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q-gorgeous · 21 hours

Text

Not the Lab

fanfiction

ao3

word count: 7184

No one knows au except dash baxter @xscarletsakurax

warning: dissection, scalpels, its not a very graphic description tho

hehehehhehehe

Danny opened the door and was met with a broad chest. His eyes raised and he met Dash’s gaze. He was leaning against the door frame and was staring down at Danny.

“What do you want, Dash?”

“I’m here for my tutoring session with your sister. Let me in.”

Danny blocked Dash’s step forward. “She’s not even home.”

“Oh.” Dash looked away. “I guess I got the day wrong. Again.”

“Yeah.” Danny stared at him.

Dash looked back up at Danny. “Do you care if I still come in and just work on my homework? Jazz is great at answering my questions when I don’t understand something but she’s also mostly there to redirect me when I lose focus. This place has good learning energy.” Dash gestured with his hands in a big circle.

Danny watched him for a few moments before sighing. “Fine. But if you start messing with anything in here you have to leave.”

Dash nodded. “I’ll just be in the kitchen like when I’m with Jazz.” He walked in and turned back to look at Danny before he walked into the kitchen. “Did you want to work on your homework with me too?”

Danny shrugged and followed behind him. “Might as well. I gotta keep an eye on you if you’re here. Let me just go get my backpack.”

He headed up the stairs and left Dash to walk into the kitchen by himself. He set himself up at his regular spot at the table and started pulling all of his materials out. When he was done he looked up and saw the door to the Fenton’s lab that stared at him every time he was here.

Just as he was thinking about standing up, Danny walked back into the room with his backpack.

“What are you starting with?” Danny asked as he rummaged inside his open backpack.

“Math.” Dash replied. “It’s my worst subject so I’d rather get that done first where the learning vibes are good.”

“I guess I’ll start with that too. Then we can ask each other questions if we need to.”

Dash nodded. “That makes sense.”

They sat there for an hour doing their homework and occasionally asking each other about one of the questions in their textbook. They finally finished the assignment and Dash slouched down and leaned his head over the back of the chair.

“I hate math.”

“Me too.”

They sat in silence for a few more moments before Dash spoke again.

“Want to take a break?”

He brought his head back up to see Danny staring at him. Danny’s cheeks flushed a little and he snorted. “What would we even do?”

Dash looked over Fenton’s shoulder at the lab again.

“We could go take a look in your parent’s lab.”

“No!” Danny shouted.

“Why not?” Dash leaned forward in his seat. “Are they secretly mad scientists experimenting on people down there?”

Danny leveled a stare at him. “No. Other people just aren’t allowed in there. It’s family only.”

Dash leaned back in his seat again and tapped his fingers against his arm. There was no way he’d be able to weasel his way in with that argument.

“What if I invited you to my next party? Would that be enough to let me go downstairs?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Go to one party? Or not get grounded by my parents? That’s not a difficult decision.”

Dash squinted at Danny and stood up. He started making his way around the table and Danny stood up blocking Dash’s path.

“You haven’t been able to take me in years.”

“I’ve been taking your shit everyday.”

Dash groaned.

“C’mon, Fentina! Just let me take a peek down in that so-called lab! I just want one little look.”

Danny placed himself between the basement door and Dash. “No. My parents would kill me if I let you down there.”

“What’s the fuss, anyways? You’ve said yourself that none of your parents' inventions even work because ghosts aren’t real. What’s the harm in just one little peek?” Dash bent down to look Danny in the eye.

“Just because ghosts aren’t real doesn’t mean my parents don’t work with hazardous chemicals. I don’t want you touching something that could burn your skin off or, I don’t know, seal all the orifices in your body closed.” Danny crossed his arms.

Dash snorted. “Yeah, like they have something like that.”

He tried to go around Danny but he moved so he was still in front of Dash and poked a finger into his chest.

“We’re not going down there.”

Dash grabbed the wrist on the hand that was pointing at him.

“Don’t you want us to think you’re cool? I wanna see your parents' cool lab. We could even see if we could fix that new invention of theirs. It would make them super happy.”

Danny stared at him for a few moments, studying his face. “If they couldn’t get it to work properly, I don’t see how we’d be able to do it.”

“So does that mean you want to try?” Dash asked with a smile on his face.

“If it means my parents will be happy afterwards, we can try.”

Finally, Danny turned around and opened the door.

