A/N: Hello everyone! I'm back with another new story! This is one that I've been planning for a little while, but had to do a little research before getting started on it. As with most of my stories lately, this one is a little different from what I usually write, but I hope you all enjoy!

"It's Monday, and you know what that means." Kendall said as he cut off the engine and looked over at me expectantly.

I patted my pants pocket to make sure I'd shoved my wallet inside before we'd headed out this morning, and when I felt the outline of it, I nodded. "Yep. Extra-bold coffee coming right up."

As I popped open the passenger-side door, Kendall's hand landed firmly on my arm, halting me before I could get out of the ambulance, and I looked back at him over my shoulder.

"It means don't be a chickenshit, Loges, that's what it means."

Lifting my eyebrows, I glanced around, searching for whoever it was Kendall thought he was talking to, and when he read my quizzical expression, he snorted.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you." He said.

"You calling me out?"

"Damn right I am."

I shook my head. "I'm not a chickenshit, and you know it."

Kendall shrugged and let go of my arm. "Fine. Prove it."

"I can't do that."

"You can. You just won't."

Yeah, whatever, he had me there. Something always held me back from saying much more than hello to the guy in the fitted clothes that I saw pretty much every morning in the coffee aisle at Gustavo's corner store. I never should've told him about my crush in the first place, but being my best friend as well as my work partner meant we tended to overshare in the time between calls.

"He's straight, Ken. Leave it alone, okay?"

"You don't know that for sure."

I picked up a container of mints and shook a couple into my mouth before tossing it back in the console. "Trust me. I know."

"For you to know that, you'd have to have actually talked to him. Have you done that since the last time I saw you? Last time being yesterday."

Rolling my eyes, I ignored his question and pushed open my door. "You want that coffee or not?"

"Mhmm. The date for you, too."

"Jesus." I muttered, slamming the door before he could make any other requests. I could hear him chuckling behind me as he got out to pump the gas. And out of the corner of my eye, a flash of midnight blue pulling into a parking spot had my heart beating a bit faster. It was ridiculous that I'd even wonder for a second if I'd see him, since hardly a weekday had gone by in four months when I hadn't. But that flutter of anticipation still sent a thrill through me, the handful of minutes seeing him every morning becoming a routine highlight of my day.

That's it. I need to get my damn life back. Working all these overtime shifts to pick up some extra cash over the holidays, and giving the guys with families some time off, had sent my social life into a tailspin. If I didn't get out and actually socialize soon, I'd crash and burn. Or, worse, doing something stupid like actually hitting on the straight guy.

"Hey, Loges." Kendall called out, and I paused with my hand on the door to the store before moving aside to let the woman behind me pass through. When I turned around, a mischievous grin played on his lips as he inserted the gas pump into the tank and began to hip-thrust.

Oh, for the love of-

"And while you're at it, maybe grab me one of those apple fritters, would ya? And a soda for later?"

So much for New Year's resolutions, I thought. That had lasted less than a week. Not that I could blame him when it came to the tempting basket of freshly baked goods that sat by Gustavo's register every morning. Even I had a hard time passing on those. Still, Kendall claimed to want to start watching what he ate and made me swear I'd keep him in check.

"You sure you wanna do that?" I asked.

Kendall looked pointedly over at the midnight blue Mazda 3 and his smile grew. "Life's too short to pass on the good stuff, wouldn't you say?"

That fucker. I shook my head and shot a glare his way, and then I went inside, determined now to buy out the apple fritters and personally stuff them down his meddling throat.

"Morning, Logan." Gustavo greeted me from behind the counter where he was ringing up a customer, and I smiled his way before grabbing a handheld basket and heading down the aisle for Kendall's soda. I grabbed a bottle for him and a bottle for me and laid it in the basket as the refrigerator door slapped shut behind me.

I kept a tight grip on the handle as I took my time walking towards the far aisle, the anticipation building in my gut. Finally, I rounded the corner, and just as he was everyday, Bluebird stood in front of the coffee station, refillable mug in hand and somehow looking more gorgeous than I remembered. My memory never did him justice.

I never talked to him, so I never found out his name. I had resorted to giving him the nickname Bluebird for reasons that I would never say out loud.

I didn't move as he placed his mug beneath the machine's spout and hit a button, and I knew exactly what he'd get, the same thing he got every morning: a latte with light foam and two sugars, two creamers.

Today he was dressed up a bit. He was dressed in a pair of black slacks, with a white button-down shirt and a midnight-blue tie. Always so well put together, from his stylishly tousled dark brown hair, down to his black loafers. A couple days of stubble covered his usual freshly shaven jaw, and I imagined how it'd feel under my hands as I took either side of his face and pulled him toward mine-

"Dammit!"

