#dash baxter redemption

[home-of-renn]

I love the hc that Danny can't help but trigger this innate, subconscious fight or flight response in everyone he meets. I love it even more when it's the reason why he still gets bullied by Dash.

Truth be told, Dash grew up years ago. His mean streak had been a short-lived phase that left a bad taste in his mouth. The sudden influx of hormones brought on by the onset of puberty had apparently muddled his brain and left him emotionally stunted for the duration of his freshman year. He'd shoved nerds into lockers and stolen their lunch money. He sorely wishes he hadn't been so excruciatingly cliche.

But he'd somehow managed to unstick his head from his ass pretty quick and he hasn't laid a finger on anyone since - well, except for Fenton.

Fenton had always been the exception. Small and slouched, with a messy fringe that fell into his eyes. Danny Fenton always made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end whenever he walked past.

His arm would brush too close or his shoulder would bump into his in a crowded hallway and Dash's arm would lash out before he could even comprehend the accidental touch. Fenton would be pinned against a locker with Dash's forearm against his neck in the blink of an eye.

The funny thing is though, no one stops him. The other kids don't call him out and the teachers are always coincidentally absent.

Dash isn't a bully - at least not anymore. He helped Lester get his locker door open after a ghost attack left the damn thing jammed shut. He stays late after practice so the girls on the cheer team don't have to walk home when the sun starts dipping low. He holds doors open for the people walking behind him and even offers a polite smile. The other day he stopped to help some little kid struggling to tie their shoelaces.

He's trying to be better. His mom cried about how proud she was on his birthday last month and principal Ishiyama made a passing comment on how nice it was not seeing him in her office every week. He enjoys being nice to people. It's gratifying, and some kids have started coming up to him when they need help.

Once upon a time, Dash had been a chubby self-conscious kid who'd hit the gym as soon as his dad had gotten sick of his begging. Puberty had hit him like a truck and he'd started shaving a year before anyone else. Since then he'd bulked up and was far larger than the average high schooler. He'd been honing his reflexes for years and never drops the ball. He's the shield that everyone hides behind during ghost fights. He's big and strong and has damn good aim - which is better than nothing when going up against a ghost.

But there's something wrong with Fenton.

Danny makes sweat gather beneath his collar and Dash has to grind his teeth any time he walks past.

At least he's not the only one.

Kwan's hands are always clenched into fists when they walk past Fenton's locker, even if he's not there. It feels wrong to have your back to Fenton in the changing rooms and Lancer's the only teacher still handing Danny a detention slip - Dash suspects it's cause none of the other staff can stand to be alone with him for that long.

No one steps in when someone lashes out at the Fenton kid. No one says a word or runs towards the teacher's lounge when Dale has Danny by the arm, eyes wide and gripped so tight his knuckles turn white.

The hallway goes silent and the world steps back as Dash's team flank his sides while the front of Danny's shirt is bunched in his fist. His heart thuds against his ribs and pounds in his ears as Danny opens his mouth to make a sarcastic quip. Danny's always been a sarcastic, mouthy little shit, but Dash can't find it in himself to laugh, not while his body forms a physical barrier between Fenton and everyone else - not when Dash has him by the throat but he's the one feeling cornered and exposed. He has to dig his toes into the soles of his sneakers to resist running.

It's not normal.

Dash plays along, keeping his cool as he goes through the familiar routine. He spits out a pathetic insult that misses its mark and thumps Danny against his locker before dropping him to the ground.

It feels rehearsed, like he's stuck in a cycle he can't seem to break. It's one big act that Dash walks away from with adrenaline churning the contents of his stomach and sweat gathering in the palms of his hands. The hallway parts as Dash walks away. He spares a glance at Kwan, whose dark eyes are trained on the floor in front of him, his fists clenching at his sides, shaking under the fluorescent lights. Dash hides his own hands in his pockets. The one he had bunched in Danny's shirt trembles, his nerves vibrating with the sensation of pins and needles. It feels like static under his skin. He tries wiping it off on the inside of his jacket.

The entire student body of Casper high follows behind him.

[darthfrodophantom]

Micro-Unmasking - Chapter 2

Well, I wasn't sure I was going to continue my one-shot from 2022, but I was inspired by a prompt to give it a go! So now you'll be getting a chapter 2 and a chapter 3!

Summary: Great timing prevented Danny’s secret from being revealed to Dash during their shared experience with the Fenton Crammer. But what would happen if his timing had been just a little off and Dash saw more than Danny wanted?

Phic Phight Prompts: Thanks to seeing how various injuries are treated as a member of the football team, Dash actually has a decent background in first aid and anatomy. He gets adopted into Team Phantom when circumstances keep leading him to be the one patching up Phantom after fights - for Ikiracake

Write one of YOUR ideas that you haven't written for whatever reason. Have you been too intimidated to write it? Are you afraid people won't like it? This Phic Phight season, none of that matters. Whatever it is, put your feelings aside and give it a try, even if it's just one scene! - for @astatia-ghast

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38159509/chapters/140482114#workskin

Chapter 1 on AO3, Chapter 1 on tumblr

Chapter 2: Vexing Texting

The insistent buzz of his phone woke him up before his alarm. Danny groggily reached for the phone and managed to actually grab it after a couple failed attempts. No one ever texted him before his alarm, so it had to be important. With bleary eyes he attempted to read the new message on his phone. 

“Do you have to sleep?”

Danny groaned and threw his phone onto the mattress. It bounced off the padding and onto the floor. Danny groaned again in misery as he threw his arm over his eyes. He would regret that action later when the alarm went off and he’d have to actually get up to find his phone, but in that moment the urge to throw it in frustration felt too satisfying to deny.

~

Thirty minutes later, Danny stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom brushing his teeth. The mad scramble for his phone that somehow bounced under his bed left him cranky and even more tired and he felt a wash of pity for the exhausted face that stared at him in the mirror. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he reached for it instinctively to check the alert. He expected to see some morning alert for a new daily post from social media, maybe the long-expected update from Doomed teasing their newest expansion. 

“Why the rings of light?”

Danny groaned so hard he sprayed flecks of toothpaste onto the mirror. He rolled his eyes and dropped his shoulders in defeat. He looked at the sleeve of his pajamas, shrugged, and leaned over to wipe up the toothpaste with his shirt sleeve. Better a dirty shirt sleeve than a lecture from his sister.

