I Just Finished “of All The Stories In The Stars Ours Has Yet To Be Told” And—I Am In LOVE. Your

I'm so obsessed with canon Mr. Lancer. He's a gamer. He dresses in drag. He's fat with lots of body hair. He has a vanity plate of his own last name. He was Casper High's first male cheerleader. He's committed tax fraud

I love drawing Danny with the stars

God, if only I could stop thinking about queers kissing long enough to write about queers kissing I'd be so productive

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

First Chapter Up!

Basically, I was inspired by @tatumsdrawing mechanic au and I started this project mainly cause I found a severe lack of fics with stuff I wanted to read and decided to contribute.

Of All The Stories In The Stars, Ours Has Yet To Be Told (7031 words) by StarsWhisper Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Danny Phantom Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dash Baxter/Danny Fenton Characters: Danny Fenton, Dash Baxter, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, Paulina Sanchez, Kwan (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, learning how to live, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Second Chances, lots of classical literature references, lots of astrology references, more tags coming when i think of them 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.

~

“Do you blame yourself?”

Dash eyed his therapist for a moment before dropping his gaze to the floor. She was sitting comfortably on her big fluffy chair, legs crossed and clipboard in hand; Dash wondered how she was able to be at such ease all the time while the people she talked with were always so visibly on edge. The couch he sat on always felt too wide and isolating for just one person. It didn’t have enough stuffing and the wood always dug into his skin and made his bones sore.

“What?”

“Well, it is quite common for children in these situations to assume the blame for-”

“I’m not a child. I’m almost nineteen.”

She hummed, scribbling something in her notebook. Dash hated when she did that. He knew it was helpful, but it made him feel small. He didn’t like feeling small. She stared at him, waiting for him to continue the conversation. He hated when she did that too.

Dash snorted. “Blame myself for what? My dad trying to kill me? The disappointment in my mom’s eyes when she looks at me? That half the school hates me because of how I’ve treated them? You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“The divorce,” she answered, uncrossing and recrossing her legs, “but it sounds like there are other things on your mind. Would you like to talk about those?”

“No.” Dash sighed, shifting and failing once again to get comfortable. “I just… I feel so…” Angry? Sad? Guilty? Relieved? Scared? “...ashamed.”

“And why do you feel that way?”

“I don’t know.”

She waited patiently in silence. He shrunk in on himself, head tucking into his shoulders like a turtle.

“I just should have known better.”

“What should you have known?”

Dash huffed. “I don’t know, everything! That I was treating my mom like garbage; that I was acting just like my father even though I hated him; and that if I stayed on that path I would end up alone and angry and awful just like him. I just should have known better…” He let his words trail off, threading his fingers together and squeezing, hoping his therapist wouldn’t notice them shake.

“Dash, no one can be expected to know everything right away, or else every baby born would be Albert Einstein. We have to give ourselves the grace to learn. Shame is a powerful tool; it tells us what we feel the need to improve on. If we feel shame over our actions, we then know where to start to correct our course.”

Dash sighed and leaned back into the couch. “Then I have a lot to learn.”

“What have you learned so far?”

“That I suck.”

“Let’s try again with more constructive language. What have you learned so far?”

He took a deep breath, trying to keep the tears at bay. It was okay to cry, he just didn’t want to. “I need to start actively making decisions in my life to change. That I can’t keep going the way I’ve been going and expect to end up happy.”

“What does change look like to you?”

“I don’t know.”

She quirked her eyebrow, remaining silent.

“I actually don’t know. I mean, it’s not like I can convince my friends to stop bullying people.”

“You stopped, right?”

“Well, yeah. I did, but every time I tried to tell them why, they just laughed at me. How am I supposed to get them to change?”

“Let’s try focusing on the things that you can control. You may not be able to control other people, but you can control your environment. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, but that’s really hard to do. I mean, a quarterback with no friends during his senior year isn’t exactly a fun time.”

“I understand. Maybe you could try taking it in baby steps. For your homework today, I’d like you to write out at least a five-step plan for the change you want to see in your life.”

Dash took a deep breath, resetting his lungs. “Okay.”

“Is there anything else, you’d like to talk about, we’re almost out of time.”

“No,” then, “thank you.”

“Of course, it’s what you pay me for.”

Dash stepped outside, letting the door to the building slam shut behind him. No one ever talked about just how physically exhausting therapy could be. He wanted nothing more than to curl up with Pookie on his comfortable couch with some snacks and mindless T.V. But, he’d promised his mom he’d pick up groceries on his way back. He turned down the main road and began his long trek to the store.

“Shame is a powerful tool,” He grumbled under his breath. “It sucks.” He kicked a rock down the road. Maybe step one of his plan would be to finally convince himself to go back to school tomorrow. He kicked the rock again. Or maybe he could get away with graduating from home.

“Duck!”

Dash threw himself to the ground; growing up in Amity Park you learn not to hesitate. If someone says duck, you duck, no questions asked. A bird ghost smashed into the brick wall behind him; ghost feathers showering around him. He scrambled over to the alleyway, ducking behind the trashcans. Once he was safe, he peeked his head out to see the bird ghost stand up and shake its head. Phantom rushed past him, landing a kick straight to its chest.

He pulled his ghost-catching thermos out of apparently thin air and pointed it at the ghost. It screeched at him as it got caught in the blue whirlwind and clawed at the edges of the device; ultimately losing as Phantom capped it. He turned toward Dash. “Sorry, are you o-”

A bright, sickly green light shot through the air, clipping Phantom’s arm, glowing ectoplasm splattered across the ground. He screamed and dropped to the ground, cradling the injury with his other hand.

Dash leaned around the corner, straining to see what could have happened. The Fentons were standing there, Mr. Fenton holding a gun pointed right at Phantom.

“Ha-ha! Did you see that, Maddie! I got him on the first try!”

“Great job, honey. But go easy on the Fenton Venom; we want him alive or we’ll be limited in the experiments we can do.”

Dash frantically waved in Phantom’s direction; he was struggling to pull himself off the floor and was flickering like he was trying to disappear but couldn’t. They made eye contact- Phantom’s wide and panicked- and Dash pointed to the alley behind him, hoping against everything that the hero would understand what he meant. Then he full sprinted out of the alley and collided with Mrs. Fenton, knocking her into her husband and successfully grabbing their attention.

“Mrs. Fenton!” He screamed once they had all regained their balance. “Thank god you’re here. I saw a ghost!”

“You saw a ghost!” Mr. Fenton whipped around, gun in hand completely forgotten.

“It was huge! Like the size of a car! And it had like these, these, giant fangs and I couldn’t-”

“Dash, calm down.” Mrs. Fenton chirped. “Where did you see this ghost?”

Danny waited until he knew for sure his parents were distracted by Dash before making a B-line for the alley, trying not to let any of his blood fall onto the ground and give him away. He tucked himself behind the trashcan, desperate to keep all of him out of sight. The smell of burning flesh permeated the air. He moved his hand to check on his injury.

There was a fairly decent-sized chunk taken out of his arm and the area around it was bubbling and falling away, dissolving before it could actually fall off. It burned like hell. His hand was tingling from where he’d touched the injury.

“Figures they’d make a poison at some point,” He hissed, blinking his eyes to keep the tears at bay, he needed to be able to see right now. He tried turning invisible again, but this time he didn’t even flicker. “Fuck, what is this?”

“Oh, man that looks bad.”

Danny whipped his head around to see Dash staring at him. Panic swelled in his chest.

“Don’t worry, they’re gone, chasing a ghost that’s not even there.”

Danny sighed, resting his head on the building behind him. “Thank you.” When Dash didn’t immediately leave he added, “I’ll be okay in a moment, when I can get my powers back.” He left the ‘please go away’ to be implied.

“Right,” Dash nodded, swinging his backpack around and digging through it. “You wouldn’t happen to have like a ghost doctor or something would you?”

“No,” Danny bit back the scream of pain crawling up his throat. God, it felt like he was being torn apart molecule by molecule. It didn’t matter how many times he did this torture thing, it never got any easier to handle the pain. “Ow!”

“Right, okay,” Dash pulled a first aid kit out of his bag and then tossed the bag to the side of the alley, before dropping to his knees next to him. “Okay, I’ve got this.”

Danny leaned away from him. “What have you got?”

“Don’t worry, my mom’s a nurse and she’s taught me a lot of first aid. We need to wash that poison off before it does some real damage.” Dash looked around for a container of some kind and had to settle with one of the trash can lids. He put it next to Danny and started rummaging through his kit.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing? What if you make it worse?”

Dash inhaled sharply, like he was practicing extreme amounts of patience. “Look, you’ve saved my ass, like a lot, now let me save yours. Plus, it’s not like you have a lot of options right now, right?”

Danny wanted to argue, but Dash was right. Short of crawling across town to either Sam or Tucker’s house without his parents catching him or his arm falling off, he didn’t have any other options. He was still hesitant about it; at least he was until the poison hit a major nerve and his entire arm blazed with pain. “Shit!” He yelped, a few tears trickling down his cheeks. “Okay, fine. But fuck up my arm and I’m haunting you for eternity.”

“Deal.” Dash uncapped a bottle of distilled water and gently grabbed Danny’s arm, moving it over the lid and rotating it so the poison wouldn’t run over more of his skin. “Okay, this is probably going to sting. Just try not to move.” He tipped the bottle.

The water hit his skin and it did in fact sting. Danny inhaled sharply through gritted teeth and yanked his arm away. The water splashed off his arm and hit his leg, burning less than the direct poison, but still burning. “Shit!”

“I said sit still!” Dash whisper-yelled, quickly rinsing off his leg. “Sorry,” Dash frowned, “I’m sorry. Just, please try not to move. We don’t know what this stuff is and we definitely don’t want it getting anywhere else.”

Danny dug his nails into his palm, a few more tears falling from his eyes. He took deep breaths, trying to ignore the sting of the water. He flinched when the water hit the deepest part of his wound. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m sorry, I yelled. I didn’t mean to.” Dash threw the empty bottle of water away and grabbed a second one. “Hang in there, I need to make sure I got all of it out before we bandage it. Did it get anywhere else?”

Danny held his hand out to him. Dash grabbed his hand as gently as possible. His hand got off easier, looking more like road rash than poison. It didn’t sting as much when he poured the water over it. “Sorry.”Dash apologized anyway.

Danny chuckled.

“What’s so funny.”

“Nothing, I just don’t think I’ve ever heard you apologize this much. Are you sure I haven’t died again?”

Dash’s face turned red with shame. He capped the water bottle and turned to grab the antibiotic ointment. Figures Phantom would know about his past, he’s been around a long time and he was pretty sure ghosts saw things that others might not.“Thanks for noticing. My therapist says I’ve been making exceptional progress lately.”

Phantom burst out laughing, tears flowing freely now. His shoulders shook with the strength of his laughter, causing his hair to fall into his face. Is laugh was big and boisterous and deep. A soft pink glow illuminated his cheeks. He placed his free hand on his forehead, desperately trying to reign it in. His eyes were scrunched shut and his lashes were wet with tears.

It was ethereal.

Dash shook his head; focus!

“Sorry,” Phantom finally choked out, still gasping on the remnants of laughter, “sorry. I’m not laughing at you. Therapy is so cool. I promise I’m not laughing at that. It’s just-” another giggle- “I’m asking you about your vocabulary while I bleed out in an alleyway. What a crazy Tuesday, huh?”

“I’m just glad you’re not crying anymore.” Dash hyper-focused on putting the antibiotic ointment on the burns on Phantom’s hand and wrapping it with gauze.

“I wasn’t crying.”

“It’s okay to cry.”

“I know it’s okay, I just wasn’t.”

“Okay.” Dash chuckled, moving over to bandage his arm.

“Really, I wasn’t.”

“I bet this is handy, huh?” Dash changed the subject, pointing to his arm where the flesh was slowly, but surely stitching itself back together.

“What is?” Phantom turned to look where he was pointing.

“Your ghost healing stuff. Now that the poison is gone it looks like you’re doing fine.”

“Oh, yeah. I guess it is.”

Dash finished securing the bandages in place. “Not that I don’t- that everyone doesn’t appreciate it, but why do you do it? The hero stuff I mean. Surely a ghost would have better things to do in the afterlife?”

Phantom gingerly moved his arm around, testing its movement. He grinned at Dash. “Well, yeah, but who else is going to do it?”

“The Fentons and the Guys in White don’t seem too keen on retiring anytime soon.”

Phantom frowned, his brows furrowing. “Uh, yeah, and while they can be helpful, they’re not always the most reliable or efficient ghost hunters. Plus, they don’t know half the things I know about ghosts.”

“Right, that makes sense, I guess.” Dash began picking up the first aid stuff. “Has anyone ever said thank you?”

Phantom startled, looking up at him with wide eyes. “Um, no. Surprisingly, you’d be the first.”

A shout echoed in the distance. “Let’s circle back around, Jack. Maybe we missed an alleyway.” It was Mrs. Fenton and she was close by.

“If you can, you’d better,” Dash said to Phantom, who- when he turned around- was already gone, “go.”

He hurried to collect the pieces of his first aid kit and packed it up. His heart was beating so fast. Who would have thought he’d be the one to help his- the town’s hero out? And that he was really pretty when he laughed?

Dash reached for his backpack and stuffed everything in, before dumping the mixture of water and viscera into the trashcan and fixing the lid back in place. He sprinted out of the alley and down the road before the Fentons could find him and ask what he was still doing there.

He stopped to catch his breath and calm his racing heart. He had (in a less than technical sense) held Phantom’s hand today. Paulina was going to be so jealous. That was if she even wanted to talk to him. He didn’t really know what his friends would think about him now.

He sighed, that was a tomorrow problem. Right now his problem was getting to the store before they closed. And getting new supplies for his first aid kit.

Dash walked toward his old table as slowly as he could. Step one of his plan was just to see how everyone reacted. He’d go wherever he needed to from there, whether that be going friendless for the last month of high school or explaining to everyone why he wanted to stop being mean to people and hoping they’d agree.

Dash’s heart fell when he saw his usual spot next to Kwan was taken. In fact, the whole table was full. Paulina and Star were laughing at something one of the football players had said. Kwan was the first one to notice him.

“Oh, Hi, Dash!” He waved.

Dash waved back. “Uh, hi, Kwan.” Dash looked between them and instantly knew he had lost the battle.

Star kicked Kwan under the table. “Uh-hem.”

Kwan retracted his hand.

Paulina wouldn’t look at him. She looked sad, torn.

“Sorry, Dash,” Star murmured, “but one of the club rules is you have to be in a certain tax bracket to sit at the table.”

“My mom’s not poor.” Dash weakly defended.

“It’s the rules,” Star fiddled with her fork, “you know that.”

Dash inhaled. “Alright, whatever.”

“Dash, just so you know,” Kwan said before Dash could leave, “it’s not because you’re gay.”

“Thanks, Kwan.”

“We’re not homophobic.”

“Thanks, Kwan.”

“It is just because you’re poor.”

“Thanks, Kwan.”

“We’ll need your hall pass punch card back,” Paulina spoke softly, still not meeting his eyes.

“Fine, I’ll bring it by after school. I really thought you guys were better than this by now.” He turned and left. He glanced around the cafeteria and then headed for the door outside. Not a lot of people used the ones out there anymore because of all the ghost attacks. He’d be able to do some homework at least.

Dash sighed. A part of him still really wanted to tell Paulina about yesterday. And he’d had plans with Kwan to go see the new Nightmerica movie later this month that he’d been really excited for. Guess that was out of the question now.

As predicted, there were only a few freshmen at one of the tables. Dash sat at the one furthest from them. This was alright; a change of environment, just like his therapist had said, just on an expedited schedule. He sighed and pulled out his book for English class. Might as well get started on that homework.

Danny watched as Dash sat down. He hesitated all of about five seconds before he started walking over. A tug on his shirt stopped him.

“You’re joking, right?” Sam snorted, letting go of his shirt.

“What?” Danny shrugged, his best convincing smile plastered on his face. “Look at how sad he is.”

“He looks pathetic.” Tucker chided.

“And it’s what he deserves, to be sad and lonely.” Valerie glared in Dash’s direction.

“Oh come on, guys! He’s not that bad. When’s the last time he even bothered us?”

“So, what he patches you up and bats his big jock eyelashes at you one time and you’re stuck to him like a freshman with a crush?”Tuckertaunted.

“What!? It’s not like that! He’s just trying really hard to change and I think we should give him a chance.”

“Yeah, 'cause he totally gave all of us a chance.” Valerie sneered.

“Look, let’s just go talk to him and if he’s an ass about it, we can leave and you can all say, I told you so.”

“And if he’s not an ass we can invite him over for a sleepover and braid each other’s hair?” Sam giggled, excitedly flapping her hands.

“Yeah! Hey!” Danny frowned. “Come on, Sam. Can’t you be nice for once in your life?” Danny rolled his eyes and walked over to Dash’s table, not caring if the others followed him or not. They did, of course.

He sat his tray down, confidently he hoped. Dash startled, looking up from his book.

“Mind if we sit here?”

Dash hesitated, blinking. He rubbed his eyes, looked around the group like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and blinked again. “Uh, sure, I guess.”

Danny threw a grin behind him at Sam and Valerie and sat down in front of Dash. The others sighed and sat down on his side of the table. Dash was staring.

After a moment, Danny casually- oh so casually- pointed at the book in Dash’s hands. “That for Lancer’s advanced class?”

“Uh, yeah; the concurrent enrollment one. I didn’t really want to deal with it in college.” Dash closed the book and dropped it on the bench next to him, cheeks turning a little pink. He fumbled with his hands like he didn’t know what to do with them now.

