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darthfrodophantom · 1 month

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Micro-Unmasking - Chapter 2

Well, I wasn't sure I was going to continue my one-shot from 2022, but I was inspired by a prompt to give it a go! So now you'll be getting a chapter 2 and a chapter 3!

Summary: Great timing prevented Danny’s secret from being revealed to Dash during their shared experience with the Fenton Crammer. But what would happen if his timing had been just a little off and Dash saw more than Danny wanted?

Phic Phight Prompts: Thanks to seeing how various injuries are treated as a member of the football team, Dash actually has a decent background in first aid and anatomy. He gets adopted into Team Phantom when circumstances keep leading him to be the one patching up Phantom after fights - for Ikiracake

Write one of YOUR ideas that you haven't written for whatever reason. Have you been too intimidated to write it? Are you afraid people won't like it? This Phic Phight season, none of that matters. Whatever it is, put your feelings aside and give it a try, even if it's just one scene! - for @astatia-ghast

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38159509/chapters/140482114#workskin

Chapter 1 on AO3, Chapter 1 on tumblr

Chapter 2: Vexing Texting

The insistent buzz of his phone woke him up before his alarm. Danny groggily reached for the phone and managed to actually grab it after a couple failed attempts. No one ever texted him before his alarm, so it had to be important. With bleary eyes he attempted to read the new message on his phone.

“Do you have to sleep?”

Danny groaned and threw his phone onto the mattress. It bounced off the padding and onto the floor. Danny groaned again in misery as he threw his arm over his eyes. He would regret that action later when the alarm went off and he’d have to actually get up to find his phone, but in that moment the urge to throw it in frustration felt too satisfying to deny.

Thirty minutes later, Danny stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom brushing his teeth. The mad scramble for his phone that somehow bounced under his bed left him cranky and even more tired and he felt a wash of pity for the exhausted face that stared at him in the mirror. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he reached for it instinctively to check the alert. He expected to see some morning alert for a new daily post from social media, maybe the long-expected update from Doomed teasing their newest expansion.

“Why the rings of light?”

Danny groaned so hard he sprayed flecks of toothpaste onto the mirror. He rolled his eyes and dropped his shoulders in defeat. He looked at the sleeve of his pajamas, shrugged, and leaned over to wipe up the toothpaste with his shirt sleeve. Better a dirty shirt sleeve than a lecture from his sister.

He spat out his toothpaste and typed a terse, quick response before angrily thrusting his phone into his pocket. He’d already suffered through two whole days of this; he didn’t know how much more he could handle.

Danny jerked awake as his phone rattled and vibrated aggressively on the laminate table. His face had been inches from his cereal bowl and he almost got a bowl full of cereal to the face. Jazz snickered into her coffee mug from her seat across the table.

“How long have you been sitting there?” He really couldn’t remember if she’d been sitting there when he came down or not.

“Long enough to watch you fall asleep at the table.”

“And you were just going to what? Keep watching as I face-planted into a bowl of cereal?” he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“I figured you’d wake yourself up before it got to that point,” she chuckled as she stood up to place her empty coffee mug in the sink. “You have five minutes.”

Danny rolled his eyes and picked up the spoon that fell out of his hand when he jerked awake. He shoveled cereal in his face, which really was the only way he ate cereal anymore. He remembered his phone vibrated and he knew with a sinking moment what he would find even before he turned the phone over.

“Does music sound different as a ghost?”

He dropped his spoon into his bowl and slumped against the chair with a beleaguered sigh. Yes, the text had saved him from getting a milk facial. And this time it was actually an interesting question. But he still couldn’t believe he was still having to put up with this.

“You know you can just block him,” Jazz mentioned as she grabbed his cereal bowl and rinsed out the remaining milk in the sink.

“And you know why I can’t,” Danny retorted as he typed out a short but satisfying answer. He’d become quite the expert at answering the question in as few words as possible. Really it was a shame, because this question did actually make him think, but he refused to give him the reward of a lengthy answer.

Danny grabbed his books from the locker. He actually smiled in pride that he could actually keep his locker in some semblance of organization now that he didn’t have to constantly ensure there was room inside his locker for his entire body. Getting a third day in a row without being shoved into his locker really was a sweet benefit from this whole situation. Too bad it came with so much mental anguish.

The feeling of his phone vibrating in his pocket wiped that proud smile off his face. He took one look at the phone and threw himself back against the locker as he looked towards the ceiling in the hope that the cosmos above could answer his unspoken questions. Why? Why him? Hadn’t he suffered enough through this whole ordeal? Why couldn’t he just stop?

“Dude, did he text you again?” Tucker asked.

Danny simply held his phone up to show his best friends the new message from Dash. “Why do you wear that jumpsuit?” he read aloud in case his friends couldn’t quite make out the words on the screen.

Tucker just shook his head. “That kid is insane. Obsessed. Nutso.”

“This is the fourth one this morning,” Danny moaned. “That weirdo even texted me before my alarm went off! Who even gets up that early? Crazy people, that’s who.”

Tucker sighed as he patted his friend’s shoulder in sympathy. “Man, I’m sorry.”

Upon finding no salvation or answers on the ceiling, Danny turned his attention toward the phone and typed out a response. “There, I told him I died in it. Let’s see if that shocks him into silence for a bit.”

Tucker stifled a laugh into his sleeve. “Have you told him any half-dead jokes yet?”

“Not yet, so I don’t think he’ll be expecting it.” His sister didn’t understand them, and sometimes Sam didn’t either, but it’s how he and Tucker coped. Sometimes it just felt easier to deal with the trauma of it all with laughter. And if he couldn’t joke about his death-that-didn’t-take, then the seriousness of the event gained a lot more power in Danny’s mind and he couldn’t quite handle that. Maybe when he was older he could find the emotional and mental maturity to seriously reflect on the consequences and meaning behind almost dying in the portal, but even a year out it still felt too close and too soon to the event.

“Why are you still even answering his texts?” Sam finally spoke up, and the sharpness in her voice reminded Danny that she hadn’t talked since he brought up the texts. He could almost feel the irritation simmering around her and he really hoped he’d be able to avoid it. “Why don’t you just stop?”

Danny sighed. Everyone seemed to think it would just be that easy to tune him out, but Danny knew better. He knew Dash better than most people gave him credit for. “Because right now it’s new and it’s all he’s thinking about. Dash doesn’t stay focused on something for long, so if I wait it out then it’ll be old news and he’ll move on.” Danny waved a hand to emphasize his point. “But if I ignore his texts, he’s only gonna focus on this even more. And then he’ll want to talk to me. Trust me, texting him is better than having him come over to talk to me.”

“So now you’re going to be all buddy-buddy with the bully who made your life hell?” Sam challenged as she placed her hands defiantly on her hips.