He spat out his toothpaste and typed a terse, quick response before angrily thrusting his phone into his pocket. He’d already suffered through two whole days of this; he didn’t know how much more he could handle.

~

Danny jerked awake as his phone rattled and vibrated aggressively on the laminate table. His face had been inches from his cereal bowl and he almost got a bowl full of cereal to the face. Jazz snickered into her coffee mug from her seat across the table.

“How long have you been sitting there?” He really couldn’t remember if she’d been sitting there when he came down or not.

“Long enough to watch you fall asleep at the table.”

“And you were just going to what? Keep watching as I face-planted into a bowl of cereal?” he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“I figured you’d wake yourself up before it got to that point,” she chuckled as she stood up to place her empty coffee mug in the sink. “You have five minutes.”

Danny rolled his eyes and picked up the spoon that fell out of his hand when he jerked awake. He shoveled cereal in his face, which really was the only way he ate cereal anymore. He remembered his phone vibrated and he knew with a sinking moment what he would find even before he turned the phone over.

“Does music sound different as a ghost?”

He dropped his spoon into his bowl and slumped against the chair with a beleaguered sigh. Yes, the text had saved him from getting a milk facial. And this time it was actually an interesting question. But he still couldn’t believe he was still having to put up with this.

“You know you can just block him,” Jazz mentioned as she grabbed his cereal bowl and rinsed out the remaining milk in the sink.

“And you know why I can’t,” Danny retorted as he typed out a short but satisfying answer. He’d become quite the expert at answering the question in as few words as possible. Really it was a shame, because this question did actually make him think, but he refused to give him the reward of a lengthy answer.

~

Danny grabbed his books from the locker. He actually smiled in pride that he could actually keep his locker in some semblance of organization now that he didn’t have to constantly ensure there was room inside his locker for his entire body. Getting a third day in a row without being shoved into his locker really was a sweet benefit from this whole situation. Too bad it came with so much mental anguish.

The feeling of his phone vibrating in his pocket wiped that proud smile off his face. He took one look at the phone and threw himself back against the locker as he looked towards the ceiling in the hope that the cosmos above could answer his unspoken questions. Why? Why him? Hadn’t he suffered enough through this whole ordeal? Why couldn’t he just stop?

“Dude, did he text you again?” Tucker asked.

Danny simply held his phone up to show his best friends the new message from Dash. “Why do you wear that jumpsuit?” he read aloud in case his friends couldn’t quite make out the words on the screen.

Tucker just shook his head. “That kid is insane. Obsessed. Nutso.”

“This is the fourth one this morning,” Danny moaned. “That weirdo even texted me before my alarm went off! Who even gets up that early? Crazy people, that’s who.”

Tucker sighed as he patted his friend’s shoulder in sympathy. “Man, I’m sorry.”

Upon finding no salvation or answers on the ceiling, Danny turned his attention toward the phone and typed out a response. “There, I told him I died in it. Let’s see if that shocks him into silence for a bit.”

Tucker stifled a laugh into his sleeve. “Have you told him any half-dead jokes yet?”

“Not yet, so I don’t think he’ll be expecting it.” His sister didn’t understand them, and sometimes Sam didn’t either, but it’s how he and Tucker coped. Sometimes it just felt easier to deal with the trauma of it all with laughter. And if he couldn’t joke about his death-that-didn’t-take, then the seriousness of the event gained a lot more power in Danny’s mind and he couldn’t quite handle that. Maybe when he was older he could find the emotional and mental maturity to seriously reflect on the consequences and meaning behind almost dying in the portal, but even a year out it still felt too close and too soon to the event.

“Why are you still even answering his texts?” Sam finally spoke up, and the sharpness in her voice reminded Danny that she hadn’t talked since he brought up the texts. He could almost feel the irritation simmering around her and he really hoped he’d be able to avoid it. “Why don’t you just stop?”

Danny sighed. Everyone seemed to think it would just be that easy to tune him out, but Danny knew better. He knew Dash better than most people gave him credit for. “Because right now it’s new and it’s all he’s thinking about. Dash doesn’t stay focused on something for long, so if I wait it out then it’ll be old news and he’ll move on.” Danny waved a hand to emphasize his point. “But if I ignore his texts, he’s only gonna focus on this even more. And then he’ll want to talk to me. Trust me, texting him is better than having him come over to talk to me.”

“So now you’re going to be all buddy-buddy with the bully who made your life hell?” Sam challenged as she placed her hands defiantly on her hips.

“The single sentence texts I send back are far from being ‘buddy-buddy,’” Danny retorted.

“You text him more than you text us!” Sam barbed.

He had the decency to look properly ashamed at that call out and he slumped against the locker. “I know. I know, and I’m sorry. But what else am I supposed to do?”

Both Sam and Tucker fell silent as they also seemed at a loss for a better handle on the situation. “I don’t know man,” Tucker finally said. “I’d probably do the same thing you’re doing.”

“I just don’t like that you feel like you have to do something you don’t want to do,” Sam sighed.

“Yeah, well when have I had any say about what I want to do since the accident?” Danny pointed out. If he had his say, he wouldn’t have to hide from his parents all the time or get injured night after night or skip class or get bad grades. He could actually get a good night’s sleep, study to be an astronaut, and maybe consider leaving Amity for school or a job in the future. What he wanted to do no longer held any meaning in his life ever since that first ghost stepped out of the portal.

The group fell silent again as the weight of that statement crashed around them. It hung heavy in the air. Sam and Tucker tried to share his burden as much as they could, and he appreciated that, but sometimes they forgot or couldn’t really understand the full impact of what being a ghostly superhero meant for the rest of his life. Danny, unfortunately, was far too aware of the consequences of that decision.

“Well now we all get to do something we don’t want to do and go to class,” Tucker pointed out as he pasted on a cheery smile. “Do we ever get to do anything we want to do as teenagers?” He elbowed Danny gently in the side, and that jab pulled Danny out of his thoughts. Trust Tucker to find some way to pull them out of the seriousness of the moment by normalizing his struggles. That heavy fog seemed to fade away in the wake of Tucker’s infectious smile, and Danny couldn’t help but smile back. 

“My parents didn’t buy the cereal I want again,” Danny complained.

“See! This is exactly what I’m talking about! No control, no choices, just a bunch of adults constantly telling us we can’t have what we want. Where’s the justice in that?” Tucker complained.

