I think I sleep through the first half of the day because I don't remember who I talk to or what anyone says to me. I really should have stayed home and gotten a few more hours of sleep. It's not like any of this is important.

For kids that are going to college or something, they should be paying attention. But I'm just counting the days until I can graduate and move out. There's no greater plan for my life after this, it's just moving from one place to another. So this shit is pretty useless to me.

By the time lunch rolls around, the coffee's out of my system and I'm practically falling asleep. My teammates are talking to me but they're not making any sense. The cafeteria is buzzing with activity and normally, crowds get me energized but I just want to sleep.

"You with us man?" Blake asks, slapping my shoulder with a laugh. His voice is too loud and I think I wince at the sound. He only responds by laughing louder. "You hungover, dude?"

I shove his hand off me and slide my tray further down the line. "Shut up," I tell him but he only laughs harder. He and Jeff are always teasing and loud and god, why the fuck can't I handle it right now? "Come on, cut it out."

Jeff follows behind me as I get my food and Blake falls out of line, moving back toward the table we claimed as ours in freshman year. It's hard to believe that ninety percent of the football team this year are the same players that I was starting out with in freshman year. Most of them played back up for the senior year but I started as quarterback.

I grab a soda in the hopes of waking myself up and head toward our table, Jeff following behind me. It's pretty full with most of my teammates and a few of the cheerleaders sitting with us today. Normally they come over only if Paulina's sitting with us. Guess she didn't call a practice during lunch hour.

"Hey Dash," Roxanne Chambers says when I sit down, smiling brightly at me. We hooked up at a party a long time ago but I always thought she understood that was a one-time thing. I don't plan on finding another fuck buddy for a while.

I pop the tab of my soda. "Hey, Roxane," I respond, chugging a few sips of the cola before setting it back on my tray. Kwan looks up from his food and smiles when he sees me so I nod, immediately dropping my gaze back to my tray.

This food barely looks edible but I'll take what I can get at this point. I need to have something to keep my energy up. Especially considering algebra is my next class after my free period. Aw, fuck. I'm studying with Danny during that.

I groan softly but I guess it's audible because several pairs of eyes turn toward me. I look up and meet Kwan's stare first. He looks concerned but he knows as well as I do that if it was anything major, we can't talk about it in front of our teammates.

"I forgot algebra's my next class," I say and my teammates give me looks of sympathy. For some reason, our team has always been almost completely divided on math. I'm on the half that really sucks at it and Kwan's on the half that's good at it. He used to tutor me but I haven't wanted him around my place since dad figured out he's not straight.

"Sucks man," Jeff comments around a mouthful of what the school calls meat loaf. Looks more like horse meat or some shit.

I'm about to respond with how I'll be studying before it but a silence descends over our table and I already know why. Before I've even turned and noticed Paulina, flanked by Star Di Marco and Francine Lawson, I know the cheerleaders have fallen silent out of respect for their queen.

"Hey," Paulina says softly, her eyes tracing my chest and I wonder if she's thinking of the bruises that are mostly faded now. Her gaze lingers longer on my lips before it's back to my eyes and I raise an eyebrow. This isn't how this is supposed to go down.

"Hey," I respond. When a player is dating a cheerleader, they get up when she comes to the table. They slide over so she can sit next to them or they tell one of their teammates to move over to make room for their girl. But Paulina and I are just fucking. If she wants to change something about our situation, this is a shitty way to let me know.

The silence is still stretched over the table and it's more of a tense, awkward silence than a respectful one now. I should probably do something to change it but fuck, Paulina's giving me so many mixed signals lately, it's making my head spin.

Paulina scoffs lightly and leans forward to bat at my arm, keeping her bubbly smile in place as she does so. "Daash! Aren't you even going to offer me a place to sit?"

God, I don't need this. I can't be a boyfriend again, I can't. I fucking suck at it and we're just supposed to be sex. That's all we were since junior year and even though we tried again this summer, it's obvious to the both of us that we're better off just seeing each other when we're horny.

I push away from the table before I've even really thought my actions through and I pull my backpack onto my shoulder, leaving my tray abandoned. "You can have my spot, I was done anyway."

Her eyebrows draw down ever so slightly and her smile loses some of its glow. Like maybe she expected me to slide over or maybe she just wanted to know that I care about her for more than her body. Fuck, I do but it's too hard to navigate these waters with her. Our boats might both be splintered but hers is at least heading toward the shore. Mine's ramming into sharp rocks with no signs of stopping.

