Phic Phight 2022

Make-Out Make Out


Twenty bodies lay on the shrivelled grass dripping with slime. Danny, Sam, and Tucker stand before them in the grey morning light.

"Now what?" Tucker asks.

Danny's hands go intangible, letting the goo on his gloves slide off. A part of him is still convinced that was their breakfast the campers were floating in and not some special liquid. It's the right consistency for it.

"Now we get everyone in their beds," Sam says. "With any luck, waking up there will help convince them the past few days were just a dream."

"And then we get fifty more days of Lancer and Tetslaff. Yay," Tucker drones.

"Come on, Tuck. It won't be that bad." Danny recalls Lancer's piercing rendition of Row, Row, Row Your Boat. "Maybe. Let's just get to work."

Danny does most of the heavy lifting, seeing as he's the one with enhanced strength and the power of flight. Sam and Tucker work together to bring the girls to their cabin while Danny gets everyone else. It takes less than twenty minutes to get everyone situated. By that time, the sun has risen. Danny thinks. It's hard to tell through the fog, but the grey surrounding them is a little bit lighter than it was before. He figures that's the most they're going to get at Lake Eerie.

The only evidence remaining of Walker's kidnapping scheme is the suspended animation container. It squats in the middle of the camp, as dismal and grey as everything else around them.

"What do we do about that?" Sam asks.

"Good question." Danny frowns. They can't leave it, obviously, but there's also no way for them to safely dispose of it out here. Danny floats around the container, knocking his fist against the glass. His parents would love to have something like this. Since the container was made with Ghost Zone materials, they wouldn't even have to ghost-proof it. It's already inescapable for any ectoplasmic creature. Danny shudders.

"The Sleeper Awakes, what is that?"

Danny drops to the ground and prays Lancer doesn't see him. The metal bracing is tall, but Danny at eighteen isn't as small as he was at fourteen. It won't take much for Lancer to notice the glow of his aura and the stark black of his jumpsuit. Danny keeps his transformation rings low as he army crawls forward to peek around the side of the container.

Lancer stands at the threshold of the counsellors' cabin, gaping at the container.

"Uh..." Sam and Tucker stare at each other. None of them have a good explanation.

Lancer grabs his head. "Oh, I have such a headache. What did... Was that..."

"Mr. Lancer!" Danny calls out, interrupting his train of thought. He scrambles to his feet and joins Sam and Tucker out in the open. "It's, uh, the aquarium that you told us about. You know, so we could study the fish in the lake." He gestures out to the murky water beyond the cabins. "For... a biology badge?"

Sam elbows Danny's side and hisses in his ear. "That's for Boy Scouts you idiot!"

Danny shrugs. It's too late, now.

Lancer scratches his head as he looks from the container to the lake. "And the... porridge?"

"What, you haven't seen aquarium water before?" Tucker knocks his fist against the tank. The liquid inside jiggles. "Keeps the fish nice and healthy even though there's no filter on this thing. It's really good stuff."

"Right—I... yes. I must have, but..." Lancer stares into the distance. "Porridge. It's time for breakfast." He shuffles off toward the mess hall.

Danny holds his breath until Lancer is gone, letting it out only once the mess hall door closes behind him. "I can't believe that worked."

"Aquarium!" Sam slaps Danny's shoulder. "Danny, I'm gonna kill you if anyone tries to put fish in that thing!"

"Relax, I doubt there's any fish in this lake. It'll be like nothing ever happened."


It was not like nothing ever happened, but not for the reason the trio feared. That first morning after the fight with Walker, everyone woke up groggy and disoriented. As Sam predicted, they all had nasty headaches that kept them from thinking too hard about what had happened. Some of them paused when they saw the new aquarium sitting in the middle of the camp, but no one questioned it. Danny waited with bated breath for someone to say something. He spent the next week tiptoeing around the other campers, afraid to say something that might trigger a memory, but as far as he could tell, the plan worked. No one remembered, and if they did, they thought it was all a wild dream.

Camp continued as normal, except for one small change. Danny and Sam, more often than not, found themselves in each other's company. At a glance that didn't seem strange. They are friends, after all, and spend a great deal of time together. But they have always been a trio, with Tucker at their side. Over the next couple of weeks, however, they kept ending up alone in quiet, secluded corners. Even during group activities, they slipped away from the others to be on their own.