“Don’t even get me started on the dress my mom’s making me wear now to the synagogue,” Sam added. Whether she’d actually dropped the subject in her mind or not, that remained to be seen. Sam had a tendency to hold on to serious topics and ruminate on them over time. Danny could almost see those thoughts behind her deep purple eyes, but she also knew when to let it go and join in on Tucker’s attempts to lighten the mood.

They all complained about the normal, mundane things they had no control over in their lives until they made it to their first class. Danny almost forgot how they got on this subject until he saw Dash in the classroom. Dash quickly avoided his gaze and looked almost…sheepish? Talking about his death really did stun him into silence, or at least made him realize how personal these questions could be. He’d remember that for later.

~*~

Danny stuffed his newest homework assignment into his locker. He’d love to say he’d have the time to complete that, but he knew better than to hope. 

“Hey Fenton!” Dash called in his usual, threatening tone. Danny barely had enough time to spin around before Dash loomed over him. He planted one hand on the locker beside Danny’s head while his large body dwarfed Danny. He peeked around Dash and noticed the rest of the A-listers gave them a fair bit of distance as they chuckled to each other.

“Dash, what are you doing?” Danny asked with a groan when he realized they were out of earshot.

“Just wanted to say hi,” Dash said. His friendly tone contrasted sharply with his threatening pose.

“You were saying about how the texts would stop him from talking to you?” Sam pointed out from the side as she crossed her arms over her chest. Danny did not miss her triumphant smirk at being proved right.

Danny shook his head. “Dash, we talked about this.”

“No see, it’s cool,” Dash explained. “See my threatening pose? People are gonna think I’m doing my usual Fenton bashing. You wanted me to keep up appearances.”

“No, I wanted you to tell everyone that you had a change of heart after being fitness buddies and then we’d just ignore each other,” Danny reminded him.

“Well yeah, I know,” Dash said quietly, almost like he was hurt that Danny wanted to ignore him. “But then they all pointed out that I got a lower grade on the fitness exam because of you.”

Danny gritted his teeth. “I already explained why I had to do that. And I got us a passing grade.” He knew Dash was dense, but he’d already walked through this with him! Did he seriously not remember it? Or had he spent too much brain power texting him inane questions than to actually remember the plan?

“No no, I don’t care about that,” he dismissed. “I remember the plan. But everyone asked me if I was mad about it and if I was gonna do something about it. I couldn’t really think of a good excuse. So if anyone asks, I’m yelling at you for the grade.”

Danny immediately felt a pang of guilt over his harsh thoughts. Dash had been paying attention. He had been working hard to keep the secret, like he promised. He didn’t really know what to expect from the jock after threatening him on the rooftop, but so far Dash had kept up his end of the deal. When he made the ultimatum, he didn’t really think how hard it would be for Dash to keep the secret while changing his ways at the same time. This was his attempt to divert suspicion, and Danny was giving him a hard time for it. He had to remember to be better and a little more gracious going forward. Dash didn’t have to do this; he could blab the secret and only good things would happen to him. He had to be more appreciative of his attempts to keep this under wraps.

“I’ll make sure I complain about that later, just to keep up the act,” Danny promised, committing to his part to contribute to the charade.

Dash nodded. “But look, while I’m here–” 

Danny withheld a groan because here it came: more questions. More requests to engage. More talking about himself and his ghost powers than he felt like discussing with his school bully.

“--I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

That caught him by surprise, and Danny regarded him with a quizzical eye. “You do? For what? You have to be more specific given our record.”

Dash grimaced. “Well yeah. I mean obviously I’m sorry for all of that. But no, I’m sorry about the jumpsuit question. I didn’t mean to make you talk about the fact that you…you know…” He hunched over slightly like he was discussing a secret and mouthed the word ‘died.’

Danny looked taken aback and tilted his head slightly. “You’re sorry that you made me think about my death?” he repeated. He had to have heard Dash’s question wrong.

Dash winced like the word ‘death’ caused him physical harm. Danny felt another flash of guilt. Okay, maybe it was too soon for half-dead jokes with Dash too. “Dash, it’s fine,” he sighed. “I’m reminded of how I died constantly. You bringing it up doesn’t change that.”

Dash’s face creased in sympathy, and Danny felt discomfort squirm in his gut that he could earn a look of sympathy from Dash of all people. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but the sound of his friends behind him caught his attention. “Oh, right. Uh, I should probably go. Right.”

Without much warning Dash slammed his hand into the locker next to Danny’s head. The entire bank of lockers vibrated from the force of his fist. Danny jumped as the action took him completely by surprise. The moment had been so strangely heavy that he forgot they were supposed to be putting on an act. 

Dash walked back towards his friends with a swagger. They laughed once he rejoined them, and Danny could vaguely hear him boast. “Well, he won’t be getting me a C on an assignment any time soon!”

The three members of Team Phantom stood in silence as they watched Dash and the others saunter down the hall while their laughter echoed after them.

“That…was a very weird conversation,” Sam finally said. She kept her gaze down the long corridor at the A-listers’ retreating backs even when they were long out of view.

“Yeah, it was almost…normal,” Tucker added. “We don’t have normal conversations with the popular crowd. And we definitely don’t have normal conversations with Dash.”

Danny shrugged. “That’s how he was on the roof. Like a completely different person.”

“He didn’t insult you once,” Sam pointed out, as if that explained why the conversation felt so strange and off to the group. And maybe that was part of it, but there was something else that seemed off that Danny couldn’t quite place his finger on. 

Every time he talked to him, he seemed to learn more about the boy who’d bullied him for as long as he could remember. Seeing Dash care about his mental wellbeing? He didn’t quite know how to deal with that. For years, he only seemed to care about how he could add to Danny’s mental turmoil, but now he seemed so protective of it. It felt weird, seeing this different side of him. He always wondered how Dash could have so many friends and how people could actually want to hang out with him. Did they maybe see this other, more caring side of him too? Why did he all of a sudden get to see this side?

An irrational anger flared up inside of him. Why hadn’t he been able to see this side of Dash from the beginning? The side that actually seemed to care about how people felt or how they were doing with emotionally taxing information? Why wasn’t he able to see the side of Dash where he came up after a hard day and asked how he was doing? Instead he only saw the side that pushed him further into the dirt and then laughed at his misery. What had he done to deserve that part of Dash’s behavior? And why did revealing himself to be Phantom suddenly make that all go away?

