AN: Okay guys. I love Danny/Laura/(Carmilla) as much as you guys, and Danny/Kirsch definitely has potential, but guys-
Danny/Betty. And I know this isn't my usual fanfic format, but I actually put a ton of work and effort into this and it was well received on Tumblr, so it's getting posted everywhere.
Disclaimer: I do not own Carmilla: The Series. U by Xotex does.
Betty spent the last year partying and getting Cs and Ds and probably failed out of half her classes because she wasn't there. Princeton isn't going to accept those kinds of grades, no matter how great she was in high school, and they would NEVER believe the real reason why her grades slipped so badly (because let's be 100% honest here, if someone came up and told us that their school was run by vampire that sacrificed 5 people to a giant angler fish every 20 years, we would check and see if they have a fever and tell them to go back to sleep).
In fact, no school would take her, so our poor Betty is probably stuck at Silas U-where at least everyone understands what happened to her-and she probably has to redo her entire first year.
For someone as driven as her, this is NOT going to fly. She's going to spend three miserable years at this freaky place, get perfect grades with amazing extra curriculars, and go to Yale or Harvard for her Graduates degrees.
Meaning she loads herself up with twenty-one credit hours her first real semester and starts five new clubs (most of which are mainly her, Laura, and maybe one or two other people. Laura's in all her clubs because she feels guilty about what happened to her and wants to help as much as she can between making sure her own grades don't fall again and keeping a Dean-possessed deity from destroying the world) and joins three established ones.
She's so obsessed with just doing anything necessary that, when she gets an A- on her first Lit paper, she storms into the TA's office, ready to rain down doom and destruction upon the idiot who dared to give her a grade that would bring down her current GPA even farther…and meets Danny.
Danny is helpful and understanding of her situation, and gives Betty an extra credit opportunity to bring that A- up to an A+, and offers that, every time there's an essay in class, Betty can come to her and she'll review it so Betty can get a perfect score in Lit.
Betty jumps on that offer like a monkey on a banana, and starts showing up at Danny's door every three days or so with a new paragraph or page that she wants to make sure flows just right (because the teacher gave them all the essay topics on the first day of class, so of course she would get started on them months in advance).
And Danny knows that it's a horrible thing: she literally just went through this with Laura and while she's glad her friends-because by this time Danny and Carmilla have probably fought together and saved each other from some certain death enough times that they are, in fact, friends-are happy together, she still remembers the pain of having a huge crush on a freshman and it not working out. But that doesn't change the fact that she's legitimately attracted to Betty.
So she doesn't say anything; she helps Betty with her papers, spending hours more with her then with any other students, and after each session she calls Kirsch and Carmilla to spar with, or Perry for something sweet to eat, or LaF for a gaming session, or Laura for pizza and a movie and the latest reason why the world's going to hell in a hand basket.
All of them know-know Danny has fallen hard for someone, harder then she fell for Laura-but isn't letting herself be happy. No one knows who it is until one day Betty comes up to Laura and asks if it would be inappropriate for her to ask for Danny's number next time she goes in to get a paper done.
Because Betty, despite the fact that she's way too busy to even think about romantic relationships, especially at this school, has realized that she's falling for Danny. And while she knows for a fact that it's inappropriate for her to date her TA, there's nothing wrong with becoming friends…right?
So, Laura, who considers herself a bit of a matchmaker (Laura, baby, no. You can't tell flirting from a warthog) says that there's nothing wrong with getting the TA's number, so long as it's under the guise of easy accessibility if something comes up while doing homework.
So Betty asks for it, Danny gives it, and for a few weeks nothing happens. They just have their bi-weekly meetings, and all is okay. But Betty finally works up the courage to call Danny, and asks for an extra session with her, because 'there's a section of this latest essay that she's actually struggling a bit with, and she's hoping that talking it out with her will help' (really, she just wants to see her again; yesterday and tomorrow aren't going to be enough this week. Betty wants to see her again today, and it's this realization that makes Betty accept that this isn't just a crush. She's fallen way harder then she expected she would).
Danny accepts, they meet at a café to discuss the essay, and everything is almost normal. Except Betty, instead of running off right after they finish, sticks around for a bit to just chat, asking Danny about herself and her interests. She starts to do this after every session; an extra fifteen, twenty minutes if Danny doesn't have another appointment, all just to talk.
Betty starts spending more time in the dorm as well (much to Carmilla's annoyance; Betty, with her heavy workload, had barely been in the dorm all semester, giving Carmilla plenty of alone time with Laura. Betty's new desire to work in the room-especially when Danny was there-was severely cutting into Carm's time with her girl). Instead of disappearing to the library when anyone other than Laura walks in, she stays and continues her work while listening in on the crazy shit her roommate and her friends have gotten themselves into.
Once, while they were trying to figure out an ancient puzzle Carmilla (who actually was vampire; explained the soy milk carton) had never seen before, she had even spoken up, offering them help that, in the end, let them crack the code.
