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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At the back of his mind, Danny's brain reminded him that he had the very luxurious option of flying wherever he wanted to go, but he ignored it. It felt good to run, and even though his legs were complaining, he ignored the feeling and didn't stop until he saw the large house loom in the distance. It was only when he was standing right in front of the door's clean white door, desperately ringing the doorbell and banging on the wood with the side of his fist alternately that he allowed himself to stop, and felt the full extent of his aching muscles.

He was bent over double, hands on his knees, gasping and trying to regain his composure when the door swung open and Jeremy Manson peeked out cautiously to see who had been banging on it so maniacally. When he saw Danny standing there, still hunched over and trying to catch his breath, his hair wilder than ever from sprinting all the way to their house, his apprehensive look was replaced with one of extreme dislike. "May I help you?" he asked.

Danny's head shot up, and he stood up straighter. "Uh, yeah," he panted. "I – I'm here to see Sam?"

"Young man, we are the middle of dinner," Mr. Manson said sternly.

"Who is it, dad?" Danny heard Sam called. She came behind him with her mother in tow. "Danny?"

"Sam!" Danny took a step forward, stopping dead in his tracks when Mr. Manson closed the door almost entirely, "I need to talk to you."

"Dad, open the door," Sam said, walking forward and pulling it open wider.

"Samantha, we are the middle of dinner!" Mr. Manson said.

"Dad, I told you, I ate at the Nasty Burger," Sam explained patiently.

"Oh, Sammy, you know that hardly counts as a nutritious meal …" Sam's mother tried to appeal to her, but Sam wasn't listening anymore. She beckoned Danny to come inside, and he took another step forward, a timid look on his face when he glanced at Sam's parents.

"We'll be downstairs," Sam told them without looking back, leading the way into the basement.

When she slammed the door, Danny stood on the stairs awkwardly. "Er, Sam, you know, you can finish your dinner if you want to," he said. "My thing can wait."

"Don't be silly," Sam said, passing him by as she walked down. "You know I already ate. Now, what's so important that you practically banged our door down to tell me?"

"Well …" Danny followed her down.

"Are you going to tell me where you flew off to without a word, because in that case, I should call Tucker to come over too," Sam told him.

"Uh, yeah," Danny said, "sorry about that. But this is big."

Sam picked up the phone's receiver and dialed Tucker's number.

"You don't have to call him!" Danny protested. "I'm sure his family is having dinner too."

"Tucker can stand to drag himself from one meal," Sam said. "Honestly, I don't know how that boy stays as thin as he does. Besides, I'm just going to put him on speakerphone. There's no way I'm waiting for him to walk all the way over here before I get to hear about this." She broke off suddenly, then said in a sweet voice, "Hi, Mister Foley? Is Tucker in? This is Sam."

She waited a moment, then said, "Tucker, hold on, I'm putting you on speakerphone." She pressed a button on the receiver and placed the phone back. A bright red button gleamed on it. "Okay, go ahead, Danny."

"Danny's there?" he heard Tucker ask. "Should I come over?"

"No," Sam said. "Just listen. What is it, Danny?" She turned her eyes to him. He hesitated. He had never been comfortable conversing with someone on speakerphone, much less regarding a topic like this. He decided to just spit it out.

"Kwan's a ghost."

Sam stared. The speakerphone was silent.

"What?" Tucker's voice crackled through.

This seemed to bring Sam back to life. "What do you mean, 'Kwan's a ghost'?" she asked. "How did you find out?"

"I – I went to his place to confront him about it," Danny felt out of breath again and plopped down on the armchair behind him. "He was being possessed, by this ghost named Tyrant or something. I only just figured it out when we were talking outside the Nasty Burger earlier."

"But how did you find out?" Sam persisted. "If he's a ghost, why didn't you sense it earlier?"

"That's exactly it!" Danny exclaimed loudly. "I can't sense ghosts when they overshadow a person, remember? I didn't know Kitty was possessing Paulina before, and I didn't figure out Walker's squadron was possessing people during that ghost attack until it was too late. But this one was strange..."