"See you guys later," I tell the rest of the table before I'm heading away, trying to stop thinking. I should turn around and head back toward her. I should say I'm sorry and I'm just not thinking. Tell my teammates that I didn't get a lot of sleep last night so I'm off my game. But I don't. I just keep walking and then I'm out of the cafeteria.

The halls are empty, with most students either in the cafeteria or in classrooms, which leaves me plenty of room to head toward the exit doors. I could take off and eat an actual lunch or even just skip the rest of the day but I can't. Not because school's important to me but because… fuck I don't know why. It's expected of me not to run away from every little thing. My teachers expect me to get good grades so I can move on to a college, my friends expect me to want something more than a job at the garage and Alex wants more for me, too. He doesn't want me to be stuck in this town my whole life. I wish I could do all of that shit but damn, I'm so good at disappointing people.


I wander outside the school for at least a good ten minutes before I take refuge in the shade underneath the old tree near the exit doors. I can watch the parking lot from here but also pay attention to anyone that leaves the school. I spent a lot of time here in the spring. I'd fake needing to go see the nurse and my teachers would let me out no problem. This tree and I bonded together during that time. When I tried to center my gravity again with mom gone.

My phone vibrates and I let out a breath before shifting to dig my phone out. It's probably Danny wondering where I am. I don't really want to study algebra anymore, I just want to lay here and pretend it's the spring again. At least then, there wasn't this constant pressure to figure out what I'm doing with my life after this. What's wrong with never leaving this town? Is it really that bad?

From: Kwan

Are you okay?

Leave it to my best friend to make sure I'm okay after I go storming out of the cafeteria like some kind of child that didn't get their way. I don't know why he and Alex are always making excuses for the way I act. There's always some reason why I'm not a complete fuck up in their eyes and it's hard to take after a while. Why can't they just acknowledge my shitty behavior as what it is and stop trying to tell me that I'm okay? If I were okay, mom would still be here. If I wasn't a fuck up, she wouldn't have left me behind after I begged her not to.

Shit. I can't go there right now. I can't get to Alex's for at least another couple of hours so I'll just end up stewing in these feelings. I'll start thinking about mom and the last words she ever said to me and my chest will ache and squeeze and I'll start feeling pathetic again. I can't do pathetic anymore.

To: Kwan

Yeah, I'm fine. It's just shit with Paulina

It's not completely true but at least it's not an outright lie. It is Paulina. But it's also me. And my dad. My mom. Alex. Kwan. People's expectations of me. The fact that I can't want more because I can't have more. It's not in the cards for me. I don't deserve more.

I let the text send before dropping my phone onto the grass in front of me with an exaggerated sigh. My knees are drawn close to my chest and this is the first time I've been able to sit in this positon in almost a week. God, my ribs are still so fucking sore.

A shadow falls over me and I look up at Danny, his head perfectly blocking out the sun. He looks nervous, like maybe he left me waiting out here or something but the only reason I'm out here is to get away from everyone else. Danny's not part of that crowd so his presence won't be overwhelming.

"H-Hey, were you waiting for me?" he asks, his gaze sweeping the parking lot.

I shrug and pick my phone up from the grass as Kwan sends another text through. "Not really. I was just sitting here feeling sorry for myself." The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them and now Fenton gets a front row seat to how pathetic I sound most days.

He doesn't say anything at first so I force myself to stand up, grabbing my backpack by the strap that's hanging on a little better than the other one is. "Sorry, that was a little melodramatic," I say, not giving him the chance to tell me it wasn't. "So, where are we doing this?" I didn't really notice the humidity outside until just now when the sun's beating down on me but it's already flushed Danny's face. "Hopefully inside, it's hot as balls out here."

"U-Uh, i-in the library?" he asks, his voice almost squeaking as he talks. He turns back toward the school like it'll give him the answer before looking at me again. "If you're o-okay with that."

I have no problem with the library so I just nod and gesture for him to lead the way. He keeps lagging for a split second after every step until we're walking side by side and I guess he's not that great at leading. He keeps giving me side glances and I can't come up with a single thing to say to fill the silence. It shouldn't feel awkward but it is. What do I say? "Thanks for showing me the most amazing hot dog I've ever had and thanks for tutoring me in a subject I really blow at. You really have your work cut out for you. Oh and sorry for my friends and my teammates, they can be real dicks sometimes."

Danny lets out a soft breath when we reach the library and pulls open the door before I have a chance to. He holds it for me and I wait for him to follow me inside before we head for a table near the back of the library.

