Danny Fenton huffed in disappointment as he stared out his window, trying his hardest at avoiding his homework. Luckily, despite it being his worst class, math, he was catching up to it to a point where he didn't struggle nearly as much as he did freshman year. Sam and Tucker did their best at helping him with his studies, but his sister was far harder on him. In this case, he was actually glad his sister was a bit tougher and less lenient that his best friends. It was a slow day to be sure. Also unlike his freshman year, he was on good terms with most of the ghosts that caused trouble. They stopped picking on his town and him as soon as he became a little more assertive; again, thanks to his sister's advice. It also helped that his mom took it upon herself to begin training him in martial arts as well. He zoned out, remembering the first time his mother suggested it to him. He was exhausted most of the time and tried to keep his problems and struggles to himself as to not bother his friends and family. Oddly enough, his father noticed first. Usually lost in his own little world inventing new ways to catch ghosts and some safer ways thanks to Jazz's subtle suggestions, Danny expected his dad to stay oblivious, but, apparently, Jack was guilty of doing similar things in his college days. He was the one to suggest his wife Maddie to train their sun.
Danny enjoyed every second fighting his mom in training. He preferred it that way to be sure. Compared to fighting for his life, and after life against his mother, training was far more profitable. Well, it's not like Phantom caused much trouble in his later years to begin with; he was definitely more "in the shadows" about his actions than before.
"Danny?" There came a soft knock, matching his sister's voice at his bedroom door.
"You're clear, Jazz." Danny replied, not turning from his view of the street. She opened his door and sighed, seeing his slumped over position.
"Struggling again?" She asked, perching at the end of his bed. Danny shrugged hopelessly.
"Struggling to stay focused, yes." He grumbled. "I keep zoning out and it's driving me nuts."
"You do your training with mom?" Jazz asked, obviously knowing he was feeling cooped up again. He got like this when there wasn't much activity around town, or around the house. What with the regulars of ghosts and hunters calming down, she couldn't blame him. Three years ago, Danny could hardly get any time to do anything else but hunt ghosts and protect himself from being hunted. He'd gotten very used to the activity, and then he handled himself and others better so quickly he'd need to adapt again.
"Yeah, she got me again." Danny laughed "Don't think I'll ever beat mom and sparring." He huffed with good humor. "She's even incorporating weapons with our matches and it's making it even more difficult." The genuine smile on his face relaxed Jazz a bit. Danny noticed. It wasn't at all difficult to know Jazz worried about him. She always worried; almost to a point where he wondered if his parents caught on to his secret. They never let their kids know, but Danny had a feeling as soon as they started worrying about the effects their weapons had on ghosts, and how long they lasted. He didn't say anything, and neither did Jazz, so Danny just let it be for now. All he wanted to do was make sure he could graduate along side his friends.
"How about training with Tucker and Sam?" Jazz asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Haven't been able to really hang out with them." He replied sadly "We've all been focusing on getting stuff done in time for Finals this December." He stretched his back a little before scratching through his raven hair. "Maybe we could use some leisure time and then train for a little bit." He fumbled around with his items on his desk to find his phone. "You wanna tag along?" He suggested, watching his sister get up.
"Thanks little brother, but I'm gonna have to start packing again. The new apartment is looking great so far." She grinned before walking out. Danny was oddly proud, but kind of sad that Jazz decided to stay in town for her college. She had access to some of the top colleges in the country and yet she decided to stay here to be closer to Danny and their parents. He sort of felt bad, and wondered if she gave up her dream jobs and future just to keep an eye on him. They spoke about it many times before and she assured him she'd rather help around her home than go to a place that had little psychology recourses. Danny had his doubts still, but decided against arguing with his older sister. Danny found his phone and dialed up Sam.
"Hey, Danny!" She always threw him off a little with her chipper attitude when she was on the phone.
"Hey, Sam. You free a little from now?" He asked casually, still focusing on the people wandering his home street as the sun began to set.
"I'm never free, Danny." He could hear the grin in her voice "Some of this studying is murder, and not in a good way." Danny snickered.
"I was just thinking of taking a leisure time…" He paused, glaring at the three math problems he had left "Or just leisure day since you aren't wrong about the murder homework." He huffed rubbing his forehead.
"Wonder if Tucker's having the same problems." Sam thought out loud. "I'll give him a buzz and update you when I get there. I'm pretty much done tonight, and we always have tomorrow and Sunday to finish up." There was a rustling noise and Danny figured Sam was getting ready to head to Fenton Works.
"Alright, see you in a bit Sam." Danny stood up himself and rolled his shoulders.
