Disclaimer: I still do not own Danny Phantom!

Battle of Danger

...

"Sam, wait!"

Tucker followed Danny as he rushed out of the movie theater, trying to catch Sam as she angrily pursued her way down the sidewalk. Of course, he had said or done something that offended her and was too clueless to pick up on it.

That 'something' involved Valerie.

She ran into them while they were waiting in line to buy tickets for a movie called Battle of Danger, and long story short, he invited her to tag along with them. Though Sam wasn't pleased about that, she tolerated it for the sake of everyone having a decent time.

Well, until Valerie suggested that they watch a different movie and he agreed with her.

Sam really wanted to watch Battle of Danger, so of course she was peeved about being forced to switch movies for Valerie's sake. Still, she dealt with it and kept her frustrations in the dark.

Unfortunately, Valerie and Danny laughed and chatted throughout the entire movie, so she wasn't even able to try and enjoy it. Tucker sensed her irritation and ire growing as the minutes crawled by, so he refrained from teasing her. He definitely knew she was reacting out of jealousy, though.

After the movie ended, she complained about how stupid she thought it was and how Battle of Danger would've been a much better choice. She was obviously only doing that because she was annoyed with Valerie and Danny, which Tucker understood.

However, Valerie clapped back, insisting that she'd seen the trailer for that movie and wasn't at all impressed by it. This, unfortunately, led to an argument between the pair, which ended when Danny announced that he actually preferred Valerie's movie over Sam's.

That's when Sam growled vehemently at him and stormed out of the theater. He seemed genuinely confused, and Tucker had to stop himself from chuckling. Their friendship, or situationship, was extremely amusing to him, especially when Danny's cluelessness was involved.

"What do you want?" Sam demanded, stopping right in her tracks and twisting around to face Danny, who finally managed to catch up to her. He blinked several times, taken aback by her sharp tone, but he recovered soon after and scratched the back of his head.

"Um, did I do something?" he inquired. When she didn't respond, he followed up with, "Is this about me saying I liked Valerie's movie suggestion better?"

"I don't care if you liked her movie suggestion better. That's not the point. The point is that we went to the movies with the intention of watching Battle of Danger and ended up seeing The Visitor in the Creek instead!" She crossed her arms and glared at him. "You knew how badly I wanted to watch that movie."

Tucker knew he should've intervened, but he also knew that doing so would result in Sam's boot meeting his shin, so he opted to stay out of it. He happened to still have his popcorn in hand from the theater, so he started eating it while watching his best friends argue.

Danny's eyebrows lowered, as he was starting to get frustrated. "I honestly don't see what the big deal is, Sam. We can just get back in line and buy the tickets to see the movie."

"We wouldn't have to do that if you didn't go all googly-eyed over Valerie back there and make us switch movies." Sam's glare sharpened and she moved her hands to her hips. "Then again, I'm not surprised that you're choosing her side over mine."

"I'm not choosing sides. This isn't Red Rover," he snorted. "There isn't even a side for me to choose from. I think you're blowing this whole thing out of proportion."

Tucker's eyes widened slightly. "Uh, Danny," he began, but Sam's mirthless chuckle made him stop talking.

"Oh, I'm blowing this out of proportion?" She took a single step forward, her expression darkening. "I have every right to be upset. I'm sick of feeling invisible to you whenever Valerie's around."

"How am I making you feel invisible?" Danny asked, completely perplexed now. "I try to involve you in our conversations, but you're so hooked on the fact that she wants to waste Danny Phantom that you don't even want to associate with her!"

"Do you even hear yourself? You're Danny Phantom, genius. You're okay with her wanting to waste you?"

"Well... n-no, but, uh," he stammered, his gaze briefly dipping towards the ground. His stumped expression faded after awhile and a scowl clouded his features. "This isn't about the movie, is it? This is about Valerie. You just can't accept the fact that she and I are friends now."

Sam scoffed at him. "I don't care if you're friends with her. Good for you. What do you want, fireworks?"

As they continued to escalate the argument, Tucker tossed out the remainder of his popcorn. He felt awkward about standing there and watching his friends go at it, so he, again, decided to speak up. "Guys, is this really necessary right now?"

Danny merely shrugged while keeping his glare trained on Sam. "Probably not, but you know, classic Sam can never let stupid grudges go. Instead, she drags them on as long as she can."

