Danny Phantom: Width of a Thread

[RinORourke]

“He knows, he knows everything and he’s threatening me with it.” Danny gasped, fists clenched, legs aching from the sprint he had just done.

“Who?”

I don’t know. I don’t know! But he’ll take everything to Harriet Chin, she’ll do the story, I know she will. Oh god what am I going to do?”

“Calm down Fenton.” Kwan put a hand on Danny’s shoulder.

“Yeah man, I mean there has to be something we can do.” Tucker volunteered.

“It doesn’t matter,” Danny sat down on the couch. “It doesn’t matter, he’ll use it. I have to do something.” He put his face in his hands “I have to do something.”

“Hey.” He looked up, Dash was there, standing beside him. “It’s not just the three of you anymore ya know, you do have backup.” He punched his fist in his hand. “Just tell me when and where.”

Danny tried to smile. “It’s not that easy.” He said, turning his eyes to his hands, fingers curling over his palms. “It’s never that easy.”

With a deep breath he reached out and curled his fingers into the collar of Dash’s dress shirt, looking straight at the questioning face beneath him and ignoring the nervous sweat that beaded on his brow.

Danny kissed him, hard, fists gripping the fabric of Dash’s shirt so tightly he could feel his nails biting through. Dash was too astonished to respond, either violently or appreciatively, on his own but his body flared up with a fierce sensation that shot straight from his lips down to his groin. Against his will, he found his hands wrapping around Danny’s slim waist, pulling him closer, leaning back onto the bed as he pressed the lithe body against him, relieving the strain on their necks.

They broke not too long after they started, still out of breath from the fight they had been in only a few moments ago.

“What was that?” Dash gasped while Danny gulped down breaths at an unhealthy speed.

Breathing ragged Danny lay his head down on Dash’s shoulder and touched his tongue to the underside of his jaw. “I think you know.” Dash grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him back in for another kiss. They were teenagers, closed mouth kisses should have passed by now, but at the moment that was as far as two very straight guys were willing to do. Dash closed his eyes for a heartbeat, two, feeling the anger drain from him along with some huge, strangling weight.

“Attempt to get away no doubt.” Dash broke the kiss.

“No. Doubt.” Danny tried to respond.

“You’re not getting away.” He whispered against Danny’s lips, hands spanning out and spreading the brunette’s legs on his hips. “You’re staying here.”

“Watch and see.” Danny countered, touching his tongue to the tip of Dash’s swollen nose before slipping it into his mouth for a long, heated kiss, pressing Dash’s head into the mattress with the force of it. Dash’s hands traveled from his thighs to grip his rear, igniting a blossom of heat at the base of his spine that sped up towards his brain, igniting some spark inside his head that made his thoughts swirl around like the colors of a cream saver.

Dash pulled away again and tried to catch his breath, leaving Danny to run fevered kisses along his face and neck. “Feh-Fenton, what the hell are we doing?” he shuddered as a little ripple of desire wove its way from his pulse down to fist his gut and curl his toes.

“Very” gasp “very interesting things.” He bit Dash’s pulse again.

“I see that.” He felt Danny’s hands loosening his belt and tugging on his shirt. “Don’t rip the buttons.” He said out of nowhere and Danny pulled back to look down at him, flushed, breathless, and confused.”

“Romance movie cliché.” Dash breathed. “Buttons flying everywhere.” He drummed his fingers on Danny’s back pockets.

“Thought that was superheroes.”

“Yeah, them too.” And then Danny’s hands were under his shirt, touching his bare skin, and he couldn’t find enough air to speak again. His hands trembled as he fumbled around Danny’s waist for the buttons of his pants. He touched a little tent in the denim that felt nothing like what he was searching for. His stomach filled with butterflies as thoughts of what it might be skidded around in his mind. He groped with one hand to drag Danny back up to his mouth while slipping his other gently into the loose pants to retrieve the mystery item.

Danny moaned softly, shifting against the stiffening lump beneath him, drawing out a low rumbling grown from Dash.