“Hey, me too. I’m in the morning section though.” Danny punctured the side of his milk carton with a straw, wincing at the pressure it put on his arm. The wound wasn’t a giant hole anymore, but it still had a little more internal healing to do before his nerves would be back to normal. “Don’t tell Lancer this, but I didn’t really like The Scarlet Letter .”

“Wait, you didn’t?” Sam scolded, leaning around Tucker to make sure Danny visibly saw her disappointment. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Danny shrugged, glancing at Dash who was still staring at him like he’d grown a second head. “I just didn’t like the vibes.”

“I figured if anyone would understand the vibes of having a giant painted letter on their chest, it would be you,” Valerie smirked at him, picking distastefully at her mashed potatoes.

“It’s probably cause he didn’t finish it.” Tucker, oh-so-helpfully interjected as he tapped away at his PDA.

“You didn’t even finish it!?” Sam huffed, flinging her fork down, failing to startle Dash out of whatever staring contest he was having with Danny’s nose.

“No, I got bored.” Danny gazed back at Dash. Had he even blinked? “What did you think Dash?”

Dash didn’t react to the sound of his name. He was completely zoned out, a confused and panicked expression stuck on his face. His nose was scrunched up in thought.

“Dash?”

Dash finally blinked, jerking upright and hitting his hands on the table. He flinched, blood rushing to his face. “Uh, what?”

Sam rolled her eyes.

Danny chuckled. “ The Scarlet Letter , what do you think about it?”

“Oh,” Dash dropped eye contact, “I just barely started it.” He shoved some food in his mouth, remembering that it was there.

“Dude,” Danny laughed, “the test is in like two days.”

“Uh, dude , the test is tomorrow.” Tucker corrected, turning his PDA to show Danny the schedule.

“Shit, it’s tomorrow?” Valerie groaned. “I’ve got to finish those last two chapters fast.”

“You’ll tell me how it ends, right?” Danny batted his eyelashes at her.

“As if, Fenton. Do your own homework.” Valerie playfully shoved his shoulder.

“Ow!”

“Oops, sorry. I forgot.” She shoved his side instead.

“I’m sorry.” Dash blurted. His eyes were fixed intensely on the table this time and Danny thought he saw him shaking just the tiniest bit. “I’m really sorry that I bullied you guys for so long. I was told that I was better than certain people and I had a lot of anger from… everything happening at home and I never stopped to think about what I was doing and that’s not really an excuse, but you guys didn’t deserve that and I’m really sorry.” He took a deep breath, relaxing slightly now that he had gotten everything out.

Danny smiled at him. “Thank you, Dash. I appreciate that.”

Tucker couldn’t help the grin that crossed his face. He had to admit, an apology certainly felt nice. “Yeah, man. That was surprisingly mature.”

“I guess taking a few weeks off has really changed you, huh?” Sam sneered. Danny kicked her under the table. “It is nice to hear you say it though.”

Everyone turned to Valerie who was staring off to the side. Dash held his breath. She turned to him, her gaze softening.

“I suppose it’s been long enough and considering you just got a taste of your own medicine, I’m willing to give you another chance. Just make sure you don’t squander it, yeah?”

Dash released his breath, eternally grateful for Valerie’s good nature. “Thank you, guys. And again, I’m really sorry.”

“Keep saying it and I’m going to vomit.” Sam teased.

A silence fell over their table, everyone trying to release tension by eating their food. Danny wasn’t really sure what he should bring up after something like that and there wasn’t really anything he knew about Dash that Danny Fenton could ask him about. He wracked his brain, hoping to pull something out of thin air.

“So,” Tucker beat him to it, “Danny’s bisexual.”

“Tucker!” Everyone but Dash- who reeled back like he’d just been called a slur- yelled at him.

“What?! I just wanted him to know we’re not homophobic.”

“So, you just decide to out Danny?” Valerie scolded.

“Not cool dude.” Sam punched him in the arm.

“Ow! Sorry, you know how I am with uncomfortable silence.”

Dash was staring at him again.

“Tucker,” Danny sighed, “I am amazed you are capable of keeping any secret.”

“Are you really?” Dash whispered like he wasn’t sure he was allowed to ask such things out loud.

“Uh, yeah, I am.” Danny drew back, hunching in on himself. “Does that bother you?”

“No. Why would it bother me ?”

Danny just shrugged.

Dash cleared his throat. “Have you, uh, have you told your parents yet?”

Danny sighed, making Dash tense like he’d overstepped. “Yeah, I have.”

Dash glanced at him, making eye contact with him for the first time in a moment. “Can I ask how they reacted?”

Danny frowned. “Well, they didn’t try to kill me or beat me up if that’s what you’re asking. But, they didn’t leap for joy either. They kind of just-”

“That’s nice, Danny,” Tucker interrupted, clearly mocking his mother, “but have you seen the Fenton blaster anywhere? I swear I just had it.”

“Hey, that’s great, Danny! Now you can pick two of your chores to do today!” Sam bellowed, doing a really good impression of how his dad laughed.

“Oh.” Dash glanced down at his half-eaten lunch.

“Yeah, not the best reaction, but better than what you got, I guess.” Danny gave him a small, pitying smile.

“Basically everybody knows what happened then?” Dash picked at the table, getting a few slivers in the process.

“Yup, pretty much.” Sam drawled.

“You know how news travels through the A-listers and their parents.” Valerie scoffed. “Everyone had pretty much known what had gone down and why by Monday.”

“Awesome.” Dash sighed.

The lunch bell rang, saving everyone from the depressing turn the conversation had taken. Tucker quickly devoured the last few bites of his burger as everyone but Dash, who was taking his time to pack up his stuff, stood and headed for the door.

“I’m gonna invite him to study with us,” Danny stated.

“He’s good with History, so I’m okay with it,” Valerie shouldered the door open and sped walked down the hall. She had a class at the complete opposite end of the building so she had no time to waste.

“I still think you’re making a mistake Danny. Not a lot of people have what it takes to change.” Sam chided, throwing her lunch wrappers into the recycling bin.

“Come on, Sam.” Danny sighed. “When are you going to start trusting my decisions?”

“I trust you. It’s him I don’t trust.”

“Okay, then trust me when I say I trust him. He apologized. Isn’t that proof of something at least?”

Sam rolled her eyes. “Fine, but I’ll keep my I-told-you-so ready.”

“Good enough. Tucker?”

“I am currently making a betting chart, I’ll let you know what I decide based on how the bets are going.” He didn’t even bother to look up from his PDA.

“Okay, I’ll catch up to you guys.” Danny waved and waited for Dash while the other two walked inside.

Dash took longer than necessary to pack his bag. He needed a moment to decompress. Lunch had been a lot of big emotions all at once and he really just wanted a nap. He kept his book out, maybe he’d be able to get through some of it during his next class.

Dash watched as Danny leaned against the door, flinching when his shoulder hit it wrong. He rubbed his arm, wincing and taking a step away from it.

“Did you hurt your shoulder or something?” Dash asked as he opened the door, waiting for Danny to slip inside first.

“Oh, uh, I, um, sprained it while helping my parents in their lab. No big deal.” Danny trailed after him like Dash had hoped he wouldn’t. He didn’t know how much more awkward conversation he could take right now.

“Hey, I wanted to ask you if you’d like to join our study group after school today?” Danny somehow kept perfect pace with him, not even once bumping into anyone. It was like he didn’t exist in the same place as the crowd. Meanwhile, Dash kept bumping shoulders with people walking entirely too slow.

“I haven’t even really started the book.” They arrived at Dash’s locker. He opened it, hoping it would save him from this.

Danny leaned on his good shoulder against the locker next to his, clearly having no intention of leaving until he got his answer. “And I haven’t even finished it. Besides, we study for all our classes and Valerie says you’re really good at History. Plus, we can always just listen to the others discuss it and hope that’s enough to get us at least a C+.”

“Is that how you pass all your classes? Cheating off your friends?” He didn’t really know how to talk to Danny now that their dynamic had changed so rapidly. He was still reeling from the fact that Danny chose to sit next to him at lunch and talk casually about an assignment like nothing had ever happened between them.

Danny gasped. “How dare you, it’s not cheating. It’s studying. I’ll have you know I’m not a cheater.”

His eyes were so blue, like they had an internal light glowing behind them. And he had gotten taller over the years, much taller. He was at the very least as tall as Dash if not a few inches taller. He looked a lot less like the twig from freshman year and more like someone who could dominate professional basketball. Well, if professional basketball players dressed like an angsty theater kid. His hair had grown longer in the back and he’d dyed the underside white, creating a (fashionable) mullet situation. He’d started wearing black t-shirts and red flannels; chains dangled from the side of his jeans; he’d pierced his ears and Dash could have sworn he’d seen him wearing fingerless gloves on a few occasions. The only part of his outfit that was the same, were the red sneakers he wore.

“So?”

Dash blinked. That was the third time today he’d been caught staring. Come on, Baxter, focus! “So?”

“So, are you coming?”

“Why are you suddenly so keen to hang out with me? Usually, people tend to avoid the guy that was a piece of shit to them.” He reached for his math book, shoving it in his bag.

A lazy grin crawled its way onto Danny’s face. “Eh, you’re just not as big and scary as you think you are.” He fucking winked at him. Jesus Christ. “Besides, I may not have thrown you in a locker or chased you down the hallway or hung you from a flag pole, but I have played my fair share of nasty pranks on you in the past. And you’ve just apologized so we’re on even ground here.”

“Wait, what pranks?”

Danny spoke over him, “So are you coming or what?”

Dash gazed heavily into his locker. Danny was staring and it made him nervous. He weighed his options; he could either go home and take a much needed nap, tiptoe around his mother at dinner, and then hide in his room all night, or he could go study and maybe catch up on all the assignments he’d missed and had put off doing. “What subject are you good at?”

“Physics.”

“You’re good at physics but not math?”

“I choose not to question it.”

Dash made sure to sigh as dramatically as possible. “Fine, I’ll come.”

“Awesome!” Danny cheered, peeling himself away from the locker and walking backward to his class. “See you after school!” He turned and booked it down the hallway, almost disappearing into the crowd.

Dash sighed again, this time for his own benefit. He closed his locker and leaned his forehead against it. So much for his nap. At least he could tell his therapist he’d started making changes before he’d even finished writing out his five steps. She’d be proud.

Much later that night, Dash pushed open his front door, dropped his bag on the floor, and braced for impact. Pookie came running around the corner, yapping away, and slammed into his ankles. Dash knelt down, vigorously petting his dog.

“Hey, boy! Who’s a good boy? Who’s a sweet little guy? You are! You are!”

Pookie barked lovingly at him, shaking every molecule in his body from sheer excitement. He licked at his hands.

“Gross, Pookie. You’re gonna get a stomach ache from school germs.”

“Dash? You home, sweetie?” His mom called from the kitchen.

He drew in a deep breath, his body tensing from the anxiety rushing through his veins. His mom hadn’t really talked about what happened beyond making sure Dash knew she loved him no matter what. She’s been avoiding the subject. “Yeah!” He slowly made his way to the kitchen, Pookie following dutifully behind.

His mom was standing over the stove, spoon in hand as she stirred something that smelled amazing. She looked tired. She probably just barely got home from work.

“You’re home pretty late, did something happen?” She asked reaching for the spice cabinet.

Dash walked over and reached for the salt, handing it to her. She always put it back just a shelf too high. He peeked into the pan; stir-fry, his favorite. He avoided her eyes, he didn’t want to see the disappointment he knew he’d find there. “No, I was just at a study group trying to catch up on some homework.”

“With Kwan and Paulina?” She asked slowly, like he would fall apart if she made one wrong misstep.

He washed his hands in the sink. “No, actually, Danny Fenton invited me to join his group.”

She stirred the pot in front of her, falling silent for a moment. “That’s certainly a change.”

Dash felt like he was swimming in ice water. “Yeah, I, um, well, I apologized to him for giving him such a hard time and he sat with me at lunch.” Dash figured she didn’t need to know the exact order of events. “Kwan and Paulina don’t want anything to do with me.”

She frowned. “Oh, sweetie. I’m sorry. It’s not because…” She trailed off. She hadn’t said the word yet. Dash hated that she wouldn’t say it.

“No. At least they said it wasn’t; just that I’m apparently too poor for them now. Club rules.”

She pulled some plates down from the cabinets. “That’s probably just their parents spewing venom in their ears.”

“It’s the same thing we did to Valerie freshman year. I kind of knew it was coming, I just hoped things had changed.” Dash grabbed the filtered water from the fridge, pouring them both a glass.

“Thank you.” She plated the food and walked over to the table, Dash following her. “I’m sorry your friends turned out to not be so friendly.”

“It’s okay.” They sat down, eating in silence for a moment. Dash hated the silence the most.

His mom glanced up at him. “So, you apologized to the Fenton boy?”

Dash sat up straight, taking a deep breath before answering. “Yeah. I did.”

“How’d it go? I mean, obviously, you guys hung out, so pretty well?” She added even more salt to her plate.

“It was hard. And scary. But I think it went pretty well. Some of the others were there too, including Valerie. I think they were more hesitant to forgive me and I can’t blame them. But, I think it worked out okay. At the very least they were glad to have my help with History.” He picked a piece of meat off his plate to feed to Pookie, who was lying down by his feet like a good boy.

“I’m really proud of you, Dash.” His mom was looking at him, a smile on her face. He hadn’t seen her smile since the incident. He felt the shame covering him again.

“Don’t say that mom.”

“Why not? I’m very proud of the man you’re becoming.”

He set his fork down, focusing on controlling his breathing, he did not want to start crying in front of his mom again. “Cause I don’t deserve it. I was awful to you and to Fenton and the other kids at school. I haven’t even begun to make up for it, so how can you say you’re proud of me?” Too late, the tears were already halfway down his cheeks. He heard his mom stand up, but he was more focused on rubbing the tears away. Pookie was trying his best to comfort him by rubbing against his leg.

She gently held his face. “Dash, look at me son, please look at me.”

He did.

She was crying too.

“You have nothing to apologize to me for.”

“I said so many awful things to you and I destroyed our family.” He was full-on sobbing now.

“I’m sorry.” She choked out. “I’m so sorry I didn’t see what was going on sooner. You did not destroy our family. Your father destroyed this family. He destroyed this family when he taught my son to see others as less than. He destroyed this family when he taught both me and my son that we were unworthy of love. He destroyed this family when he started hitting my son. And he destroyed this family when he was ready to kill my son over who he loved. You didn’t deserve any of the things he did to you and I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. It’s my fault, Dash, not yours.”

She pulled him into a tight hug, her tears spilling onto his shoulders. Dash hugged her back and for the first time in a long time, allowed himself to fall apart. He sobbed and cried and yelled and held her tight like his mother’s touch alone would keep every bad thing away from him. When he had calmed a little, just enough to hear her, she spoke again.

“Of course, I’m proud of you. Despite everything you’ve been through, you chose to get help and you chose to still be you. That’s so hard to do and you did it anyway. When I look at you I see someone who wanted something better for himself and went for it; I see someone who is becoming who he wants to be, not who he was taught to be; I see someone who apologized to the people they’d hurt even though it was incredibly hard to do; I see my son. And I am so very proud of my son. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel any other way.”

Dash sniffled, holding on because he wasn’t ready to let go yet. “I thought you were disappointed in me.”

“Disappointed? Never.” She sniffled too. “I was just sad. Sad that my son was sad. And sad that I married someone so evil. But, I love you. And I’m sorry I don’t say it enough.”

Dash finally pulled away, wiping his tears away. “I love you too.”

She gave him a watery smile. She sniffed, inhaled a deep breath, and stood up. “Look at us.” She chuckled. “We’re a mess and our food is probably cold. I’m sorry, I know it’s your favorite.”

Dash leaned down and picked Pookie up. The dog had been going crazy at the two emotionally unstable humans in his house. “I think we’ve said enough ‘I’m sorry’s’ for the night.”

“Ugh, you’re right. Let’s just order some takeout and we can watch The Bachelorette  or something and you can tell me which guys you think are the hottest.”

“Mom!” Dash was mortified.

“What? We haven’t talked about this yet.” She had the restaurant page and phone in hand, already typing in the number for the pizza place down the street. “I need to make sure you have better taste in men than I do. What pizza toppings do you want?”

Dash found himself laughing. It was nice to have his house feel like home again. He helped his mom clean the kitchen and get the couch blankets out of the closet for their impromptu movie night. Just as they were getting ready to hit play, his phone beeped with a text message.

Unknown Number: I stole ur # from, Val. :P Walk with us 2 school tmrw?

Unknown Number: It’s Danny.

Dash smiled down at his phone. What a dork. Dash saved the number in his phone, heart nearly caving in. It’d been all of one day and suddenly his entire life was different. He’d have to remember to thank Danny for being so forgiving.

“Who is it?” His mom asked.

“Uh, it’s Danny. He wants to walk to school together.” He twiddled his thumbs, not sure how to respond to the text.

His mom smirked at him. “Wow, that must have been some apology.”

Dash wanted to crawl under a rock and never come back out.

“Does he know you drive to school?”

“Probably not. I’ll just walk with him and tell him tomorrow.”

“Okay, whatever you say. Hit play, mister.”

Dash hit play on the TV. and typed a quick reply on his phone.

Dash: See you tomorrow

Nerd: Meet @ my place?

Dash: I’ll be there.

Nerd: See u tmrw :D

Boop

Boop!

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Danny Phantom Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply 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 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.

~

Dash shifted his car into park in front of Fenton Works. He picked up his phone and shot off a quick text.

Dash: I’m here.

Nerd: Thank god! We’ll be right out!

Dash snorted, playfully rolling his eyes and setting his phone down. He never would have thought that if he’d already decided on ditching senior ditch day, a single text from Danny Fenton of all people, requesting an emergency ride, would make him change his mind in under a minute. Of course, he never thought he’d ever have Danny’s phone number in the first place. It used to take bribes to get him to be in the same room as Fenton without wanting to pick on the guy.

