Bonjour, mes chers! This week's Patr(e)on poll has drawn to a close and the winner of which story to update is - once again - The Substitute! Considering the choices, I suppose I should much be surprised. My apologies for the late update time tonight but I'm currently posting from a hotel that's hosting the Anime Midwest Convention! It was a good day today.

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Chapter Thirty-One

::

"Now, I know what you two might be about to say about last night, and before you get after me, I made sure that all the people I challenged to serious drinking contests were of drinking age." It was probably rather telling of himself that Randy immediately launched into a defense the very second he heard footsteps approaching the kitchen. Still, better to apologize even if he didn't need to. He had found that one out the hard way.

"Everyone there was under twenty-one- Most people there were under the age of eighteen!" Ah, Danny was much calmer this morning than he had been last night. Randy could feel the smile that was wide on the teen's face and the flush that was no doubt sprinkled across his cheeks. His entire self was calm for now. That damn darkness lingered, but it was pushed to the very outskirts, brushed over and hidden away under the pulling tides of joy that washed over everything. For now, at least, things were good.

"Yes, but the drinking age in France is sixteen." He had only challenged the seniors, anyways. Well, he had also attempted to challenge Clockwork near the end. That one hadn't worked out so well for him, but Clockwork did give him a portal back to his lair at the end of the night, so that had been nice of him. "They knew what they were getting into."

"Or perhaps, grand frère, they were merely as charmed by you as everyone else." Aah, Danny was so good for his sweet Andy. That deep darkness was low and soft, blurred around the edges and shifted to something warm and comfortable. "At least some of them had the common sense to not challenge you after seeing that smile of yours, though."

"And here I thought you liked my smile." Focusing back in on the breakfast he was making, Randy added a few finishing touches before getting the plates out of the cabinet and turning around. "I'm just saying-" Oh. Oh, that was new. Barely taking the time to set the plates down - well, dropping them really - Randy moved to cup Andrew's cheeks, palms brushing against the stubble.

"Yeah, that was my first reaction." Danny's quiet laugh was like a pleasant background hum, Randy's focus trained entirely on Andrew and his reactions. While the man had startled at first, he far too easily relaxed at Randy's touch. It was when he felt Andrew nuzzle his cheek against Randy's palm that he knew he was starting to break. "Looks great, doesn't he?"

"Very much so." He had last seen Andrew alive when the kid had been seventeen and still growing into himself. Afterwards he had that stupid goatee and ridiculous get-up but now this- This was something he could let his attention be wrapped up in. The sight of hundreds of small black hairs coating his cheeks, the smell of morning soap where he had washed up but hadn't bothered to shave (good), the sound of Andrew's soft hum and steady core, the feel of that rough sensation scratching against his palms and grounding him so easily, and, oh. He certainly knew what he wished the taste could be. It took more effort than it should have to find the ability to speak again, "I take it you're the one who got him to not shave?"

"Yup. He's weak." Danny grinned at Andrew's scoff, Randy drifting closer before he was giving in just a little and kissing at Andrew's temple. It was far too tempting. The way Andrew tilted his head into the touch and let his eyes slip close was far too tempting. The man was still in his sleep clothes that were half hanging off of him and he had never looked more comfortable than he did now.

Indulging in one last kiss to the temple, Randy lingered for a bit longer, lips still pressed against the warm and soft skin before he caught sight of Danny's look. The teen's gaze was trained on the two of them, spark in his eyes as he smirked at seeing Randy was looking at him, "So, what's for breakfast?" There was far too much heat coating those words for it to ever be an innocent question. These two were going to be the death of him, he was certain of it.

::

"Right. Ready for your last training session before classes start back up?" At Randy's question, Danny was grinning widely and eagerly grabbing onto Randy's arm so they could be teleported to Liz. While Vidya grew rooms as needed and had her own training room, Liz's was far more well equipped to handle large amounts of power and damage.

"Definitely ready." They usually had their training sessions once a week before The Incident had happened, and Randy and Andrew had spent the past two weeks near coddling him. Danny didn't mind, of course, but still. "Unless you plan on taking it easy on me again."

"Oh, my sweet little phantom," Randy linked his fingers with Danny's before twirling him around sharply, Danny unable to catch his balance before he was pressed up against a stone wall with Randy's fingers tilting his chin up. "If I didn't take it easy on you, then there'd be nothing of you left."

