::
The first thing Danny became aware of when waking up was that everything felt raw. Like the feeling of his skin when spending too long in the snow without a coat, or too long in a shower with the hot water blasting out. Scrubbed free of layers, and left with nothing but a raw feeling that hurt.
The second thing he became aware of was that the lights were far too bright - even with the early morning light still streaming in balefully, it burned. Like daggers to his already pounding head. Sounds, too, seemed amplified. He could hear everything, from his dad walking around the upstairs, to his mom cooking in the kitchen while humming.
The third thing he became aware of was that it hurt.
Everything was simply too much. It hurt for the rough blanket to come into contact with his skin, the sounds were loud and piercing, the light was burning his eyes, and the smells of the slowly cooking breakfast had his stomach roiling in nausea. Everything was overwhelming, and it had him wishing he could curl back up for more sleep, or at least hide away in the Ghost Zone.
As it was, he finally crawled out of bed after hearing someone yell for him to get up, the sound louder than it should have been. Digging through his closet, and frowning at how every article of clothing seemed to rub against his skin like sandpaper, he finally jerked on an old pair of slacks, and one of Andrew's old shirts. Hesitantly wrapping the gray scarf his mate had given him around his neck, it was a near sigh of relief when it didn't burn, or hurt.
Getting through breakfast and trying to stomach food was an ordeal, he realized. Getting outside and having the wind hit him was just goddamn torture. "Right. Bad day, then."
He made it all the way through third period before he was finding the quietest place he could, shoulders shaking, jacket hood pulled over his head, and tears in his eyes. He wasn't all that surprised, really, when he found himself curled up in the library, bag beside him and hands over his ears. Even with blocking out as much noise as he could, the sound of his hitching and trembling breath felt like spikes to his head.
Caught up in trying to calm himself down, he wasn't sure how long it had been before he heard someone take a seat beside him, a comfortable distance keeping the other person from touching any part of him. The sound of a paper bag rustling made him glance up, frowning at seeing the lunch bag that was in front of him.
"Contrary to what you seem to believe sometimes, you do need to eat." The voice was soft and quiet, easy on his ears. "And do resist the urge to turn that into a tasteless joke or pun."
"Take the fun out of it." Trying to make his own voice soft could only do so much. While Andrew's didn't hurt, his own did. That and the currents of electricity that he could hear and it was so bright. Screwing his eyes shut, he only opened them when it was dark and quiet, Danny peeking his gaze over to Andrew.
"I was never told to not use my powers while employed." The library lights were now completely out, nothing to give light but Andrew's soft, steady aura. Leaning forward, Andrew picked the bag up and set it down a little closer to Danny. "Try to eat something?"
"I… Yeah. Yeah. No promises on finishing it, though." Picking through the food, Danny managed a few bites of a sandwich, not risking the chips. The wrapped cookie had him weakly smiling, phasing the cellophane off and taking a bite before he then hesitantly leaned against Andrew's side. He couldn't stop his sigh of relief when the touch didn't hurt or even irritate him.
"You didn't tell me the attacks had come back." Not long after Danny had gotten his powers, he would have bursts of sensory attacks. The working theory was that it was his human body trying to cope with the ghost senses, which were dozens of times better. Even Vlad had told him of his own attacks when Danny had brought it up.
"I didn't know. I've only had a small one in the last few months." He had honestly thought that the attacks had stopped, but that proved to be wrong with this one. "This is the worst one since last year, and I thought they might be gone." A burst of sound from somewhere in the library had Danny pressing himself up against Andrew's side, quiet whimper leaving.
"I suppose we weren't that lucky, were we?" Andrew carefully pulled him into his lap, kissing his cheek. Danny easily relaxed into the grip, eyes closing as he let out a tired hum of agreement. It wouldn't be so bad if he was at home with Vidya and Randy and Andrew and in the Ghost Zone in general- Even being in his ghost form helped make the attacks easier. As it was, however, he was stuck human, and in school. He didn't want that.
"What are the chances of me escaping and making it out of here?" Because it wouldn't be the first time he had cut school - or the last - and his friends knew the routine of collecting any homework for him by this point. They would probably pass it off to Andrew, if he did skip.
