Title: Stop Worrying

Pairing: Logan/Carlos

Author: Cayt, aka lj user="disorient_me"

Rating: T; mild sexual scenes, but relatively gentle :)

Summary/Notes/Warnings: Abuse of italics ahoy! Then again, you can't possibly have the right inflections—especially from Gustavo—without abundant italics…

This fic was written for breila_rose on LJ, as part of the Palmwoods Fic Exchange. The full prompt can be read in the comm, but the prompts I chose were: "Logan/Carlos: While rehearsing for their tour Logan and Carlos get stuck in the trap door under the stage and it takes a while for anyone to notice. Why is up to the author." Additional requests included: fluff, PWP, angst, adorable boys, running fingers through hair, James and bandanas, anything else cute because these boys are adorable.

I tried to fill the request as best I could, so I really hope you like it! It turned out a lot less porny than I hoped for, but I think it's sweet and fluffy, sooo… I hope you enjoy? Let me know, because feedback is like crack to me XD

Disclaimer: The characters and people mentioned in this story are not mine. Pretty much anything you recognize isn't mine… I'm poor :(

"You! Logan! Watch your feet!" A voice roared, breaking into his train of thought. He jumped, nearly tripping, and Gustavo cried out, "No, not literally! Stop, stop, stop."

"Gustavo, they were doing fine," Kelly chided, irritated. "You've made them stop ten times when nothing was wrong!"

"Because this has to be perfect, so they can get fans, so they can get popular, and—" Before Gustavo could wind himself up into a full-fledged rant, however, Kelly rolled her eyes, sighing.

"We get that part," she reminded him, expertly avoiding his outraged expression at being interrupted. "But that's not going to happen if you work the boys into exhaustion!"

Up on the stage, Kendall tentatively raised his hand, calling out, "She's right, and don't you think we know the dance enough by now?"

"Yeah," Carlos chimed in, nodding earnestly. "If we don't know it by now, we probably aren't gonna."

"If we don't know it by now, we probably aren't gonna," Gustavo mocked—and stopped when Kelly whapped him in the arm with her clipboard, her expression disapproving. "Yeah, sure, fine, take a break. Not like it matters—"

The rest of his tirade was cut off by the relieved cheers from the stage, however, and he sighed heavily. Logan tuned him out, instead turning to grin in relief at the others. Kendall and James were wasting no time in bolting offstage, and Carlos grabbed Logan's wrist, yanking him along and ignoring his yelp, before Gustavo had a chance to change his mind.

"Thank God, I thought he'd never let us go!" James exclaimed dramatically, and Logan rolled his eyes.

"He would have had to let us go eventually," he pointed out calmly, reaching for his duffle bag. Pulling his sweaty shirt up over his head, he followed suit with the other boys, changing into clean clothes. "We're supposed to meet up with Katie and Mrs. Knight later for dinner, remember?"

"Yeah, but Gustavo's evil," Carlos grumbled, trying desperately to keep his balance as his foot got stuck in his pantleg; without even thinking about it, Logan reached out, steadying him as he finally jammed his foot through.

"So what're we going to do now?" Kendall asked, and Logan shrugged.

"I don't know about you, but I want a shower," James mentioned, and Logan rolled his eyes at how Kendall's eyes widened faintly, just before his fingers suddenly sped up in tying his shoelaces. As subtle as he tried to be, sometimes, Kendall just wasn't as subtle as he thought he was… like it was a secret that he and James fooled around sometimes? The walls at the Palm Woods weren't that thick…

"I still wanna check out the rest of the stadium," Carlos protested, tying his sneakers now. They had been derailed from doing so earlier by the stage crews and security, but since everything was all set up now… maybe no one would notice if they just poked around for a bit. This was their first major show in the area, and the idea of exploring the stadium was irresistible; it was just so big and open now…

"Me, too," Logan chipped in, glancing up from his own laces. "I want to see how everything's set up, and how they have the acoustics—"

"Dude, I bet I could jump from the stage to at least the third row of seats," Carlos interrupted, expression lighting up as he thought. "How cool would that be?"

"And then we could totally jump out into the crowd tomorrow at the end!" James agreed, and Logan frowned, alarmed.

