Aaand we're back!

lmao so apparently I've recovered most of my writing mojo, because this is the second chapter in a row where I've written like 9000 words in roughly a month (over 9100 in this case, to be precise). But this time, there was actually a decent spot to split up the chapter. I'll post the second part in idk, 2 or 3 weeks probably, so it doesn't confuse anyone's alerts.

No specific warnings today, unless you count Wes getting anxious about potential homophobia throughout the chapter. Next one will have some slightly more potent warnings though.

Of course, the one time Tucker wanted to find Wes, he was nowhere to be seen.

After Vlad's attack, and his subsequent defeat, the rest of the day had gone by without further complication. Or, at least, not on Danny's end; now that he understood how his new power worked, he'd been able to keep it in check, save for a few mild hiccups.

Wes, however...

Well. He had some figuring out he needed to do, if his shamble of shame with Danny in tow was any indication.

Tucker, though, was almost certain he knew the source of Wes's trouble. He and Danny had since managed to separate, so Tucker thought it would have been as good of a time as any to do some friendly interrogation.

Unfortunately for him, however, that time didn't come. With Danny once again able to touch things, he was taking the opportunity to catch up on food and rest. That left Wes, once he'd healed enough, on patrol duty. Not exactly conductive for pressing conversation.

So Tucker would chat with him at school the next day, no big deal. But, of course, he'd forgotten that it was seafood day. Sam's transparency policy was well in effect by then, with menus posted early and nutrition blocks readily available. But Wes preferred to play it safe anyway, and thus wasn't in the cafeteria.

Just Tucker's luck.

Danny seemed to be thinking the same thing. He soon arrived at the table where Tucker and Sam sat, tray in hand, but he didn't sit. He frowned, brow raised. "Wes not sitting here today?"

"Nah," replied Sam, "he's still worried about the fish sticks. Can't say I blame him, though. Even the school isn't sure where they got shipped in from, so who knows whether the equipment at the facility is clean or not?"

"If I had allergies like his, I wouldn't take my chances, either," said Danny. He shuddered. "Well, I'd better go find him. I've got cold Nasty for lunch, and he doesn't like eating by himself."

"Wait, hold up," Tucker cut in. "This is like, the second or third time you've ditched us to go eat with him. Where's he been all this time?"

Danny shrugged. "Usually outside the darkroom. I guess he used to develop photos there between classes back when he was trying to tell everyone I was Phantom, so now it's where he goes if he needs to get away from people for a bit." He pointed a finger. "And it isn't ditching. I've known you guys for years. This is more like... making up for lost time, that's all."

Sam raised a brow. "Uh-huh."

"Well, if you just wanna make sure he has company," Tucker said, already standing, "then how about I go?"

Danny blinked, taken aback. "You?"

Tucker shrugged. "Why not? He's my friend too. Besides, I've been meaning to talk to him about, uh, something private for a while now. Better when it's not around a bunch of people, you know?"

Danny frowned again, though to Tucker, it almost looked more like a pout. "Um, sure. I mean yeah. It's not like he's just my friend. What were you gonna talk to him about?"

"Nope, nuh-uh," Tucker admonished. "It's private. Wes's ears only."

Danny's frown only deepened at the denial. But, again, it wasn't like he could keep Wes to himself.

Or, that's what Tucker assumed he was thinking, anyway.

"You said he'd be by the darkroom, right?" he pressed.

"Yeah," Danny replied with a sigh. "You didn't have fish sticks, did you?"

Tucker lifted his tray, then dropped it back on the table. The formless thing on the tray jiggled. "Nope. Sloppy Joe."

He was sure Danny was going to press with more questions, but he picked his tray back up and jogged for the exit before he could. "Don't worry, everything's gonna turn out fine!"

Danny pursed his lips. "Well, I wasn't worried until he said that."

Sam groaned.

"Do you know what his deal is?" Danny asked her, latching onto her exasperation.

She crossed her arms on the table. "It's not my business."

Danny huffed. When did his friends get so cagey?

({O})

Wes was right where Danny had said he'd be. He was sitting on the floor, back to the wall next to the room as he ate his sack lunch.

He would have expected Danny to accompany him— he often did nowadays— but he was quite surprised to see Tucker approaching him instead.

"Oh, hey Tucker," he greeted. "I never see you over here. What's up?"

"I wanted to have a talk," Tucker replied bluntly.