“What’s this?” he broke away and looked at the little cylinder. “A beaker?”

“Hmm,” Danny buried his face into the crook of Dash’s neck and let out a tiny mewl. “Something.” He said and started licking again.

‘What kind of something?” Dash bit back another gasp. “A ghostly something?”

“Donno,” Danny mumbled, unfastening the very top button of Dash’s shirt. “A sleepy something.”

“Sleepy” deep breath “something?” he pushed Danny away and scooted out from under him a bit. “What do you mean?”

Danny’s passion glazed eyes cleared a moment and his tinged cheeks reddened more. “A tranquillizer, I guess.” He undid another two of Dash’s buttons before Dash swatted his hand away.

“For me?” Danny nodded and Dash let his head fall back against the bed. “Uhn, why and I so stupid?”

Danny undid another button. “To attract brilliant brunettes?” he offered. Three more buttons, the shirt was wide open.

Dash sat up and dumped Danny onto the floor.

“You planned this from the beginning.” He accused and Danny cocked his head in irate confusion.

“What?”

“You planned to seduce me and knock me out.”

“Yes.” A flat answer. Was something wrong with his head? Was he sick? What the hell was Danny thinking?!

“You’re still planning to?” Dash stood from the bed and held the vial out with two fingers. “You were just gonna slip this to me and leave?”

“Gonna screw you first.” Danny added. “Consolation prize.”

“Cut the jokes Fenton.” Dash snapped, throwing the bottle at him. In surprise Danny went intangible and the vial whizzed right past him, smashing against the wall and spraying the back of a now solid Danny with glass and liquid. “What did you do?”

“Me? You threw the vial at me!” Danny jumped up and patted himself down, feeling a few scratches from the fragments.

“You used your powers you idiot! The alarm!” Dash grabbed Danny by the shoulders and shook him.

[RinORourke]

“Uh..alarm,” Fright spread across Danny’s face for a full minute before the two realized there was no blaring noises deafening the hotel occupants.

“Where’s the alarm?” He turned accusing eyes towards Danny. “You turned them off.”

“No.” Danny denied. “Well I was going to, but you stopped me.” He added quickly.

“Yeah, like I’m gonna believe that!” He shook Danny a few more times. “You lying little blackmailer whore.”

“If I could use my ghost powers you think you’d have been able to sit on me?” Danny retorted. “And I’m a virgin, thankyou.”

“True..”Dash stopped shaking him, then a small twitch jerked at his lips. “Virgin?”

“Ego!” Danny socked Dash in his swollen nose, the blond giving a shout of pain, letting go of the ghost boy to clutch at his abused snoz.

“Jerk.” Dash muttered.

“a**.” Danny countered.

“Dork.”

“Moron.”

“Whore.”

“Queer.”

“Queen.”

“f**”

“You seduced me.” Dash snapped.

“You were the one grabbing my a**.”

“That’s because you’re too girly for my unevolved body to tell the difference.”

“Your brain needs the evolution Dash, not your body.” Danny reached out and tweaked an exposed n****e, “It’s just fine.”

“You still trying for that?” Dash growled. “I smashed the tranquilizer.”

“And I can just fly away.” To emphasize the point he touched Dash with a finger and suddenly Dash’s pants had fallen to the floor.

“HEY!” Dash bent to snatch up his pants but his hands went right through them. He smacked Danny’s hand away and became solid again. “a**.”

“Ghost.” Danny corrected.

Dash stared at him, trying to get his pants back up past his knees, realized they were still buttoned and zipped, and then just kicked them off. “a**.” He repeated.

“Yes well, now that I can go anywhere…” He sat on the bed.

“You can’t go anywhere Fenton, I’m still here. I can warn them you know, have them switch everything back on.” Dash started to button his shirt back up.

“No.” Danny’s smile was a little sad, Dash paused in his buttoning. “You can’t.”

“What.” And then it hit Dash. Like an incredibly well timed theater scene, his vision swam. “What did you..”

