Randy noticed Tiffany's red and puffy eyes, evidence that she also had a rough night. He was obviously the worse off between the two physically, but that didn't stop guilt from forming in the pit of his stomach. Now that he was seeing her face-to-face and sober, he was feeling much worse. Everything about the situation was fucked up, Randy's head spinning from it all — he recognized that he fucked up, that he was fucked up, but he also didn't think that Dewey was innocent, either.

"Yeah, what the fuck," Randy repeated with a heavy sigh. He shook his head slowly at her next question, watching the shift in Tiffany's demeanor as it clicked what must have happened. Her momentary concern for Randy visibly disappeared, which confirmed to him where this conversation was about to be headed. Randy removed the ice from his face and motioned for Tiffany to sit across from him. "I know.. so let's talk."

It had been a long night, from the events of the Halloween party to the debrief at her best friend’s house afterwards. Even after Candice eventually fell asleep, Tiffany couldn’t get any rest knowing that she was going to have to go home the next day and officially end her long-term relationship. Even knowing it was the right choice, it still hurt—like cutting off a poisoned limb. Knowing she probably looked like shit due to her night of crying and lack of beauty sleep, she was surprised to see how much worse Randy looked when she finally went home and saw him icing a bruised face.

“What the fuck, Randy,” she breathed, softening for the slightest moment. Despite her resolve to end things with him, she never wanted to see him actually hurt like this. But she couldn’t help imagining he brought it upon himself, instigating whatever altercation led him to look like this while he was angry last night. “Did you get into a bar fight or—?” From the look on his face, she could tell that wasn’t it, and her fingers itched for her car keys, to head right back out and find Dewey, who she was suddenly sure had been on the other side of the brawl. But she could meet him later, once she and Randy were finished. Her expression hardened. Whatever had happened to leave him in this state, it didn’t affect the choice Tiffany had already made during their own fight the previous night. They were breaking up, now; this development wasn’t going to make her lose her resolve. “We need to talk."

“It’s okay to be angry, you’re allowed to be upset about what happened to you.” - @jubilccna

What started as Randy drunk texting Jackie hav u talked 2 Tiff?? soon turned into Randy inviting her over. Well, over to his parents. After the official breakup, both Tiffany and Randy went off their separate ways from the house, Tiffany likely checking on Dewey upon learning about the fight, and Randy going to his parents' house knowing no one would be there. The Fluggerbutters went on yet another vacation without their son for Halloween, unaware that they’d be returning home to their only child beginning to move his things back in. In the meantime, Randy got into his dad’s stash of alcohol again, which was what led him to this point. It was honestly a relief that he could have his parents' place to himself for a few days, to not hear them bitch and complain the moment they heard the news about the breakup. Instead, he wanted to be around the one person that he knew wouldn’t judge him or make him feel bad about everything that happened — Jackie. His face was still not pretty but he was taking a short break from icing it, practically feeling numb by now with a little thanks to his dad’s booze. Now, he was lying across the couch with his head in Jackie’s lap, looking up at her with sad eyes. Maybe it was the emptiness he was feeling that made him want Jackie's attention tonight, or maybe it was because he knew deep down that they'd had brief moments of flirting in the past that they never really talked about — was he doing this just to spite Tiffany, knowing she had Dewey by her side to comfort her and make her happy? Right now, he wasn't sober enough to think that deeply into it. He was just glad he didn't have to be alone tonight. Randy sighed. "I just keep thinking about them together," he confessed. "They get to be happy and then I'm just... the asshole that gets left behind."

