A/N: The italic song lyrics are by Norah Jones, not me by the way, I own her lyrics as much as I own Danny, which is not at all (d'oh!)
Chapter 3
The doorbell chimed, Danny was sat watching TV in the living room. He lazily stood and stretched; cursing the suit he was wearing, as it was stiff and uncomfortable. When he answered the door he saw that it was Jaz's date, Tom. He was tall, with chocolate coloured silky hair and deep blue eyes, his smile revealed a perfect set of white teeth and made little dimples in his cheeks.
"Hi there, is Jaz ready?" He asked with a smooth voice. Danny nodded and shouted
"JAZ!" As loudly as he could, "Come in." He stood aside to let Tom through and caught a glimpse of Denzel just stepping out of a sleek car, he whirled around in a flush to Tom and Jaz, who had just come down the stairs.
"My…friend is here. I'll see you guys later." He said in a flutter, keen to get gone before Tom saw his date was actually a boy. Jaz beamed
"Sure thing Danny. Good luck with Sam!" Danny nodded and sidestepped out the door with an apprehensive smile; he closed the door and stood to his full height as Denzel reached him.
"Hiya. Shall we go now?" Denzel looked a little disappointed and glanced towards the house.
"Can't I come in?" He asked regretfully.
"Er, best to steer clear of that mad house, Jaz has her date, Tom Coban, there, and…" Denzel's eyes glossed over and his lips parted
"Tom Coban!" He said breathlessly. "He's so dreamy! Oh, yah, we should probably go now then, I don't want cha to get jealous!" He turned back to his car and opened the door for Danny. After going around to the other side he buckled his belt and leant towards the driver in the front.
"Dad, this is Danny! Danny -dad!" All Danny got from him was a sneer and a grunt.
"So your sister is going with Tom is she?" Denzel asked happily, Danny unclenched his teeth to reply an affirmative. "Aw! All the good 'uns are straight ain't they? Sigh!" Danny shot him an edgy look totally uncertain in how to respond to that question, but Denzel seemed to take his wide eyes and jittery expressions positively. "Aw! Don't worry Danny, you're one of the few whose a good 'un and at a nice bent angle!" There was another grunt from Denzels father which hid Danny's own stifled moan. Fortunately they pulled up at the school before Danny got too uncomfortable; after Denzel thanked his grunting father they walked up to the school hall. Danny handed the ticket checkers their tickets and was glad to finally have a nice amount of people there with them when they got into the hall.
He pushed through the crowds towards the emptier area at the back near the non-alcoholic punch, glad the music was loud, as Denzel kept trying to say something to him that was lost to the music. Danny shrugged and gestured to his ear, shrugging again. As he helped himself to punch from the bowl that wasn't being spiked with vodka by one of the seniors, he thought to himself how much better the music was compared to previous dances. Amazingly the DJ seemed to be playing a song that wasn't from the '80s. Once his cup was nicely full he turned around to face the dance floor, his eyes peeled for Sam as he scanned the room with his eyes, sipping his punch.
"Yuk!" He spat the drink back out into his cup. "OK…someone's had fun spiking all the punch." He hated vodka. He tutted and placed his cup on the table not wanting to get drunk when he was meant to be there to catch a ghost. Which reminded him, he extended his static search from Sam to Sam and Cupid. Neither came trumps up and Denzel kept pestering him about wanting to dance.
"Er…I'm not really a good dancer…I'm happy just standing…" He shouted to be heard over the music. It was a shame that he did actually feel like dancing, though he refused to dance with a guy who fancied him. If he saw Sam maybe she'd pity him and offer him a dance. His overactive mind wandered off again as he visualised Sam dancing arm in arm with Richard (who was still a greasy unattractive goth with a RICHARD name badge, despite what the two girls had told him earlier). Danny was, as usual in his daydreams, considerably better looking than he thought he was in real life, his pearly teeth flashing as he sidestepped beside Sam and Richard and smiled at her. He had a cocktail stick between his teeth and his hair slicked back like James Bond.
"Do you mind if I cut in?" His dream self asked Richard, not waiting for a reply as he scooped Sam into his arms and waltzed with her, spinning her this way and that with a cheeky grin, the cocktail stick resting between his lips.
