Hey y'all. So, I apologize for the original spelling mistakes in that last chapter. Sorry. I fixed them, but honestly this platform is very confusing to write with. Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to 24 for not only suggesting this idea but also being the first reviewer of this story! And the first follower. Love to you, darling. My heart pounded with excitement, or something, it felt like it stopped when I read your sweet review! This is for you. Enjoy!

He didn't need to be reminded he was a nerd. He already knew that; Kendall, Carlos and James pointed that out at least three times a day. Jokingly, of course, when Logan insisted he just needed to finish up another chapter of his book before dinner, or another math problem before they went out to the pool. But this was exactly why he didn't need reminding. He knew, obviously.

"Hey, nerd," the culprit called from behind him. It wasn't a very original insult. Logan kept walking up to the elevators, ignoring him. He wouldn't be the one to provoke. Besides, what could he do if this escalated?

Nothing.

The elevator doors were slow in closing, allowing Logan to get a good look at the guy. He was one of those new kids who had booked the lead on that teen NCSI show. Though, he guessed the guy wasn't so new anymore. It had been a month or two, Logan had seen him around.

Always in character? Well, that was a huge misconception. Logan doubted a real teen NCSI agent would be scouring the Palm Woods for, like that guy had put it, some useless nerd.

But here they were, here Logan was, pathetically wishing the elevators would just close.

Unfortunately, this pathetic wish went ungranted. Logan tensed up as soon as the guy stood across from him in the elevator. Why was he so scared? It's not like he was big and brooding and strong like Ozzie Clark. This guy was just regular. And Ozzie had turned out to be a nice guy, even though he had the unnerving tendency to crush walnuts against his forehead.

Maybe this regular guy would turn out nice.

"Hey, nerd," the guy repeated. "I'm talking to you. Are you deaf?"

"Hey." Logan stared directly at the elevator buttons and the screen that displayed which floor they were on. Good. Floor 2.

He walked out of the elevator doors briskly. Oh, look, the guy was following him.

Would this guy please stop following him?

Nope. Another wish remained ungranted as this guy seized Logan's arm and dragged him roughly into the stairwell. Logan laughed nervously and smiled wide, wider now that he was on edge. His nerves were skyrocketing.

Soaring higher and higher until they were back outside the Palm Woods. What was happening? Why was this happening to him? He hadn't done anything to this guy, he didn't even know his name.

The guy released his grip on Logan's arm, which had been so tight it left marks. Logan smiled again and braced himself for the first punch. Ironically, this was his first wish to come true that night. And it kept coming true, even after he had broken down completely, crying in some dark alleyway this guy had led him into.

The guy pulled him back up wordlessly.

Logan was still shaking when the guy threw him down again and ran.

"What the hell?" he whispered to himself. "What the hell, what the hell."

He had reached the point of senseless muttering as he wiped the tears from his eyes. As always, the future doctor made a short assessment of his injuries. Nothing too bad, nothing broken. Nothing too noticeable, since this nameless guy mainly punched and kicked him in the sides. As long as he kept his clothes on, as long as he didn't lift his arms up too high over his head, nobody would know anything. It would be fine.

He stood up, backing himself up against a wall as a burning pain ripped through his entire body. He wouldn't let himself fall. He pressed his back against the wall harder and inhaled. One painful exhale later, he was up on his feet and walking without the assistance of the wall, albeit slowly and definitely with a noticeable limp.

He was the last one back to the apartment for dinner. He slipped into his chair and maintained an amicable conversation with Carlos about what the Latino's superhero name should be. Neither he nor Carlos had come up with any suggestions. The hum of conversation died down as Mrs. Knight brought over that night's dinner: fish sticks and tater tots of course, reserved exclusively for Fish Stick Friday.

Logan allowed everyone else to help themselves to generous servings of fish sticks before he reached over himself. The four fish sticks and spoonful of tots he had served himself clattered onto his plate right as Kendall gasped.

No. No, no, no. Absolutely not.

Logan tugged his shirt downward and shifted in his seat, which, in retrospect was a bad idea, because the pain flared up again, and he had to use all strength not to contort his face or scream out in pain. As a last-ditch attempt to console his already panicking mind, he attempted to convince himself that Kendall maybe just had eaten a hot fish stick and burnt his tongue

All his convincing went to waste.