Bluebird's curse shook me out of my stupor as my feet managed to move again, and as I got closer, I saw that the usual brown liquid coming out from the machine was a cloudy white instead.

He let out a disappointed sigh. "Hey, Gus." He called out to the owner. "Latte machine's down."

"Again?" Gustavo shook his head and then said, "Sorry about that, James. I'll have to get someone out to fix that."

"No problem." James replied, dumping out the hot water from his mug into the tray, and hello, I finally had an actual name to go with the face: James. How was it I'd gone so long without knowing?

I pulled out a couple of large disposable cups from the rack and reached for the coffee pot at the same time as James, our fingers brushing against each other ever so slightly before we both jerked back. His touch shot through me like an electric jolt to my heart, and the surprise that lit his eyes told me I wasn't the only one affected.

"Sorry." He said, and then cleared his throat. "Damn static."

'That wasn't static.' I thought, but I wasn't about to enlighten him, so instead I gestured to the almost empty coffee pot. "No problem. Go for it."

"Oh...uh…" He glanced at how little was left and shook his head. "That's okay. You were here first."

"Nah, go ahead. Something tells me you need it more than I do."

"Are you sure?" James asked, his forehead creased like he didn't want to impose, but I wouldn't have minded him taking the last of the coffee everyday, so long as those hazel eyes of his stayed on me.

"I insist." I said, and then leaned in slightly to whisper conspiratorially, "Besides, I know where Gustavo keeps the coffee. I'll just brew another pot."

A grateful smile lifted his lips. "Thanks." Then he poured himself a full mug of coffee and scratched his jaw as he said, "Ever had one of those mornings?"

"All the time."

James looked up at me, and then his eyes shifted down to my name and the title patched on my uniform. Logan Mitchell. Paramedic. "Yeah, of course you do. Paramedic, huh? I don't know how you do it."

"Helps that we can filter caffeine through IVs for a quicker hit on really bad days."

He chuckled as he ripped open two sugar packets and dumped them into his drink. "In that case, I think I'm in the wrong field."

"What is it that you do?"

"I teach music education at Valley View Middle School."

"Middle schoolers?" I whistled. "I think I'll stick with my job."

"I wouldn't blame you some days. They're mostly a great group, but man, there's a few whose mission is to run off the new teachers."

"And you're one of the new ones?"

"Technically. Four months running." He tossed the empty packets into the trash and then held his hand out to me. "I'm James, by the way."

I stared at his hand for a couple of heartbeats before taking it in mine. His long fingers were cool to the touch, unlike my perpetually hot ones. It could be negative fifty outside, and my hands would still be warm. "Logan." I said, and then shook my head slightly. "Well, Hortense, but I hate that name and everyone calls me Logan so…"

"Logan." James repeated before letting go of my hand.

I missed the contact immediately.

Before either of us could say anything else, Gustavo walked in between us and hit the side of the latte machine with a stick.

"I don't think it'll respond to a beat-down, Gus." James said, as he added and stirred two creamers into his coffee.

"Worked once before. I bet I can do it again"

As Gustavo whacked at the machine, James shook his head at the stubborn man. Then he capped his mug and smiled at me. "Thanks again, Logan. I owe you one."

"Anytime." I responded. "Hope your morning improves."

"I'm counting on it. Bye, Gus. I'll leave the money on the counter."

Gustavo grumbled what sounded like a goodbye and kept fiddling with the latte machine as I rinsed out the coffee pot and started up a fresh brew.

Two steaming mugs, two sodas, and a bag full of apple fritters later and I was climbing back into the ambulance, still reeling from my run-in with James. It was so unlike me to fawn over a guy, but there was something about him that had caught my attention from day one and never let go. Today's encounter had only served to pique my curiosity even more.

"That has got to be the biggest, dumbest grin I've ever seen on your ugly mug." Kendall said, staring at me like I'd grown two heads. "Did you finally do it? Did you ask him out?"

I tossed the bag of fritters and soda into Kendall's lap. "Feel free to choke on those."

"Ahh, I'm gonna take that as a yes, then. He shot you down?"

After setting the coffee's on the console, I fastened my seatbelt and waited for Kendall to get the hint that we needed to get moving.

"What the hell, Loges?" He said. "You're just going to leave me hanging?"

I arched my brow in his direction, and when I didn't say anything, he gave a grunt and started up the rig.

"One of these days, Logan…" He grumbled, pulling out of the gas station. "You know all of my personal shit. See if I spill my guts out to you anymore."

"You wouldn't know what to do if you couldn't talk about Jo twenty-four seven."

