Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I can’t believe we lost by ONE POINT! Dash thought as he stormed down the street in the direction of home. A lone rock sat in the middle of the sidewalk, so he kicked it as hard as he could, sending it rocketing down the pavement and out into the street.

Something caught his eye. Turning, Dash saw a familiar figure in the distance; a thin boy with dark hair sitting on a bench under a lone streetlight. A smile slowly stretched across Dash’s face. He may have lost the game, but at least he had found a toy to play with that could make him feel better.

“What’s up, Fen-dumb?” Dash asked, striding up to Danny. He propped a single leg up on the bench next to Danny, leaning an elbow on his knee, and smirked down at Danny’s pathetic form.

Danny said nothing. He didn’t even look at Dash. Instead, tears started streaming silently down his face.

“Whoa, hey! What’s with the tears? That wasn’t even that good of an insult.”

“Go away, Dash,” Danny whispered, continuing to stare, unseeing, ahead.

Dash straightened, then stood awkwardly by the arm of the bench, a mini-war raging inside of him. Finally, he dropped his football bag and sat down next to Danny. “Seriously, what’s wrong?”

“I said, go away,” Danny growled, hands tightening on the edge of the bench. For a moment, it looked as though his eyes flashed a brilliant green, but then it was gone, a trick of the light.

“Okay, I know we’re not friends or anything, but you’re crying by yourself on a bench at ten o’clock at night. You can’t expect me to just walk by and ignore that.”

Turning away, Danny wiped his face with a sleeve. “I’m fine,” he said, his voice cracking.

“No, you’re not,” Dash insisted forcefully.

“Dash, you can’t spend every day harassing me then expect me to tell you about the shittiest day of my life,” Danny snapped. “You didn’t even come over here because you were concerned about me being out here by myself, you came over so you could make fun of me. So get it over with and leave already, alright?”

“Yeah, so what if I did?” Dash yelled. “You’re a dweeb, what do you expect? But you’re also my dweeb, so if you’re crying about something that I didn’t cause, I want to know about it!”

Danny smirked and sniffed, wiping his face on his sleeve again, but still didn’t say anything.

Dash looked down, noticing a backpack sitting by Danny’s feet. “Fine, if you’re not going to tell me, I’m going to have to find out for myself,” he said, snatching it up.

“Hey! Give that back!” Danny jumped up, trying to grab the bag, but it was easy for Dash to stand and use one hand to push Danny away while using his teeth to pull open the zipper of Danny’s backpack, causing clothes and toiletries to spill out and fall to the ground.

“What’s all this?” Dash asked as Danny finally ripped the bag back, quickly stuffing the clothes and other items back inside.

“Nothing,” Danny mumbled, zipping the bag up tight and throwing it across his back. “Thanks for nothing.” He tried to turn away but Dash’s hand was already on his shoulder.

“Fenton. Seriously. What–”

“It’s none of your fucking business!” Danny yelled, slapping Dash’s hand away. “I know you're a jock so you give yourself brain damage every other day, but even you can’t be so stupid that you don’t know when something isn’t about you!” He tried to turn away again but Dash grabbed him, easily pinning his arms by his side and knocking his bag out of his hand.

“Let go of me!” Danny screamed.

“Be quiet or someone’s going to think I’m kidnapping you or something,” Dash said as he tucked Danny’s small form under one arm and used the other to pick up his dropped bag.

“You are kidnapping me, you dick!” Danny failed, doing his best to squirm out of Dash’s grasp, but he had too tight of a hold.

“No, I’m not. I’m just bringing you back to my house.”

“Why?!”

“You may think that I’m dumb, but even I can recognize when someone’s running away from home.”

That caused Danny to freeze. “I-I’m not running away.”

“Oh yeah? Why else are you out here late at night with a backpack full of clothes and your toothbrush?”

“It’s…for a sleepover. With Sam and Tucker.”

“Why aren’t you with them then? And why so many clothes for a single night?”

Danny said nothing, so Dash slung Danny’s backpack over one shoulder, picked up his own bag, and started walking.

“Why would you want to bring me to your place? I thought I was a dweeb,” Danny said.

“Like I said, you’re my dweeb. And I’m not leaving my dweeb sitting alone on a bench all night. Now, are you going to walk or do you actually expect me to carry you all the way there? It’s kind of tough lugging around two bags and your ass, even as puny as you are.”

“I guess I can walk,” Danny mumbled.

“Fine, but don’t go running off anywhere,” Dash said, putting Danny down and handing him his bag. “We both know I can outpace you.”

They were silent for the entire fifteen minutes it took to walk to Dash’s house, finally stopping outside of a small white house, paint faded and chipped, half the green shutters missing and the lawn long past overgrown. Swinging open the creaky metal gate, Dash said, “You go around that side of the house. My bedroom is the last window before the corner. I’ll go inside and open the window to let you in.”

“Um…okay,” said Danny.

Dash watched him disappear around the side of the house, then opened the front door and stepped inside. “I’m home,” he said, the smell of stale cigarettes and beer wafting toward him from the living room.

“You’re late,” his dad barked. He was parked in his recliner in front of their 50 inch TV, not bothering to get up to see his son.

“Yeah, well, I was talking to a friend after the game.”

“Fuck your friends,” his dad said. “You know you’re supposed to come straight home. Don’t pull that shit again.” He burped, then said, “You win?”

“No,” Dash grumbled, knowing his dad would see the score printed in the paper tomorrow. He went to the kitchen and pulled open the fridge, grabbing a couple of cans of soda from the top shelf.

“What do you mean no? I thought you were supposed to be good at this shit!”

“Like you’d fucking know!” Dash yelled, slamming the fridge door shut, everything rattling inside. “You’ve never even been to one of my games!”

“Hey, watch your fucking mouth or I’ll come over there and fix it for you!” his dad yelled back, turning around in his chair to glare at Dash.

Dash said nothing, simply glaring back before snatching a bag of chips off the counter and stomping to his room, slamming his door behind him. He tossed his bag down on the floor and tossed the chips and drinks on his bed before starting toward his window. He paused halfway there, taking the time to kick the dirty clothes littering his floor into one corner of the room. It was still a mess with the stacks of dirty dishes and random trash spread around, but it looked slightly better like this.

Sliding the window open, Dash stuck his head out. “Fenton?” he whispered, looking around but not seeing anyone. Had he taken his chance and ditched?

“Yeah?” Danny answered, appearing from the shadows.

Dash jerked his head. “Get in here.”

Danny handed his bag through the window, then awkwardly squirmed through, falling heavily to the floor.

“Quiet, dumbass, or my dad will hear!” Dash hissed.

“Should I really be here if I could get you in trouble?” Danny asked, eyes wide as he stood.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Dash said. Picking up one of the soda’s from his bed, he tossed it in Danny’s direction. “Here. Drink this. Eat some chips. I’m going to go take a shower real quick.”

“Uh, thanks.”

Dash grabbed a clean pair of pajamas, then left Danny standing awkwardly in the middle of his room.

He turned the shower on as hot as it would go, washing off the sweat and dirt of the game, then stood under the water, thinking. Fenton was in his room. Why had he let Fenton into his room? He had never let a single friend come over before, and now he was letting Fenton, annoying, nerdy, dumb, dweeby Fenton hang out in his room. Yes, he didn’t like Fenton, yes, he enjoyed tormenting Fenton, but he also couldn’t just leave Fenton sitting there like that, alone, crying, pathetic. As much as he loved pushing Fenton around, he also had limits with how much misery he’d cause someone, and the way Fenton had looked, it had been…heartbreaking.

Turning the water off, Dash dried and dressed, then went back to his room. Danny had left the soda and chips sitting on Dash’s desk, unopened, and was now curled up on the end of Dash’s bed, shoes off, back pressed against the wall. His eyes flicked up when Dash came in, the bottom half of his face buried in his bent arms, folded on top of his knees.

“So, you gunna tell me what happened?” Dash asked, tossing his dirty clothes in the corner with the rest.

Danny shook his head.

“Ok. You gunna at least tell me why you were sitting by yourself instead of going to one of your friend’s houses then?”

Danny shrugged.

Dash sat on the opposite end of the bed, raising an eyebrow.

“I just…don’t want them to know,” Danny said quietly.

“Why not? I thought you’ve been friends with Elvira and Nerdtron since, like, ever.”

“I love them, but they’re a lot,” Danny said. “Especially Sam. If they knew I ran away, it’d become A Thing. And the last thing I want right now is for this to turn into A Thing.”

“So where were you going to go instead?”

Danny shrugged again. “I don’t know. I was kind of trying to figure that out when you showed up.”

“Well…you can stay here tonight, if you want,” Dash suggested. When Danny shot him a confused look, Dash said, “Why not? You’re already here, and it’s almost midnight. Where else are you going to go?”

“I–I guess,” Danny said, looking uncomfortable.

“It doesn’t have to be weird,” Dash said.

“But this is weird, Dash!” Danny burst out. “Earlier today, you tripped me in the lunchroom and laughed at me when I got sloppy joe all over my shirt, and now you’re offering to let me crash in your room after I run away? How am I supposed to process anything that’s happened to me today?” He ran a hand through his hair, blowing out an exasperated breath.

“I don’t know. I don’t really get it, either. But do you really want to sleep outside tonight?”

“No…,” Danny murmured.

