Chapter Text
Senior year, the time where teachers started talking about your future, freshly turned eighteen and sitting in Lancers homeroom for the fourth year Danny wished he was anywhere else. He didn't have any plans for his future, it was hard to when you were half dead and no business with any morals would hire him, not with how weak his heart had become from his ghost half.
"You Career Aptitude Tests, as you know, are meant to determine your futures. Some of you are heading for great things, while others are...sort of stagnant," Lancer said and Danny frowned, he knew that Lancer was talking about him. Everyone else had their lives figured out, Sam was going to go oversees for conservation work, Tucker was off for MIT, that would leave him here in Amity.
"C'mon Mr. Lancer, what's the point of this talk if we all know where we're going?" Dash Baxter complained, leaning back in his chair with his legs propped on his desk. Star quarterback of the Casper High football team, a full ride scholarship to Ole Miss when he graduated, he was the ideal high school student and Danny hated him.
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The football season was starting soon, it was all anyone would be talking about for weeks to come, it just pissed Danny off. He slammed his locker shut and shouldered his bag, walking through the hall and towards his least favorite class, gym. It wasn't his least favorite because of the physical activity, he hated it because it was so hard to hide his insane strength and endurance.
He looked up when he heard laughter, seeing Dash standing in the hall with Paulina and Kwan, they were laughing about something that Danny really couldn't care about. The half ghost rolled his eyes when Paulina made a comment about him being a freak. Four years of their shit and he didn't really care anymore, Sam came up to his side, she recently decided to shave the sides of her head, she liked the look more.
"Hey Danny, we still up for tonight?" Sam asked, what she was referring to was a night of watching horror movies, she had her entire life planned out so she didn't really care how her senior year went because her grades were secure as well. The half ghost hummed and dug his nails into the fabric of his beg, the black paint on them chipped, he'd have to ask Sam to fix them tonight.
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Dash Baxter was the start quarterback of Casper High with an entire future waiting for him after he graduated. Paulina and him had a brief fling during the summer, but shortly before their senior year started she cut things off. She told him that she was done with it, she didn't feel anything from whatever their relationship was anymore, he sighed as he stood behind the bleachers with a cigarette between his fingers.
Everyone was excited to start their futures after Casper, himself included, his dad was more than happy that he had been provided a full ride scholarship playing football. Now that Dash thought about it, there was one person who hadn't said anything about future plans, Danny Fenton. The black haired male looked almost bored at the prospect of talking about his future.
Both of his loser friends had plans for after graduation so why didn't he? It wasn't any of Dash's business, not really, but it didn't stop him from being curious.
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The quarterback climbed into his truck after school that afternoon, a truck that had been gifted to him upon his sixteenth birthday, a 1970 ford ranger with rusty fenders and cracked leather seats. He'd had many flings in the bed of this truck, Paulina being the most recent until just a few weeks ago, he groaned when the engine took a few turns to fire up, he'd have to get it looked at again, good thing Randy had a garage on the edge of town and gave him a discount for being star quarterback.
He didn't have anything for the rest of the afternoon besides an essay Lancer had assigned them, the essay was meant to be written about their high school experience and how they believed it impacted them. They had until they end of the semester to turn them in, he distantly wondered what Danny would write his about, would he mention the bullying? How Dash and most of the other a-listers never left him alone? Dash tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
Dash shouldn't be thinking about Danny, he had no right to worry what the other male's future would be like when he spent most of of their lives treating him like shit. The thing is, Dash didn't know why he had decided to bully Danny, they used to be best friends, maybe it was when Paulina came into town. Her parents were very wealthy, and for a kid who was already popular because of his own parents, he thought it the right thing to become friends with her, then Kwan.
The quarterback shook the thoughts out of his head and turned into the parking lot of Randy's garage, parking it next to an old beat up corolla before he hopped out and locked the car. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his letterman and stepped inside the office, telling Randy his problem before handing over the keys.
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It was an hour before he was given news on his car, what he didn't expect was that it was Danny Fenton who came through the door holding a clipboard, his face smeared with grease. Danny scowled when his eyes landed on Dash before he sighed and walked over, Dash didn't say anything, it was almost an instinct to start poking fun at the other male whether it be appearance or his accidents at school.
"You need new spark plugs. They might be shot," Danny said and all Dash could find himself doing was staring at the Fenton son. He hated to admit it but Danny looked good, he had changed a lot through the summer it seemed, he was vacant and just took their insults now instead of snarking back. Dash would be lying if he said he didn't miss the comebacks from Danny.
He had his hair in an undercut now, closely cropped to his ears and piercings going up both ears and one in his septum and lip. Dash mentally cursed himself because what the hell was he thinking? He didn't have any kind of relationship with Danny outside of being a bully now, he couldn't be thinking about the other male this way.
"Earth to Dash," Danny's annoyed voice brought Dash out of his thoughts, he blinked up at the black haired male, not having heard anything he said after being informed his spark plugs were no good. Danny sighed through his nose," it would probably be around $350 to repair your spark plugs, that's with labor included. While we're doing the repair we'll check your ignition coils too," the black haired male recited.
"Thanks Fenton, I guess. Can it be worked on today?" Dash asked and Danny hummed before turning and walking behind the front desk, typing a few things before he stepped back around.
"Looks like we have the parts so yeah. Though it will probably take a few hours, I'll pull the rental around for you," Danny said before walking out of the building. Dash leaned back in the chair and pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes 'what am I doing? Thinking about becoming friends again? He hates me' Dash thought to himself. He looked over when he heard the jingling of keys," try not to have sex in the back seat, we'll call you when your car is done," Danny said, dropping the keys in Dash's waiting hand.
Before Dash could retort Danny was already back in the garage working on another car.