Disclaimer: Nope, dont own
A/N- yahoo! i've had the begining of this story sitting around for quite some time, but i finally posted the first chapter! yay!
He knew it had been a bad idea to cut through the park at night, and now he was paying for it. Danny backed up, back hitting a tree as the group of older teens advanced on hi,
"Uh guys, you really don't want to do this." What could only be their 'leader', grinned, barking out a harsh laugh.
"Right. Don't worry kid, we only want to have some fun." Danny shuddered, trying to keep some of the fear off his face. He couldn't go ghost in front of these thugs, not unless he wanted the whole town to know his secret. It didn't leave him with much hope.
"I'm serious! I'm-uh, friends with Danny Phantom!" He blurted out, cursing inwardly as their grins only seemed to grow.
"Good, we want to send that punk a message to stay off our turf." The leaders ugly pinched face was inches from his, foul breath making him gag. It was night, meaning there would be no one out, no one to help him. If he went ghost now, these guys would know who he was. That left him on his own. His fist connected with the sallow face, knocking the larger teen back, surprised.
"Why you-!" Arms grabbed him, pinning him to the tree. "You're gonna regret that." He already was.
"Hey! Let him go!" Danny froze at the voice travelling through the darkness. Relief and embarrassment washed over him, he knew that voice…
"What's it to you?" The leader, he'd decided to name Moe, snarled, turning on whoever would dare interrupt him.
Dash Baxter stepped towards them, gym bag in hand.
"That's none of your business. Let him go." Danny glanced from Dash to Moe and back again. Since when did Dash help him? The football player had given up on bullying him, but it was a far stretch to helping him. Not that he was complaining.
"You don't want to interfere, blondie." Dash stepped forwards, dropping his gym bag.
"I think I do." The thugs eyes narrowed, as two of them stepped forwards to attack Dash.
"Dash, run!" Danny shouted, before a hand clamped over his mouth.
The blond ducked, dodging the attack easily, before punching one of the guys in the jaw and elbowing the other in the stomach.
"Why you little-!" The gang's attention was diverted long enough for Danny to break free, backing away. No one came after him, instead focusing on the threat in front of them. Dash caught sight of him, knocking a guy down.
"Fenton, run!" Danny hesitated, he couldn't just leave Dash alone with these guys. "Danny! Go!" His legs kicked in, feet propelling him away from the scene. He couldn't help Dash like this. He had to go ghost. A fair distance away, he ducked behind a tree, making sure no one could see him, even if the park was deserted.
"I'm going ghost!" He felt the change take over, the energy flowing through him.
Taking off, the air whistled through his hair as he sped back to the fight. Dash still stood, surrounded by the remaining gang members, two lying on the ground, unconscious. Danny landed, anger flowing through him.
"Hey, Moe!" The leader turned, eyes widening fractionally, before narrowing again.
"Well if it isn't Phantom himself! And to what do we owe the honour?" Dash's eyes connected with his own, relief shining through.
"Let him go." He grit out. He was unable to see much of Dash in the dark, but from what he could see was that the remaining gang members looked slightly worse than the bruised quarterback.
"No can do, this punk wrecked our fun, but while you're here…" He mentally rolled his eyes as two of them ran at him. Danny knocked them out quickly, turning back to Moe.
Three of the gang remained, Moe included. The two unnamed rushed him, while the leader turned his attention back to Dash. Danny fazed, causing one of them to run into a tree. The other one he blasted lightly, only enough to knock him out.
Moe had Dash pinned to the ground, chubby fingers wrapped tightly around the struggling teenagers neck.
"Get off him!" He blasted the leader, harder than he had intended, knocking his off Dash and onto the ground, unconscious. "Dash!" Danny kneeled next to him, relieved to see blue eyes blinking up at him.
"Did you see a dark haired shrimp run by? He'd be your height." Danny sat back, startled as Dash pushed himself into a seated position.
"Uh, yeah. I saw him earlier, why?" He watched Dash climb unsteadily to his feet.
"Do me a favour? Make sure he makes it home." Danny's eyebrows reached his hairline, surprise written on his face.