"Who was strange, the ghost?" Sam questioned.

"No," Danny shook his head. He stared past her and blankly at the inactive big-screen TV. "This one blocked my ghost sense. I don't think any other ghost has been able to do that before. That's why I didn't realize it. Every time I was around Kwan and a ghost was nearby, I couldn't sense it. He had been blocking me somehow."

"Why did he do that?" Tucker asked through the phone. "Didn't he know you wouldn't have been able to sense him anyway?"

"I don't know," Danny strained to remember what the ghost had said. It was all a big blur to him now. "He said … he said he willed it. So that I wouldn't figure it out. But I guess he had done it too strongly. And he said … he was here to protect me."

Now Sam looked confused. She raised an eyebrow and scoffed, "Protect you? From what?"

"The ghosts," Danny said quietly. "He told me he was here to help me protect the Plasmius soul from the others that wanted it."

"He's lying," Tucker said immediately.

"That's what I thought," Danny said. "But if he wanted the soul for himself, then why didn't he take it? Kwan was the perfect cover for him; he's been to my house so many times. He could have tried to take it whenever."

"But it's not at your place anymore anyway," Sam pointed out. "It's here."

"Yeah, but he doesn't know that," Danny argued. "As far as the ghosts think, I still have it." He looked directly at her. "And I'm going to give it back to Vlad."

"What?" Sam's eyes widened.

"It's becoming too much of a problem," Danny said decisively, getting up from the chair. "I'm just going to have to tell him I'm sorry, but I can't keep it. What if they come after you next? Or Tucker, if they decide to find out information from him."

"I wouldn't talk!" Tucker's voice squeaked through the speakerphone.

But the thought of a ghost having gotten so close had shaken Danny. His mind was made up; Vlad would have to simply find some way to destroy the spirit or let it re-inhabit him, because he couldn't stand to bear it a minute longer.

"Danny, wait," Sam got to her feet after him. "You can't give it back to Vlad now. The ghosts want that spirit for something, and it could be really bad. It's your duty to find out what it is. Vlad can't keep them away by himself! What if they try to kill him?" She grasped onto his wrist.

"What if they try to kill us?" Danny cried in frustration, pulling his hand away.

"Either way, it's safer with us than it could be with him," Sam said. "It may look bad now, but think how bad it would be if one of the ghosts actually get to it!"

Danny didn't want to think about it. But there was no way he could allow Sam to keep hiding the soul for him. He sighed and rubbed his nose. "Fine," he said. "We'll keep it. But you're going to have to give it to me. I can't risk you and Tucker with this."

Sam looked away, then looked back. "Fine," she said steadily.

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The next morning, Danny stopped by Sam's and Tucker's house to give them the rare treat of driving them to school. As both houses were out of the way, the occasion was typically reserved for instances when they needed to discuss cases regarding ghosts that required more attention than they would have been able to give during school hours. Gliding through nearly empty roads and taking the longest way they knew, the three of them leaned close to each other so that they could catch every word.

"I didn't just let him go," Danny said patiently, "I was about to beat him to a pulp, but he distracted me and got away."

"So why didn't you give chase?" Tucker demanded.

"I did. He went invisible and I couldn't track him anymore," Danny replied. "That's when I ran over to your place," he addressed Sam now.

"So what are you going to do when you see him?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," Danny moaned. "Somehow, I don't think it's going to go over well if I started beating up a member of the football team right in the hallway. I don't think even Danny Phantom would get away with that. And after school, I've got Dash coming over, and if Kwan's with him, I won't be able to touch him either."

"All in all, a pretty good choice for a host," Tucker noted, "one of the most popular boys in school."

"That just happens to come to your house on a daily basis now," Sam added. "How do you think that worked out?"

Danny turned his head to her in surprise. "What, you think Connor…?" He remembered how Bertrand had mentioned that he and Spectra had parted ways. His mind started speeding up. Had Spectra arranged this whole situation? How high up did this plan go?

"Well, not necessarily Connor," Sam clarified. With a significant tone in her voice, she said, "I don't think Tyrant would have needed him to get such a sweet deal."