“The single sentence texts I send back are far from being ‘buddy-buddy,’” Danny retorted.

“You text him more than you text us!” Sam barbed.

He had the decency to look properly ashamed at that call out and he slumped against the locker. “I know. I know, and I’m sorry. But what else am I supposed to do?”

Both Sam and Tucker fell silent as they also seemed at a loss for a better handle on the situation. “I don’t know man,” Tucker finally said. “I’d probably do the same thing you’re doing.”

“I just don’t like that you feel like you have to do something you don’t want to do,” Sam sighed.

“Yeah, well when have I had any say about what I want to do since the accident?” Danny pointed out. If he had his say, he wouldn’t have to hide from his parents all the time or get injured night after night or skip class or get bad grades. He could actually get a good night’s sleep, study to be an astronaut, and maybe consider leaving Amity for school or a job in the future. What he wanted to do no longer held any meaning in his life ever since that first ghost stepped out of the portal.

The group fell silent again as the weight of that statement crashed around them. It hung heavy in the air. Sam and Tucker tried to share his burden as much as they could, and he appreciated that, but sometimes they forgot or couldn’t really understand the full impact of what being a ghostly superhero meant for the rest of his life. Danny, unfortunately, was far too aware of the consequences of that decision.

“Well now we all get to do something we don’t want to do and go to class,” Tucker pointed out as he pasted on a cheery smile. “Do we ever get to do anything we want to do as teenagers?” He elbowed Danny gently in the side, and that jab pulled Danny out of his thoughts. Trust Tucker to find some way to pull them out of the seriousness of the moment by normalizing his struggles. That heavy fog seemed to fade away in the wake of Tucker’s infectious smile, and Danny couldn’t help but smile back.

“My parents didn’t buy the cereal I want again,” Danny complained.

“See! This is exactly what I’m talking about! No control, no choices, just a bunch of adults constantly telling us we can’t have what we want. Where’s the justice in that?” Tucker complained.

“Don’t even get me started on the dress my mom’s making me wear now to the synagogue,” Sam added. Whether she’d actually dropped the subject in her mind or not, that remained to be seen. Sam had a tendency to hold on to serious topics and ruminate on them over time. Danny could almost see those thoughts behind her deep purple eyes, but she also knew when to let it go and join in on Tucker’s attempts to lighten the mood.

They all complained about the normal, mundane things they had no control over in their lives until they made it to their first class. Danny almost forgot how they got on this subject until he saw Dash in the classroom. Dash quickly avoided his gaze and looked almost…sheepish? Talking about his death really did stun him into silence, or at least made him realize how personal these questions could be. He’d remember that for later.

~*~

Danny stuffed his newest homework assignment into his locker. He’d love to say he’d have the time to complete that, but he knew better than to hope.

“Hey Fenton!” Dash called in his usual, threatening tone. Danny barely had enough time to spin around before Dash loomed over him. He planted one hand on the locker beside Danny’s head while his large body dwarfed Danny. He peeked around Dash and noticed the rest of the A-listers gave them a fair bit of distance as they chuckled to each other.

“Dash, what are you doing?” Danny asked with a groan when he realized they were out of earshot.

“Just wanted to say hi,” Dash said. His friendly tone contrasted sharply with his threatening pose.

“You were saying about how the texts would stop him from talking to you?” Sam pointed out from the side as she crossed her arms over her chest. Danny did not miss her triumphant smirk at being proved right.

Danny shook his head. “Dash, we talked about this.”

“No see, it’s cool,” Dash explained. “See my threatening pose? People are gonna think I’m doing my usual Fenton bashing. You wanted me to keep up appearances.”

“No, I wanted you to tell everyone that you had a change of heart after being fitness buddies and then we’d just ignore each other,” Danny reminded him.

“Well yeah, I know,” Dash said quietly, almost like he was hurt that Danny wanted to ignore him. “But then they all pointed out that I got a lower grade on the fitness exam because of you.”

Danny gritted his teeth. “I already explained why I had to do that. And I got us a passing grade.” He knew Dash was dense, but he’d already walked through this with him! Did he seriously not remember it? Or had he spent too much brain power texting him inane questions than to actually remember the plan?

“No no, I don’t care about that,” he dismissed. “I remember the plan. But everyone asked me if I was mad about it and if I was gonna do something about it. I couldn’t really think of a good excuse. So if anyone asks, I’m yelling at you for the grade.”

Danny immediately felt a pang of guilt over his harsh thoughts. Dash had been paying attention. He had been working hard to keep the secret, like he promised. He didn’t really know what to expect from the jock after threatening him on the rooftop, but so far Dash had kept up his end of the deal. When he made the ultimatum, he didn’t really think how hard it would be for Dash to keep the secret while changing his ways at the same time. This was his attempt to divert suspicion, and Danny was giving him a hard time for it. He had to remember to be better and a little more gracious going forward. Dash didn’t have to do this; he could blab the secret and only good things would happen to him. He had to be more appreciative of his attempts to keep this under wraps.

“I’ll make sure I complain about that later, just to keep up the act,” Danny promised, committing to his part to contribute to the charade.

Dash nodded. “But look, while I’m here–”

Danny withheld a groan because here it came: more questions. More requests to engage. More talking about himself and his ghost powers than he felt like discussing with his school bully.

“--I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

That caught him by surprise, and Danny regarded him with a quizzical eye. “You do? For what? You have to be more specific given our record.”

Dash grimaced. “Well yeah. I mean obviously I’m sorry for all of that. But no, I’m sorry about the jumpsuit question. I didn’t mean to make you talk about the fact that you…you know…” He hunched over slightly like he was discussing a secret and mouthed the word ‘died.’

Danny looked taken aback and tilted his head slightly. “You’re sorry that you made me think about my death?” he repeated. He had to have heard Dash’s question wrong.

Dash winced like the word ‘death’ caused him physical harm. Danny felt another flash of guilt. Okay, maybe it was too soon for half-dead jokes with Dash too. “Dash, it’s fine,” he sighed. “I’m reminded of how I died constantly. You bringing it up doesn’t change that.”

Dash’s face creased in sympathy, and Danny felt discomfort squirm in his gut that he could earn a look of sympathy from Dash of all people. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but the sound of his friends behind him caught his attention. “Oh, right. Uh, I should probably go. Right.”

Without much warning Dash slammed his hand into the locker next to Danny’s head. The entire bank of lockers vibrated from the force of his fist. Danny jumped as the action took him completely by surprise. The moment had been so strangely heavy that he forgot they were supposed to be putting on an act.

Dash walked back towards his friends with a swagger. They laughed once he rejoined them, and Danny could vaguely hear him boast. “Well, he won’t be getting me a C on an assignment any time soon!”

