All right reserved to the rightful owners. This was something that appeared in my mind not too long ago and it's been bothering me to just post it so I decided to take a leap and post it. Not beta'd and will most likely stay a one-shot.
Danny stared up at the board in boredom. Everyone around was whispering and gossiping like old ladies, but he couldn't bring himself to join in. They were supposedly getting a new class that was going to be coached by two people. Everyone was trying to figure it out. They had been dragged from their homerooms into the opened concept classroom that was built next to the gym. It looked as if a wall was missing so it flowed straight from the classroom to the gym. It wasn't a room that was used often unless it included both class work and physical work.
Danny jumped when he felt two different hands come to rest on his shoulders. His best friends Tuck and Sam stood on either side of the boy with looks of concern evident on their face.
"You okay man?" Tucker asked, squeezing Danny's shoulder gently. Danny smiled up at them and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm just really tired Tuck." Sam smiled down softly. While he was getting better at fighting the ghosts, they still tired him out. In the beginning Danny would call Sam and Tucker to help him at night with the ghosts, but suddenly the calls just stopped coming in. Sam and Tucker hoped that meant he wasn't getting attacked as much, but after one night Danny showed up at Sam's with a huge burn on his back and needing stiches on his shoulder, they knew better. He just stopped calling them because he reasoned that their grades were being affected by the lack of sleep and there was no reason they should screw their lives up just because he wanted to make it easier on himself.
Sam though he was being stupid and sweet while Tucker thought he was pushing himself too far.
"Let me guess, Technus?" Danny groaned and laid his head on the table while Sam and Tucker pulled their chairs up close to his.
"I wish it had only been him. I had Skulker and Walker too. Thankfully not at the same time and the box ghost thought it would be fun to interrupt all three of the fights. I don't understand how he gets out all of the time!" He cried as he folded his arms over his head. Sam rubbed his back gently, hyperaware that he had a new bruise from the way he sat. Tuck patted his arm sympathetically, for once not focused on his PDA. He knew that Danny really needed them two at the moment and he was determined to help somehow.
"You really need to start calling us, Danny. We both stay up at night because we're too worried to sleep so we could at least be awake and doing something useful instead of laying in our beds listening for noises outside." Sam nodded her head in agreement at Tuck's words. Danny lifted his head and shook his head as he stared at his hands in his lap. He was shocked when Sam's thin hands grabbed one and interlaced their fingers. She was the most adamant out of the two when it came to telling someone off for assuming they were together, but then she would go and do things like this and confuse everyone, including Danny himself.
"You're staying at my place tonight." It wasn't a request, but a demand.
"Thanks for informing me of my plans for the night, Sam." While he knew what she was doing, he didn't like being told out-right what he was going to be doing. Tuck groaned and leaned back in his chair with his PDA.
"Fine, would you like to stay the night tonight? Tucker's welcome to join, too." Danny sighed, of course she would drag Tucker into this. Danny knew that if Tucker went, they'd be on the computer all night skyping him.
"Fine, I'll come." He mumbled tugging gently on Sam's hand that was still intertwined with his. It always shocked him at the size difference between his and Sam's hands. Even Tucker's were a lot smaller than his. He just chalked it up to his father's genetics. She smiled over at him before loosening their hands and flipping his hand over so she could see his wrist.
There on his right wrist was a flesh colored tattoo that Danny decided to get a couple of weeks ago. It had just finally healed and he didn't have to wear his hoodie to school, even though it was in the middle of December at the time. Apparently because of his ghost-half, he never really got cold. At first it raised a few questions as to why he wouldn't wear a jacket, but everyone finally just left him alone.
The tattoo was just a few words that were written on his wrist in Sam's handwriting. It was something to remind him that he was never alone, which was something Danny had needed to remember lately.
"Can we go to the mall after school?" Sam asked hesitantly as she curled up close to Danny. When in human form, he was a space heater and Sam could never resist the warmth. Danny nodded before glancing over at Tucker.
"You going to come with us, Tucker?" Danny asked as he kicked his feet up onto the desk. Tucker's eyes narrowed.
"It depends, where do you need to go?" Sam grinned demonically.
"Oh, I don't need to go anywhere special. I just need to get a birthday present for my uncle and a few other things." Tuck sighed.
