The school day was moving quickly. Lunch was already almost over. He sat at their table laughing with Kwan.

"How did Weston even manage that?" Wes stood across the cafeteria where Danny sat with his friends at their own table. His lunch tray had managed to fly up causing all of his leftover lunch to land all over his head. He glared at Danny, fuming, but Danny hadn't even moved an inch the whole time Wes had been standing over there. What did he think Danny could've done?

Wes stomped away from their table. Dash could hear him mumble angrily as he walked past where he and Kwan sat with their own friends. Dash snickered.

"Serves the kid right. I even stopped bullying Danny. When is Wes gonna get over the beef that he has with him?"

Kwan shrugged and turned back to what was left of his food. "I don't know. He doesn't seem like he's ever gonna let go of the Fenton Phantom thing."

The bell rang above them and Dash stood up and grabbed his tray. "Well he should. There's no way that'd be possible anyways."

"I know, right? I don't know how Wes ever thought-"

A big booming sound reverberated through the cafeteria as a ghost crashed through the far wall. Dust settled and the sun shone in.

"It is I, Technus, and I am here to take over the computer network inside this high school!"

Kids started screaming and running but Dash just stood there and squinted at Technus. "What's he gonna do inside the school's network? Change all our grades?"

"Silence, impudent child!" Technus yelled at Dash, pointing a finger at him. "I will hack into the school's system and fail every child in the state! Then they will be doomed to a life of misery!"

"How does that-" Dash started but he was interrupted by Kwan pulling on his arm.

"Dude, come on! You're afraid of the Box Ghost but you can stand here talking to Technus?"

"Technus can hardly ever think up any good plans." Dash rolled his eyes and followed after Kwan. "He's here trying to change our grades when he could be inside the internet spreading fake news about world war three."

"Hey! That's a great-"

Technus's voice got cut off behind them. Dash could hear him slam into a lunch table and when he turned around to see what happened, there he was.

Danny Phantom.

"New rule: no one's allowed to talk when Technus is around." Phantom shouted.

Dash stared at Phantom in awe. No matter how many times he saw him, he was always starstruck. Phantom had been his gay awakening and Dash still had a bit of a crush on him that he tried to suppress since Phantom was, you know, kind of dead.

"That means you, Baxter."

But the thing about Phantom was that he looked like he aged. He'd grown taller along with Dash and the rest of his classmates and his voice had even grown deeper too. None of the other ghosts did that. What made Phantom so different?

Dash had been so caught up in staring at Phantom that he didn't notice Kwan leave the cafeteria behind him or anything that was happening in the fight. All he could see was Phantom.

"Watch out!"

Suddenly Phantom was barreling towards Dash and knocking him out of the way. Technus had launched an ectoblast at him and it scorched the ground where Dash had just been standing.

"Can you go meet up with Kwan?" Danny looked over his shoulder at Technus. "You're gonna get hurt if you keep standing there gawking at me."

Dash's face flushed and he nodded. "Haha, you got it. Don't wanna distract the hero."

"Thanks." Phantom turned back around and jumped back into the fight and Dash reluctantly left the cafeteria. After he looked around, he saw Kwan waving him down from a ways down the hallway.

"Dude, you always do this." Kwan punched Dash on the shoulder. "Stop standing in the middle of ghost fights."

"I wasn't going to!" Dash protested as they started walking to their next class. "I just got distracted!"

"Uh huh." Kwan rolled his eyes. "You know at some point you gotta pick between Danny and Phantom. You can't have both."

Dash's cheeks flushed and he looked away. "I never planned on having both. Phantom's dead anyway so that wouldn't go anywhere. How am I gonna live a long happy life with someone who's already dead?"

Kwan shrugged. "You gotta make sure you don't get yourself killed so you can live a long happy life with Danny, then." He made kissy sounds to punctuate his point.

Dash pushed Kwan as he laughed. "Knock it off dude."

Dash's smile slipped off his face as he realized something. "Hey, did you see Danny leave the cafeteria?"

Kwan thought for a moment before looking at Dash. "No, I don't think so."

"What if he got stuck there?" Dash started rambling. "He never sticks around for ghost fights. We should-"

Dash suddenly stopped talking when they walked into their classroom and there sitting in their desks were Danny and his friends. Sam threw a ball of paper at Tucker and they all laughed together.

"See look, he's fine. Danny can handle himself."

Dash and Kwan headed to their own seats. Danny looked up and made eye contact with him. He gave him a little wave.

Dash smiled and waved back at him. Kwan was right. Danny could handle himself. He was always fine after ghost fights. He even led that one rescue mission to save their parents.

Danny would always be fine.