“Okay. Then just accept that this is happening.” Folding his arms, Dash leaned back against his pillows.

They were both quiet for a long time.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m tired and we have school tomorrow,” Dash finally said.

“Um, okay,” said Danny, standing. “Where should I…?”

“Well, you can’t sleep on the couch because my dad will see you, and I’m not going to make you sleep on the floor when you’ve supposedly had such a shitty night, so I guess just sleep in bed with me.”

Danny went white. “Absolutely not.”

“Come on, I’m not going to do anything.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because! You’re–you’re Dash!”

Dash stared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’ve tormented me everyday of my life, and now you’re asking me to sleep with you,” Danny said.

“Not like that.”

“Yeah, but still. Isn’t this going to make things…awkward?”

Dash sighed. “If you’re asking if I’m going to shove you into the girls bathroom against your will tomorrow morning, then no. I guess I can make more of an effort to be nicer to you at school. Or at least pretend you don’t exist.”

Danny still looked concerned.

“Look, do you want to stand there all night or actually go to sleep? Because I’m tired and would love to go to bed.”

Danny stood there for another moment, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, before slowly climbing back onto the bed. Dash rearranged the pillows, then pushed the blankets back as Danny crawled toward the head of the bed like a nervous foster cat ready to bolt at any sudden movement, his eyes on Dash. Tentatively, Danny laid down next to Dash, their bodies close in the single bed, as Dash pulled the blankets up over them. Snapping the light off, he laid down, rolling onto his side with his back toward Danny to make as much room in the bed as he could.

Even though he was tired, Dash laid awake for a long time, his mind working too much to let him fall asleep. He also wasn’t used to sleeping on his side, being more of a stomach sleeper, so eventually he rolled over onto his back, trying to find a more comfortable position. In the moonlight streaming in through the window, he could see Danny, back toward Dash, curled up in a ball and pressed as far up against the wall as he could manage. He watched Danny for a long time, thinking he was asleep, until Danny lifted his arm and wiped at his face in a way that told Dash he was crying again.

Something about seeing that hurt. Dash wanted to reach out and do something, anything, to comfort Danny, but knew if he tried, it would probably make Danny feel weird again. So, he did the only thing he could think of.

Pretending to mumble in his sleep, Dash rolled over, casually throwing one arm over Danny’s side, not enough for them to be considered cuddling, but enough that they were actually touching. He felt Danny stiffen under him. If he wanted to, Danny could easily push Dash’s arm off of him, but he didn’t. Instead, after a moment, he wriggled minutely closer. Faking a sleepy sigh, Dash fully wrapped his arm around Danny, pulling him in until his back was pressed against Dash’s chest, Danny letting out a soft squeak. Dash couldn’t help but breathe in his scent, taking in the way Danny smelled like lavender laundry soap, sloppy joe, and…something inhuman. He couldn’t fully describe it, just that it was something he’d never really smelled on a person before. Still, it was comfortable, the feeling of Danny in his arms, even if he was slightly cold, but seeing as he barely broke triple digits when it came to weight, this wasn’t much of a surprise.

Finally comfortable, his mind starting to calm, Dash’s eyes grew heavy and he drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

Dash stared into his locker, not really seeing any of the books inside he was supposed to be taking out in preparation for the school day. He wasn’t thinking about school. Instead, he was thinking about Danny. Or, he was trying not to think about Danny, since he was the only thing on Dash’s mind for the past few days.

With a groan, Dash banged his head against the locker door. How had he gotten himself into this situation? While previously he only thought about the thin, short, dark haired nerd enough to come up with new ways to torment him, now he found himself actually worrying about the dweeb, and sort of missing him? What was going on? He hadn’t meant anything when he had dragged Danny home from the park a few nights before, only thinking about how only someone truly heartless would let such a pathetic person sleep out in the cold all night, and now, for some reason, it was turning into something.

It was his fault, really. He should have only let Danny stay that one night. He shouldn’t have tracked Danny down two days ago, shouldn’t have asked him if he had found somewhere to say yet, shouldn’t have let him come over for a second time, and then a third. He shouldn’t have touched him while they slept, shouldn’t have let them get close, shouldn’t have gotten used to sleeping with Danny in his arms. Now all he could think about was how much he wanted Danny, fucking Danny Fenton, to sleep over again. And again. And again.

He groaned at himself again. He was going to have to find some way to put a stop to this. This was getting ridiculous. He shouldn’t be feeling this way about anyone, nevermind a boy, and especially not Danny fucking Fenton.

“Hey, you,” came a singsong voice.

Lifting his head from the locker, Dash noticed Paulina smiling at him. “Oh. Hey.”

“So, I’m not sure if you heard about the party this weekend,” she said. Over her shoulder, Dash couldn’t help but notice Danny at his locker, purposefully not looking in Dash’s direction. Dash tried not to look, either, doing his best to focus on Paulina’s moving lips, but couldn’t help but let his eyes drift back over and over again.

“Hello? Are you listening to me?” Paulina said, snapping her fingers in front of Dash’s face.

Dash blinked. “What?”

“I was asking if you wanted to go to Jessica’s party with me this weekend.”

“Uh, I don’t know, Paulina,” Dash said, doing his best to keep his eyes on her. “I’ve got a lot of homework to catch up on.”

“So? Do it later.” Noticing where he kept looking, she cast a glance over her shoulder in Danny’s direction. “Or just get one of the geeks to do it for you. Everyone knows they have nothing else better to do anyway.”

For some reason, that made Dash angry. “No, thank you,” he growled.

Paulina flicked her hair over her shoulder, a scowl on her lips. “Fine. I’ll ask Kwan instead. Everyone knows he’s had his eye on me for a while anyway.” Glaring at him, she continued on down the hall.

Dash kicked the door of his locker. Fuck! He needed to get himself together, get away from Danny. He slammed his locker closed but couldn’t help but pause when he noticed Sam and Tucker at Danny’s locker. Though they were at least half a dozen lockers down and there were plenty of conversations happening between them, Dash couldn’t help but strain his ears to listen into their conversation.

“Hey, Danny,” Sam said as she approached his locker.

“Um, hi?” Danny said. “Is there a reason why you said my name like that?”

“Oh, no reason at all!” Sam replied. “But, you know, Tucker and I had a really weird experience yesterday! When we stopped by your house, your mom told us you hadn’t been home in three days. Apparently, she was under the impression you were staying with one of us. Do you want to tell us about that?” She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at Danny while Tucker stood beside her, looking concerned.

Danny cringed. “It’s nothing,” he muttered, focusing more on pulling things out of his bag and stuffing them in his locker. “I’ve just been doing…ghost stuff.”

Dash frowned. Ghost stuff? He knew Danny’s dad was a weirdo who was into hunting ghosts–he seemed to have made it his entire life’s work–but was Danny really so into it too that he could use this as an excuse with his friends?

“Danny, you have not been doing ‘ghost stuff’ for the past three days!” Sam practically yelled. “And if you had, you would have told us about it!”

“Come on, Danny,” Tucker said in a much gentler tone. “Clearly something’s going on. We’re your friends. Talk to us.”

“I–I–,” Danny stammered, looking around. For a brief second, his eyes locked with Dash’s before quickly flitting away. “The truth is–”

Shit. This was the part where Danny was going to tell his friends that he’d actually been staying with Dash. Dash didn’t want to be around for that part, so he quickly turned away, but before he could make it more than a few steps down the hall, the loudspeaker crackled to life.

“Danny Fenton to the front office, please. Danny Fenton to the front office.”

The speaker clicked off, followed shortly after by the final warning bell. The halls began to empty as everyone filed into their classes. Dash stood outside of Lancer’s English class, watching out of the corner of his eye as Danny made his way toward the front office, a worried look on his face.

Dash sat in his usual seat but couldn’t focus on what Lancer was saying about Chaucer. He usually didn’t pay attention, but something about the look on Danny’s face worried him. Finally, he raised his hand.

“Ah, an unusual contribution to the discussion,” Lancer quipped. “And what say you about The Knight’s Tale, Sir Dash?”

“Actually, can I go to the bathroom?”

Lancer did not look happy. “No. Class just started.”

“But it’s an emergency.”

Heaving a sigh, Lancer said, “Fine, but you better use your time thinking about a compelling remark to add to this lecture. And don’t take all day.”

Snatching the hall pass from Lancer’s hand, Dash made his way out into the hall and toward the front office. He didn’t know what he was going to do, just felt like he needed to see Danny, to know that he was okay. Dash still didn’t know what had happened between Danny and his parents to make him leave, but Dash knew it had to be bad if he had. As shitty as his life was with his dad, he’d never really considered leaving. What was Danny’s home life really like to make him leave, to make him keep hiding it from his best friends?

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t hear the hurried sound of footsteps until he had rounded the corner and slammed into the other person, causing them both to fall to the ground.

“Dash!” Danny cried, his breath coming fast.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Dash asked, pushing himself up.

“I–I have to hide, they’re looking for me!”

“Who?”

“My parents.” Down the hall, they both heard three sets of footsteps and a woman calling, “Danny? Danny, sweetie, where are you? We just want to go home, work this all out!”

“Yeah! Nothing scary’s going to happen, I promise!” a man added, then there was the sound of him being elbowed in the side.

Grabbing Danny by the wrist, Dash pulled him up and down the hall. “Quick, in here,” he said, wrenching his locker open, notebooks and sheafs of papers falling out and sliding across the floor.

