Chapter Text
Danny walked into Casper High with his shoulders slumped, clearly showing the long night he had. He closed his eyes and let his head droop down, letting muscle memory take over as he walked through the halls that he'd walked thousands of times before. Being half ghost allowed him to close his eyes as he could easily turn intangible; anytime he was about to walk into someone he would phase through them.
Dash started walking towards him with a hand ready to high-five. "Hey Fenton, I heard you beat Skulker's ass last night! High -ack!" Dash was Danny's latest victim of phasing through. Once he was clear he became tangible again and walked towards his locker.
"I hate when he does that!" Dash said to Kwan as they started walking to their first class of the day.
Danny leaned his head on his locker and phased his hand in to grab his books for the day. Sam and Tucker rounded the corner and viewed the exhausted state their best friend was in.
"Late night?" Tucker asked, leaning against the lockers.
"Box Ghost, Amorpho, Box Ghost, Lunch Lady, Desiree, Box Ghost, Skulker, and Box Ghost...again," Danny grumbled. "I don't understand how he of all ghosts keeps getting out!"
"You should've called us. You know we can help you," Sam said.
"Yeah, Dude. We could've split up and gotten them all done in no time," Tucker added.
"I know, guys, but we've already had late nights every day this week. I didn't want to bring you two last night for those dorks," Danny said as he finished up with his books.
"When are you going to learn that you don't have to do everything by yourself?" Sam said, placing her hand on his shoulder. Danny just responded by giving her a soft smile.
"It's a hero's complex, Sam. His mortal enemy," Tucker retorted.
Before Danny could respond, the doors to Casper High opened and both Sam and Tucker's eyes widened. "Guys?" Danny turned around and saw the reason for Sam and Tucker's reactions, but instead of his eyes widening, they blazed green as he saw Gregor walking towards them.
"Tucker, Danny, Sam…" Gregor trailed off as he got to them.
"Who are you today?" Sam snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.
Gregor sighed and gave a light chuckle, which angered Danny more. "Elliot, Sam," Elliot held his hand out to Sam waiting for her to shake it, but she just glared at it.
"You have some nerve coming here," Tucker stated crossing his arms over his own chest.
"Well I've been transferred here, so it looks like we're going to be seeing each other around more often," Elliot said trying to ease the tension between him and the Trio. He looked at each of them and received glares. He sighed and turned toward Sam. "Look, I know what I did was awful and I want to make it up to -"
"Pass," Sam interrupted as she walked away to her first class. Elliot watched her walk away, afraid to look at Tucker and Danny. He took a small gulp and braced himself for the duo, in which he saw nothing but Tucker's cold stare and Danny's blazing green eyes.
'Tucker, I - "
"Nope," Tucker said walking away leaving Elliot to Danny's wrath.
Taking a deep breath, "I didn't think this would be so hard."
Instead of receiving any sign of sympathy in Danny's eyes, he saw nothing but a dark hatred build in them with each word he said.
"You better hope I don't see you again," Danny spat. He didn't even wait for Elliot's response as he walked in the direction of his first class.
"Nice talking to you," Elliot grumbled.
"Alright you limp noodles, today we're going to work on agility, perfect our reflexes and up our stamina!" Testlaff said as she paced in front of the students, acting as if they were an army getting ready for war. Danny didn't have gym with Sam or Tucker, which made this period annoying, but as he looked down the line of his classmates, he saw Elliot on the other side, which made the class even more unbearable. Not 3 hours ago, Danny told him that he'd better not see him again, and here Elliot was, in his second class that day. "This has to be a cruel joke," he thought.
"Today, we're doing dodgeball!" Testlaff exclaimed.
At her announcement, half of the class groaned, while the other half cheered. Danny would've been part of the groaning crowd in any other situation, but now that he didn't have to be secretive with his true identity, and with Elliot here, it gave him a dark idea.
"Elliot and I will be captains," Danny said, raising his hand up.
"Wha-" Elliot started.
"Wonderful!" Testlaff boomed, "Captains, pick your teammates and when you're ready, go to your respective sides."
Danny and Elliot walked to where Testlaff just was so they could get a full idea of their classmates. When Elliot dared to take a glance at Danny, he saw a sinister smile on his face.
