Sam's Toxic Relationship With Danny.

Sam's toxic relationship with Danny.

Alright, so, in Double Cross My Heart we all know Sam gets a new crush and Danny becomes jealous. But, after watching this episode for the umpteenth time, I really don't think he was jealous, he was just being overprotective as always (13).

Moving on, there was something about Gregor I noticed from the get-go and why I think Sam just fell for him on-sight, anyone want to take a guess?

Well, let's see, he's tan, wearing black and white, has white hair, and green eyes (he takes his sunglasses off at the end of the episode). Any of these attributes sound, I dunno, familiar?

Do I think this was intentional? Yes, but not from his end, he had no idea Sam has a crush on Phantom, and yes I mean Phantom. Why?

This is when Sam's crush on Danny actually started, this moment here. No not earlier in the episode when they're holding hands, she and Danny do blush but it's because they're in an awkward situation, not because 'oh no I'm touching my crush's hands'. Sam doesn't show any actual interest in Danny in any episode prior to this, sure she and Danny are dancing together at the freshman dance (parental bonding) but there's no romance underlying the scene, it's just two friends dancing platonically, Danny even says he wish he took her just because she wanted to go.

Do I think Sam even knows she has a crush on Phantom and not Danny? No, she's 14, she wouldn't understand that. Why do I think that? Well it's just the way she treats Danny as Danny and not as Phantom, when Danny does regular teenage boy stuff she gets all angry and annoyed by him and Tucker, but when it comes to the ghost stuff she's not as bad about it. I get she's trying to get him to be more mature etc, but he's 14 xD let him be 14.

Then there's Memory Blank, remember how she just straight up gets called out for her causing issues with Danny and just not apologising for any of it? She apologises for the fight, not for what she's done, and Danny just rolls over. It's insane. "Welcome to my world, remember? We should make the menu recyclo-vegetarian! We should let the gorilla out! We should sell all of your dad’s stuff at a garage sale!" "Anything else you want to blame me for? The ice age? Puberty?" "Sam, both monsters knew your name. Either there’s another Sam involved in ghost fighting-- or it’s you." "How about a “thank you”, huh?"

She never actually apologises for any of that tbh, even in this episode she had a go at Danny for beating up the possessed cow balloon and not for haunting the Truck Dealership place. Y'know, he does mature superhero things and she's like "yeah but my agenda", Sam has a tendency to only be mad at Danny for abusing his ghost powers if it doesn't give her perks.

Killer Garage Sale: Danny gains popularity, Sam is ugh. Splitting Images (the NEXT episode): Danny (who's possessed and Tucker even states Danny's acting weird) gains popularity, Sam ignores Tucker's observation and jumps on Danny's popularity to save the frogs.

I feel like the two finally getting together was only because of Elmer's initial plan, but in-universe they only got together because every other character insisted on it. Sam only has the Class Ring because Valerie dumped him and the only reason it has her name in it is because of Jack, Danny never actually gave it to her.

Alright, gonna jump all the way to Frightmare now because I think, even subconsciously, Danny just doesn't have any real feelings for Sam. Why?

Because this happens. In order to wake up from Frightmare's dream helmet things, you need to have a shock in their dream, or basically a nightmare. So Danny's dream was basically perfect up until Danny was confronted with what he thinks is what he wants, yet he wakes up in distress over it. Then there's Sam's dream, which is identical, but Sam wouldn't have woken up from the kiss, it took this to snap her out of it.

Which feels... Kind of telling to me. Sam's perfect dream was happening and she would have remained asleep, but Danny's exact same dream was happening and he woke up. Our subconciouses are basically our thoughts and feelings in their purest form, the way how you feel about something will be very apparent in an instant.

Ok, last episode I'm gonna talk about it, ugh, Phantom Planet. I know, I know, the writing in this episode was so messed up, but the one thing it did get consistent was Sam's character in this. I'm just going to take her last line in the show, which also happens to be the last line in the show, period. "Why not? Cool statue. Personally I would have made it out of recycled materials but, you know, that's just me." Honey, your boyfriend just saved the entire planet and you're going to take the time to complain about his statue??? Like... C'mon Sam... Anyway, yeah, there's a lot more I could say about this btw, but I think I'm done here. Personally, I think if Paulina and Danny wound up together I don't think it'd be as toxic as one with Sam's currently is. "But she only loves Phantom", yeah, but also she's never mean to Danny on her own, she's only mean to him in front of her friends and to Sam to piss her off. She always singles Danny out from his 'loser friends'. Weird huh? ((Just know I'm not saying I ship Paulina with Danny, just that she's actually not as bad as people think she is to him, she's a lot less mean to him than Sam is tbh, you can probably guess who I think is the better person for Danny xD)).

So yeah, I feel like after some time Danny's relationship with Sam would dwindle and eventually end, they'd still be friends, but just that.

I'll end it there.

EDIT: I also forgot about this.

Danny spies on Sam with Gregor because he’s worried Gregor’s with the GIW and doesn’t want Sam to get hurt, Sam gets mad at him for spying on her whilst on a date.

But when both Sam and Tucker spy on him and Valerie because they’re worried Valerie might waste him as Danny Phantom (Sam also has some very blatant jealousy spikes) everything is ok???

I don’t think Danny gets upset that Sam and Gregor kiss because he’s jealous either, I think it’s because either: A) he’s realising he might be wrong, B) he’s worried that if he’s right Sam’ll be heartbroken. If he was jealous he wouldn’t have been suddenly ok with Gregor after stopping the GIW from attacking him, he even apologised to Sam for the spying, Sam and Tucker never did ouo

When Danny goes on to say there’s many reasons to want to date Sam, again, only Sam blushes here, Danny just plays it off and doesn’t blush at all. He was just being a good friend and making her feel better, not saying he would date her. He’s 14, he doesn’t know you can platonically call someone pretty.

Let’s not forget Danny’s feelings for Valerie haven’t gone anywhere yet, the episode (double cross your heart) literally starts like this.

Eeeeeeeee! This is co cutesy!

A scene from @starswhisperwritershear chapter 4

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Chapter 4 is Finally done!

Of All The Stories In The Stars, Ours Has Yet To Be Told (41076 words) by StarsWhisper Chapters: 4/? Fandom: Danny Phantom Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Dash Baxter/Danny Fenton Characters: Danny Fenton, Dash Baxter, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, Paulina Sanchez, Kwan (Danny Phantom), Valerie Gray, Pookie (Danny Phantom) Additional Tags: Aged-Up Character(s), on the way to college, mentions of child abuse, Mentions of homophobia, Redemption Arcs, Bisexual Danny Fenton, everyone becoming good friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Second Chances, lots of classical literature references, Canon-Typical Violence, Angst, Lots of Crying, Some hurt/comfort, almost everyone has shitty parents, More tags to come as I think of them, Suicidal Thoughts, This is heavily inspired by marichat, stealing lots of headcanons from tumblr, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, not entirely canon compliant, I stole the pieces I like and combined them with fanon to get what I wanted, this was supposed to be a slow burn, Dialogue Heavy, some spooky shit will be snuck in here, Mutual Pining, Dissection, Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, lots of astrology references, Inspired by Orpheus and Eurydice (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), horror aspects will be in here, but also cute fluff, Asexual Character Summary: It's the end of senior year and Dash and Danny are having the worst time of their lives. Dash's father finds out he's queer and tries to kill him. That lands him in prison with divorce papers. Dash goes to therapy to cope and learn how to change his behaviors while taking some time off from school. He now needs to learn how to navigate the world and figure himself out. Danny fears he'll never figure out what he wants for his future beyond being the hero of Amity Park forever and he's running out of time to figure it out as he watches everyone he knows move on without him. Plus there are always the people hunting him down that he has to worry about on top of that.

~

Sam slammed her piercing kit down on the counter, her jaw going slack. She stared at Danny with bug eyes. “You kissed Dash!?”

“Almost! I almost kissed Dash.” Danny protested, squirming in his chair. The weight of everyone’s eyes made him want to curl up under a rock and never leave again.

“As Phantom?” Valerie exclaimed. “Are you crazy?!”

“I just got a little distracted!” He denied.

“I told you guys,” Tucker sighed teasingly, “Danny just can’t resist a pretty jock. I mean, remember how hard he crushed on Valerie?”

“Playing tennis does not make me a jock.” Valerie scoffed, scrunching up her nose in disgust.

“No, but tennis and ghost hunting, does.”

Valerie grinned, “So, what you’re saying is, Danny just likes it when mean people are nice to him.”

“Hey!” Danny squeaked.

Sam sighed as she rifled through her kit for the right needles. “Seriously though, Danny, are you trying to get caught?”

“No.” All this questioning was starting to make Danny feel small. He really didn’t like feeling like he’d done something wrong; it made his skin itch. “I just… I don’t know. He’s really…”

“Pretty?” Valerie snickered.

“Yeah, I mean, no! That’s not-”

“Why not just kiss him as Danny Fenton?” Sam huffed.

Danny slumped in the chair, glaring at the floor. “I, I don’t think I like him in a romantic sense.”

“That’s not very convincing coming from the guy who was two seconds away from kissing him.” Tucker chuckled, getting up from his seat to go through Sam’s DVD collection.

“That doesn’t really mean anything, Tucker you and I have kissed!” Danny hissed.

“We all know you’re not above kissing the homies.” Valerie giggled as she started the popcorn machine. “But I don’t think you count Phantom and Dash as homies.”

Danny groaned, running his hands down his face. Sam slapped his hands away.

“Stop touching.” She chided. “You might have crazy healing powers but you still don’t want to deal with an infected piercing.”

“Fine.” Danny busied his hands by picking at the loose threads in his jeans. “Okay, maybe, I am willing to admit that, possibly, I find him, somewhat, physically attractive.”

Valerie snorted, accidentally missing the bucket and spilling popcorn kernels all over the kart. “You think? Nice detective work, Sherlock.”

“But!” Danny continued. “But, I only like him platonically.”

Tucker sighed, setting some DVD cases on the table. “Danny, have you heard of this river in Egypt?”

“I’m not in denial, Tucker.” Danny huffed.

Sam cleaned the skin around his eyebrow. She rolled her eyes. “Sure, you’re not, big guy. Silver or gold?”

“Silver.” Danny pouted.

“You know it’s okay if you like him, right?” Valerie asked, hitting start on the machine and grabbing the broom to sweep up. “Don’t get me wrong, we’ll tease the hell out of you, but no one would be mad about it.”

“Yeah, dude,” Tucker added, still going through the DVDs unable to make a decision. “Dash helped me pass History, so if you wanna tap that then-”

“Good to know, Tucker.” Danny hissed. “But I don’t. Besides, it’s not like it would work out between us anyway. There’s no way he doesn’t have a football scholarship to some fancy university out of state. So, can we just drop it?”

“Are you going to keep hanging out with him as Phantom?” Sam pulled some gloves on and set all her tools on her tray. She grabbed Danny’s face and tilted it to the side, using a marker to mark where the piercing would go.

“No, I wasn’t planning on it. But, he does have a terrible habit of showing up wherever Phantom is.”

“Yeah, because it’s Dash who showed up outside your house.” Tucker cackled.

Danny huffed, crossing his arms, and accidentally turning invisible from the embarrassment.

“Hey!” Sam chided. “I kinda need to see what I’m doing here.”

“Sorry,” Danny muttered, taking a deep breath and reappearing.

“If you keep doing that, he’ll find out before the first movie is over.” Valerie wheezed.

“He would find out if they ever got here. Seriously, they’re like fifteen minutes late. Where are they?” Tucker complained.

“I don’t know.” Danny checked his phone. “I’ll call them as soon as Sam’s done with my eyebrow.”

“You kissed Phantom!?” Paulina screeched.

“Almost!” Dash protested, gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were going numb. “Almost kissed Phantom.”

“What was stopping you!” Paulina turned in her seat, fighting against the seat belt as her nails dug into the armrest. “You had the dreamiest guy in the whole town an inch away from you and you didn’t kiss him?! Are you sure you’re even gay?”

“Yes, I’m sure!” Dash pulled over in front of Kwan’s house, honking to announce their presence. “He was just looking at me like-”

“Like he wanted to kiss you? Duh! That’s what you do when you’re trying to kiss someone!”

Dash ran his hands through his hair. “I know! It’s just that his eyes were so-”

“Whose eyes? What are we talking about?” Kwan asked, sliding into the back seat.

Paulina whirled around, propping herself up on her knees to see over the headrests. “Dash had a chance to make out with Phantom and didn’t!”

“What?!” Kwan shot forward, pushing Paulina back into her seat, and craned his neck between the front seats to stare at Dash. “Dude, are you sure you’re gay?!”

“Guys,” Dash groaned. He wanted to scream. “I’m a coward, I get it. It’s just that his eyes looked so familiar and I-”

“Oh, you guys were getting familiar, huh?” Kwan laughed, raising a teasing eyebrow at his friend.

“Kwan, please.” Dash sighed.

“What do you mean, familiar?” Paulina huffed. “Like someone you know? Or like the ‘this is what home feels like’ hallmark romance familiar?”

“Uh, not that. I don’t know, really. He was just really intense and it seemed like I’d seen that look somewhere before.”

“Oh shit,” Kwan muttered, a giggle just beneath his tone, “You weren’t thinking about Fenton as you were about to kiss Phantom were you?”

“What?!” Dash screeched, choking on air as he whipped around to stare at Kwan. “No!”

Paulina covered her mouth with her hands, gasping dramatically. “No way. I knew it.”

“No! Knew what?! I wasn’t!” Dash sputtered, knowing full well he was not doing a good job of looking like he was telling the truth. “Why would I be thinking about Danny?”

“Oh, please.” Paulina jokingly rolled her eyes. She shifted in her seat again, too much excitement coursing through her to sit still. “Like you don’t have the biggest crush on him.”

“I do not!”

“Bro,” Kwan leaned forward again, putting a hand on Dash’s shoulder, his eyes serious, “he literally left the amusement park wearing your jacket.”

Dash swatted Kwan’s hand away, ears burning. “That doesn’t mean anything! Paulina steals my jacket all the time!”

“Yeah, platonically.” She waved him off.

“And I platonically gave it to Danny. You saw how the sun was making him feel after The Zipper!”

“You mean, the ride you challenged him to go on with your totally platonic flirting?”

“I was not flirting! I was trying to make him feel better about the ride!”

“Aw, you’re in denial,” Paulina cooed.

“I’m not-” The sound of his phone ringing cut him off. Danny’s name flashed on the screen.