“You’re going to hide me in your locker.”

“Yeah. We both know you can fit. You’ve been in there plenty of times before.” The footsteps were getting closer, just around the corner. “Hurry.” Grabbing Danny by the front of his shirt, Dash roughly shoved him inside then slammed the door shut right as a man, a woman, and the principal rounded the corner.

“Um, hello, Principal Lockland,” Dash said, waving awkwardly.

“Dash.” She considered him with a raised eyebrow. “Why aren’t you in class?”

“I, uh, forgot my notes,” he said, stooping to pick up the fallen papers.

“Have you seen Danny Fenton at all?” Principal Lockland asked.

“No way, I’m not friends with that dw–uh, guy.” Dash eyed Danny’s parents, a tall, wide man with salt and pepper hair standing next to a shorter woman with dark red hair, both clad in jumpsuits. They looked weird, but what could Dash expect from Danny but a weird family?

Principal Lockland picked up one of the fallen papers, frowning at it. “This seems to be math homework, and yet I know you’re supposed to be in English right now.” She glanced at his locker, then said, “Open your locker, please.”

“No way! That’s, like, an invasion of privacy! This is America, I have rights!”

“Actually, you don’t, at least not when it comes to this. As the principal of the school, I have the right to search any student's locker at any time I see fit. Now, open your locker, or you will be getting detention, and I believe with how many you’ve already received this semester, that will lead to a suspension from the football team. So, make your choice, and make it wisely, Dash.”

She stared solidly at him and he glared back before growling, “Fine.” Turning to the locker, he spun the lock, entering the combination. As much as he wanted to help Danny out of whatever trouble he was in with his parents, the last thing he could do was lose his place on the football team. If he did, then he would be in an unknown amount of trouble with his own father.

He popped the locker open, swinging the door wide, watching as Principal Lockland frowned at the inside.

“Dash,” she said, her voice sharp. Dash prepared himself for the lecture, or perhaps detention he was going to get anyway for stuffing Danny in his locker. “This is incredibly messy. Messy lockers lead to messy minds. Make sure you clean it in the near future.”

He snapped his head toward his locker, taking in its empty space, filled with nothing but his coat and a mess of books and papers. He blinked, mind reeling. Where the hell had Fenton gone?

“Now, if you do see Danny Fenton, please let me know. His parents are looking for him.”

“I–um–yeah,” said Dash, unable to tear his eyes away from where he knew he had put Danny.

Dash waited until Principal Lockland and Danny’s parents had disappeared before reaching into the locker, feeling around as though some secret door was going to appear, like how magicians made their assistants disappear during their acts. There was nothing. He closed the locker then opened it again as though that would also do something, but it remained nothing but a mess. Not knowing what else to do, he closed the door and headed back to class.

~ ~ ~

His house was empty when he got home from school, his dad still at work. Dash tossed his backpack down on the floor, wondering what had happened to Danny. Had he somehow shoved Danny into a different locker and he was still there, trapped? There was no way he had just disappeared like that. Or maybe Dash had somehow just imagined the whole thing?

With a sigh, Dash went to his room, freezing in the doorway when he saw a figure perched on the end of his bed.

“Danny?”

“Hey, Dash.”

“Where have you been? How did you get out of that locker?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Danny said, standing. “I just came back to get my stuff. And to say thanks, for letting me stay here the last few days.” He picked up his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder, and moved toward Dash to pass him but Dash put his arms up, blocking the doorway.

“What, that’s it? You’re just leaving, no explanation?”

“Yes.”

“No way. That’s not fair.”

“Since when have you ever cared about fair?” Danny asked. “You think that all the times you’ve tripped me or pushed me around or shoved me in lockers for real was fair? Life isn’t fair. Now move.”

“No,” said Dash. “I deserve to know what’s going on.”

“You think being nice to me for the past three days makes up for the years of torment you’ve put me through? You don’t deserve anything.” Danny’s eyes were dark, rage seething behind them.

Dash took a breath. “And where are you going to go? To your friend's house? Your parents will find you there, that’s where they’d expect you to be. You’re safe here. This is the last place anyone would think to find you.”

“I’m not going to Sam or Tucker’s. I’m not going to school. I’m not going anywhere. I’m leaving, for good.”

“What, like out of Amity? Then what are you going to do? You’re fourteen, it’s not like you can get a job or anything. Where are you going to get money? Where are you going to sleep? This is insane.”

“I don’t care!” Danny yelled. “I’m not going to let them get me, I’m not going to let them–” Danny’s voice caught and he looked away, tears in his eyes again.

“Danny,” Dash said, taking him by the shoulders. “Let. Me. Help.”

“I can’t,” Danny choked. “There’s stuff you don’t know, and I don’t know what you’d do if you did. It’ll just be better, safer, for everyone if I just leave.”

Dash stared at Danny, at the way his hands were curled into fists, how his jaw was set in a tight grimace, the way tears continued to stream down his cheeks. Eyes hardening, Dash said, “Fine.” Taking Danny by the arm, he pulled him through the door and out into the living room.

“What are you doing?” Danny asked.

“If you’re not going to talk to me then I’m taking you to people you will talk to.”

Chapter Text

Sam opened her door with a wide smile, which quickly faded when she saw who was standing on her doorstep. “You’re not the pizza man.”

“No, but I did bring you a delivery,” Dash said, pulling Danny into view.

“Danny! Let go of him!” Sam grabbed Danny’s arm, pulling him inside. “Are you okay? Did that brute do anything to you?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Danny grumbled.

“Are your parents home?” Dash asked.

“No, but–”

“Great,” Dash said, pushing his way past her and into her living room.

“Hey! You can’t be in here! Get out!” Sam yelled.

“Yeah, I will, once Danny explains some things,” Dash said. Tucker was sitting on the couch, a Playstation controller in his hands, eyes wide as he stared at Dash. “Hey.”

“Hi…,” Tucker said slowly, putting the controller down.

“Danny doesn’t need to explain anything to you,” Sam said.

“He has plenty of things to explain. Right, Fenton?” Dash asked, glaring at Danny, who just scowled and stared down at his shoes. “Fine. If you’re not going to say anything, I will.”

“No, Dash, don’t!”

“You two want to know where this twerp’s been the past few days? He’s been with me, staying at my house.”

Sam and Tucker stared at Dash for a moment before they burst out laughing. “Yeah, and I just finished eating a steak wrapped in bacon,” Sam joked. “Why the hell would Danny be staying with you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because he ran away from home and didn’t want you two to know about it?”

“Yeah right,” said Tucker, standing from the couch. “We’re Danny’s best friends. Why wouldn’t he tell us about something like that?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I said he has some explaining to do.”

They all looked at Danny, who paled. “I-It’s nothing,” he muttered, not meeting their eyes. “We just had a fight is all.”

“Bullshit,” Dash said. “Things are so bad for you that you were just talking about leaving Amity. This is more than just some fucking fight.”

“Danny?” Sam said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Please, tell us what happened.”

Bowing his head, Danny whispered, “They found out about me.”

Sam’s head snapped toward Dash. “You need to leave. Now.”

“What? No way, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Dash, we’re very grateful for you looking after Danny for the past few days, but he’s with us now. We’ll take care of him. You should just head home. There’s nothing else you can do,” Tucker said. He put a hand on Dash’s shoulder to guide him to the door but Dash shrugged him off.

“No! I want to stay! I want to help!”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “You want…to help Danny? The same Danny you’ve been bullying since elementary school? The Danny whose backpack you filled with frog guts from biology? The Danny whose pants you pulled down during a school assembly? The Danny–”

“Okay, I get it!” Dash yelled. “I’ve been really shitty to Danny, you’re right. I’m sorry, okay?”

“You’re sorry? You think that tossed out, half-assed apology is going to make up for everything you’ve done to him?”

“No, but I think that without me, Danny’s parents are going to find him and he’ll be in even bigger trouble than he is now.”

Sam and Tucker exchanged glances.

“Look, I don’t know what Danny’s parents found out about, and I don’t care if he’s gay or whatever it is. But I do know that if his parents come looking for him, his best friend's house is the first place they’re going to look. No one would ever expect he’s staying with me.”

“I mean, he’s got a point,” Tucker said.

Sam shot Tucker a look, then turned to Danny. “What do you think we should do?”

“I don’t know, I just know that if they find me, they’ll hurt me.”

“Do you really think they’d do that?” Tucker asked. “I mean…they’re your parents, they love you.”

Danny shook his head. “You should have heard them, Tuck. Talking about books and shows and…experiments. Proof. They want to know what made me this way, how I’m…me. They want to replicate it, want to…I don’t know. All I know is that it’s not good. They’re going to turn me into some freak show that performs for them and makes them rich and famous.”

Dash stared at Danny. Experiments? Replication? What was he talking about?

“This is bad,” Sam said. “But, Danny…why didn’t you tell us about this earlier?”

“I don’t know,” Danny muttered. “I think…it kind of felt like if I told you guys, that would make it…real. I would have to face that this is something they’re actually trying to do to me.”

“Oh, Danny…,” Sam whispered, pulling him into a hug. He clung to her, burying his face into her shoulder, curling his fingers into her shirt. Tucker came up behind Danny, also wrapping his arms around him and resting his cheek on Danny’s shoulder.

