Monday and Tuesday pass with little fanfare for Logan, during which he humored his parents and stayed with them the whole time. He missed his boys by Monday night. He prepped himself for questions about school, but not for the interrogation he received about his relationship over dinner. Tuesday was better, but only just.
Wednesday finally rolls around and Logan can't stop fidgeting. After lunch he will be heading over to Kendall's. He is looking forward to spending time with his brother and talking about Kendall and James' relationship. Logan smirks at the thought on his way to the kitchen.
"Hey, mom! Need any help with lunch?"
"No, it's almost done, but you could set the table."
"Sure thing," he responds and begins pulling plates and glasses out of the cabinets.
"Honey," Mrs. Mitchell begins in a tone that worries Logan, "are you sure everything's good with you and Carlos?"
Logan places the dish in his hand on the counter, closes the cabinet and rests his hands on the edge of the counter. He looks over at his mother who has her back turned to him as she chops up the last of the vegetables for the dish she's preparing. He lets out a sigh.
"Mom, I don't know how many more ways I can let you know that Carlos and I will be fine."
She puts down her knife and turns toward him. "I'm just worried. You two have a history that can lead to a lot of tension as evidenced by this weekend. That and you haven't even seen him these past two days."
Logan chuckles. "I love you, mom. I understand your worry and I have the same fears too, but as is evidenced by this weekend and six months ago, with friends like Kendall and James and parents like you, dad, and the Garcias, we can get through anything."
"Aww…"
Logan rolls his eyes and ignores his mom's involuntary, at least he hopes so, response. "As for not seeing Carlos these past few days, we planned it that way before we found out about Kendall's injury. We talked every night before bed. So yeah, nothing to worry about. Okay?"
Mrs. Mitchell slowly nods, still not completely convinced but because of Logan's conviction, trusts that Friday is still a good idea.
Logan crosses the small distance to his mother and pulls her into an embrace. Mrs. Mitchell's eyes begin to water and she pulls away and quickly turns back to the vegetables. Logan tilts his head in confusion, but lets it go.
Joanna wipes her eyes with the back of her forearm and directs Logan, "Why don't you finish setting the table and then get your father. Lunch will be ready in fifteen."
"Thanks, mom!" Logan says as he gets out of the car. "I guess I'll see you Friday," he laughs.
Mrs. Mitchell nods and watches as Logan approaches Kendall's place. Kendall opens the door and waves to Mrs. Mitchell. She waves back and pulls away.
Kendall and Logan stand in the entryway and watch the car disappear around the corner.
"So it looks like it's just you and me until tomorrow," Kendall says as he ushers Logan inside.
"Just like old times," Logan responds.
Kendall starts heading up the stairs to show Logan the guest room where he'd be staying and so he could drop off his bags, but Logan stops him.
"There's no need for you to climb up all these stairs only to climb back down in a matter of seconds on that leg."
"It's fine, my doctor said I need to exercise it to get it back to playing strength."
"Yeah... but by the time you make it up the stairs I could have gone up, dropped off my stuff, and back down here."
Kendall looks at his watch, "Wow... 15 seconds."
"Hey, I've got two days to fit in all the wisecracks I wasn't able to throw your way these past six months," Logan quips as he races past Kendall and up the stairs.
"First door on the right!" Kendall yells after him.
Kendall debates following Logan to prove him wrong, but those few moments of hesitation cost him. As he puts his foot on the bottom step, Logan is halfway down the stairs. Kendall moves out of the way just in time because for no apparent reason, Logan is flying down the stairs. Two seconds later a part of him wishes he didn't since Logan is now lying face down into the carpet after tripping over the last step.
Kendall kneels down next to him, panicking. "Logan! Logan! Are you okay? Say something. Move!"
The body on the floor rolls over and stares at him. "You know, I still don't understand why we ask if someone is okay when clearly they shouldn't be."
Kendall shakes his head. Using Logan's stomach for support, he pushes himself up.
"Oof! What was that for?" Logan asks sitting up and rubbing his stomach.
The blond shrugs, "For being a smart aleck."
Logan takes a deep breath and concedes. "Care to help me up?" he asks lifting his hand.
Kendall braces himself on the wall and pulls Logan up, then leads the way to the living room. He takes a seat on the couch, grabbing the remote and a controller, preparing to cream Logan at their long overdue game of Mario Kart. Logan, on the other hand, heads over to the sliding glass door that leads out to the patio.
"Hey, Kendall? Mind if we postpone our rematch to tonight? I need to talk to you."
Kendall raises an eyebrow.
Logan laughs, "Don't worry it's not anything bad. I just need you to save me from my mind."
"Haha… alright…" Kendall exhales. "So what's up?"
Their conversation begins with Kendall replaying the conversation Logan had with his mom that morning. In this situation, though, Logan is playing the worrywart and Kendall has to reassure him that everything will be okay. It did help Logan to know that what he hopes is what someone else sees.
"Thanks, Kendall! You know me best."
"Yeah… I curse the day I met you," Kendall laughs.
"Really?" Logan asks genuinely hurt.
"Of course not!" Kendall exclaims. "How could you ever think that? That first day of Kindergarten was the day I found my long lost brother."
"Geez, Kendall. No need to get sappy."
"It's true, though, even if I bust your balls about it every now and then."
"Don't you dare!" Logan threatens.
Kendall puts his hand up in surrender. "Okay, I'll keep my mouth shut… for now. Seriously though, life's never been boring since that day."
