Disclaimer: I was on e-bay last night and the copyrights for Danny Phantom were up for auction. After a intense bidding war I lost to some guy named Butch Hartman. Not cool.

Author's Notes: Hey there fellow netizens! After a speeding ticket, car sickness, rain, 7 gas runs, and one crappy hotel later, I am finally back from my cool trip. I didn't have enough money to buy you guys souvenirs, so I figured writing this extra long update would be ok? ::Spidey says looking hopeful:: Anyway, enjoy! :)

Chapter 10: The Treacherous Tango

The bus full of football players was a buzz with laughter, chatter and the occasional prank. Derek could hear the quiet snickers coming from Kwan and Jason as they took a picture of the water boy asleep with a jockstrap on top of his head. He couldn't help but laugh at the sight a peaceful and unsuspecting Wally made. When he turned to see what his coach would do, he was met with a glimpse of the older man falling asleep as well. Coach Higgins's trademark baseball cap was covering his face and Derek could faintly hear the light snoring.

The sound of deep laughter turned his attention back to his teammates. Dash high-fived Kwan for the stunt and nudged Danny to look. The brunette turned bored eyes in Wally's direction, before laughing guiltily at the other boy. Derek was glad to see the freshman starting to cheer up. It wasn't Danny's fault they lost the game and in Derek's opinion they would have lost anyway. There was no way they could have caught up against the Grayburg Huskies. A score of 13-27 did not a comeback make. Either way the freshman made it clear that due to his fumble in the third quarter, he blamed himself for a part of their loss.

Derek noted that his teammates took the defeat surprisingly well, but they all knew that next week Coach Higgins was going to kill them at practice. 'Ah well, Monday's too far ahead and I'm too tired to care.' he thought. He made himself more comfortable and was glad he'd managed to sit by himself.

Suddenly a yell of disgust could be heard followed by a round of laughter. Derek didn't have to look to know Wally had discovered his gift. It did surprise him however, when he saw the garment fly overhead only to land somewhere else. Kwan could be heard guffawing loudly with the other and making jokes about the airborne underwear.

To his surprise, he suddenly heard the distinct sound of Danny chuckling. He slowly sat up and looked directly at the source which was only a few seats away. He looked on in amusement as Dash was talking enthusiastically about something that kept making Danny laugh. He couldn't help but laugh quietly along with the freshman at the eccentric gestures and crazy faces the blonde kept making. 'Maybe aliens have come down to earth to abduct the old one and deposit a nicer, goofier and less annoying clone,' he thought. He watched their easy banter carefully and a smirk soon appeared on his face, 'Or maybe Danny's done more to Dash than he realizes.'

Danny let a small sigh as he let the shower's hot spray envelope his bruised and tired body. The water slowly eased the tension out and relaxed him. He turned around and placed both the palms of his hands flat against the blue tiles. He rotated his head twice before leaning his forehead against the flat surface as well. He remembered tonight's game with melancholy and closed his eyes in deep thought. As he reflected on the events of the game he was unaware of the pair of eyes on him.

The game had been nothing short of a disaster to him. It wouldn't have been as frustrating and confusing, if the Huskies had been the only thing he had to deal with. It really was idiotic to let his guard down and he should have expected the sudden appearance of his wayward enemy. It had happened so spontaneously that he almost thought he was going crazy. The ball was hiked to Dash and like a command, Danny plowed through various players to get far enough away. He ran forward while looking back at Dash in case the pass was thrown at him.

The unexpected appearance of his ghost sense threw him off and he looked back at Dash almost as if he was in slow motion. A fully cloaked Griffith floated above the blonde ready to strike. He called out Dash's name out loud in alarm and thus the ball was thrown to him. In his distraction he completely missed it and was instead tackled by two of the other team's players. The feeling of pain brought him back to reality and he shoved the other boys off him to stand up.

The sound of his name being called caught his attention and to his surprise he saw Dash standing a few feet away from him. A little dirty, very much annoyed at him, but otherwise Dash was relatively fine. Before the blonde could even utter a word at him, Kwan caught Danny's attention and told him that Coach Higgins wanted to switch him with Derek.