Some of the librarians look our way but nobody comes to ask us for our passes. Our school population is so tiny, maybe they know which ones of us have free periods and which ones of us are bullshitting. I doubt it, but it'd be cool if they did. Wouldn't have to drag my schedule out every time a teacher saw me out of class.

Danny picks out a table and sits down on one side, gesturing to the chair across from him as he digs algebra books out of his backpack. He drops a spiral bound notebook in front of me as I sink down into the chair and a groan leaves me. Danny looks up at the noise but gives me a small, hesitant smile. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."

I doubt it's Danny I'm gonna have a problem with. Algebra's the one that's gonna be a bitch. I sit back in my seat, slouching down a little as I do. "Y'think this is gonna take more than one session? Cause I'd really love it if this shit didn't take me three hours every time."

He flicks his gaze toward mine before opening to a new page in his notebook. "It takes you three hours to do your homework?"

"We're not all AP," I respond, probably with more bite to my words than I intended to. I can't help it that I'm a moron when it comes to math. I'm good at English and I can bullshit my way through most of biology but damn. Algebra really likes to fuck with me.

Danny pushes his backpack into the chair next to him before he opens up the algebra textbook. He runs a finger down the page, a look of concentration on his face. I don't know why it feels like I've seen that look before but I start talking before I think.

"Hey, how come you're always alone?" I ask softly, waiting until he looks up at me before I continue. "I don't think… I don't think I've seen you hanging around anyone for a while. I thought you used to hang around some guy." I'm pretty sure he had a really fugly beret but I figure it's not the best time to start insulting the friends of the guy who's trying to tutor me.

He shrugs, leaning back in the chair with a soft exhale. "Y-Yeah, I did. He's um… He's not really around anymore. A-Anyway, let's focus on this."

Danny pushes the notebook closer to me and as I sit forward to read the page, I catch sight of his hand trembling at the movement. I try to listen to what he says as he points a pencil toward individual parts of the problem but I can't. His fingers are shaking and I don't know why. Is he afraid to be here with me in case my friends come in? Does it have something to do with the friend of his I brought up? What's bugging him so bad?

I lean back in my chair, waiting until Danny raises his eyes to mine. His face is flushed again and I wonder if mine does the same whenever I'm shaking. "Something bothering you?"

He slowly shakes his head but his gaze drops to his trembling fingers. Danny slowly draws his hands away from the notebook and they disappear beneath the table. "S-Sorry," he whispers and I don't think it's because we're in a library. I wish I knew how to help him. I don't even know how to help myself when I'm like this.

The silence stretches over the two of us and I wish I could break it. I don't want awkward tension to be between us. That's there between me and everyone else, I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be here with Danny too.

"I-It's been worse before," he mumbles softly and I look up at his face instead of at the table. If it were me freaking the fuck out, I wouldn't want anyone to stare at me but I have no idea if he's okay or not. "I ha-haven't had it bad in a while. It's just… acting up lately."

I lean forward a little, placing my steady hands on the table. I don't know if seeing me calm will help him but it sure helped me when we were in the nurse's office together. Seeing him not freaking out and talking calmly made me feel a little more at ease. Especially cause he wasn't staring.

"What's been worse before?" I ask, trying to keep my voice soft. I don't want to say the wrong thing or speak too loudly and scare him. That'd be kind of taking a step backwards.

Danny looks up at me, a small crease between his brows. He looks like he doesn't understand why I'm asking and for a second, I realize he probably thinks that I know whatever the fuck causes my hands to shake. It used to just be dad's yelling voice but then it happened on my first football game of freshmen year. And again when my uncle and I were in a car accident the following summer. The night mom left, the tremors shook my bed so badly, I couldn't sleep.

"Um… m-my anxiety?" he says it softly, like he's afraid I'll run at the word. To be honest, it sounds familiar but I don't remember where I've heard the term before.

I don't know if I'm supposed to nod and pretend that I know what he's talking about but it seems stupid so I don't. "I don't really know what that is," I tell him and his eyebrows rise a little higher. Is he that surprised that I have no idea what this is? I don't know what the name means and I have no idea if it means that we both tremble because of the same things or if he's got something wrong with him and I'm just a fuck up who's scared of any kind of tension.

"W-Well, it's a… a…" he trails off, his gaze darting around the library and I try to tell him that he doesn't have to explain. But he shakes his head and digs his phone from his pocket. His face is red as his shaky fingers type something on his screen and I wait for him to finish.

It takes him about a minute before he's done typing and he sets his phone on the table. Danny's gaze stays on the screen for a few more seconds and then he's pushing the phone toward me. I catch another glance at his face before I look at the phone. An internet search is pulled up and Danny's scrolled a little past the first link so I can read the snippet just below it.