"I would have to say rather good." Pausing, Danny looked up to Andrew with a look that probably deserved the raised eyebrow. "What?"
"Mr. Riter. I can't believe you, as a teacher of this school, are encouraging a student to skip. Really, it's almost shameful," Danny shook his head, hand held dramatically to his chest. "Don't you care about the students?"
"You couldn't resist, could you?" Laughing quietly, Danny gave a shake of his head before leaning back against Andrew's chest.
"Not one bit." Feeling the sigh that ruffled his hair, Danny felt himself smiling softly. "So, can I be sure that you won't rat me out to the nearest human authority figure? Or, you know, you could give me detention now for daring to skip school. An afternoon totally alone with no one but the mysterious young teacher-" The rest of his words were cut off by a hand over his mouth, Danny grinning widely.
"You rather enjoy testing limits, don't you?" At the nod, Andrew rolled his eyes. "Go ahead and go home, mon cher. I'll contact the office and tell them you were called home on a family emergency after third period and simply forgot to tell anyone."
"You are the best mate, and I love you dearly, and I'm glad you put up with my wonderful humor." Clutching at the ball of cold in his chest, Danny sighed as it washed over him in waves, clearing his senses for a short time. Long enough for him to make it to Vidya, at the least. Leaning up, he gave his mate a sweet kiss. "Je t'aime, mon ange."
The kiss was easily returned, a low chuckle accompanying it as arms wrapped around him, "Je t'aime aussi, mon cher."
::
"Okay. I'm pretty sure Andy banned you from ever visiting my lair again. Something about how it's 'a death trap' and 'not safe' and 'did you add spikes to the walls-'"
"Yes, but Andrew is still at school teaching, and I am being a disobedient punk and skipping. And you weren't at Vidya. And the silence hurt." Danny watched as Randy opened his mouth only to pause and close it, eyeing him over.
"Sensory overload?" Giving a weak nod, Danny watched Randy open his arms with a smile. He didn't even wait a second before launching himself into Randy's arms, wrapping around him tightly and burrowing close. "I'm honored that I was the one tracked down to be used as an oversized plush toy, then. You didn't go to Vidya?"
"Everything kept hurting." Danny curled closer, the arms around him calming him down slowly. He relaxed a bit more when he felt an arm shift to wrap around his waist, another going to bury itself in his hair. "The silence was loud and the lions were rough and Vidya's notes were so high and I…"
"I get it," Randy spoke quietly, fingertips massaging at Danny's scalp. It felt so nice, the tension draining out of him as he relaxed in the man's arms. "I hope you know I'm never letting you go now. I'm kidnapping you for forever."
Pausing, Danny blinked and pulled back just enough to see Randy's grin. His own lips twitching up, Danny shook his head. "For forever-"
"For forever, yes! You will be my cute and adorable captive." As Randy explained his 'evil plan', he began walking down one of the stone hallways of his lair, a large stone castle that fit him perfectly. Settling down, Danny was perfectly content to be carried around and doted on.
"For some reason, I don't think your brother would like that plan very much." Then again, Andrew would probably just give Randy one look before the older caved and gave him whatever he wanted.
"I'm fine with sharing." Both went quiet, pulling back to look at each other. Randy finally hummed, lips twitching. "I'm realizing I could have phrased that better."
"You probably could have," Danny laughed, shifting back to rest against Randy's chest. "Although, I mean, you two are good at sharing-"
"Oh, look. It's an excuse to get you to stop talking." Laughing, Danny obligingly fell silent, letting his eyes close as well. When he felt Randy sit down, Danny shifted to be completely curled up in his lap, eyes slitting open to see they were in a library. "Still weird to think that you have your own personal library."
"Hey, Andy isn't the only one that likes to read," Randy complained, tugging on Danny's ear. The action only served to make Danny shiver, a quiet purr in the back of his throat. "Who do you think taught Andy how to read? All that happened is that he went towards fantasy and poetry and I went towards mathematics and trashy romance."
"I've been meaning to ask about that, just how good are you at math?" A flick of Randy's hand and the man had teleported a notebook and pencil over, settling down to where he could comfortably write with Danny in his lap.
