James said, pulling open the door and flicking on the light.

"Bigger than the bus bathroom," Logan pointed out. He flipped the lock and tested the handle to make sure they wouldn't be disturbed. He had a sudden horrible image of Gerard coming to find them. He made a face, trying to shake the visual, but it wouldn't budge. James draped himself over Logan's back, pressing his junk into Logan's ass. He was definitely on the way to hard. James reached a hand around to cup him through his jeans.

"What gives?" he teased, finding Logan still soft.

"Can't get Gerard out of my head," Logan admitted. James snorted. "Not like that. I like the guy less every time we talk."

"I could kiss you. To clear your head," James added hurriedly, sounding maybe the tiniest bit shy. Logan blinked, still facing the door.

"O-okay," he said slowly. They'd kissed once before, back when they'd first started messing around, but it hadn't lasted long. It had felt too personal, for something that was supposed to be "helping each other out."

Logan turned around and James licked his lips before leaning down and fastening them to Logan's. James started softly, but Logan responded with more enthusiasm than he'd expected and within seconds their making out was hard and heavy and suddenly it was very, very urgent that they both be wearing far fewer clothes.

James pulled back to rid himself of the wifebeater and his jeans and boxer briefs. Naked, he began working on Logan's fly while Logan pulled off his sweater. Logan's pants and boxers were still around his knees as he tossed away his sweater, but he didn't care. He wrapped his arms around James' neck and pressed their chests together as he kissed him again. James seemed as reluctant to part their mouths as Logan was, and Logan could feel why they hadn't been doing this before. Kissing took away everything that had been impersonal about their fucking and replaced it with an experience in which Logan could literally feel James' heart beating where they were pressed together.

It was dangerous. Logan felt the tiny box in which he'd sequestered his James-feelings rattle and start to crack, threatening to let all his embarrassing emotions out to join the jealousy he'd felt rise within him when Gerard had practically been eye-fucking James at the table.

And oh, he was thinking about Gerard again. He rubbed himself against James and kissed him harder before pulling back to pant in his ear, "Lube?"

"Fuck," James whispered, turning to nip Logan's earlobe and drag his mouth over his cheek.

Logan wouldn't be distracted. "You forgot to buy lube?" he asked incredulously.

"C'mon, don't be mad," James wheedled, a sentiment that was easier to follow with James' hands stroking down his back to rest on his ass. "There's…soap—"

"I'm not having soap in my ass!" Logan hissed.

"Fine, I will," James replied, and kissed away any protests Logan might have thought of to voice. Logan tried to remember if the condoms James bought were latex and if industrial liquid soap would affect their structural makeup, but James was being very, very distracting, and besides, Logan knew he was clean, and suspected James was, too.

Logan kicked off his pants, backed up, and pumped the wall-mounted dispenser a few times to slick up his fingers. James followed him and pushed him up against the wall by the door, sliding a leg between Logan's to give him something to rub against. "Don't go slow," was the last thing he said before pushing both his hands into Logan's hair and reattaching their mouths, kissing him like he was trying to make up for all the times he hadn't been kissing him.

Logan pushed in two fingers up to the second knuckle and crooked them, clearly hitting the right spot as James moaned into his mouth. He fucked James with his fingers for nearly a minute before getting down to the serious business of stretching him wide enough for his cock. James was panting by the end of it, mouth millimeters away from Logan's, eyes squeezed shut. He whined when Logan pulled away to find the condoms in James' jeans.

He rolled one on and coated his dick with more soap. James was there as soon as he looked up, leaning down to kiss him deeply. This time it was Logan who tried to follow James' mouth as he pulled away.

James turned and leaned over the sink, looking back over his shoulder with blown pupils and cherry-red lips. Logan was keenly aware that usually when they did this, they spent as much time joking around and laughing as they did getting off, which was fun and nice in its own way, but not like this. This was… This was serious.

James breathed out heavily as Logan pushed in. Logan draped himself over James' back when he was in as far as he could go. He bit the back of James' neck and James shivered under him. He wished there were a mirror mounted over the sink so he could watch James' face, but the glass was unfortunately placed on the opposite wall instead. "Okay?" he asked.

"Go," James said, more moan than anything else.

Logan pulled out to the tip and pushed back in, slowly and deliberately, making sure James felt every inch. James dropped his head to hang between his shoulders, letting out a soft groan. Logan sped up and kissed the side of James' neck, grinning against it at James' sharp "unng" when Logan found the angle to hit his prostate. James tightened sharply around him and Logan hissed in pleasure. Logan wrapped a hand around to work James' cock, and James cried out, arching his back.

"Shh," Logan warned when James got too loud.

"Paranoid," James panted, and moaned again.

"Pretend we're on the bus," Logan insisted. James craned his head back and it took Logan a second to realize he wanted to be kissed. He obliged happily, wondering at how natural it seemed to kiss James while they were joined.

They couldn't keep it up for long—the angle was bad; it hurt James' neck, but they didn't need much longer. Logan was hitting James' prostate with every thrust. "Logan," James gasped, and Logan couldn't remember if that was something it was okay for friends to do, moaning each other's names. It was hot.

Logan rubbed his thumb over the head of James' cock and James whined and came, pulsing into Logan's hand. He went limp under him and gave Logan a weak "hurry up." Logan did, but it took another thirty seconds for him to come. He went rigid with orgasm and collapsed onto James' back, tonguing the back of his neck.

James shifted uncomfortably, so Logan pulled out, keeping a hold on the base of the condom to keep it from slipping off. He wrapped it in paper towels and threw it away. James deposited himself with a thud on the lid of the toilet seat and grabbed Logan's wrist, pulling him down to straddle him. James kissed him again, almost drowsily, their tongues moving together in a slow slide. He felt as if he were melting into James and he loved it. James wrapped his arms around his back and it was Logan who pulled away first.

"That was good," he said, watching James carefully.

James smiled. "So good. Wanna break into an empty room and do it again on a bed?"

"Yes, I want to, and no, we're not going to."

"Spoilsport," James said, but he was laughing, and they kissed again, lazily. Logan wanted to stay there for hours, naked on James' lap, kissing him. It was not a thought he should be having, so he pulled away.

"They'll be wondering where we are," he began. James frowned and tightened his arms around him for just a fraction of a second as Logan got up.

"I guess," he sighed, but followed suit.

James was only half dressed and shifting uncomfortably by the time Logan had pulled on his clothes and gathered up all the outerwear they'd deposited at the door. Logan eyed him questioningly.
"You wanna wait outside for a minute?" James asked. "I'm gonna try to get some of this soap out of my ass."

Logan laughed. "I told you!"

"Oh yeah, like I really regret it." He made a shooing motion and Logan slipped out to wait. James followed two minutes later, making a face at Logan's raised eyebrow. "I need a shower," he determined.

Logan grinned and checked his phone, eyes widening at the notification reading 12 new text messages on the screen. They were all from Kendall, begging him to come save them from MCR.

"The big baby," Logan muttered, showing the texts to James.

"You go on. I'll meet you there after I shower," James said, and they went their separate ways.