"Hey guys," Sam smiled warmly at her two friends as she shut her locker. "How's it going on your end?"
Danny didn't look directly at her, but muttered a "hey".
Tucker snickered next to him. "Oh, I think Danny is having the time of his life!" Danny elbowed him in the ribs, "Ow! Hey, I even used a life or death pun for you!"
"That bad, huh?" Sam laughed. "Can't say I'm doing any better though. By the way, Danny, I'm going to have to...warn you about a few things. Your secret is still safe, but there's still going to be gossip about you. Both of your halves." Sam shut her brain down before she went back to that fantasy. "Sorry, I really tried. The girls at this school are indubitably so fucking stupid, they wouldn't know what the actual truth is, even if it bit them on the nose. Honestly, how they even made it to twelfth grade is beyond me."
Tucker noticed Sam getting all worked up and frowned. "Hey, the day's almost over though!"
"Huh? Wait, what do you mean gossip?" Danny finally looked up at her.
"Ugh, Paulina has some twisted thoughts." Sam rubbed the sides of her head as she tried to calm down. "She's been the biggest pain in the ass all day. Just be prepared for any gossip that Phantom flies commando, and know that I tried to stop it."
Danny's eyes went wide, "why would they-?"
Tucker busted out laughing, "You HAVE to tell me how that happened!"
"Ugh guys, please not now." She grabbed each of their shirts and pulled them towards the cafeteria.
"Man, I wish I had my PDA! I hate being out of the loop!" Tucker complained.
Sam unpeeled her banana, trying to ignore any innuendos and return to normalcy, as she listened to Tucker's bellyaching. She took a large bite as her stomach growled. If Skulker hadn't shown up on the way to school, she probably would have been able to actually grab some breakfast before this whole ordeal. Sure, she had a salad waiting for her, but that wasn't going to cut it today.
"Damn, look at Manson deep throating that banana like a pro!" Dash quirked. Danny snapped his head to look over at Sam. Oh god. Woah...wait NO!
Without missing a beat, Sam chucked her half eaten banana at Dash, hitting him directly in the face. She smiled proudly as Tucker chuckled next to her.
"Nice shot, Sam!" Tucker held his hand out for a high five, which Sam returned. Dash made an attempt to take a jab at her, but Kwan stopped him. Kwan had to protect both of his "best friends", after all.
Danny was silent, unable to comprehend his enjoyment of Dash's misery at Sam's behalf. That's my girl, he had thought. Ugh, why? Why did he keep coming back to this? Sam is just a friend. Dash's dumbass comment just stirred the pot even more. Now Danny had a new fantasy about his best friend to worry about. He looked over at Sam again and blushed before quickly looking away. With the amount of times he's blushed today, he didn't think it was possible anymore. And what is she talking about with all these rumors?
Tucker nudged Danny with his elbow and raised an eyebrow at him as Sam caught up with Valerie and raced for the salad bar. "You okay? I thought you'd always dreamt of Sam hitting Dash in the face." Tucker laughed to himself. "I know I certainly have."
"Not the only dream of Sam I have…" Danny muttered to himself.
"What?" Tucker looked at his friend again.
"What?" Danny looked back at him confused, grabbing a tray after Tucker.
"What was that now?" Tucker smirked as he grabbed two burgers. Terrific, Tucker had heard him after all.
"Nothing," Danny said sternly before grabbing some mac n cheese.
"Uh huh." Tucker's smirk grew as he piled more food onto his plate.
"It's nothing!" Danny insisted as he grabbed the rest of his food and followed Tucker to their table.
"Alright, alright. Calm down dude." Tucker sat down and immediately took a bite of one of his burgers.
"Sorry," Danny sighed. "Between dumbass number one and dumbass number two over there," he pointed towards Elliot and Dash, "I'm not thinking straight."
Tucker nodded and swallowed as Danny took a sip of his drink. Tucker looked over at Sam, pursed his lips, then paused for a moment before saying, "you know, Sam is actually pretty hot, now that I think about it."
Danny spit his drink out across the table and started coughing. "What?!"