Wes paused mid-bite. His brows furrowed. "...A talk? About what?"

"Are we allowed in there?" Tucker asked, pointing at the darkroom door.

Wes stuttered at the redirection. "Uh, no? Not outside of class."

"Perfect, let's go in."

Wes was given no chance to protest as Tucker grabbed his arm, kicking the door open with his foot, seeing as his other hand was occupied with his lunch. The door swung shut behind them, and Tucker released Wes's arm to fumble for a switch.

Wes assisted him, jerking a pull chain Tucker couldn't see. With a ka-chunk, a string of bulbs lit up, just barely bright enough to illuminate the room with dim red light.

"Maybe give me a warning if you're gonna grab me like that?" Wes griped, narrowing his eyes. Even in the near-darkness, his irises were a vibrant jade, contrasting starkly against the washed-out reds and yellows of everything else around them.

Creepy.

He huffed. "What did you want, anyway?"

Had Tucker been anyone else, he would have probably approached with a lot more tact. To what he wanted to ask, he knew that a voiced answer could be dangerous. The topic was loaded, and there was no telling how he, Wes, or anyone else would react to it being broached.

But, he was Tucker. He wasn't known for tact.

"I know," he said ominously.

Something glinted in Wes's eyes, coming and going so fast that Tucker wasn't sure there was anything there at all. "...You know what?"

"You like Danny."

One bulb shattered.

In the split second that Tucker flinched at the sound, heart in his throat, Wes disappeared. He vanished without a sound, as if he'd never been in the room at all.

But then he was back, snapping into the visible spectrum without fanfare. There was a moment of silence, and then he giggled, nervous and shrill.

"Whaaat, no I don't," he drawled. "What gave you that idea?"

"Probably that time you kissed him in the woods after we found your obsession," Tucker deadpanned.

"No I didn't," Wes said quickly.

"Look man, I'm not judging," Tucker reassured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. Wes drew back as if scalded. "Hey, I'm serious, I'm not. There's nothing wrong with liking guys, dude. Heck, who can blame you, anyway? Danny is. A. Catch. You gonna tell me I'm wrong?"

Wes stared.

Unbidden, the barest traces of static shimmered along his skin, sparkling mutely in preparation to defend. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled with anxious tension. He'd be shocked if Tucker couldn't hear his heart hammering away in his chest.

Tucker knew. He knew, and he'd manhandled Wes into a cramped room, just the two of them, with nobody around to hear if there was a commotion. It would be the perfect crime.

But despite everything, Wes felt compelled to stay. Tucker's demeanor was, really, anything but hostile, even if far too physical. His words itched in a way Wes couldn't quite place. He was unpredictable, and as much as it terrified Wes, it also intrigued him.

Tucker had started glancing around. Wes realized he'd turned invisible again, but this time he didn't bother reversing it.

"...What do you want?" he warbled.

Tucker honed in on Wes's voice, throwing a smirk in his general direction. If he was aware of his plight, he didn't show it. "I've got a proposition for you."

Oh. Oh no. This was blackmail. What was he going to ask for? An in with a cheerleader? An invitation to an A-lister party? Something Wes wouldn't be able to give him? What would Tucker do if he failed?

Another bulb went out.

"A-Are you gonna tell everyone if... if I say no?"

Tucker balked.

"What? No! Yeesh, of course not, why is that your first thought?! You're my friend, dude!"

Funny. Danny had said almost exactly that before.

Two birds of a feather, Wes supposed.

It was, surprisingly, enough to settle the worst of his nerves. But he wouldn't let his guard down yet. "...Then what do you want?"

"Okay, so clearly we're on very different pages right now, so I'm gonna say this super clear so there's no confusion," said Tucker. "You like Danny, right? Well, what if you had a wingman?"

"...What."

"Think about it!" Tucker pressed. "You wanna go out with him, don't you? Who better than his best friend to help you do that?"

"What."

"Oh come on, it's a great idea!" Tucker enthused.

"Of course it isn't!" Wes shrieked. "He doesn't even... We're not... He isn't—"

"Isn't what? Gay?" Tucker challenged. "You think you guys would be macking it up when you thought no one was looking if he was straight?"

"Can you stop talking like everyone knows?!" Wes eked out.

Tucker shrugged. "I mean, Sam knows."

Wes felt like he might faint.

