Chapter Nine

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"So, let me get this straight." Randy was working on opening a paint can, sitting on the floor in Andrew's classroom on a Saturday afternoon. "The entire school thinks you're dating because you had the urge to defend his honor?"

"Essentially," Andrew sighed, lying down painting tarp over the room. Danny had convinced them that the Creative Writing classroom needed a desperate overhaul, dragging the two of them there on a weekend when the school was relatively empty. The room was covered in tarps, painting cans, and unassembled bookshelves. "I became a bit carried away, I suppose."

"Petricoff called my parents," Danny laughed, transformed into Phantom so he could more easily spread primer onto the walls of the classroom. "Tried to warn them that someone at the school had 'dangerous intentions' towards me. When they heard your name brought up, Mom laughed and hung up the phone."

"I wondered why she was so amused when I saw her this morning." Shaking his head, Randy hid a laugh as he finally got the lid off. Staring down at it quietly, Randy stood up and dusted his hands off.

"Petit mec?" Waiting until Danny was hovering over his shoulder, Randy gestured down at the paint can. "You said this was supposed to be a lavender that looked closer to white, right?"

"Yea- Oh." Instead of a light lavender, a dark purple was in the paint can, reminding Randy of Vidya, Andrew, and quiet days spent with books. "I think I grabbed the wrong color. Andy, you asked them if it was okay to paint the walls, right?"

"Not in so many words, no." Andrew continued putting the tarp down, looking rather unconcerned. "You two do realize I could shift reality to make the room look different, oui?"

"But it's such good bonding time." With Danny's pout, Randy knew right away that they were going to be working on the room all day. Shaking his head, he sat back down and went to opening the other paint cans, Danny grabbing the first one and going to start on the primed wall.

Andrew wandered over at one point, crouched down and watching Randy work. Well, less that and more lost in his thoughts. "You know, I believe you managed to find something more boring than watching paint dry. And that's watching someone open paint."

"Do you ever think about how different things are?" Blinking, Randy looked up at his brother, frowning as he only looked up with a calm expression. "Our lives used to revolve around killing, and now we're painting a school classroom."

"I guess I don't think about it much." Getting the can open, Randy moved it aside before pulling another one over, carefully working around the edges. "There's not much use in thinking on where we came from, and I'd rather focus on the good in our lives now, then the bad we had."

"It's just… It's amazing, isn't it?" Looking up again, he saw Andrew had on a soft, happy smile. One that Randy had been seeing more and more since Danny crashed into their lives. "How far we've come. It's… We finally found our home."

"It should be pretty common sense that you don't make someone cry when they're opening paint cans," Randy muttered, lips twitching as he felt Andrew move to hug his shoulders, completely relaxed and open. "I don't think I've seen you this happy in years."

"What don't I have to be happy about? I have Danny in my life, I'm doing what I love, and you're here." That had Randy's actions trailing to a stop, looking down at Andrew to see he was looking up at him with a weak smile. "I missed seeing you all the time."

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm starting to think this is better than always going off on my own." He had reasons, in the past. Trying to keep Andrew away from danger. Unable to resist jumping into adventures and putting his life on the line. Wanting to protect the one person left in his life that mattered. Lately his reasons… They had changed. "I don't think you have to worry about me leaving anymore."

"Good." Andrew hugged him tighter for a moment before nuzzling at his cheek. Randy watched him stand up and take one of the paint cans, heading to the other wall. Looking back down to the paint can he was opening, he couldn't stop the smile on his face.

For so long it had been him and Andrew, brothers in only name because what else could they be in a place that was designed to make them soldiers. Lost children who found each other in a hell. They had been through so much together, and Randy had been the one to distance them. Afraid that Andrew wouldn't get his second chance when Randy always dragged him down. It was meant to be atonement, but maybe…

Maybe he was done paying for his sins. Getting the last paint can open, Randy sat back and leaned against the desk, watching the room. Fall had arrived and red, gold, and brown leaves were fluttering past the window. The wind tore past branches, wreaking havoc with the shadows of the room and weaving with warm sunlight that drifted in through open windows.

It was so calm, and peaceful, and Randy never thought he'd have a moment like this in his life. Maybe his death really had been a second chance. "Something on your mind?" Danny sat in front of him now, ghostly tail curled around him, and splatters of purple paint near completely covering him.

Reaching out, Randy pushed Danny's hair back from where it was in his eyes, voice soft and quiet. "Not really." This hero-complexed brat had managed to save them both, really, hadn't he? "Wanna help me with the other wall? Maybe not get paint everywhere?"

"Good plan," Danny nodded, flying up and grabbing the bucket. "And you know, this color looks pretty good on the walls."

"Yeah… Yeah, it does."

::

"Sir? Did you decorate in here? And paint the walls? Are you even allowed to paint the walls?" Smile twitching on his lips, Andrew began writing on the dry erase board with a brilliant purple marker. It had taken near all of Saturday, but the three of them had gotten the classroom looking like an office room out of Vidya more than anything.

"Well, they never told me I couldn't." Plus there were no rules against it, and everything had come out of his personal budget. At this point, he figured the school wouldn't even care as long as he kept teaching the students.

"It looks like part of a library. I mean, perfect for Creative Writing." Glad to see the students had noticed. Andrew had even stocked the shelves with books that would help in the coursework, making sure to include books with levels for all four years. "How did you get it all done so quickly?"

"Phantom and my brother helped. Well, Phantom was the one who thought the classroom needed a makeover, and Randy was coerced into helping." Mostly Danny had just pouted until Randy caved, which always worked wonders.

"Alright, notebooks open," Andrew capped the marker, turning around to his class. "Today's lesson is about seeing how well you can string your paragraphs together, instead of those disjointed messes I'm so often seeing in this school's work. Remember, this is Creative Writing, not an English essay."

Danny gave a grin from where he was near the front of the class, speaking up. "So try to make it sound like something someone would actually want to read, instead of something you're forced to do?"

"Precisely." Andrew wasn't sure how long he'd be here, but he could at least do his best to make the most of every day he could.