Normal

Fenton is stumbling into the room once again, eyes red and droopy and his gait awkward and clumsy. He barely manages to slam the door loudly behind him without a care, before crashing back against it with an irritating, dumb smile that I wanted to punch right off his face. His eyes travel up and down and right and left and right again, from the kitchen to the opposite window back to the couch before finally resting on the chair I resided in, upright. His drunken smile widens.

"Hey dude, crazy night."

He wobbles a bit before rocking back onto his heels, steadying himself with a hand on the door. He's still smiling as he glances at me again, before waddling to the kitchen. He now grips the sink for support, and by this time I am already at his side with a hand on his back. My frown does not break as a pungent chuckle floats back to me - he knows how much I hate it when he does this (yet still does it anyway) - before Danny is leaning against me in full support.

"Should of been there, man. So many people."

"I don't like drunken outings, Fenton."

"Different this time." He's warm and liquid; me being the only thing keeping him from either falling backwards or straight on his face. He's reaching out for the cabinet, and I pull him over and grab a glass out of it for him before sending it to the sink to fill it with water. The cup floats back evenly, before Fenton grasps it rather abruptly out of the air before taking a swig.

"Nothing is different about your parties."

He shakes his head. "It was different. Should have gone."

Maybe I should have. Would have stopped him from drinking so much booze. I try to express my irritation with a scowl, but he's not looking at me. His eyes are closed, the water shaking unsteady in his hand as he hums an indistinguishable tune. Fenton suddenly begins to laugh, and nearly drops the cup before I take it from him. He's clutching his sides, shaking with each bark, before wiping away a tear. Then he's back to using my side as an upright couch, catching his breath between giggles.

"Oh man, you should have seen Paulina. She was more out of it than I am. That was before Dash took her home, he was so angry. His girl at some random dude's party that he had no clue about." He stops laughing and looked at me curiously. "It's weird how much Dash reminds me of you."

His sapphire eyes are ruby rimmed and water like uneven pools of light. They shine, but lack the coherence that is usually there. He's not going to remember the night. So I only cock my head in compliance, and go along with whatever Fenton was concocting. "Really."

He smiles again. "Oh yeah. He's really strong and very protective - not for the same reasons you are, per say, but he's definitely changed since high school. He's a great tutor, definitely would have failed calculus last semester without him." He sighs and rests his head on my shoulder. "He's still an all-star at football and has the possibility of going pro next year. Good role model. He loves his girlfriend a lot. He's too good to deserve her."

Fenton's ramble diminished in volume as it went, and as silence crept upon us, I looked down to see that he's still staring up at me. There's no smile, only creases underneath his eyes and a slight, worried frown.

I open my mouth to say something but he beats me to the punch.

"Do you like me, Phantom?"

It catches me off guard. I was hoping that we were going to continue with his drunken babble until he passed out, content with my short, open-ended quips. But now he's put me in a place we both know if he was sober, he wouldn't have dared uttered. It's rough territory still, even after splitting bodies two years ago.

I crack my own grin; forced, possibly passable. "Of course, Fenton. Just not when you're like this."

He stares at me some more, and he knows that I've avoided answering the true question, but somewhere in his hazed mind he finds the answer acceptable. His eyes close with another sigh, neither happy nor upset.

"Can I have my glass again?"

He takes a couple more sips of water and hands me back the cup, and moves away from me to the actual couch before flopping down on it. Setting the cup behind me, I return back to my chair, and pick up the book I had been reading.

It was a quiet night - late night shows playing on mute, the lamp lighting the room with a low, soft white, and the buzz of crickets drifting in from the open window. There had been no ghost attacks to protect the city from certain devastation, which lead me to finish a decent chunk of the novel - between the glances I stole to make sure Fenton was okay. Normally in his alcoholic stupor the human was a non-stop chatterbox before suddenly shutting down (usually on the dot - it would take an hour and seventeen minutes from the time he came home to when he finally nodded off). Instead, he continued to stare off at the TV or out the window, seemingly looking at attention but thinking far off.

It was different. The whole night was different. Fenton had said so earlier, and I was beginning to worry. Again I open my mouth after a considerable amount of time, but suddenly he shifts to look at me.

"Can you carry me to bed, Phantom?"

Blinking, I slowly nod, putting down my reading material and making my way over to the couch before picking up Fenton and floating into the adjacent room. He slides out of my arms once he's above the mattress, and quickly finds home underneath the covers. Thinking it was probably best if I left him alone for some time, I faked a ghost sense and started for the window.

I almost made it too, before his whisper makes me falter.

"Do you have to patrol tonight?" I look over my shoulder. Fenton was staring at me through the darkness, head barely visible over the comforter.

"It's probably best."

"Valerie probably already has, dude."

I sigh. "Fenton - "

"I just need you to stay one night. OK?"

It was more of a plea than a demand, but even with the majority of me screaming to fly through the wall and do the damned job I was born to do, my confident shoulders sagged, and landing to the floor with a thud I trudged to the bed and slipped in with him.

It should have been normal - we sleep in the same bed all the time. It saved us room in our small, dinky apartment. Tonight it now seemed too crowded, and as I try not to get too comfortable, I look over to see Fenton completely turned over and shifting closer and closer to me.

I freeze up, watching yet doing nothing as he stares straight at me. Nothing as his arms reach out and pull me the rest of the distance, wrapping around me and his head tucking itself by my neck. Nothing as his body slowly became undone, and the bed seemed to shake with every tremor. His hot tears were burning my neck.

"I never did really say why you and Dash were similar earlier, did I?" He manages to gasp quietly, and took my mute response as a no. "You're just as much as a hero he is. You protect everyone in this stupid, god-forsaken, hick town, without even a thank you. You're kind, and gentle, and still people treat you like shit."

He hiccups. "I treat you like shit, Phantom. That's who I am - I'm Paulina, and you're Dash. You're too fucking good for me to deserve something like you."

My core hurt, and my throat had constricted to the circumference of a pea. I only managed to croak out "Stop saying that. You're not going to remember this anyways."

"I know." He sniffed, and I couldn't bear to look at his face anymore. "You just need to know. I'm worthless. But I love you so."

"You don't know what you're saying."

"I love you, Phantom." Wet lips pressed on my cheek, and I mistakenly glance down to see a sniveling, broken face that matched the broken feeling inside of me. "You need to know that."

Fenton's not going to remember anything in the morning. The light in his eyes had already been out for a while, and finally his body was catching up with his brain. He didn't know what he was saying. And I shouldn't be getting my hopes up so. If he truly loved me he wouldn't let me know after getting completely wasted.

I let the allusion fool me once again. I took off his red hat before he fainted right there, and lightly kissed his forehead right back. My arms found themselves around him with embrace, and his heat - always such an experience and pleasure to feel in the smallest touches - fill me almost instantly. Fenton smiles through his tears, and his mouth works to say something else before finally falling slack.

I stay there for another minute before rolling out of his grasp - his arms falling to his side, and his breathing caressing my back every so often as a constant, warm, lying reminder.

My own cheek was wet, and I stifle another gasp as my stomach lurched and my core nearly imploded in on itself. I quickly sit up, the bed complaining but the other boy is not even phased by the loud squawk the mattress admits. Fenton's hat falls to the floor, and I glance at it only for a moment before squeezing my eyes tight, and stand up.

I was out of the apartment soon after to fly about the city the rest of the night and early into the morning, and upon returning, an irritated, hung over Fenton greeted me with a scowl from around his coffee.

And everything was back to normal.

Re-edit from tumblr. Multi fic hopefully coming soon.