Practice Makes Perfect

by ZombieRed (ZombieLieutenant)

Summary:

Wes laments that he hasn't had his first kiss yet. What if he's a bad kisser?

Lucky (or not) for him, Danny is willing to help.

Notes:

Happy Valentines Day, everyone!

This year I'm doing a multi-chapter UFS fic. The rest of the fic will come out later on (not this week) but they ARE coming! A huge thanks to Berry and EC for letting me yell to them about this fic, and EC for coming up with the title.

Chapter 1

The cool February air blew against Wes’s exposed face, nipping at his cheeks and turning them bright red. He gave an involuntary shiver and tucked his legs closer against his torso as to better wrap his arms around his knees. While the days were stretching longer the sun still set earlier than Wes wanted. Even though his curfew wasn’t attached to when the streetlights turned on it didn't stop his dad from getting antsy when he was out after dark. 

Which honestly? Was stupid. He was almost fifteen: practically an adult at this point. Why did his dad feel the need to know his whereabouts every thirty minutes after 6pm?

As it stood, the long shadows against the orange and purple park signaled that Wes’s peace was running out of time.

A deep sigh escaped him as he once again let the conversation from earlier run in his head.

-

“Wait, you broke up with Kwan?!”

Wes stilled, his ears perking at the conversation around the corner in the hall. He took a silent step backwards.

“Yeah,” Sarah said. 

“But, like. Didn’t you guys just start dating?” the other girl asked. Wes couldn’t quite place her voice.

“I know,” Sarah said, elongating the ‘o’. Wes imagined Sarah covering her face with her hand in shame or embarrassment.

“So then…”

“Okay, so you can’t tell anyone, alright?”

“Sure.”

“I’m serious! Not a soul,” Sarah insisted. 

Wes’s entire body clenched in response, crumpling the hall pass in his hand.

“Okay! I won’t. Geez, just tell me already,” the other girl said.

There was a pause and Wes’s heart leapt into his throat. Oh fuck, did they know he was there? It wasn’t that he meant to eavesdrop, really. It’s just that they were talking and he didn’t want to interrupt and—

“So like, I went to his place, right? And like his house is really nice and stuff but his mom was really scary. Like, overbearing much? But like, after being interrogated like it was Guantanimo, we went up to his room. And I mean, it wasn’t really bad or anything. But you know. So anyway, we finally started kissing, right?”

“Yeah? And?”

Sarah exhaled through her nose. “And… and he. God, uhm.” She took a deep breath. “Kissing him was like kissing a golden retriever!”

“NO!”

“Yes!” Sarah cried. “God, he was like, slobbering in my mouth or something. It was awful.”

“So you broke up with him because he sucked at kissing?”

“I mean, not just that. But like. God, can you imagine making out with a fucking dog?”

Wes felt his stomach drop as the other girl burst into laughter.

-

Wes bit his lip. Yeah, he had been teased in the past for not yet having his first kiss, but he had never thought it was important. Not even mentioning the fact that he didn’t like girls that way at all, Wes had never actually thought that someone would actually break-up with their partner because they were a ‘bad kisser’ or whatever. That always struck him as some Disney Channel bullshit.

Apparently it wasn’t.

So what the hell was Wes supposed to do? He didn’t want his first boyfr— his first relationship to fail the moment that kissing was involved. If he even got a first relationship. 

For not the first time Wes cursed his stupid traitorous heart. Why did he have to be like this? Why couldn’t he just be normal?

And how on earth was he supposed to learn how to kiss?

A sudden shiver down Wes’s spine took him out of his thoughts. Oh, great. He did not want to face the main subject of his inner turmoil at that moment.

“I know you’re here,” Wes grumbled.

Phantom immediately appeared in front of Wes, his drooped shoulders matching the pout on his face. “How’d you know? You look so moody and distracted,” he said.

Wes’s eyes flickered up to match Phantom’s before going down to his feet. “I’m always on the lookout for your shit,” he said.

Phantom hummed. The faint echo’s static caused the hairs on the back of Wes’s neck to stand up. It always made him feel on edge, like an electric shock throughout his entire body that settled at the bottom of his stomach. He liked it more than he would ever admit.

“So…” Phantom started, moving his head from side to side. “What’cha thinking about?”

Wes immediately narrowed his eyes and hugged his legs tighter against his chest. 

“Why do you want to know?”

Phantom frowned. “‘Why?’ Because I care about you.”

Wes raised an eyebrow so high it almost flew off his face and into the stratosphere.

“Aw, come on. Yeah, I’m suspicious of you. But I do care about you. I mean, other than the whole trying-to-reveal-my-identity-to-the-world thing, you’re not that bad,” Phantom said.

Wes felt his entire turn red. Why was it that just ‘you’re not that bad’ caused his body to completely betray him? 

The smart thing would be to stay quiet. To tell Phantom to fuck off. To come up with something completely unrelated. Instead, his stupid mouth opened before his brain caught up. “You know how Sarah dumped Kwan?”

“Yeah?”

Fuck, there was nothing he could do now but go on with it. “Do you know why she dumped him?”

Phantom shook his head.

“It’s because he’s a bad kisser,” Wes explained.

Phantom furrowed his eyebrows. “Are you serious?”

“Completely.”

“Damn. That sucks. But you aren’t really close to Kwan. So why are you…” Phantom’s voice trailed off before his stupid face lit up. “You’ve never kissed someone before!”

“Not so loud!” Wes hissed, looking around to make sure no one was around. Satisfied they were still alone, Wes exhaled. “It’s… listen. I never really thought it was that big of a deal, okay? But if Kwan got dumped for being a bad kisser, then clearly this is kind of a problem.”

Phantom crossed his arms and gave a thoughtful expression that made Wes’s stomach do a small flip. Was he actually taking Wes seriously? He was almost certain that Phantom was going to make fun of his inexperience.

“That sucks, Wes. I wish I could help.”

Wes shook his head. “Yeah, the only way you could help me would be if you could teach me how to kiss—” Wes immediately closed his mouth. What? What the fuck did he just say? Why did he do that? Despite having no special powers, Wes tried to will the earth into swallowing him whole. 

No, no he could save this. He didn’t go this long keeping his secret without being able to talk his way out of whatever mess he had talked himself into. 

Before he could fix it though, Phantom had already started speaking. “Well, I mean…you know, I’ve kissed people before. It’s not too difficult,” he said, as if talking about an English assignment.

Wes stared at Phantom with his jaw open. What did he just say? This wasn’t just a bad idea; this was a horrific catastrophe waiting to happen. Wes could not, under any circumstances, agree to it. What if other people found out about this? What if everyone knew what Wes was? No one would talk to him again. He wouldn’t be able to play basketball ever again. They already moved once because of Wes—he didn’t want to force that on his dad again.

And even if other people didn’t find out, it didn’t matter. Fenton was certain to figure out Wes’s real motivations and his feelings for him. Would he be disgusted? Would he laugh? Would he use the knowledge to cause the maximum amount of pain towards Wes?

There was no winning with this idea. Wes was too vulnerable, too exposed. No, he had to shut this down before it even started.

A cold gust of wind pushed against Wes’s back towards the ghost. “Are you sure?” Wes asked.

Phantom gave a smile that hit Wes directly in the chest. “Yeah! It’s no biggie for me.”

All of the blood in Wes’s body rushed to his face. “O-okay,” he said, his tongue feeling thick in his mouth. Who was Wes kidding? He couldn’t turn this down. Yeah, it didn’t mean anything to Phantom, but it was the only way Wes would ever get a chance to kiss the object of his obsessions. 

“But! If we do this, you can’t tell anyone about this, okay?”

Phantom gave a quick shrug. “Sure, yeah. That’s fine.”

“I mean it!” Phantom might not be too observant, but his friends certainly weren’t stupid. “Not a word to anyone. Not even Foley to Manson.”

The soft glow around Phantom’s body flickered slightly as he frowned. “Aw, come on. Seriously?”

“Promise me!”

“Okay, okay. I promise. I won’t say a thing,” Phantom said. 

Wes stopped himself from beaming in response.

“But in return, you’re gonna drop this ‘Fenton/Phantom’ shit, okay?”

There was a pause. It wasn’t like Wes had been doing much of that lately, anyway. “...Fine.”

A chime from Phantom’s pocket interrupted them. He sighed as he took out his phone. “I told them I was busy,” he muttered. He shook his head at his phone and then looked back at Wes. “I gotta go, but text me when you want to get together, okay?”

Before Wes could respond the ghost turned around and flew away without a trace.

Oh no. What had Wes done?

Chapter 2

Wes took another deep breath in a futile attempt to calm his nerves. He sat at the edge of his bed, crossing and uncrossing his ankles over and over again. The dark green duvet was warm in his clenched hands. Doubt, fear, and embarrassment were heavy and pushing down on his shoulders, twisting his stomach. It was stopping him from looking at the boy beside him.

Wes’s room, normally his sanctuary from the world, felt claustrophobic. At first he had wanted everything to happen here in his domain. The one place in the world where Wes could exert some modicum of control. But now it felt less like he had allowed Fenton into his domain, and more like he had inadvertently placed himself on naked display.

His magazines were stashed just under the twin mattress they were sitting on. The board full of photographs and red string sat just behind his closet door. Right beside his bed was his non-password protected computer and its questionable search history.

This wasn’t a safe haven; it was a security breach.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Fenton said softly.

He placed his cool hand on top of Wes’s, causing him to almost jump out of his skin at the contact. It was too cold and too much and oh god, what was Wes thinking why did he ever agree to this? He was an idiot. An absolute fucking moron, the stupidest person to ever live.

“Sorry! Listen, if you don’t want to do this, we don’t have to—”

“No!” Wes cried, whipping his head to face Fenton’s slight frown. The only thing worse than going through with this was the idea of not doing it. 

“‘No?’”

Wes took a deep breath and swallowed down his nerves. He was going to do this. “I-I just don’t know how to, uh, start—”

Before Wes could do anything to stop it, Fenton’s head leaned closer towards him. Cold lips brushed against his cheek sending an electric shock through Wes’s body. “There,” Fenton said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Now we’ve started.”

Then, all too quickly, Fenton leaned back to his original position. Fenton just kissed him. Fenton just kissed him! It didn’t matter that it was on the cheek, or that it didn’t mean anything to Fenton. It meant everything to Wes. He wished that the cool feeling on his cheek could last forever.

Despite the proverbial breaking of the ice, Wes could still feel his nerves gnawing at his insides. Because next was…was…

“So I’ll go for the cheek now? Only to be fair,” Wes said like an idiot.

To his surprise Fenton didn’t roll his eyes. He just gave a simple nod. “Yeah, that works.”

An unromantic response, for sure. But the twisting of Wes’s stomach and shake in his bones was too distracting to think about the mood. Oh god, it was his turn now. That meant he had to actually move.

“I guess it’s a bit difficult when it’s me and not some pretty girl,” Fenton said sheepishly. “Maybe it’ll be easier if you close your eyes?”

Close his eyes—why didn’t Wes think of that? He gave a quick nod and then closed his eyes. Instead of here with Fenton who was oblivious and thought nothing of this, Wes thought of the impossible: Fenton who was here because there was nothing he wanted more than to kiss Wes. And if Wes was feeling brave enough to unshield his heart from even his own private fantasy, then with his closed eyes he could imagine a Fenton who loved him.

Blood now pumping throughout Wes’s body, he felt himself start moving forward before his brain could catch up. Shouldn’t he open his eyes to see where he’s going?!

His lips pushed against something cold and distinctly chapped, causing Wes’s eyes to fly open. Surprised, but not angry, icy blue stared back at him.

He was kissing Fenton. On the lips! And Fenton wasn’t leaping backwards. They were nice. Soft. The coolness of Fenton’s skin was refreshing, especially as his stare made Wes feel like he was burning up. Was it good? Was it bad? Was Wes fucking it up? He didn’t want to stop; what if this was his only chance? Oh crap, how long had this been going on? Was this too long? It was going on for too long, wasn’t it?

Panic overtook Wes’s body and he flung himself backwards, falling onto his bed.

