Inside Out

Jo/Danny

There are many things Jo Masterson is known for. Her mop of blonde curls, for one, her temperament, her father the cop, her sky-high GPA, and now, of course, her friendship with the "Socio" Danny Desai. But now, this video will be added to the list.

Danny watches as she takes it in – the laughter of her fellow students, the humiliation that courses through her veins, the pulsing letters on the side that spell out LOSER – and he is surprised, honestly, that she takes it all in stride. Even with his evident capacity for harassment, he still probably would've lashed out at such harsh treatment as this. But then she turns, faces the crowd, and he can see the hurt seeping into her face as she dashes off.

It takes only a few seconds for him to follow.

There is some protective instinct in him, something that makes him want to protect Jo (and Lacey, he supposes) from any imaginable hurt, shelter them from the rest of the world, including, of course, himself, although it is beyond improbable. And he hates – he loathes – seeing Jo hurt like this, so vulnerable and sad, and it's enough to make him want to go strangle Sarita, though he supposes that would just further tarnish his reputation.

"Jo," he says as he approaches her, "are you all right?"

She gives him a reproachful glare. "Does it look like I'm all right?" She lets out a small laugh, and then, "How stupid am I? I thought she was actually starting to like me! I thought that, if I branched out like you said, people would start to see that I'm not a loser, that I can be outgoing and interesting like the rest of the school. And I thought you would start to see that too."

His eyes are wide as he takes in what she's saying; she had wanted to change herself not only because of the rest of the school, but because of him. She had thought that he wanted her to change. And that cut deeper than any knife ever could. With a frown, he blinks. "Jo, I never wanted you to be something you're not."

"Really, Danny?" she mutters, her eyes on the ground. "Because it sounded like you were pretty darn displeased with me that day at the café."

"So you've been doing all of this to prove me wrong?" he asks, and his voice is soft and he feels as if he's been stabbed – Jo has been hurting because of him.

"I wanted to prove myself wrong," she whispers, and she's not crying but he hadn't expected her to anyway. Her eyes, though, are wide and innocent like those of a deer. He can't help but walk over to her and bundle her into his embrace, pulling her against his chest – she is so small yet so mighty, he thinks, and he smiles to himself.

.

Of course Jo is back to being Jo by the next day, and he has to marvel at how resilient she is. He approaches her at her locker, grins – "I talked to Lacey – you know, about the video."

"Of course you did," she replies breezily. "And?"

"She had nothing to do with it."

"I know." She sighs. "I thought so. Lacey might be… well, not friendly to me now, but the Lacey I know wouldn't do something like that." She gives him a lopsided grin. "Or maybe I'm just turning into Rico and being unrealistically optimistic. Either one."

"Same old Jo Masterson," Danny teases, but then he continues with, "Anyway, Jo, I just wanted to say I'm sorry it happened. It was kind of – okay, well, it was my idea to write that play, otherwise we'd both have been on AV and none of this would have happened. You didn't deserve it."

"Not your fault, Desai," Jo says breezily. "Probably Sarita would've come up with something worse if not this, so I probably should be thanking you. And hey, thanks for yesterday too. I needed that."

"Any time, Masterson," Danny tells her with a grin, and they both stand there for a second, eyes locked, smiles in place, and he thinks, as the light catches her curly hair and she smiles like she's just won the lottery, that Jo Masterson is one of the prettiest girls he's ever seen, despite what others may say.

And maybe something would've happened if Jo hadn't glanced down and, twirling a curl around her index finger, said, "So, anyway…"

"I don't want you to change," Danny blurts out, "at least not because of what I think. You might not think so, but I think you're pretty amazing the way you are, you know that?"

"Thanks." She smiles. "And, you know, even if Lacey is less than thrilled to have you back here… I'm pretty glad you came back."

He laughs, and she laughs in response, and they walk down the hall, side by side, just as they used to when they were eleven, but this time it's a little closer before and they're a little bigger, more mature, more experienced. As they walk, he tries not to think of all they've lost and all that's changed because for now, at least, everything seems as though it's all right.

.

"So, I was thinking," Danny says as he comes up behind her after school, "you remember how we were younger and we'd always go together to watch PG-13 movies since we thought it made us rebels?"

"Yeah," Jo answers with a grin, "and you had to explain to my dad why I thought there were aliens building a colony under my bed."

"That's because you're a chicken," Danny informs her breezily, chuckling at the memory of a tiny, temperamental Jo informing him that she couldn't sleep due to the fact that aliens had taken over her bedroom and would quite possibly experiment on her while she was asleep. "Anyway, I was thinking that you and I should go tonight for old time's sake. Sneak into some PG-13 movies, get some popcorn, you know how it is."

"You know I totally would," Jo replies, a teasing smile on her face, "except I'm a mole person and mole people don't come out of their holes, even to watch movies with possible sociopaths."

Danny rolls his eyes at her, but has to smile at the teasing grin on her face. Something about her sense of humor corresponds perfectly with his, and speaking with her gives him this odd sense of happiness that he finds fairly inexplicable. She is comfortable, natural – she is peaceful in a life of tumult and strife. With a shake of his head, he replies, "Even if I buy the popcorn?"

"Fine," Jo relents, "but there must be M&Ms."

.

Danny has always enjoyed movies. Perhaps it's the fact that they are an escape from reality during a time that he needs it most, or perhaps it's because they are a break; no one can interrogate him when he is engrossed in a movie. Either way, movies are one of his favorite pastimes, and it's sort of gratifying to find out that Jo shares that passion, although her commentary is more amusing than anything.

They end up in some new horror film that Rico claims is the "best movie ever" but ends up combining a confusing plotline with a bunch of robots and gore. Jo rolls her eyes as a robot shoots yet another human and digs her hand into the popcorn. "Yeah, man, this is the best movie ever."

"Hey," Danny says with a laugh, "I mean, it has some nice special effects…" Jo shoots him a dubious look and he sighs. "Okay, it's awful. But it's been fun to spend time with you."

She shrugs her shoulders. "Maybe little mole Jo should come out of her hole more often, huh?"

With a nod he reaches over and puts his arm around her, and her head falls onto his shoulder, and he thinks that he wouldn't change this, or her, for the world.

.

A/N: Just a little cute Jo/Danny thing that I wrote and I thought I'd share. There probably aren't many Jo/Danny shippers out there, at least not that I've seen on FF, but I find them totally adorable and yeah. Even if they won't be endgame they're great. Hope you enjoy (even though it's not good) and please leave a review!