"Oh relax, I'm not gonna steal your girlfriend or anything," Tucker rolled his eyes as Danny muttered some "she's not my girlfriend" line. "I'm just saying. I mean, she's super cool and fun to hang with, she looked great at the freshman dance, and she already has made mini skirt Friday an everyday kind of deal! Like if she just lost the tights or whatever, holy smokes. And like, dude, she has boobs. BOOBS. We've been so close this entire time!"
Danny caught his breath and scoffed at Tucker before realizing he kind of had a point. If Danny had learned anything that day, it was that he definitely had conflicting feelings about Sam. It wouldn't surprise him if other guys started noticing her more as well. Actually, they had, if you counted dumbass number one and dumbass number two.
Danny forced out a small laugh, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, I kinda…" He trailed off before getting a nod of encouragement from Tucker, silently letting it be known that this conversation was strictly between them and would most likely never be repeated again. "I mean, she's Sam and she's so pretty and smart and cool and she hangs out with us, like what the hell? And I ran into her in the hallway earlier after dealing with Johnny 13, and I was bleeding and stuff and her boobs were like, right there in my face while she was trying to help me and with all this dumb sex talk, I had to run to the bathroom before anything happened or became noticeable. I've been embarrassed more than enough for one day."
Tucker let out a loud laugh and slapped Danny on the back. "Damn, dude. I didn't think you'd ever admit anything." Danny's hand immediately went to rub the back of his neck and his face turned crimson for the millionth time that day. "So you ran into Sam, huh?" Tucker wagged his eyebrows suggestively and laughed again when Danny threw a fry at his face. "Don't worry, dude. I still respect the bro code. I won't say a word. But like, excusing the fact that she's like a sister to me for a second, what were they like?"
Danny opened his mouth as he thought of something to say, before jerking forward after Dash slapped him on the back (hard) and took a seat next to him. "You're talking about Manson, right? She is pretty hot. You're a lucky man, Fenton."
Was Dash actually...being nice to him? Because he thought that he and Sam were actually...doing things together. What the fuck was happening today?
"What's she like? Really?" Dash stole one of Danny's fries.
"She's definitely feisty, that's for sure." Elliot smirked as he sat across from Danny. This asshole again?!
Danny made tight fists under the table. "Shut the fuck up and leave Sam alone! You guys dated for like a week! That's nothing!"
"It was enough to cover all of the bases, if you know what I mean. And I'm pretty sure you know what I mean." Elliot smirked while holding up his phone with the picture on it and leaned back in the chair, nearly falling over as Danny stood quickly from the table, shaking it in the process. He was ready to pounce.
"Shut. The fuck. Up," Danny growled as he got all up in Elliot's face. Elliot accepted the challenge.
"No, I don't think I will. But what I do think will happen is me and Sam again."
Dash raised an eyebrow at the two boys arguing, "What's with this? Is Manson like, secretly a sex goddess or something? Maybe I'll hop on that too."
Danny's eyes flashed green for a brief second before almost being knocked over by Tucker, who shoved him out of the way.
"You have a phone?! How did you sneak that in? Can I please have it for five minutes? Please?!" Tucker made a grab for the phone as Elliot held it behind him.
"Depends. What kind of dirt do you have on Danny and Sam?"
"Oh man, where do I start?"
"TUCKER!" Danny glared at his friend, not believing he was actually considering this.
"Oh man, this I gotta hear." Dash leaned in for a better listen.
"Okay, one timeback in middle school, Danny-" Tucker's sentence was muffled as Danny slapped his hand over Tucker's mouth.
"Shut the fuck up!" Danny hissed.
"Oh no, please go on," Elliot smirked as he waved his phone in the air, "You may just buy yourself 2 minutes." He tried removing Danny's hand from Tucker's mouth.
"Get lost, Elliot." Danny stood from the table and stared him down again. "Tucker isn't that desperate."
"Eh, I think he is," Dash chimed in. "Foley looks like he's about to shit a brick." All three boys looked at Dash, just now remembering he was there.
Across the cafeteria, Sam raised an eyebrow at the crowd around their usual table and looked back at Valerie. "Thanks again for having my back in there. I really owe you one."
"Nonsense. If anything, take it as repayment for how much you guys have saved my ass from ghosts. And for me trying to kill your boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend, but thanks." Sam grabbed a tomato from her salad bowl and popped it in her mouth. "Hey Val, do you want to sit with us?"
Valerie grinned, "Love to, thanks. And he's not your boyfriend yet. I'll help get you there."
