Chapter 14

He really, really regretted the words the moment they left his mouth. He should have realized that the mere mention of going on a date would make his friends pester him and pester him and pester him until he finally divulged every little detail to them. He couldn't have come up with some other excuse, could he? He couldn't have said something like his parents felt too tired after a long day of working in the basement to cook dinner and sent him out to pick up something for all of them. That could have been believed. But no, he had to be an idiot and blurt out that he went on a date.

Danny could still feel the heat of his blush as he caved and started telling his friends about the date on the car ride over to Sam's house. He decided the best place to start was telling them that he date was with another man. Nervousness twisted up inside him enough to make him feel nauseated at the thought of how his friends would react to that news. But he was more terrified about how they would respond to the fact that his date was with a ghost.

"I always knew there was something about you!" Tucker said first.

"Shut up. No you didn't," Sam scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "Danny," she glanced through the rear view mirror to catch his gaze, "you know we're not going to hate you because you're gay, right?" Her brow wrinkled slightly. "Or does this make you bi?"

"I-" Danny paused to consider it for a moment. "I hadn't actually thought about it. I guess bi." He shrugged, thinking it probably didn't matter that much since he was only interested in one person. "But I'm glad you're both okay with it." A grin spread across his face as he relaxed.

"So who was it with?" Tucker asked, grinning like he was ready to start teasing his friend the moment it was revealed. But the grin faded as his expression turned ponderous. "You met Dash at Nasty Burger," he mumbled then his green eyes flew wide open. "Oh man! Tell me it wasn't with Dash!"

Danny couldn't help laughing at the horror stricken expression on his friend's face. His sides hurt from laughing so hard, and Tucker managed to reach back and smack him on the knee as he frowned. "Sorry," Danny said when he could control his laughter. "It's just the idea of dating Dash is pretty funny." He reached up to wipe the tears from his eyes. "Anyway, Dash might like a Fenton, but it certainly isn't me. He's totally crushing on Jazz."

"Oh man," Tucker breathed out in relief. "I was scared there for a moment."

"Stop stalling," Sam complained. "Who did you go on a date with? Anyone we know? You might as well spill because you know we're not going to let up until you give us all the details."

Danny did know that, which only made him regret mentioning the date all the more. He sighed, scratching a hand through his raven locks as he debated how best to tell it. Just spitting it out seemed like the quickest way to do it, like ripping off a Band-Aid. He could try stalling, but eventually, it would come out in the end. One way or another, he was going to find out his friend's reaction to the news that he was dating a ghost. He took a deep breath and waited one more moment before speaking again.

"I was on a date with," Danny couldn't look at his friends as his face burned with a blush, "Phantom." He cringed, waiting for his friend's to respond. He was nearly flung forward into the front seats when Sam slammed down on the brakes and the car screeched to a stop. Luckily, no other cars were behind them, or the sudden stop might have caused a crash.

"What?" Sam shouted as both she and Tucker gawked at him.

Danny pressed back into the seat, keeping his gaze out the window as he tensed up. "Phantom," he said as he nervously picked at a loose thread on his jeans. "You know, that white haired ghost that's been saving people all over town?"

"We know who Phantom is," Tucker said. "What we're wondering is: how the hell did you go on a date with him?"

"And more importantly, what are you thinking?" Sam demanded with a severe frown upon her face. She could be okay with her friend being gay, or bisexual, but she apparently drew the line at him dating a ghost.

"Well, we met the other night," Danny explained, fumbling about nervously as he shrank down on the backseat, feeling incredibly small despite his height under the stares of his friends. "And I guess we sort of hit it off, and he asked me out, so," he shrugged, "I said yes."

"Danny, he's a ghost!" Sam shouted, and Danny flinched back. "You can't date a ghost."

"Apparently, he can," Tucker mumbled, frowning at Sam, who scowled back. "What? He did go on a date with the ghost, after all." He gestured with one hand at Danny.