"Logan," Kendall said, in that false calm tone that, once again, seemed to only pertain to the aspiring doctor. He felt Kendall grip his wrist. "I just remembered this really difficult math problem Miss Collins assigned us. Could you help me?"

Before he or Mrs. Knight could protest (which Logan knew she was about to do. Sitting down to dinner together was one of her most important rules, which Kendall was breaking. By association, Logan as well) Kendall dragged Logan with him to their bedroom and shut the door.

"Logan."

"Let's get to that math problem, right? Don't want to keep Mrs. Knight waiting. You know how much she hates us missing dinner. That's one of her most important rules. Which you broke, by the way, and technically I–"

"Your skin is purple. That's the most massive bruise I've ever seen."

Logan wouldn't admit to anything yet. So, deflect it was.

"I really do think we should just get this math problem over with," he said, hurrying over to Kendall's desk and flipping through the math textbook. "What chapter are we on now? Six? Think so. Oh, trigonometry. Did you know it was invented by Hipparchus? He was Greek, lived from about 190 BC to 120 BC. Seventy years! That's a lot for a guy back then. He invented the first table of values when he was like, fifty years old or something. Though, the tables didn't survive. He is currently regarded as–"

"Boys!" Mrs. Knight was saying. Logan's plan had worked. "Come finish dinner! Logan, sweetie, you can help Kendall after."

"Okay!" he called back. "We're coming."

"What were you guys working on?" James whispered to Logan. He gasped, and Logan tensed up again, dreading what he was about to say next. "Did I forget about the homework? Logan, you gotta help me too. I'm already so far behind."

Logan relaxed. He smiled at his friend and shook his head. "Don't worry. I'll show you what you missed later."

Fortunately, Carlos had suggested watching television after dinner, so Logan didn't need to face Kendall, or pretend to help James with some assignment that didn't exist. He could just chill out with Carlos and Katie and relax.

"What do you want to watch, Logie? Do you know what's on?" Carlos asked him.

Logan shook his head. "No, I don't care. Anything you guys want."

He was tired, his eyes were about to close, he was going to fall asleep any minute. It didn't matter what background noise he fell asleep to. For Carlos's sake he halfheartedly paid attention as he flicked through the Guide and chose something to watch.

He should've realized something like this could've happened. After all, this was the Palm Woods, home of the future famous. And this guy already had booked a part. Regardless, even though he should've expected it, Logan hated the way he flinched as soon as he saw this guy's face on screen.

"Logan, are you okay?" Katie asked.

He nodded, still tense, but trying his best to play it off. What was this, the second or third time that he had narrowly escaped being found out about? He yawned for effect, but made sure his arms stayed rigid at his sides. "Yeah, just tired. I'm going to get ready for bed. 'Night guys."

"'Night, Logan!" the two chorused back cheerfully.

He had changed into his pajamas in the bathroom after he had brushed his teeth. Smart move, in his opinion. The only downside was that Kendall had cornered him.

"Logan, I know something's wrong," he said, not in the fake-calm voice, but more like he was trying to be calm for Logan's sake.

Logan shook his head and ducked away into their bedroom. He quickly buried himself under the covers, switched off the light and tried to drift off to sleep.

Kendall had reappeared, situated on his own bed. On it, not in it, sitting there, waiting for Logan to break and talk to him.

"Nothing's wrong, Kendall, I told you already," he said as he flicked the light back on. "I'm tired, I'm going to bed early. You should too, actually, we had an early call time tomorrow."

"Oh, do we?"

"Yes. Goodnight."

—-

Everything was finally fine. Logan was walking out of the Palm Woods, not alone, he knew better now, but fully flanked by Kendall, Carlos and James. He was safe, he was fine.

No, no he wasn't. The minute he looked eyes with this guy. The minute the guy began advancing towards him. The minute he had subconsciously gripped James's arm. The minute James whispered Logan's name, worry perfectly clear in his voice. And Kendall and Carlos stopped, they had heard it too.

"Logan," James repeated. "What's wrong, buddy?"

He shook his head and pulled away from James's arm, immediate guilt sweeping through him as he noticed the marks on his arm. Just like his. Except, Logan hadn't meant it, and he was scared, and, no.