The obvious answer was that he wanted to share the limelight with Phantom. Dash never made his adoration of Phantom a secret, and if he could get Danny on his good side then maybe he could be Phantom’s best friend. Surely he knew that wasn’t going to happen, right? He had been very clear about that on the rooftop. So then what caused the change in his behavior? Why did he suddenly seem to care so much about how Danny felt? It left him feeling unsettled and it stuck with him as he gathered his books and headed for their next class.

~*~

Danny startled in his chair as a puff of cold air escaped his lips. He hadn’t been sleeping, but he had been lost in his own thoughts to the point where he had barely heard anything the teacher talked about. And now he definitely wouldn’t get the chance to catch up on the day’s material. He turned towards Tucker and Sam who recognized that look and they nodded towards him. 

Tucker surreptitiously held up four fingers. Danny made a face and shook his head no. What was he thinking suggesting plan four? That only worked in English! 

Tucker furrowed his brow, but moved on and held up six fingers instead. Danny thought about it for a moment and then eagerly nodded his head. Tucker turned slightly in his chair so Sam could see the six fingers. She rolled her eyes and shook her head but mouthed the word ‘fine.’

Sam situated herself in her chair and raised her hand. “Ms. Murphy, I’m not…” She trailed off as her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell out of her desk. The whole class stood up to see what happened, Tucker and Danny included. 

“Oh my gosh Ms. Manson!” their teacher squeaked as she ran over clearly in a panic. “Someone get the nurse!”

“We’ve got her,” Tucker offered as he and Danny lifted her up and supported her weight between the two of them. “We can take her to the nurse.”

“Well go then!” Ms. Murphy berated them. They quickly made their way out of the room with Sam. As soon as they cleared the door they rushed off down the hall into the janitor’s closet. 

“Plan six? Really?” Sam snapped. “We had to go with plan six?”

“We’d never used it on her!” Tucker defended. “And hey, it worked didn’t it!”

“And my hip is going to be feeling that fall for a week!” Sam complained as she rubbed her hip bone with a wince.

Danny triggered the transformation into his ghost form. “Next time we’ll do plan seven then,” he promised. Tucker winced, but really it was only fair to make him take the fall next. “Now are you guys coming or staying?”

“We’re definitely coming,” Sam spoke up. 

He figured as much when they sacrificed so much to get out of class too. They grabbed onto him as he turned them all intangible and flew them out of the school towards the source of the ghost attack. 

He didn’t have to fly far; his ghost sense led him towards the street just outside the school. The giant ghost of a bear loped down the street as it aggressively chased after cars.

“Well that’s a new one,” Danny remarked as he set them down on the sidewalk. 

“I didn’t know bears hated cars so much,” Tucker commented.

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Tucker, it probably got killed by a car.”

Tucker winced when he realized the sense in her macabre statement.

“Well, this just took a turn for the depressing,” Danny sighed. “Much as I’d like to let it get revenge on the thing that killed it, we can’t just have ghosts attacking cars. So here’s what we’re gonna do. Sam, you--”

“Wait!” a loud voice called from behind them.

Danny winced because he didn’t need to turn around to know who that voice belonged to. He’d heard that voice yell out to him from afar for years. Even now that tone still caused his heart to jump in response. He slowly turned around in the air to face Dash who positively beamed that he caught them before their attack. “Dash, what are you doing here?” he asked with an exasperated sigh.

“I came to find you,” Dash stated.

Well, that was a given. He’d been hoping for at least a little more guidance on his true motives.

“Wait Dash, how did you even get out of class?” Tucker asked as he studied the jock with a suspicious eye.

Dash shrugged. “I’m the football quarterback - I can leave class whenever I want.”

“There’s something very unfair about that,” Tucker griped under his breath.

“Why did you come to find me?” Danny asked as he tried to get them back on topic.

“Oh, I want to help,” Dash offered. “With the ghost. Let me help.”

“No,” Tucker vehemently denied. 

“Hell no,” Sam added with all the spite she could possess.

“No way.”

“Absolutely not.”

“It’s not happening.”

“Never ever.”

Danny raised a hand to stop their increasingly emphatic denials; they made their point and he could see how each one tore further into Dash. Maybe Dash didn’t care how his words hurt others, but that didn’t mean he had to stoop to the same level. “Dash, I know you’re a fan. I know you want to help, but we’ve got this.” 

“I know you do. You’ve always got it. Phantom always figures it out in the end. But I really think I can help,” Dash offered again undeterred.

Danny sighed. “We talked about this Dash,” he tried to say in as delicate a way as possible, but he was losing his patience with the jock. “You bullied me for years. You’ve embarrassed me, hurt me, got me in trouble, and destroyed my school projects for years. You don’t get to just all of a sudden be here like none of that happened just because you know the secret.”

Dash recoiled like he’d been physically assaulted. He ran a hand along his arm as he folded in on himself and actually looked small for once. It was unnerving to see him with such little confidence. “Yeah...yeah I know that. But that’s why I want to help. I want to make up for it because…” Dash paused for a long, uncomfortable moment “...because I feel bad about it, okay?”

“You feel bad about it now, because you think Danny’s cool now,” Sam pointed out, voice full of venom. As much as Danny would have liked to take Dash’s statement at face value, he had to agree with Sam that he couldn’t really trust the reasons behind this newfound revelation. Phantom and Dash just had this team up against a pretty powerful ghost, and he probably thought that since he was in the know that could become a consistent trend. But there was more to being a part of Team Phantom than just knowing the secret at the core of their group, and Dash hadn’t earned his place there yet.

Dash withdrew even further as his shoulders sank. He wrapped his other arm around his torso. He looked strangely vulnerable in a way that Danny had never seen. “That’s not—I know that’s how it looks. But it just made me think. See, I didn’t know you’d died and went through all this,” he tried to explain as he gestured towards Danny’s floating form. “And I kept bullying you. You had so much else going on, and I kept bullying you. And I shouldn’t have done that. Phantom or not. I think...I think I can see that now. I didn’t really care what you were dealing with, and maybe I should have.”

Dash bit his lip but he plunged on through his explanation of recent self-reflection. “I want to make it up to you. I can help.”

