Here we go into another chapter! This seriously has to be some sort of writing record. 12k words in like a week and a half? That's practically unheard of for me. Oh, the joys of being fresh into a fandom.
This time around we're not focusing on exposition, or mastering a ghost power. This one will purely be about school hijinks. Hopefully you guys enjoy it!
Danny had forgotten about the speech due Monday.
He glanced around the room, seeing that nearly everyone had a flash drive in front of them on their desks. It had been a free choice presentation, that much he remembered. They were going to be graded on eye contact, thoroughness, clear speaking, and the like. Did he even have a topic to talk about? He'd been so focused on making sure Wes could make it through a class without doing something obvious, he hadn't even thought about his school assignments. He was so not looking forward to the make up test.
One by one, each of Danny's classmates gave their speeches. A favorite comic book character's riveting motive, the relationship between sleep cycles and depression, all the reasons why pizza and ranch was a terrible mix. The topics flew by in a resigned haze.
And then Wes stepped up.
Wes twirled his flash drive, smoothly inserting it into Lancer's laptop with practiced ease. His fingers skimmed the keyboard in a blur, humming to himself as he pulled up his project. With a dramatic flourish, he hit the enter key, making dead eye contact with Danny as the title card appeared on the projector screen.
The D Is For Deception: The Inarguable Identity of Inviso-Bill.
"Seriously? Not this again," Star huffed. Lancer was already cradling his head in his hand, far too tired to point out that this was the third time this month that Wes had made this same presentation.
Distantly, Danny heard the heated remarks Wes made. Their names sounded similar, they looked alike, they never appeared in the same place at once. The only remotely new piece of information was a height comparison, using pictures with Paulina in them as a unit of measurement. It was nothing incriminating, nothing the class hadn't been presented with before. Nothing they believed. It hardly put him at risk. And yet...
The speech ended before he knew it, Wes closing the project and swiftly ejecting the drive. He kept his eyes glued on the subject of his presentation the whole way to his desk, his expression unreadable. And then he broke contact, his gaze focused to the front of the room for the remainder of class.
Danny kept his hands under his desk, wringing them profusely. He feared he would break something if he put them anywhere else.
({O})
It was a small blessing when the bell for lunch rang. The students exited the cramped classroom in small clumps, chatting amongst themselves and fretting over their grades for the day. Wes was well aware that he wasn't getting higher than a C. He'd presented such evidence more times than he could count, and had never done better than a B- on it. But it hardly mattered. Far more pressing was whether he was going to brave the meatloaf or the fish sandwich today.
The increasingly-familiar tingle on the back of his neck was the only warning he got before he was being shoved into a janitor's closet, phasing through the door before be could even blink. He gasped as his back, still tender, collided with a wall packed with cleaning supplies. He grasped the wrists of his attacker, whose hands kept him pinned by his shoulders, eyes glowing a bright, furious green.
"You promised," Danny growled.
"F-Fenton?" Wes wheezed, trying and failing to push himself away from the cluttered shelf. Danny's hold on him loosened just a hair, but stubbornly refused to release him. And honestly, someone his size had no business being that strong.
"You swore you wouldn't tell anyone," Danny hissed, "and the first thing you did was blab to the whole class like nothing changed?"
Wes raised his hands defensively, a nervous laugh escaping him. "Wait, hold on, if you just listen to me, I can-"
"I tried to help you, Wes," the Halfa cut him off, "and you... Why would... Do you even care? Do you want someone to find me, and... and cut me open like some science experiment?!"
"Of course I don't want that!" Wes barked, his tone bordering on something hysterical. Danny barely came up to his chin, had to look up at Wes to see him properly. There was no reason for him to be so terrifying.
"...Then why?"
"Don't you think it would be more suspicious if I suddenly stopped?"
That gave Danny pause, his eyes flickering back to a normal shade of blue. "...What?"
"Nobody has ever believed me about you," Wes said bitterly. Even if he understood what was at stake now, it was still frustrating to think about. To present the facts and get nothing but laughed at for your efforts. "...Nobody. And at this point I don't think they will, no matter what I say. But that never stopped me before. If I quit now, what if somebody else looks into it? Wonders why the obsessive nut of Casper High stopped? People would ask questions."
Danny stared at Wes long and hard, then finally let him go, giving him a hard, but not painful, shove. "And you couldn't have given me some sort of heads up?!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't think about it!" protested Wes.
"Urgh, you're so... so...!" Danny didn't finish his sentence, instead wiping both hands down this face. "...This has to stop."
"Gee, I'd love to," Wes snarked. "But that would be suspicious, remember? Since, you know, I'm the guy who knows the truth and has to make sure everyone else knows it too?"
Danny furrowed his brow, crossing his arms and putting a finger to his chin. After a few seconds, a smirk crept its way onto his face. "...Then I guess we're just gonna have to prove you wrong."
Wes gaped at him, confused. "Huh? But how are you...?" He was interrupted by the sound of footsteps down the hall, and getting closer. Somebody had heard their shouting, no doubt. What would they think, finding the two of them inside of a cramped closet like this? How would he explain that?
Danny grabbed him by the wrists, and at the same time Wes turned them both around, so that his back was to the door and Danny's was to the shelf. Thinking quickly, the jock balled one hand up in the front of Danny's shirt, the other cocked back in a fist.
And not a moment too soon, as right then the closet door opened, revealing a rather curious Dash and Kwan. "What the heck is going on here?" Dash demanded, sneering at the pair. "I thought I heard a couple of dweebs whining in here."
