Chances Are

Summary: Danny is a new teacher in town, and things may not be looking as up as he hoped.
Characters: Dash x Danny x Kwan
Written: July 2015

Chapter 01

Danny sat in the teacher's lounge with a newspaper laid out before in on the table. He arrived in town a week ago, and today was his first day on the job. Currently, he lived in a cheap little place about two bus rides away from the school, and it still required walking to the first bus stop from his apartment. He hoped to find something closer, and way nicer, but so far, his options seemed rather limited. Some of the ads looked questionable, and one stated "HOT GIRLS ONLY." Danny drew a big red X over the ad with a disgusted wrinkling of his nose.

"I don't know why I always have to teach them sex ed."

Danny lifted his head when he heard another teacher entering the lounge. It was lunch time now, and his own lunch sat half eaten beside his newspaper. At this point, he was ready to call the meal abandoned, his appetite rather non existence while he put all of his attention into looking for a new apartment.

"That's what happens when you teach health."

The other teacher patted his friend on the shoulder, and Danny paled a few shades when he saw the two men who entered the room. He truly did have the worst luck in the world. It was a miracle, in his mind, that his powers didn't act up like when he was fourteen and send him straight through his chair, and halfway through the floor. He gulped and waited for the two jocks to look his way and notice who exactly he was. Which didn't take long as a second later both men's gazes landed on him, sitting alone at one of the two round tables in the lounge. He tensed, waiting for the bullying to start.

"I heard they hired a new teacher," Kwan said, stepping toward the table with a friendly smile. "What was it this time? English?"

Dash punched his friend, hard from the way Kwan gasped, on the shoulder. "That's Fenton!" His mouth hung open, and Danny had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the comical expression.

Danny knew he had changed quite a bit since he last saw the jocks at high school graduation. Eleven years did that. He had filled out, no longer the lanky limbed teenager. In college, he took up weight lifting and even went to some various fight classes when time allowed. Fighting ghosts had, thankfully, taken a back sit with fewer ghosts stirring up trouble, but he didn't want to fall out of shape in case something dangerous decided to rear its ugly head.

"Hey, Kwan," Danny greeted with a cheerful grin which faltered as he glanced toward the other man, "Dash. Didn't know you worked here." If he had, he might not have eagerly accepted the position. Of the job offers he received, this school promised the best pay and had the best facilities. It was like his dream job. If Dash and Kwan didn't ruin it.

"This is pretty crazy." Kwan twisted around one of the chairs and sat down on it backwards, leaning folded arms over the back. "Can you believe it?" He glanced up at his friend.

Dash frowned, less enthusiastic about this sudden meeting. "Yeah," he replied in a dry tone, "who would have imagined the three of us all working at the same school?" He took up the chair next to Kwan, though he didn't seem happy about sharing a table with the man he used to bully in high school. Danny wasn't too thrilled about it either.

"What are you looking at?" Kwan tilted his chair forward as he tried to get a look at the newspaper. His eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Are those apartment ads?"

"Uh, yeah." Danny hastily folded up the newspaper then shoved it back in his bag. "I was hoping to find a better place, but I can't really afford anything on my own." He sighed, not liking the prospect of random roommates. Who knew what he could end up with? That one episode of an old television show came to mind. In it, the man got stuck with a new, and slightly crazy, roommate. Getting rid of the roommate hadn't been easy on the man, and Danny didn't want a similar experience in real life.

"Hey-"

"Kwan, no," Dash said firmly with a stern stare.

Kwan frowned at his friend. But he plastered a smile back on his face when he turned back to Danny. "Why don't you move in with us?"

"Kwan!" Dash's face was as red as a tomato and his eyes flashed with rage, but Kwan merely laughed off his friend's anger.

"Oh, come on, Dash. We've been looking for a new roommate ever since Brad ran off to Vegas to get married." Kwan glared pointedly. "You've rejected everyone that's come to see the apartment. At least we know Danny isn't some psycho axe murderer."

Dash gritted his teeth as he leaned back in his chair with his arms folded, his fingers digging into his biceps. "Maybe. But he was always a bit weird."

"He also happens to be sitting right here and can hear everything you say about him," Danny pointed out dryly, scowling across the table at Dash.

"Then it's decided!" Kwan slapped a hand on the table, smiling despite the glares directed at him. "Danny will come live with us." The announcement earned a groan from Dash.

"Do I even get to see the place before making a decision?" With his brow knitted, Danny felt uneasy about the idea of sharing an apartment with the two jocks, especially when one of them was responsible for tormenting him during their high school days.

"You're going to love it. Trust me. You won't find a better place. And you already know us," Kwan gestured to himself and Dash. "So it's not like you're ending up with some weirdo stranger."

Danny almost hated to admit it, but being stuck with Dash and Kwan sounded like the lesser of two evils. He sighed out heavily. "I suppose we could give it a trial period. Live together for a month and see how it goes?" And like that, it was decided, and Danny wondered if he just made the biggest mistake in his life.