Dash could tell it was a heavy door. It was made of metal and creaked when it was pushed open. A cold waft of air gusted past them and Dash stared down the stairs over Danny’s shoulder. He flicked a lightswitch and the lights over the stairs flickered on.

Danny started walking down the stairs and Dash was still for a moment before following behind him.

“So what’s this new invention of theirs? Some kind of portal?” Dash asked as he studied the metal paneling on the wall.

“Yeah.” Danny responded over his shoulder. “It was supposed to be some kind of ghost portal but when they plugged it in it never turned on. They were really disappointed about it.”

“Do they really believe ghosts are real?”

Danny shrugged. “They’ve got all these studies and measurements. I have no idea how they’ve gotten all this information but they believe ghosts are the cause of all of it.”

They stepped down off the bottom step onto the clean, tiled floor. Dash looked around the basement, taking in all the science equipment they had laying around down there. It was very messy, which heavily contrasted what the rest of the house looked like. He figured the Fenton’s would be more neat than this, especially concerning the hazardous materials Danny was talking about before. He can see why Danny was worried about that. There were green splatters everywhere. On every counter and on the table in the center of the room and he even saw it on the door as Danny pushed it closed.

“Why’s it so messy down here?” Dash asked as he walked further into the lab.

Danny walked over and stood next to him. “One of my chores is to clean the lab and I haven’t had time for it lately.”

Dash shot Danny a look. “Your parents make you clean up their lab?”

Danny shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah.”

“Why are they making you clean up hazardous material? That was an excuse you gave me for why I shouldn’t come down here.”

Danny waved him off. “It doesn’t matter. Besides, I know what I’m doing.”

“If you say so.” Dash went to go look at the mess of items on one of the counters. The green splatters were so vivid. They almost looked like they were glowing. Dash turned and caught a glimpse of what he assumed was the Fenton’s new invention.

“Hey.” Dash nodded his head at the hole in the wall. “What’s that?”

“That’s my parent’s attempt at building a working ghost portal. They don’t know what’s wrong with it.” Danny walked right up to the portal and peered inside. “They said they had an earlier version of this that worked a little better so they thought they had this one right. They’re not sure why it didn’t work.”

“Maybe we can figure it out.” Dash said. “Maybe they overlooked some small detail.”

“Maybe.” Danny turned back around and walked to the opposite side of the room. He opened a cabinet and pulled out a jumpsuit that looked similar to what his parents always wore.

“You have matching outfits with your parents?” Dash snickered.

Danny unzipped the zipper. “They’re supposed to help prevent ecto-contamination.”

“Ecto-contamination?”

“Yeah. It comes from ectoplasm.” Danny stuck his legs into the suit. “That’s what ghosts are made out of and produce. That’s what my parents use for their studies.”

“How do they get their ectoplasm?” Dash asked, studying the green splatters again.

Danny shrugged. “I’m not sure. I think they’ve said there’s just more than average residual ectoplasm in Amity Park or something.”

“Oh. Weird.”

“Yeah.”

Danny turned around and Dash held in a snort.

“Ha! What is that?” Dash laughed and pointed at Danny’s chest.

Danny looked down and groaned. He pulled his dad’s face off of his jumpsuit and threw it in the garbage. “Embarrassing.”

Danny walked up to the portal and stood just outside it, staring.

“What do you think is wrong with it?” Dash asked.

“I have no idea.” Danny replied. “I’m hoping it’ll be something fairly obvious though. If it’s too complicated I won’t be able to do much.”

He started walking inside and he looked all around the portal. Dash wasn’t sure what he was looking for, and he was sure Danny didn’t know either. The further in he walked, the darker he got.

But then everything went wrong.

Dash watched as Danny tripped over something in the portal, and then he heard a soft click. Suddenly the inside of the portal was lighting up and Dash felt his heart fall to his stomach.

This wasn’t good.

The humming got louder and louder and Dash started running forward.

“Danny!”

A moment later a green light so bright it looked white filled the room and Dash staggered back, shielding his eyes. Danny’s screams filled the room. They were so harrowing and pain filled and it had Dash covering his ears closed instead of covering his eyes.

He didn’t know how long it lasted for, if it was moments or minutes, but when Dash finally heard something hit the ground, he risked peeking his eyes open.

When he saw that the bright light was dying down, he opened his eyes the rest of the way and saw Danny laying on the floor in front of him. He looked strange though.

His hair was now snow white and his jumpsuit had been inverted and was now mostly black. Danny looked like he had burns from the portal but somehow they seemed to be healing themselves back up, even the suit. Danny even looked like he was glowing.