“The vial.” Danny tapped his lips. “Was only half full.”

“But I didn’t…” Dash plopped down on the floor, confused and groggy. “I didn’t…don’t remember.. uhn”

“No, but I did.” His smile was pained as he reached across and tapped a finger to Dash’s stomach, an exact copy of the move he had just done to drop Dash’s pants. “And I gave it to you.”

“You…you said you didn’t…” Dash shook his head; oh, he wanted to just lie down. His eyes were watering from the strain of keeping them open. “Powers…didn’t…you said.”

“I didn’t know.” Danny turned his head away a moment, took a breath, then moved from the bed to the floor with Dash. “I didn’t.”

“For.” Dash blinked at Danny. “For you?” Danny nodded. “Why?”

“You won’t be aware long enough for the full explanation.” Danny pushed him down onto the floor completely. “So let’s just stop talking.”

Dash shook his head. “Still awake.” He reached shaky hands up to grip Danny’s shoulders.

“That’s because it just entered your system.” Danny straddled the larger teen, hands undoing the few buttons that Dash had redone. “needs time.”

“You..” Dash tried.

“Ghost,” was all Danny said as explanation. He slid the prong from his own belt and unfastened his pants. “Just be quiet. It’ll all fade away soon.”

Dash tried to push him off, but his muscles had dissolved from his bones, leaving him quivering. Danny pushed past the weak grip on his shoulders and pressed their lips together.

“You’re already undressed.” He breathed, “Might as well,” brushing a tear on Dash’s cheek with his nose. “You won’t be the ‘taker’ though, promise.”

‘Sorry mom.’ Was all Dash could think beyond forcing the blackout back away from him as long as he could.

“We have to keep up appearances Sam, all of us do.” Danny explained to her. “If they suddenly start acting chummy it could cause a lot of unneeded drama.”

“That doesn’t excuse their behavior.”

“No, but we have to let it go.” Danny nursed his bruised cheek in his right hand. “It’ll be worse if we didn’t.”

“But Danny, with this guy out there doing all this, they have to start easing up on you.” She placed a cool cloth to his face. “You can’t handle it all.”

“I can.” He asserted. “I can and I will. It’s nothing too bad.”

“But what if something happens?” She gripped his shoulders “What if he makes you do something you don’t want to?”

Danny smirked up at her. “Who could ever make me do something I really don’t want to?”

[Drea Lynn Zey]

Ok, my brain is gonna 'splode soon from all this reading. Hooray for 'splosions!

[RinORourke]

dragonmikogirl

Ok, my brain is gonna 'splode soon from all this reading. Hooray for 'splosions!

Just a little bit left, then we're done. So close! Soooo close! I can't seem to type fast enough.

[RinORourke]

Danny’s strength gave out on him and he collapsed next to Dash. He really, really shouldn’t have done that, should have just left Dash to pass out on his own. Now he didn’t want to do anything bust just stay down on the floor and rest his head against Dash’s chest. They were both breathing heavily, it seemed they hadn’t caught their breath since the first fight. It was difficult for Danny to make sense of everything.

Lifting his head he looked at his bemused lover, eyes heavily lidded staring up at the ceiling emptily, his lips were parted partially to gasp in air and a small line of drool trickled down from the corner of his mouth. Danny dipped his head down and lapped it up.

The act would have disgusted him, but he figured since his own tongue had shared that mouth not too long ago, it shouldn’t. With a defeated sigh he kissed Dash’s unresponsive lips gently on last time.

“I have to go now.” He rasped, though he knew Dash was in no way ‘awake,’ though his body was still active. His mind was far, far away from this world.

Danny stood and dressed. He was tired to the point of collapse, but once he had finished this task tonight, he was sure he could sleep. He had to, if he didn’t rest soon he wouldn’t be any use to anyone, especially himself.

Dash was right, he was selfish, but damn it if he hadn’t earned a bit of selfishness after all this time.

He stripped the top covers off the bed and laid them over Dash’s bare body in one fluid motion before disappearing in a flash of white rings.