Nothing had happened and yet everything felt like it had changed. He could barely hear Fenton speaking over the sound of blood thumping in his ears and his heavy panting.

“Huh?” he asked eloquently.

To his horror, Fenton leaned over Wes and blocked out the ceiling light with his presence. “I said, ‘how did you like that?’”

Wes opened his mouth but no sound came out. He wasn’t even sure how to speak. Error 404: brain not found. Instead, he gave a series of quick, shallow nods. 

Finally, his brain started to work. “I-it was good.”

Fenton flashed a smile that stabbed Wes in the chest. “Good,” he said softly. Then, instead of leaning back he moved forward, touching Wes’s lips with his own. It felt good. Nice. Wes felt himself start to melt into the sensation. Fenton continued to follow Wes and began to suck every so slightly on his bottom lip. Wes inhaled sharply and felt something like a jolt of electricity in his hips. Thankfully, Fenton seemed to understand what Wes’s body was saying. He rotated his head slightly and pushed Wes’s upper lip, forcing his lips to part. 

And suddenly part of the world clicked in place.

Wes started to drink Fenton in, his body responding like this is what it was made to do. His tongue found its way into Fenton’s mouth and it felt right. Wes arched his back up and leaned forward to get more. He needed more and needed Fenton to need more. For once in Wes’s life, his brain quieted down. All that existed was himself lying on his bed and Fenton on top of him. Wes was finding himself becoming intoxicated from Fenton’s kiss and loved it. He wanted more. He needed this to last forever—

“Wes?” Walter called out, his voice only slightly muffled by the closed door.

Fenton catapulted himself off of Wes, almost falling off of the bed entirely. Underneath his disheveled hair he was staring at Wes with wide eyes. His lips were a shiny deep red.

Neither said a word; they remained frozen deer in headlights.

“Wesley?” repeated Walter, right outside of his door.

Fenton immediately turned invisible. “Yes??” Wes shouted back.

The door knob turned. Oh, shit shit shit shit. What did Wes look like? Was it obvious what he had just been doing?

Walter opened the door halfway and looked at Wes on his bed. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing! God, am I not allowed to just hang out in my own room?” Wes whined.

Walter narrowed his eyes. “Cut the attitude. You can do whatever you want in your room after you take out the trash. You know, that thing I told you to do this morning?”

“Fine, I will. Just give me a minute!”

Walter kept his eyes on Wes for a moment longer before finally closing his door and leaving. 

Immediately Wes exhaled deeply in a futile attempt to calm his heart. Damn, that was close. He looked around his seemingly empty room. “Fenton?” he said softly. “Fenton, are you still here?”

But he didn’t really have to ask; he already knew that he was alone.

---

Danny’s chest felt tight, like his insides were falling into a heavy black hole. So heavy, in fact, that Danny was shocked that he could still fly above the streets of Amity Park. He wasn’t stupid; Danny knew that this weird sensation was a result of helping Wes out.

But he wasn’t quite sure why. 

Because yeah, okay. Kissing Wes was definitely weird, but it shouldn’t have been affecting him so much. Danny had done so many fake-out make outs with Sam and it’s not like that meant anything. Sure, he was always a little embarrassed afterwards, but it had kept his secret safe so it had always been worth it. 

And really, when Danny thought about it, there’s no problem with kissing Wes. When he thought about it he honestly liked it. It was…nice. Not that it wasn’t with Sam or whatever, but it just hadn’t really felt like that.  

Danny shivered. Even thinking about how Wes’s lips felt made him feel funny. Good funny, in a way that nothing or no one else had. But maybe with Sam the difference was that she was his best friend and he didn’t know Wes as well. Obviously that was the only reason why; Danny was just being weird. He needed to be less weird.

So there.

Besides, Wes was a methodical person, and Danny doubted that he wouldn’t want another session. He had to be able to act normal so he could properly help him out.

His chest feeling a little looser, Danny finally felt calm enough to fly home.

Notes:

Oooooh they've finally started~ These boys. What can I tell you?

I'm hoping to update the fic weekly but it might turn into every 2 weeks. Keep an eye out!

Chapter 3

Notes:

Sorry for the wait! Life has been kicking my ass >_< so writing has been slow. But it's still happening!!

Going to school the next day felt off in a way that Danny couldn’t put his finger on. The route to school had been the same frantic dash, and he had the usual blank worksheet for his algebra teacher to collect with a quick head shake and a harsh tsk . The classrooms still had their strange faintly musky scent as if laundry had been left in the washing machine for too long, and the hallways had the familiar chipping green paint job.

And despite there being no changes to Casper High, Danny couldn’t seem to shake off the sensation that he was being squeezed from the bottom up like a tube of toothpaste. 

It wasn’t until after third period when he finally spotted Wes in the hallway. The redhead was impossible for Danny to miss—a beacon in the drab monotony of the student body. Wes was shuffling with the crowd towards his locker. He was holding his books against his chest with an iron grip, turning his already pale knuckles white. Danny didn’t miss the way Wes’s green eyes were darting from side to side. Was he looking for something? (Was he looking for him? )

Chad approached Wes and said something that Danny couldn’t hear. Wes jumped practically three feet in the air and briefly bared his teeth in an appearance of pain before schooling his expression. Whatever Chad said must have been found acceptable by Wes, as he relaxed his shoulders and gave a quick laugh.

It was one of his fake laughs, Danny noted. Whenever Wes was glancing to the side with his eyebrows raised it wasn’t a real laugh.

Danny had no idea when he learned this.

When Chad eventually walked away, Wes visibly exhaled. Then he looked around once again, only this time he locked eyes with Danny. Wide green eyes stared at Danny, making him feel like the two of them were alone and Danny was laid bare. Despite feeling so uncomfortable he couldn’t get himself to look away.

Before he could act, Wes abruptly turned on his heel and walked away briskly, practically fleeing. 

What had Danny done? Why was Wes acting so weird?

Was it the kissing? Danny frowned. Wes has asked for help with it, though. And it totally didn’t mean anything. Obviously. But maybe he felt it had been too weird? Or maybe he thought Danny had told someone? Despite Sam and Tucker giving Danny a look when he didn’t explain where he had been the day before, he hadn’t said anything to them.

The halfa let himself slip through the hallways like water, following Wes by instinct. Finally Danny found him down the science wing. Silently he continued towards Wes and placed a hand on his slender shoulder. Wes yelped and jumped away like a skittish wild animal. 

“Hey, Wes. Uhm, about—”

Wes’s hand flung to Danny’s mouth as his face turned a deep red. “Shut the FUCK up, Fenton,” he hissed, looking at the mostly empty hallway.

Danny grabbed Wes’s wrist and forcefully pulled his hand away. “I was just saying. You know. Even with that thing and everything. We’re cool, right?”

Danny stopped himself from hiding his face in his hands. What the fuck was that? He didn’t even say anything.

Wes gave a slow nod. “I…yeah. We are.” He inhaled and bit down on his bottom lip. “Right?”

“Yeah! I, I think we are. I mean, I hope we are,” Danny said, trying desperately not to trip over his own words. “But uh…”

Wes took a step back and hunched his shoulders once more. “‘But?’ What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice heavy with suspicion. 

Danny knew he had to fix this immediately. “Nothing’s wrong!” he practically shouted. Danny winced at the volume of his own voice. He brought himself down to almost whisper. “All I mean is, like, we aren’t done practicing, right?”

Wes gasped softly and then gave a quick succession of nods. “Right. Yeah, of course. We’re not.”

“So we should meet up again,” Danny said.

A smile grew on Wes’s face that made Danny feel warm and goopy inside. “For sure. I’m not doing anything after school,” Wes said.

The bell ringing interrupted the boys, causing them to jump away from each other. When had Danny ended up only inches away from Wes’s face?

Despite the sudden awkwardness that had dropped on them, Danny’s smile remained. “I’ll text you.”

---

They didn’t make it to after school.

It was fourth period when Wes found himself staring at Fenton in the boys bathroom. His face had a fresh cut just below his eye. Despite what looked like a close fight, Fenton stood in his typical t-shirt and jeans combo nonchalantly. He gave a snort and smiled at Wes. 

“Just missed me yet again, Weston. Jeez, you haven’t been doing a great job stalking me lately. You’re losing your edge,” Fenton teased. 

Wes felt his mouth go dry and hid it with a scoff. “Don’t flatter yourself. I don’t spend every second of my life thinking about you,” Wes lied. “I had to hand in an important paper.”

“Then what are you doing here, huh?” Fenton asked.

Wes raised an eyebrow. He turned toward the urinal and unzipped his fly. “Peeing?”

“Oh,” Fenton’s voice said behind him, softly. 

Wes rolled his eyes. “I thought a space nerd like you would know that the earth revolved around the sun, not you,” he said.

While he couldn’t see it, Wes was certain that Fenton was sticking out his tongue. Wes finished his business and walked over to the sink to wash his hands. He glanced up at the mirror and looked at Fenton standing behind him. The cut, now appearing to be under Fenton’s left cheek, took Wes’s attention. “Close fight?” he asked over the running water.

Fenton waved a hand dismissively. “Psh, no. Of course not. I always have things under control.”

Wes raised an eyebrow, still looking at the mirror. “Oh really?” he said, narrowing his eyes. He turned off the sink and grabbed a paper towel. “Because your face would say otherwise.”

“Oh? Can’t stop looking at this pretty face, can you?” Fenton asked.

Wes’s heart skipped a beat. Jeez, why did he have to say that? A wave of embarrassment flowed up Wes’s body, turning his face red. Stupid Fenton and his stupid words and his stupid face. Wes balled the damp paper towel and threw it into the trash. “Yeah, pretty ugly.”

To Wes’s dismay, Fenton didn’t rise to the bait. His cocky smile stayed on his face, making Wes’s stomach do an uncomfortable flip. There was a tension in the bathroom that was tight as a guitar string. It felt as if there was an unspoken question they were asking each other. Could they just be normal? It wasn’t after school like Wes had planned for them. But also it was Fenton who had asked earlier, right? So it wasn’t like it was only Wes who had been thinking about it.

(Not that there was any chance that Fenton had been thinking about it as much as Wes.)

What was supposed to happen was Wes would leave the bathroom, let Fenton do whatever the hell he needed to do, and go back to class. Instead, he and Fenton stood on the checkered bathroom tile looking at each other, shifting weight from one foot to the other.

Fenton swallowed, and Wes stared at the movement of that pale neck hungrily.

“We should do a quick practice session,” he said quickly, mouth once again moving before his brain caught up. 

Oh, god. Did Wes really say that? Could he just die then and there?

To his shock, Fenton’s eyebrows only raised slightly. “Sure. I mean, but uh. Why?” Fenton asked.

Of course he had to ask why. Wes didn’t even have an answer, other than kissing Fenton seemed to have opened a dam within Wes and now it was the only thing he could fathom thinking about at any given moment. His body craved Fenton’s lips once more. 

Instead of saying any of that embarrassing crap, Wes said, “well, what if the girl I’m with, we only get a quick moment to kiss, but I’m not good at doing it quickly and then we get caught by her older brother or something.”

Fenton shifted his weight to his other foot and hummed. “Well, I guess that makes sense,” he said, even though if he had put any sort of thought into it he would realize that Wes was talking out of his ass.

Before he could figure that out—and before Wes lost his nerve—Wes’s body moved forward, pushing Fenton into an open stall and awkwardly against the toilet. He paused for a half second to look at Fenton’s face—the icy blue of his eyes were almost impossible to see due to how dilated his pupils were—before Wes shoved his lips onto Fenton’s.

It was definitely messy. At first Wes only got half of Fenton’s mouth, then when he moved to correct his nose bashed into Fenton’s. Neither things seemed to bother Fenton, or even register to him as negative. He continued to kiss Wes, or kiss him back. Or both. And he was doing it with a force, some sort of primal force. Wes was certain that he felt that same force within his own chest, desperate to break out of his rib cage and rip into Fenton’s flesh.

Wes put his lips on Fenton’s lower lip and began to suck on it, making the other boy inhale sharply. The noise lit up the inside of Wes’s brain like a Christmas tree. He needed to hear that again. 

