A/N: This fic takes place directly after chapter 2. Chapter 2 and 3 as a unit take place a month after chapter 1.

A/N2: Also this fic is slipping down a 45 degree slope into shipping territory and there is nothing I can do to stop it. I swear I didn't mean for this to become a shipping fic but here we are there's no going back now.

Julian woke to find himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, which made him panic. Why wasn't he in his own home? Was this an illusion made by the Realm of Shadows? Where was he? Why was everything so bright? Why was the ceiling so far away?

Looking up felt dizzying, so Julian tried to roll over to curl up on himself but ended falling onto the bleachers with a yelp. He quickly sat up and looked around. He was in the gymnasium. When had he gotten there?

He felt himself start to panic again as he glanced around, his breathing and heartrate picking up. It looked like a normal gym class with everyone participating in a dangerous version of a normal gym activity.

But was it really?

If it was he would be down there with all the other ninth graders, getting picked on by the upper classmen. He didn't have the Golden Doctor's Note anymore, so why would he be up here? And where was his usual favorite hat? Where had it gone?!

Julian wrapped his arms around his knees and rested his head on them, trying to block everything out while he decided what was real and what wasn't.

The first thing he couldn't ignore were loud footsteps coming up the stairs of the bleachers. He hopped it wasn't a bully or a monster, though he kept his head down and tried to focus on his own breathing. Perhaps if he pretended to ignore whatever it was, then it would just leave him alone.

"Julian?"

Just keep ignoring it. Nothing is real.

"Julian are you okay?"

He felt something touch his shoulder and he jumped a little, head shooting up to see Randy knelt down next to him. Looking down, Julian saw that it had been Randy's hand to touch him.

"CUNNINGHAM! JUST LEAVE HIM ALONE AND GET BACK DOWN HERE!" Howard called up to them.

"HONK OFF HOWARD! GO PLAY WITH SOMEONE ELSE FOR A BIT!" Randy yelled back at him irately. He watched Howard give him a rude hand gesture before turning back to Julian. "Are you okay Julian?" he asked, his voice quiet and worried.

"I- I- I don't know…" Julian hid his face in his hands, "I don't know. Where am I? What's going on?"

"Well, you're in the gym, obviously. And sat on the bleachers as usual since you got a free pass out of the gym part of gym. Though the falling over and screaming thing is new," Randy explained with a small laugh, trying to be lighthearted about it.

"What? Free pass? But… how did I…" Julian lowered his fingers so he could look at Randy, "how did I get here?"

"You walked? How do you think you got here?" Randy gave him a worried look again.

"I don't know… If I knew I wouldn't ask! Last thing I know I was in the Realm of Shadows!" Julian gripped his hair, frustrated by the dumb question.

"Whoa, sorry. Do you want to go to the locker room?" Randy asked. Julian looked like he was about to burst into tears, and Randy doubted that he would want Bash and the other upperclassmen to see that.

"Julian?" Randy asked again when the other didn't respond. This time he got a small nod. "Come on then," he helped pull Julian up and wrapped an arm around his shoulders as he led him to the locker rooms.

Howard gave them a dirty look as the left, but Randy decided he would just make it up to Howard later by giving him his chili fries.

Once in the locker room he sat down with Julian on one of the benches. At this point, he didn't really know what to say, so he decided to let Julian talk if he wanted to.

After a few minutes of silence and both of them avoiding eye contact, Julian finally mumbled out a question.

"Excuse me?" Randy looked over to him, though Julian was still keeping his head down.

"Could you pinch me?" the goth replied in such a weak, quiet voice that it sounded like pinching him would shatter him.

"Huh? Why?" It was a bit of an odd request, but he had been getting quite a few of those from Julian since the summer. Randy wasn't bothered by the requests, they just made him curious as to what was going through Julian's head at the time.

"I need to know that this is real," Julian answered, looking at his hands in his lap as he played with the cuff of his sleeve.

Randy reached over and pinched the back of Julian's hand, making him yelp. "Doesn't that hurt though?"

"Yes, it does," Julian sighed in relief as he leaned over, resting his head on Randy's shoulder. His arms loosely wrapped around one of Randy's and he continued to play with the hem of his sleeve. After that awful and lonely nightmare, it felt nice to be able to hold onto a real person. "But… it's a good way to make sure you're awake… or wake yourself up if you're still in a dream."

"There's gotta be a less painful way though…" Randy trailed off, trying to think of something. Biting into a lemon might be good, but then again that amount of sour so suddenly would probably be too much of a shock.

Julian shrugged, "it's not that bad, it's just a little pinch."

"No, no, I'll think of something." Randy spent a couple minutes going through different ideas in his head, watching as Julian went from playing with his own sleeves to playing with Randy's fingers. "What if I kissed you?" he suggested half-jokingly.

Julian froze, tensing up at the suggestion. With the amount of blood that had suddenly rushed to his cheeks, he wouldn't be surprised if Randy could feel how red his face had gone. "W-well… I… um… that is…" His mind reeled at the thought. He wouldn't mind at all, but saying that was another thing entirely.

Randy chuckled at the reaction, tilting his head to rest it lightly on Julian's, "don't worry about it if you don't want to, it was just a dumb thought."

It was frustrating Julian that he couldn't form the words that he wanted to say, so he pulled out his phone and started tapping away on it.

"Um… Julian?" Randy glanced down at the phone with his eyes, thinking that Julian was texting someone and wondering why. A moment later the phone was shoved in his face.

The text on the screen read 'I don't mind if you kiss me.'

"Then I guess I'll kiss you the next time you need grounding," Randy told him, pushing the phone down and shifting just enough so he could plant a tiny peck on Julian's head.

Julian tensed up again from surprise before relaxing again. "Th-thank you…" he muttered out. Hopefully this would work. Hopefully.