"No," both he and Kendall ordered, earning identical wounded pouts. Logan bravely faced them down, however, adding derisively, "Do you even know how stupid that would be, jumping into a crowd of crazy fans?"

"Um, hello, some of them will probably be hot girls, and of course they'll go crazy for this," James shot back, twiddling his fingers toward his face—until Kendall smacked his hand down, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, crazy enough to wreck your hair and eat you alive," Logan pointed out, grinning when James' dark eyes widened in horror.

"And if you jump off the stage into the crowd during the show tomorrow, we're not coming in after you," Kendall added, earning an outraged look from Carlos.

"I thought you said you would never turn your back on a friend!" He complained, still pouting. Kendall grinned, however, shrugging one shoulder.

"There's a difference between turning my back on you and you doing something suicidal, man," he commented. "Anyway, let's get going… I'm hungry."

"Well, fine, you go do that, and I'll stay here and explore," Carlos announced stubbornly.

"Fine by me," James replied, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. Kendall followed suit, and they glanced expectantly at Logan. "How 'bout you, Logan?"

Heaving a sigh, he couldn't quite stifle the amused, crooked smile that came over his lips.

"I'm going to stay here and make sure Carlos doesn't get himself killed tonight," he replied, earning an indignant yelp from the shorter boy. Both James and Kendall grinned and saluted, vanishing quickly as Carlos rounded on Logan playfully.

"Come on, how could I get myself killed jumping into the seats?" He demanded, shoving at Logan's shoulder. Logan only shoved him back, laughing.

"Um, just trust me, it won't end well," he replied, dodging Carlos' next swat. "Come on, let's look around."

"Race you to the doors!" Carlos challenged, and Logan barely had time to blink before the other boy was off and running.

"Hey!" He protested, then scrambled into motion, limbs scraping for purchase as he darted out of the dressing room. Carlos was already halfway across the stage, almost to the stairs on the far side, and Logan didn't even think before bolting across the stage for the edge. As he ran, he barely noticed as he yelped as he abruptly tripped over something, crashing hard to the stage floor. For a long moment, he laid there, stunned. Carlos, meanwhile, made it halfway up the aisle before he noticed that Logan was no longer racing him.

"So, what, you just gave up?" He demanded, drawing to a halt and turning around, and Logan shot him a disgusted look.

"No," he scowled, pushing himself up. "I tripped over something… hey! Looks like a trap door or something!"

"Cool!" Carlos returned. Logan sat up, absently rubbing his shin as he scooted back over to look at the door. It was close enough to the side that they'd never even noticed it during rehearsal; it wasn't even where any of them were supposed to be during performing, so he guessed that was a lucky thing… the last thing he needed to do was trip over this while getting ready to perform a flip or something.

"Hey, so what do you think is under there? I bet it's something really cool!" A voice suddenly announced, right next to his ear. Logan jerked; when had Carlos gotten all the way up there?

"It's probably just a space under the stage, like for effects and stunts and stuff during shows," he said slowly, thinking. "Wait, hey, what are you doing?"

"Don't you want to check it out? What's the worst that could be under there?"

Instantly, half a dozen ideas sprang to mind, but Logan pushed them aside. After all, how likely was it that a major stadium kept dead bodies under the stage? He really needed to stop letting Katie taunt him into watching scary movies. Instead, he helped Carlos grip the edges of the stage door with fingertips, prying it open. When they pulled it open, however, it was actually rather anti-climactic; a dull light illuminated a plain, simple room under the stage, and the boys looked at each other.

"Sooooo… we gonna go down?" Carlos asked, and Logan shrugged.

"Doesn't look like there's anything down there, man," he hedged, uncertain. Before he could react, however, Carlos scooted forward, then dropped down beneath the stage. Groaning to himself, Logan followed; Carlos by himself underneath a stage couldn't possibly end well. "I have to get new friends…"

Dropping down into the small room, Logan landed on a mildly bouncy cushion next to his friend, glancing around the underside of the stage. The room was plain enough, a couple of shelves storing miscellaneous props, but the lighting was relatively dim, probably to prevent it from being a distraction to the audience during plays.

Beside him, Carlos was eagerly looking around, bouncing up and down on the pad. Logan moved off of the pad, slowly rising to check out the small room. Reaching out to touch a dusty light rack, he was distracted by Carlos' voice from behind him.