Paulina leaned over to look. “You don’t have a profile picture set for him? Maybe you don’t have a crush.” She said it like it was the most tragic thing to happen in history.

He ignored her. He cleared his throat and answered, hoping Danny wouldn’t notice how embarrassed he was. “Heyyyy, what’s up?”

He also ignored Kwan and Paulina’s laughter.

“Hey, yourself.” Danny chuckled on the other end of the line. “Where are you guys? You’re like half an hour late.”

“Oh, uh, we’re outside Kwan’s house. He’s talking to his mom, you know how moms are.” Dash chuckled, clearing his throat.

“Ask them if they’ll pick up the pizza since they’re late.” Sam’s voice called from somewhere behind Danny.

“Can you, uh-”

“Yeah, we can do that, no problem, none whatsoever.” Dash slapped a hand over his eyes. “Tony’s?”

“Yeah,” Danny laughed, “Tony’s. It should be under Sam’s name.”

“Okay, yeah, we’ll head there now.”

“Try not to take forever, yeah?” He couldn’t see him, but he could feel Danny grinning at him through the phone.

“No promises.” He chuckled, hanging up the phone. Paulina and Kwan were smiling at him like a pair of Cheshire cats. “What?”

“Yeah, we can do that, no problem, none whatsoever.” Kwan mocked.

“No promises.” Paulina dramatically swooned, her hand pressed to her forehead.

“Shut up,” Dash muttered, earning more hyena cackling. He pulled away from the curb, changing direction to Tony’s.

“Wait, so have you seen Phantom since?” Paulina asked once he had acquired the pizza and was back in the car on their way to Sam’s.

Dash sighed. “No. And honestly, I probably fucked that up. He freaked out so bad that he fell into the lake.”

“Well,” Kwan drawled solemnly, “you can always kiss Fenton to make up for it.”

“Oh my god,” Dash huffed. “I do not have a crush on Danny.”

“Whatever you have to say to make yourself feel better.” Paulina giggled.

“Does anyone know what Sam’s house looks like?” Dash asked, changing the topic.

“No, but it looks like your boyfriend is waiting for you.” Kwan joked.

Danny was sitting on the curb outside a huge mansion-looking house. He stood and waved them into a parking spot in the driveway. Dash turned to Paulina and Kwan. “Not a word,” he hissed.

They stepped out of the car. Danny helped Kwan with the pizza. “You guys actually made it in a reasonable time.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Kwan explained, side-eyeing Dash. “You know how moms can be, ha-ha.”

Dash barely heard the exchange. His eyes were glued to the shiny piece of jewelry in Danny’s eyebrow. “Is that new?”

Danny gingerly touched the piercing, holding the pizza boxes in one hand. “Oh, yeah. Sam just did it.”

“Sam did?” Paulina chirped, eyeing the jewelry. “It looks like a professional did it!”

“She did all her own piercings. She practically is a professional by now.” Danny turned and ushered them up the stairs. They followed him.

“Sam actually lives here?” Kwan asked, gaping at the building.

“It’s a bit of a sore spot for her. She’s not the biggest fan of her parents' money, so try not to say anything about it.” They followed Danny through a huge kitchen.

“Wow,” Paulina whispered, “it’s bigger than mine.”

“What made you decide to get an eyebrow piercing?” Dash asked as they left the kitchen and traveled down an expansive hallway.

“I figured I could use a new look as a present for graduating. What do you think, am I cool yet?” Danny quirked said eyebrow.

Dash felt his ears start burning. “Sure, nerd, keep dreaming.”

Danny laughed. Dash’s stomach fluttered. He might throw up.

“I dig it,” Kwan said as they stepped down a staircase. “Matches the whole emo thing you’ve got going on.” The stairs ended in a huge theater room.

“He’s actually got more of a grunge thing going on.” Sam corrected. “It’s as goth as I could get him to go.”

“You brought the food! My saviors!” Tucker cried, grabbing the pizzas from Kwan.

“Thank god,” Valerie huffed, salting the popcorn buckets she’d just filled, “now we can finally pick a movie.”

“Ooh, Valerie!” Paulina squealed. “I love your makeup.”

Valerie looked her up and down for a moment. They’d talked on the phone for a while on Senior Ditch Day, but this was the first time they’d talked in person without Paulina throwing a poor joke at her in a few years. Valerie ultimately decided Paulina really meant no ill will and smiled at her. “Thanks! I love your belly button ring. Is the butterfly for your sister?”

Paulina gasped. “You remembered?”

“Of course. We were best friends once. I also remembered to use low-fat butter, just for you.”

Paulina looked like she was about to cry. “You really are the best of us.”

“Uh-oh,” Kwan teased, “We’d better start a movie before Paulina loses it.”

“Okay, well, we’ve narrowed it down to five choices.” Danny set the pizza he was holding on the coffee table next to the two liters and red solo cups. “American Psycho, The Creature From The Black Lake, 50 First Dates, Nightmerica The Return, and Legally Blonde.”

Lots of arguing ensued but Sam eventually conceded her vote in exchange for the best chair in the room. Because Kwan and Tucker had never seen it, they picked American Psycho first and 50 First Dates second due to Paulina's insistence.

Dash picked a seat on one edge of the couch, Tucker taking the other end of the couch. Sam and Paulina took the big, fluffy chairs and Valerie and Kwan took the bean bags. Danny put the disc in the player and sat between him and Tucker.

Dash pressed himself against the armrest as much as possible. It wasn’t because he was nervous, absolutely not, it was just that Danny was cold again and Dash preferred to stay warm. Paulina waggled her eyebrows at him. He glared (pouted) back.

Once everyone was settled with popcorn, pizza, and soda in hand, Sam hit play on the remote.

Dash found it hard to focus on the movie. For one, it just wasn’t a movie that he would enjoy. And for two, it was hard to focus on anything other than how Danny kept leaning into him. Every time Dash shifted to put space between them, Danny was taking it up again and pressing against him.

He’d stolen a few glances at him to see if he was doing it on purpose. Danny seemed just as bored and uninterested in the film as he was. But he didn’t seem to be paying attention to Dash or messing with him.

Dash shifted again, pressed as far up against the edge of the couch as he could. It was only about two minutes before he felt the icy chill of Danny’s skin against his again. It was like an ice cube was melting and oozing cold directly into his cells. Dash briefly wondered if he had chronically low iron or something.

Dash tried to return his attention to the movie, but the next scene happened to be a sex scene and he diverted his attention again. It was making him really uncomfortable. He supposed that was the point in this movie but he hated it in just about every movie and he usually turned them off the second it was even implied one was coming.

Sam scoffed. “Was this directed by a man?”

Danny leaned forward- brushing against Dash- and grabbed the DVD case off the table. He flipped it over and read the back. “This says it was directed by one Mary Harron.”

“Ain’t no way,” Valerie said.

“And she’s also credited as the writer.”

“I find that hard to believe, but whatever,” Sam grumbled.

“Does anyone even actually like sex scenes? They’re always so uncomfortable and unnecessary.” Dash huffed.

Danny turned to look at him but didn’t say anything. It was like he was trying to analyze something about him and it made him nervous.

“In horror movies, they tend to be,” Valerie muttered.

“But in romance movies,” Paulina sighed, wistfully. “It’s the best part. When the couple finally admits their feelings for each other and lose themselves in the throws of passion, it’s so romantic.”

Dash cringed, his nose wrinkling so hard it hurt. “Really? It seems so tedious and messy and uncomfortable for the actors.” Danny was still looking at him; he shifted again, letting the armrest dig into his ribs, but it did nothing to ease his anxiety.

“I wouldn’t think so.” Paulina continued. “I’d love to be in a romance movie with either Jensen Ackles or Penelope Cruz.”

“Ew,” Dash shuddered. “Wait, what?”

“Ooh,” Valerie chittered. “Way to come out, Paulie.”

“Thank you. I’ve been waiting for the best moment.”

“See, Dash, I told you we weren’t homophobic,” Kwan smirked.

“Thanks, Kwan.”

“So, we have another bi person in our midst.” Sam teased, smirking playfully.

“Another one?” Paulina twisted around to survey the group.

Danny sighed, finally tearing his eyes away from Dash. “One day I’ll get to do my own coming out.”

Paulina squealed. “I knew it! I knew you were queer! Bi fist bump!”

Danny leaned over Dash to bump Paulina’s fist. Dash took a deep breath. A mistake. Danny was wearing some kind of warm-smelling cologne and Dash just wanted to take another breath. But he controlled himself.

"What gave me away?"

Paulina gestured at him. "Lok at you."

"Fair," Danny laughed. He turned back to Dash. “Have you ever heard the term ‘asexual’?”

“Like in biology? One cell splitting or something?”

“As in the sexuality.” Danny shifted to face Dash and their knees touched. Hurt crossed Danny’s face when Dash yanked his away. “Someone who identifies as asexual feels little to no sexual attraction.”

“You’re saying there’s like some kind of spectrum? People actually feel a lot of attraction?”

Danny laughed. “Have you seen how Tucker talks to women?”

“Hey, not my fault I appreciate the better things in life.” Tucker defended. “And I am totally with Paulina on the romance movie thing. Why else would you watch them?”

“For the story?” Dash cringed. “We should talk about something else. I don’t wanna think about what Tucker’s talking about.”

“We can talk about the fact that Paulina and Star were totally dating,” Sam said.

Paulina’s face fell. “We actually broke up.”

“You were dating star?” Dash gasped.

“Yeah, I was. But, recently, we just didn’t see eye to eye on some things. So I called it off.” Paulina sighed.

Star was the only one of his previously close friends who hadn’t reached out to him. He really hoped it wasn’t him that caused them to have an argument.

“I’m sorry, Paulie,” Kwan muttered. “I had no idea you guys broke up.”

“It’s okay. It’s for the best. How did you know, Sam?”

Sam shrugged. “You two were always together and shared a bunch of clothes. I thought it was obvious.”

A woman on screen screamed. Everyone snapped their attention back to the movie they forgot they were watching.

“Is anyone even enjoying this movie?” Tucker asked. A chorus of no’s answered him. He got up and ejected the DVD. Sam took it from him and chucked it in the trash.

“Anyone want more popcorn?” Valerie asked, standing up and heading for the machine.

“Absolutely,” Tucker chimed, heading over to help her. “Can I get extra salt on mine?”

Paulina gave a long, heavy sigh and sank from her chair to the floor. She dramatically flopped onto her side, throwing her phone across the room.

“What’s wrong?” Kwan asked, dumping an obscenely large amount of butter on his popcorn.

“My boss just texted saying he needs a new look for the magazine with a new model. By tomorrow. How in the world am I supposed to do that? It’s like 11 pm.”

“Where do you work?” Danny asked.

“I’m a make-up artist for a high-end fashion magazine.”

“Hey, just like you’ve always wanted!” Valerie cheered. “But, isn’t that a little bit of an unreasonable ask?”

“It’s the beauty industry.” Sam scoffed. “Of course it’s unreasonable.”

“She’s not wrong.” Paulina agreed. “It’s why I want to start my own brand, to change the industry. I don’t suppose either of you would help me out?” She batted her eyelashes at Sam and Valerie.

They shook their heads.

“Sorry, Paulie, but I don’t want my face all over a magazine. I have to have control over my image for my scholarships.” Valerie explained.

“And I don’t want to be seen in anything other than my signature look. It might give my parents ideas.”

Paulina deflated, looking miserable.

Danny frowned. “Does it have to be a woman model?”

Paulina looked up at him, hope shining in her eyes. “No, just someone I haven’t showcased before.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Really?!” Paulina scrambled up from the floor, bouncing excitedly on her toes. “You mean it?”

“Yeah. If it helps you keep your job, what’s the harm?”

Paulina clapped, doing a happy little jig. “Dash! Keys! I have to go get my bag!”

Dash dug into his pocket- not fast enough for Paulina’s liking- and tossed her his keys. She caught them and ran excitedly up the stairs.

“Oh, so I can’t do your makeup, but Paulina can? Does someone still have a lingering crush?” Sam teased.

“Yeah, Sam, because helping a friend not get fired counts as a lingering crush.” Danny's frown deepened.

“You should go cleanse your face then. It’ll save her a lot of time.” Valerie suggested.

“I have aloe vera in there,” Sam added as Danny headed for the bathroom. “It’s a nice primer!”

“Why’s he need to do that?” Dash asked, eyeing Valerie and Sam’s makeup and trying to imagine it on Danny.

“Makes the makeup go on smoother and helps it not to clog pores.” Sam shrugged.

“Man, you guys have to do so much every day. I respect it.” Kwan said.

“I’m totally getting pictures to use as blackmail for later.” Tucker chuckled.

Valerie rolled her eyes. “I think blackmail only works if someone is ashamed of it. Danny seems pretty comfortable with himself.”

Danny returned to the theater room at the same time as Paulina. She was glowing like a golden retriever who’d just gotten their favorite snack.

“Okay, sit in my chair while I get things set up.”

Danny sat.

“You guys wanna play Mario Kart while we wait?” Sam asked, already walking over to set up the Wii.

“Duh!” Tucker cheered.

Sam handed everyone but Kwan a controller. “We’ll have to take turns. It only allows four players at a time.”

“No problem,” Kwan said. “It’ll give me time to learn your weaknesses.”

Paulina pulled a little square folding table from her bag and pulled the legs out to the right height. She locked them in place and began putting products on it very meticulously. “He said something bold and fierce.” She muttered to herself.

“I don’t know if I could be considered ‘fierce’,” Danny mumbled.

“Nonsense.” Paulina turned and grabbed Danny’s face, tilting it from side to side and analyzing the planes and curves. “You totally have the cheekbones for it. I’m gonna have to mix a custom foundation though, you’re really pale.”

“His undertone is orange,” Sam called, selecting Bowser on the screen.

“No fair,” Valerie shouted. “You always get Bowser.”

“You snooze, you lose.”

“Thanks, Sam!” Paulina turned to her makeup setup, grabbing a disc and squeezing product onto it, mixing it with a brush.

“This is why I choose Luigi.” Tucker boasted. “No one ever takes Luigi from me.”

“Dash, pick Yoshi,” Kwan whispered, still loud enough for everyone to hear him.

“Why?” Dash loudly whispered back.

“Just trust me.”

The foundation was cold as Paulina painted his skin. He resisted the urge to pull away, sitting almost perfectly still. Paulina was muttering under her breath. Danny closed his eyes so she could focus without scrutiny.

“Starting with Rainbow Road is just pure evil,” Tucker whined.

“Are you allergic to glitter?” Paulina asked.

