Attention: I have given all the information about if Dash will learn Danny's secret or not, I don't mind people asking but I'd prefer it if you all waited to see what happens first. That's it, thanks for reading, and enjoy some insight to the Baxter home life.
It was another normal day for Dash. He woke up, did his normal routine, went to work at the pool, and then went home to enjoy the afternoon. What wasn't normal was when he got into the shower to clean up and get ready to go to the movies with Fenton that afternoon.
When they talked at the pool earlier they decided to get an early show and then head to Chester's for a pizza. After that Dash didn't know what they'd do but he sort of hoped Fenton wouldn't mind hanging out some more. Dash was lonely without Kwan around and bored. He realized he might be hanging around Fenton because he had no one else to really talk to, but on another level he thought that Fenton really was an Ok guy and how much praise he gave the jock about the bike design he had done had really helped his ego.
After Dash had shown his work to the other teen he had actually been on a roll with his art. He drew more and liked what he saw. He was also working faster and was thinking about maybe working on some more projects once his comic was done. It was weird, but when he thought about it, all of this was because he had been helping Fenton. Dash really hated to think about the guy as a friend because he knew that there was never going to be anything between them. He had been bullying him for too long and the idea they would be friends after Kwan came back…
"He's likely just being nice like always, pitying his bully because he has no friends to hang out with," Dash sighed and ran his hand through his hair to straighten it again as he came up to the theater thinking about getting a haircut soon.
As he looked around he spotted Fenton standing near the front looking at the movie posters that were hanging up outside. The guy had his hair tied back again and still had that bit of scuff on his face. It was crazy that this guy didn't have a girlfriend yet with how handsome he looked but now wasn't the time to think of such things.
"Hey, Fenton, didn't keep ya waiting long, did I?" He smirked as he clapped his hand onto the other's back.
"Nah, actually just got here. Had to water some plants before I came here," he chuckled like what he said was some kind of joke.
"Uhh… well ok. Let's go and get our tickets then," Dash jerked his head to the ticket booth and got out his wallet. When Fenton reached into his pocket Dash held up his hand, "I got this, don't worry."
"You sure? I have my own money and all," Fenton looked surprised at the gesture and Dash just nodded as he paid for their tickets, ignoring the look from the guy at the booth who might have gone to school with them.
Once they were inside, the pair made their way to the concessions stand and decided on just getting a couple sodas and to split a small popcorn since they'd be eating afterwards. Before Dash could get out his wallet this time though, Fenton laid out the money and smirked at him.
"You got the tickets, only fair I get the goods," He picked up his soda and the popcorn and Dash fell right behind him towards their theater.
Even though it was a Friday there weren't many people at the show, likely because it was still early. This, however, gave the two ample choice in their seating as they moved towards the center of the theater.
Dash sat down right next to Fenton and looked him over again. He was wearing his signature red spot shirt and those baggy jeans like he always seemed to. The blond on the other hand wore some khakis that fit his legs better and a simple blue polo shirt that had the top button undone.
"I heard this movie was going to be really good," Dash snapped out of his staring of Fenton's body to look him in the eye.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, lots of special effects, some pretty good actors this time, and from what I read online a pretty good plot. A lot better than the second one at least," he made a look of disgust and Dash couldn't help but agree.
"Yeah the second one was pretty awful. Kwan actually wanted to bang his head against a wall after we saw it to forget how bad it was."
"Tucker wanted to pour bleach into his ear so it would get into his brain to erase the images."
Dash tried to hold back a bark of a laugh with his hand and when Fenton asked why that was funny Dash just couldn't help but chuckle, "Just you mentioning Foley and bleach made me think of him with bleach blond hair and the image was just really funny."
The raven haired teen chuckled at that and agreed as the lights started to dim and the previews for upcoming movies started to play. During the course of the previews Fenton commented on several of the upcoming movies and said which ones looked good. Dash paid attention and whispered what he thought and hoped that it was a sign that their growing friendship would continue, even when Kwan came back.
Once the movie started the two mainly kept quiet except when something suddenly burst out and surprised the audience and they jumped a bit. It wasn't really that scary a movie but the sudden surprises did keep Dash on edge waiting to see who would be the next victim of the zombie hoard.
Fenton seemed to be enjoying the movie if the smile on his face was any indication and Dash almost tried to hold his hand that was resting on the arm rest. Unfortunately though the teen moved his hand into their diminishing bag of popcorn before he got the chance and after that he didn't have the nerve to try again.
Once the movie was over, and the credits started to roll, Dash started to get up and was surprised when something caught hold of his hand. Looking down he saw Fenton was holding it and tugged him back down. Dash was glad that it was still dark in the theater or else the light might have shown how red his face was at the moment.