"Anxiety disorders are a category of mental disorders characterized by feelings of anxiety and fear, where anxiety is a worry about future events and fear is a reaction to current events. These feelings may cause physical symptoms, such as a racing heart and shakiness."

Holy fuck.

Is this… is this why I feel like my chest's going to explode every time I see the anger on dad's face? Does this explain the way my hands will tremble when I fuck something up and I know everyone can see it? Do I…. Do I have this shit?

"Y-Yeah, it's not… I mean, it's not awful," Danny mumbles, taking his phone back after the silence stretches on between us. I want to leave. I need to get out of here and think. I don't want this. What the fuck does it mean if I do have it? Does the knowledge change anything?

"How long have you had this?" I ask, finally able to look up at Danny again. His bottom lip disappears between his teeth and he looks away for a minute, his gaze focused elsewhere. I hope he's not letting the quiet stretch on because he's planning on avoiding the question. Fuck, I don't know who else to ask. I didn't even know this shaking had a name. I always thought I was just being dramatic.

"Almost four years." Danny's voice is quiet when he speaks and I try to remember when I first noticed this in me. Middle school maybe? The summer before? I spent so much time trying to forget everything when dad would fly off the handle that distinguishing between events is difficult. Probably some kind of brain damage too, wouldn't surprise me.

Danny turns back toward me and his gaze doesn't lift any higher than my collarbones. "S-Sorry, I really thought you knew about this. Y-You seemed like you did in the nurse's office the other day."

If I had known, would it have made a difference? Would mom have been able to calm me down after dad bruised the both of us? Shit, I don't want to play what if. There are no winners in that game.

I scratch the back of my head and now it's my turn to keep my eyes away from Danny. I don't want to admit this. Not even Kwan knows this shit. "I-I've never really looked it up before," I start slowly and I feel Danny's eyes on me again. "I was… kind of afraid there would be no results and it was just me being dramatic."

Danny exhales softly and I want to go. I want to just tell him to forget that he offered to tutor me and that I accepted. I'll just fuck up in algebra for the rest of my life, I don't care that much. I want to say everything that I'm thinking but my tongue won't cooperate and I can't let go of the death grip I have on my hair.

"You're not being dramatic," Danny says softly and I need to tell him how wrong he is. I'm more dramatic than he realizes. I bet he only trembles at the serious shit, not the kind of stuff I do. Like when a car passes by and I think about what would happen if the driver loses control and crashes into the back of my house. Or when a football is tossed my way and I momentarily panic, thinking of what coach would say if I didn't catch it.

Danny's hand slides along the table until he's touching mine and his fingers curl softly around my palm. I let him hold my hand even though it makes me feel pathetic. God, why the fuck can't he just tell me I'm being dramatic? I don't want whatever the fuck this is. I just want it to go away. I don't need some website to tell me that what I'm feeling is normal, I need it to say I'm pathetic and weak and I shouldn't let it fuck with my head.

"It's okay, Dash," Danny says softly and goddammit, how is it okay? How am I okay? Is this normal? It sure as fuck doesn't feel normal. I don't want to have an excuse to blame this on because it's always been me. I never needed a reason before because it was common knowledge that I'm pathetic. Weak. Fucked up beyond repair. I saw it every time mom would try to comfort me on the nights he bruised us and I just couldn't stop. I saw it in Paulina's eyes the first time we ever fucked and I couldn't stop my fingers from shaking. I thought I was just nervous. Maybe I was. Is that normal? Fuck, is there anything normal about me?

"Dash, it's okay. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. We really don't," Danny says and his voice is so calming. I flick my gaze down to our hands and I notice his aren't shaking anymore. Mine have picked up where his left off and I hate this. Danny squeezes my hand and I look up at him, finally dropping my other hand back to the table. He gives me a half smile. "Come on, let's just focus on algebra right now."

Danny doesn't let go of my hand as he explains the problem and slowly, the shakiness leaves me too but the feeling in my gut doesn't. God, who knew there was a sub level to feeling as pathetic as I already did?


I don't know who Danny sold his soul to but he actually makes algebra easy. Even though I don't understand any of it or how x equals whatever the fuck it does, I get the right answer. His method is way more straight forward than our teacher's and I almost want to hug Danny for doing this for me.

"Holy shit, Danny," is the first thing out of my mouth when he starts gathering his books up. He looks up at me, giving me a soft smile before he's back to dropping his stuff into his backpack. "You made that so easy."

