Chapter 2 The list keeps growing...
The next morning when the alarm clock sounds again, Logan quickly shuts it off. Kendall groans in the other bed, but when Logan approaches him, he holds up his hands in defense.
"Alright, I'm up, I'm up." He says, making Logan snicker.
The brunette gets ready for the other bedroom to check on Carlos, but nearly bumps into him in the hallway. He frowns.
"Morning, Logie." He cheeringly greets as he bounces around and sets the breakfast table, already fully dressed.
"Morning…" Logan says, a little shocked as he looks around.
"Something wrong?" Carlos asks him.
"No, no. Uh, so you seem more energetic." Logan cautiously mentions.
"Yeah. I guess I just needed some extra sleep." Carlos answers in response. Logan looks at him suspiciously.
"So you feel completely fine now?" He asks, closely observing all of his friend's movements. Carlos squirms a little at the attention.
"Yes. Quit looking at me like that, Logan. You're giving me the creeps." He says with a small grin. "You want pancakes?" He offers, while grabbing a pan from the cabinets.
Logan raises an eyebrow and looks around again. "You're offering to make pancakes?" He asks in shock.
"Uh, yeah…" Carlos answers, looking a little worried. "Are you okay, Logan? You're not getting sick, are you?"
"No, but you never cook." Logan says, eyeing Carlos wearily.
Carlos chuckles. "Ok, you got me. I just grabbed the pan and was hoping Kendall could make us some." Logan smiles in relief.
"Phew. For a minute there I thought I was having a nightmare." Logan jokes, making Carlos stick out his tongue.
When Kendall finally emerges from the bedroom, he walks straight for the bathroom.
"Don't bother. James already took it." Carlos informs him. Without hesitation, Kendall changes his direction for the kitchen instead. Carlos goes to stand in front of him with the frying pan and puts on the biggest puppy dog eyes he can, complete with jutted out bottom lip.
"What?" Kendall asks with a sigh.
"Make us some pancakes?" Carlos asks hopefully. Kendall rolls his eyes exaggeratingly.
"Ugh, fine." He grabs the frying pan, while Carlos squeals with joy. The Latino bounces towards the table and sits down, eagerly waiting for the food.
Kendall shakes his head, but starts to gather the ingredients. Logan silently comes to stand next to him.
"So uh, don't you think it's a little odd how he's suddenly full of energy again?" He quietly asks the blond.
"I guess." He says with a shrug. "But it's a good sign, right? It just means he really did just need some extra sleep. You know Carlos. He doesn't get sick." He adds.
"Yeah, maybe." Logan says, looking slightly suspicious still.
"What?" His friend asks him.
"I'm sure it's nothing. But what happened yesterday… I don't know. It just didn't seem…" Their conversation is suddenly interrupted with a loud sneeze. They turn around with raised eyebrows, while Carlos looks at them with wide eyes.
"Sorry about that." he says with a slight chuckle.
"Bless you." The guys shrug and turn back towards the counter. Logan opens his mouth again when another sneeze sounds. They turn around again, where Carlos greets them with a sheepish smile.
"Bless.." They go to say when he sneezes again.
"Are you.." Kendall starts to say, but stops when Carlos holds up his hand and sneezes again and another time after that. Kendall exhanges a look with Logan.
"He's just sneezing. It could be pepper or an allergic reaction of some sort." Carlos sneezes two more times, before it finally seems to be over. The guys eye him for a moment, before Logan hands him a tissue.
"Thanks…" Carlos tells him as he blows his nose loudly, blinking furiously and sniffling.
"Doing better?" Logan asks him with raised eyebrows. Carlos sends him a smile and a nod, but he seems a little shocked himself. "Maybe you're allergic to something in the room."
"I'm not allergic to anything." Carlos says with a shake of his head and sniffling again.
"Well, some allergies take some time to surface." Logan explains, but Carlos shakes his head.
"I'm not allergic. I'm fine now." He tells the brunette. "Really, Logan, I'm fine." Logan nods and walks back to Kendall.
"He doesn't get sick, huh?" He asks him.
"It's just a few sneezes, Logan. Calm down, would ya?" Kendall says with a snicker.
Carlos doesn't sneeze anymore during breakfast. He just laughs with them and gulps down his breakfast like he does every morning. The guys are surprised, but happy to see him back to his energizer bunny self.
They head for the studio, where Carlos happily shows Mr. X the right moves this time. The guys are proud of him and Mr. X is satisfied. He goes to teach them a new dance, but Gustavo suddenly barges in and demands them to come in for vocal practice.
The guys groan, but it is necessary for their upcoming concert, so they follow him into the band room and stand next to the piano. The first hour goes by fine, but then Logan notices how Carlos starts to miss the higher notes. They are practicing No Idea, when Carlos sings his verse. It sounds amazing, up until the moment where he has to really go for it. His voice completely gives out and he coughs loudly.