Dash stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do. It wasn’t like he could join them in comforting Danny, but he also felt weird being the only person not doing so. Right now, the only thing he really wanted to do was crawl into bed, wrap himself around Danny, and fall asleep. There would be no way anyone could take Danny away and hurt him if he were encased in Dash’s arms.

Dash looked away from their three way embrace, his face reddening at his thoughts. He was getting too used to this, to them falling asleep together, to their skin touching. Maybe Sam and Tucker were right, maybe he should just leave, just let Danny stay with his friends. They seemed to know much more about what was going on with him and his parents and his life, they would be much better equipped to protect him from them. He was just forcing himself in, expecting things he shouldn’t be, putting stock into a relationship that he did not have with Danny Fenton.

“I should go,” Dash muttered, stepping past them toward the door.

“Dash, wait,” said Danny, pulling out of his friend's embrace.

He paused.

“Thanks,” Danny said. “For…everything. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t found me a few nights ago.”

Dash nodded. “Yeah, sure.” He started toward the door again, but Danny was close behind him. “What are you doing?”

“Well, I’m supposed to be staying with you, aren’t I? So my parents don’t find me? If you’re leaving, I should go with you, shouldn’t I?”

“Oh. I kind of figured you’d rather stay here, with your friends.”

Danny glanced at Sam and Tucker. “I mean, I do, but…” He hesitated. “I’m scared about what they might do if they find me.”

Right. Danny was only using him for cover. He wasn’t anything more than that. “Yeah, but you can’t stay with me forever. Especially with my dad…”

“Oh. Right.” Danny stepped back, looking crushed. Suddenly, Dash wished he could take it all back, even if it meant having just one more night with Danny. He continued to stand in the foyer, knowing that he should go but not wanting to.

“Sam, can Dash stay?” Danny suddenly asked.

“What?” Sam asked incredulously.

“Well, he’s right about how I shouldn’t stay here, but I also can’t exactly keep staying with him, either. So I thought maybe…just for tonight, until we figure out a more permanent solution…”

“So you want me to let him sleep over?”

“Yeah.”

Sam rolled her eyes but said, “Fine, but I’m only doing this because you asked me to and you’ve been going through some shit lately.”

Danny’s face broke into a smile. “Thanks, Sam!”

“Only for tonight, and he’s not sleeping in my room like you guys do. He’s staying down on the couch.”

~ ~ ~

Dash crept through Sam’s house, opening and closing door after door. He was supposed to be sleeping on the couch with the pillow and blanket Sam had given him before all three disappeared upstairs, but first, Dash really, really needed to pee. He opened another door, revealing a game room. He never realized Sam was a rich bitch, but he supposed it explained a few things.

Turning, he decided to go upstairs. Perhaps this was one of those weird houses that only had bathrooms on the second floor for some reason. As quietly as possible, he went up the stairs and down the hall, pausing when he heard his name as he was passing by Sam’s room.

“--can’t tell Dash!” Sam was saying. “Are you crazy?”

“No,” Danny replied. “I just think…”

“Think what? Think that you should tell the biggest bully in the school that you’re half ghost? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!”

Dash furrowed his brow. What? There was no way he had just heard what he thought he heard. He must have misheard what Sam was saying. Maybe she really said Danny was half…well, he wasn’t sure, but there was no way Danny Fenton was a ghost.

“Yeah, Danny, that sounds like a pretty bad idea. If Dash knew you could go ghost, he’d probably hand you over to your parents in exchange for a cut of the cash they’d make off you,” Tucker said. “With everything going on, it’ll be much safer to keep everything to yourself. The less people who know, the better.”

Shit. So he had heard correctly the first time. But what did that actually mean that Danny was a ghost? Was he somehow dead? That couldn’t be right, Dash would have noticed if Danny didn’t have a heartbeat when they were sleeping side by side the past few nights. No, Danny was definitely alive.

“Yeah, you guys are right,” Danny said. “Sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“It’s okay, man,” Tucker said. “You’re going through a lot right now. Your parents betrayed you. It makes sense that you want to feel like the people around you are people you can trust.”

“But that means you should be trusting me and Tucker, not someone like Dash,” Sam cut in. “He’s been nothing but shitty to you in the past, he’s not going to magically change now.”

“I know, but…”

“But what?”

“But he has been different lately,” Danny said. “I mean, he brought me home and let me sleep in his bed when he knew I didn’t have anywhere else to go. The old Dash never would have done something like that.”

“Okay, maybe he did one nice thing, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to keep doing it,” Sam replied. “I mean, remember that time he sent you that fake love letter so you’d look like an idiot waiting around for a girl to never show up? Or that time he ripped up your history essay so you had nothing to turn in and got points taken off for it being late? Or all the times he’s tripped you just walking in the hall?”

“Yeah, okay, I get it,” Danny said. “Dash has treated me like shit and I should expect nothing more than that.”

“He didn’t just treat you like shit, he is shit.”

Dash stepped back, then turned away and walked down the hall. Thankfully, he found the bathroom on this floor and slipped inside, quietly shutting the door behind him, leaning against the wood. Yeah, he had done all that stuff to Danny, but he had never fully meant it to be cruel like they were saying it was. It was all just supposed to be a joke, that’s it. And it had been funny, hadn’t it? At least, Dash and his friends thought so, but clearly Danny and his friends didn’t see it that way. Instead, they thought he was so cruel that he would just hand Danny over to his parents for a bit of cash, even after everything he’d done to keep Danny from them.

Dash blew out a breath. He guessed he deserved it. He hadn’t been anything close to friends to these three the entire time he’d known them, it would be stupid to think that they would suddenly want to be nice to him now, especially after everything he’d done. What was he even doing here? He should leave, first thing in the morning. He didn’t belong here.

He peed but didn’t bother to flush or wash his hands, not wanting to alert the others to his presence. Once he got back downstairs, he did wash his hands in the kitchen sink before slinking back to the couch, curling up with his back toward the living room, face buried into the crevice of the couch, thinking for a long time.

He felt stupid. Why did he suddenly want Danny and his friends to like him, to accept him, to rely on him? Why did he suddenly care what these fucking nerds thought about him? They didn’t matter. They never did and they never would. He should just go back to doing what he always did, focusing on football and not giving a shit about these dweebs. Everything would be better if they just went back exactly the way they had been, with him and Danny giving each other barely a glance in the hall when they passed at school.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel wetness building in his eyes, a deep sorrow, longing. He did his best to push it down, to force it away.

“Dash?”

He jumped as he heard the soft voice behind him. Looking over his shoulder, Dash saw Danny standing in the doorway of the living room, nothing more but a dark outline.

“Uh, yeah?” He pushed himself up, trying to make it so his voice was clear of tears.

“Could I…sleep with you?”

Dash blinked. “What?”

“It’s just that, um…no, sorry, I’m being stupid.”

Danny started to turn away but Dash called, “Wait.” Danny paused. “I’m fine if you want to sleep down here.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Crossing the living room, Danny curled up on the couch next to Dash, who threw the blanket over his legs, doing his best to keep space between them. The couch was spacious, but it was still smaller than the bed they had been sharing the last few nights.

“Sorry,” Danny said quietly once they had both settled. “I just…couldn’t sleep.”

“It’s okay,” Dash muttered, not looking at Danny, doing his best not to touch him.

“It’s weird,” Danny said softly.

“What is?”

Danny hesitated, then said, “Nothing.”

“No, tell me. You wouldn’t have said anything if you didn’t want to.”

“It’s just that, a week ago seeing you used to give me this sick feeling because I would always dread what you were going to do to me. But now…” He shrugged. “Now it feels like I can’t fall asleep without you next to me. I was laying upstairs and my mind just kept racing and I couldn’t help but feel like it’d be better if I were down here with you.”

Dash couldn’t help but stare at Danny now, feeling his face getting slightly warm, glad that it was dark. “...and is it better?”

“Yeah,” Danny said. “I think it is.”

Grabbing Danny, Dash pulled him in close so Danny’s back was pressed into his chest, arms wrapped tight around his waist. Burying his face into Danny’s shoulder, Dash muttered, “I’m glad you came down.”

“You are?” Danny asked, confused. “I thought you would be annoyed. You’ve always hated me.”

“Yeah…well…things are…different now.” Dash wasn’t quite sure if he could voice how different, just knew that he was relieved to have Danny next to him again.

“Yeah, I guess they are,” Danny said. “A lot of things are different. I never in a million years would think my life would turn out like this.” He was quiet for a long moment, then said, “Dash, I think there’s something I–”

“Shut up, dweeb.” Dash wasn’t sure if Danny was going to tell him the thing about being a ghost or something else, but he didn’t want to hear it. He did want to know what that meant, but not if Danny’s friends didn’t think he was trustworthy enough to hear it yet. If he was going to truly learn Danny’s secret, he felt like this was something he needed to earn, when he had proven himself to be more of the person he felt he wanted Danny to see him as instead of the person he had been to Danny.

Holding Danny a little closer, Dash closed his eyes, listening to the sound of Danny’s heartbeat before finally falling asleep.

Chapter Text

He was woken by a deeply unsettling feeling. Dash slowly blinked his eyes open, startled to find the dark-clad form of Sam staring down at him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed.

“Huh? I’m sleeping,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes with one hand, sleep still clouding his brain.

“And what the hell is Danny doing down here?” Sam aggressively whispered.