Dash pushed Danny’s face into the trampled grass. “What was that Fentina?” He laughed. Yes, laughed would be a good name, some kind of hollow chuckle without trace of humor or enjoyment. He twisted Danny’s arm further up his back, causing the teen to cry out and get some dirt in his mouth.

“I’m sorry!” he shouted and wriggled under the weight of the body on top of him. Dash’s knee dug painfully into his back and his arm was beginning to go numb.

“And you aint gonna get in the way again right?” Dash ground out.

“Yes yes! Now please!” Dash stood up releasing the small brunette.

“Good.” He grimaced when Danny rolled over and brushed dirt and grass blades from his face. “Now go get the Frisbee you lost looser, Pooky needs his exercise.” Ignoring the fact that Danny didn’t lose the Frisbee, and that Pooky looked like if he ran another two feet he would keel over.

Danny got up and limped over to the bushes, searching for the red toy Dash had flung at his head for absolutely no reason. “I can’t believe I ripped my pants.” He groaned as he reached into the thicket and picked up the object. “I’m running out of cloths with all this stuff.”

“Hello ghosty.” A voice came from behind him.

“Boss!” Danny eeped for the second time that night. “What are you doing here?”

“Checking in.” he smiled, looking Danny Phantom over. “All went well?”

Danny flushed. “The security was already turned off,” he explained. “I figured I just hover around and eavesdrop.”

“No need.” He smiled wider holding up a hand. In an instant a green unfamiliar ghost fazed through the wall behind him and placed a radioactive looking camera in his hands. The device immediately came to life and started hissing at Danny through green fangs.

“What’s all this?” Danny transformed and settled down onto the carpet floor. “What do you mean ‘no need’? I’ve been hanging around here all night and I’m exhausted.”

“I’m sure you are.” He interrupted.

“Tell me I didn’t just do all this for nothing.” Danny demanded.

“Oh no.” he said with a chuckle. “No, no, not at all. You were the key factor in everything we did tonight.”

Danny’s eyes strayed to the ghostly camera again. “What did you do?”

“Just took some rather incriminating pictures.” He answered.

“I thought Dash’s parents had to stay in the ballroom until the party was over.”

“They did.” He fidgeted with the device, pressing buttons while avoiding being bitten. “Someone else didn’t.”

“No.” Danny breathed.

“You were brilliant little ghost, I’m sure if he’d been any more lucid than a drunken cockatiel he’d have thoroughly enjoyed it.” He cocked an eyebrow as he scrolled by an image, “Though he seemed to have enjoyed it plenty enough.”

“You b*****d!” Danny lunged at him but in his weary state he was easily sidestepped, ending up sprawled on the hallway floor. The man nudged him onto his back with a foot to look down at him.

“You look like s**t ghosty, go home and sleep. You earned it.” He smirked as he held up the camera in front of him. “Really earned it.”

[RinORourke]

Danny walked into the office, looking not at all rested and wearing the same rumpled cloths he had at the party. Arms crossed over his stomach he plopped down into a chair beside his bosses desk and stared out the huge window, ignoring the three guests in the seats across from him.

“Good morning Daniel.” Judge Baxter said coldly. Dash just glowered at him while his father flexed his hands.

“Now that we’re all here, we can get down to business.” Danny’s boss smiled sweetly at them all. “I know you have received the pictures by now, otherwise well, you wouldn’t look ready to slaughter the two of us like you do.” He laughed as if it was all some funny prank.

In Danny’s experience pranks were rarely ever funny.

“What do you want?” Mr. Baxter snarled.

“I understand you have a little pile of papers on me.”

“We were building a case, yes.” Danny’s head shot up and he looked at them in surprise. Dash’s lip curled in rage. “Is that all this is about? Consider it gone then, you can come by and destroy the copies yourself if you want.” Judge Baxter hadn’t lost her cool at all, and Danny wondered where that bubbly woman he met last night went.

“Yes, well sorry to say that’s not all.”