Now, he was just glad he actually had friends to hang out with. He hadn’t wanted to go and see Paulina and Kwan having fun without him. It would be like rubbing salt in the wound. But, now that he’d been invited to go with another group, he was more than a little excited.

He glanced at the clock on his dashboard and tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. Should he go knock? Should he just keep waiting? Did he mean a different house? God, Dash wished he still had a lot of his confidence from before. It was easy to make decisions when you were an asshole and didn’t care about how the consequences affected other people.

He was just about to send another text when a crash came from inside the house. He startled as the three of them came barreling out the front door looking like they’d just come back from war. Danny shouted something over his shoulder and slammed the front door. He ran up to Dash’s van and clambered into the front seat- which Dash will not admit made him feel just a little special. Sam and Tucker scrambled into the back.

“Thanks for the save!” Danny smiled at him, still breathing hard from his frantic exit. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to tame the mess it was in.

Tucker leaned forward, head between the seats, and spoke right into Dash’s ear. “You’re gonna wanna go straight to the park. If we’re lucky, we’ll get there right as the busses do.”

Dash shoved him, gently, back into his seat. “This car isn’t moving until seat belts are on.” Tucker and Sam rolled their eyes but complied. “No Valerie?” Dash started driving.

Sam shook her head. “She’s gonna be at the library all day applying for scholarships, like some ultra-responsible person or something.”

“We have a plan to make,” Danny interrupted, turning in his seat to face the whole car. “Tucker, what’s the best way to maximize our time at the amusement park?”

“We should figure out everyone’s favorite rides and then find the best connecting path between all of them. Then stick to our planned route so as not to miss anything.” Tucker already had his PDA out and ready. “I’ve already got the bumper cars, the roller coaster that takes off three years of your life, and the space launcher. Dash, what’s your favorite?”

Dash shrugged, clicking on his blinker and slowing down for the turn. “I don’t really have a favorite.”

“What!?” Tucker screeched.

“It’s okay to be like other girls, Dash.” Sam snickered at him. “Everyone has a favorite.”

“I really don’t. They’re all kind of the same.”

“It doesn’t have to be a ride,” Danny offered, “it could be a game or something. Tucker’s is the bumper cars and that’s not technically a ride.”

Dash hummed, thinking back to the last time he’d gone to the amusement park. Kwan had talked them into going on the Zipper and ended up being the only one to throw up. His heart fell as he remembered the photo Paulina had taken as he dropped his ice cream cause of how dizzy he’d still been. It was pinned on his wall by his computer. “I guess The Zipper is pretty cool.”

“That’s hardcore,” Sam nodded approvingly.

“We also have to make sure to hit the games we didn’t get to last time,” Tucker added the zipper to the schedule.

“We should do the rides before lunch and games after if we can help it,” Danny suggested as he rearranged how he was sitting. “We don’t want Tucker to lose his stomach over some poor kid again.”

“That was one time! Why are you making me look uncool in front of Dash?!”

“Why do you care if Dash thinks you’re cool?” Sam teased.

“Look,” Dash interrupted before the three of them could get into it and pointing down the road, “we’re going to beat the buses.”

Danny gave his shoulder a friendly punch. “Awesome! Way to drive, Dash!”

Dash smirked as he pulled into the parking lot. He pushed the button on the ticket machine for all day. Sam tapped him on the shoulder and passed him a crisp twenty. He raised his eyebrow at her.

“What?” She huffed, face mildly red. “We’re not making you pay for parking when we forced you to be here. Just take it.”

“Uh, thanks.”Dash took the bill from her and slid it into the machine. It spat back out a ticket that he passed to Danny to secure to his rear-view mirror. He found a parking spot close by where the buses were and shifted the car to park.

“Step one is to find Mr. Lancer.” Danny chattered, basically flying out of Dash’s car. “Step two, have fun and forget the crushing realities we all have to face next week.”

“Slow down!” Sam called after him.

Dash took the time to put a sun protector up in his windshield so the seats wouldn’t scorch his skin off when they got back. He had to jog to catch up with the others at the buses. Danny was bouncing on his toes while they waited for the bus doors to open.

Mr. Lancer stepped down, clipboard hanging from his neck and box full of day passes on his hip. He rolled his eyes when he saw the group. “There’s our missing students.”

“Sorry, Lancer,” Danny’s tone was just as casual with their teacher as it was with them and it threw Dash off, “I overslept.”

“As usual, Mr. Fenton. Don’t think I’ll play favorites though. You’ll have to wait.” He started handing passes out to the students climbing off the bus.

“No problem!” Danny cheered.

Dash saw the other students climbing off the other two buses and couldn’t stop himself from looking for Kwan and Paulina. He saw them with the group at the last bus; Star wasn’t with them. They looked kind of sad. Dash’s heart tugged and he desperately wanted to go comfort them.

“You okay?” Danny whispered, looking over to where he was staring.

Dash glanced up at him, taking a deep breath. He ripped his eyes away from the reasons he hadn’t wanted to come today. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“We could try talking to them, if you’d like?” Danny placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“No. I tried that already when I gave my hall pass bingo card back. Paulina sent her dad to the door to avoid me. I don’t blame them. I probably would have done the same thing if I hadn’t changed my way of thinking.”

Danny was about to reply but Mr. Lancer turned back to them. “Alright, you three-” He cut himself off when he spotted Dash. He glanced between them and Danny shrugged, a playful grin making its way onto his face. “Interesting. Alright you four, missed the speech on the bus so here’s the short version. Follow the rules, don’t act like idiots because until tomorrow when you actually graduate you still represent the school, and be back at the gates by four.” He handed them their passes, pausing when he got to Danny. “And Daniel, try not to break anything.”

“No promises!” Danny sang back, taking the pass. Mr. Lancer sighed, a small smile on his face, and left to join the other teachers. “Okay, let’s-”

“Dash! Can we talk?”

Dash turned around to see Paulina and Kwan walking up to them. Paulina was chewing her lip and Kwan was slouched over. Dash tried to squash the flutter of hope rising in his stomach. He glanced back at Danny, Sam, and Tucker. Sam rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything. Tucker looked to Danny.

“We can wait,” Danny reassured.

Dash mouthed a ‘thank you’ to him and nodded at Paulina and Kwan. “Yeah, we can talk.”

Kwan released his breath in one big whoosh, already on the verge of tears. “We’re so sorry!”

Dash blinked, completely unprepared for that right out of the gate.

“Super sorry!” Paulina barreled ahead. “Our rules are so stupid! And we miss you! You’re our best friend and we really should have thrown those rules out forever ago.” Tears started pouring down her cheeks.

“We don’t care if it’s seen as uncool or if our parents don’t approve. It’s not the same without you, bro!”

“The club won’t even matter tomorrow! We should have never pushed you away! We’re so so so sorry!”

Dash felt tears pricking at his eyes. A small, tiny part of him wanted to tell them just how bad they had hurt him. How had it been that easy to throw away four years of friendship over some stupid rules their parents had made up when they were in school like twenty years ago?! But the tiny prick of anger was nothing compared to the sadness he felt without them and one thought of how easily Danny had forgiven him had him crumbling into their arms. “I’ve missed you guys too!”

Paulina nearly squeezed his lungs out of him and Kwan wasn’t far behind.

“I’m sorry about missing the movies,” Kwan sobbed. “I should have been braver sooner.”

“That’s okay.” Dash sniffled, pulling away from them. “It took my dad almost killing me for me to get my shit together.”

Paulina dabbed at her eyes, trying not to mess up her make-up. “And we weren’t even there for you. We’re the worst.”

“You’re like, okay, right?” Kwan asked, patting him down for broken bones.

“Kwan, it’s been months.” Dash chuckled. “I’m fine, physically at least. Therapist’s still out on mentally.”

“Oh brother,” Sam mumbled.

Dash stilled, completely forgetting they were back there. “Uh, so…”

Paulina pushed past him, grabbing Sam and Danny’s hands and looking at Tucker. “And I should apologize to you three as well. I’m sorry for how I’ve treated you over the years. And thank you, for being there for Dash when I wasn’t.”

“Me too,” Kwan pushed forward, sweeping Sam into a hug. “I’m sorry for getting you banned from goth poetry.”

“I’m not banned anymore. You can put me down,” Sam grumbled not very angrily. Once her feet were on the ground, she sighed and looked at Danny who was giving her a hopeful look. Dash held his breath as they seemed to have a whole conversation without saying anything. They looked over at Tucker who shrugged, unbothered.

Danny pivoted toward Paulina and Kwan. “You guys want to join us for the day?”

Dash released his breath. Really, he should have known Danny would be chill, but a part of him was still worried Danny was just waiting for the perfect chance to get him back. Of course, looking at Danny now, he wasn’t sure how he ever thought such a thing.

Paulina glanced at Sam. “Are you sure that’s okay? I’d understand if you really wanted nothing to do with us. I was particularly nasty to you. Sorry.” She squeaked.

Sam’s face dropped in surprise. She floundered for a minute, caught off guard by the genuine tone Paulina held. She searched Paulina’s face looking for any lingering trace of malice or deceit. She must not have found any because she dropped her defensive attitude. “Yeah, I’m sure. Thank you, for the apology. Guess you turned out okay.”

Paulina squealed and threw her arms around Sam. “You won’t regret it, I promise!”

“Wow, you guys sure are huggers!” Sam squirmed.

“Group hug!” Kwan cheered, yanking Dash and Tucker over to the girls; Danny getting pushed along into the center.

“I’m gonna vomit,” Sam protested.

Danny was the first one to start laughing uncontrollably but everyone else followed suit right after. Dash felt a huge weight fall from his shoulders despite the awkward and giggly tangle of limbs he found himself willingly trapped in.

“Wait,” Kwan chirped once he was free from laughter, “where’s Val?”

“She was busy today, but don’t worry,” Danny said, wiggling free of the group and effectively breaking everyone apart- Sam breathing a sigh of relief-, “she’ll be around some time and you guys can make up with her too.”

“What’s your guys’ favorite rides?” Tucker asked already tapping the edit button on his mock map/schedule. “I’ve got to add them to the route.”

“I like the swings! They make you feel like you’re flying!” Paulina cheered, looking over Tucker’s shoulder at the map. “Oh! He’s got the zipper on here Kwan!”

“Yes!” Kwan threw a festive fist in the air.

“That was Dash’s pick,” Danny added, also looking over Tucker’s shoulder.

“Bro,” Kwan turned to Dash with watery eyes.

Dash playfully rolled his eyes. “Keep it together buddy.”

Kwan threw his arm around Dash’s shoulder and leaned into him, resting his head on Dash’s shoulder. “How I’ve missed my bro. My light of all lights.”

“Is that a quote from Dracula?” Danny asked, eyes lighting up.

“Bro, you know Dracula?” Kwan left Dash’s side and slung his arm around Danny’s shoulders instead. “We should have been friends sooner.”

“No offense, Kwan,” Danny chuckled, “But, I did not take you for a reader.”

“Well, after Sam took me to that poetry thing freshman year, I started really getting into it. Turns out it’s exactly my jam. I’m gonna be an English major.”

“Really? How do-”

“Hey!” Tucker interrupted, throwing everyone off him. “It’s ditch day. If you get Danny started on literature or space we’ll never be able to ditch schoolwork today. Now let’s get going!”

Danny bowed low with a dramatic flourish. “Of course, my liege. Lead the way.”

Tucker rolled his eyes and took off across the parking lot, leading everyone to the quickly moving lines. They filed into separate ones to get in quicker. Dash caught Danny’s eye from the line over and sent him a grateful look. Danny gave him a thumbs up before handing his pass to the worker so she could stamp it.

“Here’s the plan,” Tucker said once everyone was in the park proper, “we start on the left side of the park where all the rides are. We’ll hit the furthest one first and make our way back here to the center where we’ll get lunch then hit the games on the right before we leave. Any questions?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“Then let’s march, people!” Tucker took the lead, walking faster than everyone and carving a path through the crowd.

“Goth poetry really changed your life, huh?” Sam asked, effectively locking Kwan into a conversation with her.

Danny fell into step beside Dash as they headed down the path. He looked like he wanted to say something but Paulina spoke up first.

“I have some Phantom related news!” She cheered.

Dash glanced at Danny as if to apologize but it seemed Paulina had his attention as well.

“He’s definitely not dating Ember. I saw her and Skulker the other day and it totally seemed like they were a couple. So, we can cross her off the list.”

Danny’s nose crinkled in disgust. “Why the hell would he be dating Ember?”

Dash shrugged his shoulders, slightly embarrassed about Danny finding out about their Phantom talks. “It could have been like an enemies-to-lovers thing, you know?”

“By that logic, next you’ll tell me you suspect him and The Box Ghost.”

Dash averted his eyes.

“No, we crossed him off a long time ago,” Paulina waved Danny off. “Besides, he and Ember could have been like a hallmark movie!” She sighed wistfully.

“Yuck,” Danny looked violently ill as he mimicked throwing up.

“Oh, come on, Danny,” Paulina huffed. “Don’t you have a romantic bone in your body?”

“Yeah, but Hallmark movies are awful. I’ll take Pride and Prejudice any day.”

Dash was about to agree with him when Tucker stopped walking. “Okay, our first stop is the Roller Coaster That Takes Three Years Off Your Life.”

“Yes!” Sam cheered.

Dash did not care for this coaster, but he saw how easily everyone else got in line and he did not want to be the only coward in the group.

A choice he came to regret.

Sam was still laughing at him as they walked to the next ride. “I’m gonna die!” She mocked.

“Laugh it up, Manson.” He scoffed, face burning and heart in his stomach. “I’ll remember this.”

“Oh, so scary~!” She cackled, following Tucker and Kwan down the path.

“I don’t like that ride either.” Danny’s words didn’t feel like much of a comfort at the moment.

“I’ll believe you when I see you scream like a baby.” Dash chided.

Paulina tapped Danny on the shoulder. “So, if you had to pick between The Notebook and The Titanic, what would you pick?”

Danny chuckled. “Do you only watch tragic romance movies?”

“Of course. It’s more worth it that way. It’s an easy decision. Watch. Hey, Kwan!” She called up to the rest of the group. He turned. “The Notebook or The Titanic?”

“The Notebook!” He called back.

Sam wrinkled her nose. “Okay. Now, I’m questioning your taste. It’s The Titanic.”

“You’re both wrong,” Tucker added. “It’s Beauty and the Beast.”

“Oh, look!” Danny motioned to the swings, successfully derailing the argument that was about to break out. “The next ride.”

Paulina was right about the swings making you feel like you’re flying. His stomach sank into his toes the entire time. Ever since Phantom had flown him around the Fenton house as they tried to outrun Skulker, he’d preferred his feet on the ground. At least here he wasn’t being hunted for sport.

“Okay, spill.” Paulina cornered him as they walked to the next ride. “You’ve been wanting to tell me something all week, I can tell.”

“What? You can’t tell.” Dash sputtered.

“I can, you’ve been looking at me like I kicked a puppy. Is it related to Phantom? Oh, it is! Tell me right now.”

“What’s related to Phantom?” Danny dropped back to walk with them after hearing the hero’s name. Dash figured Danny might have a crush on the hero too, with how intently he was listening.

“Uh, well, there’s not really a lot to tell.” Dash was a little hesitant to gush in front of Danny. He wasn’t quite sure why, but he did not want Danny to think anything less of him than he probably did.

“Tell it anyway!” Paulina grabbed his arm and shook him. “Tell me right now, Baxter, or I might just explode!”

“I’ve, uh, talked to him a few times.”

“Ah! Shut up! Explain, right now!”

Danny’s expression was carefully kept neutral as he asked, “You’ve talked with Phantom and haven’t told anyone?”

“I mean, yeah. Not everyone needs to know everything about him.”

“I do! You’re not telling me, Dash!” Paulina was on the verge of hysterical now.

“Okay, Paulie, calm down! I was walking home from therapy a few weeks ago and saw him get hit by the Fentons.” He nervously eyed Danny’s expression.

Danny held up his hands in peaceful surrender. “Don’t worry. I love my parents but I do not support their hunting of the town’s protector. So, what happened? They didn’t kill him did they?”

Dash relaxed. “No, I distracted them while he hid. But whatever they hit him with blocked his powers. I had my first aid kit on me so I was able to help patch him up. And, uh, maybe, I got to hold his hand for a moment.”

Paulina screeched, drawing a lot of attention from the parkgoers. “Shut the fuck up! That is quite literally my dream! When’s the wedding?”

“Shh!” Dash hushed her, playfully slapping her hand off him.

“Who’s wedding?” Sam asked, dropping back to walk with them as well.

“Dash and Phantom apparently.” Danny chuckled.

“It’s not like that!” Dash whined, hands over his face. “Having a crush on someone does not mean you have to get married.”

“Oh, so you do have a crush on Phantom?” Sam teased.

“Who doesn’t?” Paulina asked seriously.

“I don’t.” Kwan and Tucker said at the same time.

Tucker giggled. “Sam, you didn’t-”

“I don’t!” Sam nearly cursed at him. “I didn’t feel like it needed to be said!”

“It’s okay to admit it, Sam.” Paulina giggled. “He’s so dreamy.”

“He’s dead though, right?” Kwan interjected.

“Hence why having a crush won’t go anywhere.” Dash hissed. “Besides, unlike someone, I’m not crazy enough to invite the guy to my birthday party.”

“It was one time and he didn’t even show up!” Paulina defended, crossing her arms. “Wait! Why are we turning this on me? You said you spoke a few times! What were the others?”

“A few times?” Tucker raised his eyebrow at Danny. Danny avoided eye contact.