"See ya." Sam replied before a small beep announced her ending the call. Danny rocked his head side to side, stretching out his stiff neck. He let out a deep breath and stared out the evening window one more time before heading out of his room and down the stairs. His father and mother were at the kitchen table fiddling with another device.
"Hi, sweetie." His mother chirped, looking up from the new ghost toy.
"Hey, mom. Sam and I are going to hang out for a bit, if that's okay. Tucker's probably going to come too." His parents nodded, smiling.
"Jazz told us." His dad smiled. Danny let out a small laugh
"Oh man, what am I gonna do when she's out of the house and in her own apartment?" Maddie let out a giggle
"You'll do just fine, Danny." She went back to fixing up the new invention. "She just loves looking out for you. That's all."
"She's right, son!" Jack bellowed "You're going to be fine. You can handle yourself." Danny chuckled, grateful of his parent's faith in him.
"Thanks." He said softly. The door bell rang and Danny went to answer. "See you guys in a bit."
"Text us when you head home." His mother announced.
"Yes, ma'am." Danny waved. He answered the door and his feeling of being cooped up quickly vanished seeing his two, tired, best friends waiting for him on the porch.
"Evening, Danny." Tucker smiled giving a wave.
"Hey guys." Danny chirped, similarly to the way his mom does. "Glad you both could make it." Tucker shrugged
"I needed a break from homework, badly." Tucker groaned. The three stepped away from the door and flopped on the steps in front of Danny's house "They're hammering us so much this month. It's like they're making up for the lost time during Winter Break." He pulled out his PDA and fiddled with the calendar app. "It sure fits the bill anyway." He grumbled, gently placing his PDA on his lap.
"It sure feels that way." Danny sighed "Mr. Lancer still isn't letting up when it comes to tutoring. You'd think he'd get tired of me by now." Danny put on a pout and rested his chin on his hand.
"You know by now Mr. Lancer thinks the world of you." Sam smirked "He'll never let up as long as he knows how far you'd go. You push yourself in school work almost as much as you do at ghosts." Danny gave off a facetious huff. "I'm not wrong." Sam elbowed him playfully.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. School aside." He stared at his two best friends, begging them to change the subject. "What do you wanna do? It's going to be pretty dark soon."
"We could hit the arcade." Sam suggested
"So you can kick our butts to oblivion." Tucker barked "No thank you."
"Sore." Sam grinned
"Very." Tucker huffed, causing Danny to laugh a bit.
"We could just chill around the park." Danny tried "We haven't done that in a while, and!" He jutted his pointer finger in the air "It's more than likely the only ghost we'll run into is the Box Ghost." He stated with an enthusiastic grin.
"No joke that most of our usual bothers are pretty chill." Tucker relaxed a bit, shifting his weight to he could lay, albeit awkwardly, across the steps.
"I'm actually pretty happy about that." Danny admitted "They've been helping a bit charting the Ghost Zone too. Oddly enough it's more Skulker than Clockwork."
"Skulker!?" Tucker and Jazz asked in high pitched unison. Danny let out a full laugh at their shock. It was equal to his own when Skulker started telling him about the areas he knew after their regular game of deadly tag. He stopped Skulker to grab a little notebook he started carrying with him. Skulker seemed amused at the action and added to Danny's notes, giving the boy more excuses to come visit him whenever he got the chance. It seemed the other ghost was amused and enjoyed the challenges of the young halfa when it came to the terrain and details of the Ghost Zone. It also supplied Danny with some more combat experience as a ghost to equal the training he was getting from his mother.
"Yeah, Skulker." Danny affirmed after catching his breath. "He seems to like the idea of me giving him more of a challenge." Sam and Tucker nodded in agreement; it completely made more sense than Skulker helping Danny out of the goodness of his own ghostly heart.
"Wanna just wander around the Ghost Zone then?" Sam suggested giving a small shrug.
"Nah, Walker may not be as… Annoying as before." Danny grumbled "But he still doesn't like ghosts wandering around, even if they have a place they need to be. If we wind up in his territory we're busted… Again." Danny added with a growl. Despite most of his so-called enemies, some were less than tolerable, but didn't cause trouble around Danny's home as long as they weren't bothered.
"We could give Frost Bite a visit." Tucker gave Danny a nudge.
"Maybe, but he seems busy, and they still…" Danny laughed in embarrassment "They're still not a huge fan of my ice powers." He winked and shrugged bashfully, remembering his training. He's gotten incredible when it came to his ice powers but there are still times when his emotions get the better of him and he'd rather not let his enthusiasm get in the way of Frost Bite.