Sitting at the bench and watching the game from afar, he could only watch helplessly as Griffith kept reappearing throughout the game. Danny knew the older boy was taunting him by making it so that only he could see Griffith. He had to grit his teeth and watch as Griffith caused all sorts of pranks on his teammates. Eventually Griffith stopped altogether and had the nerve to stand right in front of him laughing. Before Danny could make a grab at him, his coach grabbed him and sent him back in the game.

Nothing good came of his participation in the rest of the game and somewhere down the line Griffith mysteriously disappeared. He got on their bus feeling depressed and worried over the disturbing appearance. His curiosity was eating him up and no matter what explanations he came up with, none of them seemed to pan out completely. Derek noticed his expression and asked him what was wrong. In his distraction he almost told the truth, but he caught himself in time to say that he just felt bad about the game.

Derek dispelled any negative thoughts concerning his performance and joked about their loss was a "team effort". Neither he nor Danny expected the sudden agreement from Dash. The blonde boy spoke as he made his way toward Danny and claimed they were jinxed from the start so there was nothing Danny could have done. The strange logic of his words made Derek laugh aloud from where he sat. Dash was quickly called to sit towards the back of the bus by Kwan and some of the other boys, but he declined the offer and instead plopped down right next to Danny.

Danny let out another sigh as he remembered his conversation with Dash. Dash made so many references to the other good things he'd done, that Danny quickly reassured Dash that he didn't feel that bad about the game. It was after this that Dash asked if there was something else bothering him, but he chose to stay quiet instead. He couldn't very well say that he was worried about a ghost Griffith attacking Dash during the game, unless he wanted to be thought of as crazy.

A small tension fell between them and Danny saw the saw a slightly hurt look on Dash's face before it was quickly covered up. It surprised him that his silence affected Dash that way and he realized that the other boy must have felt like Danny didn't trust him. During the weeks they became friends, Dash had slowly but surely come to trust Danny. Danny felt the effect greatly when he was around Dash and it touched something inside of him to know that the blonde trusted him enough to tell Danny his secrets. It made sense that Dash would feel annoyed by seeing Danny not bestow the same trust.

It was a welcome relief when Dash touched his shoulder to point out to him the ensuing prank on Wally the water boy. He laughed along with the rest of his teammates, but made an effort to renew their earlier conversation with a new topic about the homecoming dance. It put him at ease to see Dash talk earnestly about the school event and it turned his thoughts back to his challenge. With the dance less than a few weeks away, Danny was starting to get desperate towards finding Dash's true love.

Danny heard and laughed at Dash's recounts of his past dance experiences. It was interesting to know Dash's point of view about their last dance and he pretended not to believe Dash's claims of seeing a purple dragon and white-haired boy fighting. He casually worked in his question about who Dash was going to take to the dance and felt disconcerted to find out that Dash still hadn't found a date.

Now as he stood under the shower, washing away the stench of defeat, he wished he could just as easily wash away his worries. With less that 35 days before his challenge was over, Danny was more anxious than ever to find a girl for Dash. For all his efforts, in one way or another, none of them seemed quite right and it didn't help that the blonde was noticeably picky.

At school there were obviously a lot of girls willing to go out with Dash. The problem was that they saw Dash as a symbol of status and would only hook up with him to increase their popularity. Dash didn't need that, especially right now. Dash needed someone that could understand him, listen and talk to him, someone that could get past the mean and stubborn exterior to find the loyal and friendly guy inside. He admitted that sometimes Dash wasn't overly bright and could be too impulsive at times, but Danny had come to understand the underlying subtleties of his actions. 'Where am I going to find the girl that likes Dash the way I do?'

