A/N: Hey you guyyyyyys! I'm back! Good People won the poll, so here I am, posting it. :P I hope you guys enjoy. It'll probably be a lot more serious than my others, but I'm excited to start. It'll also be longer, I'm thinking... maybe not longer than Two Minutes, but somewhere around there!

Disclaimer: You know, I find that the fact that I have to put a disclaimer speaks for itself, doesn't it? I own nothing. Sad face. T_T

Enjoy!

...

"You guys want the check now?" the waitress asked, politely ignoring the untouched food.

Kendall started to stand. "Yes, please." He patted his pockets, absent look fading into a frown. "Oh, crap," he groaned. "I left my wallet in the car."

Carlos jumped up immediately. "I'll get it!" he said cheerfully.

"You really don't have to," Kendall started to say, but Carlos was already making a beeline for the door.

Parker arched an eyebrow in Kendall's direction—the bodyguard never really said much—and stood, following Carlos to the door.

"I got it," Logan said, smiling at the waitress and pressing three twenty-dollar bills in her hand. "You can keep the change." He tucked his wallet away and stood, walking with his friends to the door. Eddie fell into step behind them.

Carlos was already to the car, Parker jogging to keep up with him. Logan watched with amusement as he dove into the open window and nearly lodged himself halfway in the minivan before scrambling out, strapping his hockey helmet onto his head and patting it twice. Then he pulled something out of his pocket and triumphantly held it up for the world to see.

"It's okay, Carlos!" Kendall called, waving his keys as they started to walk to the minivan. "We paid already!"

Apparently the Latino boy couldn't hear him, because he started to walk to them. Kendall unlocked the minivan.

There was a flash of light that blinded Logan almost before the explosion deafened him, rocking him off his feet and sending him crashing to the ground. Heat practically peeled back the skin on his face. Disoriented, Logan looked up, ears ringing, spots flashing in front of his eyes, just in time to see the mushroom of fire and smoke billowing up from the minivan.

"Carlos," he whispered as his vision started to fade.

…

Three weeks earlier

"FAN MAIL!"

Gustavo looked slightly panicked as four boys raced towards him, eyes locked on the cardboard box in his hands. He managed to set it down on the conference table and step out of the way before Kendall, Logan, James, and Carlos ran him over in their haste to get to their fan mail. Ever since they received their first letters from love-stricken girls across the country, fan mail was the best part of their week.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of the letters went to Kendall or James. Logan got his fair amount and Carlos, as usual, got the least—but the Latino boy never seemed to mind. The boys each went to their section of the conference room and ripped open the packages.

"Ha!" James exclaimed first, holding up a mirror with lipstick pressed to the glass. "See this? They know exactly what I want!"

"Oh yeah?" Kendall bragged. "I've got at least three dozen phone numbers in here."

"I got a scrapbook," Logan pointed out, holding up a homemade blue and green scrapbook filled with pictures of the guys at concerts, as well as a couple of pictures from the girl who'd sent it and notes written in the margins.

Carlos let out an elated laugh as he hugged a teddy bear to his chest. "The letter says his name is Cash!" he said proudly. "This is so awesome!"

Gustavo shook his head and made a quick exit, letting his dogs have their fun.

An hour later, the boxes had been more or less emptied out. Carlos had fallen asleep in his corner, clutching his new teddy bear. Logan and James were reading their letters out loud and snickering.

The only one who didn't seem to be having fun anymore was Kendall. He was frowning at the letter he had clutched in his hands, expressive eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Logan was the first to notice it. "What's wrong, dude?" he asked, putting his letters down.

Kendall looked up in surprise, like he was just now noticing there were people occupying the room besides himself. "Nothing," he said automatically, tucking the letter into his pocket.

"You sure?" James came over to see what he'd been looking at, but Kendall stood and moved over, looking sullen.

"I told you, it's nothing," he said, a little more forcefully this time. Without another word he went swiftly out the door, bumping into the couch by accident and rousing Carlos.

The sleepy boy yawned, sitting up. "What's up with Kendall?"

"No clue," James said, sounding exasperated. "Probably got a letter saying I'm hotter than he is and got his beanie in a knot."

"Beanies don't have knots, James," Logan pointed out.

"Not my problem." James turned on his heel to go back to his box.