The three members of Team Phantom stood in silence as they watched Dash and the others saunter down the hall while their laughter echoed after them.

“That…was a very weird conversation,” Sam finally said. She kept her gaze down the long corridor at the A-listers’ retreating backs even when they were long out of view.

“Yeah, it was almost…normal,” Tucker added. “We don’t have normal conversations with the popular crowd. And we definitely don’t have normal conversations with Dash.”

Danny shrugged. “That’s how he was on the roof. Like a completely different person.”

“He didn’t insult you once,” Sam pointed out, as if that explained why the conversation felt so strange and off to the group. And maybe that was part of it, but there was something else that seemed off that Danny couldn’t quite place his finger on.

Every time he talked to him, he seemed to learn more about the boy who’d bullied him for as long as he could remember. Seeing Dash care about his mental wellbeing? He didn’t quite know how to deal with that. For years, he only seemed to care about how he could add to Danny’s mental turmoil, but now he seemed so protective of it. It felt weird, seeing this different side of him. He always wondered how Dash could have so many friends and how people could actually want to hang out with him. Did they maybe see this other, more caring side of him too? Why did he all of a sudden get to see this side?

An irrational anger flared up inside of him. Why hadn’t he been able to see this side of Dash from the beginning? The side that actually seemed to care about how people felt or how they were doing with emotionally taxing information? Why wasn’t he able to see the side of Dash where he came up after a hard day and asked how he was doing? Instead he only saw the side that pushed him further into the dirt and then laughed at his misery. What had he done to deserve that part of Dash’s behavior? And why did revealing himself to be Phantom suddenly make that all go away?

The obvious answer was that he wanted to share the limelight with Phantom. Dash never made his adoration of Phantom a secret, and if he could get Danny on his good side then maybe he could be Phantom’s best friend. Surely he knew that wasn’t going to happen, right? He had been very clear about that on the rooftop. So then what caused the change in his behavior? Why did he suddenly seem to care so much about how Danny felt? It left him feeling unsettled and it stuck with him as he gathered his books and headed for their next class.

~*~

Danny startled in his chair as a puff of cold air escaped his lips. He hadn’t been sleeping, but he had been lost in his own thoughts to the point where he had barely heard anything the teacher talked about. And now he definitely wouldn’t get the chance to catch up on the day’s material. He turned towards Tucker and Sam who recognized that look and they nodded towards him.

Tucker surreptitiously held up four fingers. Danny made a face and shook his head no. What was he thinking suggesting plan four? That only worked in English!

Tucker furrowed his brow, but moved on and held up six fingers instead. Danny thought about it for a moment and then eagerly nodded his head. Tucker turned slightly in his chair so Sam could see the six fingers. She rolled her eyes and shook her head but mouthed the word ‘fine.’

Sam situated herself in her chair and raised her hand. “Ms. Murphy, I’m not…” She trailed off as her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell out of her desk. The whole class stood up to see what happened, Tucker and Danny included.

“Oh my gosh Ms. Manson!” their teacher squeaked as she ran over clearly in a panic. “Someone get the nurse!”

“We’ve got her,” Tucker offered as he and Danny lifted her up and supported her weight between the two of them. “We can take her to the nurse.”

“Well go then!” Ms. Murphy berated them. They quickly made their way out of the room with Sam. As soon as they cleared the door they rushed off down the hall into the janitor’s closet.

“Plan six? Really?” Sam snapped. “We had to go with plan six?”

“We’d never used it on her!” Tucker defended. “And hey, it worked didn’t it!”

“And my hip is going to be feeling that fall for a week!” Sam complained as she rubbed her hip bone with a wince.

Danny triggered the transformation into his ghost form. “Next time we’ll do plan seven then,” he promised. Tucker winced, but really it was only fair to make him take the fall next. “Now are you guys coming or staying?”

“We’re definitely coming,” Sam spoke up.

He figured as much when they sacrificed so much to get out of class too. They grabbed onto him as he turned them all intangible and flew them out of the school towards the source of the ghost attack.

He didn’t have to fly far; his ghost sense led him towards the street just outside the school. The giant ghost of a bear loped down the street as it aggressively chased after cars.

“Well that’s a new one,” Danny remarked as he set them down on the sidewalk.

“I didn’t know bears hated cars so much,” Tucker commented.

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Tucker, it probably got killed by a car.”

Tucker winced when he realized the sense in her macabre statement.

“Well, this just took a turn for the depressing,” Danny sighed. “Much as I’d like to let it get revenge on the thing that killed it, we can’t just have ghosts attacking cars. So here’s what we’re gonna do. Sam, you--”

“Wait!” a loud voice called from behind them.

Danny winced because he didn’t need to turn around to know who that voice belonged to. He’d heard that voice yell out to him from afar for years. Even now that tone still caused his heart to jump in response. He slowly turned around in the air to face Dash who positively beamed that he caught them before their attack. “Dash, what are you doing here?” he asked with an exasperated sigh.

“I came to find you,” Dash stated.

Well, that was a given. He’d been hoping for at least a little more guidance on his true motives.

“Wait Dash, how did you even get out of class?” Tucker asked as he studied the jock with a suspicious eye.

Dash shrugged. “I’m the football quarterback - I can leave class whenever I want.”

“There’s something very unfair about that,” Tucker griped under his breath.

“Why did you come to find me?” Danny asked as he tried to get them back on topic.

“Oh, I want to help,” Dash offered. “With the ghost. Let me help.”

“No,” Tucker vehemently denied.

“Hell no,” Sam added with all the spite she could possess.

“No way.”

“Absolutely not.”

“It’s not happening.”

“Never ever.”

Danny raised a hand to stop their increasingly emphatic denials; they made their point and he could see how each one tore further into Dash. Maybe Dash didn’t care how his words hurt others, but that didn’t mean he had to stoop to the same level. “Dash, I know you’re a fan. I know you want to help, but we’ve got this.”

“I know you do. You’ve always got it. Phantom always figures it out in the end. But I really think I can help,” Dash offered again undeterred.

Danny sighed. “We talked about this Dash,” he tried to say in as delicate a way as possible, but he was losing his patience with the jock. “You bullied me for years. You’ve embarrassed me, hurt me, got me in trouble, and destroyed my school projects for years. You don’t get to just all of a sudden be here like none of that happened just because you know the secret.”

Dash recoiled like he’d been physically assaulted. He ran a hand along his arm as he folded in on himself and actually looked small for once. It was unnerving to see him with such little confidence. “Yeah...yeah I know that. But that’s why I want to help. I want to make up for it because…” Dash paused for a long, uncomfortable moment “...because I feel bad about it, okay?”

