Disclaimer: I wish I owned Danny Phantom! Desiree: -turns me into Butch Hartman- AHHHHHHHHH! CHANGE ME BACK CHANGE ME BACK! -is changed back-
For Rikaleeta and ghostgothgeek! the OG prompts: Danny wants to ask his crush to the upcoming school dance.+ As it gets closer to their senior prom, Danny notices Sam has been getting a lot more attention from other guys. Why does it bother him so much? He doesn't like-like her...or does he?
"Dude, you're staring again," Tucker nudged him. Danny blinked, snapping out of his daze, and he stood up straight, tapping his fingers anxiously on the counter.
"Sorry, dude, it's just. What the hell would Dale want with Sam?" he scowled.
The jock was standing near Sam, the two chatting idly by Sam's favorite part of the comics store, the vinyl section. Sam was smiling, nodding and agreeing with whatever Dale was talking to her about.
"Dale's been eying Valerie lately, maybe he's asking Sam about her?" Tucker suggested. He smiled politely at a customer who came into his line, promptly beginning to check them out. "Even so, why do you care? Sammy's a big girl."
"Prom season's coming up, somebody might ask her," Danny argued lightly.
"And why's that matter?" Tucker asked. In no time at all, the customer had paid and left, and the two were left standing in the mostly empty comics store.
"Dude, you know guys!" Danny grumbled, throwing his hands up as if it was obvious. "They only want one thing, especially after prom! You should know. Don't you and Star plan on finally doing it after prom?"
"Probably, but mostly because we've already been doing it," Tucker shrugged. Danny choked on nothing.
"Wait, what? How come you didn't tell me!?" Danny asked. Tucker opened his mouth to reply, only to jerk his head to Sam.
Dale had left the store seemingly, and Sam was already at the counter, clutching a new vinyl. Danny chuckled.
"This is why we can't visit Tucker at work, you'll always end up with something," he teased her. She rolled her eyes.
"But Tucker works here now, so he'll be sweet and let me use his employee discount?" she half-asked hopefully, staring at Tucker with a bright smile. He sighed, and he entered his employee discount code as he rang her up. "Thank you!"
"Anytime," he assured her. He handed her her bag. "So did Dale ask you to prom?" Sam snorted in amusement.
"Oh hell no," she replied. "He wanted to know if anybody had asked Valerie, and if I thought his plan to ask her would go over well."
Tucker sent Danny a sideways "I told you so" smirk, and Danny made an annoyed grumble.
"Either way, you ready to drag me to Hot Topic?" Danny asked.
"Only every day," Sam said. She turned to Tucker. "You close tonight, right? Do you want us to swing by and take you home?" Tucker shook his head no.
"Nah, it's okay!" he assured her. "I have my uncle's old car now, remember?" Sam lit up a bit.
"Oh yeah! Well, just drive careful!"
Tucker waved her off with a grin.
"Don't worry about me. You two lovebirds have fun," he teased. "But not too much fun."
Danny could feel his cheeks burn. A glance at Sam, and he could see her own face flushing some. However, she rolled her eyes and jokingly flipped Tucker off, getting one in response as they walked out and into the mall.
"Do you want me to carry your bag?" Danny offered, holding his hand out.
"Sure!" Sam agreed, and she handed it over. "Have you thought about the piercing? I'll buy you one if you're going for it."
"Eh, I'm still trying to figure out how badly my mom would flip if she saw that I got my nose pierced, and if it'd be worth it lecture," Danny shrugged.
"You should totally do it, then deflect it by coming out as Danny Phantom," she joked. Danny snorted. "Come on, we could match!" Sam had gotten her left nostril pierced almost a year ago, currently occupied by a tiny black skull, as well as four total piercings per ear. As expected, her mom nearly lost it over the nose charm. She poked his nose. "You could get a little white ghost charm." He couldn't help but smile.
"Now you're tempting me to risk it," he admitted.
