Author: loosedefense
Title: Weak
Pairing: Danny/Dash
Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is the property of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. This story implies nothing about the characters nor does the plot of the story have any effect on the show itself. This story is pure fiction and fantasy.
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When the final bell rang the next afternoon, Danny wondered if he ought to wait for Dash. No, he decided he wouldn't. There was no telling if Dash would bother coming over anymore after their recent fiasco, despite all those times he had insisted to Danny that nothing would daunt his dedication to fulfilling his duties however distasteful he found them, and if he did want to come over, Kwan would be able to give him a ride.
Kwan had been surprised to find out yesterday that Dash had come over during the lunch period and left before then. "Why didn't he call me?" he had asked Danny. The reason he had bothered coming over, after all, had been because Dash had asked him weeks ago to come over every day to help him keep an eye on his charge, and it had become tradition for the two jocks to spend the day at the Fenton residence. Danny had simply shrugged, not wanting to volunteer information. Kwan had hesitated for a bit after that but in the end had decided that if Dash wasn't around to keep an eye on the allegedly depressed boy, then he might as well do it for him, and had spent the afternoon watching cartoons quietly with Danny.
But now, Danny didn't want to go home just yet. The thought of possibly having to face Dash there again so soon afterwards made him want to hide under the refrigerator; one day's reprieve was not enough to dull the embarrassment he felt over the whole situation, and anyway, he told himself, for an eighteen year old, he had been cooping himself up in his house for far too long. Pulling out his cellphone, he dialed Tucker's number.
"Dude, why are you calling when we're still in school?" Tucker said without preamble when he answered.
"Because I want to get out of here quick, and I can't do that if I'm looking around for you," Danny told him. "Is Sam with you?"
"Yeah, she's right here, you wanna talk to her?"
"No. Do you guys want to go out?"
"Sure," Tucker accepted. "Where?"
"I don't know," Danny shrugged, even though Tucker couldn't see him. He tossed his bag into the backseat. "Meet me by my car."
Two minutes after he hung up, Sam and Tucker were there. Danny gave them a puzzled look when he saw their stares. "What?"
"Um," Tucker said, "dude, you look kind of …" he paused, trying to think how to put it in the nicest way possible, "feral."
"What?" Danny spun around and bent lower to look at his reflection in one of the side view mirrors of his cars. Tucker was right. His hair looked messy – it always looked messy, but usually fell into a sort of pattern that allowed it to be passed off as neat to those who knew him – his eyes drooped as though he didn't have the energy to keep them open, which Danny attributed to the fact that he had spent the afternoon with Kwan instead of going to sleep and had not been close his eyes for more than a couple of hours at night, and he looked, on the whole, haggard.
"Have I been walking around like this all day?" his voice escalated as he uttered the words to end the sentence in a shriek.
Tucker shrugged. "I don't know, I haven't seen you all day. Ow!" he glared at Sam when she jabbed him in the ribs.
"You didn't look bad, Danny," she consoled. "And you don't look bad now. Right?" she gave Tucker a meaningful look, and he in turn gave Danny an eager nod.
Danny sighed. "Let's just go," he said. "I think I've had about as much of school as I can take today."
"You sure you don't just want to go to bed?" Tucker asked. "I mean, not that you look bad or anything," he quickly added when Sam's elbow jutted out slightly with the promise of another jab.
Danny shook his head. "No," he said. "I'm trying to get back to a normal sleeping pattern."
"When did you break it?" Sam asked, getting into the backseat.
"I stayed up last night," Danny lied. There was no need to mention the jock party again, and he definitely did not want to risk his friends finding out that he and Dash had been sleeping together since then. 'Sharing the same bed,' he corrected himself.
"So where are we going to go?" Tucker asked as they pulled out of the school's compound. He didn't feel much like driving around town aimlessly today. Tucker was sitting upfront, something Danny took note of. It was a reminder of what had changed in their relationship. Sam had usually claimed front seat in Danny's car, but now seemed content to sit in the back behind Tucker, the position furthest away from Danny as possible.
"I don't know," Danny shrugged. "We could go to the park again."
Tucker wrinkled his nose. "Too sunny," he said.