@taffytm

There was an eerie feeling as Randy got home before Tiffany, even if he had already expected her absence. He checked on Peanut, attempted to clean himself up (but was unable to wash away all of the aftermath of the fight, of course), and he thought about Halloween and what the hell had happened the previous night — now that he was sobered up, he was feeling like a dumbass. His anger had somewhat subsided, reality was beginning to settle in and .. well, he was more than feeling the consequences. Unsure of when Tiffany would be home, he sat in the kitchen and iced his face again in the meantime, dreading the conversation to come. He wasn’t sure how Tiffany was going to react to his bruises, or if she already knew to expect it (it wouldn’t surprise him if she was with Dewey right now, while he played the victim), but he wasn’t looking forward to the aftermath regardless… He had a feeling that just blaming the liquor and simply saying he wasn’t himself last night wouldn't make up for how he treated her, and the fight would likely only piss her off more. Unknowing that there was more than just liquor spiked in the punch, a magical interference that brought out the worst in him, Randy had nothing else he could point the blame to but himself. He likely looked like a dog with its tail tucked between his legs as Tiffany finally did get home, unable to even attempt to force a smile as she came into view in the kitchen. “Hey…”

"What? Like you don't know?" Randy was ready to expose everything he knew right there — the bracelet she left at Dewey's, the obvious flirting between them, the way he experienced the norm between them firsthand when Dewey switched bodies with him, from their fro-yo date to even the flirty emojis next to her name in his phone — but he stopped himself. They were still in public, even if Tiff had dragged him away, and she had no idea about the magical interference that helped Randy realize what she'd been hiding. And if she were really mad about that, she could thank Dewey the next time she saw him.

"While I'd love to unpack all the bullshit you've been pulling behind my back right now, we should wait until we're alone," he finally answered, frustrated that he even had to lay out the obvious to her. She was clearly avoiding showing any guilt, despite what he already knew. He almost hoped they'd leave it there for now — wait until they got home to continue this fight and unpack everything — but Tiffany wasn't ready to back down.

As she began to point out what Randy had said about her in the past — her controlling attitude, her clinginess, the way he felt suffocated by her — he couldn't understand how she was missing the obvious. If Randy had really been so sick of Tiffany, he would've broken up with her (and not come back) years ago, and the same could be said for her. Even if he complained about her and they fought, the distance and the fights always reminded him why he loved her and to not give up on each other. However, things changed. Now that her attention had been taken by Dewey and her feelings were so obviously shifting, exactly what Randy had been afraid of was happening. The spark between them was long gone, and he was part of the problem. By giving them space and escaping in an attempt to not drive each other insane, he pushed her too far away. Were either of them willing or able to pull the other back in and not lose what little love was left? Even with that thought in the back of his mind, that he could very well lose Tiffany from this, his frustration and intoxication overpowered the logic. Instead, he kept digging deeper.

"Nothing I do is enough for you, you know that? I escape from you and flirt with other girls because it's so obvious that nothing I do will make you happy." Their relationship may as well have been a game, both of them fighting to keep each other interested but both were losing; the hot and cold game was fun at first, but it got old. Maybe it was a sign that they were growing up, growing out of each other in the process. "You can blame it on all the shitty things I've done, but I know that even on my good days, you've still gone to him." It wasn't exactly fair when Randy wasn't the one who'd given her the good day he was specifically referring to, where Dewey gave Tiffany a romantic date in his body, but he was sure it applied to other instances; they had good times together too, like Sharpay's party. Were Tiffany and Dewey talking back then, too? Did she still think of him when they were supposedly happy and having a good night together? "Even on our worst days, it's always been you Tiff. I know I'm not perfect, but I'm not fucking hiding it. You still keep pretending, and for what? Who the fuck are you fooling?"

The punch and the anger were mixing within him and making Randy feel warm, noticing now that Tiffany's eyes were starting to well with tears. He didn't think it was worse. Wasn't romantic feelings more of a heavy blow than a few flirty exchanges? Where was the loyalty? "No, not when it's all an act. The only thing you care about is how your fans perceive you, and it is bullshit!" He'd never been this harsh with Tiffany before, but he was still aware of their surroundings. "Do you really care so much about what everyone's gonna think? Then stop crying in public and causing a scene."

