Sam was pissed. "You let him go in there alone?!"

"He's a ghost," Tucker said. "He can jump back out whenever he wants!"

Sam glared at Sidney. "That so?"

"Yes ma'am!" Sidney said. He straightened out Dash's Letterman jacket and ran his fingers through his blond locks, admiring Dash's reflection in the mirror. "The Phantom is safe. But the bully will be outnumbered."

"So it'll take a while for him to find Dash in the first place," Danny said.

Sidney snapped Dash's fingers. Danny couldn't help but think of Phantom's quip earlier. Puppet Master.

"Exacto-mundo," Sidney said.

"The heck are we supposed to do in the meantime, huh?" Sam said.

"I owe a special somebody a slurg." Sidney winked at Danny.

"Miiilk. Shaaake," Tucker said.

Sidney laughed. Dash had a surprisingly high pitched laugh. Kind of scratchy. "Yes! And we can gst fries. You want fries, Danny?"

It was still weird hearing his first name come out of Dash's mouth. It took a second of them both staring at each other before Danny remembered he'd been asked a question.

He gulped. "Uh… fries as friends?"

Sidney blinked. He looked at Tucker.

Tucker stage whispered. "Sloooow."

Sidney nodded solemnly. "Friendship fries."

Sam stuck her hands in the locker and unhooked the mirror from its hook on the wall.

"Wh-what-" Sidney started.

"I'm not leaving it here," she said.

Then she put it in her spider backpack, careful to wrap it in a black sweater.

oOo

Sidney bought two milkshakes, forcing Tucker to share with Sam and Danny to share with Sidney.

Tucker smirked at Danny from across the table.

Danny kicked him, but Tucker just briefly winced and then started giggling.

Sam aggressively chewed on fries. There was a large basket of them at the center of the table.

She used one to point at Sidney.

"Where do you go when Phantom gets back with Dash?" Sam said.

Sidney shrugged, not-so-casually throwing an arm over the booth behind Danny.

"I'll float around," Sidney said. "In my natural form, I suppose?"

Sam tightened her hold on the purple spider backpack, which she'd kept on her lap.

"You won't get sucked back into the mirror?"

Tucker and Danny both straightened, eyes widening, and Danny reached for his utility belt.

Sidney, by contrast, just laughed.

And laughed.

It wasn't a sinister laugh. More like a fit of uncontrollable giggles.

As if someone were tickling him.

He laughed so hard milkshake spurted out his nose and Danny automatically scrambled to give the guy a napkin.

"The mirror traps bullies," Sidney finally gasped. "I'm safe and sound. And with my friends!"

Abandoning his earlier nonchalance, Sidney dropped a heavy arm around Danny's shoulders to emphasize the word 'friends.'

It didn't occur to Danny to shrug him off. Instead he marveled at how warm Dash's arm was. How tall the guy was.

It felt very different from the hugs he got from Phantom.

Different, too, from the way Dash liked to shove him up against walls and locker doors.

Sam groaned. "Whatever. If Phantom isn't flying out of this haunted mirror by tomorrow I'm holding you responsible, Dexter-dork."

Sidney pouted. "Pointdexter."

"Whatever." Sam grabbed Tucker by the elbow and pulled him out of the booth with her. "Enjoy your date, Danny."

"H-hey!" Danny said. "I don't… I didn't… fuck you, Sam!"

"Fuck you too," she said, rolling her eyes.

Tucker chuckled nervously as she dragged him away. "S-see you guys later, haha…"

Sidney seemed pleased by this development. He cranked up Dash's 20 watt smile and said, "Want to see what's playing at the drive in?"

Danny scooted out from under his arm and out of the booth. "You mean… the movie theater."

Sidney followed him out of the Nasty Burger. "Sure, sure!" He said. "On me."

oOo

They saw a science fiction movie. Danny picked it because it seemed like the safest non-date movie available.

Plus it was badass and they both loved it.

Sidney was so engrossed in the story he even forgot about putting moves on Danny.

Which was a good thing, Danny reminded himself.

