Danny dried off from his morning swim and took a shower, removing the ocean smell from his skin. He went to the kitchen and ate the breakfast Jazz had prepared and left in the fridge for him. Like she'd been doing since he was a small child.
His sister had always cared for him. The fenton parents were negligent in the least. So Jazz, since the age of 10, had taken care of Danny's fundamental needs.
Putting away the last of the clean dishes, he moved to straightening the living room. As he finished the front door flew open and in walked his two best friends.
"Wassup!" Tucker said.
"Com'on Danny. We've got to get going if we're not going to be late again."
"Just give me a minute," he said.
He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water, drinking the full thing in seconds. Then doing it again. And again. And again. And once more for a total of five glasses. He then grabbed his lunch and put it in his backpack, grabbed his water bottle from the bottom of the stairs and walked out the door with his friends.
"Damn Danny, why do you always drink so much water?" Sam huffed.
"I'm just a thirsty kid," he laughed, pulling the key out of the lock.
"Yeah, but you do that every morning," Tucker added. "Five full glasses like it's nothing. It's kinda weird man."
"Weird or not, Danny's the healthiest person we know, Tuck. Can you ever remember a time he's gotten sick?"
Tucker lowered his head. "I guess that's true."
"I blame Jazz's influence," Danny said as they walked the pavement. "She's had me on a healthy diet ever since I can remember."
"And the most strict schedule." Tucker said.
"Yeah," Sam added. "Getting up at four to go for a two hour swim before showering, eating, cleaning, and then school?! It's kinda insane."
"Uh, actually, that's my choice. I'm all sorts of messed up if I don't get to go for my swim," Danny said.
His two friends stared at him, jaws slack. "Told you he was weird," Tucker said.
They walked along the pier, adding up Danny's weird behavior. The raven simply rolled his eyes and smiled. "Forget about it guys, the only thing abnormal about me is my drinking habits. I know tons of other kids who go for a swim at four in the morning for the heck of it!"
"No Danny," Sam said. "The only thing normal about you, is the fact that you suck in school."
"Unless we're adding in that he's a genius when it comes to anything marine," Tucker voiced.
"Well, duh. My parents are renowned marine biologists. Even if they are 'Merhunters'. Crazy as they may be, they're smart." Danny said. "One thing they did for me was that."
"Yeah," his friend's lackluster voice came. "That one thing. Have we talked about how we've never seen your parents make you a single meal?"
Danny sighed, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets. "I really don't like talking about that, and you guys know it."
Sam put her hand on Danny's shoulder as they walked through the entrance of Neptune High's front doors. "Yeah, I know. Let's get to class. Before we're late."
As she spoke those words, the late bell rang through the empty halls, and the three of them face palmed as Mr. Lancer glared at them from the door.
"You're late." He said. "Again."
"My fault Mr Lancer," Danny said. "Again."
"Somehow," he muttered. "Take a seat please, and I won't give you detention."
The trio rushed to their seats and quickly pulled out their things.
"Let's begin class…"
…
At lunch Danny, Sam, and Tucker met up at the alcove they always ate lunch in. The school bordered the beach, and all the student's often ran out to play volleyball or even go for a quick swim. Coming back to class covered in sand and sometimes soaked, just to make it to class on time.
Among the mass cluster of rocks that met the cliffs, they sat in the echoing cave to eat their lunches.
Danny sat on his rock and pulled his lunch from his backpack. Something Jazz also made him.
"I can not believe you actually eat that, ew!" Sam said.
"It's just a turkey sandwich sam!" Tucker yelled, his voice bouncing off the damp cave walls.
"Not you, I'm talking about Danny."
"Oh, yeah." He looked at his friend with a straight face. "Disgusting."
"It's basically sushi," he replied.
"Except it's basically a whole raw fish."
He unwrapped his tinfoil and held up two thick halibut fillets. "That's because it is," he tipped his head back and took a bite of the light pink meat.
Sam gagged. "I take it back, I'm not sure how Danny's so healthy. Because that is sick."
Danny laughed then finished his fish, cleaning his hands off in the sand. Then pulled out organic dried seaweed, offering some to Sam, who took some happily.
"My diet is the same as it's always been, fish and veggies."
"Seaweed isn't veggies." Tucker said. "But at least I know of other people who eat it." He motioned to Sam. "I don't know anyone else who eats as much raw fish as you do."
Danny shrugged then froze, he turned his head toward the ocean and then ran out of the cave. His friends were quick to follow, dashed after him only in time to see him diving head first, sans his pants, into the water.
A group of other students were gathered at the shoreline, a ways from the alcove, pointing at a red head struggling to tread water.
They ran over, asking what was going on.
"It's Wes! He was diving off the rocks when the current pulled him out. I don't think he can keep his head above the water much longer. And the current is too strong to swim back. He's been out there for a while now."
"Danny!" Tucker called. "Sam, I don't see him."
"Danny's the best swimmer I know, he'll be fine," she said. "I hope."
"Have we ever even seen him swim, Sam?!"