He gestured to the Hot Topic, and Sam went inside first, him right behind her. She went right for the piercings display, looking. After a moment, she tapped on the case, looking over her shoulder for Danny.
"See? Right there, you could get that cute little silver ghost," she told him. Danny peeked over her shoulder. She pointed at another charm, one in the shape of a laptop. "Oh! And Tucker could get that one! We could all kinda match!"
"Pretty sure Tucker's mom would actually kill him if he came home with another piercing," Danny replied. Sam had already convinced Tucker of getting his ears pierced, and his mom was Very Unhappy about it. "Just like my mom would kill me if I came home with a nose piercing."
"You're already half dead though," Sam pointed out. Danny gave a half shrug and smile.
"Got me there. Alright, I'll get it," he said. Sam grinned widely, going to the counter to immediately ask for an employee to retrieve it.
They only browsed a bit more before they finally left. No sooner were they out the door…
"Sam!" a familiar voice called out excitedly. The not-lovebirds glanced over to see Paulina and Elliot coming up to them, Paulina a few steps ahead as she excitedly half-jogged over to Sam. Elliot was carrying two Starbucks cups, taking his time following. Paulina threw her arms around Sam, hugging her tightly, the goth only giving a half smile and lightly patting her back. "If I knew you were coming to the mall, I would have invited you to get your nails done with us! Look, Elliot and I match!"
Paulina pulled away to show off white nails with pink details.
"Oh they look nice!" Sam complimented. "It's okay though. Coming today was kinda a last minute thing." Or rather, they decided to hang out here after catching the Box Ghost, who was making himself home in one of the new stores that hadn't quite opened yet.
"You got me Starbucks?" Danny joked as Elliot finally came close enough to properly hear him. Elliot rolled his eyes. "How sweet."
"If you wanna give me the four dollars it costs, sure," he joked back. He handed Paulina the clear pink drink, and she took a long sip from it. Danny noticed that he did kinda match her, with black nails and matching details, only in a pastel blue.
"What are you guys up to?" Paulina asked. "We were just about to see if Macy's had any cute prom dresses out yet." The mentioning of prom made Danny's stomach feel a bit weirdly queasy.
"We're gonna go get Danny's nose pierced!" Sam replied, pointing to his nose. Danny snapped out of the feeling.
"Wait, what? We're doing that today?" he asked. Sam grinned.
"You're eighteen, they'll let you!" she replied. She reached into the Hot Topic bag to pull out the piercing. "I gotta make you put it on before you change your mind." Oh, a bit too late already.
"Ooh, that's a lot more interesting than prom dresses!" Elliot mused. "I can drive us." He put his free hand to his ear. "I've been thinking about getting another piercing anyway." Paulina hummed thoughtfully.
"Spike should be working today, so I might see if he has my new tattoo design ready," Sam mused.
Another thing that her mom, if she were to ever find out, would flip out over. Sam already had two that her family were oblivious to. Danny knew that she had a spider on a web on her ribcage; he had held her hand while she got that one done (and nearly ended up with a broken hand). The other was a black and deep purple rose and vine on her thigh, which he had only seen right after she had gotten it. Jazz, out of everybody, had gone with her to get it, and even came back with a tattoo herself. Though Jazz, like a nerd, had opted for a book tattoo. Danny had never seen it before outside of the photo Jazz took of it, but knew that it was on her ribcage and something Spike gave her as an anniversary present.
"I guess that settles it!" Elliot grinned. "Let's go to the tattoo and piercing shop!"
After somehow surviving Elliot's crappy little car, only somewhat affectionately called "the shitbox", they were huddled in the waiting room area of the shop. Paulina, already filling out the usual safety and health and consent forms, was standing and staring at the wall of previous art done.
"You gonna get a tattoo instead?" Elliot teased her as he handed the receptionist his own filled paperwork. Paulina shot him a smile, but still slapped his shoulder.
"Papa would kill me," she insisted.
