Chapter 2: Pouting, Partying & Puns

Seven Months Ago

"Danny, you're being absolutely ridiculous. Stop whining to me and go have a good time. Go find Ryan and make new friends."

Sam could hear the soft soulless electronic music thudding from the other end of the line and the sound of muffled chatter.

"I don't need any new friends." Danny murmured petulantly, almost childlike. His voice was strange, "I need you."

"It can't be that bad." Sam continued. Danny loved to be overdramatic.

For heaven sakes it was a college house party that he was currently trying to complain about to her. A house party that, from the sound of it, he himself had agreed to go to. Not without a lot of persuading from his roommate, but still, Danny had agreed to go. Throughout high school Danny and Tucker whined about not getting invited to any of the parties and here he was at one finally and trying to find an excuse to leave. Really. He was in California. How could it be that bad?

"I'm picturing you complaining right now, lounging in swim trunks and sunglasses in a cabana next to a pool full of half naked girls popping Bacardi." Sam muttered.

She had pulled up the weather report. It was seventy five degrees and nine at night where Danny was. She looked outside at the rain pounding against her own window. It was forty three degrees, raining, and midnight where she was.

Danny snorted.

"Is that what you think my college is like?" He laughed a loud boisterous laugh. One that Sam rarely heard. It was warm and full and free and she found she couldn't help but smile. Danny quieted down after, his laugh petering out into breathless chuckles.

"Currently I'm in someone's bathroom. I had to go through someone's bedroom to get here. It was the only room without people in it - for now. There's a used razor in the bathtub, the curtain has a pattern of small anatomical drawings of all the sex positions, there's no toilet paper - its all on the floor, and I think there's vomit in the sink."

"Ok- stop. Gross." Sam shuddered at the matter-of-fact tone of Danny's voice, "You're hiding in a bathroom?"

"I'm not hiding."

"Sounds like you're hiding."

Danny gave a slow sigh.

"I can't believe Tucker and Jazz talked me into this." He muttered.

Sam raised an eyebrow. Tucker didn't surprise her. Tucker had been getting Danny to let loose all throughout high school and the first two months of college. The most Tucker had ever gotten Danny to drink was a few beers. But Jazz? Why did Jasmine tell Danny to go out and get soused at a college party? He wasn't even twenty-one. He was barely nineteen.

"This is terrible." Danny continued, "Everyone's so.." He struggled for the word, falling silent. The silence was lonely. His breath was uneven and heavy in the phone.

Sam felt like someone had slapped her in the face. Her eyes widened.

"Danny, are you drunk?"

"Wasn't that the whole point?" Danny asked brazenly.

Now that Sam was paying more attention, his voice sounded kind of funny. Deeper, and more... drawling. She rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. He almost sounded... sultry. Sam had no doubt he was doing it on purpose just to turn her on.

"Yes, Sam. I'm drunk. And not from anything as glamorous as Bacardi."

"Bacardi isn't glamorous." Sam chuckled, "So, since you're currently hiding in a bathroom I'll humor you. What are you drinking?"

There was a pause as if Danny himself had forgotten and a small sniffing noise. Sam pictured him, alone and disheveled in a foreign bathroom, red cup in hand, smelling the liquor.

"Captain Morgans with root beer?" He guessed, "I dunno, Ryan made it for me. Smells like vanilla and paint thinner. It was the only thing besides vodka. Its not too terrible. Think I'm just going to get this over with and chug it."

"How many drinks have you had?" Sam prodded, unsure if Danny chugging a mix drink was the best idea. She could sense his shrug through the phone line. Great. She rolled her eyes. "Alright well..." She wasn't his mother. She restrained herself from trying to manage his drinking, although she couldn't help but be a little worried.

There was the sound of a cup being thrown into a trashcan before Danny gave a grossed out noise - meaning he had probably just plugged his nose and downed however many shots. He sounded absolutely miserable. He was probably the only nineteen year old boy that was this miserable in a house party in California.

"Tell me about the party." Sam prompted after a long moment.

