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“Alright, kids! Listen up!”
Ms.Tetslaff’s voice rang out through the gymnasium, cutting through the chatter of students trying to catch up after not seeing each other all summer. Some of the conversations trailed off faster than others, but it was only a matter of moments before the class had gone quiet; they were seniors now, they knew how important it was to pay attention in their final year of high school.
“Thank you,” Ms. Tetslaff said once she saw that she had everyone's attention. “Now. I know you've probably heard from some of your other teachers by now that Casper High was chosen to pilot a new version of the grade 12 curriculum, and that there might be some changes to the coursework compared to previous years. I'm letting you know that this Physical Education course is no exception. We will, of course, cover the most important topics that we've always gone through in previous years, but we have a few new units sprinkled in here or there. For example, we have an archery unit coming up in November.”
She paused as a few students started to murmur with excitement, clearly unsurprised to see them reacting to the news. One of the biggest blockbuster movies that had come out over the summer had heavily featured archery, so it was obviously going to stir up some interest. Once the murmurs quieted down, she continued.
“We will also be doing rock climbing, though the exact timing will depend on when we can get the equipment in,” she announced. There were fewer excited whispers for this announcement, but most of the students at least looked intrigued.
“And we will also be doing a dance unit,” she finished off. “Which will actually be our first unit of the year.”
The reaction of the class was immediate and polarized. Students either looked excited or horrified the moment the word ‘dance’ left her lips.
Danny was very firmly in the latter category.
Around him, the rest of his class began to whisper among themselves, a trio of cheerleaders in front of him giggling with their heads huddled together while a pair of guys next to him shoved each other with their shoulders. Everyone started gravitating towards their friends to discuss this new development while Ms. Tetslaff let them talk it over, apparently well aware that her final announcement would need a moment to sink in.
Unlike everyone around him, though, Danny didn't immediately turn to the person next to him to start discussing this new curriculum change, because there was no one next to him. He didn't have anyone to share a whispered conversation with or a friendly shove over the idea of having to learn how to dance. Danny had picked up the grade 12 PE course in an effort to drag his GPA up, figuring his experience with fighting ghosts all the time might hopefully give him a bit of an edge, but Sam and Tucker hadn't needed the grade boost and had no interest in being forced to run laps for their grades. Danny was stuck here on his own.
“Alright, alright, that's enough chatter!” Ms. Tetslaff shouted once she'd given them long enough to discuss. “And yes, I said dance. Specifically ballroom dancing. We'll be learning the waltz, swing, and tango. Yes, Miss Sanchez?”
All eyes turned to Paulina, who was standing at the front of the class. She had changed a lot since Freshman year; she'd cut her hair short and spiky, deciding she hated the length, and she'd gained some muscle from her competitive cheerleading. She'd also lost a lot of her former mean girl persona, but she still tended to be one of the most outspoken in the class. So it really wasn't that surprising to see her hand already up in the air with a question.
“Ms. Tetslaff,” she began. “Ballroom dancing usually requires two partners, but I just did a quick head count, and there’s an uneven number of girls and boys.”
More murmuring, heads whipping around to confirm that, yes, Paulina was correct. The ratio of guys to girls was at least two to one. Danny shifted, the energy in the air suddenly turning anxious, his core flaring briefly in his chest at the surge of emotions surrounding him before he could wrestle it back under control and suppress it. Thankfully no one seemed to notice his eyes flashing green for a moment.
“That is correct, Miss Sanchez,” Ms. Tetslaff agreed, flipping through a few pages on her clipboard. “However, many ballroom dance competitions these days do not require that dance partners be of the opposite sex from one another. Instead, dancers of any gender can be either ‘Leaders’ or ‘Followers’, depending on their preference and abilities. That being said, given tango especially will involve a lot of lifts, and none of you have any dance experience, we will be assigning the ‘Follower’ role to a few of our smaller male students until the two groups are even. Sorry, boys, but we’ve got a strict curriculum to follow, and we won’t have time to be able to share partners if we have more ‘Leaders’ than ‘Followers’.”