Dash remembered Phantom bawling his eyes out on Dash’s shoulder and thought he’d probably prefer if Dash kept that one to himself. “Uh, people can have their secrets.”

For reasons unknown to him, Sam and Tucker started laughing like crazy and Danny covered his face.

“No fair!” Paulina whined, going back to tugging on his jacket.

“Yeah, come on, bro!” Kwan added. “I may not have a crush on the guy but I want the gossip.”

“Oh look!” Dash wheezed, stealing Danny’s tactic from earlier. “The bumper cars!”

“You’re not getting out of this!” Paulina jeered. “I’ll get it out of you one way or another.”

She definitely aimed for Dash more than everyone else on the bumper cars. Dash couldn’t help but laugh every time; it really was great to have all his friends together. Especially when Tucker and Kwan teamed up with Paulina and they started an all-out war. Needless to say, they were asked to leave the ride shortly after.

“Kwan, buddy,” Tucker guffawed, swinging an arm around Kwan’s shoulders, “you’re on my team forever now. Where have you been all my life?”

“Right in front of you, Foley.” Kwan chuckled back, jokingly swooning back into his arms.

After a trip to the Space Launcher, the scariest and most awful ride so far- which Dash would never ever say in front of Danny- they were stood in the line for The Zipper. Danny was watching it nervously as it flung its current passengers around.

“Scared Fenton?” Dash couldn’t stop some of his old teasing no matter how much therapy he got it seemed.

Danny laughed nervously in his direction. “What? Me? Scared? Nah, I’m totally normal about this.”

“Dude,” Tucker joked, “you picked the scariest ride here and this is what scares you?”

“I’m not scared! That just looks like a migraine inducer.” Danny was clutching his forearms to his stomach. “Just watching it makes me want to hurl.”

“How about a bet?” Dash challenged.

Danny grinned at him, a spark seemingly lighting his eyes. “I’m listening.”

“Here we go,” Sam breathed.

“First one to scream buys lunch for the other. Double if they also throw up.”

“Says the guy who just screamed the entire time on a roller coaster.”

“Yeah, it’s all out of my system now. Don’t think you can handle it?” Dash held out his hand.

“Oh, you’re on!” Danny, tone very teasing, shook his hand and pulled Dash in closer to whisper, “Better hope your system can handle it.”

Dash’s face grew warm. Danny’s eyes were brilliant up close. He was at a loss for a good comeback but was saved as the ride attendant called them forward.

“Ugh, I’m so dizzy,” Danny whined, collapsing in the shade of a nearby tree since all the tables were taken. The rest of the group sat their bags down near him.

“Shouldn’t have bit off more than you could chew,” Sam gently chided.

“Fuck off. Leave me to my misery.”

“I didn’t know you were such a pushover.” Dash prodded. “What happened to all that confidence you had?”

“It’s in the trash can over there if you want it.” Danny pressed his hands over his eyes, blocking out the sun. This is what he gets for trying to cheat by making his stomach intangible and then forgetting where it’s supposed to go while they were upside down. “My wallet’s in the small pocket of my backpack.”

Dash only felt slightly bad taking Danny’s money. A bet was a bet after all. “You want me to get you something too?”

“That’d be super.” He wheezed.

“Does the guardian of the bags want funnel cake too?” Tucker asked.

“You’d be an angel.” Danny really hoped everything was back where it was supposed to be. It didn’t feel like it, but maybe that’s cause his brain was practically mush at the moment.

“Thank you for your sacrifice, bag guardian.” Kwan patted him on the shoulder before following Sam and Tucker. Danny just gave him a thumbs up.

“What do you want?” Dash asked, leaning over him. Danny relished in the extra shadow blocking the sun from touching his skin.

“Whatever you get. I’m not picky. It was double or nothing so don’t feel bad for whatever you get.”

“Oh, trust me. I plan on capitalizing on this.” Dash hesitated for a moment, then shrugged his jacket off and laid it over Danny. “Don’t die before we get back.”

“No promises.” Danny sighed in relief, clutching the fabric to his face and cursing at the sun. He was definitely fighting a migraine right now and he would be hating himself later when it hit its peak. He wished he could block out the sounds of the park, it was loud as shit here. Honestly, what did Dash and Kwan see in The Zipper? That thing was practically an embodiment of hell itself and Dash hadn’t even uttered a sound. He would rather be stuffed in the Fenton Thermos and shaken around than go on that thing again.

“Taken on more than you could handle, Danny?”

Danny pulled Dash’s jacket down off his eyes and glared at Mr. Lancer as he set up a chair next to him. “Don’t go on The Zipper, Lancer. I promise you, no matter what Dash or Kwan say, it is not worth it.”

Mr. Lancer chuckled, pulling a sandwich out of his tote bag. “It is interesting to see you listening to Dash Baxter of all people in the first place.”

Danny resisted the urge to roll his eyes, knowing it would only bring more pain. “You’re always fishing for gossip, huh? What are you going to do without me or Jazz to provide it?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll find some poor unsuspecting freshmen struggling with their English test and start the process again. Although, I will say Jazz didn’t withhold as much gossip as you do. Tell her I miss her, will you?”

Danny sighed dramatically, pulling himself up from the ground to lean on the tree behind him. He rubbed circles into his temples hoping it would stop the ground from spinning. “He’s actually a pretty decent person now. So are Kwan and Paulina. You say something to them?”

Mr. Lancer shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

“I’m the one that withholds information, huh? There’s something else you came over here to talk about, isn’t there?”

“Unusually perceptive of you.” Mr. Lancer took a bite of his sandwich before continuing. “You left the future career section of your graduation papers empty.”

Danny pulled his legs up to his chest, resting his chin on them. He resisted the urge to hide from the sun under Dash’s jacket again. “Yeah.”

Mr. Lancer hummed at the lack of response. “Do you not want to tell people or do you just not know?”

Danny shrugged, pulling at the blades of grass at his feet. Really, what was he supposed to say? Sorry Lancer, but I’m kind of trapped in town because I died here, and even if I could leave, I would leave everyone practically defenseless against stronger ghosts. And there’s not a whole lot of careers that will accept ‘sorry I’m a part-time superhero so I won’t be coming in today’ as a good enough excuse to constantly be missing work. He’d gotten let go from a few of his part-time jobs because of his attendance. Honestly, it’s a wonder it didn’t make him fail high school. All of his friends had it figured out and he was getting left behind. He didn’t need his favorite teacher pointing that out to him. “I don’t know.”

Lancer let the silence hang between them for a moment, before reaching into his bag and handing Danny a sheet of paper. “Have you considered teaching?”

Danny took the paper, glancing over its contents. It was an ad for Amity Park’s Community College’s teaching program. He chuckled. “With my attendance? I don’t really think I’d be cut out for it.”

“Why not? The only things you really need are patience and compassion. And considering that you’re hanging out with Baxter now, I’d say you have plenty of both. If you really wanted, you could go for being a professor and make your own schedule. Fixes any issues with attendance, don’t you think?”

Danny glanced at the paper again. “What would I even teach? No offense, I like English and all but I don’t think I’d be any good at teaching it.”

“I have it on good authority that starting next year, the Planetarium is going to be building a new hall for the science department. They’ll probably need an astronomy teacher.”

“Astronomy?” Danny perked up, staring at the paper in his hands. Him, a teacher? His parents were inventors and his sister was on track to become a famous Yale psychologist; would they be disappointed that he didn’t choose something as grand? Or would they be more disappointed if he chose nothing at all? “I do like astronomy.”

Mr. Lancer, now done eating his sandwich, smiled and started packing up. “Just something to think about. You might not think so, but you have the potential to be great at anything you choose, Danny. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I’ll see you on stage tomorrow.” Lancer waved as he walked away.

Danny safely tucked the paper away in his bag and slid back down, pulling Dash’s jacket back over his eyes. His muscles ached, his head was swimming, and his stomach was cramping. What he wouldn’t give to exist as Phantom right now to shake this pain away. Being dead had some privileges.

Astronomy teacher, huh? It did sound kind of neat. And it would mean he had a justification to go to college. It wasn’t like he was worried about being left behind physically; Sam and Tucker were both attending colleges in the area. They didn’t want to deal with the problems that came with leaving town.

Amity Park had this weird effect on people ever since it came back from the ghost zone; it didn’t like people leaving. It was possible to leave, but once you crossed the town lines, something under your skin just itched and clawed to go back. Vacations were nice mentally, but it always felt better coming back physically. Immediate relief hit as soon as you were back, days of aching sloughing off like it was never there in the first place. How Jazz had spent two years on the other side of the country was beyond him.

It was worse for him, he could leave but his ghost half squirmed under his skin, repulsed at the air anywhere else. Something about unfinished business or whatever kept him anchored there. It’s why Vlad stayed in Wisconsin. Clockwork had tried to explain it to him once a few years ago, but he hadn’t been paying as much attention as he should have. He could at most, last two weeks outside Amity Park before he drove himself crazy.

He was worried about being left behind emotionally. Once his friends were busy with college, they’d have an experience he couldn’t hope to understand without being there with them. He would be left out of jokes and conversations and study groups and parties and everything. It wouldn’t be on purpose, but it would happen and he dreaded it; he just hadn’t had the willpower to go for a general ed degree that didn’t really mean anything. It felt like a waste of time to him. But, astronomy teacher? That might not be the most horrible idea, he’d ever heard.

“Aw, look, Tucker,” Sam’s voice came from somewhere to his right, “he’s got his boyfriend’s jacket to protect him from the sun.”

“Not my boyfriend,” Danny grumbled, not quite ready to leave the safety of the darkness.

“Dude,” Tucker whispered, ignoring Sam’s jokes for once, “are you freezing the grass on purpose?”

“What?” Danny sat up entirely too fast, clutching at his head. Beneath him, the grass was frozen solid; like a crisp January morning frozen. “Shit.” He swapped places with everyone’s bags, hoping they’d be enough to hide the frost.

“What’s got you in a mood?” Sam sat next to him, passing him a plate of funnel cake.

He draped Dash’s jacket over his head, using it as a makeshift visor. “Just trying to put my insides back where they go. Nothing major.”

“Shouldn’t have tried to cheat, dude.” Tucker shrugged, digging into his sugary treat.

“I thought I had it! Not my fault gravity is stupid.”

“Ever thought of acting like a normal person and leaving your organs alone?” Sam suggested all snark and no help.

“Yeah well, normal people aren’t dead, Sam.” He said it a bit harsher than he’d meant it.

“You’re not dead, Danny.” Sam was pretty firm in her opinion that Danny wasn’t a walking corpse. He wished she’d just accept it. He could feel it in his bones. He knew what he was. He also didn’t blame her for it. But, he knew she blamed herself.

“Not yet he isn’t,” Paulina giggled sitting down next to Sam, a bowl of ramen in her hands, “but if he goes on one more ride like that he might be.”

“I’m over rides,” Danny groaned. “Where’s Dash and Kwan?”

“Kwan went to find Dash,” Tucker said absentmindedly.

“They’re over there.” Paulina pointed to the two struggling to carry food and drinks back over to the group.

“Wow, he really took advantage of winning that bet, didn’t he?” Sam sang.

“I did tell him too.” Danny took advantage of everyone eating their food to send a quick text to their group chat.

Danny: As part of my promise to consult the group on decisions, can I invite Kwan and Paulina to our graduation party?

Tucker giggled from his spot before typing a reply.

Tuck: You sure Sam will survive that?

Sam: Kwan’s actually grown on me a lot. Paulina’s fine I guess. You’re taking responsibility for them though.

“You guys having a secret conversation?” Paulina asked, drinking some of her soup.

“Sorry,” Danny gave her a small smile. “I-”

“Danny, please take this burger from me before I quite literally drop it on you,” Dash interrupted.

Danny took the plate from him and steadied him as he sat down. Kwan handed him a drink before taking his seat. “Thank you.”

“Your dollar man.” Kwan beamed.

“So, Kwan, Paulina,” Danny started, “would the two of you like to come to our graduation party next Saturday?”

“Danny Fenton inviting us to a party?” Paulina gasped. “Toto we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

“It’s not a party like you’re used to. It’ll just be us here and Val. But we’re meeting at Sam’s house to have a movie night. Interested?”

“I’m so down!” Kwan cheered.

“That sounds nice, actually.” Paulina pulled out her phone. “What’s your number so you can send me the details?”

“Paulina Sanchez asking me for my number? We’re nowhere near Kansas!” Danny typed his number into her phone.

“Hand it here,” Sam demanded, also typing her number into Paulina’s phone.

“Don’t leave me out of this.” Tucker joined.

“Wait, I want your numbers too,” Kwan pouted.

Dash leaned over and whispered into his ear as Kwan’s phone got passed around. “You didn’t have to do that. But thank you.”

“What,” Danny whispered back, “think you can hog Kwan and Paulina all to yourself now? Sam’s about ready to steal Kwan for another poetry night. You guys are stuck with us now.”

Dash smiled at him, all tension finally leaving his body. “Not a bad thing to be stuck with I guess. Eat your food before it gets cold.”

Danny felt something squirm in the pit of his stomach as he thought about how nice Dash’s smile was. It was probably just the nausea. Yeah, let’s go with that.

Dash closed his front door behind him. He was completely exhausted and probably sunburnt. They’d forgotten to put sunscreen on after they ate. He regretted that so much.

“Dash, I forgot to get some things for dinner!” His mom called, walking out of the living room. “Is it okay if I steal the van from you?”

“Yeah, sorry I was gone for so long.”

“No worries. If I’d get the truck fixed we wouldn’t have to worry about who has the car. I’ll be right back. Did you need anything special for the chicken or just the same as last time?”

“The same. Thanks, Mom.”

“Be back in a bit.” She gave him a quick hug on her way out the door.

Pookie stumbled out of his mom’s room, blinking his eyes as he rushed over to Dash. He bent down to pet the dog. “Sleepy, Pookie? Do you need to go potty?”

Pookie yipped at him and ran for the back door. Dash trailed behind, dragging his sore muscles as fast as he could. He closed the door behind Pookie and toed his shoes off, having forgotten to at the front door. He walked into the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

There was a knock at the front door. He eyed the clock as he passed it to peer out the peephole. It was probably a door-to-door salesman this late.

It was not. Danny sat there on his porch, rocking on his feet nervously. He opened the door.

“Fenton, didn’t I just drop you off at your house like half an hour ago?”

Danny smiled at him, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot my bag in your car.” He coughed to clear his throat and pulled his other hand out from behind his back. “And I forgot to give you your jacket back.”

“Oh,” Dash gingerly took the jacket from him. He hadn’t even noticed its absence. “Um, my mom just took the car to the store, but you’re welcome to wait here for her to get back.” He stood to the side, so Danny could come in.

“Oh, okay.” Danny took his shoes off the second he was inside. “Sorry, you’re probably tired of me by now.”

“Not really.” Dash hung his jacket up, trying to ignore how he sounded. “How’d you get over here so fast?”

Danny shrugged. “I walk pretty fast. Sam says it doesn’t match my P.E. performance.”

“Huh,” Dash was too exhausted to try and do that math so he just took him at his word. Pookie scratched at the back door. “Hang on, gotta let Pookie in.”

Danny froze as he made eye contact with Pookie. The dog narrowed his eyes, drawing a growl from deep in his tiny throat.

Danny tensed.

“Pookie, calm down,” Dash commanded a bit too late. Pookie was already charging at Danny, howling and barking faster than should be physically possible for such a small dog. Danny shouted, stepping to the side as Pookie slipped on the tile and slid past him.

“Down, Pookie! Down!” Dash cried chasing after the dog. Danny was desperately trying to keep Pookie from sinking his teeth into his ankles without accidentally stepping on him. Barking and shouting rang off the walls.

Danny yelped as he slipped on the rug and went tumbling to the ground. He threw his hands up to protect his face as Pookie scrambled over him. Pookie sank his teeth into the tender flesh of Danny’s forearm. “Dash, help!” Danny cried, pushing at the dog.

Dash finally grabbed him, prying Pookie’s jaw apart and releasing Danny’s arm. “I’m so sorry,” Dash huffed, wrangling Pookie into what looked like a toddler pen in the living room. Danny cradled his wounded arm to his chest, scooting up to lean against the wall. “I swear he’s never like this! The only other time he’s been like this is with Ph-” Dash coughed, cutting himself off. “With my aunt. I promise he’s a good boy.”

“I don’t believe you,” Danny wheezed, holding his wound as blood started oozing out. He knew some animals were extremely sensitive to the dead, but this was frankly ridiculous.

“Oh god, are you okay? How bad is it?” Dash yanked Danny to his feet, making his dizziness slightly worse. Gosh, Danny was never going to want to come over again. This sucked.

Danny cursed, covering more of the wound so Dash wouldn’t look too closely and see it already healing. “I’m fine. How much damage can little Pookie do anyway?”

Dash didn’t laugh at Danny’s attempt at a joke. Instead, he dragged him over to the stools at the kitchen table and forced him to sit down. “It’s a dog bite. We need to at least disinfect it.”

“Dash, it’s fine re-”

“You’re bleeding, Danny!” Dash snapped, immediately taking a deep breath to calm his panic and grabbing the first aid kit from under the sink. “Sorry. It’s not fine! Now sit there and shut up while I fix this.”

Danny closed his mouth, fighting every urge to tell Dash he’s had worse and this was practically nothing. He glared at Pookie still barking across the hall.

Dash grabbed a cotton ball and drenched it in cleaning alcohol. He motioned for Danny’s arm and Danny reluctantly held it out for him. Dash dabbed over the puncture wounds, relieved they didn’t seem to be as deep as he first thought. “I don’t know why he jumped you like that. He’s usually so well-behaved.” Dash muttered, throwing the cotton balls away and grabbing some antibiotic ointment to dab on his skin.

