Was a bit under the weather but here's the next chapter.

Saturday morning was quiet for Dash. Much to quiet in his opinion. Fenton didn't show up for his normal swim but he didn't think too much of that. He had kept a serious routine for two weeks and if he felt he needed a break that was fine. Sunday the pool was closed and he used the rather dark day just to stay inside and draw, occasionally playing a game on his computer or watching TV. Then came Monday morning and there was still no sign of the raven haired swimmer he had become accustomed to seeing. Still it wasn't anything too serious so he shrugged it off, but when Fenton didn't appear Tuesday morning Dash thought maybe he should see if he was ok.

Walking along the streets after his shift at the pool he wondered what Fenton had been doing. He had seemed so serious about his swimming that seemed it would take something close to the end of the world to stop him from it. That was what made Dash so curious as he walked up to the building with the huge metal structure on top.

"How they managed to legally build that monstrosity on top of their building I can only imagine," Dash sighed and walked up to the steps to knock on the door when he heard some sounds coming from the garage where Fenton worked on his bike. When he got there he saw Fenton wearing a tank top that hugged his torso and a pair of oil smeared jeans. He was about to say something when he noticed that he had scratches all over his bared arms and shoulders and what looked like a very nasty bruise that was starting to fade coming up from his back to his neck.

"What the hell happened to you?!" Dash blurted out without thinking that the man might have been doing something that startling him might have ruined or gotten him hurt, but the sight of Fenton looking so roughed up from behind was too surprising to keep quiet about. The surprise concerning his back was quickly topped when the teen turned around to see who was there.

"Dash?" The blond jock's eyes went even wider as he saw the front of Fenton's body had the same treatment as the back. He had scratches all over his arms and had a bandage on his cheek and forehead. He was also sporting a very angry looking bruise around his right eye and it looked like someone had busted his lip, "What are you doing here?"

"I hadn't seen you at the pool in a few days and thought I'd come to see what's up with you. You seemed so dedicated and then you just stopped and I was curious. That doesn't answer my question though of what the hell happened to you? You look like you got beat up by someone and after what I saw you do that night it had to be someone pretty strong."

"Uhh…" Fenton looked away like he was trying to think up an answer and just shrugged as a slightly embarrassed look came to his face, "My parents needed my help with a ghost attack and I got the worst of it. That's why I haven't been to the pool in the last few days I've been trying to heal up."

"You also haven't shaved in a few days either," Dash walked into the garage and looked closer at the shorter man's face, "What's the deal? Some of the hairs look white."

Fenton looked a bit nervous and rubbed at the slight bit of white scruff he had on his chin, "Uhh… it's sort of a family trait from my dad's side. It's nothing, just like you're blond it's all in my genetics."

He laughed nervously and Dash could tell there was more to that then he was letting on but he didn't think it mattered any.

"If you say so," he set down the bag he had been carrying and pulled out one of his notebooks that he had been filling with sketches and designs, "I've kept working on designs for your bike and thought I'd bring them by for you to look at."

"Thanks, and sorry for not keeping in touch. I guess I'm still a bit unsure of where we stand with each other."

Dash stared at the teen before him unsure of what he meant. He actually had to mentally smack himself to remind himself that just earlier that year he had been shoving Fenton into his locker. It was actually hard to remember that they hadn't been on such good terms. Being around the guy, Dash just found himself relaxing and feeling comfortable around him.

"I guess I can understand that…" Dash looked away feeling awkward, "Uhh… ya know if you want I guess-"

"DANNY?" The blond jerked in shock as he heard a woman calling for the young man before him who cringed, "Danny, you better not be doing anything too strenuous. After all that happened you know you shouldn't-Oh. I'm sorry I didn't know someone was out here." Mrs. Fenton came into the garage in all her blue jump suited glory smiling but then frowned when she saw who it was, "What is Dash Baxter doing here, Danny?"