After glowering at Tucker for another moment, Sam snapped her gaze back onto Danny. "You can't date him. Think about it, Danny! He's a ghost. How do you think he got that way? Because he's dead! You can't date someone that's dead. That's like - like-"

"Necrophilia?" Tucker supplied, and Sam glared at him.

"I was getting there," Sam growled.

"You say that like I haven't thought about that," Danny said, his own anger igniting. "Well, in case you wanted to know, I have!" His eyes narrowed, his hands curling around the edge of the seat, as he glared at his friends. "I've debated it over and over in my head ever since Phantom first appeared in town. And you know what? It doesn't change the fact that I'm still attracted to him! I know it's silly. I know how crazy it sounds. But I like him. I want to know more about him. This isn't just some stupid ghost obsession that's gotten out of hand. I want to be with him, and I don't care that he's a ghost." His teeth ground painfully in anger as he watched his friends exchange worried looks.

"I don't think I can approve of this," Sam said, frowning at him with a worried crease in her brow.

"Yeah, it's a bit weird, man," Tucker agreed, looking disturbed by the idea of someone dating a ghost.

"Okay. Don't approve it. Be weirded out by it. But don't sit there trying to tear us apart, okay?" Danny begged them.

Sam groaned and Tucker looked doubtful, but they both agreed to not say anything more about their friend dating a ghost. Danny also got them to agree not to tell anyone about his relationship with Phantom.

"You know," Danny grumbled, shooting a glare at his friends as he closed his locker, "giving me looks like that is about the same as saying it out loud that you disapprove." He sighed internally. It was already Thursday, and his friends still couldn't get over the whole announcement that he was dating a ghost, though he hadn't seen Phantom since Saturday night.

"It's just weird, okay?" Tucker frowned as they started walking down the hall toward the cafeteria. "I mean, you're dating a ghost. How are we supposed to just be okay with that in a few days?"

"Just-" Danny struggled for a moment before he shrugged. "Just pretend he's a normal guy."

"Somehow, I don't think that will be easy," Sam said, and her eyebrows seemed to be constantly knitted together in a frown since the news.

"If you keep looking like that, you're going to get wrinkles," Paulina said as she passed them. She laughed along with Star, who walked beside her.

"Ugh," Sam groaned, scowling at the two women. "I swear!"

"Sam, you know getting back at them isn't going to do anything," Danny pointed out, placing a hand on her shoulder. She looked like she might actually do something that she would regret later if they didn't stop her.

"I know," Sam growled, and after a moment and a few deep breaths, her shoulders relaxed. "She just drives me crazy sometimes. Like being beautiful is all a girl is good for?" She snorted in disgust.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with wanting to look pretty," Danny said, looking away when Sam glared at him, "but obviously there's a lot more to a woman than just her looks. I mean, look at my mom. She's smart and a fierce fighter." His body was still aching from the training sessions with his mother. "Women are definitely not to be taken lightly."

"You got that right," Valerie said, punching Danny on the shoulder as she past him. He rubbed at the sore spot with a wince. "I'd have you flat on your back in two seconds if I decided to actually fight you." She smirked before continuing on her way down the hall.

"Well, she seems to have stopped hating you," Sam said with some surprise. "I guess talking with Spectra is really paying off."

"Aren't you glad now that Lancer hired her?" Danny teased with a nudge to Sam's side with his elbow.

"You better look out," Tucker said, nodding toward something down the hall. "Looks like lover boy is waiting on you."

Danny and Sam turned their heads to see Kwan standing by the door of the cafeteria. Dash was talking with him, but the dark haired jock seemed distracted by glancing down the hall toward the three friends. Danny bit his lower lip to stop the grin from spreading onto his face and threw a look toward Sam. He was surprised to see that Sam had lowered her gaze and a light blush was slowly growing upon her cheeks.

"I should probably go thank him," Sam mumbled, refusing to look at either of her friends. "Since he was nice enough to get the poster for me and all."

"Oh, oh!" Tucker grinned, poking at Sam's shoulder. "You so like him!"

"Shut up!" Sam punched him, hard, in the arm. Tucker gasped as he held his arm, pain showing in his green eyes. "It's not like that." But the blush on her face might say otherwise. "I just don't want to be a jerk when he did something nice." She huffed as she picked up the pace and walked ahead of them.