Danny shifted nervously in the air. He didn’t really know what to say after such a declaration. He really appreciated that Dash had given some thought to being a bully and came to the conclusion it was wrong. Granted he only took the time to think about it because now Danny seemed worthy enough to understand. If Dash had decided to think about his side of things at any time he probably would have come to this realization sooner, but it hadn’t seemed worthwhile until now. But did the injustice of the timing taint or negate his conclusions? He still realized that bullying had caused Danny additional undo stress, and he didn’t want to discourage him from thinking about that more. 

But at the same time, did that mean he had to now work with his former tormentor? He shouldn’t have to work with him to help him engage further in his journey of self-discovery, and yet that felt like the only option available to him. If he let Dash join Team Phantom, maybe he could help him be a better person. But did Dash really deserve that time and effort after everything he’d done? Couldn’t he use what he’d already realized and figure out the rest on his own? He didn’t quite know how to turn Dash down while still inspiring him to keep traveling down this road of self-discovery. He had to find some middle ground.

“Look Dash, I’m glad this is making you see the error of your ways, and I really hope you keep thinking more about bullying,” Danny said honestly, “but we have a system. We’ve got this handled.”

Dash looked crestfallen as his shoulders drooped. “I promise I won’t get in the way,” he bargained, and Danny just wished that he would just understand what no meant. He’d heard it multiple times in the past couple minutes, so why couldn’t he get the hint?

“Dash, if you want to help, right now the best thing you can do is to let us handle it. The longer we talk the more cars that bear goes after. You want to help? Let me go fight this ghost and then we can talk about it after.”

He didn’t really give Dash a chance to argue further as he charged after the bear ghost. Maybe he’d be able to think of something to say to Dash while he fought the ghost, but he doubted it. He didn’t really know how much more clear he could be. He rammed the ghost in the side and sent it flying down the road. It skidded across the pavement and Danny winced at the thought that maybe the bear had experienced that sensation before he died. He’d have to thank Sam later for implanting that thought into his head. The bear stood up and roared at him as its eyes blazed red.

“Looks like I got your attention,” he joked weakly. The bear barreled towards him and he shot as many ecto-blasts as he could at it before he dodged out of the way. He rolled on the ground and immediately popped back up to shoot another blast at the bear as he tried to turn around. He didn’t know if he was hurting it or angering it further, but his attacks seemed to be doing something.

He dodged out of the way of another charge but misjudged the direction as his dodge threw him too close to the ghost. It quickly closed the distance and swiped a ghostly claw along his back. Danny choked out a cry of pain as blood and ectoplasm seeped out from his cuts, but he pushed through the pain like always. He took advantage of being so close and punched the bear in the muzzle before he threw all his strength into one large ecto-blast to the belly. It pushed the bear away and he took that opportunity to suck the ghost into the thermos. 

He breathed out a sigh of relief as he stood up from the ground. He looked over at his friends - not surprised to see Dash still there - and shook the thermos in their direction. “Well that was bearable. Get it? Bear-able?” His friends only groaned, but he did notice Dash crack a smile. “Oh come on, how come you never appreciate my–”

A large gray shape slammed into Danny. The force of the blow sent him flying through the air until he hit the pavement hard in the distance as the asphalt cracked beneath him. He rolled along the pavement until he skidded to a stop in the middle of the road. He didn’t move.

[aikoiya]

DP HC - Dash After High School

I like the idea that once Dash doesn't get a scholarship & his parents learn about his bullying tendencies, his parents (or at least his mother) send him to boot camp & he ends up with some talent for being a medic.

In my mind, Dash's father is a pillar of true masculine toxicity & very obviously homophobic.

Like, I feel that the terms are overly-used these days & has lost some of its meaning, but I do feel like there are certain traits of men that can be toxic if they don't learn balance, just like how I think there are certain female traits that can be toxic too.

Like, for men, there's aggressive & violent when they need to be & that's just part of being a man, it can even be a good thing in certain situations. Then, there's being overly aggressive & violent when there's no need for it or in a situation where it's not appropriate or where he's being legitimately abusive. Like, literally just because they're angry or wanna hurt someone. (I mean, if a couple guys get into a fistfight, then afterwards they laugh about it & go get a drink together, no harm done, then that's fine. Sometimes, that's just how guys interact.) Then there's overly stubborn & a refusal to be wrong & the need for others to be subservient. Those are the sorts of things that are toxic, but they aren't innately male-centric characteristics & are toxic no matter who acts that way.

Luckily, I haven't met many men around me who exemplifies this sort of thing.

As for homophobia, again, there's a difference between not agreeing with someone's lifestyle, yet still supporting their right to choose how they live... & outright hating homosexuality & treating such individuals as something less than human.

Dash's dad is the latter.

I see Dash's mom & dad being abusive in different ways, the mom being more negligent with the dad being more violent & demanding.

So, when they finally got a divorce, Dash's mom saw some of the makings of the man she married through Dash's bullying & decided that she couldn't handle it.

So, she sent him to boot camp which straightened his ass out quick & in a hurry!

He later chose to apply to the military & even later became a field medic.

He becomes a much better person because of this, his experience with teams helping him a little bit, though basic training was, like, even worse than football training could ever be, & even though he & his mom aren't on good terms, he's thankful that she put him through that even though it was for her own self-interests. Being from a town where ghosts attack at all hours also tends to help with one's reaction time.

Once he retires from the military, he goes back to school & becomes a full-fledged doctor. A surgeon specifically & he does pretty damn well.

Thing is, had his parents not gotten divorce, he would've become what he did in TUE. A fat, washed up loser.

He's also married with kids. He's bi, but he ultimately decided that he wanted a wife & kids of his own blood more than he ever could a man, so he chose to seek out women once he realized that. It's in that moment that he realized that while he was bisexual, he was also heteroromantic & felt no true romantic connection to any of the men he'd dated before.

He'd always found that odd, but now he understood.

Ultimately, he's happy &, at the 10 year reunion, he made sure to apologize to all the guys he bullied back then. Including Fenton.

They're decent friends now. Still razz & bitch at & insult & prank each other, but there's no heat to it anymore & even when they do fight, Danny fights back now &, as mentioned above, they tend to laugh about it before going off to get beers together afterwards.

Just dude shit.

