Ohkay, so, because I'm strange, I've decided that I'm going to try my hand at a DannyPhantom challenge. There are 101 words that I must write oneshots to. So, this is gonna be my first ever DP works, and since it's been a while since I've seen the show - darn my father for not buying that channel! D: - things may be wrong and characters may be OOC. Just fair warning. So, the list of words can be found in the challenge named 101 Oneshot Challenge by I-luv-Aang-Percy-Danny.
Now, to make things work, these oneshots will be scattered all around. Some in AU, some in canon, some when the trio (Danny, Sam, and Tucker) are little kids, when they're the age they are in the show, when they're middle aged, where they're super old. So, it's all just another fair warning. Oh, and there may be OCs to fill spaces I need to be filled. I'll be doing whichever word I get inspiration for, but when I've got nothing, I'll probably go in order.
So, without further A/Ns from me except this: I don't own Danny Phantom or anything else you may recognize, I give you the first oneshot!
41. Crayon
I Knew Then
AU. Sam's POV
When I was younger, my two best friends were boys. To be exact, my two best friends were Danny Fenton and Tucker Foley. When we first met, back in kindergarten, we didn't hit it off too well. Tucker loved to stuff his face with meat, I hated - still do, to be honest - how he stuffed his face with meat seeing as I'm a vegetarian, and Danny was completely oblivious to the fact that Tucker and I weren't exactly planning on becoming friends soon. He pushed to bring us together, only because Tucker was the first person who had been nice to him when the two of us - we're neighbors - walked into the classroom. He was totally convinced we were supposed to become best friends because of that.
I can't blame him for it. I've actually grown quite fond of Tuck; we're practically siblings now. But, I was young then. I didn't want to be friends with some guy who stuffed his face with those poor, defenseless animals! So, I refused. I refused to believe Danny's logic, and I ignored every attempt he had done to try and get us to be friends. Tucker did the same. Now, looking back on it, I feel kind of bad for Danny. We put him in the middle. He hated deciding between two people he cares about, still does as a matter of fact.
Eventually, we did become friends. It was kind of reluctant, but I can safely say it was all Danny's fault. He was the one who woke up late, he was the one who absolutely had to eat his breakfast in the house rather than eat it on the way, and he was the reason we were late that day. The class was being grouped into trios by the time we got there, and we were stuck in a group with Tucker. Had we been earlier, this might not have been the case. But no, someone had to eat his Lucky Charms at home.
Our assignment was to draw a picture of anything, absolutely anything we wanted, but it had to have the vote from all three of us. It was supposed to help us get along with each other, apparently. Yeah, we didn't really get around to drawing that day. I still remember the arguing, the fighting, the biting - that was all on my part, I'll take the blame - and the screaming "FINE!" that resounded across the room before we were all pulled away for a time-out. When we got back together fifteen minutes later, we were friends. I can't really explain how because I don't really remember. All I remember is that I respected Tuck a bit more now. Most people tend not to argue with the little girl in black and purple.
That was the day our great friendship started. I know people look at us, see how close we are, and think 'Wow, they must've been friends for forever!'. I guess that's true; it does feel like we've been friends forever. But, we've had our fights. I won't tell you about all of them, seeing as some of them were stupid and petty, but there is one in particular I'd like to share. This one is special, but if I'm going to tell this story, I'll tell it from the beginning.
So, okay, we'd been best friends for a couple years, we were in third grade now, blah blah blah. That's all regular boring stuff. It is very important you know that, though. It was just a regular day, we were coloring pages since it was the day before Spring Break and our teachers didn't want to give us any work. Danny was sitting between Tucker and me, and he leaned over to ask me if he could borrow my bright, sky blue crayon. He had broken his again. I don't know what it is, and Tuck doesn't know either, but for some strange reason, Danny's crayons can never make it through a school year. Not even now.
"Sam? Sam, could I borrow your blue crayon? The sky blue one?" he whispered, eyes focused on his paper. The giant white area where blue should be. I rolled my eyes but searched through my crayon box, rolling the crayon he asked for towards him.
"Just give it back when you're done," I mumbled back, coloring the dark green frog jumping over the water.
"'Kay. Thanks, Sam." With that, he smiled at me and started to furiously scribble.
We were all so focused on our coloring that we hadn't realized how much time had passed before our teacher called for us to clean up. She seemed to mess up on her timing, though, since the bell rang just after she'd said it. Suddenly, there were nine-year-olds frantically running around, trying to clean up as fast as possible so as to enjoy the freedom of Spring Break! In all that hurry, Danny forgot to give me my crayon back. To be honest, I forgot all about it, too.
Eventually, though, I remembered it, after it was too late to get it back. That sky blue crayon was my favorite one, which had been no secret back then. It still is, but I also still don't have it back.
"What do you mean, you're moving!" Tucker and I, now ten-years-old and fresh out of the fourth grade, shouted in unison, glaring down our best friend as he stood there. He ducked his head, plopping down on the swing as the two of us stayed put, my hands on my hips and Tucker frowning.
"I mean, I'm moving. To some place," he mumbled, looking awfully pathetic. I pressed my lips together, thinking. With a sigh, my arms fell to my side as I sat down on the swing next to him.
"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" I asked, turned to him. He meekly lifted his head up to look at me.
"Because I didn't know sooner."
"Your parents just told you now?" There was something like exasperation in his eyes, eyebrow raised as he leaned against the pole, the one that was part of the swing.