"Are you ok Danny?" He snapped out of the daydream to see the real Sam there giving him an odd look, he gaped and coughed slightly. She looked gorgeous, her hair gathered up in a clasp, loose clusters of hair had been curled and flopped over her face beautifully, accenting her dark lined violet eyes. She wore a black and red dress, which was laced like a corset at the top and bellowed out in a full length silky red, orange, purple and black skirt, the colours like flames licking the ground as she walked, the little cut gems embedded into the material sparkled the light back. She was truly stunning. He tried to say hello, his jaw worked, but no sound beyond a high-pitched croak came out, that was lost to the music anyway. "This is Richard." She gestured to a tallish smooth skinned poster pin up boy. He had black and red heavily feathered hair, which formed soft spikes; the feathered soft spikes stuck out and up very slightly, a few clusters flopping over his face attractively. Steel blue eyes shone brightly with the lashes long and grew so closely together it was almost like he had lined his eyes with eyeliner. A delicate silver hoop earring pierced through his right ear. His skin was bronzed, not from idle sun bathing, but from inheritance of his people who lived in a place that saw many sunny days. His outfit was impressive to say the least with a snugly fitting long blazer like coat that came in at the waist then flicked out over his hips. White laced ruffs poked out from under the sleeves and his trousers were sleek and black, cut all the way down the side of the legs with red material showing through. The splits were re-clasped together with delicate buckles save for the last foot or so of the trousers, which flared out showing through the red material that covered his chunky boots. 'Curses!' Danny thought, his chances of ever getting with Sam slashed in half now he saw the competition with his own eyes.
"Hi." Was all Danny could say loud enough to hear over the music. Sam seemed a little distracted, looking all around at everything other than Danny or Richard.
"So…where's your date?" She asked through half clenched teeth, her eyes still flicking around. Danny sighed, he may as well 'fess up now, she'd find out soon enough. He looked over to Denzel who was hovering around the snacks. Denzel flashed Danny a smile and came up next to him.
"This is my date, Denzel." He murmured, hands in pockets, cheeks flushed and eyes downcast. Sam's jaw dropped, she looked between Danny and Denzel with wide eyes and gaping mouth.
"Danny! You never said you were gay!" Denzel raised his brows and leant in towards Danny
"I think I'll leave you to fill her in alone hon'." He scuttled off to the snack table again. Danny inhaled deeply, but before he could explain Sam weakly shrugged.
"Well, Denzel's real catch…he's really good looking and I hear he's a sweetheart." She said blankly.
"I could say the same about Richard." He smiled; Richard had joined Denzel at the snack table. Sam drew back with arched brows
"You like Richard too?" She didn't even try to hide her mortified response to the idea of Danny fancying her date.
"No! I don't fancy Denzel either. I'm not gay, even if he thinks I am. I just needed someone to go with so I could catch Cupid. Cupid doesn't even seem to be here though." Frustration lined his features as he took another fleeting look over the crowd in case Cupid was there somewhere, but he still couldn't see him.
"That's low Danny, really low. Poor Denzel! God Danny! I can't believe you asked a guy over me! I'm one of your best friends! Can you understand why I'm in a mood with you?…and Poor Denzel.." She repeated shaking her head with a disappointed air and adding. "Why didn't you just 'go-ghost' and go intangible?" Danny glowered gloomily
"Yeah, well me and my stupid brain didn't think of that did I? I think it was all part of Tuckers twisted plan to humiliate me for kicks." Sam rubbed her lips together, looking off in thought and tapping her index finger against her lower lip.
"I saw Tucker sneaking about earlier, I don't know how he got in without a date, but he had loads of photography and video equipment. I asked what he was doing and he said he was planning to film the dance a bit and hopefully get some good footage to post on the Internet." Danny inhaled sharply now scanning the room for Tucker, but couldn't see him either.
"I'll bet he's wanting to catch some Denzel-Danny action." Danny said dryly.
