Chapter Four

::

"Ah, Mr. Riter, I was hoping I'd catch you here!" Danny paused from where he had been chatting with Andrew over their lunch break, amused at the teacher in the doorway. "And Danny, I didn't expect to find you in here."

"Yeah, I was confused over this morning's lesson. Luckily, Mr. Riter, here, was able to help me," Danny smiled, collecting his things. "I have to meet up with my friends anyways." Heading for the door, and shooting a wicked grin over the teacher's shoulder to Andrew, he gave a wave. "Bye, Mrs. Petricoff, Mr. Riter." He could see the abandoned look in his mate's eyes.

Getting down the hallway, and already planning ways to make it up to Andrew later, he paused at the wisp of cold air that left his mouth. "Why, if it isn't out cute little halfa! Really, Danny dear, I feel like we haven't seen each other at all lately."

"Really? And here I was working so hard on avoiding you completely. I'll have to do better in the future." Stay calm, expand your senses, concentrate. "You know, I could be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure there's that truce in effect." It had been damn hard to convince all the ghosts to follow it, too. "No attacking the school or each other if possible, and all that." Seeing the wisp of a shadow out of the corner of his vision, he narrowed his eyes, which had become a glowing, toxic green. "What are you doing here, Spectra." It wasn't a question.

"Aw, can't I come and visit my favorite suicidal teenager? I mean, you need to talk to someone about all these feelings you're having, Danny dear. The fact your mate is forever stuck in his early twenties, and look at you! Still alive, still aging, still gaining more and more chances to lose him each and every day-"

The sound of a body slamming into the lockers was heard throughout the halls, Spectra only grinning at the glowing green hands that were pinning her in place. "If you have any form of a self preservation instinct, you will shut up."

"Angry I hit the nail on the head?" Both paused at hearing approaching voices, and the sound of a door opening. "Don't worry, dear, I'll be sure to talk to you all about this as soon as I can…" Danny grit his teeth as she vanished back into the shadows before he ducked into a side hallway himself, trying to calm his tangled thoughts.

"Danny?" Looking over at hearing Andrew's voice, he saw the older raise an eyebrow. "Is there a reason you're hiding in the corner of a hallway?"

"No?" Danny chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Just wanted to make sure Mrs. Petricoff didn't try and recruit you onto one of her crazy committees. Heh."

"It is times like these I remember how terrible a liar you can be, mon cher." After another shrug and nervous smile, Andrew rolled his eyes and seemed to let it go. Sighing, Danny began following after him. Even from his mate, he supposed, it was better to keep some things secret.

With how things were right now, and where they were heading… Humans and ghosts hadn't really been meant to mix, after all. Danny was proof of that.

::

"So, am I a genius, or am I a genius?" Randy just barely dodged the knife that had been thrown at him, laugh escaping as it clattered to the floor. "Aw, come on! It's only four weeks, and you can't tell me you aren't having fun over there."

"As soon as this is all over, I'm sacrificing you to our once Lord." Seeing the other open his mouth, Andrew narrowed his eyes with a growl. "Sacrifice."

"Alright, hun, tone it back there," Danny chuckled, adjusting his position to better lean against Andrew's shoulder, legs propped up on the rest of the couch as he worked on his homework. "You have to admit, this is a plan of his that didn't go to shit straight away. For him, that's improvement."

"Slight improvement," Andrew reluctantly agreed, flipping to another page he was grading. "No, what… No, you can't just make words up. This isn't Creative Writing, it's English! There are set words and rules- Are you Dr. Suess? No? Then don't fucking make up words!" Danny slowly looked up from his own work, sharing a worried look with Randy.

"Andy, love, do we need to be worrying about you?" Grading papers was one thing, but this was… This was interesting. Granted Andrew's obsession was writing, so he supposed English was a subset of that. Grading papers had to be hell for him right now.

"Your school is full of idiots, mon cher. This- No. This is terrible." They could hear the pen that was marking through answers. "This was a lesson for elementary students. How?" Danny rolled his eyes, Randy snorting a few feet away as Danny spoke up again.

"This is going to be such a fun four weeks for you, mon ange. Let me know how you deal under all that stress before cracking." Because generally, Andrew didn't act his age unless he was stressed, or it was early in the morning. Danny had to admit, though, it was fun to watch him actually act his age.

"This… This is just words thrown onto paper. That's all this is- These aren't even words. It's bullshit." Danny half wondered if he should be recording moments like these. They were rather rare, after all.

"I'm not sure if offering to make him coffee would make this worse, or better," Randy hummed, finally giving a nod. "I'll make tea."

"Um, Randy? If you're from France, why are you British?"

"Oh my god, Danny," Randy looked so offended, turning to Danny with a shake of his head, "You can't just ask someone why they're British!" Danny let out a laugh as Randy headed to the kitchen, Andrew still muttering under his breath and marking through things.

"Yes, yes, perfect. There is hope." Had to have been one of the nerds then - or maybe Sam or Valerie. Those two were good in English. "And of course yours," Andrew hummed, small smile on his face. "You've improved since you first showed me your work."

"What can I say, I have a good tutor," Danny shrugged, smile on his own face. It was a few minutes of silence before he heard the pen marking through things again, this time rather viciously.

"No, no- No! Why would you answer like that? What student actually uses text speak in their homework? Is this a joke? This is a joke- No, you know what? This is English, not text speak. Fail!" Danny was doing his best to not laugh, although he had a feeling a few giggles slipped out.

"You're really getting into this, aren't you?" Andrew's response was a vague wave of his hand, Danny rolling his eyes and blinking at the tea cups that were in front of them. "Yes. Good Randy."

"I am indeed the besterest- The pen being thrown at me is unnecessary, thank you." Taking his own cup and retreating to the corner, Randy went back to reading the Advanced Mathematics book he had been using earlier. Danny wasn't sure if he was being serious, or not. "So, Andy, how's teaching a bunch of teenagers?"

"Better than working for greedy, overstuffed pigs," Andrew answered, twirling his pen absently while looking through the next few pages. "Although I sorely wish I could put a few of them in a dungeon- No. This… I… Why." A minute's pause, the man running a hand through his hair before giving a quiet sigh. "No."

"This is the best day ever and I cannot be convinced otherwise- No, scratch that. Second best day." At Randy's look, he gave a shrug. "Best day was when he told me he loved me."

"That… That is disgustingly cute. And very sappy."

"I am the second best at sap," Danny nodded, finishing up his work and closing the books, tossing them onto the table with his glasses before rolling over to make himself comfortable on Andrew's lap, Randy giving a snort of laughter.

"I am 87% certain you were a cat in a past life."

"Possibly," Danny agreed, grinning as Andrew gave a huff and used him as an impromptu table. Reaching over and taking a sip of tea, he set the cup back on the table and settled down. Dealing with Spectra, even with a few minutes at a time, was exhausting.

The peaceful silence of the library lasted for near fifteen minutes, Danny almost asleep before he heard his mate give a loud, pained sigh.

"You fucked up, Baxter."

This time, both Danny and Randy ended up in the floor from laughter.