Shalom! Guess who's back in writing business! That's right ;) somehow I doubt there was anyone out there patiently...or impatiently for that matter, waiting for me to throw my thoughts out onto fanfic again. Mainly, because I only have one story on here, but I digress. This is a story I started about a year ago, right after my other fanfic. It's nothing groundbreaking, but I felt like I needed to finish it before I moved on to bigger and better things. However, if you enjoy movie references, oh boy, you're in for a treat. Also, if you feel like learning which of these moments were based off real life and maybe hearing about a few more that didn't quite make it into the story, check out the author's note at the end. Peace!
I completely called it in my last disclaimer. Almost a year later and I still don't own Danny Phantom! Rats... I also do not own any of the movies that may be mentioned, or referenced, in the following story. Lastly, I do not own YouTube.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock."
"Tucker…"
"Tick-tock, tick-tock."
"Dude, she's turning red."
"Do you wanna build-"
"For the last time, NO! I do not want to build a freaking snowman!" Sam stood abruptly, throwing her arms out and looking all the world like she would strangle the next person to mention anything relating to Frozen. "There's not even snow on the ground! It's April!"
Tucker crossed his arms, huffing indignantly, "Hmph, someone's got a swirling storm inside."
Danny snickered in the background. He knew this might cost him an arm, but it was too tempting to pass up, "Guess she just needs to…let it go."
Sam whirled around, "What did you say?!"
He smirked, studying his fingernails and ignoring Sam's wrath. He was enjoying this way too much. Danny's eyes gazed upward towards the ceiling, "Oh nothing, nothing," With a flourish, he flipped his hand up as if holding a glass of wine. An ice crystal appeared in his palm. Their eyes locked and he flashed her a cheesy grin.
Whap!
Sam growled and stalked back to the movie theatre chair. Danny continued to grin, rubbing his shoulder where Sam had punched him. "Anyways…" He said, "Anything you guys wanna watch?" The three of them, after what might've been the longest week of the year, were finally taking a much needed break. Despite having to fight a new ghost every day, sometimes two…
(Well, it was actually three, but the Box Ghost really doesn't count.
"Beware!"
Hey! Get out of here. Get out!
"One day, you will all bow before the mighty power of the Bo-"
Shut it! …Aaaand back to the story…)
…Lancer giving tests up the whazoo, and Dash stuffing Danny in a locker at least seventeen times, they had lived to tell the tale. Now, it was Friday. School was out. There were no ghosts to be seen and quite frankly Danny couldn't care less if there were. The town could survive one night without their friendly, neighborhood ghost-boy. Rain pelted the windows, but they were tucked safely inside Sam's mansion, preparing to launch themselves into a cinematic adventure of colossal proportions. The blinds were closed tight. The air smelled of butter. The popcorn was…well, popped. What else would popcorn do? It's not like popcorn has many options in life. As for the rest of the scene description throw in some fluffy red chairs, skittles, a glinting silver, screen, Rhino the hamster, a yellow nectarine, and…wait-wait-wait back up a sec…Oh, never mind. Basically, everything was good to go. All they needed was a movie. Sam drummed her fingers on the armrest, "Anything, but Frozen."
Tucker opened his mouth to protest, but before the obviously brain-damaged teenager could inflict more pain upon himself, Danny jumped in, "What about Taken 2?"
Sam rolled her eyes, "Danny, the whole time we watched the first one all you did was make awful, awful puns."
He chuckled, "That was great."
"No! It wasn't," she rubbed her forehead, "After the scene with electric shock torture, you said, 'Well, that was shocking.' Then, after he knocked a guy out and drug him into a closet, you said, 'That job must be a real drag.' Seriously, where do you come up with this stuff?!"
The dim lights sparkled off Danny's eyes, giving him a mischievous look, "It's a gift."
"If that's what you call a gift, you are going to end up sad and alone."
"Ah, I'll always have you," He said, waving his hand towards her.
"Hey, lovebirds."
Two voices rang out with denial, as usual. Simultaneously, as usual…Do I really need to say it? *Sigh* Fine…Clueless, as usual.
"WE'RE NOT LOVEBIRDS!"
Tucker waved his hand dismissively as he went for a root beer refill run, "Yeah, yeah that's what they all say. And Sam, you're out of pretzels."
"Why do people always call us that anyway?" Danny pondered, "Can't they at least switch it up? Ya know, something other than 'lovebirds'."
"Well," Tucker said, holding the word about as long as it takes Dash to figure out two plus two (okay, maybe not that long), "if you guys want me to switch it up," He walked back over to the movie case. Danny sensed this was moving back into dangerous, shark-filled, brimming with techno-geek shipwrecks, gothic waters. Tucker casually pulled out a movie, "I could always go with." He let the statement hang in the air, displaying the movie case (AKA his impending execution) for the world to see.
Danny couldn't decide what to yell: a denial, a threat…or tell Tucker to run for the hills. In Canada. And become a hermit. For ten years. At least. Then upon return beg for his life on bended knees.
The movie was Friends with Benefits.
The air was tense with a sense (hey that rhymes!) of impending doom. Danny slowly brought his gaze from a still grinning, oblivious Tucker, to Sam. "Um…she's smiling. Why is she smiling?!"