Danny peaked at her over at the table now. “Uh, no. I don’t think so.”

“Perfect, I have this new moonstone highlight I’ve been dying to try on someone but it’s got glitter in it. So, we’re going to do a smokey eye with the moonstone highlight, black lipstick, and maybe a green blush? Then we can do like an ocean theme.”

“Sounds more like a galaxy to me,” Danny replied, looking at the colors she was grouping together.

“Oh! That’s actually perfect! Summer galaxy! Now, I just have to come up with a tagline.” Paulina put a dark purple and a light pink next to the green. “He said he wanted bold. Space is pretty bold. We can even do like star freckles or something.”

“You had better keep that blue shell to yourself, Foley,” Dash warned.

“Sam, tell me you did not just throw that banana at me,” Valerie screamed.

Paulina picked up a much fluffier brush, a contour palette in her hand. “Are you ready? We’re getting into the complicated stuff.”

Danny nodded, grinning at her. “Make me beautiful, Paulie.”

“Eat my dust suckers!” Tucker cackled.

Kwan slapped Dash’s shoulders. “Dash! Dodge, dodge, dodge!”

“Stop backseat karting, Kwan!”

Danny found that his smile wouldn’t leave his face. He really hoped that wouldn’t mess Paulina up. The room was bathed in a nice, comforting aura and it made him want to giggle. To see everyone getting along so well, made him extremely happy. He kind of wanted to tell everyone. But he figured that wouldn’t be the best thing to say while they were in an intense Mario Kart round. He did giggle when Paulina’s brush tickled his nose.

“Someone seems happy,” She giggled with him.

Danny shrugged. “It’s just really nice to see everyone getting along.”

“You call that getting along?”

“I know where you live, Gray!” Sam hurled three green shells at Valerie.

“Bring it on, Manson! Bring it on!” Valerie dodged them all.

“Dash, please,” Tucker begged, “we’re friends, right?”

“Right now, Foley, we’re mortal enemies.”

“Go for the throat, Dash!” Kwan cheered.

Danny laughed again. “Yeah, I would. Considering there was a time when we couldn’t even be in the same room without wanting to kill each other. I count this as a win.”

“No!” Tucker wailed. “I was so close!”

“Read it and weep, people. Read it and weep.” Sam whooped.

Dash sighed, passing his controller to Kwan. “So much for trusting you.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault you suck.”

Paulina grabbed a separate brush, dipping it into one of the galaxy colors and brushing it onto Danny’s cheeks. “Thank you, by the way. I owe you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I used to let Jazz and my cousin practice makeup on me all the time. I’m comfortable in my masculinity. No big deal to help a friend.”

“Good, because I’m putting a lot of glitter on your face.”

“I see how it is, Valerie,” Tucker muttered darkly. “Kwan, team up with me?”

Kwan shook his head. “You’re on your own. Every man for himself.”

“No! My go-cart buddy has abandoned me in my hour of need!”

“How’s it going over here?” Dash asked, leaning over the edge of the couch to watch Paulina work her magic. Danny cracked his eyes open to look at him. “It looks like space threw up on you.”

“Good, that’s what we’re going for. Danny has amazing bone structure. Richard is going to love him!” Paulina squealed.

Dash smirked at him. “How does it feel to have amazing bone structure, Fenton?”

“Like I’m some kind of king being pampered.”

“Okay, time for lipstick. Open your mouth like an ‘o’.” Paulina instructed.

Danny did as he was told. He could see Dash watching intently out of the corner of his eye. He winked at him. Dash startled and looked away.

“Okay, you need to let that dry and then we can take some photos.” Paulina turned away to start cleaning up her table. She took her tools to the bathroom to clean them.

“How does it feel?” Dash asked.

Danny pressed his lips together, humming. “Kinda buttery. Like sticky, melted butter.” An idea popped into Danny’s mind and he grinned at Dash. “Wanna feel?”

Dash’s eyes went wide. As he was fishing for an answer, Danny gently gripped his jaw, tilting his head to the side. He pressed his lips firmly to Dash’s cheek, dragging his hand down his jaw before letting go and pulling away with an exaggerated ‘mwah!’.”

Dash jolted away, crimson spilling over his cheeks and ears. He brought a hand up to his cheek in disbelief. Danny howled with laughter.

“Stop flirting with the enemy, Danny!” Tucker laughed.

“Aw, feeling left out, Tuck?” Danny stood up and walked over to Tucker.

“Do not distract me right now, Fenton. I'll never forgive you.” Tucker warned, leaning away. Danny ignored him, planting another kiss on Tucker’s cheek. Tucker swatted him away, swerving into a banana peel on the screen.

“I will get my revenge, Danny. Just you wait!” Tucker threatened with no real heat behind it.

Danny laughed so hard he was losing his breath. Sam rolled her eyes at him.

“Don’t even think of bringing that over here.” Valerie hissed. “I’m about to win.”

“Hey!” Paulina screeched, returning from the bathroom. “I said to let it dry! Get back over here so I can fix it.”

Danny obediently sat back in the chair.

“Uh-oh,” Kwan snickered, poking Dash in his side. “Someone is self-destructing.”

Dash glared at him, snapping out of whatever daze he had been in. He rubbed the lipstick off his face. Danny was pretty proud of himself- he’d examine what that meant later.

Paulina reapplied the lipstick. “I mean it this time, mister. Let it dry.”

Sam handed her controller to Dash and wandered over to admire Paulina’s handiwork. “Wow, you look very pretty, Danny.”

Danny struck a pose, batting his eyelashes. “Tell me more.”

Sam grinned, a playful shine in her eyes. “You're pale white and ice cold. Your skin is all sparkly. I know what you are.”

“Say it then, Sam.” Danny giggled, unable to keep up the character.

Paulina gasped. “I’ve turned you into a space vampire!”

“Please, he’d have to be impossibly fast and strong for that.” Valerie chuckled.

“Yeah, no offense, but Danny has never been the poster boy for impossibly strong.” Kwan laughed.

“If you’ve seen him text,” Tucker added, “then you’d know he talks exactly like he’s from this time.”

“Has everyone in this room seen Twilight?” Danny jokingly rolled his eyes, standing from his chair. “C’mon, Paulina, let’s get these photos taken so we can start the next movie.”

“Hopefully it’s a better one this time around.” Sam huffed.

Dash will not admit that he paid more attention to Danny and Paulina’s photo shoot than the last round of Mario Kart. And if he thought sitting next to Danny had been hard before, it was downright torture now.

Apparently, if Danny was actually invested in a movie, he talked a lot. He kept leaning over to whisper things to him and while he knew, logically, in his brain, that whispering was all Danny was doing, he couldn’t help but remember the feel of Danny’s lips against his cheek every time. His heart would not stop racing and he was pretty sure he was sweaty now.

Tucker did not seem to share this problem. Every time Danny leaned over to whisper something to him, he just whispered back or laughed and turned his attention right back to the movie like it was no big deal. Dash tried rationalizing it by reminding himself that they had been best friends for longer than Dash had known them and he simply wasn’t as used to Danny’s antics as Tucker was.

It unnerved him near the middle of the movie when Danny had been quiet for more than five minutes. Dash glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. He was slouching back into the couch and periodically slowly blinking his eyes like he was fighting off sleep.

Dash shifted to give him more room to fall asleep if he needed to. But only a few moments after that, he felt a weight hit his shoulder and froze as Danny’s hair tickled his chin.

“Uh-oh,” Valerie laughed, taking a picture on her phone. “Dash has been chosen.”

“You’re in it for the long haul now, Dash.” Tucker cackled, also taking pictures.

Dash tried to ignore the blackmail obviously being collected. “What am I in?”

“You know when a cat falls asleep on your lap and under cat law, you aren’t allowed to disturb them? Consider yourself under Danny law. He has insomnia and doesn’t sleep much. So, when he does sleep, we try to let him get as much as he can.” Sam explained, doing better than the others at hiding her picture-taking.

Dash glanced down at him. He could understand the struggle with sleep. Usually when he was having issues, he took Pookie on a walk. He wondered how Danny dealt with it. Casually, he shifted the angle he was sitting at so Danny could fit against him more comfortably. He slipped his hand around his waist so his shoulder wasn’t jutting against Danny’s back. Okay, he could handle this.

“Whipped,” Kwan whispered at him. Dash flipped him off.

Dash was a little worried that he could barely feel the rise and fall of Danny’s breaths. With him this close, he should be able to tell how he was breathing. And he was slightly colder than before if that was even possible. He wondered if his insomnia played a part in his temperature. Or why he slept like a dead person. A small sense of deja vu hit him, but he shook it off.

“Well, I think that movie was more horrific than the last one,” Sam exclaimed as the movie came to an end.

“Wasn’t this supposed to be a rom-com?” Paulina asked.

“I think they’re getting their genres mixed up.” Valerie yawned.

Danny started blinking awake at the sound of everyone talking. He stretched and froze when he felt a body behind him. He looked back at Dash and Dash really wished Paulina wasn’t as good as she was at her job because the colors she’d put on really brought out his eyes.

“Sorry,” Danny muttered, “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.” He started scooting away.

Dash dropped his hand from his waist. “Oh, not a problem.” He stuttered. He really wanted to tell Paulina to shut up. She wasn't saying anything but she was grinning at him and he knew what she was telling him. He squeezed his elbows, keeping his eyes away from Danny- who was probably more embarrassed than he was.

“Who’s picking the next one?” Tucker asked, stretching his legs out in front of him.

“Not me." Valerie stood, stretched, and began to pick up her trash. "It’s like 2 am. I’m tapped out.”

“I agree,” Kwan mumbled, following suit. “It’s bedtime.”

Danny also stood, picking up his plate and cup. “I’ll help clean up the popcorn.”

Everyone else jumped up to help clean, not wanting to be the only one not helping. Except for Tucker, who stretched out on the couch once he had it to himself. “Sam,” he whined, “I’m too tired to go home. Can I crash here?”

“Yeah, unlike Danny, my parents actually like you so if they find you down here you’ll be fine.” Sam put all the DVD cases away.

“Why don’t they like Danny?” Paulina asked, tying off a trash bag.

“Take your pick. My parents are dangerous and I’m a bad influence.” Danny mocked.

Dash snorted. “You? A bad influence?”

“That’s what I keep telling them!” Sam huffed. “If anything, I’m the bad influence.”

Once the room was put back together, everyone started gathering their things; Sam pulled a spare blanket and pillow out of the cupboard for Tucker.

Dash cleared his throat. “Did you want a ride home, Danny?”

Danny looked up at him, nerves plain to see. “Oh, I was gonna go to the observatory after this. Not home. But I appreciate the offer.”

“What’s at the observatory this late?” Kwan asked.

“There’s supposed to be a comet that’s just bright enough to be visible without a telescope tonight. I was gonna try to find it.”

Dash shifted his weight from foot to foot, fiddling with his keys in his pocket. “If it doesn’t bother you, I could tag along once we drop off Paulina and Kwan. You know, for safety reasons. In case there’s a ghost attack or something.”

“Safety reasons,” Paulina whispered.

Danny’s eyes seemed to glow with renewed excitement. “Really? I mean, yeah, if you don’t mind being out that late.”

Dash’s heart squeezed so hard in his chest he thought he was having a heart attack. “Yeah, I don’t mind at all. I’ll go get the car started so it’s warm for you. Thanks for having me, Sam.”

“No problem. See ya later!”

Dash grabbed Paulina’s big makeup bag for her and headed for the stairs. He did a couple of breathing exercises on the way to the car to calm his anxiety. His phone pinged.

Paulina: Not a crush, huh ;)

He ignored her text. He was just hanging out with a friend. She was completely wrong. In no way was this a crush.

Danny climbed into the front seat as soon as Paulina was safely inside her house. “You know how to get to the observatory right?”

“Yeah, isn’t it, like, way past closing though?” Dash waited for Danny to put his seat belt on before heading back onto the road.

“Oh for sure. But there’s a hill around the back that has a really nice view.”

“Man, you’re like super into this space stuff, huh?” Dash teased.

Danny gave a short laugh. “I wanted to be an astronaut. I’ve been to every space camp within 150 miles of here and I have all the space shuttle simulations on my computer. I even had Sam teach me astrology just because it involved space. So, yeah, I guess you could call me obsessed.”

Dash glanced at him. “What do you mean, ‘wanted’ to be an astronaut?”

Danny leaned back in his seat, frowning. “Well for one, they only choose like a hundred people every two years to go into the space program. And for two, I learned you don’t really make livable wages off being an astronaut alone. And it’s already hard to leave Amity Park, let alone the planet.”

“Jazz has managed though, right? What’s stopping you from figuring it out?”

Danny sighed. “I’m not as strong as Jazz is. Plus, I’m needed here.” He didn’t let Dash respond as he leaned forward and pointed at a dirt road. “Take this service road, it will lead you to the employee parking lot at the base of the hill.”

Dash did, tapping his hands against the wheel. “Are you sure we’re allowed to be back here?”

Danny quirked an eyebrow at him, his voice taking on a teasing tone. “I never took you for someone afraid to break the rules.”

“I’m not afraid.” Dash sat up straighter. He cleared his throat. “I just want to make sure you know what you’re talking about.”

Danny laughed. “Dash, it’s 3 am. No one cares.”

“I know. It’s just what if a police patrol comes by-”

“Trust me, they never patrol back here. We’ll be fine, scaredy cat.”

Dash huffed. “I’m not scared.” He parked in the spot closest to the hill.

Danny was about to step out of the car but Dash stopped him. “It’s kind of chilly out there. Do you need a jacket?”

He shook his head. “I’m okay. The cold doesn’t affect me that bad.”

“Dude, your skin is already like ice. My letterman is in the back, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

Danny’s heart skipped a beat. He did like Dash’s jacket, but some voice nagging in the back of his head said it was a bad idea. “Really, I’m okay, it’s not that big of a deal-”

“If it’s no big deal, then just take the jacket.” Dash leaned around the seats and yanked his jacket from the back seat. He shoved it into Danny’s hands before he could protest. “It’ll make me feel better about being out here in fifty-degree weather.”

Danny pinched his mouth close, any protest he had dying on his lips. He tore his eyes away from Dash to stare at the jacket. Realistically, he knew that normal people, people who were alive, would be concerned with how cold they were. Dash was just trying to keep a friend safe and comfortable. He sighed and pulled the jacket on, crossing his arms at Dash. “Happy?”

“Yeah. Thank you.” Dash smiled.