"Guilty of what?" Tiffany didn’t know exactly what would happen if she admitted that she was guilty, but she certainly wasn't going to accept blame without any solid accusations. Yes, she’d kept Dewey a secret, but that didn’t mean she had treated him any differently than her other friends. Her reasons for keeping him to herself were all internal; she wasn’t running around flirting with Dewey or doing anything else like Randy seemed to imply. She resented the fact that he was even putting her on trial like this when he was the one literally being caught in the act—and while she couldn't predict the outcome of this fight, she was more than sure that she couldn't expect him to just forgive and forget any transgressions if she pleaded guilty. The more he tried to turn this on her, to excuse his own behavior like it was just fine as long as he admitted to it, the angrier she got. She'd dug her heels in too far to turn around now.

“Surprised I noticed?” she repeated in disbelief. “What, like you haven’t thought I was a control freak and micro-manager our whole relationship? Who you apparently need to escape from? You think I haven’t noticed every time you’ve flirted with someone else?” This wasn’t new, and it wasn’t a response to her spending more time with Dewey lately (however Randy even knew about that.) It was a pattern that existed well before she started hanging out with Dewey, part of what had pushed her to accept validation outside of her own boyfriend in the first place.

Tiffany couldn’t even string together a logical argument after that one—where she should have emphasized that, yeah, it was textbook sneaking because he lied about it, she was still caught on Randy saying he had to have a life outside of her, an escape from this bullshit. It was hard to mount a strong defense when her hands shook and her eyes filled with tears. Humiliating as always that she was driven to crying so easily, her body’s first response to any strong stressor. Which part was he calling bullshit—their whole relationship, or just her having a man in her life who actually treated her decently? She suddenly didn’t want to downplay it anymore, refusing to treat her own feelings as trivial. That was what it came down to: whether it was romantic or not, Dewey made her feel valued and that wasn’t meaningless. But the fact that Randy wanted to mess around and do stupid, meaningless shit—

“That’s even worse!” Could he really not see that? She felt like she was taking crazy pills here. If he fell in love with someone else, it would hurt like a bitch, but at least there would be some level of helplessness there. The heart wants what it wants, and all that. Randy flirting with other women with no meaning behind it practically meant that he just wanted to hurt her, with nothing else in it for him. If he was willing to disrespect her and their relationship for no reason, that just showed how little he truly cared. “Does anything you do mean anything? Do my feelings mean anything to you, or is that all just stupid bullshit too?”

At least Randy knew she hadn't completely forgotten about him, watching her expression as he mentioned his favorite flavor combo. He was probably watching Tiffany more closely than ever before, listening to even the slight shift in her voice as she responded. It almost surprised him to hear his name get brought up, a relief but also strange. She clearly didn't have a problem talking about her boyfriend with Dewey, so what was up? He just didn't care that she was taken?

"Oh, yeah?" He tried not to sound too interested, stuffing his hands in his pockets as they continued toward the fro-yo shop. Randy seized the opportunity to get his girlfriend to talk about him more; he couldn't help but be curious about what his body had been up to all day, and what Tiffany might have to say. What was she comfortable with telling Dewey, exactly? Randy cleared his throat awkwardly, "So, uh .. What's he been up to?"

Chocolate and peanut butter wasn’t an unusual combination in any way, but it was such a Randy staple that Tiffany’s nose automatically scrunched in response to Dewey providing it as his flavor of the day. Maybe those two were such opposites that it just seemed weird they would even like the same thing…Then again, they both liked her, didn’t they? Maybe their tastes were similar after all. Tiffany felt immediately guilty thinking that. She had been having a great morning with her boyfriend earlier, but now here she was with Dewey, and…What did it mean that she kept comparing both of them? She loved Randy, but whenever he frustrated her, her mind swayed toward Dewey. Sometimes she could almost forget about her boyfriend entirely when with Dewey, but then something would remind her of him and she would get antsy.

“Yeah,” she said, hoping to sound normal when she answered. Dewey probably didn’t know how conflicted their friendship made her over something as simple as fro-yo. “Peanut butter cups, too. Those are Randy’s favorites,” she added. Tiff didn’t know why she had to bring him up, besides to remind both of them that he existed, that their relationship status meant he was always here, between them, even when he wasn’t.