"Well it serves you right Danny Fenton for being such a jerk!" Before Danny could ask her what she meant, Richard sauntered back to Sam's side, slipping his arm around her slender waist and causing a flood of jealousy to hit Danny.
"Nice to finally meet you Danny, Sam has told me so much about you… she's all like 'Danny this…Danny that!' Honestly it makes a guy wonder if she's going out with the right guy! I'm glad you're gay though mate!" Sam flushed red and whirled round
"Let's dance." She insisted to Richard half pulling him to the dance floor leaving a rather pleased Danny alone.
An hour passed by uneventfully, Sam seemed to be avoiding Danny and Cupid wasn't about. Denzel had got bored with asking Danny to dance and had disappeared to talk to his girlfriends. Once or twice he had spotted Tucker hiding behind a pot plant, then the apparatus tucked in at the side of the hall, a camera in his hand filming Denzel. He didn't look very happy though, probably because Danny refused to give Tucker an opportunity for Internet worthy Danny/Denzel action. His boredom lifted with a bang as he caught a glimpse of Cupid intently gazing at Jaz and Tom who were dancing a slow dance embracing tightly. Danny narrowed his eyes, glad for the distraction as he weaved through the crowd, his Fenton Thermos held tightly in his grip. Just before he reached the ogling spook the music was cut and Megan Hartfield stepped up to the microphone hmmffing into it to check the sound. Danny was momentarily distracted by it, so when he turned back to Cupid he saw he was gone. Danny cursed under his breath and slipped his Thermos away to listen to Megan, seeing as Cupid had vanished.
"Ok. Hello students! Thank you all for supporting the Yearbook team by coming to this dance, I hope you're all having a wonderful time! Well, all this month we have had a ballot box up in the yearbook office so you guys could vote for this years Valentine King and Queen. You voted in your tens! Nah, we got about a hundred votes in all- so thanks! OK, so I'm happy to announce that this year's most popular couple has been voted as:…" The band (who had just arrived to play slow dance music for the rest of the night) played some dramatic music as she paused to open the envelope she had been clutching. Danny took another glance around the hall for Cupid. He spotted him at the back munching some crisps. Just as he started to make his way back through the crowd towards the ghost he heard his name called out by Megan
"Danny Fenton and Sam Manson! Whoa voters! They're not actually a couple! Oh well, you've been voted as the school's best couple anyway, so come up and receive your crowns!" Danny's feet seemed rooted to the spot, everyone was staring at him; he caught little bits of people's conversations about the winning couple as he finally made his way up to the stage.
"Did she say they aren't a couple? I always thought they were!"
"Aw! So cute! They so are the best couple in this school, geek love is actually pretty cute!"
"I cannot believe it! I should be the Valentines Queen! Dash, make sure Samantha is a black blue bruise by tomorrow morning!" He heard Paulina squeal, to which Dash obtusely replied
"Er, I don't think I can beat up a girl. I can beat up Danny for you instead. I was gunna do that anyway…" Danny had reached the stage now; Sam was just walking up to Megan with crimson cheeks. He felt his own flushed with a ruby red as he stood next to Sam. Megan crowned Danny with a plain gold metal band and then Sam with a much more ornate spangled tiara that sat on her neatly styled hair beautifully.
"Would the lovely couple like to say a few words?" Megan asked, Sam nodded, her lips pressed together
"Yah. I would." Megan passed her the microphone, a beaming smile on her lips. Sam took it, her cheeks reddening further and she hesitantly spoke into the microphone. "Thank you, but Danny and I aren't a couple." She thought this would be an excellent forum for clarifying this to as many people as possible; she was starting to get sick of shouting "He's not my boyfriend!" whenever people referred to him as such. They could hear laughter in the crowd and someone shouted
"Yeah right! You keep telling yourselves that!" Megan had taken the microphone back and spoke into it again.
"OK, will the happy non-couple care to dance together for one slow song, as is traditional for the Valentine King and Queen." Sam scowled, but when Megan whispered in her ear begging her to just have one dance she caved in. Danny held his arm out for Sam to take and led her down to the dance floor, his stomach feeling light and feet as if they were walking on air. The band started up a slow song, Norah Jones's 'What am I To You?'. He wished he could control the excited butterfly's in his stomach as he brought her close to him and let her lean into him, the crowd rose up into a cheer as they started to lightly rock to the gentle music. They danced in silence for a few bars. Danny felt so warm inside, like everything in the whole world was perfect, that life was so uplifting and he belonged right where he was with Sam's soft arms draped around him.
