Originally written for Ninjavember Day 5: Childhood.

Randy decided that he was absolutely not going to daycare on Friday.

He hadn't been more determined about anything in the six years of his life.

Howard would be out of town, visiting his uncle. Randy was devastated when he heard this news. A whole day without Howard? That would be torture! He didn't have any other friends; nobody else would want to play with him. He'd be lonely and it would be the worst day ever.

"Can't I just go to Grandma's house tomorrow?" he begged his parents on Thursday evening. "She takes good care of me."

"Well…I guess there isn't anything wrong with that," his father pondered.

"I'm not mooching off my mother more than I already have!" his mother snapped at her husband. She took a deep breath, looking back down at her son with kind eyes. "Sweetie, Grandma babysat you a lot when you were little and we were starting grownup school. It isn't right to keep going to her, especially when we don't really need it."

"Yes we do!" Randy exclaimed. "You're still in school!"

"And that's why you go to daycare now when you're not in school." His mother's tone was stricter now. "Randy, you're going to be in first grade in two weeks; first grade is for big kids, and you're not acting like a big kid right now. This is the time to prepare for things like this. You may not have Howard in all your classes, and there may be days when he's absent."

"Yeah, and you can still have fun without him. It's not like he's the only kid who's ever there," his father said.

"He may as well be," Randy sighed. He looked down on the floor. "Nobody wants to be my friend…"

His parents' eyes widened when he said that. They looked at each other, looking worried and confused. They must have realized he never talked about any of other kids at daycare; whenever they ask him how his day was, he would only tell them about the things he and Howard did together, because none of the other kids ever interacted with them.

"Well, maybe that's because you only play with Howard all the time," his mother said softly. "Tomorrow, you can ask someone else to play with you."

"But everyone else already has friends they always play with."

"Well, the more the merrier," his father said, smiling. "Just give it a shot, Rand. Who knows; by the end of the day, you may even have a brand new friend. Just trust us on this, okay?"

Randy didn't believe any of those words, but he nodded. "Okay."

~XXX~

"Hey," Randy said, going for a last ditch effort to get out of this, "maybe you can take me to your school! I can be super ready for first grade!"

Both of his parents chuckled. "Rand, grad school is a whole different world from grade school," his father said.

Randy didn't understand what that meant, but he knew it essentially meant no. He stared out the window for the rest of the car ride, pouting.

After a few minutes, Randy was dropped off in front of Ms. Marci's Daycare. His mother loudly honked the horn and both of his parents called to him "Have fun today!" as they drove off. Randy sighed heavily; there was no turning back now.

Ms. Marci walked up to him, smiling brightly at him. "Hello there, Randy. Your mommy and daddy already called me and told me about what's happening. I know today will be tough without Howard here, so if you need anything at all, just come talk to me. Okay?"

Randy sighed. "Yes, Miss Marci." He walked away from her solemnly towards the playground.

He looked around at all the equipment. Bucky, Stevens, and Flute Girl were playing in the sandbox. Bash was chasing Doug with a stick. Randy was immediately disheartened; it looked like all the kids here today already had a playmate.

But then he looked at the swing set and saw there was one more kid; Julian. He was swinging really high up, the sleeves and tails of his oversized coat looking like small wings. His hat, which was nearly as big as him, somehow managed to stay on the whole time.

Julian had three friends that he always played with, but they hadn't been at daycare in the last few days; they were probably on vacation or something. Randy thought, maybe Julian was lonely today too. Maybe he would want to play with him! Randy had always thought of Julian as weird and generally kept his distance from him, but today, he was desperate for companionship. And if it had to be from the boy who liked creepy things, then so be it.

He rushed to the swings and stopped at a spot close to the boy. "Hi, Julian," he said with a little hesitation.

It took a second for Julian to respond. He stopped his swinging, planting his feet in the dirt. He turned to Randy and gave him a big toothy smile. "Hello, Randall! Did you see how high I was?"

Randy cringed a little; he didn't like being called Randall. He knew it was technically his real name, but it sounded too fancy to him. "Yeah, I did."

"I was flying! Just like a bat!"

"Well…I guess you were."

"I really was!" Julian jumped off the swing and flapped his arms. "When I grow up, I want to be a vampire! That way, I can be a bat whenever I want!"

Randy squinted. "Vampires aren't real. You can't be a vampire."

"Yes, I can!" Julian's mood didn't seem to be dampened at all by those words. "Mama and Papa say I can be anything I want to be, and I want to be a vampire! But I also want to be a magician. I like magic just as much as I like bats"

"Maybe you can be a magician vampire," Randy suggested.

Julian's eyes lit up and he smiled even wider. "Yes! Yes, I can!"

Randy couldn't help but grin; the excitement was contagious. "And if you can be a magician vampire, then I can be the Ninja!"

"Yes, you can!" Julian jumped excitedly. "And I can help you with my magic and vampire powers!"

"Okay!"