"So? Get it where nobody will see," Elliot replied. Paulina playfully slapped him again.
Danny rolled his eyes, continuing to fill out his form as he drafted all the excuses he'd have to give his mom when she inevitably chewed his ass out when he got home. Whelp, he was already bound to be grounded sooner or later cause of the ghosts. Might as well spice up the grounding reasoning once in a while.
Sam appeared from the back, clutching a piece of paper up. Spike was behind her. Sam made a beeline for Danny.
"Dude, look at how nice it is!" she told him, holding it out for him to see. Danny glanced up. It was a skull with flowers growing out of it.
"Oh, that's sick," he commented.
"I know, right?" Sam grinned. Danny smiled, returning his attention to the paperwork.
"So you wanna get that this Saturday?" Spike spoke up.
"Uh, Danny are you free Saturday?" Sam asked. Danny glanced up at her, raising an eyebrow.
"After today I'll probably be grounded," he joked, signing his name for the last time on the forms. Sam chuckled.
"True," she replied. "Hmm, ah whatever. I can tough it out." Danny quickly looked up again as it suddenly hit him why he needed to be free. Sam had already turned to Spike. "Yeah, let's go for Saturday."
"Oh, if you want somebody around, I can come," Elliot popped up.
"That'd be awesome!" Sam grinned. "This one's going on my back, so it's supposed to hurt."
"Well, you can break my hand, I don't care," Elliot assured her. Danny's chest squeezed a bit as he felt a hot flash hit him.
"No it's okay, I can just sneak out!" he said immediately. Sam glanced at him.
"Nah, it's okay. I don't wanna get you into anymore trouble," she assured him.
"I don't care," Danny quickly blurted out. Spike chuckled.
"Man, Mrs. Fenton's scary when she's pissed, your best bet is to just obey her," Spike told him. He nodded at Danny. "Did Jazz tell you about how she nearly got into a fistfight at the bridal shop a few days ago?"
"No?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"
"Basically when Jazz went in for her dress fitting, she had apparently gained a little bit of stress weight since the last fitting, cause she's been driving herself insane over grad school applications," Spike explained. Danny nodded understandingly. "and the lady fitting her dress kind of gushed over it cause she thought Jazz got pregnant. It made her cry, and man. Mrs. Fenton went off on her, and apparently nearly began throwing hands with the manager."
"Oh man, poor Jazz," Sam said somberly. Danny couldn't agree more as he gave a low short whistle at the audacity. Between graduating early, grad school applications, and getting married, he had never seen Jazz look so stressed out. "Why don't you guys push the wedding back a bit?"
"She'll get more money from FASFA and scholarships, plus better housing, if we get married sooner, and she doesn't wanna just elope and have a party later," Spike shook his head a bit. "But uh, either way though, I got some numbing cream for ya Sam if you're worried about pain." Spike shot Danny a reassuring smile and a wink. He felt a little better. Sam sighed with relief.
"Please," she confessed. "It's not too bad when Danny's here, but if I'm alone I know I'm going to get a little anxious."
"Aw come on, I'm not reassuring?" Elliot teased. To Danny's relief, Sam also playfully slapped Elliot on his shoulder.
"Are you kidding me? You'd probably actually ruin my tattoo by making me laugh the entire time," she told him. Danny's heart squeezed again, and he got up to silently hand the receptionist the forms.
"I think I might get a tattoo," Paulina finally spoke up. Elliot's interest was immediately piqued.
"Oh?" he asked. Paulina nodded, pointing to a tattoo on the wall, a pretty collection of flowers.
"This is sooo pretty, I think I'd get something like this," she said. Sam glanced at it.
"That'd be like, what? Four hundred-ish dollars, Spike?" she guessed. Spike glanced at the reference photo and nodded.
"Yeah, give or take," he replied. Paulina made a face.
"Maybe one day in the future," she decided. "I need money for a prom dress." Sam waved a hand.