“You feel bad about it now, because you think Danny’s cool now,” Sam pointed out, voice full of venom. As much as Danny would have liked to take Dash’s statement at face value, he had to agree with Sam that he couldn’t really trust the reasons behind this newfound revelation. Phantom and Dash just had this team up against a pretty powerful ghost, and he probably thought that since he was in the know that could become a consistent trend. But there was more to being a part of Team Phantom than just knowing the secret at the core of their group, and Dash hadn’t earned his place there yet.

Dash withdrew even further as his shoulders sank. He wrapped his other arm around his torso. He looked strangely vulnerable in a way that Danny had never seen. “That’s not—I know that’s how it looks. But it just made me think. See, I didn’t know you’d died and went through all this,” he tried to explain as he gestured towards Danny’s floating form. “And I kept bullying you. You had so much else going on, and I kept bullying you. And I shouldn’t have done that. Phantom or not. I think...I think I can see that now. I didn’t really care what you were dealing with, and maybe I should have.”

Dash bit his lip but he plunged on through his explanation of recent self-reflection. “I want to make it up to you. I can help.”

Danny shifted nervously in the air. He didn’t really know what to say after such a declaration. He really appreciated that Dash had given some thought to being a bully and came to the conclusion it was wrong. Granted he only took the time to think about it because now Danny seemed worthy enough to understand. If Dash had decided to think about his side of things at any time he probably would have come to this realization sooner, but it hadn’t seemed worthwhile until now. But did the injustice of the timing taint or negate his conclusions? He still realized that bullying had caused Danny additional undo stress, and he didn’t want to discourage him from thinking about that more.

But at the same time, did that mean he had to now work with his former tormentor? He shouldn’t have to work with him to help him engage further in his journey of self-discovery, and yet that felt like the only option available to him. If he let Dash join Team Phantom, maybe he could help him be a better person. But did Dash really deserve that time and effort after everything he’d done? Couldn’t he use what he’d already realized and figure out the rest on his own? He didn’t quite know how to turn Dash down while still inspiring him to keep traveling down this road of self-discovery. He had to find some middle ground.

“Look Dash, I’m glad this is making you see the error of your ways, and I really hope you keep thinking more about bullying,” Danny said honestly, “but we have a system. We’ve got this handled.”

Dash looked crestfallen as his shoulders drooped. ��I promise I won’t get in the way,” he bargained, and Danny just wished that he would just understand what no meant. He’d heard it multiple times in the past couple minutes, so why couldn’t he get the hint?

“Dash, if you want to help, right now the best thing you can do is to let us handle it. The longer we talk the more cars that bear goes after. You want to help? Let me go fight this ghost and then we can talk about it after.”

He didn’t really give Dash a chance to argue further as he charged after the bear ghost. Maybe he’d be able to think of something to say to Dash while he fought the ghost, but he doubted it. He didn’t really know how much more clear he could be. He rammed the ghost in the side and sent it flying down the road. It skidded across the pavement and Danny winced at the thought that maybe the bear had experienced that sensation before he died. He’d have to thank Sam later for implanting that thought into his head. The bear stood up and roared at him as its eyes blazed red.

“Looks like I got your attention,” he joked weakly. The bear barreled towards him and he shot as many ecto-blasts as he could at it before he dodged out of the way. He rolled on the ground and immediately popped back up to shoot another blast at the bear as he tried to turn around. He didn’t know if he was hurting it or angering it further, but his attacks seemed to be doing something.

He dodged out of the way of another charge but misjudged the direction as his dodge threw him too close to the ghost. It quickly closed the distance and swiped a ghostly claw along his back. Danny choked out a cry of pain as blood and ectoplasm seeped out from his cuts, but he pushed through the pain like always. He took advantage of being so close and punched the bear in the muzzle before he threw all his strength into one large ecto-blast to the belly. It pushed the bear away and he took that opportunity to suck the ghost into the thermos.

He breathed out a sigh of relief as he stood up from the ground. He looked over at his friends - not surprised to see Dash still there - and shook the thermos in their direction. “Well that was bearable. Get it? Bear-able?” His friends only groaned, but he did notice Dash crack a smile. “Oh come on, how come you never appreciate my–”

A large gray shape slammed into Danny. The force of the blow sent him flying through the air until he hit the pavement hard in the distance as the asphalt cracked beneath him. He rolled along the pavement until he skidded to a stop in the middle of the road. He didn’t move.

#danny phantom #phic phight 2024 #phic phight #post identity reveal #danny fenton #dash baxter #canon divergent #danny phantom fanfiction #fanfiction #dash baxter redemption arc

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darthfrodophantom · 26 days

Text

Micro-Unmasking - Chapter 3

Final chapter! Hope you all enjoy!

AO3 Link

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

Chapter 3: Begrudging Redemption

The Fenton GAV screeched to a stop, leaving long, dark tire marks on the road. It careened around the corner at such reckless speeds that no one saw it coming until it slammed into Phantom. Jack poked his head out of the window and whooped as he thrust his fist in the air. “Oh yeah! We got ‘im Mads! Told ya that Fenton Ram-O-Rama battering ram was a good addition to this baby!”

Tucker and Sam stared at Danny’s unmoving body, their faces pure masks of horror. “Get up Danny. C’mon, get up Danny,” Tucker pleaded under his breath, but his ghostly body still didn’t move.

Sam took a step towards Danny, but Tucker grabbed her arm and gestured towards the Fentons as they stepped out of the GAV. Jack held two overly-large ghost weapons in his hands with another slung around his shoulder, while Maddie sported a more sensible blaster and a Fenton thermos. “We have to distract them. We can’t let them get to Danny.”

“But shouldn’t one of us check on Danny?” Sam asked, but even as she said it she noticed Dash running as fast as he could towards Danny. He skidded to a stop and dropped down to his knees to check on him. “Oh no, no we can’t let him do that.”

“Sam! Come on!” Tucker urged. “We’ll figure it out later!” He pulled Sam over towards the Fentons and ran right into their path.

Maddie stopped short as soon as she saw Danny’s friends…without Danny. “Sam! Tucker! What are you doing here? Why aren’t you in school?” she asked suspiciously as she raised an eyebrow.

“We…got sent on an errand!” Tucker lied smoothly. “We had to grab something for class. But then these ghosts attacked and–”

“Ghosts? You mean more than one?” Jack asked as he looked around the street for another ghost.

“Yeah, this giant bear ghost,” Sam added as she caught on. “We tried to run away, but it got Danny and–”

“What do you mean it got Danny?” Maddie shrieked as she dropped her weapons and grabbed Sam’s shoulders. “Sam, where’s Danny?”