Danny felt himself go pale as she finished speaking; he didn’t need to look very far around the room to know exactly which group he was going to fall into. Unfortunately, his dad’s genetics had never seemed to kick in, and he’d barely grown more than an inch since his accident when he was fourteen. There was no way he’d be able to avoid being assigned to the ‘Follower’ group.
At least he wouldn’t be the only guy in the class who would have to be a Follower. Ms. Tetslaff wasted no time sorting them, and soon Danny found himself on one side of the room with Paulina and her friends to his left, and Wes and Mikey on his right. He and the two other guys standing with him shared a wary look, but at least they knew they were stuck in this together.
“Okay! So, we’re going to jump into the waltz in just a second, but I have one final announcement about this dance unit. Your final test will be on the hardest dance style, the tango, and your final test partner will be determined by how well you’re doing going into the test. What that means is the best ‘Leader’ will be paired with the worst ‘Follower’ to hopefully help balance the pairs and make the dance go more smoothly. The reverse is also true, the worst ‘Leader’ will be paired with the best ‘Follower’ so that you can hopefully work together to help each other improve. Now, let’s get this train wreck rolling!”
She wandered over to an ancient looking boombox, put an honest-to-god casette inside, and pressed play. Immediately classical music started to swell through the air of the gymnasium.
“Alright, folks! We’re going to start off with a simple box step! Pick a partner and spread out!”
Nervously, the students began to shuffle through the room, some people picking their friends as their partners quickly, others avoiding eye contact with any other human being and looking like they were praying that the ground would open up and swallow them.
Danny was definitely in the second category, but as his eyes briefly swept the gym, taking in the activity around him, they locked with a pair of pale blue eyes across the room, and Danny felt his breath briefly hitch in his chest. He wasn’t exactly surprised to see Dash in this class - the entire football team had enrolled after all - but he was a bit surprised to see the normally confident jock look almost…hesitant.
Like Paulina, Dash had done a lot of growing up since their first year of highschool. Part of that was just getting older, part of that was because of several ghost-related misadventures that had helped him learn a little bit of compassion and humility. One particularly notable event that had really triggered Dash's change for the better was the day he’d been body-swapped with Sam due to some ghostly shenanigans. Living life through her eyes, even just for a day, had really given him a reality check, and he’d been noticeably kinder to others ever since.
Danny was well aware that Dash had really turned over a new leaf, but he still found himself flinching occasionally whenever the larger boy got too close or spoke a bit too loud. What could he say, old habits died hard. Dash had apparently noticed Danny's reactions, though, because the football player usually gave him a wide berth these days. This was probably the longest they'd been in such close proximity to each other since sophomore English.
Danny and Dash’s staring contest only lasted for a moment before someone suddenly tapped Danny on the shoulder, making him look away. He blinked up in surprise when he realized that he’d been approached by one of the shorter members of the football team whose name always tended to escape Danny’s memory. Was it Todd? Tim?
“Hey,” Trevor(?) said shyly in greeting. “Um, do you mind being my partner for this time? All of the girls have picked someone already, and Wes is too tall for me to dance with.”
“Uh, I mean…yeah? Sure?” Danny said, feeling a little like a deer trapped in the headlights. Even if the jocks had largely grown out of their bullying behaviour by this point, Danny still wasn’t used to them willingly approaching and talking to him.
Tony gave Danny a relieved smile, which made Danny’s heart rate pick up a little bit. Crap, he thought he was past all of this hormonal BS by now. Stupid, pretty jocks with their stupid, pretty smiles. Danny couldn’t help it, ever since he'd figured out he was bi, he'd also come to the conclusion that everyone around him was too damned attractive and that Danny was weak.
Even though Tom had asked him to be his partner, Danny still let out a tiny squeak of surprise when he actually reached out to wrap his hand around Danny’s waist. Danny tried not to flush at the sensation of warm fingers pressing into the small of his back, but he had a feeling he was failing miserably.
“Is this okay?” Taylor asked, sounding just as nervous as Danny felt. “I mean, no homo?”