"Prom dresses are temporary, tattoos are forever!" she told her. Paulina made a noise of disinterest, and Sam shrugged.
"Danny, did you wanna go first?" the receptionist asked as she glanced at the three stacks of piercing requests.
Danny coughed a bit nervously. He glanced at Sam, and he nodded.
"Thanks again, Spike!" Sam beamed. Spike smiled fondly at her, offering her a hug. She gladly accepted it.
"Anything for my favorite future sister-in-law," he teased. Sam's face instantly burned. Danny scoffed as he lightly touched his new piercing anxiously.
"Sam isn't related to us, dude," he told Spike. Spike gave him a weird look, then shook his head.
"You're lucky you know how to do math, man," he told him. "Also let me know if Mrs. Fenton kills you." Danny gave a nod.
"Don't worry, you'd be invited to the funeral," he joked. Spike chuckled. "Also I give you permission to tattoo my corpse before they put me down."
"Sick," Spike grinned. "I'll give you some of those lil blob ghosts the float around."
Elliot and Paulina were chatting a mile a minute outside the shop. When the not-lovebirds came out, Paulina immediately pushed her hair behind her ear to show off her new helix piercings. Danny could already see Elliot's singular orbital piercing.
"Look! I feel so punk!" Paulina gushed. Sam snorted in amusement.
"Girl, I'm gonna have to get you into a lot more black and leather before you're anywhere near punk," she teased. Paulina giggled.
"Maybe some leather pants," she mused. She shrugged. "Anywho! Elliot and I were gonna go look at the prom dresses! Wanna tag along?"
"Yeah, sounds fun!" Danny agreed.
"Yeah! I still need to get mine," Sam agreed. "I really want your opinion on a dress anyway," she said to Paulina. "Cause you know I'm going to customize mine no matter what I get."
"Yeah, I might ask you to do the same to mine, like help me tailor something if needed," Paulina mused. "I need my dress to be absolutely perfect. But we need to make another Starbucks run."
"Really?" Elliot raised an eyebrow at her. "Boo, this is your third trip today." Paulina pouted cutely at him. He playfully chuckled. "Alright, alright. I kinda want another iced coffee anyway."
"So, has Elliot talked to you about it yet?" Paulina asked, taking a long sip of her drink as they waited near the door to the popular coffee chain. Danny made a confused "hm?" noise as he took a sip of his own. "That he wanted to ask Sam to prom?"
Danny's heart stopped, and he instantly returned his attention back to the pair of goths. They were customizing their Starbucks drink at the counter, smiling happily and chatting casually about something he couldn't heart.
God, of course! Fuck, he was so focused on every other dude that he forgot that Elliot wasn't gay. God damn it, and Sam would potentially actually say yes to him too.
"Uh. Um. I-uh." Danny coughed into his elbow as he tried to think of some way to respond that sounded normal. "No, he, um. Hasn't said anything to me yet." Nice response, Fenton.
"Oh, well, be prepared I guess," Paulina replied, taking a sip of her fancy-looking pink drink in the clear plastic cup.
Danny took a huge gulp of his coffee as he tried to process it. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He needed to think of how to reply to Elliot if the guy were to actually confront him or talk to him about it. His gut twisted. How was he supposed to reply? Elliot didn't deserve to go out with his Sam. What the fuck was that moron thinking? They were just friends.
"You guys ready?" Elliot glanced over his shoulder at them.
"Yup!" Paulina chirped. Elliot walked over with them, Sam quickly behind.
"You got your hourly Starbucks?" Elliot teased her.
"Mhm!" she hummed.
"You almost need to start working at Starbucks," Elliot told her.
"But then I'd just spend the whole paycheck on Starbucks," Paulina playfully protested.
"Fair, fair," Elliot hummed.
They exited, and they all piled into Elliot's car. Danny and Sam in the back, Paulina in her normal position in the passenger's seat.
"Do you know what kind of dress you're looking for?" Paulina asked as Elliot pulled out of the parking lot. Sam nodded.