“You’re really good at this, you know.” Danny switched the topic as Dash placed some gauze over the wound and then wrapped it in bandages to keep it in place.

Dash ducked his head, securing the bandages in place with medical tape. “It’s just basic first aid.”

“Still,” Danny poked at the bandages, “it looks like a professional did it.”

“My mom’s the professional.” Dash took a deep, hesitating breath, “I’ve had a lot of practice.”

“Had to patch Phantom up a lot?”

Dash could tell Danny was joking, but he shrugged it off. He knew he was bringing the mood down, but it was hard to shake off the bad vibes once they tainted his memory.

“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. Forget I said anything.” Danny straightened his back, pulling his arm away.

Dash sat- more like collapsed- on the stool next to him. He pushed all the air out of his lungs and stared up at the ceiling for a while. He could tell Danny was tense and he gently bumped his knee to disturb the air. “Are you in a place to hear some potentially triggering shit?”

Dash knew he looked like he was about to cry as he met Danny’s eyes. He must look so pathetic. But the emotions were just welling up and he was having a hard time shoving them back down. Especially with Danny looking at him like that.

Danny nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

“I-” Dash started and stopped. He took a deep breath. He hadn’t told anyone but his therapist what he was about to tell Danny. “I-.. it got bad with my dad way before I told my mom. It was actually why I asked her to teach me first aid. So, I could hide what he was doing. It was part of the reason I started leaving you alone during sophomore year.”

Dash glanced at Danny, gauging his reaction. He couldn’t quite decipher what he found, Danny looked sad and angry at the same time. He placed a comforting hand on Dash’s knee.

Dash trudged on. “He always told me that people who were weaker or appeared weaker deserved it. When he started hitting me, I felt like I had done something to deserve it. And that’s why I hid it from my mom. And it’s why I was so angry. People don’t really look too closely at anger and it kept them from finding out I was weaker than the people I was picking on.”

Danny squeezed his knee, wanting to say something to make him feel better, but also not wanting to interrupt.

Dash looked away. “But it didn’t really do anything, did it? All I did was hurt people; my mom, you, and everyone else at school. All that anger and hiding just turned me into what I hated most.” He was crying now, voice breaking. “And it’s so, so hard to forgive myself for not understanding what I was doing. I should have seen it. How could I have not seen it?”

Danny placed his other hand on Dash’s other knee, squeezing and ducking his head to catch Dash’s eyes again. “Dash,” he spoke slowly, like Dash was something fragile about to break. Dash hated that coming from Danny. He didn’t want Danny to see him as someone who could fall apart so easily. “I’m not a therapist or anyone who has an education on how to talk you through this, but you were a kid. It wasn’t your fault that your parents weren’t the safe place they were supposed to be. Sure, you made some bad choices, but what kid hasn’t? You’ve got to let that go or life is going to be hell. We don’t hate you for it. I like being around you now. And hey, even if it was for shitty reasons, your first-aid skills have come in handy a few times, right?”

Dash sniffled, a little embarrassed at having broken down over something so simple. He rubbed the tears out of his eyes like he could erase that they were even there to begin with. “Sorry.”

Danny chuckled, shaking some of the tension from Dash’s knees. “For what?”

“I didn’t mean to unload on you like that. Ugh, I’m a mess.” Danny’s hands were still on his knees and he didn’t really know how to feel about that. But it was kind of nice, other than the fact that they were chilly as hell.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s what friends are for.”

“Dude, your hands are fucking freezing.” Dash grabbed Danny’s wrists and held his hands up to inspect them. “Are you having an allergic reaction or something?”

Danny yanked his hands away, face burning red, and dodging Dash’s raised brow. “Uh, yeah, sorry. It just kind of happens. We don’t know why.”

Dash was saved from having to respond by the front door opening. His mom walked in and Pookie started barking again. “They didn’t have any cashews! So, I got almonds.” She walked by the living room and into the kitchen, two big paper bags in her hands. “Why’s Pookie in time out?”

Dash stood and took one of the bags from her, going to set it on the counter so he could start putting it away. “It’s the strangest thing, mom. He bit Danny.”

She looked around the room and startled when she finally noticed Danny sitting on the stool. A look of shocked horror twisted across her face as she stared at him. Danny was tall and had broad shoulders that should have made him easily visible in a room, but sometimes it was like your eyes just drifted over him without his presence even registering in your brain. And when you did see him, something was horrifyingly wrong. Like he was human, but the longer you stared the longer he wasn’t. It was hard to tell what was off but it unsettled something in your bones. But it was only for a moment, once you knew it was Danny you were looking at, the feeling almost vanished. Dash could pinpoint the moment the fear left his mother.

“Hi, Mrs. Baxter,” Danny waved almost shyly, like he was apologizing for scaring her.

“Oh, hi!” His mother placed a hand on her chest. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there, dear.” Then she seemed to remember just what it was Dash had said. “Pookie bit you!? Are you okay? What happened?” Her last question was directed at Dash as she dropped her bag on the counter and rushed around to look at the bandage on his arm.

“I don’t know. I just let him in from outside and he went crazy the second he saw Danny. I had to pry him off of him.”

“That’s so strange,” she muttered. She nodded at the bandages approvingly and gently grasped Danny’s hand between her own. “I’m so sorry, I promise he’s usually a very good boy.”

“So, I’ve been told.” Danny smiled at her. “It’s okay, he didn’t get me that bad. And Dash has already taken good care of me.”

She dropped his hand and sat on the stool next to him. “I’m glad. Would you like to stay for dinner so we can make it up to you?”

“Oh, uh,” Danny glanced pitifully in Dash’s direction, completely unprepared.

Dash just shrugged at him. He didn’t mind if he stayed but it was up to Danny, he didn’t want to force him into accepting his mom’s invitation out of politeness.

“That’s okay,” Danny settled, “I wouldn’t want to intrude.” He shrunk in on himself, clearly undecided and uncomfortable.

“You wouldn’t be intruding at all, dear. Dash hasn’t had any friends over in ages. He’s making his famous asparagus stuffed chicken~.” His mom was a master manipulator.

“Mom,” Dash whined, turning to wash his hands in the sink.

Danny was staring at him now, without looking uncomfortable in the slightest. He looked like he was remembering something and making a decision.

“Look at him, he’s all skin and bones!” His mother defended.

“He is not skin and bones, Mom.”

Danny’s face turned red at the comment which made Dash a little flustered. He really needed to think before speaking.

“I didn’t know you could cook,” Danny smoothed.

Dash shrugged, gathering all the ingredients onto the counter. “It’s just something my therapist suggested I pick up last year. It’s not a big deal.”

“Well, for something that’s not a big deal, I already know you’re baking is amazing so your cooking must be on a whole other level.”

Dash looked up at him. “How do you know I bake?”

Danny panicked, grin dropping from his face, and he picked at the hem of his shirt. “Oh, uh, Paulina told me about it earlier at the park.”

“Paulina?” His mother questioned, giving Dash a side-eye.

“Oh, yeah.” Dash threw away the extra plastic around the vegetables, glad for the distraction. “I was going to tell you, she and Kwan apologized and we’re all friends again.” Dash looked at her, pleading with her to understand that they could talk about this later.

She seemed to understand and turned back to Danny. “Well, that settles it. If Paulina was talking up Dash’s skills, then you’ll be able to tell her if she was right or not after tonight. I’ll get started on the rice.”

Danny stood from his seat as well, hands now picking at his fingernails as they hung at his sides. “How can I help?”

His mom waved him off. “You’re a guest, Danny. Don’t worry about helping.”

Danny shuffled his feet, gaze turning to Dash. “I’d feel bad if I didn’t help with something. I mean, if you’re feeding me I shouldn’t just sit here and freeload.”

Dash chuckled at him and gestured to the sink. “You can start by washing your hands and getting a pot to boil water.”

Danny instantly relaxed and moved over to the sink, completely focused on his task.

Dash was surprised by how easy it was to have Danny in his kitchen. Usually, he hated when anyone other than his mom tried to help because they were either overbearing or it was just easier for him to complete the task without trying to explain it. The worst was when they tried to give advice or change his recipes because they did it a different way at their house.

But Danny didn’t do any of that. He was comfortable around kitchen knives so dicing wasn’t a hard task for him and if he had any, he kept his opinions to himself. He was quick to help his mom when she asked for help too. And he waited patiently for another task to be given to him, without trying to jump in where Dash didn’t want him. It was actually very nice to have his help and Dash wouldn’t mind cooking with him again.

“What’s this plate for?” Danny asked, motioning to the plate of unseasoned, fatty chicken on the edge of the counter.

“Oh, that’s for Pookie,” Dash answered, stacking the dirty cooking utensils in the dishwasher.

“Can he have some now?” Danny glanced at the dog in the living room. “Like, can I give him some? Maybe then he’ll understand that I’m not a threat and won’t attack me on sight.”

Dash handed him the plate. “Sure, just don’t lose a finger.”

“No promises.” Danny took the plate and headed into the living room.

“I like him,” his mom whispered, setting a timer on the oven and rinsing a rag to wipe the counter with. “He might be my favorite of your friends. You should bring him over more often.”

“Careful,” Dash chuckled, “he’ll get a big head if he hears you.” He leaned around the wall to check and make sure Pookie wasn’t going on the rampage again.

“Do you like him?” There was a teasing tone to his mom’s voice that he refused to acknowledge.

“Of course, he’s my friend now after all.” Dash grabbed the plates out of the cupboard and began to set the table.

“Okay, I’ll let you get away with that,” she raised her hands in defeat. “So, you and Paulina and Kwan are okay?”

“Yeah.”

“They actually apologized? You’re not just letting them back in because you miss them, right?”

Dash sighed. “Yes, mom. They felt really bad. There were tears involved.”

Dash’s mom gave him a look, like she was about to press the issue further but Danny came back into the kitchen.

“Look who’s changed his mind,” Danny chuckled, holding a very calm Pookie in one hand and a clean plate in the other.

“Glad to know Pookie can be bribed.” Dash laughed.

“We should watch an episode of The Bachelorette while the chicken’s in the oven.” His mom clapped her hands cheerily.

Danny raised an eyebrow at him.

Dash covered his face with his hands. “Mom, please. You’re ruining my street cred here.”

“What?” She looked between the two of them and then blinked like maybe she understood something. “Oh, we can watch The Bachelor while Danny’s here.”

Danny laughed, setting Pookie on the ground. “Either one is fine, Mrs. Baxter. I swing both ways.”

“Oh.” Realization dawned on her face. “Oh! Perfect!” She ushered them back into the living room. “Then you can help me convince Dash that he’s wrong about Adam.”

Dash wanted to die. He wanted to curl into a ball and combust and have his ashes swept away into the garbage disposal and buried in the Arctic where no one would even know he existed. Danny was never going to let him live this down.

Danny watched Dash say something to his mother from the side of the van. Dash had insisted on driving him home because it was so late and what if there were ghosts out?”

Dash unlocked the car and Danny slid in, immediately seeing the bag he had left in there. He clicked his seat belt into place, waving goodbye to Dash’s mom.

“Your mom is super cool.” He muttered as Dash backed out of the driveway.

“You’re not allowed to tell anyone about The Bachelorette.” Dash hissed back, no real fight in his words.

“Don’t worry, my lips are sealed.” Danny picked at his nails, looking out the window. “And again, thank you for dinner. You’re seriously a really good cook. You should bribe people with food more often.”

Dash had his gaze fixed firmly ahead, red still dusting his cheeks. “I didn’t really bribe you. My mother kidnapped you.”

“And I’m glad she did. I wish I had half the cooking skills you do. I was getting kind of tired of french toast.” Danny had meant it as a joke, but he watched as Dash’s eyebrows furrowed. He was apparently really bad at jokes today.

“Your parents only make french toast?”

“Uh, no. I only make french toast. It’s easy and fast.” He hoped Dash would just drop it. It wasn’t a huge deal and he shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.

“They don’t cook for you? Is that some, you’re nineteen you’d better learn how to do this on your own thing?”

Danny shifted, dropping his gaze to the stereo clock. “Uh, they used to cook when I was little. But, mostly Jazz and I had to learn how to make dinner 'cause they would be down in the lab so late they’d forget what time it was.” Danny barreled ahead. “But you know, sometimes that was better than having them cook. They’re kind of bad at it. Once when I was four, they accidentally animated the Christmas turkey and it tried to kill us.”

“That-” Dash glanced at him, quickly returning his eyes to the road, “That’s really fucked up, dude.”

Danny shrugged. “Eh, it could be worse. It’s not really a big deal.” The air in the car turned heavy. Danny wanted to disappear. Even if Dash wasn’t looking at him, he could feel his attention sinking into him, and not in a way he wanted. He didn’t like when people started looking too closely at his parents. A neighbor had called CPS once and that had not gone well. Danny loved his parents despite their quirkiness and he really didn’t like when people insinuated they weren’t the best. He already knew that, but they still loved him. That was enough. It had to be.

They pulled up outside of his house. Danny felt himself hesitating to get out. He didn’t want to leave Dash on such a sour note. But, he wasn’t sure how to fix it now that he’d effectively iced him out. “See you at graduation tomorrow?”

Dash sighed, his shoulders drooping. “Yeah, though honestly I feel like I’ll wake up tomorrow and me actually making graduation will all have been some cruel joke.”

Danny released his hold on the door handle and turned sideways in his seat, facing Dash. “Me too. I thought for sure I wouldn’t graduate with my grades.” He sighed, trying to ignore the way Dash’s eyes were picking him apart.

“You, the kid who comes from a family of geniuses, were worried about not graduating?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know. But somehow I think the genius gene ended with Jazz. I’m a C-average student at best. If it wasn’t for our study group, I might not even be that.”

“C’s are still passing and good enough for graduation though.” Dash was trying his best to be comforting. He really was.

“Fentons are supposed to get A’s. I tried, I really did. And I could do it if I just had the extra time to study. But, with all the extra help I need…” He trailed off, a familiar ache gripping his heart. “Maybe that’s why they like Jazz better. She doesn’t have to try to be a genius. She’s just cool that way.”

Dash shifted the car into park, turning to face Danny. “I’m sure that’s not-”

“It’s true. They’ve said it a few times. Sometimes I think I like Jazz better than myself so I can’t really blame them.” He met Dash’s eyes. He was fighting some internal battle over what to say. Danny went to apologize but Dash spoke before he could.

“So, would you like my therapist’s number? You might need it more than I do.”

Danny stared, mouth wide open in shock for a moment. Dash squirmed.

Danny broke down laughing, grabbing at his sides to ease the ache it brought to his muscles. He was gasping for breath between his laughs with how hard his shoulders were shaking.

Dash was staring, enraptured. He’d never seen Danny laugh so hard in his life and he thought if he blinked he’d find that he’d imagined it.

“I’m sorry,” Danny heaved, trying to regain control of himself. “I didn’t mean to just trauma dump like that.”

“It’s fine.” Dash smiled shyly. “It’s what friends are for, right?”

Danny felt really lightheaded and warm in that moment. “Right.”

Dash cleared his throat. It was getting pretty late. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Danny snapped out of whatever trance he’d worked himself into. “And at the party, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there.”

“Okay,” Danny nodded, shifting back to the door. “Awesome. Thanks for the ride.” He closed the car door and waved.

Dash waved before pulling back out into the road. Danny watched him as he realized he’d forgotten to grab his bag again.

Danny chased the eel ghost through the trees. Cursing as it bobbed and weaved trying to throw him off. He almost lost it a few times.

It was fast.

It curved toward the lake suddenly, causing Danny to shoot past it. He kicked off a nearby tree so as not to lose too much momentum catching back up to it. He flew parallel to it, regaining his speed and not letting it out of his sight. God he wished Sam or Tucker were awake to help him.

They broke free of the trees just as Danny caught up. He grabbed the eel’s tail and dug his feet into the air, putting on his ghost brakes to halt its speed. It screamed at him, twisting its spine around and headbutting him away.

He crashed into the icy water of the lake, pulling at the plants in a desperate attempt to slow his descent. His lungs heaved for air he didn’t need at the moment. The cold water did feel nice against the inside of his lungs though. He flew forward, breaking out of the water and looking around for the eel.

It flicked a wall of water at him, sending him back down into the lake. Danny swam back up, wiping the water from his eyes.

“Hey, ugly! Over here!”

Danny whipped around to see Dash, of all people, running down the beach and trying to get the eel’s attention. It screeched and adjusted its trajectory straight for him.

Shit!

Danny flew as fast as he could toward the beach, heart pounding. He needed to get to Dash before the eel did. His wet hair whipped into his face, stinging. He strained his muscles to go faster.

The eel opened its gaping maw as it got close to Dash- who for some reason was now frozen and staring right at the thing he’d baited-, prepared to snap him in half the second they made contact.

Danny crashed into him, turning both of them intangible as he fell on top of Dash. The eel plowed into the sand, an enraged howl ripping from its throat. Danny scrambled to sit up, effectively pinning Dash under him, and unhooked the Fenton Thermos from the belt Sam had made him.

The eel pivoted back toward them, ready for another pass just as Danny slammed on the button and sucked it into the Thermos. He secured the cap and hooked it back into his belt before whirling on Dash. He grabbed the collar of his jacket hard in each fist.

“What in the hell were you thinking!? Do you have some sort of death wish?! What is wrong with you, putting yourself in danger like that?! What are you even doing out here this late?”

Dash blinked up at him, face completely red and eyes wide as he stammered. “Sorry, I, you, the fish, thanks!”

Danny huffed, releasing Dash’s jacket and sliding off him to collapse on the sand next to him. He glared at the sky like it was to blame for all this. “Sorry,” he muttered, “are you okay?”

Dash took a few deep breaths, trying to calm both his racing heart and the heat in his face. “Uh, yeah. Thanks for the save.”