Wes sucked harder on Fenton’s lip and then, before thinking it through, partially bit down. 

The lights in the bathroom flickered and Wes felt Fenton’s moan vibrate. He pushed Wes against the flimsy stall wall and forced his tongue between Wes’s lips.

It was wet and warm in Wes’s mouth. There wasn’t much of a taste but it still satisfied Wes’s hunger. Their movements were clunky and the two of them were messy—Wes could feel the saliva dripping down from the corner of his mouth to his chin. It wasn’t that great of a kiss except for the fact that it was, it felt better than anything Wes could have imagined. Yesterday really had been the warm up.

God, Wes loved this. He needed this. He didn’t want it to stop—not just that moment but having the ability to kiss Fenton all the time. He was desperate in the knowledge that eventually, Fenton will have “taught” Wes enough and this would end.

Fuck, he had a feeling that it would kill him when this ended.

The squeaky croak of the bathroom door opening might as well have been a gunshot. The two boys froze in place: Wes was being pushed against the wall by Fenton, his arms had somehow found their way on Fenton’s back, and his right leg was right between Fenton’s legs.

Before Wes could comprehend what was happening, a strange sensation passed over him and his body disappeared from view.

“Wes?” the person called out into the bathroom, his voice bouncing off of the tiled walls. “Are you in here?”

Wes instinctively held his breath and tried not to focus on the weird sensation of not being able to see his own body. The footsteps on the tile echoed throughout the bathroom. “Wes? Mr. Dayle sent me to find you and get the hall pass back.”

The steps continued closer until Wes was staring right at Craig’s face. The other boy looked past them at the wall and shook his head. “Jesus Christ, where is he?”

Wes didn’t dare make a sound until the bathroom door once again closed. Fenton dropped the invisibility and Wes immediately turned to him. “What the fuck were you thinking?!”

Fenton furrowed his brow and took a step back. “Uh, not getting caught? What do you mean ‘what was I thinking?’ Are you stupid?” Fenton asked.

Frustration and embarrassment overwhelmed Wes. He didn’t want to be upset with Fenton. He wanted to get back to kissing him. But the adrenaline from almost being caught and the fact that his true feelings were so close to the surface and threatening to spill out…Wes couldn’t risk that.

So instead he clenched his teeth and glared at the boy in front of him.

“Am I stupid? You’re stupid! Now Craig is going to tell Mr. Dayle that I skipped class. We could have just closed the fucking stall door so I could say I was in here,” Wes hissed.

He shoved Fenton out of the way so he could storm out of the bathroom. Maybe if he got to class quickly he could still save his reputation with Mr. Dayle. Before he made it to the bathroom door he paused. He turned back to Fenton who was staring at him with an unreadable expression.

He was angry, yes. But curse his stupid, traitorous body—Wes wanted to kiss him goodbye. His chest ached for it, but it would reveal too much.

And he still couldn’t decipher the weird look on Fenton’s face.

Instead of a kiss goodbye, Wes fled the bathroom without another word.

Chapter 4

Notes:

Oops, this ended up being a lot longer than anticipated. OH WELL!

What the hell had that been?!

It was the end of the school day but Danny was still fuming. For the rest of the day instead of paying attention in any of his classes he had been replaying what had happened in the bathroom over and over and over again. But instead of providing clarity, Danny found himself becoming more confused and pissed off. He felt like he was full of feelings that threatened to spill if he wasn’t careful.

Danny’s body moved on auto-pilot while his thoughts distracted him. He somehow managed to navigate through the dozens upon dozens of students filing through the halls. The multitude of their conversations mixed together into an unintelligible drone of white noise.  

With an exasperated sigh, Danny flung open his locker and began to pack up his backpack. Honestly, he just didn’t get it. Everything had seemed to be good (more than good) and Wes had said that he didn’t want anyone to know. So what else was Danny supposed to do when Craig entered the bathroom? Call out to him? Talk about the weather? Ask if he wanted to join?

Danny shook his head as if to shake the dumb thought out of his mind. In one fluid motion he zipped up his backpack and slipped it over his shoulders. Danny didn’t understand why it was so awful for Craig to think that Wes was skipping considering the fact that guess what? Wes actually was skipping class! It wasn’t even that big of a deal; Danny skipped class constantly to fight ghosts and this was only one time. Wes was being over dramatic for no good reason. Christ, maybe Danny should call this whole thing off.

Danny stopped mid step on the sidewalk outside of school and immediately shook his head at such a stupid thought. No, he shouldn't do that. That would be too brash! Too drastic. No, Wes was a drama queen, but Danny was able to be level-headed. Besides, it was Wes who needed Danny for practice. Danny would simply wait for Wes to get over himself and apologize to Danny so they could practice more. 

God he hoped Wes wouldn’t be too stubborn—he didn’t want to wait long.

Danny shifted his backpack on his shoulders at the thought; it made him uncomfortable in a way that he didn’t want to examine too closely, like his shirt was too small or his socks were itchy. Tucker’s voice thankfully derailed his train of thought from going any further.

“Danny!” Tucker called out. “Jeez, are you deaf or something?”

Danny turned to Tucker. His friend was shivering from the cool February breeze despite his green puffy jacket and warm brown boots. Danny gave a sheepish smile and waited for Tucker to catch up at the crosswalk. “Sorry about that. I was thinking about something.”

Tucker’s eyebrows raised but continued walking. “Thinking? Are you telling me that you have a brain in there?” Tucker pocked Danny’s head to punctuate this question. 

Danny weakly brushed his arm away. “Oh shut up.”

“Nice. Very creative. I give that 2/10.”

“Ha ha,” Danny deadpanned. He gave a sigh  “Anyway, where’s Sam?”

Immediately Tucker grew a grin from ear to ear. Damn it, Danny should have known better. 

“Oh, ‘where’s Sam?’ Is that what you’ve been thinking about? Kissing your goth princess?” Tucker teased, lightly jabbing Danny in the ribs with his elbow. 

Danny felt his cheeks flush and he felt something similar to guilt twist in his stomach. Part of it was due to Tucker correctly guessing that Danny had been thinking about kissing, and part of it was discomfort over the wrong person being named. Not that he hadn’t had a crush on Sam in the past—his friend had been the only person he’d thought about for months. But Danny no longer saw Sam like that.

Not that he felt that way about Wes. It was different with him. How exactly, Danny couldn’t really explain. Lucky for him, he didn’t have to: part of his agreement was that he wouldn’t tell Tucker anything. In an odd way, Danny was relieved that the option had been taken from him.

“I don’t have a crush on Sam anymore,” Danny said, his voice coming out more whiny than he had intended. 

“Sure you don’t,” Tucker said, clearly not believing Danny’s words. 

“I don’t!”

Tucker raised his hands by his chest. “Okay, fine. You don’t.” Then he mumbled, “the Nile isn’t just a river in Egypt.”

Danny decided not to push it and clenched his hands to control his frustration. “Thank you,” he said sharply.

“Anyway, Miss ‘not-your-crush—”

Danny glared at Tucker, eyes flashing green.

“Sorry, Sam had to go to the dentist. Remember?” Tucker then shook his head solemnly. “Poor girl. What an awful way to start the weekend. Hopefully she’ll survive.” 

The pair stopped at a red light and Danny rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner, making sure Tucker noticed. “You know your fear of doctors and dentists is irrational, right?”

Even though the light had changed Tucker stopped in his tracks and clenched his chest as if Danny’s words shot him in the heart. “Irrational?! Daniel Fenton, don’t tell me you’re on their side now!”

Tension melted from Danny’s shoulders and he gave a laugh. Maybe he couldn’t tell Tucker what was going on, but just being with his friend instantly made him feel better.

---

The weekend had almost ended and there still hadn’t been any kind of communication between Danny and Wes.

It was something that Danny didn’t want to think about, so of course every second thought involved Wes. Danny’s parents were oblivious enough to not notice anything was off with their son, not that he was surprised. They were ghost hunters who didn’t notice the ghost in their own home; Danny would have died a second time from shock if they had picked up on his warring emotions.

Jazz, unfortunately, was much more perceptive. 

“Tell me!” Jazz said, her voice barely muffled through Danny’s door. How she was able to do that, he would never know.

“For the last time, it’s nothing!” Danny yelled back.

“Nuh uh, I know what nothing looks like, and you are far from the realm of it. The sighs? The fidgeting? The way you’re so easily distracted?” 

Even without seeing her, Danny knew she was tallying the points on her fingers. He sighed. He didn’t want Jazz butting into his life (yet again), especially when he had better things to do like play Doomed with Sam and Tucker.

Probably hearing this sigh, Jazz changed her tone of voice, no doubt trying a different psychological tactic or whatever. “Danny, I care about you. I’m not trying to nag you—”

“But you are!” Danny added helpfully.

He grinned hearing Jazz take a steadying deep breath. “I’m trying to help you work through this. It’s my duty as both your older sister and a psychologist.”

Danny groaned. God he hated this shit. Quickly he opened the door and faced his sister in the hallway. “You’re not a psychologist, Jazz. Stop pretending, that’s for babies.”

Jazz’s face turned red almost immediately. “I’m not—!”

A puff of cold air escaped Danny’s lips providing him with the perfect escape. He gave his furious sister the most shit eating grin he could muster transformed to his ghost persona.  “Duty calls and all that.”

In a blink of an eye he turned invisible and watched his sister turn magenta and start to stutter, barely able to contain her indignation. “This isn’t over!” she screeched.

Danny rolled his eyes and flew out of the house. Yeah, he knew that she wouldn’t drop it so easily—Jazz didn’t drop anything—but he still welcomed the reprieve nonetheless. 

It was grey outside. The dark clouds were a heavy duvet that covered Amity Park, leaving the town in a great shadow that tricked the street lights into turning on. The lights gave the wet sidewalks a shiny, glossy look that matched the bark of the bare trees. The air itself felt damp, warning of another rainfall soon.

Danny’s instincts pulled him north, past the rows of houses and towards the park in the middle of town. As he came closer it seemed to somehow become even darker and the telltale signs of ecto-activity, which could best be described as a type of static, raised the hairs on the back of his neck.

The ghost was close by.

As he landed in the park Danny soon found himself surrounded by a droning buzz. 

“Where are you?” Danny called out. “Show yourself!”

On cue, a large swarm of large bees, each the size of a football, revealed itself.

“That explains the buzzing noise,” Danny muttered. 

He gathered energy in his right hand, willing the latent ectoplasm within him to a physical form around his fist and then threw it at the swarm. The ghost bees quickly scattered, dodging the ectoblast with ease. The swarm then came back together and flew towards the centre of the park. 

“Oh no you don’t. Come back here!” Danny cried, flying after it. 

Once again he gathered energy in his right hand but this time he splintered his blast into multiple small ones. The swarm broke apart but this time some of them were hit by the blast and fell to the ground. The rest of the bees took off in different directions throughout the park. 

Quickly, Danny took out his thermos and sucked the injured bees up. “Three down, a bajillion to go. Great,” he said with a heavy sigh. 

Wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible, Danny took off north with another ectoblast ready to go. He soon found a few of the bees already under siege by a blaster wielding Sam. Tucker stood a few feet behind her, no doubt tactically avoiding the large insects.

With the ghosts distracted, Danny shot them down with an ectoblast and captured them in the thermos. “Sam, Tucker! Didn’t expect to see you guys here.”

“Funny, I didn’t expect to see giant bees today, but here we are,” Sam said flatly.

Danny shrugged. “But here we are. Hey, you distracting them helped a lot, actually. Would you be okay with—”

“Putting ourselves in danger as a distraction in the hopes that you don’t let us get stung?” Tucker supplied. He crossed his arms and shook his head. “Not really.”

“Aw come on, Tuck. Trust me! You don’t think I’d let you get hurt, do you?” Danny asked.

Sam and Tucker shared a look.

“I mean…”

“Okay, fine. Whatever. You don’t have to answer that. Just help me catch these guys,” Danny grumbled.

