The Process of Solving Equations, James/Logan, PG-13, 1,100 words
Title: The Process of Solving Equations
Fandom: Big Time Rush
Pairing: James/Logan
Wordcount: 1,100
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own anything and I don't know anyone personally, this is a work of fiction.
Summary: James is trying to communiate with Logan in his natural tongue- math equations. From this prompt at the kink meme.
Author's Note: Unbeta'd because I'm a jerk. It's okay, I try to repent for my unbeta'd sins with ridiculousness, hopefully it works. :]
“That’s the problem you’re having trouble with?”
“Yes,” James nods because it’s not a lie. James is having plenty of problems with this big long jumble of numbers and that weird v with a line thing he always forgets the name of. He’s also having issues with the whole ‘in love with male best friend’ thing but he’d read some stuff on the internet and that helped more than all the bad magazine quizzes in the world. “Trouble, problems, issues, general confusion and teen angst related to both mathematical and emotional distress.” As an actor he really should have rehearsed this part instead of putting ‘how to woo a geek’ into Google. James is good with improv though, so he’ll be fine. Except if Logan hated him. Then James would need to change his name and move to Alaska where he’d wear a big fluffy coat with a hood that has so much fur it covers your face so no one would ever know who he was. He would live out his life as a simple Eskimo learning the trades of his people- igloo construction.
“What’s up with your hand writing man? Trying to be ambidextrous for once?” Logan makes a face. It’s an adorable terrifying ‘I have figured out your scheme and preemptively hate you for wanting me sexually’ face, James is sure. He’s also sure that using a hair dryer in an igloo would melt it so maybe Alaska isn’t for him.
“It’s good to have on my list of special skills as an actor, thank you very much!” He snaps back and taps the board again with the long pointer stick and adjusts his fake glasses. The props make him look more authentic and possibly more attractive to Logan since James is trying to appeal to his intellectual side. Also, who doesn’t have a dirty teacher fantasy? “Focus!”
Logan squints at the board and tilts his head to one side and then the other. He scratches his pencil on the work paper on his desk and then scribbles things out. He leans back while peering at his work and makes a lot of hand gestures from one side to the other that James doesn’t get. For a minute, Logan looks thrilled and starts writing on the page again while nodding, completely missing James’s pouty face. The thrilled look turns sour and Logan scribbles angrily at the page again. He gazes back up at the board, bites his lip, and makes James want to hit him with his pointer stick for being sexy on accident when there was serious stuff going on. Logan lets out a deep sigh and shrugs.
“I don’t know how to tell you this man, but it’s not going to work out.”
“What?!” James roars because of all the rejections he could think up, that is possibly one of the lamest.
“I think you copied it down wrong, you see, there’s no explanation for-” Logan goes to get out of his desk to explain it and James can’t wait any more.
“No, you see!” Not the best comeback in Diamond history but it’s the heat of the moment and the passion with which James delivers it what matters. He dramatically erases the top half of the equation with flourish. Logan is awkwardly caught between getting in and out of his desk when James turns back on him to see his reaction.
It takes a second with a lot of staring and blinking and squinting.
“Well?!” James has used up all of his infinite benevolent patience. He doesn’t remember what the b word means but Camille tells him he has that all the time so whatever.
“I, uh, I don’t know why you felt the need to share your love of ‘IOU’s with me but, okay?” Logan makes more Logan faces at him while James panics on the inside. The top of the nine got all the way erased in James’s very graceful sweep of the eraser. ‘I love IOU’ it reads mockingly. James curses a foul streak of words not fit for the ears of the younger kids who sit in the front of the Palmwoods classroom. He really should have rehearsed.
He hunts for a piece of chalk and Logan sits back down and plays with his phone. The only piece he finds is yellow and James is wearing red, so now Logan will forever remember this moment whenever he goes into a McDonalds. Great. James dutifully fixed the ‘y’ only to find Logan still playing on his phone. “Look!” James slaps the board with this pointer stick again, the noise startling Logan into fumbling his phone and nearly dropping it.
“What?! Geeze! Fine! It says ‘I love you’ yeesh, chill out man, no need to yell abou- wait.” Logan blinks at the board and his mouth silently forms the words a few times. James lays in wait hoping that he isn’t staring holes into Logan’s soul right about now but it’s been a very stressful past five minutes, okay? Logan points between the board and James while making incoherent noises and his jaw opens and shuts like the talking sea bass Carlos wanted to get for his room.
“So?!” James prompts Logan, who looks stunned for another minute, so James decides it’s probably time to put down the long scary pointer stick because it’s kind of like a weapon.
“Yes- I mean- I do? I will, I mean- no!” At James’s stricken look Logan jumps up out of his seat waving his hands. “No, I mean yes! I mean yes, I-” He gestures in a Logan type way at the board. “Me too.”
“Yeah?” James smiles a little and flips his hair out of his face on reflex.
“Yeah,” Logan nods and looks a little shy which makes James want to shake him.
“Cool,” James nods back. They stand there grinning at each other all stupid and it does funny things to James’s insides. “You hungry? Mama Knight is making burgers for dinner.”
“Nice,” Logan watches James erase the board. “I was watching the food show with her about how you can put stuff in them. Cheese and stuff, it looked good.”
“That sounds awesome,” James dusts off his hands and they head out of the classroom. They keep talking and it’s normal, which is good because if it changed James would be upset. They bump into each other a little more than usual, and brush hands a bit which isn’t normally on purpose, but James isn’t upset about that in the least.
For once, James Diamond had aced his math test.