Louie's answer didn't make the situation any less confusing. It was unfamiliar to him, yet they were on the right track? His family must've been crazier than Randy could have ever imagined, listening as his friend gave a rushed explanation. It helped clear some of his confusion, yet some of his other questions remained unanswered. Randy took off the amulet and handed it to Louie, a small part of him wondering if something would happen when he did so but he was still Dewey.

"Okay.. I still don't get it," he confessed as he sat at the end of Louie's bed. "What does any of this have to do with me and Tiff? And where is she?" Besides being friends with Louie, Randy didn't see any connection. "If her bracelet's here, she had to have been here, right? Have you seen her?" Randy was basically thinking out loud at this point, meeting Louie's gaze again and waiting for him to reveal something that they could work with. "... You really don't know anything else?"

Louie knew at a glance that he had never seen the amulet Randy was wearing before. A fancy piece of jewelry with a gorgeous green pendant? He would have been all over it if had been found on one of the countless family adventures he’d been dragged along on—so either Dewey had squirreled it away knowing Louie would try to claim it if he saw it, or he’d likely discovered it in one of Scrooge’s many treasure chests stored in the mansion. It had the aura of something ancient and supernatural, like most of the artifacts that found their new home in the McDuck garage.

“Nope,” he answered Randy’s question. “So I think we’re on the right track.” He quickly explained his reasoning and his theory—a little bit of a rushed family backstory of how his great uncle was an adventurer who had a lot of old (but potent) junk lying around, one of which could probably be a magical amulet that switched the wearer to another person’s body at random. It made as much sense as anything. The only problem was explaining away how coincidental it would seem that Randy had been the one to swap with Dewey—and Tiffany’s bracelet? Louie chewed on the inside of his cheek, hoping his friend wouldn’t ask any more into that line of questioning. 

"It hurts my face just looking at you." -@gladeorange

Randy groaned in frustration (and in pain) as he held an ice pack to his eye. Not only was the loss extremely embarrassing, but now Randy was left wondering .. now what? He’d lost the fight, lost his girl, and now he had his friends (who were also Tiffany’s friends, a whole other issue to unpack) who were probably judging him pretty hard. “Don’t remind me,” he answered dryly at Glade’s comment. “This fucking sucks, man.”

As Tiffany took another sip from his glass, Randy kept his eyes on Louie and Davis, as if he were trying to decipher what the hell these two could be talking about. Well, he knew damn well that the triplet had a long history of disliking the guy — did Doofus just never get the hint and continue to bother Louie, anyway? Most likely. If the couple were to actually intervene to rescue their friend, it would only result in them getting dragged into the drama along with him. It was better to avoid the Doofus danger zone. Nodding in agreement, he turned his attention back to his girlfriend and shot her a smile. "Depends how early we dip," he teased with a chuckle. "We could game if we're not too tired." Though his arm was still comfortably around her waist, his hand did linger down for a split second to give her ass a playful squeeze. "Or Netflix and chill?"

Though they both sympathized with whatever the fuck Louie was being put through tonight, their empathy obviously didn’t extend far enough to them actually rescuing him from his social situation. Tiffany simply shrugged it off, turning back to Randy as he offered her another sip of his wine, which she accepted happily. “Well, this party is a drag, so at least he’ll have something interesting to say about it tomorrow.” She was already thinking ahead to when they could acceptably leave. “What do you wanna do when we get out of here?”

just a fist in your face — a self para

featuring @deweydewdrop & @fluggedup

A kiss from Tiffany, although a little sad and involving tears, was the last thing Dewey had expected tonight. Despite the circumstances, he was feeling pretty good about it. The triplet had initially come to the event with a pit in his stomach, still thinking about his brother and feeling like a total piece of shit, but that was only the beginning of the mix of emotions tonight. 

Seeing Tiffany crying had been heartbreaking all in itself, feeling partially responsible but now feeling like maybe things will be okay … Tiffany made it seem like the kiss was left off on a to be continued note, and Dewey was perfectly fine with respecting that. There were a lot of conflicting factors in all of this mess, the main one being the asshole that made her cry in the first place.