"And classic Danny, so naive and clueless to everything going on around him," Sam snapped, pointing at him. "You're trusting her too quickly. That's the problem."

"Well, we can't all be bitter like you." It was obvious to Tucker that Danny didn't mean to say that, but unfortunately, it wasn't obvious to Sam. A brief flicker of hurt etched on her face before she flashed him a leer and brushed past him.

He exhaled angrily after that and shuffled a hand through his hair. Tucker knew he was regretting their fight because that was something he did often. He would normally chase after her and try to set things right, but this time, he didn't.

Tucker raised an eyebrow. "You're not going after her?"

"No," Danny answered. "What for? She's blowing things out of proportion." Tucker knew his best friend was just feeling exasperated, so he didn't jump on his case for saying that. "I'm so sick of us fighting all the time. She's the last person I want to argue with."

Tucker smirked and waggled his brows, choosing to go in for a little teasing. "Oh, is she?"

Danny didn't immediately catch onto what he meant at first, but once he did, a crimson blush seared through his cheeks. "N-Not because I like her or anything! I just don't want to argue with her because she's my best friend."

"Is that really all she is to you? A best friend?" Tucker questioned. Judging by the bewildered expression that Danny was now sporting, he knew he had the boy stumped. "It's not too late to run after her and fix things, you know."

The half-hybrid scoffed in response. "No way. Why would I fix things first when she started that argument?" He shook his head in the direction that she stormed off in before pivoting around. "Anyway, I'll catch you later." And then he was off.

Tucker remained standing in that spot for half a minute, reflecting on everything that just transpired. That's when a brilliant idea formed in his head, prompting him to grin: if Danny and Sam weren't going to set things right with each other, then he was going to.

Getting them both in the same room together while they were mad at each other was going to be difficult, but he wasn't the type to back down from a challenge. As he paced down the sidewalk, eyebrows knitted together in thought, he came up with another idea.

"Thanks for inviting me to see Battle of Danger," Sam told Tucker the next day as they stepped into the lobby of the movie theater. His plan had been to invite both her and Danny to the movies, but not tell them that the other person would be present as well.

It seemed to be working so far, as she was already there and Danny was on his way over. Tucker had no idea how he was going to get them to speak to each other, but he decided that it was best to just go with the flow.

They made their way over to the snack line, which, thankfully, wasn't too long. "Are you sure you don't want Danny to tag along?" he asked her, only to make sure he still needed a plan. Judging by the dark expression she was now sporting, he knew she was sure.

"He probably wouldn't even find this movie entertaining, so yes, I'm sure I don't want him to tag along." She crossed her arms and glared forward at nothing in particular. "I'm sure he'd rather be with Valerie anyway since she's his new best friend."

Tucker sighed heavily. "You're still his best friend, too, Sam."

"I know, but sometimes it feels like I'm second place to her," she admitted softly. He glanced over at her, but decided not to carry on the conversation. It was obvious to him that she was still hurting from her argument with Danny the day before.

Speaking of Danny, Tucker saw him enter the theater the same time Sam went up next in line. Since she was busy staring at the menu, he slowly crept over towards Danny, who was searching around the lobby for him.

Once they made eye contact, Tucker smiled uneasily. "Hey, man." Danny smiled politely and walked up to him.

"Hey, Tuck. You ready to go in?"

"Uh," Tucker drawled, turning over his shoulder to check for Sam. Unfortunately for him, she had noticed him walking towards Danny and angrily made a beeline for them. He gulped, preparing himself for the storm that she was bringing over.

"What is he doing here?" She blatantly ignored Danny and only addressed Tucker. "I thought you said he wasn't coming."

"And I thought you said she wasn't coming," Danny chimed in, glaring at her. They both stared each other down, which had Tucker feeling glad that looks couldn't kill. He hesitantly slid in-between them, trying to disregard the lethal glowers that they were starting to cast him.

"Guys, guys." He glanced back-and-forth between them. "Can't you just set aside your temporary grudge for the sake of watching this movie? I mean, it could be an early birthday gift to me."

Sam cocked her head and narrowed her eyes onto him. "But your birthday is in seven months."

"Hence why I said an early birthday gift." He curled one arm around her shoulders and hooked the other one around Danny's, obnoxiously pulling them closer to him. "Besides, you said that you really wanted to see this movie. You wouldn't walk out now, especially when I already bought our tickets, would you?"

