a/n: read the last few chapters and then this one if you haven't already

"Wait.." Logan pauses, his brows furrowed in confusion. "If the actual article is in english, why is the title of the newspaper in malay?"

Kendall runs a hand over his face, flustered. He knows Logan's the suspicious type, the type to question everything even if it doesn't actually need questioning, and that he can't help it- but right now, Kendall's the desperate type, and he would really adore it if Logan shut up and actually did what they had asked him to do. Since the night they had found James(the 'flagrante delict-no', as he'd sardonically dubbed it), Logan had really just been someone Kendall wanted to avoid, but, being roommates and all, it was near-impossible.

So nowadays, he resorted to spending all of his time at the hospital with James. He felt guilty as shit because of it, though, because he knew how Logan felt about him- he just chose to turn the blind eye and look away from it.

(he could still hear the cracking, though.)

It was also an issue that James was due to be discharged from the hospital in about a week- his physical wounds were healing very nicely, but the doctors were still trying to figure out weather it would be safe(ugh) to send him home with a good dose of antidepressants, or weather it was better for him to stay in the mental health ward of the hospital until his destructive panic attacks were at least controllable. Kendall knows it's selfish, but he doesn't want what's best for James, he just wants James, weather he's broken into a thousand pieces or breaking apart from the inside out, he just.. wants.

Logan, on the other hand, seems to just not be able to leave well enough alone, shooting icy glances at Kendall that inflame him with guilt, tainting his veins with kerosene and sending splintering shards of chaos straight through him. It hurts like fuck, but it also hurts because Kendall knows he's never going to return the feelings, not with James around- but if James had stayed missing, he probably would have gone for it. And that's what hurts the most, right? Knowing that as the unspoken leader of their little group, Kendall was the one who was being the most selfish- he'd do anything to fill the hole inside him, and if the people he tried to make fit there didn't, hell, he'd just make them.

Something tells him Logan would take a lot of mutilation to make fit, and Kendall still doesn't know if he'd be able to stand him.

"I don't know, isn't that your job to figure out?" Kendall snaps, not bothering to look in Logan's direction to see the damage he inflicted. When he hears nothing but silence in response, he assumes he struck him pretty hard, but still doesn't look, not when he feels Carlos' accusing gaze boring into him, not when Logan's heartbeat increases to an intensity where he can actually hear each strained beat.

"It's a good point, though. Why isn't the entire paper in malay?" Carlos quips, leaning on the back of Kendall's chair and staring closer at the text.

"I mean, logically speaking, it probably was." Logan drabbles, leaning over Kendall's other side(without touching him) and scrolling down the page, scanning everything. "The grammar is a bit off and there's some unnatural wording. It looks like someone translated it, and whoever did was obviously in a hurry."

"Well, what's the newspaper called?"

"Mm," Logan hums. He has his phone out, he's tapping away on it with diligence, and it takes a few seconds, but then he says, "It's called 'Penang Times'. That's.. off."

"Isn't Penang in Thailand?"

\

"You know, even though we should probably talk about this, I'm cool with pretending it never happened, so.." Kendall fiddles awkwardly with the hem of his too-big hoodie, shifts his weight from side to side, trapped between the neatly painted sides of the Cargan doorway. His emaciated ex-bandmate is nothing but a small lump in the navy blue covers of his own bed, the only thing allowing Kendall to distinguish him from Carlos(who looks incredibly similar in the same position) is the curl of starless hair poking out from the opening of the cocoon. "I'm gonna go back to the living room, okay? Um.. if you wanna talk.. we can... but.. yeah, I'll go." He backs up a few steps, waiting for a response from the oddly quiet teen. All he gets is a loud sigh and sees the black wisp disappear into the depths of the duvet.

Well, okay then.

Kendall mimics the sigh and walks out, closing the door behind him.

Man, that was awkward.

But he knows that it's probably nothing compared to what's going to happen when James gets back.. Ugh. Kendall slinks over to the living room and curls up on the couch. All broken hearts and unrequited feelings aside, he's still worried about both Logan and James- Logan for obvious reasons, like the fact that he was basically rapidly shrinking before their eyes, and James for even more obvious reasons, like he'd apparently been mauled by a ten foot tall satanic rodent, and that they had no leads on how that could have happened, not to mention no leads on weather or not it was even true. Obviously he hoped it was, because the alternatives wouldn't be good- not for James, not for anybody.

Kendall curls his fingers into his palms into the cuffs of his hoodie, and tucks them into his chest.

All he wants are his friends back, but instead he's stick with three souls eaten away by the forces of their own acid.

\

"No, dumbass," Logan chastises, not even looking up from his phone. "It's Malaysia."

"Great!" Kendall grins toothily and gets up from the office chair, quickly pushing Logan in his place and ignoring the awkwardness of the contact. "Now find the original article and translate it!"

"Kendall, we already have a translation, though. Voodoo blah blah, remember?" Carlos is looking at Kendall like he's insane, which, maybe a little, but his ability to fight the hysteria is phenomenal.

"Yeahhhh," Kendall draws out the word, raises his eyebrows at Carlos like he's the fool for stating the obvious. "I know, but Logan said there was something off about it. Maybe they left something out- Something important?" He presses, staring pointedly at Carlos. The clay-skinned boy just shakes his head and scoffs.

"Isn't this kind of a waste of time?"

"Nothing's a waste of time if it's going to help us keep James from rotting in a cell!"

"Look, Kendall, I get tha-"

"Guys." Logan interrupts. "Who says I'm even going to do this? It's three freaking pages worth of malay, and quite frankly, I'm not sure I owe either of you anything." Which, yeah, maybe, but Kendall thinks Logan at least owes James something- right? Carlos opens his mouth wide, looks like he's about to yell at Logan; but instead of saying anything, he just goes silent.

"Logan, look. You've got to do this."

"No I don't."

"Yes, you-"

"Yes you do!" Carlos snaps, staring at Logan with an intensity in his eyes that was scarcely seen outside the hockey rink.

Logan pauses, staring at Kendall, Carlos, Kendall, Carlos with an unsettling glint in his eyes(-fear?). "Fine," He says simply, turning back to the computer and planting his fingers on the keyboard.

"For James."

(for james.)

a/n: First person to tell me what endgames these are gets to make them happen.

AKA i have no idea where the ships in this story are going so if you guys have an OTP speak now because I would rahter just be told what to do then try and do something to please you guys. xD