Yet he was oddly disappointed?

But how ridiculous would it be to date a ghost? Especially since Danny didn't even know what Sidney looked like.

"Hey Sidney," Danny said as they were walking out of the theater.

"Yeah?" Sidney grabbed Danny's hand.

Dash's hand was large and warm. But what was Sidney's like?

"Are you stuck in Dash's body or can you come out?"

Sidney blinked. "Come out?"

"Just so I can see you," Danny said. "You know, the real you."

Sidney frowned. "I'm not uh… I can't right now."

"How come?"

"Can't leave a body unattended."

"You can't?"

Sidney sighed. "Hold on." He tugged on Danny's hand.

Danny allowed the other boy to lead him to a bench.

They sat down. "For a ghost," Sidney said. "Bodies are rare. Like… like planes."

"Okay…"

"If one is left empty someone else will want to take it," Sidney said. "I don't want… to lose my spot. Until I have to."

"When Phantom brings Dash back."

"Right," Sidney said. "Yeah."

Sidney squeezed Danny's hand. "Besides," he continued. "I'm not… handsome."

Danny laughed. "Says who?"

"Everyone who has ever met me," Sidney said.

Danny frowned.

He thought for a second. "You were born in the 50s right?"

"Technically I was born in the late 30s," Sidney said. "1938."

"Wow. Okay well. Um." Danny surprised himself by placing his free hand over Sidney's, effectively cradling the bigger hand. "So it's like… well my friend Sam says standards of, uh, beauty kind of change? Over time?"

"Standards of beauty?" Sidney echoed.

"Yeah so like stuff that was maybe ugly in the past… like…" Danny scrambled to remember the examples Sam had given. "Oh like being hairless!"

Sidney smiled. "Being hairless is lame!" He announced.

Danny grinned. "It was. But now it's considered prettier."

"Really?"

"Really."

Sidney used his free hand to pull Dash's shirt away from his body and peek down at his own chest.

At Dash's chest.

"Huh," he said. "Smooth as a baby's bottom."

Danny laughed, releasing the hand he was holding and scooting slightly away.

Sidney scooted with him, pressing their legs together. "Do you like hairless?"

"Um, yeah," Danny said.

"Do you like height?"

Danny gulped. "W-well, I don't care about height. Short guys are handsome too."

"Do you like men?" Sidney said.

Danny stared at his knees. "Probably," he said.

"Do you like women?" Sidney said. "Cause I thought I liked women. I think I still do."

"Me too," Danny said. "There's a word for that."

"There is?"

"Yeah. Bisexual."

"Bisexual," Sidney repeated. "I like it. Okie dokie! I'm bisexual."

"Me too," Danny said.

Sidney grinned. "Well, don't we make a great pair then!"

"But…" Danny thought about what Sam had said at the Nasty Burger. "Will you leave when Dash gets back?"

Sidney huffed irritably. "The Phantom will make me return this body to its bully."

"I know," Danny said. "But you can still stick around right? As a ghost?"

Sidney glanced up at the sky. He said, "I'm actually not sure."

"Why aren't you sure?"

"I've never done this before."

"What? But you made it seem like-"

Sidney shrugged.

Danny sighed. "Okay. We'll just have to wait and see."

Sidney leaned forward and before Danny knew it he was being wrapped in a hug.

"Let's not bash ears," Sidney said. "I've never felt this way before. Can I just… can we walk out? Just for a little while? I don't know how long this will last."

Danny tried to relax into the hug. Tentatively, he raised his arms to squeeze the bigger boy back.

"Does that mean boyfriend and boyfriend?"

"Yeah! Wow. Yeah."

"Okay," Danny said.

Sidney leaned back from the hug to study Danny's face. "Really?"

"Yeah really."

"Hot dog!" He leapt up. "Let's see another film then! One with necking in it!"

Danny stood up too and Sidney grabbed his hand again.

"Okay," Danny said.

"Whoo!"

So they saw a romantic comedy.

And Danny tried not to picture Tucker laughing at him.