Bonjour, mes chers! I've had quite a writing spree when it comes to the Substitute so I've decided to upload a chapter a few days early for you all! I also wanted to let you know that Chapter 3 was briefly edited - Danny now knows that Andrew has died, but he wasn't the one that caused it and he doesn't know specifics.

As of this point on I also will not be marking when smut scenes start or stop unless you want me to as it bothers me where it disrupts the story flow so much. I will be letting you know if a chapter CONTAINS smut, blood, or gore, however.

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Chapter Thirty Four

::

"Raaandy!" Floating through Liz and tiredly dragging his backpack along on the ground, Danny whined as he heard no answer. He didn't even have the energy to properly change into Phantom he was so tired and now Randy was ignoring him? No way was he letting that continue. "Randy, c'mon, I need sympathy hugs!" Their Ghost Zone adventure had only been yesterday and already Danny felt as if he hadn't seen Randy in, well, in for forever.

A slowly swinging door had him pausing, Danny narrowing his eyes as he saw no one was around. It would have been a terrifying horror movie moment if Danny wasn't already half dead and a ghost. "Okay. Door open for yes, door closed for no. Are you Liz?" The door swung completely open, Danny beaming as he flew over. "That's so clever! I can't hear you but you can- Liz! That's brilliant!" The door swung open and closed quickly, showing the lair's own excitement. "Okay, okay, is Randy here?" Yes. "Hm, and he's not hearing me… Oh! He's asleep, isn't he?" Another yes, Danny grinning. This was fun.

"Right, just gotta find his bedroom, then." Last time Danny was here, Randy had teleported them directly into the bedroom, so Danny was a bit lost on where to go… "Mind leading the way?" Further up the hallway, there was the sound of another door opening and closing. "We're gonna get along great, Liz."

Following the trail of doors and occasionally moving carpets that he might or might not have taken a ride on, Danny finally found Randy's den of a bedroom. As before, dozens of blankets were piled up around the bed and along the edges, a cozy looking nest made in the middle where Randy was calmly dozing. Danny was honestly a bit surprised he was still asleep. It wasn't often he got to see Randy sleep so peacefully - or sleep at all, for that matter.

"You awake, Randy?" Keeping his voice just below that of a whisper, Danny flew over and let his tail form back into his legs, carefully sitting down on the edge of the nest. Randy, on his part, gave a quiet hum, one eye just barely slitting open. "I knew it. I can never catch you honestly asleep. You just don't ever fully sleep, do you?"

Watching as Randy started to stir and try to wake up more, Danny frowned and shifted so he was falling into the indent in the middle, lightly bumping into Randy's side. There was a moment where both paused before Danny heard a soft laugh, arms wrapping around him tightly. "I knew it. You're more soft and fuzzy than Andrew."

Twisting a bit in the hold, Danny curled up to Randy, relaxing more and more. For as much as Danny mocked Randy about his den, it was actually perfect for hiding away in. Lots of blankets, near no lighting, and a peaceful quiet that was hard to come by. It was perfect. "Hey, hey, Randy, guess what? Liz found a way to sort of speak to me today." Well, peaceful quiet wasn't really needed at the moment, right? "She opened and closed doors to answer yes and no questions and also led me all the way to you by doing the same thing. There might have been a flying carpet involved and I swear no matter what she tells you the lamp was just an accident I swear it wasn't like I had much control at the time-"

"You know, when Andy said you could find trouble anywhere, I almost didn't believe him." Scrunching his face up as he felt Randy rub against the top of his head, Danny relaxed as fingers lightly grazed over his spine. It didn't help that his shirt had rode up at some point in all his squirming and thus it was Randy's fingers touching his bare skin. "Flying carpets?"

"It was very scientific." Danny fought against the purr that he wanted to let out, tamping down on the feeling as much as he could. How did ghosts even purr, anyways? They were ghosts, not cats. It didn't make any sense. "Why do ghosts purr?"

"Again with those questions of yours." Randy wound his arms around Danny tightly before he was flipping over to lay on his back, Danny letting out a noise close to a squawk as he found himself sprawled out across Randy's chest. "Didn't we agree to have you ask Andy these things from now on?"

"I remember no such agreement." Trying to push himself up, Danny quickly settled for instead pushing his back into Randy's touch as the man rubbed at his spine again. That felt so nice. "Tell me."

"So needy." Randy pressed down harder, Danny trying to keep himself from blushing as he heard his own loud purring. "It's not really purring - at least, not by normal standards. Notice how it never comes from your throat?" Giving a reluctant nod, Danny shuddered as the hand moved to rub circles along his lower back. "That's because the noise is coming from the core."

Okay. Right. Focus. Danny needed to focus on something besides Randy right now. "The core? That doesn't make sense. I'm not in my ghost form, either."

