Ok not sure if I want to call this Phantom of Fall or Apparition of Autumn so someone let me know what sounds better. In case you haven't realized it yet I'm going for a pattern with my titles. Son anyway here's my first chapter of my next story, what'll happen here? Well that's up in the air I'm writing this as it comes to me so updates will be... sporadic until a good plot hits me and it might take awhile to get to any action. Ideas, comments, critiques are welcome, just be kind. Otherwise enjoy the chapter and all that.
As the sun reached its peak two teens took refuge from the blistering mid-August heat inside a garage. Danny was hard at work on his custom bicycle tuning it up and making sure everything was in working order while his boyfriend sat on a stool doodling him work. With school fast approaching the two spent as much of their free time hanging out together as they could, not knowing how their schedules and classes would line up when they finally started.
"So you get signed up for your classes and everything ready?" Dash asked over the slight clicking noises of Danny tightening a bolt with an socket wrench.
"Yeah," Danny grunted as he pulled himself out from under the bike, "Algebra III, Government, Automotives, physics, Home Ec, Literature, and my mom made me sign up for pre-calculus; says I'll need to learn that sort of stuff if I ever want to design bikes and do stuff like this one day."
"You have two math classes?" Dash chuckled and wiped his forehead of sweat. It was a hot day and even in just a tank top and shorts he was still sweating, "You hate math though, and you always said you stink at it."
"Yeah well she has a point, I will need to learn more math if I want to go into this sort of stuff. I can learn it though even though it will never likely be my favorite subject." Danny got off the ground and rubbed the grease and oil off his hands with a shop rag.
"What about you though? What classes are you taking?"
"Anatomy because of my mom, lit., government, geometry, weight training for football, chemistry even though I'm no good at it, and…" Dash rubbed his hand through his hair that Danny noticed was getting a bit longer than he'd seen him wear it, "I decided to take art as my elective and maybe start building a portfolio."
"Dash that's great!" Danny walked over and gave the larger teen a hug, "Are you sure about this though? I've heard a few things about the art teacher we have and I hear she's a no nonsense type of person, and can be really critical about her students' work, not to mention a bit mean at times."
"Ehh, it'll be fine, worse comes to worse I just won't do well in the class," Dash shrugged as he returned the embrace wrapping his arms around the slightly shorter teen's waist, "It's an elective, it doesn't count towards my GPA as much, but I'm sure I can handle it."
"You should still do your best though-"
"And I will," Dash interrupted, "I'm just not going to go into this expecting an easy A or whatever and then be majorly disappointed when I get a bad grade on something I worked really hard on."
"Well I'm sure you'll do fine regardless." Danny smiled as he pulled back, "But for now let's go inside, you're all sweaty and I could use something to drink myself."
"Yeah, it is a bit hot out here," Dash groaned as he followed his boyfriend inside, "I don't know how you can stand it in those overalls of yours."
Danny looked down at the soiled garment he wore to keep himself from getting his clothes dirty or damaged and smirked, "Well ice powers are always helpful in staying cool."
With a deep breath Danny let out a cold blast of air at Dash who shivered at the frigid temperature he was suddenly hit with.
"Ice breath, super strength, able to fly… If I didn't know better I'd say you were actually Superman and ask if you were really an alien."
"Well I'm not invulnerable and I don't have X-ray vision so I'm not exactly like him," Danny smirked.
"Yeah but you can also shoot lasers from your body," and with that being said the taller teen sat down at the kitchen table as Danny handed him a glass of water.
"Okay, okay," Danny laughed and sat next to his boyfriend with his own glass of water while giving off some of his ice powers to cool the other teen down some more, "I get the point, you are still getting used to the fact your boyfriend has super powers."
"Uh… speaking of 'boyfriends'…" Dash gulped nervously and looked at Danny who stared back curious as to what was going on, "Uhh… how do you want to handle school and being a couple?"
Danny pondered that for a few minutes going through things in his head. On the one hand it would be great to be out and open with their relationship, but on the other hand it could draw unwanted attention to them.
"I dunno, honestly," the teen ran his hand through his dark hair, pulling it back and tying it into a short ponytail, "I mean it'd be great to be out and open about our relationship and everything, but are you sure you're ready for people to know? I mean I don't have any real friends around here anymore but I know you've got a lot of people who like you not to mention your team, and what if it gets back to your parents before you tell them?"
"I hadn't thought about that," Dash said and Danny felt his heart break at how sad and dejected he looked at that moment.
"Hey…" the shorter teen reached up and ran his fingers through the blond locks of the other and pulled their foreheads together, "Don't worry so much about coming out, just enjoy the fact we have each other. When you're ready to tell your parents then we can deal with school and our classmates."