Once the green light disappeared into a swirling vortex, Dash ran forward and dragged Danny away from it. Once he deemed them far enough away, he knelt on the ground and pulled Danny into his lap, his back resting against Dash’s legs.

“Danny.” He shook him. His white hair ruffled back and forth from the movement. “Danny. Wake up. Please.”

After the last shake, Danny’s eyebrows furrowed and he groaned. He raised a hand to his forehead and pried his eyes open. He looked around for a few moments before his gaze drifted up to Dash.

“Oh, thank god.” Dash whispered. “I thought you were- I don’t even know if you really are- You look so-” Dash cut himself off as he choked up.

“What do you mean? What happened?”

“You went into the portal in that hazmat suit. You tripped over something and fell into the wall and there must’ve been a button on it or something because everything started glowing this scary green color and then you were screaming. You were screaming so loud.”

Danny rubbed a spot on his hand, a vacant stare in his eyes.

“Danny, are you okay? You look so different. What if you’re-”

Suddenly a bright ring appeared around Danny’s waist. They both jumped and watched as it split and traveled over his body. Dash thought he would’ve felt something, but it was like the ring wasn’t even touching him even with Danny’s proximity to him.

When the ring passed over his head and disappeared Danny was left just how he had walked into the portal.

“You’re-” Dashed started. “You’re back to normal.”

“What happened to me?” Danny whispered, still rubbing the spot on his hand.

Dash’s heart rate picked up. His chest started rising and falling faster and the room spun a little.

“We have to go get your parents! We don’t even know what this thing did to you. They would-”

Danny sat up and turned. He covered Dash’s mouth with his hand. “We are not telling my parents. We’re not even supposed to be down here.”

He looked at Dash with wide, shaken looking eyes. “My parents would have killed me if they knew I brought you down here. But I don’t know what they’d do to me if they found out what their portal turned me into.”

Dash’s eyes widened and Danny slowly removed his hand from his mouth.

“I killed you.” He whispered.

Danny shook his. “Don’t say that.” He whispered back. “I’m not dead. I’m right here.”

Dash ran a hand through his hair. “You died! You stepped out of the portal all glowy and different colors! Then you magical girl transformed!”

“I died but I don’t think I’m dead.” Danny said. “I can still feel my heart beating.”

Dash stopped and looked back up at him. “Really?”

Danny nodded.

“Can I…?” Dash reached a hand out.

Danny nodded again. “It’ll probably help convince you I’m not actually still dead.”

Dash pressed his fingers against Danny’s neck and waited. Then he could feel the soft beats of his heart. He held his hand there for a few more moments before he lowered it.

“What even happened to you?” He whispered.

“I don’t know.”

“What do we do?” Dash asked.

Danny shook his head. “We can’t tell anyone. People would think I’m some sort of freak. And I don’t know what my parents would do.” He looked up at Dash. “This has to stay between us.”

Dash nodded. Who would they tell anyways? No one besides the Fenton’s could really help them. There was no one to turn to.

Danny groaned. “Help me up.”

Dash stood and grabbed Danny by the hands and pulled him up. Dash was about to let go when suddenly Danny started sinking through the floor.

“What the fuck?” Danny shouted panickingly as his feet disappeared into the tiles below them.

Dash kept a tight grip on Danny’s hands. He didn’t want to know what would happen if he let go and Danny disappeared. He pulled Danny up and out of the ground and when Dash set him back down, Danny’s feet were once again solid.

“Never seen that before.” Dash whispered.

Danny just stared at him. “Thanks Sherlock, me either.”

“How do we stop that from happening?” Dash asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe-”

A beeping rang throughout the lab and Dash looked around in a panic. Was something about to blow up? Danny wasn’t nearly concerned enough for that. He did look a bit panicked though.

The beeping died down and Dash looked around him again. “What was that?”

“The ‘someone’s in the driveway alert.’ My parents are home.”

Anxiety spiked in Dash’s stomach and he turned to face the stairs. “Why do they-”

“It doesn’t matter. They can’t find us down here.”

Dash grabbed Danny’s hand and pulled him up the stairs.

They were at the top of the steps when they heard the rattling of the front door knob through the door to the lab. Dash ran up the rest of the way as he pulled Danny behind him. Together they pushed the heavy door closed. They rushed back to their seats and sat down just in time for Danny’s parents to walk in.

“Hi, Danny!” Maddie called. “How are you- Oh.”