Danny huffed, stepping out of the car. He led Dash up the hill, going slow so Dash could see where he was avoiding loose rocks and such. The top of the hill was bare, covered in nothing but grass; a perfect view of the sky away from all the light pollution and no tall trees or buildings to block parts of it.

Danny laid down, actually a little thankful for Dash’s jacket when the chill of the grass bit into him. He patted the spot next to him and Dash followed suit, wriggling around to get comfortable. The stars glimmered above them hiding the comet Danny was searching for.

“So, is a comet just a meteor with a tail?” Dash asked after a long moment of silence.

“A comet is made of dust and ice and other space matter that orbits the sun in an elliptical orbit. A meteor is a piece of space matter that has breached Earth’s atmosphere and it turns into a meteorite when it collides with Earth’s surface.” Danny explained patiently. “And actually, comets have two tails, an ice one and a gas one. The gas tail called a coma, forms when-” Danny stopped talking as he turned to look at Dash, whose eyes were wide and confused.

“Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean to ramble like that.”

Dash shook his head. “I might be a little lost, but I don’t mind. Keep talking.”

Danny's heart stuttered in his chest again. He looked into Dash’s eyes, shocked at the genuineness he found there. “Are you sure? I don’t want to bother you with my nerd stuff.”

“I asked. Plus we’re literally sitting on a hill in the middle of the night just to look at your nerd stuff. It’s okay for you to talk about it. I just might have to interrupt you with questions every now and then.”

Danny smiled at him, warmth spreading through his veins making his fingers curl into the fabric of Dash’s jacket. “Wow, you are like an entirely different person. I really, really, like this Dash.” Danny forced himself to turn back to the sky so he didn’t have to see Dash’s reaction. “So, a coma forms when…”

Dash was not paying attention. He was a big liar, completely not listening. His heart was beating so loud it nearly drowned out Danny’s voice as he rambled about physics and dark matter and stars and things way beyond his understanding. The moonlight was shining off his hair and the sparkly makeup he still had on. With the way Paulina had done, he was practically glowing just like a galaxy. And his eyes sparkled like they were full of the very stars he was talking about. He was so full of life and joy and Dash was completely enamored.

Paulina was right.

He was so screwed.

“Look!” Danny scooted over, pressing himself against Dash and pointing at the sky. “There it is! It’s kind of dim, you might have to squint.”

Dash squinted, trying his best to follow where Danny was pointing. “I don’t see it.”

Danny moved his finger, tracing a constellation and ending just below it. ‘See Lyra? It’s right below it and slightly to the left. It’s the one that looks blurry because of its tail.”

Dash leaned further over, nearly leaning his head on Danny’s shoulder. “Lyra?”

“The constellation, it’s like a little box.”

“Oh,” Dash gasped. “I see it.”

Danny dropped his hand, crossing them across his chest and the two of them watched the comet cross the sky in peaceful silence. A gentle breeze started making its way across the field. Danny could feel Dash fidgeting next to him, wanting to say something but refusing to do so. Danny let him figure it out, not wanting to rush him. The comet was moving pretty fast and he lost track of it a couple of times.

“You said you know astrology too?”

Danny hummed. “Not as much as Sam, but yeah, I know some. If it has to do with space and the stars, I’m in. Why?”

Dash pointed at the constellation from before. “So, do you know the story for Lyra?”

Danny nodded.

“Can you tell it to me?”

Danny drew in a breath; he'd never been asked to tell the stories before. Usually, it was Sam telling him. “I mean, yeah, but it’s a sad one.”

Dash shrugged. “Not everything needs to be a happy story. So, will you tell me or not?”

Danny shuffled around, getting comfortable, ignoring the way his and Dash’s sides were still pressed together. “Lyra, or the lyre, is the story of Orpheus, son of the muse Calliope, and Eurydice, a beautiful wood nymph. Orpheus was said to have a voice so beautiful, even rocks would listen to what he had to sing.”

Danny could feel Dash’s eyes on him, and it took all his self-control to keep his eyes on the stars. “One day, Orpheus was playing his lyre and it drew a gathering of people and beasts. While he was playing, he spotted Eurydice among the crowd. Long story short, he talked to her and they fell in love and got married.”

“That’s kind of fast,” Dash commented.

“It’s mythology.” Danny shrugged. “But, unlike other mythology stories, these two were actually, properly in love. Which ended up being their problem.”

“Being in love was their problem?”

“Yeah, sorry, foreshadowing. One day while Orpheus was away, Eurydice was taking a nap in a nearby field. When she awoke there was a snake by her feet. She panicked and it bit her, killing her. When Orpheus found her, he was extremely distraught. He couldn’t live without the love of his life. Hermes took pity on him and showed him a way that he could walk to the underworld to try to convince Hades to let her go.”

“Hermes is the messenger guy, right? Why’s he getting involved.”

“For the sake of not spiraling into several other interconnected stories, let’s just say there’s a lot involved. So, Orpheus begins a long journey, we’re talking weeks, of walking and dodging obstacles to get to the underworld; fighting off ghosts, getting past Cerberus, the whole nine yards. He finally makes it there and gets a chance to talk to Hades. He begs for his wife to be returned to him. Hades refuses.”

“Of course he did. You can’t just return people to life.”

“Well, in a last attempt to win the god’s favor, he sings them a song about love. Hades' wife, Persephone, hears and is so moved by it, that she also begs Hades to let Eurydice go.”

“So, just like that he gets what he wants?” Dash hadn’t taken his eyes off him the entire story. Danny finally turned to look at him and a strong wave of deja vu hit him. Memories from the lake flooded his mind, making his face warm. He focused his eyes on Dash’s forehead, the only safe place he could stare at while he finished the story.

“Not quite. Hades wants to listen to his wife, but, like you said, he can’t just go around letting people return to life. He has a job to do. So, he issues them a challenge. If he and Eurydice can walk back the way Orpheus had come, with him leading the way and her following behind, then she can live. The catch is he can’t turn around to make sure she’s following him.”

“Can’t she just tell him she’s there?”

“She’s dead. She can’t speak. He’ll have no way to make sure she’s there. But, that’s the test, right? Does he love her enough to trust that she’ll follow? They turn and go. Over the weeks though, doubt starts to set in. How does he know this isn’t Hades trying to trick him into just leaving? What if she’s lost hope and turned around a long time ago? What if she never followed him in the first place? Finally, after several long weeks of his own psychological torture, he sees sunlight. They’ve made it! He runs for the exit, excited to finally have his wife back. As soon as the sunlight touches his skin, he turns around.”

Dash gasped.

“But, she hadn’t stepped into the sun yet. She hadn't run like he had and was still a few feet behind. She waved goodbye and he watched as she disappeared from sight, this time forever.”

“That’s so idiotic. Why the fuck would he turn around? He was so close!”

Danny let his eyes slip down to Dash’s, surprised at how invested he was in the story. “He didn’t do it because he was an idiot. He did it out of love. He was so excited that he ran ahead and didn’t think about her catching up. He loved her too much to not turn around and share his joy with her. In some of the re-tellings, she trips and he turns to catch her, but her feet are still in the shadows. Every time he turns, he turns out of love. That’s why it’s a tragedy.”

“But he worked so hard.”

“Think about it, would you let your partner walk all the way through Amity Park without turning to check on them?” Danny watched as Dash thought about it; really thought about it. Several emotions crossed his face and Danny desperately wanted to know exactly what he was thinking.

Dash sighed. “No, I guess not. I’d be too worried a ghost got them. What does he do after that then? Wallow?”

Danny chuckled, messing with the buttons on Dash’s jacket. “Pretty much. He does go back to the underworld to convince Hades to give him a second chance because he was so close, but Hades refuses. So, he leaves and becomes super depressed, singing only sad songs. He refuses to get married again and rejects a bunch of women. And they get so mad at him that they tear him apart limb by limb and throw him and his lyre in the river where it floats to the isle of Muses and they give him a proper burial so that he can be reunited with Eurydice in the underworld. And they put his lyre in the stars so it couldn’t be played by anyone else.”

“Wow, okay.” Dash finally broke eye contact, giving Danny room to breathe, and pointed vaguely in the direction of the constellation. “And it’s just that square?”

Danny reached up and grabbed his hand, helping him trace the constellation. “That square and these stars. It's supposed to look like a lyre.” Danny studied Dash’s eyes as they traveled down to their hands. A bright red rose to the surface of Dash’s face. Another memory of the incident a few days before rose to his mind, and Danny dropped Dash’s hand. If he wasn’t careful, he’d end up exactly where he told his friends he wouldn’t.

And now Dash was staring at him, a conflict clear in his eyes, and they were so close. And Danny really needed to stop creating these situations. Because he was weak, and it was so very hard just to break eye contact. Just as it looked like Dash had made up his mind about something, Danny sat up and scooted away, creating a distance between them. His heart pounded. “Also, Lyra’s constellation contains the star Vega, which is the second brightest star in the northern sky.”

Danny took a deep breath, hoping that wasn't the most awkward thing he'd ever done. (Considering the last time he fell in a lake, it's not.) And hoped that his science fact would be nerdy enough to ruin whatever vibe had been happening.

Dash blinked, missing the cozy atmosphere. He sat up, clearing his throat. "Which one is the brightest?"

Danny, relieved, pointed to another star in the sky. "That would be Arcturus." He stood up, offering Dash a hand. But he was quick to let go once Dash was on his feet. "It's getting late, we should probably get going."

Dash nodded.

Danny turned, hoping the cold breeze would cool the heat in his face as they descended the hill. "Careful, " he called back, "some of these rocks are loose." They continued picking their way down the hill, it was slower going down than it was going up.

"Hey, Danny?" Dash asked about halfway down. "Could I- ack!" He stepped on a loose stone and lost his balance, tipping forward as the dirt rushed from under him.

Danny turned around, reaching his arms out to catch Dash's shoulders; steadying them both before they toppled down the hill. Dash was holding onto him for dear life. "Damn, that was close. You okay?"

Dash's face was bright red and he was a little shaky as he pulled away, finding his footing before completely letting go of Danny. He coughed. "Uh, yeah. Sorry. Could I ask a question?"

Danny was happy to let him change the subject, not wanting to dwell on the event. "Yeah, what's bugging you?" Danny turned and led the way down the hill a little slower this time, making sure to be extra careful with where he put his feet.

Dash was quiet for a moment, almost like he was hesitant to bring it up. "How would, uh, how would someone know if they're asexual or not?"

"Well, I think that's something only you can decide. But little to zero sexual attraction means you don't feel attracted to sleeping with someone." They reached the bottom of the hill. Danny waited patiently for Dash to dig through his pockets for his keys.

"But, how would you know? Especially if you've never had sex. What does that even feel like?" Dash finally got his keys out and unlocked the car.

Danny raised an eyebrow at him as they climbed into the car. "You've never looked at someone or talked with someone and thought 'wow, I want to tap that?' or anything along those lines?"

"No. I always just kind of figured people just did that because it's what they were supposed to do, not because they actually wanted to." Dash started the car, turning on the heater for Danny.

"How did you figure out you were gay?"

"I tried flirting with girls because, again, I thought it was what I was supposed to do but I didn't really care for it. Then, uh, a guy flirted with me at the movies and I was like, oh, that's what everyone's talking about." Dash pulled out of the parking lot, driving slowly because Danny's house wasn't far away and he didn't want to end the conversation too soon.

Danny had the passing thought that these car conversations were happening a lot frequently. Maybe he should have been worried about that, but he found he didn't mind. "And you didn't want to sleep with that guy?"

Dash shook his head. "No. It kind of felt like sleeping with him would ruin whatever was happening."

Danny gave him a reassuring smile. "It sounds like you might be ace."

Dash squirmed in his seat. "But, I still want a partner and to kiss people. It's just.. you know, the other stuff that's weird."

Despite himself, Danny laughed. Dash's ear burned as he pouted.

"I'm not laughing at you, I promise. It's just-" Danny paused as another bout of laughter escaped him. "It's- you're allowed to say the word 'sex', Dash. It's not like it's forbidden." He took a deep breath to reset his lungs and quell the laughter. "And you can be ace and still kiss people. Kissing isn't inherently a sexual thing. It mostly falls under romantic attraction."

Dash pulled up in front of Danny's house, letting the car idle. "Wouldn't kissing without sex bother people though? I mean, I assume it would because non-ace people want that kind of stuff in their relationship, right?"

Danny shrugged. "People kiss all the time without it escalating. And not every relationship needs sex for it to work. That's something that wouldn't bother me. So, you've just got to find the right people who think the same."

Dash went quiet. Danny glanced at him to find his face on fire and his nails digging into the steering wheel. He was looking at him like he wanted to crawl under a rock and also like Danny held the entire world in his hands. It was how he looked at Phantom.

It sunk in what his words were implying. He pinched his mouth together, eyes going wide. He was in trouble. He was in big, big trouble. And he needed a way out fast.

He forced a laugh to relieve some of the pressure. "Oh, yeah, and before I forget, I was going to ask you if you wanted to come with us to the new Nightermerica movie next week? It's Sam's favorite series so there's no way we're missing it."

Smooth, Fenton, smooth.

Dash sighed, deflating like a balloon. He wanted to ask him what he meant but didn't want to push. "I would, but I can't. My mom and I are going on a three-week trip to California and we leave on Monday."

Danny wouldn't lie, he was a little disappointed, a pang gripping his heart. "Oh, you're going to be gone for that long?"

Dash looked away, staring out the front windshield. "Yeah, it's for a family reunion. It's technically going all month but my mom doesn't like leaving for very long. The Amity Jitters get her really bad."

"Do they bother you?" Danny asked, glad the conversation wasn't as dangerous as it had been a few seconds ago. Though his heart was still racing, keeping him in fight or flight mode.

"Yeah, but my cousin Reggie is going so I was going to feel like my skin was peeling off anyway."

Danny laughed. "Not a Reggie fan?"

"He's the worst. He thinks being in college makes him the coolest ladies' man ever, but then he only dates freshmen. So he's super creepy and then he tells us all about it."

"Ick." Danny made a disgusted face. "Well, I hope you survive."

"Yeah, me too."

Danny chewed his lip. This is where he would get out of the car and they'd part ways. But, now that he knew he had even less time with his friend than he thought he would, he didn't want the conversation to end. Something itched in the back of his brain, bothering him and making him question why it even mattered to him. "Can I ask," his voice sounded tiny, even to him, "Are you going out of state for college?"

Dash looked surprised at the question. He shook his head. "No. I'm staying here at the community college."

"Really?" Danny instantly felt some stress leave his body. He had no idea why he was so relieved, but he'd take it over worrying about how much time he had left with Dash. "I figured you'd be going to some fancy football university or something."