"O-Oh." That- That should be illegal. While Randy usually talked fast and had a British accent to his words, every time he slowed his words down to that damn purr and talked low- Soon. One of them was going to break soon, and Danny honestly wasn't sure who it would be at this point. Judging by the wicked smile and nuzzle to his cheek, Randy knew exactly what he was doing, too. Damn French people.

"Come on, petit mec. We have a lot to catch up on when it comes to training." Yeah, like getting to the point where Danny wouldn't be fucking kidnapped the second he wasn't around Randy or Andrew. "First off, convincing you that it wasn't your fault."

"That what wasn't-" Danny didn't even get his entire question out before Randy was cupping his cheek and rubbing his palm against it, Danny closing one eye and scrunching his nose at the sensation for a moment before relaxing. It felt… It felt kind of nice. "Reading my mind is cheating."

"I wasn't reading your mind, just your body language." Randy smiled, thumb brushing under Danny's eye. "If we're not allowed to blame ourselves for what happened, then you can't blame yourself either, alright? Like you said, everything that happened was Walker's fault."

"You know, sometimes I forget you're technically the older one. Then you go and say stuff like that." Wrapping his hand around Randy's wrist, Danny pressed into the touch for a moment before moving back. "Right. Human or ghost, then?"

"Human. I want you to work on your hand-to-hand combat today. You rely on your powers too much- I know, you didn't know how to fight before your got your powers. That's why you're learning now."

"You and Andy always do that." Huffing and puffing and trying not to grin, Danny began tugging off his outer clothes. He couldn't stop his grin from growing when he saw just how closely Randy was watching him, and, okay. He might have slowed down just a little. "Answering my questions and knowing what I'm going to say before I sometimes know what I'm going to say."

It took a moment for Randy to respond, the man coughing and finally turning to shed his coat and guns. "Comes with the training. Alright, remember, if anything hurts, you call for a stop right away, okay?"

"It's been days. I'm fine." A bit achy in some places, still, but he was no worse than he had been when ghost fighting all the time.

"You had broken bones, Danny. That kind of stuff doesn't just heal in a few days, even for ghosts. I don't want you going past your limits today, okay?"

"Ugh, fine." Caring Riters were his weakness, he had long ago admitted to his. "Help me stretch?"

There was a pause where Randy stared at him before there was a dusting of white across his cheeks and he was huffing and walking over, "I know damn well that you can stretch yourself."

"But you're so much better at moving me how you need to." Alright, Danny deserved the shove. He would take that one with grace. "I honestly could not resist."

"You're worse than Andy sometimes," Randy tsked, gesturing for Danny to sit down before he was helping him through the basic stretches he had taught him near the beginning of their training sessions together. They actually had helped a lot, even if Danny still complained every now and then. "Like I said, let me know if anything starts to hurt, okay?"

"Alright. Um, maybe take it easy on my wrist and ankle today, then, if you can." Relaxing at the smile he was given, Danny supposed it wasn't so bad telling others when he hurt. "Right, so, uh, why do ghosts blush the color of their aura?"

"Speaking of random questions from out of nowhere," Randy laughed, guiding Danny into bending his body near in half, hands wrapped around his toes and legs kept straight. It was a moment or two before Randy pressed down on his back to move him down a bit more. "Good?"

"Right side, but that could just be where I haven't done any of my stretches in a while." As Danny was slowly nudged back up, he stretched himself sideways a little for a moment before nodding. "Good. And c'mon, answer my question, I wanna know."

Letting himself be pulled up, Danny's thoughts drew to an abrupt stop as he felt a hand cup his chin, Randy holding him in place and crooning out his words in a near whisper, "Oh, mon chéri, why on earth would I do that when it's so much more fun to watch you beg."

Once his mind completely crashed and then came back online, Danny realized Randy had taken a few steps away and was now going through the last few stretches. Exhaling shakily, Danny slowly began to copy him, shaking his head. "You are really bad for my heart."

"Once again, petit mec, something I've heard countless times before." The only consolation was that Randy looked just as flustered. "Tell you what. If you can pin me for five seconds, then I'll answer your question."

"Wha- Five seconds!" The longest Danny had ever managed to pin Randy in a serious session had been two seconds, and that was with Randy taking it easy on him, he was pretty sure. "Randy!"

"I have to get you motivated somehow," Randy smirked, looking far too smug as he toed his boots off and kicked them over towards his pile. The tumble mats were still set out from last time, Randy testing them for a moment. "Alright, shoes off, and remember what I said."