---

It took almost an hour of running around, but finally they had captured all of them. Danny let out a deep sigh and relaxed his shoulders. “Geez, that took long enough.”

Tucker only nodded in exhausted agreement. Sam squatted and wiped sweat from her brow. “Is that the last of them?” she asked.

Danny paused and focused, trying to extend out his ghost sense but nothing set it off. He was the only ghost left in the area.

A flash of light from the corner of his eye grabbed Danny’s attention. Immediately he whipped his head to the right and barely missed a tiny glint of reflected light in one of the large trees on the other side of the park.

“There’s more?” Sam asked with a small whine in her voice.

Danny turned back to his friends whom he had forgotten were still with him. A lie quickly slipped from his tongue with more ease than he would have liked. “Yeah, I sense something over there. I’ll go on ahead.”

“Aw man, why’d you have to find even more? Couldn’t you just pretend that was the last of them?” Tucker complained.

Sam elbowed her friend with probably more force than needed and he gave a cough. “We’ll be right behind you!” Sam announced while giving Tucker a quick glare.

I really hope not. Danny zipped away from his friends and crossed the length of the park in just over a minute. Just as he expected, sitting high in one of the trees was Wes, bundled up in an thick winter coat and holding his camera that was strapped around his neck. His eyes were wide and his mouth was frowning. 

Danny stopped himself from looking at Wes’s lips and instead moved his gaze to the camera. His heart went cold. “You’re taking photos?” he asked, not daring to look at Wes’s face. “Is the…the thing, the agreement over?”

Yeah, they hadn’t talked in a few days, but Danny didn’t think that their argument was that bad. It was just a favour he had been doing for Wes, nothing more. So why did his entire body feel numb?

Wes jolted upwards, causing him to lose his balance. He scrambled to stay on the tree branch. “No!” Wes all but shouted.

Danny finally risked looking at Wes’s face. The other boy’s face was pale and his eyes were wide. “I, I, I, I wasn’t, it’s not for evidence or anything!” Wes sputtered.

Danny dared to hope, but he wasn’t stupid. “Then what’s it for?”

Wes pursed his lips and although he was looking down and away from Danny’s face, he could still see the tips of Wes’s ears turn red. “It’s just for myself,” he mumbled.

Danny chewed on his bottom lip. It seemed sincere and he wanted to believe Wes. He really, really did. But Danny had been lied to before; he didn’t want to be taken as a fool. 

Although...it’s not like he had transformed at all yet today, so Wes couldn’t have caught anything incriminating. 

“Okay, that’s good. I thought you were still mad about Friday,” Danny said with a slight laugh.

Wes’s head snapped up and he glared at Danny dead in the eye. “I am,” he said with a forced even tone. “I thought you had come over to apologize.”

Danny almost jumped back. “Apologize? For what? I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Wes narrowed his eyes. A sudden speed that Danny had never seen before overtook Wes, and before he could realize it Wes had grabbed the front of Danny’s suit and pulled Danny towards him. There was only an inch or two between them. Danny couldn’t help but notice how beautiful and long Wes’s eyelashes were, or how intensely bright his green eyes seemed to shine. 

“I care about my schooling,” Wes growled, and Danny could almost feel the vibrations of the words through his body. “I care about my grades. I care about my standing with my teachers and I need to stay on their good side. Being liked gives you references, leniency, and freedom. I’m not about to let you mess it all up.” 

Then Wes pulled Danny even closer and crashed his mouth onto his. He couldn’t help it—Danny immediately parted his lips to allow Wes access. The other boy’s tongue slipped into Danny’s mouth with a blind intensity he had never experienced. He could feel Wes’s frustration and fiery, passionate anger through the desperate kiss. 

Two could play at this game.

Danny kissed back with a vengeance. He placed his right hand at the base of Wes’s skull and shoved Wes at the exact angle he wanted and began to suck on Wes’s lip.

Wes shivered and for not the first time Danny wished he could talk while they kissed. ‘Do you like this? Can you taste my sweat in your mouth? I want to—’

Pain. Beautiful pain blossomed from Danny’s swollen lip where Wes had bit down. The base of Danny’s stomach twisted in a strange way and he couldn’t help the moan that escaped him. 

That felt good.

Before he could explore it any further, Wes broke away from the kiss. His pupils were blown out, only leaving a sliver of green surrounding them and his lips were shiny from their combined spit. Danny unconsciously licked his lips.

“So that was an angry kiss,” Wes said softly, mostly to himself. He was still holding onto Danny’s suit, but his grip was less tight. "That wasn't bad at all."

“Uhn,” was all Danny managed to get out.

“Danny? Where are you?” Sam’s voice called out, still far but not comfortably so.

Danny and Wes both stilled and stared at each other.

“We’re not done!” Wes hissed in a half whisper. “Tomorrow. 5pm. My room. Got it?!”

Danny nodded and Wes released his grip on Danny’s suit.

“Good. Now go!!”

Wes didn’t have to tell him twice; Danny floated down from the tree and over to his friends who were walking over. 

“Got the last one. I’ll drop these guys off back and then we can play some Doomed,” he said, moving towards the sidewalk and specifically away from the tree that Wes was in. 

“Sounds good,” Tucker said.

Sam looked at Danny and gave a frown. Oh no, why was she frowning? Was there something on his face? It wasn’t like Wes was a girl who wore lipstick or anything. What evidence could there be? None! None at all there was no way she could know what he had been doing because he had just been capturing a giant ghost bee and that was definitely all that had gone on, yup.

“Danny…” she started slowly, “did the bee get you in the face?”

“Huh? No. What?”

“Your lip just looks kinda swollen,” she said.

Danny placed his hand against his lips and felt the wet saliva on them. He had to stop himself from shivering. “Oh, I guess it must have. Didn’t notice at all, whoops! Glad that mystery is figured out. Okay, I’m gonna go off ahead and throw these guys back in the Zone bye!”

That wasn’t his smoothest exit, not by a long shot. But it also wasn’t his worst either. Danny couldn’t really find himself bothered, honestly. He was feeling the lightest he had all weekend, like taking off a jacket that was too tight and now he could finally breathe.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow! Maybe he could get Wes to practice more of that biting with him. They certainly didn’t want Wes to accidentally bite a girl wrong and ruin it with her, so it seemed only logical for them to work on that next.

The excitement thankfully overshadowed the uneasy feeling in Danny’s gut that he kept on having to push aside—the growing sensation that twisted when he thought of Wes kissing someone else.

Notes:

Those boys, lmao.

Also I'm going to be on a bit of a hiatus so I can put my time onto a different project/some IRL stuff. But don't worry! i will still be working on this. It's just so much fun I can't help it <3

Chapter 5

Notes:

Yikes, sorry for the long wait for this chapter! I feel bad, I never wanted the wait to be like 7 months or whatever, but uh. Life certainly does happen, and man has it been happening to me. But here we are. More of the boys, haha

Once again Wes found himself in his bedroom alone with the subject of his deepest desires. This time his dad and brother were definitely going to be out of the house for a few hours, so there was no concern about any untimely interruptions. Just the thought made Wes’s heart skip a beat.

“So uh, hickies,” he started, sounding incredibly stupid. Why was he like this?

“I’ve never had one, actually,” Fenton said. “Or given one. So this is pretty new for me too.”

Wes sat up straighter on his bed. This was new for Fenton too? He gave a small smile. “So I guess we’ll learn together,” he said.

Fenton nodded enthusiastically, which made Wes’s stomach do a small flip. “Makes sense!”

Wes ignored the fluttering feeling in his gut. “Okay, so I think we should go about this using the scientific method,” he said.

Fenton raised an eyebrow. “Scientific method? Now you’re sounding like Jazz,” he said.

Wes ignored the comparison. “We should go down, doing first a control kiss and then after that each kiss with a bit more intensity than the last. That way we can see both a) how much pressure we’re okay with, and b) how bad of a bruise it leaves behind.”

“Wow,” Fenton said with wide eyes. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you?”

Wes felt his cheeks begin to heat up but tried to keep his composure. “I mean, it just makes the most sense.”

To his relief, Fenton let the matter drop just as easily as he brought it up. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He leaned forward and Wes’s body gave an involuntary shiver. “Maybe you should go first, show me how it’s done,” he said in a low voice.

It was only luck that stopped a moan from escaping Wes’s mouth. That should not have affected him as much as it did. “O-okay. Sure, yeah,” he said in a half-whisper. 

Wes hesitated for only a moment before finally moving forward and ghosting his lips against Fenton’s exposed neck. He gently kissed the cool skin, sucking in Fenton’s sweet scent and letting it fill his lungs, hoping to keep the memory for later. 

There, that was the control kiss. He slowly moved his lips down the subtle arch of Fenton’s neck about half an inch and then kissed his skin once again, with more force this time. It seemed too early still to get teeth involved, but Wes would be lying if he said he didn’t want to see his mark. Careful to not use any teeth, Wes began to suck at Fenton’s skin, as if he could inhale the other boy, bring him even closer. He wanted more but stopped himself—he was trying the scientific method. That was the guise for this entire session. Fenton might have agreed easily to it, but he wasn’t stupid. If Wes got carried away…

He had to stay focused. Wes let go of the suction and moved further down his neck.

“You didn’t need to stop,” Fenton said, voice soft.

“Gotta start small and work up from there,” Wes replied, his voice partially dampened by Fenton’s soft skin. He couldn’t help but smile as Fenton shivered under him.

He once more kissed the other boy and sucked. Harder this time, without stopping his teeth from grazing flesh. Fenton inhaled sharply, no doubt trying to school himself. Getting closer, Wes noted. He wanted nothing more than to go beyond Fenton’s limit and have him come undone. 

His mouth audibly released. This time there was the shiny evidence of saliva left behind. Wes continued downward, now on the collar bone, and bit down. 

Despite putting a hand in front of his mouth, a muffled moan still managed to escape from the other boy. ‘You like that, huh?’ Wes wanted to ask; the temptation to goad Fenton and make him squirm was great. But Wes couldn’t lose his focus, and he was certain that he could break the ghost boy soon. So instead he smiled and released himself from the skin. He chose a spot now on the clavicle and this time he didn’t wait.

He bit down hard .  

Fenton moaned underneath Wes, no longer able to control himself. The sound caused pleasure to pool at the base of Wes’s stomach before rolling through his whole body. That sound, knowing that he was the cause of it, was pure ecstasy. He bit down harder and sucked, making Fenton squirm underneath him.

Wes needed to somehow get even closer. He needed to take Fenton apart at the seams so he could force his way in. Without realizing it, his hands had sneaked under the ghost’s shirt on their own volition, and he was scraping his nails across the bare skin on Fenton’s back. 

“Wes…” Fenton whined, almost a whimper, desperate and needy. And lucky for him, Wes was in a giving mood. He continued to bite down and sucking on the sweet salty skin. Knowing that this would definitely leave a mark only made the overwhelming giddy feeling at the bottom of his stomach stronger. 

After a while, however, the urge to see his handiwork was too great and Wes let go with an obscene pop . 

Fenton’s expression was just. Holy shit. His eyes were glossed over and he looked vaguely dazed, intoxicated from Wes’s mouth. While the first kiss hadn’t left any mark, the other three had, much to Wes’s delight. The first visible one was only slightly red, whereas the last spot on Fenton’s collarbone was already a deep, dark purple and green. Green, most likely from ectoplasm, Wes noted in a lackadaisical manner. 

“You should look at yourself,” Wes said, his voice oddly lower than expected.

“I’d rather keep my eyes on you,” Fenton answered.

In a fluid motion Fenton flipped Wes onto his back, his head barely missing the headboard of his bed. Wes looked up at Fenton with a giddy, fluttering excitement in his chest. It was his turn now, huh? The thought made him shiver from anticipation.

Before he knew it, Fenton’s face was on Wes’s neck. His dark hair and the scent of green apple shampoo tickled Wes’s nose and Fenton’s lips pressed into Wes’s skin. They were soft and cool, making Wes flutter his eyes for a moment. The kiss was just so gentle, with so much care put into it. Like Wes was someone to be cared for. Like Wes was someone to be lo—

Wes bit on his bottom lip and stopped that train of thought immediately. He already knew that it would hurt more than anything when they eventually stopped doing this—he could at least try to soften the blow for himself.