"I'm not… really into the whole football thing anymore, if I'm honest. Don't get me wrong, it's still fun to play every once in a while, but going pro was something my dad pushed for. That kind of poisoned it after a while. And I don't want anything to do with him, so pursuing the career he wanted for me is out of the question."

"I'm sorry," Danny muttered.

Dash waved him off. "It's fine."

"So, what are you going to do then?" Danny twisted in his seat, finally undoing his seat belt so he could sit more comfortably.

"Well, my current plan is to get my general education degree just to have some kind of higher education under my belt and then probably find a trade to go into. I could be a mechanic, or a personal trainer or something. I haven't decided yet." Dash sighed just to clear his lungs. He finally looked back at Danny. "What about you?"

It was Danny's turn to look away, nerves making him a little uncomfortable. "I'm not sure I am going to college. Until Senior Ditch Day when Mr. Lancer tried to convince me to become a teacher, I wasn't sure there was a reason for me to. But, I don't know. I'm still trying to decide. If I did go, I would go here."

"Do you want to be a teacher?" Dash pried.

Danny shrugged. "I don't know. He said I should teach astronomy which would be kind of fun. I'm just not sure if I'm cut out for it. And then there's the whole 'the Fenton's are a family of geniuses' thing. My dad might be disappointed if I don't go into something science-y like Jazz."

Dash placed a hand on his shoulder. "Isn't astronomy science?"

"Yeah, but not the science they want."

"Well, I don't know about the whole family disappointment thing, but as for you thinking you're not cut out for it, I can tell you you're wrong. I mean, did you see the way you spoke about dark matter tonight? You have the passion for it. And if my physics grades were anything to go by, you definitely have the ability to teach people. I think you'd make a great teacher. If that is what you wanted to do."

Danny's heart nearly stopped right then and there. Adrenaline pumped through his veins and he felt a little dizzy. "Really?"

"Yeah, really. You kind of make learning fun." Dash gave him an impossibly soft smile before dropping his hand. "Maybe you should talk to your parents about it?"

Danny sighed. "I don't know. They don't listen very often."

"Well, I can't really tell you what you should and shouldn't do when I don't know your situation. But, if you want to get closure on it, it might be worth a conversation."

Danny was quiet for a minute, thinking it over. It could be worth it if he could get them to consider what he was saying and not push their own agenda.

"What about Sam, Valerie, and Tucker?" Dash asked when Danny had been quiet for a minute.

Danny blinked, trying to focus on the conversation. "Uh, Valerie is trying to get into a big university out of state, but Sam and Tucker are staying here. What are Kwan and Paulina doing?"

Dash exhaled partly in relief, partly in sadness. "Paulina's already been accepted into a beauty school in New York and Kwan is trying to decide between two football scholarships, both out of state. He's going to be an English major but he's excited to have a way to pay for it." He tapped at the steering wheel, a nervous habit Danny noticed. "Can I be honest?"

Danny nodded, definitely not watching the curve of Dash's neck as he breathed.

"I'm actually really glad you guys aren't going anywhere. I'll miss Valerie, but with both Kwan and Paulina gone, I was not looking forward to being the one left behind. I especially didn't want to lose you guys after we just barely became friends."

Danny needed to get out of this car before he did or said something he couldn't take back. He, stupidly, opened his mouth to reply. "Me too. I-"

Dash's phone ringing cut him off, startling him out of his weird daze. As Dash scrambled to answer it, Danny cleared his throat and sat back in his seat. He ran through a few breathing exercises to get his heart rate under control.

"Hey, mom," Dash answered. Danny couldn't hear the voice on the other end. "Yeah, I'm fine. Danny and I were watching a comet- yes, that Danny." Dash sighed affectionately. He looked at Danny. "My mom says hi."

Danny laughed and leaned over to project his voice into Dash's phone. "Hi, Mrs. Baxter."

Dash jokingly pushed him away. "Yeah, we know it's five a.m. I'm dropping Danny off at his place. Then I'll come straight home. Yes, I promise. Okay, love you, bye."

Danny couldn't help but smile. "It's nice that she calls and checks on you." He glanced at his house and wondered if his parents even remembered he was out. Or if they even realized what time it was.

"Yeah, she got home and was worried a ghost got me when she couldn't find me."

"I guess, I should let you go then, so she doesn't have to worry anymore." Danny pulled open his door and stepped out into the chilly breeze.

"I'll see you when I get back?" Dash asked, tapping at the steering wheel again.

Danny snorted. "Think you can get rid of me? You're stuck with me now, Baxter, whether you like it or not."

"Good," Dash grinned.

Danny closed the door and waved as Dash drove off.

It was only when Dash turned the corner did Danny allow himself to break down. "'It wouldn't bother me.' 'You're stuck with me'. Come on, Fenton. Get yourself together." He shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked up to the front door and only then realized he was still wearing Dash's jacket. He sighed, dropping his head harshly against his front door as he searched for his keys to unlock it.

Maybe three weeks away from Dash would be a good thing. Maybe he'd be able to kick whatever stupid fixation he had on him by the time he got back and they could just be friends. He pushed the front door open, immediately freezing in his tracks, his entire body going rigid.

A dark, acrid smell was permeating the air.

He knew that smell.

Ectoplasm.

It was thick and heavy, like it had been around for hours. The door to the lab was open.

He tiptoed over, careful not to make any noise as he listened for his parents. There was clanging coming from downstairs. Not the practiced kind his parents made, but something more desperate.

The overhead lights weren't on. The staircase was completely dark. He crept down them, one at a time, avoiding the creaky spots. As he got closer, he heard muffled screaming. He turned invisible and peeked into the room.

He wanted to throw up.

The exam table was out, in the center of the room, surrounded by smaller tables holding a wide variety of tools; scalpels, medical scissors, forceps, bone-saws, almost all of them covered in dull green ectoplasm.

Laying on the table, chest carved open and pinned in a gruesome display, was a ghost girl. She couldn't have been older than sixteen. Her arms and legs were strapped in metal cuffs to the table. A muzzle tied tightly around her face was keeping her screams quiet.

Her chest was cut completely open, muscle tissue and skin being held back by dissection pins. Her core was exposed; it pulsed a slow, dark orange, illuminating the sawed bone of her rib cage and the slimy organs underneath.

She was crying as she thrashed about, spilling ectoplasm over the table and floor as she tried to free herself.

Danny shuddered, climbing back up a few stairs to get the scene out of sight as he tried to control his breathing; the smell of decaying ectoplasm in the air wasn't helping and now was not the time for him to have an anxiety attack.

After a few more deep breaths, he worked up enough courage to transform into Phantom. Keeping himself invisible, he flew around the house, looking for his parents.

He found them in the ops center. They were bent over a piece of equipment, tinkering away; both had green stains all over their jumpsuits.

He left- not caring what they were doing at the moment as long as it didn't involve dissecting ghosts- and flew back down to the lab. Part of him wondered how his parents were able to just leave a girl like that and go work on something else. Even if she was a ghost. Before he went down the stairs again, he duplicated himself, leaving the duplicate to stand guard at the door.

The last thing he needed was to get caught and be the next ghost on that table.

He descended the stairs, quickly this time. He needed to work fast. The girl was still fighting against her restraints. He focused on turning himself visible while keeping his duplicate invisible.

He held his hands up in a peaceful gesture and slowly approached the table where she could see him. She screamed louder, voice ragged and raw. Her movements became more jarring as she tried to get away from him.

"Hey, don't worry." He tried to keep his tone as soft as he could despite how badly he was shaking. "I'm here to get you out."

She sobbed, more tears falling down her face. She didn't stop trying to get away from him. He stopped walking.

"I promise, I don't want to hurt you. But we have to go fast before those people come back. I need to put you back together first. Is that okay?"

She flopped against the table, still sobbing, but giving up. Danny took a deep breath and approached the table. Now that he was closer, he could see patches of blackened skin all over her arms; necrotic wounds. He glanced at the tables nearby, spying the Fenton Venom on one of them. Tears pricked his eyes. There were so many wounds on her arms. How long had she been here? What were they doing to her?

He shook his head. He didn't have time to freak out. "Okay, I'm going to remove these pins first. It might hurt. I'm sorry." He spoke mostly to keep himself focused more than to calm her down.

He pulled the first pin out, dropping it on the floor. She screamed, thrashing against the restraints again and splattering ectoplasm all over him. He waited til she stopped before going for the next pin. "I'm sorry. We've got a few more of these to go."

He pulled the second pin out, this time closing his eyes to avoid the spray. He took a moment to focus and see what his duplicate was seeing; the coast was still clear. He returned his focus- dizzy and shaky with the effort it took to split his concentration- to the girl in front of him pulling out the next pin. This time she didn't scream. Danny pulled the pins out a bit faster.

He half expected her skin to go back to where it belonged once it was free of the pins, but with the Fenton Venom in her veins, she was healing slow. He wished he had left some of the antibiotics here instead of storing them in the ghost zone. But he couldn't have his parents find out he was messing with their stuff behind their backs.

He searched the drawers around him for some surgical glue. As a full ghost, she'd heal back the way she was supposed to given enough time. But he wanted to help speed the process along and give her core some protection.

Her muscle was slippery as he fit it back against her bones. Her skin rubbery as he glued it back in place. He wasn't going to forget the feel of it against his gloves anytime soon.

Guilt washed over him. He'd been sitting in front of his house with Dash for half an hour while she'd been sitting here with her body flayed open. If he'd just come directly inside instead of prolonging their conversation, he could have gotten her out sooner.

He shook his head. He didn't need to think like that. How could he have known she was down here? She hadn't been here when he'd left for the party. He had no way of knowing. And he was helping now.

He took a deep breath as he glued the last bit of glowing skin in place. "Okay, let's get this muzzle off you. Please, don't scream. They're nearby."

She nodded and turned her head so he could undo the ties to the muzzle. She didn't say anything once it was off. He dropped it on the floor and leaned over the tables toward the key rack. "My name's Danny. What's yours?"

Her voice was raw and strangled. "Emma."

"Okay, Emma," he grabbed the key for the restraints, "let's get you home, yeah?"

"My mom was right." She sobbed. "I should never have come here."

Danny unlocked each restraint quickly, helping her sit up once the final one was off. "I'm so sorry, Find Pandora in the ghost zone. She has medicine for your arms." He helped her to her feet, looking away from her as ectoplasm dripped from the seams of her wounds. She leaned on him as they stumbled to the ghost portal.

"Thank you," She whispered, disappearing inside.

Danny sighed and collapsed to the ground the second she was out of sight. He closed his eyes, but all he saw was her form still splayed out on the table. Pressing his hands against them did no good; the swirling static made him more nauseous than he already was.

Somewhere, his duplicate heard his parents' footsteps. Panic set in and he stood up too fast. He ran back to the key rack, putting the restraint key back in its exact spot, and grabbed a mop. He ran it over the drops she had spilled on her way to the portal. His parents couldn't know how she got out, just that she did.

Through his duplicate's eyes, he saw his parents stumble into the kitchen, invention in hand and clearly sleep-deprived. He recalled his duplicate, tripping when they merged. With three seconds to spare, he got the mop back in its place and turned invisible.

"What in the world?!" His mom screeched, halting just inside the lab.

"Leaping, gallivanting lizards!" His dad cursed, frantically running for the table. "How did it escape? Maddie, did you use the extra strong restraints?"

"Of course! Are you sure you put the muzzle on right? What if she could wail?"

Danny flew through the walls back up to the front door. His parents had started arguing a lot more lately so he was used to it, but he did not want to hear them argue about who forgot what torture method. He changed back to his human form and opened the front door. Then he slammed it as hard as he could, hoping they would hear it.

"I'm home!" He shouted, walking toward the lab. The smell still hung heavy in the air; he'd be sleeping with his window open tonight. They were still arguing by the time he reached the lab again. He tried not to look at the table. "You guys are still awake?"

His voice cut through and they turned to look at him.

"Hi, dear," his mom muttered, rubbing her eyes. "How was your party?"

"Never mind the party," his dad huffed, sounding a little frustrated, "what's all over your face?"

Danny touched his cheek. He had completely forgotten Paulina had put makeup on him. That had been so long ago it felt like another lifetime. "Oh, uh, Paulina wanted to practice her makeup skills. I used to let Jazz do it all the time, so I figured-"

"Figured you'd let her make you look like a girl?" His mom elbowed his side. His dad choked. "I mean, it looks good! Space, just like you like."

Danny clenched his fists at his side. "Boys can wear makeup too, Dad. It's not like-"

"Why are you home so late?!" His mom interrupted when she noticed the time. "It's almost six in the morning!"

Danny crossed his arms to hide how badly his nails were biting into his palms. "I'm nineteen, Mom. I don't need a curfew anymore."

"Adult or not, there are still ghosts out there, young man. Surely your party didn't go this long. What else was so important you'd risk your safety?"

"There was a comet that was visible tonight. Dash and I went to go see it."

"I told you this astronaut business was going to get him in trouble." His dad pointed at his mom.

She ignored him, her eyes lighting up. "You were out with a boy?! Alone? At the observatory?"

His dad caught onto what she was saying. He grinned at his son. "That's where I took your mom on our twelfth date! Good job, Dan-O!"

"No, it's not like that!" Danny protested, getting angrier by the minute. He wished they would just listen to him for once.

"Oh, Danny why didn't you tell us?!" His mom pulled him into a hug. "You should invite him over for dinner!"

He squirmed out of her grip, slipping on a puddle of ectoplasm on the floor. He did not want to be having this conversation in this room. "We're not dating! He went with me in case there was a ghost. For safety reasons!"

"Well, I like him already! He sounds like a smart boy, caring about safety!" Jack-the-safety-takes-too-much-ghost-hunting-space-Fenton said.

"Have you guys even eaten dinner?" Danny changed the subject, already turning to head up the stairs. He couldn't stand to be in the lab any longer. His parents followed him.

"Good idea, Danny. I do feel a bit faint." His mom answered.

Danny plopped down into a chair at the kitchen table as his parents set about getting themselves bowls of cereal. If he wasn't so mad, he would have offered to make them something. He took a few calming breaths. "So, I wanted to talk to you guys about something."

"Is it about this boy you're seeing?" His mom squealed. "Is he cute? Is that his jacket you're wearing? Do I know him?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "You're not listening to me. I'm not seeing him. And yeah, Mom, you've met Dash a ton of times. But that's not what I wanted to tell you."