No, he was shaking just like yesterday, he was shaking and crying as his friends surrounded him in a semi-circle shield of protection. They led him outside, which only caused him to start hyperventilating. Hyperventilating. This was stupid, he was stupid. And he kept hyperventilating, he couldn't explain.

He felt Kendall's steadying, safe hands on his shoulders. "You need to breathe, okay?"

No, actually. Breathing normally could send his blood into an acidosis state. When you hyperventilate, it's because of an off-balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in your system. You're supposed to breathe into a paper bag to regulate this. You shouldn't breathe normally.

It didn't matter. The hyperventilating stopped, now he was just crying.

Kendall's arms wrapped around him and it hurt so much.

"No. Stop. It–it hurts,' Logan managed weakly. It did hurt. It was like hot magnum rock, hot lava was being poured down his spine, like he was being stabbed, like he was freezing to death all at once.

Kendall released him. Logan sobbed harder.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he began again with his senseless repetition. That was bad. He knew he was messing up and scaring everyone.

"Logie," Carlos asked. "What happened?"

He just kept shaking his head, more senseless repetition. A new fear rose up inside him, his tremors more violent now as the thought raced in his head. What if the paparazzi saw him? He tried to compose himself, he really tried. It just kept getting worse, his thoughts racing faster, faster, but this one in particular crippling him.

He felt three pairs of arms lift him up into a standing position. He pressed himself into Kendall's side, half due to balance issues, the other half due to the fact that he needed to shrink away. He couldn't have people see him like this. He needed to calm down. He couldn't calm down.

"Carlos, get the elevator," Logan heard James say.

He heard his friend run off.

"Okay, buddy," James was talking to him, he could hear that, but his eyes were closed, he didn't want to see anything. Everything was going too fast. He wondered how many people saw him. What they thought. He wondered if that guy saw him. Was this what he wanted? "You and Kendall and Carlos are going back up to the apartment right now so you can calm down. I'm going to call Kelly and tell her we're going to be a little late."

Logan shook his head again. He was messing up, he was messing up so much. Rehearsal was so important right now, he knew that. He was still shaking and sobbing, but he tried once again to pull away from Kendall and regain composure.

"It's okay," Kendall said, tightening his grip. Logan could hear the fear in his voice and he wanted to punch himself. He wanted to hurt himself, just to snap himself out of this stupor, just to get out of this. He balled his hands into fists and began digging his fingernails into his palms.

"You're okay," Kendall continued, gently easing Logan's hands open. Logan balled his one hand up again, Kendall's attempts to pry it open useless.

Carlos opened up the door to 2J, revealing a frightened Katie and shocked Mrs. Knight. The latter approached him and led him to the couch. Then, she took Kendall by the wrist, with Carlos following behind to have a conversation of whispers Logan couldn't decipher.

"Logan?" Katie was asking, near tears herself. "Mom, what's wrong with Logan?"

He hated himself as the minutes passed by. He needed to control himself. He needed to stop crying. That's when James joined the whispering conversation and Kendall and Carlos left it. Carlos went to console Katie, and Kendall sat by Logan's side for presumably the same purpose.

Logan didn't stop his useless repetitions for at least fifteen more minutes. The crying died down at around the same time. "I'm sorry, Kendall," he whispered. He wiped his tears from his eyes. Just like yesterday. "We're late, we're really late."

"No," Kendall reprimanded firmly. "What happened?"

"I–some guy. Some guy, he–"

Kendall waited.

"He followed me. To the–the apartment."

Kendall waited longer. It was clear he couldn't leave this conversation until everything had been said.

"And then, then he. Beat me up."

"Logan!" Kendall exclaimed. James and Mrs. Knight had stopped their own conversation and hid their shock more subtly. But they had heard too. Probably Carlos and Katie too. Everyone knew.

"I'm sorry. For not saying anything, but I was mostly fine anyway, I didn't need to. I didn't want to get anyone worried."

Logan glanced nervously up at the clock. So what if James had called Kelly? They were an hour late to rehearsal. A full hour.

"You have nothing to be sorry for."

Kendall held Logan in a light embrace, which he gratefully returned.

He was okay. He would be fine. Kendall was here, they were all here. He was safe.

"Just tell us when this stuff happens, okay?"

"Okay."

He would be okay, he mused, as he sunk deeper into Kendall's arms, he racing mind still and silent. Calm. He was finally calm.

He was okay.