Fenton lifted his lips and moved himself slightly further down Wes’s neck before giving him another kiss. Like Wes, with this one he added a small amount of suction.

The sensation was weird, that was for sure—his skin was being stretched and getting wet from Fenton’s tongue moving from side to side. And then as quickly as it began, before Wes could decide if he enjoyed the feeling or not, it ended. 

His eyes gazed at the mop of black hair below his chin. “You don’t have to move so quickly,” Wes said.

Fenton lifted his head up and caught green eyes with icy blue. He smiled and the sharp fangs didn’t take away from how damn bright he was. “I guess I’m a little impatient,” he admitted. “I want to get to the good part.”

Wes felt his face turn red and simply gave a quick nod before Fenton got back at it. He put his mouth right where Wes’s neck connects to his shoulder and bit down. Teeth pushed against flesh. It should have been painful. It was painful. But something must have gone wrong between neurons because Wes’s stomach flipped in eager joy and his entire body felt like it was being hit with teeny tiny jolts of electricity that screamed for more. 

He wiggled his toes and shifted his legs, desperate to somehow release the extra energy within him. The movement must not have been subtle; Fenton made a concerned noise and lifted his head. His sudden absence made Wes’s body scream even more.

“Are you okay—”

“Don’t stop!” Wes hissed.

Fenton’s eyebrows remained knitted in concern. “Are you sure? You were moving around, I thought you didn’t like it.”

“W-well you thought wrong then!” Wes managed to stammer. “Get on with it!”

“Jeez, demanding, aren’t you?” Fenton said with a crooked smile that stopped Wes’s heart. This boy was going to be the death of him and he didn’t even have it within himself to care. 

He lowered his head once more and bit at Wes’s collarbone.

Again, the intense feeling of pain-but-pleasure filled Wes’s body. Fenton was biting harder this time, and Wes wondered if those fangs were penetrating skin. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought. His body loved this, craved this. More, more, more. He wanted Fenton to find a way to get even closer. Wes pushed his hips upwards, desperate for more contact, and wrapped his arms around Fenton’s torso. 

Fenton in turn snaked one of his arms around Wes and placed his palm on the small of Wes’s back. 

Wes’s hips bucked on their own—

He froze. The sudden realization that he couldn’t handle this anymore felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on him.

He didn’t know when he did it, but Wes had inadvertently let his heart become exposed, laid naked for Fenton to see if he just took a simple glance. And that glance would rip Wes apart. He couldn’t handle it, couldn’t fathom the agony of being found out and rejected. He hated himself for letting it get this far and not keeping his walls up. Fuck, what had he been doing? What had he been thinking? The pain of already knowing what it meant to Fenton (nothing) was already too much to bear. 

Fenton let go of Wes’s skin and looked at him with a frown. His hair was mussed up, sticking up in all directions and partially covering his left eye. He was beautiful, and it was another sign to Wes that he couldn’t go on. “Is something wrong?”

Wes stared into Fenton’s eyes that were more pupil than anything and moved his hands to Fenton’s chest to push him away. “I-I. I can’t…” Words were failing him and panic began to bubble. “You have to leave now.”

But Fenton didn’t move, despite Wes’s hands pushing against him. It was like pushing against a steel beam. “What do you mean? Why?”

Wes shook his head and tried pushing harder with no avail. “I mean, you have to go,” he said with more force.

“Did it not feel good? You could have just said. I’ll use less pressure.” Fenton lowered his head, going down for another kiss, and Wes turned his shoulders away from him.

The half ghost finally sat up fully, this time with eyebrows furrowed. “What is your problem?” he asked Wes.

Wes used the opportunity to quickly slide off of his bed and stood on the wooden floor of his bedroom. His eyes remained fixed on Fenton, carefully avoiding looking at the bruises forming on his pale skin. “What’s my problem? What the hell is your problem?! I said you have to leave. So get out,” he said.

Fenton stood up as well and took a step towards Wes so the two were only inches apart. “No. Tell me what I did wrong,” he demanded.

Wes wanted to scream. What did Fenton do wrong? Christ, everything! He never should have agreed to Wes’s insane request in the first place! His entire body already hurt. His heart was thundering so loudly in his chest it was threatening to break his entire rib cage open then and there. It was a miracle that Fenton somehow couldn’t hear it.

But what was he supposed to say? This is too much? I’m in pain and feel like I’m having a heart attack? I’ve never been more scared in my entire life than I am right now? I need you to leave because this isn’t meaningless to me and I love you, actually? 

Wes felt himself start to shake. “I just. I can’t do this anymore.”

Fenton scoffed. “Can’t do this? What, you mean practicing?”

Wes couldn’t help it; he laughed. A sharp, angry laugh. “Fenton, this went well past that when you…” Again, the words seemed to die on his tongue.

“When I? When I what ?” Fenton asked, his words sounding like a challenge.

“When you… when you…” The words wouldn’t come out. Couldn’t come out. Self-preservation kept closing Wes’s throat. He growled in frustration. “God, you know what? If you can’t even figure that out, that’s your problem. We’re done here—”

Fenton grabbed Wes’s wrist. His grip was tight—painfully so. “Wes—”

Wes tried to jerk his wrist free, but Fenton’s grip was like steel. “Let go of me.”

Fenton shook his head. “Not until you—”

“LET GO OF ME!”

Fenton stared at Wes slack jawed and wide eyed. He looked down at his grip, as if he only now noticed what he was doing and let go like Wes’s wrist was burning him. Silent tension hung between them tautly. Fenton opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again. Finally he broke eye contact and turned his gaze to the floor before transforming and flying away.

Wes stood in his bedroom alone. A bruise was already starting to form on his wrist. He felt heavy. So very, very heavy. The weight of his heart pulled on him, causing him to sink to his knees. He dropped his head between his legs and began to cry.

Notes:

:^)

Anyway, I have NO idea when the next chapter will come. Life is still uh, kind of insane. But this fic is NOT abandoned, so don't worry about that ;D
A huge thank you to everyone who's been commenting. Honestly, it's what helped me find the motivation to finally finish this chapter. Y'all are great <333

Chapter 6

Notes:

Another update??? So soon???
I know! I'm as shocked as you guys are. I got hit by that writing bug and just had to get this out. So here we go~!

Wes didn’t come to school the next day.

Danny made it to his first class on time for once. He slipped into his seat and adjusted his hoodie, making sure it was still fully zipped and covering his neck. His fingers brushed against the bruises and he suppressed a shiver. It felt so good. So damn good. The memory had already been replayed over and over, every time making Danny’s chest feel tight and something squirmed at the bottom of his stomach.

He put his hand down to take out his notebook and sighed. And then Wes had to just… ruin everything. Nothing was wrong. He was doing exactly as they agreed; Wes’s scientific method or whatever. And seeing, no, feeling Wes’s body beneath him reacting so intently to Danny’s touch had been intoxicating. It felt like power—he was the one making Wes do this, and he alone got to witness Wes in such a state. 

So it made no sense that Wes had come undone at the seams—just like Wes had done to him—and then abruptly decided that Danny had to get the hell out of there. But the taller boy was kind of weird—Danny hadn’t forgotten their weird fight thing after their session in the bathroom.

The final bell rang and Danny scanned the room. No Wes. 

He frowned. That…that wasn’t like him. At all. Maybe he was running late? 

Danny’s stomach twisted as Mr. Mey closed the classroom door and began his lesson for the day. The desk in the second row remained empty and it was just wrong. Discreetly, Danny took his cell phone out of his pocket and shoved it in his desk, careful to keep his eyes on the chalkboard. 

Mr. Mey was writing something about some battle—no doubt something that would be on their next test—but Danny couldn’t focus. His mind kept on wandering to the missing redhead.

Strategically, Danny waited for the brief moments Mr. Mey’s back was turned while writing to glance down at his phone and slowly go through the menus to select Wes’s contact information. He opened up the new text message screen and then kept his eyes on the chalkboard. Lucky for Danny, he was excellent at T9 texting without looking at the number buttons, having memorized exactly how many key presses were needed to get to each letter.

> were r u? R u still mad abt ystd?

He quickly glanced down and hit send.

A minute passed. Two minutes. Five. Ten.

No answer.

Danny bit his lip. Why wasn’t he getting any reply? Danny’s desk shook and he excitedly looked down at his phone to see the screen was still dark. His leg had just begun to bounce on its own in a vain attempt to disperse the uncertain energy coiled within him. 

Danny exhaled strongly. This was getting him nowhere. He looked back at his phone and quickly selected Kyle’s contact information, opening up the text message screen.

> y is ur bro not answering his phone?

A minute later the phone vibrated in his hand.

< he says he blocked u lol

Danny frowned. Blocked him? Seriously? Over what? He still had no idea what the hell happened that was so wrong! The temptation to fly over there and shake Wes until he gave answers was almost unbearable. 

> r u srs?! i didnt do anything!!!

< idk he says ‘the deal is off’

Danny almost broke his phone. As it were, his hand was shaking, unable to contain the rush of fury that overtook him. This was so stupid!! Danny wanted to scream. What the hell was wrong with Wes?! The idea of everything just ending so suddenly, just like that... No more knowing looks from across the hall. No more secretive rendezvous where his heart felt like it was going to flutter out of his chest. 

No more feeling Wes’s warm breath against his skin.

Cold claws of panic ripped into Danny’s chest. No, no this can’t be happening. It couldn’t be. It didn’t make sense!

Before he realized it his fingers had already started typing.

> no way. tell him im coming ovr after lunch

Danny exhaled, not realizing that he had been holding his breath. Perfect, he would just fly over there after lunch and get Wes to talk to him directly. He would realize he was being stupid, everything was going to be fine. And then they’d get back to doing their sessions. 

Having a plan of sorts made the feeling of panic begin to thaw and slowly melt away. He even found himself finally able to actually pay attention to what on earth Mr. Mey was talking about. 

Just as class was about to end, however, his phone vibrated once more. Another text from Kyle.

< Stay the fuck away from my brother. This is your only warning.

---

By the time lunch had rolled around Danny could barely keep himself together. It was only because Sam and Tucker basically ambushed him that he didn’t flee home. Or maybe to the Ghost Zone. God, even freaking Wisconsin sounded like a good idea at this point. 

Instead, Sam and Tucker ushered Danny into an empty classroom and closed the door behind them.

“Okay Danny, spill,” Sam said. “What’s going on?”

Danny looked over at his friends and felt the strangest urge to just laugh. Not because anything was funny, but he couldn’t handle the tangled ball of emotions buzzing within him. 

“You know, I’m not supposed to tell you,” he scoffed, looking down at his shoes. It was stupid. It was weird. The agreement was off and for some reason Danny still felt like he had to uphold the rule of not telling anyone. 

But Wes has clearly told Kyle, a voice in his head reminded him. 

“What do you mean by that? We’re your friends, Danny. And as your friends we know that you’ve been hiding something,” Sam said sternly, easily taking the role of ‘bad cop’. 

“Yeah, man. We’re worried about you,” Tucker supplied as ‘good cop’. 

Danny sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “I said I’m not supposed to tell you, not that I’m not going to. Just…” Danny dragged a hand through his hair. “It’s a little weird.”

“My best friend is a half ghost who’s arch nemesis is another half ghost that is trying to sleep with his mom. I think weird left the station a while back,” Tucker said.

Danny gave a tiny smile. “You’re right about that,” he muttered. He pushed himself up and sat on one of the desks. “A while ago Wes approached me. Or I guess, I approached him.”

Sam crossed her arms. “Wes? Oh no, what is he doing this time?”

“More like what is he not doing anymore,” Danny muttered.

“Listen, if he has some sort of evidence or whatever on you we can figure it out,” Sam continued.

“Yeah, I’m sure I can hack into his computer easily,” Tucker added.

God, if only it was something that mundane. Danny shook his head. Now, having to say their agreement out loud, he suddenly was finding himself feeling self-conscious. 

