CHAPTER 2- Danny
Danny was absolutely buzzing with excitement.
Lancer was getting ready to pass back the first big test of the semester and he just knew that he'd done well on it. He'd actually read the whole book this time! And annotated it! Basically he crushed the test and the essay and he was really enjoying school again.
That's not to say he wasn't ready for spring break.
Unsurprising but, coming from a family of scientists tended to influence one towards an academic lifestyle. That's why it came as such a shock to his parents and teachers when his grades had completely tanked a month into freshman year. They'd pulled him from all his advanced classes, but the failing grades followed him anyways. And all of that just resulted in him being tossed in detention after detention for missed assignments and truancy.
Not that he ever went to those detentions.
Or stopped leaving mid-lecture.
But it was different now! He was doing good! Danny was on top of his shit and ready to yell it from the rooftops.
"Excited much?" Sam cast a lazy smile up at him from where she was laid on her folded arms. Tucker turned around in his seat to grin at Danny.
"Very. I'm very excited," Danny replied. Not that he'd admit it, but it was taking quite a lot of concentration to keep from floating off his seat. He'd have to settle for vibrating a bit.
Dragging out each word with a sarcastic twist, Tucker said, "We couldn't tell." But he had the proudest smile. Danny felt his heart squeeze a bit at the approval from both of them. All their grades had suffered for ghost hunting the past year and half, but Danny's most of all. For a while there, his friends were worried that he'd completely disregarded school, that he was obsessing too much over ghost hunting.
Maybe that was true. Maybe that was his ghostly nature creeping in and making him obsess (that's what Jazz thought), but he had it under control now. Or, at least he was better at multitasking. That and the ghosts had gotten a lot more agreeable. Likely because they knew he'd continue to kick their collective asses.
"Try not to cry when you see it Danny. I don't think I could handle that," Sam said. Danny could only smile wider at that.
Mr. Lancer handed off Tucker's test before stopping in front of Danny and immediately wiping the smile off his face.
"See me after class, Mr. Fenton," Lancer said, before continuing on without giving Danny anything.
He could see Dash leaning around his chair to leer at him from across the room, but Danny was stuck turning the interaction around in his mind.
Oh god did I fail? Did I really fail, there's no way. I can't- I- No freaking way. I wasted all that time studying for no reason just to fail like I always do, why do I even bother? What if I have to retake this class oh god! I can't believe I'm so stu-
His rapidly spiraling thoughts were interrupted by the shuffling of bags and scraping of chairs against linoleum and oh god oh shit here it comes. Danny was flanked by his friends on either side when they arrived at Mr. Lancer's desk but they were quickly shooed off. Crap crap crap CRAP! I'm such an idiot! Why am I even trying to pretend-
"Daniel."
Danny snapped his eyes to Lancer's, one hundred percent sure that his fear was written all over his face.
"You didn't fail," Mr. Lancer assured him and Danny could finally breathe again. Mr. Lancer flashed a quick smile at the audible exhale. "You didn't fail," he repeated, leaning down to jot something on the test in front of him. He stood up again to hand over the sheet. "In fact, you got the second highest grade in the class."
"You're kidding." In still drying red ink, a crisp and circled 94% was written on the test in Danny's hands. "No freaking way!" Danny was nearly bouncing on his toes, and his cheeks hurt from how big he was smiling.
"Language, Mr. Fenton. But, yes way." Grinning, Lancer came around the desk to sit on the corner closer to Danny. "How'd you do it?"
"Copious amounts of iced coffee," he replied, and Lancer had to laugh at that one. While this was technically true, and he had discovered the wonders of caffeine, it was also just a lot of multitasking. Cutting back on his patrols and taking his books out when he did go. Reading under the moonlight while flying over the town had quickly become a favorite of his. It's not like his patrols involved a lot of looking around— he relied on his ghost sense to alert him to otherworldly presences. He'd also been working on improving his rudimentary cloning abilities; those came in handy for last minute cramming. Plus, their truce meant he didn't have Vlad's cronies hunting him down every five seconds so that was nice.
"I- This- This just really means a lot to me, Mr. Lancer. Thank you so much." Danny said, hugging the test tightly to his chest as if it might be taken away from him.
"I didn't do anything Mr. Fenton. This is all your hard work."
"But really. You just-You've been so forgiving when you didn't have to be," Danny said. He found it really hard to keep eye contact during this, so Danny was glancing between Mr. Lancer and the room he'd spent the last two years struggling in. Lancer was the only teacher this year who had continued to check on him and push him to do better instead of writing him off as a delinquent right when he'd fallen off the horse. "I just- I really needed those extra pushes and stern conversations that not even my parents wanted to give me. Just like… thanks for not giving up on me."
"You just needed a little time." Mr. Lancer was silent for a moment, his eyes cast to the far wall. "I don't know what you're going through Daniel, or what you've been through, but I'll always do my best to support you. And, if you keep it up," he paused here, forcing Danny's eyes to meet his own, "I look forward to seeing you in my advanced class next year."
Grinning ear to ear again, Danny made his escape out the door, pulling his friends along with him to the front entrance.
—-
"Dude that's crazy!" Tucker said.
"Haha yeah, Lancer really does have a soul," Sam replied.
"No that's not-" he started again, but their laughter overtook him quickly. "Okay, okay true."