As if on cue, they pulled up right in front of Dash Baxter.

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Danny tried to refrain himself from blushing when his eye caught Sam and Tucker's, who were clearly asking him, 'Why is he following us?' Dash had attached himself by Danny's side ever since the three of them had gotten out of the car, and hadn't said a single word. They were nearing Danny's locker now, and Sam opened her mouth, probably to say something nasty, but Paulina had caught sight of her and waved cheerily before grabbing her hand and whisking her away to chat.

Dash glared at the remaining friend, who only took one look at him before sprinting away.

"Handy trick," Danny quipped, turning to face Dash. "I think I'd prefer it if you used it on Lancer."

"Sure," Dash said in a low voice, leaning forward with a smirk.

Danny took a step back. "Dash, not here," he hissed. "We're in the middle of the hallway."

"So?" Dash said carelessly. "No one's around but us. Paulina's got Manson occupied, and Foley isn't going see us."

"Yeah, um, about that," Danny said, remembering the way the popular girl had been acting at the Nasty Burger the previous day, "Paulina doesn't know, does she?"

Dash shrugged. "I dunno. So what if she does?"

Danny gave him a skeptical look. "She could spread it all around Amity Park, for one."

"Oh, Paulina wouldn't do that," Dash disputed.

"How do you know?" Danny challenged.

"Well, I've been friends with her for four years, I think that'd be enough," Dash shot back. "And besides, anyone who has a problem with it can talk to my fist."

Though he'd never admit it, Danny felt quite flattered that Dash was ready to take such action on his behalf. Having been on the receiving end of his bullying for so many years, he knew very well the almighty power of the fist.

"Look, Danny, don't worry about it," Dash leaned closer again. "If Paulina knows, she's probably masturbating to the thought of two of us together, and I'll deal with anyone else who has a problem."

"Yeah, but—" Danny tried to speak.

Dash kissed him.

A moment later, Danny kissed back, his fingertips gently resting on either side of Dash's face.

They parted when they heard Sam's angry voice signal her approach, "No, Paulina, I will not go shopping with you."

"But it will be such a fantastic chance to bond!" Paulina's whiny voice preceded her as they appeared from around the corner.

"Is that all you ever think about?" Sam asked venomously. "In any case, why would ever want to bond with me?"

"Oh, it's not like we can go camping or anything," Paulina ignored the last part of Sam's question. They stopped next to Dash and Danny. "It's icky and clothes can get torn very easily."

"Uh-huh," Sam looked very bored. "Well, guess that means we shouldn't hang out." And with that, she made her escape.

"I appreciate the sudden urge to butt into Sam's life, Paulina, but maybe you should quit while you're ahead," Danny said after his friend was out of earshot.

"Yes, you wouldn't want her to start biting," Dash said dryly.

"It's only fair; why should you get to be the only one with a geek?" Paulina asked. Oblivious to Danny's affronted look, she pinched his cheek and walked on in the direction Sam had not a moment ago, giggling about how they were 'just so cute.'

"She definitely knows," Danny's heart sank like a stone.

The front door opened and a stream of students filtered in.

"Morning rush," Dash said, then left his side. Almost immediately, Sam took his place. Danny jumped in surprise.

"That girl is the absolute worst," she fumed, not taking notice. "What's her problem? Just because you're being forced into hanging with Dash, I suddenly have to do the same with her?"

"She's just trying to be friendly," Danny offered as they walked together.

"Oh, come on, Danny," Sam spat. "Can't you see what she's doing? Paulina's so fixated with cliques and status that she has no idea what to do when someone from her social circle starts branching out."

"So … maybe you try showing her that there's something more than that," Danny suggested offhandedly.

Sam brightened. "Deconstructing the cheerleader? Interesting."

Danny's eyes widened. This did not sound good. "Don't break her in half or anything," he warned. "Never mind, just forget it."

"No, no," Sam said quickly. "It'd be a great project."

"No project!"

But Sam wasn't listening. "Graduation is in less than two months. It's a chance, but if she's so insistent about sticking to me, it's the least I could do," she mused. "Once we all get out of here, there's no way she can hold on to this frame of mind any longer. I'd be doing her a favor. It could be my humanitarian cause of the year."

