Bonjour, mes chers! This week's Patr(e)on poll has drawn to a close and the winner of which story to update is The Substitute! I almost expected to be working on Pine Cone, instead!

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Chapter Thirty Three

::

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that GW and Randy haven't seen your new glasses yet." Smiling at Sam, Danny pushed his new glasses up, wondering how wide his grin was. "You're way too happy right now."

"Sam." Danny felt his grin grow even wider. "Sam. These glasses have stars on them." The new frames were wider than the last ones, but they were shaded in tones of blue and orange and had a splattering of white dots to represent a nebula being painted across them. They were utterly gorgeous and perfect in every way and his sister was the best sister to ever exist.

"Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm just excited that we finally get to see GW's infamous stubble." Tucker chuckled a bit, grin nothing good as he held his phone close at hand. "I'm going to get so many pictures of this."

"You'll have to, since someone didn't share." Sam threw a glare to Danny who only gave another brilliant smile. "What do you bet another fan club starts up before third period?"

"Please, there's no way- Another?" There was a fan club for Andrew in Casper High? And no one had thought to tell Danny about this! "I feel offended I was never even offered an invitation."

"I think it's because they're jealous you're the one he's choosing to have an affair with." Well, when they put it like, it sounded a bit skeevy. "Maybe you should tone it back on the affection during school."

"Yeah… I guess I probably should, huh?" Danny didn't even pause as he spotted a familiar purple coat rounding the corner, Danny hurrying to follow after Andrew at once. "Then again, where's the fun in that? Morning, Mr. Riter!"

"Good morning, Danny. Shouldn't you be heading to your homeroom?" There was a stumble on the last word as Andrew turned to look at him, Danny grinning as he pushed his glasses up. "New glasses?"

"Late Christmas present from my sister." Walking closer, Danny didn't even try to stop himself from brushing up against Andrew. "I'm really looking forward to Creative Writing today, sir. I think it's your classes that I missed the most over break."

"You're being far less subtle these days," Andrew muttered under his breath, his look nothing but fond as he looked at Danny and raised his voice again. "I'm glad to hear that. I think you and the others will like what I have planned for the semester."

"I'm sure I'd like anything you gave me, sir." There was a barely choked laugh that sounded hysterical that came from one of his friends, a few other students having similar expressions and reactions as they quickly fled the hallway they were in. Biting back his own laugh, Danny leaned closer for only a moment or two, brushing up against Andrew as much as he could get away with. "And as for subtle… Where's the fun in that, sir?"

Danny's chin was grabbed in a second, Andrew only a breath apart as he laughed himself, voice low and rough. "Don't play games you aren't prepared to win, Mr. Fenton." With that, Danny was let go and Andrew was calmly walking towards his classroom, Danny corralled and led away by Sam and Tucker. 'Collapsing' into Tucker's arms, Danny sighed dramatically.

"I love that man so much." Oh, hm. He hoped too many people hadn't been around for that scene. It was probably fine. Maybe. "Tucker, stop laughing, you're ruining my dramatic swooning moment-" Danny was dropped to the floor, but, really. It was worth it.

One Riter sufficiently played with, Danny didn't even last all the way through first period before he was taking a picture of himself and his new glasses and sending it to Randy with a winking emoticon. The response was near immediate and completely unsurprising. '!' 'Is this why I've been getting non-stop texts from Andy complaining about you?' 'If so, then good work!'

'I was giving him a late Christmas present is how I like to think of it.' 'What are you up to, then?' 'Randy I'm bored distract me.' 'Randy' 'Randy' 'Randy' 'Randy'

'What?'

'I'm bored' Danny could almost imagine Randy's annoyed expression that held nothing but warmth and fondness. He really should work on spending more time with Randy. It seemed he was always busy with school. 'Any interesting jobs?'

In response, Danny received over half a dozen pictures of what looked to be a new biome. Each picture had his grin growing wider and wider, the need for adventure and freedom stirring under his skin and making his heart race. His hand was already halfway in the air before he realized he was still in school and he hadn't even made it through lunch first. 'Tempted?'

'You're a cruel person Randy.' Right, distraction. Danny needed a distraction before he tried to cut class so he could explore a new place of a new world that was still so unexplored and no human really knew about and- Focus. 'Why do you two do the cheek thing?'

It took a moment, but eventually a response was sent back. '?' All things considered, Danny really couldn't fault him for such a response. 'Cheek thing?'

'Yeah the cheek thing!' 'You know I'll be having a bad day and one of you will just kind of cup my cheek and rub at it with your palm.' 'That cheek thing.'