His silence must have spoken volumes, because Tucker was quick to amend. "It's only us, though! We haven't told anyone, and we're not going to. Danny doesn't even know we know."

"...He doesn't?"

Tucker shook his head. "Nope. Trust me, we've gotten pretty good at keeping secrets. Even from each other."

Huh. Speaking from experience, was he? It didn't sound like Wes's little secret was Tucker's first.

"Anyway though," Tucker said, "how about it? Want some help hooking up with your big gay crush?"

"I-I don't know," Wes stammered. He'd started picking at his jersey. "I don't even know if I want to. We'd have to go on dates, like in public, and I. I can't do that."

"Secret relationships are a thing," Tucker reminded him.

"And even if I wasn't scared out of my mind," Wes pressed on, "Danny doesn't even like me like that. If he did, he would have said something by now, right?"

"Pfft, Danny? Honest about his feelings?" Tucker guffawed. "Dude's so good at lying I swear he even convinces himself sometimes. And you guys have kissed, remember? And not in the FOMO way."

Wes thought about the kisses Tucker didn't know about. Most of the time, he'd made the first move. But there was that one time, in Wes's room, the time Wes tried not to read into. That had been all Danny's idea. He'd called it 'practice,' and it had only happened the one time, but...

...but if Wes proposed it again, would Danny agree?

"So. You like Danny, and I bet good money Danny likes you back," Tucker pressed. "So let's make it happen. Twenty bucks."

That snapped Wes out of his thoughts. "Hold on, you didn't say it would cost money!"

"You've spent less than six months on Team Phantom, so you aren't eligible for the BFF Discount," Tucker explained. "But, we can discuss an installment system later. For now, let's get started!"

Wes groaned, waving a half-full paper bag. "If you're gonna make me, can I at least eat first? I'm starving!"

Tucker stared at the slop on his tray, quickly growing cold. His stomach cramped longingly.

"Okay, yeah. We eat lunch, finish school, and then we get started."

{(O)}

Wes had hoped to head home immediately after practice, but it was a pointless hope. Not only Danny, but Tucker as well had sat in to watch. Wes stammered an excuse about needing to shower when they approached him afterwards, but Tucker grabbed his arm before he could flee, dragging him away from the building.

"Wes is gonna help me study, see you later Danny!" Tucker called with a wave, leaving a very perplexed Danny behind with a small wave of his own.

Wes squirmed in discomfort, and when he couldn't stand it anymore, he yanked his arm away from Tucker. "Would it kill you to not put your hands all over me?!"

Tucker half-raised his hands in surrender. "Yeesh, sor-ry."

With crossed arms, Wes huffed. "At this rate, Danny's gonna think we're together."

"Are you for real? Danny knows I don't swing that way," Tucker dismissed him. "Let's go to your place. I'd take you to mine, but my parents would insist on you staying for dinner, and if it's just you, they might actually think we are together, heh."

Wes cringed. "Yeah, I'm not dealing with that."

So they went to Wes's house, where they knew they wouldn't have to figure their way around presumptuous parents. When they got there, Wes insisted on staying in the living room, rather than his bedroom; he wasn't in the mood to put up with teasing over the incriminating doll that still sat on his bed.

"Okay, so what did you have in mind?" he moaned.

Tucker beamed. "Why, I'm so glad you asked! Why don't we start with the most obvious? Let's talk about Danny's favorite things."

"His favorite things?" Wes asked. "There's so many of them, though. There's rocket science, bad horror movies, birds, weird food combinations, skateboards, shooter games, flying, assembly kits, motorcycles, snowball fights, and there was that brief stint with volleyball—"

"Right, I forgot. I'm talking to Wes," Tucker hummed. "Okay, so you probably know almost everything about him. So you probably know his birthday is coming up."

"Yeah, on the 4th, right? I mean, I wanted to show him the Lyrid meteor shower, but that isn't until later in the month. I haven't decided on what to get him before then, though. He got me a brand new camera for my birthday, one of those ones you don't even have to develop the photos for, and I'm not sure how I can top that—"

"Wes! Wes you freaking genius!" Tucker shouted over him. "A meteor shower isn't a birthday gift exactly, but that is like THE perfect date idea! You absolutely have to do that!"

Wes leaned away from him, nose wrinkling. "I was already going to!"

"Cool, then do one of the other things for the birthday!" Tucker cried, not lowering his volume in the slightest. "Except volleyball. There are some baaad memories that go with volleyball."