"Fine, but you are not forcing me to wait while you get your hair done again." Sam smiled before turning to Danny again.
"That reminds me, can you ask your sister to come with us? I need her advice on something." Danny raised an eyebrow but nodded nonetheless.
"Don't you have her cell phone number, though? You could always just text her." Sam shrugged.
"Yeah, but she'll be more likely to come with us if you ask her." Danny rolled his eyes but nodded.
"Fine, I'll ask her." Sam thanked him before settling back into his side, jumping when the door slammed opened and Maddie and Jack Fenton stormed in. Danny fell out of his seat, bringing Tuck and Sam with him.
"Dammit, that hurt Danny!" Tucker exclaimed as he hit the floor. Danny flushed before standing up and pulling the other two up with him.
"Sorry man." He hissed as he sat back down, completely aware that the whole class, Mr. Lancer, and his parents were staring at the trio. The all sat back down with a bit more space between them than before, but not much. While most people already knew how close they sat to one another, Maddie and Jack were not as privy to this. Most of the trio's time was either spent out doing something, or at Sam or Tucker's houses. Rarely were they at Fenton Works.
"Hi sweetie!" Maddie called out once she recovered from Danny's clumsiness. Everyone snickered as Danny just blushed and raised a hand in acknowledgement.
"Now, my wife and I are here to teach the newest class! Or, one of the classes!" The trios eyes widened. The only class that these two would be able to teach would be…
"Ghost hunting!" Maddie exclaimed happily as she stood in front of the students in her usual jumpsuit.
"Oh god." Danny muttered as he slumped lower in his chair trying to hide behind Sam. She giggled in sympathy.
"What Dr. Fenton actually means is that this will be a self-defense class taught by Mrs. Fenton and a ghost protection class taught by Mr. Fenton. The class will be separated into half for the entire semester until the end. Every day you will switch between Mr. and Mrs. Fenton in order to learn both." Danny sighed. Him, Sam, and Tucker did not need to take this class, but there was no way they could make the adults understand that without giving away their secret.
"Alright, this is how the class will be separated. In group one: Samantha Manson, Daniel Fenton, Tucker Foley, Dashiel Baxter, Sarah, Jake, Gillian, Kwan, Star, Paulina Sánchez, and Valerie Gray. If your name wasn't called, you are in group two." Sam, Danny, and Tucker were pleased they were placed in the same group, but weren't too thrilled when they realized it was with the A-list kids. While Kwan, Star, Jake, Lana, and Val weren't too bad, the rest were.
"I will be sitting in for the first few classes to make sure everything is running smoothly, but I am nothing but a bystander." This was worse than Danny could imagine.
"Alright, I'll take the first group with me today so that we can assess your strengths and weaknesses in the physical aspect while Mr. Fenton will work with group two." Maddie instructed before marching her class into the gym.
"I know you all have your gym clothes with you, so go change. This is going to be a two-hour class today due to it being a new class, but next week it'll go back to be only being an hour long so don't take too much time in the locker rooms because I'm not afraid to go in and drag you out." She called out before everyone left for the locker rooms.
Once Danny, Tuck, and Sam were all back out they huddled in a corner with Danny leaning his back against the wall. One leg was bent and his arms were crossed over his chest.
"Come on Danny. It won't be too bad." Tucker was trying to cheer Danny up, but to no avail. He was freaking out.
"Okay, let's see. How would you feel if your parents were teaching a class on things that could essentially kill you?" Tucker sighed before looking helplessly over at Sam, who was too busy fiddling with the necklace around her neck. It was the locket Danny had gotten her for Hanukkah to match the ring that he got her for her birthday a month before. Tucker wondered how he was going to top that for Christmas.
"It'll be okay Danny, we always figure something out in the end." Danny sighed but nodded.
"Just think, this way we can get more hand-to-hand practice with you so you can train more on your powers out of school. I think this will work out pretty well." With that said, Sam pushed off the wall and dragged her boys back to the group. Everyone was out by now.
"Alright, we seem to have an odd amount of students so there will be a group of three. I'll let you guys choose your groups for the first self-defense class. But please try to stay in your size group." Gillian and Dash stuck together while Sarah and Paulina paired up leaving Valerie and Star together and Jake and Kwan as partners. Nobody was dumb enough to approach Tucker, Sam, or Danny, leaving them as the group of three. Plus, everyone knew Sam could keep her own as she grew up with them.