Randy had only indulged more in the drinks at the event since he and Tiffany put their public fight on hold. He was losing his grip, realizing that his long-term relationship was on thin, thin ice. There was a part of Randy that had wanted this; something about him always craved freedom, even though he never did very well on his own. However, reality was starting to settle in that this could be it —  the power couple of the streaming world were likely done for. Randy had no idea what his life would look like with Tiff no longer by his side, but he wasn’t planning to show his defeat in the face of the public. No, he’d just drown his emotions out with another drink and prolong the inevitable.

Neither of the boys involved with Tiffany expected to run into each other this evening, after tensions were already high with all of them. While Dewey had been heading off to find Webby and Huey (although they still weren’t on great terms with him — he was still really trying to make things right for everyone), Randy was just walking out of the restroom, just as the other was about to walk by. Dewey noticed Randy first, stopping in his tracks. Unfortunately, Huey or Webby weren’t close by to stop the triplet from saying something stupid.

Randy noticed Dewey a moment later, his expression shifting. He’d intended to drink away his problems tonight, worry and actually deal with them later, but suddenly the problem was standing right in front of him. 

Though they only stared at each other silently for a moment, it felt like an eternity. It was Randy who broke the silence first. “What? You have something to say?”

Dewey scoffed, any tiny piece of him that debated walking away immediately suppressed by his anger. Was this guy fucking serious?

“Yeah. I hope you’re happy with yourself, asshole.”

“Me? You’re the one stealing my girlfriend, dude.”

Randy took a step closer to Dewey. They were standing a few feet from each other in the hallway, just outside the restrooms where no one seemed to be lingering at the moment. He’d been waiting for this since he had switched bodies with Dewey, never able to properly confront him after all this time. Dewey was fucking with his life left and right, and now what? He wanted to rub it in his face?

Despite any fault he may have had in all of this, Dewey didn’t even try to sound remorseful. He shook his head. “I didn’t have to steal her. You would’ve lost her all on your own.”

Dewey didn’t have a moment to react as Randy pushed Dewey against the wall behind him. The triplet’s back slammed against the surface, but remained there as Randy had him pinned. The smell of liquor lingered on his breath.

“You think this is funny, fucking with my relationship? Fucking with my head? With Tiffany’s head?” He eyed him carefully, but Dewey didn’t show any fear. “Your brother might’ve covered for your ass, but I’m not stupid. I’ve known something’s been going on with you two since we switched bodies.”

That was when Dewey finally broke his poker face, his eyebrows raising in surprise. Welp, there was no escaping this conversation now; Louie had warned him that he was going to have to face this eventually. 

It was almost satisfying to see how much this was affecting Randy — assholes deserve their karma.

“Don’t take it so personal, Ran. Maybe she’s just not as interested in you as she used to be,” he answered almost too confidently, finally bringing his own arms up to firmly push Randy off him. “But, some advice? If you wanted her to stay interested in you so badly, maybe you should’ve actually … given her attention? Put bare minimum effort — “ he would have kept going, but Randy’s fist colliding with his face cut Dewey off. 

Momentarily stunned, Dewey stumbled a few steps back. Randy was opening and closing his fist, distracted by the unexpected pain; it was as if he’d hit Dewey harder than he expected. Dewey used the distraction to his advantage, ignoring his own emerging pain to defend Tiffany. He took a few steps forward and swung at Randy, hitting him square in the jaw.

“I don’t know what you think is going on between us, but all I did was show her how a guy should really treat her. Is that really a crime?” Dewey continued fearlessly.

In an instant, Randy was throwing another punch, and the two were lunging at each other. Neither of them were able to keep track of who was getting more hits in. Randy was fueled more from the alcohol he consumed along with his own jealousy, unlike Dewey who was actually fighting out of loyalty to Tiffany. That really put the triplet at an advantage, along with the inner, pent-up frustrations that had been building deep inside him for months now. 

As Dewey felt blood trickle from his now busted lip, taking the chance to push Randy to the ground and get a few more good hits, it all seemed to flash by in his mind — his reconnection with Tiffany, the body swap, the bombing .. the aftermath and the loneliness that came with it, the comfort Tiffany gave him when it felt like the entire world was against him, the kiss … for a moment, he lost track of what was in front of him. He didn’t register that more blood was present now, pouring from Randy’s nose as his fist didn’t stop flying.

