Gesellschafts
A Danny Phantom fanfic
YAJJ
Special thanks to everyone who read/reviewed/favorited/alerted Losing It All and all of my other DP fics. You all are one of the reasons that I continue my writing spree!
Date: 10/2/2013 12:02 am
I know, only one day after posting Losing It All? I had this idea a few nights ago, and then last night I was struck with inspiration and didn't fall asleep until 12:30, when I was mostly finished with it. Then this morning before class I finished it. And now I'm posting. Don't judge me; I have twenty more stories that I would be alright with posting in the works, at least. I'm going to spam the crap out of the Phandom. And thus, about one day, 5 pages, and 2225 words later, I present to you my latest piece. Besides, after Fourteen and Losing It All, I needed a little fluff.
Summary: Jazz is getting married, but she still can't dance with her soon-to-be husband. Well, Jack can't exactly teach her. But Danny can certainly give it a try.
Disclaimer: The fact that I don't own Danny Phantom has still not changed from yesterday. I still don't own it.
Also, the title is the name of the song that Jazz is using to dance with her new husband Keith. It's Gesellschacfts by Johann Strauss II, a pretty waltz but the first of 10 that I looked at that might be easy to dance to.
"True coral," Jazz decided aloud in front of her vanity, turning to and fro to look herself in the mirror. She held her emerald green cocktail dress in front of her body and looked between the dress, her face, and her hair. Already, her eyes were made-up with light cinnamon, the bottom lids touched with the finest hint of eyeliner to bring out the unique color scheme that was Jazz Fenton's eyes.
Even before her hair was done, before her dress was on, before her makeup was complete, she looked stunning. Anyone in Jazz's position would. She was so excited, so happy, so cheerful that anything would look perfect on her.
In two days, Jazz was to be wed to the boy of her dreams, a Harvard grad who, ironically enough, was big into the paranormal sciences. He had actually faced up to Danny Fenton, Phantom, and Jack Fenton and had come away, though a little shaken, unharmed. He'd held his ground, and had earned the approval of two of the most important men in her life. Danny had told her more than once that he was one special guy.
But the wedding was two days from now. And as excited as she was, she was so stressed and nervous about it all. She was terrified, though it wouldn't show.
So, her Maid of Honor (Star Summers, from Danny's class. Also a Harvard graduate, strangely enough, once she'd calmed down and detracted herself from Paulina. And, Jazz's best friend.) was taking her out with the other bridesmaids for a nice date. So, Jazz was getting ready. It was six o'clock then, Star would be there to pick her up at eight.
Jazz picked up the tube of True Color lipstick from Tom Ford Beauty, smearing it across her lips perfectly. She smacked her lips to spread the color evenly, and then surveyed her handiwork.
Just like nearly everything else that Jazz had ever done, perfect. Jazz smiled at herself in the mirror, checking for any embarrassing noticeables in her teeth. Then she set to work on her hair, taking out her curler to give herself big, bouncy curls that would frame her face and accent its symmetricity and beauty.
Not that it was necessary. She was, after all, marrying Keith frickin' Browdy.
As she did after every time she curled her long locks, Jazz played with the curls, bouncing them in her hands and watching them fall back into place, searching for the best way to rest her hair once she was out. She finally settled for the right side framing her face while the left tucked behind her ear.
Finally, she threw her dress over her head, resting the cap sleeves on her shoulders, giving her a businessy-yet-out-there look that always seemed to work for her.
Six forty-five, and she was ready to go.
Jazz admired herself for another three minutes, twirling in her dress to watch the bottom fly out a little. Her shoes lay forgotten beside her bed at FentonWorks, ready to be walked into and outside in.
Suddenly, her one foot caught on the other, and she felt herself plummet. She squeaked in surprise at her clumsy feet, flinging her hands out for purchase on what wasn't there.
Her pounding heart steadied when something invisible latched onto her wrist, keeping her from hitting the ground. She stared at her wrist, trying to comprehend, and then smiled softly in relief. "Danny…" she said, soft affection touching her voice.