The tension between Danny and Elliot was palpable to their peers, but lost on Testlaff who was lining the balls up in the middle of the gym. Dash and Kwan looked at each other and gulped.
"That dude dated Fenton's girl, right?" Kwan whispered to Dash.
"Yeah…" Dash trailed off.
Kwan looked back at Danny who was beaming with an evil plan. "I'm scared, hold me." Dash and Kwan wrapped their arms around each other bracing for Danny's next move.
"Dash, you're with me," Danny said as he pointed at him.
Dash gulped and started shaking, "D-don't you think Kwan would be better on your team?"
Kwan pushed Dash off of him and gave him an incredulous look, "You're throwing me under the bus!"
"Do you not see the look in his eyes!" Dash seethed.
"Good idea. Both of you, on my team. Now." Danny snapped as his eyes flashed green.
Dash shoved Kwan as they both started walking next to Danny, "Good job!"
Elliot and Danny finished picking their teams as Testlaff walked over to them, "Okay, class, we are all set. Remember, don't take any prisoners!" The rest of the teams sulked over to their respective sides fearing the next half hour of class while Danny and Elliot stayed in their spots.
"Trust me, I don't plan to," Danny threatened as he turned to his side. Elliot gulped and slowly walked to his side where everyone on his team glared at him for putting them in this situation.
The students held one hand on the wall, stretching as far as they could to the midpoint line where all the balls lay.
"On my whistle! " Testlaff said as she put the whistle between her lips and raised her arms. Finally, she blew the whistle and everyone made a run to the balls. Danny got to the balls first, picked two up, and ran back to his original spot, scanning for Elliot. Elliot knowing Danny would be looking for him decided to do his best and hide behind his teammates. If one of his teammates moved, he would run behind another, and repeat if necessary. Knowing Elliot was trying to use them as a human shield, everyone ran to get away from him so Danny wouldn't lunge the balls and hit them by accident.
Once he got a clear target, Danny whipped the ball at Elliot, taking him out immediately. Danny threw the ball with such force that it made Elliot stumble back and took all the wind out of his body. Elliot grunted out of the court. "At least that's over…" He thought. Once he got to the wall, he sank down trying to catch his breath. His reprieve didn't last long though, as one of his teammates caught a ball from one of Danny's teammates, making Elliot have to come back out. Elliot winced, knowing he would have to face Danny again. By the looks of it, Danny was not getting out or letting up anytime soon. The second Elliot placed both feet back on the court, Danny threw two balls at him, one in the stomach and one in the face.
"Ha ha ha! Good one, Fenton!" Testlaff said.
Elliot ran out of the court lines so he wouldn't get hit again. He then saw other members of his team get hit and felt relief knowing he wouldn't have to go back out anytime soon. Unfortunately, for him, he was very wrong. As the game went on, anytime someone on Elliot's team would catch one of Danny's team's balls, Elliot would be pushed back into the game by his own team. Each time he got back on the court, Danny would throw a ball at him. With each time, he would tremble off of the court, only to be thrown back in again.
"Seriously, no one else wants to go on?!" Elliot screamed at his teammates.
"Dude, you got yourself in this trouble."
Elliot tilted his head back to the ceiling, exasperated with the whole situation. Taking a deep breath, he stepped back onto the court, and not a second later was taken out again.
"Fenton, you're on a roll today!" Testlaff exclaimed, completely oblivious.
Finally, the only two people still in the game were Danny and Elliot. Danny tormented him with the ball by throwing it back and forth between his hands. Elliot nervously grabbed a ball and held it like it was a lifeline.
"You gonna throw it or are you just gonna hide behind it?" Danny taunted.
Knowing this would not end well for him, Elliot took a step forward and threw the ball at Danny with all his strength. For dramatic effect, Danny glided around Elliot's ball at the last second and spun to gain more force in this last hit. He threw the ball at Elliot which hit him right in the stomach and knocked him on the gym floor with a loud thud.
Danny's team ran to Danny and picked him up cheering, while Elliot fought to catch his breath.
"Dude, I heard about gym class! Way to go!" Tucker said, raising his hand to high-five Danny, which Danny gladly reciprocated. Lunch period was the first class period any of them had together, which meant that Tucker was bursting at the seams as soon as he set his tray on the table waiting to congratulate Danny.
