When the lights the dimmed after his last song, Logan Mitchell stepped offstage, expecting to be met as usual with praise and applause by his team for another perfect performance.

Instead, his handlers and security team were frantically running around, talking to each other on cell phones and barking orders. As he stood, confused about what everyone was so panicked about, his manager rushed over to him with a towel and a bottle of water and a facial expression full of worry.

"Logan, you need to come with me right away," James said. "We have to leave the premises immediately."

"What? I can't do that! My fans will be waiting for me outside!"

"It's out of the question tonight," James told him. "I'll explain everything when we get to the hotel."

James hurried Logan out of the arena, bypassing his dressing room completely and not allowing Logan to stop for any of his things. They went out an inconspicuous back door where they found a nondescript black car waiting for them.

A short man stepped out of the driver's seat and opened the backseat door for Logan and James.

"Did anyone see you?" James asked Carlos, allowing Logan to enter the car first before sliding in after him.

"I don't think so." Carlos Garcia shook his head and closed the door after James before going back to the front and starting the engine.

"What is going on?" Logan demanded. "Where's the limo?"

"There's been a bit of a situation," James said hesitantly, doing his best to evade the question until they were somewhere more secure.

"That's one way to put it," Carlos muttered from the front seat.

"This isn't even the way to the hotel!"

"We're staying somewhere different tonight," James answered, a serious look on his face as he typed a response to a text message he'd just received. "Just to be safe."

"Safe from what?" Logan asked, exasperated at the lack of forthcoming information.

When they finally arrived at the new hotel, Carlos dropped James and Logan off at the front door and took two large bags out of the trunk of the car before allowing the valet to park for him. Once they had checked into a suite on the very top floor, Logan began demanding answers.

"James! Carlos! Seriously, stop being my employees for a minute and be my friends! What's happening?"

The two men looked at each other uneasily.

"Logan, when was the last time you read any of your fan mail?"

"My fan mail? What? I don't know." Logan scratched the back of his neck, feeling somewhat guilty. "I've been really busy these last few months."

"I don't want to scare you or anything, but I think it's time you read some of your letters."

"No. No way. Give the job to someone else."

"Knight, you're really going to turn to turn down six thousand dollars a week? Don't be an idiot. You might never have the chance to make money like that again."

"I don't care," Kendall Knight argued into his cell. "I appreciate the call, but there's no way. I don't do celebrities. Especially celebrities like him. There must be someone else interested in the job. I'm not going follow this guy around and keep little girls from throwing themselves at him. That's not what I do."

"Of course there are people interested," his boss replied. "But his team wants you. You're the best there is, Knight. Everyone knows it."

"I don't know about this."

"Knight, we're talking about the biggest star on the planet right now. He just won a Grammy and he's scheduled to start shooting a movie later this year. After the last leg of his world tour. Which sold out in under ten minutes. And he's just had a bomb threat in the dressing room of his venue tonight. They wouldn't have called if there wasn't a real threat here. You gotta take this job. They're begging for you."

Kendall remained silent for a moment, thinking it through. "I'll go check the situation the out. Six thousand dollars a week?"

"That's right."

"Tell them to make it eight and they've got a deal."

"Perfect. You'd better pack fast. You're already booked on a red-eye to LA."

Kendall snorted. "How did they know I'd agree to take the job?"

"They were prepared to go all the way up to twelve thousand a week, if that's what it took to get you. Get to work, Knight."

Kendall clicked his phone off and rolled his eyes to himself, looking around his modest New York apartment and sighing. He hated to take an out of town job, but it was hard to turn down that kind of money. Even if it was for Logan Mitchell, who was undoubtedly going to be a nightmare to work with. Celebrities always were.

He sent a text to his younger sister, Katie, asking her to check on his apartment while he was away and began packing up a suitcase quickly.

When Kendall arrived at the address given to him, he tried not to form anymore judgments than the ones he already had; he had a job to do, and he couldn't let any personal feelings get in the way of that, no matter how spoiled and annoying this guy turned out to be. But looking around at all the extravagance that surrounded him did not endear Logan Mitchell to him. Who really needs a fountain in their front lawn?