"Um, Sam, you're involved in some humanitarian cause every other week," Danny pointed out.

"Yeah, but those are for plants and animals," she said coolly. "This will be a real humanitarian cause. It's about time I started focusing on my fellow man as well." Sam snapped her fingers together. "You see that, Danny? Reaching another level. That's what it's all about."

And she rushed off ahead of him, leaving Danny to puzzle over what she had in mind.

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"Just promise me you aren't going to use a sledgehammer or anything," Danny said when he saw Sam later at lunch that day. "That deconstruction stuff's still got me freaked out."

"Oh, Danny, stop worrying," Sam said. "It's just an expression. I'm not going to do anything … except change her life forever."

"That's not much more comforting," Danny said.

Tucker, who had been bopping his head to a song playing on his PDA, pulled an earphone out of his ear and looked at them curiously. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Sam's got something in store for Paulina," Danny informed him.

"I'm not going to do anything that's not going to happen once maturity sets in anyway," Sam said, sitting down. "I'm just giving it a little nudge. Otherwise, she'd probably be trying to make her life out to be like high school until she's thirty."

"What's so wrong about that?" Tucker asked. "Paulina's done great in high school."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Yeah, if you call being a condescending troll of a woman 'doing great'."

She looked around the bleak grey walls. "You know what, let's eat outside," she suggested.

Danny raised his eyebrow. "You haven't wanted to eat outside in weeks."

"I know," Sam said. "But the sun is shining, the birds are chirping—"

"You're going to do whatever you're planning to her right now, aren't you?" Danny wasn't fooled for a minute. Sam didn't reply, instead pushing the doors leading outside open.

"Any room left?" she greeted the popular crowd. Paulina stared up at her before reaching out and pushing Star off the bench. Sam smiled wickedly at Danny and Tucker who were standing blinking stupidly, stepping over Star and taking her place.

"This is nauseating," Danny commented.

Tucker didn't seem to think so. "This is groundbreaking!" his jaw dropped. "Danny, look what you've done! A Goth chick hanging out with a popular girl!"

"Hey," Dash called. "Are you joining us or what?"

Danny was once again very aware that everyone's eyes were fixed on them. No one could seem to believe their eyes and ears.

"Pass," Danny said back. "I have to go to the library." Dash nodded, and Danny pulled Tucker back inside the school.

"Danny, we're missing history in the making!" Tucker protested. "It could be a revolution – or anarchy."

"Would you stop it?" Danny asked irritably. "You're as bad as those gawkers out there. We've hung out with the popular crowd before. Now look," he stopped outside a classroom and peeked in, only to wince when he saw Mr. Lancer inside grading papers, then opened the door to an adjacent broom closet and ducked in, "we need to talk about Kwan."

"What about him?" Tucker shifted his body around. "Danny, couldn't we do this is some place bigger? This place is too small to stand up straight and it's too small to fit both of us."

"Tucker, it's fine," Danny snapped. "Lunch is going to be over soon, and I'll have to spend the rest of the day with Dash. What do I do about Kwan?"

"Well, what can you do?" Tucker said. "If you make it public, people wouldn't understand."

"Well, how do I not make it public?" Danny asked desperately. "I … would they? Hate me? I mean, I'm a hero. Danny Phantom's a hero, I mean. Kwan's just a jock. It should be no contest, right, if they had to choose?"

"Dude, you are putting way too much faith into the hero deal," Tucker replied. "The public is notoriously fickle when it comes to siding with their heroes. Why do you think they always wear masks? You should think about doing that, by the way."

Danny banged his head back against the wall of the closet glumly.

"The thing about heroes is," Tucker continued, "you become a one-dimensional character. Good versus evil, and nothing in between. If they see you doing something bad, it's all black-and-white to them."

"So what should I do?" Danny asked quietly.

Tucker sighed. "Danny, I don't know. I'm still trying to keep up with what you told us last night. But you manage to find ways to go ghost in private, you'll have to find some way to deal with this in private to. You just have to fix it."