"That you're a heartless dictator with unreasonable demands?" Danny phased his shoes off mid-stride as he took up his usual spot on the other end of the room.

"Danny."

"I know, I know. The second I feel any pain we call a timeout and I stop. I'm not going to keep fighting when I'm injured." Even if he had in the past, that was in the past. This was just a training session, and he was in a safe environment. He didn't need to push himself like he used to. Maybe if he said it enough times it would finally sink in.

"Thank you." Randy gave him another soft smile before nodding. "Any theme to today's fight, then? Besides your burning need for knowledge on why ghosts blush?"

"Hey. It's why ghosts blush certain colors. At least mock me right," Danny turned his head, grinning too widely as he loosened himself up a little more. "Hm, we did bar brawl last time." Danny still didn't know why Randy felt the need to add themes to their fights, but it certainly kept it interesting and kept Danny focused on just how he was fighting - maybe that was the point, now that he thought about it. "You kissed my boyfriend in front of the whole school even though you knew we were in a steady and happy relationship. The worst part, he kissed you back. Now we're fighting in the cafeteria in front of hundreds of students as I take out my rage on you."

Danny supposed he should be a bit offended by Randy's loud laughter, but it was mostly amusing to see him near clutching his stomach from the force of the laughs. "Petit mec, your mind works in the strangest way."

"You wanna know the ironic part? I'm most upset about the fact I've been harboring secret feelings for you, and I'm really torn up about the fact that part of me thinks I'm cheating on my boyfriend while another part of me is upset that he got to kiss you when I didn't."

"Andy wasn't kidding about your games." Randy cracked his fingers before lowering his shoulders, Danny seeing the clear switch in his entire posture and look. "Alright, cafeteria fight it is. Think you'll be okay without any tables to hide behind?"

"Oh, I think I'll do better than you." Keeping his gaze trained on Randy, Danny took a single step forward before he was jerking to the right as Randy was there in an instant. Human form meant the two weren't allowed to use any of their powers, so Danny knew Randy hadn't used teleportation so much as the fact the man was just that fast.

Keeping his balance in the balls of his feet as he had been taught, Danny ducked a sudden punch and used the momentum to roll forward and stay crouched low to the ground, kicking his leg out to hit at the back of Randy's calf. Danny hated the fact he was so impressed that Randy easily jumped over it before pivoting on his heel and aiming a kick for his stomach. Taking the hit with a wince, Danny kept with the momentum once more and used the energy to swing to the side and dart up, tackling Randy around the middle and pushing him towards the floor.

They had found out that while Danny didn't have the pure strength in his human form as he did when Phantom, he was still quick and light on his feet. Most of what Randy had taught him had centered around rolling with punches and using the force to send his own attacks back. Unfortunately, seeing as Randy had trained him, it was far too easy for the man to twist them as they fell, Danny landing in a way that he was still pinned but nothing was jarred too badly.

Smirking down at him, Randy gave a disappointed tsk. "You can't love him that much if you're not even this upset about it." Wha- Oh. Oh. Randy was playing one of his games. Randy was playing one of Danny's games- This was amazing. This was completely incredible and in the whole time they had been doing this Randy had never played along with any of Danny's lengthy and amazing backstories as to why these fights would be happening.

"Don't you dare say I don't love him!" Danny brought his knee up sharply, managing to get a good hit on Randy's stomach before he was following up the attack by throwing Randy off of him and scrambling to pin him. He didn't even get a chance before Randy was getting a grip on his upper arms, foot planting on his stomach before sending Danny up and over Randy's head. "You know I'm dating him- That I'm in love with him! Why would you do this?!"

"Please," Randy scoffed, rolling to his feet and running towards Danny the second he was up. Danny was dodging the attack at once, as well as the one that followed. "Stop trying to deny what's right in front of you! We both know how he really feels about you- About me!"

"Shut up!" This was fun- This was fun. The only time Danny ever really managed to cut loose with his fighting was when he had been fighting the ghosts. Ever since Andrew had convinced him to make the truce, there weren't really any fights for him to tax himself on. It wasn't until Randy started the training sessions that he had found a way to throw himself into a fight and have fun with it. "Andy would never hurt me like this!"

There was a split second falter in Randy's movements, Danny using the opportunity to ram into Randy as hard as he could. He got a grunt of pain for his efforts, Randy managing to keep his balance as he pushed Danny down to the side and followed up with a swift kick. "Oh yeah?" Ooh, now Randy was really getting into the game. Yes. "Then explain to me why he kissed me back!"

