AN: I'm going through and tweaking some of the chapters, to edit mistakes I missed (The glory of self-beta-ing)
I don't own Danny Phantom or Supernatural, or any rights to them.
*cackling happily* This scene was only supposed to be like, four paragraphs, but the characters grabbed the reins in the best way. The next chapter will be awesome. Thanks, muses.
Something Wicked
Chapter 9: Player 2 has joined
As promised, there was video games, pizza, ridiculous amounts of other junk food and a small stack of movies that they never actually started.
Through experimentation, they discovered that Danny's ability to enter a 'video game world' was, in fact, a specialized power and not an extension of intangibility.
After the fourth time ending up under his desk, tangled in cords, Tucker gave up on the idea of playing the game from inside it.
After the sixth accusation of cheating, Danny agreed to play fair and use a controller, instead of entering the game.
Around 7pm, Tucker's parents came up with a large pizza for the two of them, not realizing they had already ordered their own. The teen graciously accepted it, saying it was his new personal pizza, and Danny could have the other one.
"Any pizza is a personal pizza, as long as you try hard and believe in yourself."
As the night wound down, turning into morning, their playing had become less competitive and more ridiculous. They spent nearly twenty minutes trying to stack inventory items on top of each other, and see how far they'd fling when their characters jumped in like a leaf pile. There was a moment when Tucker couldn't breath for laughing so hard, when his 'belt of invisibility' glitched with his character, and acted like a hyperactive hula hoop.
"So how will you get your diploma, if you're not even sticking around for the ceremony?" Danny asked, trying to find the rumored 'invisible bridge' that should have linked levels 2 and 5 over a river of lava.
Tucker's character bounced up behind him, shoving the avatar into the lava, mashing the 'taunt' button as Danny's character burned.
"It'll come in the mail. I completed all the classes and exams, and gave a valid excuse. For all their posturing, there's really not much they can do to withhold a diploma without the person being in like, police-level trouble."
Danny scowled, slaughtering a few newbies milling around, boosting his experience points and rushing at Tuck's Avatar. His controller was tossed to the couch, arms flying up in disbelief when Tucker sidestepped, sending Danny's character plummeting once again into the lava.
"Seriously? That's freaking stupid. What the hell." Tucker just cackled at him.
He poured himself a soda, briefly entertaining the idea of pouring it over his friend's lap in revenge. No, one instance of cleaning sticky shit out of delicate electronics was enough.
He flopped on the couch, deliberately throwing his arms out in Tucker's face, pretending to yawn and ignoring the protests. It turned into a sputtering cough when a handful of popcorn was shoved in his face.
"Dude, that got up my nose!"
He phased out, intangibility letting the crumbs fall to the floor, shaking his head to get them loose.
Danny didn't even bother to check his phone when it chimed a text alert.
"Your parents?"
Danny turned his head slightly, side-eyeing him.
"Nah, Sam."
Tucker pursed his lips, opening his mouth. Danny cut him off.
"I know, I know, we should make up already."
"Actually, I was going to say you should pass me some more pizza, but if it's already on your mind…"
"Liar."
"You wound me. Shut up and fix your problem."
Danny watched as Tucker turned to the side, putting his foot up on Danny's shoulder and pushing until the blue-eyed boy was sliding off the couch.
He let himself flop down into the carpet face-down, stretching his arms out.
"I don't wannaaaa." He whined, kicking his feet.
"Oh my god, Danny. Stop being a child."
He wiggled on the carpet, pulling the bowl of popcorn toward him.
"For the love of -" Tucker set his controller down, bouncing off the couch and standing over Danny.
"You have three seconds. One."
Danny stared up at him balefully, deliberately shoving some popcorn in his mouth.
"Two." Tucker put his hands on his hips, looking unimpressed.
"THREE!" He bent down grabbing his friend's ankles and yanking the teen backward. Danny yelped, kicking automatically and spilling the popcorn, but Tuck only dropped him for a second, leaning down and scooping him up over his shoulder. His ghost half had made him rather light, even as a human. He'd been compared to a preteen girl once, much to his dismay. He was taller than Tucker now! This wasn't fair!
"OI! Lemme go!"
Tucker snatched the phone up off the table, wobbling a bit from Danny's thrashing. He shuffled into the guest bedroom, throwing Danny onto the bed and grinning when the bounce flung him off into a wall.
"No getting out of this with ghost powers. You can come back after you call her."
A head of dark hair poked up over the edge of the bed, looking betrayed.
The door clicked shut, and sounds from the other room told Danny that his friend had gone back to playing video games.
He climbed onto the bed, burying his head in the pillows and flopping his arm over to where his phone had landed. He fumbled around for a moment, before clicking it open and turning so he could read it.
Yup. More texts from Sam.