Dewey’s anger was fueling him more and more, throwing a last hard punch before security was forcing him off. Even as they dragged the triplet away, another security guard pulling Randy up to escort him out too, Dewey made sure to get the last word in.

“She deserves so much better than you, and you know it!”

Randy could tell instantly that Tiffany hadn't seen that coming. There was a moment pause, as if she needed to mentally calculate how Randy would even know anything about Dewey, but unsurprisingly she didn't let that distract her from being angry at Randy still. That didn't scare him or make him feel guilty — it was obvious that this had been building up for awhile from both sides. It was likely going to get ugly before either of them backed down.

"Friends?" He scoffed. "I know your friends, Tiff. We've had the same friends since we were kids. What, all of a sudden you become best friends with Louie's brother and hide it? Just admit that you're guilty." For once, Randy actually wasn't trying to get out his blame in all of this; the more honest he was, the better he came out of it. "Hey, I have nothing to hide. I admit it — I was flirting with her. I'm surprised you even fucking noticed." Now, Tiffany had a sudden interest in what Randy did, as if that was more important than the Dewey situation. He shook his head in disbelief. "Seriously? That's your argument? That isn't me sneaking around — that's me having a life outside of you. An escape from this bullshit." He didn't have a filter to hold him back, his words harsh. He had to get it all out there before Tiffany could completely paint him the bad guy. "I should've known you'd find your own escape too, but him?" He asked, still trying to understand the whole thing. "You know, you can point the finger at me all you want, but everything I've done? It's stupid, meaningless shit. Can you say the same about Dewey?"

Having the confrontation immediately turned around on her wasn’t what Tiffany expected, and more than that, to have Randy accuse her of sneaking around with Dewey…She hadn’t even known he knew about her friendship with Dewey, which ultimately kind of proved his point about her being sneaky about it, even if it wasn’t what he was thinking. She wasn’t cheating on him; she had never done anything with Dewey that she hadn’t done with the other racers—getting food or playing video games together. The only difference was keeping their hang-outs secret because…Okay, there was no good excuse, which she quickly realized in the seconds after he called her out. She didn’t tell Randy about Dewey because she knew it would bother him, so he would have the right to be upset about that in itself, if there was no other context for what was going on here. But it still wasn’t fair for Randy to accuse her of anything just to take the heat off himself.

“That’s not the same thing. And if you had a problem with me being friends with him then you should have said something before—not just use it as a get out of jail free card when I caught you! Like, are you for real right now?” She was getting more heated than ever, her voice rising now that she dragged Randy off to a private area for them to have it out without an audience of everyone in the ballroom. “If you wanna throw that in my face, then how about all the times you ‘hang out with the boys—’” she mimicked, making air quotes, “—and come home wasted? Do you still wanna talk about sneaking around?”

Truthfully, Randy was starting to think it was a lost cause, getting Louie to believe that he wasn't one of his triplet brothers. If it were Randy in Louie's shoes, he sure as hell would just think the other person was clinically insane. To his luck and surprise though, Louie finally showed a sign that he understood. Apologized, even. What the hell was this all about? Randy hardly ever found himself around magic of any kind, so this was all new to him.

Narrowed eyebrows, he entered the familiar room and listened to Louie start to explain, huffing a sigh of relief. "Thank god. I was worried I was actually going crazy." Magical bullshit was an understatement in Randy's eyes, but he was glad that his friend was at least on his side. There were still missing pieces of the puzzle, though. "Uhh .. Yeah, actually," he remembered, sticking his hand under Dewey's shirt and revealing the amulet around his neck. "This look familiar to you?"

For a second, Louie thought Dewey was playing a really weird joke. He would have called it fucked up and shut the door in his face—but now that he was actually waking up and paying attention, he could tell. He knew Dewey intimately, down to the exact cadence of his speech patterns (something he used to his advantage to mimic his brother when needed) and those might be Dewey’s vocal chords speaking right now, but it wasn’t him. Randy, if this was really Randy, held himself differently. Louie groaned, rubbing his face.

