A/N: And so we're now back to the once-a-weekend deal. And maybe more if I can manage it. ^_^ Hope all you lovely readers had a great Christmas and New Years.

So... the long awaited time-skip. Only about... 10 chapters late, I think. Haha. I'm going to start speeding up the passage of time a little because now that we've gotten to the first kiss, there's not quite as much need to dwell on all the little things. And honestly, I don't want to be writing this fic forever, much as I enjoy it. :)

And without further ado, hope you enjoy.

A couple of weeks had passed by and, for the most part, nothing much had changed in both monsters' lives. Randy was still living and breathing his Scaring studies thanks to Mike, as well as attending the odd JOX party, while Johnny still had the duties of performing his best in all classes, helping his fraternity brothers do the same and hosting his own parties which, to his disappointment, still had a lack of a certain reptilian freshman. But for all the non-changes in their lives the biggest was their relationship, although both still wondered if they could call it that, which had remained the same; secret.

But that no longer mattered. The thought of that one morning on the top of the clock tower was all it took to melt either monster's worries away. They hadn't shared a kiss since then, but they still had their club meetings to talk, and talk they did. They learned more and more about each other as time progressed, and for now that was all they needed.

For Randy, it was now finally time to take the first step to proving himself. The day of the mid-terms had arrived and, for all the worrying he had done before, he felt strangely confident as he strode up the steps to the School of Scaring. He was happy in a way and he was sure nothing could bring him down.

"I can't believe the nerve on that guy!" Mike spoke up, his bitter tone snapping Randy out of his small sense of euphoria. "He actually had the gall to wait for us outside the dorms and for what?"

"To wish me luck?" Randy offered.

"Exactly! To… Wait, what?"

Randy chuckled. "Mike, Johnny wasn't waiting for us, he was waiting for me. To wish me luck on the mid-terms.

"Oh. Oh yeah. But still! Did you see the way he looked at me?!"

A small sigh escaped the reptilian monster. "Mike, you're imagining things. There was no look. He doesn't have that much of a problem with you, it's Sullivan who does."

"I'm imagining things?" Mike said incredulously. "I'm imagining things? Randy, I dunno in what way that guy's brainwashed you but he's out to get me I'm telling you!"

Randy rolled his eyes. Sure, he knew Johnny didn't exactly respect Mike, but to say he was out to get him was a bit of a stretch. But Randy knew there'd be no arguing with his roommate, so he decided to brush it off instead. "Look, just don't worry about it. Keep your eye on the goal. We're here to take the exam and we're gonna pass it, alright?"

Mike sighed before perking right back up again. "You're right, you're absolutely right! We're both gonna show 'em! We'll ace the mid-terms and then we'll see who's laughing!"

"Now you're talking!"

The two entered the building and their smiles immediately dropped at what they saw. Right outside the entrance to the classroom was Sulley along with the other RORs, Johnny at the forefront patting the freshman's shoulder with an earnest wish of good luck. Mike was perturbed by this for the obvious reason of his dislike for the fraternity, but Randy also felt unsettled by the scene. He felt a pang of… jealousy?

'No, can't be. What do I have to be jealous about?' Randy thought to himself. It was a simple wish of good luck between fraternity brothers. He was letting his feelings towards Sulley cloud his judgement. In fact, just the previous day Johnny had been complaining about Sulley's attitude and had even said he'd wished he picked someone else during Rush Week.

The line of thought put Randy at ease, but Mike was almost bristling. The short green monster made to charge up to them but Randy held a hand out in front of him.

"Leave it Mike, remember what I said. We're here to take the exam, nothing else. It's not worth risking getting in trouble."

"Fine," he muttered, still looking none too happy. He stormed off into the classroom without giving the RORs, or even Randy, a second glance.

Randy simply sighed and followed him, although he did spare a look at Johnny as he passed to find a small, discrete smile directed his way. Randy offered a small thumbs-up before making his way in.

The theatre was already crowded with monsters and Randy had a hard job spotting his roommate, although his eyesight may not have helped him in that regard. Once he'd spotted Mike seated in the front row he made his way down and took a seat next to him.

"OK, ready to go over our notes one last time before we start?" Mike asked.

"Sure," he shrugged. He wasn't sure how much help it would be since Mike had drummed every single detail of their books up their current point of study into his head, but he supposed it couldn't hurt.

He did offer himself a small smile, though. His confidence still hadn't been shaken.

"How do you think he'll perform?" Javier asked as he walked to class with Johnny and Chet.

Johnny shrugged. "I honestly don't know, Jav. He seemed sincere when he said he'd studied harder, so I'm hopeful. Just not… too hopeful."

"And if he fails?"

"If he fails, then he's out, it's as simple as that."

"Oh! But what if he passes… but doesn't do very well?" Chet chimed in.

