Chapter 35

Paulina peeked into the bedroom and grinned when she spotted the blonde girl sitting on her bed with a notebook in her lap. "Hey, Lily," she greeted with a bright smile as she entered the room. She walked over to the bed as the girl looked up, tugging headphones off her head. "What are you working on?"

Lily flushed lightly as she hugged the notebook to her chest. "Nothing."

"Oh, come on," Paulina urged as she poked at the younger girl's foot. Whenever her friend's sister got all shy like that, Paulina couldn't help wanting to find out what secrets the girl was hiding. "It's just us girls. You can tell me."

Getting to hang out with Lily was one of her favorite things when it came to being at Dash's house. While her friends got to do the whole guy talk thing, she got to spend time with Lily, and it was almost like having a little sister. Being an only child was sometimes really lonely, even if her parents tended to spoil her rotten, buying her everything she wanted. That was nice and all, but Paulina always wanted a younger sibling. Her parents, however, were content with only one child.

Lily flushed darkly as she turned the notebook around so that Paulina could see what she was working on when the older woman entered the room. "It's not very good," she admitted as she lowered her gaze. It was no surprise that Lily was a fairly good artist, taking after her brother, though she tended to focus on less action packed drawings.

"It's amazing!" Paulina took the notebook to better examine the drawing. There were doodles of things like horses and butterflies in the corners, even a mermaid along the foot of the paper. But the main focus was of a boy's face, looking around the same age as Lily. Paulina lifted one of her delicate eyebrows at the young girl. "Is this someone you know?"

Lily shrugged, toying with the frilly hem of the pale yellow shirt she wore that Paulina gave her for her last birthday. "We know each other from the hospital. We've both been in and out for a while, and we bump into each other a lot while we're there." Her blush grew steadily darker as she spoke.

Paulina gasped, placing the notebook down between them as she leaned toward the girl. "You like him!" She grinned as the blush exploded, reaching even to Lily's ears. "Details! You have to tell me all about it." This was an exciting new development since their prior talks usually involved Lily having a slight crush on Kwan.

"I don't think he likes me though," Lily admitted as she frowned, hugging her arms awkwardly around her body. "When we were little, he used to show me all his disgusting scars and do stuff to scare me, like hiding under my bed and popping up out of nowhere to make me scream. And now," she shrugged, "we still see each other in hospital, but he never even looks at me when we're sitting near each other. And it's just all awkward."

"Maybe he likes you too but doesn't know how to express himself." Paulina rolled her emerald eyes. "Boys can be so dense when it comes to how they feel about someone. I mean, just look at your brother. He was such an idiot about his feelings before we managed to crack him into confessing he liked someone." She sighed as she leaned back and drew up one leg, hugging her arms around it. "Too bad it seems Danny doesn't like him back."

"Who's Danny?" Lily's brow pinched up in confusion as she tilted her head.

"A guy from school that your brother totally likes." Paulina grinned widely, still amused over the fact that Dash would fall for the man he bullied for most of their high school careers.

"No," Lily whined as she frowned. "He's not supposed to like some random guy!"

Paulina blinked at that response, feeling rather confused. "What?"

Lily sighed dramatically before landing her blue eyes on Paulina. "Kwan," she said in exasperation. When Paulina's confusion didn't lift, Lily sat up straighter, crossing her legs under her. "Kwan totally likes Dash."

"Funny," Paulina mumbled, recalling her conversation from earlier that day. "Danny asked about Dash considering Kwan when we talked in class." She frowned, puzzling over it. Kwan never admitted to liking anyone, which always seemed curious to her, but she never thought about the idea that maybe Kwan liked Dash. "But he never said anything, and you-"

Lily shook her head. "I liked him because he was basically one of the few guys not related to me that I knew. And he was always nice to me. But," her gaze fell to the notebook with her drawings, and she blushed, "it wasn't real with him. Just a passing thing. I think what I feel for Jeremy is much more real than what I thought I felt for Kwan." She paused to consider things for a moment. "Maybe Kwan doesn't even know he likes Dash. I mean, like you said, guys can be kind of dumb. Or you know, maybe he was worried that Dash might freak out over the whole gay thing."

"But then Dash came out as gay to us," Paulina said, still wondering why Kwan would keep silent about his feelings. Her eyes widened as she gasped. "Oh! But he couldn't say anything because Dash admitted to liking Danny, and being a good friend, Kwan didn't want to stand in the way of his friend's happiness, so he's continued sitting back in the shadows, quietly pining away for his best friend. Aw, that's so sad!" Her expression fell, crumbling with the thought of the misery Kwan must feel while watching Dash crush on Danny.

Lily sighed as she sat back, leaning against the wall at the head of her bed. "Men, huh?" She laughed but there was no humor in it. "Not the brightest bunch, huh?"