The house was huge—more like a mansion—complete with yard staff that were working on the gardening as he approached the front door. He rang the bell and was let in by a housekeeper dressed in a maid's uniform.

"Kendall Knight?"

He turned toward the deep voice and saw a tall, broad-shouldered man with brown hair and hazel eyes walking towards him. "That's me."

"I'm James Diamond, Mr. Mitchell's manager. Thanks for being here on such short notice." He held out his hand and Kendall shook it.

"I didn't really have a choice, did I?" Kendall grinned to show he was kidding. "Couldn't really say no to that kind of money."

"Well, we appreciate it, no matter the motivation," James smiled back.

"So where is Mr. Mitchell?"

"He's downstairs right now, working with his choreographer. I'll take you down to meet him. I feel like I should warn you… I don't think Logan is taking the threat as seriously as he should be. He doesn't see any need to uproot his routine or the preparations for the next leg of his tour."

Kendall refrained from rolling his eyes. Great. Just like I thought. Another diva.

When they entered the rehearsal space, a sweaty Logan Mitchell was going through a routine while his choreographer watched, giving him notes as he went along. The music ended and Logan's body instantly slumped.

"You'd think after four years I'd have actually gotten better at dancing, not worse," he lamented, taking a long drink from his water bottle.

"Keep practicing," his instructor told him. "I'll be back tomorrow for another session."

Logan stretched his arms over his head and prepared to turn the music on again when James interrupted him.

"Hang on a minute, Logan. I have someone I want you to meet. This is Kendall Knight, your new bodyguard."

"I already have a security team," Logan muttered, shaking Kendall's hand. "You're a bodyguard?" He looked skeptical.

"What were you expecting?" Kendall smirked.

"I dunno. Some big, tough guy. No offense."

"None taken."

"Look, I don't mean to be rude," Logan started. James rubbed his eyes frustratedly behind his back. "But the security I have now is fine. I don't get or need this sudden obsession with protecting me. I've never had any problems before."

"Here we go again," James sighed.

"All I'm saying is, the statistical probability of me having a stalker is close to zero. And the probability of that stalker actually following through on any of his or her threats is even closer to zero. It's just so impractical."

"Logan—"

The sweaty boy waved him off, taking another drink of water before retaking his position in front of the long mirrored wall. "It's literally been a day and I'm already tired of arguing about it," he said dismissively. "So I'm willing to along with this whole thing, if only to get you and everyone else off my back about it. But I want to make sure we all understand each other. I'm not willing to start hiding from my fans or let this affect my life in any significant ways."

"You don't have to worry about that," Kendall assured him. "My job here is make sure you don't have to do anything out of the ordinary."

"Thanks. So if that's all for now, I really want to keep rehearsing."

Recognizing their dismissal, James led Kendall out of the studio and back into the main area of the house.

"So, we've already alerted the guards at the entrance to the community that only approved vehicles and persons should be allowed to come into the community, and we're going to start working on updating the surveillance system on the property. We think the main issue will be—"

"Getting Mr. Mitchell to agree to anything that might disturb his lifestyle?"

"He's not a bad guy, really," James answers apologetically. "He's just… very particular about certain things. And very used to getting what he wants."

"I'll bet."

"Fair warning. He's a genius, too. If you're not careful he can argue his way into or out of anything."

"A genius?"

James nodded. "Not an exaggeration-guy's brilliant. We went to college together. He was actually studying to be a neurosurgeon. Then on a bet from a bunch of our buddies, he went on that Instant Star show. We never thought it'd go as far as it did, but it turned out in addition to being super brainy he was also super talented. So three years later, here we are."

Kendall shook his head lightly. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"This isn't exactly my area of expertise."

"We know. But we've received several threats like this, all signed with the same little star logo at the bottom right corner, see?" James pointed to the small doodle and Kendall frowned down at it.

"Why a star?" Kendall wondered, puzzled.

"It's a copy of the logo from Instant Star," Carlos told him. "It could be nothing. It could just mean whoever is sending the letters has been a 'fan' or whatever ever since Logan first got his start."

"Have you involved the police? The FBI? Surely someone with his level of celebrity could pull some strings and get this taken care of. If Logan was as smart as you guys say he is, you'd think he'd be taking this seriously and handling it."

