This fic is in the universe of my other DP fics. "Remedy" would be just before this one.
But can be read as a stand alone.
"Hey, kiddo, race ya!"
In his defense, Danny didn't cause this. Sam, who turned her head to answer the ghost, also wasn't at fault for the situation they were in. Boy scout honor.
It had started as a nice ride in Sam's new motorcycle, which she had wanted to show him since she got it a while ago. At first they couldn't because they were busy; and then he had to hide his face from the rest of the world after, apparently, the whole Infinite Realms was aware of how he had been railed by his girlfriend via his connection to the Zone and its annoying tendencies to adapt to his emotions.
He had tried to explain many times to Sam that it wasn't on purpose and that he was sorry. She wasn't angry, at least not at him, but she forgave him soon enough.
And now that he felt like he could face his subjects without melting into a pool of shame, she took him for that promised ride.
It has been an interesting experience to fly through the Zone without doing the actual moving. He usually flew a bit faster than the speed they were going, but Sam just wanted to show him how she moved around and what cool gadgets Tucker and his parents had put in her bike.
It has been nice. Until the roaring of another motorcycle came close to the pair and no other than Johnny 13, with Kitty sitting behind him, and Shadow wrapped around her, decided to hijack their ride-slash-date.
"Not interested, Johnny!" Sam bit at the ghost, angry at the interruption.
Danny smiles uncomfortably. Since becoming King, sometimes the ghosts took his words as a command. Not Johnny, of course, but he was used to minding his words. Just like when "I wish" became banned in his vocabulary after Desiree.
"C'mon, kingy boy! It'll be fun!" the ghost shouted over the noise of the engines.
"The missus is driving, Johnny. I don't make the rules," he shouted back. I mean, he technically did make the rules but - well, you get it.
"And we are on a date, dipshit!" Sam threw over her shoulder, clicking something on her handles of the bike and the hum of an ecto-ray started charging. She maneuvered the bike to get behind Johnny. "So leave us alone or I'll shoot you."
"Intense, I like it!" the ghost said before turning to his girlfriend. "You two would be amazing together."
Kitty snickered. "I think our dear king already got a taste of that, Johnny."
Sam grumbled, her cheeks pink, but shot at Johnny's back tire as a warning shot. Danny sighed. Knowing the ghosts like he did, they wouldn't quit even if they asked nicely.
"It's okay, Sam. I don't mind."
"Danny?" she turned to look at him. Neither wore helmets (not in the Zone, at least) and her deep purple eyes bore into his. "You sure?"
"The date's already ruined," he shrugged, trying to hide his disappointment. He had been looking forward to this. "Maybe we can try another day?"
She made a face. If he didn't know better he would have thought she wanted to cry.
"Let's bounce."
She revved the engine, turned the handle and hit the brakes, drifting to one side to accomplish a quick 180 degrees turn. Danny held for dear life, arms around her waist and chest as close as he could to her back, glad that she had decided to put her hair in a high bun for the ride. When she got control back, she started to speed away from the surprised ghosts, back to Phantom's Keep.
"No way! Not so fast! Shadow!"
Ugh, Danny rolled his eyes, looking back to find Shadow gaining on them at an alarming speed. "Sam...!"
"On it!"
She hit another thing, this time on the center console of the bike, and from a hidden compartment in the sides a few spherical objects dropped, exploding just when Shadow passed through the objects. They turned out to be smoke bombs of some kind, and when the dark ghost managed to fly out of the confusion, he had a sticky substance all over its body, and no matter how much it tried to shake it, the thing stuck to it like glue.
Shadow roared, continuing in pursuit.
"Shoot it!" she said and he obeyed. When the ecto-beam hit Shadow, the sticky substance exploded in green fire, the light from the fire making the spectre scream in pain and fly back to its host.
"Nice!"
"Yeah, Mrs F. had the idea." She threw a smile back at him.
"I feel like we are in that series, the one from the 50s or some shit."
"Speed Racer?"
"That one!" he kissed her neck, since he didn't reach her cheek. "I hated the movie reboot."
"That movie was a disservice to the series!" Kitty's voice cut whatever Sam was going to say, and a heavy motorbike dropped from the sky (or the general direction of 'up') in front of them.
Sam hit the brakes, swerving like crazy to dodge the ghosts. "Hey!" she spat once she got the control back, riding right next to Johnny.
"Hello sweet cheeks, did ya miss me?" Johnny winked before throwing the bike at the pair, like a mad move to push them 'off' the road.
Sam kicked something Danny couldn't see and spikes bursted from the rim of the tyres. The halfa yelped and made sure his feet were not even close to the metal.
"Ha!" Johnny laughed at the trick, redirecting the bike to avoid the deadly spikes, knowing that they're not harmless to ghosts, knowing the brats.
Sam growled again, Danny could feel the rumble of the sound on his chest, being practically glued to her back. He shivered, lowkey really enjoying the whole thing and how badass his girlfriend was being.