Maddie paused as she walked into the kitchen, gaze landing on Dash. She looked between the two of them and smiled.

“Dash! It’s nice to see you again. I’m glad to see you two hanging out again after all this time.”

Danny’s gaze landed on Dash. “We’re not friends, Mom. He thought his tutoring session with Jazz was today and asked if he could stay and do homework here. He said the house has ‘good learning vibes.’”

“Oh.” Maddie’s smile fell a little and Dash wasn’t sure how to feel about that. “Well, I hope you two still had a good time.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “It’s just homework.”

“Nevertheless, if you two ever need to-”

“Danny-boy!” Jack bellowed as he walked into the kitchen, carrying three cartons of fudge. “They stocked up on your favorite peanut butter fudge!” He thrust them into Danny’s hands.

“Are all three of these one flavor?” Danny asked, flabbergasted.

“You betcha.” He turned towards the basement door. “Your mother and I are going to start running diagnostics on the portal and try to figure out why it didn’t turn on.”

He opened the door and started walking down the stairs.

“Wish us luck!” Maddie called to them before she followed behind him and closed the door.

Dash stared at it for a moment. “How do you think they’d feel if they knew they just hadn’t actually turned it on.”

“I’m sure it’s just a new addition on a long list of oversights.” Danny said. He stood up from the table and staggered, holding his head.

“Are you okay?” Dash asked.

“I’ve got a killer headache. And my head feels like it’s spinning.”

“Will you be-”

Danny shook his head. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. You should go before my parents pull us back down into the lab to show us that the ghost portal miraculously started working.”

Danny’s screams rang in his head again. He wasn’t sure if he ever wanted to step foot down in that lab again.

“Yeah. I should be heading home anyways.”

Dash packed up his backpack and slung it onto his shoulder. Danny walked him to the door and opened it.

“See you tomorrow?” Dash asked.

“Yeah, sure. See you tomorrow.” Danny replied and closed it behind him once he walked out.

Dash stared at the door for a moment before he turned around and walked down the stairs to the sidewalk.

He took a deep breath and gripped his shaking hands onto his backpack straps.

Danny died today. Danny died and they didn’t have any answers. Danny died and it was Dash’s fault for insisting they go into the basement. How could he ever face him again?

The walk from Danny’s house to Dash’s felt way too short. Almost as if he blinked and suddenly he was home.

Maybe if he went to sleep he’d wake up and find out this was all a bad dream. Maybe he could pretend that none of this actually happened.

He quietly unlocked and opened his front door, closing it behind him. He quietly made his way up the stairs to his room and dropped his backpack on the floor before collapsing into bed.

