Short chapter I know but as it's from Dash's point of view it doesn't have much going on. The next chapter will have an interesting new ally brought in but I swear things will pick up. I'm just a slow build up kind of person, bare with me please.

It was a pleasant enough morning at the pool. The morning was sunny and warm, the skies were clear, and Fenton was back in the water. Without his shirt on, Dash saw that the raven haired teen had a lot of bruises, cuts, and what looked like a few burns all over his body. He also noticed that he hadn't shaved and still had that odd white scruff on his chin. It was unusual to say the least but living in a town that was haunted by ghosts he didn't find it too terribly strange.

Right now he was just watching the man float around. He was supposed to be taking it easy so he was just swimming around slowly enjoying the cool morning waters. Dash still couldn't see why he liked to swim so early in the morning but he supposed it was just a matter of preference.

He watched as the man just floated about on his back and kick around some before he'd dive under the water to swim towards the edge of the pool. At one point Dash actually counted how long he was under the water and found himself impressed with how long Fenton held his breath.

"If he's this good he should have joined the swim team years ago." Dash muttered to himself as he looked away and saw an older couple teaching their kid to swim. It was a cute little domestic scene and Dash almost wished he had his sketch book with him to draw it. It wasn't anything too special, just a man and a woman with a little kid who couldn't have been much older than three playing in the water, but it stuck out in Dash's mind that his own parents had often been too busy to deal with him lately.

He knew they loved him and everything, but they were often busy with work and didn't have as much time to spend with him. He didn't mind it so much, having grown used to it ages ago, but still it sometimes made him jealous of other kids whose parents were around a lot more, like Fenton's were.

After awhile Dash looked over and saw that Fenton had gotten out and was drying off by a nearby lounge chair. Knowing he wouldn't likely stay much longer Dash whistled to get his attention and then motioned for him to come over once he looked up.

"You doing better today I guess?" Dash looked down at the guy and forced himself to look at the injuries and not examine the fit appearance as a whole. He was still conflicted about these feelings he was having towards Fenton simply on a friendly level and what Kwan had said made it harder for him to ignore everything that kept popping into his head.

"Yeah, my mom was hesitant to let me come swimming but I told her I'd just take it easy and swim a little for fun and not do any of my drills."

Dash nodded and noticed a particularly bad scrape on the left side of his stomach, "Do you get hurt like that a lot?"

When he looked down at where Dash was looking he just shrugged at the wound like it was no big deal, "Not often but it's not as bad as it looks. Plus I heal pretty fast so it's not a big deal."

"Geeze, Fenton, what is wrong with you? I know your parents are all into that ghost hunting stuff but if you get hurt like this maybe you shouldn't be getting involved. I mean didn't you want to be an astronaut at one point?"

"Heh, been there done that," Dash tilted his head confused at what Fenton had muttered.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh nothing, forget it," He laughed a bit nervously and that caused even more confusion for the blond jock, "But didn't think you knew that about me."

"Please, everyone knows you're into space and have, or had I guess, dreams of going out into space one day. It's as well known about you as the fact your sister is a genius and your parents are ghost hunters."

"Still weird for you to know that about me, especially considering that I have no idea what you want to do with your life after you get out of high school. Go to a college on a football scholarship or some other athletic scholarship I guess?"

"Dunno," Dash frowned and looked away, "I'm ok at sports and all but I don't know if I'm good enough for a scholarship and even if I am I don't know what I want to do with my life yet."

"I'm telling you, you could always get into art and do something with that. I mean I think you're really good and from what I've shown others of your work they were all really impressed too."

Dash stared at Fenton for a moment in shock. The teen's smile was shy but sincere and Dash didn't doubt that he was telling the truth. It was just in all his years he had never thought he was good enough in his art to really do anything with it, and while he wasn't sure he wanted to use it as a career, having Fenton praise him so much and so often was starting to give him some confidence in his abilities.