“It’s nothing like that at all, seriously. He uh, he was kind of upset that he hadn’t kissed anyone before and didn’t know how. Worrying about it a lot. And, you know—”

“Danny…” Tucker started.

Danny averted his eyes, suddenly very interested in the hem of his shit. “--I have experience, you know? I mean, how many fake-out make outs have I done by now? So, I offered to help him out,” he said.

There was a beat. Then two. The silence stretched too long and Danny finally looked up at his friends. They were both staring at him slack jawed.

Danny immediately felt himself get defensive. “W-what?”

“You’ve been making out with a guy? You’ve been making out with Wes?” Tucker asked. He shared a quick look with Sam, but Danny couldn’t understand the expression on his face.

Danny bristled. “Yes? I mean, it’s not like it actually means anything,” he said, waving his hand as if brushing aside the thought.

Sam pinched the bridge of her nose and took a step forward. “Danny, are you sure about that?”

Tucker gave a slow nod. “Yeah dude. That’s not normal.”

Danny leaned back. “What are you talking about? It’s totally normal. How is that any different than a fake-out make out? Like I said, it doesn’t mean anything, it's just whatever. Plus he agreed to stop the whole revealing my identity thing, so it’s not like I didn’t get anything out of it,” he explained. He didn’t mention how after the first time he had mostly forgotten that part of the agreement. It just didn’t seem as important.

Sam’s lip curled into an indignant snarl. “A fake-out make out doesn’t mean anything? Are you serious right now—” She paused, closed her eyes, and deflated, somehow letting the anger dissipate as quickly as it had come on and leaving Danny very confused. “I’m not touching that right now. Okay, so you’ve had the ‘agreement’ or whatever. So what’s the problem right now?”

Danny ignored the sarcastic tone Sam used to say ‘agreement’ like it was anything but that, air quotes and all. “Everything had been going fine until yesterday when in the middle of practicing Wes flipped his shit and kicked me out for no reason. And now he’s blocked me, and Kyle is threatening me to leave his brother alone and I don’t know what went wrong and it’s really freaking me out and I don't know what to do,” he said, his words coming out faster the more he talked. The panic began to bubble within him once again and he was worried it would drown him. He hadn’t realized he was shaking until Tucker put a warm, grounding hand on his shoulder.

“It’s okay, Danny. You’re okay. We’re here, it’s okay,” he soothed.

As difficult as it was, Danny forced himself to take a deep breath and exhaled. “Thanks, Tuck.”

“I got you.”

His friends waited in silence for him to take more breaths and calm down. After a minute he nodded. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Tucker said.

Sam cleared her throat, getting the attention of the room. “So let me get this straight—”

“There is nothing straight about this,” Tucker snickered. Sam gave him a glare and continued. “You have been teaching Wes how to kiss and in return he’s agreed not to reveal your identity. You’ve had more than one session doing this, and during your last one Wes decided to call it off and now you’re freaking out because he’s effectively broken up with you without telling you why.”

Danny’s head snapped towards Sam. “He didn’t, there wasn’t a break up. We weren’t together to begin with. I keep on telling you—”

“If it really doesn’t mean anything, then why are you so upset about it?”

Danny’s mouth clamped shut. Why was he so upset about it? Sure, it was nice. And yeah, he looked forward to it a lot. But it wasn’t like they had gone on dates or anything. 

But he would have really liked to have done that.

The realization hits Danny like a freight train. He likes Wes. He likes Wes. A lot. 

And Wes wants nothing to do with him.

The halfa put his head in his hands, reeling from what apparently his friends had figured out instantly. “Oh my god,” he said, his voice muffled by his hands.

Soon he found himself being wrapped by two sets of arms. For some reason the comfort broke something within him and he started to cry.

The three stayed like that for a while, Sam and Tucker both acting as a supportive blanket while Danny expelled all of the built up emotion.

Soon his tears stopped, and his friends let go. “Sorry about that,” he said in a small voice.

Tucker gave a smile. “It’s all good. Are you…feeling any better?” he asked cautiously.

Danny nodded. “Y-yeah. I mean, it’s a lot but I feel. Uhm. Better.” Danny wiped his eyes, hoping it didn’t look too obvious that he had been crying. “But I still don’t know why he kicked me out so suddenly. I didn’t do anything wrong, you know? It hurts.”

Sam nodded. “Well. What exactly did happen?” she asked.

Danny shuffled on the desk. “Well. We were practicing giving hickies—”

“Explains your neck,” Tucker interrupted.

“—and then like, out of nowhere he just pushed me off,” Danny said, his eyes glazing over as he revisited the memory. It had been so sudden. One second Wes looked like he was in ecstasy, and the next he was staring up at Danny with wide eyes and horror. He had wanted to take that awful look off of Wes’s face and tried to go in for another kiss. He could have, but the other boy had turned away from him. The literally cold shoulder. It hadn’t just confused Danny; it angered him.

“I asked why and he wouldn’t tell me. Just kept on saying that I had to leave.” Danny just shook his head. How the hell was he supposed to have left after that? Everything had been going great. Better than great. There was no way Danny had wanted it to end, especially so abruptly. “I said no, you have to tell me why. What did I do wrong? And he was like you can’t figure it out, that’s the problem.” 

Danny sneered in frustration at the memory and gripped the edges of the desk tightly, causing it to audibly groan in warning. The fluorescent lights in the classroom began to flicker. “And he kept on trying to push me away, like I was this horrible thing. But I didn’t let him; I had grabbed him so he couldn’t and was like you have to tell me what’s wrong, but he still just wouldn’t say anything! Then he screamed at me to leave so...I did,” Danny said. He exhaled, releasing his grip on the desk. The lights returned to normal. 

He looked at his friends for their reactions. Tucker stood with his arms crossed and had a thoughtful frown. But Sam…Sam stared at him with wide eyes. She opened her mouth, then closed it. A sense of unease overcame Danny; he had a feeling her expression wasn’t in response to Wes, but to himself.

“What’s wrong?”

Sam flinched. It was every so slightly, and she caught herself almost immediately, but Danny still caught the movement. She bit at her lip and looked at the ground for a moment before exhaling deeply and looking Danny in the eye. “Danny, I don’t think you realize, like. You’re strong. You have a lot of power.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. What was she getting at? “Yeah, actually, I do know that. It’s how I’m able to fight ghosts,” he said.

His friend shook her head. “No, you don’t understand. You’re stronger than any human. You grabbed Wes. He wanted you to let go but you didn’t. Was there any way that he would have been able to physically force you off of him?”

Danny slowly crossed his arms. “No?”

“Exactly.”

Danny groaned. “What do you mean? Why does everyone keep on saying things and not explaining themselves!?”

“I mean, you have complete physical power over Wes; he’s unable to force you to do anything. But you? You could force him to do whatever you want. He’s at your mercy, Danny. That requires a lot of trust on his part,” Sam said. Then she sighed. “I’m not sure if he does anymore. And I wouldn’t blame him.”

Danny was taken aback. That…that couldn’t be right. He would never—

Except you did, a voice in the back of his head reminded him. He suddenly felt drained. Cold. Like something had sunken its claws within him and was pulling him into the dirt. His eyes looked down at his shaking hands. What had he done?

Notes:

Gotta be honest I did NOT expect so much angst in this fic. Oops!
Anyway, thank you so much for reading and a special thanks to everyone who has continued to comment! It really means so, so much to me and are so motivational <3

(also did anyone else T9 text or am I just that old? I was so damn good at it lmao. Faster and more accurate than I am with a smartphone, honestly)

Chapter 7

Notes:

The holidays certainly are a busy time, huh? But I'm glad I was able to get this chapter out! Things are very hectic IRL for me right now (when are they not, lmao) so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be coming, but it'll happen!

Please mind the tags and please note: This fic takes place in 2004

Wes lay on his bed staring up at his white ceiling. His cheeks were tear stained, and he wasn’t sure if he even had any tears left within him, which certainly explained the throbbing pain in his head. But for some reason he just couldn’t get himself to get up and get a glass of water. What was even the point?

There was a loud thump from downstairs. Wes’s eyes flickered to his alarm clock to confirm that yes, it was about the right time for Kyle to be home from school. His eyes went back to the blank ceiling above him as he waited to hear Kyle's footsteps up the stairs, past his room, and into his own.

And then Wes’s door flung open.

Wes jumped up to a sitting position and instinctively grabbed at his duvet to cover himself, despite being fully clothed. “Can you knock!?!” Wes shrieked.

Kyle lazily closed the door behind him and raised an eyebrow. “Why, is your dick in your hand?”

Wes felt his face turning red. “N-no!”

“Then it’s fine,” Kyle said with a shrug. 

“It is not fine, it's the principle of the matter. I could have been stark naked for all you know. Civilized people knock before entering closed rooms,” Wes said, his voice still higher than he would have liked.

“Lucky for me I’m not civilized,” Kyle said. He crossed Wes’s room and plopped himself in Wes’s computer chair. And waited.

Wes glared weakly at his brother. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said.

Kyle shrugged. “Too bad. We’re going to.” He leaned forward and looked, really looked at Wes, in a way that made him feel naked. “I know what you told me earlier isn’t the whole story. What happened?”

Wes stared at his older brother. Maybe it was the way that Kyle’s gaze made Wes’s skin feel uncomfortable, maybe it was the freeing thought of finally having someone to talk to, maybe Wes was just feeling lonely. Whatever it was, before he realized it he began telling the entire affair. As embarrassing as it was at parts, Kyle surprised him by keeping quiet the entire time. No jabs, no quips, no teasing. 

He listened to Wes the entire time. He cared.

By the time he finished Wes felt…well, he didn’t feel good—if he was honest, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever feel good again—but he felt less like he was exposed on an examination table with neon signs pointing at him.

Kyle leaned back in the computer chair and gave a deep exhale. “That’s a lot, Wes.”

Wes turned back to the ceiling and sighed. “I know, I know. I made stupid decision after stupid decision. I shouldn’t have done any of this. I’m so immature and impulsive and stupid and I should like girls not boys and I brought all of this on myself and—”

“Whoa, whoa whoa. Slow down there,” Kyle said, rolling the chair closer to Wes. “I didn’t say any of that.”

Wes rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but you’re going to,” he mumbled.

“Alright, that’s it,” Kyle said. Wes expected him to leave his room or tell him to stop being a drama queen. Instead his brother slapped his thighs and said, “we’re going for a drive.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Kyle said, now standing. “Get up.”

Wes sat up and crossed his arms. “I’m not going.”

“Actually, yes you are,” Kyle said. He grabbed Wes’s phone that was charging on his night table and wiggled it as if it were a dog treat. “Come on.”

Wes glared at his brother who was now exiting his room. “You can’t just take my phone. That’s mine!” he shouted.

“You sure about that? Cause it looks like that’s exactly what I’m doing,” Kyle called back. His footsteps stomped down the stairs, taunting Wes.

It was with great effort that Wes suppressed the urge to scream. He got up and quickly followed his brother down the stairs and outside. Kyle was already in the driver’s seat of his green Toyota Camry. He was wrestling with the old car’s ignition; not an unexpected sight. For Pete’s sake, the gas cap was held in place with duct tape.

Wes took a deep breath, sucking in the cold air. It felt good. Refreshing. Compared to the stale confines of his room, it was weirdly comforting standing out in the cold open. The sky was a dull grey; not threatening to rain but in no hurry to leave. 

The sound of Kyle’s car finally roaring to life brought Wes out of his reverie. “C’mon, little bro. Get in.”

Wes just nodded and got into the passenger seat. The moment he buckled himself in, Kyle sped off down the street. They sat in relative silence; the radio was turned down so only an approximation of lyrics could be heard over the rumble of the engine. 

Wes leaned against the door and watched out his window as Kyle navigated out of town. The residential homes soon gave way to a big gas station at a busy intersection before it seemed like they crossed a strict boundary and there was nothing but road signs and fields. While the sun was out of sight, it was obvious that the sun was soon setting. In about an hour or so the road and fields would only be lit by speeding headlights. 