She ignored him and kept her focus on the ginger.
Wes' head disappeared for a moment, and it looked like he was gone. Then his head resurfaced and he began moving at incredible rates against the current back to shore. One of the kids already in the water moved out toward him, and as soon as he got close, Wes' body stopped moving, floating on his back, unconscious.
"I got him!"
They brought him back to the sandy shore, not long after he coughed up a lung full of water and sat up. Disoriented at the least, he looked around. The group dissipated, one of the other kids helping Wes back to the school, all of them questioning what had happened.
Sam and Tucker still stared at the horizon. "Where is he?"
They waited for a few minutes, desperately searching for their friend from the shoreline, before behind them, Danny walked up and spoke. "What are you guys staring at?
Both goth and geek jumped out of their skin, turning around at his voice.
"Oh my hell Danny where were you?" Tucker yelled.
"Getting out of the water," he shrugged. His clothes were soaking, his mostly dry pants covered in sand, unbothered by his hair dripping wet and plastered to his face.
Sam looked livid. "We thought you'd disappeared! How did you know about Wes?"
"I heard the other kids yelling," Danny said.
"We didn't hear anything," Tucker said.
Danny shrugged and started walking back to the school. "Com on, we don't wanna be late again."
"First of all," Sam said. "'Late again' perfectly describes our high school careers. Second, are you going to class like that?"
"Like what?"
"Uh, dude you're dripping wet." Tucker said.
Danny looked at himself and nodded, giving a slight laugh. "Sure, why not."
…
Danny walked into class, still soaking wet and covered in sand. Sam and Tucker avoided eye contact with the Marine Biology teacher as they made their way to their seats.
Mr Havish sighed, dropping his head as he stopped explaining something about the food chain. "Danny," he sounded pained just saying the name.
Trying not to laugh, the boy smiled and replied. "Yes, Mr. Havish?"
"Do I want to know why you're dripping wet, and disrupting an important lesson?"
"Wes was drowning, so I went out to save him. Then I tripped and got covered in sand. Interrupting your lesson was just an accident." He grinned too widely. "Can we make a bet? I kinda wanna get out of these clothes."
The teacher shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Sure, why not. What's the bet."
"I can draw and label the food chain, then I get to leave class."
"Deal."
Danny stood and walked passed several rows of students, all laughing at the bet and appearance. He grabbed a marker, the cap squeaking as he removed it and began drawing on the board.
"First there's the basic food chain. Starting with things like Phytoplankton and zooplankton, which get their energy or food from the sun. The fish eat those, and bigger fish eat those fish. Wales, seals and sharks eat the fish, as well as sometimes each other. But if we get deeper into it we get food webs, which are different…"
Danny proceeded to draw out a complex food web of the ocean, listing types of fish, wales, sharks, ect… a puddle forming in front of the white board and under his feet. After about 20 minutes he replaced the cap and turned to the teacher.
"And that explains the basics of the California coast food web. Now that I've taught your lesson, can I go?" He smiled.
"Thanks Danny," Mr. Havish smiled. "You always explain things so much better, yes you can go. Have a good day."
Danny waved to his friends as he grabbed his backpack and walked out of class. "See y'all in PE."
Danny left to the locker room, ignoring the other kids already in their third period class he grabbed his towel and PE clothes and went to one of the showers with a door. Pulling off his damp shirt he sighed in slight discomfort.
He rubbed a sore spot, a slight bulge between his shoulder blades, before turning on the cold shower. He stepped underneath the cascading water and relaxed significantly.
He stayed in the shower till he heard the third period class come in. He turned off the water and dried off, changing into clean dry clothes. Exiting the shower, he found his class coming in.
"Dude," Tucker said entering the locker room. "You should bet the teacher more often, I always understand things way better."
Danny gave a chuckle. "That's what Mr. Havish always says. What did you guys do the rest of class?"
"We copied your food web into our notebooks, that thing was wicked complex. It's probably going to be the most useful thing for the test this friday."
"Glad I could help, I wasn't going to go that far to start with, but it kinda just flows." Danny said as they left the locker room. Entering the gym they found Sam and began stretching.
"Thanks for the food web Danny," Sam said.
"No problem."
…
The trio walked home together, discussing the one sided game of dodgeball.
"How come Dash gets all of his teammates on his team?" Danny said, rubbing the sore spot on his face.
"What are you complaining about? With your luck it'll be gone by morning," Tucker said, pointing to his black eye.
"I don't know why you guys are whining," Sam said.
The boys glared. "You were on Dash's team," Danny said. "You were the one who gave me the swollen cheek.
She grinned. "Yeah I did."
"Whatever," Danny said, walking up the front porch steps. "You guys going to stay?"
"Naw, we need to get to work on the homework Lancer gave us." Tucker said.
"I'd tell you to start it too, but we all know you're not going to touch that essay," Sam laughed.
"Don't plan on it. Text me when you guys get done and we'll play a round of Doom. I'm going for a swim in the meantime."
"Again?" Tucker breathed.
