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nexmakesquestionablefics · 4 years

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Dash wants to romance Phantom and he should do it - Chapter 1

Fandom: Danny Phantom

Tags: Dash Baxter/Danny Fenton, Kwan, Fluff, ship, Danny is an idiot, hurt/comfort, angst, dating, secret exposed

Summary: Dash had a big secret: he was a hopeless romantic. Taking that a step further, he was hugely pansexual. Put those together and you had a big idiot that had lots of love to give, but nobody to spoil with it. What else could he do but fall hard and fast for Amity Park's hero, Danny Phantom?

you can read it on Ao3 here, along with several new chapters, but otherwise i figured i should get this tumblr running properly and i figured why not do it with a ship fic

Dash Baxter had a terrible, horrid, mind-blowing secret; probably the biggest secret in all of history. The truth is, he was a giant sap. Furthermore, and perhaps worse, he was an absolutely hopeless romantic.

He watched the romance channel every night, eyes glued to the screen with his chihuahua, Pooky, sat in his lap, gazing with the same rapt attention as his owner. It was his favorite time of the day, when he could go home and be himself… well, sort of. His parents would definitely skin him alive if they knew about what he fantasized about (cruises in the moonlight… wide-blown confessions… desperate tears as his lover is begged to stay…). They probably wouldn’t appreciate his sexuality much, either, which he’d figured was pan at this point.

And here was where the main problem cropped up: when Dash fell for someone, he fell hard. Snap his nose, shatter his skull, brain oozing out the ears hard. To make matters worse, he just happened to be attracted to the one man literally all of Amity Park was after as well- Danny Phantom.

Everybody else just wanted Phantom because he was a hero, Dash was sure, but there was so much more to the teenage hero than just the heroics (even though they were fucking amazing!). For instance, the way he grinned after finally beating down a stubborn ghost and it seemed to light up the sky. How he went cackling into a battle at his own horrible jokes. How his hair fluffed cutely when he slowed down to land. How his eyes literally shone with determination and bravery.

Suffice to say, Dash could go on for hours.

Phantom was strong where Dash was weak, brave where he cowered, and beautiful where he was rough.

It was honestly pathetic how badly Dash swooned for the ghost.

---

Dash slid in beside Kwan at their usual table; they were the first ones there, and simultaneously glanced around to make sure no one was in earshot.

“So I got the pictures,” Kwan mumbled, sliding them over face down like some sort of shady dealer.

“Thanks, Kwan. I knew I could count on you.” Dash palmed the photos and tried to discreetly look at them under the table. Looking back at him were several snapshots of Danny Phantom in the middle of battle; most stunning was the one where Phantom was inches from fucking roundhouse kicking some ghost in the face.

“I thought you’d like them,” Kwan said, a little too smug, having seemingly have seen some reaction in Dash’s face, “they were in super high demand when I got there.” He sighed, looking over Dash’s shoulder at the pictures, “Phantom’s just so damn flexible… ”

“Imagine all the spider-man kisses…” he mumbled without thinking, but Kwan just sighed in sympathy.

Kwan was the absolute one and only person he’d ever told about the whole romance thing. Dash had been worried he’d laugh, but he was his best friend. They’d both been sat in front of the tv watching the romance channel within the hour. He couldn’t ask for a better best friend.

Finally, the other A-listers began to join them, so Dash tucked the pictures away and settled into the routine of gossip.

---

It’d been a long, long , wait, chocked full of flustered planning, working part time jobs, and reciting, but Dash finally had everything ready to confess.

To fucking confess!

“I’m gonna throw up,” he told Kwan through the bouquet of flowers he was clutching to his chest.

“No you’re not,” he reassured, “you know why?”

“Why…?”

“Because Danny Phantom is waiting for you!”

“...No he’s not? I haven’t told him yet.” Was this some kind of metaphor? He didn’t get metaphors.

“Huh? No, I meant, uh…” Kwan visibly struggled to salvage the conversation, “I meant kinda figuratively? Like… he’s waiting but he just doesn’t know it yet?”

Dash scratched his head, “I guess…?”

“...Whatever,” Kwan flapped his hands at him, shooing him toward the door, “go get in position and I’ll track him down, okay?”

“Alright. Good luck out there!”

“You too, Baxter,” Kwan called, waving optimistically over his shoulder.

Dash took a deep breath in, then out, both ways trembling, before finally turning and jogging off to the confession site.

---

If everything went right, the plan would go as following: Kwan tracks Phantom down after a fight and asks him- begs, if necessary, that the ghost come to Amity Park’s gardens for ‘something important.’ There was a trail of roses at the entrance, leading deeper in until it came to the secluded spot that Dash sat waiting on one of the fancy benches, wearing one of his Dad’s fancy jackets and his best clothes. Dash would stand, give him, the bouquet, and then his speech… and ask him out.