As Tucker and Sam weaved a fake story about Danny being bear-napped to get the Fenton parents off Phantom’s trail, Dash tried his best to help Phantom–Fenton. He immediately placed a hand near his mouth to check for breathing, but he couldn’t feel anything. He pulled out his cellphone and placed it near his mouth, looking for a wisp of a breath, but nothing.

“Oh God, he’s not breathing,” Dash panicked aloud as he fumbled with what to do next. His eyes hovered over Danny’s glowing form when realization struck him and he hit his forehead with his palm. “Idiot, of course he’s not breathing! He’s a ghost! C’mon focus Baxter, focus.”

He couldn’t try to help him here. He remembered what Danny said about his parents not knowing and he couldn’t risk letting them get to him. He needed to move him and get him somewhere else. He ran a hand along Danny’s spine to check for breaks. When he didn’t feel anything, he shifted Danny slightly in an effort to pick him up. He heard a groan and took that as a good sign before he hefted him into his arms and ran off down the street. He kept running down random streets until he thought he got far enough away to lose them before he ducked into an alley between two shops. He set Danny down as gently as he could manage and tried to shake him awake. “Come on Phantom, wake up. Wake up.”

~*~

“Phantom!”

The shout jerked Danny into awareness. He instantly regretted it as his entire body flared with hot, white pain. The sharp agony barraged him from all sides. It consumed him and drowned out anything else around him. His head spun around and around and around to the point where he thought he might be sick. He closed his eyes as the siren call of the dark blackness of unconsciousness serenaded him with promises of numbness. That had to be better than this. Anything had to be better than this.

“No no, Phantom, stay with me!” the same voice yelled. Two strong hands lifted him back up into a sitting position. More pain raced through him and he choked out a cry. It unfortunately brought him back again and forced the world into greater clarity. He expected to see his friends or Jazz but instead he saw–

“...Dash?” he mumbled out. “What are you…what happened?” Stringing those words together took so much effort. The sheer agony of everything clouded out his thoughts and made thinking so incredibly difficult.

“I don’t know if you took a blow to the head, so you have to stay awake,” Dash instructed. “You were fighting a ghost and then–”

A gray shape slammed into his side. He flew through the air and crashed into the pavement with a loud crunch.

Danny blinked his eyes a couple times and looked at Dash who had stopped talking. He didn’t even hear the rest of what he said. “I’m…what? I didn’t–I don’t think I heard all that,” he said slowly as he tried to pull words through the molasses inside his brain.

If Dash felt annoyed at having to repeat himself, he didn’t show it. “Your parents hit you with a car.”

The gray shape. The GAV. The indescribable speeds his father drove at. The hit that threw him through the air. “Of course they did,” he groaned.

He managed to slump into a position that only mostly hurt. Every bone in his body throbbed with the echoes of pain, but they didn’t scream and blossom anew with fresh torment so long as he didn’t move. Thank god he didn’t have to breathe right now. “Are they here?” he asked after a moment.

Dash shook his head. “No, I think your friends stepped in. I grabbed you and got you out of there as quick as I could.”

Immediately the warmth of relief spread through his chest. He didn’t think he could evade his parents right now and he felt grateful he wouldn’t have to thanks to Dash’s quick thinking. “...Thanks,” he muttered. Much as he hated to admit it, Dash had actually helped him out and gave Sam and Tucker a chance to distract his parents. He owed him one, as weird as that felt to admit. He shuddered to think what Dash would ask as payment for this. More text messages? Joining him on a hunt? Somehow thinking about that made the pain feel even worse.

“Yeah man, of course,” Dash replied with a nod.

In an effort to not make him even more indebted to Dash, he tried to stand. He needed to find Tucker or Sam or get home or something so he could figure out why he was still in such blinding amounts of pain. He used his arm to push himself off the ground and immediately yelped in pain as his arm gave out and planted him into the ground. He fought hard against blacking out again as the searing pain consumed him. Tears poured down his face as he cradled his arm. He hated to admit that he cried in front of Dash of all people as he sobbed in agony. He waited for the tease or the laugh or something to come from Dash, but he only felt his hands gently guide him into a sitting position again.

“You really shouldn’t move,” Dash advised. “I think you dislocated your shoulder. You may have even broken it.”

Danny leaned against the wall and took deep breaths as he tried to ride out the pain. He didn’t really need to breathe, but the cool air seemed to help. The wall also felt surprisingly cool to the touch even though he felt like his body was on fire, and he took solace in that grounding sensation. “Great,” he grimaced through gritted teeth.

“I think you cracked a couple ribs too,” Dash added as he gestured to the lower ribs on the same side as his shoulder.

Danny tried to wave a dismissive hand with his uninjured arm, but it came across as barely a gesture. “Yeah, when aren’t they cracked? I can handle those.” Cracked ribs healed and broke themselves again all the time. The shoulder though…that was going to cause a problem, and it would be even harder to hide.

“I didn’t get a chance to look over anything else,” Dash admitted. “You hit the ground hard though. I don’t know if you hit your head.”

Danny closed his eyes as he tried not to feel overwhelmed. A head injury…would make sense. Something made it hard for him to process thoughts. Everything still felt too fast and at the same time too slow. He struggled to hold onto any thought other than the excruciating pain that shot through him. Maybe the pain alone and the shock could explain it, but he couldn’t rule out a concussion. “It’ll be fine,” he said, not sure if he was trying to reassure himself or Dash. “I heal fast. It’ll be fine.”

“You really should go to a doctor,” Dash suggested.

Despite the fog and the pain and the panic still gripping around his heart, Danny managed to level a disbelieving glare at Dash. “Dash, I can’t go to the hospital. I’m a ghost.”

“Well yeah, but not always,” Dash tried to reason.

He tried not to get frustrated, because he knew Dash didn’t know, but he didn’t have the capacity to explain this right now. God, where were Tucker and Sam? “I still have signs as a human. Ectoplasm. My core. Those don’t go away. A doctor would see them.”

Dash screwed his face up in thought. Was he trying to understand that concept or trying to problem-solve their situation? “Okay, okay that makes sense. Then I’ll do it.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Do what Dash?”

“I’ll fix it.”

He shook his head. “No no, I’m fine.” Absolutely not. He wasn’t going to let Dash give him some spotty medical aid because he wanted to be useful. “I just need to get home.” He tried to stand just using his legs and the wall for support, but his legs felt like jelly and he barely lifted his bum off the floor before he fell down again.

“No Fe–Phantom,” Dash corrected as he cast a quick glance down the hallway. Even if they couldn’t see anyone, he felt grateful that Dash was still trying to keep his identity secret. “I can do this. Come on, you can trust me.”

Danny leveled a glare. “Trust you?” Dash was the last person he trusted for anything.

A flicker of pain crossed over Dash’s face, but he clearly pushed it aside as he leaned closer. “I know I haven’t been someone you can trust. I know I haven’t earned any of this. But you can trust me now. I promise.”