For the rest of playtime, the two boys pretended to be the Ninja and his magician vampire sidekick, turning scary monsters back into high schoolers. Randy found himself enjoying it immensely; it was a lot more fun than playing Ninja games with Howard, in which they'd just beat each other up. Playing pretend with Julian got his imagination turning, and for the first time, he truly felt like he was the Ninja.

After a while, it was snack time. Julian brought peanut butter cookies and shared them with Randy. In return, Randy shared the grapes his mother had packed for him. It was the first time he had truly shared a snack; before now, "sharing" meant letting Howard have all of the food.

After snack, the boys played for a little while longer. Soon enough, however, Ms. Marci came and told Randy that his parents were here. Randy was disappointed; he wanted to keep playing with his magician vampire.

Right before Randy left, he was nearly knocked to the ground as Julian gave him a big hug. It was a tight embrace, and Julian nuzzled his face against Randy's. Randy was frozen for a moment; his face felt warm and his heart started racing. Howard had hugged him in the past, but not nearly as intimately. To be hugged like this, especially by someone that he had such a good time with, made him feel good inside.

"Let's play again next time, okay?" Julian asked as he pulled away.

Randy nodded. "Okay." He waved to him as Ms. Marci took him by the hand and led him to his parents' car.

On the whole ride home, Randy told his parents all about the fun he had with Julian, grinning the whole time. His parents looked very happy when they saw that he had a good day, and Randy was happy too. It had been the best day ever.

~XXX~

When Randy arrived at daycare on Monday, the first thing he did was head straight for the swing set to meet Julian. He had been excited all weekend long to come back and play pretend again. He thought about other things he and Julian could pretend to be, and it would be best.

Julian got off his swing and scurried towards him, a big smile on his face. Randy was happy to see him, and was even more happy to get another hug. He found himself feeling things he never felt around Howard or anyone else. He didn't know how to describe it, but he knew that he liked it, and he liked being around Julian.

The two were ready to begin their adventure, and started to heard towards their first "monster," only to find someone blocking their path.

It was Howard. His arms were crossed and he was scowling.

"Hi, Howard!" Randy exclaimed, even more excited now; he didn't even register the negative expression on his face. It was the first time he had seen him since he departed. Now he got to play with two friends! "Wanna play with us?"

Howard raised a brow. "Us? Who's us?"

Randy cocked his head, slightly confused. "Me and Julian."

"No," Howard snapped, grabbing Randy's wrist and starting to pull him away. Despite his tiny hands, he had a tight grip. "C'mon, Cunningham."

Randy tried to hold his ground. He looked at Julian, who seemed to be just as confused as him, and then back at Howard. "But what about Julian? He's fun to play with!"

"I don't care, I don't want you shoobing around with this creep."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so. Now, move!"

Randy was still confused as he got dragged away. He looked back at Julian, and he looked sad. Randy didn't like seeing that; he wanted to go back to him and play with him. He couldn't understand why Howard wouldn't let that happen.

Once Howard had dragged him to the seesaw, he forced his hand out of his grip. "What was that? I can't just leave him; he's my friend!"

Howard scoffed. "Julian? Your friend? Since when?"

"Since Friday."

"Cunningham, you two were just being each other's backup friends. That doesn't mean he wants to be your real friend, I know deep down you don't really want to be his either. You got me and Julian has those other creeps."

"But…But…"

"Cunningham, turn around."

Randy turned and saw.

One of Julian's friends, Theresa, was there. The two were sitting next to each other on the swings, talking excitedly to each other with smiles on their faces.

"See, Cunningham?" Howard said triumphantly. "He's not your friend; he just wanted someone to shoob around with until his weirdo friends came back. And even if he really wanted to be your friend, do you really think he'd be able to put up with your cheese? I'm your friend. I'm the only one who can put up with you. I'm the one you're always going to stick by. Am I right?"

Randy stayed silent for a moment before answering, "Yeah, you're right."

The day went on like any other, with Randy and Howard playing their usual games and Howard eating both of their snacks. Randy had thought he would have been happy to get back into the routine, but he couldn't shake the sadness off. Maybe it will be gone tomorrow, he hoped.

Time flew by and soon enough, it was time to go home. Randy found himself eager to leave, and he wasn't quite sure why. He felt a wave of relief when he was on the road with his parents, away from both Howard and Julian.

"How was it today, Rand?" his father asked. "Did you and Julian play again?"

Randy shook his head. "No. Howard says I can't anymore."

"Wait," his mother said, sounding concerned. "What do you mean? Why can't you?"

Randy shrugged. "Howard just said so."

"And you're going to listen to him?"

"Yeah, I have to. He's my best friend. It doesn't matter, Julian has other friends."

His parents remained silent, glancing at each other worriedly.

Randy stared out the window for the rest of the car ride. He needed to listen to Howard and do what he said; there was no point in trying to befriend people who wanted nothing to do with him. He wished he could play with Julian again, but he should have known from the start that he wouldn't have wanted to be his friend.

It was fun to pretend, though.