AN
Hi! Okay this is a Danny x Wes fic which is a bit of crack ship but I love it for whatever reason. So because of that I made this so please enjoy to your hearts content and tell me how I did!
I've posted this also on Ao3 under the same name and it's somewhat inspired off the animation of The One Thing by Cartoon Freakshow, not all of it of course, but I did make a few references and made a twist of the general idea.
I hate my life. At least while I wandered through Dash's house, which was filled with drunk people dancing the night away in stumbling motions.
I just wanted a ride home, was that so much to ask? Apparently so, since the last time I saw Zack (AKA my ride), he was making out with some cheerleader on the couch. Now normally this wouldn't be such an issue since I don't care who makes out with who. However, it becomes my problem when one of them promised me to take me home! So I'm stuck here until either walk home from wherever this is at almost 12 at night or get someone else to take me, but since I'm not seeing anyone who is even close to sober that may not be possible.
I jumped at the sound of glass breaking and turned to look at a freshly broken window and screams of approval. Initially I just assumed someone smashed it but when someone stood up with a thumbs up on the other side I knew that it was something much more moronic than I first thought. It was then that I realized one thing.
I was too sober to handle this shit.
So I made my way to the door where I would rather take my chances walking in the dark than ten more minutes of this. I was almost to freedom when I was roughly pulled back into a headlock.
"Where do you think your goin' Weston?" my captor slurred someone I immediately recognized as Dash Baxter. Disdainfully, I turned away to avoid smelling his breath, only confirming the fact that Dash, is very drunk.
"Nothing Baxter. So if you don't mind, you can let me go now." I said making sure to speak calmly to avoid angering the drunken giant.
"Well it looks like you were trying to leave." His warm breath tickled my ear and I shivered uncomfortably.
"What? Never," I lied. "Besides what does it matter to you?" I said attempting to shove off his beefy arms but he held on tight.
"C'mon Wes, join in. You can tell us all about being Phantom." I screamed internally. Of course that's what he wants to do! He thinks I'm Phantom. Dammit even after I stopped trying to expose Fenton the world is still out to get me!
"I'm not Phantom!" I exclaimed for the millionth time trying to shove away his arm but with more force but I think Dash had anticipated this and wasn't even fazed by the extra struggle.
"Relax Weston, we already know all about it, so no need to deny anything." So now I had little choice than to let Dash drag me away from freedom and further into the house. Fuck.
"Hey, Kwan get our good friend here a drink." Kwan nodded enthusiastically before scurrying off. "You need to lighten up Weston." Dash said with a smile and I felt myself glare at him but he was preoccupied by Kwan who'd returned which was infuriatingly quick and put a cup in Dash's hands.
"Here ya go!" Kwan said cheerfully and Dash brought his attention back to me.
"Drink it." Dash demands shoving the plastic red cup in my hands. I stared at it for a moment before my eyes met Dash's.
"No thanks." I handed it back, attempting to walk past him but he grabbed my shoulder.
"You aren't going anywhere," he made eye contact with two more A-lister players who seemingly read his mind and both moved to stand menacingly at both my sides, "until, you drink that and play a game with us." He smiled, as if trying to look innocent but I knew about the underlying threat he had in store. However, my stubborn ass refused to look afraid so I matched his stare with a glare of my own while i thought about my options.
On one hand I'm stuck here, in an environment that's too intoxicated to know right from wrong and go home anytime from 1 a.m. to day break. On the other hand, I drink a few cups of watered down beer (let's be honest Dash isn't going to let me go with one cup) and go home slightly less sober than i wanted but possibly earlier than 3 a.m.. the options were clear and i knew I would regret it, but i shoved my doubts to the side.
"One game." i gave in and Dash's smile widened into a smirk.
"Deal," he agreed before handing me the plastic red cup.
"This better not be drugged." I said with a pointed stare toward Kwan who at least had the decency to look offended.
"Hey, I wouldn't do that to you!" He protested but my opinion didn't change. I knew Kwan was one of the better ones but even he could be unreliable at times despite his more... enthusiastic demeanor. So with this in mind I took an experimental sip with the unusually strong bitter taste. It apparently wasn't quick enough because Dash got impatient and tilted the whole thing and I recoiled from the cup, beer spilling on my shirt and all over the bottom half of my face.