"Say I wanted to run the calculations on how to have my gun shoot a bullet that ricochets off a wall and hits the target I need." Danny's skeptical look must have shown, since Randy raised an eyebrow back at him. "Okay, demonstration first, then. Pick a wall and a spot you want hit."
"Alright… That wall, and the target is…" Trailing off, Danny looked around the room for a moment. "The candle on that desk."
"Always have to be difficult." Danny blinked as Randy's arms moved up around him, one of his guns out and being aimed with both his hands. "Usually I can shoot one handed, but with ricochet shots, the aim has to be a lot more precise."
Nodding, Danny frowned as he noticed Randy had paused again, "I can try to quiet the gun as best I can, but you might want to cover you ears, still." Doing as told, he watched the bullet be fired, a streak of white - Randy's power encasing the bullet - hitting the wall at a perfect angle to ricochet off and hit the candle across the room, snapping it in two.
"I am never again doubting your shooting skills." Because that had been incredible. "Okay, but, wait. What does that have to do with mathematics?" Holstering his gun, Randy picked the notebook back up, scribbling down a string of numbers and equations Danny tried to follow.
"Before I shoot with shots like that, and most of them in general, I have to figure out the angle I need to fire, predict the path it's going to take, and where it's going to hit. To do that I use these sets of equations to help with things like distance, speed, wind, and yadda yadda."
"You… You can do all that in your head within seconds?" Randy gave an amused nod, Danny near gaping at him. "I am so impressed right now I don't have words for how impressed I am."
"I am indeed impressive. Now, pay attention while I walk you through it."
::
"Is it sad that I knew not to even bother checking Vidya, first?" Stirring at the sound of his mate, Danny yawned and poked his head up from where he was half-asleep in Randy's lap, surrounded by blankets. Randy was dozing himself, hand buried in Danny's hair and other arm tightly wrapped around his waist.
"I guess you just know me too well," Danny grinned, settling back down in Randy's lap and laughing as Andrew sighed dramatically before flying over to sit beside them. "He was showing me his awesome math skills."
"He showed off the ricochet shots, didn't he?" Andrew didn't seem one bit surprised at Danny's nod, only rolling his eyes. "Always favors showing that one off.
"You know, I am awake." Randy's voice was groggy and about an octave lower than it usually was. Shame he couldn't sound like that more often. "To an extent."
"Nothing he's saying is wrong, though." Waiting until Andrew was sitting beside them, Danny went about rearranging himself until he was across both their laps. "You know, if you came to get me, that's going to end badly considering I've been kidnapped for forever."
Andrew slowly raised a single eyebrow, looking to Randy expectantly. Danny couldn't resist laughing as Randy drew him into a hug and curled around him. Andrew shook his head, scratching at Danny's tail and oh that felt so nice. "You're not kidnapping him 'for forever', Randy. He does need to go home eventually."
"I'm just saying, if you really loved me, you would share him." Biting his lip to hold in another laugh, Danny failed when he saw the mischievous look on Andrew's face. "No- No. Joking."
"We are so good at sharing though, grand frère." There was a silence where Randy narrowed his eyes at Andrew before floating up and dropping Danny into Andrew's lap before leaving the room. That was when Danny broke and buried his laughter against Andrew's chest. "Well it's not like I'm wrong. Feeling better?"
"After that? Kinda hard not to be." A few giggles still escaped as Andrew ran a hand through Danny's hair, the teen tilting his head into the touch at once. "Best way to recover, find a Riter and cuddle."
"We were once feared and deadly assassins!" Randy's voice echoed from somewhere in the library, Andrew snorting softly. "The terrors of France! The unholy Priest and his wild wolf!"
"Oh, you were his, were you?" A loud groan from Randy had Danny covering his mouth with a hand, Andrew hiding his face against Danny's hair. "You know-"
"What's that? Lunch? Sure, I'll go make us some right now."
"It's too much fun teasing him," Danny cuddled back up to Andrew, kissing at his cheek. "We're staying for lunch, yeah?"
"Mon cher, Randy is the one cooking," Andrew made a soft tsk, bundling him close and kissing his temple. "Of course we're staying."
"Just checking." And alright, being a half ghost may have sucked sometimes, but at least he had amazing people like Randy and Andrew in his life to help him out.