Johnny sighed. "Then I guess I can't kick him out. I won't be happy, but…" He trailed off, torn between two choices. He could perhaps still kick Sulley out of the fraternity, but on the other hand he could finally give the freshman an ultimatum. Pass the finals with top marks, or then face being booted out of ROR. "I'll lay down the law," he said resolutely. "He'll learn what it takes to be a ROR, or he's out."

"Are you sure it would be a good idea to allow him to stay if he doesn't perform well in this exam?" Javier asked, not looking too impressed with this decision.

"No, but the Scare Games are coming up soon and I really don't like my chances of finding a replacement before then," he sighed.

"Then would it not be an empty threat?"

"Javier, please, just drop it."

Javier's antennae twitched with irritation. He was more than sure they could find a suitable replacement for Sulley and honestly he wanted it done as soon as possible. But he'd agreed with himself to abide by Johnny's decision. "Fine."

'Two hours,' Johnny thought to himself. 'Two hours and we'll know if we have a problem…'

Momentarily the thought of Randy's own exam was forgotten, concern over the future of his fraternity taking priority in Johnny's mind. And he wasn't feeling nearly as confident.

The exam didn't officially start until about an hour after their arrival meaning Randy and Mike were able to briefly go over almost all of their course material again beforehand. If he hadn't been confident before, Randy certainly was now.

"Good morning class, it seems that time of year is upon us," Professor Knight called out. "The winter mid-terms. I trust you've all aptly prepared yourselves, for a bad grade here will affect your overall score at the end of the semester."

"Piece of cake…" Sulley could be heard muttering.

Randy and Mike both exchanged a glance and rolled their eyes, flashing a small smile. They both knew how badly Sulley seemed to be performing in class, so his confidence had slowly become less annoying and more amusing.

"You have one hour in this exam," Knight continued, "which I hope you should find to be more than enough time. No conferring and no leaving your seats until the allotted time is up. And… you may begin."

Randy, along with every other monster, flipped over the sheet on which the questions were printed.

'OK, question one,' he read mentally. 'Child Toxicity may cause major damage to various organs which can lead to the lethality of the entire body. Name this syndrome… Heh, wow, this is gonna be easy.'

He couldn't believe it. A whole hour for just six multiple choice questions was almost laughable. It was all too easy. Six separate letters circled in the span of ten minutes. Although he wasn't quite sure why he felt he needed to, Randy double-checked his answers and was satisfied they were all correct.

'This was what the fuss was about?' he inwardly chuckled.

He braved a quick glance around the room. Mike smiled at him confidently, having finished his own. A few other monsters seemed to have also finished, while others were busy circling their last couple of answers. One monster in particular, however, seemed to be struggling, his big blue-furred brow furrowing as he seemed to be muttering to himself. Randy had to snap his head away and clamp his hands to his mouth to stifle a giggle. He breathed a small sigh of relief when he noticed this had gone undetected by the professor who was watching keenly from the front. In fact, Knight's gaze seemed to be falling on Sulley, too, and he didn't look impressed.

Sitting in silence, bored, Randy awaited the end of the exam, not daring to look around again. The time seemed to pass slowly and he quickly became uncomfortable in his seat, itching to just stand up and leave. It wasn't until the hour was over that he braved a quick fidget to get slightly more comfortable.

"Pencils down everyone," the professor called out.

Again, Randy had to stop himself laughing as only one pencil dropping could be heard. He could hazard a good guess as to exactly who that pencil belonged to.

"Please pass all papers to the end of the row so I can collect them."

The professor went around and collected the papers as they were passed to the ends of the rows and took them back to the main desk set up at the front of the room.

"You may talk amongst yourselves," he said as he set about marking the papers.

"Psst, how'd it go?" Mike said from Randy's side.

"It was surprisingly easy," Randy replied with a smile. "I couldn't believe it."

"Well, it was only the mid-terms. What did you expect?"

"With the way you were making us study?"

"Yeah, yeah. Still, you get them all right?"

"Definitely," he said, his smile becoming more confident.

"Great! Hey, did you check out Sullivan?"

"Yeah, I had to stop myself laughing."

"I saw," Mike chuckled.

They continued their small talk until the professor called the room to silence again. He passed back the papers to the ends of the rows for them to be passed along, but decided to hand each paper individually to the front rows. Once he reached the two, Randy did become just slightly nervous.

"Excellent work, Michael," he said as he passed Mike his paper back, a large A+ proudly displayed on the top.

"Thanks, professor," he beamed.

"And a brilliant job from you, too, Randall," Knight said as he handed Randy his own paper back, the same grade adorning it.

"Thank you, professor," he said, his smile growing wide again.

"Told ya there was nothing to worry about," Mike whispered with what was presumably a wink.