"Perhaps you shouldn't tease her," Danny suggested, leaning toward his friend.

"Noted," Tucker mumbled with a wince. "Man, she can throw a punch!"

Danny chuckled, but when he glanced down the hall to see Sam talking with Kwan, he wondered if maybe she really did like the jock. Kwan certainly wasn't the bad sort, and he would definitely treat Sam right if they were to date. But it was still mind boggling to think maybe Sam returned those feelings. Danny couldn't think of any time when Sam actually showed any hint that she may have a crush on the jock. Though right now with the two of them blushing and acting awkwardly around each other, he thought perhaps he had simply been completely oblivious to the obvious in front of him.

Danny glanced toward his friend still standing beside him. "You're not about to tell me that you've secretly been harboring a crush on someone without telling me too, are you?" He narrowed his eyes, already getting that betrayed feeling of his friend not confiding in him.

"You're one to talk with you dating Phantom," Tucker returned with a glare. "Anyway, I'm pretty obvious about my crushes." He paused to think for a moment. "Well, at least with flirting with girls."

Danny laughed because that was certainly true. "From now on, no secrets about who we like?" He grinned when Tucker nodded his agreement. He started to head for the cafeteria when a chill snaked up his back, and he shuddered. Twisting around, Danny scanned the hall, spying some of the students lingering about at their lockers. Something caught his attention though. "I'll, uh, catch up to you later, okay?" He glanced back to Tucker.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Tucker said with an uncertain wrinkling of his brow. "See you." He waved then headed for the cafeteria.

Danny waited half a moment then walked back down the hall. The other students didn't bother to give him much notice, too involved with their own lives to care about him. Hesitancy swept through him as he neared the person that caught his attention, the man with his hood pulled up over his head as he stood in front of a locker. The thing about him that made Danny take notice was that the locker he stood in front of was locker seven twenty-four, a locker that no one used and was covered in rust. His mouth pulled downward as he reached the man then leaned forward slightly to get a look at his face.

"P-Phantom!" Danny managed to keep his voice a whisper despite his surprise.

The ghost jerked, seeming torn out of his thoughts when Danny spoke. His green eyes drifted toward the man beside him, and a grin slipped onto his face. "There you are, my little photographer." He reached up, his hand cupping Danny's cheek as it grew rosy red at the light touch.

"What are you doing here?" Danny's heart skipped, but he resisted that little voice whispering to hug Phantom and kiss him, as very tempting as that idea was. He couldn't even remember if he told Phantom what high school he went to on their date.

"Well, I spoke to Spectra, and she told me which high school she worked at, since she's working at the same one you go to," Phantom explained, dropping his hand then shoving his hands into his pockets. "So I figured if I wandered around here, I'd eventually run into you." He grinned. "I wanted to see you. See where you go to school. See you with your friends." He blinked then looked slightly bashful. "Sorry. That's probably overstepping. If you don't want me-"

"It's fine," Danny said before thinking then blushed. "My friends are," he looked away, "not exactly happy that we're dating. But maybe if they get to know you," he snapped his gaze back to Phantom with hope in his blue eyes, "they'll accept us."

"I'll be happy to meet them." Phantom nodded. "You've met most of my friends anyway."

Danny smiled, but his gaze traveled absently over Phantom's body. "You changed your outfit?" He looked back up with some surprise.

"Ember showed me." Phantom chuckled. "I figured I would stand out too much in my normal outfit, so I tried to adopt something that was more like you wear to blend in better."

"It looks good." Danny certainly wasn't going to complain about the new look with the tight fitted jeans and the leather jacket with an unzipped hooded sweatshirt underneath it. Phantom looked like he had slicked back his white hair so that it didn't peek out from under his hood. Danny's gaze drifted toward the locker. "Why were you standing here? You seemed lost in thought or something."

Phantom looked confused then turned his gaze back to the locker. "You don't feel it?"