Maddie, on the other hand, tried to break the trio up.
"Mom, I promise you that Sam will be fine." Maddie bit her lip.
"I just don't want you two getting hurt." Everyone chuckled. Maddie wasn't worried about Sam getting hurt, she was worried about Sam hurting them. Danny groaned.
"I promise everything will be fine, mom. Just give us three a chance." Maddie finally sighed.
"Fine, but if you get hurt, it'll be all on you." Danny rolled his eyes before nodding. Sam was giggling her head off as Danny and Tucker grumbled. While both Sam and Tucker knew Danny could easily beat all of them, they knew tucker wouldn't. It made him mad, but he didn't have the self-defense training Sam had, or the natural talent Danny seemed to have.
"Alright, first we're going to focus on some simple stretches and exercises." Maddie instructed, walking amongst all of the groups. They began a few simple yoga poses and stretches that left some of the burlier students—and Tuck—winded while the girls and Jake and Danny didn't seem bothered. Maddie was a bit impressed that her son didn't seem too effected by this.
"Alright, because this class is going to have you and your partner, or partners, become very close to one another, we're going to do a simple trust fall exercise. You will not only have to battle your partner, you are going to have to reply and trust your partner through all of this. One day they could be the reason you're alive." Danny, Sam, and Tucker looked around in amusement at the sullen that the group had adopted. They were used to having to depend and trust each other to survive through the constant ghost attacks in which they were always at risk of dying.
"This'll be a good time for Tucker to learn a bit more hand-to-hand." Sam mumbled, leaning close to Danny.
"I know I'm not the best, but you really don't have to rub it in." Tucker hissed from Danny's other side. Danny decided that they weren't doing each other too much harm. And he liked having his two best—and only—friends close to him. It meant that he knew they were safe.
"Alright, I want one partner one to stand in front of partner two and cross your arms over your chest." Maddie instructed, watching when Sam stood in front of Danny. "Good now here comes the hard part. Close your eyes and fall backwards into your partner's arms. You need to be able to trust them if things are going to work." Maddie's eyes widened as Danny stepped back as Sam was falling. She was about to run over there when she noticed Sam's arm fly out and grab ahold of Tucker's awaiting hand. Tucker pulled her to his chest with ease and grinned at the two. Maddie was stunned. How did Sam know where Tucker was, she had her eyes closed the entire time! Suddenly it was Tucker behind Sam and Danny behind him with Sam's eyes closed. Once they were sure Sam had her eyes closed, Danny stepped to the side Tucker hadn't been at the time before. But then he walked to her other side, like they were trying to confuse her. Maddie watched as Sam smiled; her eyes still closed, and fell back, only for Tucker to jump back like Danny had. Sam's hand met Danny's half-way and he pulled her to him, just like Tucker had.
The trust they must have to do that was interesting. Now it was Tucker's turn to stand in front of Danny. Maddie watched in fascination as Tucker just fell back without reservations and Danny caught him, not even stumbling under the other boy's weight like the others were. She was broken from watching her son when there was a screech.
Maddie turned to see Paulina on the floor with a stunned Sarah on top of her. She heard Sam laugh and sent her a look to shut her up before helping the two girls.
"Maybe we should worry about working up some muscles before you try and catch your partners again." Maddie chuckled nervously as she noticed that the trio was the only ones to trust the other enough to completely go through with it. Everyone else seemed to have to look back before falling or open their eyes and flail as they fell.
"Alright, now I need to know if any of you know any bit of self-defense." Dash, Gillian, and Kwan's hands were the first to go up along with Valerie and Tucker. Sam and Danny's were the last to go up, which surprised Maddie. She didn't know Danny knew any self-defense. It seemed Star, Jake, Sarah, and Paulina knew nothing.
"I know how to fight, but not self-defense." Jake explained. Maddie was impressed that he understood the deference and she wondered if that was true for Dash, Gillian, and Kwan. They probably knew how to wildly throw a punch and hit their target, but did they know any forms of martial arts?
"Each of you will go up against me and I'll throw some simple moves to see how well you can defend yourself. Remember, don't attack, block." Danny scowled when his mom brought Dash out on the mats. Danny knew for a fact that Dash only knew how to be on the offense, not defense. Fortunately, Dash, Kwan, and Gillian were easy to pin, but Valerie, Jake, and Tucker took some out of her. Paulina, Star, and Sarah were simple to beat. Once it was down to only Sam and Danny, Maddie was a bit out of breath.