"Seriously, though," Carlos said, more awake now. "He did the same thing a couple of days ago. Ever since last week's fan mail, remember?"

"Carlos is right," Logan agreed. "Come on, James, we should go find out."

James turned and arched an eyebrow at his friends. "I'm sure if Kendall—Kendall, of all people—had something troubling him he'd come to us. But he made it pretty obvious that nothing's wrong. We should just leave it alone."

Logan shrugged, accepting that. Carlos, on the other hand, frowned as he watched the place where Kendall had disappeared to.

"I'll be right back," he said, jumping up and placing the teddy bear down on the couch.

Logan and James looked up curiously, but didn't ask where he was going.

Carlos walked down the hallway towards Gustavo's office, listening for any sign of Kendall's voice. When he found it, he pressed himself to the wall, listening carefully.

"Where's Gustavo?" Kendall was asking.

"Out to get more coffee," Kelly replied. "I think you guys scared him with all of your enthusiasm about the fan mail." She chuckled, but the laughter died off when Kendall didn't join in. "You okay, Kendall?" she asked, sounding concerned. "You look a little pale."

"It's probably nothing," Kendall edged, uncertain. "But… I've been getting these letters."

"Hate mail?" Kelly guessed. "I know how much it hurts, Kendall, but—"

"No, it's not—" Kendall suddenly sighed harshly. "You know what? That's probably what it is."

"Kendall, wait," Kelly called, but from the footsteps Carlos could hear he was already walking away. Kendall turned the corner, stalking by Carlos without even seeing him, and flew out the door.

Carlos followed, eyes wide. He'd never seen Kendall so upset.

The blonde kicked at pebbles on the sidewalk, looking frustrated and confused. Carlos watched, trying to decide if he wanted to approach his friend or not. On one hand, James was right—Kendall had always been open about his feelings. If something had him this riled up, he usually went to his friends first. But he didn't, and Carlos knew when Kendall was upset about something.

Early afternoon sunlight filtered through the tree branches, lighting Kendall's blonde hair as he went to cross the street. Something else glinted in the sunlight, too, catching Carlos in the eyes and blinding him for a second.

He blinked and saw Kendall, standing in the middle of the road, blinking as if he'd been blinded, too. He took a step back, straight into the path of an oncoming car.

Carlos barely saw the car. Before he knew what he was doing he took four long steps, launching himself into the middle of the road right at Kendall. The blonde stood frozen, staring at the car.

Time didn't even slow down. Carlos crashed into Kendall in a tackle worthy of the NHL , throwing them both to the sidewalk on the other side of the street. The car's driver leaned on the horn as they slammed on the brakes—way too late, if Kendall had still been standing there.

Carlos blinked blearily, rubbing his head where his helmet was. "Kendall?" he grunted, grabbing his friend's arm and hoisting him up. "You okay?"

Kendall trembled from head to toe—about how Carlos felt. "Kendall," he said, turning him so that they were facing each other.

"Yeah," Kendall said, snapping out of it. "Are you okay? Dang, Carlos, nobody's ever moved that fast."

Carlos grinned in relief. "Sorry. I was following you—"

"Why?" Suddenly Kendall's thankful grin evaporated, leaving him glaring at the Latino. "How long have you been following me?"

Carlos looked stunned. "I just thought you looked upset and I wanted to help. I heard you talking to Kelly—"

Kendall reached over and grabbed Carlos by the shoulders. He was staring over Carlos with an expression that could be described as nothing but ice cold terror and disbelief, but when Carlos turned to see what he was staring at, Kendall's grip tightened and he fixed Carlos with a look of scary intensity.

"Listen, Carlos," he said firmly, although his voice shook slightly. "Nothing is wrong. Leave me alone."

He seemed to realize he was scaring Carlos, because he released him, gave him one last look, and hurried off through the park. Carlos stared after him, trying to figure out what had just happened. Kendall had never acted like that, not in all of the years Carlos had seen him.

Slowly, he looked over his shoulder. Nothing popped out at him until he saw someone moving—a tall man in a long black coat, a black hat, and black sunglasses. He was turning to walk away, but not before catching Carlos' gaze behind those opaque lenses. They stared at each other for a second longer before the man's lips twitched in a feral smile and he turned and hurried down the path.

Carlos hugged himself, shuddering. Something was definitely wrong.