"Nasty Burger?" Tucker asked. Danny gave a shrug and looked to Sam, who mimicked his action.
"I already ate dinner, but I could go for a smoothie." Danny said, standing up, offering his arms to help his friends up.
"Smoothie sounds good." Sam smiled accepting Danny's help. Tucker popped up without a hitch.
"I'm still hungry! My mom and dad are great cooks but MAN they don't cook nearly enough to fill me up unless it's a holiday." He bounced a little in his walk waiting for Danny and Sam to catch up; still holding each other's hands. He raised an amused eyebrow.
"Thought you guys talked about a break?" He teased
"We are, kinda." They answered in unison.
"Just because we aren't 'dating'" Danny emphasized the word "Doesn't mean we don't want to, you know," He lifted their clasped hands "Keep in touch. OW!" Sam pinched his side with her other hand.
"To encourage you more." Tucker stated with a smug expression "Boo." Danny laughed as Sam reached to take off one of her combat boots and Tucker took off like a bullet.
"Seriously, Sam." Danny started, making sure Sam made eye contact with him as they walked. "You're okay with this?" Danny was unsure about his feelings towards anyone since both women and men started flirting with him. And, while he enjoyed the flirting to an extent, he still just wanted what he had with Sam. Hands held, light kisses and cuddles was all he needed. Though he did enjoy Sam being very touchy every once in a while, he didn't feel comfortable going any further. Her hand squeezed his.
"Of course I'm okay, Danny." She gave him a light kiss on the cheek. "I would tell you otherwise." He smiled, blushing a little.
"What if-" Sam stopped him by grabbing his face. "Danny, you're fine." He loved hearing that, and she knew it. "We get there when we get there." She smiled ruffling his raven hair. Danny relaxed a little and held her wrists.
"Thanks Sam." He whispered; she returned his gratitude with another soft kiss. She gripped his hand and urged him forward.
"Come on you two. I'm starving." Tucker whined in front of the Nasty Burger.
"You're always starving." Danny rolled his eyes
"That's beside the point." Tucker crossed his arms "Hurry up." He grinned
"Yeah, yeah." Sam droned. They walked in, spotted an empty booth and parked, debating on what smoothie, and in Tucker's case what NOT to get.
"Strawberry banana sounds fantastic right now." Danny leaned back, letting himself just drape on the booth seat. "I'm too tired to think of anything else." Tucker moved to get out of his spot across from his best friend.
"What about you Sam?"
"Kiwi strawberry please." She answered. Tucker went to the front to order, leaving the two 'love birds' as he called them, to chat a little while waiting.
The Nasty Burger was in an alright state when it came to the amount of customers. The sun may have been setting pretty early, but it was only six in the evening and Danny and his family ate pretty early since the parents liked to get up early to start working. It was filled with soft tones and an occasional noise of food or it's wrappings being moved around. Danny enjoyed the heck out of hearing these, as much as he did hearing people chatting and walking around the city, or taking a stroll around the park.
"You okay, Danny?" Sam asked, pulling him out of his zoned out state.
"Yeah," Danny replied a bit suddenly "Just been zoning out lately. Jazz figured I should just take a break from school work and chill." He shrugged "Can't really chill without you two around." Tucker came up with their smoothies and his large meal.
"Awe. That's sweet of you dude." He teased before shoving a burger in his mouth. Danny and Sam handed him what the owed and he stuffed them in his wallet, all the while still shoving the burger. He hummed a bit and swallowed his bite.
"You handling math okay?" He asked Danny as he was taking a sip.
"Yeah, it's still annoying, but not to a point where I want to burn my math book." Danny replied with a smirk.
"That's good to hear, what about History?" Sam questioned. Danny let out a dramatic whine
"I wanted a break from schoolwork Sam." He flopped his head back against the cushion of the seat. Tucker laughed. "It's fine, boring right now, but fine." Sam nodded sagely.
"Yeah, I'm pretty bored in that class too. I wish Lancer would move on from the politics of the World War that he's been going over for the last two months…" She glared off into the distance. Danny let out an amused snicker only to see and feel the mist alerting him of a spirit nearby.
"Uh-oh." He braced himself for some nearby screams, but when they didn't come he stood to investigate, his friends right behind him. They left the Nasty Burger and went into its parking lot in the back where they found, shockingly enough, Vlad fighting off an unfamiliar ghost. Danny transformed in a literal flash and came between the two of them, forcing them apart. The unfamiliar ghost must have recognized him, or saw the fight as over and hissed in fright, darting away from the two halfas. Plasmius let out a sigh and changed back into his human form. Danny stayed as Phantom and stared, suspiciously at his town's mayor.