"Dash has been helping me design my bike, mom, we've actually been talking and getting on better terms with each other lately and he hasn't tried to beat me up or anything in a long time now so don't worry."

Mrs. Fenton frowned, clearly not happy with seeing her son's bully hanging around her son. Still, though, the fact that his best friends had moved away might have had something to do with her accepting him and nodding.

"I suppose so long as he behaves then I don't have to worry about anything then," she put her hands on her hips and sighed before glaring at her son, "But, You, mister are supposed to be taking it easy, so out of this garage and get back inside. Go watch some TV or a movie or something, order a pizza and play video games. I don't care what you do so long as you're taking it easy. Now, both of you scoot!"

"Alright, alright, we're going, sheesh," Fenton walked ahead with Dash's sketch book in hand and held the door open to their kitchen.

"Sorry about my mom, she's a bit upset that I got hurt over the weekend," he put the sketch book on the table and went over to the fridge, "Want something to eat? I've got some nice wild berry cheesecake ice cream that I made last night, we have some fried chicken I made Friday, I've got some of my pizza dough ready I can make us a pizza, or you just want some chips or something?"

"Whoa, hold the phone. You made ice cream? And fried chicken and pizza dough?" Dash rubbed at his eyes for a moment before he stared at the teen before him. The fried chicken was one thing, the fact Fenton was implying that he made his own ice cream and pizza dough though threw him for a loop once again. It was like the Fenton he had picked on all this time was gone and had been replaced by this somehow very talented and pretty cool dude in front of him.

"Yeah, it's really not that hard, why do you-" He looked back at Dash and it suddenly dawned on him, "Oh I guess cooking must seem pretty lame and girly to you huh?"

"Oh, no, no, not at all, it's just… Geeze there's so much about you that I never knew. At school you were always a clumsy loser who stumbled over everything and were always getting into trouble. I guess I just never realized that you could do so much."

"Well, my parents can't cook that great. I love them and all but their research tends to take up a lot of their time. They always made sure we had food and all but they were never really good cooks. I remember one time they put some hot dogs in the fridge as well as one of their experiments and the next thing we know we have mutant living hot dogs."

"Are you serious?" Dash stared wide eyed at what he had just heard as Fenton nodded.

"Yep, and I forget how or why but at one point my dad was able to tame the beasts and wore them as armor for something… Ehh the whole thing was crazy but my point is that they were never great cooks so ever since Jazz could reach the stove she's been cooking the majority of our dinners. After freshman year I started to learn to cook from her and… well someone else and I took a real shine to it," he smirked and shrugged his shoulders as he reached into the fridge to pull out a bowl, "Turned out I had a real talent in the kitchen as well as the garage."

"Wow… All I'm really good at is sports and drawing a bit," he muttered feeling slightly inadequate knowing that he had so few practical skills to get by on, "Speaking of, though, where is Jazz these days?"

"Oh my overachieving sister is off at her Ivy League school taking summer classes," Fenton sighed and started to go around the kitchen to get out things to apparently having decided to make a pizza, "She's dead set on either graduating and getting her degree as quickly as possible or burning herself out. And hey, don't sell yourself so short. Vlad saw your drawings and he was actually impressed by them and let me tell you right now he does NOT impress easily."

"Vlad?"

"He's a friend of the family. A billionaire from Wisconsin and is into ghosts like my parents. They all went to college together and stops by from time to time, but enough about that. What'll you have on your half of pizza?"

"Uhh…" Dash shook his head as he examined all the ingredients around the table, "Well, I guess cheese, pepperoni, and… what's that, spinach?"

"Yep," Fenton smirked, "I sorta learned to like spinach on my pizza after trying it as Chester's place awhile back. Really learned to like a lot of new things form that place, though, I'm still not a fan of calamari. Then again that may be because it doesn't taste really good when it's cold."

"Well… ok I'll try pepperoni and spinach and if you have any onions I'll have some of those too."

"Heh, hope you don't plan on kissing anyone after eating that then, onion breath can be really nasty."