Danny waved him off, fighting the exhaustion creeping into his bones. The last thing he needed was to transform back in front of Dash and have him find out that the hero he had a crush on and his new friend were one and the same. He’d probably freak out and never speak to him again and Danny really didn’t want that.

“Sorry, again.” Dash still hadn’t moved. “I was just trying to help.”

“I know. Sorry, for getting mad.” Danny sighed, resting his hands on his stomach. “I’d just prefer you alive over your help.”

Dash didn’t say anything. The two of them just lay there, letting themselves cool off from the attack. The sound of the water against the sand and the birds in the trees was almost enough to put Danny to sleep. If Dash wasn’t radiating an insanely anxious energy, he probably would have.

“You didn’t die, uh, again, did you?” Dash whispered, finally breaking the silence.

Danny shook his head. “No. Just tired. I think I’ve been chasing that thing for the better part of an hour.”

“No offense,” Dash heaved a huge sigh of relief, “but you sleep like the dead. I guess, you are dead so it makes sense, but I thought you were a goner.”

Danny chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t need to breathe like this. So, there’s no movement in my body for you to really see as ‘living’.”

“Right, well, it’s terrifying. You looked like a corpse that’s been frozen in the woods for a few days.”

Danny laughed. “Not going to lie, that sounds like the dream right now. Nothing like good old rigor mortis to reset your sore muscles.” He could practically hear Dash shudder. He grinned wildly at that.

“How does that even work? You’re dead but you still experience exhaustion? The other ghosts don’t seem to have that issue.”

“Tragic isn’t it? I’m not like other ghosts.” Danny giggled at his own joke. Sam would have loved that one.

“Is that why you don’t feel as scary as the other ghosts?”

Danny stretched, feeling every bone in his body crack. “What do you mean? You just said I was terrifying.”

Dash turned on his side, facing him and busying himself with drawing little shapes in the sand. “Well, yeah, you look terrifying, but you don’t feel that way. The other ghosts have this our- ou- oura-”

“Aura?”

“Yeah that, about them that just screams danger and sends your whole body into a panic and nowhere feels safe until they’re gone because you can feel their energy in the air. With some of them, it’s bigger and scary than others but it’s the same bone-chilling fear.”

Danny shifted onto his side as well, watching Dash’s face as he grimaced at the memory of the feeling he was describing. He had no idea the ghosts had that huge of an impact on people. “And you’re saying I don’t make people scared?”

“Not really. Sometimes looking at you feels wrong or off or you look scary, but you don’t have that same aura. Instead, you kind of give off this protective vibe. Once you show up, it kind of pushes the scary feeling away. It’s still there but it’s not as strong because whatever you’ve got going on is stronger.”

“Huh, I had no idea.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, usually people find me off-putting like you said. I am dead and that makes people uncomfortable, whether I just saved their lives or not.”

“Is that why the Fentons don’t like you? Because you make them uncomfortable?”

Danny drew in a deep breath, flopping back over onto his back. “They’re a bit more complicated.”

He could tell Dash was brimming with more questions. He was practically begging him for an explanation with the way he looked at him. But he stayed quiet. Maybe that’s why Danny kept going. For once, answers weren’t being demanded out of him, so he was more willing to give them.

“I think they mean well. I am a ghost and to them, all ghosts are inherently evil, so why should I be different? And their inventions are actually pretty helpful sometimes.” He pointed to the thermos still attached to his belt. “Wouldn’t be able to do my job without this, so that’s a point in their favor. But, I admit, it would be a lot easier to do my job if they worked with me instead of trying to catch me so they could rip me apart molecule by molecule.”

He sighed, sitting up and shaking the sand out of his hair. Dash followed suit.

“That’s also a part of the reason I don’t leave the ghost hunting to them and the Guys in White. To protect the ghosts from them.”

Dash’s voice was incredibly soft as he spoke. “Why do you want to protect the ghosts?”

“They’re just people who’ve died. Yeah some of them cause chaos over here, but it’s usually the ones who have unfinished business or died violently. Ember, for example, died in a house fire before she even graduated high school. Why should she deserve to be strapped to a lab table and experimented on just because she wanted people to love her?

“Death isn’t pretty or peaceful a lot of the time. It can be ugly and violent and lonely and it leaves a scar on people’s souls. It’s hard to find peace or let go of life after something like that happens. They’re not all evil, they’re just sad, angry people. We don’t even know what happens to ghosts if they disappear. No, they don’t deserve that.”

Dash sighed heavily, slumping his shoulders. “Wow, your job sucks ass.”

Danny chuckled. “Only a little. It’s not all bad. Sometimes it can be fun. And really, I’ve been able to learn so many things about how the ghostzone and ghosts work and how that affects this side of things. Pros and cons.”

They sat in silence a moment more; Dash not sure how to respond and Danny having said all he needed to. Dash stood, brushing the sand from his clothes and offering a hand. “You wanna see something cool?”

Danny, finding zero hesitation in his body, took his hand. Dash pulled him to his feet. “This way. It’s in the tide pools over there.”

Dash picked their way across the sand and over the craggy rocks at the edge of the beach with practiced ease. Danny slipped a few times and eventually just decided on flying next to Dash.

“Show-off,” Dash teased.

“Why struggle when I don’t have to? You seem like you know your way around here though.”

Dash nodded. “Yeah, I come out here when I need to think.” He slid down the small hill in front of them, catching himself at the bottom and waving Danny down.

The tide was high; the pools brimming with water and life. Dash sat down on one of the smoother rocks closer to where the lake and tide pools met. He patted the spot next to him.

Danny raised a teasing eyebrow at him. “You’re not gonna push me in are you?”

Dash jokingly rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m gonna push the guy who just saved my ass for like the twentieth time in my life into the super cold lake.”

Danny chuckled, sitting down and wishing the water was just a bit higher so he could dip his feet in. “Is this the super cool thing you wanted to show me? Tide pools?”

“It’s what’s in the tide pools. Just wait, they’ll show up in a second.”

“They?”

Dash pointed to the opening of the tide pool. Danny squinted into the darkness convinced Dash must be seeing something he wasn’t until a subtle, green glow started to creep out of the deep waters.

He watched as several glowing ghost fish made their way into the tide pools, swimming in happy little circles and occasionally jumping out of the water. Following them were lots of starfish and urchins; they crawled over the rocks and settled into the sand.

“Are those… ghosts?” Danny breathed, leaning over the edge of the rocks to see better. If they didn’t live in Amity Park, Danny would have just assumed they’d found a species of bio-luminescent fish. The living fish didn’t seem to be bothered by their presence.

“I think so,” Dash whispered. “They show up every night, swim around for a few hours, and then disappear before the sun comes up.

“Wow,” Danny leaned back, looking over at Dash. “How long have they been out here?”

Dash shrugged. “Who knows? My best friend Paulina and I found them here about a year and a half ago. But who knows how long they were showing up before that.”

“You’re not here with your friend?” Danny looked around, half expecting to see Paulina launching herself at him.

Dash shook his head. “Paulina doesn’t come out here much anymore. It’s still our spot, but she’s been busy lately.”

Danny bumped their shoulders together and very teasingly said, “You guys come here to make out?”

Dash snorted. “Oh yeah, you know how best friends are. We just make out all the time for fun.”

Danny rolled his shoulders. “It happens sometimes. I’ve kissed my best friends a few times.”

“Are you serious?”

“Hey, don’t question the validity of a fake-out make-out.”

Dash cackled. “A fake-out make-out? Really? That’s what you call it?”

“Yes, really! It’s a real thing!” Danny protested, pushing Dash’s shoulder as the other kept laughing at him.

“Okay, sure. Whatever you say, Phantom.”

They were close enough now that Danny could feel Dash’s warmth radiating into the air. He pressed closer. The cold might not affect him, but being warm was still nice sometimes. And Dash’s warmth was somehow extremely comforting. “Okay, so if you weren’t making out, what were you doing all the way out here?”

Dash cleared his throat, watching a starfish phase through a rock. “It was mostly a quiet place to complain about life and scream where no one could hear us. Or just to sit and think. Once we discovered the fish though, Paulina wanted to see if there were more like them. So, we took to adventuring in the woods.

“There’s some ghost deer up near the base of the mountain. They’re scary as fuck though, would not recommend checking them out. We also found some rabbits and a badger near the old Marlowe place. Eventually, school just got too busy and Paulina stopped coming. So, I just come here when I want some space to think.”

Danny subconsciously leaned in closer, making Dash’s heart rate spike. “I can’t believe I’ve never seen them. You’d think I’d spot a few on my patrols every once in a while. Guess, I need to start paying more attention.” He lifted his head to laugh in Dash’s direction.

“Well, you are kind of busy…” Dash trailed off as he turned to look at him too.

Danny sucked in a breath as their noses bumped together. He hadn’t realized just how close he’d gotten. Dash’s eyes reflected the water and the glowing fish, making it hard for Danny to look away from them.

Dash was pretty. How hadn’t he noticed that before? Despite his better judgment, he let his eyes wander down to Dash’s lips.

A mistake. He bit his lip, willing himself to back away and failing miserably. He was thoroughly entranced by the person in front of him and he wasn’t really upset about it. At least he wasn’t right now. Right now, he kind of wanted to be impulsive.

Dash was frozen still, red painting his face. He curled his fingers closed, nails biting into his palms. Phantom was so close and was getting closer. (He had freckles, Dash noticed. And they were glowing like tiny stars scattered on his skin.)

He desperately wanted to lean forward, but he was a coward. Something about the way Phantom was looking at him had him rooted to the spot. It was like he was really looking at him for the first time. He let out a shaky breath.

Dash’s breath ghosting across his face should have been enough to snap him out of his trance, but it wasn’t until one of the ghost fish splashed in the water did he slam back into reality. He jolted backward, scrambling over the rock. “Sorry, I wasn’t think-” He slipped on the edge of the rock and tumbled backward into the lake.

As embarrassing as it was, Danny was thankful for the cold rush of water. His mind, now clear, was racing a mile a minute and sounding every alarm bell he’d muted before. He was about to kiss Dash! As Phantom! What was wrong with him? God, he was such an idiot. What kind of consequences was he going to have to face from this? There was no way he’d be able to face Dash as Phantom again.

Maybe, he’d just stay down here til Dash went home and forgot he even existed. Then he wouldn’t have to face the consequences of his actions and they could go about their separate ways.

In fact, he’d take it a step further; he was perfectly content to spend the rest of eternity at the bottom of this lake.

A splash above him startled him. Dash was swimming down toward him. Or at least he was trying, it looked like the cold took an immediate toll on him. Danny panicked, shooting up toward him and grabbing him by the shoulders. “Are you crazy?” He warbled.

Dash’s eyes went wide and he looked like a chipmunk with the way he was holding his breath. Danny dragged him up to the surface, Dash coughing and spluttering to get air into his lungs the second he was able to; the chill of the lake making it hard as every blood vessel in his body shrunk.

“You can talk underwater?” Dash clung onto him as they treaded the water- well, Dash treaded and Danny floated, unaffected by gravity.

“I don’t need to breathe, Dash! We established this!” Danny resisted the urge to shake him. “What were you thinking jumping into a freezing cold lake?!”

“I panicked! You were under for a while and I forgot you didn’t need to breathe! I just...” Dash was shivering violently, his eyes roaming Danny’s face.

Danny sighed and scooped him up, one hand on his back and the other under his knees. “Thanks for the concern, but let’s get you out of here before you freeze to death.”

“My car’s in the parking lot. Only one there.” Dash stammered clinging on for dear life as Danny flew them up and out of the lake.

“Yeah, because everyone else is smart enough not to go swimming when the lake is under twenty degrees.”

“Har-har,” Dash muttered. He hissed as the wind blistered across his wet skin and clothes. He wanted to peel his skin off from the sensation.

Danny set Dash on the ground and overshadowed his van. He unlocked the doors and started the heater on full blast. Dash was cradling his arms to his chest when he exited the vehicle.

“I didn’t know you could overshadow cars.”

Danny shrugged, opening the car door for him. “I guess there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

Dash climbed into his car, flinching away from the air. He turned the vent streams slightly to the side. Danny leaned into the space between the door and the car.

“Are you going to make it home okay?”

Dash nodded, shaking like a leaf. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m not far from here.”

“Okay,” Danny sighed. “Um, sorry, again. I’ll, uh, see you around.” He didn’t wait for Dash to respond before he turned invisible. He waited, watching to make sure Dash was actually okay and not passing out at the wheel. Once he pulled his car out of the parking lot, Danny flew off toward his house.

Oh, he had made bad choices. How was he even going to face Dash as just Danny after this? He was a mess at talking with people once he found them pretty. Valerie said he had a staring problem.

He needed to get this ghost back to the ghost zone and wallow in his room for the next few hours. Then he could decide how much of this he was going to tell Sam and Tucker. And just how he was going to handle this.

The way I wish I could draw so bad cause I have so many little scenes that would do better as tiny comic strips

Chapters: 9/? 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, Mentions of previous eating disorders 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.p

Tucker laughed so hard he choked on his spit, hacking into the speaker.

Dash pulled the phone away from his ear, embarrassed. "Are you done?" He grumbled.

"Never!" Tucker cackled, still choking on his laughter. "Just, just let me get this straight. You, Dash Baxter, are calling me because-" another laugh- "because you want advice on how to woo my best friend?"

Dash sighed, running a hand through his hair and glaring at the notebook in front of him; its front page was covered in scribbled-out ideas and tap marks from his overthinking. "Yes, Tucker, that's exactly what I'm doing."

"Right, right," Tucker murmured sagely. "Are you an idiot?"

"What?" Dash deadpanned, an irk of frustration nipping at his stomach.

"Listen, I mean all offense when I say this," there was a shuffling noise and then Tucker's voice came through more clearly than it had before, "You're blind. And, normally, it's my duty as his best friend to take his secrets to the grave, well, my grave not his since he technically already has one, but this is where I draw the very thin line where betrayal turns into being a good wingman."

"Can you get to the point?"

"Touchy, touchy. What does he see in you?" Tucker chuckled. "The point is that you have him wrapped around your little jock finger. Have you seen how he looks at you?"

Dash swallowed his annoyance at the name-calling. "How does he look at me?"

"Like you hung the stars in the sky just for him. You don't need my help. Whatever you're doing is working just fine."

Dash sighed, his face burning. "It's not- okay, that's cool, but…" he ran a hand down his face, mumbling into the phone. "I don't need help getting him to like me. I need help asking him out."

Tucker was quiet for a moment. "I don't get it. Isn't that the same thing?"

"I should have called Sam," Dash muttered. "Okay, listen… um, we almost kissed yesterday, so I-"

"Holy shit!" Tucker cheered. "Who initiated it? Sam and I have a bet going right now."

"I'm not telling you that." Dash huffed, rolling his pencil around on the desk and readjusting his grip on his phone. "I just need to know if he's ever talked about his ideal first date or anything like that."

"It was you, wasn't it? Danny's too scared to make a first move after Val. Sam totally owes me twenty bucks." There were some typing noises on the line and then Tucker was shifting his focus back to the actual conversation. "Okay, so you want to be all romantic and sappy about it? I don't think he's ever mentioned his ideal first date, but if you need inspiration his favorite romance movie is Pride and Prejudice. Well, Mr. Lancer turned him into a classical literature nerd so any classic romance should be good inspiration. He just likes to have fun. It shouldn't be too hard to pick something he'd like."

Dash scribbled a note on the last blank space on his page. "So, according to Pride and Prejudice, I just have to write him poetry, apologize for being an asshole, get on his family's good side, and then take him somewhere special where I spew more poetry?"

"You can see why you have him so whipped. You've done half of that already." Tucker laughed again, hearty and mixed with snorts. "But, you're putting too much thought into this. He might pass away on the spot, again, if you write him poetry. Just tell him you like him. That'll be enough."

Dash sighed again, rubbing the tension from his forehead. "I don't want it to be enough. I want it to be special, romantic."

"Oh my god!" Tucker guffawed. "It's not like you're taking his virginity, Dash. This isn't complicated."

Dash wrinkled his nose. "You're terrible."

"So I've been told. And yet, you still came to me for help."

Dash sighed, flipping to a clean page in his notebook. "And you kind of did. Thanks, Tucker."

"Just remember to invite me to the wedding."

"What, just so you can steal him from the alter with your cheesy pick-up lines?"

"I am a master at them. You're lucky I'm straight or you probably wouldn't have a chance. Danny is not immune to my charms."

Dash rolled his eyes. "See ya later, Mr. Charmer."

"Later, Sappy Romantic."

Dash laughed and hung up. Okay, he could do poetry. How hard could it be?

After several minutes of staring at a blank page, he sighed and picked his phone back up, dialing Kwan's number.

"Hey bro, what's up?"

"I need you to talk poetry to me."

Danny felt apprehensive before he got to the last stair. Something in his house was wrong. It was colder than normal and he couldn't shake the itch under his skin that someone was invading his space. He could smell something cooking; an odd occurrence for the middle of the day. He stepped into the kitchen and resisted the urge to immediately turn and walk right back out.

Vlad sat at the table, grinning smugly at him. "Oh, good morning, Daniel. How nice of you to join us."

Danny rolled his eyes and ignored him. His mom, who was cooking bacon with a frown, turned to smile at him.

"Hi, Danny!" She beamed. "You look nice today! Are you going somewhere?"

He glanced down; he'd put on some boots Sam had bought him instead of his normal, worn down, red Converse, some black fingerless gloves, pants chains and a planet necklace, and Dash's jacket. "Um." Admittedly, he was psyching himself up to ask Dash on a date and had wanted to look as attractive as possible. He did not want to tell his mom this; especially in front of Vlad. "Sam and I are going to see a movie later."