"...Oookay, I'm not even gonna ask. But I don't know what to do for everything else. We can do food and movies any time, and I don't have the kind of money to get him a video game."

"Oh, so you're poor?"

Wes blushed. "We're not poor, we just... aren't made of money."

"...So you're poor."

"We're not poor!"

"Okay, okay, let's shelve the birthday idea for now then," Tucker conceded, hands up. "Why don't we work on... your swag?"

"My... swag?"

"You know, how you act," Tucker explained. "Danny's got a type, and that type is angry and bossy. He was head over heels for Paulina pretty much right away, as he should be. And he got the hots for Valerie after she started hunting him. Note, that's after, not before. And believe it or not, he had kind of a kiddie crush on Dash in middle school."

Wes wasn't going to lie, he kind of did believe it.

"What about Sam?"

"We don't talk about Sam."

"Why not?"

"Because," Tucker replied, "she's his second best friend. Like, since elementary school. When you've been friends that long, dating is just weird, dude."

It kind of sounded like the opposite to Wes; one would think going out with someone you've known for ages would be better than with someone you hardly knew. But hey, what did he know about teen romance?

"My point is," Tucker went on, "Danny is super into people who can either boss him around, or kick his butt. You should have seen him at your practice sesh before the whole Vortex thing. He was drinking you in, man!"

Wes flushed. "No he was not!"

"He totally was! You should have seen him blush!"

"That doesn't mean anything! It was hot out!"

Tucker jabbed a finger at him. "Come on, you know he doesn't get hot!"

He did have a point. Still, surely Wes would have noticed if Danny was fawning over him exercising.

Although, maybe he was usually too busy showing off to actually look at Danny. Just because he almost never saw him blush, didn't mean it couldn't happen.

Almost never wasn't never.

"Okay, so, what? I should exercise more in front of him?" Wes ventured.

"Oh absolutely! Basketball is where you shine, dude, and it's the best place to show off your natural feats of strength! I mean, yeah, Danny could whoop you any day of the week, but that's as a ghost. As a human, you've got him beat, and he knows it."

"...And he likes this?"

Tucker shrugged. "Everyone's got a taste."

Wes's eyes narrowed. "And you're really familiar with Danny's."

"Hey, don't get the wrong idea. We've been friends since we were babies. Like, actual babies. Born at the same hospital and everything. You learn a lot about a guy when you spend that much time with them."

Wes nodded dubiously. "Uh-huh. I still don't get what's in this for you."

"I'm his best friend, remember?" Tucker admonished. "I want what's best for him. And you? You've convinced him to sleep, and I don't think you know how hard that is. He's resting, and his grades are going up. And honestly, he just seems happier than he has since... well, since before the accident. Because of you. As crazy as it probably sounds, I really do think you're good for him."

It really did sound crazy. Wes, who threatened to ruin Danny's life for just about an entire year and gave him no end of grief, being good for him? And Danny maybe liking him after all that? Wes was inclined to think all that nitrous oxide had done a number on Tucker.

But what if he was right? What if, despite everything, Danny really had somehow caught feelings for him? Maybe the excuse to practice wasn't a fluke, when Danny had eyed Wes's lips just as much as he'd eyed Danny's. Or the sparring match before that, when he'd stared at a victorious Wes with doelike, awestruck eyes. Or the hand-holding they'd both been so fond of as of late, or even farther back than that, when Danny had saved his life when he could have easily, maybe even rightly, left him for dead. Even within their vitriolic rivalry, at the beginning of it all, Danny had always conducted himself with an almost flirtatious air, or so Wes had imagined.

Maybe, after all this time, or perhaps the entire time, he actually had a chance.

"Plus," Tucker went on, "I'm getting twenty bucks for my time and effort. So it's an extra win."

Wes squawked. "I still never agreed to that!"

({O})

Seeing as it was now the weekend, Wes needed to wait before enacting Tucker's advice. After school on Monday, however, he invited the gang to an away game against Crystal Lake Academy. Or, rather, he'd invited Danny, but Tucker had insisted on coming along, and if they were both going, Sam was going too.

Wes wasn't unaccustomed to all three watching him play, and it was true that he tended to get quite showy when he knew Danny was looking. But it was a whole different story knowing Tucker was there with the express purpose of gauging how well he impressed Danny. Or, Elsewhere forbid, trying to coach him from the stands.