"What the fuck, Baxter?!" I coughed, trying to get the nasty, watered down flavor out of my throat.
"Wes you're taking forever and if you don't drink all of it I'll make sure you don't leave here until morning." I felt myself scowl but bit my tongue. I knew Dash well enough to know that he wasn't kidding and my dad would kill me for coming home so late. It would be quicker if I just got this over with. So I shook the cup around a little, mentally preparing myself and chugged before i'd convince myself otherwise.
"That's better." he was clearly satisfied with himself, as I almost drank the whole thing before I finally pulled it away from my mouth. Dash's smile was blinding through the buzz in my head.
"Was that vodka?" I asked the alcohol burned my throat and i felt my eyes tearing up.
"So what if it was?" Dash inadvertently answered my question as he pulled me along to play a game of beer pong.
About an hour of this shit I've had a few more drinks and most of my inhibitions seem to have gone away, I figured that those must have had vodka too but by then I was beginning to not care as much. I completely forgot about my curfew and had chugged down two more drinks in this tweaked up version of spin the bottle. And by tweaked, I mean the truth option has been taken out entirely leaving dares as the only option, I've only been chosen once but it was just to drink something else that I think was probably beer.
At least Paulina was somewhat creative when she asked me to make out with her. At the time I'd just downed who knows how many drinks and since she was the one who offered, I saw no qualms against it.
So I kissed her.
Maybe more sloppily than I would have any other day, but I did.
It didn't last long though because eventually she broke the kiss, smiled at me seductively and said, "it's too crowded in here, why don't we go somewhere… a bit more private?"
Her hands ran up my chest and i had sneaking feeling that she was more than experienced at this kind of thing. It didn't matter though because anyone could tell you that she's extremely attractive, and as much as I'd like to say I was above her attempts, drunk Wes thought her approaches were hilarious and laughed. In her face. As if whatever it was she was offering me was a joke.
"I'm gonna go play ping pong." I stated and walked away, without giving her a chance to speak to play a game that Dash didn't even own. But as I wandered away to do who knows what, I realized something. I've never been this drunk before. Blundering around just to find a doorknob is a new experience for me and I realized that with my lack inhibitions gave me a free pass to do whatever the fuck I wanted, and that was exactly what I was going to do. This may be irresponsible but I don't care because Drunk Wes is very different from Sober Wes.
And Drunk Wes? Well, he was going to fuck. Shit. Up.
You see, one key difference is that Drunk Wes is an asshole, a drunk asshole that felt like taking down all the picture frames and hiding them in various places in the house. Someone who drew on peoples faces should I find them passed out on the floor or half way on the couch. I wrote things that would've been funny to a drunk me. Like monocles and mustaches and sometimes just pure scribbles on people's faces, though my favorites were ambiguous messages, like "I hope you like your tattoo ;)" . I even found Dash passed out at one point and I clearly remember having a smirk on my face as I drew whiskers and cat ears on his forehead. And the word asshole scrawled in whatever space was left under his ears.
I could've left at this point.
Now that Dash was passed out but at that moment I wasn't feeling all that forgiving for keeping me here. So instead when I found the football players, I tricked them into finishing the rest of my carnage, actually probably got them to do most of it.
A few examples might be that I convinced them to put anything that could fit through the door into the front and back yards. Though I'm not exaggerating when I say that nothing was safe; the chairs, lamps, the dining room table, even the pool table from the basement.
We even pushed Dash off his own couch and left him to lie on the floor. Well after a few entertaining photos of course. It was maybe 2 a.m. and I was in the process of stealing all the toilet paper the house had to offer. I was just about done too, taking out the last few rolls and carrying an armful.
"Wes? What are you doing?" I turn around and find Danny eyeing me like I'm doing something unusual and I felt myself smile.
"Gonna throw these at the house," Danny paused eyeing the toilet paper in my arms.
"You're using Dash's toilet paper too, aren't you?" He asked and I nodded, a little more enthusiastically than I should have and vaguely took note of the fact that this was in fact, Dash's house. "And your drunk?" It wasn't much of a question but a statement, and since I didn't really care I nodded anyway, goofy smile still on my features. So because of my complete lack of inhibitions I lift a roll towards him, dropping a few in the process.