“R-right. Yeah. No homo,” Danny choked out, allowing Teddy to take his hand, while his other came up to tentatively rest along his partner’s shoulders.
“Cool.” The jock gave Danny another grin, and Danny couldn’t help but give a shaky smile back.
Just then, Ms. Tetslaff began to draw their attention once more. “Everyone have a partner? Good! Alright, so here’s what we do to dance the box step.”
Danny took a deep breath, and forced himself to focus on the lesson. He desperately needed a good grade in this class if he wanted to drag his average up before graduation, and he refused to let anything stand in his way. Even nerves and hormones.
He was going to ace this class.
***
Here was the thing. The really, really surprising thing, about the dancing.
Danny…was actually good at it. Like, really, really good at it. He had an innate sense of rhythm, and he only needed to be shown the moves once or twice before he could do them on his own, even the more complicated sequences. And maybe it was a little bit of inborn talent, maybe it was a little bit of his ghost powers leaking through and giving him the advantage of being able to read his partners’ moods, but he barely needed any direction to know exactly what his partner was going to do next. He was quickly discovering that he was a natural at dancing.
It was actually a huge relief, to know that for once in his life something outside of ghost fighting or facts about space would come easily for him. He found himself actually looking forward to gym class for the first time in his school career, much to Sam and Tucker’s bewilderment. But he couldn’t help it, it was just so nice to finally have something he was good at that he could actually use to improve his grades, rather than hide away in case his parents found out and tried to strap him to a lab table.
One of his favourite classes was when they were doing swing dancing, and due to one of the usual Leaders being out sick, he’d ended up partnered with one of the girls in the class instead. She’d shyly admitted that she’d really wanted to try leading, and Danny was the only one she trusted to be good enough to follow her while she was testing it out for the first time. Danny had been both honoured and touched that she’d asked him, and the two of them had torn up the gym floor, laughing and spinning as she did her best to guide him through the swing routine.
All too soon, though, the final weeks of the unit arrived, and with it, the start of their tango lessons. And god, Danny had thought he was a hormonal mess before. But now? With the dips and the close contact and the lifts? Danny was dying inside every time he found himself pressed up against the chest of one of the other guys in class. He was still doing well and having fun, the kicks and spins coming naturally to him just as much now as they had at the beginning of the unit, but he was pretty sure his blush was permanently stained into his cheeks from how much he was flushing.
And then, Ms. Tetslaff dropped the bomb on them.
“Well, I’ve gotta say, you guys have taken to this unit better than I expected! If any of you would like to look into dancing as an extracurricular, please let me know, I have some pamphlets for some local dance studios.” She waved the pamphlets in question up in the air before setting them aside and picking up her clipboard. “Now, onto the important things. I’ve ranked each of you based on how you’ve been doing so far in the class, and I’ve compiled the match ups for your unit test. Sorry if you don’t like your results, but your test is next Friday and we won’t have time to shuffle everyone around again, so just do your best. Remember, if you’ve been struggling, I’ve tried to partner you with someone who can help you come out of your shell a little bit.”
Her last comment seemed to be pointed at Dash, whose shoulders slumped in shame. Danny couldn't help the pang of sympathy that rushed through him when he glanced in Dash's direction, but Ms. Tetslaff's comment wasn't exactly uncalled for. Dash had visibly been struggling with the dance unit the whole time, acting stiff and uncomfortable no matter who he was partnered with. Danny had only had the misfortune of being paired up with Dash once, early on during their waltz lessons, but it was like Dash was unable to even touch Danny, let alone lead him across the floor. Danny had done his best to follow Dash's mechanical motions, but he'd definitely had a few of his toes crushed by a poorly timed step or two.
Danny couldn't help but feel a little bit bad for Dash. This was the worst Danny had ever seen him do in PE, and it was clearly getting to him.
Still, it likely wouldn't be his problem. Danny was good at dancing, sure, but plenty of the girls in the class had been graceful dancers too. Danny was pretty sure Paulina would be the one partnered up with Dash for their final test, while Danny would likely get paired up with one of the other guys who were lagging behind a little bit.