Logan playfully punches him. "Yeah, making me step out of my comfort zone…"
"Haha… but if I hadn't we would've never met James or Carlos."
The two boys sigh and dreamily stare off into space.
"Speaking of James… you two uh… finally… talked?" Logan asks with a twinkle in his eyes.
It takes a few seconds for Kendall to grasp what Logan is really saying, but when he does he is a tad bit confused. "Wait, you knew how James felt?"
Logan hangs his head. "C'mon, Kendall. James wasn't exactly that subtle."
"Yeah, I guess…"
"Sooo…"
"Would you stop being a girl?"
"Hey! I resent that."
"That's something Katie would say."
Logan thinks about it. "Huh… I guess you're right." He clears his throat and continues in a deeper voice, "Regardless, what's going on between the two of you?"
Kendall blushes, "He asked me on a date… uh… after he kissed me."
"WHAT?" Logan is up and out of his seat. "Carlos didn't tell me that."
"Carlos didn't know," Kendall says matter-of-factly. "He did suspect, though."
"So now you've confirmed it. When? Where?"
"Slow down… your boyfriend barged in before we decided on anything."
Logan shrugs and says with a knowing smile, "That's Carlos for you."
And with that the conversation stalls. Logan knows there's nothing more Kendall will tell him and Kendall is not willing to go further down this line of conversation due to what he knows will be happening soon.
As they get lost in their thoughts, the only sounds that can be heard are the hum of the air conditioning and the low volume of the game Kendall left on. Logan is the first to snap out of his mind.
"Ready to get your ass handed to you?" he asks taking a controller from the table.
"Huh? What?"
Logan chuckles, shaking the controller in his hand.
"Oh, right!" Kendall says, shaking his thoughts away and grabbing the other controller. "The real question is 'Are you ready to get your ass handed to you?'"
For the next few hours they are fifteen again; every race taken too seriously, trash talking like no body's business, upset when he slips on a banana peel or hit by a shell, vowing to take revenge. When all is said and done, Kendall wins the epic tournament seventeen races to Logan's measly six.
Fed up with getting pummeled by not only Kendall's Bowser but the computer's Princess Peach, Logan refuses another race that Kendall deems 'sudden death'. As much as he wants to take the challenge, he knows there's a very slim chance he'll win now that Kendall's in the zone. Instead he suggests they go get dinner. Kendall is about to protest when his stomach growls and forces him to concede.
They walk, or in Kendall's case, hobble, to the diner around the corner. Kendall wanted to order food, but Logan convinced him to get out of the house, even for just an hour. When they return home, they begin another tournament, this time Street Fighter. They play well into the night until they fall asleep at the controller.
"Hey, Carlos! Where did you find Kendall's spare key again?"
"Under the welcome mat. Why?"
"I've been standing at his door for fifteen minutes knocking and he's not answering."
"Have you tried calling him?"
"Of course... Straight to voicemail." James bends down to check under the mat. "It's not under the mat. Thanks, Carlos."
"Glad he learned his lesson," Carlos chuckles. "Don't go anywhere. I'm on my way. I'll be there in five." Carlos hangs up.
"Where else would I go?" James thinks aloud and continues his search for the missing metal object.
"James, should I be jealous of this?"
"No, Logan needs someone who has similar gaming skills. Kendall's are far superior." James teases pointing to the television screen.
Logan stirs and slowly opens his eyes to see two figures standing over him. He thinks nothing of it and closes his eyes. It takes a few moments, but realization sets in. His eyes pop open and he sits upright, inadvertently throwing Kendall off the couch.
Kendall lands with a loud thud on the floor. "Logan, what the heck?"
The blond looks to Logan who is stunned and staring at James and Carlos. Kendall turns his head and sees them.
"Oh, hey guys!" he greets before turning back to Logan. "I hope you have a good reason for-" Kendall halts and snaps his attention back to Carlos and James. "How the hell did you guys get in here?"
"Spare key," Carlos and James respond in unison as James tosses the key to Kendall.
"How'd you find it? I thought I found the best hiding spot."
"Under the flower pot is the second most obvious spot." James explains.
"Especially if it's the only flower pot." Carlos adds.
Logan finally snaps out of his stupor to ask, "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to debate whether or not we should be jealous. "
Kendall and Logan exchange looks. "What? Why?" they ask in unison.
It's Carlos and James' turn to exchange looks.
"Well, we enter and see Logan passed out on the couch…"
"… and you, Kendall, lying on top of him." James finishes putting on his best jealous face.
"It's not what it looks like!" Kendall defends.
"Uh-huh!" they respond.
"Really, Carlos. Kendall's telling the truth. We were playing a game and then we just… fell asleep."
Carlos smiles and sits next to his boyfriend. James follows to help Kendall back on the couch.
"Relax, guys. We know. Just wanted to give you a hard time."
Kendall and Logan punch their respective partners.
"Ok," James begins, "go get dressed. Remember we're gonna use this day to relive the glory years!"
Kendall and Logan spring into action and ten minutes later they pile into Carlos' car and visit all their former hangouts and reminisce. When they return home all of them are exhausted and head to bed early.
They make their way up the stairs and split off, Carlos and Logan into the guest room and James and Kendall to Kendall's room. Before the doors shut, Carlos, Kendall, and James exchange a silent conversation preparing themselves for the event starting in the morning.