He hoped Tucker would at least be subtle about it, but he doubted he would.

He gulped.

Wes spent the pregame overthinking his stretches, and the game started soon after, with the Crystal Lake Campers being the ones to start with the ball. That was alright; the whole "get the ball first and score without moving" shtick was getting old, anyway.

The entire game was spent with the Campers and Ravens trading points back and forth. As punishing as Casper's offense was, the Campers lived up to their name with a solid defense. Wes weaved, feinted, stole, and scored with boundless energy, each movement catered to look absolutely effortless.

And, okay, maybe he cheated just a little to get some extra air time once for a slam dunk. Only so Tucker wouldn't chew him out for not being flashy enough later.

He checked the stands for a reaction. Danny whooped in cheer, either unaware or uncaring of the cheap score, while Tucker nodded with a double thumbs up next to him. Sam's arms were crossed, frowning with what Wes first assumed was boredom. That was, until he noticed her narrowed eyes.

She was glaring at him.

Tucker had said she knew, hadn't he?

Wes would have worried about that a lot more, had his moment of distraction not cost him a basketball to the side of the head.

({O})

Wes spent the remainder of the game in the academy's nurse's office, said nurse doting over him like she thought he might keel over. She insisted that he not play, worried that he could have a concussion. No symptoms had cropped up, save for a bruise that had hardly formed before it had started healing, but she wanted to be sure that nothing worsened, "just to be safe."

Wes kind of wished Casper's nurse was that determined regarding student health and safety. But right now, it was just annoying.

What a humiliating way to finish a match.

Regardless, he had the next day to make up for the fumble. He waited until after school, fishing a box out of his locker before rushing to Danny's last class. Luckily, Danny hadn't left yet, struggling to fit an untidy mass of paper into his bulging backpack.

Lancer must have had a busy lesson.

Danny barely had time to look up to greet Wes before the box was being shoved in his face, loosely wrapped with sparkly blue paper and tied off with a messy purple bow.

"Happy birthday!" Wes blurted.

"I. Oh," Danny said intelligently, blinking in surprise. "You didn't have to give me anything, Wes."

"You didn't have to get me anything for mine, either," Wes countered. "But you still did it. So here. I got you a gift."

Gingerly, Danny accepted the box, giving it a brief shake to figure out what was inside. When nothing distinctly recognizable sounded, he pulled at the ribbon and tore the paper away.

Inside was a simple box, with a GameStation controller pictured on the front. But it was no ordinary controller; the entire thing was a translucent indigo, the inner workings of the device clearly visible through it. The buttons and joysticks were white, save for the shapes and letters denoting their function.

"Woah!" Danny declared. "I was looking everywhere for this one! How did you find it? How did you know?"

"Tucker told me you wanted this one," Wes replied sheepishly. He decided not to tell him that Tucker was, in fact, the one who bought it, and that Wes was going to give him his allowance until he paid it off. "It's, uh, not the full gift, though. I've got something even better in mind, I just can't give it to you right away."

Danny smiled, one corner quirked up more than the other. "Any chance I can get you to tell me right away? Or is it something super secret I can't know yet?"

Wes opened his mouth, ready to tell Danny exactly what he had planned. But right then, another voice called out. "Hey, Danny! There you are!"

Danny perked up almost immediately. "Oh, hey Sam. What's up?"

The girl herself strode into the room, hands hidden behind her back. "Oh, you know, nothing much. Just coming by to give you a present for your sweet 16."

She showed her hands, revealing the tiny, almost flat box they held. Wes looked away; there was something in her smile that put him off.

Danny didn't hesitate with Sam's gift as much as he had with Wes's. He set the controller down on his desk so that he had both hands free to accept the new present, lifting the lid to peer at what was inside.

"Observatory tickets?"

Sam nodded. "But look at the date."

Wes's stomach sank.

Danny studied the tickets for a moment, eyes narrowing to read the small print before they flew wide open. "The 22nd? You don't mean...?"

"The Lyrid meteor shower," Sam replied. "That night is when it's supposed to be at its peak. I thought we could go watch it together."

Danny was absolutely beaming. "Sam, this is... How did you even get these?! I thought the observatory was booked!"

"My dad went to high school with a guy who works there," Sam replied. "He was able to get another spot. The shower only happens once a year, so I had to make sure you had the best view in town."