"I guess it's up to us to knock some sense into them." Paulina wondered how she could somehow help her friends. Dash was so focused on his crush with Danny, and it wasn't like she could just force him to like someone else. Especially after she and Kwan kept trying to encourage Dash to go for it with Danny. She wanted to make both of her friends happy, but with the way things were right now, it didn't look like either of them would end up happy. "So this boy at the hospital," Paulina said with a sly smile, deciding to shift the conversation back onto Lily. "Maybe you should go ahead and kiss him the next time you see him."

"Excuse me," Dash interrupted them, and Paulina turned toward the doorway to see his grumpy frown. "Did you just advise my little sister to kiss someone?"

"She's old enough for something like that, Dash," Paulina answered airily with her head raised. "I know you're protective of her, but she should be allowed to experience things." She frowned, her eyes dimming. "I mean, if her condition isn't getting better-" She cut herself off as she stood.

That was generally a conversation about which they never talked. She could see the pain in her friend's eyes, knowing that any day his little sister could die. Thinking of Lily like her own little sister made that reality hurt for her too. She didn't want Lily to die, but the doctors' treatments didn't always do anything to help her. Right now, all they could do was try their best to keep her stable enough to give her a little more time before the inevitable.

"Well, I'll just go see if Kwan is ready to go." Paulina got up to leave things for the siblings to discuss. She paused when she reached Dash. "She deserves a chance to experience love," she whispered as she shared a look with Dash. "You're a great brother, Dash, but don't be overbearing about this." After giving him a pat on the shoulder, she stepped out of the room.

"So who are you going to be kissing?" Dash asked, and Paulina could imagine that grouchy big brother glare he always used when he got into that overprotective mode.

"You've met him," Lily answered, most likely blushing as she talked about her crush. "Jeremy from the hospital. I believe you thought he was a great little kid."

"I guess he's all right," Dash said with some hesitancy.

Paulina smiled to herself as she crossed the hall to Dash's bedroom. Kwan sat at the computer, which seemed the norm for him whenever they were hanging out at Dash's house. Creeping over to him, Paulina peered over his shoulder to see what he was working on, but of course, the lines of coding meant nothing to her.

"How you holding up?" Paulina questioned as she looped her arms around his neck.

"Jing's decided not only to invade my life at home again but also at school," Kwan muttered, his aqua green eyes glaring at the computer screen. "How do you think I'm holding up?"

Paulina squeezed her arms just slightly. "Don't get grumpy with me." She pouted even though he couldn't see it. With a sigh, she moved to lean against the desk. "You know," she said, tilting her head as ebony hair slipped past one shoulder, "Dash or I would love to have you stay at either of our houses." She offered a small smile. "You can get away from your parents."

Kwan lifted his gaze away from the computer to frown at Paulina. "As little as my parents think of me, I don't think they'd respond well to me just leaving." She could see in his eyes that it was something he probably thought about a great deal, but like in any abusive relationship, breaking free wasn't easy for the victim. "Graduation isn't too far off anyway."

"Nope." Paulina shook her head as she folded her arms. Her eyes narrowed at him in a firm look. "You're coming home with me, buster, and I'm not accepting any protests."

"Paulina," Kwan groaned.

"You know once I make up my mind, I'm not going to change it." Paulina met his gaze, and they held a glaring match for a few moments before Kwan sighed and looked away. She grinned, knowing she won that match.

"You guys staying for dinner or do I need to drive you home now?" Dash questioned when he entered his bedroom.

"I should probably be heading home," Paulina answered with a sigh. "Papa is expecting me to be home, like a good little girl, for dinner."

"Because you're such a good little girl," Kwan said teasingly, which earned him a punch to the shoulder. "Ow! You really need to pull your punches." He frowned as he rubbed at his arm.

Paulina rolled her eyes at him. "That was barely a tap." She pushed away from the desk and walked toward the door.

"I don't know. You throw a pretty mean punch," Dash said with some uncertainty. "I'd love to see you deck Williams at some point." He laughed, probably imagining Calvin's face after getting punched by a woman. Paulina agreed that she would love to have a good excuse to sock him sometime, but she preferred not getting in trouble for attacking another student, even if Calvin deserved it.

They left the house, climbing into Dash's car. As she sat in the back seat, Paulina watched her two friends carefully the whole ride to her house. Most of the conversation revolved around their homework with a brief diversion when Dash questioned Kwan if he figured out anything more with Phantom's coding that they got off Tucker's PDA. Kwan only shrugged in response, uncertain about what he uncovered with the coding. Paulina frowned at the confusion in his voice. Kwan usually was never one to get confused when it came to anything involving technology.

"Now remember. You have to wear it tomorrow," Paulina said with a stern glare at Dash after she climbed out of his car when they arrived at her house.

"I don't see why we have to do this," Dash grumbled, clearly not happy with the outfit being forced upon him for tomorrow. "And where are you going, dude?" He tossed a confused glance at Kwan when he noticed his other friend climbed out of the car to join Paulina.