"You're getting old, Danny. You've never even brought anyone home. We'll be old and gray before your mom gets to make someone dinner." His dad sat down, bumping the table as he did so.

Danny stood up from the table. "You know, let's just talk about this later. It stinks of ectoplasm everywhere and I'm tired." It was true, he just wanted to shower and try to get the image of Emma out of his mind. The only reason he was attempting to have a conversation with his parents was because this was the first time he'd properly seen them in the last three days. And something about what Dash had said, prompted him to try.

"No, No, I'm sorry, honey." His mom rushed. "What did you wanna tell us?"

Danny stared at her for a moment, debating if this was even worth it. It wouldn't be. He knew that. But some part of him was yearning to know what they would think of his decision to be a teacher and he caved. "Uh, well, I've decided to go to college."

"Finally!" His dad cheered, spilling part of his cereal on the table. "Yale with your sister or Harvard?"

Danny could already feel the pit of despair opening in his stomach. He avoided his dad's eyes. "Just the community college here in Amity Park."

"Well, that's a start." His mom covered, kicking his dad under the table. "So what are you going for? Biochemist? Biomedical Engineer? Microbiologist? Astronomer?" She wiggled her eyebrows at the last one like she was in on some inside joke.

"Close," he wheezed. His hope that his parents had changed their view on careers went down the drain as they stared at him with anticipation and excitement in their eyes. His heart squeezed and he scuffed his foot against the floor. He shoved his hands into the pockets of Dash's jacket, gaining a little confidence as he remembered what he had told him. "Uh, I want to be an astronomy teacher. A professor, if I can manage it."

His gut twisted as he watched his father's face visible fall; his crow's feet disappearing with his smile. His mom did better at keeping her smile on her face, but it no longer reached her eyes.

"Well, we had one genius kid," his dad muttered. His mom kicked him again.

"What made you want to do that?" She asked, voice tense.

Danny wished he had never brought this up. He coughed, clearing his throat so they wouldn't hear his voice shake. "I mean, I like astronomy and Mr. Lancer said I'd make a good teacher. So, I've been thinking about it and-"

"Oh, well that's fine then." His dad sighed. "If someone else told you to do it, then you're practically guaranteed to change majors in your first year. We have nothing to worry about, Maddie!"

Danny couldn't believe how his dad had hit the point head-on and still refused to see it. Did he even hear himself?

"At least it's a start." His mom agreed. "You can at least get your generals done while you decide." Her words left no room for argument.

"Right." Danny bit out. He spun on his heel and started walking out of the kitchen. "I'm tired. Goodnight."

"Night, Danny!" His mom called, cheer returning to her voice.

"Goodnight!" His dad shouted, and then when he thought Danny was out of hearing range, he whispered to his mom. "I knew that Mr. Lancer wouldn't leave well enough alone when he kept showing up here his freshman year."

"Sometimes, teachers just don't know when to leave the parenting to the parents." His mom sighed.

"And to think Danny wants to be one of them!" His dad's laugh was boisterous.

"Maybe we should call Jazz. Have her talk to him. He always listens to her more anyway."

Danny sprinted up the last couple of stairs, slamming his bedroom door. As soon as it was shut, he felt the tears finally spill onto his cheeks. He shouldn't have told them. He shouldn't have said a damn word. He was desperate for their approval but he shouldn't have said anything. It always ended like this.

He couldn't hold a candle to Jazz the golden genius child. He wouldn't be good enough for them no matter what he did. Teacher or superhero, they hated both.

He stormed into his bathroom, yanking his clothes off and throwing them into his laundry basket. He felt slightly bad for treating Dash's jacket like that but he just wanted to get the smell of Emma's blood and the feeling of his parents' laughter off his skin.

He turned the shower to its coldest setting, finding a bit of comfort in his element. It was a stark contrast to the hot tears carving their way down his face. He wiped them away and watched the colors of Paulina's makeup fall through his fingers. He had liked how she'd done his eyeliner. Maybe as a way to piss his dad off, he'd ask her to teach him how to do it.

Done with his shower and wrapped in a towel, he grabbed his basket of clothes and took it to the washing machine. He threw an extra bit of detergent in there (checking Dash's jacket would be fine first) to make sure the smell really got out and then he marched back to his room, slamming his door again just because he could.

He put on his comfiest pair of Pj's, cracked his window, and collapsed in his bed. He sniffled, a few tears still trying to escape his eyes. He wished Jazz was awake. He wanted to talk to her before his parents did. He knew she'd be supportive of his decision. And he wanted to tell her his news before his parents ruined it.

He buried himself under his blankets, hoping they'd be enough to keep the monsters out of his mind while he tried to sleep.

The blankets never did anything to help.

---

I love drawing Danny with the stars

---

Guys I'm tweaking. They're literally the only thing I can think about.

---

"Are you ready to admit anything yet, then?" Paulina chirped from his phone. "Since, you know, you're visiting Danny the day after you're back from vacation and not me?"

Dash huffed, bringing his van to a stop for a red light. A stubborn part of him wanted to keep denying everything just so he wouldn't give Paulina the satisfaction of being right. "What, did my grandma snitch to you too?"

Paulina laughed. "If you were telling your grandma about him, then you're more whipped than I thought?"

Dash rolled his eyes, guiding his car through the green light. "Maybe more than I thought too."

Paulina screeched, absolutely delighted. "I didn't think you'd actually admit it! Tucker owes me twenty bucks!"

"You guys were placing bets?" The cars in front of him slowed to a stop. There were flashing lights up ahead signalling a detour. He craned his neck to see what was going on and only caught flashes of green; a ghost attack.

"Of course, what kind of friends would we be if we didn't? Sam bet that it wouldn't happen til college because both of you are too stubborn. She's gonna be so mad." Paulina giggled. Dash imagined she was kicking her feet too. "So, when are you telling him?"

Dash tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, urging the detour line to go faster. He was not in a particular hurry to get caught in the middle of another ghost fight. "I'm not."

Paulina sighed, long and dramatic. "Don't tell me you're still waiting for Phantom?"

"What?" Dash coughed, choking on his breath. There was a crashing sound from further up the street.

"What was that?" Paulina asked.

"Ghost attack," Dash responded automatically. "Why would you think I'm still waiting for Phantom?"

"Why else would you not want to tell Danny you like him? You can't have both, I mean, one that's unfair to the rest of us, and two, I think Danny would be pretty upset if he found out you still had feelings for a ghost when he's right there."

Dash snorted. "As if you don't also have a crush on Phantom."

"Passively! Like a celebrity crush! You almost kissed the guy!"

"It doesn't matter, I don't have to tell either of them anything. I'm allowed to have crushes that don't go anywhere. I don't have to share my feelings."

"Ugh!" Paulina pouted. "But don't you want to? I've seen how you look at him, Dash!"

"I don't want to rush anything, Paulie! Just three months ago I was still an asshole he wanted nothing to do with." Dash saw the ghost then. It was a massive T-rex stuck between two buildings. It was thrashing about as it tried to catch Phantom between its huge jaws. A spike of fear went through him as he flipped on his hazards. It had been a while since a ghost this big and dangerous attacked.

"I don't know about that," Paulina mused. "Sure we were awful to him, but that never stopped him from trying to go to our parties or hang out with us every chance he got. Sam and maybe Tucker had more of a grudge against us than Danny ever did. And remember that time our parents were kidnapped by ghost pirates? You were the one he picked to be his immediate backup. I don't think he would have done that if he hated you."

Dash felt his stomach flip, both in fear of the ghost in front of him and nerves from what Paulina was saying. A memory from the ghost mosquito epidemic rushed to his mind; Danny had been the only one to check on him when he was in danger. "Okay, but that still doesn't change my mind. I like how things are right now. I don't want to ruin that. Paulie, I've never even been in a relationship before. What if I fuck it all up?"

The T-rex roared, the force of it shaking the ground and his car. What was taking this detour so long?

Phantom was having a hard time getting close enough to the T-rex to use his thermos as it sent pieces of buildings flying through the air. It looked like the Fentons had also shown up as green bullet-like globs narrowly missed Phantom. How in the hell had they decided that Phantom was the bigger threat than a T-rex?

Dash gripped his steering wheel, knuckles turning white. Everything he learned about them made him feel bad for Jazz and Danny. Seriously, if Danny was down there about to be trampled, would they still priotize Phantom?

"No relationship is perfect, Dash. You can't avoid making mistakes. It's about communication and caring about how you fix issues, not avoiding them."

Dash breathed a sigh of relief as Phantom finally managed to capture the T-rex. Phantom turned and started shouting at the Fentons. It was an odd picture; a ghost hero floating the sky and berating a middle aged couple surrounded by pieces of broken buildings. It would make a lovely oil painting.

"I know," Dash relented, "but that doesn't make it less scary. I-" His words died in his throat as he watched the Fentons start shooting at Phantom again. Phantom was caught off guard, slow to dodge. One shot grazed his leg, causing him to stumble and fall right into a second shot that hit him directly in his torso. He went spiraling through the air, ectoplasm dropping like rain to the streets below. He was sinking closer and closer to the ground as he tried flying away, his powers failing him. He crashed into an alley close by Dash.

The Fentons were already in pursuit.

"I gotta call you back!" Dash muttered, ending the call before Paulina could respond, and yanked his van out of the detour line into the parking across the street. He scrambled out of his car, sprinting for the alley- he had to make it before the Fentons; even if he didn't know what he could even do, someone had to help.

"Phantom!" He shouted, turning into the alley. Phantom had one arm wrapped around his torso, the other was supporting his weight against the wall as he struggled to stand. Ectoplasm was everywhere, on Phantom, on the walls, on the ground, glowing like a bright neon sign for the Fentons. Its acrid smell burned Dash's nostrils.

Phantom looked up at the sound of his name. his eyes wide in adrenaline and panic. "Dash," he breathed, "you're back."

Phantom knew he'd been gone? Had he looked for him? Dash shook his head, not the time. He ran over to the hero, hands hovering uselessly in the air. "What can I do? They're coming."

Dash glanced around the alley, looking for anything useful. It was a dead end, solid brick wall too high and smooth to climb, especially with the state Phantom was in. There were no back doors to the buildings on the side to duck into and it was entirely empty except for one small dumpster near the end of the alley; too small to hide behind.

Nowhere to go.

Nowhere to hide.

Phantom moved his arm to check on the injury; a gaping hole in the right side of his torso, edges blackening and flaking off as the venom spread- the ectoplasm doing nothing to wash the venom away. His arm was starting to blister where it had been touching the wound and his leg was struggling to hold his weight.

Phantom's eyes darted between the wound, Dash, the alley, the sky, desperately trying to find a solution. He was sliding down the wall, his energy waning. He reached a hand out; Dash jumped into action, looping Phantom's arm around his shoulder and his own around Phantom's waist to support him. Phantom slumped against him, the chill of ectoplasm soaking straight through Dash's jacket.

They heard the Fentons' shouting close by.

Phantom gripped Dash's jacket (a backup, Danny still had his favorite one) with his free hand, pulling him close. He made eye contact; pain, panic, trust, desperation, several other emotions swirling in the depths of his green eyes.

"I trust you," he muttered.

Dash didn't get a chance to respond as Phantom crashed their lips together.

Several things happened all at once, too fast for Dash to process.

Phantom fell back against the brick wall behind him, taking a confused Dash with him. He turned his body so Dash's hip bone was keeping pressure on the wound and so that nobody entering the alley would be able to see the injury.

Phantom was kissing him. It was desperate, hurried, frantic. He was trying to communicate something to him, but Dash was too shocked to decipher it.

Phantom was bleeding out. He couldn't use his powers and he was bleeding out. He needed medical attention, not Dash's tongue in his mouth.

The Fentons were right around the corner, and the two of them were covered in ectoplasm; there was no hiding that. It stained his clothes, his skin, the alley. How was kissing him their best method of getting out of this? What piece of the puzzle was he missing here?

Phantom was kissing him, his fingers digging into Dash's back and Dash was starting to forget where they even were.

There was a bright flash of light behind his eyelids and suddenly the weight in his arms was heavier, the blood on his skin was warm instead of cold, the lips against his were now gasping for breath, the smell of iron assaulting his nose instead of bitter ozone.

Footsteps screeched to a halt at the entry to the alleyway; Dash barely registered them until a woman's voice echoed off the brick around them. "Danny?"

Phantom was pulling away from him, biting his lip and staring at him with pleading, desperate blue eyes.

His eyes were blue. Dash gasped, blinking up at him. The person clinging onto him in pure, unbridled fear wasn't Phantom; it was Danny. It was Danny's blood soaking his clothes. It had been Danny's lips on his. It was Danny begging for his help; Danny had said he trusted him to save him.

Danny was turning his panicked gaze to his parents who were standing in the alley with wide eyes. His parents who had just shot him; his parents who were trying to kill him.

Danny cleared his throat, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. "Mom!" he squeaked. "What are you guys doing here?"

The Fentons didn't seem to notice the blood everywhere now that it wasn't glowing green. Mr. Fenton frowned. "Didn't you notice the ghost, Danny? What are you still doing here?"

"Did you learn anything from our ghost safety lessons?!" Mrs. Fenton hissed.

Danny shrugged, nearly failing to keep a grimace off his face. "I was kind of busy." He glanced at Dash for backup, eyes begging, begging, him to help.

Dash blinked, still trying to process everything that had just happened. He sheepishly turned to the Fentons, careful not to take pressure off Danny's wound. He waved weakly. "Hi, Mrs. and Mr. Fenton."

Mrs. Fenton frowned at him. "The two of you could have been seriously hurt. Remove yourself from the Baxter boy and march yourself home right now, young man."

"Listen to your mother, Daniel, you're grounded." Mr. Fenton added.

Dash bit his tongue, fighting back his anger. Who were they to be concerned for his safety when they're the reason he's bleeding to death? Dash wanted to scream at them, rage, tell them exactly what he was thinking, but Danny sunk his fingers deeper into Dash's skin, sending a clear message; keep it together.

"I'm an adult now, you can't ground me." Danny grit his teeth, shifting his weight to lean more against Dash than the wall.

Dash was beginning to worry about how much blood his jacket was absorbing. How had the Fentons not noticed by now? Did Danny heal like this? How much time did they have?

"Isn't there a ghost you guys should be chasing right now?" Danny sneered.

Mrs. Fenton gasped. "Don't talk to-"

"He's right!" Mr. Fenton interrupted. "He's getting away, Maddie!" He took off down the street, not even looking back to make sure his wife was following.