Dash blinked and Fenton paled a bit realizing at what he just said, "Uhh… forget I said that," he laughed a bit nervously and went to a drawer to get out a knife, "Onions coming right up!"

As he watched the raven haired teen before him Dash couldn't help but try to shake off that feeling he had. Fenton had meant it as a joke but saying it to him seemed to frighten him.

'He likely thought he was implying something about me and was scared I'd beat him up or something. Geeze, I guess I never gave him any indication to think otherwise but still, we're getting along and everything,' The blond ran his hand through his short hair for a moment lost in thought before he gulped, 'If nothing else, I need to take the first step; he has no reason to think he can. C'mon, Baxter, man up.'

"Hey… uh… Fenton?" Dash waited for a moment for him to stop chopping at an onion to turn around and when he had his attention he looked into his eyes, "What… What do you think about me? I mean how do I seem to you?"

The teen stood looking at him curiously, like he was trying to sense a trap in the words, "I dunno, Dash. I guess I think you're alright. When you're not trying to beat me up or anything I guess you're a nice guy though I still don't know why you were always bullying me in school." He frowned and went back to preparing the toppings for the pizza.

A sigh came from Dash at hearing that, "I'm… sorry about bullying you and everything. I know I've been a real ass and everything and you probably wouldn't understand things if I explained them to you, but I did have my own reasons I guess when I think about it." He looked up and saw that Fenton had turned to look at him with a raised brow, "I'd sorta like to be friends with you if that's ok. I mean we're getting along and everything and you're actually pretty cool now that I'm getting to know you and all. Plus we could both use more friends I guess since we're both alone until school."

A conflicted sound came from the teen before him and as he turned around to fix the pizza he looked like he was mulling things over in his head. Dash watched him for awhile longer as he spread out the dough, covered it in sauce and then went about preparing the toppings. The jock felt the uncomfortable silence weigh heavily upon him and he didn't know what the other was thinking for the longest time. When he finally put the pizza in the over he sat across the kitchen table from him and sighed.

"Dash… listen: this is still strange to me and all. You've been a huge pain in the butt for several years now and while I've gotten a few jabs back at you as well I'm just not sure. I mean I'd like it if we could become friends. I really don't have anyone else anymore now that Sam and Tucker are gone."

"Right… I'm sorry about that too," Dash reached over and put his hand on the exposed shoulder that had a scrape along it and gave it a little squeeze, "I know they meant a lot to you but at least you can still talk to them online and all, right?"

"Yeah, but you know it's not the same as having someone to actually hang out with."

"I guess I can understand that," Dash leaned over the table and sighed as Fenton started to open up the sketch book and flip through it. For some reason Dash felt even more nervous to have his work being looked at by the guy sitting across from him. He had never let anyone other than Kwan see his work before and having someone he used to beat on see it felt like he was bearing his soul to the other. Dash watched Fenton as he flipped from page to page, his eyes glancing over the drawings and designs. At points he'd stop and let his gaze linger on something and Dash would see his lips move like he was saying something to himself before he'd move onto the next page.

"Whoa…" Dash looked over to see what Fenton was looking at and gulped at the drawing he was staring at. It had been the one he had spent the most time on and was the most proud of. The bike had a windshield that slopped up to give the bike a more aerodynamic look and make it look sleeker. The body was curved and strong, shaped with compartments to store things on the side and enough room on the seats for two people. The fenders were simple but were a bit larger than necessary covering over a third of the wheels which Dash had designed to be bright shiny chrome. The whole bike was drawn in black but there where jagged light blues and whites along the edges, and some deep blue waves on the side of the fender that were accented with whites and blacks. The whole thing looked very masculine and tough and Fenton stared at it with his mouth open for several minutes making Dash wonder what was going through his mind.

"This… This is how I want it to look." Fenton grinned like a madman and held it up, "Dash this is just awesome! After I'm allowed to get back to work I'm going to get started on shaping it up like this!"