Sam laughed. "Okay, sure. We really should hang out more, you know. I need a boost of estrogen every once in a while."
"Yeah, I'd like that." Valerie stopped in place for a moment, staring at the guys at their table. Sam followed where Valerie was looking and ran closer to her friends.
"What the fuck is going on?!" Sam yelled as they approached the group of guys who were trying to tackle each other across the table. Danny and Elliot were staring each other down as Elliot held his phone as far back behind him as he could while Tucker, half on top of the table, reached for it. Dash was actually the most civil at the table. They all paused and fell silent as she spoke up. All four of them were staring at her with a weird expression on their faces. "What?" She questioned cautiously, suddenly feeling a bit self conscious. Valerie snickered to herself, taking a wild guess as to what (or who) the boys had been arguing about.
"Uh, nothing." Danny forced Tucker back into his chair and sat back down next to him. "They were just leaving." He glared at Elliot.
When the faux goth and the jock refused to move, Sam slammed her tray down on the table. "Get the fuck out of here before I start kicking people. I have my good boots on today."
Elliot was the first to make a move to leave. "Told ya, feisty."
Dash stood as well as he looked Sam up and down. Actually not that bad. Fortunately, Sam missed that, but Danny hadn't. He was practically seeing red as Dash returned to his own table.
"We'll talk after lunch!" Tucker whispered to Elliot as he passed by on the way back to the other end of the cafeteria.
"What was that all about?" Sam sat down and stabbed her salad with her fork before taking a bite.
"Elliot and Dash are being shitheads and pushing all of Danny's buttons today," Tucker announced as he started his second burger.
"Do I wanna know?"
"No." Danny picked at his food, shutting down that conversation.
Valerie sat down next to Sam and across from Tucker. Noticing his fidgeting, she smirked, "Must be a tough day for you, huh? No technology of any sort?"
Tucker groaned, "It's killing me! It may actually kill me!"
"Stop being so dramatic, it's only been a few hours and we're almost done," Sam pointed her fork towards Tucker, "You wouldn't believe all the shit I've had to go through today."
Danny looked up at her, "What happened? Are you okay? Did anyone say anything to you?" He glanced over towards the A Listers' table, where everyone was passing around Elliot's stupid phone and making crude noises and gestures towards Danny when they noticed him staring. He flushed again.
"Chill, I'm fine. I'm just apparently the school's gossip victim for the day."
"Yeah, Paulina has been pretty ruthless today," Valerie pointed out as she started her lunch.
"Fuck!" Sam groaned, which gave a certain part of Danny's anatomy some life again. "I got salad dressing all over my leggings." She started unlacing her boots.
"W-what are you doing?" Danny squeaked.
"Taking them off. I don't want to smell like vinaigrette for the rest of the day," she started peeling off her leggings and with a brief hand from Valerie, she crumbled them into a ball and tossed them into her backpack before she started lacing up her boots again, careful not to lift her legs too high for anyone to accidentally see anything.
Tucker's eyes widened slightly, as if his conversation with Danny earlier had somehow summoned this to occur. He looked at Danny and raised an eyebrow as if proving his point.
"Don't even think about it," Danny warned lowly.
Valerie hid her smirk behind her hand as Danny gripped the table. Danny and Sam were both smitten with each other and both so, so oblivious to the other person's feelings.
"Anyway, uh...yeah, you're probably going to hear some gossip, just please know it's not my fault." Sam sighed and took another bite of her salad. "Honestly, how I have gone almost 4 years without seriously injuring Paulina is beyond me."
"I'll admit, I'm a little shocked too. But you definitely wanted to deck her after she said you were cheating on Fenton with Phantom," Valerie chuckled as Sam whipped her head towards her and sent her a menacing glare. Valerie just shrugged, knowing damn well what she was doing. Danny and Sam just needed a little nudge, and she was gonna give it to them.
"Oh my god, WHAT?!" Tucker burst out laughing, some of his soda coming out of his nose in the process. Gross.
Danny's head snapped up as a light pink blush dusted his cheeks. "Uh, w-what? Paulina thinks...you and I...and you and Phantom?"
Sam groaned as she set her empty tupperware container back into her backpack. "Yes, Princess Shit-For-Brains thinks I'm intimate with both sides of you."