They didn't say anything more, both suddenly feeling very tired of the situation. A few moments later, bright sunlight swam into the room, and Danny and Tucker squinted to see Lancer blinking down at them in surprise.

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"Where are you?" Danny asked, pressing the cellphone to his ear. With his right hand, he steered the wheel of the car to park outside his house.

"Practice," Dash said on the other end of the line. "You're not waiting for me, are you?"

"No," Danny said, cutting the engine. "I just got home actually. I wish I'd known though, I'd have hung out with Sam and Tucker."

"Coach is really riding our ass about it," Dash muttered. "He hasn't forgiven me for canceling practice while he was away. I should go before he starts looking for me."

"When will you get out?" Danny asked.

"Four-thirty. I've got to go."

"Bye," Danny hung up. The unexpected free time left him wondering what to do. He was still sitting in his car; he could call his friends up. All day long he'd been so worried about the fact that there was no time to talk to them about Kwan outside of school hours because he'd have to spend the whole afternoon with Dash – and most likely Kwan himself – but really, what else was there to say? His talk with Tucker that afternoon had shown him that his friends were just as lost trying to control the situation as he was. He'd have to do this al one.

Getting out of the car, he trudged inside the house and up to his room. Booting up his computer, he tried to think of a way to pass the time. The responsible side of him told him that he should seize this opportunity to come up with an idea to take care of the ghost possessing Kwan, and so, logging on to the Internet, he typed 'ghost' and 'Tyrant' on to the search engine.

Browsing through the results, Danny was disappointed to find that there was nothing relevant to his query. Apparently this ghost hadn't done much terrorizing, nor was he part of popular fable like some ghosts such as Prince Aragon and Lady Dorathea.

Returning to the search engine, Danny knew that his only chance of finding out more about Tyrant would be to ask around the Ghost Zone; he didn't feel like returning there so soon though. And, he comforted himself, there would be no way for him to return back to the human world without someone to open the doors to the portal, so he would not be able to venture inside unless Sam or Tucker were around to man the controls.

Blankly, he stared at the engine, then on more of a whim than anything else, he leaned forward and typed in 'sucking dick', and clicked the search button.

It was only until the results returned a moment later than he realized what he had done.

"Gross," he mumbled. Why had he typed that? He wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer. Danny moved the mouse up to close the window, but sat there thoughtfully, and, then before he gave himself the chance to think twice, brought it back down and clicked on the first link offered,

The picture depicting a woman on her knees servicing a man sitting on a chair allowed him to let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. He wasn't sure how he would have handled it if the image had displayed two men at it.

"Okay, enough of that now," he said to himself softly, closing the window, and pushing his chair back to leave.

A second later, he rushed back to it, and accessed the Internet again, and this time, typed in as quickly as possible, as though to not give his brain a chance to process what was being done, the words 'gay' and 'sucking dick', and hit the search button.

When the results came, he kept his eyes nearly closed, clicking on a random link. Slowly, he allowed himself to see what was on the page, and let out a disturbed moan. What was he doing?

But it was like a smoky hand had wrapped itself around his brain and wouldn't let go until he had satisfied his need for the sordid details. His lip curled, Danny took in the sight of a naked man with his head and back tossed back in an exaggerated form while another kneeled before him with his cheeks pulled in, wrapped around the man's penis. Flashing links invited Danny to take a tour of the site or to register, and offered a place for him to sign in as a member.

Numbly, he explored the site, clicking on links and absorbing the images that followed. Something in the recesses of his mind told him that this was wrong, that it went against everything he had been so sure of in his life, and to turn back now, but his curiosity was more important. He needed to know what he was getting himself into.

Danny wasn't sure how much time had passed by when he was jolted out of his task by his cellphone ringing. With his heart pounding, giving one last glance to screen again, he dug his hand inside his pocket and pulled out his phone. "Hello," he greeted breathlessly.

"Danny? Where are you?" Sam asked on the other end of the line.

"Uh, at home," Danny said. "Why?"

