"Where is that crazy fruit loop?" Danny asked himself as he walked along the green hallways.

It was his first official day of training with Vlad and he couldn't wait to get started. He decided to go to the office he found Vlad last time and there Vlad was holding a stack of books.

Danny walked up to him. "What are the books for?"

"They're for you, here." Vlad said as he handed Danny the books.

"Okay…are there ghost secrets in these or something?"

Vlad snorted. "No, Daniel. These are regular books. Math, English, History, Science."

Every class that Danny was failing.

Danny paled. "Why did you give me these?"

Vlad crossed his arms. "Because you're failing all of your classes and somehow you're even failing gym!"

"How do you even know this?!"

Vlad shrugged. "I have my ways. Until you raise your grades there will be no training. From now on you come here to study."

"That's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair Daniel. Now go do what I said."

Danny huffed and walked over to the couch, plopping down. He dropped the books on the coffee table and grabbed the first one on the stack.

Math.

"Vlad, why are you doing this to me?"

Vlad rolled his eyes and sat next to Danny. "Because I care about your education. Now stop talking and start reading."

He cracked open the book and promptly zoned out. He hated math, why did they even teach it in school? It wasn't like he'd use it when he graduated.

A ping from his phone broke him from his thoughts. He looked at the message. It was Honey.

Hey Danny! I was supposed to see a boovie with Cleo tomorrow night but she couldn't make it. Do you want to come instead?

He smiled. Sure, it sounds fun!

"What are you smiling about, Daniel?"

Danny looked up from his phone. "A friend texted me."

"I see. It's that monster girl isn't it? Honey, was her name."

Danny scowled. "I don't care what you say, you're a total stalker!

Vlad snorted and rolled his eyes. "Fine, little badger, I admit it. I'm a stalker."

Danny scoffed and went back to his phone. According to Honey they'd be seeing Dyin' Rengore's new boovie Deadghoul. He had never heard of it but he was sure it'd be fine.

He was about to send her another text when Vlad cut in and said: "That's enough texting, Daniel. Study now."

Danny groaned and begrudgingly did as told.

xxxx

Danny watched the movie screen in horror. He side-eyed Honey who was cackling in glee beside him. This boovie was gruesome. Heads rolled, bodies exploded, intestines spilling out of bodies.

A wave of nausea went through him.

He should have known monster movies would be like this. He literally ate brains the other day but goddamn this was so sick. He grimaced when Deadghoul shot someone point-blank in the head.

Laughter filled the theater.

"Oh my ghoul!" Honey laughed. "Look at all that brain matter!"

He faked a laugh. "Yeah, it's hilarious!"

xxxx

After the boovie ended Honey remembered that the Scarnival was in town so they decided to go. The night was still young after all.

"And I win again." Danny said looking at all the downed milk bottles with pride.

Honey huffed and crossed her arms. "You just got lucky this time."

He grinned. "Someone's a sore loser."

"Whatever. I'm going to win the next game." she said as they went to another booth.

Honey in fact did not win the next game or the games after that. Danny won again and again and again.

"Are you sure you don't have luck powers too?" Honey said in shock.

Before he could answer, a girl with bone wings and pink hair came running up to them.

"Oh my gods!" she gushed. "You two are so cute together! I didn't know you were dating Phantom, Honey!"

"We're not dating!" Danny and Honey cried in unison.

"And I'm not Cupid. Well, bye, have fun on your date!" she said. She then blew a kiss and disappeared amongst the crowd.

He blinked. "What just happened?"

Honey glared in the direction Cupid went before she turned to him, a slight blush on her cheeks. "It was just Cupid bein' stupid. Ooh! I think I saw a fun game over there!" she pointed off into the distance. "C'mon let's go!" she said, grabbing his arm and leading him through the crowd.

Needless to say, Danny won that game too.

xxxx

Danny laid on his bed and stared up at the ceiling deep in thought. He really should sleep but he couldn't stop thinking about what Cupid said earlier. Did it really look like him and Honey were dating? It must have if Cupid herself said so.

His cheeks heated up. Oh god! This was not good! Yes, he could admit that Honey was cute. He wasn't blind but she was just his friend. That's it. That's all. They weren't dating and he did like her—but not in that way!

Besides he was a halfa for all he knew she'd drop him as soon as she found out. So there was no point in even thinking about a potential relationship.

He crawled under the covers and shut his eyes, willing all thoughts of having feelings for Honey away forever.

They'd be gone by tomorrow morning.

xxxx

Those traitorous thoughts were not gone by tomorrow morning. In fact they stayed with him all night burrowing in his head like maggots.

As Danny sat in class and listened to Mr. Lancer drone on about books he decided that he hated Cupid. He hated her with a burning passion. He couldn't stop thinking about Honey and now he thought he liked her.

Like liked her.

Stupid fucking Cupid.

He didn't even think about any of this until Cupid said something! He got no sleep last night and he couldn't even focus on his classwork, all he could think about was when he would see Honey again.

"...ton! Mr. Fenton!" Mr. Lancer called, breaking Danny from his thoughts. "Read the passage on page 4."

He blinked. "Uh sure."

He needed to get it together. He read the passage and then he tried his best to stay focused for the rest of the class.

It didn't work.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the bell rang. He stood from his chair and dragged behind Sam and Tucker as they left the classroom.

"You okay Danny? You look out of it." Sam said.

"Yeah, you look like a zombie." Tucker agreed.

He forced a grin. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just super tired. Y'know, ghost attacks."

"Damn, that sucks." Tucker said.

Danny sighed. "Yeah, It sucks so fucking much."

xxxx

Danny fell face first on the couch. God was he glad to be home. He closed his eyes and began to drift off to sleep when stomping from upstairs jolted him awake. He shot up and watched as his dad came bounding the stairs, face twisted. Mom was hot on his heels.

Neither of them realized Danny was in the room.

"Jack, calm down!" Maddie said as she latched onto his arm. "Please!"

He shrugged her off, wrenched open the front door and left, closing the door with a slam.

Danny was numb with shock before he finally spoke. "Mom, what's going on?"

She startled and turned to him, face pale. "It's nothing, sweetheart. I'm going to start dinner."

She then disappeared into the kitchen.

It'd be another dinner filled with silence and from the looks of things his dad wouldn't even be there. His heart clenched. Something was clearly wrong. Maybe Jazz knew something he didn't.

He ran upstairs and knocked on Jazz's door. He breathed a sigh of relief when she opened it. "Jazz, something is wrong!" he said as he walked into the room.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Dad left!"

She scrunched up her face. "What do you mean left?"

"He walked out the front door and slammed it behind him!"

"What?! Was mom there?"

"Yeah, she tried to stop him but he didn't listen."

She bit her lip. "That's not good…"

"I know! But when I asked mom what was going on she said it was nothing!"

She wrung her hands together. "I'm sure if it was something serious they'd tell us."

"But this is serious! They've never acted like this before!"

"Danny," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure they'll work things out. They love each other too much not to."

He hoped she'd be right.