In a strange way Wes’s thoughts mirrored the scenery zooming by. His thoughts were racing, yes, but there were so many of them that he could barely grab on to an idea before it flew past and was replaced with something else, until finally for the first time all day his head was clear. His eyes flickered over to his brother who somehow caught the subtle movement. He looked back at Wes and gave his trademark lopsided grin.

“Better?”

Wes felt his face turn red. He turned back to the cold window with a huff. “Shut up,” he mumbled. They both knew there was no meaning behind the words.

“You know, I’m glad you told me,” Kyle started. He took a deep breath, seeming to gather his words carefully. “I’m glad you trust me. I’d like to think you know that I don’t think any less of you for being gay or anything else, but it’s best not to assume.”

Wes bristled at the word gay but schooled himself once more. He didn’t like hearing it said out loud. It felt…bad. Wrong. His stomach twisted on itself. ‘Gay’ was what you call something that was stupid, or lame, or pathetic. ‘That movie’s so gay.’ ‘That shirt looks gay.’ ‘What are you, gay?’

It’s not that Wes didn’t know that he was, deep inside. But to use the word itself? Out loud? It made him want to crawl out of his own skin and hide.

“I’m not…” Wes stopped himself. What, he wasn’t gay ? As disgusting as the word was, it was true in the literal sense. He liked boys. Liked them in the way that he was supposed to like girls. It didn’t matter how much he wanted to be normal; he just had no desire to be with a girl, touch a girl, know a girl the way he did about boys.

About Danny.

He sighed. “You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?” he asked.

Kyle raised an eyebrow like Wes had asked something stupid. “Are you kidding? Of course not. My job is to torment you and make sure no one else on earth even thinks about messing with you. Besides, it’s not my place to tell anyone. Not even dad.”

Wes gave a shaky nod. “Thank you,” he said softly, almost in a whisper.

“Don’t worry about it,” Kyle said.

Wes almost scoffed. Oh yeah, ‘don’t worry about it.’ Great advice. He turned back to the scenery outside that they were flying past.

“Is it wrong…that I still like him?”

While he couldn’t see him, Wes knew that his brother had turned to give him a look.

“What do you mean?”

Wes sighed, keeping his eyes fixed out the window. Somehow it was easier to talk this way. “What he did, I mean. Not letting go of me, that scared me. But I don’t hate him for it. I still, like…” Wes paused, waiting for the words to come to him. Kyle remained silent. “Even though I feel like I should hate him, I don’t. I still like him. I like him so much. And that is what scares me more than anything else. I just want to hold him and be with him and he makes my heart feel like it’s being squeezed out of my chest.”

Wes was almost startled at how easily the words flowed from his mouth. The tips of his ears turned red. Even if Kyle was fine with Wes being…it still didn’t change the fact that talking so openly about his feelings was embarrassing.

Kyle must have somehow sensed how important this was to Wes. He nodded, keeping his eyes on the road. “I can’t say that I relate, but that sounds pretty major,” he said. “So what are you going to do about it?”

Wes shook his head. “Ideally? I do nothing and never see him again,” he said.

The road began to curve and Wes felt his body sway in his seat from gravity. “Well unless you know something I don’t, we live in reality and that’s not actually an option. You can’t avoid Danny forever, you know—you still have to go to school. Are you just going to never talk to him again?” Kyle asked bluntly. 

Wes groaned. “I wish. But knowing me that’s not going to happen. The biggest problem is that I don’t know how much longer I can keep everything in when I’m around him. I’m scared that I won’t be able to stop myself if I see him, let alone speak to him.” Wes sighed. It wasn’t the first time he wished he was better at locking up his emotions. He just had never been able to figure out how. Everything he felt seemed so vivid and strong, like a fire under his skin. How do you act normal around someone when every inch of you burns from how much you want them? 

“I know I should just be mad about him not listening to me, but I don’t think I can keep that up. I’m going to trip up, and he’s going to reject me, and my life is going to end,” Wes said matter-of-factly. “If I don’t see him, I can hang on to the false hope that maybe he won’t reject me completely. Or at least he won’t know how much power he really has over me.”

The car remained quiet. Wes turned to look at his brother who wore a contemplative frown—very uncharacteristic of him. 

“Well…” Kyle began, seemingly trying to find the right words. “What do you want?”

Wes sneered. “It doesn’t matter. That’s not reality, right?” The word reality came out with a biting venom that maybe wasn’t necessary. 

Kyle only responded with a flat look that made Wes shift in his seat. What did he want? The idea was almost too painful to entertain. Wes thought about the feeling of Fenton’s breath on his skin. His cold lips, his warm mouth, his dazzling eyes, whether a piercing icy blue or an effulgent neon green…Wes wanted it all. Most of all he wanted Fenton’s heart to twist in the same manner that Wes’s did every time they shared a moment together. Wes wanted to see that brilliant smile on Fenton’s face every day and wanted it to be direct at him. Because of him. He wanted Fenton’s smile to belong to him, the same way that Fenton had captured Wes’s heart in his hands.

Wes pushed down the temptation to cry.

“Fine, fine. What I realistically want is to be able to act like none of this ever happened, which knowing both of us is quite frankly impossible. But what I really want is for Fenton to apologize and…” Wes lowered his voice, “and for him to feel the same as I do.”

Again, Wes’s body began to sway in his seat from the car’s movement. Kyle had taken an exit with a large curve that they maybe should have been going 10 miles slower on than they were.

“You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did,” Kyle said after a moment.

Wes rolled his eyes. He wouldn’t entertain such a ridiculous idea; it was too dangerous. 

“Don’t you roll your eyes at me.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be looking at the road?” Wes asked.

“I could hear you rolling them,” Kyle said. “And I’m just saying, like. He seemed pretty desperate to get in contact with you. I don’t think someone who had no skin in the game would plan to come over during school.”

Wes glared at him but said nothing. Kyle didn’t understand. Fenton was—well okay, he wasn’t normal. But Wes saw the way he looked at Manson. He knew about his brief stint or whatever with Valerie Gray. The chances of Fenton actually liking boys? Liking Wes?

Well. You didn’t have to be good at math to know that Wes wasn’t that lucky.

Soon Kyle turned back onto their street and was rolling up the driveway. There was someone standing at the front door bundled up in a large black jacket staring at them.

Wes’s stomach fell to the ground. Oh god, what was Sam Manson doing at his house? His body started moving on its own, and before Kyle had even turned off the engine Wes jumped out of the car and straight to his classmate. 

“Hey, Wes. I was wondering where you were—”

“What are you doing here?!” Wes hissed. He quickly looked around them. No visible sign of Fenton, but that didn’t actually mean anything.

“I’m here by myself. I told Danny to stay home,” Manson said.

Wes bristled at Fenton’s name. Oh god. Oh god he told her, didn’t he? Of course he did. Why wouldn’t he tell his friends immediately? Fenton might have been oblivious at times, but Manson was sharp as hell. There was no way that she hadn’t figured it out. She knew. She knew and there was nothing Wes could do to stop her from ruining him. And why wouldn’t she? He had been trying to expose her best friend as a ghost, for crying out loud! Not that she had ever understood why Wes had been doing so, and god fucking damnit, Wes hated himself for doing any of that in the first place because now there was no reason for her not to out him to the entire town—

“Wes. Calm down, it’s okay—”

Finally Wes’s mouth began to work. He only had one chance to talk himself out of this. “L-listen, Manson. I don’t know what Fenton told you, but it’s totally a lie, okay? Nothing happened at all, he’s just trying to uh, trying to make me look bad and spread rumours about me but none of it is true, okay? I-I’m not like that. I’m normal, and, and—”

“If none of it is true, why do you both have hickies on your neck?”

Wes froze, suddenly feeling like he got dunked in a pool of ice water. Oh, god. Why on earth had he wanted to experiment doing fucking hickies when it left such visible evidence?! What was wrong with him?

“Wes, I’m not—ugh. I’m not here to threaten you or anything, okay? I’m not going to tell anyone,” Manson said.

Wes froze, unsure of how to proceed.

“Good. Because if you do, I'll break your kneecaps with a baseball bat,” Kyle said casually, as if commenting on the weather.

The two turned to the older Weston who was spinning his car keys on his index finger. While his body language was relaxed, his eyes were firmly fixed on Manson. “And that’s not a threat, it’s a promise.”

Manson shifted her weight and cleared her throat. “I uh, I never thought otherwise,” she said, matching his eyes.

Kyle nodded, “good.” Then he turned to Wes. “I’ll just be inside. Take your time.”

With that he left the two of them alone at the front door. Wes turned his attention back to the goth.

“So if you aren’t here to blackmail me or anything, why are you here?” Wes asked.

Manson sighed and pushed some of her hair back behind her ear. Now that he wasn’t in a critical panic, Wes found himself finally able to look at the girl. She still had her backpack on, so chances were she had come directly after school. Her dyed black hair was partially out of place, most likely from the wind. Wes wondered how long she had waited outside of his house for him. Her expression was one not of gleeful gloating or satisfactory revenge, but more somber. It wasn’t quite pity, but something close to it—Wes couldn’t tell if it was directed at himself or Fenton. Or both.

“Danny told me what happened. Everything, I mean,” she said. 

Wes felt his face turn red; he certainly hoped not. “And?”

“And I get why you aren’t talking to him. What he did was wrong. I don’t know if I would even talk to him afterwards. That was…” Manson lowered her head. “I’m sorry that happened to you, Wes.”

Wes bit his lip, refusing to let himself cry. The sincerity of her words was uncomfortable, almost painful for him to listen to. He wasn’t sure why.

“We talked to Danny and I think he realizes how awful his actions were. Not just when he didn’t let go of you, but treating you like a toy, like you don’t have feelings—”

“I don’t have feelings,” Wes interrupted. “I-I mean. You know. Not for him or anything.”

Manson raised an eyebrow and Wes wanted the earth to swallow him whole. “You sure about that?”

Wes averted his gaze. God, he hated this. He just wanted her to say whatever it was she needed to say and end this awful conversation.

She gave an exasperated sigh. “Whatever, that’s…I’m here because Danny finally understands how shitty he’s been, and he regrets it a lot. You don’t have to accept, and I won’t blame you for saying no, but Danny would like to meet up with you and apologize. In person.”

Wes stared in stunned silence. Wh-what? That was the last thing he ever expected to hear. He opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out. He had no idea how to even respond.

“You don’t have to decide now,” Manson said. “Take some time to think about it. If you do want to, send him a text, okay?”

Wes simply nodded in response.

Gently Manson put a hand on his shoulder, seemingly surprising both of them. “For what it’s worth, he really is sorry. Danny’s an idiot with feelings, but he’s not a bad guy,” she said softly.

Then she let go and walked away, leaving a gobsmacked Wes standing alone at his front door.

Notes:

Yeah that was a LOT of dialogue. And emotions @_@

If you're a younger reader, this might (hopefully?) be a surprise, but "gay" certainly was used in that way back in the 2000s. Even as late as like 2009 I remember hearing people say "that's so gay" to mean that something was lame or sucked. At some point Hilary Duff even did a PSA about how you shouldn't do that.

Anyway, happy holidays everyone! I doubt I'll update before the new year, so I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday season.

Chapter 8

Notes:

Happy new year! We're finally at the end here~

“I know you’re there,” Wes said.

Danny frowned. How was it that Wes was always able to tell when he was invisible? Not even Jazz had that ability. Then again, it was just another thing that marked Wes apart from everyone else. No one was like him. No one would ever be like him. 

It was one of the reasons why Danny—

He pushed the thought out of his mind. He had to focus. He was here for a reason, and it wasn’t just to ogle at Wes. There certainly was a lot to look at though; seeing Wes again after his realization about his true feelings for the redhead was like a blindfold had been taken off. 

He was glaring in Danny’s general direction in a way that made his nose scrunch up in a cute way. Somehow it made his freckles pop across his face and absently Danny wanted to trace out the constellations they must have held. 

“Should I just go home?” Wes sighed, his voice bringing Danny out of his thoughts.