"Since when do you care?" He asked before he could stop himself. Dash shot him a strange look. "I mean, I've just seen the two of you around and you seem more like enemies than anything else." He hastily added. Something akin to regret flashed through the blond's eyes, before quickly disappearing.
"Just make sure he gets home, alright." Danny nodded numbly, still confused, as Dash started to walk away.
"Dash wait!" The blond paused, glancing at him. "Are you okay?" He told himself firmly that he didn't care, that he wasn't worried about the person that had spent the last couple of years stuffing him into lockers.
The quarterback nodded, tugging his letterman jacket closer around him.
"Shouldn't you be catching up with Fenton? He's pretty quick, you know." Danny took off heading for home, resisting the urge to follow Dash home.
He didn't care, he couldn't.
Dash was limping. Each step made Danny feel guiltier. As if the bruises colouring the other teens neck and face didn't already make him feel horrible. The quarterback was favouring his left leg; jacket zipped up to the collar to help hide the bruising. The rumour spreading around school was that Dash had gotten into a fight with a gang protecting some secret girlfriend. They were only half right.
Dash was avoiding him. He ducked out of class early, stayed late in gym with Kwan and some other jocks and ate his lunch with Lancer. Whenever he saw Danny coming one way, he'd go the other. It didn't help that the jocks ad created a tight circle around him. Protecting their wounded, Tucker had called it.
"Hey Sam, Tucker, I need you two to distract Kwan and the others so I can talk to Dash." The bell was going to ring any moment and then he'd lose his chance to talk to Dash for the day. The faster he got this over with, the happier he'd be.
"Fine, but you owe us." Sam agreed, gathering up her books. The bell rang with Danny leading the fray for the door. Ducking into a doorway, he waited for the mass of letterman jackets to pass, before pulling the blond into an empty classroom, just as Sam and Tucker walked up to Kwan.
"What? Fenton, what the hell are you doing?" Dash all but growled, shaking Danny's hand off his arm.
"We need to talk." He continued when all the blond did was glare at him. "I um, ijustwantedtosaythankyouforlastnight." He blurted out. Dash just stared at him, confused expression on his face, replacing the glare from earlier.
"What?"
"I just wanted to say thanks," He yelled, before lowering his voice. "for last night I mean. Because of me, you got hurt and you could have easily left me, but you didn't. So thanks." Dash for his part just blinked at him.
"You're welcome." He replied, slowly. They stood there awkwardly, neither sure what to say. Deciding to take a chance, he glanced at the quarterback nervously.
"So, uh, Danny Phantom showed up at my house, after the park." He started, pausing and waiting for a reaction. Dash looked slightly surprised, so he continued. "He told me that you asked him to make sure I got home alright." Dash's face turned an interesting shade of pink, before it was covered up by a smirk.
"Well, yeah- I mean I had to make sure a wimp like you didn't get lost or something." Danny's eyes narrowed.
"I'm not a wimp."
"Right…you're too much of a girl to be a wimp." Anger flushed through him.
"At least I have an IQ higher than a monkeys!" His back hit the chalkboard, Dash's face in his.
"You calling me stupid, Fenton?" His voice was dangerously low, breath coming out in angry puffs.
"If the shoe fits." He thought Dash was going to punch him, expected it too. What he didn't expect were Dash's lips on his, pressing them firmly together. Something in Danny snapped and before he knew it, his arms were wrapped around the taller teens neck, pulling him closer.
With a moan he opened his mouth, allowing Dash entrance, fighting for dominance. A heat ran through him as their bodies bumped and he decided he liked it, wrapping his legs around Dash's waist, held up by strong arms. It brought them closer, the quarterback grinding against him, Danny grinding back.
Dash moaned, the sound reverberating around Danny's mouth, as he ran his hands under Danny's shirt, along the smooth skin.
"No Kwan! He couldn't be in that classroom!" Sam's voice broke through the haze that surrounded them. They broke apart, Danny falling to the floor, matching shocked expressions on their faces.
"I-" Dash began, before turning and bolting out of the room, ignoring his injuries. Danny stood, breathing heavily, more turned on than he had ever been before.
"What the hell?" He asked the now empty room. The room didn't answer back.