Mrs. Fenton rolled her eyes, a sigh of exasperation leaving her. "Get home, Danny. We'll talk about this later." She took off after her husband, feet pounding against the sidewalk.

Danny sighed in relief, slumping to the floor, face pale and covered in a cold sweat. He grinned lazily up at Dash. "Fake-out make-out, totally a real thing."

Dash dropped next to him, hands already in action shrugging his jacket off to turn into a makeshift pressure bandage. Every memory he had with Danny and Phantom ran through his mind, a lot of weird coincidences started to make sense. "You're a ghost." He muttered intelligently.

Danny heaved a deep breath into his lungs as Dash tied the jacket around him. "Half-ghost."

"So, that time at the lake and outside my house, that was you? You're like, actually Phantom, not just possessed or something?" Dash's hands were shaking something awful. He shook his head. He needed to focus or Danny didn't stand a chance of making it. The wound was definitely worse now; about the size of a large baseball. The edges were still flaking off, but at a slower rate now that Danny wasn't in ghost form.

"Yeah, it was me. It's a long story."

"You kissed me." Dash was panicking. Blood was pounding in his ears and his chest felt tight. He grabbed Danny's arm to inspect the blisters there; they weren't as pressing of an issue.

"Fake-out make-out. Common Team Phantom tactic. Sorry, I couldn't think of anything else." Danny wheezed.

"You're a ghost. You're Phantom. Your parents are trying to kill you. Oh, my god, Danny, how did this happen?" The graze on Danny's leg wasn't a bad injury either. It would be fine until they could address the wound in his torso.

"Long story. I can tell you all about it when I'm not bleeding to death. We have a PowerPoint." Danny was starting to feel dizzy.

Dash hooked an arm under Danny's knees and another around his back, lifting him off the ground. Step one was to just get Danny to the car and then he'd figure out the rest. Obviously, he couldn't take him to his house, his parents might kill him.

"That's why Pookie attacked you. Cause you're dead. Are you dead? How does half-ghost work? Oh, god are you dying now? If you die again does that make you a full ghost?"

"Dash," Danny huffed, "I'm gonna pass out. I can't answer too many questions."

Dash peeked out into the street. Everybody had cleared out for the ghost attack. He'd be able to make it to his car unseen. He just hoped the Fentons weren't still lurking around. He sprinted for his car, careful not to jostle Danny too much. "Right, sorry. Who's we?"

"Sam, Tucker, Val, and me. Team Phantom."

Dash settled Danny in the back seat, reclining the seats to give him more room. "Okay, don't actually pass out."

"I might."

"Danny, listen to me. Don't pass out. If you pass out, I can't guarantee that I can bring you back."

"No promises," Danny breathed, laugh dying as he choked on his blood. "Sorry, about your jacket."

"Fuck my jacket." Dash closed the door and clambered into the front seat, frantically searching for his phone. "Just don't pass out and keep pressure on it. You said Sam knows?"

"Yeah, but she hates stitches."

"You'll need more than stitches," Dash muttered, dialing Sam's number. He started the car and turned it back toward his house. His mom was at work, it was probably the safest place they had. He'd just have to keep Pookie in his pen.

The phone was still ringing. "C'mon, Manson, pick up!"

"Ask her about the antibiotics," Danny mumbled.

The phone clicked as Sam answered.

"I mean it, Fenton. Keep your eyes open."

"Dash?" Sam hissed. "What's going-"

"Sam! It's Danny. He's in real bad shape. I need you, and Foley if he can, to grab whatever antibiotic he's talking about, a few gallons of distilled water, and medical gauze- the big pads- and meet me at my house in like ten minutes."

"Fuck," Sam muttered, tripping over something in her haste to get up. "How bad is it?"

Dash swallowed, glancing at Danny in the rearview mirror. His breathing was shallow; his skin was sickly pale and shiny with sweat. "Bad. Be fast."

He hung up to focus on driving so he didn't get anyone else injured. "Danny? Danny, talk to me. How are you doing?"

Danny chuckled weakly. "Just peachy."

Dash took a few breaths, the pungent smell of blood doing nothing to calm him down. "At least you're still making jokes."

"If I lost my humor, then I'd really be dead. There's no need to panic. I've had worse."

"There's a fucking hole in your side, what do you mean you've had worse?!" Dash took the corner to his street a little too fast.

"I'm half-ghost, there's, there's plenty of people lined up to, to torture me for any reason." Danny wheezed, his lungs failing him.

Dash felt sick. What in the world had Danny gone through up til now? "Okay, putting a pin in that for later. How do your ghost healing powers work?"

Danny choked back a groan of pain. "I don't really know. Full, full ghosts will heal back to where they were when they died. I just kind of, uh…" He trailed off.

"Stay with me, Danny! You kind of what?"

"Um, I don't know, it's like normal healing but accelerated? It's never be-been like this before. It usually just takes care of itself."

"Okay, okay. We can work with that." Dash pulled into his driveway. Sam and Tucker were waiting on his doorstep; Tucker chewing on his nails as he balanced gallons of water in one arm. Dash stumbled out of the car, throwing his keys at Tucker. "Foley, get the door open, get Pookie outside, and clear off the kitchen island. Sam, help me get Danny inside."

Tucker struggled to catch the keys, but he moved with a speed Dash hadn't thought him capable of once he had them. Sam was at his side in a moment, immediately moving to support Danny's shoulders as they worked him out of the car.

"We shouldn't stand him up, he might pass out. We'll just have to move him like this."

Sam nodded, paling when she saw the blood left behind on the seats. The two of them worked quickly to get him inside.

"Hi, Sam," Danny muttered, grinning at his friend lazily.

"Hi, idiot," She replied as they got him situated on the counter. She turned her attention to Dash. "What happened?"

Dash motioned to Tucker. "Grab a pillow from the couch to put under his head. Uh, his parents shot him with that weird venom stuff."

"So, you know?" Tucker asked, lifting Danny's head gently to place the pillow down.

"He knows," Danny uttered. "Guys, I'm not doing so good."

"Hang on, Danny," Dash whispered. "We've got you. Sam, how do these antibiotics work?"

Sam pulled a few deep blue vials out of her pocket. "We reverse-engineered them from the Fenton Venom, but they only work if the venom isn't active. We have to clean the wounds first."

Dash nodded, taking a few steadying breaths. "Okay, Tucker, grab a few towels from under the sink and do what you can to wash the venom off his arm and leg. Sam, I'm going to take the jacket off, there's going to be a lot of blood, you need to immediately rinse the venom off the edges of the wound so it stops spreading. Try to avoid getting water inside the wound. Got it?"

The two of them nodded, rushing to grab the aforementioned towels. Dash untied the jacket, ready to remove it once Sam was in position. He threaded the fingers of his free hand with Danny's. "This is going to hurt. You ready?"

Danny hummed, weakly clutching his fingers back. "Your hands are warm."

"Okay, go." Dash took the jacket off the wound, exposing it to the air. Danny hissed, painfully grasping Dash's hand. Tucker was quick to jump into action, taking great care not to spread the venom as he was cleaning it off.

Sam hesitated, rag dripping water between her fingers as she stared at the hole in his side.

"Sam," Dash soothed, trying not to let the fear and urgent frustration show in his voice though it was increasingly hard, "Do you need to switch places?"

Sam breathed out. "No, I've got this."

"Okay, hurry. We have to get his healing working again before he bleeds out."

Sam nodded, touching the rag to the wound. Danny screamed, crushing Dash's hand. Sam dropped the rag, covering her ears with her hands and squeezing her eyes shut. Dash grabbed her hand and replaced it with his in Danny's.

"Here, let me." He took her place, getting a new rag, pouring water over it, and immediately getting to work.

He blocked out the sound of Danny's screams and whimpers of pain as best he could.

His hands were covered in blood; he'd have nightmares about that.

The distilled water was a mute pink as dunked the rag in again.

"His arm and leg are done," Tucker muttered, tears staining his cheeks.

"There's bandages in the first aid kit under the sink, do you need the antibiotics?"

Tucker nodded as he rummaged around for the med kit. "They're supposed to help speed up the healing also."

"That's good." Dash huffed, getting the rest of the venom out. The wound slowly, incredibly slowly started stitching back together. He sighed, relieved. "Sam? Can you pass Tucker the antibiotics?"

Sam reached into her pocket, hands shaking, and passed over the vials. Tucker took them, passing one to Dash before he started with the bandages on his leg.

"Danny?" Dash asked, realizing he'd gone quiet. "You still with us?"

He didn't receive a response, but Danny was still breathing so he'd take it as a win. He'd gotten all the venom out and dosed the wound with antibiotics, but he wasn't really sure what to do now. It's not like he could stitch it up if the skin and muscle was just going to regrow.

"Uh, will this just close up?" Dash looked at Sam. She didn't respond, her eyes were closed and she was running her free hand through Danny's hair.

Tucker cleared his throat. "It should. He just… ends up fine."

"But you don't know for sure?" Dash washed his hands in the sink and grabbed the gauze pads the others had brought.

"No, he usually handles it by himself. I've never seen anything this bad."

"Okay." Dash's heart dropped. Danny had worse injuries than this, and he's dealt with it all alone? How had he managed that? Dash pressed the gauze pad over the wound, catching most of the remaining blood leaking out. He secured a bunch of layers in place with medical tape.

"Okay, he should be good." Dash breathed, leaning against the counter and resting his forehead in his hands. "Sam, Tucker, are you guys comfortable with washing the blood off him and getting him into some clean clothes?"

Sam nodded, finally opening her eyes. "Yeah, yeah we can do that."

Tucker raised an eyebrow on him. "Do you have some of Danny's clothes here?"

"No, I've just got mine, but he shouldn't be in bloody clothes. You two either if you can stand it."

"Are," Sam started, taking a deep breath, "are you okay?"

Dash shook his head. "No. There's blood all over me and my kitchen and my mom's van and I'm pretty sure there's some in my mouth from when he kissed me and he might die or is dead and-"

"He's not dead," Sam muttered.

"He kissed you?" Tucker gawked.

Dash hummed. "Fake-out make-out is what he called it."

"Wow," Tucker snickered. "Welcome to the team I guess."

"He's done that with all of you?"

"How do you think he figured out he was bisexual?" Tucker laughed, a strange sight when compared to the tears still making their way down his face.

Dash chuckled. "Figures." He sighed, watching some blood drop off the counter onto the floor. "I'm going to get started cleaning this up. Don't want it to stain and have my mom ask questions."

Tucker nodded, motioning to Sam to help him pick Danny up. "Salt and cornstarch help get blood out of fabric."

"Thanks, shout if you need help." Dash turned to the supply closet as the two of them gently hauled Danny upstairs. He really hoped they had cornstarch.

   It was hot.

It was cold.

Danny was shaking.

He inhaled, smelling fennel and cedarwood. It was warm, cozy.

He blinked his eyes open, groaning at the light; his surroundings blurry as his eyes tried to focus. Deep blue walls covered in sports and boyband posters stared back at him instead of glow-in-the-dark stars.

This wasn't his room.

Panic gripped his chest as he wildly grabbed at anything nearby to help pull himself up; the blood rushed from his head making him lightheaded. Warm, strong hands gently pushed him back down into the soft covers. Worried blue eyes and freckles filled his vision.

"Hey, easy, it's okay. You've just barely started healing, don't strain yourself."

"Dash?" Danny blinked, clearing his eyes. "Where am I?"

Dash leaned over, wringing water out of a rag and into a bucket before smoothing it over Danny's forehead. The chill of it was greatly welcomed. "My house. You're running a fever. Sam and Tucker are downstairs getting food. I'll have them bring you some water." He typed something into his phone before setting it back down. "How are you feeling?"

His muscles ached to the bone; his torso burned where he'd been shot; there was a headache pounding behind his eyes; his arm felt raw and his leg throbbed; he felt like he was being torn apart at the seams. "Shitty."

Dash huffed a small laugh. "Yeah, that seems right. Do you need anything?"

Danny shook his head, immediately regretting the action. "No." He swallowed against the dryness in his throat. "Sorry to traumatize you."

Dash forced a breath out of his lungs. "Yeah, when you're feeling better you owe me an explanation."

Danny grinned. "No promises."

"Okay, now you owe me two explanations." Dash joked back.

Danny hummed, his eyes drifting closed again. "Yeah, I know. Tucker has a slideshow that he's been dying to…" He trailed off, exhaustion creeping up on him and settling deep in his bones as he fell back asleep.

 The next time he was consciously aware of anything, he heard voices talking.

"Don't worry, my mom's working a late shift. It'll be fine for at least another six hours."

"How is he?"

"It's mostly just a surface wound now, uh, I guess it just has to finish stitching itself back together? But his insides are, well, on the inside."

Danny tried to open his eyes against the exhaustion weighing them down. His throat was parched. "Dash?"

There was some shuffling and then a hand was on his shoulder. "You okay?"

He shook his head, finally managing to get his eyes open, blinking up at Dash. "Water?" He croaked.

Dash helped him sit up, placing pillows behind his back and head to support him. Danny's hands shook as he accepted the glass of water; he chugged the whole thing, relishing the way the chill of it soothed his throat. He leaned back into the pillows taking deep breaths as Dash took the glass from him again.

Tucker sat on the edge of the bed, placing a comforting hand on his knee. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt and sweatpants instead of his normal cargo pants and sweater. "How ya' doin', buddy?"

"Better," Danny breathed. "How long has it been?"

"About seven hours since the incident," Sam answered, not meeting his eyes. She was wearing a sweater and joggers, nothing close to anything she'd ever consider wearing.

"My, uh, parents. Have they…" Danny trailed off, a little distracted by the strangeness of Sam's attire.

Tucker shook his head. "They haven't called anyone. They're probably still trying to find Phantom."

Danny breathed, relieved they hadn't caused issues for his friends while he was out. "Good." He twisted his fingers into the fabric of his shirt. The material was thick and heavy. He glanced down to find a dark blue sweater in place of his t-shirt. "Okay, what's going on with all of our clothes?"

Dash coughed, red creeping onto his face. "Uh, well, you kind of drenched everyone in blood so you all had to borrow some of mine while yours are in the wash."

Danny, trying to bury the trauma of that, grinned at him. "I didn't take you for a sweater person."

Dash just shrugged.

The room fell into an awkward silence. He supposed he couldn't delay it any longer. "Alright, Tuck, you got your slideshow?"

Tucker jumped up and ran over to his bag. "You know I do. Dash, do you have a projector?"

"Yeah, one second." Dash searched through the drawers on his desk.

Sam took a long sip from the mug in her hands. She hadn't spoken much in the last couple of hours.

