Thanks to the reviewers who constantly offer me advice and cheer through their lovely words. Although I didn't get as many reviews or favorites for Survivor's Guilt, (I know it wasn't a happy story) it did get many hits, so I hope it wasn't offensive or anything like that. Readplz, Ham Atom, Minamino and Guest, thanks for the words! It truly means a lot!
So... I think we were all pretty mad with what happened this past Saturday and with good reason if the rigging thing was true. I admit, I shed tears when the winners were announced and it wasn't our boys. I don't have anything against One Direction, I really don't but I know they can spare some awards to give other groups a chance. Anyway, here's a little something I came up with after the awards, some details were changed but it still sums up to the same thing, disappoinment. And I also used one small cuss word because I was pretty upset when I wrote this.
Disclaimer: I do not own Big Time Rush. If I did, they wouldn't have been signed to a lame network. I am also not making any profits from this story, unlike the people that are mistreating my boys... That is all.
Well, that was surprisingly expected. Thought Kendall with a sad sigh as the audience errupted in applause and cheers. Deciding not to be a sore loser, he forced a smile as he clapped along with the rest of the crowd. It's not that he wasn't happy for the winners, it was just, well, it was supposed to be their chance at being recognized. All year long, there were awards being handed out left and right but Big Time Rush never seemed to be good enough for any of them. Hell, they were never even nominated because many failed to take them seriously as a music group. Then, when it was their family's turn to hand out awards, they go and give it to the estranged cousin. Kendall knew their cousin had plenty more fans and they were more well known but Big Time Rush deserved a chance at the spotlight. What was worst was that Kendall didn't just want this award for their band but for all their loyal fans.
Ever since the nominations were announced and voting opened, their rushers had been flocking to the network's webpage to cast their votes. They took to social media sites to vote some more and even created extra accounts to try and stand a chance. Many stayed up nights to keep voting, or voted while in class -he hoped nobody's grades suffered because of this- and they did this day after day. They had the best fans in the world, that was for sure. They deserved to see their hard work pay off, they deserved to see that the people they looked up to were at least recognized by their own network. He could just see their sad faces, feeling as if they'd let their band down when in reality, Big Time Rush felt as if they'd let their rushers down. He felt a hand being placed on his and he forced a smile as he turned to look at the disappointed look on his little sister's face.
"You okay, big brother?" Kendall shrugged, not trusting his voice to sound truthful but by the look on Katie's face, he knew she understood how he really felt.
"I will be, baby sister." Turning back to face the stage, Kendall knew he would be okay. Sure, it hurt right now but he knew his friends, his rushers would make him feel better once this was all over. He just hoped he could cheer them up as well, he knew they'd be upset by the results. Maybe they'd feel a bit better when the group's new music video premiered after the show.
"That was so uncool! We won, I know we did!" Carlos ranted as he paced back and forth once they'd returned to 2J. "I saw how much our rushers were voting, there's no way we lost!"
Kendall dropped into the couch, not wanting to talk about this, again. The whole way back home, this was all that had been discussed and all it did was wear him out. He hadn't been happy with the results but he hated seeing his best friends this upset over it even more. They'd all worked hard to get to this point in their careers, yet people treated them like some kids birthday party act. "There's nothing we can do about it, just let it go." He said for what felt like the thousand time.
"But Kendall, we never win anything." Carlos whined. Kendall turned to face his friend and wasn't that surprised to see the unshed tears in his eyes. "We work so hard to make people smile, to make them feel loved, to let them know they're not invisible but now I feel like we're the ones being pushed aside." He sobbed before angrily wiping at his eyes.
"Oh, buddy..." Kendall started to say but their youngest member just shook his head, dropping down next to Kendall.
"It hurts being invisible. It hurts a lot." Carlos ran a hand through his hair, looking every bit like someone who'd just had his heart ripped out. "And it's not just about not being recognized, it's about all those people who don't know we exist. They might feel alone and maybe our songs could cheer them up but if they don't know we're here, how can they know we're here for them?" He asked sadly. Kendall stared at his friend, not sure how to respond. They both turned back at the sound of the door opening, Carlos quickly lowering his head to hide his tears.
"Alright, we got a little bit of everything for everyone." Logan stated as he set down some paper bags on the counter, followed by James and Katie.
"And mom called to say she's proud of you guys no matter the results. She said she tried calling you but you're cell's off." Kendall pulled his phone out of his pocket and noticed it was indeed turned off. Quickly turning it back on, he stood up and was about to head over to the counter when he stopped and turned to Carlos.
"What's wrong with Carlitos?" James asked, noticing the worried look on Kendall's face, setting down some drinks, he walked over to his friend's side. "Hey, buddy, you okay?" When Carlos just shook his head, James turned to Kendall who only shrugged in response yet, the message was understood. Logan joined the other side of Carlos and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, trying to offer some comfort.
"Don't let this get to you, we know our rushers did their best and there's always next year."
Carlos shook his head, clenching his fists. "There won't be a next year and you know it." The guys glanced at each other, a little confused.
"Why not, buddy?" James asked, resting his hand on Carlos' knee.