"Feel what?" Danny's brow creased, and his mouth thinned as he stared at patterns of rusty red over the pale green of the locker door. It looked ancient compared to the other lockers around it that were all clean and new looking. The janitors apparently didn't even bother to clean it. Had anyone opened the locker in years? It kind of made him think of those old horror movies where there was a mysterious locked door in a house and eventually the protagonist would get it open and unleash hell. He shivered thinking about it.

"Oh, sorry." Phantom stepped away. "You're probably just feeling me. Maybe if I move far enough away, you'll feel it." He kept backing up down the hall, and some people gave them looks, probably wondering what they were doing.

Danny frowned as he watched the ghost. As Phantom walked away from him, the air around him warmed in the absence of a ghost. Danny didn't know what to do. He didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. Turning his gaze onto the locker, he stepped closer to it, frowning as his imagination suggested something creepy was about to jump out at him. Maybe there was something there. He could still feel a chill, a cool washing breeze passing over him, just barely there, even though Phantom was much too far away for him to feel the usual coldness from him.

"Well?" Phantom questioned when he returned a moment later. "Did you feel it?"

Danny shrugged, feeling at a lost. "Maybe? I don't know. I could have just imagined it because you mentioned something."

Phantom nodded, seeming to understand. "I think," he touched a hand to the locker door, "something's there. Something connected to the Ghost Zone." He turned his gaze to Danny. "But it seems to be sealed up tight, so I don't think it's anything to worry about."

"Well, that's good. I think." Danny took hold of Phantom's hand. "Come on. I'll introduce you to my friends."

Phantom tore his attention away from the locker and seemed happy for the distraction as he smiled. "I'll have to do my best to make a good impression on them." Before Danny could lead the way to the cafeteria, Phantom tugged on his hand, pulling Danny into him. The kiss they shared was soft and tender, and Danny couldn't care in that moment what anyone that saw them thought at seeing two men kiss. He was slightly dazed when Phantom pulled back, grinning. "I couldn't resist."

Danny bit his lip to hold back the giddy giggle that wanted to bubble up out of him after the kiss. How could he complain when he enjoyed Phantom's kisses, even if they felt too short? "Mm, but probably shouldn't do that in front of my friends," he mumbled distractedly while he stared into Phantom's eyes. "At least, not until they're okay with us. And even then, probably not too often. I don't want them thinking of us as one of those annoying couples that are so in to themselves that they just sit around making out wherever they are."

Phantom nodded. "Slow. I get it." He lifted Danny's hand and brushed his lips gently over the knuckles as Danny's cheeks burned brightly. "As you wish."

i kissed danny and he liked it: XD Danny's not very good with the secret keeping, huh? XD Or at least not with his friends.

darkloveforfanfiction: Poor Danny. He's got such a big mouth. D: Oh well, Phantom likes to kiss his big mouth~ 8D;;

lollileahpop: Thanks~ 8D There shall be more Danny and Phantom moments! Yes~ 8D Aw~ X3

mcswaq: Yush! Danny's gonna learn how to fight! 8D *shakes Danny* Why do you reveal stuff to your friends so easily?! Oh, right, because you share everything with Tucker. XD;; *looks at putty in hand* I'm not sure that's a good thing. *looks at all the crazy stuff she does in fics*

Kurami Smile Slayer: Danny's friends are not happy with his choice of dates. D:

Some Weird Chick: All hell will break loose? D: That seems to be the fad now with books to movies. They take the last one in the series and split it into two. Yeah, they did leave out quite a bit. Although, I probably shouldn't blab about it here in case anyone reads this and doesn't want to be spoiled. XD;; Oooooh! I hope you had a good date! Haha, yeah, I think one more date or at least hanging out a bit together would be good. =)

panfan87: Sam really didn't like who Danny went on a date with. orz Danny's got it bad for Phantom! XD Maddie's always such a bad ass. 8D

midnight: It's quite possible that Sam does have a crush on Kwan. XD But Tucker should know better than to tease her about it.

HawkeyeLover: Danny's always smooth~ Check out his great pick up stunt of dropping his pants. XD;;;