"When did you guys go to the park?" Sam asked.
"Couple of weeks ago," Danny told her. It had been the day directly after Sam had told him nothing would come of their friendship, so obviously she hadn't been around when they went.
"Let's go to the mall," Tucker suggested. "We could catch a movie."
"Fine with me," Danny told him. Sam raised no objections, so Danny took a left at the next intersection. They sat in silence for a while, and more for a lack of better thing to do than anything else, he asked, "So what are you guys going to do this summer?"
"Probably nothing," Tucker said.
"I think my parents are going to try and drag me to Paris," Sam said in a bored tone.
"That sounds awesome!" Tucker enthused.
"Not when the trip means spending hours every night watching a bunch of models shoving their hips side to side walking down a runway," Sam said. "And all my dad ever does on trips is set up business deals and drag us all on tours."
"Bummer," Danny said.
"What about you?" Tucker asked him.
He gave a small shrug. "I might try to get a job. It'd be good to get one before college starts."
"So …" Sam said tentatively, "have you decided where to go?"
Danny hesitated. "I guess I'll be going to Amity U. It's cheap, it's convenient…."
A tense silence greeted this. "I hear they have some really excellent lecturers there," Tucker said. Danny thought he could hear the unspoken words, Yeah, Danny, you won't be missing out on anything at all.
"Guys, it's okay," he said, not wanting the afternoon with his friends to be uncomfortable. "I know it means not going away for college, and I'm okay with that. A lot of people choose Amity U; it's a good school and I'll be able to fight ghosts as well." The assurances sounded weak, and although he hated himself for it, Danny could not stop the voice in his head from commenting bitterly, 'I don't feel trapped at all.'
Sam seemed to have decided to try and press the matter a little bit more. "Danny, you know it's like we said, the ghosts don't really attack anymore," she said softly. "Even with the Plasmius soul, there aren't as many attacks as there used to be. People here know how to take care of themselves, and your parents..."
"I know," Danny said. He didn't say anything else, and he knew he didn't have to. It just didn't feel right, abandoning the people of this town to up and leave. Sure some people knew how to defend themselves, but although a citizen of Amity Park would be the most prepared against a ghost attack compared to the residents of other towns, the fact remained that most were still helpless. The ghost hunters couldn't handle every attack, and by the time they got there, most, if not all, damage would already be done, and the ghost might have even left.
At that point, his eyes shifted up, and he caught sight of a large hill. Suddenly struck with inspiration, he said, "Hey, you know what we should do before we leave?" He pointed to the cliff. "We should go up to Castle's Point."
Castle's Point was the highest point overlooking the town. With its steep and precarious path, it had been so called due to the fact that it looked like the kind of place a castle would be as shown in cartoons and movies. Though no barriers had been put up, it was understood that it was generally too dangerous to drive up, which dissuaded many from going there. It was, therefore, seen as a sort of challenge and to some even a rite of passage to hike up to the top and sleep under the stars with only a sleeping bag, as a tent was typically too bothersome to put up with.
"Up there?" Tucker raised his eyebrow. "Couldn't we just go to a party and call it a night?"
"I think it's a great idea," Sam leaned forward, gazing up at it. "Not many people go up there, so it could be just a thing between us, and it is something we've never done before, which is perfect if we're going to go our separate ways soon. Amity Park's final frontier."
"We should totally do it," Danny couldn't stop an delighted grin from creeping on to his face. "We could do it at the end of summer. That way, we'll have everything out of the way, and it'd be the perfect goodbye." A small lump in his throat formed at the thought of saying goodbye to his friends and going on without them constantly in his life, but he swallowed it down.
"I'm in," Sam jumped on the idea, nodding.
"Fine," Tucker said, although Danny could see excitement shining in his eyes too.
A few more minutes of driving, and the mall loomed overhead. After finding a parking spot, Danny cut the engine and the three of them got out.
"I want a muffin," Tucker announced.
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After getting Tucker his muffin, which he was happily munching on now, the three friends made their way to the record store.
"I don't know why we come here,' Sam commented after a few minutes of browsing. "This place never has anything except Top 40 junk."