Two seconds later, the smirking face of Danny Fenton, floating six inches above the ground and clutching her wrist. His blue eyes twinkled with amusement. "I was gonna say something cheesy about how dazzling you looked, but then you tripped and…" His smirk turned to a brilliant grin, eyeing her experimentally, "well, I figured I'd better stop you from messing yourself up before I made some wise-ass comment."
"Language, Danny," Jazz said evenly, ignoring the tiny slight. She got her feet beneath her as Danny teasingly peeled away his fingers, as though intending to drop her.
"Sorry, Mom," Danny remarked.
Jazz rubbed her wrist, looking down at it, but grinned wildly at him. "Darn straight. But seriously, thanks. I, heh, wasn't expecting that."
Danny laughed and obeyed the laws of gravity, tapping the ground lightly with his toes before settling quietly on flat feet. "I wouldn't have guessed." He looked his sister over once more, and then looked down at himself. "I feel like I'm going to mess you up just by touching you, I'm so grubby. You do look great, Jazz."
"Thanks, Danny," said Jazz with a smile, looking at his attire. "Besides, you're not the one going out, so you don't need to get dressed up."
"The only time I go out is when my ghost sense goes off, and I've got an entire other wardrobe for that." Danny opened his mouth with a little laugh and smiled. Then, a little smirk touched his round face, looking quizzically at Jazz. "...Dance lessons didn't go so well, huh?"
The one thing in Jazz's wedding that had yet to be figured out was her first dance as a wife. Not at all because Jazz didn't want it figured out. The problem was that both she and Danny had inherited one big thing from their father: general clumsiness. When they fought, they were as graceful as their mother. But any other time, they were less than so. Which seemed to include dancing.
So no. Dance lessons did not go so well. Jazz had given up. She just planned to wing it, a thing she rarely ever did, and if she tripped then who the heck cared? It was her night, and for all the audience knew it was on purpose, as long as Keith played along and maybe she had a little 'invisible help'.
Five two-hour lessons still running through the basics had told her that: no, she wasn't cut out for dancing.
A tiny smirk touched Danny's cheeks when Jazz shook her head, all red and embarrassed. He glanced to the clock and noted it: 6:53. "Well, you've got an hour until Star's here, right? And we wouldn't want you to waste getting all dolled up so early." He held out his hand to her gentlemanly, affection brushing his eyes. "Sam's been making me learn to dance for the wedding. I could help you, if you want."
"You?" asked Jazz, humoring rippling through her quip, "the King of all Clumsies? I don't know about that…"
"I can dance!" Danny defended himself loudly, putting his hands on his hips. He stuck his tongue out at her like a child. He returned his hand to its previous position; the offer still stood. "Besides, it's just a little practice. One two three, one two three, you know. If I'm helpful, then you'll get better and hopefully won't make me save your face from meeting the floor. If I'm not then… well, it's not like you could get much worse." He gave a cheeky grin.
"Funny man," Jazz said. She sighed and looked him over. "Sam has been teaching you?"
"Yeah. And she's pretty graceful without her combat boots on. Her parents taught her to dance ages ago. It's worth a shot, right?"
"..." Jazz puffed out a sigh and nodded. "I suppose so. Living room?"
The bright smile that touched Danny's lips suddenly made her decision that much more worth it. He nodded and sprang towards her door, floating out of it. "I'll go put on the music! Strauss, right? Yeah. Fourth track. Come on down when you're ready!" Without another word, Danny disappeared
Jazz laughed at her brother and looked toward her pale shoes. Sometimes it was hard to believe that he was twenty-five years old. He acted more like he had when he was sixteen. She slid her high heels onto her feet and headed toward the living room, snatching her clutch from atop her dresser.
Upon her arrival, she had to stop for a moment to see if she'd actually found the living room… or perhaps she'd wandered into someone else's house somehow. Chairs were stacked up, the couch was on its side, leaning against the wall to tower above all of them, held fast by duct tape. The table was at its side, framing the bottom of the room beneath on of Danny's senior picture: of he and she leaning back to back, arms crossed, looking awful smug and loosely holding Fenton Thermoses.