"When are you going to ask that girl out, Dan-o?" His dad cheered, his mood was always better when Vlad was around. It looked like he was cooking pancakes, but their shapes were anything but a typical circle.

"She's just a friend, Dad," Danny said at the same time Vlad said:

"Odd, I thought you were dating the boy from last night." He curled his lips into a deceitful smile.

Danny glared at him.

"Danny," his dad chided, flipping the pancakes over a little harder than necessary. "How many times have we talked about having people overnight without telling us?"

"Calm down, Jack," His mom hummed, shooting a withering look at Vlad. "It's not like he can get a boy pregnant."

"Dash wasn't over last night," Danny protested, rolling his eyes. "We ran into Vlad at the park."

"The Baxter boy?" His mom asked, her voice all high-pitched and excited.

"At such an odd hour," Vlad mused, talking over his mom. Really, how did he expect to win her over if he couldn't even show her basic respect? "Children can get into such trouble that late."

"I'm not a child," Danny grumbled, walking over to the pantry. It'd be better just to grab a to-go cereal cup and get out of there before he ended up getting in a fistfight with an old man.

His dad grabbed him by the shoulders and steered him back over to the table, forcing him to sit in a chair. "What trouble was he getting into Vlady?" He grabbed the plate of pancakes he'd made and put them on the table. Danny resisted the urge to swat it off the table like an irritable cat.

"Oh, Jack, I'm surprised!" Vlad guffawed. "What is it they say about snitches?" He leveled a keen, evil stare at Danny. "I mean, really, you remember what we were like at that age."

His dad frowned at him. "Danny, do we need to have a talk about drugs?"

"Jack!" His mom chirped as she sat down next to him. "Danny's not like that."

Danny drew in a deep breath through his nose- an anger management tactic Dash had taught him- and crossed his arms, digging his nails into his palms. "No. We were just walking  Dash's dog." He turned his withering glare on Vlad, the next sentence rolling off his tongue coated in venom. "What were you doing in the park so late, Vlady?"

"If you must know, Daniel, I have insomnia."

"Oh, Danny has that too, so I'm sure he understands the struggle." His mom said, nudging him and narrowing her eyes at Vlad.

He gave her a forced, pinched smile. "Hmm, that's funny. Cause it seemed more like you were making idle threats at people."

"Oh, my, didn't anyone teach you to mind your business?" Vlad's voice was smooth like carmalized honey. It made Danny want to punch his teeth in. Vlad stood, probably to be intimidating, and straightened his suit jacket.

His mom cleared her throat. "We," she emphasized the word by reaching out and griping his dad's arm to tug his attention away from the enormous pile of pancakes and bacon on his plate, "taught him everything about how to be a good person. I'm sure Danny has a reason to be concerned."

"Oh, Maddie, I meant no harm. It's just, well, curiosity did kill the cat."

Danny bit his tongue, not wanting to take Vlad's side in any manner, choosing to focus on his response. He also stood, using his height to his advantage. "Sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you down there."

Vlad simply smirked, clicking his tongue. "Jack, it was nice catching up, but it seems I'm not entirely welcome here."

"Nonsense! Danny!" His dad boomed. A small spark of fear ran down Danny's spine and he tried his best to squash it. "What has gotten into you?"

"Nothing." He ground out. He pushed his chair in with his foot and turned to leave the kitchen. "I've got to go anyway."

"Wait!" his mom called. She stopped to wrap some bacon in a paper towel before chasing after him. At least take some food with you."

"Why do you put up with him?" Danny hisses back, begrudgingly taking the peace offering.

She smiled sadly, glancing back at his dad. "He's your father's best friend. Look at how happy he gets when he's around. We can't take that away from him."

"Even with all he's done?" Danny was angry he couldn't tell her the truth; angry that she was the reason he couldn't tell her; angry that because he was scared of his parents, Vlad could get away scot-free.

"Forgiveness is a virtue." She shrugged, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you don't want to stay for breakfast? I'm making monkey bread~!"

"Not if he's here." He brushed her hand off, sighing through his nose. He turned before he could see the smile disappear from her face. "I've got to go."

"Okay, bye, sweetie! I love you!"

He didn't answer, shoving his hands in the pockets of Dash's jacket as he shut the door behind him.

He paced the sidewalk behind Dash's house, his nerves buzzing with anxiety and anticipation.

He could do this.

He'd nearly done it yesterday, the words had almost practically fallen off his tongue. He just had to cough them back up.

What if yesterday was a fluke? Oh, god, what if Dash just liked Phantom better? What if he'd already fucked this whole thing up? What if-

His phone rang. It was Tucker. He exhaled a breath and answered. "Hey."

"Stop freaking out and just tell him, you coward."

Danny frowned. "How'd you know?"

"I've been watching the tracker on your phone pace his house for the last twenty minutes."

"That tracker is for emergencies only." He huffed, sitting on the grass between Dash's fence and the path to the park.

"This is an emergency." Tucker insisted. He could practically feel his grin through the phone. "You're both driving me crazy with your relentless pining. Just kiss him already. For real this time. He might not survive another fake out."

"Both of us?" Danny wheezed, his mind only catching half of those sentences. He twisted his fingers in the grass, ripping a few pieces out. His heart squeezed in his chest.

Tucker hummed. "I have been sworn to secrecy."

"How secret are we talking?" His nerves were jittery; he felt like he needed to run a mile just to burn the excess nerves off.

"I might be persuaded to share. For a price, of course." He teased.

Danny jokingly rolled his eyes. "Next Nastyburger run is on me?"

"You think the price on this kind of information is a simple Nasty Burger? This here is confidential, top secret. You gotta start the bidding higher than that."

"I'll buy the new Doomslayer game for you when it comes out." Danny laughed.

"Make it the deluxe edition and you've got a deal."

"You drive a hard bargain," He exaggerated a sigh. "Alright, deal."

"Yes!" Tucker cheered before clearing his throat. "Okay, so he called me a few hours ago asking me for advice."

Danny wrinkled his nose, tugging up more grass than he meant. He was glad not a lot of people walked this way and wouldn't have to explain to people why he was lurking behind Dash's yard. "He was asking you for advice?"

"I know, crazy, right? Anyway, he wanted to ask you out. But, in his words, 'it has to be special and romantic'. So he wanted to know if I knew what your ideal first date was and-"

"What did you tell him?" He interrupted, heart pounding in his ears.

"All your filthy secrets, naturally. He knows you're a sucker for Jane Austen now." Tucker schmoozed. "The rest you'll just have to find out. You don't want me to spoil all his big plans. Just know he wants to kiss you so bad he's driving himself insane."

"Thanks, Tuck," he wheezed. He wanted to giggle and kick his feet and scream all at the same time. He settled for releasing all the air in his lungs to take a slow, deep, hopefully calming breath.

"Anytime. Now go get your guy so the rest of us can find some peace."

"Har har." Danny laughed as he hung up. He shook out the rest of the nerves from his limbs and peeked over the fence.

Dash was sitting on the balcony, scribbling in a notebook; his brows were furrowed and he was chewing on his lip. He sighed, running a hand down his face, turning the page, and starting over.

Danny smiled softly, a warm feeling settling in his chest. A scene from a play swept through his mind and he grinned, half an idea forming in his mind. He composed a few sentences in his brain, letting each one roll around for a moment before tossing them out. He cringed.

Get it together, Fenton.

"C'mon, just pick something that isn't stupid." He muttered. His phone buzzed.

Tucker: Coward

Danny: I'm going!!!! Tracker is for emergencies only :(

Tucker: Coward

Danny didn't respond. He took a deep breath, turned intangible (and invisible), and walked through the fence. He slowly made his way across the yard, trying a few more sentences in his head, before stopping under the balcony. His hands were shaking ever so slightly; he shoved them in the pockets of Dash's jacket. He returned to a tangible, visible state, putting on his best, fake confident smile.

"Do you work for NASA? Cause your beauty is out of this world." And he promptly wanted to bite his tongue off and disappear forever. That was probably the worst thing he'd ever said out loud. So much for not picking something stupid.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Dash jumped, bumping his knee on the table and dropping his pencil. It rolled across the floor and dropped from the balcony. He stood, tiptoeing to the edge, and glared down. "Danny? What in the fuck are you doing down there?"

"Oh, I was just… in the neighborhood and decided to stop by." He could feel his face burning as he bent down to pick up Dash's pencil.

"Uh-huh," Dash mused, his face also a pretty shade of red. He leaned on the rail, head resting in one hand as he stared down. "Dressed like that and spouting pick-up lines?"

Danny couldn't help the nervous giggle that bubbled up his throat. "Ha-ha, is, uh, is the way I'm dressed a problem?"

Dash's eyes slid across his form, making him feel like he was about to catch fire. Dash hummed. "Mixing the emo aesthetic with a jock jacket is kind of out there. But I guess you make it work."

Danny's heart stuttered. So far so good. "You guess?"

Dash cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, what had you in the neighborhood? Ghost attack?"

Danny shook his head. "I just wanted to see you."

"Oh," Dash's voice trembled. He leaned back, white-knuckling the railing.

Feeling brave, Danny floated up to the balcony, nearly tripping from the added effort of ghost powers in his human form, as he stood on the edge and planted his hands right next to Dash's- their skin brushing. He tried his best not to show how out of breath he was from such a simple action. The narrow railing was the only thing separating them. He tucked the pencil behind Dash's ear.

"I have it on good authority that you wanted to see me too." His bones felt like jello, weak under the pounding of his nerves.

Dash frowned, the red on his face deepening. "That snitch."

"I like you," Danny breathed, unable to contain it any longer lest his nerves get the better of him. "I like you a lot."

"Oh," Dash squeaked, his breath hitching, lungs refusing to work.

Danny pushed the rest of his words out, easier once he'd started. "I like your smile."

He trailed a finger over the back of Dash's hand. "I like that you're funny. I like how determined you are."

He pulled at Dash's hand until he let go of the railing and turned it over, threading their fingers together. Dash inhaled, his eyes firmly glued on Danny's lips.

"I like that you're stupidly brave. God, I love your laugh-"

Dash silenced him, placing a finger over his lips. "Danny," he breathed, "I might die if you keep talking."

Danny grinned, pulling Dash's hand away from his face. "We don't need to talk."

"God," Dash dropped his hand, burying it in Danny's collar, "shut up." He yanked him down, pushing up on his tiptoes, and smushed their lips together.

It was gentle, a small, heat-filled press of lips against lips; it was drastically different from the panic-induced frenzy from last time. Danny sighed, dragging their lips together again; and again because he could; and again because he wanted to.

He let go of Dash's hand, bringing his hands up to cradle Dash's face. He pulled him closer, giggling as he almost lost his balance. Dash grabbed him by his sleeves to keep him from toppling onto the lawn below. Danny gently, slowly, without breaking the kiss, pushed him back so he could phase through the railing and lean back against it. He was dizzy, head over heels, his mind blank of coherent thought. A bright, happy feeling bubbled up his throat, forcing him to giggle again.

"I can't kiss you if you keep giggling," Dash breathed against his mouth, sliding his hands up Danny's arms to wrap them around his shoulders.

He giggled again anyway. "Sorry, I'm just…" He kissed him again, reveling in how Dash held him in his arms. The heat behind his eyes and in his throat was almost too much, he felt like he was going to implode. "…happy, is all."

Dash blinked his eyes open, afraid to miss Danny's smile. They were still incredibly close, pulling away only far enough to catch their breath. "Is that new for you?"

"It's rare." Danny traced his hands down Dash's neck, brushing his thumbs over his jaw. "Lately, I feel it a lot around you."

"Shut up," Dash groaned, tugging him down into another kiss. The longer they kissed the more Dash's neck started to ache from reaching up; he couldn't stand on his toes forever. "You're too tall," he whined.

Danny laughed. "I don't know how to fix that."

"I do." Dash steered him by his shoulders toward one of the chairs and pushed him down. Danny's hands found his hips as Dash pushed forward between his knees, kissing him again now that he didn't have to strain his neck as much.

"Better?" Danny whispered, a hint of a giggle still on his lips.

"Better," Dash sighed into his mouth. He buried his fingers in Danny's hair.

If he was being honest with himself, Danny didn't have a ton of experience with kissing- kissing for real and not just to keep his parents from finding out who he is. Not that he hadn't kissed someone for real; a few with Valerie their freshman year, but those were mostly pecks, and he'd made out with Tucker once when he'd figured out he was bi and Tucker was most definitely not. It was the only time he'd kissed someone with his tongue.

Until Dash was coaxing his mouth open, letting his tongue linger on his bottom lip. He gasped, digging his fingers into Dash's hips. This kiss was different, unpracticed, and sloppy- like neither of them really knew what they were doing. But, Danny was happy to explore; to find out what Dash liked and didn't like. He wanted to learn everything that Dash would let him learn about loving him.

Dash hummed, wanting to melt into the fire that burned behind his eyes, across his face, in his chest, under Danny's hands. God, Danny's hands were everywhere, on his hips, trailing over his arms, cradling his face, scratching his back. It made him dizzy.

It made him nervous.

He'd never kissed anyone before. Besides the last time in the alley, this was his first kiss. He was running purely on instinct (and the limited knowledge he had gleaned from shitty romcoms). He trailed his hands down Danny's neck and shoulders, catching every breathy noise Danny made; every sigh, every tug of his lips added fuel to the fire in his chest.

He pulled away to breathe, heart jumping when Danny whined and chased after him. "I like you too." He huffed, dragging air into his aching lungs.

Danny blinked his eyes open, dazed and grinning. "Yeah, I kind of guessed by the way your tongue was in my mouth."

Dash wrinkled his nose, laughing. "You're impossible."

Danny pushed their foreheads together. "I'd like it there again."

"Gross." Dash softly shook his head. "I just need to catch my breath."

Danny gave him a lazy smile, pressing a kiss to his cheek, followed by another one on his jaw. And then one right under his ear. And on lower down his neck.

"Oh," He breathed.

Danny tugged him closer, his fingers curling in his short hair. "Is this okay?" He murmured against his skin.

"Yes." Dash melted into him, bracing himself with his hands on Danny's hips. Another kiss at his pulse point had him completely weak in the knees. He made a startled sound in the back of his throat when Danny caught his flesh between his teeth. Any coherent thoughts he had slipped from his mind. "Hey, I, um," He muttered, almost incapable of speaking at all, "I wanted to, to say, um- fuck."

He could feel Danny's smirk against his neck. "Distracted, Dash?"

He dug his fingers into Danny's hips, the sound of his name dripping from his lips made his toes curl. "Danny, I'm serious." His voice was shaking. Danny hummed, tracing his lips back under his jaw. "I like you. A lot. I really, really, really like you."

He dipped his head, catching Danny's lips again. He pushed every fervent, soft, extreme feeling he felt for him against his lips. He whispered against them as he gasped for air again. "I was going to-"

The balcony door clicked open. "Sweetie, what's with the basket in the…" Dash's mom froze, blinking at them for a long moment before she sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I owe your grandma twenty bucks now."

"Mom!" Dash squeaked, pulling away from Danny who nearly fell off the chair. "What are- um- I can exp- what are you doing home?!"

Danny cleared his throat, waving. "Hi, Jessica."

"Hi, Danny." She chuckled. "They sent me home because they were overstaffed. A once in a lifetime event. You two are being safe out here, yeah?"

"Mom, we talked about this!" He spluttered.

"I know. It's mostly a joke. If you change your mind you do know how-"

"I won't. Just, please, stop talking." He sighed, covering his face with his hands. He wanted to sink through the floor and hide for at least a century.

Danny placed a hand over his heart. "I swear on my grave that there will be no hanky panky tonight or any other night." He couldn't resist the tiny laugh that escaped him.

Scratch that- he wanted to hide for two centuries. "I hate you both."He muttered. "Yes, Mom, I paid attention in health class. No, I will not be needing that information. Thanks for the concern but please just drop it."

She jokingly tossed her hands in the air. "As long as you know, that's all that matters. Well, I wanted to ask you what the basket in the fridge was all about?"

"You know, most parents who walk in on their kids making out, leave, like immediately." Dash huffed. Danny was having a hard time not laughing.

"Alright, pushy. Sorry, you two can get back to it." She waved and disappeared back inside.

Dash didn't even have time to wallow or contemplate his death before Danny was cackling so hard he almost couldn't breathe. He turned and shoved his hands over Danny's mouth. "Oh my god, shut up."

"It's just-" Danny laughed between his fingers, "it's just hilarious."

"It's really not," Dash huffed, trying to shove every bit of embarrassment he felt down. Neither his mom nor Danny would ever let him live this down.

"I can't breathe!" Danny reached up to tug Dash's hands off, twining their fingers together, still shaking with laughter.

"I thought you didn't need to breathe?" Dash questioned, distracted by the way Danny's eyes lit up.

"As Phantom, I don't. But my human lungs still need oxygen." Danny pulled him closer again, shifting the mood the tiniest bit.

Dash swallowed nervously, unsure how to navigate this situation now that he wasn't running on excitement and adrenaline. He couldn't shake the anxiety from his limbs. "What, um, what am I telling her later?"

"What do you mean?" Danny fidgeted with their fingers. His eyes held uncertainty, an emotion Dash had never seen there.

He drew in a breath. "I mean… what are we now?" His voice squeaked a little and he wanted to jump off the balcony.

"Well," Danny's eyes flickered to the side, tension coiling in his shoulders, "I was hoping… boyfriends? Is… is that what you want?"

"Yes." Dash exhaled, feeling lightheaded. "Yes, I want that."

"Cool," Danny breathed, all the apprehension falling from his form. "Then that's what you tell her.

Dash felt unsteady, like he was standing on a ship that wasn't used to being on the ocean. He wasn't sure how to, but he wanted to get back to kissing him again. Was that even something you could do after being interrupted by a parental figure? He wished he had more experience with relationships. "What about your parents? Do you want to tell them or should we keep it a secret?"