"Wanna help?" Danny lifted an eyebrow as a smirk slowly stretched across his face.
And that is how we came to go outside chucking as many rolls on the roof as we could, (honestly my vision was so blurred I wasn't sure if I was even doing this right). But I kept chucking to the best of my limited ability. Danny was also chucking some, standing on the dining room table for extra leverage and laughing while doing so. Wow, this was the most perfect scenario I could have ever imagined. Me and a cute guy vandalizing someones home.
Yup, nothing could ever top this and I was going to leave it at that, but then it hit me and turned to Danny with the most villainous smile I've ever had the pleasure of wearing on my face.
"Hey Danny! I'm gonna get Dash to TP his own house!" I yelled and ran inside Danny following quickly with some protest but I ignored him. Unfortunately, I couldn't find Dash and instead went with the second best thing and found Kwan. I punched his shoulder in what i think was a friendly gesture.
"Hey Kwan! There's toilet paper outside! Let's TP the house!" I exclaimed and Kwan, even more stupidly drunk, agreed, and before I knew it people were running outside chucking the remainder of toilet paper that was strewn about.
I was laughing, doubling over and clutching my side, Danny's horrified expression completely going over my head.
"You seriously got Dash's friends to throw toilet paper over his house."
"Yeah, did the furniture too." I commented gesturing to the couch and dining table.
"You did this?!" he said pointing to all the couches and chairs in the lawn. I shook my head and there was a glimmer of relief in his eyes.
"I shouldn't take all the credit, it would have taken too much effort by myself," I explained and gestured at the drunk band of a-listers, "I got them to do it." There was a moment of silence and Danny looked appalled.
"Why would you do that?!" He exclaimed and I almost flinched at the volume before I shrugged lazily, completely unconcerned.
"Because Dash needed to regret making me stay here." I explained but stopped when I thought to myself about how freaked Dash would be in the morning.
"Holy shit... you're a manipulative drunk."
"A what?" I asked but his only sighed.
"Never mind just, I'm gonna take you home."
"Yes!" I exclaimed my goal having been achieved and beamed at him. "I'm never going home with Zack ever again." Danny looked confused opening his mouth as if to say something but thought against it. He grabbed my hand rather abruptly and walked through the door. I was a bit surprised by the gesture but i would never complain about holding Danny's hand as he dragged me into the house to the front door.
I was almost to freedom for the second time that night until I heard somebody yell something. Honestly i didn't quite hear what they said, but I heard the word "police" and right as Danny was about to pull me away my drunk induced self had only one thought running through my head.
"Fuck the police!" I yelled at the top of my lungs chucking a drink from someone else's hands. There was a moment of silence.
"Fuck the police!" I repeated and everyone got riled up and began repeating "Fuck the police!" in unison as if they were singing some fucked up lyrics to a pop song.
"So everyone here is also heavily influenced by enthusiasm." I took note of that. "Good to know." It was then that I noticed the red and blue lights of police cars from outside and it finally dawned on me.
"Hey Danny, you think that's what they were talking about?" I gestured to the lights outside and I could hear the slap of Danny's face colliding with his own hand, despite the loud chant of "Fuck the police" in the background.
"Police!" A police officer declared from the front door. No one even gave the officer a glance.
This would be really funny if not for the fact that they could arrest me too. Then Dash I don't know if it was because he was drunk or because of some overwhelming urge to destroy something, picked up a bottle and chucked it on the ground and yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Scatter!" And boy did everyone take his advice as drunk teenagers ran in all directions, ignoring his cat face and going out the windows, the back doors, and even hiding in closets. I was personally about to make a break for the window but Danny grabbed me before I could.
Before I knew it we were outside and I briefly thought that he must've phased through it but I didn't care. Instead I watched in rapt fascination as he transformed to phantom in rings of bright light. I was so distracted that i didn't care that he was carrying me about 30 feet above any houses bridal style.
"You're cool as shit." I smiled but Danny gave me a weird look.
"Thanks?" He asked and averted his eyes which I'd normally take that as my cue to shut up but instead I relaxed in his grip, allowing the wind to fly through my hair.
"You're literally my favorite person right now, you know? And I have like, two favorite people on my list so you should feel honored." Danny rolled his eyes but even he couldn't hide the amused smile on his lips.