Randy rolled his eyes. "OK, so I stressed out for nothing."

"You may leave one row at a time starting from the back," Knight called out.

Each row of students filed out one by one. Randy and Mike didn't utter another word, although they'd probably be talking freely once out of the room. However, when the front row began to leave Mike ran out ahead of Randy.

"M-Mike?!" Randy called out confused.

The short green monster either didn't hear or didn't pay attention, continuing his sprint, leaving Randy even more baffled. And then a realisation came upon him. He was most likely going to rub his grade in Sulley's face. And the other RORs if they were waiting for him. He pondered if he should race after him, but decided against it. No matter what he could say to try and convince Mike it wasn't a good idea, he probably wouldn't listen.

The scene that greeted him when he exited the building was truly a spectacle. Mike was walking off in one direction, a slightly smug swagger in his step, while Sulley made his way back to Frat Row seemingly without a care in the world. The other RORs, however, had been left behind at the top of the steps grumbling disapprovingly. His suspicion had been right; Sulley hadn't done well in the exam.

"At least he passed," Reggie grumbled.

"Yes, barely," Javier said bitterly.

"He's gonna have a lot to think about once I'm through talking to him," Johnny growled.

Randy seemed to go unnoticed as he stood at the entrance to the school. He wasn't sure if he should walk past them, go back inside, or simply wait and see if they moved off. Before he could come to a decision, whilst the others continued grumbling Johnny turned his head slightly, catching a glimpse of purple scales. Looking back at his frat members to be sure they weren't looking, he turned to fully face Randy with a questioning look. Randy held up his paper to show the senior his grade, to which he smiled and returned the freshman's earlier gesture of a thumbs-up.

"Talk later," he mouthed to the freshman, gesturing to the clock tower before holding up six fingers, finally turning back to his brothers to usher them along.

As the RORs began making their way back to the row, Randy quickly made his way back to the dorms, his heart skipping a beat. It would only be his second visit to the clock tower, and he secretly hoped for a repeat of what had happened last time.

"Hahaha! You should've seen the look on their faces Randy!"

"Mike, I keep telling you-"

"Oh c'mon, lighten up Randy, we did it! We've taken the first step towards proving to them how wrong they were."

"I know Mike, and that's great, but do you really think it's wise to keep antagonising them like that?"

"Why not? I told you how they treated me. I'm just giving them a taste of their own medicine!"

"Can't you just be the bigger monster here?"

"The bigger monster? What're you talking about? I'm just having a little fun."

"But Mike, I-"

"Alright, alright, I'll tone it down, okay?"

In all honesty, the constant interruptions were starting to irritate Randy, as much as Mike's behaviour towards the RORs. He'd finally caught up with Mike back at their dorm room and the green monster had done nothing but laugh at the RORs' expense. And he wasn't listening to a single word Randy said.

The reptilian monster sighed and made his way to the desk, dropping his supplies there and settling down in the seat. They had the afternoon off on account of the exam, and Randy wasn't sure if he wanted to stick around if Mike was going to continue behaving like this.

Thankfully, he seemed to be through with his fun as he settled at his own desk. "How about we get a head-start on the next chapter?" he asked.

"Um, we already did, didn't we?" Randy replied.

"Well, sure, we gave it a bit of a skim, but I'm saying we study it properly this time."

"Mike, it doesn't take two hours and a pop quiz to skim a chapter," Randy chuckled, relieved at the change in humour.

"Well, I suppose not, but we can always study it harder!"

"Actually, Mike, I was going to take another look at the camouflage book."

"Oh, sure, grab the book that lover boy gave you," he said sarcastically before breaking out into a chuckle.

Randy didn't find it quite so funny. In fact, he was slowly starting to realise Mike really didn't think to spare his feelings whenever making a quip about Johnny. It actually upset him, but he wasn't sure whether or not to mention it. He inwardly cursed at the fact that he never saw it being a problem, despite Mike's initial reassurance that it wouldn't.

It was a fact. Mike didn't like Johnny, and Johnny didn't think much of Mike. Randy considered the fact that it was just one of those things he'd have to learn to accept if, in fact, the finals didn't change things. And if he was honest with himself, Mike was every bit as worth it as Johnny. He didn't want to lose either one for the other.

So he kept quiet and allowed Mike his quips. He probably didn't mean it personally against Randy, it was just… one of those things.

"Well, it's helpful. I know I wouldn't be able to do what I can now if it weren't for your training, but the tips in here are really helping too."

"Sure, sure," Mike said, brushing it off before burying himself in a textbook.

Randy just rolled his eyes and opened his own book, reading from it. He hovered over the inside cover a moment, taking in the intricate insignia of ROR. His thoughts drifted to what that night would have in store. Perhaps he'd earned something special in way of congratulations.

