Doctor Dash

Pairing: Dash x Danny

Warnings: Homosexual relationships. Dash and Danny are around 30. Violence. Foul language.

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is a product of Nickelodeon. All characters in this story are imaginary.

Summary: When young Lex enters his office for a general physical, Dash didn't expect the boy's father to be someone he knew from Casper High.

Written: February 2013-July 2013

Chapter 01

"I'll be right out here if you need me."

Dash glanced toward the door when he heard the man's voice. The young boy standing in the doorway nodded up at his father, who remained mostly out of sight. All Dash could see of the man was a pale lanky arm as the man stood beside the doorway. Turning toward the room, hesitation flashed only briefly in the brilliant blue of the young boy's eyes. Then he put on a brave face as he entered and climbed onto the padded examining table without anyone's help. He frowned at Dash as his lower lip jutted out in an almost pout, and his eyes narrowed, giving Dash the impression that the boy was very unhappy about being here. His short arms folded over the white T-shirt that he wore, paired with baggy shorts.

"Hey there, little guy." Dash put on his most charming smile, trying to make the boy feel comfortable around him as he rolled his chair over to his patient. He knew coming in for an examination could be scary for young children. Plenty of times the children would start crying before he even began the examination, often needing their parents to calm them enough to allow Dash to finish.

"It's Lex," the boy said firmly, his blue eyes narrowing in a hard glare at the man before him.

Dash blinked in surprise, not expecting that reaction from the boy. When he heard a tired sigh, he glanced over toward the door to see that the father slid down the wall into a crouch, his bony leg poking into sight beyond the doorframe. With a shake of his head, Dash turned back to his patient. Lex was a little bigger than most of the seven year olds that he dealt with, already showing the beginnings of light muscles. His blond hair was unruly, and some of the bangs hung down into his eyes. His small mouth pursed as he continued to glare at Dash.

"My apologies, Lex," Dash said, trying to regain his composure after being thrown off by the boy's angry expression. "Now, first I'd like to take look inside your mouth. Open up please." He reached out to better position the boy's head so that he could look inside to examine the back of Lex's mouth. When he felt teeth snap down hard on his fingers, Dash yelped, jerking his hand back. In all his years as a pediatrician, he couldn't remember the last time one of his patients bit him, probably way back when he was still in med school or when he first started working. This wasn't his first time being bitten, but the children he saw nowadays were usually more well behaved than this boy was acting.

"Lex!" The father barged into the room with a stern shout after hearing the commotion taking place within the examination room.

While Dash nursed his wounded fingers, the father stood before his son. From the boy's reaction, head bowing and shoulders hunching, Dash guessed the look upon Lex's father's face was furious. The dark haired man was of average height, standing a few inches shorter than Dash. His frame was thin with long, wiry limbs, but Dash could see some muscle upon the man despite the loose casual clothing that he wore. The man's raven hair was about as unruly as his son's blond hair, making Dash wonder if either of them owned a brush, or heard of one, when they both looked like they simply rolled out of bed before coming to the doctor's office. Dash frowned at the man's tense back, thinking there was something familiar about Lex's father, though he couldn't place it.

"I told you after Doctor Thurston that you can't go around biting people." Lex's father placed his hands on his hips as he stared down at his son.

"He was going to stick a needle in me," Lex complained, pouting as he pointed an accusing finger at Dash.

The man sighed and scratched a hand through his raven locks. "I told you before that this was just a check up," he said tiredly. "He's not giving you a shot, and he's not taking any blood. All he's going to do is the usual physical. Just behave, and we'll be able to go home in no time."

Lex folded his arms, grumbling too softly to be heard as he looked away.

"I'm really sorry about him," the father said, turning to face Dash. "Usually he's better behaved than - Dash!" Wide bright as the sky blue eyes blinked in shock, and Dash was fairly certain his own shock mirrored the other man.

"Fenton?" Dash nearly shouted, his brow pinching in confusion. He couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that Fenton, of all people, was standing before him, in his office, with a child. Raking a hand through his slicked back blond hair, Dash needed to sit. Fenton had a son? His gaze darted between the pair, and his mind boggled even more. Fenton's son hardly looked like him beyond the same shade of brilliant blue of their eyes and the paleness of their skin. Dash read the name on the file before the boy even entered the examining room: Lex Jackson Fenton. He never imagined that the boy's father would be the same Fenton that he went to high school with. And how did such a little brat end up coming from Fenton anyway? "What are you doing here?"

Fenton scratched at the back of his head. "I'm supposed to get updated medical records for the school," he explained, looking like the awkward teenager that Dash remembered. He laughed a little as he folded his arms, hugging them around his narrow frame. "When I saw that his doctor was named Baxter, I never would have guessed it was you." He stared at Dash with a look of shock and awe, like he was struggling with the fact that Dash grew up to be a doctor.

"I can't believe you have a son," Dash mumbled, wanting to laugh at the whole situation.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Fenton demanded, his expression twisting quickly to offended.