It started with gentle touches. Nothing out of the ordinary. Shoulders bumping. The backs of their hands brushing as they walk. Then came the handholding. During hikes, campfire song sessions, when they moved from one activity to the next, until they sat next to each other at the dining table one day and immediately entwined their fingers without a second thought.

The Walker debacle was over, and the rest of the camp was none the wiser, but it was not like nothing ever happened.


Canoeing on a calm lake sounds like a nice way to spend an afternoon. And it would be—if it were any other lake at any other camp. But at Lake Eerie, the water is black, and the sky is grey. A still lake means no wind, and no wind means the fog hangs over the lake with no inclination of moving. The sun can't even burn the haze away because of the heavy cloud coverage. They should try canoeing at night. The sky is always clear then, for some reason.

"Enjoying the scenery?" Danny asks.

Sam lifts her head from where it rests against the back of the canoe. "The dreariness appeases my goth sensibilities, but there is such a thing as too much grey."

"No, I don't think that's true." Danny leans over the edge of the canoe, making it rock. "See this patch right here?" He points to a spot to their right. "That's my favourite patch."

"It's prettier than all the others?" Sam asks.

Danny grins. "That's where Dash is." An ectoblast fires from his open palm. The ball of light shoots through the fog. It highlights a burly silhouette across the lake before striking the water with a splash. Dash and Kwan's cries of shock ripple through the fog. Danny snickers.

"Using your powers for good, I see," Sam says.

"I saved his life not too long ago. I think I get a little compensation for that."

Sam rolls her eyes. "Excuse me, we saved his life, thank you very much. I was pretty badass and cool before we got caught."

"You mean I wasn't badass and cool?"

"You mean with your whole 'you don't scare me—I'll wear that shock collar' bit? Real cool." Sam smiles at him.

He tries to smile back, really. They crack jokes about Danny's ghost fights all the time. Danny's fights. Sam and Tucker are always there to have his back, of course. They always have his back and do their fair share of fighting, but when it comes down to it, Danny is usually the only one in serious danger. Even when Tucker and the other campers got kidnapped. Danny had been worried and scared for them, but they weren't hurt. Sam, though... Sam could have been.

Danny sometimes lives through those few seconds over and over again when he lies in his bed at night. That's all it had been—a few seconds. A few steps. Walker, with the collar in his hands, turning away from Danny and reach out to Sam instead. He had never been so scared in his life, not even when he faced down Pariah Dark. He's used to being in the line of fire, but he's not used to his friends being in it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Sam asks.

Danny shakes his head. "Nothing, I just—it's nothing."

Sam gets up, taking care not to rock the canoe too much. She kneels in front of Danny's bench and grabs his hand. "What's wrong?"

Danny bites his lip. It's silly. The danger has come and gone. There's nothing for him to fret about anymore. But if that's true, then why does he keep thinking of it? They're nearing the halfway point of summer, a month since Walker happened, and Danny can't let it go.

"When... when Walker had that collar," Danny begins softly. "Yeah, I wasn't scared at first. I know we talked about it right after it happened. You're important to me—so is Tucker. But..." He thinks hard about how he wants to explain himself. "It's different. Between you and Tucker. Not that it's any less! You're both my best friends and you're equally important to me, but it's... it's different. And when I saw Walker reaching out for you with that collar, and I couldn't stop him, I thought..."

Danny turns Sam's hand over in his. He cradles it between his palms like something precious. She has a lot of callouses on her fingers. He traces them with her thumbs. He knows where she got each one. The callous on the inside of her index finger is from pulling triggers all the time. The hard pad on her thumb is from the sharp edges buttons on Fenton Works tech usually have—a downside of the sleek metal design. There's a row of rough patches on the top of her palm from gardening, hours spent holding trowels and spades as she plants things.

Danny knows these hands as well as he knows his own.

"I mean, I knew I wasn't going to lose you. There's no way I would let that happen." There's no sun on his face, but Danny feels hot suddenly. He ducks his head, trying to hide the blush. "But I thought that I couldn't let something happen to you without... without telling you that I like you."

