Chapter 12

Lex awoke from her deep slumber at the sound of a knock. She yawned, sitting up and eyeing the clock that read 9:30 p.m. 'Who's at my door at this hour?' She thought tiredly, walking to the door and opening the door to see an empty, pitch black hallway. Slightly freaked out and curious, she closed the door again and looked around the room. The knock came again, Lex tracing it to have come from the window. 'The window?' She warily tiptoed towards the window, watching to make sure nothing was going to jump out at her. Once she was in front of the window, Lex pushed it open and peeked outside. With the help of the street lamps, Lex saw no one outside whatsoever. 'I'm just tired and my brain is imagining things.' Suddenly, a figure hung upside down outside her window, making Lex quietly yelp and stumble backwards.

"Hey Lex!"

"Randy?" Lex looked up in shock, seeing Randy in his ninja suit with a smile on his face as he hung from the roof above her window by his scarf.

"What are you doing here?! It's nine thirty!" Lex whispered yelled, offering Randy a tiny grin.

"I wanted to see you." Lex blushed, but a thought occurred to her and caused her to frown almost immediately.

"Why? You've all been acting like shloobs and pretending that I don't exist." Lex stated bluntly, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Look, there was reason behind that–"

"Reason? What reason would make you all avoid me like the plague?" Randy flinched at her harsh, yet silent tone.

"I…want to explain it to you. You, of all people, deserve an explanation."

"Yeah, I do."

"Lex…it's not because of you or anything you did. It hurts me every time I see you in pain just because I know I can't do anything about it. I wanted to be there for you, but I couldn't. I…I love you, Lex. I would've come to you sooner just because of that if something wasn't preventing me doing so." Lex blushed, her mouth agape, at Randy's heartfelt words.

"…really?" She mumbled softly in a voice that was almost impossible to hear.

"Really. Please, let me explain everything." Lex smiled, nodding in response.

"Thanks. Ready to go?"

"Whoa, I never agreed to going anywhere! I'm in my pajamas!" Lex blushed furiously in embarrassment at the thought of going outside her own home in her pajamas.

"C'mon, almost everyone's asleep! No one's gonna see your pajamas."

"You better not be lying Randy."

"Why would I lie to you?" Randy twisted around so he was facing her right side up and held out a hand, his smile never wavering. Lex grasped his hand and Randy pulled her out of the room, causing her to shriek and close her eyes. Randy chuckled as he landed on the roof and rearranged them both so that his hand was around her waist and her arms were wrapped around his neck. Randy blushed lightly, the street lamps showing over the oversized band T-shirt that fell just below her knees, showing off the very end of her shorts, and he turned away swiftly. Throwing his scarf to wrap around the nearest street lamp, Randy set off to a destination Lex could only guess. They practically flew through the night, landing on the occasional building before setting off again. Lex tightened her grip slightly as she thought about where they were going and what Randy's reasoning for his, Nomi, and Howard's avoidance of her had been. Lex squeaked when Randy took a sudden turn, swinging around on his scarf as Lex tightened her grip even farther. Randy choked slightly, concentrating on the place they were headed. Eventually, they were there and Randy landed on the ground.

"We're here. You can open your eyes now…and loosen your grip, please." He struggled, coughing as he tried to pry away Lex's arms.

"Oh! Sorry…" Lex released Randy, who took a dramatic gulp of air.

"Air! Finally!"

"Hey, my grip is not that tight!"

"I think I'm gonna faint from lack of oxygen for that long…!" Randy chuckled as Lex playfully punched his arm, turning to pay attention to their destination.

"Wow…this is awesome sauce!" Lex beamed from ear to ear. They were standing on the dock of Lake LaRusso, the moon shining and reflective off the surface of the lake as stars twinkled in an out of sight with the movement of the water.

"I thought you'd like it. You do like stargazing, after all." Lex hurriedly shuffled to the end of the dock, sitting down with her legs dangling over the edge. Randy followed suit, sitting beside her with a smile at the child like wonder in her eyes that he'd grown to love.

"How do you always know where to go?" Lex asked with a half smirk, half smile.

"I'm just that Bruce." "I'm much more Bruce than you are."

"You are not!"

"Yes I am!"

"Hey, who's the Ninja here?"

"Both of us, technically."

"…touché, but who's THE Ninja?"

"You…"

"Exactly why I'm better."

"At least I'm the sole personification of awesome sauce."

"That's not even a thing!"

"It should be!" They both laughed, enjoying the playful air between them.

"So…can I get an explanation now?" Lex asked seriously, staring at the water with a small frown.

"Yeah. The reason we were avoiding you was because of the Tengu."

"Avian? Why are you ignoring be because of Avian?"

"He's…how do I put it…? Overly protective…maybe even possessive, in my opinion."

"Yeah, at home, but even that's because I take care of him and treat him with the love my mom treated me with. You didn't have to reject me at school, too."

"Remember when Nomi said the powers Tengu possess?"

"Yeah…"

"Do you remember that teleportation was one of them?" (Real fact, look it up if you don't believe me)

"…oh yeah. Still…he's still just a baby to me. He couldn't hurt anyone, especially the people I care about."

"He almost set us on fire!"

"I tend to think that if he'd truly wanted that fire to hit you or Howard, it would've."

"Lex, this is more dangerous than you realize! He's growing bigger by the day and has some serious hate towards me! He's getting bolder with where he 'hides' and is getting more efficient with his abilities! He's the very definition of danger!"

"You don't know Avian. He's a sweet little bird that hasn't harmed anyone!"

"Look Lex, I don't care if he gets to me, but he could hurt you and if he did, I'd…"

"You'd what?"

"…I don't know what I'd do." Lex's once steel cold stare softened and she cupped Randy's face in her hands, making him look at her.

"Randy, that's incredibly sweet but you need to understand that Avian would never try to injure me in any way, shape, or form. There's nothing to worry about."

"But–"

"Randy Cunningham, you and I both know that if you starting to argue about it, it would be pointless. He won't hurt me, I can assure you that much. What he's capable of doing, I know. Do I think he will do anything major? Not in the slightest."

"Lex–"

"Can't you just trust me?" Randy stared into Lex's violet irises with his own blue ones, debating on his answer.

"I…I trust you."

"Thank you, Randy." Lex kissed his cheek, smiling at his hot pink blush.

"I'm still going to be here to protect you, though. You can't stop me from doing that."

"I know I can't." Lex pulled up Randy's mask up so that she could see his face and kissed him gently, pulling away with a smile, "That's why I love you." She leaned her head on his shoulder, Randy instinctively wrapping an arm around her and pulling her closer. They sat in comfortable silence, watching the gorgeous night sky until Randy took Lex home. She hugged him goodbye at her window and smiled warmly.

"See you tomorrow?" Lex called just as Randy had turned to leave.

"Definitely." Randy said, turning around to give her a confident grin before taking off.