'Oh!' 'It's something Sylvia used to do for us.' Sylvia- Oh, their mother. It seemed the more Danny heard about her, the more amazing she seemed. This, though. This was throwing him for a loop. 'It always seemed to calm us down after a while and I guess we both picked it up. I used to always use it on Andrew to calm him down or comfort him, as well.'

'See, that makes more sense.' 'It's weird.' 'A nice weird.' At first it felt like the two were just treating him like a child, but after a while, it had started to feel warm and comforting. Almost as if they were supporting him even when there wasn't much they could do. 'I like it.'

'Thought you might.' 'Oh, what's this?' 'It seems I've discovered a mysterious cavern that's lit up by glowing blue moss and leads to what seems like a great adventure.' As if to rub it in, Randy sent him another picture of the sight, Danny biting at his cheek because that looked so cool. 'Shame there's no one here to explore this with me.'

'Ra n d y.' 'I am trying to GRADUATE.' Something he couldn't do if he kept skipping classes. It was miracle enough he had finally gotten himself back on track after all the ghosts had caused so many problems with his attendance. He couldn't afford to risk things now.

'You're not even allowed to take a sick day?' 'Ooh, I hear animal noises. What new creature do you think it is today?'

"Mr. Lancer, I don't feel so good… I think I need to go the nurse." Lancer stared at him before giving a nod, and oh, right. Lancer knew he was Phantom. "It's very important."

"Alright. Try not to take too long." As soon as the hall pass was written, Danny was doing his best to suppress a grin. If Lancer thought there was a ghost attacking, well, Danny wasn't going to shatter that illusion any time soon.

'Danny?' 'Danny I'm joking.' 'Don't you dare skip class.'

'Incoming I'll be through the portal in five minutes.'

'Oh my god.'

Ghost powers already sparking under his skin and taking over, Danny barely even had to think about transforming before he was in the air and flying as fast as he could to Fenton Works. True to his word, it was barely five minutes before he was speeding through the portal, warm and familiar arms catching him and twirling him to get rid of all his momentum. "Andy is going to kill me."

"Only if he finds out." Danny squirmed in the hold and cuddled up to Randy, grin wide and beaming as he nuzzled against the man shamelessly. If neither of them were going to break first, then dammit, Danny didn't have any shame left. "Take me on an adventure."

"You terrible child." Randy held him close and kissed at his cheek anyways, grin as wide as his own. "You have French third period, you know."

"Better make it worth my while, then."

"Oh, I'll be sure to."

::

Danny managed to slide into the room just as the bell rang, near losing his balance before he bumped lightly into Andrew's desk, the man himself looking unamused. "Didn't we have a lesson before break about you being late for class?"

"Technically, sir, I'm not late." Ooh, but Danny wouldn't mind another lesson if Andrew thought he needed one. Some of this thoughts must have shown on his face since Andrew looked to be fighting against a blush before waving him off.

"Take your seat." Spoilsport. "Now, before any of you ask, remembering my warnings about prying too much into a teacher's personal life."

That stopped no one from raising their hand, Paulina the first to speak, "You shaved."

"A remarkable job of deductive reasoning, Ms. Sanchez, yes, I shaved. I lost a bet with my brother that involved alcohol and poor decisions. Let that alone be a lesson to all of you." Having Andrew as a teacher was a delight, truly. Maybe it was because Andrew actually had a sense of humor. "Speaking of lessons, let's proceed to today's, shall we? Welcome back from your holidays, as well."

"Holy shit." Tucker's quiet whisper caught Danny's attention, the teen staring at Andrew with wide eyes. "I mean, I didn't get a good look this morning in the hall, but I half thought you and Sam were just messing with me."

"Nope." Admiring his mate for a few long seconds, Danny flashed Tucker a grin. "You don't mess with French people when it comes to drinking bets. You especially don't mess with Randy when it comes to drinking bets."

"Yeah, I think I learned that the hard way," Tucker groaned, dramatically collapsing over his desk as if he was still hungover. Although, if anyone could manage something like that, it would be Tucker. "I can't believe Jazz didn't stop us."

"She was a bit busy with Clockwork that night." Yeah, and, okay, Danny was still trying not to think too much on that some days. They seemed happy, though. That was nice. "What did we do for homework in this class, anyways?"

"I don't think you really need to worry about your homework in French." Sitting back up, Tucker gave Danny a look. "You two jabber and flirt in the language all the time."

"I don't flirt with him in French-"

"You call him my angel."