"Yeah, definitely something black or purple," she said. "I'm really into long dresses lately, so probably a long dress, but I dunno! Short dresses are cute too."
"Oh short dresses are sooo in right now," Paulina agreed. "I want a short dress! Definitely pink, I want a really cute pastel pink maybe? But any shade of pink, I think it looks best on me."
"Hmm, yeah but greens look really good on you too," Elliot spoke up. "Like pastel and light greens?"
"They do but it's prom so I really want something pink," Paulina replied.
"Hmm, I think I look good in purple and black," Sam mused. "What do I look good in Danny?"
"Purple, black, red, and green, but like? An ecto green if that makes sense?" Danny said. Sam thought about it.
"Yeah, I really do like ecto green," she agreed. She shot him a sly smile. "Reminds me of Danny Phantom. And well. Ya know. I think he's really cute." Danny flushed, shyly smiling back.
"Ugh he's sooo cute," Paulina gushed. "His eyes are the most beautiful shade of green I've ever seen. Elliot, why are your eyes so dark." Elliot chuckled.
"Cause both of my parents have dark green eyes," he replied. Paulina huffed.
"I think that was rude of you. You should have bright green eyes like the ghost boy," she said.
"Yeah, it's pretty rude," Elliot agreed. "I'll fix that tomorrow."
"Do you actually think Danny Phantom's cute?" Danny asked Sam. She smiled, giving a half-shrug.
"Absolutely one of the cutest guys I've ever seen," she confirmed.
Danny took a long drink of his coffee, hoping that chugging some of it would help explain why his cheeks were beginning to burn.
"Oh, this is sooo your color!"
"Oh my god! I love it! Do they have it in my size?"
"Hmm, um, lemme see...yeah! They do! Here!"
"Ugh I cannot wait to try it on! Oh! Oh look! Look at these sleeves, it's like a princess dress! I'm going to grab one to try it on."
"Ooo, that's going to look so good on you. Hm, I think I might try on that one too, cause it comes in dark purple and those sleeves kinda look witchy...Danny what do you think?"
Danny snapped out of his zoning out to look at Sam. The goth was holding up a short dress with long, flowy sleeves. It was a mid-dark purple and plain, though he had no doubt that Sam would likely customize it to her liking. She did that a lot with clothes.
"Yeah, looks good," he said neutrally.
"Oh, that'll look so good with your bat heels!" Elliot pipped up. Danny nearly forgot that the dude was sitting with him on what was dubbed the boyfriend bench near the dressing rooms. "Especially if you wear a corset over the midsection. Like if you found a purple version of that red one you have, with the black lace over it."
"Oo, that would potentially look so cute," Sam mused. She put the dress over her arm on top of two others. "I'm gonna go try these on."
"Oh, I should too," Paulina mused. Unlike Sam, her arms were overflowing with four, five? Danny counted at least ten different potential dresses if he went by the different looking fabrics alone.
"Yeah, you need to narrow some down," Sam told her.
"They're all just so pretty!" Paulina complained. "I wanna wear them all!"
"Well, let's just eliminate some," she suggested.
The girls went off to the dressing room, and Danny leaned back against the boyfriend bench. He pulled his phone out, and he replied to a message from Tucker and another from his mom. Man, was he not ready to face her later.
"So, Sam huh."
Danny glanced at Elliot.
"Uh, yeah. She's great," Danny replied shortly.
"She is, she is," he agreed with a slight hum. Elliot shifted to rest his elbows on his knees. "Ya know I was thinking about asking her to prom." Danny felt a lump stick in his throat.
"Really?" was all he could think to reply.
"Yeah!" Elliot smiled. "I mean, yeah. I wasn't the best dudes four years ago, but I feel a lot better about myself, ya know? I think I finally know who I am now, and I still really like Sam. She's funny, smart, really pretty. Love hanging out with her. Kinda wondering if she feels the same, and if she'd be down to go with me. What do you think?"