"Look, Paulina just sent me a message," Sam told him. "She's making plans for us to go shopping this weekend. I thought it would be a good chance to start the plan—"

"Sam, I hope you don't think that there's any way that I would possibly help you out with this plan of yours," Danny said flatly, "because I thought I made it perfectly clear that I want no part in it."

"I know," Sam said impatiently. "That's not what I was about to say. I want you to bring Dash along as well."

Danny straightened up in his seat. "Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Because we don't know how high up this Kwan thing goes," Sam told him. "Don't you think the next step should be to interrogate his friends? It's not like you can go and beat him up right now."

"So you don't think I should check out the Ghost Zone?" Danny didn't think he'd ever heard Sam pass up the chance to have him go into the Ghost Zone before. Sam snorted.

"Of course I think you should go into the Ghost Zone. That's a given."

"Then why—"

"You said Kwan's been acting weird for a while right?" Sam reminded. "Well, Tucker and I didn't notice because we don't hang out with him. Dash and Paulina do. This way we can find out more about what he's been up to, how long he's been operating, stuff like that."

"Sam, we already know all that stuff," Danny pointed out, turning his attention back to the screen. "He's trying to get the Plasmius soul, and it doesn't matter how long he's been operating, he's possessing someone and he needs to be stopped."

"I don't think you quite realize the potential here," Sam said. "Walker isn't going to give you any information."

Danny frowned. "Why do you say that?"

"Anything he could have gotten out of Bullet, Walker would have already had by now," Sam said. "All this finding-a-way-to-break-him stuff is taking too long. Either Bullet's not talking or Walker's keeping something from you."

"Walker wants to maintain order," Danny said. "We both do."

"Walker is a ghost, Danny!" Sam insisted. "You can keep waiting to see what he gets out of Bullet, but just in case, here's another person we can get information from who doesn't look like he's about to run away any time soon. Do I need to remind you that while you're waiting for Walker to throw you something, the ghosts are still trying to get to the Plasmius soul, and they're getting more and more violent each time? Those last two were positively barbaric!"

"Okay," Danny said slowly, "you want to get information from whatever's possessing Kwan. What do Dash and Paulina have to do with this?"

"If they're his friends, they would have noticed something going on with him," Sam rationalized. "They have the inside scoop that we don't. It'd totally make up for the whole spying thing you were supposed to do but never got around to."

"I—"

"I'm not placing blame," Sam said in a soothing voice, smiling at the image in her mind of Danny angrily trying to protest, "I'm just saying, it turns out you were right, and we should have investigated. This will totally make up for it. It's always good to learn as much about your enemy as you can before you face him. Once we get all our information, we could totally back him into a corner."

"And we can't back him into a corner physically because…?"

"Because he happened to choose one of the most popular boys in school as his host body, and getting into a fight with that body in a school obsessed with popularity is not the best idea," Sam said confidently. "But if we start pointing out that Kwan's been acting 'differently', not only will we put Dash and Paulina on the lookout, but that loudmouthed she-devil will spread it to everybody within city limits. That's when he realizes he can't blend in anymore, and that's when he comes out. And we'll be there to catch him when he does."

"Okay, but you said this weekend. You realize I gave Walker until this Friday to come up with the scoop, right?"

"You realize I just spent this conversation telling you Walker's not going to tell you anything, right?" Sam mocked. "If he does say something, it might not even be about this ghost. And if it does … well, I could still use some help on the Deconstructing Paulina plan."

"Why do we need to wait until this weekend then?" Danny asked.

"To build up trust," Sam said. "Or something like it. You may be all buddy-buddy with Dash now, but I've still got to work on Paulina, though she doesn't seem to be very resistant. It'd be weird if we spent the one day we started socializing with them talking with Kwan instead of building up to it. In the meantime, you work on Dash."

Danny fixed his eyes on the pictures on the flickering screen. "Oh yeah, I'll work on Dash," he said grimly.

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Author's Note: I'm sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter up, short as it may be. I've had to deal with the semester ending, which means assignments and exams all coming to a head. Now that I'm on break, I hope to get more chapters are soon. Thanks for your patience.