And it continues? What a thrilling story my god. My Little Pony got nothing on this magic friendship. And sorry if someone has already done this.
"You have money?" Tucker exclaims, so overdramatic even Vlad would roll his eyes. Danny had hoped he wouldn't notice the note as he dug around his wallet for the change at the bottom. His hopes were not realised.
"Yes, Tuck. It isn't that surprising." Danny shoots back, and finally collects the coins hiding beneath old receipts. Depressingly, he finds that there is more trash in his wallet than money. Maybe the note is a little surprising.
"Sam! Danny has money."
A call from behind Tucker, "Seriously?"
"Not you too!"
"Relax, Danny, I am joking." She says as Danny puts the coins into the vending machine one at a time. They each make a 'plonk' sound, counting down the seconds between him and a nice cold drink. Well, presumably cold. You can never be sure with the schools vending machines.
His wallet is still open in his hand, and Tucker takes advantage of this with a quick, "yoink!"
"Tucker," Danny softly warns as he watches the machine deliver his canned drink, "Put it back." He knows his friend would never steal his money, but Danny doesn't like him waving it around so much. He still doesn't know what to do with it himself.
"Where did you get it? You didn't have this yesterday." Danny raises an eyebrow.
"Do you," Danny collects his drink, "Go through my wallet often?"
Tucker shows a shrug, the bill still in his hand, "Only when I want to feel better about myself."
"Ok Tuck," Sam says, and snatches the money swiftly out of his hand. "Give the poor guy his money- a fifty?! Ok, where did you get this Danny?"
Danny takes a sip of his drink, looking at the two. He think about how to answer.
"It was a…gift." He says.
"Gift?" Sam frowns, "From who, Vlad?"
Danny coughs into his soda. Of course the first logical guess as to who would give him money would be Vlad, not his parents.
"If that was from Vlad," Danny seethes the name, "it would be burning. It was a 'thank you' gift…from Dash."
Tucker starts to laugh, but cuts it short, "I don't get it."
"He gave it to Phantom," Danny elaborates, "As a thank you for protecting the town."
Sam and Tucker look at the note with new found wonder.
"That doesn't sound like him."
Danny chuckles, "That's what I was thinking during the whole conversation last night, but it's true, Dash seems to have the capacity to think about someone other than himself." He shrugs, "Who knew?"
"Looks like the next movie is on Danny! Sweet!" Tucker exclaims with a smile and a pump of his fist.
"No," Danny takes the note from Sam and stuffs back into his wallet, "It's not. I," He stares at it, and suddenly becomes uncertain, "I still don't know what I want to do with it. I mean, I am going to keep it I guess, but I want to spend it on something…special. Not a movie or food and stuff. Something else. It was pretty cool of Dash to do that, so I don't want it to go to waste."
"You saying Dead Teacher Seven is a wa-!" Sam elbows Tucker in the stomach.
"You do what you want with it Danny." Sam says, understanding.
Danny nods.
"One," Danny Phantom turns on the thermos and lets an instant beam of light envelop the abnormally large rat. At least he hopes it is abnormally large. "Two," He mimics the action on what he is assuming is the rat's family, "Three, four, and…five!" He seels the lid shut and puts a finger to his head-devise. "I think Amity has a rodent problem. Anything on your end?"
"Everything is quiet here, exterminator." Sam says over the static of wind. She must be on her scooter.
"Thanks for staying out so late to check." Danny says, floating in the comic book store.
"Danny," He can hear the roll of her eyes, "I am a goth. A creature of the night. The dark is when I am most awake. Techno-geek on the other hand…" She and Danny stay quiet, long enough for the sound of snoring to be heard from an unknown location.
Danny laughs, "Looks like it's a quiet night anyway. See you tomorrow, oh creature of the night."
"You too, rodent catcher."
There is a sudden loss of static and Danny knows Sam has turned off her head devise. He is left alone with the sound of Tucker's snoring before he turns off his own. He stretches his arms with a yawn.
He supposes he should go home, get some rest, but then he eyes shelves of both bright and dark comic covers. He smirks. He shouldn't, but then again he sees no harm. He picks up the closest superhero he recognises and almost drops it in fright at the sound of a knock.
'tap, tap'
Danny turns, and his shoulders slump.
Ok, this is getting to be a little bit concerning.
Dash stands outside the door, the locked door, with his fist to the window. He actually knocked, like this was Danny's home and he is to open the front door with a greeting and an offer of 'coffee or tea?'.