Dash froze, glancing down at the boy who he still had an arm wrapped around. “Um…” He tried to pull his arm out from under Danny, but that just caused Danny to moan and shift, rolling over and snuggling closer to Dash, laying his head on Dash’s chest. He gave a small sigh before falling back into a deeper sleep as Dash’s face blazed red. He couldn’t help but look up at Sam sheepishly, whose contempt clearly deepened. Behind her, Dash noticed Tucker, looking at them with wide eyes and a barely suppressed smile.

“Uh, Danny? I think it’s time to wake up now,” Dash said, gently shaking Danny.

With a groan, Danny mumbled, “Why? You’re warm.”

“Okay, that’s enough!” Sam yelled, grabbing Danny by the back of his collar and yanking him up.

Choking, Danny whirled around. “What the fuck, Sam? What was that for?”

“Do you really have to ask that? Don’t you have any shame?” she scolded.

“I wasn’t doing anything,” he grumbled, folding his arms and looking away.

“Weren’t doing anything? Danny, last night you showed up here telling us that your parents want to do horrible things to you! When Tucker and I woke up this morning and saw that you were gone, we thought something had happened to you!”

“I was just downstairs! I’m not allowed to go downstairs?”

“Not when we come down and find that you’re cuddled up with this neanderthal.”

“Hey,” Dash protested.

“You stay out of this,” Sam snapped. “In fact, you should just leave. It’s not like you can help at all.”

“Yes I can!”

“How? Are you going to throw a football at Danny’s parents or something?”

“You know what? I don’t need this.” Pushing himself up off the couch, Dash snatched his jacket up off where he tossed it on the floor the night before and threw it on before shoving his feet into his discarded shoes. He took a step toward the front door, then paused. “For your information, I already helped hide Danny from his parents when they came looking for him at school yesterday. As far as I can see, I’m the only one who's actually been helping Danny, while you’ve just been a bitch.” It only took him three strides to make it to the door, ripping it open.

“Dash–” Danny tried to call, but Dash was already out the door, slamming it behind him.

He stormed down the street, hands shoved deep in his pockets, sneakers slapping angrily against the sidewalk. Fuck Danny, fuck Tucker, and especially fuck Sam. He didn’t need them. In fact, he was glad to be out of that house and away from those dorks who pretended like they were better than everyone else. All he wanted was to go home and let his life go back to what it used to be.

“Where the fuck have you been?” his dad asked when he finally came through the front door. Ignoring him, Dash stomped to his room, slamming his door behind him. He kicked off his shoes then flopped onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

His bedroom door burst open a minute later. “Who the fuck you think you are, slamming doors in my house?” his dad yelled, stomping to Dash’s bedside. “You like slamming doors? Maybe I should slam you.”

“Leave me–” His dad hit him before he even finished the sentence, striking him with an open hand blow. Blood immediately burst, spraying out of Dash’s nose, flecking across his sheets and up the wall. “Fuck!” Dash yelled, rolling over and grabbing his face, trying to stop the bleeding.

Grabbing him by the hair, Dash’s dad yanked his head back. “This is my house, you understand me?” he snarled. “Pull that shit again and you won’t get off so easy.” Throwing Dash back down on the bed, his dad started to stomp toward the door but his feet got tripped up, causing him to go crashing to the floor. “And clean this fucking room!” he screamed, pushing himself back up. “Sick of tripping over your shit!” As he stomped out, slamming the door himself this time. Dash glanced over to try to see what his dad had fallen over but couldn’t find anything, all his clothes still kicked to one corner.

Using one hand, Dash pinched both nostrils closed, and with the other he grabbed his bedsheet, wiping at his face and doing his best to clean up the blood. He was going to have to wash everything later, much later, once his dad had calmed down and wouldn’t retaliate just for him showing his face.

There was a soft tapping at the window. Making sure his nose had stopped bleeding, Dash stood and went to it, frowning at the person on the other side. “Danny?” Immediately, he slid up the window. “What are you doing here?”

“More like what are you doing covered in blood?” Danny asked, eyes wide as he climbed through the window.

Dash glanced down at himself, shirt speckled with red, his hands streaked with the dried fluid. “Just a nosebleed,” he muttered, not fully looking at Danny. “You really shouldn’t be here.” He glanced at his bedroom door, paranoid that his dad could come barging back in at any second.

“I know, but…my parents showed up at Sam’s.”

“Oh.”

They both stood awkwardly, Dash now acutely aware of the feeling of the dried blood on his hands and face. He wondered how long Danny had been lurking outside of his window, if he had seen what had happened between him and his dad. He hoped not.

"I'm sorry Sam was rude to you," Danny said.

"Yeah. She's a bitch."

"She's really not, just overprotective. Which can come out in certain ways."

"I guess that's one way to think about it," Dash muttered.

“I think you’re bleeding again.”

As Danny said that, Dash could feel the blood dripping out of his nose and across his lips. “Shit.” Going to his bed, he pressed the sheet back to his face.

Danny’s eyes roamed over the carnage that was Dash’s bed, not just the bloodstains from where Dash had tried to stem the flow, but also the burst of blood across the pillows and up the wall. “What happened to make your nose bleed?”

“Nothing,” Dash said, wishing Danny would stop asking questions, that he had never shown up. Dash’s life had been so much easier before Danny was in it, back when he was just some kid Dash would push down whenever they passed in the hall.

“I’ll tell you what happened to me if you tell me what happened to you,” Danny said.

Dash eyed Danny. This was it, the moment in which Dash could shove Danny away or let him come closer. Slowly lowering the sheet, Dash swallowed, then said, “It was my dad. He hit me.”

“Why?”

With a shrug, Dash said, “It was my fault. He hates when I slam doors.”

“I don’t think that matters. Parents shouldn’t treat their kids like that.”

“Yeah…well…sometimes, they do,” Dash said.

Nodding, Danny said, “You’re right, they do.” He glanced down at the floor, scuffing his sneaker. “I died a few months ago,” he said softly.

Dash frowned. “What?”

“My parents, they…they have this machine, except it didn’t work at first. And I thought it would be cool to climb inside of it, and that was when it turned on. And then thousands of volts of electricity, and plenty of other stuff, went through my body, and…I died.” Danny glanced up at Dash, who simply stared back at him.

“But, you’re fine now.”

“Not exactly,” Danny said. “I kind of came back…wrong. And now my parents want to learn more about what’s wrong with me. Except not normal stuff, they want to take blood and run tests and…cut me open. See how far it goes.”

“What? They can’t cut you open. Why the hell would they want to do that? They’re not doctors or anything, that’s stupid.”

“Their theory is that you can’t kill something that’s already dead.”

“But…you’re not dead. You’re alive. I’d know. We’re talking, we’ve…” Dash could feel his face growing warm. “We touch. I’ve felt your heart beat.” As though to make sure, Dash reached out, pressing his hand to Danny, his large palm easily spreading across Danny’s chest. Just underneath Danny’s ribs, Dash could feel it, the slight pulse that proved Danny was a living, breathing person. “See? Your parents are wrong, they’re crazy. They need help.”

Gently, Danny pushed Dash’s hand away. “Except, they're not, Dash. What you see right now, it’s not me. I’m just an echo of what I used to be.” There was a flash of light, as though lightning had struck inside the room, causing Dash to blink, then his eyes widened as he saw how different Danny was from the boy he knew before. Instead of midnight black, Danny’s hair was now pale white. Eyes that used to be dark now glowed a bright, almost neon green. Even his skin seemed different, paler, more translucent, as though he was barely there.

Dash gasped. So this is what Danny and his friends had meant.

“See?” Danny said, floating up so that he and Dash were finally eye to eye. “You always thought I was a freak before. How about now?”

It took Dash a moment to compose himself, to process what he was seeing, but when he finally did, he slowly reached out, pressing a hand to Danny’s heart again. “But, you’re still the same. I can still touch you, I can still feel–” That was when Dash’s hand went through Danny’s chest.

“Only if I want you to,” Danny said, drifting away. “You see why my parents want to take me apart now? I’m not real anymore. I’m not human.”

“Of course you are,” Dash said. “Ghosts are still people, aren’t they? And more than that, you’re still their son.”

A sad look passed over Danny’s face. “You don’t get it, Dash. All of my parents' work, their entire lives, have been dedicated to proving the existence of ghosts, to working toward capturing them. I’m everything they need to go from the town’s loonies to being on the breaking edge of science. They love me, but they’re obsessed with what they do, and they wouldn’t let anything stand in their way.” He shrugged. “I’m sure they think they’re doing the right thing. Maybe they think if they experiment on me enough, one day they can cure me of my… affliction.”

“What if they could?” asked Dash. “Would you want that?”

“I don’t think they can, Dash. There’s some things that just can’t be fixed. It would be like trying to shove an egg’s yolk back into its shell after the shell had been smashed the pieces. It’s just not possible.”

“So you’re just going to be like…this? Forever?”

“I guess,” Danny said, not meeting Dash’s eyes. “Do you see now why it would just be better if I left? There’s no place for me here anymore.”

“Yeah, but…” Dash hesitated.

“But what?”

Dash could feel his face growing warm as he said, “But…what if I don’t want you to go?”

Danny barked out a laugh. “Dash…” He shook his head. “Things have been…interesting the past week, but come on. We’ve hated each other for years. It was just a coincidence we were in the park at the same time. We can’t pretend this is anything more than what it is.”