"Well, the thing is…" Carlos hesitated and looked to James.

"We don't want to worry him unnecessarily," James finished.

Kendall looked at the two of them incredulously. "So you're telling me he doesn't actually know about the bomb threat in his dressing room? Or about any of these letters?"

"We did show him a few of the letters," James said. "Maybe not the ones with serious threats, or the ones with clues that we can't decipher. It's just… He's got enough on his plate as it is. We can barely convince him to ever take a break. If it's not dance rehearsal, it's writing sessions or recording at studio, or interviews, photoshoots, meetings with the director of the movie he's doing. He's a 24/7 kind of guy, total workaholic; I have to meticulously schedule his days otherwise he will literally forget to eat. It's not exactly healthy, but it's how he operates. I didn't want to add another thing to add to his stress."

"I can't do my job if Logan doesn't fully understand the situation!" Kendall said angrily. "If I'm going to keep him safe, I need to know that you and he will all be willing to cooperate!"

"We'll talk to him again," James promised. "In the meantime… what do we do about the letters?"

"I'd like to call in a friend of mine," Kendall replied with a hard edge still in his tone. "She works for the FBI now, and this is right up her alley."

"If that's what you think is best."

Kendall spent the next week accompanying Logan everywhere, from interviews at coffee shops to photoshoots to business meetings. James and Carlos were usually never far behind either, but even they weren't with Logan from dawn until dusk like Kendall was.

He had to admit, even though Logan could be cocky and argumentative, the guy wasn't as bad as he was expecting. He'd thought Logan would be a spoiled brat, the worst kind of diva—and even though the huge house and the fleet of cars would tend to support that image, Logan was probably as down to earth as could be expected for someone that famous.

"So where are you from originally?" Logan asked him one afternoon as he sat in a makeup chair.

"Minnesota," Kendall grunted.

"You family still there?"

"No."

"You married?"

"No."

"Think you could answer me in something other than one-word sentences?"

Kendall smirked. "Maybe."

"Seriously," Logan rolled his eyes. "You've spent pretty much every waking hour with me this week listening to me talk about like, every detail of my life, and I still don't know anything about you. Why is that?"

"I'm not really here to be your friend, Mr. Mitchell. Your personal life is none of my business. Or do you even have a personal life? James and Carlos are employees. Do you hang out with anyone who you don't pay?"

"They're my employees, but they're still my friends," Logan answered defensively. "I've known Carlos since middle school, and James was my roommate in college. Just because I pay them now doesn't make them any less my friends. But that's beside the point. You're avoiding my question."

A designer barged into the room and left some outfits on the rack for Logan, asking him to try the clothes on and see which he liked best before exiting the room.

Logan took the first and went behind the screen to change. "You sure you don't want to come in here with me? Just to be safe?"

Kendall shot Logan a look but remained where he was.

"I know you'll find this hard to believe," Logan said, voice dripping with sarcasm, "but I actually have something of a reputation for being stubborn and high maintenance." Kendall snorted but said nothing. "I wasn't always like that, though. But once you become known for something, that's your thing, right? No one ever wants to see you any differently."

Logan poked his head around the screen and saw the skeptical frown on Kendall's face. "What? You disagree?"

Kendall shrugged, trying to remain nonchalant. "I think if you want to change how you're perceived, it can be done. It might take some discipline, but it's not impossible."

"Yeah? Is that why you never stay on a job more than two months?"

The blonde man looked up, surprised that Logan knew that.

"Think of me what you will, Mr. Knight, but there's one thing that's true—I do my research. I know you only take on clients for short periods of time. Why? Because they're too undisciplined for you? I know you don't approve of me or my lifestyle. I don't have to be a genius to be able to see that."

"Whether or not I approve of you isn't really relevant to my job."

"Because it gets in the way, right? You can't let your emotions get to you because you might actually start to care about someone, and that scares you. Never mix business with pleasure, am I right?"

Kendall remained silent.

Logan's voice came from the behind the screen. "Can you hand me that second outfit?"

"I'm here to keep you alive, Mr. Mitchell, not be your personal assistant."

"Fine," Logan said with a huff.