Danny bit his tongue to avoid an unnecessarily harsh reply, but he did get anger. How dare he. After all the lies he told Sam, and the way he lied and manipulated her. Sam deserved better than that.
"I um. I don't think you should go for it," Danny said hesitantly. Elliot raised a curious eyebrow.
"Why, did she tell you something?" he asked. "Or did somebody else ask her?"
"Um. Well, not exactly," he hesitated. Danny bit his lower lip. "I mean, I know she likes you. As a friend!" he quickly added. "But uh, I dunno man. Just don't think it's a good idea."
"What do you mean, is somebody else going to ask her?" Elliot asked.
"Why does it matter?" Danny nearly snapped. "You asked me what I thought, and I said it."
Elliot snickered in amusement, rolling his eyes. It only served to irritate Danny even more. Foreign phony. God, why did they even hang out with Elliot? Paulina and Elliot made sense, cause they were both huge prep kids and did cheerleading and soccer respectively, making them both jocks. But why did he have to hang out with Elliot. Well, because Sam and Paulina were friends now, and that meant that Danny also had to be friends with Paulina's friends. Of fucking course.
"What's so funny?" he demanded to know.
"I think I get why," Elliot smirked.
"What do you mean?" Danny questioned. Elliot just shook his head. Danny opened his mouth to question again.
"Hey! Whatcha think?"
Danny shut his mouth as Paulina bounce out in her first dress option. It was a bright pink dress that came to her knees, the skirt incredibly puffy and reminding Danny of a ballerina tutu, with inch wide straps.
"Oh, it looks so good on you boo," Elliot cooed to her. Paulina beamed, twirreling. "But that may also just be you, you look fabulous in everything." Paulina put her hands over her chest.
"Thank you," she gushed. "Can you take my photo? I wanna compare all the dresses I wear."
"Of course," Elliot agreed, pulling his phone out. He snapped a photo of her.
"Oh Sam!" Paulina squealed.
Danny noticed the goth coming out in a fully black dress that also came only to her knees, with a much slimmer skirt and short sleeves. It looked fairly plain, but man. Sam still made it look great. Danny was glad he was sitting, because he knew he was weak kneed.
Sam was smiling brightly, giving Paulina a light wave.
"I take it you like it?" Sam questioned, doing a quick turn around.
"Girl you always look so good in black," Paulina praised.
"She's sooo right," Elliot agreed. "It just looks so good on you, no matter what. Just." Elliot made a chef kiss motion. Sam flushed a light pink, and Danny glared at him. Dude, shut up. "No wonder you're goth. You were just made for black."
"I dunno, I think you're exaggerating," she replied. Sam glanced down at her outfit. "I mean, it's fairly simple. What do you think, Danny?"
Danny swallowed hard.
"Oh uh, I think it looks great!" he said, smiling brightly. Sam returned it. "I mean like. It's kinda? Plain but I know you'd make it something great. You always do." Sam hummed.
"Mm yeah. It's pretty plain, but I dunno if I wanna put in the amount of work it'd take to make this dress really poppin'," she mused. "I'm gonna go try another one on."
The two girls went back to the dressing room, and Danny could hear their lighthearted conversation. Soon as they turned the corner, he spoke up.
"What do you mean?" Danny demanded to know. Elliot snorted.
"Bro, just admit that you like her, and that you don't want me to take her to prom," he said.
"Where on earth would you get that idea!?" Danny scowled. Elliot rolled his eyes.
"Dude, you've been crazy about her since like, what? Ninth grade at the earliest? Paulina says you two have been making googly eyes at each other since like third grade," he said. Danny felt his cheeks flush. It had not been since the third grade. Had it?
"It's not like that," he insisted. "I just, you know. Really love and worry about her, she's my best friend."
"Best friends don't get worked up like this, this much, over a mutual friend asking them out."
Danny just glared at Elliot before rubbing his face with the palms of his hands. He took a deep breath, exhaling hard.