His sly smile lasted him the entire time even as he read from the book. That niggling thought of another kiss wouldn't go away.

Having had the rest of the day's classes to dwell on the argument to come, Johnny wasn't in the best mood when he got back to the ROR house. He stormed in and searched around the house for any sign of blue and purple. The others, looking to appease their president, set about looking for Sulley too.

"Where is he?" Johnny growled after finally giving up his search. His patience was already wearing thin, and the current situation was doing no favours.

"He's not anywhere downstairs as far as I can tell," Chip said.

"Not in his room either," Reggie added.

"And he's not anywhere around the perimeter of the house," Javier said.

"Dammit, Sullivan, you're really pushing your luck…" Johnny grumbled to himself.

The horned monster stormed upstairs and entered his bedroom, slamming the door behind him, making the others wince.

"Boy, I've not seen the boss this mad in a while…" Chet commented.

"Give it a rest, Chet," Chip said as he made his way into the living area along with the others.

Meanwhile, up in his room, Johnny took a moment to calm down. It was probably best he didn't find Sulley in the mood he was in; this called for diplomacy. He wasn't entirely sure why he'd gotten quite so angry; perhaps it was Sulley's continued insistence that he was studying harder, which had been proven to be a lie.

Still, that could wait for later now. Johnny figured if the freshman was hiding his sorry hide then that was fine by him. He had somewhere better to be in an hour and he'd be damned if he let anyone stop him.

"You don't seem your normal self."

Johnny looked over to Randy who was sat beside him on the edge of the clock tower, just as they had done two weeks previous. It was true, they'd spent the entire time in silence besides a quick greeting at the entrance and Johnny only now realised how nervous he was making the freshman.

"I'm sorry, Randy, I've… just got a lot to deal with right now."

"Is it about Sullivan?"

Johnny sighed. "Yeah. You're not gonna go rubbing that in my face like Wazowski did, are you?"

Randy gasped. "Of course not. You know I'd never-"

"I know, I know…" he butted in. "I'm sorry, it's just everything seems to be working against me right now."

Silence fell upon them again and Randy squirmed slightly. He was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, especially since he didn't know what to do to make the senior feel better. Johnny took note of this and scooted closer to the reptilian monster, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him closer.

"Anyway, enough moping on my part. I never got to properly congratulate you. You did astoundingly well."

"I told you I would."

Johnny chuckled. "Yes you did. I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

Thankful that the air was finally beginning to clear between them, Randy felt comfortable enough to lean into Johnny, resting his head against the other's chest.

"I wish I could take your worries away," Randy suddenly said, a slight wistful edge to his tone as he closed his eyes, becoming more comfortable.

"Oh, don't worry about me," he replied. "Things'll work themselves out one way or another. Just you focus on your own studies. I want to see your name on the top of that list."

Randy's eyes snapped open and he looked up at the senior, a slight look of shock on his face. "Even above Sullivan's?"

Johnny snorted. "If he carries on the way he is he's not even going to pass."

Randy sighed. "What'll that mean for you?"

"An incredibly big headache," he chuckled, trying to make light of the situation.

"O-Oh…" Randy said, looking down.

"But like I said, don't worry about it. Things'll work out."

Johnny pulled Randy back in, the freshman in turn leaning his head back on the senior's chest. Johnny leant down and planted a kiss on the top of Randy's head. "I hope you know how special you are to me."

"I am?" he said without looking up, content in listening to Johnny's heartbeat and feeling the low vibrations of his voice as he spoke.

"Of course you are. I have no doubt if I didn't have you here to make me feel special, I'd have probably lost it by now."

Randy smiled. It wasn't exactly the second kiss he'd hoped for, but the words that accompanied it meant so much more. He silently pondered if it was too soon to use the big L word, because the moment almost felt perfect to say it.

'Perhaps another time,' he thought, tempting as it may have been.

The two stayed there for more time than both could recount. They didn't speak another word, simply comfortable in each other's embrace, their worries melting away as they always did. They watched the bustle of monsters below and were made even more aware of how lucky they were to be able have this kind of peace away from it all.

The time did eventually come when both monsters decided they needed to leave, mostly prompted by the fact that Randy realised he was comfortable enough to fall asleep in Johnny's arms. Not that Johnny would have minded.

They parted feeling just a little better than before, but still somewhat empty. They knew why, but it wasn't something they could do anything about. Johnny did sneak a quick peck on Randy's cheek before leaving, laughing as the freshman blushed when a group of monsters rounded a corner of the building towards them.

Randy made the trip back to the dorms almost feeling that same euphoric feeling he had that morning before the exam. He knew his relationship with Johnny wasn't official, it was still secret, but he was joyful for the moments they had. He was happy. He was content. Wasn't he?