DP Character HC Masterlist

[kuzann]

Idk if anyone's played around with this idea but post-AGIT clone-body Dan visits Amity Park where Dash mistakes him for the real Danny and tries to bully him

which is a huge mistake

because Dan happily gives him the thrashing of a lifetime and strolls away in a really good mood.

Dash tries to blame Danny but no one believes him because Danny Fenton, being able to beat up Dash Baxter?? You've seen how small that kid is right? Dash stop messing around, you got hurt doing something super embarrassing or illegal didn't you? Come on man what was the actual thing you did come on you probably realize that saying Fenton beat you up makes you look worse than whatever thing you probably did right?

Cue Dash trying to prove that Danny is secretly stronger than he actually is, only to be foiled at every turn because Danny and friends caught on to what he's trying to do. Maybe Vlad foils him too cause Dan is supposed to be his responsibility and it was Dan who got Danny into this mess to begin with.

Eventually Dan lets Dash see him with Danny, they explain that Dan is his cousin, but also so Dash doesn't go back to bullying Danny he tells Dash that if he ever touches his cousin again Dan will have to take a hand as recompense.

Dash never bothers Danny again. Maybe he gets to go on a redemption arc where he realizes how trash he's been to everyone below him on the social pecking order and how much those teens hate his guts for it and decides that he wants to change. idk. But he stops harassing Danny.

[stelleinthestars]

DCXDP Fic Recs Complete Works Only

Gaslight, Guilt Trip, Girl Ghost (6646 words) by PunzAnonymous Chapters: 8/8 Fandom: Danny Phantom, DCU, Batman - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Danielle "Dani" Phantom, Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Damian Wayne, Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Bruce Wayne, Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Alfred Pennyworth, Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Cassandra Cain, Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Tim Drake, Alfred Pennyworth & Clockwork Characters: Danielle "Dani" Phantom, Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain, Alfred Pennyworth, Blob Ghost Characters (Danny Phantom) Additional Tags: Gaslighting, guilt tripping, a girl ghost, Danielle "Dani" Phantom is Called Ellie, short for Elizabeth, Dani tricks everyone into thinking she's always been part of the family, Alfred always knows, Danielle "Dani" Phantom-centric, dpxdc Summary: Ellie saw the narrative foil of Vlad (an eccentric billionaire with suitable hobbies like crime fighting and orphan adopting) and decided to get adopted at all cost.

Dash "What the Fuck" Baxter, Officer on Duty (531 words) by Gremlin_bot Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, Danny Phantom Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Dash Baxter, Black Bat, Damian Wayne, Robin (DCU), Bruce Wayne, Jim Gordon, Cassandra Cain Additional Tags: Gotham City Police Department, Bat-Signal (DCU), Police Officer Dash Baxter, Prompt Fill, Cassandra Cain is Black Bat, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dash Baxter Redemption, Ecto-contaminated Amity Parkers, I'm Bad At Tagging Summary: Dash is an unusual officer, even for Gotham PD standards. Yeah, he's not the smartest but that's normal. What gets Dash the promotion to the bat spotlight and bat informant is that almost nothing scares the guy.

Ghosts? As my therapy animals? More likely than you think. (21463 words) by bamboozledeagle Chapters: 5/5 Fandom: Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010), Batman - All Media Types, Danny Phantom Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Danny Fenton Additional Tags: Family, Hurt/Comfort, emotional support blob ghosts, Jason Todd Has Issues, The Blobs are working on it, Comedy, Angst and Feels, Swearing, it gets progressively worse with jason's mood Summary: Jason is minding his own business, picking up strange green glowing goops with eyes, and living his not-very-best life. Meanwhile the Batfamily is tracking down flying dogs, overpowered Metas calling themselves ghosts, and someone is having far too much fun with the boxes around Gotham. But this ain't about them.

Lamentation (5591 words) by Olive_of_Vanders Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: Danny Phantom, Justice League - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Amity Park Residents & Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton & Bruce Wayne Characters: Amity Park Residents (Danny Phantom), Tiffany Snow, Lance Thunder, Justice League (DCU), John Constantine, Bruce Wayne, Danny Fenton, Maddie Fenton, Jack Fenton, Jazz Fenton Additional Tags: Gore, Graphic Description of Corpses, Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton Needs A Hug, Angst, Bruce Wayne is Good With Kids, Protective Amity Park Residents (Danny Phantom), Corpse AU Series: Part 18 of Furtive – Danny Phantom series Summary:

He glances towards the well.

Danny forgets that his words impact others, but hey at least people like his grave??

[Read the tags]

(Honestly all of their works) You'll Find a Rainbow (62674 words) by DisillusionedDanny Chapters: 25/25 Fandom: Danny Phantom, Batman - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel, Danny Fenton & Harleen Quinzel, Jazz Fenton & Harleen Quinzel, Pamela Isley & Jazz Fenton, Danny Fenton & Pamela Isley, Danny Fenton/Damian Wayne, Jazz Fenton/Stephenie Brown Characters: Danny Fenton, Harleen Quinzel, Pamela Isley, Jazz Fenton, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, Vivisection, Harley Quinn is Danny Fenton's mom, Past Joker (DCU)/Harleen Quinzel, BAMF Harleen Quinzel, Parent Harleen Quinzel, Protective Harleen Quinzel, Protective Pamela Isley, Soft Pamela Isley, Danny Fenton-centric, Hurt Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton Needs A Hug, Tired Danny Fenton, Good Sibling Jazz Fenton, Protective Jazz Fenton, Jazz Fenton Needs A Hug, Adopted Danny Fenton, More tags to come later, no beta we die like danny, mental health, Therepy, Trauma, Healing, this got a lot heavier than I imagined lol, if you’re looking for something fun and crack like it’s not this, Joker is Danny’s biological father, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst Series: Part 4 of 51 Fic Challenge Summary: Hurt and on the run after telling his parents the truth, Danny and Jazz go to the only person they can trust to keep them safe from the Fenton's. Danny's birth mother. Harley Quinn

[ghoulishautism]

Not to make my 100th post about this topic tonight but

I would absolutely be down for a Dash Baxter redemption arc, assuming he got appropriate punishment (nothing insane, looking at you TUE) and got to grow more out of his jock bully archetype

Like him becoming a proper ally to Danny and trying to mend their relationship after finding out hes Phantom and realizing "wait, Ive been bullying Phantom this whole time? Ah shit"

[nikito0x]

Okay, but-

Why are all generic bullies to the superhero main character practically the same person?