After that, she's an official part of the Weird Squad; if she is at the library or a club meeting when they meet or something strange happens, Laura fills her in the moment she gets back to the room.
At some point, her meetings with Danny stop being about the papers (they're all guaranteed A+s, anyways, so there was no need for them to continue the farce), and start being about themselves. They talk about their hopes and dreams, goals for the future, why Danny is still friends with Kirsch and why Betty even toured the Silas Campus if she was so sure she was going to Princeton. Things normally said on dates over wine were said in a classroom over already graded essays.
Betty starts making an active effort to be part of the group, and Danny starts actively inviting her over to join them; both, of course, under the guise of friendship, because they were still student and TA, and neither knew that, for the other, it was a lot more. The others-who are a lot more perceptive about these kinds of things-welcome her again with open arms, just glad that their friendly neighborhood giant might actually be able to find happiness.
But then finals roll around-which everyone manages to pass, despite another end of the world scenerio-, summer break begins, and for three months, no one hears anything from Betty.
First month, everyone thinks "okay, she's probably just spending so much time with her family and doing extra studying that she doesn't realize she's not communicating with us. Everything is okay, and she'll respond soon."
Month two, everyone is freaking out a bit. Why isn't Betty texting back? Why isn't she returning any of their calls? What could be keeping her from picking up her phone and sending out a
"Hey, I'm fine." text?
At the beginning of month three, everyone makes up excuses for why they need to go back to school a month early to their family, pack up every single bit of supernatural killing equipment they can find, and go to hunt down whatever took Betty, starting at her house.
Even if Betty hadn't been a major part of their group, hadn't been their friend, they still would have gone after her. After everything they went through first semester to get her back alive, there was no way they were letting anything happen to her. And the fact remains that she is their friend, perhaps even something more for Danny now that she isn't Betty's TA and can finally admit her feelings to herself, so there is no way in Hell or Hogwarts she's letting Betty go.
So the six of them get Betty's address from the goblin that works in human resources, Kirsch commandeers one of the vans the Zetas use to travel to off campus parties, and they go. They drive for almost four days straight, switching between drivers every few hours so everyone is equally exhausted and can get some rough sleep in the uncomfortable vehicle, stopping only for food and gas and needed facilities. For four days they just push through, desperate to get to Betty and bring her back.
When they finally get to her house, Betty's fine. Absolutely, wonderfully fine. She's lying in her yard, doing nothing by reading a book when they pull up and tumble out, half dead on their feet but still brandishing swords and stakes and bear spray, ready for the fight they were sure was about to come.
Betty had dropped her phone in a nearby river the third day of being home, and as punishment for her first horrible semester, her parents aren't going to replace it until the week before she goes back to school.
By this point everyone is just beyond exhausted, and the worried energy that had been driving them is suddenly gone. Almost the entire group just collapses, leaning against each other and the car and Kirsch just sinks to the ground, all of them too sleep deprived and sick from worry to remain functional.
Except Danny. Danny just stands there, staring at Betty as she gathers together her blanket and book and starts talking about how they should all come inside and get cleaned up and eat and sleep, how her parents aren't home and won't be until next week so they have plenty of time to relax and recover.
Danny just stands there in a daze, staring at Betty, before dropping her weapon, grabbing her by the arm, and pulling her into a kiss that she doesn't even realize she's initiated, because she's just so happy Betty is alive and okay that she's not thinking straight about what any of her actions mean or the fact everyone is watching them; she just wants to kiss the girl she's fallen in love with and make her happiness known.
It's a quick kiss, lasting only the few seconds it takes for Danny's brain to catch up with the rest of her body before she's pulling away, eyes wide and terrified for a whole new set of reasons, all having to do with the girl standing stunned before her. She starts to stutter out an apology, to take a few steps back, to remove the hands she hadn't realized she had put around Betty's waist, starts to ask that Betty just forget everything that just happened-
When Betty grabs Danny by the collar and pulls her back in, kissing her again just to shut her former TA up. And for many, many other reasons.
The gang ends up staying the entire week, relaxing and having fun at Betty's house, Danny never once leaving her side the entire time they're there. They leave the day before Betty's parents are supposed to return, taking a few hours to leave the house exactly as they found it- well, Perry takes the time to leave the house as they found it, the others toddle around and play here or there.
Danny surprises Betty with a temporary phone so she can keep in touch with them and make sure this whole situation doesn't happen again. It has everyone's phone numbers added as contacts, and even as few speed dials set up as well.
Danny's is '1.'
The next semester, instead of taking another twenty-one credits despite getting all As in her classes, Betty takes a normal fifteen and drops a good number of the clubs she had only joined because it looked good, not because she cared. Leaving her with plenty of down time to spend with Danny and the other members of the Weird Squad, investigating the strangeness that is Silas U.
Because perhaps an entire four years there, with an extra semester to make up for the one she missed, wouldn't be all that bad.
So long as she had Danny, it wouldn't be all that bad at all.