In theory it was fine… but now that he was here, it felt like he was gonna pass out. He went too far, didn’t he? The trail of roses was too much- way too sappy. And what the hell kind of bouquet was he even holding!? He’d tried to use flower meanings to his advantage, but now it looked like all the colors were clashing. There was way too much. It was actually kind of heavy- or was that just his nerves? Dash lowered the bouquet to rest in his lap and wiped his forehead with his forearm.

Oh god, was he going to sweat through his clothes? Was he about to confess to his only love while there were growing sweat stains under his pits? It was about time to call this off; it was fine, they could reschedule, Phantom popped up several times a day and-

Dash flinched as his phone buzzed in his pocket, alerting him to a text from Kwan. ‘Hes coming ur way!!!’ it read.

Dash scrambled to make himself look halfway decent, sitting ramrod straight on the edge of the bench. A second later he smacked himself and leaned back, trying to look confident. He threw his arm over the back of the bench, but second guessed it after remembering the sweat.

Just be polite, he snapped at himself, before settling back with his hands in his lap, bouquet leaning against his chest.

He liked it when the characters in his shows were nervous to confess, but absolutely hated it for himself. How did they deal with this?

Dash waited for about another five excruciating minutes before he caught a bit of movement in the corner of his eye and saw Phantom coming around the corner- he hadn’t even heard him coming, oh god.

The A-lister stood, quickly smoothing down his clothes. Phantom seemed to have been collecting the roses as he went, now holding a small handful of them close to his chest. There also seemed to be a nasty looking bruise on his neck, just barely visible thanks to the high neckline of his suit. When the ghost finally looked up and saw Dash having an internal crisis a ways away, his eyes went comically wide (actually that was really cute…).

“Phant-om,” he began, his voice cracking on the very first fucking word, “uh, first of all, I’m really, really happy you could meet me here. Second…” Dash trailed off; his nerves were frying his memory. He saw Phantom take a breath to speak and panicked, quickly thrusting the bouquet toward him. “This is for you!”

The ghost fumbled it for a second, what with already holding the other flowers he’d picked up along the way. The bouquet looked huge in his hands; it also looked prettier in his hands. Less child’s-hateful-crayon-art and more graceful-rainbow-over-the-sea.

Dash tried to take a steadying breath and spoke softly, “so I know you definitely have a lot of admirers… like a lot a lot, but… I decided that I couldn’t live without- that I couldn’t go on without at least trying. ” He felt a hot wash of shame at the slip up, but he couldn’t stop now, “I-I see you fight and you make me brave, I see you smile and my whole world lights up. You’re just- you’re beautiful and amazing and- and…” Dash finally made eye contact, remembering that confidence in these situations was important, when his mind blanked. Oh god- oh god- Phantom was blushing a green glow. That was kinda weird- actually nevermind- that was fucking adorable.

Phantom glanced away and laughed nervously, “Dash, I uh-”

“W-wait, let me finish,” he cut in quickly, in a bit of a panic, “please,” tacked unhelpfully onto the end. Phantom shifted awkwardly, but nodded; Dash would have missed the way he held the flowers a little closer to him, if not for the subtle crinkle of their wrapping.

He huffed and forced himself to continue, “the- the point is! ...It’s…” the script was a mess at this point… “it’s that you mean more to me than you’ll ever know and… I want you to go out with me. Please. I-...” he nodded with finality, blushing madly. He’d botched that so bad. He screwed up, hadn’t he? Oh god… Kwan was gonna be so disappointed in him…

Phantom took a deep breath and shifted the bouquet to one arm so he could rub the back of his neck. “...I, uh,” he began after awhile, “I really, really appreciate this, but,” Dash’s heart sunk in his chest- more realistically, actually, it hit the bottom of his stomach with a loud clatter. Phantom must’ve heard it, because he quickly went on, “a relationship with me of all would get really complicated really fast. I, uh, I don’t wanna pin that on anybody. Especially not you. Dash. So…”

Dash blinked stupidly for a second. “...You mean the ghost fighting? I know- I know! A-and I’m prepared for that! I thought it all out- you could go out and fight ghosts, no problem, but when you’re done, I’d be waiting for you back at home!”

Phantom gave him an odd look, “...home?”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Dash fumbled, suddenly embarrassed again, “I figured you lived in the ghost zone or something and that you could just come to my place whenever we wanted to hang. ...That! Also! Solves the whole thing about you being super famous and all, y’know?” Dash began gesturing wildly, his nerves getting the better of him at this point, “you don’t even have to tell anybody we’re dating! I know everybody’d be super pissed if you did. This whole thing can just be our little secret!”

The ghost winced before he could cover it up, “about secrets… there’s a lot I can’t tell you. About myself. About ghosts. It’s just… Dash. You’re- you’re a great guy and all, but… a relationship with me would seriously be a bad move.” Dash was about to cut in, but Phantom talked over him, “can’t you do better than a secretive, dead guy, who fights other dead guys for a living? Your still in highschool. Uh, aren’t you? So- so at the very least, go and like… be with somebody that can actually contribute to the relationship.” He shrugged awkwardly, “or, I dunno, marry some rich dude and ride out life with money instead. Whatever suits you.”