It hit him a second later, but the effect was immediate. His eyes opened in surprise at the random thought. It didn't sit right in his mind and sounded almost wrong. 'The way that I do?' he thought confused. 'I like Dash a lot, but he's just my friend. Sure, he's fun to spend time with and talk to...and he's a great guy once you get to know him, but I don't like Dash in that way. No reason to get weird about it. I like Dash, but I don't like-like him. Right now I should be worried about finding the girl that can love him, not about my own stupid feelings...which are purely platonic.'

He was literally snapped out of his thoughts by a sharp sting on his back. He cried out in surprise and quickly turned around to find a naked Derek near him. The Hispanic boy grinned in triumph and twisted the white towel again to strike.

Danny raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "Why'd you do that?"

"If I were you dude, I wouldn't stand like that in a guys public shower," Derek said with laughter.

Danny looked at him with a mixture of annoyance and confusion that made Derek laugh even harder. The older boy tried to stifle his laughter as best he could and looked around him to make sure they were relatively alone in this aisle of the shower stalls. Most of the other boys had already left the other aisles, but there were still a few on the opposite side showering.

Before Danny could retort, Derek came closer to Danny and quietly said, "Hey D.F. can I ask you a question and you won't freak out on me?"

Danny was caught by surprise at the sudden question and forgot what he was going to say. He nodded his head and warily asked, "Is it something serious?"

Derek was about to reply, but thought better of it and merely said, "Not really, just promise that you won't freak out."

To stop the unnecessary suspense Danny quickly replied, "Yeah I promise, just spit it out already."

Derek smiled and whispered, "D.F. are you gay?"

"What?!" Danny exclaimed in shock. Derek looked at him annoyed and looked back to see some of the other boys giving them weird looks.

"You promised you weren't going to freak out," Derek whispered vehemently.

"You said it wasn't serious," Danny countered.

"Because it's not, it's just a question." Derek replied. "So are you or aren't you?" he asked expectantly.

Danny quickly replied, "No, I'm not."

"Really? Are you sure you're not at least bisexual or something?" Derek asked hopefully. Danny looked at him completely uncomfortable and quickly turned off the shower. Derek realized what the other boy was thinking and stopped him from walking off. Danny moved to sidestep him, but Derek stood in front of him again.

Danny couldn't believe this was happening and said, "Look Derek you're my friend and I like you as a friend. I don't care if you're gay or anything, but I don't see you in that way and-"

Derek's sudden laughter interrupted his rambling and made Danny even more uneasy. The older boy finally stopped long enough to say, "I wasn't asking for me, dude, I was asking for someone else. Heh, trust me I'm straight as an arrow." His rich laughter resounded throughout the shower stalls. If they hadn't been noticed before, they certainly were now.

Derek walked out of the large room smiling and Danny followed after him thoroughly confused. They each were handed a towel by Wally and Danny quickly wrapped his around his waist. He followed after Derek, anxious to know what the other boy meant, but was so distracted that he crashed into someone else. Danny looked up to see that it was a boy named Jack Minamoto, who was one of the running backs for their team. He quickly apologized to the taller boy and made his way toward his locker aisle where Derek was already getting dressed.

"Are you telling the truth?" Danny asked Derek abruptly.

Derek met his fierce gaze and replied, "I'm dying if I'm lying." Before Danny could say another word, Derek sighed and said "The walls have ears D.F. I think it's better if we talk once we're outside."

Derek turned back to his locker and dressed in silence. Danny sighed in defeat and opened up his own locker to get dressed as well. He soon realized he had dressed faster than he usually did and attributed it to his growing curiosity. Finally the sophomore finished dressing as well and the duo made their way out of the locker room. Once they were finally outside, the two found a nearby bench on the side of the gym.

After making sure no one was around them, Derek finally spoke "Danny I'm sorry for making you feel uncomfortable with my stupid question, but I promised the guy I'd at least find out for him. I didn't think you'd get as tweaked as you did, but I forgot that not everybody in this town is cool with gay people."

"No, it's not that...you just threw me off, that's all." Danny shifted in his seat and then awkwardly said, "So a guy has a crush on me...never thought I'd say those words."

Derek chuckled and said, "Must be pretty weird huh?"