“What the hell more could you possibly want?!” Mr. Baxter snapped. “We don’t have anything else on you, it was all between Dash and my wife, and you’ve effectively tied them both.”

“Dash?” Danny practically whined the question.

“I wanted to help you Fenton.” Dash grit. “But it’s too late for that now.”

Danny let his head fall towards his chest. He really was so stupid. There had to have been a real threat if he had wanted a judge in his back pocket. And Dash’s mom? He should have connected the dots long before the stupid party.

“I guess.” He said softly.

“Now now, there can’t be any bad feelings between us here,” he placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder and squeezed. “After all we’re going to be working together.”

“Bullshit.”

“Honey.” The judge held up her hand. “Very well. It will be difficult should something actually end up in my courtroom, but I’ll help you out with whatever I can on the legal end of things.” She nodded. “You keep the evidence down and nobody should make any of the connections we had. It was… a very interesting case to say the least. Pity the system will never see it.”

“A sensible woman.” He smiled pleasantly and rose from his desk to shake her hand. “I understand the boys and you have some things to discuss, and if Danny were anybody else I would worry about leaving him in here alone with you.” He turned that smile to a shocked Danny. “But after last night I think we all know he can handle himself.” And he was out the door, whistling merrily. “Lock up when you leave ghosty!” He called.

Danny just sat there while the others glared at him.

“So what exactly does he have on you Daniel?” Mr. Baxter asked harshly.

Danny looked up at them through red rimmed eyes, the dark blotches beneath them a testament to the nights of sleeplessness he had since the day his secret had been exposed. “Something very, very bad.”

Dash snorted. “To you maybe.”

“And you think what he has on you lot is worse Dash?” Danny snapped. “What, you’re afraid everybody will think you’re gay? Big deal.”

“Now listen you.” Dash’s father began but Danny interrupted.

“No you listen, all of you listen.” He growled. “If my secret is exposed I’m dead. Not harassed, not discredited, dead. Dee Ee Aye Dee, DEAD. Do you know what it’s like to fear for your life?” He stared wide-eyed at them through his bangs. “No matter what I’ve done, or who would defend me, I’m dead. The Government could say they protect me and there would still be some nut job scientist out to kidnap me and cut me apart.” He raked his hands through his disheveled hair. “I’m dead, sooner or later I’m going to mess up and he’ll expose me and I’ll be dead.” He shook his head, fisting his hair and trembling, just repeating the word over and over. ‘dead.’

“So you say.” Judge Baxter spoke. “But would this terrible secret be believed?”

Danny looked up at her confused. Dash turned to her, cocking his head. “Mom, you don’t even know what it is.”

“But you do, don’t you Dash?” his mother nailed him with an icy look. “You seem to know everything, quite a change from your regular casting in things.” Dash opened his mouth but nothing came out.

“Dear?” Mr. Baxter probed.

“I’m thinking you’re problem isn’t as big as you think it is.” She held up a hand when Danny protested and charged ahead, knowing a single hand wouldn’t prevent a distraught teen from interrupting. “I’m sure since you know that it’s true it seems huge.” She paused, considering her words. “But you see, not everybody knows it’s the truth.”

“But it is true.” Dash said. And his mother nodded.

“Well then, can you maybe tell me this big secret?” she asked

“You wouldn’t be—” Danny halted and stared at the judge. “You wouldn’t believe us…”

“I thought as much.” She smiled.

Danny looked ready to hyperventilate and Dash, forgetting his injustice, hurried to his side. “No one would believe him.” He said. “Why didn’t I see it, oh god it’s so obvious.”

“Because you know it’s true.” Mrs. Baxter said, standing. “And when you know it’s the truth, you start to think everybody knows the truth. It’s a paranoia many guilty criminals suffer from.”

“But I..He! Oh god Dash I’m so sorry I..it wasn’t supposed to..oh man.” Danny couldn’t get the words out, he just couldn’t say it.

“It’s okay.” Dash sighed, even though it wasn’t. “You had to get back at me for all these years somehow.”