He stepped out from the behind the screen, dressed in only his snug pair boxer-briefs. A playful smirk played on his lips when Kendall's eyes widened, and he crossed the room as if he was walking a runway, fully aware of Kendall's eyes raking over him as he went to retrieve the clothes before ducking behind the screen to change again.

When Logan went downstairs the next morning, he was met by a small crowd of people gathering in his kitchen. Carlos and James were wolfing down the breakfast prepared by Logan's chef, while Kendall and a small, brunette woman pored over some papers at the other end of the table.

"Good morning?" Logan said. "Did I miss something?"

James glanced up and leapt to his feet. "I wasn't expecting you up this early. Logan, this is Camille Roberts. She's an associate of Mr. Knight's. He asked her to come in to assist with the letters."

"Nice to meet you." Logan shook her hand, surprised by the woman's strong grip. She was a feisty one, he could already tell.

"You too, Mr. Mitchell."

"Call me Logan, please." He shot her a grin and she smiled back warmly.

As he ate his own breakfast, Logan tried to listen in on the conversation between Kendall and Camille, but mostly it just bored him. He still didn't really think all of this was necessary—every celebrity had their share of crazy fans. It was part of the territory. Instead, he let James fill him in on his schedule for the day, happy to hear that he actually had the afternoon and evening free.

"That's it? I'm free after dance rehearsal?"

"Yep." James affirmed.

"Cool. Now that I think of it… James, Carlos, when was the last time you guys had a day off?"

Both men blanched. "Umm…" Carlos screwed up his face, trying to think.

"Exactly. If I'm off today, why don't you guys take the day too?"

"What if something comes up?" James asked.

"Then you can text me the info. And I know it's been awhile, but I do know how to drive myself around LA."

"Cool. Thanks, Logan!"

After his rehearsal, Logan went back up to the living room, finding Kendall shuffling through his fan mail again.

"Where's Camille?"

"She set up a work space in your office," Kendall replied. "I hope that's alright. She's scanning all the letters we think are the most suspect and emailing them to her partner at the Bureau to get some more opinions."

"Sure."

"What are your plans for today?"

"Well, I was thinking about something earlier," Logan started, a hint of a smile on his face. "What if I wanted to go on a date? I can't really do that because you have to be with me every second of the day. I mean what if he wants to invite back to his place after? You gonna come too?"

Kendall narrowed his eyes. "If you wanted to go on a date, I'm sure we could make arrangements for that, if you gave me some advance notice."

Logan shrugged. "Nah, it's all too invasive and annoying. So the only thing I can figure is… You should just take me out."

"You want me to take you out? On a date?"

"Well, it doesn't have to be date date. But I have a free evening for the first time in weeks, and I don't want to spend it cooped up here. You have to be with me anyway, so we might as well do something fun."

"I don't—" Kendall was about to say that it wasn't a good idea, but he caught sight of the expression on Logan's face: hopeful for once, and not cocky, as if he expected Kendall to agree. For probably the first time since he'd met Logan, Kendall saw him as just another guy—a cute one—who was asking him to spend time with him. "Okay. How about a movie?"

"I can't believe you laughed at that!"

"Come on, it was hilarious."

Logan shuddered. "It was disgusting."

"No way. All the fake blood and bad acting? How could you not think it was funny?"

"I don't know, maybe it was the person was screaming in agony while being brutally murdered? I'm never letting you pick the movie again."

"Logan Mitchell, afraid of horror movies. Who would have thought?" Kendall teased him, cracking a genuine smile for the first time since Logan had met him.

"I didn't say I was afraid!"

"Oh, so you grabbing my hand and burying your face in my jacket was what emotion exactly?"

Logan glared at him and Kendall had to crack up again.

"Shut up. Come on, I'm starving. Can we get some food?"

"Yeah. Lead the way."

Kendall half expected Logan to take him to some hip, trendy place with lots of people, so he was prepared to be on guard for the rest of the evening. Instead, Logan led him somewhere off the beaten path, to a small diner that seemed worlds away from the Hollywood scene they had just left, but in actuality was only a few blocks out of the area.

"You want to eat here?"