"Might be an indication that you need to change," Tucker offered.
"Into mainstream embrace?" Sam curled her lip. "Hardly."
The selections weren't to Danny's taste either. Passing over the hip-hop genre entirely, he fingered through some rock albums, but there weren't many albums that he liked. He felt the vibration of the cellphone in his pocket. A second later, a shrill ringing tone followed. Danny pulled out the phone and looked at the screen. Dash's name flashed on it. Without stopping to reconsider, he canceled the call.
"Who was that?" Tucker asked, peeking out from the bargain bin.
"Nobody," Danny said, pocketing the phone again. "Now."
"This blows. I propose we go for a movie," Sam said.
"I second the motion!" Tucker raised his hand.
"Can't you just say 'yes'?" Sam rolled her eyes with a smile on her face. Tucker stuck his tongue out at her.
"Yeah, why not," Danny agreed. The thought of a dark theatre and a possibly mindless movie was enticing. He made for the exit. Tucker followed behind. Sam started to go too, but then pulled herself back to take the remaining copy of Ember's CD from four years ago and hid it from sight behind a stack of CDs, grinning devilishly.
Outside, she found her two friends stocking up on candy at a nearby stall. "Because popcorn is never enough," Tucker said without waiting for her to ask for an explanation.
"I think we should try melting it over the popcorn," Danny said, scooping handfuls of chocolate into his bag.
"Sweet," Tucker grinned.
Just then someone bumped rudely into Sam. "Watch it," an exotic voice said carelessly.
"Hanging around chocolate, Paulina?" Sam dusted the side of her skirt, keeping her eyes locked on to the Hispanic girl. "Aren't you afraid your delicate skin is going to break out just by looking at it?"
"No," Paulina raised her head imperiously, "but I am afraid looking at you any longer will turn me into stone."
"Oh, is that the best you've got?" Sam snapped. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, what with all those F's , that you can't think long enough to make up a decent comeback."
"Don't expect everyone to be able to make retorts as good as yours, Sam," Paulina's eyes swept over the other girl distastefully. "Considering the way you dress yourself, you probably have all day to make them up."
At this point, she turned her attention to Danny, placing her hands on her lips and giving him the small smile that the entire male population of Casper High dreamed to have directed at them. "Hey, Danny," she said. "Dash told you to come to my party this week right?"
"Uh, yeah, Paulina," Danny said awkwardly. A sense of loyalty to Sam, who was seething behind her, told him to be as unfriendly as possible to Paulina – which wouldn't have done much anyway, because regardless of his conflict regarding his recent behavior around Dash, Danny was still very much attracted to Paulina, and aside from that, despite all her flaws, did like the girl on the whole.
"Great," Paulina beamed. "I'll see you there then."
After she walked off, Sam turned to Danny. "Another party?"
"You know those popular types," Tucker said casually. "They like to party."
"Paulina's kind of making up for what happened last Saturday," Danny said in an apologetic tone.
"Oh, of course," Sam fumed. "It's not enough that they actually partied outside the house after the ghost attacked, she has to throw a 'make-up' party as well," she went over the word 'make-up' as though it were poison.
"What do you want her to do?" Danny defended. "It's not like she's allowed patch up the cracks on the wall where the ghost hit it. It's her house and she wants to throw a party, I don't see what the big deal is."
"And why are you going?" Sam shot back.
"She's kind of," Danny rubbed the nape of his neck uneasily, "telling everyone who was there last week to come this week." He hoped that sounded discreet enough to throw Sam off.
"She's forcing people to come?" Apparently not. Even Sam sounded shocked that Paulina would go that far.
"Wow," Tucker munched on one of the pieces of chocolate in his bag, his eyes darting from Sam to Danny as they talked.
"Well, she's got a reputation for her parties, and one of them got messed up, so she's making up for it and making sure everyone is there to experience it," Danny said. "I mean, you can understand wanting to protect a rep, can't you?"
"Sure, one worth honoring—"
"Hey, kids," they were suddenly interrupted by the middle aged man running the chocolate counter, "you gonna move it or buy some more candy? And you—" he snatched Tucker's bag away from him, "no eating before paying."