The class went quiet as Ms. Tetslaff strode over to the gym wall, pulled the top sheet off of her clipboard, and taped it to the wall.
“There,” she said, stepping well back. “Go nuts.”
Immediately the class swarmed forward to see the results, the more eager ones willing to use elbows if they needed to. Danny hung back, in no rush to see his partner and not exactly eager to get jabbed in the kidneys.
“Ah damn,” he heard Wes mutter as he looked up at the chart. Wes had already been a bit of a string bean back in Freshman year, but he’d shot up like a weed in the past few years. He didn’t even need to push to the front of the crowd to be able to see the listings. “I guess I can’t be too surprised.”
Finally there was enough of a clearing that Danny could squeeze his way through, making his way to the front. His eyes took in the chart, with the Leaders listed in one column and the Followers in the column beside them. The Leaders had been ranked in descending order of skill, with the best dancer at the top of the list, which meant the Followers had been listed in ascending order to match them. Sure enough, Wes’ name was at the top of the list of Followers, meaning he’d been the worst in the class.
“It’s because you’re so tall,” Mikey tried to assure him, reaching up to pet his shoulder. “It makes it harder to do the spins.”
“Yeah,” Wes agreed with a sigh. “Oh well. Guess I’m going to be Rahul’s problem.” He shot a cheeky grin at the boy who had made the top spot of the Leaders, who heard his comment and burst out laughing.
“Don’t worry, Weston, I’ll make you look good,” Rahul promised him, making his way over to start discussing their routine with his new partner.
As they moved away, Danny’s eyes started to trail down the list of names in the Followers column, searching for his own. Most of the placements weren’t too much of a surprise, though Mikey was higher up than Danny would have expected when they started out this unit. But the further down he went, the more his brow furrowed as his name refused to pop up.
He made his way all the way to the very end of the list, and his eyes immediately bugged out of his head. “W-what?!” he blurted out.
“Hmm? Oh, hey! Congrats, Danny!” Mikey cheered, giving Danny a playful shove with his shoulder. “Can’t say I’m surprised you got the top spot for Followers, you’re really good!”
“B-but, but what about Paulina? She’s way better than me!” Danny protested.
“Not really,” Paulina piped up from behind them, making both Danny and Mikey jump in surprise and whirl around. Danny felt his pulse pick up when he spotted the calculated look she was giving him. “I’m good, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve got too much cheerleading experience. It puts a bounce in my steps that messes with my flow.”
“Really?” Mikey said, blinking at her. “I’ve never noticed.”
She shrugged carelessly. “Danny though…you move so smoothly sometimes it’s like you’re floating. You’re really good.”
Danny immediately flushed and ducked his head, hiding behind his bangs. He might be mostly over his little crush on Paulina, but he was still weak to a pretty girl complimenting him. “T-thanks, Paulina.”
She stared at him for a moment longer, her expression impossible to read, and then her eyes briefly flicked towards something over Danny’s shoulder. Danny turned to see what had caught her attention, and jumped a little when he realized that Dash had somehow snuck up on him.
“Oh! H-hey Dash!” Danny squeaked.
“Hey, Danny,” Dash greeted him glumly, eyes fixed on the floor. “I guess we’re partners, huh?”
“O-oh. R-right.” Shit, he’d forgotten about that. If he was the best Follower in the class, he was going to be partnered up with the worst Leader. A quick glance towards the names list confirmed that, sure enough, Dash’s name was at the bottom. “Right. Uh, that’s…cool?”
Dash’s shoulders slumped even further.
“I need to go find my partner,” Paulina cut in, reaching out and giving Dash a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Good luck, boys.”
“Same. Talk to you guys later!” Mikey agreed, before heading towards the football player that was waving him over.
As soon as they were left alone, Danny blew out a huge breath upwards, ruffling his bangs. This was going to be awkward.