• popular, a typical jock

• rich parents (probably doesn't get much attention from them)

• hates the nerdy main character at school, but idolizes their alter ego

• gets chances for redemption

Like-

Even their names sound similar!

Flash Thompson [ The Ultimate Spider-Man ]

Bash Johnson [ Randy Cunningham 9th grade ninja ]

Dash Baxter [Danny Phantom]

I can just imagine them forming a club or a boy band of some sort lol

[attackradish]

Why do I only relate to characters when I’m feeling down? Something negative happens and instantly load up a fictional character to compare myself to. Why can’t I relate to like. Feferi Peixes. I am joyful and bubbly sometimes. But no. I have to think about all the times I’ve done something that potentially affected someone negatively and start relating to Dash Baxter in of all people. To be fair it is the non-canon redemption version of him but still. Why him.

There’s also Danny but only in relation to his double life and how his parents hate Phantom. Dirk Strider sometimes. Jake English and Tavros Nitram. But only their struggles and not the positive half of their lives. Is this normal or am I failing the world’s most obvious Rorschach test?

[emeraldsandamethyst]

Sharing is Caring (1210 words) by EmeraldsAndAmethyst

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Danny Phantom

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Dash Baxter/Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton/Sam Manson

Characters: Danny Fenton, Dash Baxter, Sam Manson

Additional Tags: Crack, Mpreg, Trans Character, Trans Danny Fenton, Not Beta Read, no beta we die like danny, Teen Romance, Teenagers, Teen Pregnancy, Polyamory, Date Night, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dash Baxter Redemption, Aged-Up Character(s)

Series: Part 28 of Ghost Biology is Weird

Summary: Danny gets nice things for once. Like both a boyfriend and a girlfriend. And snuggles.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Dash "What the Fuck" Baxter, Officer on Duty

by Gremlin_bot

Dash is an unusual officer, even for Gotham PD standards. Yeah, he's not the smartest but that's normal. What gets Dash the promotion to the bat spotlight and bat informant is that almost nothing scares the guy.

Words: 531, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Danny Phantom

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen

Characters: Dash Baxter, Black Bat, Damian Wayne, Robin (DCU), Bruce Wayne, Jim Gordon, Cassandra Cain

Additional Tags: Gotham City Police Department, Bat-Signal (DCU), Police Officer Dash Baxter, Prompt Fill, Cassandra Cain is Black Bat, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dash Baxter Redemption, Ecto-contaminated Amity Parkers, I'm Bad At Tagging

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/43737210

[dreamwraith]

Swagger Bishie idea round 2:

Dash is secretly dating Danny Fenton as a tense "I like you; gotta problem with that?" kind of stiff relationship where they're not sure if this is going to work or not, they're just testing the waters without actually letting each other in. Dash is out of the closet but doesn't want to be seen dating a loser while Danny is still in the closet and doesn't want Sam and Tucker to find out he likes this jerk.

Point is, totally unstable.

Somehow, a ghost finds out about Danny's secret boyfriend and decides to take Dash hostage to gain an advantage over Danny. (I'm thinking Ember?) The others in the class are like ?!?! While Danny is making a mental pros vs con list about exposing their relationship to save Dash or seeing how bad this could get (spoiler, he saves him, but he needed this illusion that he had a choice in order to sleep at night because the immediate desire to protect Dash was startling).

PROBLEM IS, the ghost calls Dash's boyfriend by name (Danny), and Danny saves him as Phantom. So the people watching this play out are like "Dash is dating Phantom?!" (Dash's thoughts are a little more panicked: "The ghosts think I'm dating a hero?! Is this going to be a regular thing? Am I going to play the damsel in distress until they get a clue?! What about during game nights?!")

Dash gets confronted by the other kids on dating Phantom after he's saved. That's cool if totally off the mark. He can't tell the truth tho because Danny is still in the closet, and he's as startled as Danny was earlier by the desire to protect his boyfriend. If he tells them the ghost mistook the wrong Danny, Danny will be forced out of the closet. So Dash plays along, boasting about dating the ghost boy, all the whole panicking how he's going to prove it without talking to Phantom first and hoping Danny isn't going to hate him for this.

Danny has his own problems atm because Sam and Tucker know Danny is Danny which means Danny is dating Dash. Really, Danny? Why the secrets? Tucker has been missing out on some grade A teasing material and he plans to make up for lost time.

Danny and Dash meet up after school and have a total panic about what the heck they're going to do. Easy solution, Danny says he knows Phantom and he can "convince" him to play at dating Dash, but Danny isn't ready to come out as Phantom either, and he's definitely not ready to see Dash catch feelings for his ghost half. Uncomfortable solution: "Maybe we should call this off..." but neither of them really want to after feeling how deep their feelings go. Harder solution: after witnessing Dash in trouble and getting Sam and Tucker's support, Danny tentatively comes out to claim Dash as his (Fenton's) boyfriend and clear-up the Phantom misunderstanding. Dash goes into protective boyfriend mode until Danny feels comfortable being out, and the story ends with the two of them closer than when they started.

Gonna be a fun story they laugh about later once Dash finds out Danny was Phantom all along lol

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

why do I keep having Danny Phantom dreams

this time it was one where Dash and Kwan were both also half ghost (and for some reason also had Phantom's outfit and aesthetic) and they had made themselves into the protectors of the school, they didn't have secret identities, everyone knew it was them

but they still didn't know Danny was Phantom

after a ghost attack Danny had to pretend he was overshadowed to cover up using his powers in front of Dash, after which Dash 'saves' him, it's a big deal because Dash like, actually cares about Danny's wellbeing because he's a superhero now he has responsibilities, and it was super sweet because you know usually Dash is beating the shit out of him but now he's like, holding Danny really gently because he's pretending to be passed out and Dash has to protect him because that's what heroes do

it was super short but a fun concept

[bewildereye]

Really curious: What would Dash look like in your drawing style?

Probably something like this.

[dekalko-mania]

Phantom’s Sketchbook: By AkoyaMizuno: Mr. Lancer finds himself in an unparalleled situation, he has access to something which can give him incredible insight into the personal workings of Amity Park's local ghost teen hero, Danny Phantom. 