Giving a very convincing scream of rage, in his opinion, Danny launched forward, letting instinct guide him more than anything. It was so easy to see how this could be real, when he thought about it. There had been enough fights in the school cafeteria that Danny could imagine the tables hastily pushed out of the way as students rushed to stand, hundreds of eyes looking at them as they fought and exchanged blow after blow. It was so easy to be someone else.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!" Feeling ghostly energy spike within him, Danny snapped his mouth shut and lost concentration enough that he ended up pinned to the ground again. At Randy's worried look, Danny only gave a quick smile before struggling to get out of the hold, "You don't know anything!" That had been close… Danny had felt the stirrings of his ghostly wail near the end- While he was sure that Randy could handle it, Danny would still rather not test it.

"You think I don't see how he looks at me? How he wishes things could be different? Get over yourself, Danny, you're not the only one in love with him!" Finally managing to twist enough to get some traction, Danny toppled Randy over to the side and pinned him down, breathing labored as he stared down at hard eyes and flushed cheeks.

"Yeah? Well he's not the only one in love with you!" It was so easy to picture the training mats being hard tile, the two catching their breath in the sudden silence of the cafeteria, everyone looking at them in stunned shock. "You're always saying how you know everything so how could you not have known how I felt about you." So easy. So, so easy to get lost.

"Danny…" Randy was now staring up at him with wide eyes, completely still beneath him as his breathing only seemed to speed up. Shifting his hold, Danny near slumped as he sat on Randy's stomach, knees braced on either side as his hands slipped up from Randy's wrists to instead tangle with his fingers.

"How could you be so cruel when I've been wanting to kiss you just as long…" Leaning down a bit more, the two were only a few inches apart, breath shared between them as the moment stretched and lengthened. "Randy…" Closer and closer and he was so close. "It's been five seconds."

Randy blinked up at him with incomprehension, the white glaze over his eyes clearing to show a sharp blue. "You little shit." Danny didn't even catch the words that followed, too busy hiding his laughter against Randy's chest as he shook from the force of it. "I cannot believe you! I thought Andy was joking about those games of yours!"

Slowly calming down, Danny didn't argue as Randy sat up, tangling a hair in the teen's hair and looking to be checking him over for any injuries. Grinning, Danny kissed at Randy's cheek, enjoying the blush far too much. "It's fun to be someone else for a while. Plus it makes things easier, sometimes." There were times where Fenton and Phantom had too many secrets to ever talk freely, but the student lover of a substitute teacher? The enraged teeanger who didn't know his own feelings half the time? There were no secrets there.

"You really are too much like us, sometimes," Randy chuckled, smile soft as he rubbed at Danny's scalp. "Alright, even with your blatant and horrible cheating, I think I promised to answer your question on blushing ghosts. Isn't this a question you should ask Andy, though? He is your ghostly tutor, after all."

"Yeah, but I've been finding out that you know a lot more about ghost stuff than he does sometimes." Letting himself be pulled to his feet, Danny didn't argue as Randy nudged him into their cooldown stretches. While a few of them were stupid, it definitely kept Danny from cramping up later. "Be honest, you're the one who taught him, aren't you?"

"The basics, yeah. I was a ghost for about four years before he became one, remember? I picked up things first and then taught him what I had learned." Getting distracted watching Randy bend himself in half while standing, Danny shook his head.

"Okay, but what do you mean just the basics? You two know way more than 'basics'."

"Well, the rest he learned from all those books of his. Vidya formed with what the college library had, as well as a few ghost books due to reasons Clockwork still won't properly explain, but a lot of times on my jobs I either find old books or get them as payment and rewards. I skim through and read them first and then I dump them off on Andy."

"So you know all the same stuff he does, then." Danny watched as Randy shrugged before gesturing for them to start the next set of stretches. "So why do you always act like you're not smart?"

"It's more…" Randy wrinkled his nose, dropping the stretch he was doing and sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. Huh. Randy was always pretty sensitive to emotions, so maybe the game had gotten to him a bit more than Danny intended, if he was acting this off. "Listen, petit mec, there's more to ghosts than you know, right now. You know how we used to be human?"

"Well… Yeah? I mean, it's kind of hard to miss." That still made him shiver some days. The thought that somewhere out in the human world were Andrew and Randy's dead bodies. Somewhere out there they had gravestones that were probably crumbling and worn and never visited. It… It was sad.