"Hey, wait, what's this rope for?" Whirling, Logan wasn't fast enough to call out; instead, he just caught sight of Carlos yanking on a rope coming from the hatch they'd dropped from—and the door swung shut and slammed above him. Logan looked at him incredulously, even as dark eyes widened in belated recognition. "Oops."

"Please tell me you didn't just do that," Logan pleaded, frowning. Carlos' eyes darted around nervously, and he suddenly pointed past him, trying to smile innocently.

"There's a door right behind you," he offered, and Logan exhaled softly. Turning, he found the door that Carlos had pointed out, and relaxed. Okay, fine, they weren't locked in… which was good. Carlos bounced off the edge of the mat now, darting past Logan to open the door, only to find that it was locked from the outside. "Ummm…"

"You have to be kidding," Logan whispered, pinching the bridge of his nose. Carlos already looked sheepish enough, however, and he swallowed his panicked, angry outburst before it could erupt; it wouldn't solve anything to take it out on his friend, even if it was all his fault that this was happening.

Carlos, meanwhile, was scrambling frantically around the room, rummaging through shelves and boxes until he surfaced triumphantly—holding a long pole of some sort. Feeling Logan's eyes on him, he darted back over to the closed trapdoor, poking it with the stick and trying to force it back open and failing. Stabbing it upwards harder, however, he yelped when the stick cracked and broke.

"Oops."

"Carlos, you have your cell phone, right?"

"Noooo," he admitted slowly. "I left it in my bag. But you have yours, right?"

"No," Logan sighed, defeated. "Come on, one of these doors have to open; they wouldn't just lock people down here…"

The next ten minutes were lost in a flurry of activity as both boys flew into motion, trying to force either door open. Unfortunately, nothing worked; the only thing that happened was that, somehow, they managed to make the lightbulb explode and go out, resulting in the shelves getting knocked over and scattering props all over the floor.

Finally defeated, the boys simultaneously dropped back onto the landing pad—and Logan groaned as something jabbed into his back. Rolling to the side, he bumped into Carlos in the dark, fishing whatever it was out from under him and tossing it to the side.

"So now what do we do?" He asked, closing his eyes. He heard Carlos shift, then apparently remember that no one could see anything in the dark.

"I dunno," he responded. "Someone'll come by soon, right?"

"I hope so…" Logan sighed, then frowned. "What do we do until then?"

"Can we play truth or dare?"

"How?" He asked, skeptical. "We can't see anything…" He could still picture Carlos' face knit deep in thought, and smiled despite himself; it wasn't hard to picture his friend's expressions, not after all these years. When he didn't immediately come up with a response, however, Logan could tell that he was pouting now, and shook his head slightly.

"Fine, let's play," he murmured. Better to do something to pass the time, right?

Overall, the impromptu game wasn't all bad—up until Carlos somehow managed to taunt Logan into proving that he could so do a backflip in the dark. They had checked the landing pad to make sure that it was clear, but Logan hadn't counted on hitting the pad hard enough to shake something to their side and bring something—which felt suspiciously like a mannequin—down on himself.

"Owww," Logan muttered, then jerked when he felt something hit his arm, seeking him out. It took a second, but he managed to find Carlos' elbow, the other boy's hand already quickly tracing his way up his arm and shoulder to his head.

"How bad are you bleeding?" Carlos demanded, unhappy. Logan frowned, fingers pushing Carlos' aside so he could check for himself. Thankfully, it was only a little wet, just inside of his hairline, and it felt mostly like it already stopped.

"Not too bad," he finally answered, though Carlos' hands were insistent as he tried to look at the side of his head now. "Dude, I'm fine!"

Carlos completely ignored him, however, his fingers cautiously stroking through Logan's hair around the cut. Logan held still, letting him; it felt weirdly pleasant, feeling his friend's fingers touching his hair like this. The cut was minor, just a tiny scrape, and even Carlos had to have known that by now, though that didn't prevent him from continuing to stroke his hair in light, fleeting motions that felt nice and soothing.