"Danny," Sam said. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a fish."
Rubbing the back of his neck, Danny gave a laugh and stepped inside. Waving his friends goodbye. He gave a heavy sigh and pressed his back against the door, drained from the events of the day.
He dropped his backpack off at the stairs and marched out to the back. Ritually checking for his parents.
They were home, but occupied in their lab. He stripped his shirt and made his way to the back deck where the beach connected to his backyard. Taking the steps to the shoreline by two he checked left to right to see if anyone was there.
It was a private part of the beach, but still better to be cautious.
When no one was spotted. He stripped the rest of his clothing and ran into the ocean, diving expertly into the water.
He felt the calming sensation and cold warmth of the water welcomed him home. His legs began growing longer and into one.
Growing a long black tail, with a matching dorsal fin, and fins on his forearms. His scales were a pearly black, neon green graced the spines of his fins, and grayed to white at the points. His grin gained four sharp fangs, replacing his upper and lower canines, and his hair turned white.
Soon he was swimming below the surface with his long, strong, powerful tail. His eyes turned a bioluminescent green, compensating for the darkness in the depths of the water.
On the sides of his neck, gills made themself apparent, taking in water through his mouth and breathing air out his gills. He smiled at the familiar sensation, taking another deep breath.
He poked his head out of the water and basked in the glow of the late sun.
Just himself and his freedom.
He could go anywhere the ocean touched. He'd even swam to Hawaii before, it took him a little over a day, with rest, but sleeping in the ocean was something he enjoyed more than he would admit.
He swam in circles, swam far away then came back, dived deep and collected shells then hid them in his tide pool. It was full of special shells, beautiful rocks, lost treasures, and a few personal items from other mers. Not even Jazz knew about his tide pool, that was a special, no, a sacred place for his things. All of it hidden from his parents.
His Merhunter parents. The real reason behind Jazz taking such charge over his care. To keep his parents from ever finding out Danny's secret. She was the only other human who knew. Not that the mers he'd met knew he was cursed.
It wasn't as if he minded his curse though, or even thought of it as one.
If anything Danny thought of it as more of a blessing. Sure he needed to consume much more water then any regular human, and the ocean constantly called to him from land. Though the good outweighed the bad.
He was even able to save Wes, he might have had to drown him a little bit before he saved him, but hey, he had to be unconscious so he didn't see him.
Danny laughed to himself as he snatched a fish for a snack. He hopped Wes didn't develop a fettish over him.
Hours passed before he heard Jazz calling via sonar ping. He made his way back to the shore and checked for his parents, the only person he saw was Jazz and he slowly dragged himself out of the water.
She tossed him a towel and smiled. "How you doing, little brother?"
Danny flexed his gills, pushing out the last of the water from his lungs before he spoke. "Good, just out for another swim," he frowned when he saw the sun more than half way below the horizon. "Damn, was I out for that long again?"
She nodded. "You've got to balance your time in the water, Danny."
A sour look shamed his features. "But I'm on land more than I am in the water, Jazz! It sucks, do you know how hard it is for me to pay attention sometimes because it pulls at me?" He yelled.
She frowned as Danny's body slowly shifted back to that of a human. "I know, well… i don't know. And I won't, I can't. But I am here for you Danny."
Danny stood and wrapped the towel around his waist, his eyes still green as he gazed out at the sea. "The ocean is my home, Jazz. It's the only place I feel… alive."
She sighed, not knowing what to do she pulled Danny into a hug. "What am I going to do with you?"
He gave a sheepish smile at her as they began climbing the stairs back to the house. "You could buy me oysters for dinner? Or Crab?"
Jazz laughed before shutting him down quickly. "If you want the good stuff, get it yourself. You're perfectly capable of it."
Danny nodded. "The ones I catch taste better too," he laughed.
They entered the house and Danny went to his bedroom for a third shower of the day. He came out with wet hair, greeting his parents and Jazz and taking his seat at the dinner table.
"So," Danny said with a smirk. "Did you guys figure anything out with your Mer-stuff?"
Jazz glared at him. She hated it when he antagonized their parents about mer related things, though secretly found it funny herself.
"Not yet," Jack said. "But we're so darn close, I can feel it."
"Your father's right, I think we have a mer real close. Like it's right under our nose." Maddie said.
"I feel like it's taunting us Mads," Jack added.
Danny and Jazz shared a look, both trying desperately to keep in their laughter.
Danny ate his salad dry, and drank his ridiculous amount of water. His parents not paying mind to it as they discussed where they were going to search next for the mers. Jazz dished up her own plate of lasagna, and rolled her eyes as her parents' plates got cold.
Danny rinsed his and Jazz's plates after dinner and placed the leftover food in a tupperware in the fridge. Leaving his parents at the table, still discussing mers. He left to his room, and logged onto Doom.
He played for several hours before doing his math homework, ignoring the essay Lancer had assigned, then finally going to bed.
He set his alarm for four the next morning, jumped on his water bed and fell soundly to sleep.
Just a simple day in the life of Danny Fenton.