Dash raised his hands in defense before him. "No, I just meant that it's weird seeing you as a father. I keep thinking of you as that kid from high school." He chuckled and shook his head. They certainly changed a lot over the years since then. He looked Fenton over, his eyes glancing occasionally to the boy still sitting impatiently on the examining table. It was almost surreal seeing Fenton with a son.

"Well, it has been, what, twelve years since then?" Fenton shrugged and turned his head away as he frowned. His eyes held a weary look, revealing his exhaustion clearly.

Dash knew that feeling, that desire to collapse onto a bed and sleep for months, if only he could ignore his work, his life, the world for that long. Medical school wasn't easy, and he spent most nights staying up late studying to make sure he was on top of all his classes. Other people from their high school might have thought that he was a slacker who didn't care about getting good grades, but it was all part of the whole jock stereotype that he played into because it was expected of him. Most of the rest of the popular crowd wanted him to go out partying with them every weekend, getting drunk despite being underage and doing drugs.

Thankfully Kwan, a few other football players, and Paulina cared about the real Dash Baxter. They all had aspirations beyond going to college to party and waste their parents' money by not getting a decent education. Even if the number was small, Dash was glad to have real friends who encouraged him to follow his dream of becoming a doctor.

After medical school, he had all the shifts working in the hospital, sometimes the late night shift that went to the early morning, leaving him feeling drained. He finally had a stable work schedule now, but some nights he collapsed into bed, not wanting to wake up in the morning because he was simply too exhausted.

"Dad," Lex groaned with only the slightest hint of a whine. "When can we leave?"

"When you stop biting the nice man and let him finish with the physical." Fenton gave his son a stern look that made Dash feel, yet again, like this was some weird dream. Fenton acted like a total dad, and that simply didn't feel real to Dash.

"Nice man?" Dash questioned with a smirk to Fenton as he moved in to continue with the examination. This time when Dash tried to check inside the boy's mouth, Lex didn't bite him.

Fenton rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well," he said, shrugging.

Dash glanced at him, but Fenton wouldn't meet his gaze. Perhaps Fenton preferred not to tell his son about the fact that this doctor used to bully him in high school. Dash decided to let the man keep his image in front of his son and didn't start rehashing the "old days." When he finished, he allowed the boy shut his mouth then checked his eyes. A finger moved before Lex's face, and he followed after it until Dash determined his vision was fine.

"What brings you here anyway?" Dash asked, turning Lex's head to check inside his ear. "I thought you stuck around Amity Park." He turned Lex's head the other way to check his other ear.

"We needed a change of scenery," Fenton said, offering no more of an explanation.

Dash paused to stare curiously at Fenton, but the other man clammed up tightly after that. With a mental sigh, Dash returned to the examination, checking the boy's breathing and reflexes. When he was all finished with the usual physical examination, he rolled back a bit on the chair and glanced up at Fenton. "Well, your boy's perfectly healthy."

"I don't see why we had to do this," Lex grumbled, scowling at Dash. "I don't like him."

"Lex, he's your doctor," Fenton said, tight lipped. "So you better learn to like him."

"If you really want, I could refer-"

"No," Fenton snapped, pointing a finger at Dash. "We've already gone through six other doctors that kicked us out because Lex bit them or did something else to drive them crazy. I'm sick of searching for a doctor." His gaze whipped around to his son. "Lex, please stop acting out like this. He's a perfectly good doctor, so please just don't make me have to look for someone else." The drained look was back on Fenton's face as he pleaded with his son.

"I still don't like him." Lex grumpily folded his arms, only slightly pouting.

Fenton rubbed at his face before he turned to Dash. "I'm really sorry about him biting you before."

Dash shook his head as he finished making notes in the file. "It's fine. Kids bite sometimes." With an amused smile, he stood up, holding the boy's file in his hands.

Fenton picked the boy up, lifting his son into his arms and balancing him on his hip. "It was, um, nice seeing you again." His words came out awkwardly, and Dash almost laughed at the sudden shyness overcoming the other man as his son hugged his arms around his neck.

"You too." Dash nodded then turned to Lex. "And maybe next time, we can get through the check up without anyone biting anyone else." He got drawn into a glaring match with Lex before Fenton finally broke it up.

"And that's enough of that." Fenton turned toward the door. "I might have to take away that videogame you wanted if you're going to keep acting up like this."

"No, Dad!" Lex whined, gasping like the very thought of having his precious videogame taken away physically hurt him.

Dash shook his head as he watched the pair leave the examination room. He never imagined that he would meet up with Fenton again after all these years. Opening the file in his hands, he glanced over Lex's medical records curiously. It was the usual medical jargon, detailing his health since birth and all the shots he had and when. Nothing out of the ordinary was written in the file, but it wasn't the boy's health that Dash was interested in at that moment. His eyes were drawn to the parental information listed there, and he wasn't surprised to see Daniel Fenton in the line about the paternal parent. He stared at the name for the maternal parent.

"So he ended up with Manson after all," Dash mumbled, not sure why that fact killed his mood.

Author's Note: It's a temporary title! D8 I haven't been able to think of a good title for this story yet, and I've just been calling it Doctor Dash to give it a name other than just calling it "that untitled thing." orz