"I thought you'd be pissed that I'm flying you to your house." I shook my head laying my head against the crook of his neck, I felt him stiffen up a little but figured it was my imagination.
"Nah, I'm too drunk for that." There was pause after that, a moment of silence I didn't quite feel the need to break but I didn't really need to.
"So, what else did you do at the party? Before I got there anyway." Danny asked and at the mention I laughed, the memory and recent enjoyment of it all was still too funny. "I-" i cut myself off with my own laughter. I tried again only to have the same result, Danny laughed too, humor evident on his face. "Did you see Dash's face?" I wheezed, "I'm so glad I got pictures." I laughed "Now he can't ever blackmail me again."
"You got photos? You have to show me." I did and I was glad that Danny found as much enjoyment as I did at Dash's expense.
After that we didn't say much for the rest of the way, which was fine by me, my throat hurt from yelling so much. When we finally got to the apartment Danny paused.
"Which ones yours?" I glanced around lazily and pointed at a window near the fire escape. The amount of times I've times I've snuck out is goddamn biblical and the best part is, my dad doesn't have a clue. I didn't bother keeping that to myself and told Danny.
"Why do you sneak out so much?" I shrugged as Danny phased through my window.
"For whatever, basketball, food, you, the usual stuff." I said so casually and let my head rest against him, my alcoholic high was beginning to wear off, "my head is gonna kill me tomorrow."
"That's your own fault for drinking so much." Danny reprimanded and i felt myself scoff as he phased us both through my window and set me down.
"I'd beg to differ."
"What do you mean?" I waved him off and instead stood up my sore throat being my number one concern and made my way to the kitchen, Well, stumbling more like, "what are you doing Wes?"
"Sustenance." I said vaguely.
"And that is…?"
"Water," I replied and Danny sighed.
"I'll get it, you stay." I couldn't tell if he was just offering or if that was a legitimate command, but then I saw the seriousness in his face and I couldn't hide my surprise.
"Why though?" It was Danny's turn to be surprised.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I shrugged trying to make it look like I didn't care.
"I'm pretty sure you hate me? We don't exactly get along and just because I stopped trying to expose you, I know that doesn't mean anything. I pride myself on being smart not stupid." Danny stood there shocked as my words seemed to sink in. Maybe this is why people liked to get drunk, i know that should I have been more sober I would never have been able to say any of this aloud. Without forcing myself anyway, but I can't find it in me to care as I waited for Danny to respond.
"I don't hate you Wes." Danny had an intense look on his face, his lips pressed together in a thin line and I believed him.
"I guess not. You just don't like me. Which is fair, since I did try to ruin your life and all." I smiled a little despite the bitterness I felt at the truth, "but even you have to admit that you're painfully obvious."
"You always say that but I'm not that bad." Danny denied.
"You literally shout "I'm going ghost" every time you turn into Phantom, if that's not obvious I have no idea what is." Danny opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself with a defeated look on his face.
"See!" I pointed at him and he sighed again.
"I'm just going to get the water."
"Okay," I mumbled and laid on my bed. I lie there staring at the ceiling with nothing in particular going through my head and thought to myself why it was spinning.
"It's spinning because you're drunk Wes." Danny interrupted walking into the room with a cup of water while I sat there, thinking about whether or not I'd actually said that out loud.
"You did." He finished and grabbed my arm forcing me to sit up.
"Thanks." I muttered taking sips out of my cup, reminding me of the first cup i was given that night. "Do you think Kwan would drug someone?" Danny blinked at the abrupt question.
"Wow okay. Has he?"
"No idea." I replied drinking the rest of my water.
"You're so random when you're drunk." Danny muttered. I didn't pay much mind to the comment, my eyes involuntarily going to his hair.
Danny hasn't changed into a human yet so his hair was still white and glowed in an ethereal way as if to demonstrate the fact that he wasn't human. I reached out to touch it and was immediately satisfied by how soft it was and stroked a few more times.
"You enjoying yourself?" Danny asked amused.
"Your hair is so soft." The satisfaction was clear in my voice. I've always wanted to touch it though I didn't expect I'd ever be able to.