“Ugh, it’s too early for magical bullshit…Sorry, come in.” He stepped back from the doorway to allow Randy-Dewey into his room. “I do believe you. My family has a bad habit of getting involved with—” for lack of a better term “—magical bullshit. We’ll figure it out; we always do.” He really didn’t want to unpack the fact that Randy had found his girlfriend’s bracelet here, but he had a guess it was what this whole thing was about. Just what did Dewey get himself into this time? "Was there anything else weird around when you woke up? Anything that could potentially be a supernatural artifact?"

Playing the part of someone else wasn’t that easy, especially when he hardly knew the person. Randy wasn’t an actor, but Tiffany didn’t seem like she was suspicious of him acting strange, so maybe he was doing alright so far. Normally, Randy wouldn’t even have to ask what Tiff was getting — she was typically pretty consistent with her favorite flavors. However, this weird situation he was stuck in had him wanting to question everything. If Tiffany was spending all this time with Louie’s brother without Randy knowing, what else didn’t he know? He wondered if half the things he knew about her were even true anymore, if she had changed right before his eyes and he’d been too distracted to realize.

His eyebrow quirked up. Peppermint? That wasn’t too out of character for her but still surprised him. Hearing her ask sweet or sour to him was strange for a moment, thinking how that was never Randy’s go-to, but he kept having to remind himself that this wasn’t him. Well, if she was going to catch him by surprise, he supposed that Dewey could too. As she bumped his arm with her shoulder, he forced a smile, trying so hard to stay in the moment. “Mm… Neither, actually. I think today’s a …. Chocolate peanut butter combo day. They had Reese’s Pieces there to sprinkle on top, right?”

It was pretty typical for Dewey to be adventurous with the flavors he tried, always wanting to shake things up, so Tiff wasn’t surprised to hear that today would be much the same. She was expecting him to go through every different option the place offered eventually. Probably the most predictable thing about Dewey was his unpredictability.

She shrugged at the question of what she was in the mood for as she led the way to the yogurt shop they’d visited last time they went for a fro-yo run together. Strawberry was her signature, her go-to for everything and anything that offered it as an option from flavors to scents to designs, but ever since they’d met Dewey had been inspiring her to be a little bolder with her choices.

“I might do, like, a peppermint bark thing with the peppermint crumbles and white chocolate,” she mused. It wasn’t winter yet, but peppermint being considered a seasonal flavor was dumb anyway. Screw the system. Tiffany smiled and bumped Dewey’s arm with her shoulder. “What about you? Are you feeling sweet or sour today?”

This time Randy didn't hold back his chuckle, considering she was absolutely right. They were quickly distracted from shit talking the party though as they turned their focus to where Davis was. Eyebrows narrowing, Randy sipped from his drink again. "Who knows, the dude's completely unhinged—" he answered, stopping as Tiff pointed out who the poor sucker was talking to Davis. "What the fuck?" First he'd seen Louie and Sharpay together, and now Doofus? Meeting her gaze, he shrugged in confusion. "No idea what that's about." If Randy were brave enough, he'd go try to save his friend, but he was probably better off staying by Tiffany instead. He tilted his glass in her direction to offer her another drink. "Louie must be having a wild night."

“Ugh, you’re right. We’ll look bad if we leave early…Or maybe people will get that it’s just a really lame party.” Though she was bored by the event itself, she was feeling a little better now that she and Randy were joking around and managing to entertain themselves with shit talk. Even if they stayed later than they’d ideally like, at least they were doing better than some people. Davis in particular. “He looks like he’s about to lose his shit. What do you think he’s saying—” she started, hoping to spark a game of bad lip reading but being distracted by recognition of exactly who their target was mid-conversation with. “Is he talking to Louie?” She fixed Randy with a ‘did you know they knew each other and also what the fuck?’ expression. She might need another sip of his wine at this rate.

