Prompt 04: "Prepared and ready, except I'm neither one of those." (WC: 1605)
A/N: Alternate Title - In which Danny and Lee reluctantly work together
blackcat711: I'm so glad you're liking this story! You've got some foresight with your suggestion. Something like that will be happening in the future. ;)
ChillyIce: I'm glad you're liking the story. There will be a lot exploration of different facets of DP characters along with some new ones.
The plan had been to never speak to Danny Fenton again. Blackmail and the amount of exposed and unexposed secrets that hung between them had soured any chance at a friendship. Lee hadn't counted on them both ending up at the same shitty lake party.
Lee Brown didn't do parties. She especially didn't do parties that involved being dependent on someone else for travel and/or parties that had the presence alcohol. However, Lee owed Mike Parker a favor and the asshole had cashed it in for a date (which really ought to have been predictable for a male. Lee herself would have picked something more useful). She had agreed to the date only because going to this popular kid party might actually lessen the amount of bullying she received and because turning Mike down would probably just cause a stir she didn't want to deal with. As long as he kept his hands mostly to himself (since she had to be realistic), Lee was marginally okay with the repayment. She was never going to ask Mike or any other male to cover for her again, but she was okay with the repayment.
Danny, as far as Lee could tell, was here with Paulina. Not because Paulina had suddenly seen what a catch Danny was, but to make Dash jealous. Danny had been picked over the other hoard of boys clamoring to be used because he had a car, the Fenton-mobile (and Lee would have bet money he didn't have permission to use it). Dany also had his relationship as Dash's favorite victim in his "favor".
As far as Lee could tell, the poor boy had deluded himself into thinking that Paulina actually wanted him. At least had the good sense not to let anyone talk him out of driving the van(?) that had brought them all up to the lake, that would have resulted in someone crashing the thing and the whole party being trapped out by the lake (and Danny's untimely death at the hands of his parents when they found out).
Danny's ignorant bliss hadn't lasted long, however. He had figured out what Paulina's game was soon enough and had spent a good portion of the evening glaring at the fire, only a log over from where Lee was while she tried to zone out during Mike's long explanation of the nuances of football. The whole thing was in bad taste in Lee's opinion, but necking in perfect view of the clearly distraught teen was pushing it. If Lee was a better person, she might have even said something to them about it, but she wasn't, so she didn't.
Of course, a handful of kids hanging out at a party on the outskirts of town when alcohol and teenage "romance" (read: ungraceful groping) were involved reeked very heavily of classic horror movie material, and because this was Amity Park (or the outskirts at least) the moment had to fulfill itself. A crazy, clearly ectoplasmic based, man with a hook had come howling out of the water at them (somehow covered in seaweed - was it ghost seaweed?) and like idiots the kids scattered like marbles.
Thanks to Mike, Lee was caught up in the fleeing as well, which was how Lee who had sworn to avoid Danny Fenton like the plague, had ended up pinned against a tree by the boy while they were being stalked through the forest by the ghost of some hook-wielding pirate.
Danny had managed to separate them from the others (which Lee still hadn't decided if that was a good or bad) and his hand firmly planted over her mouth. Adrenaline made Lee hyper aware. She was aware of how cool Danny's skin was, how his breath felt against her face and neck, the feeling of his sandy and damp clothing against her (unfortunately) rather exposed skin, the frantic footfalls of the other teenagers growing more and more distant with each passing second, and the sound of metal against wood as their purser scrapped his hook against the trees as he searched the woods.
One thought kept repeating itself over in her head, "I'm going to die. I'm going to die."
Her self control wasn't even enough to keep her in place. Danny had to press tighter against her to hold her still and quiet. A few frantic seconds of muffled struggling and the frantic thought passed, giving way cool dread but some clarity of mind. No matter how used to supernatural and life or death situations Lee was, she could never quite get over the initial blind panic. But she managed to come back to herself and she stilled in Danny's grasp.