"Weird is an understatement," Danny replied. "Can I at least know who it is?"

Derek raised an eyebrow at him, "I thought it was obvious." At the blank look Danny gave him, he shook his head, "Man you really are thick aren't you? I didn't agree with it when Dash joked about it, but I'm starting to think the dude has a point."

"Wait, it's Dash?" Danny asked, unable to stop his voice from cracking. A strange feeling arose inside of him and his mind went a mile a minute as he tried to remember times when Dash would have hinted at this.

Derek's other eyebrow rose in confusion and he replied, "Dash? Well for all I know maybe he does too, but he's not the one I was asking for."

Danny looked at him with relief and half-smiled at Derek's words. Inside he felt a small feeling of regret, which he quickly clamped down. He gave himself a mental shake for his ridiculous thoughts and felt stupid for getting so roused up.

Derek smiled as he said jokingly, "That would be something though wouldn't it? If big bad Dash Baxter was as gay as purple unicorns and pink cleats, and had a thing for you." Danny laughed with him and felt strangely at ease to hear the absurdity of the statement aloud.

"I wish I could tell you who it is so that you'd know, but the bastard swore me to secrecy." Derek said apologetically.

Danny quickly reassured him, "It's ok, I'm not interested anyway." The look in Danny's eyes emphasized his words.

"Don't worry dude, I'll give him the message. Anyhow D.F. I gotta head off before my dad comes looking for me in that junky old truck of his. I'll see ya later man." Derek said smiling. He got off the bench and grabbed his gym bag, ready to head home and get some well deserved sleep.

"Hey wait," Danny said grabbing Derek's shoulder. The older boy looked at him expectantly albeit tiredly.

"Do you wanna have lunch with me and my friends at the diner tomorrow? We were gonna go there and then hang out at the mall afterwards." Danny said looking hopeful.

Derek stopped to consider the offer and smiled as he said, "It sounds like a cool plan for a Saturday, I'm game. See ya at noon D.F." Derek waved at Danny once before continuing the short walk home.

"Yeah, laterz, D.S." Danny said over his shoulder. He walked in the opposite direction and looked for a place where he could transform to fly off.

When his ghost sense suddenly appeared, he dropped his gym bag and slowly surveyed the area around him. After a few minutes of looking and finding nothing, he was starting to grow more nervous. The distant sound of yelling caught his attention and he realized it was coming from the girl's gym ahead of him. He gathered his things and quickly ran off toward the building. Danny yanked open the door and was met with the shocking sight of Griffith on top of an unmoving Dash.

Some of the nearby exercise equipment was askew and the two looked so disheveled that Danny assumed what had happened. Griffith turned his attention to Danny and looked at him with anticipation. He languidly got off of Dash and gracefully stood up to his full size.

"Took you long enough, ghost mutt. I was beginning to think you were stone deaf." Griffith said with a smirk. "Don't worry though, you're just in time to pick up the broken pieces of the meathead."

"Why did you attack him?" Danny asked angrily. Without even waiting for Griffith's answer he went ghost and charged forward to attack Griffith. Griffith had anticipated this and used his powers to send an energy blast right at Danny. It hit the younger boy dead on and sent him crashing on the floor.

"Attack him? Look Danny Phantom," Griffith said condescendingly, "animals attack, I on the other hand harass, assault or...hurt whatever. In any case I didn't harm him, this time."

"Right you expect me to believe that?" Danny said indignantly. He picked himself up and his hands turned green as he prepared to fire a blast right back at Griffith.

"I really don't care what you believe you twerp, the truth of the matter is that I was protecting the meathead," Griffith replied heatedly.

"Protecting him from what?" Danny asked skeptically. Suddenly he heard a loud roar followed by the ground shaking beneath his feet.

"From that," Griffith said as he pointed behind him.

Danny slowly turned around before coming face to face with a large ghost spider. It roared once more and stomped ever closer toward Danny. Danny slowly backed up until his back hit a wall. The ghost spider spat out a stream of green goo from it's mouth heading directly for Danny. Before the goo could hit him however, Griffith pushed him out of the way and the two crashed onto the floor. Danny watched as the goo turned into acid and disintegrated the spot he'd been standing in.