"I know, I just had these stupid fantasies where I'd get to hold your hand walking down the hallway, kiss you before you go to class, and all of that mushy junk like couples do."
"Yeah, I know how you like your romantic dramas," Danny teased and Dash turned his head away from the grinning teen refusing to be embarrassed despite the blush rising to his cheeks.
"I like them for the plot," he grumbled causing his boyfriend to laugh good naturedly.
"I know, I know, don't worry you're still the most macho guy I know," Danny smiled and kissed Dash's cheek when he wouldn't look back at him.
"Hey," he rubbed his hand through the blond hairs and waited until Dash looked back at him, "We'll come out whenever you're ready, just know that whatever happens I'll stand by you."
"Thanks."
"And you know…" Dark eyebrows wiggled suggestively as Danny started to pull back, "Not having anyone know about us means we have to be sneaky and careful with our relationship. The danger of being discovered will make it all the more thrilling."
"I'm starting to think you might just be an adrenaline junkie, Danny," Dash said as he rolled his eyes.
"I frequently risk my life in battles to preserve the harmony between the Ghost Zone and Human World, ride a motorcycle, and have picked fights with beings with centuries more experience than me. Tell me something I don't know."
"Is it too late to call this relationship off, I feel like this isn't going to be good for my health," Dash teased.
"Yep, waaaaay too late for that, Dash, besides if we broke up who would you get to make out in the janitor's closet with?"
"Uhg, there is no way we are ever doing something like that, that's for freshmen and kids in the 8th grade."
"Oh yeah I forgot as a jock you'd want to make out in the locker room wouldn't you?"
"Uhg gross," Dash shoved Danny back into his seat looking slightly disgusted, "I've seen what goes on in locker rooms for years, why would you think I'd want to do anything intimate or romantic in a cesspool like that?"
"Well it's in a lot of the stuff that Sam has sent me. I thought it might have been a popular fantasy for jocks like you."
"What does she- You know what, I don't want to know," Danny laughed at the scrunched up face Dash made before he looked at him, "Speaking of fantasies though…"
"Yeah…?" The smaller teen suddenly became more serious at the tone Dash used, like maybe he wouldn't like what the other was going to say.
"Before we started dating, and after I learned you were building your own bike I had this little idea of how you'd ride up to school one day looking all cool and dangerous wearing your helmet and gear to keep your identity a secret until you parked somewhere up front. Everyone would be looking at you and admiring the looks of the bike and the girls would be staring at the bad-boy that just pulled up. Then when you had most of the school's attention you'd park and turn off the bike drawing out the suspense as long as you could before you took off your helmet and showed everyone who this cool motorcycle driving guy really was."
"Sounds like you want me to turn a lot of heads and impress a lot of people," Danny smirked.
"Well it's more like I want people to see how cool you really are. I mean I thought you weren't anything special during our freshman year but after getting to know you I've realized how crazy awesome you really are and I just want other people to know that too."
"So in other words you want everyone to see how cool your boyfriend is even if we can't be open about it yet?" Danny asked sounding more smug than he should have.
"You're special and great and everyone should know that, that's all," Dash blushed at saying such a thing out loud and Danny couldn't help the blood rush to his own cheeks. Danny liked to tease and make Dash blush but sometimes the big guy could say just the right thing to make him feel like his stomach was trying to do cartwheels.
"T-thanks, Dash," Danny managed to spout out and slid his arm around the jock's shoulders. It was nice being like this with him. They weren't sappy and all loving acting like he had always thought couples were, but were more real like he'd seen his parents. They were more than just boyfriends, they were true friends; the kind that held you tight when you were afraid, who laughed at you when you did something stupid, who talked about their dreams and encouraged you to follow them. The only difference between his relationship with Dash and his relationship with Tucker was that with Tucker, sure he'd do all that for Danny, but Dash would do it for him now too, as well as kiss him sweetly, touch him more intimately, and be there for him in the romantic aspects that someone who was 'just a friend' couldn't.
It might not have been what most people thought of when they heard the word 'relationship' but in Danny's mind the fact his new friend was also his boyfriend made it seem better. It made the idea of their approaching senior year feel all the more special, knowing he was going to go into it with someone like Dash. He was the kind of person, Danny realized, who could have his back in a street fight and then later curl up with to a stupid action movie that they could zone out too. It may not have been what he had ever originally thought he'd have in life it was somehow even better than anything the young teen could have ever come up with.
A good relationship should be more than just love, it should be about friendship, compassion, and being in synch with each other. I think the best relationships are built upon friendship and that the best partners are also the best of friends. That's why I put this in the friendship tag (that and because I can only use two tags). Still though I put Danny and Dash into a pairing option so that should work out well for what is going on between them now. More to come, just don't know when, so enjoy it all as it comes around.