But it wasn't the best view. Wes was going to give him the best view. He was going to ask Danny to go flying with him, and he was going to take him way up high, higher than they'd ever flown before. They would fly above the clouds, and Wes would try to see if he could lay on one, and the two of them would watch the show with no light or sound or people to take away from the sheer beauty of it.

It would have been amazing. It would have been special.

Why did Sam have to come in when she did, and take all that away from him?

It wasn't fair. It just wasn't.

({O})

Okay, so the birthday plan was a dud. Wes had his cry about it in private, it was fine. He could try again next year. It was no big deal, just a very unfortunate coincidence. It was fine.

The following day was another opportunity. First period hadn't even begun yet and Tucker was already scheming up his next plot.

This time, he was going with something more cliché.

"Trust me, this one will get him falling head over heels for you," he was saying. "Literally! You just go up and talk to him, and I'll wait a little bit before I walk up too. Except when I get close, I'm gonna trip on purpose and knock him over. All you have to do is catch him, maybe stare into his eyes a little. If he blushes, you know you've got him."

Wes picked at his arm. "I dunno, wouldn't something like that be, you know. Kind of obvious? In front of other people?"

"Pff, nobody's gonna know you're gay just because you kept your friend from falling over," Tucker waved him off.

"Don't say that out loud here!" Wes hissed.

"Look. If you're really worried about it, we can do it after lunch, in the hallway. Assuming there's no ghost attack, that'll be our best chance at catching him before a class, and most of the other teens will still be in the cafeteria."

"That's... I don't know. This seems kinda silly. Does stuff like this even work outside the movies?"

Tucker shrugged. "Hey, movies do it because there's some truth to it, right?" When Wes didn't look reassured, Tucker clapped a hand on his shoulder. To his credit, he made sure Wes wouldn't pull away first this time around. "Come on, trust me on this. When have I ever steered you wrong?"

"Yesterday."

"Except for yesterday, when have I ever steered you wrong?"

"Alright, fine, I'll try it. But only because you won't leave me alone until I do!"

"That's the spirit! Now go get him, tiger!"

Despite the rousing dismissal, it was, of course, another few hours before Wes got his chance. He, Danny, and Sam ate together, with Tucker elsewhere for reasons he hadn't shared.

"I don't know, Wes. He might be planning something," Danny had cracked.

"Oh, don't you dare start with that again!"

When the warning bell rang, the trio rose from their table, making their way out of the cafeteria. As Danny and Wes walked towards their next class, Wes expected Sam to split off for hers, like she usually did. Except, she didn't. She tagged along with the boys, more than happy to continue with their conversation.

Because of course she was.

"Is it normal to both be excited and dread going home?" Danny asked. "Mom got me that new Monster Destruction game, but then she didn't let me play it! She said I had to finish all my homework before I could use my GameStation again!"

Well. It was comforting to know he was planning on using the controller, and hadn't discarded it like hot garbage the second Sam got him something better.

"Then you'd better finish your homework," Sam joked. "Which class was it for? Social studies? Mr. Falluca was pretty assignment-happy last week."

"I can help you out if it's math," Wes piped up. "Jazz showed me how to do the problems in this week's unit, so if you don't like when she teaches you, maybe I could instead."

Danny smiled. "Thanks, guys. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Not video games, apparently," said Wes.

Danny cackled. Harsh a sound as it was, it made Wes's heart flutter, just a little bit.

"I'm here now!" Tucker called from down the hallway, barreling towards them at a full sprint. "Sorry, I had a lunch detention! But I'm coming, I'll be there in just a– woooaaahhh!"

Tucker's ankle twisted mid-step, and though he made a weak attempt to catch himself, there was no stopping his momentum. He scrambled forwards, arms pinwheeling at his sides as he careened "helplessly" towards Danny.

But Sam was there to catch him, grabbing his shoulders to keep him from barreling the rest of the way through. "Woah, you've gotta be more careful, Tucker. You might run into somebody!"

Tucker sighed, wilting against Sam's grip. "Yeah, you're right. Wouldn't wanna do that."

Wes pursed his lips, huffing quietly. It was just his luck that Sam would be in the perfect place to halt Tucker's approach. Just like she'd appeared at the perfect time to steal his birthday present to Danny right out from under him. If he didn't know any better, he'd think she was doing it on purpose.