Danny bit his lip, averting his gaze again. "I'm not… against telling them. I just…" He sighed. "They're a lot. Like, a lot. They can say things that are, mean, and I don't want to overwhelm you or-"

"Danny," Dash murmured reassuringly, leaning their foreheads together, "I handled them almost killing you, twice, and then trying to ground you over it. If you want to tell them, I think I can handle whatever boyfriend rules or insults they have." The word was tantalizing on his tongue; boyfriend.

Danny smiled at him, not the blinding grin he usually wore, something smaller and more genuine. "Okay. I'll tell them when they're in a good mood."

"Is there anyone you don't want to tell?"

Danny shook his head. "No. You?"

"No." Dash wasn't sure what else he was supposed to ask about a new relationship. He knew there was probably a lot that he was forgetting. Thankfully, Danny didn't seem to be as tongue-tied as he was.

"I didn't know you wore chapstick." Danny licked his lips, a teasing glint in his eyes. He leaned up, capturing Dash's lips again.

"Uh, yeah," Dash's brain was fuzzy. It was hard to focus or speak as every word dragged across Danny's lips. "Um, sports can be… uh, dehydrating, so… I, uh-"

Danny giggled, silencing him with another gentle kiss. "Can I take you on a date?"

Dash blinked his eyes open, startled. "Right now?"

Danny shrugged. "If you're not busy."

He let his gaze drop back to Danny's lips, quirking an eyebrow playfully. "I might be a bit busy."

Danny laughed; Dash's favorite laugh, the one that was deep and nothing but pure joy. Dash kissed it off his lips, because he didn't have to crush that urge anymore; because he liked him back. The thought made him dizzy.

"You know you're kind of a dick, right?" Dash said as he pulled away to breathe.

"What?" Danny startled. "What did I do?"

"I was going to ask you first. I called Tucker and everything." He gestured toward his notebook, forgetting that his hands were woven with Danny's.

"Oh," Danny glances over, the red on his face almost glowing. He leaned back, untangling their fingers. His smile was blinding. "Go ahead."

Dash froze, chuckling nervously. He grabbed for the notebook; this was a lot scarier when Danny was looking at him like he held the world in his hands. At least he knew what Danny's answer would be. He cleared his throat, clutching the notebook to his chest as Danny tried to peek over the edge. "Someone kind of interrupted me. So, it's not finished, just," he took a deep breath as he passed it over, "Just keep that in mind as you read."

"You wrote me a letter?" Danny asked, accepting the notebook tenderly.

"Uh, it's more of a poem, actually." Dash's stomach churned and his nerves felt like they were going to combust as Danny's eyes scanned the page. "Kwan helped me with most of it so don't go thinking I'm some kind of epic poet. I had to google a lot of words that rhymed but still made sense-"

"You wrote this… for me?" Danny whispered, his eyes watering as they moved over the page a second time.

"Yeah, it's not done yet," he tittered, "but I was going to give this to you and then ask-" He was cut off as Danny placed the notebook on the table, stood up, and enveloped him in a crushing hug, burying his face in his neck. His fingers tightly grasped Dash's shirt; he was shaking.

"Thank you," He whimpered.

Dash didn't hesitate to hug him back- though he did nearly laugh as a memory of consoling Danny on his balcony before flashed through his mind. He held him just as tenderly as he did then, not daring to let go before Danny was ready. He was perfectly content to stay in his arms as long as he needed. The chill of his skin didn't even seem to bother him anymore.

"No one's ever written me poetry before." Danny sniffled, his arms squeezing him tighter if that was even possible.

"What?" Dash scoffed jokingly. "You mean no one's ever compared your eyes to stars before?"

Danny sighed. "Not in iambic pentameter, and not both of them in the same breath. Usually, people just look for green."

"Both of them are you." Dash pulled away to look into the very eyes he was talking about. "And I like you, Danny, no matter if your eyes are blue or green. You've bewitched me-"

Danny cackled, pure and uncontrolled, pulling away enough to wipe the tears from his eyes. "You are not about to quote Pride and Prejudice at me!"

"Tucker said it was your favorite." Dash simply shrugged, a loving, gentle smile on his lips. "Will you go out with me?"

"Yes." Danny closed his eyes, leaning their foreheads together. "Sorry, I ruined your really cool plan."

"I'm not." Dash chuckled. "A bad pick-up line is a good way to ask someone out too."

"Oh my god," Danny groaned. "Can we please forget I said that?"

"Not on your afterlife."

"In my defense, I didn't have a plan."

"Wearing my jacket and impersonating Romeo was improvised, huh?" Dash tugged at the bottom of the jacket before cradling Danny's face; he brushed his thumbs over Danny's cheekbones, marveling at the faint freckles that lay there. They were less prominent when they weren't glowing green, but they were still enchanting nonetheless.

"I think it's my jacket now," Danny murmured.

"Really? I think it's my name embroidered on there."

"Mmhmm," Danny hummed, "and I get boyfriend privileges now. That's like the biggest perk of dating a jock."

"You've had that since before you received those privileges."

"You never asked for it back."

Dash didn't answer, his face burning. They both knew why he never asked. Danny leaned in, crushing their lips together again. Dash kind of loved how easy this was becoming for them.

This kiss was different. It was heavier, carrying the weight of a message they were trying to communicate. It left him reeling, his head swimming, butterflies making tornadoes in his stomach. Danny tugged his lip with his teeth as he pulled back.

Dash made a strangled sound in the back of his throat, chasing after him. Danny huffed a laugh, dropping his hands to Dash's hips and holding him in place. "You had a whole date planned?"

"Yeah," Dash huffed, catching his breath. "There's supposed to be a meteor shower tonight, so I was thinking a picnic? On that hill behind the observatory?"

"Poetry, the stars, and your cooking all in one day? Are you trying to kill me?" He squeezed his hips.

Dash wanted to melt on the spot. "I was trying to woo you, as Tucker puts it."

Danny smiled, leaning down to press one more lingering kiss against his lips. "Consider me wooed."

"Cool," Dash sighed, like an idiot. He cringed, taking a step back to clear Danny from his personal space so he could start to think again. "Um, I have a picnic basket in the fridge." He turned to head back inside.

"Hey," Danny whispered, "You forgot something."

Dash turned around, eyebrows raised. Danny was holding out his hand. "Oh." He reached back, intertwining their fingers.

Danny was absolutely giddy as Dash rushed them out of the house to avoid the teasing from his mom. He placed the basket on Danny's lap as they settled into the car. He slapped Danny's hand away when he tried to peek inside. "No peeking. It's a surprise."

"Well, now I just wanna peek more." Danny teased, feeling lighter than he had in weeks.

"Contain yourself. It's only like a five-minute drive." Dash playfully rolled his eyes and pulled out of the driveway.

"Aye, aye, captain." Danny put his seatbelt on and settled into the semi-comfortable silence that blanketed the car.

After a moment, he turned to Dash, leaning on the armrest. "What's your favorite color?"

Dash huffed a laugh, raising an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously." Danny playfully protested. "I know a lot about you, but I don't know everything."

"And my favorite color is that important?" Dash flicked on his blinker. Even though he was dodging the question, Danny could tell he was super nervous. Which he thought was odd considering how not nervous he had been on the balcony.

"Yes. I know some of your greatest worries. I know your favorite hobbies. What I don't know is what your favorite color is. Or what your favorite drink is. What if I'm in the checkout line at 7-Eleven and I don't know what to get you? What kind of boyfriend would that make me?"

"The kind that gets their partner a generic Pepsi product and hopes it's right." Dash grinned.

"Exactly. And what if you didn't like Pepsi? What if you were like Sam and you'd murder me on the spot if I even thought of bringing you a big corporate anti-earth plastic bottle?" He had the urge to reach out and hold his hand again, but Dash seemed to take driving extremely seriously and didn't want to distract him.

Dash rolled his eyes, his smile still plastered on his face. Danny liked his smile. "If you must know, I'm more of a Gatorade person."

"That's a very jock answer." He teased.

"Do not dis the advantages of staying hydrated. You could probably use more electrolytes since you lose a lot when you bleed everywhere."

Danny's smile didn't waver. "I think you're dodging the original question."

Dash turned onto the observatory road. "Orange."

Danny let his eyes wander over him. "That suits you."

"What does that mean?" Dash parked in the same spot they had parked in last time.

"Orange is a brave color."

"I'm not brave."

"I think you are." Danny opened the car door and stepped out, carefully holding the picnic basket so it wouldn't spill anything it was carrying. He leaned against the car, dipping his head back inside to check on Dash. "Are you coming?"

Dash spluttered, his face that pretty shade of red again. "You really think I'm brave?"

"I think you'd be braver if you got out of the car and came over here." He grinned.

Dash climbed out of the car and took his time walking around to the passenger side. Danny's heart lept as he approached; he pressed his back against the car, grasping the basket for dear life.

Dash leaned closer, his hand winding around the basket handle, gently prying it from his fingers. He pushed up on his tiptoes, his lips right next to Danny's ear. "You're gonna have to try harder than that." He pulled away, turning to lead the way up the hill.

Danny released the air he was holding in his lungs, his knees weak. He took only a second to collect his thoughts before chasing after Dash- who had stopped to make sure he was following. He took the hand he was offering.

"What's yours?" Dash asked as they climbed the hill.

"What?" Danny breathed.

"Your favorite color." Dash laughed.

"Oh, right. Dark blue."

Dash hummed. "Like space?" They reached the top and Dash let go of Danny's hand to pull a blanket out of the basket and smooth it across the ground.

"Yeah, actually. I guess I'm getting a bit predictable, huh?"

Dash scoffed. "You? Predictable? Please, that's as likely as the tennis team actually winning a game."

"I know you said you weren't super into football anymore," Danny started, sitting next to him, "but you were on pretty much every sports team we had. Is there another sport you like better?"

Dash thought about it for a moment as he pulled out paper plates and cups and Tupperware full of chicken salad and croissants. "Yeah, I mean, I really liked track and baseball wasn't bad either."

"Do you think you'd do either in college?"

"Amity Community doesn't have a baseball team. But, yeah. I might try out for track. I hadn't really thought about it. What about you? Are you doing any extracurriculars?"

Danny sighed, his shoulders slumping. "I mean, the NASA club might be cool, but being a part-time superhero doesn't really leave a lot of room for time commitments."

"Oh, right." Dash frowned. "I keep forgetting about that."

Danny chuckled weakly. "At least one of us can."

"I had a question about that actually." Dash passed him a plate full of delicious-looking picnic foods.

Danny found himself a little tense, though he had no idea why. Dash had more than proven trustworthy. "Yeah?"

"Dani, your cousin- which is odd that your family did that with the names- mentioned that she'd been in space. Since you're such a space nerd, does that mean you've gone too?"

All the tension drained from him. "Yeah. I have. A lot actually."

"How does that work? Is it because you're dead so you're not going to have your sweat glands explode or anything?" Dash poured them both some juice before closing the basket up.

"I'm not actually sure. I think so? This," he gestured to the sandwich he was eating, "this is fucking phenomenal."

"Thanks." Dash smiled. "How'd you even find out you could survive in space anyway?"

"Uh, that's kind of a long story." Danny started from the beginning of his and Valerie's story; from when she got kicked out of their group because of him, to the rivalry he accidentally started, to Vlad basically grooming her, to the fight with Technus.

"She chased you into space? How did she survive?" Dash gasped, his pasta half-forgotten.

"I think it was something Technus did to her suit. I'm not sure ghosts are purely scientific. Sometimes the things we create and touch alter the way physics works. I don't want to say magic, but it's like a different set of physics." Danny had not forgotten his food and was half chewing as he spoke.

"Huh, okay. And how'd she take it when she found out? I mean, you guys are friends still-"

Danny shook his head. "It took her a long time to forgive me. To say she was pissed is an understatement. I think she wanted to kill me even more if that was possible."

"Is it because her and Fenton were dating and her and Phantom were mortal enemies?"

Danny took another bite and finished chewing before answering. "Kind of. But it was more that everyone in her life at the time was betraying her, her friends, her boyfriend, her mentor. It was like everywhere she turned she found more people she couldn't trust."

"And that's why you guys broke up Sophomore year?" Dash took a sip of juice, mostly for something for his hands to do.

"Yeah. At least she had stopped shooting at me." He chuckled weakly.

"So, how did you guys get to be friends again?"

"Ah, well. That's another long story." Danny glanced at Dash. He was always looking at him like every word Danny said deserved to be tattooed on his skin. It made him all the more worried that there'd be a line that he'd cross and Dash would decide he wanted nothing more to do with all this crazy ghost stuff.

"You promised me you'd tell me all the long stories. Don't tell me my boyfriend is already going back on his first promise." Dash teased.

Danny sighed, a giggle on his lips. "Okay, you're right. Well, she met my cousin." He finished the story by telling him how Vlad had hunted Dani down using Valerie and when Valerie had seen her begging for her life she made a deal with Danny to save her in exchange for handing him over. But then they'd exposed Vlad and she dropped everything just to hunt the man who'd been lying to her and putting her in danger the whole time.

"Dani and I eventually talked her out of hunting him to the ends of the earth. And somewhat out of ghost hunting. She's channeling all that energy into college now. She's going to be a resource officer for kids in situations similar to hers. It's really cool of her."

"Wow, I had no idea she was going through so much. Or you. I mean, I've never been forcibly cloned but I can't imagine that was a fun experience."

Danny shrugged. "It's not, but I can hardly remember it. I've been tortured so many times, it starts to get hard to keep track of anything but the feeling of pain, you know." He'd meant it as a form of a dark joke, but one look at Dash's face had him regretting it.

"I'm sorry you ever had to deal with that much pain," Dash uttered, his voice shaking.

Danny reached for his hand. "I try not to think about it. It's just part of the job."

"That doesn't make it okay."

Danny shook his head. "No, it doesn't. But, I can't change it. I can only do my best to prevent more of it."

"Can I help?"

"Dash you don't have to-"

"But, I want to help you. I know you have Tucker and Sam, and Valerie, and your cousin, and Jazz, but I want to help too. I mean, you're my partner now and I don't want to be useless if you need me-"

Danny squeezed his hand. "Dash, you're not useless. You've saved my life twice. You don't need to be a fighter to protect me."

"This isn't about my feelings. I want to be able to help you so you don't have to go through any more torture. Or at the very least I want to be able to protect myself so that it doesn't put you at risk when you have to worry about me."

Danny sighed, crawling over to pull Dash into a tight hug. "Okay. Okay, can we talk about this later? This is a date and I refuse to bring down the mood. It's your turn."

"My turn?" Dash asked, voice still shaking.

"Yup. You need to tell me one of your tragic ex stories now. It's only fair." Danny busied his hands with picking up their plates and tucking them on the other side of the basket. He shoved the melancholy and memories of pain away.

Dash forced a breath out of his nose. He kept his eyes glued to the blanket. "Uh, I don't have any tragic ex stories."

Danny stopped, glancing over at him. "Not even pre-coming-out? I know I saw you flirting with Paulina a lot during Freshman year."

Dash shrugged, his ears turning red as he avoided eye contact. "Yeah, uh, she could tell I never really meant it. But, I've, I've never been in a relationship. I've never even kissed anyone before you. It's kind of why I didn't tell you how I felt for so long. I wasn't sure how."

"Oh," Danny breathed. "Oh! My bad. I didn't mean to make your first kiss a life-or-death situation." His heart didn't know how to feel about the confession.

"Really? You could have fooled me." Dash teased, distracting himself by fidgeting with the edge of the blanket. It was starting to get chill out as the sun finally dipped beneath the horizon. "It's fine. I think you made up for it on my balcony."

"Can I… ask how long you've liked me?" Danny's nerves were buzzing again, the pounding in his ears drowning out the sounds from the field around them.

"You or Phantom you?"

Danny shrugged, his lungs feeling gooey. "Both."

"Well, I don't think it's a secret that I've liked Phantom for a long time. Hell, that time Skulker was chasing us around your house I thought I made it pretty obvious. You hanging out with me as Phantom recently did nothing to help me get over my celebrity crush. As for when I noticed I liked Fenton as well, I think it was senior ditch day but I threw myself into a deep trench of denial." Dash forced the air from his lungs like he was pushing the weight of his words off him. He looked up and made eye contact for the first time since the question was asked. "You?"

Danny was about to turn into a giggling mess again. He couldn't believe how blind he'd been. "Whatever trench you were in, I'm sure mine was deeper. I hate to admit it, and if you ever tell them this I'll deny it, but I think Sam and Tucker were right. That day you saved me from my parents, when they shot my arm, was probably when it started. I think it's what drove me to basically force you to hang out with us."

"You didn't force me to do anything." Dash leaned closer, his eyes dropping to Danny's lips. "I'm so glad my therapy session ran late that day."

"Me too." Danny sighed, sliding his hands over Dash's arms and tugging him closer. His heart was beating too fast and with too many feelings for him to keep contained. "You should kiss me."

"We might miss the meteor shower if we get… distracted." Despite his protesting, Dash brought his hands up to cradle Danny's face.

"I don't mind." Danny leaned back, nearly pulling Dash into his lap. He wanted to get as close as possible; as close as Dash was comfortable with. "Please, kiss me."

Dash kissed him; kissed him sweetly, with just as many uncontainable feelings. He kissed him with such tenderness that Danny had a hard time believing him when he said he'd never kissed anyone before. Dash's arms and lips were quickly becoming Danny's favorite place to be.

They missed the meteor shower.

Y'all chapter 6 is genuinely one of my most favorite things I've ever written. I'm smitten. And I'm trucking. It'll definitely be out in a day or two. I hope yall like it just as much as I do