“Okay. So. Dash,” he began, trying to keep his voice calm and professional. “I’m sorry, I know you probably don’t care that much about this unit, but I desperately need this grade. I need to do well in this class to bring my GPA up, and I am totally willing to do whatever it takes to do well on this test, even if it means practicing with you every day this week until Friday. I don’t care if you step on my toes a million times, I really need this to go well.”
“...no, I get it,” Dash said quietly. “I do. I want to do well as well.”
“Okay. Great. That’s good to hear.”
“And yeah, we can practice. I, uh, actually know somewhere where we can do it that’ll be nicer than somebody’s basement or something. Um. If that’s cool.”
“You do?” Danny asked, mildly surprised. Maybe Dash meant some kind of gym or fitness center?
“Yeah. There’s this dance studio on Main and Upper McKinnon, you know that area?”
Danny thought about it, mentally picturing the streets of Amity Park as he usually saw them from above. “Wait, I think I do. On the corner there with the cigar shop?”
“Yeah, that’s the one!” Dash said, brightening. “It’s on the upper level above the cigar shop, the door’s just on the left.”
“Yeah, okay. I know that area,” Danny agreed thoughtfully. “Seriously, it’s a dance studio up there? And how do you know about it?”
At once, Dash looked away, his expression growing nervous and shifty. “I, uh. I’ll tell you later.”
Well that left Danny feeling totally assured. Still, Dash looked uncomfortable enough as it was, and he really didn’t have any obligation to put any extra effort into this than the bare minimum of just showing up, given he would have no issues with the later units in the class. Danny should really try not to push his luck.
So rather than ask for more details, he just said, “Alright, I can work with that. What time?”
Dash considered for a moment. “Given it’s the start of the year and we don’t have a game for a couple of weeks, football practice should get out early today. Wanna meet up around 6?”
“I can do that,” Danny agreed without hesitating. Over the past few years, he’d finally managed to firmly establish his claim over Amity Park as his haunt, and get the number of ghost attacks under control. These days, he only occasionally had to fend off the rare spook that either hadn’t heard of his reputation yet or was looking to try to make a name for themselves. Most of his former enemies had become acquaintances at worst, and several of them he could even count among his friends. He might actually hit up Ember and ask her to keep an eye on Amity for the next week just in case, so he shouldn’t have any distractions from practicing. “Yeah, 6 should be fine.”
“Awesome. I’ll see you then?” Dash asked, scratching nervously at the short hairs at the back of his neck.
“Sounds good,” Danny agreed, just as the bell rang out to signal the end of class.
“Cool,” Dash said. “See you later, Danny.”
“Later, Dash.”
As soon as Dash walked away, Danny gave himself a moment to just drop his face into his hands. God, this was going to be a disaster, wasn’t it?
***
That evening, at 6pm sharp, Danny arrived at the entrance of the dance studio, wearing comfortable sweats and with his gym bag thrown over his shoulder. He searched for a doorbell, but before he could find it, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He stepped back as the door swung open to reveal Dash in a very low-cut black tank top and sweats, Danny’s eyes immediately zeroing on the vast spread of pecs that Dash had on display. Shit. Normally Dash wore a loose t-shirt in gym, so there wasn’t too much to ogle, but this getup was a whole different story. Immediately Danny felt his face warm up.
“Hey,” Dash greeted him quietly, thankfully drawing Danny’s attention back up to his face. If he had noticed Danny’s staring, he made no mention of it. “Come on up, we’ve got the studio to ourselves and I’ve got everything set up.”
He started up the stairs, and Danny trailed after. The staircase was dark and narrow, but the studio they emerged into was the complete opposite. Danny felt his eyes widen and his jaw drop open a little as he stepped into the room, doing a small turn to take it all in. The long wall to his right was completely composed of floor to ceiling mirrors, with a wooden bar stretching along its length, while the opposite had stacks of mats, hoops, ribbons, and other dance equipment. The wall across from the doorway was full of large windows that let in the warm light of the setting sun, but Danny could see that there was also plenty of overhead lighting to keep it bright even after it got dark outside. The floor was smooth and shiny wood, a few scuff marks here and there marring its surface, but overall looking very well maintained.
