Title: Quietly

Author: adorkable3

Feedback: yes!

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom belongs to Nickelodeon and all those associated with it. Richard Linklater is a great director that all should check out.

Danny Fenton, age 17, had fallen asleep at an awkward angle on the couch and his neck hurt.

His neck hurt so much, in fact, that it took him a solid minute to realize that he was not the only person asleep on the couch. It took him another twenty seconds to realize that the other person was his best friend Sam, and that she was not only asleep, but asleep on top of him.

Danny surveyed his surroundings. He had clearly fallen asleep some time during the movie. His head was resting uncomfortably on the arm of the chair, which explained the neck ache. A quick look at the floor showed that Tucker was also asleep. And Sam…

…had a look of total contentment on her face, her head resting against his chest, and she was fast asleep.

Danny had two options. One: he could wake Sam up, there would be some socially crippling silences stuffed between their stammered apologies, and then there would be weirdness between them for a week. Or Two: he could try to slide away as gently as possible and get into his sleeping bag on the floor, and Sam would be none the wiser.

Oh yeah, Option Two was winning.

Danny had begun to slowly slide out from under Sam when she stirred. Danny froze as she said in a sleepy voice, "Don't leave. You're warm."

Well, if Sam had enjoyed his warmth before, she would love him now; Danny blushed so much he was sure it had significantly raised his body temperature.

Danny chose to ignore her request and this time successfully managed to extract himself from Sam's grip. He settled into the sleeping bag he was supposed to have been in all along and looked back up at Sam: still asleep. Her arm had fallen off the couch. Danny took her hand and kissed the palm before gently resting it on her stomach.

A minute later he realized exactly what it was he had done. That was a romantic gesture if there ever was one, which was not supposed to happen between him and Sam at all. Fake-out make-outs, yes. Genuine affection, no. But he had done it so naturally, that had to have meant something…

With these thoughts banging around in his head, Danny slowly fell asleep.

The next morning, Sam didn't mention anything about it, and Danny decided if that she didn't remember it, there was no reason to bring it up. Not like it was all that embarrassing, he told himself for the fiftieth time. And it's not like there had been anything really romantic about it. They were best friends; they'd know each other for years. They were just close. That was all.

That Monday at school, it became a lot harder to convince himself of that. If he and Sam really were that close, he shouldn't have noticed how pretty she looked during physics, he shouldn't have been thinking about her all through English class (he blamed their study of poetry on that), and he shouldn't have felt so nervous around her.

It's Sam, Danny reminded himself again. Nothing to be nervous about.

"You okay?" Sam asked him after school as the three of them walked home.

"Yeah," Danny answered, far too quickly to be true.

"Are you sure?" Tucker asked. "You look a little pale."

Yeah, well, you would be too if you realized that you may, possibly, kinda be in love with Sam. That's what Danny wanted to say; what came out was "Really, guys, I'm fine."

Neither of them looked convinced, but Sam just said, "Try to get some more sleep, okay?" Danny nodded in response.

Tuesday was pretty much the same, and Wednesday too. He spent the days in a haze of confusion. His stomach turned whenever he saw Sam, and then he had to question why that was. Finally he took Sam's advice about sleeping, thinking that if he was sleeping, he couldn't think about her. Of course, that plan hinged on being able to go to sleep, made nearly impossible by how much he was thinking. After an hour of tossing and turning, the truth fell on him like an anvil in an old cartoon.

Danny was in love with Sam. After years of falling for other girls, meanwhile having Sam always in the back corner of his mind and fighting an unknown fight against the inevitable, he had lost. It was all he could think about. How beautiful she was, how long it took him to realize it, but most importantly: what to do about it.

He could not just walk up to her and say "Sam, I'm in love with you." That wouldn't do at all. She'd laugh at something dramatic and cheesy. Telling her naturally and sincerely didn't really seem like an option at the time because it was so simple, and Danny was so freaked out he wasn't even working on that level.

If he had thought that school had been awkward before, it was ten times so on Thursday. There's nothing like being in love with someone to put a boy on edge. When he got an invitation to a party, he accepted right away, needing something to calm him down.

"So, are we still on for Friday?" Sam asked at lunch.

Tucker and Danny looked at each other. "Uh," Danny began.

"Oh no," Sam said. "You two are not abandoning me."

"Kinda," Tucker said, and added quickly "It's a party at Valerie's house and I'm sure you can come along!"

Sam frowned, "Yeah, because Valerie's my bestest friend. Guys, it's the Richard Linklater film fest! I've been waiting for this for months."

"Sam, we only enjoy one of his movies. We'd be bored and you would hate having us there." Danny explained. And he would hate being there, because he was so afraid of what might come out of his mouth next concerning Sam that he needed distance.

Sam looked wordlessly between them. "Fine." She said finally. "But I'm still going."

"By all means," Tucker said, "You deserve a night to yourself." Danny nodded enthusiastically.

"I'm also still mad at you both." Without another word, she got up and left.

"She's pissed." Tucker said.

"Astute observation, Einstein." Danny sighed, "I can't believe we forgot."

"We spent all of last weekend with her, and we're going out to dinner Saturday night," Tucker pointed out. "I'm sure when she really thinks about it, she'll be glad to have some time without us."

"Yeah," Danny agreed hollowly. He had that same, sick feeling he always did when he let down Sam, but it felt worse this time.

Sam didn't talk to them on Friday. Tucker kept on insisting that she'd get over it soon, so there was really nothing to worry about. Danny wasn't entirely sure he believed him, but he went with it anyway. With some apprehension, he went to Valerie's party.

Admittedly, it was a fun time. Not too wild, good food, fun music. Danny realized that he hadn't thought about Sam once the entire time. He hadn't thought about ghosts either, but that streak ended when he heard a shriek from upstairs and the blue mist floated out of his mouth.

He ran upstairs, going ghost in the process, and found a ghost scaring a girl who had run out of the bathroom. Upon seeing Danny, it cackled and flew out the window, with Danny following close behind it.

It was cold outside, but Danny barely noticed as he whipped through trees, the glowing blue specter just out of reach. To make matters worse, it was flipping around and showing off, which was just annoying.

They finally came out of the park and into the open air. Danny reached for the Fenton Thermos when he saw another ghost out of the corner of his eye. Distracted, he stopped and turned to look at it. The ghost he had been chasing was not pleased by this development.

"Hey!" It yelled. "You were chasing me-" Danny cut it off by sucking it into the thermos, and flew down to the new ghost for another look. He couldn't tell from where he was, but he was certain it was holding a person.

With growing trepidation, he flew even closer, preparing to fight back. He finally got a look at the person who was trapped.

It was Sam.

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