"How's it look?" Sam's voice asked. Danny glanced up, and his heart just absolutely flipped.
She looked amazing. Beautiful. Stunning. Like a plant goddess, a model, an angel. He felt like there wasn't a flaw to be found, and he had never seen somebody look more enchanting. Her dress made her look even more divine, emphasising and showing off the best parts of her. The purple matching her eyes, the dress fitting her absolutely perfect as it flowed almost to the floor and the strapless feature making her hair flow smoothly over her shoulders. This dress was perfect for her.
But none of those descriptors came out. Instead all he could do is nervously swallow, tongue tied as he felt his cheeks burn up. He struggled to pick just one of those adjectives, and his brain settled for just saying nothing at all and simply staring at her instead.
"Oh, you just look so lovely!" Elliot spoke up. He stood up, going over to walk around her. "It fits you perfect, like it hugs your hips just right and really shows off your-"
"Pretty!" Danny suddenly half-yelled. The group looked at him oddly, and he felt his face flush harder. "It makes you look pretty!"
"Thank you," Sam replied, pausing a bit as she raised an eyebrow at him.
"...Uh, yeah. Um, yes!" Elliot clasped his hands together. "Just stunning. I love this purple on you, it's such a beautiful color. This dress specifically was made for you."
"Dude, chill," Danny grumbled. Sam gave him a Look, and he flinched.
"Danny, can I talk to you for a moment?" Sam asked through gritted teeth.
He had no opportunity to respond, as she grabbed his arm, painfully hard owwie, and began to drag him away, towards another boyfriend bench near a jewelry display counter and out of earshot.
"What's going on?" Sam demanded to know. She finally let go of his arm, and he huffed for a moment. Instead of responding, he put his hands behind his head, pacing back and forth. She quickly grew impatient. "Well? Say something!"
"Elliot wants to ask you to prom!" he blurted out, letting his hands fall. Sam blinked.
"He does?" she asked, sounding clearly surprised and...not angry. Sam smiled a little. "Really?"
"Oh don't tell me you're gonna actually take that foreign phony up on the offer!" Danny snapped. Sam instantly glared at him, crossing her arms.
"Elliot's our friend, dude," Sam reminded him. "Why do you care?"
"B-b-because!" Danny's arms were moving wildly as he talked. "He lied to you for months, and you're just going to ignore all that!"
"That was years ago, and he apologized," she said. "He's more than made up for it. And he's a super sweet guy. I like him."
"You like him!?" Danny nearly shouted. Sam slapped his upper shoulder with the back of her hand.
"Calm down and lower your voice," she told him. "And well, yeah. As a friend. Maybe I kinda like him more than that too."
"What the fuck, Sam!?" Danny, in fact, did not lower his voice. He dry-heaved for a few seconds, briefly making Sam start to watch him worriedly. Finally, he took a deep breath, and he returned to a normal inside voice. "What does he have that I don't?"
She went from worried to a blank stare.
"Apparently liking me enough to say or do something, especially when I've dropped so many hints or made moves myself," she replied. She brushed past him and left, returning to their friends.
Danny found himself taking a seat on the bench as he tried to collect his thoughts and the wide range of emotions that accompanied them. He put his head in his hands, rubbing his face. God he was so fucking stupid.
"And it's just! Why him! Why Elliot?" Danny continued to vent after spilling the whole story. Jazz gave a small hum of acknowledgement as she finished writing another name out on the envelope. She set it aside for Danny. "I've liked Sam for so long, and I thought she liked me too."
"You're an idiot," Jazz immediately concluded. Danny glared at her as he folded another wedding invite, slipping it into an already addressed envelope before putting the sticker on the back to keep it sealed shut, and a stamp on the other side. Both were sitting on the floor of the apartment she shared with Spike, with each sibling on the opposite side of the coffee table, with Jazz resting her back against the couch and Danny sitting within reaching distance of their TV.
