When Desmond Sycamore agreed to give Hershel Layton a small break in their adventures to catch up on any important mail he may have missed—after all, a gentleman must remain up-to-date on current events—he wasn't expecting a miniature avalanche of letters to spill out of Professor Layton's mailbox. Nor was Layton, evidently, judging by the sudden pallor of his face.

"... Need any help sorting through those?" Sycamore offered.

"If you don't mind… Please," Layton all but begged. He had wanted to see if there was anything important, but with this many letters, even that simple task could take all day, and there wasn't time.

After completing the arduous task of moving the mail into Layton's flat, they began the even more lengthy project of sorting it.

"Bills...bills...more bills," Desmond proclaimed, tossing these into a pile in one corner of the room.

"These are from Gressenheller," Layton commented, making another stack. "I'll have to read these before returning."

"Letters from a Ms. Rosetta Stone?" Desmond raised an eyebrow at the other archaeology professor. "Quite a few of them, as well. Is this something I should know about?"

Hershel seemed to be restraining himself from groaning aloud. "Just… Put those over there." He resumed sorting his mail, exclaiming, "Oh! This one's from Randall!"

With two of them working, the work went much faster, although it still took most of the day. At sunset, they were nearly done, and each reached for another letter. As there was only one left, they both ended up grabbing it at the same time. They glanced at each other, surprised, and Desmond released the envelope.

"This is an unusual one," Hershel noted. This was a bit of an understatement; it was bright pink, for one thing, and it was addressed simply "To Hershel and Desmond", without so much as an address, inside a red heart. The envelope didn't name a sender or a return address. His curiosity piqued, Layton carefully opened the letter.

"Desmond/Hershel is the best ship ever! DesLay is OTP!"

"Desmond-slash-Hershel…? Ship? OTP?" Professor Sycamore was baffled. "What's this? We're not a boat."

"I think it means… Together," Layton speculated.

"You mean… Together-together?" Desmond paled.

"Yeah…"

"They… They do know we're brothers, right?"

"It… Doesn't seem to matter," Hershel grimaced.

The brothers stared at the letter, disturbed.

"... What do you say we burn this and never speak of it again?" Sycamore suggested, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"I would not be opposed to that," Layton agreed.

A/N: An internet friend said something a few days ago about "what is they discovered DesLay" and so while I was in anatomy and physiology today not working on the project I was supposed to be doing I remembered and… Well, I'm a terrible student, aren't I? Oops.

Don't ask me when this takes place. I don't know either. I suppose sometime after Azran Legacy, possibly after the original trilogy as well, they went on another adventure together. Well, I hope someone found this at least somewhat amusing. Thanks for reading!