This took longer than it should have to post. Not because it took longer than I thought it would to write it, but because I wasn't sure I liked it. Got someone on a discord server to give it a look, they said it was good, and now I'm posting it after some basic editing. Hope you all enjoy it and please remember to follow, fav, and REVIEW!

Randy showed up early to the second meeting of his support group. He was supposed to be hanging out at the Game Hole with Howard until the start of the meeting, but after beating his friend for the sixth game in a row he had given Randy a humph and told him to go surprise his boyfriend by meeting him early. The orange-haired boy had kept his voice down so no one else heard his snarky comment so luckily Randy didn't have to worry about the comment making its way to Teresa and blowing his chances there, but it had still prompted a whining 'I told you I don't have a boyfriend!' from him all the same. Again, kept mostly quiet and there was the chance that the moping Howard hadn't heard him as he trudged away, but the denial had still been given.

With his plans cut short Randy decided to head to the meeting early to take advantage of the free drinks and snacks provided by the mystical interdimensional room, figuring if he was alone for a few minutes he might even be able to sneak a few into his jacket to bring home without feeling self-conscious about it. That plan however pretty much died out as soon as he stepped into the meeting room to see Jake already there, a giant meat lover's pizza laying half-eaten in front of him. "That has got to be the biggest personal pizza ever," he joked, plopping down on the chair across from the dragon, "Did the room make that? I could go for pizza."

Jake snorted, already picking up another slice, "Dragons eat more than most creatures, our biology is weird and our fire breath is biologically fueled by default." He tore off a large bite of his current slice of pizza, "If you go behind the snack bar there's a menu of stuff, just tap what you want and it'll show up on the bar."

Popping up the purple haired boy quickly made his way over to the snack bar, grabbing a soda off it while he looked for the menu. "Why would they put the menu behind the bar anyway? People eating would be in front of it." Finding the elusive list of delicacies and delicious entries Randy quickly tapped on the words 'Pepperoni Pizza' and 'Double Slice'.

The green hair lined boy shrugged, swallowing the last bite of his current slice of pizza before answering, "Keeps it neater or something I guess, that or its about how waiters will hold the menus back there until someone asks for them." He picked up another triangle of his dish, "Why are you here so early anyways?"

"Why are you?"

"I'm not gonna finish the bit. Just answer the question man."

Randy pouted, picking up his newly materialized food and making his way back over to the sitting area as he answered, "Day plans got cut short after I pwned Howard in like six games back to back, figured I'd come here for the free food. Now, you?"

"My little sister Haley brought back an A on her last test and just mastered a spell that I didn't even begin to learn till I was a year older than her and took almost twice as long to get down," he siged. "I had to get out of there before her bragging and all the praise getting heaped on her could make me start spewing smoke in front of my dad."

Filing away the bit about Jake's sister away for later Randy focused on the last bit of the other teen's statement. "You make it sound like your dad doesn't like you showing your dragon side or something."

Jake shook his head, "It's not that, it's that he doesn't even know that I am one."

The other teen stared at the dragon in shock, "I thought you being a dragon was by birth or something? A family thing?"

Jake sighed, "It is, from my mom's side. Long story short some of the laws of magical creatures go by Harry Potter rules and my mom has a condition that means accessing the aspects of being a dragon skipped her. She could have told my dad when they got married but didn't see a point to and was scared to admit she wasn't actually human, then me and Haley were born, and when I finally unlocked my dragon powers it had been like fifteen years since they got together and that fear just got worse." He cracked his neck and finished the last of his pizza, "It's my mom's secret first and foremost when it comes to dad at this point."

"I have several questions," Randy said lowly, "but I mostly get the situation now… kinda…"

"Don't worry about it, its not even a big deal in my life since I have to hide it from most people anyways."

Randy fell back into his chair, his pizza forgotten, "Can't really say I relate," he admitted, "my parents are never really around and I basically grew up with a rotating cast of nannies that I never bothered to really talk to because I knew they were gonna be gone in a year tops, and Howard who I told everything because nine times out of ten we got into everything together anyways." He ran a hand through his hair, his eyes distant, "I think that's one of the reasons things are so weird between us now. We never really had secrets from each other before, we knew everything about each other and now we just… don't and it feels so weird."

Jake cringed at the description of Randy's relationship with his friend. Even before he got his powers he had never been that close to Trixie and Spud, and if he was being honest he wasn't sure he would ever want to. It was one thing to be close to someone, to stand side by side with them and doing things together, but the way Randy said it it sounded… well weird. It was one thing not to keep secrets from someone, but it was another to be so attached to a person that there are simply never any to begin with.

"I saw that," Randy cut in, causing Jake's head to snap up with a wide-eyed, embarrassed look on his face, "I'm guessing you're gonna bring up my relationship with Howard when we go over our problems today?"

Jake shrugged, relaxing now that the initial shock of getting caught was fading, "We were going to already dawg, it's like the only thing we know about why you got sent here."

The taller teen groaned, "Damn it, can't we just talk about Adrien being in denial the whole meeting? I don't want to get my best friendship picked at!"