Danny still eyed him warily. The only thing he could ever trust from Dash was a reliable shove in the locker or to be there at the absolute worst moment to rub his embarrassment into him further. On the list of people he would go to for anything, he fell below Vlad, and that was saying a lot. At least he knew Vlad meant well in his heart. Even if that favor came with a price, he at least knew what that price would be. With Dash, he had no idea what this would cost him later even if it did turn out.

But at the same time, hadn’t Dash already proven himself? He could have run. He could have abandoned him. But instead he took him away from his parents and watched over him. He touched him gently and seemed genuinely concerned about his well-being. He hadn’t made fun of him for crying or being in pain or not putting on a brave face. Maybe it was the head injury or the pain messing with his thoughts, but Dash had been there for him.

Dash must have sensed Danny’s indecision because he pushed on. “I told you I wanted to make things up to you. You said you’d believe it when you see it. Well how can you believe it if you never let me show it?”

He sighed as he rested his head back against the wall. How many times had he asked his parents to give Phantom a second chance? Or Valerie? Or the public? How many times had he asked for a second chance from his friends because he did something stupid? How many times had he given a ghost a second chance? And now Dash wanted one. Could he really say that as a bully Dash was completely irredeemable? Fundamentally he really didn’t like the idea that someone couldn’t be redeemed, and yet he’d set himself up in his mind that once a bully, Dash couldn’t be anything but a bully. It didn’t negate all the years of harm that he did and it wouldn’t make up for it, but if Dash wanted to try to come back from that, could he really get in the way of that attempt?

“...Fine,” Danny agreed. He thought he’d feel a stab of regret as soon as he agreed to it, but he surprisingly felt lighter, like he’d let go of some ill will he’d been harboring in his heart by giving this kid who’d made his life a living terror a chance.

Dash smiled wide as his face brightened. “You won’t regret this.” He pulled off his sweater and handed it to Danny. “I need you to bite this.”

…Or maybe he did regret it. “Bite it? Seriously Dash?” What kind of suggestion was that?

“I have to pop your shoulder back into place,” he explained. “Then we can see if it’s actually broken. It’s gonna hurt, so you bite this to muffle the screams.”

Right, dislocated shoulder. He’d seen this in movies before. It would hurt but it had to be done. He could see the logic in that, much as he hated the idea of experiencing more pain. “I thought the goal of your new redemption arc was to stop hurting me,” he joked weakly as he took the sweater with his good arm.

Dash rolled his eyes and positioned Danny so he had better access to his shoulder. He stayed surprisingly gentle, which Danny didn’t expect. He had always been so forceful and bold and brash that these kind movements felt so out of place.

“How do you even know how to do this?” Danny asked, both out of curiosity and as a way to delay the inevitable.

“I want to go into sports medicine: taking care of athletes and stuff. My dad got me into a summer program where I got to shadow a guy in soccer and I saw all kinds of crazy things,” Dash explained.

“So have you done this before?” If he had, he really should have led with that and it would have been a lot easier to trust him.

“Well…no. But I did see it done. I know what I’m doing,” Dash emphasized again, probably because he could sense Danny’s hesitation. “Are you ready?”

“No,” Danny admitted. He took in a big breath and let it out slowly. “But do it anyway.”

Dash grabbed Danny’s elbow and shoulder and pressed him into the wall. He bit his lip and hesitated for a moment before he pushed. He didn’t falter and he didn’t hesitate. He was quick and the whole process took maybe a couple seconds. To Danny it felt like an eternity. The bone of his arm grinded against the bone of his shoulder. It pulled and strained the muscles in directions they weren’t meant to go. His arm felt numb, like it had been disconnected somehow. His nerves burned. His muscles screamed. His bone throbbed. His entire perception of the world boiled down to his shoulder as the bone popped back into his arm.

He slumped against the wall partly in Dash’s arms. His head swam again in pain. This time when the blackness threatened to consume him, he gave himself over to it. Anything to escape the pain.

~*~

He shifted against something soft as awareness slowly filled his senses. Pain immediately chased that awareness. His shoulder burned and ached and he almost wished he could throw himself back into that darkness so he couldn’t feel it anymore. Unfortunately the pain blocked him from hiding in that sweet respite and he opened his eyes. Familiar sights surrounded him: his model spaceships, his poster of the constellations, his glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling. He was in his bedroom?

“Hey, you’re awake.”

Danny frowned because of all the voices he expected to hear, he never would have guessed that it would belong to Dash. “...Dash? Why are you in my bedroom?” Even saying it felt wrong, like a paradox he couldn’t speak or it would unravel the very core of the universe.

“Keeping watch,” he said simply, like that could explain everything. It didn’t, and left so many more questions. How did he even get here? How long had he been out? Why was Dash sitting on his bed like a concerned friend? “He’s awake!” he called out of the room.

Danny frowned as he reached up to feel his head. Did he actually suffer some kind of head injury and now he was in some alternate reality where absolutely nothing made sense? He noticed his scalp felt warm to the touch and he realized he’d transformed back to his human form. He must have really passed out this time.

Jazz threw herself into the room, her face filled with relief at seeing Danny awake. “Oh thank god, I was starting to get worried.”

“Wait, Jazz? How are you here?” Danny asked. Wasn’t she supposed to be at school? How did she even know he’d be in need of her help?

“I called her,” Dash replied. “After you passed out and turned back into Fenton I didn’t know what else to do, so I called Jazz to pick us up.”

“Wait you…called her?” Danny questioned further as he struggled to fit the pieces together in a way that made sense.

Dash shrugged. “Well yeah. You told me she already knew, so I figured it’d be safe. And I had her number from when she tutored me.”

Right right, he’d forgotten about that. Or rather, he’d purposefully tried to forget about that.

“He was right to call. Passing out twice after a possible head injury is reason to be concerned,” Jazz added as she walked over to his bed to check on his shoulder. He finally noticed his shoulder had been wrapped up in some medical tape. He cast a glance over to the side of his bed where his first aid kit sat open and now depleted of various medical supplies.

“Uh, it was technically only once,” he defended, though he didn’t know why that felt like something he needed to argue. “I stayed as a ghost the first time.”

“Oh, well that changes…nothing,” Jazz deadpanned. “You still passed out. And even though you don’t have many brain cells left to damage—“

“Hey!” Danny protested.

“—you need to keep all the ones you do still have,” she finished, but with a teasing tone.

Dash stifled a smile in his elbow, but quickly forced his face back into its serious frown. Did Dash not understand the self-deprecating jokes that he and his sister engaged in? Maybe that just wasn’t for him? Or did he feel bad for laughing because he didn’t know how it would be perceived? It gave him pause to see further evidence that Dash was trying to change, and it still felt weird to see.

