"Great Gatsby!"
Dash could only look at the boy laying on the ground in front of him as Mr. Lancer shouted one of his signature teacher-swears. Shocked whispers and gasps filled the room around them.
The ghost attack had started like any other. Fenton asked to go to the bathroom before sprinting out into the hallway, when moments later a rumble and an evil cackle reverberated throughout the school. As Dash's class was evacuating, they could hear Phantom's voice a floor above them, exchanging his usual witty banter with the ghost he was battling. Then suddenly Phantom was crashing through the ceiling and landing on the floor. That's almost to be expected by now though.
No, what wasn't expected was when Phantom didn't groan and immediately get up. He lay there, slumped in the pile of debris when a ring of white light appeared around his waist. Dash watched as it separated and traveled up and down his body, replacing the superhero with someone who was just as familiar.
Danny Fenton.
"Oh my god." Paulina whispered behind Dash at the same time Sam mumbled, "Shit."
Sam stormed up in front of Dash, pulling a wrist blaster from her backpack.
"Everyone, back up! Get away from him!"
Tucker followed behind her, wielding a… tube of lipstick?
As Dash took a step back, the ceiling creaked and a few more pieces fell to the floor around Danny.
"Okay, ignoring the bombshell that just landed on us, we need to get him out of there before the rest of the ceiling falls on him." Dash said.
"You really expect us-" Sam snarled before she was interrupted.
"Let us help!" Paulina said sharply. "Do you really think we want the rest of the ceiling to fall on him? Or that we're going to hurt him?"
The glares on Sam and Tucker's faces said enough. "Sorry if we're a bit skeptical." Tucker said.
"Oh for pete's sake!" Mr. Lancer shouted. "Let's just get all of this off of him already! Arguing about it isn't going to help anyone!" He rushed forward, past Sam and Tucker, and began hauling pieces of wood, concrete, and tile off of Danny. They turned around and started helping Lancer but not before shooting their classmates another pair of glares. Dash scoffed at them.
How was it supposed to be his fault that he didn't know Fenton was Phantom? If he'd known that his hero was actually the boy he wailed on at school, he never would've wailed on him. His brow furrowed at that. He guesses that's not really the point.
He heard a grunt as Sam and Tucker started pulling Danny out of the rest of the pile after they got him uncovered enough. They were checking him over when some voices could be heard through the hole in the ceiling.
"Did you hear that crash, Mads? He must've hit something pretty hard! We've surely got him this time!"
"Oh, no doubt, Jack! Once we capture that menace, we'll get him home and tear him apart, molecule by molecule!"
"Shit, Sam we've gotta move him." Tucker said as Dash's face paled.
The realization of what that met suddenly hit Dash as hard as another football player.
"Holy shit!" Dash whispered. "Fenton's parents? They want to dissect him?!"
"Language." Mr. Lancer reprimanded.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I actually meant what the fuck!" Dash threw his arms up into the air while Lancer glared at him. "He's been living with two people who want to cut him open?"
"Well, what did you expect, Baxter?" Sam shot back at him. "It's not like there's much he could've done aside from running away or revealing his identity."
The walls of the school rumbled and an evil cackle echoed through the school again, meanwhile the Fenton's could still be heard from the floor above them. Dash threw his arms up towards the hole in the ceiling.
"And they're not even concerned about the ghost that is still attacking people?"
"That's the Fenton's for you." Tucker said as he stood. "Unmovable, single tracked focus."
"Here, Tucker, help me lift him up." Sam said.
The screams of a group of students sounded from down the hallway.
"Well what are we supposed to do about the ghost then?" Star asked. "The only people here who know how to fight ghosts are those two." She pointed at Sam and Tucker.
"Then they go, leave him with us until the ghost is captured." Dash said, looking at the two of them.
Sam scoffed. "And leave him with you? Not happening, Baxter."
"Look, while I hate giving you any sort of compliment, Manson, you and Foley are the only two who are capable and would be willing to capture that ghost. And the only ones who know enough to distract the Fenton's."
Sam glared at Dash until Tucker spoke up beside her. "He's kind of got a point Sam. Danny's parents aren't going to care about that other ghost, not when they think Phantom's on the loose."
The Fenton's could be heard getting closer to the hole in the ceiling. Finally Sam conceded and lifted Danny up enough to shove him into Dash's chest. "Fine, but if anything happens to him, it won't just be the ghost I'm hunting."
Dash rolled his eyes. "Message received, Manson."
Tucker started pushing them as Dash lifted Danny into his arms. "Quick, hide in the closet. They're coming!"