Gustavo frustratingly presses the piano keys, making the guys cringe. He turns to them.
"Okay, what was that?" He yells as Carlos stops coughing.
"Sorry…" he mutters, his voice slightly croaking. He clears it and puts a hand around his neck, slightly rubbing it. James hands him a bottle of water and he gratefully takes a few sips. Gustavo grumbles impatiently and then turns back to the piano.
"From the top!" He orders and starts the song again. Logan keeps a weary eye on his friend, who looks slightly upset and still rubs his throat subconsciously.
They start to sing again and everything sounds fine. When Carlos' verse comes up, he opens his mouth to sing, but his voice sounds completely hoarse. He tries to clear it and keeps going, but it just sounds worse and leads to a small coughing fit. Gustavo stops playing again and turns around. His face is completely red as he stands up in front of Carlos.
"What was that?" He yells, making Carlos wince. "We've only been singing for an hour. ONE HOUR! How are you going to last a full concert if you can't make it through one hour of practice?"
"I-I'm sorry…" Carlos croaks, wincing at the soreness of his throat.
"Let's just go to Nothing Even Matters." Gustavo announces. Carlos nods and hangs in head in disappointment as the producer starts the familiar tunes. The guys start to sing, but keep a concerned eye on their young friend.
Carlos feels horrible. He keeps messing up. Yesterday he was too tired to keep up with dance practice, today he can't sing because his voice gave out. He doesn't understand what's going on. He rubs his neck once more, willing the slight soreness to go away. He sings quietly, but even he can hear how terrible his voice sounds right now.
Gustavo keeps them singing for three hours more without breaks. Thankfully, he doesn't have to sing any solos. But the way his friends keep looking at him, proves just how bad he must sound. His throat is scratchy and hurts even more now. He tries to drink a little, but even swallowing is starting to hurt. He sends a smile towards his friends once in a while, to let them know he's okay. But in all honesty, he's not. He's disappointed in himself. He has never screwed up this much. He is letting everyone down.
On top of it all, he is starting to feel tired again. Plus, all that standing around is slowly making him dizzy. But he can't show it. He is already hurting them with his stupid voice, sounding totally off key. He needs to stay strong and stay calm.
He lightly bounces on his feet impatiently. His eyes keep darting towards the door. He just needs a break. A little bit of fresh air, some water, a couch, anything… He stops a yawn from breaking through and then blinks his eyes quickly when he sees spots for a moment.
"Alright, take a break…" Gustavo grumbles. The minute he says it, Carlos looks up and rushes out as fast as he can.
The other guys see him run. They exchange frowns, but then smirk and shake their heads.
Carlos hurries off towards the breakroom and grabs a water bottle. He unscrews it and downs it as fast as he can.
"Woah, slow down, dude. You're going to cause a coughing fit if you drink too fast." James tells him, right before he starts to cough again. The tall brunette chuckles and pats him on the back until it subsides. Carlos gives him a grateful smile, trying not to show the fatigue that is starting to set in.
Kendall plops down on the couch with a sigh of content. Carlos grins and joins him and immediately feels the dizzyness ebbing away. The blond grins back at him.
"You feel better now?" He asks his younger friend.
Carlos nods. "'M fine." He goes to say, but it comes out as a loud squeak. Kendall bursts out laughing, while Carlos clears his throat and embarrassingly smiles. "I'm fine." He repeats in a much more normal sounding voice.
He smiles with relief and lies his head down on the back of the couch. He doesn't even realize what a bad idea that was, until his eyes fall shut.
There are three things he notices when he wakes up. One, he is now fully lying on the couch. Two, a blanket is covering him and three; he's completely alone. He slowly tries to sit up. But the moment he moves his head up, a wave of dizzyness washes over him. And his head feels so much heavier now. In fact, his whole body feels like it weighs tons suddenly. He uses all his strength to sit up anyway and holds still for a moment, until the room stops spinning.
Why would the guys just let him sleep like that? Surely they didn't continue practice without him. So yeah, his voice kept breaking up, but it doesn't mean he can't sing at all.
He feels slightly angry and stands up. He almost falls back down, but just shakes it off and stalks towards the studio. He pulls the door open and his singing friends immediately close their mouths and look at him with wide eyes.
"What is going on here? Why didn't you wake me?" he asks, slightly coughing as his voice gets scratchy again.
"Carlos…" Logan starts, but the boy walks forward angrily.
"No. I want to know why you let me sleep like that? I'm in this concert, too." He argues, sounding slightly hurt.
"Yes, which is why you need to save your voice." Gustavo suddenly mentions calmly. Carlos opens his mouth again, but then realizes what the man said and turns to him. "I told them to let you sleep, so your voice can be better for the show." Kelly nudges him. He sighs. "And I'm sorry for the way I yelled at you." He reluctantly mutters.