"Aw man," Tucker moaned, but allowed the man to weigh the bag before handing him some money. Danny did the same after him, and the three of them moved out of the way to allow the other customers through.
"Look, I've got it all figured out," Danny continued. "I'll go, and this time I'll keep a constant eye out for ghost activity. If there's anything going on, I'll ditch and take care of it."
"I just don't see why everyone indulges her like this," Sam sighed. "But fine."
"You know, she really isn't so bad," Danny told them. "She's obsessed with everything cool and trendy, just like the rest of them, but if she's away from all that, she can be pretty nice."
"Like Dash." Sam quirked an eyebrow.
"And Kwan." Tucker got on the escalator.
"Yeah, yeah, I guess," Danny's mind momentarily flickered back to Dash. "I thought they were insufferable jerks, but after a while, I found out they were pretty okay. When we hang out, the labels don't matter, and I got to find out they were good guys."
"Um, excuse me, but didn't you suspect Kwan of something?" Tucker reminded.
"I still am," Danny said. "And I haven't gotten very far. But other than that, he's great."
"Danny, those people are only hanging out with you because they have to," Sam pointed out. "Sure, they might be marginally more decent when no one else around, but they still treat us and everyone outside their little clique like dirt every other time. Who wants to be around people like that? It's completely immature behavior."
"I know, I know," Danny raised his hands up. "I'm just saying, they're not all that bad if you get the chance to hang out with them."
"Well, unlike you, we're never going to be able to hang out with them, so thankfully, I won't get the chance to test that theory," Sam smiled contentedly.
The three of them chattered on as they reached the line for movie tickets, the conversation directing itself away from the topic of the popular group and on to other things.
"Why don't you guys get the tickets and I'll get the snacks," Danny suggested, stepping away from the crowd.
"You just bought a huge bag of chocolate and you're going to buy more snacks?" Sam asked.
"Large popcorn for me," Tucker said, unfazed. "Buttered."
"Right," Danny noted. "Sam, anything for you?"
"Just water," she told him.
Since it was the middle of the week and school had just let out for the day, there wasn't too much of a crowd, but Danny still felt a twinge of annoyance when he saw the amount of people before him. Even as he slid into place, more people were already lining up behind him.
He waited impatiently for the line to move, but all hopes of getting food and drinks were abandoned when he heard a high-pitched scream somewhere in the vicinity. He closed his eyes in attempt to avoid going crazy. Was it too much to ask for one day of peace?
Turning around, he found some ghost he had never seen before hovering in midair mid-way between the box office and the snack bar. Since it wasn't facing his direction, Danny couldn't see much of it, except for the fact that it was big and green and had long arms that looked quite disproportionate to its body. Everyone around was watching it, mesmerized, instead of behaving in the usual chaotic way that was expected of them. Cursing himself, Danny pointed and cried out in an exaggerated tone in hopes of jump-starting the crowd, "Oh no! Look! It's a ghost!"
That did it. Several people smattered all around the area burst into shrieks, and shortly after everybody else followed, throwing the entire place into disarray.
Slowly backing away from the crowd with a hand stretched out to alert him of anyone attempting to barrel through in order to get away and avoid being trampled on, Danny reached the snack bar's counter, and turned to see that there was no one manning it, like he had hoped. Giving himself a little leverage, he slid over the counter and dropped gracefully on to the floor where, safely out of sight, he transformed.
Danny Phantom shot out like a bullet and skidded to a stop in midair close to the new menace. "All I wanted," he said to it, "was just one day to myself. Really, was that too much to ask?" The ghost turned to him with a look Danny thought meant that it was going to say something.
Instead, its eyeballs rolled back in its head as its jaw dropped unbelievably low and it let out an earth-shattering roar right at his face.
"Oh, great," Danny said when he recovered. "Uncivilized too." He patted his white hair down to its normal state, as the ghost's howl had blown it upwards. Curling his fingers into a fist, he rammed it up into the ghost's closed jaw.
Danny watched as the ghost's large eyes contracted, and then saw one of its arms zoom forward and felt a searing pain as it hit him directly in the chest. He was sent backwards, clutching his chest and gasping for breath. He hadn't expected it to be able to hit so hard. Compared to the rest of its body, the ghosts arms looked weak and thin.
