This idea came from asiramx on Tumblr, and I loved it. So I'm writing it. THERE.

And it's kind of short and crack-fic-ish again. Deal with it, 'cause hopefully I'll have some better stuff in the future.

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it. And the idea is not mine, either. It came from asiramx, who I adore for giving me fodder for my imagination.

Cheating

"You think he's gonna be surprised?" Jake asked quietly to the boy riding on his scaly back.

Randy considered the question for a moment. "I dunno. He's not exactly the kind of person I'd expect to be surprised, so…"

"Yeah. You're probably right. But I still think we'll surprise him."

The young dragon and the boy-turned-ninja were currently soaring over the outskirts of Amity Park, a city they'd visited a few times in the past. Already, Jake could see the odd contraption sitting on top of the Fenton house, despite the fact that it was on the western side of town. He wouldn't be surprised if Randy could see it, too.

Carefully, he stuck closer to the clouds above, heeding their friend's warnings that Amity's people could sometimes get freaked out by things coming from the sky, thanks to the constant ghost invasion. Apparently, there'd been a huge scare by a plane preparing to land in the next city over.

Jake wasn't too eager to find out what they would think of a dragon with a teenager on its back.

When they were almost directly over the Fenton household, Jake turned his head to look back at his friend. "Hold on tight, yo," he said with a toothy grin.

Randy was confused. "Hold on? Why would I need to hold oooOOOONNNN?!"

As the freshman had been speaking, Jake had pressed his wings to his side and positioned himself downwards. It was moments before they began to plummet towards the ground, and he could feel Randy throw his arms around his neck. He simply laughed, throwing his head back and enjoying the thrill of the freefall.

When the roof of the brick townhome was fast approaching, Jake unfurled his wings with a snap! and they were lowered safely to solid ground.

Randy climbed off unceremoniously, looking a bit green in the face. "Give a guy a little warning next time, dude," he said shakily as he regained his land legs.

"Aw, quit being such a baby. Now come on. Let's go see what he's doing."

Being as quiet as they could, they lifted open the hatch in the roof and clambered down the ladder. They snuck down the hallway, passing the parents' bedroom, a bathroom, and the sister's bedroom. Finally, at the end, they found themselves in front of a door plastered with warnings of "KEEP OUT" and "DANNY'S ROOM: DO NOT ENTER." Quickly, they exchanged glances and nods, and they creaked the door open.

Upon entering, they saw that Danny was talking on the phone.

"... Well how am I supposed to know if the Mawgu's up to something? I'm in Amity Park for goodness' sake! … Then if you're so concerned, figure it out for yourself! Aren't you supposed to be the boy genius or something? Even Timmy Turner could figure it out. He's got those fairy-simulation things; he could do it."

Jake and Randy exchanged looks of confusion. They knew of almost everyone that Danny interacted with, and not one of them was named 'Timmy.' The boy genius bit could have been in reference to one of his good friends, Tucker, but both boys doubted it. And who was this Mawgu character?

At this point, Danny was beginning to get frustrated. "Look, I swear I know nothing about it! ... No, none of my 'spectral allies' have a clue about it; why on Earth would th-"

It was at that point that the dark-haired teenager turned around and saw his chaos-preventing buddies standing there, wide-eyed.

"Uh, Jimmy," he muttered into the phone meekly, "I'm gonna have to call you back." He threw the phone onto the floor, and all three boys could hear a high-pitched voice screaming angrily on the other line. Jake absent-mindedly noted that the phone was certainly no ordinary phone.

Randy was the first to speak. "What the juice?" he cried, throwing out his arms. "What was that all about?"

Danny winced. "Look, I was planning on telling you guys, but then he called, and he's all freaked out about something that isn't even happening. But it's no big deal, alright? So let's just go, and -"

"No big deal?" Jake interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "'Course it's a big deal! I thought we weren't supposed to keep secrets from each other!"

"Well, it's not exactly a secret..."

"You're cheating on us, aren't you?" Randy asked quietly.

Danny looked dumbfounded. "Cheating on you? How on Earth could I be-"

"I knew it!" the young ninja exclaimed. "Man, here I was, thinking that what we had was special, and you're over there, going behind our backs and working with other super-powered kids-"

"Dude, you need to get your facts straight. One, you're not exactly super-powered yourself. Two, they're definitely not super-powered kids. 'Specially the talking sponge..."

The last remark threw the other two boys for a loop. "A... a talking sponge?" Jake asked, incredulous. He'd dealt with some pretty weird juju, being the sole protector of the magical underworld, but a talking sponge was a first.

Danny sighed and flopped back onto his bed, bouncing just slightly. "Don't get too excited. He's not that cool. In fact, he's more annoying than anything. And the other two have got their thing, but they're not that impressive, either."

"Doesn't change the fact that you still cheated on us," Randy sniffed, turning away just slightly.

Danny sat up. "Aw, come on, guys! Look, if it changes anything, I was forced into working with them. I didn't even really want to! But I want to work with you guys, so it's different, right?"

"You still could've told us, bro," said Jake, giving him a pointed look.

"I said that I was gonna tell you something!"

"Yeah, the key word there being 'gonna'!" Randy pointed out, leaning forward a bit.

"Would you rather I'd kept it a secret from you?"

The two boys simply just turned their noses up and exited the room. Danny jumped up and leaned out the doorway, watching them disappear down the hallway. "Guys?" he called. "Come on, this is stupid! It's not that big of a deal!"

They didn't turn around.

"Guys? Seriously, guys, you're being stupid! Guys! Look, I… ugh! Come back! COME BACK!"

Meh. Not too happy with this one.

It was especially hard not to break the fourth wall.

As for where this is placed in each universe, I'd say anytime works in the three shows, but definitely before the third video game in the Nicktoons saga.

Tell me what you think?

-CatchingWind