“Dash..” Danny put his arms around the bulky teen. “I’m sorry.”

“Yes, yes, well let’s get going then. I really don’t like this office and the sooner we’re gone the sooner I can see the city from the ground floor.” Mrs Baxter smiled.

“But mom, you said you…mom you work for him now. The pictures.” Dash stood with Danny, arm around the boy’s shoulders to steady him.

“Yes yes, the pictures.” She pulled an envelope out of her jacket pocket. “Nice quality, really.” She smirked, dumping the little rectangles into her hand. “You want to see them Danny? Nice ones of you.” She chuckled at the redness of both boys faces. “So my son’s gay, so what, worst thing for me in this town is to have a bunch of homo-hate crimes end up in my courtroom. And hey, who doesn’t like business?” She laughed at her own bad joke.

“But honey?!” Mr. Baxter protested.

“Oh sweetie, he would have had to come out sooner or later, I mean we’ve know about it for forever.”

“What?!” Dash tensed. “What do you mean? I’m not gay; this was all a big mistake, that’s all.”

“Right, Dashiel. Romance channel? Teddy bears?” His father put his hands on his hip. “You have a Chihuahua. Named Pooky.”

Danny let out a whoop that turned into a cough when Dash hit him. “Shut up Fenton, this is all your fault.”

“It is.” Danny said with a strained smile.

“Well, I guess this is all the evidence he has to hold the two of you.” She handed the copies to Danny, who blushed when he saw the top one was of a very arousing kiss, and Dash was grabbing hit a**, whoa boy so it wasn’t just when he had Dash doped up. “It’s really up to you two boys what to do, is this secret as important as the other one?”

Danny looked up at Dash, who was also red, and looking pained. Dash had to think about his reputation, or course and since Danny got him into this he would go with his decision.

Dash smiled tightly and shook his head. “It’s not.” He answered.

“Nowhere near.” Danny agreed.

“Well then, he can publish these all he wants,” Mr. Baxter declared. “And considering you both are under 18 and in private, he’ll simply wind up looking like a pervert.”

“Child porn charges?” Mrs. Fenton suggested.

“We aren’t that young.” Dash protested and his mom shrugged. Dash took the pictures from Danny and leafed through them. “These are good.” He laughed at Danny’s elbow jab, removing a single picture. Moving his arm from around Danny’s shoulders to around his waist he threw the pictures up in the air and steered him out the door with his parents, tucking it into his back pocket before Danny could see which one he chose. “I’ll keep this one.”

Danny shrugged, stepping on one of the pictures as they left. He would see them all soon enough, and hopefully his boss never again.

[RinORourke]

End

[Tren Rogue]

I loved it... but to me it feels like a cliffy... Will there be a sequel to it? Because its mean to just leave us hanging like that.

[Drea Lynn Zey]

Yes, I DEMAND A SEQUEL!... Please? xd

[RinORourke]

Sorry. The entire fic was for a challenge by Kedo (my editor) and I really only did it for her... There may be others picking up the challenge too, but this is as far as I go with this. In fact, the last update was only a treat, I originally planned it to end with Danny's boss standing over him with the camera. (fear my angsty ways!)

Again Sorry, but look on the bright side. Now that I'm done here I can finish up elsewhere. Like, oh Photo Opportunities?

[Drea Lynn Zey]

Oh, fine. *childlike pout*

(I'm kidding. Can't wait 'till more stories are updated!)

[RinORourke]

Well, I have something for you. cocacola_clasic is currently planning to pick up the challenge as well. I'm not curtain if she'll make it slash or whatnot, but she's writing something.

Which is not all too good, seeing as she's yet to finish the first chapter to Dash Phantom >(

[Amarucha]

Hey, I really, really like ur fics, can u allways tell me when u do these more? smile

[RinORourke]

Amarucha

Hey, I really, really like ur fics, can u allways tell me when u do these more? smile

More what? Just the Danny Phantom ones, or any fandom?