So, they seem to be kinda' getting along-ish! Let's see how they do this chapter!
Thanks for all the reviews, guys! ~ Zone

Chapter Three: Running Off

As much as he wanted to put it out of his mind, Dash couldn't help but think about those scars as soon as he woke up. And the second thing he thought about was 'Where the hell is Fenton?!' before he bolted up from his bed and went to Danny's empty one. He placed a hand on it and frowned. 'Still warm. He didn't leave it too long ago.' He grabbed his coat and put on his shoes, grabbing his hunting knife on the way out of the door.

"Fenton! Fenton, where are you?!" He called. He glanced at his watch: 4:30am. Why was Fenton up that early? Why was he outside that early? The moonlight wasn't much good for searching and the sun wouldn't rise for an hour. Cursing under his breath, he ran back to the cabin and got his flashlight from his bag.

"Fenton!" He called, entering the woods with the flashlight shining his way. "Where ARE you?!"

.

"Dash?" Danny looked over in surprise and narrowly dodged an attack. "I can't waste time here!" He grabbed his Thermos and fired it, the ghost being sucked up. Then he shut it and quickly dropped down invisible, changing back before he headed off to where he could hear him calling him.

"Dash!" He ran out to him. Dash shone his flashlight at him, then walked over and smacked him hard on the head. "Ow, what was that for?!"

"Are you an idiot, Fenton?! Running out in the middle of the night in just your pajamas with only a THERMOS?" He pointed at it. "That's good against ghosts, but NOT against wolves!"

"Wolves?" Danny blinked.

"Yes, Fenton. Wolves." Dash grabbed his wrist and pulled him back to the cabin. "You're even barefoot, what the hell, Fenton?"

"Sorry, I didn't think about it." Danny glanced away. The truth was that he'd changed in the cabin and hadn't thought to put his shoes on before he changed into Phantom.

"Of course you didn't. When do you ever?" Dash rolled his eyes. "What time do you think it is, Fentina?"

"Uhm…" Danny looked up at the moon, trying to gauge the time.

"It's almost 5:00am! The sun is going to be coming up soon!" Dash snapped, opening the cabin door and shoving him in. "Whatever. Grab your clothes and towel; we're going to the stream."

Danny blinked and went to his dresser, doing as he was told. "Wait…why are we going to the stream?"

"To bathe, duh." Dash gathered his own things. "Did you bring shampoo and soap?"

"Uh, uhm…yes, but…uh…" Danny glanced around nervously. "Do we have to bathe together?"

"One of us can stand guard while the other bathes, if it bothers you that much." Dash rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Fenton, it's not any worse than the locker-room showers."

"Yeah, uh, those have stalls." Danny said nervously. "Outside, we're completely exposed to each other."

"And we're both guys, so what's the problem?" Dash rolled his eyes. "Seriously, why would I be interested in you? The only guy I've ever thought about that way…" He continued muttering, walking outside, and shut the door on the identity of the only guy to apparently interest him.

Not that Danny wanted to know who was unfortunate enough to actually catch his interest. As far as he knew, Dash was only interested in girls! In fact, he'd only seen him get all dreamy-eyed about—

'Oh no. We're not going there, nope. That is NOT a thing.' Danny shook his head and grabbed his hygiene kit and shoes, going outside to join Dash.

"About time you showed up." Dash jeered. "What'd you do, fall asleep standing?"

"I couldn't find my hygiene kit." Danny lied, walking along with him to the stream. "It's really dark…"

"Well, maybe if someone hadn't decided to get up in the early morning, we would still be asleep." Dash rolled his eyes. "You're lucky I woke up when I did!"

Danny pursed his lips, but chose not to answer that.

Dash noticed he still had the thermos and sighed. "Do you carry that everywhere?"

"Well, I can't exactly leave it behind. What if I run into a ghost?" Danny asked.

Dash sighed and shook his head. "Okay."

They arrived at the stream and Dash looked around. "I'll stand guard first. By the time you're done, the sun should be up enough to not have to worry about wolves."

"Okay." Danny walked over to the stream and set down his clothes and shoes, starting to unbutton his pajama shirt. "Uhm…can you turn around?"

Dash rolled his eyes and turned around, but glanced at him over his shoulder when Danny wasn't looking. The sky was lighting up slightly, making it easier to see his scarred back. He noticed that the scars were on his legs and upper-arms as well, and he could swear that one of those wounds looked fresh, like he'd only gotten it last night! Damn, was he too late to protect his weaker cabin-mate from an attack?

"Ouch, should've brought a first-aid kit." Danny mumbled as he rubbed his shoulder. It wasn't bleeding, but it still hurt when he exposed it to the wind. "Oh well, I'll wash it in the stream and wrap it up later."

He looked over at Dash, who was still turned away, and removed the last of his clothing before he went into the water, biting back a yelp at its cold temperature. "It's cold!"

"Did you expect it to be hot?" Dash asked.

"I expected it to at least be warm! It's summer!" Danny argued.

"Summer's just started." Dash glanced at him. Danny had turned towards him, but didn't notice he could see him. "It'll be warm in a few days." He frowned a bit, seeing scars on Danny's front as well. 'What kind of stuff has he been getting into? Has he really been fighting gangs?' He thought.

"You're not looking, are you?" Danny asked.

"Do I look like I'm looking, Fenturd?" Dash rolled his eyes, glancing away.

"Well, no…but I thought I'd ask anyway." He grabbed his hygiene kit and grabbed the soap, scrubbing himself. "At least the cold water woke me up…" He mumbled.

"You did that yourself." Dash said. "Why were you out so late, anyway?"

