I do not own Danny Phantom or the game Jenga.

Turkeyhead987 suggestion!

Pyramid of Gumballs

The trio were walking through town, the sun slowly setting and casting a light orange glow across Amity Park. Tucker shoved his hands in his pockets. "Thanks again for overshadowing Lancer."

Danny smiled. "Well, I did entertain the idea of letting him really nail you guys. But joyriding isn't exactly a slap-on-the-wrist offence. And you did help me out of a serious jam, even though you didn't really have a choice."

"It was our pleasure," drawled Sam.

They reached the supermarket and the automatic doors swished open, granting them entrance. "Why are these places always so cold?" hissed Tucker as a cold chill swept over him.

"Depend on the time of year," replied Sam. "There's either a risk of you freezing to death or burning to a crisp." She turned to Danny. "What do we need again?"

Danny checked the list they had compiled. "In order to pull an all-nighter, we need the essentials. Pop, and lots of it. And also some chocolate, gumballs and sour twists."

Tucker blinked against the harsh florescent lighting of the store. "You know, I think Lancer has some subconscious knowledge of our little stunt with Mr. F's truck. I can't believe he assigned a ten-page report on a great historian of our choice."

"He assigned that report way before that," Sam pointed out. "What's hard to believe is that we left it until the last minute." She paused. "Well, no, never mind. I can believe we procrastinated and left it until the last minute."

They passed by the line of registers and Sam pulled a basket from a stack at the end of one of them. The trio headed straight for the candy aisle and were greeted by colourful packaging and shiny wrappers. Tucker sighed with contentment, picking up a fistful of caramel clusters from a plastic bin and dropping them in the basket that was now being held by the teen halfa.

Sam grabbed three two-litre bottles of root beer and cola each and Danny grunted at the sudden weight added to the plastic basket. Soon it was overflowing with enough sugar to ensure they would get at least one cavity each, and definitely enough to give them the energy to finish their barely started reports.

They made their way to the cash register with the least amount of people in line. Something caught Danny's attention and he halted, eyes wide with glee. Sam and Tucker followed the excited blue gaze and smirked at what they found.

Dozens and dozens of boxes were stacked into a neat pyramid. The bright spheres on the cardboard meant that they contained gumballs, and one thing Danny loved more than anything were gumballs.

Stuffing the basket into Sam's arms, Danny sprinted over and reached for a box.

"Dude, shouldn't you ask for help?" Tucker asked nervously as Danny gripped a box near the bottom of the stack.

"Nah. Besides, it's just like Jenga. You simply take the one that won't knock the entire tower over."

"You suck at Jenga."

"I do not."

Sam gripped the basket and waited tensely as Danny selected his box of choice. She let out a relieved sigh as he removed the box carefully and with a smile, he placed it in the basket she was holding.

"Well, that-" she started to say.

There was a sudden shriek that cut her off. Tucker groaned at the three boxes that fell from the middle of the tower, dislodged by the box Danny had chosen, and struck a lady in the head. The entire top of the pyramid was quick to follow and they buried an unprepared little boy who was admiring the bright pictures on the boxes at the bottom.

Finally the entire pyramid succumbed, hitting the floor and scattering the brightly coloured gumballs across the tiled floor. A red-faced employee stormed up before they could escape. "Which one of you punks did this?" he demanded.

Danny pointed a finger at his two friends. "They did!"

Tucker was about to protest, but clammed up at Danny's pointed look. The employee glared at them and Danny gave them a smirk and hurried away. "Since you made this mess, you get to clean it up. Now get moving!" the employee snapped.

Sam angrily slammed her basket full of junk on the floor and accepted the broom that was handed to her. "Tuck, go help get that kid out."

Tucker picked his way over to the flustered mother that was trying to free her son, but was having difficulty thanks to the wailing baby she was holding with one arm. Pushing the boxes aside, a small boy with brown hair popped up with gumballs stuck to his cheek. The mother sighed with relief and he hurried over to the woman who was trying to remove a box that was stuck to her head.

Tucker placed one hand on her shoulder to get her to stop thrashing around. The woman screamed loudly at the contact. "Thief!"

He stumbled backwards when she hit him in the face with her purse. Scowling, he ducked another swing and grabbed the box on the woman's head and yanked. The box was freed and the woman stumbled backwards, glancing around wildly.

Tucker waved the box over his head in surrender. "I am not a thief! It was stuck on your head so I just wanted to help you and get it off!"

The woman glared suspiciously, but nodded stiffly and stormed away. Tucker kicked the box aside and glanced at Sam. "Oh, boy," he muttered.

"Pretty clever, huh?" Sam asked with a grin, leaning on the broom. She had swept all the gumballs in a pile and a group of kids were gleefully stuffing them in their mouths.

"Sam, that isn't sanitary."

"They're young. They'll be fine," she dismissed.

Soon the half-empty boxes were stacked in a pile and the gumballs were gone. "I am going to kill Danny," growled Sam.

The manager walked up to them and regarded his store. He nodded in satisfaction. "Good job. I shall bill you for the loss of inventory. You may go."

Sam gaped. Tucker bit his lip and glanced at his Goth friend. "Can you cover me? I'll pay you back, I promise. It just might not be for another ten years."

...

Danny glanced up from his computer as Sam and Tucker stormed into his bedroom. "Finally. What took you guys-hey"

Sam dumped the contents of the box in her hand over Danny's head. The gumballs rolled across his floor and stuck to his hair. "Here are your stupid gumballs. Later."

"Good luck on that report," Tucker called as he and Sam ran down the stairs and out of the house before Danny could order them to clean up the mess they had caused.