He dropped his invisibility immediately. “Sorry, please don’t. I’m just, uhm. Nervous,” Danny admitted. His eyes shifted to the side in a failed attempt to avoid Wes’s burning gaze. God, how was it that those green eyes felt like fire on Danny’s skin? Not that he would want it any other way though; his fierce eyes made Danny feel alive. 

“I uhm. Wow, I didn’t think this would be so difficult,” Danny said with a nervous laugh. The words kept on getting caught in his throat, choking him. Why was speaking so hard?

Wes only raised an eyebrow in response but he didn’t make a move to leave. Good. Danny took the time to take a deep breath and try to slow his speeding heart. He could do this. Just had to get the words out like he practiced. He could defeat his evil future self; he could get out an apology to Wes.

“I’m really sorry. I didn’t listen to you when you told me to stop. I never really thought about how it must have been for you, when you have no ability to stop me. I…I could have forced myself on you. That’s not right. You don’t have to forgive me, though I’m sure you know that,” Danny said. He turned his gaze upwards and gave a weak, humourless laugh. “I wouldn’t blame you. I certainly don’t deserve it. But…”

Danny’s shoulders sagged as he sighed and he finally risked looking at Wes. “I really, really…” The words died on Danny’s tongue when he looked at Wes. He couldn’t read the other boy’s expression. His eyes were wide while his mouth remained a terse, thin line. At some point during Danny’s ramblings he had crossed his arms over his body, as if to close himself off.

“Can you say something?” Danny found himself whispering.

Quiet as they were, the words must have shifted something in Wes because he finally moved, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Say something?” he asked, as if Danny had asked him to sprout wings and fly. “What do you want me to say? ‘Oh, it’s all fine, of course I forgive you, let’s just act like none of this ever happened?’”

Danny was taken back by Wes’s words, literally. Why did it feel like that was the wrong answer? He had no idea how else to respond though. “Well, yeah, actually.”

The words caused something to snap within Wes; his face darkened and his beautiful, glorious emerald eyes were set ablaze, like a house fire in the dead of night. If looks could kill then Danny was certain he would have died the rest of the way under Wes’s glare. “You really are the worst,” he whispered.

Danny felt taken aback. “What?”

Wes erupted. “I can’t stand you!” he screamed, throwing his hands in the air. “Act like none of this ever happened, are you serious?! I can’t figure out if you hate me and want to see me suffer, or if you really are this stupid and can’t see anything wrong with what’s been going on and are perfectly happy to act like all of this,” Wes pointed back and forth between the two of them, “is totally normal.”

Then he looked down, the fire within him suddenly snuffed out. His defeated expression felt like someone stabbing Danny in the heart. 

“Or even worse,” he said softly, his voice barely carrying enough for Danny to hear it, “if you just don’t care. If this means nothing, if I mean nothing, and you never gave any of this a passing thought.”

“Nothing? Wh-what are you talking about?” Danny exclaimed, brain buzzing at 100 miles per hour. “You don’t mean nothing to me. You’re everything.”

Danny’s eyes widened at his own words that tumbled out of his mouth. He…well, he certainly didn’t mean to say that. It was too much. Too open. He was going to scare Wes away with the intensity of his desire. The problem was that he could barely contain it—it felt as if all of his emotions and thoughts and feelings and wishes and hopes and dreams were pushing against his ribcage, threatening to burst his chest open. It seemed unfathomable that he was able to act relatively normal around Wes beforehand. Once his friends made him realize what he had been holding back, the dam within him had broken.

The two boys stared at each other in silence, letting Danny’s words settle between them. Danny opened his mouth to talk and then closed it. God, he felt stupid. What was he supposed to say?

After what felt like eons, Wes broke the silence. “What do you mean by that?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

The moment was fragile; if Danny didn’t take great care with what he said next it would shatter, and he had a sinking feeling that he wouldn’t be able to put together the broken pieces. He had one chance to get it right. He was going to; he had to. The alternative was too painful to consider.

Talking wasn’t Danny’s strong suit, but he was fairly sure that Wes wouldn’t react well to him speaking with the action of grabbing him and shoving his tongue down his throat. As much as he wanted to—and god did he want to—Danny wasn’t so obtuse as to not realize that forcing his will on Wes, without even considering the other boy’s feelings, was what got him into this situation in the first place.

Gathering himself, Danny took a stabilizing deep breath. “What I mean is that, like. Listen, I’m not good with words. And Jazz is always telling me that I’m not in tune with my feelings, which normally I brush off as her stupid psychology stuff, but she might have a point or something. But that’s not the point.” Danny shook his head. Focus. “The point is that I was just really blind to my feelings for you. Not really intentionally, though. I kept on telling myself that this was just me helping you out and stuff, but that’s not true. I don’t think it was even true from the very start. What, what I mean to say is that Wes: I like you. I like you a lot. So much that it’s kinda scary, actually.”

Wes blinked. He looked like he was holding his breath, enraptured by Danny’s rambling. He bit his lip and exhaled gently, keeping his eyes trained on Danny. “You like me,” he said slowly, probably more to himself than to Danny.

Danny nodded quickly. “I do. Like I said, I like you a lot. To be honest I can’t stop thinking about you. I was even trying to think up more excuses to kiss you, as stupid as that might sound. So when you said the deal was off—which I now know was totally justified—but I kind of freaked out. I hated the idea of not getting to kiss you again. I still hate the idea of not getting to kiss you, actually.” Danny felt his face go from warm to red hot. 

“Oh,” was all Wes said.

Danny’s stomach fell to his feet. Oh? Oh?! That was all Wes had to say? Danny somehow resisted the overwhelming urge to turn invisible and sink into the earth. His body started to shake without his permission. “W-well, uhm. That’s my bit. So I guess now you know. Cool. Awesome. I’m gonna go then,” Danny said. He lifted his leg and turned around to walk away. Maybe he could go to the Ghost Zone and start living there. He was already not doing well at human school, why not just go full on ghost mode? Surely there was a way that Tucker could figure out how to get an internet connection in the Ghost Zone so he could play Doomed with him and Sam.

“Wait!”

A calloused hand clamped down on Danny’s wrist, taking him out of his thoughts. It was strong. Warm. Grounding. He looked down at the freckled hand and felt his heart skip a beat. His eyes slowly moved up from the hand to the arm it was attached to and then eventually Wes’s face. He looked panicked.

“I-I’m sorry. I was too shocked to say anything. Happy shocked, I mean,” Wes said quickly. With his free hand scratched the side of his head and sighed. “Fenton. No,” he shook his head. “Danny. I also like you a lot. More than a lot. So much that it hurts, actually. The whole reason why I even agreed to the whole practice thing is because I thought it would be the only chance I’d ever have to kiss you. A-and then, because I thought this didn’t really mean anything to you, I began to freak out because I couldn’t pretend anymore.”

Danny couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face. He was certain it was that stupid grin he hated, but he couldn’t find the ability to care in that moment. All he knew was how much he wanted the boy in front of him. But he had to do it right.

“Wes?”

The redhead stared at him with wide eyes. “Yes?”

Danny turned himself and took a step forward, so the two were only inches apart. He could feel his body aching for the heat that radiated off of Wes. “Can I kiss you?”

“Yes,” Wes whispered.

Danny tentatively put one hand on the small of Wes’s back. When Wes didn’t move, he placed his other hand on the back of Wes’s head and let his fingers brush through his soft hair so he was cradling his skull. Wes turned his head in response, which was all Danny needed. He moved forward and kissed Wes’s warm lips. He parted his lips just slightly, which Wes used as an opening—his tongue slipped into Danny’s mouth and suddenly it felt like the floodgates opened. 

Danny returned the favour in kind, deepening the kiss and savouring the intoxicating taste of Wes’s mouth. Had it only been a couple of days? It had felt like eons since he had last felt Wes’s lips on his, or the soft warm air that exhaled through his nose against Danny’s cheek.

Wes then bit down on Danny’s lower lip, making his stomach flip. God, Wes knew how to rile him up immediately. His hand on Wes’s back pushed them even closer together and moved downwards. His other hand grabbed onto Wes’s hair firmly and gave a soft tug. Wes groaned into Danny’s mouth and pushed his torso even closer against Danny’s.

Danny grinned and using Wes’s hair as leverage, pulled their faces apart, which wasn’t seamless as Wes continued to suck on Danny’s lower lip and only released with an obscene pop. Wes’s pupils were blown and his face was flushed. So beautiful.

“You like that, huh?” Danny asked quietly, his voice a little lower than normal. He tugged gently at Wes’s hair to make his point.

Wes gave a shark grin that made Danny’s stomach flip in anticipation. “Not as much as you like this,” he said, before sinking his teeth into where Danny’s neck met his collarbone. 

Pain burst from Wes’s bite which bloomed into pleasure. A moan escaped from Danny’s lips and his legs began to shake. “Wes…” he tried.

“Mmm?” Wes hummed against Danny’s skin, continuing to suck. God, that definitely was going to leave a mark. Just the knowledge made desire pool at the pit of his stomach. 

“Wes… can we get out of here? I can take us to your room,” Danny said, somehow getting the words out.

Wes released Danny’s skin, now wet with saliva, and stared deep into his eyes with a large smile. “Let’s go, ghost boy.”

Danny never flew faster.

Notes:

Just the epilogue left~

Chapter 9: Epilogue

Wes quickly shoved his books into his backpack and slammed his locker closed. Finally, the week was over. Having a giant chemistry test during the last period on a Friday definitely didn’t help. Honestly, that should have been illegal.

That wasn’t to say, though, that Wes didn’t ace it. He felt pretty good handing in his test, and even better knowing what was waiting for him now that the weekend was finally starting. It didn’t take much time at all before he found Danny and his friends.

“Wes!” Danny exclaimed like a puppy, waving him over. Wes rolled his eyes in exasperation but found that he couldn’t quite get the smile off his face. He walked over to the group and joined them as they walked down the hall towards the exit.

“Yeah, I see you, Danny. I’m not blind like you,” he said, giving him a nudge with his elbow. He then turned to Danny’s friends and gave a quick nod. “Foley, Manson. Good to see you.”

“Why don’t I get first name privileges, huh?” Tucker whined.

“Because we aren’t special,” Manson said, putting extra emphasis on the word special. Wes felt his face heat up but quickly brushed off her words.

“Just habit, really. And bugging you is fun,” he explained to Tucker. 

“Teasing him, huh? Careful there, Wes. Some people might mistake that for flirting,” Manson said playfully.

Danny glared at his friend. There must have been something wrong with Wes because he loved how worked up Danny got from teasing. “There is no flirting going on,” he said, giving both Manson and Wes a pointed look. Wes rolled his eyes and pushed the doors open, leading outside.

“There is some interesting kissing going on though,” Tucker said.

“Wh-what?!”

Tucker rolled his eyes. “Calm down, Danny. I meant Kwan,” he said. He gestured with his thumb to the bench at the bottom of the stairs. Sure enough there was Kwan and some girl kissing. Or…some version of kissing, at least. Wes grimaced as he watched Kwan essentially lick the girl’s face.

“It’s like watching a dog kissing its owner,” Manson muttered.

“I can’t imagine being that bad,” Wes said.

“Oh? Are you saying you can do better?” Danny asked.

Wes turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “I have it on pretty good authority that I’m an excellent kisser.”

Danny tilted his head. “Oh really? You must have had a good teacher then.”

“Oh my god, get a room you two,” Manson groaned. 

Danny and Wes glanced at each other. “Well, since you asked so nicely,” Danny started.

“I don’t want to hear it. I’ll talk to you on AIM later,” Tucker added. He and Manson made a quick get away, leaving Danny and Wes behind at the school entrance. 

“Well, now that they’re dealt with. Ready to head to my place?” Wes asked.

Danny grinned, and the boyfriends walked side by side, ready to start the weekend together. And maybe, if Wes dared to dream, the rest of their lives as well.

Notes:

And there we are! When I started this fic I didn't expect it to take me almost a year to finish, but I also didn't expect to deal with some of the biggest IRL life changes happening at the same time.

A huge thanks to EC for helping me figure out how to end this fic. And a huge thanks to you, for reading it all the way to the end here! I appreciate it so, so much.