Disclaimer: If I owned "Danny Phantom" there would already be a DVD box set of the first season available with the second season box set in the works. :hint hint to Mr. Hartman:

Author's Notes: While dealing with some writer's block back on another fic, I wrote this. I figure it's about time I posed it here. Hope you guys like it. :)

Ten Year Old Memory by Evolutionary Spider

Dash took another swig of his soda and briefly mulled over the idea of mixing rum with his drink. The blond sat atop the hood of his car and carefully leaned backwards onto the windshield. He breathed a slow sigh of laziness as he looked straight up at a perfect night sky.

A small splattering of gray clouds covered the hundreds of stars staining the darkness before him. He was able to see well enough thanks to the moonlight and for a moment its brightness seemed sadly familiar.

He turned his head slightly and looked down at the calm and peaceful scene of his hometown. He'd parked his car near the highest observation point in Amity Park, only one roadside curb away from The Point. The realization of this made him smirk slightly and he tried to remember how many times he'd been there.

The Point was a smoother stretch of cliff that allowed for many people to park their cars and easily overlook the town. In the daytime it was a place for families to spend half an hour together. At night it was where together, teenagers took half an hour to define their place.

He himself had defined who he was at The Point and the revelation had carried him through a year, one month and four days worth of happiness. The very happiness that he would now be without and had been forced to say goodbye to forty-seven minutes ago.

He'd felt every second as he drove away from his high school sweetheart's house, hoping he'd see the other suddenly appear through his rear view mirror and gesture for him to come back. The other would tell him to come back because he was needed, because he was worth the risk, because their dreams didn't matter if they weren't together. If he had, Dash would have thought it was a lie anyway.

Maybe in the long run it wouldn't matter to either of them. What was ten minutes from now or even ten years? They would both have successful careers in their fields, his on a football field and the other in an astronomy field. Dash mentally scoffed at the idea, an NFL player and a NASA astronaut, what a winning and ridiculous pair they would have made.

No, their lives would end with families, large houses with white steel fences and overactive golden retrievers tackling them everyday of their perfect lives, where what they did ten years ago was the furthest thing from their minds. The ten years ago that was currently his present and the still vivid memory of the last thing he'd ever done with the boy he'd loved during high school. The beautiful memory that was going to be set aside ten years from now was only two hours and fifty-three minutes ago and within it would be what Dash experienced the last time he'd felt the warmth of Danny's body.

Their graduation ceremony had been in the afternoon and was ended by a final speech by Mr. Lancer congratulating their success. All of them had thrown their hats in the air and received the cheers and applause that was due to them after four years of surviving Casper High. He remembered looking four rows behind him to see Danny being hugged by Tucker.

The brunet's blue eyes met his own and a silent conversation was exchanged between them. After an hour's worth of pictures, words and tearful goodbyes, the two managed to lie to and escape from their families, friends and peers.

While no one was the wiser, the two had found each other and quickly made their way to Dash's car. Neither one spoke during the long car ride towards the town limits. There was no need to; both already knew where they were heading for. When they finally reached their destination, they'd calmly taken off their caps and gowns and stowed them in the back seat.

As the two walked to the small hotel, their steps were hurried and awkward and still then they did not say a word to each other. The young woman behind the counter had smiled knowingly at them and hadn't bothered asking if they wanted twin beds instead of a queen. She smiled at them mischievously as she handed them their room key and neither boy could hide their own smiles as they paid and quickly walked out of the registration office.

Danny had blushed for the first time that night when Dash carried him into their hotel room bridal style and carefully laid him on the bed. Dash blushed for the first time that night when Danny stopped kissing him to inform him that the door was open.

Casual brushes became fevered caresses that spurned on the increasing, but short-lived intimacy between them. Danny had been just as anxious and nervous as he had been, but Dash still took great pains to prepare the brunet and cause Danny as little pain as possible. Taking forever in those moments to explore each other's bodies, they'd kissed and gently rocked against each other. It was in that simple room, illuminated only by wisps of moonlight, that Dash made love to Danny for the first time.

After their second time, they'd held each other tightly as they felt the stirrings of sleep grasp them. Danny eventually succumbed and Dash watched him sleep, occasionally stroking the other's back. He'd fought against the urge to sleep and as he looked up at the ceiling and realized what they'd just done, he'd blushed in embarrassment.

He loved his boyfriend and knew more than most about who Danny really was. Tonight however, he'd discovered new and strange things to admire about Danny. Things like the other boy's growth spurt during junior year, how his heroics had made him fill out and most of all, Dash had marveled at the brunet's stamina and flexibility. 'What a way to lose my virginity.'

He shook his head slightly to clear his perverted thoughts and looked down to see Danny smiling at him. Dash smiled back and pulled the other boy up. As the two kissed each other passionately, Dash realized that he was never going to regret this moment.

It was the drive back to Danny's house and back to the reality of things that was the most difficult. Dash had an arm wrapped around Danny's side as the brunet laid his head in the curve of Dash's neck. Sometime during the car ride their fingers had intertwined. Their trip back was spent in relative silence, each boy lost in his own thoughts.

Eventually they reached the familiar sight of Fenton Works and Dash carefully parked his car on the opposite side from Danny's home. As he shut off the engine, Danny slowly moved away from him under the pretext of stretching. He reached behind the backseat and quickly put on his gown. He fidgeted with the red cap in his hands and again Dash felt the air around them grow tense.

Without warning Danny thrust something at him. Dash blinked in surprise and it took him a few seconds to see what Danny held in his palm. Dash smiled teasingly as he took Danny's class ring.

"Wow, I never knew you had it in you to propose, Danny."