"…I just woke up and wanted to take a walk." Danny said, turning away from him. "Don't you ever do that?"

"No, why would I? Why would anyone wake up at four in the morning and just feel like taking a walk?" Dash rolled his eyes. "And all you took with you was that damn thermos. Not even shoes. Are you an idiot? Guh, Phantom really needs to pick his partners better. Between you, Manson, and Foley…what is in his head?"

'So, he's noticed that Tucker and Sam are always helping Phantom.' Danny thought. 'I wonder who else has?' He set the soap down and grabbed the shampoo. "Well, it's not like we have anything else to do. And it's MY house that the stupid portal opened up in! My stupid parents made that portal, and it won't close! I'm obligated to help!" He squirted the contents into his hand and lathered it up, covering his hair in the stuff.

Dash glanced at him again, just in time to see Danny dunk himself under. "Fenton?!" He turned to the water.

Danny poked his head up, his wind-swept hair flat down on his head by the weight of the water. "Yeah?"

"…You suddenly went under." Dash walked over to him. He could only see his head now, the smaller teen looking up at him with confused blue eyes. "I didn't know if you were caught on anything, okay?!"

"Oh, okay. I'm fine." Danny assured him. "Can you turn back around?"

Dash rolled his eyes and left the waterside, turned away. Why was he so worried about him? Oh yeah, if he drowned because his foot got caught on something when he was right there, he might be tried for manslaughter for letting it happen. Never mind his grade.

After a bit longer, he finally heard Danny get out and grab his towel, drying off. "Hey, do you know how to use a knife?"

"Uhm, I can use it to cut food." Danny said as he dried himself off. "I'll be okay, though. Not like I'm going to move from the same spot you're in."

"I'll trust you to that." Dash nodded.

After Danny dried off and dressed, they switched spots and Danny leaned against a tree, staring at the sky with the knife in his hand. It felt…odd, carrying a real weapon. The weight of it was much more than what he usually handled during meals, and the thought that this thing could do real damage to someone was just...unnerving.

He heard Dash enter the water and sighed, examining the sheathe. It had "Baxter" engraved on it, and he was sure that it was also engraved on the knife itself somewhere. Must've been passed down in the family like that cabin he talked about.

Passed down in the family…if there was one thing he was grateful for, it was his parents didn't grow Blood Blossoms like his ancestor John Fenton-Nightingale. Those had to be the worst anti-ghost thing he had EVER come across, bar none.

Though, he couldn't think of what else had been passed down in the family aside from the ghost-hunting. Certainly not things like cabins or engraved knives. He was interrupted from his musing by his ghost-sense going off and groaned, glancing at Dash still in the water. He'd promised to stay right here, but what if this one would actually give him answers?

He started to leave and heard "Where are you going, Fenton?" from the water. He sighed and looked over to see Dash leaning on the bank of the stream, his blonde hair covering more of his head than usual with the water flattening it down. "You said you'd be right there. Where are you going?" Dash repeated impatiently.

"I thought I heard—"

"Nuh-uh. After this morning, you're not leaving my sight. You stay where I can see you." He climbed out of the water and Danny quickly shielded his eyes before he could see below Dash's torso. "I don't want your stupidity putting a death on my record." Dash said firmly.

"Uh, right. Uhm, can you get dressed now?" Danny asked, still shielding his eyes. "I promise I won't run off."

"How do I know you'll keep your word?" Dash asked, grabbing his towel and starting to dry off. "You skip class, you skip detention, you disappear on me, you skip school events, and now you just tried to run off again." He wrapped the towel around his waist and walked over to Danny, yanking his hand down. "Why do you do that, huh? Why are you always running off?"

"Uhm…ghost?" Danny gave a sheepish shrug.

"There's no ghost here, and even if there is you can wait for it to show up and use that thermos on it." Dash released his wrist and walked over to his clothes, keeping an eye on Danny as he dressed.

Danny turned around but didn't leave, knowing that the jock would stop him if he even took one step away from him. And he wasn't relishing the idea of being grabbed by a half-naked Dash Baxter again. It was awkward enough the first time, especially after their earlier conversation.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see that Dash had finished drying and dressed, though his hair was still out of its usual style. "Let's head back to the cabin and eat breakfast. Grab your stuff." He nodded to it.

Danny knelt and grabbed his pajamas, hygiene kit, and thermos. Then he followed Dash back to the cabin, the knife once again in the jock's hand.

.

"Do me a favor." Dash said when they got back to the cabin. "DON'T run off like that again, got it? You're much too weak to handle yourself out here alone and I don't want to have to go looking every time you want to take a walk in the dark." He grabbed the thermos and held it out of Danny's reach. "I'm going to keep this with me, so you don't go out ghost-hunting on your own again."

Danny looked like he wanted to protest this, but sighed and mumbled "Yes, sir" before he walked over and threw his pajamas and hygiene kit onto his bed.

Dash nodded and went to the cooler, grabbing the pan to put more meat on it. "Go get some more firewood. If you take longer than five minutes, I'm going out looking for you."

"Okay." Danny went out to get the firewood. When did he start listening to what Dash told him? Oh yeah, since he was bigger, tougher, knew more about survival, and – as far as Dash knew – Danny couldn't hold himself in a fight. This was going to be a long summer, if he had to stay by his side all the time like some leashed puppy.

Yugh, that imagery. Not going to picture THAT again.

Hmm, Danny on a leash...
Poor Danny, Dash confiscated his thermos! How will he ever go ghost-hunting now?
Dash is actually quite mature when he needs to be. ~ Zone