Above her, the speaker started playing the song that she wanted to dance to: Freuet . She hummed along with it, until Danny returned, floating half a foot off of the ground and just looking all around excited. He settled on the ground and made an elaborate bow, his eyes glowing with mirth. "May I have this dance, ma'am?"
Jazz smiled brilliantly, one hand going to her chest and the other held out for Danny to take. "Why yes, good sir, you may." She tossed her clutch off to the side and felt Danny pull her forward a little bit, into the middle of the room. Danny's hand rested on her side, the one holding her hand was lifted into the air a little. She moved her free hand to his firm shoulder.
"Okay, Jazz, it's pretty easy. It's just like the music. One two three, one two three, one two three. Move in tandem. Follow me." Danny took one step back, and then another, and then a third, coming to a stop. Jazz followed him carefully, concentrating on the movement of her feet and on not crushing his toes. "Good," Danny said encouragingly. "But don't watch your feet. They're still there; that's not going to change. Just trust me, and trust yourself. Okay, let's keep going."
The time flew as they danced, moving back and forth in sync as they read each others' movement, experts in each other if nothing else. Jazz hummed along with the music as, somehow, Danny did what ten hours of lessons with a professional could not do: slid her into an unmatched comfort zone that made her dance like she had been for years.
The grandfather clock in the hallway chimed eight, making both Danny and Jazz jerk in surprise and stop their majestic spinning, though they didn't release each other. They had never realized that they'd acquired an audience.
"Oh Jack, how sweet. Look at them, all grown up!" said their mother, pride sounding from her voice. Danny went red but ignored her, giving his father a sheepish look.
"How long have you guys been standing there?"
"Long enough," Jack replied with a laugh, crossing his arms as he looked between his dancing babes. "I didn't know you could dance."
"Sam has been teaching him!" Jazz offered spritely, squeezing the fabric on Danny's shoulder. Her hand descended a little, rubbing his thick triceps.
Both Jack and Maddie grinned at the two. "You look beautiful, honey," Maddie told her daughter. She eyed her son, who looked a little worse for wear. "And you need a shower."
Jazz laughed to herself but kept it there, figuring that the least she could do for her brother was not laugh, especially since he had just taught her to dance.
"Skulker decided that throwing me in the dirt and smearing it all over me would be a great idea. Most of it came off with intangibility, but some stuck."
"Mhmm…"
As seemed to be the habit with FentonWorks, the front door opened of seemingly its own volition to reveal a best friend, Star this time. She thought nothing of the stacked furniture - the Fentons were weird, after all. She did, though, manage to key in on Danny and Jazz, still prepared to start dancing again. Tossing her hair over one shoulder, she lifted her light eyebrows, half in amusement. "Hey Jazz, Danny," she greeted. She nodded toward the Fenton parents. She offered twinkling eyes to Jazz. "Thought you were marrying Keith. I mean, if you really want to get together with Danny, he's a handsome guy, but…"
At the words, Danny and Jazz pushed away from each other. Danny lifted into the air to hover above his parents' heads, wiping his hands on his pants like he was tainted, while Jazz shook her hands off. She gave Star a sheepish look and bent over to pick up her clutch.
"Ready to go?" asked Star, done teasing her friend. She wiped carefully at the tears of laughter sprouting in her eyes.
"Yeah. I just need to do something real quick." Jazz smiled brilliantly at Star and turned back to her family. Danny had lowered a little, his head now a little above Jack's. She beckoned to him gently.
Confusion marred his face, but he approached her nonetheless, tapping into gravity yet again. "What's up?"
Jazz carefully wrapped him up in a hug, glad that for all the dirt on him, none was on his shirt. She kissed his forehead gently, giving all of her thanks to him. "You're the best, Danny." She let him go before he registered what was going on, instead turning back to Star and signaling that she was ready to go. "Don't wait up, guys!"
As Jazz left, Danny gave a bright smile and said, "If I'm the best, it's only because you deserve it."
I think that my best writing comes when I write it over night or pretty much all right away. Fourteen was done the same way.
Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! Please feel free to drop a line! All reviews will be answered via PM.
Until next time,
~YAJJ