“And what is it?”

“It’s…I don’t know. But this isn’t anything, not really.”

Fuck. For some reason, that hurt. Really hurt. “Okay,” was all Dash could think to say.

Danny frowned. “Did you…want there to be something between us?”

“No!” Dash immediately said, scowling. “Why would I want that?”

“I don’t know. It’s just that when I said that, you looked really sad.”

“Only because once you leave, I’ll have to find someone new to harass. Where’s the fun in that?” Dash folded his arms, trying to make it sound, both to himself and to Danny, as if this were true.

Danny had been slowly moving farther away, but now he drifted closer. “Why do you still look so sad then?” he murmured.

“I’m not,” Dash tried to say, but he said it so quietly he wasn’t sure if Danny even heard. He tried to reach out again, to put a hand on Danny’s shoulder, but it went straight through, giving Dash a cold, unsettling feeling. “Would you…just let me touch you one last time?” Dash asked, embarrassed to ask but knowing that if this was going to be the last time he ever saw Danny Fenton, he needed this, one last thing to hold onto.

Danny blinked, then said, “Okay.”

This time when Dash reached out, he was able to lay a hand on Danny’s shoulder, the solidity of him feeling comfortable, a relief. As though to stabilize himself more, Dash put his other hand on Danny’s opposite shoulder. “You’re real to me,” he said, unable to help himself from staring into Danny’s eyes. His hands slid up Danny’s shoulders and to his neck, Dash pressing his fingers into the soft skin of Danny’s neck, feeling the heartbeat that lay there, slow and nearly undetectable but still distinctly there. “You’re human to me.” He pulled Danny closer, intending on wrapping Danny in his arms, to fully feel Danny, but Danny tipped his head back to keep their gazes locked and, before he knew it, their lips were touching. It surprised him at first, but when Danny didn’t shove him away or make himself intangible again, Dash actually turned their touch into a kiss, sliding his arms around Danny’s small form.

Danny kissed him back, moving a hand up to lay against Dash’s cheek. After several long minutes, they broke apart.

“Can you stay?” Dash asked. “Not forever, but…one more night?”

“One last night,” Danny whispered.

Chapter Text

Dash slipped out of his room and into the bathroom, cleaning himself of the blood that caked his skin and putting on clean clothes. Since it was only late morning, they decided to sneak back out the window, to spend the day somewhere else besides Dash’s house, where his dad was awake and could catch them.

“Where should we go?” Danny asked as they walked down the street, back to his usual self.

“I don’t know, but not the Nasty Burger or the mall or anywhere else people could see us together,” Dash replied.

“Oh,” Danny said, staring down at the sidewalk. “Okay.”

“What?”

“Nothing, just…realizing that you don’t want to be seen with me.”

“Yeah, but, not like that,” Dash said. “If we only have one more day together, I’d rather not spend all our time having to explain to other people why we’re hanging out. Besides, what if your parents are out looking for you?”

“I guess,” Danny muttered.

Dash grabbed Danny’s shoulder, stopping him. “Danny, don’t get this wrong. I…like…you…” His face was blazing and it was hard for him to say the words, but he still wanted to make sure he got them right, to make sure things were clear to Danny. They felt weird, especially with how much things had changed lately, but it still felt like he needed to say them. He knew he and Danny didn’t have long together, and he didn’t want to hold back with something he knew probably wouldn’t even last the next twenty-four hours. Besides, that kiss, it unlocked something inside of him, something he felt he couldn’t deny anymore.

“I mean, I hope so, or else it would have been really weird that you kissed me,” Danny said, a hint of a smile on his lips.

Dash glanced up and down the street, making sure there were no pedestrians or cars coming before bending down and pressing a quick kiss to Danny’s lips. “Can we please just spend the day on our own?”

“Okay,” Danny said. “Can we still stop by the Nasty Burger though? I’m kind of hungry. We don’t have to stay, but it’d be nice to get something to eat.”

“Yeah, sure.”

It didn’t take them long to get to the Nasty Burger, Dash asking Danny to wait outside and out of sight once they got there. Then he went in, bell jingling over his head to announce his arrival, and went straight to the counter. He turned once he placed his order, casually glancing around the restaurant, and groaned when he noticed a familiar group sitting in the corner.

“Hey, Dash!” Paulina called, waving him over.

Dash swore to himself, glad that he had asked Danny to stay outside, then plastered a smile on his face before walking over to the table. “Hey, guys. What’s up?”

“We’re going to the mall to kill time before Jessica’s party. Maybe catch a movie. Want to come?” Kwan asked.

“Thanks, but I can’t. Too much homework to do.”

“Aw, come on, man. When have you ever cared about homework?” Kwan asked.

“Yeah, I know, but if I want to stay on the team, I have to keep my grades up. Next time, though.”

Paulina started to say something but was interrupted by the approach of the pimple-strewn cashier who had taken Dash’s order. “Here you go, sir. Two number fours. Is there anything else I can get you?” He held out a greasy brown paper bag.

“No, I’m good. Thanks,” Dash said, taking it. “Anyway, got to go. See you guys later.” He waved at them before heading outside, not missing the way Paulina stared after him.

He found Danny waiting at the very back of the Nasty Burger, behind the overflowing dumpster. “Got the food,” Dash said, holding up the bag and stepping around piles of half-rotten garbage. “Hope you like bacon cheeseburger because that’s what I ordered.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Danny said, stepping forward. “Hey, have you ever flown before?”

“All the time. I go visit my mom every summer, plus Christmas break, so at least four times a year.”

“Okay, but I mean, have you ever really flown?”

“What, like Superman?”

Danny nodded.

“Of course not. No one can do that.”

A smile spread across Danny’s face. “Living people can’t. But it’s a little bit different for people like me.” In a blink, he had changed back to the white haired, green eyed version of himself. As though to prove his point, he floated up, bringing his face inches from Dash’s, a wide grin on his lips. “So, what do you say?”

“I–I–um–” Dash wasn’t sure how to respond. “I don’t know. What if you drop me or something?”

“I’m not going to drop you,” Danny said. Then, not giving Dash another moment to think, Danny grabbed him around the waist and shot up into the sky.

Dash screamed. He couldn’t help it. Having the ground suddenly rocket away from him at a terrifying speed simply made his mind go blank and his baser instincts come out. And they came out loudly.

“Jez, I never thought I’d hear a guy like you scream so much,” Danny said when he finally stopped. “I think you might have given me tinnitus.” He removed one hand from around Dash’s waist to jokingly stick a finger in his ear, causing Dash to squeak and cling tightly to Danny.

“Fuck you, Fenton! What the hell did you do that for? You could have at least warned me!”

“Well, just think of it as payback for everything you’ve ever done to me,” Danny said.

“If I end up dropping our food, which I almost did at least three times already, it’s your fault!”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Danny. “You should really look, though.” He nodded down at the ground, which now seemed a million miles beneath them.

Dash didn’t want to, but it already felt like he had been acting like a baby with his screaming and holding tightly onto Danny, so he made himself turn his head and look somewhere other than Danny’s brilliant green eyes. He gasped at what he saw. The town stretched out below, with all the usual landmarks he knew, but beyond that was acres and acres of trees, colors blazing in their branches as the late autumn sunlight shone down on them. Through the trees, in the distance, Dash could see the silvery sparkle of a river, winding in and out of the gently sloping hills.

“Wow,” he breathed. “It’s…beautiful.” He had flown countless times in a plane before, staring absentmindedly out the window as it took off and landed, but this was different. Instead of craning his neck to look past some stranger out the smallest window known to man, now he could take in every little detail for miles. But more than that, he could feel it, the way the wind blew past them and how Danny’s arms felt around him. Like this, it was almost like he was connected on a spiritual level to the greater world in a way that he couldn’t describe or had ever really felt before.

“Yeah, it is,” Danny said softly, his breath warm against Dash’s cheek. “Up here, it’s almost like any problems I have don’t really matter. They just feel so insignificant. It’s even better at night, when all the stars are out and all the lights in the town are on. Sometimes, I forget which is the sky and which is the ground.”

“That sounds incredible. Maybe you could show me sometime.”

“Maybe,” Danny muttered, and Dash could tell by the sad look on his face that he was thinking about how there wouldn’t be a next time.

“But I like this time, too,” Dash said, not wanting Danny to have to think about what was coming in the near future. “I don’t think I could ever forget this.” Their bodies were already pressed together, their arms wrapped around each other, so Dash only had to lean his head forward a few inches to kiss Danny. It felt electric, a thrill running through him at the brush of their lips, the sensation of Danny’s tongue against his. His heart pounded in his chest as his mind was overwhelmed with being overly aware of every place their bodies touched, of his mind screaming at him that he loved this, he loved kissing Danny Fenton. It was terrifying and exciting and he wanted so much more and for all of it to stop, for time to freeze in place so this moment would never end.

But, like all things do, it did.

“Do you want to find somewhere for us to eat our food?” Danny asked. “It's probably starting to get cold.”

“Sure.”

Danny set them down in a field outside of town, trees stretching up to the sky around them. Dash stared up at it for a long moment, needing time to process how they had gone from being able to see for miles to barely being able to see for more than a handful of yards. The sky that had been so vast now only included the small circle of blue directly above them.

“Dash? You okay?”

“Huh?” Dash glanced down at Danny. “Yeah, fine. It’s just…a lot.”