After a too-long moment, Logan finally pushed Carlos away from himself, which of course, predictably prompted a round of wrestling—which Logan had counted on. The last thing he needed was for Carlos to be freaking out about such a small cut… It wasn't like he had never been hurt before, but Carlos had always had a habit of getting worked up over this sort of thing. Once upon a time, that had been one of the reasons Logan had started paying attention to the medical shows his mother watched…

At first, that didn't really help, since a lot of those shows had people dying after breaking their arms, but when Logan had started researching the diseases and symptoms shown, he'd discovered that it was interesting. He learned a lot that way, enough to eventually keep Carlos from freaking out over broken fingers and twisted ankles received from hockey.

Wrestling with Carlos, however, was familiar; over the years, all four of them had grown up together, enough so that wrestling was pretty much as second nature as breathing. Slinging his leg around the other boy's waist, Logan flipped them over, pinning the smaller boy after a few minutes, and Carlos laughed, struggling to get enough leverage to free himself. His head and shoulders were tipped over the edge of the landing mat, however, enough that he found himself unable to get enough momentum to push up.

It was hard to stay on top of Carlos, especially when he kept squirming, laughing and fidgeting. Logan wasn't much better, of course, but it took him unaware when Carlos suddenly shifted wrong, nearly falling over the edge and throwing Logan off balance. He nearly pitched face-first to the concrete floor, stopped only by Carlos' arms around his waist and face suddenly really close in the dark.

"Whoa, hey, careful!" Carlos warned, voice extremely close to Logan's ear, and the other boy felt a shiver running up his spine. Uncertain, he swallowed, trying to shake the feeling off. This wasn't any different than any of the wrestling matches they'd had over the years, except for the complete darkness around them and the warm, soft breaths against his ear, and why, why, why was this making his hands suddenly clammy?

"Sorry," he managed, uncomfortable—and Carlos laughed, lips impulsively brushing against the side of Logan's face. Logan tensed, caught somewhere between confusion and alarm; that was the first time that had ever happened during a wrestling match… and while his hands were still sweaty and his heart was racing, it didn't feel like a ibad/i thing. Carlos seemed to sense this, because he was still laughing like this was perfectly normal, and he swallowed, trying to keep himself under control—especially when the other boy teased into his ear again.

"What, are you sensitive here?" He taunted, and Logan held very still, mind racing. The shorter boy's voice had dropped lower than normal, but without being able to see him, it was hard to tell whether or not he was being sarcastic or honestly trying to start something.

"Carlos?" He asked, voice rising slightly as the other boy's mouth drifted across his cheek, just skimming across suddenly-sensitive skin and leaving trails of tingling, hyper-aware nerves in his wake. The other boy didn't respond, only pressing chapped, warm lips to Logan's mouth. The kiss was cautious, nervous, and definitely off-center, especially since Carlos had to lean up slightly, but it was enough to make Logan stop being nervous and relax.

This was Carlos, the boy he'd been friends with since second grade—even though sometimes pranks went out of control, he would never do anything to intentionally hurt anyone else, let alone Logan. He'd always been far too cheerful, excitable, and happy-go-lucky to even think about being malicious—it was all about having fun, being spontaneous, and living it Big Time (and thank you, Gustavo, for ingraining that into Logan's soul…)

Despite all of this, however, it wasn't surprising when Carlos pulled back slightly, uncertainty clear even in the darkness. For all his eagerness to jump in without looking first, this was the one thing he probably had thought about and analyzed for weeks… this was a big move. Excitable as he was prone to being, this nervousness, this slight hesitation, was also part of him, part that not everyone got to see.

Logan, on the other hand, was constantly watching, thinking, analyzing… and yet all his watching and thinking had never led him down the road leading to this particular string of events. It was his job to do the thinking, to evaluate the risks and choose the paths that would keep them out of trouble, but right now was not the time to think. Carlos' breathing was rapid and shallow, and he could almost feel the other boy's hurt expression, and Logan reacted, hand slipping up to rest against his cheek as he leaned down, shaking slightly as he kissed Carlos, a little harder and clumsier than he'd meant to.

Somewhat inanely, he was reminded of Guitar-Dude's spaced-out advice—no, not where to score more weed, but to just be Logan and stop worrying… and he did.

"You're not mad?" Carlos breathed, and Logan shook his head before remembering that he wouldn't be able to see that.

"No, why would I be?" He asked, and tried in vain to conceal that nervous crack in his voice. Carlos laughed again, soft and sounding relieved, and Logan grinned. "Aren't you always telling me to stop thinking so much because it makes your head hurt?"