“Dash you did a good job with this wrap,” Jazz complimented. “I can’t say I’ve ever set a shoulder, but this looks good.”

“Wait you did this?” he asked Dash. He had just assumed his sister did it since she typically took the lead on first aid.

Dash shrugged. “It’s just part of setting it.”

“It’s better than I could have done. You might be able to get by skipping the doctor.” Jazz mentioned.

Danny shook his head vehemently. “No doctors Jazz.”

“I know, I know, but if Dash wasn’t here to help with this, we would have had to go to the doctor,” she insisted. “So really you owe him.”

Hearing Jazz echo the thoughts he kept trying to ignore made them ring even louder in his head. He’d never tell her this because it would go to her head, but he always trusted her opinions on things, so much so that whenever he gave voice to his conscience, it always sounded like Jazz. If she agreed with that nagging voice that he owed Dash, he knew she was right. “I know,” he finally sighed. “I do owe you one,” he said as he tried to regard Dash with as much genuine gratitude as he could.

Dash shook his head. “No you don’t.”

“No, pretty sure I do,” Danny repeated as he gestured towards his arm. “I don’t know how I would have made it off the street without you.”

“No really, you don’t owe me anything,” Dash insisted. “I’ve been a real jerk to you in the past, and that means I’m in the red, not you.”

The room grew awkwardly silent. Danny fiddled with the edge of his medical wrap while Dash traced the constellation designs on Danny’s bedsheet. Jazz must have noticed the tonal shift (because of course she did) and she slowly backed up to the door. “I’m going to give you a chance to talk,” she decided. He didn’t miss the knowing smile that crept onto her face as she closed the door.

If Jazz thought that leaving them alone to talk would fix the awkward silence, then she really needed to read more psychology books. He shifted awkwardly in his bed. The silence felt deafening as it pounded in his ears. Or maybe that was the concussion. But the pressure of the silence closed in around him, reminding him of all the things he needed to discuss but just couldn’t seem to find the words.

Finally he broke because he just couldn’t take it anymore. He opened his mouth and expected some lame joke or statement about the weather or something to come out, but not an actual coherent thought. “I have to ask, what changed? Obviously you found out I’m Phantom, but what really changed?”

Dash shrugged but refused to meet Danny’s curious gaze. “I dunno, I just…started thinking. About us. About what happened.”

“You mean with the teddy bear?” Danny asked as he raised an irritated eyebrow. That dumb teddy bear caused him so much grief over his school life, and he hadn’t even stolen it either!

“Well yeah, that and just how it got to where it did. A lot of it I don’t even remember. I was a dumb kid. But I just remember feeling powerful, you know?” He looked up at Danny, trying to gauge if he could understand his perspective.

And really, Danny did know. He’d heard the siren song of what he could do with his power. He knew how hard it could be to turn those thoughts away. Sometimes he was better at doing that than others. But he had Jazz and the conscience she drilled into him to help keep that at bay. He had Tucker and Sam who kept him in check. Did Dash have any of those things when he felt that tempting urge? He honestly didn’t know.

So Danny nodded slightly, and it seemed to be the gateway to get Dash to open up a bit more. He relaxed a bit on the bed as he shuffled his feet on the floor. “People laughed and I guess that made me feel important. Cool. And by the time someone told me it was wrong, I just didn’t care anymore.”

He stopped himself and held up a hand. “That sounds like an excuse. I’m not here to make excuses. It was wrong, and I know that. But you want to know what actually changed? I realized you were actually a cool person under all that loser. Phantom is that cool person, but if I didn’t see that, what else didn’t I see? And maybe I should give people more of a chance because other ‘losers’ might also be cool people inside too.”

He was pretty sure Dash still called him a loser, but he decided to let it slide. He couldn’t expect too much of him too quickly. Besides, was he actually witnessing Dash learn empathy for the first time? It seemed shocking that it took him until high school to understand the concept, but maybe it was better late than never?

“You know…that happens to me with ghosts,” Danny admitted. Jazz always told him that if he wanted to get a little in a conversation, he needed to give a little. “I assume they’re bad, and sometimes they’re not. Sometimes they help me out later. I’m not saying it’s the same, but I’m saying I get it.”

Dash shook his head. “I don’t need you to get it. I’m not trying to make you see things my way or forgive me or anything. But you wanted to know what changed and…that’s it. And now I just want to make it up to you. I want to be different.”

Danny looked down at his bedding as he fiddled with the comforter. He appreciated that Dash wanted to change. He really did. How long had he been hoping that Dash would suddenly decide that he didn’t want to be a bully anymore? He could honestly say he thought about it every time he wiggled his way out of his locker. And now that Dash finally wanted to make good on that hope and really change…he didn’t know how to react. Did he praise him? Did he forgive him? Did he just let bygones be bygones? He wished he could be the kind of person who just let it all go, but he didn’t know if he could do that.

He knew he needed to give him a second chance and an opportunity to prove himself. He’d really stepped up today and showed that he could be trusted. If Dash wanted a second chance to turn things around, he’d give it to him, but he didn’t know if he could give Dash everything that he wanted. There was too much of a history there and too much of a past. Just because someone wanted to change seemingly overnight didn’t mean he could do the same. He needed more time, and hopefully Dash could respect that without setting him back through all the progress he’d already made.

“I’m glad to hear that Dash,” he replied with a small, honest smile. “That’s a good thing. And I want to help you with that, I do, but this…this doesn’t make us best friends or anything. Like we’re not gonna start hanging out.” It felt harsh to say, especially after Dash had been so open, but he needed to set his boundaries. He could support his journey without having to go to the movies with him or eat lunch with him.

Dash shook his head and waved one of his hands in dismissal. “No, that’s fine. I’ve got my own friends and football and stuff. I just wanted to make things up to you. Help when I can.”

Okay, well that made him feel slightly better that he wouldn’t have to put up with social hangouts with him, but at the same time, trying to account for yet another person on ghost hunts stressed him out. He already knew he couldn’t tell Tucker or Sam to stay away from a ghost fight after everything they’d done, and by now they had a pretty good idea how to hold their own. Jazz started out wanting to be there for ghost hunts, but he managed to have a heart-to-heart with her about how much having another person there to protect stressed him out and she showed up to the actual fights less and less. He really didn’t want to have to take care of Dash too and show him the ropes. He actually felt like Dash could pick it up quick being so naturally athletic, but he just didn’t want to invest the time into training him.

“You know I can’t let you come with us to every ghost fight, right?” Danny mentioned. Dash’s shoulders sagged, and Danny knew he’d finally gotten at the core of what this discussion really entailed. “I know it probably looks cool from the outside and all, but it’ll draw too much attention. People ignore the three of us. We’re not popular and people forget about us, and that works in our favor. People will notice the star quarterback.”