But that couldn't be right. Though she could hold a grudge like nobody's business, she wasn't spiteful. Or, at the very least, Wes hadn't known her to be petty about it. Besides, how could she be doing that if she didn't know what Wes— that is to say, Tucker— was plotting?

...Unless she did. Wes hoped Tucker wouldn't have told her, but considering how laid-back he was about everything else, Wes couldn't rule it out. With the way Sam had glared at him the week before, Wes was almost certain Tucker had let something slip that he shouldn't have.

He gulped.

({O})

Another bust, another day with a fresh attempt. But this time, it was Wes who had the idea.

"I'll take him to a movie," he said. "He likes those really cheesy b-movies, the scarier the better. Werewolves from Jupiter comes out on Saturday. I bet he'd like that."

"Look at you, taking initiative!" Tucker praised. "But then should I assume you'll be missing out on one of your allowance payments?"

Wes gave him a look.

"...Okay, fine, it's a good idea. Just don't spoil it afterwards, alright? I've been waiting weeks for this one to come out."

"Cross my heart and hope to die the rest of the way."

Tucker's nose wrinkled. "Man, you've been around Danny way too much. His puns are rubbing off on you."

Wes shrugged. "Hey, you're the one who wanted to play wingman."

"Don't remind me. Just. Go do your thing."

The Box Ghost made his presence known fairly early in the day, so Wes didn't see Danny until after first period. Naturally, Sam was just about glued to his hip. Not that it would matter. Not this time.

Or so Wes had thought. He approached, raising his arm and opening his mouth to call out. But before he could say a word, Sam had started walking, not pausing in whatever she was talking about. Danny was inclined to follow her, not even noticing Wes's approach. They were both gone before it occurred to Wes that he could have raised his voice.

Fine. There was more than one period in a school day. Wes would have tons of opportunities to ask Danny out. So what if he fudged the first try?

Only, the same thing happened on the second try, and the third try. Danny and Wes didn't share fourth, and there was no way he was going to muster the courage to say it in the crowded lunchroom. It was like outside forces were determined to thwart him at every turn.

There was still fifth and sixth period. Wes didn't share fifth with Danny, either, but he at least knew they'd cross paths afterwards. Surely that would be the best time to ask him.

The time couldn't come soon enough. The bell ending class rang, and Wes was the first out of his seat. If he was fast enough, maybe he could beat Sam to Danny. No more taking words out of his mouth for him.

No such luck. She was already at Danny's locker, happily chatting away about a movie the two of them had recently seen. Not Werewolves from Jupiter, Wes determined with strained ears, though he didn't know how they even could have if they had. But he needed to be quick, before Sam brought the monster movie up herself.

But, of course, Wes couldn't even get close before Sam was quite literally dragging Danny away, going on about how they could talk more after school. Danny didn't protest the treatment, simply stumbling after her without missing a beat like this was an everyday occurrence.

Maybe it was. Danny had handsy friends.

This time, though, Sam looked over her shoulder, periwinkle eyes picking Wes out of the crowd. She mustered a rather impressive glare before continuing on her way like nothing had happened.

She'd known he was there.

No.

No way.

She was doing this on purpose!

The observatory tickets, he'd brushed off as a nasty coincidence. He'd thought little of her rescue of Tucker; she'd been closer than Wes at the time. Even the random but frequent glares he'd chalked up to Sam just being Sam.

But Wes knew, in that moment, that she'd deliberately steered Danny away from him just then. And if she did it on purpose this time, then Wes was certain she was doing it on purpose every other time, too.

But why?

No. Wes was pretty sure he knew why. The question was, how did she always know?

Dun dun duuuuun! A confrontation is nigh! Maybe even TWO confrontations!

Honestly, I've been wanting to write a Sam and Tucker chapter for ages. I always struggle with characterization the first handful of times I write someone, either by not embracing their qualities enough, or by leaning too hard into them, with both usually leading to pretty shallow characterization. Sam and Tucker are some of my least frequently recurring characters, so they tend to suffer from this A Lot, but hey, the best way to do them justice is to keep practicing with them, right? This part of the chapter ended up being pretty Tucker-heavy, but I promise Sam will be getting her time to shine in the next one.

(Please don't hate her yet tho, I promise I'm not hate-sinking her dkflnjhdfgkjfd)

Anyway, though, see you guys in however many weeks!