“Oh wow,” Danny breathed, catching sight of himself in the mirror and doing an experimental twirl in the middle of the floor. “This place is awesome.”
“Isn’t it?” Dash agreed, reaching out to take Danny’s bag. Danny, feeling oddly shy, handed it over with a tiny blush dusting his cheeks.
“How did you find this place?” Danny asked, watching as Dash walked over to leave Danny’s bag out of the way in the far corner.
“I actually used to take classes here,” Dash admitted, turning back to face Danny once Danny’s stuff had been stowed away.
Danny couldn’t keep the shock out of his expression. “What? Really?”
“Yup,” Dash confirmed. “Paulina and I were dance partners for years, ever since we were little kids. We actually did quite a few competitions, and we did really well, but we stopped right before starting high school.”
Danny could only stare at Dash, completely gobsmacked. He had not been expecting that. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope.”
“Dash. You’ve got to be lying to me,” Danny said firmly.
“I’m not, I swear!” Dash insisted, holding his hands up defensively. “Ask Paulina if you don’t believe me!”
“Then why the heck have you been so bad at it?” Danny blurted out before he could think better of it. Immediately he winced, and backtracked. “Sorry, that came out wrong.”
“No, no, you’re right. I’ve been…struggling,” Dash agreed with a sigh. “I’ve just got some…stuff…going on, I guess. But I swear, I’m going to try to get over it. I’ve messed up enough of your grades over the years, I kind of owe you this one.”
Well, he wasn’t wrong. Danny wasn’t sure how to respond to that though without potentially starting an argument, so he just moved towards Dash instead, holding out his arms. “Well then, why don’t we get started? We can start out with something easier, if you want? Maybe just the basic steps?”
“Y-yeah, sure,” Dash said slowly, suddenly looking nervous and uncertain again. “W-we can do that.”
Danny waited patiently in the middle of the room for Dash to approach, but as the football player reluctantly made his way over, Danny could feel his mood souring. Dash wouldn’t even look him in the eye when he came to a stop in front of Danny, looking over his head at something on the far wall instead, and when he reached out to place his hand on Danny’s waist, it was like some sort of force field prevented him from actually coming in contact with Danny’s back, his hand hovering above the fabric of Danny’s shirt. Even his grip on Danny’s hand was loose and weak. Given tango was all about passion and emotion, Danny instantly knew that this was going to be a problem, and he needed to fix it now.
“Dash,” Danny said sharply, forcing Dash to look down and meet his eyes. “You are going to actually have to come into physical contact with me if this is going to work.”
“I…I know.”
“Look. I’m serious,” Danny continued with a frustrated huff, stepping away from Dash to give him some space to breathe. “I need this grade. I don’t know what’s bothering you, if it’s the fact that I’m a guy or if it’s just because it’s me, but I really need you to get past it. So no homo or whatever you need me to say - ”
“I’m gay,” Dash blurted out, and Danny’s words died in his throat.
“W-wait, what?”
“I’m gay,” Dash repeated much more firmly. “I’m…not exactly trying to hide it or anything, but I don’t exactly go around announcing it either. I think my parents might know, but I haven’t actually told them. I’ve just told a few of my best friends…and now you, I guess.”
“I…I…uh, thank you for telling me?” Danny stuttered out, feeling very wrong-footed by this unexpected change of subject.
“So it’s not that it’s because you’re a guy. Or maybe it is?” Dash’s voice became confused and uncertain, one of his hands coming up to run nervously through his hair. “Fuck, I don’t know.”
Huffing in frustration, Dash abruptly turned away and made his way over to the far wall. He slid down to sit against it, one leg splayed out while the other bent at the knee, his arm resting against it.
Feeling like he was walking into a dream, Danny followed, taking a seat next to Dash.
“I mean, that’s why I’ve been having such a hard time with dancing,” Dash confessed once Danny had gotten comfortable. “Not a lot of people know I’m gay, so whenever I get partnered up with the girls they get all flirty and handsy, and it makes me feel super awkward, and then whenever I get partnered up with you or the other guys I just…uh…guys. Guys are…I like guys. You know?”