"Hold on a minute, there's supposed to be a scene after the credits." Dash sat down and tried to get the rapid beating of his heart to slow down after Fenton let go of his hand. They watched as various names scrolled by on the scene before some thunder and lightning interrupted the sequence. They then saw the house where the final scene had been at and watched as some workers were going through it deciding where to start tearing it apart when something dripped down on their shoulder from above. The worker looked at in, thinking it was water or something from a busted pipe, but when he looked up a feral scream and a gruesome zombie face fell into the camera from above with its rancid mouth wide open to bite down into the worker.
It was a bit of a startling scene, but it was really good. Even the loud shriek from the zombie was great. After that the screen went black again, the credits started back up, and they left. Fenton talked about how he was glad he had read up about the movie so they could catch that. Apparently it was supposed to set the scene for the next Zombie Storm movie that they were already in the process of filming somewhere.
After dropping their drinks and popcorn in the garbage they walked out of the theater and Dash stretched out in the dimming light of the early evening. It had been a few hours since he had stood and it felt good to stretch his legs again. As they walked along the streets together Dash kept on glancing to the side as a comfortable bit of silence fell between them.
"There a reason you haven't shaved?" Dash didn't know why he asked, but the white hairs still stuck out on the black haired head.
"Oh, I just haven't felt like shaving in awhile I guess," Danny laughed a bit nervously, "Why you don't like it?"
"No, it looks good," Dash blurted out a bit too fast, "I mean it makes you look more mature and I guess a bit more rugged. When school starts back up I bet you'll have girls flocking to be your girlfriend. Especially with that bike and you being on the swim team."
"I dunno," Fenton shrugged, "I doubt any girl will want to go out with a loser like me, though without Sam and Tucker around I guess I'll have moved up from 'Loser' to 'Loner'." He chuckled softly at his joke but Dash could see a bit of hurt in his eyes.
"Don't say that, if nothing else we can hang out at school and places."
Fenton stopped and stared at Dash for a moment in surprise, "You'd… actually still hang out with me when Kwan's back and when school started up again?"
Dash looked at him and the look on his face showed that the shorter teen was actually surprised at that admission which caused a slight blush to come to Dash's features, "Well yeah. I mean you're really a lot cooler than I ever gave you credit for and it's been fun hanging out with you. After all we're friends now right? So yeah, I'd like to keep hanging out with you even when school starts back up."
Fenton gave a bright smile and nodded at the blond jock, "Thanks, Dash, I actually appreciate that more than you could know. Heh, three months ago I never would have thought that we could ever become friends, and yet here we are."
Dash chuckled and nodded. Thinking about their Junior year and how Dash had shoved Fenton into his locker on numerous times and poured some old milk over him as a prank once popped out in his mind. Other memories of how Fenton had somehow poured hot-sauce into his water at basketball practice one day and glued his hand to a doorknob another also came to mind and it seemed like this friendship at that time was beyond impossible and yet here they were.
"I guess we just needed to grow up a bit and maybe be out of the pressure of high school cliques. Either way it's nice to have a new friend." Fenton chuckled as they reached Chester's Pizzeria and went inside.
They sat down and talked for awhile about the movie, about their projects, and even about their friends. It made the whole afternoon pass by quickly as they talked and ate their pizza. Before they could really notice it had already gotten to be passed seven and they realized they had spent the last four hours together doing little more than enjoying each other's company. Normally when they had hung out they had something to do but today it had just been a do nothing afternoon and both teens actually enjoyed it.
After they were done with their own individual pies Dash ordered one for his parents. They got home early today and knowing them it would be nice to have something simple to eat.
Once the two headed to their respective homes Dash thought more about everything Fenton had told him about. The guy had been really supportive and made him want to draw more to show him, but he was still unsure about if he could do anything with what he considered to be a meager talent.
"No! I'm not going to sell myself short anymore," Dash shook his head and grunted to psych himself up, "I am good and I have room to improve but it's not just a 'meager talent'."
He sighed and walked up to his house to let himself in. Inside he saw his dad sitting on the couch looking worn out. He had changed out from his work clothes and was just sitting on their couch in some bike shorts and t-shirt. He worked for Axiom Labs working on machines doing things that went over Dash's head but made good money for his family even though the work sometimes wore him out.
"Hey, Sport, how was the movie?"
Dash set the pizza out in front of his dad on their coffee table, "It was good, dad, we went out for some pizza afterwards and thought I'd bring you and mom some. Where is she anyway?"
