James glowered at Gustavo as he, yet again, praised Logan for all his good work in the recording studio and not him. It was the same story every day. All Gustavo seemed to care about was telling Logan how great he was without even bothering to throw him the odd compliment. Logan would always just stand there, smiling like a moron, and it was that happy face that was putting James right over the edge. His hands clenched as they rehearsed "Stuck" for the eightieth time that day, Logan proudly singing into the mike.

Why did Gustavo only care about him?

Okay, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but it was placed on a whole bunch of not that big of deals. Logan just kept getting all the glory, despite James's hard work, and he was absolutely sick of it. They finished the song, and Gustavo leaned down to talk into the little mike on his desk, pressing the button that let them hear him in the booth.

"Logan, nice job with your harmony," he barked. Compliments were always difficult for their producer. Logan flashed a crooked smile.

"Really? Cause I wasn't sure I was doing it right. Are you sure?" he asked, jumping on his toes a little nervously. He stared at Gustavo wide eyed, waiting for the verdict.

"Yep, excellent work," he choked out with a helpful pat on the shoulder from Kelly to goad him on. He tugged at his collar, feeling awkward about the whole ordeal. Logan, meanwhile, looked ecstatic. He beamed at Gustavo, looking completely, and obnoxiously, confident and happy. Gustavo let them off for the day, and they swarmed out the door, headed towards the dance studio to grab their duffle bags. Logan smiled to Kendall.

"I guess he likes me now!" he said with a lop-sided grin.

Click. Boom. James whirled on Logan, absolutely furious. Logan took a step away from James's harsh glare; his eyes flickered as he tried to measure up what was going on. James ignored his confused look and closed the gap between them, feeling nothing but anger and jealousy toward is shorter friend.

"You know what Logan?" he asked, getting in his space. Logan gulped, not sure what was coming. "I am just so sick of your narcissistic attitude! How does your ego even fit in this room? You're just so wrapped up in 'Logan World' where you're just the greatest thing to ever happen." Somewhere in the back of his mind, James knew he was over-reacting. He knew he needed to reign in his temper, but the part of his brain up front didn't seem to care. He shoved Logan's chest a little, and the smaller boy stumbled toward the wall. He looked at James fearfully.

"You just think you're perfect, isn't that right? Right, cause I hear you talking about it all the time. Well, I for one don't need you bragging about something you're not." James knew he should pull back, he should let it go, but things had gotten so pent up, and he was just so angry. He shoved Logan a little harder, and watched as his friend fell to the ground. He immediately grabbed his wrist, he must have fallen on it funny, eyes never leaving James.

"Here's what I see," James continued, resisting the dull urge telling him to bite his tongue. "I see a lousy, nerdy, know-it-all, with only three, scratch that, two friends in the whole wide world. I see nothing but a single loser with no life, just grades, and, honestly, not even that great ones either. For something you're supposed to be perfect in, you're really not." James knew he hit a soft spot. Logan worked really hard at his grades, and he was self-conscious about how much time he spent on them. He watched as Logan's eyes welled with tears, and the shorter boy let out a small sob at the end of his rant. He scampered away from James's harsh stare, still clutching his wrist, and ran out of Roque Records.

James watched him, but not as happily as he would have expected. Guilt churned in his stomach, and his conscience seemed to have suddenly returned in full force, a little late. He turned around to see Carlos and Kendall gaping at him.

"What is your problem?" Kendall asked, seemingly horrified. James kicked at the red and white tiled floor with his sneaker. He bit his lower lip, feeling horribly ashamed.

"I don't know…" but the look in Kendall's and Carlos's eyes inspired him to tell the truth. His friends sure knew how to look murderous. "Everybody always thinks Logan does such a great job, but Gustavo never says anything to us! You guys must have noticed!" he exclaimed. Kendall looked at him like he was crazy.

"Well, duh!" he yelled. Carlos, upon seeing James's confused expression, elaborated.

"Like, a month ago we talked to Gustavo about being nicer to Logan." James was completely lost.