"Hey!" he protested. Jazz gave him a Look, grabbing another envelope.
"I mean it. She does like you, and she has for a while," she told him. She began to write out another address. "You just always never responded. You pushed her off in favor of another girl or because of some weird commitment issue that you seem to have going on. So be honest with me, and yourself. What's the problem?"
Danny silently folded two more invites, repeating the process of putting them in addressed envelopes and putting the sticker and stamp on.
"...I'm scared," he finally admitted.
"What of?" Jazz asked, not looking up from her activity. Danny had to really think. He casually tossed the finished wedding invite into the 'finished' basket.
"I guess just...it not working out. What if it doesn't work out? What if it drives us apart, and we lose each other?"
"You won't know that until you try," Jazz replied.
"She might also reject me, cause of the same mentality. What if she still likes Elliot more, and-"
"Danny," Jazz interrupted. She finally looked up from writing. "You will never know what the future will and won't hold. Just talk to her, and let her be part of the choice rather than blowing it all off due to fear."
He thought about it, and he gave a small sigh.
"Yeah...I think she's kinda pissed that I haven't been letting her be part of the choice anyway," he mused. He glanced at the pile of envelopes next to her. "How many invites do you have left?"
Jazz checked her list.
"Least a hundred more to go," she sighed.
"What the fuck, you have like no friends! Who are these people!?" Danny cried out. Jazz glared at him, reaching behind her to grab a pillow to hit him with.
Knock knock knock.
Danny floated awkwardly outside of her window. She didn't answer, but he could tell that she was there. Her light was clearly on, and he could hear her music playing.
Knock knock knock.
"Sam?" he called out. "Sam, can we please talk?" He knocked some more.
The longest minute of his life passed before he heard the music turn off. The curtains opened, and Sam was on the other side, staring incredibly annoyed at him. She gestured for him to come inside, and he did. His feet landed on the floor, and she reshut the curtains.
"What do you want?" she snapped. Danny exhaled deeply.
"Sam…" He took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry about how I've been acting. I've just been…"
"Stupid?" she suggested.
"Yeah. But more importantly. I." He paused. "I've been honestly such a huge coward. Still kinda am, actually. Like…" He swallowed nervously, glancing at the ground. "I've been too afraid to bring it up or to really even talk to you about it."
Sam cocked her head to the side. She took a few steps back, sitting down on her bed and patting the spot next to it.
"Talk to me," she encouraged. Danny plopped down next to her, turning human as he did so.
"I want to be with you," he said bluntly. "But just...I get so caught up in all these what-ifs. What if it doesn't work out? What if you get tired of me? What if you eventually realize that it sucks being with somebody who has to cancel dates or who ditches you because I have to stop Skulker or Technus or Ember? What if you get hurt because of me? What if…" he trailed off, not even wanting to get into deeper thoughts.
"I wish you had told me this sooner," Sam spoke softly. "We could have talked about it." Danny sighed.
"I know, I know. I just." He rubbed the palms of his hands up and down his thighs as he tried to provide some kind of a rational answer. "I'm afraid. Even now. I don't want to lose you."
"You're not going to lose me," Sam reassured him. She put her hand on top of one of his, and he stopped. "You're one of my best friends, and I love you so much."
"...I love you too," he confessed. He turned his wrist, moving to intertwine their fingers together. "I can't imagine a future without you being there in some way. And I just...I guess I've always been worried about you not wanting to be there anymore."
"I'll always want to be there," she smiled. She leaned in, lightly pecking his cheek. He sighed deeply in relief. "Even if we tried, and we found that it didn't work, that doesn't mean we can't still be friends after. But we'll never really know unless...you know. We tried."
"So, I guess that means that um...you'd be interested in maybe going to prom with me?" he asked.
"Of course, ya dingus." She lightly tapped his new nose ring. "So. How much trouble are you in with your mom?" Danny flinched.
"Man, let's just say I'm surprised she didn't fully kill me."