Denzel looked on feeling quite the opposite of Danny; why did they have to look so perfect for one another? He had a suspicion that Danny wasn't gay at all looking at the contended smile on his lips.
"It's just sickening isn't it?" Came the smooth voice of a boy with short brown hair that had been styled into a subtle ridge. He had smooth skin and stylish chunky black-rimmed glasses, his bright grey eyes were dreamy and he looked dashing in his blue suit. "The name's James." He informed a miserable Denzel with a bright smile. "What I was saying is that it's sickening that all the goodens turn out straight isn't it? But hear you bat for the same team as me, and it's certainly not the one Danny Fenton is on….Wanna dance?" He asked him; Denzel broke into a grin and took James' hand, letting him lead him to the dance floor that was now being filled up leaving a little space surrounding the King and Queen.
# To me you're the sea, Vast as you can be, And deep the shade of blue
Danny managed to find a voice through his inflamed heart, looking down into her deep eyes.
"How are you enjoying your evening then?" He asked almost breathlessly. She shrugged, looking down for a moment.
"Hmm…not so good…" Danny's happy bubble burst, his eyes drooped
"Is that coz you have to dance with me?" He asked, deflated. She chuckled, her long lashes sweeping across her eyes for a second, her sweet smile making her eyes sparkle.
"No, this is the only redeeming part of the evening. To be honest, I wasn't enjoying Richard's company all that much." Warmth seeped back into him
"How come? You two are perfect for one another, into the same stuff, I hear he's quite a catch with the ladies…what's the problem?" He wished he could have just said nothing, but if he had learned one thing from watching Richard and Sam together earlier it was that Richard treated her so lovingly and he had felt terrible that he never did those little gestures to her; Sam's happiness was more important than his own feelings. She shrugged, resting her head on Danny's lapel for a moment before answering.
"He's lovely, he really is. He's just too much like me! I don't wanna date myself! And he takes things a little further than me, he has all these hobbies, I dunno how to compete with him. Pagan drumming, volunteering at the park and animal rescue centre, protesting almost every week against various different atrocities, his band, additional school work… I don't know where I could fit into his life, y'know. And it's weird not being able to talk about ghosts with him too. They have become such a large part of my life! Besides I…" She bit down lightly on her lip, blushing "I couldn't concentrate on what he was saying either because my mind was all filled up with thoughts of another guy…A guy who is just so amazing, a guy who I have dreamed of dancing with like this almost since I first met him…"
"Who?" Danny asked in a quiet husky voice, his stomach not knowing what to feel anymore.
"He's got the cutest blue eyes, his raven hair sweeps over them in such a way that my heart flutters to look at him. But I'm so torn because I like another guy too, who is just as gorgeous, not to mention they both make me laugh so hard, I could talk to either of them for hours. This other one, he has the snowiest hair I have ever seen, and his eyes are shining emerald beacons, plus he can do all these cool things. He even held me in his arms and flew over Amity Park with me once, it was gorgeous, he's gorgeous." Danny's heart thumped against his chest, his breathing was broken as he whispered
"..Me?" Hoping there wasn't some other guy who could fly and had white hair. She laughed gently again, warmly smiling and looking up into his azure eyes.
# When I look in your eyes,I can feel butterflies, Could you find a love in me?
Slowly she drew up even closer to him, lifting her head and brushing her gentle fingers across his cheeks, running her hands behind the back of his neck as their noses touched. Everything melted away and all that was left was himself and Sam as her soft lips brushed his own lightly, then stronger. An electric feeling pulsed through him, his soul throbbed and heartbeat raced as they kissed with increasing passion. Life was sweet, he forgot everything except Sam, nothing else was important, there was only Sam and himself and he would keep her in his arms forever or die trying to make sure he didn't loose her.