His eyes widened when one arm came for him again; what was shocking about it was that it stretched beyond normal limits, elongating itself enough to reach him.
'Wonderful,' Danny thought. He darted to the left in attempt to avoid the arm, but even as he did, the ghost simply swung its arm in his direction, slamming into his ribs.
Danny nearly tumbled to the ground, then with a slight growl fired an ectoplasmic beam at the limb.
The ghost drew back, letting out a cry that conveyed pain. Danny took the time to make sure Tucker and Sam were okay, and saw that they were hiding near a large poster advertising an upcoming comedy. Luckily, it seemed that they were out of harm's way. Danny couldn't spare another glance though, for the ghost was preparing for another attack.
Turning intangible, the ghost's right arm passed harmlessly through him, but when he returned to solid form, once again it hurtled for him. Desperately, Danny raised his hands up and formed a circular shield out of ectoplasmic energy. The ghost, not expecting it, hadn't geared enough energy to break through it, but one more swing of its arm, and it crashed through the shield.
Danny was forced backwards again from the force of the hit, but thankfully the shield had managed to absorb quite a bit of the energy.
He was in no shape to fight such an opponent right now. Sleep-deprived and weary of ghosts, Danny knew he couldn't handle many more beatings today. So it was with this thought that he created an ectoplasmic ball and hurled it towards the ghost. It was a direct hit. Danny flew to where Tucker and Sam were, but before he was able to get the Fenton Thermos from them, the ghost attacked again, this time punching him with one elongated arm across the face and then managing an uppercut punch.
Danny's face stung. He opened his arm to shoot out another beam of energy, but then heard a call "Heads up!" and caught sight of the Thermos flying through the air in his direction. Quickly he pulled off the cap and aimed it at the large ghost.
With a scream of protest, it tried to grip on to a railing in attempt to beat the pull of the Thermos, but by floating closer and increasing the power of the Thermos's vacuum, the force eventually grew too much for it to contend with.
The crowd was still frantic below him, so Danny blindly threw the Thermos in the direction where he had seen Tucker and Sam, then flew back to the snack bar's counter, taking a chance and changing as he approached it. By the time he hit the floor, the last traces of the jumpsuit of his alter-ego were disappearing and he was once again eighteen-year-old Danny Fenton.
When he emerged again, people were still scattered and screaming, though there were significantly fewer people around. Eventually, though, the ones still around noticed that the threat was gone, and the frightened shouts subsided within time.
"Danny!" he heard Sam's relieved voice. She rushed up to him, Tucker behind her, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.
"It's okay," he said.
"Should we go over to your place?" Tucker asked.\
Danny chewed on his lip. "No," he said. He had just won yet another fight, and while dead tired too. He deserved much more, he thought, than to just go home and go to sleep. "I want to watch that movie."
Sam blinked. "Um, Danny, we can't." She gestured to the area behind her. "Everyone's gone. We didn't get the tickets, and I seriously doubt anyone is going to be showing movies right now."
"Oh, sure they will," Danny said unconvincingly, taking in the sight behind her. There was a pause, and then he said with a grin, "I bet there's no one to stop us from sneaking in."
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Though it wasn't what they had planned to watch, Danny, Sam and Tucker eventually found a theatre showing a movie that had only begun fifteen minutes ago. Now as they drove back, Danny turned to Tucker, and said, "I need you guys to come in with me for a while."
"Why?" Tucker questioned.
"I'm going into the Ghost Zone, and I need you guys to open the doors once I'm done."
"Are you going to talk to Walker?" Sam asked.
"No, not yet," Danny shook his head.
"Well, who are you going to see?" she frowned.
"I'll tell you all about it later," he said. "I just have some questions I want to ask. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to find anything."
Sam thought he was acting awfully mysterious, but decided to drop the issue.
When they reached the house, Danny entered, but Sam's feeling of suspicion intensified further when she noticed his posture. It looked as though Danny were almost creeping into the house. His upper body was curved forward, as though he was trying to keep an eye out by peeking in first, and he walked in slowly. Before she could ask him what was wrong though, he straightened up and motioned for them to come in.