The sound of metal against wood grew fainter and fainter. Hiding from a ghost would have been pointless if the ghost in question didn't have multiple targets. After a few painfully silent moments of waiting for the fake out to revel itself, Danny removed his hand from Lee's mouth.
A faint blush covered his cheeks as he realized how closely they had been and he backed up, giving Lee her space. They stared silently at each other, both struggling with their own internal issues.
"Why did you grab me?" was the first thing Lee asked, her voice hushed. She had thousands of questions, but very few that were important or that Danny could answer. 'why me' being the front-runner in her pointless questions list.
Danny stared at her. He had expected a more violent reaction from the surly teen, "I'm not sure..." he reluctantly admitted.
Lee didn't know that it was a habit of his to work with Sam and Tucker. When the ectoplasm hit the fan, they stuck together. They aren't there of course, but she was, and she knew what they did. Danny had instinctively used her to fill their role, but she didn't know that and Danny wasn't self aware enough to know it either.
"The Fenton-Thermos is the van." Danny told her, as if she had any idea what that was.
Since they were away from the prying eyes of the other teens and the maniac ghost could appear at any second, both of them ran back towards the van disregarding stealth. As they ran, Danny explained just what exactly the Fenton-Thermos was.
Lee was struck by the unfairness of it all. Her life would have been so much easier if she had the luxury of ghost catching technology.
"That's convenient." was all she said, not revealing just how much she's dealt with ghosts.
"Luxury of living with ghost hunters." Danny said with a cheer and calmness that was more real than Lee's false composure as he stuck his hand through the lock of the Fenton-mobile not bothering with the keys in his pocket.
His real composure spoke to how often he had handled these situations before. To be fair, Lee has had her own numerous encounters as well. However, as Danny rushed them into the Fenton-mobile and Lee has an opportunity to look at the ghost hunting technology in actual detail, she realized that Danny and her were never going to be on equal footing. She would always just be a human dealing with things far outside her realm of power and control. Danny was part of that realm (and it really wasn't fair).
While Danny searched for the Fenton-thermos that he had hidden (Lee was just glad that he had brought it at all), Lee had her own priorities, namely proper clothing. Amity Park might have turned her life into a horror movie, but she wasn't about to go ghost fighting in a bathing suit. If her life had to be a horror movie, it was going to be classier than that. She yanked on her pants, throwing off her cover up rather than stuffing it back into her backpack. They didn't have time for Lee to be neat. The only thing Lee took the time to do was double check that the iron cross was still attached to her pant's belt.
Danny turned around and turned bright red, "Geez, Lee warn a guy!" He said, spinning right back around.
"I was wearing a see through cover up," Lee pointed out as she fixed her belt around her waist, "Besides it's just a swimming suit."
Danny made a strangled noise of disagreement.
"You know, most guys would be thrilled that I gave them an excuse to peak."
Danny made a louder strangled noise that pulled a smirk to Lee's lips. Ghost hunting was a lot less stressful when you had someone at your side to mock.
"Alright, alright. I'm dressed. You can turn around now."
Danny did so, and though pink lingered on his cheeks, he plowed ahead like he hadn't just caught her putting on pants. He shook the Fenton-thermos pointedly, "Let's go catch us a crazy hook wielding lunatic."
"Incorporeal," Lee threw in, throwing herself head long into the insanity of making light about hunting a ghost that was actively trying to kill them.
Danny smiled seeing Lee lose the last traces of the intense fear that she had been harboring since the ghost appeared. It had been unexpected from the usually very composed teen, and had been disturbing to witness.
"Incorporeal hook wielding lunatic," he agreed with a sagely nod of his head.
"I'm going ghost!" He announced and then he wasn't Danny anymore.
Lee had to laugh at the situation, because if she doesn't she was pretty sure she'll have a break down. Nothing about this is normal. Not even by her definition of the word, "Prepared and ready!" She laughed, "Except I'm neither one of those."
'Not Danny' gave her a grin and flew through the van. Lee followed him out the door, and nearly got decapitated.
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