Danny looked over to Sam who just glared at him. "Sam, c'mon it was harmless fun," Danny defended.
"Yeah, Sam. It's not like Danny used his ghost powers," Tucker shrugged as he picked up his burger. "Even though, you and I both know he deserves it."
Sam lifted her fork from her salad to point it at Tucker, "Don't get me wrong, Elliot deserves that and more. But us retaliating makes it look like he got under our skin. And I do not want him to have that satisfaction."
"I don't know, by the looks of the video that someone from Danny's gym class posted, Danny looked pretty satisfied while Elliot was fighting for his life," Tucker said as he whipped his PDA out to load the video. He turned it over to Sam and Danny, showing Danny and his team cheering and walking away, then quickly shifting to Elliot who was trying to catch his breath on the ground. Danny chuckled a little while Sam gave a small smile looking at her boyfriend with pride.
"Okay, okay, I admit it. It was pretty funny, but let's try to lay low, okay?" Sam said as she got up to discard her salad. She turned around and bumped right into Elliot who grabbed her arms. Danny quickly got up, phased Sam out of Elliot's grasp, and pulled her back so he could stand in between them.
"We need to talk," Elliot said as he shifted his gaze from Danny to Sam.
"There is no 'we'," Sam spat.
"Sam, please I'm trying to make an effort here - "
"For what? There's nothing to talk about!" Sam snapped.
"I want to apologize - "
"Why don't you just leave, Elliot? Obviously, you're not welcome here," Tucker said.
"Tucker, I know I owe you an apology too. But I need to talk to Sam first."
"Elliot, I'm telling you right now. I do not want to talk to you. Just leave me alone!" Sam stormed off grabbing her backpack and forgetting her salad. Danny gave Tucker a look to follow Sam, to which Tucker complied with. Danny then turned to face Elliot again.
"What's your issue?" Danny asked, glaring at the white-haired teen.
"My issue!? That's not how it looked in gym! What's your issue? I didn't do anything to you!" Elliot yelled.
"Well let's see," Danny said, bringing his hand up to count his issues with Elliot on his fingers. "You called Tucker an idiot, you stole my best friends, made me into a jealous freak, and you kissed Sam!" Danny growled.
"You two weren't even dating!"
"You knew how I felt about her, and you still went after her!"
"Look, what I did was fair game. Maybe there was an unspoken rule about you two before, but in my eyes, she was single," Elliot snapped.
"What do you hope to gain from saying sorry? Sam to forgive you and take you back? Ha, fat chance. Why don't you do us all a favor and leave us alone," Danny said as he grabbed his backpack and started to walk away.
"And if I don't?" Elliot challenged but quickly regretted it. With those four words, the air seemed to be sucked out of the area and everything seemed to go in slow motion. Before Elliot could blink, Danny dropped his bag, grabbed Elliot by the shirt, and pinned him against the tree near their lunch table.
"Wanna say that again?" Danny growled looking at Elliot with his now blazing green eyes.
"That would kill you, wouldn't it? If I took Sam back," Elliot said, arching an eyebrow. He was already in this deep, might as well taunt Danny more. "Wouldn't be too hard, I've done it before. I could do it again."
Danny's grip tightened on Elliot's shirt. Elliot was certain he would get a punch to the face for that, but the reaction that he got from Danny was even worse. Instead of getting punched, Danny laughed in his face.
"That's a good one, Elliot. But just so you know, that's never going to happen. Sure, I was an idiot back then, but not anymore. If I see or hear you come anywhere near Sam, I will make you regret coming back here," Danny said as he released his grip on Elliot's shirt and walked over to pick his backpack up from the ground.
"That's interesting. The world's hero threatening a defenseless nobody," Elliot said as he brushed his shirt off.
"Sure," Danny started as he turned back to face Elliot while continuing to walk backward in the direction of where Sam and Tucker went, "The world's hero to everyone else. But to you, I'm Sam's boyfriend. I'll let your first attempt at a threat slide, but I won't be so forgiving the next time," Danny finished as he turned and walked away.
Elliot grumbled and slunk down the tree. "I wish Danny Fenton never existed." Behind Elliot, he heard a woman give a maniacal laugh. Desiree materialized in front of Elliot and gave him a sly grin.
"I think we can help each other out."