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked, knitting his eyebrows together. Carlos shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, but Kendall rolled his eyes and explained.

"Logan's always had, like, no self-confidence, and you know that, so it makes no sense why you were telling him he had a big ego. You can be so dumb sometimes," Kendall was clearly angry. "Anyway, when Camille got with Steve he was feeling really bad about himself, and Gustavo yelling at him all the time wasn't really helping stuff," he threw the 'yelling' part back to Gustavo, wanting him to hear. "So one day Logan was really upset about the whole thing, and Carlos here" he jabbed a thumb at the Latino, "found him crying in his room one day. So we comforted him and stuff, and then went to Gustavo to try to boost his self-esteem a little bit."

"Woah, woah, woah," James interrupted, "where was I?" he asked. Carlos was squirming even harder now.

"He-he was embarrassed, and he said not to tell you cause you were doing such a good job and all, and he didn't want you to know also cause he thought you would think he was being dumb, and we told him that you wouldn't, but he still thought so, and he made us promise, but I guess there are sometimes exceptions, so yeah," he talked quickly, but James got the message. He felt the urge to spell out "idiot" on his face.

"Guys, I'm retarded," he stated and was met with nods from his two friends. "What do I do?" he asked, but Kendall and Carlos both shrugged.

"I'd talk to him," Kendall advised, and James decided that was a pretty good idea. Although, it would probably be less like talking, and more like begging for forgiveness.

James tore into 2J, rushing for the room he and Logan shared. Of course, it was locked. "Logan, open up, please? I'm really sorry!" James pressed his ear to the door, but he couldn't hear anything. He ran his fingers over the top of the door frame, luckily finding a key resting on top. He smiled through his guilt.

James burst into the room, only to find Logan curled up on his comforter, hugging his thread-bare, blue, lab coat wearing elephant, Albert, to his chest. James sighed in relief, happy to find his friend in one piece, but then noticed the tears streaking his face. "Aw, Logie, I'm an idiot." His friend didn't answer for a little, but when he did, his voice was cracking and hoarse.

"It's okay… I'm not mad. Just sorry." Logan buried his face in his pillow, not wanting to look at James. That was fine with him because, honestly, he didn't want to see the guilt and hurt pooling in Logan's eyes. Those were two feelings that definitely did not belong there. He wrung his hands together, and sat on the edge of Logan's bed. The shorter boy immediately flinched away, and James's heart dropped.

Logan was generally terrified of everything and everybody, and James didn't want it to turn that way with him. He put a hand on Logan's shoulder, trying to ignore the way the smaller boy involuntarily stiffened beneath it. "But, Loges, I'm the one who messed up, not you." Logan shoved his face deeper into his pillow.

"No," he groaned, "I was being stupid and full of it. I should have just buried deeper into my books and not try to soak up all the fame so I could get friends," he said earnestly, and that was the worst part. Logan actually believed everything James had told him. It was up to him to tell his Logie otherwise.

"Logan, you can't think that way. You're the humblest person I know, okay? And don't think for a second you're not." Logan peeped out from his position with his pillow, and James took this as a cue to keep going. "You're my best friend, and I want you to be sharing the spotlight with me." He wrapped Logan up in a big hug, and the shorter boy buried his face in his shoulder, happy he'd been forgiven.

Oh yeah. James was going to feel guilty about this for months.

"And Logan?" he squeaked, still feeling like he hadn't righted his wrongs. "About the nerd stuff… that's not true. You're really fun, and being smart's a good thing. Also, you have more than two friends, and one of those other people includes me, okay?" Logan sniffed into the crook of his neck.

"Okay," he croaked.

For the next few weeks, James went out of his way to do everything he could for Logan, much to the smaller boy's dismay. They both felt extremely guilty for the whole thing, which just made James feel worse. Soon, however, things were back to normal, and the guys were all best friends once more.

This sort of came to me… I hope I didn't make James look like a giant bad guy. Not my intention, believe me!