He became dimly aware of some sort of commotion going on around them, but was extremely reluctant to break off from their sweet embrace. It was Sam who pulled away first, looking around with a confused stare. The sound that Danny's ears had dimmed suddenly came back into clear focus as he realised that the commotion was far more serious than he had at first thought. Everyone was running around screaming generally running to the exit away from a huge man with bulging muscles and was humming with power, throwing what looked like ectoplasmic goo at the screaming students. He had to be twice as beefy as Skulker, although his bulk was muscular, not a metallic casing like Skulker's. His hair was so blonde it was almost white and those glowing green eyes were somehow familiar. The muscular man saw Danny and grinned
"Thank you young lovers, I thought I was doomed to a year of being pushed about by the tough ghosts, until you two started to admit your love to one another. You emitted more love than I ever felt from teenagers before. As a reward for your nutritious love I won't kill you (Besides, I know where to some next year if you two are still together, best not kill off something so tasty eh?)"
"Cupid!" Danny clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes, Tucker had come up to them and instinctively joined with Sam to hug onto Danny to hide him as he turned to ghost-mode. They jumped back from Danny Phantom as he rushed towards Cupid with brows pushed together in focused determination. Cupid was by now throwing beams of laser-like power to people with a greedy grin at the commotion he was causing.
"Oh no you don't" Danny quipped as he swung his leg around and sliced his foot across the ghost's chest, winding it a little. He shot up into the air and rounded on the ghost again, bringing his fist down hard and fast onto it's skull sending it crashing to the floor. Cupid got himself together, anger written in his expressions as he formed a lightning attack, thrusting it towards Danny.
"I hate to break your heart, but I'm gunna have to anyway." Danny jibed as he formed a shield that the lightning bounced off, rebounding back to Cupid and striking him down. "All is fair in love and war and this is both." He took a peek towards Sam and Tucker, wishing they'd just run for it and leave him to it, he didn't want Sam to get hurt. Or Tucker, of course. But mostly Sam. Cupid had by now got up again, a sword of light appearing in his hands, his green eyes glowing greedily as he swung it towards Danny who only just missed being slashed by going intangible just in time. Danny shook his head, his heart beating fast in fear and anger combined. 'How did he make that sword? I could do with one of those!' he thought to himself desperately as the ghost swung at him again, narrowly missing. The third swipe nicked his arm before he could go intangible again, causing warm blood to ooze up and trickle down his arm
"Danny!" he heard a concerned Sam shout from below, but he had no time to think about her for now. He concentrated on forming a sword of light, hoping it would work. When it did he couldn't help but grin widely, admiring his work.
"Danny watch out!" Tucker called, Danny went intangible instinctively, Cupid's light sword slashed right through him, not hurting due to his intangibility.
Gritting his teeth together he tightened his grip on his own light sword bringing it up to Cupid and swathing upwards. Cupid cried out in pain as the blade tore across his chest, ripping his shirt and tearing skin.
"What can I say? Love hurts." Danny let the light sword fizzle out so he could get his Thermos, wanting to end this fight as soon as possible. Cupid was brawny thanks to his love for Sam and he didn't like to stay in battle with ghost three times his size and weight if he could avoid it. His Thermos was knocked out of his hand though before he could activate it, the cylindrical container flipping through the air as it fell out of Danny's reach.
"Oh crud." He swore, feeling strong hands grab him around the arm and pull him up a terrifying speed, the room blurring around him. With a painful thud he hit the ceiling, all his breath was knocked out of him roughly. He had started to fall to earth again and had to quickly angle up and take flight to avoid being a splattered mess on the hall floor. He gained flight control and swept down towards Sam who was holding the Thermos. With a glance up to Cupid he quickly shot him a dose of ectoplasmic goo to keep him busy while he got the Thermos ready. He took the flask from Sam giving her a little peck on the cheek, making her blush. He flashed her a cheeky grin and turned to face Cupid, who had just grown even bigger simply from the little kiss he had just planted on Sam's cheek.