"How about this, Mrs. Fenton." Sam broke in when Maddie was telling them that she was going to take a bit of a break. "Danny and I will fight and you can assess our skills that way." Danny like this idea better than going up against his mother as he knew she would be going easy on him and he didn't want her to get hurt.
"I don't know, Danny never was one to know how to fight…" Tucker snorted. It really shocked him sometimes how little Danny's parents knew about their son.
"Just let us try." Sam begged. She was eager to go up against Danny. With the two of them training Jazz and Tucker most night, they hadn't had a chance to actually battle in a while.
"Are you alright with this, Danny?" Danny smiled tightly.
"Definitely." He snapped out before getting in position on the mats, Sam following suit. For a moment everything was still as the two just stared and circled each other, but as soon as Danny gave her a smirk, she lunged. He was able to jump back and come close to kicking her before she ducked and swept his feet out from under him. Maddie gasped as he fell on his back for a split second before he spun and got up as quickly as he fell. He was quick to throw in a few combination hits that were all blocked by Sam before he did a roundhouse kick that resulted in her bending back to miss his foot only to have her feet kicked out when he landed on the ground.
They continued for some time, each landing only a few blows as they went back and forth in dodging and blocking the other's attacks.
"Is that all you got Sammy-kins?" Danny suddenly called out as he back flipped away from her strike. She growled before getting a good punch in before he slipped away again.
"You know I'm just holding back, Danny-bear." She said in her sweet, bubble-gum voice that she loved to taunt in. She flipped him when he appeared behind her and he kept his grip on her as he flew in front of her, bringing her down as he landed on his feet. Sam jumped up and aimed a swift kick to his good side before swinging back and hitting him right in the jugular, just to daze him a bit.
"But it would seem that I have the upper hand now, Bunny-boo." Sam gasped at the nickname. Danny was quick to grab her hand and hit the pressure points in her arm to paralyze it for a moment.
"That's it, Twinkle-toes, you're going down." She hissed, standing straight and glaring at the older boy, who just had a cocky smile on his face.
"Bring it princess." He taunted, crooking his fingers towards the younger girl.
They continued for a bit while Maddie just watched on in amazement before Sam finally, finally, pinned Danny down; winning.
"Good job, Sam." Maddie said stunned. It was a really close and long match, yet neither of the two was panting. Sure, a little winded, but not the amount they really should have been.
"Told ya you were going down, Bubbles." Sam smirked as she wiped the sweat from the base of her neck with a towel. Danny smiled back happily.
"Next time I'm bringing that tigress down." Danny declared to Tucker as he sat down on the floor.
"We'll see about that Dan-Dan." Sam taunted, following his actions and sitting on the floor. They were both unaware of the staring teens around them; the only one not shocked had been Tucker, who had spent most of his time recording the two. They always recorded their training sessions to see improvements.
"Congrats you two." Tucker called out, still looking down at his PDA.
"You've added forty-five seconds." Danny scowled.
"It would have been more, had Danny been in top shape at the moment. Though I'm shocked you did as well as you did with the sprain." Danny nodded, not a bit happier.
"And with another win, I've regained the upper hand, Danny-kins!" Sam exclaimed happily as she looked down at the PDA. "You're only two behind me, but I'm still in the lead." Danny groaned and fanned out on the floor before sitting back up and grabbing his foot in order to stretch his back.
"Since we've done all of the training we're going to do today, I think it's about time to hit the showers and get ready for a lecture." Maddie called out in a daze. It was a good thing she had also recorded the fights to evaluate later on the students weaknesses and strengths, she wanted to be able to go over the fight once again once her head was clear.
Since when had Danny known how to fight like that?
"I would have done better had you not swiped me with that ring, Samantha." Danny grumped before pulling the girl into a side-ways hug as the trio walked towards the locker rooms. Sam stuck her tongue out at Maddie's son before dancing off to her own gender's locker room and slipping through the doors.
Maddie didn't know what was going on, but she was bound to find out.
Please review with your thoughts! If enough people review this, then I might continue writing it!
~WildFireBurnsTheForest