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Shadows and fear and toxic honey that was poured down his throat and clogged his words and made them stick and long bridges with nothing beneath nothing but rushing darkness and smothering silence and he couldn't breathe and everything hurt so much and it hurt and it was so painful and he couldn't breathe and why was he alone where was everyone he couldn't breathe it hurt it hurt it hURT
The hand that was tangled in his hair was the only thing that kept Danny from jerking out of his seat. Considering the way his head was held down at an angle, he could only guess that his eyes were glowing. "Mr. Fenton, if you could attempt to not fall asleep in my classroom then I believe it would be a great deal of help to you and your grades."
"R-Right. Sorry, Mr. Riter." At least Randy would get a kick out of hearing how he had fallen asleep in Andrew's French class. "It won't happen again."
"See to it that it doesn't." Andrew shot him a glare that only came across as worried and concerned, Danny hoping that no one would see it as easily as he did. "Now, back to the matter at hand of your latest assignment. Yes, yes, you might want to start paying closer attention judging on the homework I've been grading in this class. Eyes up here, thank you."
As usual, Andrew commanded the attention of the class marvelously. It was just the distraction Danny needed to get his breathing under control and his heart rate settled. He was used to nightmares, at this point, but it must have been bad if his ghost powers were reacting that strongly.
Shooting a cautious glance to Tucker, the teen shot him a thumbs up after a moment. At least his eyes were back to normal, then, but it was… He didn't lose control of the physical aspect of his powers very often anymore. Only when tapping into his energy, or when he was really bad off. Had his nightmare been that bad? He couldn't remember much beyond darkness, and fear. Although maybe he didn't need to remember much beyond that.
At least his French was good enough that he could let his attention wander in this class. Andrew probably wouldn't mind much, either, since he was busy trying to get the others to understand the difference between a native dialect and the one they had been using in class. It was a losing battle, really.
The vibration of his phone had him glancing down, a text message from Tucker appearing on the screen. 'hey man you alright?'
'Yeah just some stupid nightmares from the Spectra mess I was telling you and Sam about a few weeks ago.' Well, they at least knew Spectra had been bothering him, but they didn't know Danny was being damn near haunted by her. 'Think I can get away with flirting in French?'
'better not, paulina is picking up the lingo fast. you sure youre alright thought? youve been spacey the last few weeks.'
'How does your phone not have an autocorrect when it comes to auto-caps and punctuation? Seriously Tuck it's pissing me off.'
'technology. stop avoiding the question.'
'I'm' Well, he certainly wasn't good, but he was starting to do better. That was something, right? 'I'm fine. Now pay attention your French sucks.'
It was a long moment of Tucker side-eyeing him before sighing and looking to the board. He didn't look happy about it, but at least he wasn't trying to push for answers. Answers which Danny didn't really have- Danny wasn't really sure what Spectra was doing to him. Making him more paranoid than ever before, definitely, but beyond that…
Spectra always had a plan, an end goal she worked to achieve. The fact she just seemed to appearing in Danny's life to toy with him, to play with him, it wasn't right. She was up to something and Danny just needed to find out what.
Randy certainly believed Spectra was using some kind of power to keep herself masked from them, but he hadn't had any definite ideas on just what it could be. Maybe it was a new power? Danny always got them in the beginning, and it was easy to imagine that a ghost might gain a new one when they got strong enough… Strong enough… Was that how Spectra was doing it?
Danny knew his limits, but he also knew his strengths. It wasn't bragging when he said he knew just how powerful he was. Spectra thrived on draining a person of positive emotions and energy. Students hadn't just been depressed, they had been tired. Perhaps that was what she was doing here, draining Danny's energy to- To what?
Spectra was powerful enough at this point that she didn't need to constantly feed on Danny like she was doing. She wasn't just feeding, she was feasting. Did she need the energy for something? Was she trying to store it up in order to make another attempt at building a body? It would make sense, but Danny still felt as if there was something he was missing. One last piece that just wasn't clicking-
"Are my lessons so boring now that you can't even pay attention when they end?" Snapping his head up at the voice, Danny blinked as he saw Andrew smiling down at him. "The bell rang a minute and a half ago."