"We're having a slumber party, and you're not invited." Paulina grinned teasingly at Dash. "And you'll wear it because I'm not losing this bet with Danny."

"I don't really get why you made this bet to begin with." Dash frowned at her.

"Just do it, Dash." She placed her hands on her hips as she glared at him. Dash rolled his eyes but agreed before he waved goodbye and drove off back to his house. Paulina led the way up to her house, opening the door for her friend. When they entered the house, they were greeted with the aroma of the spiced ground beef that her mother usually made when she decided to make tacos for dinner.

Her mother happily embraced Kwan when she saw he was joining them for dinner. Her father was a little less happy, always suspicious of any man that hung around his daughter. But since this was Kwan that he knew since they were young children, her father was more accepting of his presence than any other man that might have joined them. Dinner was filled with pleasant conversation, mostly. There was a hiccup when Paulina announced wanting Kwan to spend the night, which got an angry glare from her father directed at the jock, who swallowed nervously.

"Sometimes I think he'd be happy locking me up in some convent," Paulina grumbled as she got out some sheets and pillows for Kwan. "What does he think we'll do, have sex?" She rolled her eyes at the mere thought. If she planned on having sex with someone, she certainly wouldn't bring the person home where her parents would be. Her gaze slid toward Kwan, who was sitting at her desk. "So," she smirked at the jock, "Dash, huh?"

Kwan blinked, a flush slowly growing upon his cheeks. "Wha-What?" he spluttered out, unable to meet her gaze.

Paulina grinned madly at him as she abandoned the sheets and pillows on the floor. "It's true!" She stood before him and placed her hands on his shoulders as Kwan gulped nervously. "I can't believe I had to have Danny and Lily say something before I realized it."

"Why were you talking with Fenton about it?" Kwan looked alarmed with that piece of news. "And Lily!" His eyes went wide, worry shining through them.

"Don't worry about Lily." Paulina waved it off. "She likes a guy at the hospital. But how long have you liked him? When did this all start? Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Kwan reached up and scratched a hand through his hair as he sighed. "I don't know. A few years now, I guess." He shrugged with his eyes lowered. "I fought it for a while, telling myself I couldn't possibly be gay. But the feeling just wouldn't go away. And for not telling you, well-" He shook his head. "Can you imagine how my parents would react if they ever heard word that I had feelings for another guy?" He frowned, that miserable look crossing his face. "I already can't live up to any of their ideals. Coming out as gay would just be another nail in that coffin. And then there's how the whole school would react. I was pretty freaked out about that at the time, though now it doesn't bother me as much." He took a deep breath and released it slowly. "I guess I was just worried if you knew, you might try to do something to set me up with Dash, and I know that's not going to work out. He likes Danny. I don't want to get in the way."

Paulina frowned down at her friend with a troubled look in her eyes. "But you deserve to be happy. Why does Dash get to chase after his crush but not you?"

"Because Dash doesn't like me that way. I'll always just be his best friend and nothing more." Kwan reached up and patted one of Paulina's hands. "I'm fine with that. Maybe when I head off to college, I'll meet some other guy that just knocks me head over heels in love." His gaze turned serious as he stared into her emerald eyes. "And you better not say or do anything. I mean it, Paulina. Just forget that you even know I have feelings for him. It's better this way."

Paulina sighed as she circled her arms around his neck and hugged him. Things were not better this way, but Kwan was as stubborn as any of the rest of them.

swaqdanny: Yay bonding! 8D Haha, knowing them, something probably will come up to set them off again. XD

Mischievious Kiss27: Come on, Vladdie! Sweep your man off his feet! =)

Sammi: XD If he was still 14, Danny would probably still be acting like a child about it. XD;;;

DARKLOVEFORFANFICTION123: Yes! 8D *does a dance* Long time in coming, no? XD;;;

midnight: Now as long as they don't say or do anything that angers the other...

maltese: Yay! All the happy feels for Lancer! You're welcome~ =) Even in the show, they were more complex than simply jerks/bullies. XD;; It was a struggle, but somehow Danny managed it! XD Ah, look at that. You're growing up, Danny!

Just Will: *sighs* It's unfortunate, but yeah. Lancer has to play the bad disciplinarian otherwise he'd have no authority in the school and the students would just be running amok. But that, too, is just another form of caring. I just don't think any cartoon/anime should be made into live action. Just look at what they've done with the ones they've already done movies of. They all sucked. =( When I write it, I do tend to say Danny feels a chill, but it was never about him having some sort of ice core like they say in season 3. In general, when people talk about ghosts in real life, they mention feeling cold in the presence of a ghost, and that's why I always thought Danny felt cold when he sensed a ghost. Lancer certainly would have done something to help Danny keep up with his school work if he had known from the beginning. Vlad's just scared~ D: After all, things could have been far worse for Danny if someone else had found him that condition. The GIW never learn. orz