"Focus, petit mec." Nodding, Danny frowned as he noticed Randy give a sharp shake of his head. "Right- Right. Okay, ghosts used to be human but we're… Less? More?" Shaking his head again, Randy sighed as he motioned for Danny to keep following the stretches with him. "I told you one night that I of all people know what madness looks like."

"Yeah… I remember." That had been the night when he thought he had been going crazy and hallucinating Spectra. Thank god for Randy's sensitivity to ghostly energies. "Why?"

"With us, with me and Andy and the kind of people we were… Children don't have a concept of empathy. It's something they're taught, and why there are so many stories of children doing horrifying things when they're young. Because they don't know any better."

"Yeah." He definitely had heard some horrifying stories about younger siblings and nieces and nephews. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"So say you have a child who doesn't know about all this yet. Three, four, no older than five, right? You have this young child who doesn't know anything besides the basic motor skills and maybe that crossing the street alone is a bad thing. That's it. You take this kid and you teach them that wrong is right and right is wrong. You teach them that killing is good. What happens when that kid tries to live with other normal people?"

Oh… Oh. Randy only nodded, "Yeah- Yeah." Randy finished his last set of stretches before running a hand through his hair again, pacing across the room and looking… It wasn't feral, like when Danny or Andrew was threatened, but more… Caged. "Yeah, you take these kids and you screw them up and then one or two manage to escape and then what? Only- Only it's worse than that, you know? You take a kid and you raise them to believe killing is good- No. No, it isn't. She tells you that it's not right but if you don't kill then you- The Sect didn't keep useless things."

How… How long had Randy been keeping this all in? How long had he never been able to confide in anyone about all of this? Danny was only understanding every other sentence and he wasn't quite sure what had set this off, but Randy had obviously been suffering for a while. "The Sect doesn't… If you're useless you die and they screwed us up so badly and Sylvia tried so hard to help." Jerking to a stop and burying his hands in his hair, Randy dropped to crouch on the ground, head near buried in his knees. Danny couldn't even move to go over to his side and he felt so useless. "I didn't always- White Fang was an act. You know- You've seen the Priest. You've seen how he acts, and then you've seen how Andy acts, right?" Danny could only nod, Randy laughing as he shook his head.

"Andy doesn't act- He acts like me. The accent, the prim and proper behavior, the way he walks, the way he talks, everything he modeled after how I acted as a teenager because for so long he wasn't… He wasn't Andrew Riter. He was just the Priest, Danny, and that's why it's so hard for him. That's why he has such a hard time sometimes, because before he was Andrew Riter he was just the Priest."

This… Randy really had been alone by himself in all of this, hadn't he? He was like Danny. Trying to keep the broken bones and scars and the nightmares a secret. Trying to bury it because he was fine, he was fine, it was okay. He was the hero, after all, right? Heroes didn't break. Big brothers didn't break. For so long Randy had only been a brother to Andrew and had been the one that could never break and never show fear or pain. Only now… They weren't just brothers anymore.

"Who were you, then?" Danny couldn't understand all of this. He'd never be able to fully understand the Priest and White Fang and the Sanctum, but… His friends had never fully understood Phantom and yet they were still there. They were the pillars that kept him from falling most days, even when they didn't know it. So even if he didn't understand… He could still help. "Back there, who were you?"

"I…" Randy moved to fully sit on the floor and lean against the wall, Danny slowly and carefully moving to sit down beside him. "Randall Nicolas Beaumont. I- I was from an aristocratic French family who didn't like the public image of the Sect of the Crow. They spoke out one too many times, and… I was a warning."

"So… So Andy based himself off of you, right? But you don't…" Act like that. Randy was as far from prim and proper as you could get. So how…

"And there we go back to the beginning," Randy laughed, the sound hollow and empty. It had Danny leaning against him, hand burying in his shirt. "White Fang was an act I used to make it seem like I was one of them. How I act and dress and am now? That's how White Fang acted. That's who White Fang was. Ghosts aren't human, Danny. I know that's a little obvious, but not- Not everything crosses over when we die."

"Like… Like what? Memories?" Would he forget Andrew and Randy when he died? Would he forget his family?

"No- Not that I've found, at least, but it's more- It's different. For every ghost it's different, but for me it was… Did I ever tell you about how I died?"

"You said you were poisoned by angry college dorm mates," Danny smiled weakly, relaxing a bit when Randy put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer. "Seems kind of stupid."

"I knew it was poison." ...Oh. "I…" Randy shook his head, muttering rapidly in French under his breath.