Logan nodded and slipped his hand into Kendall's as they strolled down the sidewalk towards the place. "Usually when I go out with guys—or girls, come to think of it—they want me to take them somewhere fancy and loud. Somewhere they can be seen with me, or just seen to be seen. It's tiring. And it's why I don't really date much. I never know who wants to be with me because I'm me and who wants to be with me because I'm the Logan Mitchell, you know?"

"I get you." Kendall squeezed his hand lightly before letting go of it to pull the door open, allowing Logan to go in first.

Once they were seated in a small booth in a corner of the restaurant, Kendall looked around the place, still surprised that Logan wanted to bring him here. There were a few other customers who paid them no mind as they looked over the menus and chatted quietly.

"So, what's your story?" Logan asked.

"My story?"

"Yeah. I want you to open up a little bit. What's your family like? Have you had serious relationships? What did you want to be when you were younger? Tell me something real."

Kendall hesitated, not wanting to break his rule about not getting too close to his client. But he found that opening up to Logan wasn't as hard as he thought. It wasn't hard at all, actually. "Well, I already told you I'm from Minnesota. I have a mom and a sister. They both moved to New York like when I decided to make my home base there."

"You have a sibling? That's great. Wish I did."

"God, she was such a pain in my ass when I was a teenager," Kendall said, smiling fondly. "But she really is the best. She's in college now studying business management or something. What else? I wanted to be a pro hockey player when I was younger. But I got injured my senior year of high school and had to sit out the season."

"Pro hockey? Really?"

"Yeah, totally," Kendall nodded. "I loved it."

"And what about relationships?"

"Why are you so interested in that?"

"Oh, I'm just curious by nature." Logan winked at him and took a sip of the water their waitress had dropped off.

"I dated a lot in college, I guess," Kendall finally answered uneasily. "Girls, mostly, but there were a few guys. My one serious relationship was with a girl—her name was Jo—but ultimately it didn't work out. We just grew apart."

The pair enjoyed their meal in and went back to Logan's mansion, stopping outside the guest house, where Kendall was staying.

"Hey." Logan tugged on Kendall's hand and stepped close to him. "Thanks for taking me out tonight. I mean it. I had a nice time with you."

"I did too."

Kendall met Logan's gaze and though his brain was telling him not to proceed, his body had other ideas. He pulled Logan against him and tilted his chin up, bringing their parted lips together in a kiss that started with a slow burn and spread like wildfire through both of them. Their tongues moved against each other and Kendall felt Logan's grip on his shoulder tighten, the bodies pressed together at the chest and hips.

When he pulled away to suck in a sharp breath, Kendall's brain clicked into place. "We can't," he said, his voice raspy. "This can't go any farther."

"Kendall—" Logan started to protest, a hurt look on his face.

"No. It's not right," Kendall said, stepping away from Logan. "We can't get confused about what I'm here to do!"

"I'm not confused!"

"You pay me to protect you, Logan! I have a job to do, and that's why I'm here!"

"Kendall, did I do something wrong?"

"No, you didn't. I did. We—this can't happen again, alright?" Kendall ran his hand through his hair and took a breath before continuing on. "I'm sorry to… to send you the wrong message, but if I'm going to keep you safe then this is how it has to be. I can't be involved with my client!"

"Your client?" Logan spat, angry now. "Your client? Don't try to tell me that's all I am to you, not after tonight!"

"I'm sorry," Kendall repeated before unlocking the door to the guest house and entering, shutting it behind him and leaving Logan standing outside alone.

Things were tense between Kendall and Logan for the next few days and no one understood why. They only spoke to each other when necessary and Logan did all he could to ignore Kendall the rest of the time. James and Carlos chalked it up to Logan being tired of having to follow all the new security measures, but things came to a head when Kendall went to inform Logan of the new plan concerning his appearance at that week's upcoming MTV Movie Awards, at which Logan would be a presenter.

He stopped short in the hallway, face growing hot as he caught Camille exiting Logan's bedroom, her hair frazzled and clothes wrinkled.

"Camille?"

The woman jumped, startled, and dropped her high heels as she stared guiltily at Kendall, who was now approaching her.

"Kendall! What are you doing here?"

"I think that's a better question for you," he replied stonily.

"We were just—I mean—"

"Don't you have work to do?" He barked at her.

