I am pretty sure this is my first time writing a ship, hope I do well!
It always sucked when Dash had to pick up parts for his dad. Driving over there and back always took 5 hours, not to add the amount of time he had to sit around waiting for them. He swore that the only reason his dad bought him a truck at 16 was so he didn't have to make the trips himself. The only good thing was that that town had some pretty good food, but that didn't excuse losing an entire day to a few parts that could just be sent to Amity Park if his dad was any less of a penny pincher.
Dash couldn't even listen to any of his tones as he drove through the road that progressively got darker and darker, he had zero bars and none of the radio stations worked. He did have a few CDs but putting them in would require stopping, and he wanted to get home as soon as possible.
Pressing the breaks, Dash slowed as he turned on a curve he knew cops occasionally liked hiding behind. He had seen his dad get caught by them almost every time he joined him on the trip, so he was much more cautious. But instead of a cop car, he saw a familiar silhouette illuminated by his headlights walking on the side of the road. Dash stopped right next to the teen, who had also stopped, and lowered his window.
"Fenton?" He called out is bewilderment.
"Dash?" Danny responded in a similar tone.
"The fuck are you doing out here??? Are you trying to get ax murdered?"
"What? No! I am heading back to town," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck, an action that, every time Dash saw it, made him want to shove the other in a locker.
But knowing better than to leave his weakest classmate in the quickly darkening woods, he mentally acquiesced, "Ughhh, get in."
"Uh, no need! I'll just walk till I can get some cell service or just walk home," he let out an awkward chuckle, swinging his arm into a thumbs up.
Dash stared at the boy who couldn't complete the mile run without ending up panting and drenched in sweat and whose grade in PE was a D minus.
"Get In Or I Am Putting You In The Trunk."
Danny climbed into Dash's truck, which was much more well taken care of than he expected, and shut the door behind him before putting on his seat belt.
"What the hell are you even doing all the way out here alone?" The loser had a habit of finding himself in weird situations, but he typically had that nerd and goth with him.
"Well… you know," Danny tried to avoid the question, poorly.
"No, I don't," Dash quickly peaked at him before looking back at the road, "We are like 20 miles away from town and I doubt you walked all the way out here."
"Yeeeah," He wasn't going to be able to get out of this conversation if he tried, so the best response would be a partial truth, "I was doing some ghost stuff."
This really piqued Dash's curiosity. Most of the time, the only thing the loser was good for was a punching bag, but whenever ghosts got involved, he got a lot more interesting. Dash remembered the time Fenton led his classmates and him on a mission to fight pirate ghost in order to save all their parents, and even if he had disappeared a little into the fight, he still managed to get them started. It was the only time Dash had thought he was slightly cool, emphasis on slightly.
"I went into the ghost zone to collect some samples of ectoplasm and accidentally fell out a naturally occurring portal that dropped me off around here. I was going to walk till I had enough bars to call someone and that's when you showed up".
That… didn't sound right, but Dash knew too little about ghosts to really be fact-checking him.
"What happened to the samples?" Dash asked, both in doubt and curiosity.
"They are right here," Danny said, unhooking the Fenton Thermos from his belt and shaking it, producing an audible sloshing noise from inside.
"Oh I see," Dash paused as he glanced at it, "Wait, isn't that your water bottle?"
"N-no! They just look exactly the same," Dash could tell he was lying, but that wasn't something he wanted to think about.
In reality, Danny was mostly lying. While he was in the ghost zone for a bit and did leave through a naturally occurring portal, he wasn't collecting samples or anything like that. Instead, he was fighting Plasmius, who zapped him with the Plasmius Maximus so he couldn't use his powers and dumped him through one of the portals. Vlad had recently given him a 'help me' button so that if he was lost in the middle of nowhere or stuck in the past, he could call him without service, but he wasn't about to ask for his help right after fighting with the guy. Luckily, he actually recognized the road he was on from past field trips and decided to just follow it till he got to somewhere with service or till the Plasmius Maximus wore off.
The two boys continued the car ride in silence for a while, Dash's eyes on the road and Danny's on the sky, which was now fully dark. The tension was really getting to the brunette. The guy right next to him had been bullying him since middle school, and every moment that passed he felt like the other tying in preparation for the next day when he'd finally let out all his frustrations on him.
"Can you turn on the radio?" Danny asked. He needed something before he squirmed out of his skin.
"No, its all just static till we get to town," Dash said. He would have really liked some music too, "But I do have some CDs in the glove box if you're careful with them."
"I will be," Danny said as he pulled open the box and took out the CD binder, "Any preferences?"
"I don't keep CDs I don't like in the truck."
"Okie dokie," gosh Dash wanted to punch him, "I'll put in this one then."
As the track started, Dash realized he hadn't removed the 80s pop CD from the truck yet. It wasn't that he didn't like the CD, he loved it, but it was pop, the girliest of genres, and the 80s, the most flamboyant of eras. He couldn't have this loser telling everyone he listened to this kind of music. The only people allowed to know were his friends.
Dash turned to Fenton, about to defend himself and threaten him, when he saw him mouthing a lot to the song and nodding to the beat.
"I… didn't know you liked this kind of music."
"Hm? Oh yeah, my parents have the exact same CD and whenever we are on road trips, they play it. It's the kind of music that was on the radio when my parents were in college. How about you?"
"My mom used to collect CDs, our entire basement is filled with them, and when I was younger I would sit down there and just listen to them for hours. She gave me some of my favorites a few years ago, along with a CD player, and that was one of them. Now I also collect them. I keep the ones I like in my car and the ones I don't are added to the basement".
When Dash looked at Danny's face again, he wasn't ready for how intensely he'd be looking at him. Those bright blue eyes were full of genuine interest and wonder, as if what Dash had just said was the most fascinating thing in the world. Dash immediately looked back to the road, trying to shake off the strange warm feeling that filled him.
"Do you want some more CDs?" Danny asked, still starting at him, "My parents have a few they don't listen to anymore and have been meaning to get rid of."
"Sure," Dash responded stiffly, gripping the steering wheel as tightly as possible.
After their conversation, the tension lifted for Danny, who no longer felt like he was going to be pummeled existing is the other's space, but added for Dash, who was trying to only focus on the road.
Finally, they reached Amity and Dash dropped Danny off in front of his house.
"Thanks for driving me home," he said as he exited the truck.
Dash finally took eyes off the road and looked at his classmate.
"Your welcome…" he traced off as he saw him in the light of the moon. It radiated across his skin and caused his eyes to seem like they were sparkling.
"I'll get you the CDs Monday," he *genuinely* smiled at him.
"Alright," Dash responded quietly, "See you then."
Danny shut the door and Dash continued down the road, making his way to his house. His entire body was tingling, and he was hyper-aware of how hot he felt. He drove a few more laps around the neighborhood, hoping it would help the feeling wear off, and pulled into his driveway. After turning off his truck, he sat there for a minute, gripping the steering wheel so hard his hand was turning white.
"I need to call Paulina."
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