"It's a term of deep endearment and affection and you didn't even let me finish. I don't flirt with him in French during class. That'd be horribly unethical of me." Sensitive hearing picked up the faintest sound of a laugh coming from Andrew, Danny sticking his tongue out when the other looked his way. Ghost hearing went both ways, he supposed.

"Just like you sleeping with the teacher- Hey! No kicking!" Tucker clung to his chair which Danny had gently nudged. If he had really kicked it, Tucker would be on the floor, preferably with an aching head. "You're the one who has that creepy kink-"

"It's not a kink." Right, new subject. Right now. This second. "Did you seriously crash on Sam's floor after the party? If her parents found you, they would have thrown you out on the street."

"They were out of the country, I was fine. It was Sam's vicious poking and teasing I had to endure the next morning that really got to me. Really, it was just- Oh, hey, let me see your homework. I need to copy the answers."

Torn between sighing and laughing, Danny instead just shook his head, "You do know he can hear every word we're saying right now, right?"

"So I shouldn't talk about how when you were seven you had the habit of running around naked-" This time, Tucker had to scramble and cling to his desk in order to not hit the floor. It was too late, though. The look on Andrew's face showed he had heard every word and would be teasing him about it later in great detail.

"Homework passed up and notebooks out. Today we're going through a review with a quiz at the end of the month on the first ten chapters- Yes, yes, I'm a horrible evil ghost. Unluckily for you, my boyfriend is the one who fights the evil ghosts, so you're rather stuck with me."

There was scattered laughter across the room at the words, Danny giving a soft smile as he pulled out his own notebook. Andrew was so… He thrived in a teaching environment. He may have complained all the time, but he always looked so peaceful and happy when teaching his students.

It… Danny was sure he'd hate it as much as Andrew when the substitute job was over. This was Andrew's dream. A normal and happy life with a scheduled routine and no threat of death or attack. It seemed such a shame to take that away from him, although this time there wasn't much Danny could do about it.

Mrs. Flores, the French teacher, would be back before the year was out - around April or so, if Danny wasn't wrong. And then in homeroom, Lancer had mentioned about the school finally finding a permanent teacher for Creative Writing. Andrew's time at Casper High was drawing to an end and Danny hated it more than he would have thought.

Instead of paying attention to the lesson, Danny mostly found himself observing Andrew, watching him teach and get wrapped up in the lesson. He had seen Andrew passionate when talking about a new book he was writing, but this was more… It was more quiet and calm than the wild energy he would get when starting a new novel. It was nice.

Eyes fluttering shut, Danny took a deep breath as he let himself relax. With Andrew teaching at the school, he was much less stressed and tense. While ghost attacks still occasionally happened - even with the truce - there was something nice about having his mate close by and safe. As if nothing bad could happen if Danny could just keep an eye on him. It also helped that he was able to spend so much more time with Randy, lately, and keep him just as close.

When he felt a hand run through his hair and give a light tug, it took a moment to remember he was at school and not Vidya. Opening his eyes, he saw Andrew was smiling down at him with a funny little expression, "So I'm that boring, then."

"Yes. Completely. Your voice bores me and I want nothing more to do with you," Danny grinned, noting that the class had been dismissed. Since the bell hadn't startled him awake, he supposed Andrew had done another early dismissal. "How long was I out?"

"Not long." The hand carded through his hair again, Danny feeling more than hearing the purr he gave. "Adorable."

"Shush. You're setting a very bad example, you know, letting your students leave so early all the time." Standing up, Danny leaned up on the tips of his toes to snatch a kiss. "Could give your students bad ideas."

"As if you needed any encouragement," Andrew 'scolded', giving Danny a quick kiss anyways. "Anything on your mind besides your little adventure with Randy that ended with me getting over a hundred texts."

"Just thinking about you." It was coming to an end, this feeling of safety and warmth. "I was thinking a little bit about Randy, yeah, but mostly I was thinking about your expression last night when-" Danny grinned as hands covered his mouth, taking far too much pride in Andrew's blush.

"You're a demon sent from hell to punish me, aren't you?" Tugging the hands away, Danny only answered in way of kissing Andrew's cheek. "I thought as much. Shoo, you have other teachers besides me, you know."

"Yeah, but you're my favorite, Mr. Riter." Danny really couldn't stop his laughter as he was all but shoved out of the classroom, Andrew muttering and swearing under his breath in French. "See you at lunch!" All of this was definitely coming to an end soon, but, well… Danny could at least enjoy it for as long as he could.