i just felt like writing something really cute and fluffy, y`know? i just kinda threw it together without ... too much thought into it, so it`s pretty poopy, but whatever. 3 hope you enjoy it.

disclaimer: i don`t own anything.

Every little kid loses their teeth at some point, and Carlos was no exception to that. Unfortunately for him, he went through that stage a lot later than his friends, and of course, he got made fun of because what third grader doesn`t have front teeth? Of course, he learned to ignore it most of the time, mostly for two reasons, one being he knew his teeth would grow in eventually, and two, he knew James or Kendall would probably give the bullies a what for if they found out.

He had to admit, though, having no front teeth didn`t bother him that much. It`s not like he was never going to get teeth back, right? Besides, it was exciting to be able to stick your tongue out through the gap. Like really exciting. He didn`t even know why he got so much fun out of it, and he didn`t even get that idea until James told him that he used to do that before his teeth grew in.

The one thing he had to complain about, though, was whenever he wanted an apple, he couldn`t bite into it. Not unless it was sliced. Sliced apples are great, yeah, but they go a lot faster than a whole apple. They`re just .. faster eats. So, he almost never asked his mamá or papí to do it, since he can`t do it himself ( his parents didn`t feel like he should be allowed to have knives just yet. maybe when he`s in his twenties. ) , and besides, he`s old enough to not have to have his fruit cut up for him.

Apples were his absolute favorite fruit though. What is a boy to do without his fruit?

And, as if to add insult to injury, his mamá decided it would be a good idea to sneak an apple in his backpack before heading off to school. Carlos was convinced she did that to get back at him for eating most of the frosting off of her birthday cake a few weeks ago.

Not like the cake was that big anyway, and that frosting was really, really good.

That day in lunch, Carlos sat with his best friend James, and boy, was he ever pathetic looking. He had the head hanging thing going on and everything. It was a rather sad sight. It could quite possibly be the equivalent to seeing a puppy being kicked.

"Dude, are you alright?" James asked, nudging his friend a little bit, who just wobbled in return. He was kind of like one of those inflatable punching bags, just rocking back and forth. A long, drawn out sigh escaped from the slumping boy as he held up his apple.

"No! Mom gave me an apple to eat with my lunch."

"...okay? I thought you liked apples," James said raising his brow at his best friend. He really was confused. How is that even bad?

Then he realized he must`ve said something bad when Carlos whiped his head in the taller boy`s direction, and even more pathetic look plastered on his face. How is it even possible to look that hurt, especially over something like an apple?

"I do! I can`t eat them though," Carlos started, bringing his hands into his lap, rolling the apple around in his palms. "I … I can`t bite into them. I have no front teeth remember? It`s hard for me to take a first bite."

Just like that, James had snatched the apple from the Latino`s tiny hands and took the biggest bite he could, handing it back to his bewildered friend. Carlos was shocked, and James just smiled that stupid smile he had. Really though?

After watching his friend chow down that one, giant bite of his apple, the only thing that came to Carlos` mind was, "Dude! What`d you do that for?" James knew how much Carlos adored his apples, and he just couldn`t believe his best friend would do that. Then again, he didn`t know why he was so angry about it either. It`s not like he could`ve eaten the apple anyway.

James just shrugged, giving Carlos that smug kind of look and held his arms out to the sides. "Uh … helping you? I started your apple so you could actually eat it."

Oh. … Well that was nice of him.

Staring at the apple in front of him, Carlos wasn`t really sure what to say, aside from 'wow that`s kind of gross'. He won`t deny that it he would`ve never thought of having someone else start his apple for him, and James just might be a genius for thinking of that. Although, a warning would`ve been nice. Like seriously. Who does that out of the blue?

"Oh .. thanks, I think."

Totally ignoring the fact that James` germs were crawling all over the white flesh of the apple, Carlos took it and using thee sides of his mouth, nibbled on the apple. Yeah, Carlos could`ve shown more gratitude since he actually hasn`t had an apple in quite a while, but, the look in his eyes was enough to show James how much he really was happy. James was good at reading eyes.

"No problem," he replied grinning and taking a bite from his peanut butter and honey sandwich. James loved seeing his best friend in the whole world able to enjoy his favorite things in life. Like fruit.

Even when the years rolled by and they were sixteen, complete with adult teeth, which were beautiful, by the way, Carlos and James had no shame in doing a little apple sharing. It had become somewhat of a habit for them. Most of the time, Carlos didn`t even ask James to do it. He`s just have an apple and somehow, James would appear and take the first bite and disappear again. It doesn`t bother Carlos at all. If anything, he thought it was one of the sweetest things someone has ever done for him, even if he was fully capable with starting his own apple now. Apple sharing was just one of those little things that always left the Latino smiling like a little girl looking through the latest issue of Pop Tiger. Sure, it was probably totally gay in a lot of people`s eyes, but it`s just whatever. They`ve learned to shrug the dirty looks off, not that it bothered Carlos considering he was teased all throughout his elementary years.

It was just one of those best friend things they did, and they could care less what other people think, not to mention it made eating his favorite fruit just a little bit more enjoyable than it usually is.