Julian Sanders. A person that made people feel safe and important. But the bearer of the name himself had never in his whole life felt safe or important. Maybe it was because of the fact that his own parents described his feelings as a disease. Or maybe it was that in all seventeen years of his life, he had never found someone who understood him completely. There was Ren, but Ren was his family, his blood. Julian had never had a best friend.

And while he admitted the same thing to Wynter, he couldn't help but feel ashamed. He looked into Wynter's eyes, half-expecting the other boy to laugh at him but Wynter only nodded and pushed forward his plastic plate of French fries towards the green-eyed boy. As if telling him to eat the whole thing. Julian carefully picked the few fries that weren't doused in ketchup and pushed the plate back towards Wynter.

" Best friends are overrated anyway" Wynter said smiling a little when Julian made a disgusted face at Ren who was making sure that his pizza slice was drenched in ketchup.

" Says who?" Julian said, promptly turning away from his cousin when he started levelling out the ketchup—like it was frosting—with a fork.

" Says me. I had one when I was in middle school. Now he's a dick" Wynter informed, eyes involuntarily following Julian's fingers from the plate to his mouth as he ate his fries.

" Any chance it's Xander Morris? Because he keeps on telling people that you had a collection of action figures when you were a kid"

" No. It's Austin Gold" Wynter corrected glancing for a second at the table Julian and Ren had ditched ten minutes ago to come and sit with him. Austin was there, with his girlfriend and friends. Laughing over a story some guy was telling.

" Yeah. He's a dick" Julian agreed, trying to secretly steal some more fries from Wynter's plate and thinking that he had succeeded only because the dark-haired boy chose to turn a blind eye to his actions. When he tried to steal some more, Wynter pushed the plate forward again making the other boy pout sadly.

" But it's more fun to steal them" Julian whined unattractively, pushing the plate back towards Wynter.

" It's not called stealing if I let you take them" Wynter deadpanned making Ren erupt into sudden laughter.

Julian snatched the plate from the table and stuffed his mouth with fries, glaring at the both of them angrily. When the bell rang signalling the end of lunch break, Julian stood up and walked off without a word ignoring Ren's wave.

Julian felt someone's shoulder brush against his own. He automatically inhaled sharply and when he smelt burnt sugar he smiled, looking at Wynter " Did Ren finally choke on his laughter and die?"

" Unfortunately he's alive. He has Geography with Mr.Howard. So I guess he'll die by the end of the day. Don't worry"

" Why do you do it?" Julian asked suddenly.
" Do what?" Wynter frowned cluelessly although he knew what Julian was talking about.

" Play along with my sass and sarcasm. Not that I use it a lot but still..."

Wynter lifted up his shoulders a little " I don't know....I just roll with it. It's fun"

Julian raised an eyebrow at the dark-haired boy but didn't say anything.

Wynter knew he was lying. He didn't find it fun. It just made Julian talk more and he liked to listen to Julian talk. Julian could give a lecture about Quantum Mechanics and Wynter would still listen. No wonder people felt comforted when Julian spoke to them. His voice held a kind of reassurance.

Julian always made himself sound assuring because he knew how it was to never have anyone to tell you everything was okay. What he was going through, it was his fault because he never let anyone help him. But the least he could do to make himself feel better was to make sure no one else had to go through it.

" Julian...Julian! Jules!" Wynter snapped his fingers under Julian's nose.

" Eww. Never call me Jules again! Please and thank you" Julian scowled in an unimpressed manner making Wynter smile widely.

" Okay Jules"
" Seriously! It reminds me of this neighbour I had when I was a kid. She had a cat named Jules. I hated both of them"

If anyone found it weird that both the boys were smiling while arguing, they didn't say it out loud. Ren however was also smiling because he could see that both of them were whipped. It's been only two weeks since they met and they were practically attached to the hip.

The boys parted in the hallway, walking off to their respective classes with a slight wave at each other.

Julian walked into class. He strode to the second last bench and plopped down in his seat, tapping his foot on the floor impatiently. Waiting for the class to start and end quickly so that he could leave school. And even when class did start he was too busy doodling on the corner of his page, to notice that it was his turn to read out his views on the Suffragette movement. It was too late when he realised he was drawing eyes. Not just any eyes. The eyes of a certain dark-haired boy.

Julian was so screwed.

A/N

Yes it's short. I know. Blame it on my brother.
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