"It's actually pretty common, and you still have a core even if you're human right now. See, ghosts make a lot of noises through our cores. Ghost children, especially. The most common one is 'purring,' which is where the core is vibrating on a certain frequency that typically only ghosts and humans attuned to ectoplasmic things in nature can hear. It usually shows contentment, but it can also be used to show that the ghost needs comfort when physically or emotionally hurt."

"Use smaller words." Danny was quickly becoming a purring pile of mush, purrs hitching when Randy shifted to wind an arm around him, one hand rubbing along his lower back and another moving to grasp his hand. "Way smaller."

"Alright, then." He felt the rumble of laughter more than heard it, Danny only barely realizing that Randy was moving their linked hands under Danny's shirt before pressing against his chest. "Feel that vibration?" Certainly feeling something. "It's your entire ghost self letting others know that you're happy." There was another low chuckle, Danny shuddering at the noise as he felt it paired with a soft brush of lips to his cheek. "Are you happy, mon douce?" Mon… My sweet?

"You're so not good for my heart." It was getting harder. Damn all three of them for being so good at avoiding conversations that should have happened a long time ago. Feeling the fingers press harder, Danny quickly turned to press his face against Randy's neck, muffling himself from making any embarrassing noises.

Interestingly enough, it was Randy who made the embarrassing noise. A bitten off sound that had been very close to something rather indecent. Absently realizing both of them had frozen, Danny bit his lip before shifting and slowly nuzzling against Randy's neck again. "Danny." It was a warning more than anything, Randy tensed up underneath him as his hands tightened into fists around Danny's shirt.

"You know, I remember you had a similar reaction the last time I touched your neck like this." Trying not to think about his own shaking voice because this moment could change everything, Danny shifted to gently brush his lips against the straining cords of muscle. "Relax."

"I think this is where I tell you that you're doing the opposite of relaxing me." At the shaking below him, Danny pushed himself up, legs settling on either side of Randy's waist. Hands braced against the older's shoulders, Danny looked down to see Randy's entire face was flushed with shades of white, his eyes wide and uncertain.

"Hey." So much was on the verge of changing, but… "Hey, it's okay." That didn't have to be a bad thing. "No matter what happens, it can only be for the better, right?" As the look refused to fade, Danny huffed and leaned down to kiss at Randy's neck again, pressing harder than he had before. "Randy."

Whatever meaning Randy had heard, the man seemed to slump and release almost all tension, a quiet groan leaving as his head tilted to the side to reveal more of his neck. Stilling his own shaking hands, Danny bit down on a noise of his own as Randy shifted under him. This all should have felt like it was going way too fast, but if they were being honest, they had been building up to this for a while now.

Mouthing higher up the neck, Danny kissed at the skin there before hesitantly giving it a small lick. Randy's full body shudder had him clutching at the man's shoulders even more tightly, Danny repeating the action and this time grazing across the skin with his teeth. There was a loud, clear moan from Randy, Danny now the one shaking as he felt his breath pick up. So close. The two were so close and it would only take one more small-

"Well, I walked in on something rather interesting." Yelping as Randy shot up, Danny tumbled into a heap over Randy's legs, blinking as he looked up to see Andrew leaning against the doorway. "Oh, please. Don't stop on my account."

There was a long moment where Randy looked as unsure as Danny, neither able to think on what to say before Danny cleared his throat, "I, ah… I was helping him relax?"

"At great personal cost, I would assume." Calmly walking over, Andrew flew into the air just enough to settle himself down beside the two in the center of the bed. "You know, mon cher, I thought you were kidding when you said his room was a den."

"Oh my god." Randy had his face buried in his hands, Danny biting his lip to hold in a laugh this time as he gently played with the older's hair. "Oh my god, you two are going to be the death of me."

"I mean, if we're being technical-" The hand covering his mouth was just rude and Danny felt no hesitation in licking at it. Unfortunately, that seemed to do nothing. Andrew sneaking a kiss to Randy's neck had the man letting go real quick, though. "Ooh, now, see, that gives me some questions. Like, how long have you been wanting Andrew to-"

Danny was silenced with a pillow almost immediately, Randy pinning him down and looking more amused than mortified like Danny would have thought. "One of these days, I'm going to find a way to shut you up."

"When you do, make sure you tell me. I'm still trying to figure it out." Andrew sighed, a bit too dramatically, before moving to lean against Randy's side and shamelessly cuddle up to him.

"You two are terrible." And, sure, okay. So things hadn't changed, but that was fine- That was great. This slow build up, the feelings growing every day, and the tension at each new encounter… This is what made it fun. This was what made it… This made it real. For as painful and torturous as it could be sometimes, Danny wouldn't change it for the world.

Although he might have changed the time on just when Andrew had shown up. Well… There was always next time.

::

"Rather late to be getting a snack, don't you think, grand frère?" Andrew grinned from where he sat on the counter, pleased with having genuinely startled Randy for once.

"You calling me that is really not helping at the moment." Grinning at the sour look, Andrew gave a pleased hum at the fingers under his chin and the kiss to his forehead. "You two have no sense of decency or propriety."