"No- I want to hear your voice." Danny said lowly, "What are you doing right now?"

Sam sighed, leaning back against the wall.

"I'm in bed, talking to my soused boyfriend." She began, hearing Danny's breath heavy in her ear, "It's raining outside. Jules is still in the library - she should be back any minute."

"You're in bed?" Danny repeated dumbly.

"Its midnight here, Danny." Sam reminded him, struggling to stay patient.

"Why aren't you - you know - out?"

"Because it's raining." She reminded him, again.

"Oh." He sounded lost for a moment. Clearly everything she had said after "I'm in bed" he had ignored. It was all Sam could do to not want to wrap her arms around him. Until...

"What are you wearing?" He whispered conspiratorially.

"Danny!" Sam said, shocked.

"Sorry! But really-"

"You perv. Fine, if you must know I'm wearing your old tee shirt." She grinned, plucking at the white tee with the red logo on it, "And my pajama bottoms. The ones with the bats on them." She paused for a long moment, grinning to herself, "And no bra." She added.

Danny gave a small muffled noise into the receiver.

"Sam, I miss you so much." His voice broke sadly, "Can I come over tonight?"

"I miss you too. But you can't come over. Jules would freak out and we'd have a hard time explaining how you just randomly showed up when you're supposed to be in California." Sam felt alarmed at the helplessness in his tone, "Are you okay?"

"'M fine. Just starting to regret chugging that drink." His voice was slightly slurred, lazy, "I just needed to hear your voice. I'm fine now."

"So, Danny. Why are you hiding in a bathroom?"

"Cause I had to talk to you." He breathed.

"Well, now that you've talked to me, are you going to go have a good time?"

"I dunno." He murmured, "I might just leave."

"Danny, at least attempt to meet some friends." Sam sighed in exasperation. But she knew him, she knew that he didn't trust people. No one in California knew about his powers, about what the three of them had been through. Not for the first time Sam felt a wave of anger at him for choosing to go all the way away from them and then call her at midnight to complain about it.

But she knew, deep down, why he had done it. Danny had set out to California was a suitcase full of things to prove to himself. To prove that he wasn't just Danny Phantom - that he could get a college degree, despite the grades he had gotten in High School. And above all - Sam knew that the one thing Danny ached to be above anything else was normal. Danny just wanted to be normal. Be a normal kid, go to a normal college. Get a normal degree and a normal job. Have normal friends, and let loose like a normal kid. It didn't sound like his plan was going very well.

"I'm trying." He gritted out, "I really am. I'm trying, but everyone here is so... free."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, confused. It was a strange word for him to use, considering Danny was the one with the ability to fly.

"Sam-" He asked suddenly as if realizing something important at that very moment. His voice was loud, "Did you know that I don't have a shadow?"

Sam blinked at the sudden tangent. Clearly Danny was pretty drunk at this point.

"Danny, I know you have a shadow." She almost laughed at him.

"Not right now I don't." He slurred at her, voice thick, "Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm actually y'know, here."

It was hard for Sam to pick out which parts of this Danny was being serious about, and which parts he was being overdramatic about. Danny loved to speak in metaphors and similes. They were usually poignant and very apt, easy to understand - abet easy to interpret in many ways, but the liquor had made them muddled.

"Although, right now I feel the most human I've felt in months." He confessed softly.

"That's good?" Sam guessed, unsure of how to handle depressive drunk Danny. For as long as she had known him this was the first time he had gotten properly wasted. At least, that she knew of. Tucker was going to have a field day with this when she told him Danny had chugged - chugged! - rum.

"Its very good." Danny all but purred seriously back to her, "Thank you, Sam. Your voice is... like music. Sam- I have to tell you - I-"

Sam realized quite quickly that Danny was going to confess something important to her. And, although she wanted to know what it was, she didn't want him to regret telling her in the morning. So, she did the only thing she could think of to nip that train of thought in the bud.

"Oh how romantic, Danny." She teased lightly, trying to lighten his mood. It would do no good to hang up with Danny depressed in a bathroom at a random party. "I didn't know that my voice made your heart sing."