Danny floats there for a good minute, not knowing what to do. He isn't here to give him more money, is he? Once was nice, it even made Danny's week, but twice? Did Dash really not listen when he said just knowing he cares is enough?
After neither moving, and Dash awkwardly knocking once more, Danny fazes through the door.
"Um, hi Dash. Again." It has been almost a week since they last met like this, but to Danny it's been only hours between seeing one another. School hours. "Something wrong?" He actually hopes there is.
Dash is either aw-struck once again or intrigued at how Danny is only half way through the door as he opens and closes his moth. Danny sees Dash is more appropriately dressed this time, even if he looks like he threw on the first clothes he saw.
"No, there isn't anything wrong." Dash answers, and looks to the pavement.
"You're…not here to give me more of your money, are you?" Danny asks, sceptically. He idly wonders how the hell Dash found him again. Dash quickly puts a fist back into his pocket.
"N-No, I," Dash looks up to Danny, "I just really wanted to say, um, hi." And Danny isn't sure if that answer is worse.
Does Dash want to be friends? With Danny Phantom? With a ghost? Danny stares at Dash with eyes wide. He doesn't know what to say. 'Well hi, how was your day?'
No, he can't be friends with Dash. Especially as a ghost. It's too dangerous, for the both of them, for Danny's secret and Dash's life.
And why would he want to be? Dash looks shy and harmless now, sure, but Danny's had years of experience with the other side of him. The horrible side. Would anyone want to be friends with a bully? And a hero, at that.
Danny sighs. He is going to have to let this doe-eyed version of Dash down easy somehow.
"Look," Good start, "You seem nice and all," 'Seem' is a very light way to put it, "But you can't keep meeting up with me like this, Dash. Or giving me things, or, you know, talking to me…" Danny falters a little. It looks like each word is hitting the large guy where it hurts.
Dash is looking away now, and teasing his jacket.
"It's dangerous," Danny insists, "You should know I'm only around when there is a ghost attacking or something! I can't have someone following me around while I fight ghosts."
Dash relaxes his shoulders, having been tense, and lightly nods his head. But he doesn't look up, so Danny assumes he isn't too happy with how this conversation is going.
"I understand." Dash sighs, a heavy one, like all the hope is leaving him all at once. Danny almost feels bad. "But if this is the last time I can see you, can I show you something?"
Without fail, Dash has again made Danny extremely curious.
Unfortunately, the thing Dash wants to show Danny is at Dash's house, not with him. So Danny agrees to walk with Dash all the way there. Danny lightly hopes the trip is worth it, but he can't deny he is going to miss doe-eyed Dash probably as much as Dash is going to miss talking to Ghost-Hero Danny.
Danny flew over Dash, invisible, the whole way. This seemed to unnerve Dash a little, as he had asked for confirmation Danny was still there no less than three times.
After a long while (Danny was surprised Dash would walk so far to find him) they arrive at Dash's home, and a quick trip up the stairs lands them in front of his bedroom door.
Dash puts his hand on the doorknob, and Danny doesn't miss the hesitation. What did Dash want to show him? He seems to be second guessing whether he wants to.
The door is pushed open by Dash eventually, hesitantly, and Danny takes a look around.
Nothing. Nothing to note, that is. The room looks almost exactly like the first time he was in here. The only notable difference is the large poster of Phantom on the wall above his bed. He tries not to eye the closet.
Wait, he doesn't want to show me his teddy bears, does he?
Dash walks past the closet, and Danny becomes visible with a sigh of relief. The jock walks right to his desk, well, he almost marches he is so tense. He looks at the furniture, and Danny is shocked when he sees a scowl.
"…This was a bad idea." He suddenly snaps, and hands turn into fists. He doesn't look to Danny.
Danny shows his own frown, disappointed. "What? But I came all the way here."
"No, just go." Dash barks. "I get it, you don't want to hang with me. You won't see me again. This was stupid, so just forget it." Dash is starting to sound like he does at school. Orders, threats, all with just the raise of his voice. But the words are all wrong. He's being defensive.
Danny doesn't leave the room.
Why is Dash suddenly being so defensive? Over what? About what? Danny wants to see what he has to show him, he is curious. He showed that by following him here, didn't he? Danny is very confused with this once so simple minded person.
Dash is rigid, glaring over the table Danny assumes holds what Dash (doesn't?) want to show, and Danny realises.