"Th-thanks, I'm glad you like it," Dash looked away feeling a flush come to his face. He had never been truly praised like that by anyone before. Sure, Kwan had said his art was awesome and everything but he had never drawn something for Kwan that left him smiling as wide as Fenton was. The guy just was radiating excitement and talking about all sorts of things, like the upholstery, metals, the muffler, and everything he was saying was going by so fast that it went over Dash's head as he just sat there and continued to smile.

"Dash?" The blond shook his head and looked up at Fenton's face, "You sorta spaced out there, you ok?"

"Yeah," he waved it off like it was nothing, which it was, "Just not used to that sort of praise… it's nice I guess."

A strange look came over Fenton's face as he studied the jock before him, "Hey… Dash, mind if I ask you a question? I mean you can say no and all but something's been bugging me and I wanted to ask you about it?"

'Damn it! What did I do that he wants to know about? Crap does he think I'm watching him to much or something at the pool and that's the real reason he hasn't been around, he's just been going later to avoid me? No if that was the case he wouldn't have invited me in like this. Unless he thought I'd beat him up and GAH stop it before you make yourself crazy!' Dash mentally shook out his crazy train of thought before he nodded.

"Sure, what did you want to ask?"

"Well…" He sighed and got up as the timer on the oven went off and he went to get the pizza out, "You just seem to be a really good artist and I was wondering if you were considering or had considered doing something with it one day?"

"Heh, yeah right…" Dash huffed and looked away even as his nose called out to him to turn back so that he could smell the heavenly aroma that was coming from the pizza that Fenton had just pulled out, "I'm not that great, I just had a lot of references to work with and copied what I saw. Plus what kind of job could I get as an artist? Painting houses doesn't exactly sound like a great way to earn a living."

"Some people get paid pretty well to do that, you know," Dash could hear a smile in the other teen's voice and he flinched at how it was so devoid of malice and hate, if it had been him he would have likely agreed with Fenton or put him down but he didn't. It made Dash feel even weirder about the guy.

"And I think you have a great deal of talent. You could design bikes, buildings, maybe draw animation or heck maybe you could even become a graphic novel artist and draw your own comics. There's lots you can do, Dash, don't sell yourself so short." Fenton turned around and the smile he gave him was so sincere and honest that Dash had to look away again.

"Y-You're the first person to talk about my drawings like that. I've only ever shown Kwan some of my drawings and he thinks they're good and all but he never talked about them like you do."

"Well that's a shame, you're really talented," Fenton frowned and got out a knife to get the pizza cut up, "Hey maybe one day you can show me all your drawings and I can see what all you're capable of."

"Maybe," Dash just muttered and tried to calm the rapid beating of his heart. The praise had been unexpected but welcome and Dash felt tremendous joy at being able to help Fenton with his project.

SilverAxe: It is going to be a mysterious ghost that much I can assure you. Will it be seen in this story or not though is the question you should be asking. Glad you liked the name of the paper boy, it was really something I don't remember how it started. I know I based him off the idea of a show called Early Edition from the 90s that I enjoyed but that's about it.

FallingNarwhals: Glad you like Headliner, not sure if he'll be seen much in any other story or the future of this one but still glad you like him. Yeah I just hated how they dealt with Vlad and made him a crazy freaky stalker and just a lot about him in general so because I have other plans and ideas I figured making him a friend would work better here. Well about Dash finding out... that's a spoiler now isn't it? All that will be determined in its own way and time. I will tell you this though: Dash's attraction is more important than you'd think and will lead to some interesting things later on. Uh, no I honestly have very little knowledge about motors, cars, and all things wheeled. If I need to know something research and lots of reading is the way to go. Glad you're enjoying things though.

WildGhost: Yeah I know it's weird and all, but making him less crazy and obsessive works out better for other story ideas. Plus I hate how petty he was and felt that he deserved a second chance at a better situation.