"At the same time?" Danny asked.
"Oh I don't need to hear this!" Tucker covered his ears.
Sam kept her head down, hair covering her face, as she blushed a deep dark red. "I tried to stop it, I swear."
"Suuuureeee you did. I bet you hated that implication," Tucker smirked.
Sam managed to whack him in the back of the head from across the table, nearly giving Danny another pleasantly unfortunate view once again.
"Hey! When I said I wished girls would hit on me, this is not what I meant!" Tucker rubbed the back of his head and readjusted his beret.
Sam smirked. "Be careful what you wish for. Desiree can pop up at any moment." Tucker's eyes widened.
"Desiree?" Valerie whispered.
"Genie ghost. Gotta be super careful around her," Sam replied. Valerie nodded.
"I...uh, okay...well, thanks? For...trying to stop it?" Danny said uncertainly. He had noticed in the past that when he was Phantom, his emotions definitely were stronger and he had always felt more overprotective of Sam. As Phantom, he almost seemed to have less control over his emotions.
"No problem," Sam muttered quietly.
"Okay, but can you please explain the "Phantom goes commando" thing?" Tucker leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table.
Danny hiccuped, and to his relief, it was his ghost sense. Oh thank god. He stood up, receiving a few looks from the other tables.
"I gotta run, I need to...basically die of embarrassment elsewhere," Danny said slowly. Nobody seemed to think much of the phrasing. Though Tucker and Sam both immediately caught on.
"I'll come help you not die," Sam replied. Anything to get out of this situation. She elbowed Tucker before standing as well. "Come on, we need to help Danny not die." Tucker waved her off, as Valerie finally understood what was happening.
"You two lovebirds go on ahead," he told them, "they've got this," he whispered to Valerie. Danny narrowed his eyes at him.
"Don't go around telling a bunch of our secrets," Danny spoke with an underlying threatening tone. Tucker nodded.
"Of course. But you are losing your fries," he informed him, and the teen helped himself to the remaining fries on Danny's plate. Danny accepted this, and he motioned for Sam to follow him. "Also…" Tucker threw a condom at Danny. Danny shot him a look and let the condom bounce off of his chest and land on the floor. Sam hastily grabbed her backpack, and they both fast-walked out of the cafeteria, earning several stares and eyebrow wags.
Danny groaned, "Ugh, fuck me!" He was sick of this.
"Damn, well now we know who initiates it. Never pictured Fenton to be the dominant one," Dash laughed. Danny growled and began to turn around before Sam pushed him forward and out of the cafeteria.
"Not now. We probably have Kitty and I assume Johnny to worry about right now." Once out of the cafeteria, Sam pulled out her wrist ray and put it on. She searched for her pocket knife in her boot, pulling out the Ecto Lipstick Laser by accident. "Ahh!" She dropped it as if it had been on fire and watched it roll down the hallway. Danny raised an eyebrow at her. "Nothing!" She quickly replied as she ran forward to grab the weapon and put it back in her boot. "It's just the Ecto Lipstick! I swear!" She said a little too loudly. God damn the Fentons for making their inventions look like vibrators. God damn Planned Parenthood for pointing that out in the first place.
"I know?" Danny raised an eyebrow at her as they rounded a corner. "Let's just get rid of Johnny and Kitty and hope that takes up the rest of the day."
"Oh, there you two are!" Speak of the fucking devils.
Danny flinched as he turned to see the ghostly pair that had been harassing them both all day. Kitty and Johnny stood together, both grinning excitedly.
"Can't you guys just go fuck around with each other and stop fucking around with us?" Danny complained. Kitty gave a small scowl.
"We're trying to help," Kitty insisted. "I know Johnny already talked to you, but I'm pretty sure he left out some important stuff, like make sure you wash your hands. Clip and file your nails so that they're not sharp or super long, make sure your hands aren't freezing. Foreplay is very important."
Danny wanted to die. He glanced at Sam, who seemed to mirror his emotions. Her face was red, and she wasn't even looking at the pair, instead digging through her backpack. Likely in search of the Fenton Thermos.
Johnny gave an amused scoff, and he waved his hand. "Nah, it's not that important," he replied. Kitty shot him a look that could re-kill Pariah Dark himself. Johnny instantly seemed to realize his mistake.