"Now, where's the fun in that?" Leaning into the hand that slipped up to hold his cheek, Andrew sighed softly and let his eyes flutter shut. "You're acting much more like yourself."

"Yes, well… Who knew talking emotions out would actually ever help." This time the lips brushed against his cheek, Andrew reaching up to loosely clasp Randy's wrist. "Is this the part where you stop me?"

"I think this is the part where I beg for you to not stop." Pouting as he felt Randy move away, Andrew opened his eyes to watch him start on a pot of tea. "You know caffeine doesn't do much for ghosts." Not unless he drank three pots within the hour, which, actually, was rather likely.

"Mm. Allow me my illusions for now, I suppose." Still too soon, then. That was fine. Andrew could be patient. "Your thoughts are clear on your face."

"When have I ever made you believe that I wished to hide them?" Leaning back on his hands, Andrew gave a soft sigh as Randy moved to stand between his legs, arms winding around his waist as Randy's head came to rest upon his shoulder. "You're not hiding."

"Don't need to." Randy relaxed against him, Andrew giving in the urge to play with his hair. "Dare we go with the cliche of relationship talks in the middle of the night?" Laughing, Andrew kissed at the top of Randy's head, pleased with the thread of a purr that weaved it's way into the quiet hum. "I couldn't agree more."

"You're ridiculous." As the water boiled, Andrew kept gently playing with Randy's hair, thoughts drifting. "Randy… Danny's getting worse."

"I think I've seen him use his powers in his human form more than I have in ghost form, at this point." That was what was worrying him. Danny had always stressed upon the difference between 'Fenton and Phantom'. The fact there were no longer any clear boundaries… "Are his sides finally blending together?"

"That never happened with Plasmius." There had always been that clear distinction between ghost and human, even when the liens begin to blur. Now, though, something was changing and Andrew wasn't sure if it was for the better. "I don't like it. It's as if- As if-"

"He doesn't want to be human anymore." Silence filled the kitchen before it was broken by the shrill whistling of the tea kettle, Randy sighing and moving to grab it. "We need to talk to Clockwork and Plasmius about this."

"What if we're worrying over nothing? Danny was hit with far more concentrated radiation than Plasmius was, after all. Maybe this is normal for his situation." His powers had grown in leaps and bounds since Andrew had met him, after all. This could be normal.

"What if it isn't, though? There's only three half ghosts in all of existence and each one of them came about through different means." Taking the tea cup offered to him, Andrew stared at it with a frown. "One came about through cloning, another through brief exposure of ectoplasmic radiation, and the last was exposed to the whole damn world and near torn to shreds by the energy."

"Danielle's stable." Andrew's voice sounded weak even to himself. "He's already died once. What if…" If he died again, would he even be able to come back?

"Hey." Oh. He was shaking. When had that happened? "Hey, hey, hey, ssh, it's okay, mon petit, it's okay. We're not going to lose him, okay? We're going to find out what's wrong - if anything - and we'll fix it. When have we ever let the impossible stop us before, after all?"

"Right… Right." Taking a deep breath, Andrew moved to collapse against Randy's chest, teacup set aside. "I'm still worried." How long could Danny keep going like this?

"You have every right to be. How about for now, though, you let me do a bit of the worrying for you. After all, it's four in the morning and you have school in a few hours." Ugh. One of the downsides of being a teacher was getting up so damn early. "Hey, it's your chosen career."

"And you're the one who put my resume in after I told you not to." Huffing, Andrew gave a sharp grin as he leaned up, kissing at the corner of Randy's lips. "I know a few ways you could earn forgiveness, though…"

"Oh, really?" Andrew found himself roughly shoved backwards, back straining uncomfortably as his wrists were pinned to the wall behind him. Randy stood between his legs and kept him even further pinned, the older not even a hair's a breadth apart as he chuckled softly. "Don't make promises you can't keep, dear one."

"You first." The two stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, Andrew feelings lips just barely touch his before he was gently let go, Randy calmly slipping away and grabbing his tea cup. "What's that Danny says about you not being good for his heart?"

"As if you two are good for mine," Randy scoffed, Andrew satisfied to see a blush starting to stain his cheeks. "Your thoughts are, once more, transparent."

"It seems I need to be with you two and your cluelessness."

"Good night, Andrew.

"Bonne nuit, grand frère."

The loud and unamused groan was beautiful, truly. Picking his own tea cup back up, Andrew stared into the warm brown color before letting a heavier sigh slip out. Their confusing relationship set aside for the moment, Andrew truly was worried about Danny. Whereas before he had only seen his ghost powers slip through in the most extreme circumstances, now it seemed as if Fenton and Phantom had truly merged together.

Andrew wasn't sure if this was for the best and Danny was getting stronger, or… The or needn't be thought about. Soon they would get an answer and this whole mess could be put behind them.

Right?