Dash saw his chance and snagged it with both hands, “ you suit me,” he blurted.

Phantom gave him a look and Dash would’ve fainted right then and there if it weren’t for the telling blush that came with it (those piercing green eyes could give grown men heart attacks, honestly).

“That’s not- ugh. Dash-” Phantom huffed in frustration.

“No! Okay, listen up, Danny Phantom,” the ghost seemed to twitch at the use of his full name, “I think you’re fucking amazing! I’ve been a huge fan since you just started out saving people. And the day that we both got shrunk super puny and had to run around a lot- that was really really tiring, but not the point! That was the best day I ever had!” Was he shaking? He was definitely shaking; he was practically yelling at Amity Park’s hero to date him. “There’s nobody else that I would even dream of being with other than you! I- I’ve…

“I’ve fantasized this moment a thousand times.” Dash swallowed thickly and deflated. “And I just… it would make me so happy if you agreed to go out with me.”

Phantom looked terribly conflicted- maybe even a little dazed. The longer Dash looked at him, the more he started to notice how banged up he seemed. Oh, right; Kwan had pulled him right out of a fight, without even giving him a chance to go rest up. Dash was swamped with a sudden guilt- Phantom had dragged himself way out here to listen to his blabbering while all Dash had been worried about were sweat stains and color coordination… oh god.

Quickly, Dash began patting his pockets, some of his nerves finally falling away now that he realized how bad he’d fucked up. He pulled out an antiseptic spray and bandages before offering them to Phantom. “I’m so, so sorry- I didn’t think you’d actually be, like, hurt hurt…”

“What? It’s fine, it happens all the time, uh…” the ghost awkwardly set the bouquet on the bench (very gently…) and took both items.

Shit, the ghost. “Wait, do ghosts even use that stuff? Dammit, I’m sorry…!”

“Again, it’s fine, chill. Just… why do you carry these around with you?”

“...Uhhh-”

“Duh, nevermind, most haunted city in America. My bad.” Phantom devolved into mumbling as he tore off a bit of bandages and reached below his neckline to press it, presumably, to his collar bone. When he pulled back, the bandages were dripping with green. He tore off more and repeated the process.

Dash watched for a moment before the guilt finally overtook and any hope of romance steadily fell away. He shuffled to the bench and sat down with a long sigh. “You can keep those. And… and you don’t have to answer all my earlier stuff. Not now- and… well, I guess not ever. ...Though I doubt I’ll stop coming to your fights.”

Phantom watched him warily for a second before floating to the bench and sitting down as well, leaving the bouquet to rest between them.

This is where there would be some beautiful parallel drawn between love and their relationship or some such, but Dash sucked at poetry and he wasn’t anywhere near smart enough to make metaphors on his own. So he just looked around the garden while Phantom dealt with the wound.

“...I didn’t take you for the romantic type…” the ghost mumbled after awhile.

Dash found his face flushing slightly, “uh, yeah… it’s sorta my secret.”

“I didn’t take you for being, what, gay? Either.”

“I’m pansexual,” Dash watch the collection of wadded bandages glow a collective, soft green, “and yeah… I guess that’s my other secret. I’m part of the A-list at school- they’re the best of the best. Cream of the crop. We’re the cool kids. The best- ”

“I get it,” Phantom huffed, but didn’t seem upset at all.

“Uh, yeah, sorry. But yeah, I’d definitely get kicked out of the A-list if they knew about this stuff… well, my best friend knows, but he’s cool.”

Phantom hummed and they fell into silence. Dash felt like he should be apologizing, but he didn’t want to ruin this more than he already had. It’d just be a broken record anyway. He sort of wanted to go home and try to forget this ever happened (a lost cause), but he didn’t want to just ditch Phantom after all he’d suddenly sprung on the wounded ghost. That would just be downright unforgivable. Could he walk Phantom home? Was that possible?

Just when he was working up the courage to ask, Phantom spoke first, “what would you even want out of dating me?”

Dash blinked owlishly at him, though the ghost wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Uh, duh! You? I already said all that stuff about you being super cool and heroic and awesome and pretty, didn’t I?” Phantom seemed to choke a little at that last one; he’d have to remember that. “I just wanna get to know you and, like, do stuff with you and… y’know! Dating stuff! We could watch movies together late at night, we could kissss? We could, uh, share food, share stories, just… date! We could make each other happy and all that.”

Phantom seemed to visibly flounder for a long moment, having set aside the bandages in favor of resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. A scowl slowly stretched across his face until, finally, he groaned and leaned back into the bench. “...Y’know what,” he mumbled.

“What,” Dash parroted, even though he was pretty sure that was rhetorical. For some reason, his heart was pounding again.

“...I’ll date you,” Phantom mumbled, watching him out of the corner of his eye.

A grin broke across Dash’s face, but he had to slap a hand across it before he squealed in front of his crush like an idiot.

#danny phantom #danny phantom fic #phic #dash/danny #danny/dash #danny fenton #dash baxter #took me literal months just to make my first actual post #not a great start but it's fine

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