"I forgot to mention, its webbing is ectoplasmic acid." Griffith said as he stood up.

"You saved me?" Danny asked him in surprise. Griffith quickly hauled him up just as the spider sent another barrage of goo at them.

Griffith maneuvered his way around and panted out, "Don't put too much into this, we're under a contract remember?" He and Danny continued to run and dodge the spider's spit attacks. None of their ghost blasts seemed to affect it at all.

"Under a contract?" Danny yelled as he vaulted away from another attack. No matter what he did he couldn't get close enough to hit it.

"Yes, didn't you read the fine print?" Griffith said as he slid across the floor and narrowly avoided another attack.

"There was fine print?" he said confused. Griffith gave him a disbelieving look before the two dodged yet another goo stream.

"One of the terms in the contract is that I can't physically kill you two until you fail the challenge or the allotted time is up. At the same time, because the two of you are my stupid assignments, I can't let anyone or anything else kill you. Kind of like the pleasure's all mine." Griffith said smirking.

"Great," Danny replied sarcastically.

"Hey ghost dork, I have an idea. You run off that way and distract lady eight legs here and I'll summon my scythe. If there's anything that can get rid of this bug, it's my scythe." Griffith said imploringly.

Danny nodded and used his powers to fly off in the opposite direction. He spun and dodged the midair attacks and saw the strange light glowing behind the spider ghost. All of a sudden the spider roared in pain and Danny saw Griffith holding on tightly to his scythe that was lodged deep inside the spider's abdomen. Griffith finally got a firm grip on it and pulled it out. When he did a strange barrier formed around the spider and prevented it from moving.

"Well what are you waiting for hero?" Griffith said addressing him. "Unless you want to wait for a cleaning team to get rid of that thing, use that ridiculous contraption of yours."

"Contraption?" Danny asked him, puzzled.

"Yes, the device that is activated by your powers. You know, that thing you capture ghosts in." Griffith said impatiently.

"Oh, you mean the Fenton Thermos." Danny said as he flew towards his forgotten gym bag. He rummaged through it and grinned in triumph when he found it. He opened it up and used his powers to make it work. The ghost spider roared again as it was swallowed up. When it was gone, Danny closed the thermos and heard the usual beep.

He heard a distant groan and realized Dash was probably coming to. Griffith changed back into his normal clothes and breathed a small sigh of relief. He looked over at Danny and said in a bored tone, "If it's all the same to you halfa, we'll continue our never-ending battle tomorrow. Right now I have a lot of paperwork to do and I have to get this stupid gym fixed before anyone notices. I'll leave the meathead to you and don't worry, by time he opens up his eyes he won't remember a thing."

Danny was about to give him a begrudging thanks, but knew the other boy wouldn't accept it and probably say something snide in return. He watched as Griffith used his powers to phase through a wall. Another groan caught his attention and Danny saw that Dash was sitting up now. He made his way over to Dash and bend down in front of him.

"Dash, are you okay?" he asked in concern. Dash held a look of bewilderment on his face as he looked at Danny.

"Whoa, it's you." Dash said in awe. For some reason Dash closed his eyes and pinched his arm. He quickly opened them again and Danny could see the amazement dancing in the dark blue eyes. "Holy cow, I wasn't hallucinating...you're really here."

Danny raised an eyebrow at his strange words. Before he could say anything, Dash fired different questions at him, "Dude, who are you? How did you get those powers? Why is your hair white?"

'White?' Danny thought. His eyes widened in realization and he smacked his forehead in aggravation. Out of all the stupid things he could have done tonight, being in his alter ego form in front of Dash had to be the worst one.