Luckily, Danny seemed to get what Wes was trying to do, releasing his grip on his wrists so he could make a show of guarding his face. Wes looked over his shoulder, stammering out a hasty reply. "Oh, you know, um. Teaching Fenton a lesson? Because, uh, that's what we jocks do, right? Beat up losers like this guy?"
"Watch it, you barely count as a jock. But..." Dash hummed. "...Huh. You know what? I never thought you had it in you. We'll keep watch out here, you finish your business in there."
Blinking at the strange show of solidarity, Wes nodded. "O-Okay. Um. Thanks." He toed the door shut, then turned back to Danny. "We'll talk later," he whispered. He let go, smacking the wall near him to make some convincing noise. As he did that, Danny phased out, leaving the closet entirely. Wes then stepped out himself, dusting off his hands while Dash and Kwan nodded approvingly.
He didn't know what Danny had planned, but maybe, just maybe, it would be easier to trick these guys than he thought.
({O})
Wes didn't see any sign of Fenton until after lunch. He showed up to science class, naturally ten minutes late, looking like he hadn't slept in two days. Wes frowned. Knowing him, he'd gotten into another ghost fight, one that may have been a little more than he could handle. And of course he'd skipped lunch to do it. For someone who constantly preached that Halfas needed to eat three full meals to keep their energy levels up, he sure skipped lunch a lot.
It was a rather ordinary class that day. A worksheet about molarity and molality, and then a partner lab to practice the concept. Wes couldn't help but notice the vacant look on Danny's face, the way it took him a solid five seconds to follow Sam's ushered instructions. Whoever the other ghost had been, they must have taken a lot out of him. He shuddered to think of who could have possibly had Fenton on the ropes.
It was a half hour into class when Wes got that feeling, that tingling he had learned to both expect and dread. A warning. Something was wrong. He cast a glance at Danny, but the younger teen looked totally oblivious. Weird. Usually he was the first to notice a change in atmosphere, to stammer an excuse and bolt from the room.
And then the temperature dropped. A ghost, formless at first but solidifying as he watched, cast the room in an eerie blue light. The students gasped in horror, backing to the far end of the room as the spirit's form expanded, filling out to a rather solid six feet. A sturdy man, all broad shoulders and chilling glares. Fingers splayed out threateningly at his sides, teeth baring in a crooked grin.
"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"
Oh. Wes was almost disappointed. As far as ghosts went, the Box Ghost was hardly the most dangerous. But he was far from harmless, especially if he'd recently found a box or two of something he could actually use. And right then, he seemed to have found a rather concerning number of thumb tack packages. Wes huddled back with the rest of the class. He was perfectly happy with not being a human pincushion, thank you very much. Still, he knew that this was nothing Fenton couldn't handle, even as apparently weakened as he was. He just needed to find an opportunity to get away to transform.
Only, he didn't do that. Didn't even make the attempt. Danny's knees knocked together, his teeth chattering in fright as he backed away from the evil spirit. But... why? He could have beaten the Box Ghost in ten seconds flat, with one hand behind his back, and that was on a bad day. To see him cowering now was...
What in the world are you thinking, Fenton?
And then Phantom barreled into the room.
One second the Box Ghost was laughing as he advanced on the class, and the next he was getting blasted into the wall. Phantom's extended palm glowed with residual green light, illuminating his cocky smirk. "Can't we put a pin in this for later? It's been a crazy week, and this is seriously the last thing I need right now."
Wes blinked. Then he blinked again. He looked to his side, and sure enough, Danny was watching the whole thing unfold, eyes wide and terrified. But... how could he be two places at once? And in two different forms? He just couldn't wrap his head around it.
Box Ghost had freed himself from the wall, gritting his teeth at Phantom. "You dare to attack the Box Ghost?! I will express ship you to your doom!"
The specter thrust his hands in front of himself, sending tacks flying out, luckily away from the uneasy students. Phantom swerved around most, letting those he couldn't dodge harmlessly pass through him. He then countered with a powerful uppercut, sending the Box Ghost sailing through the ceiling, where he then followed. The class looked up, no longer able to see the action, but listening in nonetheless. Judging by the boyish laughter and anguished screams, it was clear that Phantom was winning.
And just like that, it was over. The sounds of battle dwindled to a stop, the atmosphere warming up seconds later. When neither ghost made an appearance after a few minutes, the class settled back down, returning to their experiments like nothing had happened. Wes was stuck gaping.
Less than an hour later, class finally ended, and students made their way out of the classroom, minding the tacks on the floor that the teacher was still trying to pick up one by one. The last two to leave were Danny and Wes, the latter giving the former an incredulous stare. "Okay, what the heck was that, Fenton?"
Danny smiled innocently, giving him a smug look from the corner of his eye. Funny, he looked a lot more lively now, some of the light returning to his tired eyes. "Wes Weston had never seen Fenton and Phantom in the same room, right? And yet there we were, with you as witness."
Wes raised his brows. "...Alright, but how?"
The Halfa chuckled. "Let's just say, when you fight ghosts as often as I do, you tend to pick up a few tricks." With no further explanation, he strode ahead, entering the room for his next class.
Wes slowed to a stop, staring at the doorway, trying and failing to comprehend what he had just seen. There was just no way. Unless...
Can Fenton freaking duplicate?!
And that wraps up chapter five!
This chapter was partially me helping readers who might not know about Wes fanon better understand what his role in Danny's life has been, and partially me covering my narrative bases. He's never been out to actively get Danny in trouble, he just didn't understand how harmful his actions could be until he was in the same boat.
I'm still deciding where I want to go with chapter six, but I don't think I want to jump right into another power quite yet. Maybe I'll try going for a more action oriented chapter? We'll see how that goes.
See y'all next time!