“What part?”

“All of it? I guess?” He stared at Danny, looking him up and down, taking in his new form.

Danny swallowed. “Is it…too much?”

“No, no. It’s just that a lot of things are happening all at once, and so much of it just feels like a dream. Like, I never would have thought I’d ever be flying over Amity with the guy who I used to beat the snot out of. And, also…you know.”

“Yeah,” said Danny, turning around and flopping onto the ground, a hand in his hair. “I know.”

“You okay?” Dash said, sitting next to him and pulling out a burger. He passed it to Danny, but despite him saying he was hungry earlier, Danny just held it, fiddling with the wrapper.

“I don’t know,” Danny said. “It’s…in a thousand different ways, I wish my parents had never found out. Things would be so much easier if they didn’t know. They wouldn’t be hunting me, they would still just be…my parents. But also, I’m kind of glad that they did, because that’s how we got here.” He gave Dash a small smile before it quickly faded. “But it’s all going to be over soon, so it feels like…is it worth it? Am I fine with having to leave my family and my friends and my home behind if I at least got one good thing out of it?”

Dash stared at Danny. “I don’t know. Is it?”

“It…I…” Tears welled in Danny’s eyes. Dash saw him bite his lip, trying to keep them back, but it wasn’t long before they were spilling down his cheeks. “No,” he sobbed, dropping his burger and burying his head in his arms. “I–I like you, but this isn’t enough. Less than a week of sleeping in the same bed isn’t worth losing everyone I’ve ever cared about. I don’t want this. I want to go home. I want to sit at the table with my annoying sister while my dad makes bad jokes and my mom serves us lasagna. I want to play games with Tucker at Sam’s house. I even want to go back to sitting in Lancer’s shitty English class. I don’t want to leave, I just want to be a normal fucking kid again.” He said something else, but at this point he was crying too hard for his words to mean anything.

Shoving his own burger back into the bag, Dash wrapped his arms around Danny. He immediately clung to Dash, burying his face in Dash’s chest, his tears quickly soaking through Dash’s shirt. Dash wasn’t sure what else to do, so he just sat there, rubbing Danny’s back, doing his best not to say, ‘It’ll be okay’ because he knew it wouldn’t be. There was nothing about this situation that was okay.

Finally, after a long time, Danny pulled back, sniffing and wiping at his tear streaked face. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I didn’t mean to cry all over you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dash said, picking up and unwrapping Danny’s dropped burger. “Now eat. When’s the last time you did?”

Danny shrugged and took it, making a face when he bit into it. “I forgot how bad these are cold. The grease solidifies and then…” He stuck out his tongue.

“What, you’re telling me you don’t have laser eyes on top of being able to fly and go through walls and stuff?”

With a snort, Danny said, “No, but I guess that would be cool if I did.”

They talked for the rest of the afternoon, slowly eating their barely-tolerable burgers and fries, until the sun started to set and the air grew chilly. Then, Danny flew them back to Dash’s house.

Dash was trying to help Danny through the window when there was the sound of pounding footsteps then his bedroom door burst open, hitting the opposite wall so hard that the handle got stuck in the drywall. In two strides, Dash’s dad had crossed the room, grabbing Dash and shoving him hard against the wall. Dash glanced toward the window but Danny was already gone.

“Where the fuck have you been?!” his dad screamed, alcohol sour on his breath. “I just beat your ass this morning for thinking you can do whatever the fuck you want and you think means you can do it again? How fucking stupid are you?” Dash tried to push back against him but his dads hands were already at this throat. “Who the fuck do you think you are? Huh? Huh?”

Desperately, Dash tried to pull his dad’s hands away, but they were tight and getting tighter. All he could see was the yellow of his dad’s teeth as he ground them together, squeezing harder. But then, almost all at once, his face slacked and his hands dropped, almost as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing was wrong. Dash could do nothing but stand there, shaking slightly, breathing hard.

Stepping back, his dad said, “In the morning, I want you gone. I’m done with providing for an ungrateful son of a bitch. Go live with your mom or something. I’m sick of this shit.” Turning, he stomped out of the room, having to wrench the door from the wall to get it to slam behind him.

Dash stumbled to the bed on trembling legs, sitting heavily on the end. He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself.

“Dash? You okay?”

Dash jumped as Danny appeared on the bed next to him. “Fuck!” he swore softly, terrified of his dad hearing them and coming back in. “Where did you come from?”

“I think I forgot to tell you that I can turn invisible.”

He couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t funny, but it was. “So…you just saw all that, then?”

“...yeah. I almost ended up stepping in, but he stopped before I could.”

Dash couldn’t help but breath out another laugh. This entire time, he had been thinking that he was protecting Danny, but now, Danny had been about to protect him.

They were quiet for a long time before Danny asked, “Does he do stuff like that a lot?”

“Not really,” Dash said. “As long as I leave him alone, he’s usually fine. Like I used to try to wake him up if he fell asleep on the couch, but he would hit me for that, so I stopped. I usually just spend all my time in my room to avoid him.”

“So does this mean you're going to go live with your mom now?”

Dash shook his head. “He’s told me to leave a couple times before, but he never actually means it. He probably won’t really remember that he said that in the morning.”

“But, still…if he treats you like this, maybe you should.”

“I can’t. My mom, um…” Dash took a shaky breath. He had never told anyone about this before. “She’s actually a paraplegic. She fell off a mountain while climbing a few years ago. She lives in a nursing home now, one specifically for younger people. They have a guest suite for visiting families, but I’m only allowed to stay there for a week every few months. So I don’t actually have anywhere to go.”

“Shit…,” Danny whispered. “Dash, I’m so sorry.”

With a shrug, Dash said, “Why? I’m not like you pushed her off that mountain.”

“Yeah, but still. That fucking sucks. I wish I could–”

“Can we stop talking about this?” Dash snapped. “I kind of just want to go to bed. It’s been a long day.” He rubbed his face, still feeling the ghost of his dad’s fingers around his throat.

“Of course.”

Dash stood, then noticed his sheets were still caked in blood from that morning. With a sigh, he stripped the bed, throwing them in the corner with all his other clothes, but he didn’t have another set to replace them with, so he just threw his comforter on top of the mattress and laid down. With tired eyes, Dash looked up at where Danny stood, then silently held his arms out, inviting Danny to lay down with him. Danny kicked off his shoes before curling up with Dash, Dash holding on tight to him. Having Danny there felt good, like an anchor, something to hold onto, to keep him in one place instead of floating off into oblivion. But, this was also it. This would be the last time. After this, he would be going through all of this alone. But did it really matter? He hadn’t had anyone before, only the last few days. He had done it before, he could do it again.

But until then, this felt good. It felt right. It felt like, as long as Danny was here beside him, none of that stuff that happened with his dad, or the horrible thing that happened to his mom, really mattered.

Danny was to Dash what flying was to Danny. As long as he had that, none of his other problems really mattered.

Burying his face into Danny’s hair, Dash let the smell of Danny and the solid feeling of him in his arms lull him to sleep.

Chapter Text

Dash was woken by the sound of adults arguing outside his bedroom door the next morning, his dad’s voice mixing with those of adults that Dash had felt like he had heard before but couldn’t fully place. His brain was still half asleep when his door flew open a moment later, causing him to shoot into a seated position, almost throwing Danny, who had been sleeping half draped across him, to the floor.

“I told you, my son doesn’t know where your stupid kid–,” Dash’s dad was saying as he followed two jumpsuit-clad adults into Dash’s room, but stopped when he saw the boy in Dash’s bed. He stared at Dash and Danny for a moment, slack jawed, before his face morphed into anger and disgust.

Dash felt a mixture of fear, embarrassment, and guilt. Fear of what his dad, who had spent a good portion of his life telling Dash how much he hated faggots and their afront on the American way of life, would do to him now that he had found a boy in his son’s bed. He also couldn’t help but feel starkly aware of the fact that he was sitting in his bed in just his pajama pants, having taken his shirt off and tossed it in the corner when he got hot in the night, knowing this would give the adults the wrong idea about the nature of his and Danny’s relationship. But more than anything, he felt like a failure. He was supposed to be protecting Danny, hiding him from his parents who were going to take him apart molecule by molecule, and now here they were, standing in the middle of his bedroom. What was he supposed to do now?

“Oh, Danny!” his mother cried, throwing herself forward and wrapping her arms around him, almost smacking Dash in the process. “Thank goodness! We were so worried about you!”

“Mom?” Danny cried, clearly just as surprised to see his parents standing in the middle of Dash’s bedroom as Dash was. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

“Well, of course we’ve been out looking for you, sweetie,” she said.

“A nice girl told us who she saw you with when we stopped at the Nasty Burger yesterday so I could use the john,” Danny’s dad said. “What was her name? Patty? Prissy? Patricia?”

“Paulina, honey,” Danny’s mom replied. “Once we knew who you were staying with, all we had to do was get their address from the school. Although, it took us a little while to convince them to give it to us.”

“Yes! In fact, we had to break–”

“Jack!” Danny’s mom snapped. Putting her hands on Danny’s shoulders, she smiled down at him and said, “Danny, I know that we had a fight, and I’m very sorry about that. Now that it’s been a few days, I hope that you’re ready to come home now. Although, I suppose if we had known you were staying with your boyfriend–”

“Mom!”

“Are you being safe? Are you using protection?”