"Aren't you always telling me to slow down and think things through?" Carlos returned, and Logan could almost sense the mock-glare without even seeing it.

"Not this time," Logan finally replied, and Carlos grinned, leaning up and kissing him again.

This time, it was a little less questioning, though the uncertainty remained; Carlos wasn't sure how to keep his balance, and Logan wasn't sure how hard to press into the kiss—all his kisses on his double dates with James had been on the cheek, and the girls had usually laughed shyly at how shy ihe/i was. After a moment, they pulled apart, and Carlos breathed, "So, wanna let me up? My head's starting to hurt…"

"Probably from all the blood rushing toward the ground," Logan commented absently, then paused. That… was where all Carlos' blood was rushing, right? Shifting over to the side, Logan helped haul the other boy into a sitting position, hand lingering just a little too long on his shoulder. Wordlessly, Carlos moved closer, settling in against his side and slinging a familiar, comfortable arm around his waist. Logan silently sighed, welcoming the familiar contact.

"So, now what?" He asked, and Carlos made a small, nervous sound that was maybe almost a laugh.

"We can, um, keep going?" He offered, then backpedalled frantically. "Or, or we can try to open the door again!"

Logan laughed, rolling his eyes. This was a totally new step, but since Carlos had already started this thing, he wasn't quite so nervous anymore. Grinning, he leaned in, brushing his lips just under the edge of Carlos' jaw, earning a startled shiver. The last of his nerves fizzled away as Carlos fidgeted—as new as this was, it was still just his best friend, who was still incredibly ticklish when all was said and done.

"I don't know, are you sensitive?" Logan jibed, and Carlos scoffed indignantly.

"No way!" He protested, tugging Logan around to kiss him properly. The uncertainty had faded now, even as Carlos took the lead, boldly licking at Logan's lips. For all that he had never kissed anyone like this before, it was easy to open his mouth and to allow Carlos' tongue to carefully explore the inside of his mouth. Suppressing a shiver, he moved closer into the kiss, fingers finding and gripping the other boy's in the dark.

For a long moment, he completely lost track of time—this had never happened with his first kiss, this absolute absorption, this tingling warmth that filled him from head to toe… Making a faint, breathless noise before he could help himself, Logan was horrified, even as Carlos suddenly deepened the kiss in response. He calmed, allowing Carlos to push him down onto his back, the other boy shifting to straddle his hips in a way both foreign and familiar all at once. He didn't have a chance to overthink it, however, before Carlos was moving his mouth down to Logan's throat, kissing and sucking lightly, and his breath hitched.

Clenching his fingers in the back of Carlos' shirt, Logan kept him close, unable to make an intelligible sound as he felt a warm, wet suction on the hollow of his collarbone. His hips tried to push up reflexively, and his flash of embarrassed awkwardness was quickly wiped away by a hint of teeth against his new hickey. Distantly, an amused corner of his mind made a note to ask James for concealer for tomorrow.

Yanking Carlos back up, he crashed his lips into Carlos', eager now. He could feel his friend's grin against his lips, and frowned slightly, trying to push his tongue into Carlos' mouth. After a minute, he let him, and Logan figured he was learning pretty quickly how to be a better kisser when Carlos groaned faintly.

Quickly, the kiss turned into a lazy battle for dominance, and he was grateful for the landing pad beneath them as they tussled, turning over every so often. Honestly, at this rate, Logan was quite content to just stay here for the night—

Until there was a slight clatter above them, followed by a faint scuffle. It was quiet enough that Logan didn't even notice, caught up in their activities, but Carlos went rigid above him, fingers suddenly clenching almost painfully tight in Logan's arms. Logan stared up, dazed and more than a little disoriented from the sudden change of activities, even as Carlos remained still as a statue above him.

"What was that?" He demanded in a harsh whisper, terrified. Before Logan could answer, Carlos was shaking him by the shoulders, hard. "Ohmygod, there's someone upstairs!"

"What—are you—talking—about?" Logan demanded breathlessly, interrupted by Carlos' shakes. In addition to being breathless, he found himself dangerously close to whiplash as well, even as Carlos' frantic breathing made him frown—that wasn't his doing.