Is Dash, the strong, confident, sports star, popular A-lister, top of the school, Dash Baxter, embarrassed? To Danny, this is hard to proses. Dash, even when he probably shouldn't be, is always confident and sure. He knows where he is going, what he is doing, whether it be going down the hall to beat you or to the finals in a football season. He knows why, too, and isn't afraid to tell anyone. Yell it to them, to be specific.
"Dash," Danny says, unsure, "I want to see what you have. Whatever it is. Really." And it's the truth.
Dash looks even further away, but slightly unclenches his jaw. "You won't…judge me?"
He's afraid to be judged? Again, this is too much of a flip in roles for Danny to proses.
"Of course not." Danny says, almost offended. "What kind of a person do you think I am? I won't judge you."
Slowly, Dash loosens up. His hands unclench and move to a draw. "Ok." He says, and Danny is surprised at how soft it sounds. The draw slides open, and Danny holds his breath in anticipation. Dash takes something out, quickly, like pulling off a band aid, and suddenly something is in front of Danny's face.
A book. A black covered book. It takes a little while for him to realise it is an art book, just inches from his face.
Danny takes it out of Dashes hands, and the hands go straight together to tap and move nervously.
This is it?
Danny looks at Dash briefly, but Dash isn't looking at him.
Yep, this must be it.
Danny crosses his legs in the air, and puts the book in his lap. He opens the cover, and Dash doesn't say anything against it. The first page has nothing, just confusing and disappointing white, so he flips to the second. He can't help the reaction that immediately comes at the sight.
"Wow!" He exclaims, eyes brightening. It's a pencil drawing of a person's face. It is of no one he can recognise, maybe it is from Dash's imagination, but the features are amazingly in proportion, and it takes up half the page. The shading is what has Danny stunned the most. So fine, so textured, so delicate, and he can't believe he is describing something Dash Baxter has done. He can't believe he is holding something Dash Baxter has drawn.
Maybe he had already judged him.
He turns the page with excitement, and it's a dog. A dog only half shaded and sketchy, but Danny thinks it looks amazing anyway. The next page makes him gasp.
It's him. It's his white hair, his black suit, his eyes, and he is flying. He isn't fighting, just free, flying through the air, and it looks like the most detailed one yet. Even the background of the night sky looks like it was takin good care of.
Danny realises he hasn't said a word to Dash yet, and he looks up.
"Dash I, I mean, this is-"
Dash is red, and going redder. His eyes are wide, disbelieving, and his mouth won't shut again.
"Do…you like it?" He finally asks.
"Like it? Of course I do! No sane person wouldn't like these." Danny says, and continues to flip through the book. It seems to be filled. Some are complete, most are not. Some need adjustments, but by the writing to the side Danny skims over Dash already knows what he wants to improve on. He also passes some pages he can't make heads or tails of. Just lines and circles.
Danny looks at Dash, this confident, shy, sports star, artist, and is overcome with how little he knows about this guy he has apparently known for years. How defensive Dash must be about this other side of himself.
But that is something Danny can related to the most.
Danny briefly wonders why Dash decided to tell him, but when you are afraid of what people will think, what better person to open up to than a ghost?
"Dash, really, these are great." Danny says, handing the book back. "Does...anyone else know you like to draw?" But he assumes he knows the answer already.
Dash takes the book, a bashful smile ready to break out even as he answers, "No, just you. And I like painting too, but it's too hard to sneak paints into the house and stuff."
"Wait, sneak?" Danny askes, and Dash nods.
"My…Dad." Dash says. "He says art is for fags and he doesn't like me doing it."
Danny realises then why he is so desperate to hide, and suddenly wants to have a very violent word with Dash's farther
"But I love sports too." He says proudly, "Drawing is just a hobby. I'm," Dash blushes brighter, something Danny didn't think was possible, "I'm really glad you like them."
Danny smiles, and looks to the book in Dashes hands. "I am really glad you showed me, Dash."
Dash arrives home from school, tired of another day. He is so tired, he plants his face on the note on his pillow instead of sees it. He peels it away from his face and reads.
This was as much as I could get.
(Why is it so expensive?!)
I hope it is enough!
And good luck with the game next Saturday.
Phantom
(Look under the bed)
Dash is suddenly very awake and exited to look under his bed. Upside down, he had a good view of fifty dollars' worth of paints, brushes and canvas paper.