"It seems to me that the King is enjoying this situation way too much," Kitty was smirking, but Danny somehow got the feeling that it wasn't really mocking. And also she made him realize he was making a dopey face.
His cheeks felt warm.
"I do not!"
"Yes you do!"
Johnny barked in laughter at the banter between the two.
"I don't!"
Kitty reached at him with the hand that wasn't circled around her boyfriend. She pinched his cheek as if they weren't going at breaknecking speeds. "Yes, you do."
"Rock!" Sam suddenly shouted, making the ghost and the halfa look to the front. Indeed, a floating island the size of a medium-to-large boulder was on their way.
Johnny and Sam pulled at the handles, lifting their bikes up and away from the obstacle. As Danny secured his grip around Sam, he looked at how Kitty did the same to Johnny, apparently whispering something to his ear, stealing a look at them and one hand going to his belt and-
He looked away.
Nope, he didn't want to know what in the Realms those two were into.
Not that he was judging or anything, but it was super weird to think about the sex life of people he knew since he was fourteen. That he hadn't been sexually active back then didn't mean that people didn't do stuff behind doors (and disgustingly, some did in public and ugh); but since he started doing it himself he started to notice things here and there. Things he wanted to un-notice, thank you very much.
"Can you lose them, Sam?" he asked, really wanting to go back home.
She shook her head. "Not much cover in these parts of the Zone. Can you teleport us?"
He summoned the crown and focused for a moment, but they were going way too fast to really pinpoint a stable portal between two places of the Zone. He shook his head. "You would need to stop."
"Hey kids!" Johnny cut them off again.
"We look the same age, you idiot!"
"C'mon, Sam, it is a term of endearment at this point."
She didn't answer, instead deciding to punch a button in the gas tank and withdrawing an ecto-gun from… somewhere.
"You are going down for ruining our date!" she roared, shooting a few times.
"Consider it payback!"
"It wasn't this bad, Johnny!" Danny leaned in and took the handle bar that Sam had abandoned to start shooting.
"Yes it was!" Kitty shot a beam of her own. They barely dodged it.
"Well, maybe at first… But I learned to leave you alone!"
Johnny snorted. "Yeah, but only because we ran into each other with our own dates!"
That's true. It got to the point that Sam, Tucker and him stumbled into the pair of ghosts in parks, the movies and cute cafés. No matter how hard they tried to avoid each other, it seemed like they gravitated toward the same romantic points in Amity Park at the same time.
"Danny, take control!" he blinked back at her, barely having enough time to process her words as she leaned in, chest pressed to the gas tank, both hands on her gun.
Danny leaned in too, to take the other handlebar in panic. He had ridden a bike just once before! And it was Johnny's! A long time ago! Yeah, Sam had shown him just the basics of hers, where the brakes and stuff was, but it seemed so complicated he just zoned out at the explanation. Maybe he should have listened to his girlfriend more.
He screamed as he did his best to not crash the bike, barely registering Sam shooting at the pair in front of them. Sam shot the tyres and Johnny's hands with scary precision, muttering a low "yes!" when the ghost let go of the handles and Kitty, too focused to shoot back at them, didn't react on time.
The ghosts were launched to the air and managed to pick themselves back quickly, but the bike swerved uncontrollably for a few seconds, flipping on its side and crashing against another floating island.
Danny wasn't sure how he managed to steer clear of the carnage.
"Noooo!" Johnny cried, flying at his precious bike.
By then, Sam had moved back up and stored the gun back in its place. She put her hands over his, patting them to indicate he could let go, and the human took back the control of the motorbike.
The halfa sighed in relief, his arms circling around her waist once again as his girlfriend slowed and circled back to the ghost pair, slowing to a crawl right next to them.
"Don't bother us on a date again." He said as she put the engine on idle.
Kitty looked back up from the destroyed bike, one hand patting her boyfriend's back. "We won't," her smile indicated that she was lying. Johnny just grumbled something under his breath, kicking the twisted metal at his feet.
"I win," Sam said with a smirk.
"I want a rematch."
"You and what motorbike?" she arched an eyebrow. The ghost glared daggers at her.
"Danny boy, tell your girlfriend to stop being mean to my boyfriend."
He turned to smile at Kitty. "He kind of deserves it for being a dick."
"I will rebuild my bike and we will do a rematch!"
Sam didn't grace him with an answer, instead choosing to kick the engine back into gear, revving it a few times. Danny snickered and pressed himself against her tightly, suddenly feeling very giddy.
If he was making that dopey face again, he didn't care who saw him.
The woman accelerated and started their journey back to the castle, both feeling tired and robbed of their planned romantic date cruising around the Zone, but exhilarated after their little adventure and battle against the ghosts. Adrenaline in their veins, they knew they had to burn this energy somehow when they got back.
As if he read their minds, a voice broke through the calming roaring of the engine.
"At least I hope the sex's good!" called Johnny at their retreating figures. Sam flipped him without looking back as Danny turned to smile at them, sharp teeth and all.