"Upstairs, shh, shh, listen!" Carlos hissed against his ear, no longer quite as sensual as before. He yanked Logan up against his chest, cheek pressed hard against Carlos's, as if he could force Logan to hear what he heard through his own ears. Making a face, Logan held still, tempted to tell him to just forget about it, to kiss him again…

"See? There's nothing," Logan reassured him after a minute, seeking his lips out. Carlos let him for a moment, distracted and relaxing his tight grip on his shoulders; turning into the kiss, the tension left his shoulders—

Until he heard a muffled thump from above. This time, Logan heard it too, and when Carlos gripped him frantically again, this time, Logan grabbed back, eyes wide. The thump became a series of footsteps, coming closer and closer, and Logan held still. On one hand, whoever it was might be able to get them out of here—but on the other hand, he had a feeling that they weren't supposed to be down here… and he had no idea what time it even was.

"Who do you think's up there?" He asked, then realized exactly who he had asked as Carlos turned to him, and he could just see the earnest expression.

"A serial murderer," he muttered, pressing against Logan. "God, we're trapped in a dark, lonely theatre, and it's just like a horror movie! I mean, look at what's happened!"

"If it's just like a horror movie," Logan retorted, slightly wounded, "What just happened, huh?"

"Hello, murderers always go for the lovey dovey couples first, because he can't stand seeing people in love, and—" Logan tuned out his rambling explanation for a moment, however, a little taken aback. Were they a couple now? And… lovey dovey? Honestly, that defined Kendall and James more right now, because one nice, long make-out session didn't really mean they were lovey dovey, right? Not that that was a bad thing, and wow, he kind of missed not thinking already.

"Logan?" Carlos whispered, even as they heard a muffled voice from the stage. "Hey, Logan?"

"Carlos, it's fine," he reassured automatically. "Come on, we should call out and see if they help us!"

"But what if it's a killer?"

"It's not!"

"But what if—"

Their argument was interrupted by a muffled yell from above, and they froze for a moment as something began pulling at the trapdoor above them. Instinctively, Logan pushed closer to Carlos, who kissed him hard before breaking away.

"Pick this up later?" He breathed, and Logan nodded mutely—and the trapdoor was wrenched open finally, causing both of them to flinch away from the bright light and triumphant yell. Squinting, they both stared upward, frozen… then sagged in relief when a familiar face peered over the edge, smirking.

"See, Kendall, told ya they were still here!" James announced, grinning. Logan stared, unsure of why exactly his friend was decked out head-to-toe in purple bandanas—he hadn't done that in months. "Why did you shut yourselves down there?"

"We didn't mean to," Carlos pouted, even as Kendall's face appeared over the edge. "How did you guys know where we were?"

"Because Bandana-Man knows when his friends are in mortal danger," James proclaimed mysteriously, striking a pose—until Kendall's hand smacked him in the back of the head. "Heyyy!"

"Dude, it's been hours!" Kendall pointed out, making a face. "Why weren't you answering your phones? You missed dinner, and we tried calling you like a million times!"

"Our phones are upstairs," Logan muttered, frowning. "We left them in our bags, and found the trapdoor—"

"And what, decided you had to go down and shut the door?" Kendall asked, wrinkling his nose. After a second, however, he registered the darkness around the other boys, and his eyes lit up knowingly. Logan's cheeks heated, but thankfully, Kendall didn't say anything—yet.

"Carlos decided to pull the door shut, and the door down here's locked," Logan managed, and James bounced excitedly to his feet.

"No worries, I'll go open it!" He announced, and darted away before an exasperated Kendall could say anything. He sighed, then smirked down at the other two.

"Bandana-dork thought you needed rescuing since you never answered all those calls," he commented. "Maybe you did, but… nice make-out spot down there?"

"Maybe," Carlos replied, grinning mischievously, and Logan felt his cheeks get even redder. Kendall didn't even mention it, however, instead, grinning widely and dropping down onto the landing pad next to them. Carlos briefly brushed his lips over Logan's cheek once more before disentangling himself, and looked at him questioningly in the light, visibly wondering if this was going to happen again.

Logan smirked in return, even as he straightened his shirt and sat upright. James was fiddling with the door now, and Logan gave Carlos a quick nod before the door opened.

Of course this was going to happen again.

After all, they were sharing a hotel room tonight.