He really wished it was as easy as he had explained to Tucker during lunch. If it was just a safety thing, he'd be fine with his mom giving them training with weapons and stuff. He played with the buttons, typing some nonsense for a while while his mind wandered.
Danny cleared the message, starting over.
hey. you free for a call? -DF
Part of him wondered how long it would be until a reply. Apparently, Sam had her phone ready, and replied with a positive.
He groaned, pulling a pillow over his head. He didn't want to call. This was such a stupid idea. Tucker was a jerk.
Danny jumped, his phone dancing with vibrations as his ring tone beeped out a melody. He had the sudden urge to just break it and pretend he never contacted her.
He answered the call.
"Hullo?"
"Danny? You wanted to talk?"
He hummed, replying honestly.
"Not really."
Sam didn't reply, so he elaborated.
"Tucker's annoyed at us, and demanded I make up with you."
"And you don't want to."
"Not really." Her voice had been soft, disappointed. Something in his chest twinged.
"I'll assume you don't want to get together again, as well."
"Not really." She huffed a small laugh.
"Are you going to keep repeating that?"
"... not really."
He couldn't help the small grin crawling over his face. He played with the downy feathers he could feel through the pillow's cloth, plucking at a small fuzz of down that had escaped. Her sigh definitely sounded amused. There was lead in his stomach, at the memory of what made them split in the first place. His grin faded.
"What you said before, do you still mean it?" His grip on the phone tightened.
"Which one? The 'I'm going to college, with or without you' or the bit afterward, or the bit after that."
"The last one."
"Yeah."
Danny felt his knuckles ache, and realized his fist had been clenched tightly. Deliberately relaxing it, he cleared his throat.
"And, you don't regret it?"
"I was pretty harsh, and I probably could have said it better. I still mean it, though I regret the delivery."
"Ah."
He swallowed, listening to the sounds through the phone as she moved around. She might have been in the kitchen, he could hear running water. Maybe in the bathroom.
"Can I explain why I said it?"
Danny shook his head into the pillow, murmuring a quiet negative.
"I can guess the reasons, Sam. It's not hard to imagine. Mostly I'm surprised at how calm you're being"
"Calm? What do you mean?" She certainly sounded puzzled.
"Your texts have been pretty angry."
"Oh."
There was a loud beep, and he flinched away, eyeing the phone. Danny tentatively brought it back to his ear as Sam started talking again.
"I didn't even realize I came across that way. Mostly I was just teasing."
He didn't reply.
"I suppose from your responses, I should have guessed you were mad at me."
He wanted to say something like 'Gee, ya think?' but he just hummed agreement. She laughed, and he felt a stab of annoyance.
"So all this time we thought we were arguing, and it was a misunderstanding? That's pretty funny. I mean-"
"Sam," He interrupted, "This isn't a misunderstanding. Tucker wanted me to call, and that's the only reason we're talking."
"What? Why?"
"I already told you why. I'm sick of being jerked around, and you keep saying…" He wouldn't say 'insensitive,' that was too weak. "Stupid shit. At this point, I don't even care if you apologize."
"Danny, what are you-"
His stomach was tight, writhing around like upset snakes. He felt sick.
"If I'm dead, then you're a necrophile, and that's some pretty fucked up shit that I don't want to think about. I'm done. We're done. We broke up, and that's it. Goodbye."
"Danny wait-"
He hung up.
There was a long period of staring at the ceiling, shakily taking deep breaths. He cursed softly, flinging his phone off the edge of the bed, and grabbing an armful of pillows. He rolled off the other side, wedging himself between the wall and the bedframe.
The sounds of gaming continued for a few seconds, before pausing.
Tucker rapped lightly on the door, before opening it.
"You done?"
Danny groaned, sticking a hand up and flipping him off.
"Everything good?"
He waved his hand emphatically, and his friend laughed. The bed bounced as Tucker jumped onto it, pulling a pillow under his chin and peeking at his friend making friends with dust bunnies. His black hair made it really obvious how dusty it was back there.
"So when I come to school tomorrow for my last day, we're all going to be friendly again, right?"
Danny sighed, pressing his face into the down fluff. Tucker stared at him for a moment.
"We're not going to be friendly?"
He gave a short nod. Already, he was feeling guilty. Tucker's last days in Amity Park, and he was making everything worse.
"C'mon, dude. You're going to be king of the dust bunnies soon."
Danny tilted his head, looking up at his friend inquisitively. Tucker gave a small smile, reaching down and plucking a wad of lint from his shirt.
"I promised we could play more if you called, and there's half a pizza calling your name."
Something warm fluttered in his chest, gratitude swirling up with relief. He reached up, accepting Tucker's offered hand and flopping onto the bed beside him. He laid motionless, staring at the ceiling while dark hands plucked more dust from his shirt and hair.