He hoped none of this would be real when he woke up.

~~~~~~~~

Dash wanted to go back to bed.

Dash wasn’t sure he had even wanted to go to school today. His stomach was still roiling and he didn’t want to find out if Danny had actually died yesterday. Maybe he had just imagined the whole thing. Maybe Danny had actually died and was still lying fried on his basement floor right now. Maybe he survived the initial accident but died later that night.

He stood on the sidewalk staring at the school as it towered in front of him. He was already here. He had to go in.

He took a deep breath and was about to start walking when he saw a mop of black hair walking ahead of him.

Danny yawned a big yawn and he looked tired but he was alive.

“Danny!” Dash shouted, waving a hand in the air. Danny turned around to look at him. He looked around them as Dash walked up to him.

“What do you want, Dash?”

Dash stopped short. “I came to see how you were doing. Glad to see you surviving was real.”

“Oh.” Danny shuffled awkwardly on his feet. “Yeah. Still alive. I think I ended up sinking through my bed into the living room last night, though. I woke up at like four in the morning on the living room floor.”

“Oh dang.”

“Yeah.” Danny said as he started walking toward the school. Dash followed after him. “The worst part though was when I tried lifting my arm up in front of my face and I couldn’t see it because somehow my body had turned itself invisible.”

“I’m still wondering just what exactly that portal did to you.” Dash said, lowering his head and his voice closer to Danny. “Like, do you just have ghost powers now or something?”

Danny frowned. “I’m sure it’s more than that. But basically.”

“Man, that’d be so cool.” Dash said. “If I had ghost powers, I’d-”

Dash was interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind them. They turned around and were met with Sam and Tucker looking at them.

“What’s going on here?” Sam asked, pointing between the two of them.

“What?” Danny asked, his voice rising in pitch. “There’s nothing going on here. We’re just two guys chatting.”

Sam and Tucker shared a look and smirked at Danny.

“No! Not like that!” A blush rose on Danny’s cheeks and Dash looked between Danny and his friends a couple times before he processed what Danny meant. A blush rose to his own cheeks.

“Well, what’s happening then?” Tucker asked. “Did you guys finally make up?”

Sam looked at him. “Make up?”

Tucker nodded. “Yeah. They used to be friends when we were kids. They had some fight when we were younger. I never really knew what it was about.”

Dash looked at Danny to see him already staring at him. Danny studied him for a few moments before speaking. “Yeah, I guess you can say we finally made up.”

“Cool.” Tucker said casually.

“Cool? That’s it? No questions?” Sam asked him. “You’re not curious at all how they figured this thing out after years of conflict?”

Tucker shrugged. “If they want to tell us they will.”

Sam crossed her arms and huffed. “I guess you’re right.”

They started walking towards the school and Dash and Danny followed behind them.

“Did you want to tell them?” Dash whispered.

Danny looked at him and then looked back at Sam and Tucker. “I… I don’t know. I don’t want them to think I’m weird or a freak.”

“Okay. We can keep it between us for now.” Dash nodded.

Danny gave one curt nod and then quickened his pace to catch up with Sam and Tucker.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Phantom is so cool.” Sam said as she finished swallowing a bite of her food.

Danny spit out his drink and looked up at her. Dash sent him a look. “He is?”

“Yeah. I mean, some vigilante ghost kid fighting to protect us even though no one trusts him? I’d say that’s pretty cool.”

“Do you trust him?” Danny asked, looking between Sam and Tucker.

Tucker shrugged. “He hasn’t really given us a reason not to trust him.” He placed a hand on his chin and started thinking about it. “Except for maybe that time he ruined Valerie’s life. Or when he kidnapped the mayor. He also stole all that stuff one time. Or-”

Sam elbowed Tucker. “People have off days! I don’t think he did any of that stuff on purpose. Remember he broke out of that spell that Freakshow put him under? He saved me because he was able to break out of it.”

“Also it was the dog that ruined Valerie’s life.” Dash corrected. “Not Phantom himself.”

“Yeah!” Sam gestured at Dash. “All the ghosts seem to have it out for Phantom for some reason. How do we know it’s not just all orchestrated?”

“Is the property damage orchestrated?” Tucker asked her.

“Haha.” Sam took another bite of her food. “But I’m serious. He just… He’s just a kid. Doing this all by himself. It’s messed up.”

Tucker nodded. “He seems so familiar too. It makes me wonder if we knew him before he died.”

Dash watched as Danny looked between the two of them, stunned. He opened his mouth.

“Guys, I have something to tell-”

Danny was interrupted by something crashing outside. It sent the windows shattering and screams erupted around the cafeteria as everyone ducked down to cover their heads and faces.

“What happened?” Sam looked out the windows, her breathing quick. A screech echoed around the schoolyard.

Danny gasped out his ghost sense and Dash followed his gaze to where it stood.

“There’s a ghost.” Dash pointed to it.

It was digging around in the dirt like it was looking for something. Dash couldn’t tell what animal it was supposed to be. It was boney and skeletal, its hips jutting out from its body.