"Well either way you've got a whole year to figure things out I guess. Hopefully you'll figure something out in that time." He shrugged and sat down on a nearby chair.

"Maybe, but what about you? If you're not going to do the space thing what are you going to do with your life? Hunt ghosts like your parents?"

"Heck no," Fenton laughed at the idea and shook his head, "I might be able to work with them from time to time, but that doesn't mean I want to do that my whole life. Nah, I was thinking either taking classes and becoming an engineer if I can wrap my head around the numbers or maybe go to a culinary school. I'm still sort of leaning more towards mechanics though and maybe opening up my own customization shop one day for bikes if I can get mine running."

"Did you get anything done from that design I gave you?"

"I sent the design to Tucker. He's going to go over it for me and send me back some numbers. Now that I have a design though it should go along much smoother. In fact come the first day of school I should be riding up in my own personalized motorcycle." The raven haired teen smiled at the idea and Dash almost thought he stuck out his chest a bit in pride from the very idea of him riding a motorcycle to school.

Dash could actually just see it now. Fenton would ride up to school in a leather jacket and one of those full head helmets that didn't show anything about a person's face. Then he'd park somewhere where everyone would see this mysterious biker guy getting off his personalized bike. Once he had the attention of everyone around him trying to get a look at him he'd slowly take off the helmet and shake out his hair that was still tied back in a short pony tail and show that it was Fenton, the guy who everyone thought was a loser, riding up on that bike.

"So you showed Foley that drawing, huh?" Dash sighed as what Fenton had told him finally caught up in his head. He was actually glad that he had gone off to college early so that the techno geek wouldn't spread it around that the resident quarterback and star jock of Casper High was an artist.

"He helps with the numbers part of the building process. Calculates the amount of materials I'll need, figures out the width, height, and figures of the body… etcetera," He shrugged, "After he gives me a more detailed blueprint, I can build it. I just need to know the exact numbers. From there it's pretty much like building a model rocket ship and I've been doing THAT since I was seven."

"Still can't believe you're actually building a bike. Actually I can't believe your parents are letting you build a bike and then letting you ride it."

"Well they will be going over it to make sure it's safe before I can ride it, so it's not like I'm going to just hop on it the moment I turn the key and go riding off into the sunset or… whatever."

Dash nodded in understanding and looked back out at the pool trying to think of something else to talk about as the silence between them grew again. Finally the blond just decided to man up and after clearing his throat looked over at Fenton who was smiling watching the small family swimming in the shallow end.

"Hey, uh… Fenton?" When the teen looked up with a bit of curiosity in his eyes Dash had to swallow a lump in his throat, "You uh… want to catch that new Zombie Storm IV movie this Friday?"

Fenton tilted his head like he was studying him for a moment before he gave a small smile, "Sure, I was actually talking to Sam and Tucker last night about how this will be the first time we won't get to see a movie from our favorite series together. It'd be nice to hang out with someone and see it."

Dash smiled, it may not have been what he exactly wanted but it was a good start in his opinion. He was still conflicted about his feelings but dwelling on things wasn't doing him any good.

"Great, I heard it's supposed to be a great one." Dash smiled at Fenton who simply shrugged and continued to look out at the pool.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, just thinking on some stuff. The future, school, what may lay ahead for me… that sorta stuff."

Dash watched the teen for a moment before he let his gaze fall back onto the pool. Fenton just kept on doing things and saying things that made him seem like a whole other person than the scrawny kid he'd been back in freshman year. It was interesting, but at the same time Dash was a bit scared to think that he might have been bullying someone this awesome for so long.

FallingNarwhals: I'm fine, was just a little banged up. Car was totaled but I am unharmed, thanks for the concern. I mainly said that as a way of having like a journal entry for the day. Things will get more detailed and involved soon, just bare with me while I build things up.

WildGhost: Dash will learn more about Danny as the chapters progress that's all I will say without spoiling things. I will say that I've written Dash as I have here for a specific reason. If you want to try to figure it out I could tell you if you're hot or cold ;).