Tucker eyed him warily when he walked in, which Sam caught as well, but he didn't say anything to Danny, so she decided not to raise any questions just yet. They opened the door to the laboratory and walked down. Danny remained by the door for a moment, looking around the living room once again as though he expected to find somebody there, and then followed them down and closed the door as well.
Her attention diverted by the computer in the lab that controlled various items around the house, including opening the door to the Ghost Zone, Sam didn't notice Danny stealing a quick glance around the lab to make sure that no one was around either, particularly of the blond, blue-eyed variety.
"Okay," he said to them finally, transforming again into Danny Phantom, "you guys man the controls. I'm going in."
"How will we know when you're ready to get out?" Tucker asked.
"Give me half an hour," Danny told him.
"Half an hour?" Sam asked, surprised. "That's a lot longer than you usually take in there."
"Yeah, well, like I said, I'm not sure what I'm looking for," Danny eluded.
He walked over to the computer, pulling off one white glove, and pressed his hand against the genetic lock. The doors slid open, and, placing the glove back, flew through to the other side.
When the doors closed behind him, Sam turned to Tucker and opened her mouth to voice her concerns, but closed it shut again when he said, "I should have gotten another muffin."
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"I don't know what to tell you, I can't find anything,"
Danny opened his eyes.
"Nothing?"
"Nothing."
"I don't understand," he shook his head. "I thought for sure..."
"I've never heard of anything like it. When did you start noticing?"
"Not long ago," Danny shrugged. "I didn't think much of it until recently."
"I'm sorry to say that I can't help you with it. But then again, you're not quite the normal kind. Have you been feeling troubled by anything lately?"
Danny let out a short mirthless laugh. "I'm an eighteen-year-old half-ghost fighter who's morally bound to spending his life in Amity Park. Take your pick."
"Yes, but you knew that already."
Danny raised his eyes to meet Frostbite's. "What?"
"You already knew those things," Frostbite repeated. "You knew one day you would turn eighteen years old, you already knew you were a half-ghost champion of peace, and I'm certain you were already aware for quite a while that you wouldn't allow yourself to leave town for fear of what would happen to others. I asked if anything's been troubling you lately."
'Well, that's been troubling me lately," Danny snapped. It was one thing to be aware of all these things about his life; it was quite another to be on the brink of experiencing it as it all came to pass. He sighed. "Sorry."
"It's alright," Frostbite said.
Danny swung his legs back and forth alternately. "Well, there has been one other thing," he admitted, keeping eyes to the ground. Frostbite waited patiently for the boy to continue. "There's this person," Danny said finally. "Someone I didn't expect."
"You are attracted," Frostbite said plainly.
Danny felt an emotion that felt somewhat like shock, except that it was more of a vague shadow of it. He supposed that he hadn't expected – nor had he been quite ready – to hear it being put that way.
"I guess it's something like that," he said slowly. "But not really," he added. After a pause, he said, "Well, sort of. It's a very messy – I mean, complicated – situation."
Frostbite didn't say anything. This conversation was not going well. How could Danny express what he meant? The feelings bubbling up inside him, while horrifying and unexpected, and turbulent, and just wrong, still made sense enough to him to be able to identify and explain them, yet whenever he tried to put it in words, everything got muddled up.
"It's someone unexpected," he said. Frostbite gave a slight nod of head. "I hated this person – and don't give me that stuff about how there's a fine line—"
"I wasn't going to," the white creature gave a small smile.
"And the person was forced into my life, and I had to deal with them," Danny said. "A bunch of stuff happened, and we started getting close, and …" he paused. "Well, let's just leave it at that."
"So you are going through a bout of confusion," Frostbite noted.
"Confusion, doubt, horror, regret, fear, and just about everything in between and everything left out," Danny said.
Frostbite nodded. "It is possible that this situation may have a bearing on your concerns."
"I guess it would," Danny said. "How do I fix it?"
Frostbite gave him a sympathetic smile. "Unfortunately, Great One, as it stands, the matters of the heart aren't so easy to deal with."
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Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews in the previous chapter. Hope you liked this one.