"Upstairs taking a bath," the blond man sighed and stretched out his body. Dash really took after his father in several regards: size and hair color being some things. The man was still in relatively good shape even though he was in his 40s with impressive arms that he stretched out over his head with a grunt, "I tell ya, kid if you ever get married to someone who works in the health care industry NEVER ask how their day was if they kick their shoes off at the front door. It will never be good news."
"Long day at the hospital?"
"Something about a man coming in bleeding from his crotch due to a chainsaw accident," Both males cringed and covered their groins at that painful imagery, "Having to change the bandages of someone who had several bed sores, something involving a lot of pus, a lot of irritable patients, and a great deal of blood and very gross sounding things."
Dash groaned and felt himself go a bit green, his mother worked as a nurse at the hospital and he had heard some horror stories in his day from her and today was sounding like one of the worse ones.
"Geeze, glad I already ate cause that really sounds- Dad what are you doing?!" The blond teen shook his head as his dad opened the pizza box and started to eat a piece.
"Ah'm eatin'," He spoke with his mouth full of the pepperoni pizza and his son looked at him in shock, "What? Just 'cause your mother had a gross day doesn't mean it has to keep me from eating."
The teen just shook his head and sat down with a huff. His father looked him over with cheese hanging down from his mouth before he slurped it up and tilted his head, "Something on your mind, Dash?"
"I was sorta thinking…" Dash gulped and rubbed the palms of his hands on his knees, "You and mom would love me no matter what I chose for a career right?"
"You'll have to be a bit less vague than that, Dash," Mr. Baxter suddenly sat up straight and looked at his son in concern, "Are you thinking about joining the forces or doing something we might find shameful?"
"No-no, nothing like that… I just," Dash took a deep breath and thought for a moment before he went on, "I have a talent that I've been using to help my friend lately and I'm thinking about pursuing it one day as a career but I'm just not sure you'd approve of it."
"Dash, before I can say anything I'm going to need to know what it is you're talking about. Now tell me, son, what kind of talent are you talking about?"
He took another deep breath and looked to the side at his father sitting beside him, "I… I'm actually been helping a friend design a motorcycle he's building and he's been making me think that maybe I could do well in some artistic field like designing cars or maybe animation."
"Dash…," Mr. Baxter looked at his son a bit dubiously like he didn't believe him.
"It's true, dad, here I'll show you." Dash jumped to his feet and ran upstairs to get his sketch pad that held all the bike designs he had done for Fenton. When he got back he handed the book to his father and sat down on the couch again as he flipped through the pages.
Mr. Baxter's eyes went wide in surprise as he looked over each page and then moved onto the next, "You drew all these by hand?" Dash nodded, "No tracing?" A shake this time, "Did you draw by something you saw or did you just draw it from what you were thinking?"
The slight smile of amazement at his talent made Dash feel a bit more confident in the conversation, "I drew them all by hand, no tracing or anything and after a bit of research drawing what a lot of bikes looked like I went to work on thinking about my friend and then trying to incorporate his style and everything so the bike would fit him. It wasn't easy and took a lot of work but he was really impressed with my designs."
"Well I have to agree… these are impressive," he looked over at Dash again though this time he had a slight frown on his face, "Why didn't you ever tell us you liked to draw or were into art, Dash?"
"I-I don't know…" the younger blond looked away embarrassed, "I guess because it just seemed so silly to me and I really didn't think it was that special. Plus I always had this fear you'd be disappointed and think it was stupid and take my sketch books and throw them out or something."
"Aww… Sport," Mr. Baxter reached around his son and pulled him into a one armed hug and rubbed at his son's arm, "So long as you remain a good person and do good with your life I'll never be disappointed in you, and I'd never throw out your books. They're very good."
Dash smiled a bit before he raised a brow, "What about mom? You said you wouldn't be disappointed, but what about her?"
"Well…" his father sighed and rolled his eyes, "You know she wants you to go to school and get into the medical field. But it's your life and after a bit of getting used to I'm sure she'll understand."
"Thanks, dad," The teen hugged his father before he collected his book and started to head towards the stairs, "Enjoy the pizza and save mom some, I'm going to do some stuff and then head onto bed, I still have lifeguarding to do in the morning."
"How's that going for you by the way?"
"I think it's turning out to be a lot better than I thought it was going to be," Dash smiled fondly before he headed up the stairs to his room. He sat down at his desk with a smile and got out a clean sheet of paper and as he stared out his window towards the backyard he just started to draw what he saw. He sketched out the trees, grass, the fence, and didn't stop until he crawled into bed with a smile on his face and the start of a landscape picture laid carefully out on his desk.
Remember how Mr. Baxter is, it will be important much later on in another story.