"Because we've been doing this for over four years and I know Logan's going to start sending out applications for college and Kendall's been asked to tryout for the Minnesota Wild. This will probably be our last album and tour as Big Time Rush but there's so many people we haven't helped, yet."
Kendall closed his eyes, he had thought Carlos was sleeping when he and Logan had spoken about the tryouts and college applications. So much for breaking the news gently. "What are you talking about?" James asked, looking between the three of his friends.
"We were just talking about our plans for after Big Time Rush, we didn't mean it was going to happen anytime soon." Logan clarified.
"But you know it's going to be soon, you don't want to be old men when you start on your dreams. We all knew this wouldn't be forever, this is James dreams, not ours but I just wanted to know people would remember us after we were done, you know? I wanted to know that years from now, someone would feel sad and stumble onto our music and feel better."
"And they will, we don't need an award to make a difference, we can share our music with everyone that wants to hear it."
"Kendall's right, we didn't need to win to know we've made a difference. Our rushers are always telling us how much we've helped them and we know how much they've helped us, too."
"And yea, we'll eventually start our own thing but Big Time Rush will always be there for the rushers, for as long as they want, our music will be there." Carlos looked at his friends through teary eyes, knowing they were right. It sure would be great to be acknowledged by their peers, though.
"It still hurts that we didn't win, it would have meant a lot to us and our rushers. I think they're going to be upset."
"You got that right. You guys should check their posts, they're angrier than you are." Katie said through a smile as she played with her phone.
"What are they saying?" Kendall asked, patting Carlos' shoulder before making his way to his baby sister.
"That you deserved this more than Two-Way Street. They're also saying that- no way! There's proof that the stupid thing was rigged!"
"What?!" James, Logan and Carlos shouted in surprise before joining the Knight siblings. Katie showed them her phone, a webpage that clearly showed all the votes that had gone in, clearly declaring Big Time Rush as the winners. Well, this changed everything. There was a huge difference between thinking and knowing something had been planned from the very beginning, this was really unfair.
"Someone hacked into the network's webpage and posted all the votes on social media sites, you guys won by a landslide but since they reserve the right to override the results, they picked their own winners. They legally cheated, I guess. Cheating little shits..." She mumbled the last part but her brother still managed to hear it.
"Katie!" Kendall stared at his little sister in horror, never having heard such words coming from her.
"What, you've said worse and they totally are!"
"I've never cussed in front of you and besides, you're a girl and my baby sister so don't use that kind of language, please."
Katie rolled her eyes. "Fine, I won't use that kind of language in front of you, again." Kendall was about to say something when James interrupted their little banter.
"If this is accurate, they did cheat! Those mother-"
"James! Did you not hear what I just said?!"
"But they cheated, Kendall!"
"That doesn't mean it's okay to cuss in front of my baby sister!"
"Fine, I'm sorry you think Katie doesn't cuss."
"What is that suppose to mean?"
"What you think it means, duh!"
"The point is that if this is real then you guys actually did win." Katie stated, changing the subject back to the awards. This was not the time for her big brother to know her vocabulary had been expanding.
"Maybe but what can we do about it?"
"Nothing." The group turned to Carlos who was now smiling. "We do nothing about this."
"Um, why won't we do anything about this?" Logan asked, not liking the smile on his friend's face. When that kind of smile appeared, bad things usually happened. Bad things Logan would have nightmares about later.
"Because," Carlos answered. "Our rushers have our backs and they'll handle it." The guys laughed, he was right about that for sure. There was no way their rushers would take this sitting down. "But we should let them know that we're okay so they don't do anything illegal."
"Like hack the network and post the real results for the public to see?" Katie asked with a grin, making her brother wonder just who it was that had leaked the information.
"Yes, also that while it feels good to win, we don't need an award to be good at what we do. Knowing our rushers love us is more than enough. In fact, if there was an award for best fans, rushers would definitely win it, that's just how awesome they are."
"You're right! Who cares about an award that a struggling network is giving out just to gain points, we have rushers!" Carlos shouted as he jumped up in the air. The others smiled, glad their friend didn't seem upset anymore.
"Now, how about we eat cause I am starving!" Logan said before taking out their late dinner from its bags.
"When aren't you hungry?" James asked with a grin, helping his friend with the packages, asking Carlos to get some plates and to begin setting the table. While they were busy preparing to serve the food, Kendall walked over to his sister, already having an idea as to why she looked a little too happy.
"You know, I do have one question about this whole rigging situation."
Katie looked up with an innocent smile. "Oh, and what's that, big brother?"
"Who posted the actual number of votes on the social media sites?" Katie shrugged, jumping down from the stool.
"Don't know but she must have been pretty mad to share it with everyone, guess she didn't like seeing her friends being treated like second place." Kendall grinned, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"Good thing she's on our side, then."
"And she always will be, just like your rushers."
Ok, so I might have tweaked out some of the actual facts but the end result is the same. I'm pretty sure Nick's not going to do anything about this and if the boys move on, we will too...after we burn the studio down...haha Just kidding, we won't do that. I hope not, at least. ^_^