"Yes. It. Is," she spoke through gritted teeth.
"I mean, we could overshadow you to show you how it's done if you want," Johnny suggested.
Danny and Sam both froze, eyes wide, and turned a brilliant shade of red before spitting out objections.
"NO! Nope! Not necessary!" Danny yelled as he covered his eyes, thinking that would somehow block the mental images in his head. "I can't...Sam...ughhh. No, gross."
"Well don't seem too excited now," Sam spat sarcastically, rolling her eyes in the process.
"N-no! It's not that I wouldn't want...I mean you're pretty and...I like...I mean, you...what do I mean?" Danny groaned and dragged his hands down his face.
"Oh, dude," Johnny shook his head, "don't go there unless you want to be sleeping on the couch."
"But I-" Danny started until Sam slapped a hand over his mouth.
"Chill out, Romeo. Now is not the time to remove your foot from your mouth." She removed her hand before Danny licked it. That was something Danny and Tucker did. Ugh, boys.
"Nice touch ditching the tights though. You definitely had boys' heads turning...even a few girls'." Kitty tried to get them back on track.
"Uh, what?" Sam looked down at her legs.
"Yeah, even that big blonde sporty kid was saying some pretty graphic things about you," Johnny added.
"WHAT?!" Danny snapped his head back towards the cafeteria.
"Oh that hit a nerve! Jealousy works, you know. That's how I keep bringing Kitten back to me," Johnny grinned.
Kitty rolled her eyes, "Yes, that is exactly what happens." Her sarcasm was almost as good as Sam's.
Danny completely ignored the ghosts bickering, focusing his attention on Sam. "Did you hear that? DASH was talking about you like that! I'm gonna kill him…" He trailed off as he made a fist and looked back towards the cafeteria.
"Danny, chill. It's not a big deal. Dash isn't into me because I spilled salad dressing on my tights," Sam rolled her eyes and set her hand on Danny's shoulder to bring him back down to Earth.
Danny swapped his attention back to her. "Uh, no...look, I mean, you're very attractive and you're only wearing a crop top and a mini skirt, it's an easy step away from imagining you naked." Sam raised an eyebrow as she put a hand on her hip. "N-not that I am imagining that, and not that I wouldn't want to! I mean of course I'd want to, it's just - you're just….I'm going to stop talking now." He glanced down at the floor and hoped he could somehow dig himself out of this pit that he just kept digging deeper for himself.
Sam pressed her lips together, both amused and flattered with only a hint of embarrassment, "You think I'm very attractive?"
"And he wants to see you naked," Johnny added.
Danny's eyes widened before he snatched the thermos from Sam's hand, his face burning. "Alright that's enough of you two!" He promptly sucked them into the thermos, spitefully shaking it a bit before putting it into his locker. "They can sit there the whole weekend for all I care."
"Do you though? Think I'm attractive?" Sam asked shyly. "I feel like you and Tucker just see me as one of the boys and that's how everyone sees me. I'm not cute like Paulina and Star." She saw the panicky look on his face and smiled a bit, "I'm not going to hurt you if you answer this one. You have a free pass."
Danny looked like he was having an internal debate in his head about whether or not she was telling the truth about letting him off the hook, but when he looked into her eyes, he knew she really wanted an answer. He never would have guessed that Sam was a bit insecure. He gulped before rubbing the back of his neck.
"Uh…" Was he really about to admit this? Out loud? To himself? To her?! He couldn't help it, she was giving him a free pass. He started at her pale legs and trailed his eyes up her body to her perfect hips, pausing at her breasts for a few half seconds longer than he probably should have, and finally setting on her face. "Yes," he choked out, his voice husky, "very much so."
Sam relaxed a bit at his answer, feeling relieved. She smiled softly as she approved of his answer, and then that smile became quite sinister. "And you want to see me naked?"
Danny was a deer in the headlights, opening his mouth to speak before deciding against it. He couldn't tell if this was still part of the free pass or if she was just fucking with him now. He was mostly sure it was the latter. He grabbed her hand and yanked her down the hallway towards the classroom. "Yeah okay, don't wanna be late for that sex ed class!"
Sam laughed heartily as he hastily fast walked them from one personal hell to another.
Hope you enjoyed this co-written chapter! :)