Danny nodded, awkwardly shuffling his feet beneath the swing. I started to rock, but my feet were firmly planted on the ground.
"When are you leaving?" I questioned after a moment of silence.
The silence reigned again for a while, until Danny muttered, "Next Wednesday."
"Next Wednesday!" Tucker and I both yelled at the same time again, eyes wide.
"Tha-that's only five days away!" Tucker continued, frowning. "We can't fit all of our plans in five days!"
"We need much longer than that!" I agreed, nodding my head fiercely. "Tell them to postpone or something!"
"We can't," Danny pouted. "I asked if I could stay, and they said no, so I asked them if we could stay longer, and they said we couldn't because Dad had to get to his new job right away." Jack Fenton, Danny's dad, was part of the company that ran the hugest candy store business ever, Hershey's. It was awesome because this meant there was always chocolate in the Fenton house.
"Oh..." The three of us were silent again before Tucker shook his head.
"What, Tuck?" I grumbled, glancing at him out of the corner of my amethyst eyes.
"We're not gonna sit around here moping! There's fun to be had!" With that, he grabbed both of our hands, and we were off to have the best five days of our lives.
That Friday, we spent the entire after running after each other in the park, kicking sand at each other and racing down slides and stairs and across bridges and dangerous lava. Saturday, we spenwere at a water park Danny begged his parents to go to all day. Sunday, we used up the whole day and night to watch movies at my house. Monday was the day we played video games at Tucker's, and Tuesday we spent sleeping over at Danny's with his older sister, Jazz.
Wednesday was the day he was moving, away from Amity Park, California to somewhere near New York, New York. That's all the way on the other side of the country! I didn't want him to leave. I could see Tucker felt that way, too. There were tearful goodbyes, and hugs were given all around. Then, it was just me, Tuck, and Danny.
"Well..." Danny trailed off, looking down at his feet. His hand gripped the handle of his suitcase. Everything else was already cargo on the plane. "I guess I'll be seeing you."
"Here, Danny." Both boys looked at me as I pulled out two, prettily wrapped boxes. I saw Danny's bright blue eyes light up as he took one, the smaller one. He pulled off the top - I was being practical and wrapped the lid separately so it wasn't so hard to open in an airport - and he grinned, though he looked a bit confused.
"It's a webcam," Tucker noted, looking over Danny's shoulder.
"So it is..."
"That means we can chat over video calling, Danny!" I laughed, Tucker joining in as realization dawned in Danny's eyes. He was so slow sometimes.
"Oh! That's awesome, Sam. Thanks!" He gave me a huge hug before tucking the small box into his suitcase. "What about that one?" He pointed to the bigger, yet flatter box.
"Oh, this one's more special." With a raised eyebrow, he took it from my extended hands and removed the top, peering inside. His lips made an 'o' shape as he caught sight of his second gift, from both me and Tuck.
It was a picture frame filled with three pictures. One was from way back in kindergarten, when we became friends as you've learned. The one in the middle was of second grade, when we had a huge water fight. The three of us were all back to back and smiling widely, getting thoroughly soaked by our other friends, both outside the shot and within in the background. The final picture was the most recent one, the one we took while just relaxing in my home theater. Tuck signed on one corner, and I signed on the other opposite his.
Suddenly, Danny had us in a group hug. Tuck and I just hugged back, and I knew we were all secretly burning this moment into our minds. We wouldn't see Danny for a long, long time, if we ever saw him again at all.
"I'll miss you guys," he mumbled into our shoulders.
"We'll miss you, too, Danny." The hug was tightened before we back away from each other, smiling.
There's not much else to it. Danny got on the plane, Tucker and I kept waving until the plane was out of sight even though we knew he couldn't possibly see us, and then we left. That was it. Danny was gone.
...And the jerk still has my sky blue crayon!
But, no worries, I'm not mad at him for stealing my favorite crayon anymore.
Third Person POV
As Sam, now twenty-one, slept peacefully in her bed, the slightly open window let a small breeze in. The papers on her desk fluttered a bit before settling back down. There was one, however, that was held down by a box of crayons.
Sam, it said on the paper.
I know it's been a couple years since we've seen each other, what with being a bit too busy with our lives to have cross country visits or even talk on video chats anymore. But I wanted to tell you that I really miss you. And to apologize.
Apologize for what, you may ask? Like you don't know. I never knew it, and I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to take your favorite crayon when I left! Please don't be mad at me, Sam! So I was gonna make it up to you.
I remember when you first...ahem...gave me this crayon. I asked if I could borrow it because mine broke (heck, even now, when I try coloring with Jazz's little son, Ethan, I break the crayons. Apparently it's funny to him...) and I needed it to finish my page. You gave it to me and told me to give it back when I was done. Well, I didn't, so I guess I'm just not done with this crayon yet. So, here goes.
The writing wasn't in dark blue ink anymore. It was in a sky blue color, one you could only get with a crayon.
You are my best friend, Sam Manson, and to be quite honest, I love you. You were my first friend, right when I moved into the house next to yours. We've been through half of our lives together, and I've found I honestly don't like not being with you. So, I'm coming home.
No, you're not dreaming! Danny Fenton is coming back to Amity Park! And I promise that. I've already sent off Tucker's letter. He'll probably get his a bit before you do. So, I'll see you soon, and we'll catch up, maybe over a movie or something?
Love,
Danny
PS: You're not getting this crayon back until I see you in person, but I'm sure you can hang on with this instead.
There was a small, golden class ring on top of the letter, the word "Sam" engraved within.