Danny stood up and ran across the cafeteria, pushing open the door along the wall with the windows.

“Danny!” Sam and Tucker shouted as they stood up together.

They went to run after Danny but Dash grabbed Sam’s wrist before she could go anywhere.

“What are you doing?” She asked him hysterically. “We have to go get him! He can’t just be running around outside like that while there’s a ghost attacking!”

“Yeah, dude. Are you mental?” Tucker asked Dash.

“Danny-”

“Needs our help!” Sam tore her wrist out of Dash’s hand and they ran across the room to the door. Dash shifted in his place, jittery. He finally followed after them.

When he got outside they were already across the grass, but instead of looking for Danny they were looking up in the air at the fight.

“Foley! Manson! Get over here!” Dash shouted at them from the building. “You’re not even looking for Danny! You need to-”

The screech of tires signaled the Fenton’s arrival. They jumped out of their van and brandished their weapons.

“You take that side, Jack! I’ll stay here!”

“Aye, aye!” Jack ran away from her to the other side of the schoolyard.

“Sam, Tucker! Get-”

The ghost looked up at Dash’s voice but its gaze landed on Sam and Tucker first. It hissed at them, the sound grating. It started charging at them and they both took a step back but it was moving too fast.

“No!” Danny shouted, flying towards them.

He got to them just in time to grab them both and knock them out of the way. They tumbled across the ground and Dash could hear Sam and Tucker screaming from where he stood. Danny pulled himself back up and stood between them and the ghost. His fists clenched.

“You’re not getting through me, ghost!”

Danny jumped back into the fight and it took only a couple more hits fueled by his rage before the fight was over and he caught it in his thermos.

He turned to look at Sam and Tucker and he flew forward a couple steps before he was being shot square in the back. He hissed and looked behind him to see his mom still aiming her weapon at him.

“Wait!” Sam ran forward and put herself between Danny and Mrs. Fenton.

“Sam!” Maddie shouted at her. “Get out of the way! We need to capture him!”

“No, he just-”

“Jack, do you have a shot?” Maddie called, looking in his direction.

“No! The kids are in the way!”

Maddie snarled. Dash watched Danny recoil. “If you don’t move-”

Danny started flying away. Maddie aimed her gun at him again but he turned invisible before she could take another shot. She shouted into the empty air and threw her gun down. She glared at Sam and Tucker.

Maddie walked up to them. “Are you aiding the ghost kid?”

They looked between each other, shock on their faces. “No.” Sam said. “The ghost was going to attack us. Phantom was just trying-”

“To win you over.” Maddie hissed out. “He’s nothing but a manipulator and an evil ghost. He doesn’t really care about whether or not you get hurt. He’s just doing it to fulfill his own needs.”

Sam took a step back at Maddie’s words. Tucker grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. Dash could tell that her words upset them. Unsettled them. He’d never seen Mrs. Fenton talk to someone like that before. Let alone Danny’s friends.

Danny walked up behind him, his arm brushing against Dash’s.

“We can’t tell them.”

Dash looked at Danny sharply. “What? I thought you were going to-”

He shook his head. “It would be nice for them to know, but would it just put them in danger? All I did was push them out of the way of that attack and my mom’s accusing them of aiding and abetting me.”

Dash looked back up at where Maddie was stomping away from Sam and Tucker. Their shocked expressions turned to look at Danny and Dash.

“What would she do if they knew and they were really helping me?” Danny whispered.

Dash shook his head. “I.. I don’t know.”

Danny turned his head to look up at Dash. “We can’t tell them.”

“Okay. We won’t tell them.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Get back here, ghost scum!”

Dash ran behind Danny’s parents as they chased him through the air. Of all the things to be giving them the most grief these days, it was Danny’s parents.

Let’s tear him apart molecule by molecule.

We have to have some remains to examine.

I wonder what his insides look like.

Let’s tear him up and find out.

They were relentlessly hunting Danny every time another ghost attacked. They didn’t even bother with the other ghosts anymore either. They only had their sights set on Phantom. That was all they cared about.

He heard Maddie’s weapon go off again and Dash turned down an alley. He had to somehow get to their rendezvous point before them so that Danny could transform and they could get his parents off his trail.

As he came out of the alley, he saw that Danny had turned around in the air. Dash waved up at him and when Danny caught sight of him Dash ran into the next alley. Dash had his back pressed up against the wall and hid on the other side of some garbage cans when Danny flew into the alley and came to stand next to Dash.

Dash pulled Danny behind him and turned so he was blocking him from being seen from the entrance.

“How close were they?” He whispered.

“Too close.” Danny breathed out heavily, calling on his transformation rings. “They-”

His parents ran around the corner of the alley right as Danny’s transformation finished passing. He had a panicked look on his face. Reaching up, he grabbed Dash’s cheeks and pulled his face down.