Instead of Sam's usual pissed-off, ready-to-kill expression, with just a hint of (it must said) blush creeping out from behind the anger, Sam…was smiling. Somehow it terrified Danny infinitely more. It was a smile born of hidden darkness, of a bottomless, hungry, consuming abyss, and a heart more conniving then either of them had suspected. It was a smile Maleficent would have been proud to wear. A smile from the school of Moriarty. And all Danny could hear, the single quote that echoed through his mind, was: "Oh you think darkness is your ally? But you merely adopted the dark. I was born in it."
The mood of the secluded basement shifted in an instant: from one of cheerful banter, to a heavy atmosphere and a sense of foreboding about to shatter in a moment of terror. The temperature seemed to have dropped without any notice and Danny could have sworn the lights had dimmed. Silence reigned, its absence pressing down on them like a pillow, slowly smothering its victim. Only the distant crunching of popcorn gave any contrast to the deathly quiet.
(In case you were wondering that's me. One of the perks of being an author, you can sit back and watch the show, completely uninterrup-
"Ha! I cannot be contained in any cylindrical container!"
Oh for the love of-
"I will now-"
Get back in the thermos!)
Gradually, the not-so-subtle shifts began to wear down Tucker's self-satisfied grin. Whatever private chuckle he had been enjoying died with his hope of living through the next twenty-seven seconds. His eyes began to flick fervently around the room, coming to rest on Sam's smile. Needless to say, multiple gulps, cringing, and excessive sweating began on Tucker's part, and praying began on Danny's. The main prayer having to do with not having to dispose of his best friend's body, in some dumpster behind the Nasty Burger, under Sam's watchful eye.
Finally, after what felt like hours (but was really only 32 seconds…yes I was keeping track. Shush! You're killing the moment!) Tucker broke.
"WHAT?!" He screeched, eyes bulging, barely contained.
Sam continued to grin, a devilish look on her face. After a long pause she finally spoke, "Well," Her voice was soft and lilting, "If that's the case, Tucker, you get to be Woody Harrelson's character. You know...the gay best friend. I think I've noticed you giving Danny a few, how should I say…suggestive looks lately."
For the fifth time tonight, there was a long pause. Then…
"WHAT?!" Tucker screeched (yes again…that's happening a lot lately). The oppressive weight that had filled the room just a moment before shattered. Sam was still smiling, but now it had faded into a look of triumph. Tucker had been reduced to babbling nonsense reserved for only the thoroughly defeated and certain breeds of Neanderthals. Meanwhile, Danny was laughing harder than…well, something really hard (No not that you perv.) and was currently occupying the better part of the basement floor. Finally, Tucker seemed to retrieve a bit of his sanity and gathered a few semi-cohesive words to form what is otherwise known to most of the human race as a sentence.
"No, no, no! I am not gay!"
Sam raised a single eyebrow.
"Not, n-not that there's anything wrong with that," Tucker stuttered and started pacing, "But, but, but that's beside the point! And you stop laughing!"
Danny was still rolling around on the Coca-Cola red carpet. Doing his best to stop laughing, and failing utterly.
So the night descended into merriment. Tucker promptly tackled Danny, and after a few amused minutes of watching, Sam pulled the two apart. While Tucker sulked and nursed his bruised ego, Sam and Danny picked out a few choice films. Tucker was eventually coaxed out of his little corner on the couch and a movie was settled on. What follows can only be described as one of the simple joys of life: a movie night spent with the best of friends. Laughter and a dark lit room, bad jokes and popcorn fights. There were deep discussions to never see the light of day. Breaks were taken for the cause of YouTube hilarity, and pizza, the king of all late night snacks, was made.
It was a split-second infinity: a moment, a memory that will last forever. In the end, the three of them were passed out on the couch. The unconscious actions of sleep having left Danny and Sam wrapped together under the same blanket, not a denial in sight. While Tucker was snuggled up to his PDA, completely content. The credits were performing their inevitable dance. A digital clock shown on the wall, reading 1:35. Late. Late enough that the thought of returning home was pressing, but not quite urgent. Early enough to procrastinate a few more minutes. Just a few more minutes…
So, what are your thoughts? Nothing astounding as I said, but if you feel like dropping a review of what you liked, what you didn't, what made you fall out of your respective chair from laughing, and what made you raise your eyebrows and say, "Really?" I have just one request, make it constructive. If you think the story sucked, tell me why. Don't just tell me it sucked.
Now! For the parts of story based off of reality.
1. All those puns about Taken? Ya I actually said all that, and more, at a friend's movie party. I got punched several times, but it was sooo worth it!
2. My college RA being pissed about Frozen's album beating out Beyonce's last year and making threats against snowmen builders. Unfortunately, it was not April as in the story. It was November/December, in the coldest place on Earth. Yes, where I was it was even colder then Antarctica. We made the news. *insert glare*
3. Watching the movie Friends With Benefits, with a couple of friends with benefits. Now that was awkward.
There are more, but most of them are rather minor details so I won't bore you. The one moment I really wanted to include, but didn't was when two of my friends and I were watching Sinister (a great horror movie by the way) and one of my friends all of a sudden started to hyperventilate for no apparent reason. It wasn't even a scary scene, so my other friend and I were rather confused. What had happened was, it was Christmas time, and my parents had put up this nativity scene flag outside our front door. Well, when my friend happened to glance over at the small windows set in our front door, the flag flapped up and BAM! Jesus face in the window!
Needless to say we gave said friend a lot of grief, despite the fact they had no idea there was a flag anywhere in the vicinity. And that's all I have for you, ladies & gents! It's been real. I'm out!