He pushes his hair out of his eyes and nods, standing up from the table. "Well, being in AP, things come a little easier to you," he tells me and we fall in step beside each other as we leave the library. There's still a few minutes before the bell so it's silent as we walk, the only noise being our footsteps on the tile.

Danny turns toward me, his teeth sinking in to his bottom lip for a second before he speaks. "So… you still want my help next weekend? Or did I rid you of all your algebra problems in a single hour?" he asks, a slight quirk upward to one side of his mouth.

I laugh and the sound feels foreign across my own tongue. "Dude, this class is bound to fuck me over forever," I tell him, fixing my backpack strap before I look toward him again. I don't have anything to offer in exchange but no one does nice things just cause. "So, why are you doing this for me?"

Danny looks at me and there's surprise in his expression. Like he didn't expect me to ask him what he wants or even bring it up. "Because you need help," he says like it's the most obvious reason. Well duh. Otherwise tutoring me would be pointless.

I roll my eyes. "I know that. But what do you get out of it?" I ask and he doesn't have an answer for me. "You gotta have something you want in exchange."

He looks away from me, biting on his lip again and I decide to be nice. "You can take a couple days to come up with something," I say, offering him an easy way out of coming up with something right now. No one likes being put on the spot.

Danny glances back to me with a grateful smile and I give one back to him. He opens his mouth to say something, maybe give me an answer, but the bell rings, cutting him off. I see his eyes go wide and the doors around us swing open. The expression on his face is almost painful to look at and when I glance in front of us, I see why.

Paulina, flanked again by Star and being tailed by Jeff and Keith, is strutting her way down the hall. She's busy looking at her phone, a frown on her face and I flick my gaze back toward Danny. He looks terrified. Like this is the last place he wants to be. I can't really blame him.

The noise of the crowd grabs my attention and I look toward Paulina again. It takes her another few seconds before she sees me and a smile breaks out across her face as she puts her phone away. She reaches me in less than thirty seconds and she puts a hand on my chest when she does.

"There you are," she practically sings as her fingers dance their way down my abdomen. "I was just about to text you. Where were you?"

"I had a free period," I tell her and look toward Danny. He's… gone? I didn't even see him move, he just disappeared. I half-turn away from Paulina, scanning the crowd for that familiar mop of black hair but I don't see him at all. Huh, weird.

"Who are you looking for?" Paulina asks and I turn to face her again. She raises an eyebrow expectantly and I shrug, not bothering to turn around again. I doubt I'll see him, he's probably a master at blending in now.

"No one."

If he doesn't want my friends to see him, I won't mention him in front of them. There's something about Danny that makes me want to protect him from my friends. They're not awful people but they can be careless. I don't want their carelessness to hurt him. And I don't normally think about people like that. Jeez, what's wrong with me?


A/N: Yo! Thanks for reading this update. I've been working on this story officially six months tomorrow. It's weird to think about it cause it feels like just yesterday that I wrote the opening paragraph. I still remember exactly how that day went though, which is weird. It's not like it's that much of a defining moment for me but I guess it is? To be fair, this is the first story I've posted while writing it in like 4 years or something. I've kind of gotten into a groove of writing stories completely and posting after they're finished, y'know? Like there's this one for another fandom that I've been working on for 2 years now. I keep putting it down and every so often my friend renews my interest in, ha... Doesn't help that it's the first in a 5 fic series. But, it'll get finished one day, right?

So this chapter is all about the development between Dash and Danny. As you can tell, Danny's shy around him and Dash is pretty sure it's cause of who his friends are. Which could be true, could also not be. Dash'll figure out the answer soon enough. Also, did you like that sneaky mention about Tucker? ;)

As some of you have guessed, there will be a reveal of Danny's powers but it's a little ways off. It's not like Danny to immediately trust someone with the biggest secret of his life so it'll take some time before Dash realizes what makes Fenton so different. But it will happen and I hope that a lot of you like the way it's told!

I can't remember if I mentioned this before or not but July has a writing event - Camp NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month where you try to write a set number of words in a single month, usually 50k. The actual NaNo month is in November but in the spring and summer, there are two months where it's "camp nano", which is cool. July is a Camp month and I'm on the last week of it and my god you guys, the pressure is on. The nice thing about camp is unlike in November, you can pick your word count goal. I always go with 30k for camp cause it's been my thing since I started doing this. But yeah, I have a week left to go and a little over 10k words left to write. I can do this, right? I hope I can *distant sobbing*

But anyway! Thanks for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it! Let me know what you think in the reviews? You guys are the best!