Danny huffed at him in annoyance and held an embarrassed frown on his face as he said, "Shut up. My dad said that you're supposed to give your class ring to the person you care about."

Dash blushed slightly at the other's straightforward answer and looked down at the ring he held in his palm. He looked at his left hand and saw his own ring glisten slightly. He promptly put Danny's class ring on his right hand's ring finger and removed his own class ring before turning to Danny.

Dash grabbed Danny's hand and the two stared at each other, as Dash slipped the ring on the ring finger of Danny's right hand. Without much hesitation, Dash pulled Danny's hand closer to his face and kissed the palm. Danny shivered slightly at the action and felt a small bit of disbelief that his hand was so sensitive.

The two boys leaned their foreheads together and closed their eyes as they tried not to break the fragile silence. Dash was the first to open his eyes and as he saw the sorrowful expression on Danny's face, he finally felt his heartbreak. The blond boy leaned forward more and tilted his head to the side to kiss Danny.

Danny was surprised at first, but quickly responded as he wrapped his arms around Dash's neck. The kiss drew a moan from the both of them and after a few minutes the two noisily broke apart. Dash blushed as he felt Danny's warm breath on his cheek.

The brunet leaned forward and kissed his ear as he said, "Kiss me again."

Dash had chuckled in spite of himself and had turned his head to kiss Danny's lips. As their kiss grew more passionate, Dash managed to shift Danny so that the other boy sat in his lap. Before the other boy could protest he'd gently grabbed Danny's face and kissed him deeply. His thumbs ran over warm cheeks as he lightly caressed the planes of Danny's face. Slowly he ran a hand through Danny's black hair, stopping to slightly tickle the nape of the shorter boy's neck.

Eventually their kiss broke and Dash was engulfed into Danny's embrace. After a moment's pause Dash wrapped his arms around Danny and held him back tightly. He tilted his head slightly and slowly inhaled the scent of Danny's hair.

"I love you, Dash."

Dash smiled sadly at the muffled words and nodded slightly as he said, "I love you too."

Danny shifted slightly and rested his chin on Dash's shoulder, "There were so many things I wanted to tell you, but I can't think of a single one now."

Dash pushed Danny off him slightly and smirked as he looked into his eyes. He leaned up to quickly kiss Danny's forehead.

"Thank you…for every glance, every kiss, every touch," Dash caressed the side of Danny's face, "every day you were with me I never felt worthless. You made me feel like it was fine to be myself, like I could do anything if I set my mind to it."

Danny gave him a wide smile as he reached to ruffle the soft blond hair on Dash's head. He stared into Dash's eyes for a moment before carefully saying, "Thank you…for the laughter, for every hug, for every kiss. Whenever I was with you I felt stronger and like I wasn't a freak anymore. Everyday I was with you I felt like I didn't have to hide myself because in your eyes I was special."

A car loudly zoomed down the street and startled the two. Danny chanced a glance at his home and saw that the lights were on in Jazz's room and in the living room. He looked back at Dash and felt his smile falter slightly. The other boy looked at him with intense blue eyes and Danny wondered what the other boy was thinking.

After a moment Dash smiled and shifted to open the door. Danny got off him and watched curiously as Dash looked both ends of the street. The blond turned back to Danny and held out his hand. Danny grabbed his red cap and shyly gave his hand to Dash. Dash's fingers intertwined with his and the blond slammed the car door shut.

"I've always wanted to do this with you," said Dash. "So just do this one last thing with me."

Danny looked around nervously before asking, "What are we going to do?"

"Just walk with me like this," said Dash smirking. His grip on Danny's hand tightened slightly for emphasis.

Danny stared at their hands a moment before looking back at Dash and nodding slightly. The blond gave him a grin and pulled him forward. Danny blushed slightly as the two carefully crossed the street and walked the remaining block toward his home. He felt nervous that someone would see them, but also happy about being able to do such a simple thing with Dash.

The two stopped once they reached the steps that led to Danny's door. Danny quickly embraced Dash and the two held each other tightly for the last time. Danny pulled away first and placed a quick kiss on Dash's lips before turning away from him.

"I've always wanted to do that with you," said Danny bashfully.

Dash looked at Danny in surprise until a sad smile came to his face. He looked at Danny's back and turned away from Danny.

"You better be the first guy to go to Mars," said Dash, half-threatening, half encouraging, "otherwise I'll think it was a waste to let you go."

Danny's eyes widened at Dash's words and he turned his head to look the blond, only to see the other boy had turned his back on him.

Danny looked away from Dash and stared forward with a smirk as he said, "Yeah well you better become a pro and win the MVP title in a Super Bowl."

"I love you and I'm never going to forget you, Dash Baxter," said Danny, ignoring the lump in his throat. "Goodbye."

"Ditto and…goodbye, Danny Fenton."

Danny's eyes closed as he heard the sound of the other's hurried steps against the concrete. He turned to look at Dash one more time before finally walking up the steps that led to his home and opening his front door. He ignored the way his vision blurred as he stepped inside.

Dash opened the door to his car and looked back to see Danny close the door to his home. He sighed before getting in his car and hastily turning on the engine. He saw Fenton Works grow smaller in his rear view mirror and eventually disappear altogether as he turned a corner.

Now as Dash looked up at the stars he felt the wetness in the corner of his eyes and noted how it made the stars look like they were twinkling.

End

Author's End Notes: My College's athletics program requires some of its students to report to school during the summer so as to decide the final roster and positions of its teams. I mention this to explain why Dash and Danny do not spend the summer together before going to college. Anyway, I hope you guys liked this and please feel free to give me your thoughts in a review, even flames help (to make quesadillas anyway).