She thought about it for a few seconds before exhaling in defeat. "Fine." She shrugged his arm off of her and glanced down at her ticket to see which theater they were supposed to go to. "You're lucky I want to see this movie. By the way, I didn't get to order anything yet."

"That's okay!" He retracted his arms and began following her over to the area where the movie was being shown. "We'll just eat after the movie."

They all gave their tickets to the usher once they reached their destination, and after he gave them the green light, they entered the theater. They chose to sit in the last row of seats towards the back of the room, as everyone else sat up front.

Tucker sat in the middle of Danny and Sam, mostly because he didn't have a choice; they refused to sit next to each other. He almost snorted at how stubborn and childish they were acting, but he stopped himself from doing so and focused on the trailers playing on the screen.

He did feel uncomfortable because they weren't talking at all; not even to him. Whenever they watched movies together, they would all crack jokes or make comments as it played, so the fact that nobody was speaking this time was a bit awkward and new to him.

He attempted small talk, but neither of them took the bait. There were a few grunts and nods along the way, but that was all he got out of them. He eventually gave up for the moment and decided to try again after the movie finished.

There was a specific scene towards the middle of the movie, where the main character said something hurtful to his brother out of anger. A few scenes later, his brother died, leaving the grieving protagonist to feel nothing but regret about the last words he uttered to his brother.

That scene seemed to rope Danny and Sam right in, as they looked more engrossed in the movie than they did before. Tucker discreetly cracked a smirk because he knew that they were both starting to feel the same emotion: regret. It was evident because their once hard facial features became more relaxed as they watched the scene.

When the movie finished about an hour and a half later, he rose from his seat and stretched out his arms. "See? That wasn't so bad. I personally enjoyed the movie." He was hoping that saying that would at least make one of them respond, but unfortunately, neither of them did.

Boy, were they stubborn.

They returned to the lobby, but Tucker wasn't giving up on his plan just yet. His goal was to get them to talk to each other, so that's exactly what he was going to do. As they moved through the lobby, they approached a restroom, which gave him another idea.

"Hey, before we leave, I'm going to use the bathroom," he announced. With his thumb, he pointed at a bench outside of the restroom. "You guys can wait for me there. I won't be too long. Maybe you two could discuss the movie until I come back."

He scurried over to the restroom before either one of them could protest. He only said that last line to remind them of that one scene in the movie that had them both feeling guilty. He wanted them to feel that same emotion again so that it would prompt them to say something to each other.

He didn't actually use the bathroom; he simply went in, waited a few seconds, and then peeked out at them from his position. They were both seated on far opposite ends of the bench, obviously feeling uncomfortable now.

For a minute, he started to rethink his whole plot to get them to talk, but then he heard Danny say something to Sam. "Sam, about yesterday... you know I didn't mean what I said, right? I was just really irritated. I felt like you were attacking me for no reason."

She didn't budge from her cross-armed position or say anything for a few seconds. Then, tentatively, she turned towards him and sighed. "I wasn't attacking you and it wasn't for no reason. Trust me, there were plenty of reasons involved, but I don't really feel like bringing them up right now."

He frowned at her, but nodded understandably. "Still, I didn't mean to call you bitter. You're far from that. I didn't want that sentence to be the last thing I said to you. I don't think straight when I'm mad, so I'm sorry about that."

She smiled faintly at him. "I'm sorry for getting all angry at you. I was just frustrated and reacted first without thinking," she admitted. "I guess I was just upset about the whole 'you agreeing with Valerie over me' thing."

"Well," he started, "if it's any consolation, I happen to like your movie choice better than hers now that I've actually seen it." They shared a brief laugh, which made Tucker smile to himself. "Look, Valerie's my friend, but you're my best friend, Sam. You're always going to be more important to me."

Sam dragged her gaze down to her lap, retaining her small smile while sporting a blush. "I— uh, thank you. I really appreciate that." She timidly raised a hand to the back of her neck and drilled her eyes into his. "I'm sorry for acting out like that yesterday. It was a really stupid and pointless fight."

His eyebrows peaked and he lifted his shoulders. "I'm up for forgetting about it if you are."

Tucker watched as they scooted closer to each other and shared a tender hug. "Finally!" he accidentally blurted out, but once he realized his mistake, he quickly slapped his hands over his mouth. Unfortunately for him, it was too late, as Danny and Sam separated and cast their eyes in his direction.

"Tucker!" they both called out sharply, but said boy had already fully entered the restroom by then.

"I'm busy!"