Randy's pout turned into a smile as Candice easily swayed to his attention; it worked so easily every time. All the racers knew well enough that Randy always needed someone to be giving him attention at all times, otherwise he was left to his own devices and bad decision making skills quickly followed. This was likely the calm before the storm of the night — since Randy had lived a day in the life of Dewey, he'd been avoiding rocking the boat with Tiffany, instead playing the good boyfriend part, but they'd been standing on thin ice for quite some time now. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be long before it finally cracked underneath them. He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, you really don't have to do that." No point when Tiffany was more interested in other people instead. At least Candice was still loyal. "Sure, thanks. Want a drink?"

"What, you don't have time for me anymore?" ( @fluggedup )

“Awww, of course, I have time for you!” Candice quickly replied at the sight of the pout on his face. In the back of her mind, she was aware that he liked to do that whenever he wanted to tease her, and also because he knew how quickly swayed she would be whenever anyone pouted at her. But even as aware of it as she was, Candice couldn’t help but pout back in return before she threw her arms out and laid them against his shoulders. “I’m sorry if it looked like I didn’t want to hang out with you, Randy— I was just trying to let you and Tiff have your alone and couplely time together, you know?” They were at a masquerade ball after all, and with how gussied up her bestie looked plus how excited for this they both were leading up to this ball, Candice figured that Tiffany and Randy would want some alone time while here. But then her bestie had gone off with some of the other racers, and so that left her alone with her bestie’s bf. Giving Randy a quick squeeze, the girl pulled back and smiled. “We can spend some time together now if you want! Until Tiff comes back!” 

They weren't off to a great start, but Randy still persisted. "You look like you, but — that could mean anything right now," he shook his head, trying to think of the best way to explain this to him. "That's the problem, I'm not Dewey." Realizing how crazy that sounded, he huffed a sigh. "Believe me or not, I'm Randy. Swear to god. I passed out drunk at home last night and woke up like this," he motioned to Dewey's body that he was currently in, "in your brother's room. And Tiff's bracelet is in there but she's not here..." Shaking his head again in disbelief, he could tell from Louie's expression that he probably sounded insane. "Trust me, I'm not weird and paranoid like this ever, but something seriously freaky's going on."

“Who do I look like—Huey?” This was said with a certain level of distaste that might be comical coming from an identical brother of the person he was offended at seemingly being compared to, but that was just how the triplets were. Unless they made a particular effort to imitate one of the others, there was no way they’d ever get each other mixed up, and each openly thought of himself as the best-looking brother. It was genuinely bizarre that Dewey was coming to his room and questioning who he was. “Seriously, what do you want? I’m pretty sure I can believe anything at this point. But stop acting all weird and paranoid; it’s not like you, Dew.”

It was clearly stupid of Randy to play along with the flirting of the girl he’d just met at the ball, but who could blame him? Between the punch he’d been drinking that was much stronger than he was used to (which was saying a lot, considering the amount of alcohol Randy typically consumed), along with the knowledge and understanding that Tiffany was showing interest in someone else…. Randy didn’t have any self-control at this point. He’d been too wrapped up in flirting with Faline to even notice his girlfriend approaching them at first, not until she was grabbing his arm and practically dragging him away. Normally, Randy would try to play innocent or find his way out of trouble, but why did he need to hide his wrongdoings now? When they were seconds away from revealing his knowledge on Dewey? He scoffed at her question, rolling his eyes. “I could ask you the same fucking thing.” He waited for her to finish before chiming in again, “So it must be fine for me to flirt with other women when no one’s around to see it, right? Just like you and Dewey have been sneaking around?”

@fluggedup

For all the problems they had in their relationship, they weren’t a couple that had their fights in public. At least, they didn’t used to be—they had images and reputations to uphold after all. But this…this fight had been building up so long and was so close to bursting that it didn’t take much more than a nudge for the whole thing to blow up. First giving the brunette Randy had just been flirting with a scrunch-nosed smile and wave as Tiffany dragged her boyfriend away, she then turned to face him and demanded, “What the hell is wrong with you? Do you want to embarrass me or are you that fucking stupid? Don’t you know how it looks that you’re hitting on random women at a party like this?”