Just as Tucker closed the closet door behind them, Mrs. Fenton started addressing Sam and Tucker.
"Oh, hi kids! Have you seen Phantom? He just fell through the ceiling right here."
"Oh, uh, I think I saw him fly towards the center of town. He's not here anymore though." Sam said. "Right, Tucker?"
"Nope! Not here anymore! Must've been so afraid of you guys!"
Sam elbowed Tucker and whispered to him. "Don't overdo it."
"Haha!" Mr. Fenton laughed. "As he should be! Thanks, kiddos, we'll capture that ghost for sure this time!"
And just like that, the Fenton's were gone, ignoring the ghost still wreaking havoc inside the school.
Dash waited a little bit after they left and was about to open the closet door when Danny groaned in his arms. His brows were furrowed and when he opened his eyes, he squinted up at Dash, confusion in his eyes.
"Dash? What's happening? Why are you holding me?" Danny looked around. "And why are we in the closet?"
"Uh, well, you see. There was a ghost fight happening. And you sort of fell through the ceiling and changed from-"
Danny's eyes widened and he started struggling to get out of Dash's arms. "You saw me change? In front of everyone in class?"
"Yeah, but bro chill. You literally just passed out and-"
Danny's eyes widened. "Wait a minute, what happened to the ghost? Where is it? Did my parents catch it?"
"No, your parents actually think Phantom's across town so they went to search for you. Sam and Tucker went to capture the ghost because they're the only ones who knew how." Dash tilted his head as he listened to the noise inside the school. "Actually, they must've caught it. I don't hear anything anymore."
"You sent Sam and Tucker?!" Danny struggled out of Dash's arms and fell into the door. Once he yanked it open, he was ready to bolt only to find that his classmates had stacked all of their desks in front of it. He could see them keeping guard, armed with school supplies. Some of them had rulers taped together, while one student had a handful of exacto-knives.
"What's going on?" Danny asked.
Dash peeked out of the closet from behind Danny. "And how did you guys do this so fast?"
Paulina spun around to face the two boys. She was also wielding handfuls of exacto-knives in between her fingers. "We're protecting you, Danny!"
"From what? There's nothing happening."
"That ghost that was still loose in the school." Star said, peering through the stacks of desks. "We weren't sure if it would try coming back or not."
"Also your parents!" Kwan said cheerfully. He was sitting in front of them, leaning against the desks with a football in his hand.
"Kwan!" Paulina hissed. "We weren't gonna mention that!"
Danny closed his eyes and shook his head. "It's fine, it doesn't- why are you all being so nice to me?"
All of the students in the classroom looked at Danny, confusion in their faces. No one said anything until Dash spoke up behind him.
"Because you're our hero." Dash ran a hand over the back of his head. "You do so much for us all the time, why wouldn't we have your back after finding out about something this big?"
Danny shrugged. "Because I'm Danny Fenton."
"Mr. Fenton." Mr. Lancer spoke up. "I think I speak for everyone when I say we should have treated you better and given you more support." He shakes his head. "As a teacher I especially should have tried to accommodate you when I realized something must be happening outside of school for you to be struggling so much."
Danny stared at Mr. Lancer. "I- wow, I didn't- thank you Mr.-"
Suddenly the door banged open and Dash looked to see Sam and Tucker standing there brandishing their weapons. With a look around the classroom they took in their unharmed friend and the barricade the students had built in front of the closet door
"What's going on?" Tucker asked as he lowered his tube of lipstick. Dash still didn't know how that was supposed to help, but whatever.
"Apparently they were trying to protect me, but I think they forgot that the ghost that threw me through the floor can just go through walls." Danny said as he started climbing through the desk pile. Dash moved the desks so he could follow.
"Wait a minute." Dash said as he moved another desk. "If you can phase through objects, how come you didn't phase through the ceiling instead of crashing through it?"
Danny threw his hands up into the air and turned to face Dash. "It's hard to think when you're getting thrown all over the place!"
"Alright, everyone." Mr. Lancer clapped his hands together. "Now that the situation is somewhat sorted out, we need to go wait outside in our ghost attack drill locations." He leveled a look at the class. "And from now on, what happens in English class stays in English class. Understood?"
The class let out a collective affirmative and together they all headed out of the classroom. Danny was about to make his way over to Sam and Tucker when Dash clapped him on the back.
"I know me saying this doesn't fix anything between us, but if you ever need it we've got your back, alright?"
Danny smiled up at him and nodded.
"Alright."