Camille hurried off, embarrassed, and Kendall barged into Logan's room, finding him with a towel wrapped around his waist as he stood in front of the mirror, freshly showered and applying hair gel to the brown locks atop his head.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Kendall demanded.

"My hair?"

"You know what I mean! Is this your way of getting back at me? You're gonna fuck my partner because I made you mad?"

"Why do you care?" Logan shot back. "You and I aren't involved, remember? You have a job, and I'm paying you do it, isn't that what you said?"

"Don't."

"Don't what? I'm just repeating what you said, Kendall."

The two stared each other down before Kendall eventually left Logan alone, stalking back to his office setup in the guest house.

"I just feel like we're missing something," Kendall said, staring frustrated down at the stack of papers in front of him. "I know there's something here, something big, and my head just doesn't want to put it together."

"I know what you mean," Camille answered. "I've gone over it a hundred times. This line right here—'and the starry night will be a night of joy and a night of tears and we will be together'—I think it's the key. Wait a minute, shouldn't you be with Logan at the MTV awards right now? Isn't he like, the first presenter?"

"He bribed Carlos to take him without telling me. It's fine, I'm going to meet him there in an hour and kill both of them myself for doing that."

"Wait. Kendall! That's it! That's the answer!"

"What is?"

"The MTV awards! The starry night—all the celebrities that will be in attendance, it's literally a night of stars! A night of joy—for the winners. The stalker is going to strike at the MTV awards! While Logan is presenting. Kendall! You have to get there! Pull him from the appearance! This is it, I know it is!"

"Fuck," Kendall breathed. "Fuck!"

He raced to his car and jumped in, zooming out of the neighborhood and into the awful LA traffic, made even worse due to the awards show happening downtown. It seemed like all of California was on the highway tonight, and Kendall cursed and swore at everyone in his way, frantically dialing and redialing Logan's cell, along with James' and Carlos'. No one was picking up.

When he finally made it to the venue, he flashed his badge and ran past security into the arena. The show had already started, and the host was delivering his opening monologue, garnering much laughter and applause from the audience. Kendall looked around, searching for any sign of suspicious behavior, before it hit him to look up. He trained his eyes on the rafters of the building and just noticed a tiny sliver of movement above him. It was all he needed.

The host announced Logan's name and the crowd cheered for him. Kendall took the stairs two at a time, his heart pounding and legs burning as he climbed higher.

Kendall's breath hitched in his throat when he finally reached his destination. A man with a large gun knelt only feet away from him, the weapon trained on Logan as he spoke. He hadn't yet noticed Kendall's presence, too lost in admiration for the object of his misguided affection.

"And the award goes to…"

This was it.

Kendall dove for the man just as he pulled the trigger, knocking him off balance. A loud bang echoed in the arena and people screamed, looking up to see what had caused the disturbance. Kendall had caught the man off guard and was able to land a few solid punches. He didn't actually put up much of a fight, despite being much heavier than Kendall, who wrestled him to the ground easily and handcuffed him before confiscating the weapon from him.

Downstairs was chaos. People were pouring out of the venue in droves, running for their lives and panicking.

Kendall handed the man and the weapon over to the police, his heart pounding in his head as he scanned the crowd for any sign of Logan. He refused to think of what he would do if… No. He wouldn't allow himself to picture it, not until he knew for sure.

Finally a hole in the crowd opened up, and there he was.

"Logan!"

Kendall yelled and Logan's head snapped up. He turned in the direction of Kendall's voice and broke away from James. They ran towards each other and embraced, Kendall pulling the shorter boy against his body and kissing him fiercely, neither of them caring that they were surrounded by people.

"You're safe," Kendall sighed, relieved beyond imagination.

"Thanks to you."

"When I heard the shot—"

"I'm fine. It was nowhere near me. You—you saved me, Kendall."

Kendall kissed him again before pulling away and grinning. "I don't get involved with my clients, Mitchell."

"We can fix that problem really easily," Logan replied smugly.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. You're fired."

Kendall barked out a short laugh. "I can live with that."

This was based on the movie of the same title, starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, done for an Anon request over on my tumblr. Hope you enjoyed it, I had a lot of fun writing it. Please let me know what you thought!