Dash’s eyes widened.

“Freeze, ghost scum!”

Understanding dawned on Dash and he wrapped an arm around Danny’s waist and deepened the kiss. Danny carded a few fingers through his hair and then jumped and pulled away, faking surprise as he looked over Dash’s shoulder.

“Danny?” His mom called over in surprise. “Is that Dash?”

Dash tried to turn around sheepishly. “H-hey, Mrs. Fenton.” His voice shook and he hoped she couldn’t pick up on the fear that laced through it.

Jack sniffled. “Maddie, our little boy is turning into a man. I think it’s time we gave him the talk.”

“No!” Danny lifted both hands from Dash and waved them vigorously over Dash’s shoulders. “No talk! I do not want to suffer through that.”

“I didn’t know you two were-” Maddie scratched her chin. “When did you two start dating?”

They looked at each other.

“Today-”

“The beginning of September-”

Danny frowned at Dash and he chuckled.

“Haha, yeah, the beginning of September.”

Danny facepalmed. Maddie’s eyes opened wide.

“You’ve been dating that long already? Why didn’t the two of you say anything?” She gasped and held a hand up to her mouth. “Did you not feel safe talking to us about it? I’m so sorry, if we ever did anything to make you feel unsafe-”

“No, mom. It’s- it’s not that.” Danny stammered. “I’m just not ready to talk about it yet.”

Dash looked between Danny and his parents. And the weapons that they were still holding in their hands. Maddie smiled at them.

“That’s okay. We’ll be here when you’re ready.” She lifted her gun to brandish it in both hands again. “Did you two see where that ghost went off to? We were hot on his trail just a minute ago.”

Danny shook his head. “No, sorry. We were, uh, busy.”

“Drat.” Jack snapped his fingers. “He got away again.”

“It’s okay, Jack. We’ll get him one of these days.” Maddie placed a hand on his arm. She turned her head to look back at Danny. “Be sure to be home for dinner. Bring Dash with you if he would like to join us.”

They walked back out of the alley. Danny leaned his head forward and rested it on Dash’s chest, letting out a deep breath.

“That was too close.”

They sat there like that for a little bit. Dash’s hand was still on Danny’s waist. He started rubbing small circles there with his thumb. Danny took another deep breath and pulled away. Dash wilted at the loss of contact.

“Let’s get back to the house.” Danny said quietly. “Unless you want to go home?”

Dash shook his head. “I’ll come back with you. Stay for dinner.”

Danny nodded, relieved. Dash reached a hand up and squeezed his shoulder comfortingly.

“Let’s go home.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, Pariah.”

“Yup.”

Danny was slumped in his seat at the kitchen table. His head hung over the back of it and he just stared up at the ceiling.

“Almost died.”

“Yeah.”

Dash played with his pencil that was sitting on the table next to his homework. “At least the ghosts seem to have more respect for you now. You put their terrifying king back into his coffin again.”

Danny nodded.

Dash frowned at him. “Are you okay, Danny?”

Danny looked at him. “Yeah. I just- It’s a lot to process. Like, why did Vlad give Valerie her weapons? Why is he looking for all these artifacts? What is he planning? Why save me? He could’ve just left me there and I wouldn’t be in his hair anymore. He’d be able to kill my dad all he wanted.”

He looked back up at the ceiling. “What does me defeating the king of the ghost zone really mean?”

Dash opened his mouth to respond but realized he didn’t have any input for that. He closed it again and reached a hand over to Danny but jumped, pulling it away when the basement door opened.

“Hey, boys! How are you?” Maddie asked as she came up the stairs from the lab.

“We’re good, Mom. How’s the work going?” Danny looked up at her.

“We’re making a lot of progress on our newest invention!” She walked over to the sink and grabbed a glass and started filling it with water. “We’ll surely get Phantom with this one! It neutralizes a ghost’s powers so it can no longer use them!”

Dash tensed up and he turned his head to look at Danny. Danny’s eyes were wide as he stared at his mom. “Yeah? Wow.”

Maddie nodded. “We’ve got to get him somehow. I think this one will give us a fighting chance. We’re looking to get a more humanoid ghost to examine for our studies and see what makes them different from blob ghosts.”

“What will you do when you get him?” Dash asked with a little shake to his voice. Maddie smiled at him.

“We’re going to cut him open and see if there’s anything to examine inside him. We’re really curious about his core. A blob ghost’s core isn’t strong enough to sustain itself if it’s even slightly damaged, but Phantom’s would no doubt be much stronger. We could head down to the lab and take a look at-”

Dash suddenly stood up from the table, his heart racing at the mention of the lab.

“I have to get going. Curfew, you know?” Dash pointed over his shoulder and then tapped his wrist.

“It’s like five pm.” Danny deadpanned.

Maddie frowned. “That’s too bad. Don’t be afraid to come over more often. We don’t bite. We could even give you a tour of the lab!”

“Haha, that’s okay. I’ve been warned about all the hazards and wastes that are down there. I’m good hearing about it from up here.”

Maddie shrugged. “Suit yourself. But the offer still stands if you ever want to take us up on it one day.” She grabbed her glass of water and walked to the lab door. “Back to it!”