"Get your own girlfriend and stop perving on other people you freak!" Danny snapped, opening the Thermos lid and sucking Cupid into it with great effort to fight against his resistance to the Thermos. Finally all was still and the Thermos held Cupid. Danny sagged with relief. "Phew!" He sighed, looking over to Sam again, who was chuckling softly. He gave her a puzzled look, standing up straight and asking her what she was finding amusing.
"You still have your Valentines crown on your head. The King of all ghosts, Danny Phantom!" He laughed too, taking the gold band from his hair and clasping it in his hands.
"I'm going home." Tucker sulked "I didn't get one good shot of you and Denzel together, what a waste of time!" As they were the only people remaining in the building Danny returned to his human mode without needing to find anywhere private to do so.
"Serves you right for not suggesting I come to dance intangible!" Tucker shook his head in pseudo-annoyance.
"Yah, well I got plenty of snaps of you two hip on hip, lip on lip. People who knew you weren't a couple before have been betting on when or if you'd get together. I plan to cash in with these fine pics!" He tapped his camera and headed off, passing by the band who were nervously returning to gather their instruments together.
"People were taking bets on us! Crazy!" Sam chuckled and they stood together laughing lightly. The lead singer smiled over to them
"Seeing as that nasty fellow has gone would the King and Queen like one last dance?" She asked. Sam nodded and embraced Danny as the band started playing a slightly more upbeat song than the last one.
They spun around the room, laughing and having fun until they embraced closer, turning more serious. After a few bars of her resting her head on his lapel and him resting his chin on the top of her head she lifted her head up to gaze into his eyes, getting happily lost in them. Danny was so happy he found himself hovering above the ground, holding Sam with him, his hair turned white and eyes green, but he still wore his blazer-suit, as he hadn't completely gone ghost. She gasped and held him tighter
"Danny! Bring us down!" He laughed and did as she requested, going fully human again. She laughed when he muttered a husky apology.
"I love you Danny Fen-Phant-ton!"
The End
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Authors note
Firstly; thanks to all those readers out there and double thanks to those who reviewed, I live off reviews! I really appreciate it. So BIG cheers to: riotrockergurl, SilverSummerMoon, Kaburu (your lovely review made me smile for a week!), Mental Mess, Master of Procrastination (what a cool name!), SetsuntaMew, Kats02980416 (yeah, what you say about Sam/Danny is true, Danny doesn't treat her right. If I wrote the show he'd appreciate her more!), Mars Cutie, AndieWitter or SSWBA, Unlikely-to-bear-it, kitty00240, amylovestakuya, Lady Serenity Moon Child (I hope the movie comes out here, UK Nick toons really suck though, so I doubt it.), ANIME FAN ANGUS, RobinRox13, justtoreadurfics (YOU ROCK!), rikagirls, (and anyone else who read it,) I love you all, I just read everyone's profiles, you all seem like lovely peoples.
Secondly; it appears that some of my reviewers were a little weirded out by the Denzel/Danny thing. As I come from somewhere where homosexuality is absolutely no different from heterosexuality it is I who is weirded out that people could be uncomfortable with it! When writing it I really didn't even consider that some people would think twice about it, or think the Denzel thing is weird! I was kind of worried that Danny was reacting too strongly embarrassed at going with Denzel actually! So I'm really sorry if this story arc made people feel uncomfortable, I considered re-writing it, but hey! On behalf of all my gay friends out there it wouldn't be right or fair.
Thirdly; that was so much fluffier than I meant it to be. Oh well. I'm a heavy metal music fan so I had to ditch my 'In Flames' CD in favour of Norah Jones just to be able to write a love scene! The result is oh-so-much more fluffy than I would usually write (it's hard to write fluffy love scenes to head banging metal though!)
Yuk! Why am I still listening to Norah! Goodbye Norah, hello Rage Against The Machine! (goes and changes CD)…Ah…that's better!
Maybe I'll write more Danny Phantom fiction some day…maybe. For now Reno of the Turks beckons me (sorry folks but Reno beats Danny, probably coz he's closer to me in age and he's a bad guy, bad guys are the coolest. And I love red hair even more than I love white hair!) If you've never played Final Fantasy 7 you won't know what I'm talking about…
Cheers folks,
Izzia