"This is so weird." Danny said but did nothing to stop me and just let it happen. I hummed a little in response playing with his hair for a while longer. It was so floppy, my hair was always perpetually straight and while i didn't have thin hair it was not as thick as Danny's.
"Hey Wes." Danny asked interrupting my research.
"Yeah?" i hummed still distracted by his hair.
"Do you hate me?" at this point the buzz was beginning to go away and I was in a way better state of mind than I was an hour ago. But not quite sober enough to feel any need to lie. I scoffed lightly my hand finally resting in my lap.
"You're annoying, and kind of an asshole but I could never hate you." I replied almost jokingly but Danny didn't say anything.
"Then, why do you act like it?" I paused, it felt like it was an honest enough question, one that had he said any differently at any other given time I'd assume Danny was being a jerk. But regardless I felt uncomfortable answering. I knew I wasn't the nicest to Danny, even when I decided it wasn't worth ratting him out anymore. Granted Danny wasn't much different either but I felt like that was just an easier form of talking to one another that was familiar.
It was like pretending that nothing has changed. At least for me because my heart beats a little faster and I find it hard to breath when I'm around for too long, but the insults and constant pranks seem to always remind me of why I shouldn't like him.
After all, Danny is the town hero and saves us on a daily basis and for that I knew that I'd never try to jeopardize his identity again, no matter the cost. But as a person?
"That's a complicated question with complicated answer," I said.
"Why is it complicated?" I felt myself shrug.
"You act like I'm the only one that's an asshole." Danny looked like he was about to protest but paused as it seemed to dawn on him that maybe his behavior isn't much different than mine. He still pulled pranks on me that I don't always find amusing, once he put a bunch of his own pictures in my locker and when I went to open it I never heard the end of it from anyone.
"Yeah, i get it. Sorry." I nodded.
"Don't get me wrong," i began, sitting back down, "I have a lot of respect for you. I know your putting yourself in even more risk than everyone else." Danny was silent listening intensely, "but you go to school more exhausted and beat up than the day before. Your grades are always low and have no time to improve. It kind of pisses me off how responsible you feel for everything." Danny looked shocked but i wasn't sure if it was a good thing.
"Why does that bother you? I doubt it really affects you."
"It just does." I frowned unsure what else to say without blowing all of my opinions (and feelings) in his face.
"But why?" Danny persisted.
"I don't know." I lied and instead twiddling my thumbs in nervousness.
"I have a feeling you do." Danny pressed on and I didn't have the kind of energy be as stubborn as he was.
"... You seriously want me to say it, don't you?" Danny stayed quiet the stubbornness obvious in neon green eyes.
He asked for it.
"You don't have a life beyond ghost hunting." The words felt bitter on my tongue but i wasn't finished. "Like you have all this potential, but you're not doing anything with it and spending every waking day ghost fighting. I know that ghost fighting isn't all there is with you but you're not leaving yourself any room to be a person, to be-" I cut myself off. To be human is the unsaid statement, and I'm certain Danny had heard it even without me outwardly stating it. "Is that even what you wanna do?"
He didn't answer, his eyes wide with shock and I had to wonder if he regret asking for my opinion as he stared frozen. But judging by his terrified expression the answer to the question id asked was clear. He just didn't want to admit it. So I let it go.
I lay myself down on the bed again. "I'm sorry, it's not really my place to tell you that." I doubted anyone ever told him that and I definitely saw why. It just felt too honest, too brutal and no one wanted to be the one to tell him. Not his friends, not the town, and not even me. At least until now anyways but that came with both his insistence and the alcohol in my system.
"Um, no, its okay. I did ask you for it." Which is true, Danny laid himself beside me, "why did you tell me this now?" I shrugged.
"I'm drunk. And alcohol apparently gives me this weird ability to do everything I want without a care in the world." I felt myself smile slightly as I took a look at his hand. "Which is why I can do this." I reached for his hand and interlocked our fingers before he could say anything.
"What the-?" I smiled at him, the persistent buzz in the back of my head was ignoring all sounds of alarm as Danny processed what I just did. He looked at me, then at his hand, then back at me, then he blushed, his face turning bright green at an alarming rate.
"I didn't know you blushed green." I commented with an excited smile on my face.