Carlos turns back to his friends, who shrug with a smile. Not really understanding where this caring side suddenly came from. "Uh, thank you?" He says hesitatingly.
"Just go and hang out wherever. I don't care. Just don't talk and don't stay in here, you'll just distract the other dogs." Gustavo grumbles and turns back to the piano. Carlos smiles and heads for the door. He looks back once and mouthes a 'thank you' to Kelly, who sends him a bewilderd look.
He happily starts to walk through the building. He feels sort of bad for the other guys, but on the other hand, he was just given a free access pass to Rocque Records. He grins mischievously and explores every room he can find. It's fun for the first half hour, but then he notices how tired he is becoming. He shakes it off and walks again, but then has to grab hold of a railing on the wall when another dizzy spell hits him. He waits for it to pass, before walking again.
But the more he walks, the worse he feels. He can feel the building becoming hotter by the second. Sweat is starting to drip down his face, but he can't give in. He's fine. He doesn't get sick. He's just fine.
So he keeps on walking, albeit slower and slower. He notices how people are throwing him strange looks and whisper around him. But he doesn't care. He's okay. He can do it. Not that he has any clue as to what he is trying to do, but he can do it.
It's getting harder and harder to move around though and when he nearly falls down again, he decides to give up. He slowly starts to head back to the break room, so he can wait for the guys to finish so he can go home. But when he almost reaches it, he gets a strange feeling in his stomach. He trudges towards the couch, but then feels something come up. He puts a hand to his mouth and rushes for the bathroom. He gets there just in time to give up everything he ate that morning.
When he is finally done, he shakily gets to his feet and walks towards the bathroom sink. He lifts his heavy head towards the mirror and is shocked at what he sees. His body tone has always been a mocca color. It's never been beige before, or a little grey even. He can't fully open his eyes, but can see the sweat droplets traveling down his cheeks. He quickly opens the faucet and throws water in his face.
He looks in the mirror again and surprisingly finds the color returning to his features. He has to admit, throwing up has made him feel a whole lot better. He grabs some paper towels and wipes his face with it.
He still feels tired, but at least it's better than before. He slowly moves towards the door and heads out. He looks around for any signs if anyone heard or saw him and then hurries for the break room again. He is relieved to see his friend's aren't back yet and lets himself fall onto the couch. He lets his head rest on the back of the couch for the second time that day and ponders about what is going on.
Why does he feel so tired? And why did he throw up? Did he eat something bad? Maybe it was the same thing that made him sneeze this morning. And then it affected his throat. But he's not allergic to anything. Is he? Logan did say allergies could take time to surface. That had to be it. It was just allergies.
Carlos smiles to himself for having figured that out.
"Hey, what are you so happy about?" Kendall suddenly asks as he appears next to him.
"Nothing. I'm just happy." Carlos tells him. Kendall raises his left eyebrow.
"Okay…" He mentions, before standing up again. "Come on. Gustavo told us we could go home, since there's no point in rehearsing more without you." Carlos grins.
"Don't get too cocky, it was just difficult to cover all your parts." James adds, only making Carlos grin wider. "Ugh, never mind…" The pretty boy grumbles, before they all walk out of the studio again.
"How's your voice?" Logan asks Carlos as they sit in the back of the car.
"Okay, I guess." Carlos answers, relieved that his voice really does sound less scratchy.
Logan smiles at him. "You still tired?" He asks the Latino. But he just shrugs.
"Nah. I'm good." He finishes with a yawn. Logan smirks.
"Yeah, you're wide awake." He watches as the curves of Carlos' mouth turn into a small grin. "Just go to sleep, 'Litos. I'll wake you up when we're home."
Carlos tries to fight it with everything he has, but he soon can't stop his eyelids from closing. Logan just smiles and sighs at his sleeping friend.
"Sleep tight, buddy." He softly says and doesn't even flinch when the boy's head suddenly lands on his shoulder. He just chuckles and lets him rest.
Logan has always been observant, especially when one of his brothers is sick. He can't help it. He was always meant to become a doctor. It's in his blood. So he also can't help but keep an eye on Carlos, the baby of the group, when he's suddenly a lot more tired than he should be. He has all of it written down in his head, the symptoms. Tiredness, sneezing, coughing… What could it be?
It all seems so strange. Every time a symptom pops it, it just disappears again. Logan sighs and lies his head on top of the ravenhaired one. He frowns. And adds a slight fever to the list…
A/N Sorry the chapter is shorter than the first one. But thank you so much for all the responses so far :) I love reading them all and will try to reply to all of them asap!
Let me know what you think of the second chapter and if you want, come and talk to me via PM or via Tumblr. Just look me up with the name Baxxie ;)
Anyway, thank you so much again! I'll try to update this and my other stories soon. I am so anxious to start another angsty one with whump for all of the guys, but I am trying to finish at least one of my others before I do. Trying so hard… :P
Love, Baxxie