"Hey, it's not my fault I scored a good one. Just letting everyone know what they're missing out on." As Kendall slowed down behind traffic, he glanced over at me and waggled his bushy eyebrows.

"Make sure to do us a favor and hand out barf bags the next time you get started." I nodded at the bag of pasteries in his lap. "And don't tell anyone I let you have those. I'm doing a horrible job of holding you accountable."

He laughed and tore into the bag of fritters with one hand, while keeping his other on the wheel. When he'd made me swear last week that I'd keep him on track while he "cut the crap," I'd thought he was nuts. At almost six feet, Kendall was as attractive as ever. Piercing green eyes, a full golden blond head of hair, and dimples that only seemed to have deepened the past few months. There was no reason for him to watch what he ate. Which made me think that this was all some kind of twisted test. Maybe he was just doing it to annoy me. Or the more logical explanation, maybe he was trying to do it for Jo, seeing as she was a little more of a clean eater.

'Why are the hot ones always straight?' I thought, my mind drifting back to the man I always made sure to run into during the workweek. And yeah, I got that straight vibe from James too, though even he couldn't deny the spark that had ignited when our hands had brushed against each other. That wasn't enough to hang any hope on, though, as much as I wanted to.

"His name's James." I said, breaking up the quiet in the rig, and when Kendall's head jerked in my direction, a fritter half shoved in his mouth, I was unable to keep the smirk off my face anymore. "Teaches music at the middle school."

As I casually sipped my coffee, Kendall's jaw practically hit the ground. "No shit." A horn sounded from behind us, and Kendall stepped on the gas, shaking his head. "About damn time. What else did you two talk about?"

"Nothing. Gustavo came over to give the latte machine a concussion, and that was the end of that."

Dammit, Gus. Way to cock-block."

"Nah, he didn't know."

"Well, you have an opening now." Kendall said, winking at me. "And that was only a pun if you want it to be."

"Oh, Jesus. I've done it now."

"What?"

"Created a monster who uses puns against me."

Kendall laughed as I flipped on the radio to drown out any other comments his sugar high wanted to throw out, but when someone on the radio began to croon about a winter wonderland, Kendall groaned and jabbed at the buttons to change the channel.

"I can't believe they're still blasting Christmas music in January. Didn't they get the memo that Santa Claus already came to town, and all he brought me was a damn snow blower? What the hell would I use a snow blower for? I love the snow!"

Chuckling, I brought my coffee up to my lips and blew softly, while Kendall continued to flip through the stations until he found something other than holiday music.

Suddenly, a quick tone alert came through the radio, and I punched the music off as a call came through from dispatch.

"Unit 113, please respond Code 3 to the intersection of Highway 65 and 221st Avenue on a multi-vehicle accident with injuries. Fire department responding for possible extrication."

I picked up the receiver. "Ten-four. Unit 113 en route. ETA less than two minutes." I said as Kendall dropped the plastic bag on the ground at my feet and flipped on the lights and siren.

"Not how I'd want my day starting out." He said, cutting through an intersection to make a left.

"Saddle up." I said. "I have a feeling it's gonna be a long one."

Traffic going east was already beginning to back up, the roads congested at the height of morning rush hour. Now with the accident up ahead and the cars unable to move to the side, Kendall had to pull us into the reversible lane to get by. From the opposite direction, a backup unit, along with two police cars and a fire truck, veered toward the intersection, though it looked like we'd get there first.

I could see the smoke rising up ahead from beneath the hood of a black four-by-four truck that had smashed into a-

"Oh shit...Loges…" Kendall's voice trailed off as we both caught sight of the crushed passenger side of the car that had been T-boned. The crumpled car had been no match for the bigger vehicle, it looked like they'd skidded into the middle of the intersection during impact. The car's hood punched up at an awkward angle with the truck half inside, and broken glass littered the road.

I'd seen the sight so many times before, but never had the breath left my lungs in a rush, never had a faint ringing sound filled my ears, and never had a wild sense of panic seized my chest like it did right then.

Because the mangled car, the one I was responding to, was none other than James' midnight blue Mazda 3.

Done! Like I said, this will be a little different from my other stories. For one, this is my first Jagan story! It's also a little more on the tragedy side so there will be quite a few ups and downs throughout this story, as I'm sure you can already see :P

I'm also writing the guys slightly different from how I usually write them, but still with traces of their personalities from the show. I especially like Kogan's friendship dynamic in this story! As you'll see over the course of the next few chapters, they have a very teasing friendship, but they really do deeply care about each other :)

Anyway, I've pretty much finished the next two chapters, so those will be up over the course of the next two days! In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts so far!

Next chapter will be coming later on today/tomorrow depending on where in the world you are.

Until then!

-Epically Obsessed