"Shut up Wes, why don't you ask before doing something like that?" I blinked, slowly regarding his statement.
"Can I hold your hand?"
"Well it's too late now!" I turned away looking up at the ceiling.
"You can let go if you want to." I offered and from the corner of my eye I watched him shift uncomfortably. i was sure that his hand would leave mine and I'd have to deal with the rejection later. But it never did, instead he turned away.
"Do you actually like me?" He asked and at this I turned to him.
"Of course." It was almost an insult because of how long I'd known that I was undoubtedly in love with Danny. Both versions. Because in the end they're the same person.
"After everything you just said?"
"Yup." I was never one to back down from anything, especially something difficult and my love life is no different.
"Why? I thought you hated me." Danny asked.
"I thought you hated me but look at where we're at." He scoffed in an almost bitterly.
"This is so backwards. I thought if I ever told you I liked you, you would go nuts and think I was lying." Danny said and I couldn't help but agree with him.
"Probably." I said but his other words came to mind and I felt another smile crawl up my face.
"You like me?" Danny gave me a incredulous look and lifted our interlocked hands as if to demonstrate.
"We are literally holding hands right now."
I squeezed his hand in response, "and i'm very much okay with that." I was more than okay with that. Danny is the one person I knew i liked, and after nearly exposing him to the GIW became the one person I knew I couldn't have. But for today I thought "screw it", but tomorrow all that guilt will come back and it'll be like nothing today ever happened. But today I was taking advantage of this because whether I was going to admit or not, I wanted this.
After that Danny seemed dumbfounded and his face was naturally skeptical but I refused to relent, there was no hesitance on my face and soon his face softened, almost defeated.
He sighed, "Wes if this is a joke I'm not going to make it easy for you after this."
"Yeah, I know."
"And after everything that happened?" I felt myself flinch. Everything I did. It was a legitimate question but nonetheless it still stung a bit coming from him. I knew that there wasn't much I could do or say to help myself or to erase it, I mean that makes sense after nearly destroying his whole life. Maybe the best thing I could do was to keep doing what I was doing and staying away.
"I knew it was a risk to even tell you but I don't really expect anything to happen after today. I know I don't deserve you, but it was worth a try, right? It's not like I could destroy our relationship any more than it already is."
"Then why even tell me?" there was a thousand ways to respond and I didn't know what to say, that I was drunk and because I was deranged I figured it would be a good idea to try and see what would happen. But I knew the answer, ever since I figured out my feelings for him i had abruptly stopped trying to do anything that included Danny, I realized I was only using exposing him as an excuse to go out and watch him, gathering everything I could to maybe better understand him. When I figured it all out, I all but hated myself for pushing him away because I realized that i wouldn't ever have a chance.
"I… want to get it off my chest." Which was true, but there's not enough liquid courage in the world that would get me to confess the whole truth, at least not yet. Danny stayed silent,
gloved hand still in mine.
"You know one thing about what you said is bullshit." We met eyes as I protested.
"We're actually communicating and you think i'm lying?" i quipped but Danny was serious.
"Never said that, but that part where you said you didn't deserve me? Bullshit."
"I… I don't follow."
"Don't devalue yourself, no one is better than the other, not me, and especially not you." I didn't know what to say to that and instead turned away staring at the ceiling. It was just like Danny to do that, but I knew I didn't deserve that kind of luxury. Not after everything I did.
"Hey Wes?" I hummed, I hadn't even realized I was about to fall asleep and I had a feeling that my head would kill me in the morning.
I felt Danny shift on the bed but I was only vaguely aware of it as my breathing evened out, it wasn't until I felt lips brush against my own that I opened my eyes. Danny was already pulling away as I blinked blearily looking at him with a confused expression.
"I wanted to kiss you." he smiled his usual goofy smile and it was my turn to blush as my hand unconsciously went up to reach where his lips had lightly touched mine.
"Are you sure you're not drunk?" I asked but Danny only laughed.
"See ya Wes!" He waved goodbye and before I could even protest he was gone, flew right outside my window. Leaving me a blushing mess alone in my room.
"What an asshole." I said to no one, grabbing a pillow and shoving my face against it
A.N.
Thank you for reading! Please tell if you enjoyed it and if there's anything I can improve on!
(constructive criticism please! :) )