Dash sighed but he nodded in resignation. “No, I get it.”

“But look, that doesn’t mean you can’t help. You can help keep the heat off of us. We can let you in on some of the excuse plans. Honestly, we were kinda running out of them.” They’d used almost every plan on every teacher by now, and really they were just hoping that enough time had passed that they could try the same trick on the same teacher (except Lancer - nothing got past Lancer twice; it barely got past him the first time).

Dash brightened up at actually being given a job and he nodded his head enthusiastically. “Yeah! Yeah I can do that! I come up with a lot of football plays, so I can work out a whole series of coordinated excuses for you!”

…Okay, that would actually be really helpful. He’d mostly suggested it as a way to make him feel like he was being useful but that…that was actually useful. Hard as it was to believe, this was actually working out better than he originally thought it would. “That would be great. Really helpful,” Danny agreed, and Dash preened under the praise. “And the first aid was really helpful too, so if it’s ever something I can’t handle, it would sure be nice to have someone who knows what they’re doing.”

“I bet I could take a first aid class too! Get even more training!” Dash suggested. He turned on the bed to truly face Danny and he could see the resolution in his shoulders. Man, was this how he got before football games? It was kind of intense to see the way his body just radiated with excitement and drive. It was almost exhausting to look at.

“I mean, if you want to,” Danny hedged. He didn’t want him to get too crazy about this. “And look, maybe we can call you in now and then too, like we do with Jazz. Not all the time,” he was quick to add as he saw Dash’s eyes grow wide. “But when we need you.”

“So like an Honorary Team Phantom?” Dash asked as he leaned forward, his face full of boyish anticipation.

“...Sure.” Dash’s eyes shined with so much hope Danny really couldn’t shoot him down, not after he’d been a surprisingly good sport about all this. Yeah that was maybe pushing a bit far, but it was a concession he could give…for now. And hey, maybe having something he could take away if Dash got too out of hand could be a worthwhile way to keep him in check and help guide him on his path of redemption.

Dash balled his hands into fists and punched the air with determination. “Yes! I won’t let you down, I promise! I’ll be the best Honorary Team Phantom member that there is!”

If this was what it felt like being on a sports team, then he felt grateful that he didn’t make it onto the middle school football or baseball teams. He really didn’t know if he could take all this aggressive goal-setting and celebration. Hopefully he’d calm down, but he had a feeling with a pang of regret that he probably wouldn’t. But if aggressive jock energy was the major downside to getting escape plans and free first aid…he really couldn’t be too upset with how this negotiation turned out. Tucker and Sam would hate it though.

“Oh by the way, what happened to Tucker and Sam?” Danny asked. It felt strange that they weren’t here yet to check on him.

“Oh, they were off distracting your parents,” Dash said off-hand.

“Do they know what happened to me?”

“...No. I don’t have their numbers.”

“Right.” Danny winced as he finally thought to check his phone and noticed a bunch of messages asking if he was okay, where he was, and if Dash had taken him away somewhere to exact revenge on him or stick him in some Phantom shrine. That last one pulled a slight chuckle out of him, which he instantly regretted as it pushed on his broken ribs. He typed a quick response that he was safe at home and immediately they messaged they were on their way. “Alright, they’re on their way.”

“Which means I should probably go,” Dash offered.

“You don’t have to,” Danny mentioned. Yeah he didn’t really enjoy Dash’s company, but he’d done a lot for him today and the least he could do was not chase him away.

Dash shook his head. “Nah, I should probably head back to school. Got football practice later. Besides, the way your girlfriend glares at me kinda freaks me out.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Danny groaned. How many times did he need to remind people of that?

“Uh-huh,” Dash chuckled. “Whatever you say.” He stood up from the bed and gave him a respectful nod. “Get better, ‘kay?”

“Yeah, I will. And Dash? …Thanks.” He didn’t really know what he was thanking him for: the first aid care, still keeping his secret, the offers for help that he gave, respecting his boundaries when he did lay them out - really it probably encompassed all of it.

Dash seemed to get it because he gave him a soft smile. “Thanks for giving me a chance.” He waved goodbye and headed out the bedroom door. He could hear muffled conversation that got quieter as they moved further away, which must have meant that Jazz decided to escort him downstairs. Of course she would, she’d want the gossip on what took place in that room. Come to think of it, she’d had an entire car ride to talk to Dash before he woke up…

He felt dumb for only now realizing that she probably guided Dash through what to say. Looking back, he could see Jazz’s guiding hand on the whole thing. He wanted to be angry at her for interfering like that, but honestly…he couldn’t be too mad about it. He felt a lot lighter and more at peace. Yeah things with Dash weren’t perfect, and he didn’t think they ever would be, but he didn’t feel the burden hanging over him anymore. He finally felt like he’d found peace in a war ten years in the making, and that relief washed over him like a warm blanket.

He knew it wouldn’t be without its challenges. He knew Dash would probably say something dumb or insensitive because he was still learning. He knew he’d probably lose his temper at Dash being around too much. He knew his friends would hate Dash being around more. But he could really see this being a good thing in the end, and if he could say that the time he spent on Dash made him treat other people differently going forward - well he’d count that as a win.

He settled back in his bed, content to rest until Tucker and Sam got here. He knew better than to close his eyes because Jazz would freak out that he fell asleep, but despite the pain that ravaged his chest and shoulder, he stared at the ceiling feeling content.

His phone buzzed in his hand and he looked at his phone expecting some kind of update from Tucker or Sam.

“So what happens when you suck a ghost in a thermos?”

For the first time, Danny didn’t groan seeing Dash’s text. He chuckled lightly and typed out an actual, thoughtful response this time. After everything he’d done, he’d earned some real answers, and honestly, he didn’t mind.

Hopefully these last two chapters added a little more fun to the story! While I still like how pithy and compact the first chapter is, I do think these final two chapters rounded things out a bit more. It was nice to give Dash more of a proper redemption arc, and hopefully I managed to do that while still keeping Danny's reaction to it realistic.

I definitely don't want this to come across as being a bully-apologist because bullying is horrible and I will never condone it, but I am also a firm believer that people can change if they want, but it has to come from inside them. Or maybe I just like to see the best in people.

Also, credit to my IRL best friend for the Fenton Ram-O-Rama name. It was beautiful and she deserves so much credit for that bit of genius.

Anyways, hope you had fun!

#danny phantom #fanfiction #danny phantom fanfiction #danny fenton #dash baxter #phic phight 24 #phic phight 2024 #phic phight #post identity reveal #canon divergent #dash baxter redemption arc #team ghost #phic phight team ghost

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