Danny watches the water. He means to wait for Sam's reply, but after the first few seconds of silence, he can't bear it.

"I mean, I know that's not the greatest time to think something like that. I was worried you would be hurt, obviously! I wasn't just thinking 'oh no, I never told Sam I loved her' because that would be kind of selfish if that was the only thing going through my head right then. But it really stuck out because I didn't even know I liked you. Obviously, I do, and I have for a while, but I didn't know it until the whole Walker thing and now—"

Sam snorts.

"Are you laughing at me?"

She is. She totally is. Sam sucks her lips in. Her shoulders shake from the effort of holding it in, but she is laughing at him.

"Hey, I'm kind of trying to confess here, and being laughed at doesn't help my confidence."

"Danny." Sam pushes herself up onto her knees and grabs the back of Danny's head. "You're an idiot."

She yanks him down and kisses him. Danny flails. Is this happening? It's not a fake-out of some kind? He finds himself scanning the water, just in case, but who would they be faking out anyway?

This is really. Holy shit. This is real. Sam is kissing him.

Sam pulls back. "I'm trying to make out here and not being kissed back really doesn't help me confi—"

Danny throws himself forward. Sam shrieks with laughter as they fall back into the middle of the canoe. He presses his lips to hers and she eagerly kisses him back. They break apart every few seconds, giggling as if they can't believe this is happening. In the back of his mind, Danny is thankful for Valerie and Elliot. He knows his first few kisses with Valerie kind of sucked; he's sure Sam's first kiss with Elliot couldn't have been much better. This is kind of awesome, though.

"Alright, campers!" Lancer's voice carries over the lake. "It's time to dock! Dinner is in twenty minutes, which gives you enough time to shower and change, and then you have an hour of free time before the starlight hike!"

Danny and Sam separate. He has to brace himself on the side of the boat to keep his weight off of her. Sam's dark hair splays out around her head like a shadowy halo. Her cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are bright.

"You're really pretty," Danny mumbles.

Her face gets even redder. "We should head in."

Somewhere nearby, the other campers start rowing their boats in. The sound of splashing oars comes from all around them. Before Danny can get up, something thunks into the side of their boat.

"Watcha doing?" Tucker drawls.

Danny practically jumps out of the canoe as he launches himself back off of Sam. She jerks upright, sliding back to her seat near the front. Tucker grins at them from his canoe. Behind him, Mikey rolls his eyes.

"Oh, hey guys. Real choppy today. We kind of fell off our seats," Danny says. There is not even a breeze to ruffle his hair, much less work up the water. "Where's Lester?"

"He got stuck with Lancer since he can't swim," Mikey says.

"That's cool. Guess we better head in for dinner, huh? A shower sounds nice."

"Yeah. A nice cold one," Tucker says.

Sam clears her throat. "Tucker, I will put you into the aquarium."

Tucker lets out a strained chuckle and wipes a nervous sweat from his forehead. "Mikey, away!"

Mikey groans. Pulling at their oars, he slowly rows them away. Tucker's smug face disappears into the fog. Danny and Sam wait until they can't even see the silhouette of Tucker's boat before moving.

They separate at the shore, heading for their respective cabins. Danny has to fight to keep his feet his feet planted on the ground. It takes an impressive amount of willpower. Giddiness courses through him, making his body feel light. He wants to take off into the sky and scream his joy at the top of his lungs but that would turn too many heads. He settles for a goofy smile instead


The hike that night takes them to an outlook where Lancer makes them stop and stargaze. He has a whole lesson on constellations planned out. However, Danny knows more about stars than his teacher could ever hope to learn, and Sam has Danny, so she doesn't need to learn about stars from Lancer. They sneak away the first chance they get, disappearing into the trees and finding a sizeable pine to hide behind.

They almost miss Lancer's call to head back to camp. It isn't until Tucker calls out, "Hey, anyone seen Danny or Sam?" that they realized they have been missing too long. They re-enter the clearing through opposite sides, brushing twigs and pine needles from their clothes.

"Sorry, I had to go to the bathroom," Danny says.

"So did I," Sam says.