However, it's hard to not react when a ball of dust makes a valiant attempt to be shoved up his nose.
"AGH! You ASS!" Danny flailed his arm, brushing at his face with the other. Tucker cracked up laughing, not even bothering to fight back when he was shoved off the bed, and took a pillow to the face.
"WHAT IS WITH YOU AND SHOVING THINGS UP MY NOSE!"
Tucker didn't even respond, shouting something unintelligible and bolting out the doorway. Danny bounded out after him, a pillow in each hand. He cuffed Tucker around the head, triumphant when the blow sent his friend toppling over the couch.
"Okay, Okay! You win!"
Tucker yelped when another pillow smacked him in the gut, flailing as a body vaulted over the back of the couch, pillow reaching forward to clamp over his face.
His voice was muffled as he slapped Danny's cheeks, pushing his face away. Both legs came up to shove into Danny's gut, lifting the taller boy clean off him.
"I said you win! I submit!"
"I heard you the first time." Danny grinned, steadying himself on the back of the couch. It was a bit uncomfortable being balanced like this, but if he breathed shallowly, it wasn't a problem.
"Want to switch games?" Tucker yawned, keeping one arm up in defense in case Danny decided he wanted to try smothering again.
Danny phased intangible, dropping to the floor and gliding back up to his feet before resuming a substantial form.
"Do you still have Mario Party somewhere?"
"Like, all of them. Do you want us to hate each other forever?" Tucker fixed his beret, climbing to his feet and wandering toward the game cabinet.
"That's not the ONLY result of that game."
Tucker turned to him a dead stare.
"Okay, okay. No Party. Some sort of FPS?"
"Pick a number between one and twelve."
The rest of the night was spent gaming, the two of them tapering off only as dawn became visible through the windows. With each hour that passed, Danny felt the warm curl of happiness. Tucker was his friend, and knew him. There was something glowy and delighted in the back of his head from being known.
With an explosion paused on the screen, the two of them caught a few hours of sleep before their alarms kicked them back into consciousness for a day of Friday classes. Both of them grumbled about being bullied into stacking suitcases by the door, but neither really minded.
He did well on his Biology exam and lunch was spent with Tucker, recounting some of the more hilarious moments of last night. No mention was made of Sam or the phone call, and his last class got out a few minutes early.
He watched as Tucker was picked up by his parents, the back of their car completely packed with bags that hadn't been there this morning, and his friend looked a bit smushed once the door had closed behind him. They waved their goodbyes, and promised to text as cool things happened.
Ten minutes into his walk home, his phone chimed with a message.
Getting gas in Amity Park! Wow! Scenery! I'm so amazed! -TF
Danny fought down a grin, typing back.
I demand souvenirs -DF
He strolled toward his house, past the grafitti again. There was a black X through the pink swirls, the thickness showing in how much had dripped down the cement before drying. A spot of color caught his eye, and he spied a neon blue circle, with the same swirls as the original pink version, decorating the inside of an alley.
He took pictures of the two, sending them to Tucker.
Did you notice there is a tag war going on? -DF (picture attachments)
Kinda cool. I noticed the pink one, but not the blue. Are there more? - TF
Danny pocketed his phone, slipping into the alleyway and making sure no one spotted the white rings sweeping over him. He hitched his backpack higher, diving into the air and spiraling upward. He didn't see any more as he looped downtown, but he did find another X-ed pink one on the back of a gas station.
And here we see, the subtle war between gangs of amity park. The Black Xes demand submission from the Pink Panthers, but to no avail. -DF (picture attachment)
I saw a blue one on our way out of town. -TF (picture attachment)
It was blurry, but still recognizable, the swirls painting an otherwise black stretch of road. Danny alighted on top of a cheap motel, pointing his phone at the pink marks on the roof. A loud rumble caught his attention.
He glanced down, spotting the recognizable black car of the two that had been at his house earlier. Win-something. They parked the car, talking quietly as they entered the same room.
Curiosity or privacy. Curiosity or privacy.
Danny leaned his head back, letting his body slip into invisibility as he dove off the roof, phasing through the window of their room.
He politely averted his eyes as one of them stripped off a shirt, heading toward the small bathroom. His mom's pamphlets were on the small table, a duffel bag open on the floor.
He did a double-take.
Those certainly didn't look like ghost weapons.
He drifted closer, holding his breath and making sure his ice powers were firmly tucked inside.
Yeah, those definitely didn't look like ghost weapons. He could see a box of rounds, very normal gun rounds, sitting beside the bed. There was a shotgun, two pistols and… holy shit, a machete?
Danny dove under the bed, half phased through the mattress when the short-haired one walked across the room, right through where Danny had been standing moments before. Danny covered his mouth with a hand, staring at a rag that was tucked under a considerable collection of knives.
That was definitely not ectoplasm.