The dragon quirked a brow at the ninja, "What, you actually want to talk about blondie being in denial and his partner gaslighting and gatekeeping the hell outa him?" He asked sarcastically, "Be my guest man but I don't wanna touch that kinda stuff just yet. Your buddy thinking your batting for the other team or Danny figuring out if he's a protective older brother or a wanna-be doting father sounds way more stomachable."

Randy stared at Jake with a challenging look, "If you try and make my relationship issues the main topic I swear to the Tengu that I will push for the entire meeting to be about your murder cult ninja girlfriend."

Jake's eyes bugged out at the sudden escalation and threat, "Dude what the hell? Why are you being so defensive all of a sudden?!"

The ninja deflated, his challenge giving way to embarrassment and shame at his action. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, "it's just… Howard is… has always been pretty much the only person in my life who ever really stood by me. My parents are no shows most of the time, his family barely even remembers I exist most of the time– hell his sister Heidi doesn't even remember my freaking name despite knowing me for years– and I never really had luck keeping friends." His eyes began to water, "He's all I ever really had man, and being the Ninja is Bruce and all but it's making me lose him and I can't- I can't lose him man. I can't give up the Ninja, I can't disrespect that legacy or throw my responsibilities in the damn dirt, but I-" his voice choked and he fell silent.

Jake looked away from the crying teen, his gaze growing distant. "I know the feeling," he revealed. "When I was fourteen I sent a pastry bomb to the World Dragon Council, the overseers of the magical world in my dimension and pretty much my ultimate bosses," he revealed hollowly. "I did it even though I knew there was the chance of seriously hurting one of them, and the thing did get land one counselor in the hospital, but I didn't care." He swallowed harshly before continuing, "I did it because I wanted to be suspended from my position as the American Dragon and have a week off. It meant dumping my responsibilities on my little sister so while I went out and enjoyed a vacation she ended up having a breakdown and losing her perfect academic record. I watched it happen and I didn't feel bad about it, I was just happy to not have to worry about being a guardian for a few days."

Randy didn't look up, "Why'd you do it?"

"I saw my middle school yearbook," he laughed bitterly, "my picture wasn't in it. My name was there, but I wasn't in a single damn picture. Didn't even have a picture day photo. Three years, eight major school events, and not a damn picture to be found. I realized I had missed out on pretty much everything, and that my friends had so many memories of so many fun things that I couldn't relate to. I thought I was losing them and had lost those entire years." He sighed heavily, leaning forward on his knees, "That suspension I got myself let me have five of the last seven days of middle school free. I went to some end-of-the-year parties, aced an entry test for a semi-private high school, and caught up on sleep that I'd been behind on for over a year… It was amazing, and I loved every second of it, it saved my relationships with my friends and my non-magical social life, but it wasn't fucking worth it."

Jake's fists clenched in anger and his voice took on a growling tone, "One of my enemies came after me to use my Dragon Chi in a dangerous ritual, not knowing part of my suspension meant I didn't have it. If I'd had my Chi I'd have been able to fight her off and everything would have been fine. Instead, she took me hostage and I needed my sister, her teacher, and my grandfather to bail me out. My sister was temporarily mutilated and could have easily been killed if she wasn't so lucky. Her teacher needed intensive medical care after saving me. And in the end, the damn ritual was a success and the greatest threat to my world was brought back to life." His fists unclenched, his entire posture showcasing exhaustion and self-loathing, "All because I was sick of my responsibilities."

"So you know why I can't just give up my duties," Randy whispered, "Not even for Howard. I won't do what Mac Antfee did. I won't become like him."

"I don't know who that is." Jake deadpanned, "but for the record after my suspension was lifted early and we dealt with Cheng, my grampa cut my training hours by almost half and told me he understood why I did it." His lips twitched, "My grandfather is on the damn Council, and is considered the most powerful and dangerous dragon alive after the Dark Dragon. He's been a hardass for longer than I've been alive and gave up an entire playboy lifestyle when he became the Chinese Dragon, but he still saw me sending his colleges a bomb just to go to a few parties as something understandable."

"What are you trying to say?"

"You don't have to give up your responsibilities, you shouldn't, but you need to find a way to find a balance between your duties as the Ninja and your life as Randy Cunningham. Preferably before you have a breakdown or do something stupid like I did."

Randy gave a dry chuckle, "My boss in the whole Ninja thing is the Ninjanomicon, and I don't think sending a magic book a bomb would give the same results as sending one to an enclave of dragons."

Jake snickered along with him, "Yeah probably not, especially since I disguised mine as a cake and made it seem like an accident. Don't think you could pull the same with a sentient book."

The two continued to laugh darkly at their thoughts and memories, letting themselves think, just for a second, that the weights of their worlds weren't crushing their shoulders, that being stupid and playing and messing around like everyone else was something they could actually enjoy. It was a lie, they both knew it. When all was said and done they'd go back home and have to face the crucibles the same as always, but it was still nice to imagine that their problems were normal and shared with everyone else.

It was nice to have someone who could understand.

Okay, just for the record for those who care, leaving reviews will EXPONENTIALLY increase the probability of this work getting continued, the longer the review and the more I get, the higher my drive to write more for this story. Same goes with all my others. If you like any of them give a few lines of feedback and we'll see what I can get myself to do.

Until next time!