Paulina pulls a disgusted face. "Ew, out in the woods? So gross."

"Oh, good. I was worried a monster got you or something," Tucker says. Danny and Sam jab their elbows into his sides. He doubles over with a wheeze. "Worth it."


A twig snaps somewhere in the distance. Danny blames it on the local wildlife. There must be some kind of wildlife around here, even though Camp Eerie looks like that place all things go to die. He hopes it's wildlife, otherwise he and Sam should probably stop kissing right now if they don't want to get caught.

No other sounds follow, though. Good.

Sam presses him against the back wall of the cabin. His hands rest on her waist, against her bare skin. Never before has Danny been so happy that Sam wears crop tops all the time. Slowly, he raises his hands higher, until he can feel the hem of her shirt and beneath that, the fabric of her sports bra.

Before he can even think of doing anything indecent, a flashlight shines right in his face. Danny reels back with a cry of shock, releasing Sam to shade his eyes. "What the hell?"

"Wow, that's bright." The light flashes away, illuminating Tucker. He stands at the corner of the cabin. "I was blinded for a second. What are you guys doing here in the middle of the night?"

Not quite the middle of the night. The rest of the campers are sitting around the fire telling scary stories. Anything they can come up with is rather underwhelming when compared to the start of summer. Danny and Sam both agreed they had better things to do elsewhere.

Namely, make out behind the nearest cabin.

"Looking for gross stuff to hide in Paulina's makeup bag," Sam says without hesitation. She has already smoothed out her clothes and hair. Danny stares at her in awe. How can she compose herself so quickly? It must be a super-power. He rushes to straighten out his shirt.

"Cool, can I help?" Tucker asks.

"Uh–"

"Hey, look, a frog!"

Danny and Sam share a helpless look, resigning themselves to Tucker's presence. Or they could simply tell him what they were doing. Tucker has been pestering them for years about their feelings. He would probably be ecstatic if Danny said he finally confessed. But Sam shakes her head with a devilish smile. Danny already knows what she's thinking without her saying anything.

For now, they'll keep things to themselves. There's something thrilling about trying to sneak around, anyway.


It becomes a game. How long can they be gone for before someone notices? Better yet, how long before anyone catches them? They never actually talk about what it is that they're doing. It's certainly not dating, but it's hard to have a proper date while you're at summer camp anyway. They like each other. They like making out. As long as they're stuck at Lake Eerie, that's all there is to it. The rest can come after, once summer ends and they're back home.

The hardest day comes when they wake up one morning to a heavy downpour. Lancer cancels all planned activities for the day and confines everyone to the mess hall.

"Do whatever, just don't wreck the place." He must have had something great planned for the day if a little rain bums him out that much.

The thing about the mess hall is that there isn't a lot of private space. Or any unless you sneak into the kitchen or hide away in the bathrooms. But the kitchen is off-limits and people need the bathrooms. They end up hiding beneath a table in the corner of the room. The tablecloth does a decent job hiding them, not that they need it that day. Danny sits with his arm wrapped around Sam's shoulder, her head resting on him as they listen to music. With Dumpty Humpty blasting in their ears and the rain outside, it makes a nice atmosphere. They still steal the occasional kiss, but today is a good day just to spend time together.

"You think Tucker knows?" Danny asks.

"I did at first, but he would have brought it up by now," Sam says.

Good point. "He's the one who finds us the most, though."

During hikes. When they're at the lake. Any time Danny tries to sneak out of his cabin at night. For the last two weeks, Tucker seems to always be there when Danny and Sam find a moment alone.

"Who else is going to look for us?" Sam says. "And to be fair, we have kind of been leaving him out. He's still our best friend. We should probably talk to him anyway.

Another good point. She's so smart. That's why Danny loves her.

Danny's breath hitches.

"Danny?" Sam prods his shoulder.

"I'm fine." His voice cracks. Wow. What a way to have such a revelation. Under a dining hall table at Lake Eerie of all places. The setting is underwhelming, but the scene...