It was a lame pun, but she was tired and had pulled it out of her ass. Danny silenced, predictably. For a moment Sam wasn't sure if he was going to play along and take the bait. But of course he would, who was she kidding? This was Danny she was talking about.

"I know what you're trying to do, Sam." He murmured, "You're in a lot of treble."

"I'm just trying to talk you out of jumping off an emotional clef."

"Not-uh. I'm tuning you out."

"I'll take note of it." Sam replied and smiled satisfactorily when Danny gave a sharp bark of laughter.

"Fine." He huffed, mirth in his voice, "I guess I'll go try and mingle."

"Good." Sam smiled, "Just be yourself."

Danny laughed a strangely dark laugh at that.

"I really care about you, you know?" He told her. It was this kind of heart-ripping open honesty that Sam loved.

"Yeah." She whispered.

"Good." He moved to hang up, before Sam yelled his name.

"What?" He murmured hopefully.

"Please just - be smart tonight, okay?" She let go of the lecture she had been trying to hold in this whole time, "Just, you know, like, be careful... or whatever. Call me if you need me."

"I always need you, Sam." He all but purred. Sam shivered in his t-shirt, tucking her nose into the red neckband and inhaling the leftover smell of Danny's cologne.

"You know what I mean."

"I don't know, do I?" Danny hummed, "Don't worry about me." And then his voice twisted. It sounded like he was trying to hold in a laugh. It was the tone of voice he only had right before he ripped a joke. "I'm sure this party won't be tuba-d"

Sam couldn't help but laugh, even after Danny had already hung up. She snuck back into her bed, replaying the conversation over and over again. Danny was always hard to figure out. She still was sure that there were parts of him that he hid from her. He was constantly juggling masks. Danny Phantom, Danny Fenton. Hero, teenager, son, student, boyfriend, human, ghost. Sam herself was dizzy trying to keep up with him. She knew that it must be exhausting. She wasn't stupid, she had noticed that his mood had been growing darker these past few months.

He would say things casually, things that people shouldn't say casually. And while Danny always had a rather twisted sense of humor - gallow's humor - most of these comments were about himself. They oftentimes sent Sam spinning trying to gather what he meant.

"I don't have a shadow" "I needed to hear your voice." "I'm not sure if I'm actually here"

Sam swallowed, turning over in her bed and placing her phone on, volume all the way up, next to her head.

It was about an hour later that she heard Jules pop open the door to their shared room and slink into bed, shutting off the lone lamp that had been waiting for her. The two of them soon fell asleep to the sound of each other's breathing. Sam didn't even realize when she had drifted off finally, thoughts of Danny playing beer pong wafting through her head.

Just when soft light started to drift into the dorm room Sam's phone sprang to life, making her nearly jump out of her skin. For a long second she stared dumbly at it before grabbing it to shut it up. Jules gave an annoyed groan from the far corner, rolling so her back was to Sam to try and block out the ringtone.

Who could be calling her at... five in the morning?

Oh- right. Sam held the phone up to her cheek.

"Danny?" She whispered, expecting a drunken love confession or something on the other side. She only got static and silence for about five seconds. Frowning she pulled the phone away from her ear and looked down at it "Unknown Number" lit the screen, the line still connected. "Hello? Who is this?"

Did the little shithead ass-dial her? Was this a wrong number that just happened to be at the wrong time? A prank call? She almost hung up on whoever it was, seething, when she heard the breathing. For some reason she shivered as a sense of wrong and dread filled her. Quickly she got out of the bed and put her slippers on, moving out of the bedroom and into the hallway.

"Who is this? Danny?" She asked again, this time a little louder.

"Sam." It was Danny's voice. But it was monotone and deep. Almost... emotionless.

"You're freaking me out, Danny." Sam admitted, trying to not let it show in her voice, keeping her tone low and calm, "Why aren't you using your phone? What's going on? Are you okay?"

"No." Came the matter-of-fact response.

Sam paused, blinking, heart pounding.