"Hey." Waiting until Randy looked up, Danny gave a smile. "It's okay if you can't tell me that part yet."

Randy was silent for a moment before nodding, taking a breath. "Long story short, I died and woke up here and it was all… It was blurred. I couldn't tell between the lines of who was Randall Beaumont and who was White Fang. I still had my memories and everything, but the way I acted and my first instinct when it came to responding was always White Fang. I said I knew what madness looked like because for over twenty years I've dealt with having two personalities in my head and never being able to tell which one is the right one."

Biting at his lip as silence settled in around them, Danny finally moved to where he was sitting between Randy's legs before reaching a hand up to cup his cheek and rub at the skin. As he had hoped, Randy was relaxing into the touch at once, shaking shoulders dropping and breath leaving him in a rush. "I… I can't say I get it. I don't think I ever will, but I… I know about the separate personality thing. It's like me, with Phantom and Fenton. Fenton's the school loser who's the son of ghost hunters, but Phantom is the town hero. Phantom is the hero, not Fenton. The brave one, the clever one, the stronger one, but not… Not shy and scared Fenton."

Absently watching Randy's reactions, Danny shifted closer, copying the motion Randy had done earlier and rubbing a thumb under the man's eye, "You know, telling Andy all of this might help. He's dealt with it from me. Want me to give you the advice he gave to me?"

"Can't hurt, I suppose." God, Randy sounded wrecked. Shifting closer, Danny rubbed at the man's cheek absently as he gave a smile.

"Alright, give me some slack because this was years ago when we were friends and I can't pull off that level of pompous." Grinning at the laugh, Danny cleared his throat. "'Someone as smart as you and I'm amazed you can't see what's right in front of you.' Then there was some leading up and basically it was, 'It's not your ghost powers that make you a hero, it's your need to do what's right. You may live two lives, but in the end you're still a teenager named Danny. A teenager who wants to do what's right and fight for what you believe in. You're both and neither.'"

"Definitely sounds like something he would say," Randy chuckled, Danny noticing that he was getting more and more calm.

"Doesn't it? So basically, it doesn't matter if you're Randall Nicolas Beaumont, White Fang, or just Randy Riter. All that matters is that you do what you believe in and be the best you that you can be. It's worked out for me so far."

"Good advice." Waiting until Randy was a bit more settled down, Danny still rubbing at his cheek, the teen tilted his head.

"You know, that was a really emotional talk considering all I wanted to know was why ghosts blush the color of their aura." And oh, that was nice. Randy's loud and bright laughter was wonderful after seeing him so wound up and lost.

"Short answer for now, then. It's because our bodies are generally made up of just ectoplasm, so a lot of our body functions are just what our powers mimic. This can be pretty detailed in some areas as you and Andy have thoroughly explored-" Right. Okay. Blushing- That. Hm. "-or it can just be where our powers mimic what we did in life. So since there's no blood or pink skin…"

"It mimics the color of your aura," Danny nodded. "See how easy that was? Now, next question, are we going to keep training, or are we going to blow off the rest of it and go make brownies?"

"I shouldn't be encouraging this," Randy sighed heavily, scooping Danny into his arms and standing up. "Alright, come on. Brownies it is." Heh. Beaumont brownies and leaving training early. It was a great day. "Hush, you."

"Love you, too," Danny grinned, delighting in Randy's blush. "You know, you really should talk to Andy."

"I'll think about it."

::

Standing in the doorway of one of the various office rooms of Vidya, Randy chewed on his lip as he watched Andrew work through the last set of papers he had to grade. The ridiculous stubble was still there - which Randy was actually rather grateful for - and Andrew's entire being was calm and steady. It was a few moments before Andrew raised an eyebrow, gaze still on the papers, "Can I help you?"

"Looks like you're the one that needs help, drowning in terrible work done by uncaring teenagers." Randy hesitated a moment longer before walking over and taking a seat beside Andrew on the couch, leaning against him and closing his eyes. "Hey, Andy." He didn't need to see to know Andrew had paused in his writing, curious gaze on him and a flash of concern flickering in his eyes. "Can we talk?"

There was a measured moment between them, words and feelings and ideas flying through the air so quickly Randy wasn't sure what Andrew was actually thinking and what Randy was just imagining. Finally, there was a shuffling of papers, Randy feeling Andrew turn to face him properly. "I think I'd like that."

Smiling, Randy leaned his head on Andrew's shoulder. Nothing bad ever really came from communicating, he supposed. "It's about the Sect…"