Danny peers down at Sam. Her hair is a mess because the humidity makes it all frizzy. The clothes she wears are only a step up from her pyjamas, a pair of sweatpants and a flannel shirt over her sports bra. Every once in a while, she picks flakes of her nail polish off before going back to drumming on Danny's thigh. She sings along to the song under her breath, her face scrunching as she matches the intensity of the music while still keeping quiet.

Yeah. Danny loves her.


The rest of summer camp goes on like that. The game continues, but it becomes less about not getting caught and more about spending time together. Whenever they go canoeing, they find the foggiest part of the lake to settle in. During camp activities, they keep to themselves. At night, they slip out of their cabins and watch the stars together.

Tucker still finds ways to interrupt them, though. It happens often enough that Danny starts feeling bad for leaving him out. But when Danny tries to apologize to him, Tucker just stares.

"What are you talking about?" he asks.

"Um, I didn't want you to think we had forgotten about you or something," Danny says.

Tucker cocks his head. "What do you mean?"

"Because Sam and I– because we've been–" Danny doesn't know how to explain it without spilling the truth.

"What about you and Sam?" Tucker's gaze is filled with such innocence. Such genuine confusion.

Danny has to power walk away, his ears turning scarlet. "Nothing! It's fine, we aren't doing anything. Carry on!"

He misses the sharp grin that Tucker's wide-eyed expression falls into the second his back is turned.


The last day of camp comes far too soon for Danny's liking, or not soon enough. He honestly can't decide how he feels. The summer has been fun, even if he spent it trapped in a cabin with Dash and Kwan. Then again, the fun will keep going once they're home.

Never mind, he wishes camp had ended weeks ago so they could get back to sunny skies. Danny doesn't want to see another cloud as long as he lives.

After breakfast, everyone works to load up the bus. Dash takes charge, grabbing people's bags and shoving them into the luggage compartment since he's the strongest. At least as far as he knows. Danny would like to see him try and carry the aquarium for half a mile when it's full of twenty people in suspended animation.

"Too bad we never found a fish to put in there," Danny muses. He would have liked to see what would happen.

"Oh, so that's what you were doing all that time out on the lake, huh?" Dash asks.

"Excuse me?"

Dash snatches Danny's bag from his hands and chucks it into the luggage compartment none too gently. "If you and Manson even think of making googly eyes at each other on the bus, the first thing I'm doing when we get home is wailing on your ass."

"Uh... why would we do that?"

Dash raises his eyebrows. "Really, Fentonio?"

Paulina comes up beside Danny and passes her bag to Dash. "Please, I'm tired of seeing nerds kiss."

"What?!"

Tucker snickers behind him. "Dude... you hid behind trees and stuff. Making out in a bush is not subtle."

Danny splutters. His gaze jumps from camper to camper. Everyone is staring at him and Sam, nodding at Tucker's words. Sam makes a miserable noise in the back of her throat. She drops her head against Danny's shoulder and lets out a muffled scream.

"Oh, my God." Danny hides his face in Sam's hair. "Why did no one tell us?"

Tucker waggles his fingers. "One hour of free movie time for every accidental stumble across your make-out sessions. It was the only way to keep their mouths shut."

"Tucker! Why!"

"You were trying so hard. It was adorable."

"Why did you keep interrupting us?!"

"Uh, because I'm your best friend and you didn't tell me? Come on, dude. I had to get some kind of revenge." Tucker pats Danny's shoulder as he passes him.

"If it's any consolation, you guys are actually, like, sort of cute together," Paulina says.

Danny and Sam lean on each other, wallowing in their shared misery as everyone else loads onto the bus. This is it. This is how he dies. Not from one of Skulker's bazookas or Val's rockets, but embarrassment.

Tetslaff's large hands come down on their shoulders. She pulls Danny and Sam apart and shoves them toward the bus. "Alright, lovebirds. It's boarding time." She shoves Danny into the first seat on the right, next to Lancer, while Sam ends up sitting beside Tetslaff.

"Why are we sitting here?" Danny asks.

Lancer stares down at him. "You know why."

Danny sinks in his seat and buries his face in his hands. Lake Eerie is officially his least favourite place in the world.


Prompt by ghostgothgeek: Danny and Sam's relationship blossoms after the events of Claw of the Wild. What happens during the rest of summer camp, and how much do their classmates remember?