End of Chapter 10

Author's End Notes: Yeah I know, what a ghetto cliffhanger. Anyway I'd like to apologize times a thousand for taking so long to update this. Next time I'm going on a road trip I should anticipate "life's roadblocks" and plan ahead for the things that will make me late. Anyway, thanks for reading this long chapter and not clicking your back buttons, lol. Please be nice, be mean, be constructive or be funny, simply review! :)

Spider's Shout Outs
(because the world needs a spider yelling through a megaphone)

?????????????????????: Hello Mr. E! Get it? Hehehe. :-D yes I know it's a lame joke. Anyhow, here's is the UPDATE on the heroic halfa boy and his soon-to-be-lover, lol. Anyway, I'm glad you like my fic and I hope you dug his new update. Thanks for the "mysterious" review! :)

AbeoUmbra: Hey it's you again, long and challenging review gal! lol, the small digital camera hints will only serve a much later and embarrassing purpose. Danny? Clueless?...yup. :-) Never assume anything about an add-in, especially one as harmless as Sandra Perkins. ::winks innocently:: I hope you liked the update and thanks again for the long review!

Katy Kreger: Hey homegirl! I keep forgetting to send you an e-mail with what you asked earlier and with some interesting links I found. lol, not a lot mind you, but might help. Hope you dug the chappie update! Thanks for the dope review!

Ranma Higurashi: Hey! lol, you're a vote for Danny. ::Spidey puts a mark on Danny's side of the tally sheet:: Don't glare at Sandra Perkins, yet. ;) Hehehe. I think you said it best in your last review and to be honest, you were the one that motivated me to write this. I know this prelude to the Dash/Danny action might suck (big time), but I figured it's at least a start. :) I hope you like the update! Thanks for the cool review! :-)

ZAGRH8R: Hey there! I'm glad you like my story and still kept reading it despite the lack of romance lol. There have been rare occasions when writing this fic that I have to restrain myself from plunging head first into obvious Danny/Dash love. Hehehe, looks like I didn't hold myself back in this chapter huh? Anyway...you have a Danny/Vlad humor fic? Wicked, I gotta check it out sometime. I hope you liked this chapter and thanks again for the awesome review!

Kayu Silver: Hello, 'ello! Well that's a vote for Griffith. ::Spidey says in a whisper. She puts a mark on Griffith's side of the tally sheet:: A good writer never reveals her sources for information, lol jk! While I'd like to say that I'm a dancing goddess (pfft, yeah right), the truth is that I get help with selecting the dance names. There's a website I go to that has an alphabetical list of different types of dances. There I learn about what the dance is like and if I think it's style reflects the mood of the chapter I'm writing then that's the one I pick. Lol, well I hope that answered your question and I hope you liked this chappie update! Thanks for the nice review!

KimuraSato: Hello again! Lol, an impulsive Danny is a Danny that just might have more fun. ;) I think you're the third person that's mentioned something about Sandra in their review, but there's nothing really to it. Dash is a guy, he has needs and the right to ask a chick her number, so it doesn't have to be a big deal. ::Spidey smiles innocently, but knows KimuraSato is probably not buying it:: I hope you like this Sandra-free chapter. Domo arigato, KimuraSato! Sorry couldn't help myself, but I really do appreciate the cool review!

What the G stands for: Hey there! Hehehe, I guess I'll never know what it stands for, but you can bet your socks that I have three guesses. ::smiles:: Anyway, I'm delighted that you're digging the story thus far. I think this chapter definitely has more associative Dash/Danny action than the others. I hope you liked it and thanks for the killer review! :-)

Dela the Hidden: Hey, it's my fic psychic! Lol, you're the one that makes me curse aloud because you guess or mention things that I plan to do. (Probably cause I'm obvious) ::Spidey puts another mark on Griffith's side of the tally sheet:: With your vote, Griffith pretty much wins the score. I wouldn't call it a liking, more like a...hormonal driven interest, which means that Danny doesn't have anything to be jealous about...::cough:: for now ::cough:: :) Oh no, ask away. I like when reviewers ask questions, keeps it fun. Awesome, I actually make someone happy with my fic! (Although because it took me so long to update, you might not be feeling that right now) Well I hope you liked the update anyway and thanks for the great review!