Tucker's smile was warm, small, but present in the softness of his eyes. "I just mean- You're doing so good! I'm proud of you man."
Heat rushed up the back of Danny's neck, hand coming up to hide his blush.
They were enjoying a ghost free walk home, the final days of snow pecking at their noses. Everyone was looking forward to the relief of spring that was making itself known in the new buds on the trees. Winter vacation had kept Danny busy with training sessions and an uptick in ghost fights. It was about an 18% increase according to Tucker, but nothing Danny couldn't handle. The ghosts had gotten their hands on a reporter this Monday though, and shaken the town's faith a bit.
All-in-all, this had been a rather quiet week comparatively.
"It's been really quiet today," Tucker said, oblivious and happy as ever. Sam and Danny both stopped dead in their tracks.
"Now why would you say something like that?"
"Bad luck Tuck! Bad luck Tuck!"
"Tucker what the fuck dude?"
"Yeah Tucker, what the hell?"
"Oh my god, we're screwed."
"I'm sorry!"
Valerie's voice rang out from behind them as she caught up with the group; she sounded just as exasperated with Tucker as the rest of them. "What'd he say this time?"
Danny smiled and leaned across his friends to see her face as he spoke, "That there haven't been any ghosts around today."
Valerie frowned sharply before smacking Tucker across the shoulder with her notebook.
Tucker grabbed his shoulder and threw Valerie a pained look. "Ummm, ouch!"
"You deserve that."
"I deserve that."
The group descended into laughter again, continuing past the line of houses. In the distance was the ever-watchful silhouette of FentonWorks drawing them closer, pulling their shoes through the remaining inches of snow.
Danny felt very… content. Happy. Happy to have his friends, and especially happy that Valerie was slowly coming back into the picture. Sam had finally gotten over her grudge, and Valerie had accepted that her old popularity was a lost cause. Now she just hung out with whoever she wanted. Star and Kwan, Danny and Sam and Tucker, people who wanted her around. She seemed happier. Plus, her fighting skills were finally able to be visible to everyone at Maddie Fenton's training sessions. She got the bit of noteriety she'd spent years fighting for.
When the town had finally accepted that the ghosts were here to stay, they'd recruited Maddie to offer martial arts and weapons training to the citizens. Tuesday/Thursday was for the highschoolers, and Monday/Wednesday/Friday was for the police, firefighters, and interested adults. Once a month, the younger kids had drills and presentations at school about ghosts and what to do during an attack. Jack Fenton was surprisingly good at teaching the kids how to be safe, while keeping it entertaining enough that they remained engaged.
"Hey Val? Do you know if Dash is coming today? I want to rub my test grade in his face."
"Yeah, he comes every Thursday."
"Does he?"
"Yup. You usually run off though." Valerie cast him a sidelong glance, curiosity and friendly humor tucked into her smirk.
Danny felt a cold rush come over his cheeks and turned his face away from Valerie. "Oh, yeah, you know... My internship keeps me busy."
Valerie nodded, but kept eye contact, searching for something in his response, "How is that by the way? Anything weird?"
"Yeah Danny, what's it like being around 'Mayor Masters' so much?"
"Yeah, what's he like?"
Tucker and Sam were teasing him, the knowledge of their secrets egging them on.
"Oh he um- he's fine. Kinda weird, a lot of cat fur everywhere." Danny sniffled, and then smiled, "I swear the guy lint rolls his suits every five minutes."
"Weird how?" Valerie nearly cut him off, voice strangely insistent and direct.
"Well, um, he's just a weird guy, I'm not really sure how to-"
Cold, thin vapor spilled from his lips just then, and Danny tucked his chin further into his scarf for a moment. Valerie's phone chimed moments later, pulling her from her initial path of questioning and allowing Danny to breathe normally again.
Valerie came to a dead stop on the sidewalk, her words rushed and voice pitched upward. "Oh sorry! I have to go help my dad with something. Tell me what we work on today! Bye!" Valerie gave them quick waves goodbye before backtracking and nearly sprinting around the corner as the trio watched.
Tucker made small tsk tsk tsk sounds as he shook his head. "Hmmph. She doesn't even live that way."
They all caught each other's eyes before descending into giggles once again.
"We'll tell them that you had to meet with Vlad for intern stuff," Tucker said.
Sam nodded. "You want any help?"
Danny paused, poking out his tongue to lick his lips. "No, I'm good. Tastes like Boxy. I think... Plus, I've got Val."
There was no real reason for them not to come, but Danny was trying to handle ghost situations by himself.
He would never stop feeling like the ghosts were his responsibility alone, no matter how much his friends improved or offered help. That slight uptick in fights recently also meant leaving class on occasion, something the three of them couldn't get away with simultaneously anymore. Plus, fighting alone was… freeing. It meant he could really let loose without spending every second making sure they didn't get hurt. Recently, Danny had been using his solo battles to practice new moves and explore his abilities without fear. To be honest, his friends were a distraction in the more violent fights. Sometimes they just served to increase Danny's anxiety.
Danny cast a quick glance around before shooting his friends a grin. "I shouldn't be more than 15 minutes," he said, the sparkling circle that signalled his transformation overtaking him.
The world instantly felt lighter.
"Ok. Be safe bro."
"See you!"