Additional Tags: Revelation Fic, Caring Mr. Lancer, Secret Identity

Get Out, Get Gone: By Anthrop: There’s a weight to you now that wasn’t there before. You’d think with your powers—(and doesn’t it feel strange to call them that, when you shake and shiver at the sight of your bones under your meat, when you walk down the stairs and your feet don’t touch anything at all)—you’d weigh less, be less. A thing of smoke, and ectoplasm, and all that awful electricity arcing through your nerves. But that's not what happened.

Additional Tags: stream of consciousness-style writing, anxiety, Danny’s going through it bro

Of English Projects and Revelations: By Nyomio: Dash just wanted to get a good grade on his English Assignment. He had figured there was a solid chance that putting himself, Paulie, Val and Fenton in the same chat would end poorly, but he hadn't expected things to escalate quite as they did. With all the chaos around him, he just has to ask - will they ever work on their English Project?

Additional Tags: chat fic, hurt/comfort, humor, revelation fic

Jumping At Shadows: By sapphireswimming: Dash has a problem and he needs Danny Phantom's help. So he decides to get it by... blackmailing Danny Fenton?

Additional Tags: Humor, ghost hunting, suspense, Dash admires Danny Phantom

omnis immunde spiritus: By aloneintherain: Danny’s eyes were fixed on the locker, never-moving, as though he could see straight through the wall and over to the other side. For a split second, Kwan could have even sworn that Danny’s eyes shone silver, like the eyes of a deer, glowing under headlights.

What the fuck, he thought.

Additional Tags: guys in white, friendship, spooky ghost kid danny fenton, POV outsider

Parasite: By DarkNymfa: Danny had to know that Vlad Masters—Vlad Plasmius—was trying to kill him. All Vlad needed for him was to get too fed up, go too far...To end it. Before Plasmius could do worse.

Additional Tags: angst, angst with a happy ending, possession, self-sacrifice 

Redemption: By SassyArtFarts: After a vicious fight between known antagonistic pair: Danny Fenton and Dash Baxter, Mr. Lancer comes up with a way to hopefully get them on better terms as they work together preparing a restoring project of an old summer camp. However, something else watches, waiting, wanting to be restored. It's ancient, it's resentful and it's starving.

Additional Tags: bully redemption, Mr. Lancer is dealing with dramatic children, not phantom planet compliant 

Interwoven: By Lynse: In the Far Frozen, a portal opens up and doesn’t close. In the NYC, Jake is suddenly faced with freak snowstorms. And Danny? Danny’s just trying to figure out why he’s supposed to be the one dealing with all of this.

Additional Tags: crossover, ghost king danny fenton, developing friendships, misunderstandings 

Until Death Do We Part: UnluckyAlis: For someone who fights ghosts, literal dead people, on a near-daily basis, you would think Danny could handle death better than this. He knows most of his enemies were once living, breathing people who died in tragic ways. Danny was once a living, breathing person who died in a tragic way. He just skipped out on the "stop breathing" part of things.

He faces mortality every day, every time he goes ghost. So why can't he face this? Why is this any different than any other day?

Because it was his friend, and he saw it, and he couldn't stop it. Because it was his fault.

Additional Tags: Blood and gore, panic attacks, murder, highly recommended super great fic oof

Necromancy: By wastefulreverie: She was curious about the portal, mysterious and full of paranormal potential. At the time, she hadn't seen any harm in manipulating him into exploring it. Until everything went horribly wrong.

Additional tags: death, necromancy, witch sam, portal accident au

Vanish Into the Witching Hour: By wastefulreverie: Danny finds that odd things tend to happen during the Witching Hour, the prime hour for paranormal activity. 

Additional Tags: identity reveal, witching hour, creepy, angst

Pink Astronaut: By lexosaurus: To Paulina's dismay, she and Danny Fenton must work together on their English final project.

Additional Tags: pink astronaut, fluff, enemies to lovers, kinda

Tutoring Phantom: By Lexosaurus: It was funny. A year ago Dash was all but praying for Fenton to shut up, but now he would do anything to hear him speak.

Additional Tags: identity reveal, recovery, hurt/comfort, study group

Plenty of Time: By wastefulreverie: When Danny Fenton supposedly runs away, Casper High has quite a few things to say when he returns. Especially in the wake of his apparent "trauma".

Additional Tags: angst, horror, decapitation, vivisection 

inviso-doodles: By attu: What are friends for if not making you internet famous?

additional tags: artist!Danny, wholesome content, the danny appreciation we need u guys, an obligatory break from all the angst recs this list has 

[princess-of-the-corner]

dash baxter just seems so inspired by flash thompson that i just cant understand why he didnt have a redemption arc

Yeah really though.

[fanarchoslashivist]

Honestly, I never wanted Chloe to have a redemption arc like Catra or Zuko, because Chloe was never a Catra or a Zuko. Chloe was Flash Thompson. She was the mean school bully to the superhero, and I LOVE those characters. I love, specifically, the privileged bully with troubled home life that idolizes the hero and picks on the hero's secret identity, but through their love of the hero comes to grow as a person and sets out to use their power and privilege to protect.

And she's not the first one to break that mold, Dash Baxter never grew out of bullying Danny in Danny Phantom, he only treated Danny with respect and helped him when his identity is revealed, but he DOES have interactions where his humanity shows through, and he happily helps in several episodes, even though his character development shows no growth he's still a rounded, flawed character.

Then we have Mandy from Totally Spies, who is annoying and vapid and catty, completely shallow, and is just a lot of fun. She NEVER changes, her few times where she joins the girls, or treats them better, or learns to like them are immediately turned around by the end of the episode, but you never expected her to actually change. She just wasn't mean to the main characters for that time, she was still Mandy.

I love these characters! I love Bonnie from Kim Possible and Kate from Lizzy McGuire and Bufford from Phineas & Ferb. I think Chloe would have made a great addition, she would have been a perfect snob who caused problems. I really looked forward to that dynamic, and I do understand there was a lot of behind the scenes issues that played tug of war with her arc, but the way she's still being portrayed after several seasons, where they really just want to hammer home that she's some evil creature and not a spoiled 14 year old, is kind of :/

I mean, yeah when she was on her road to redemption I definitely wanted Chloe to be the next Steve Palchuk but even then I kind of accepted that ZAG just doesn't have the patience, care, and skill to make Chloe a Steve Palchuk.

Miraculous Ladybug could never.