"You okay, Sam?" Danny asked, pulling Dash's blankets closer to him. They were cozy.

"Fine." She muttered.

Danny frowned. Her eyes were smudged with black; different from the normal precise lines she had. And it wasn't like her to not make a snarky comment by now.

Tucker sat back down next to him as Dash passed him the projector. He set it up to display on the wall opposite Dash's bed. Sam dragged the desk chair over to them.

Tucker cleared his throat and straightened an invisible tie. "If you'll please keep all questions til the end, we'll go ahead and get started with a detailed backstory of Amity Park's famous ghost hero, Danny Phantom."

"You didn't even change your name," Dash muttered, running a hand down his face. "How did I not notice?"

"There, there." Danny patted Dash's shoulder. "I try very hard not to let people find out."

"Dude, you almost kissed me at the lake and I should have- I even told Paulina that you looked familiar and didn't connect the dots."

Danny coughed, his face burning something awful. "Uh, so Tucker you were saying?"

Tucker smirked at him but clicked start on the slideshow, a picture of a younger Danny standing with a jumpsuit next to a non-working portal coming up. Tucker started rapping poorly. "So, Danny Fenton was just fourteen when his parents built a very strange machine. It was designed to view a world unseen."

Sam put a hand over his mouth. "No, you're not singing this whole presentation."

Tucker shoved her off. "Why not?! I worked really hard on this!"

Danny wrinkled his nose at him. "I'm gonna fall asleep before you finish singing, dude."

Tucker rolled his eyes. "Ugh, you guys are no fun." He clicked to the next slide. "So, basically Sam dared Danny to fix his parents' machine and he went in there and died and got-"

"He didn't die." Sam protested.

Danny huffed. "There's no sugarcoating it, Sam. I died."

Tears were spilling over her eyelids. "You're still here, you didn't die."

He leaned around Dash to glare at her. "I think I'm the one that gets to decide if I died or not. I was electrocuted and I died. I know you don't want to accept that, but it's what happened."

Sam shook her head. "No. You just got weird ghost powers. Danny, I can't- I can't have killed you okay? I can't have been the reason my best friend died."

Danny reeled back, shocked, his heart aching. "You're not- It's not your fault, Sam. I probably would have gone in that portal at some point."

Sam stood from her chair, fingers harshly tugging at her hair. "No, no you wouldn't have. You were a good kid who didn't break rules. You didn't even want us down in the lab, but- but, I was trying to- ghosts were just supposed to be spooky goth shit! They weren't supposed to get my best friend killed!" She slumped against the wall and buried her head in her hands.

Danny wished he could get up to comfort her, but moving was excruciating. "Sam, I don't blame you for what happened. You know that right?"

"Of course you don't." She sneered. "You die and it's my fault but you don't blame me. I try to have a say in everything that you do after to try and prove I'm not the bad influence who got you killed and I end up over-controlling and you still don't blame me for it. You just ask for space. You're too good, Danny, and that's what got you killed. Cause you couldn't tell a friend 'no'."

Tucker did get up; he crouched down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry for saying it the way I did. I didn't realize you were beating yourself up over this. It was a dumb joke. And, I was there too you know. I encouraged it just as much as you did."

Dash was drumming his fingers on his knees and trying to look anywhere but at Sam. Danny felt a little bad for how awkward he must feel right now.

Sam shook her head again, what remained of her make-up washing away with her tears. "But, I'm the one who made him do it. And now every time you get hurt, it's my fault 'cause you wouldn't be fighting ghosts if I'd just listened to you when you said enough was enough."

"This," Danny gestured to himself and the wound in his side, "this is not your fault. I didn't have to listen to you. Deep down I was hoping that fixing the portal would make my parents see I'm just as smart and- and valuable as Jazz is. And this? This is because I was so pissed off at those same parents for ignoring the giant fucking dinosaur putting people in danger that I failed to remember I'm what they saw as more of a threat. It is not your fault, Sam. We were all dumb kids." Danny was out of breath, lungs heaving as they weren't fully rested.

Sam wiped her tears away, wrinkling her nose and wiping them on her pants. (She'd wash them for Dash later anyway.) "But I knew better. I should have known better."

Dash huffed, now he knew how his therapist felt. "Manson, if Danny doesn't blame you, then you need to forgive yourself. Or else you're just going to drown yourself and everyone around you in a wave of guilt and depression that won't do anyone any good. I don't think any of you need more of that."

Sam blinked at him. "Who taught you that, your therapist?"

"Yeah, so you should listen to professional advice."

"Dash is right," Danny added. "You can't keep beating yourself up over this. I'm the idiot who didn't look where he was putting his hand in a machine that was plugged in."

"Okay," Sam scrubbed at her eyes again, taking deep calming breaths. "Okay. God, I'm sorry for freaking out. That's such loser behavior, huh?"

Tucker squeezed her in a warm hug. "No need to apologize for expressing your feelings. I'll change the slide show. But only if you let me keep my theme song."

Sam snorted. "Deal. Speaking of your dumb slideshow, we'd better get through it before Dash dies of curiosity." Tucker grinned, helped Sam stand up, and then practically sprinted for the projector remote.

"You sure you're okay?" Danny asked.

Sam nodded. "For now. I should probably ask Dash for his therapist's number though."

"Okay, everyone ready? Let's start from the top, making edits as we go." Tucker clicked to the next slide.

They went over everything; from the portal accident to Danny learning how to use his powers to him beating the ghost king to Vlad causing issues with the Fright Knight to the Ancients appearing to parallel timelines. Danny had to give Tucker credit, it was a very thorough slideshow.

"So," Dash drawled as Tucker opened the floor for questions, "that's why you're so cold all the time? Cause you have fancy ice powers?"

"I wouldn't call them fancy, considering I could freeze from the inside out if I'm not careful, but yes." Danny relaxed back into the pillows, finding it hard to stay sitting by himself. Technically, he was still trying to shake a fever. He was slowly growing tired again even though he'd only been awake for half an hour.

"And, you're you the whole time? You're not like possessed by a ghost?"

"Yeah, it's me." Danny didn't really like admitting that part out loud a second time. Not when Dash was starting to connect a lot of dots.

"So, that time outside therapy, and in my backyard, and the la-"

"Yup!" Danny rushed, face starting to burn as he remembered the lake. "Yup, all me."

"Okay," Dash eyed him quizzically. "Why?"

Tucker started laughing. "You said thank you to him. It doesn't take much to get Danny to swoon-" He was cut off as Danny threw a pillow at his face.

"Shut up!" He hissed.

Sam joined in the teasing. "The whole reason he sat with you at lunch was cause you were nice and bandaged his booboo."

"Really?" Dash raised an eyebrow at him. "That's what made you want to be friends with me?"

Danny sunk into the pillows and pulled the blanket over his face. "I can't hear you over the sound of me trying to rest and recover here!"

"Very mature," Tucker snickered.

Sam poked his shoulder through the blanket. "Do you need help getting home Mr. Rest and Recovery?"

Danny frowned, poking his head back out. The thought of going home while he was healing wasn't the most appealing. He was still angry with his parents for putting the entire downtown in danger; he wasn't sure he could play civil with them in this state. Plus, they probably still wanted to ground him for what they thought was him ignoring a ghost attack to make out with a boy.

And he was still so very tired.

Dash cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact. "You can always stay here if you're not feeling up to moving. My mom usually goes straight to bed after a long shift. She wouldn't know you're here so she wouldn't be able to tell your parents."

Danny glanced between his friends, one option clearly more tempting than the other. He spoke tentatively. "If you're sure that's okay, then yeah, I'd like to stay. I just, don't really want to deal with my parents right now." Despite his best efforts to keep it at bay, he yawned.

"Alright then," Tucker stood and stretched. "Sam and I are headed out. Do either of you need anything from us?"

Danny shook his head.

Dash opened the door for them. "Uh, yeah, could you guys take the bloody rags and stuff to the dump?" He waved at Danny to signal that he'd be right back.

"See ya later, nerd." Sam smiled as she left.

Danny waved, happy that she was feeling better. He snuggled back down into Dash's bed, wincing as the muscles in his torso pulled at the wound. This thing was taking forever to heal.

He stared at Dash's wall as he drifted off, getting lost in the blur of posters and awards. He'd have to ask about those when he woke up.

 He woke to Dash gently shaking him. "Danny? Danny, wake up. I gotta check your bandages."

Danny groaned, forcefully rubbing the sleep from his eyes, head still groggy. "What time is it?"

"Just after two a.m. My mom just went to sleep." He set the first aid kit down on his bedside table. "Is it okay to lift your shirt?"

Danny yawned, "'is fine." He would have made a joke about the shirt not really being his, but he didn't have the energy to flirt with disaster right now. He fought to stay conscious as Dash removed the old bandage, put new medicine on the wound, and placed a new bandage on. "You're really good at this. You ever think about being a nurse?" He mumbled.

Dash snorted. "Do you see the hours my mom has to work? No thank you." He tugged Danny's shirt back down. "How are you feeling?"

Danny smirked lazily at him. "Better now that Nurse Baxter has taken care of me."

Dash's nose wrinkled. "Ew, that's what they call my mom." He reached around the medkit to grab a bowl and offered it to Danny. "I brought you some oatmeal, in case you were hungry."

Danny sat up far too quickly, head spinning. "Yes, please. I haven't eaten anything all day. I'm surprised Sam didn't kill me over it."

"Sam watches what you eat?" Dash tidied the med kit up and slipped it in under his bed before sitting next to Danny.

Danny averted his gaze sheepishly. "Uh, when I first got my ghost powers, I was so overwhelmed and worried about ghosts attacking at any second that I kind of didn't eat a lot. It lead to some really bad issues and Sam has been on my ass about eating properly since."

Dash nodded, twiddling his thumbs. "She's a good friend."

"Yeah, she is." Danny smiled.

Dash let him eat in silence for a few minutes before speaking again. "Can I ask you a few questions."

"Shoot." Danny was the only one who giggled at his pun.

Dash hesitated, biting his lip in thought. "What did you do before me? When you got injured?"

Danny shrugged. "Most of the time I would just take a nap and wake up mostly healed with a few sore muscles. If it required stitches, Jazz usually did it for me. The only reason I'm not healing as well is the Fenton Venom."

"And your healing works even when you're Fenton?"

"Yeah, it does." Danny chuckled under his breath. "Honestly? I thought you'd have found me out when Pookie bit me. That bite was already healing when you pulled out your fancy nurse stuff."

"That's why you didn't want me treating it." Dash hummed. "Okay, next one. Why were you hanging out with me as Phantom? Like actually?"

Danny took his time chewing his last bite and setting the bowl down before answering. "Well, you saving my ass that one time really meant a lot to me. Sam's not wrong when she said that was my main reason for seeking you out as Fenton. And, then I guess, I just kept running into you and I liked being around you, so I just stayed. Until I realized I was about to fuck things up and then I had to get out of there."

"Like when you almost kissed me?" Dash was prying, he knew. But Danny guessed he was owed an explanation.

"You were kind of pretty and I was a little distracted." Danny didn't dare let those words linger in the air. "Sorry, I just kind of left you freezing in your car. I panicked."

Dash shrugged, his face bright red. "It's okay. At least you got me to my car. You were so mad I thought you'd just leave me in the lake."

"It was freezing! You were going to get hypothermia! Seriously, who jumps in the lake after a ghost?"

Dash didn't hesitate. "You would have."

Danny jokingly rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah, but I'm also a ghost. It's not as dangerous for me." He leaned back and pulled the covers back up to his shoulders. He was still tired, but at least his fever seemed to be completely gone.

"How," Dash stopped, taking a breath and twiddling his thumbs, "how come you haven't told your parents? Isn't it more dangerous to not tell them? Since they're trying to kill you and everything?"

"You mean 'rip me apart molecule by molecule'?" Danny frowned, picking at threads in the blankets. "I don't know. I tried once, about a month after the accident. But they were distracted with a new invention and wouldn't listen and Jazz antagonized them over their tendency to be a little neglectful. After that they just kept talking about wanting to dissect ghosts to see what secrets they held. And I- I was scared. How can I prove their love of their son exceeds their love of ghost hunting? Today sure wasn't a great example. I'm more scared than I ever was before."

"God, I'm sorry. No wonder you never want to go home."

Danny shook his head. "It's not always like that. I love my parents, even if I'm upset with them right now. When we graduated, they took me out to my favorite restaurant and my mom had baked a whole cake that said 'congratulations Danny' on it. And they were so happy and proud of me. And on my birthday they planned a whole zoom call with Jazz and they all told me their favorite memories with me and gave me this photo album they had handcrafted full of favorite memories. They are thoughtful and they do care about me. It's just… I don't think they were ready for kids when they had us. At least, they weren't ready for two. It takes too much time away from their careers."

Dash reached forward, winding his fingers around Danny's in a show of comfort. "Cheers to complicated parents, right?"

Danny squeezed his hand. "Yeah, cheers to both of us having parents who tried to kill us."

"At least yours didn't know it was their son." Dash snorted.

Danny absentmindedly rubbed the back of Dash's hand with his thumb. "Can I ask something kind of shitty?"

"Go for it."

"Is your dad the reason you bullied me? I know you said he was the reason you stopped. I guess I'm just curious why you started."

Dash forced all the air from his lungs. He took a slow breath in. "Kind of. It was mostly my fault. He had said that weaker people deserved what came to them. And well, no offense, but you were kind of a twig back then and the other popular kids would make these mean jokes and I thought 'hey, this is what he's talking about. If you wanna stay on this end of it, you'd better participate'. So, I just started picking on you and hoped that would secure my spot with them. And it got worse after we kicked Valerie out. Sorry. I was just trying to make sure they didn't notice I was the weakest one among them."

Danny reached over and poked Dash's arm. "Weak, huh?"

Dash blinked, face turning red. "Uh, I meant, like emotionally."

Danny squeezed his hand. "Well, I'm glad you stopped. And I'm glad you and the others are friends now. You're all really fun to be around. And to be honest, I'd probably be dead without you today. Thanks for that."

Dash shrugged, gaze fixed firmly on the far wall as his ears felt like burning off. "You've saved my ass a lot. Even when I was being shitty to you. It's only fair I repay you."

"But you didn't have to. Especially when I kind of traumatized you by using you as a bandage and a distraction for my parents." Danny's eyes slipped closed again. He was getting tired of being so tired.

"Yeah, maybe next time we can leave the trauma out of it?"

Danny hummed, drifting off to sleep, Dash's hand still twined with his.

"Next time sounds nice."

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