“Mom!” Danny yelled, clearly horrified. “He’s not–I mean, we’re not–” He took a deep breath, then said, “Dash isn't my boyfriend, he’s just some guy who let me stay with him. And I’m not going back home with you.”

His mom frowned. “Why not, sweetie?”

“All that stuff you guys were talking about before…I don’t want that.”

She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Why don’t you come home and we can all talk about it?”

“I don’t know…”

“Well, you don’t really have a choice!” Jack said cheerfully, stepping up to the bed. “Your mother already put the good ol’ Fenton Spector Deflector on you and she’s the only one with the key!”

“Huh?” Looking down Danny and Dash noticed a silver belt around Danny’s waist that hadn’t been there before.

“Alright, time to go, sport,” Jack said, picking Danny up and throwing him over a shoulder. “Say goodbye to your boyfriend.”

“He’s not–put me down!” Danny yelled. Instead, Jack just carried Danny out of the room, ducking to make sure Danny didn’t catch his head on the doorframe.

“Hey, wait a minute–,” Dash said, standing.

“Dash, right?” Danny’s mom said. “Thank you so much for taking care of my son for the past few days. I’m very grateful that he was in such good hands.”

She looked so sincere that Dash couldn't help but say, “...you’re welcome?”

“We’re going to spend the next few days taking time as a family. I’m sure Danny will call you after that, and then we can have you over for a nice dinner and actually get to know each other properly. Plus we’re going to have a proper talk about different types of protection so that I can be certain you’re being safe.”

Dash couldn’t help but cringe at the way he could feel his dad’s glare drilling into him. “Uh, M-Mrs. Fenton…” He paused before asking, “Are you sure Danny is going to be okay?”

“Of course he will,” Mrs. Fenton replied. “Danny’s father and I love him very much. Whatever we decide upon will be for his best interest.”

Dash wasn’t sure he liked the way that sounded but there wasn’t anything he could actually do about it. They were Danny’s parents, after all.

“I can tell you care about him very much,” Mrs. Fenton said, causing Dash’s face to go pink. “That’s sweet, that’s all I would ever want for Danny. Somebody to love him. As long as you have someone who truly cares about you, that’s all that matters in life.” That made Dash’s face go fully red.

He couldn’t look Danny’s mom in the eye as he muttered, “Danny and I aren’t dating.”

Mrs. Fenton waved her hand. “Whatever you kids are calling it these days. As long as you’re there for and care about each other is all I’m saying. Anyway, thanks again, but we should be headed home. I’ll see you at that dinner in a week or so.” Twiddling her fingers at him, Danny’s mom left, pausing long enough to thank Dash’s dad for letting them into his home before fully leaving.

Dash heard the sound of the front door closing behind her. He couldn’t bring himself to look at his dad, terrified of what he would find there.

“Dash.”

“Yeah?” he said, voice barely able to squeak out the single syllable.

In two strides, his dad was across the room, grabbing him and shoving him up against the wall, pressing his forearm hard against Dash’s throat. “You think I run a fucking hotel or something? That you can have your faggot boyfriend stay over whenever the fuck you want?”

“N-no–,” Dash choked.

“Then why the fuck did I just walk in here to find you half naked with some boy in your bed, huh?” He pressed his arm harder into Dash’s windpipe, making it so he could only take small, whistling breaths of air, his face starting to turn colors with the lack of air. “Fucking disgusting. Do you know how much you embarrassed me in front of those people just now? Do you?”

Dash was struggling to push back against his dad now, to suck in any little bits of air.

“You are never seeing that boy again,” his dad growled. “I’m not going to have some–some butt munching fag for a son.”

Dash stopped trying to push back against his dad’s arm. Instead, he shoved back against his dad as hard as he could, the adrenaline pulsing through his veins making up for the lack of oxygen that was starting to make his head light. His dad stumbled back and air flooded into Dash’s lungs, cool and clean. He was ready to push his way past his dad, to get out of the house, but his dad was still stumbling back, tripping over the innumerable clothes that littered the floor. Finally, his knees gave out and he came down hard, his head cracking on the side of the bureau. He fell to the floor, then lay still.

Dash stood, staring down at his dad, open mouthed as a puddle of blood slowly started to form around his dad’s head. He was frozen, having no idea what to do. Part of him wanted to check on his dad but was nervous that his dad might try to hurt him again if he got too close. Another part wanted just to run, to get out of there and as far away from the situation as possible. A third part desperately wished that this was all a dream and that soon he was going to wake up back in bed, his arms around Danny again.

Finally, after what felt like a solid year, his feet became unstuck. He walked past his dad, carefully side stepping the growing pool of blood and went outside, hurrying down the street. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed 911, telling the operator that his dad had fallen and hit his head, hanging up as soon as the woman had their address. Then, he continued to speed walk down the sidewalk, heading for the opposite side of town.

~ ~ ~

“What the hell are you doing here?” Sam said when she found Dash standing on her doorstep again. “And where’s Danny?”

“They took him,” Dash said, pushing past her and into the house.

Sam rolled her eyes but closed the door. “What are you talking about?”

“Danny’s parents. They–they showed up at my house this morning and took Danny away.”

Sam’s eyes widened. “What? I thought he was supposed to be safe at your place!”

“He was, at least until Paulina narced on him.”

“Ugh, Paulina…,” Sam scoffed. “Well, I’m sure Danny will be fine. He’s…special, I’m sure he’ll figure a way out.”

“I don’t know,” Dash said. “His parents put this weird, silver belt on him before they took him home. His dad called it a Spooky-Dookie belt or something.”

“Do you mean the Specter Deflector?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Sam groaned. “Shit, this is worse than I thought.” Pulling out her phone, she dialed before pressing it to her ear. “Tucker? Yeah, you need to get your ass over here now. I don’t care that it’s Sunday and you’re supposed to play Scrabble with your parents. Danny needs our help, so get over here now.” Hanging up, Sam said, “Okay, you can head home. Tucker and I will take care of this.”

“I want to help.”

“You’ll only get in the way. Believe me, it would be better if you just left.”

“No. I said I want to help, I’m going to help.”

“Dash–,” Sam sighed.

“Look, I know that you don’t like me and you think I’m bad for Danny and you’re just being protective or whatever. But we are friends I guess now, as weird as it is. And as his friend, shouldn’t you be happy about that? Unless you want me to keep being a jerk to him?”

“Of course I don’t, but I also don’t believe that you and Danny are magically besties after years of fighting with each other. To me, it seems much more likely that you’re just setting him up so you can rip the rug out from under him, because that’s much more your style.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” Dash said, but it came out weak.

“Oh yeah? Then how did Danny’s parents find him when no one was supposed to know who he was staying with? Who told Paulina, hm?” Sam raised an accusatory eyebrow.

“I didn’t tell her,” Dash snapped. “ She must have just seen us together yesterday.”

“Yeah. Right,” said Sam. The doorbell rang and she opened it, letting Tucker inside, who made a surprised face to find Dash standing in Sam’s living room. “Well, like I said, Tuck and I have got this, so you can go now.” She continued to stand with the door open.

“No,” Dash said firmly. “I’m going to help Danny.” He glanced at Tucker, then took a breath and said, “If you don’t want me to help because you’re worried about me finding out Danny’s a ghost, don’t worry. He already told me.”

“WHAT?!” Sam yelled, slamming the door. “What do you mean he told you?!”

“Exactly what I said.”

“I’m gunna kill him,” said Sam. “We’re going to rescue him from his parents and then I’m going to kill him.” She started pacing the room, clenching and unclenching her fists, her combat boots making loud, heavy thumping across the carpet.

“Woah, everybody slow down,” Tucker said, holding up his hands. “What’s going on? You said Danny’s parents found him and took him home?”

Sam nodded.

“And you know that Danny can go ghost?” he asked, pointing at Dash, who nodded. “Okay. Dash knows Danny’s biggest secret. Great. Well…Danny probably knew what he was doing.”

“You sure about that?” Sam deadpanned.

“It is Danny’s secret, he’s the one who gets to decide who knows and not. Maybe we should just have faith in him.”

“He isn’t Jesus, Tucker!”

“Yeah, but at least we have one more person to try to help bust Danny out. Who knows? Maybe Dash will actually be useful.”

Dash didn’t like that Sam and Tucker kept trying to insinuate that he, a two hundred pound Quarterback who lifted weights daily, wouldn’t be helpful in any way, while they, two scrawny nerds who looked like they could barely pick up more than a single book, were perfectly capable of rescuing Danny from his mad-scientist parents who had who-knew-what at their disposal. Previously, he would have stuffed both of them in the nearest trash can for saying such things, but now he just reminded himself of the goal of saving Danny, which he would need these two for. Interrupting their arguing, Dash asked, “So, what was that…specter belt thing that you mentioned before?”

“Oh, you mean the Specter Deflector?” Tucker said. “It’s a belt Danny’s parents invented that repels ghosts.”

“Okay. But what happens if he wears it, though?”

“Danny’s wearing the belt? Shit, that’s bad. It kind of cancels out his ghost powers, so he won’t be able to phase through anything and leave his house. Or use his other powers.”

“So what do we do about it?”

Sam and Tucker exchanged a glance.

“I’m not sure,” Tucker said. “But we better figure out something soon. Knowing his parents, they won’t be able to resist running a few tests on him as soon as possible.”