She pulled the door closed behind her and after a minute Danny’s gaze shifted to Dash.

“Curfew?”

“I don’t know!” Dash groaned and covered his face. “It was the first thing I thought of.”

“Knowing your dad, my mom probably believed that he would move up your curfew to some insane time.”

Dash shook his head and closed his eyes. He just… Couldn’t go down there. Even the thought of it brought Danny’s screams back into his mind.

He felt a hand on his arm and opened his eyes. Danny was looking at him.

“You don’t have to go in the lab if you don’t want to. Ever. Even if they’re begging on their hands and knees.”

Dash smiled and patted Danny’s hand. “Thanks. I do think I’m going to head out for the night though. Call me if any ghost stuff happens?”

Danny nodded and stood up to walk Dash to the door. “You know I always do.”

He waved at Danny over his shoulder.

“See you tomorrow.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dash hadn’t heard from Danny for two days. Before, that wouldn’t have been anything out of the ordinary. But ever since the accident with the portal Dash usually got at least one update from Danny on the whole ghost thing a day.

He was on his way to Fentonworks now. He just… had a bad feeling. He couldn’t describe it. He knew that if he went to check on Danny and didn’t find him, that he could panic a little more reasonably.

He walked up the steps to the Fenton’s front door. He went to knock, but when his fist made contact the first time the door opened slightly. Dash frowned.

Why would they just leave the front door open like that? Were they even home?

Dash pushed the door open the rest of the way and walked inside.

“Danny?” He called into the house. No one responded.

He pushed the door closed behind him and headed towards the stairs. Hopefully Danny would just be sick in his room. He really hoped that was where he’d be.

It was eerily quiet as he walked up the stairs. Fentonworks was always full of life and people any time Dash had been there before. It unnerved him how calm it was.

Dash made his way to Danny’s door. He paused outside it for a moment before he raised his fist to knock.

He waited a second, two, three, but there was no response.

“Danny? I’m coming in.”

He opened the door and swung it open. His heart dropped when he saw that the room was empty. Danny wasn’t here.

He turned back around without closing the door. He walked down the hallway to Jazz’s room and banged on the door, more panicked now.

Jazz must not have been home either because he waited and didn’t hear anything on the other side of the door. He turned around and headed back towards the stairs, pulling his phone out.

He didn’t think he had a choice. He had to tell Sam and Tucker. Maybe they knew something. Maybe Danny told them where he was. He’d start with that, if they’ve heard from Danny at all the past couple days. Then if he had to he’d tell them about Danny being a half ghost. Maybe they would be able to help.

He heard a noise.

Dash’s head whipped towards the kitchen. He slowly walked into the room and turned his head.

Dash saw the open door to the lab. There was a light flickering down there and dread crawled up his throat.

He never wanted to step foot in that lab again.

Dash gulped.

He had to do this. He could go down there again. He had to see if Danny was down there. He had to find him.

Dash walked through the kitchen and into the open doorway. He tiptoed his way down the stairs slowly. He could still turn around. He didn’t have to see what was happening down here.

Dash took a deep breath and took the last step into the lab.

Danny was there, surrounded by his parents. His insides exposed for Maddie to root around in. Dash felt nausea well up inside him.

“What have you done?!”

Jack and Maddie didn’t pay any mind to Dash’s outburst, but he could see Danny stir.

Danny locked eyes with Dash just as his parents touched the glowing orb that sat in his chest with a scalpel.

An explosion erupted from it and Dash covered his face. It sent cracks up the walls and across the floor and the building was trembling. Everything was creaking and debris was raining down from the ceiling.

Danny still lay on the table but his parents were on the floor. He couldn’t tell if they were still breathing or not, but right now he didn’t care.

He ran across the lab to where Danny lay on their dissection table. Danny’s insides were all laid bare to the air. How was Dash supposed to get him somewhere safe?

The house creaked above him and Dash decided that there was no choice. He’d just have to pick him up like this.

Dash scooped Danny up into his arms. He was limp, but he was miraculously still breathing. He turned towards the stairs as the building gave another creak and they caved in. Panic spiked in Dash’s chest. What was he supposed to do? His only way out was blocked. How-

The green glow of the swirling portal caught his eye. He turned his head to look at it. He had no other choice. That was his only way out.

Dash turned his body and started running towards the portal as the rest of the ceiling started collapsing.

He clutched Danny to his chest and dove into the ghost portal.

#gorgi writes #phic phight 2024 #danny phantom #dash baxter #danny fenton #swagger bishie #angst #dissection #scalpels #fanfiction #fanfic #fic #phic

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