"Where are you?" She demanded. There was static again, silence, for a good minute and a half in which Sam felt herself getting more and more freaked. Danny really had a god damn knack for unnerving people. "If this is a joke, its not fucking funny." She told him, seriously, anger filling her - punching through her wall of fear. Still, dead silence.

Sam sunk along the wall and onto the floor as she listened to his labored breathing for a long time. All attempts to get him to speak to her met heavy oppressive silence.

"Danny..." Sam felt almost tears beginning to start in the corners of her eyes. She could do nothing to help him. She had no way to get to wherever he was. What if he was hurt? Or lost? Had Danny had too much to drink? Was he passed out somewhere on the side of the street? Where the fuck was his roommate?! He was supposed to be looking out for him! She almost hung up on Danny to call Ryan, to try and get some answers, but she was too terrified she wouldn't be able to get ahold of him again. The number on her screen was a blocked number, untraceable.

"You're scaring me." She whispered. And for some reason this made Danny's breathing hitch. Almost like he had been asleep and had been shaken roughly awake. "Danny?" She asked sharply, raising her voice as she moved through her kitchen and out the front steps of her apartment, underneath the balcony where she was still protected from the rain.

"Where. Are. You?" She nearly yelled, "Fucking speak to me, you asshole!"

"I don't know."

Sam almost sobbed in relief that he responded to her.

"Okay. It's okay." She breathed.

"No, it's not okay." There was a bit more emotion in his voice now, a tinge of fear. He wasn't slurring, his words were sharp. They stung Sam with their honesty.

"What's around you?" Sam asked. Danny paused for a moment before responding.

"I'm fine." He sounded as if he was speaking to her while dreaming, "Don't worry. I'm just walking down the street. I needed to go for a walk."

"That's good." Sam sagged a bit, sitting in the porch chair, "I'm sitting outside." She offered him, remembering what he had told her before. No- I want to hear your voice.

"But, it's.. raining?" Danny seemed to struggle to remember.

"Yes, but I'm underneath the awning." Sam told him, "Why do you need to take a walk?"

"So I don't do something I regret."

Sam felt a rock settle in her stomach at his forthright response. She could tell that Danny, despite being pretty articulate right now, was still very very drunk. He wouldn't normally be this honest with her, about anything. It took a good deal of tugging and pulling, like yanking a wisdom tooth out, before Danny even got close to looping her in on anything hard. She had expected 'Cause I keep throwing up' or 'To get fresh air' or 'Because the party was terrible'. Any of those would have been preferable to the dark answer he had given her. And really, what was she supposed to do with that? It was an honest, but veiled response. It was just like Danny. Honest, but full of half-truths and many masks.

"Okay." She didn't press him further, "Do you know where you are?" She asked, again, hoping that she could get some road signs out of Danny so she could call Ryan and get him to go find him.

She was met with more heavy silence.

"Danny?" Sam forced her voice to not sound panicked.

"I can't- I don't- I'm scared, Sam." Danny's voice sounded thin and quiet like he was holding his phone out a few feet from him while he spoke. The distance between them had never felt so terrible until this moment. Sam felt the tears start to fall down her cheeks. What could she do? Her mind raced. Tucker couldn't help them. Jazz couldn't help them. Danny was the only one that could help himself.

"Why are you scared?" Sam whispered, voice hitching.

"I'm coming to see you." Danny's voice drifted.

"No!" Sam started, the thought of Danny attempting to teleport while drunk was terrifying to her. What if he forgot his arm? Or his head? "Don't you dare."

"I have to." His voice was resolute.

"Please, Danny. Do not jump. Do you hear me?" Sam breathed into her phone, clutching at it as if that would keep Danny rooted wherever he was. But, the phone was silent. She ripped it away from her ear and looked down at the screen. Call Ended blinked mockingly up at her.

tbc...

AN: Thank you for all the reviews! :) We're going to go back in time for a few chapters. So... this was supposed to be a pretty short story that has now turned into over eight chapters and counting. What am I doing?