"That would explain why the classroom is now empty." Right. Really caught up in his thoughts, then. That… Right. "Sorry. About, you know-"
"Falling asleep in class? I expected as much when Randy informed me this morning that you two were up all night watching bad movies." Not all of them were bad, just a great deal of them. "He also mentioned something about Spectra."
"I…" Danny didn't even realize he was flying out of his seat until he was wrapped around Andrew as tightly as he could manage, feet not touching the ground. "She's driving me crazy, Andy. And I don't just mean- I thought I was hallucinating her the other day. I thought it was all in my head, and I had finally snapped-"
"Oh, Danny." Letting Andrew take his weight, Danny slumped in his hold as he nuzzled at the man's neck. "I'm so sorry I wasn't able to help you yesterday. I knew something was wrong but I didn't want to press you."
"I know, and I'm thankful for that. You never push me, and I can't tell you how much that means." Because sometimes he kept quiet not out of want, but out of need. There were too many secrets in his life to be able to freely talk anymore. Sometimes he just needed the time to figure out what he could say. And what he couldn't. "I just… I'm scared."
"That, mon cher, was obvious when you started having a nightmare in class," Andrew held Danny tighter, and it was only distantly he remembered Andrew's fourth period was a free one for him. At least there wouldn't be any students walking in on them. "Your powers haven't reacted like this in a long time."
"I know, I know, but… I don't know if it's all Spectra." Even before she had come back he had been having doubts about himself, and his powers. Spectra just forced everything into the light. "You know, I'm the only student you ever touch. That's probably adding fuel to the rumors."
"I dislike touch in general, moreso with sticky children," Andrew reluctantly set Danny down, pulling back enough to adjust Danny's glasses and brush his hair back. "Are you going to be alright?"
"I will be. Eventually." Smiling as Andrew's hand slipped down to cup his cheek, Danny leaned into the touch at once. He could afford to be a little late for his next class. "As long as I have you two." Leaning up on the tips of his toes, Danny brushed his lips against Andrew's, letting his voice come out warm and soft. "And our little 'lunches'."
"I'd threaten you with detention, but I'm rather certain that would just make you try even harder." And oh, that sentence certainly had him thinking of some ideas.
"Oh, most definitely. I mean, just think about all the scenarios we could get away with…" They were so easy to picture these days and even easier to act out. "Me, a misunderstood student who has problems with authority and is never able to trust any of the teachers or adults in the school. You, the bright young substitute who only wants to make a difference in the lives of the students and help those he can.
"The two of us finding a confident within each other, you discussing your hopes and dreams for the future, me able to finally talk about my fears and why I've been having such problems in school. Learning more and more about each other, pushing the limits and boundaries of our relationship during school and class. Meeting in public and getting closer and closer, you giving me detention as I start acting out to better get your attention and try to make you understand what I'm feeling. The two of us stuck in one room for maybe hours as the tension gets more and more- What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Andrew had a hand covering his mouth, and Danny couldn't quite tell if he was amused, or utterly horrified. "How… Danny, how long have you been thinking about this?"
Oh, wow, that… Danny wasn't sure if he wanted to answer that one truthfully, especially as the silence just kept getting longer and longer. Finally looking away, Danny rubbed the back of his neck, "I dunno." His mind went places, especially when Andrew was teaching. It was hardly his fault he ended up getting invested.
"You're going to be the end of me yet, mon cher." This time, Andrew's expression was nothing but fond amusement, the man cupping Danny's cheeks before bending down to kiss his forehead. "Go on, before you're even later for your next class."
Smirking, Danny caught Andrew's hand and turned his head enough to kiss the pulse of the wrist, "Yes sir, Mr. Riter." If Danny just so happened to be a bit later than he had planned, well… Distractions happened.