“Uh, actually, yeah, I kind of do,” Danny admitted, crossing his arms and resting them on his raised knees. Dash’s head whipped up in surprise, and so Danny decided he might as well return Dash’s trust with a little trust of his own. “I’m bi.”
“You are?” Dash asked, watching Danny nod. “Huh.”
“Yeah. So, this unit has kind of been a little bit of torture, not going to lie.” Danny gave a shaky laugh, having trouble wrapping his head around the idea that he was having this conversation with Dash Baxter of all people. He hadn’t even really discussed his taste in men with Sam and Tucker yet. “There’s like, a lot of touching, and there are so many hot people in our class. Whenever the other guys grabbed me to do the lifts, I swear, I suddenly understood the concept of swooning.”
“Oh man, I know. Wes is a goddamned tree, but when he manages to do the dips? He looks amazing,” Dash sighed happily, clearly remembering a few of the more memorable dances Wes had participated in. Danny had to agree with him; Wes had struggled with dancing, but thanks to his long, lithe body, he made dips look incredibly graceful.
“So…you’re just super nervous then?” Danny prompted.
“Yeah.” Dash sighed, his head tipping back to smack lightly against the wall. “I’m okay dancing with Paulina, because I know her and her style, and we’ve been best friends since we were kids so I know that she’s just there to dance. But everyone else? Yeah, I just can’t get out of my head.”
“Oh. That’s…yeah, I get that,” Danny said slowly, taking the time to consider Dash’s perspective. “I was really nervous when we started out too. I’ve never danced before, and I was worried I would suck at it and like, accidentally punch someone in the face or something.”
“Seriously? You’ve never danced before?” Dash asked him, his head tilting back down so he could shoot Danny a surprised look.
“Nope.”
“Wow, you really are a natural,” Dash said, giving Danny an impressed nod. “You really should consider doing the extracurricular classes. I know one of them is hosted here, and I swear, the owner is amazing. She really knows her stuff, you’d like her.”
“I’m kind of surprised she’s just letting us use the studio,” Danny admitted, looking around. “Shouldn’t there be classes going on?”
“Sally usually takes a few weeks off around this time of year to travel to Greece to visit family,” Dash explained. “I’ve known her for years, though, so she didn’t mind us using the studio while she’s gone.”
“Makes sense,” Danny said. Their conversation trailed off, and Danny found himself staring at their reflections across the room, Dash curled up on himself, playing with the strap of his watch while Danny sat a full foot away from him, both of them looking stiff and awkward as hell.
“So. Do you want to try to dance a bit?” Danny asked softly. “Or should we maybe just call it a day and try again later?”
Dash looked over, his eyes troubled, but he shook his head. “No, no. This is important to you, and I really want to do well. We should definitely try to practice a bit.”
“Okay. Then let’s just…try?” Danny offered. He got to his feet and held a hand out to help Dash stand.
Dash stared at Danny’s outstretched hand like he couldn’t decide if it was some sort of gift or a venomous snake, but eventually he reached out and took Danny’s hand, letting Danny pull him to his feet. Danny didn’t let him let go, stepping backwards and tugging Dash towards the middle of the room until they’d taken up position dead center. Only then did Danny stop, lifting their joined hands and reaching up with his free hand to rest it along the back of Dash’s neck, letting his body sway closer to his partner.
“We can take it slow,” Danny promised, his voice coming out as a hushed whisper as their close proximity suddenly stole away all of his confidence. He could feel his traitorous blush beginning to rise up again, but he forcefully willed it away, even drawing up a little bit of his ice powers to keep his cheeks cool.
“Slow. Yeah, okay,” Dash agreed, his voice equally tentative. “I can work with slow.”
Ever so carefully, Dash’s hand came up to brush against Danny’s side, until he finally, finally pressed his hand firmly to the small of Danny’s back.
The two of them just stood there, frozen in the starting position, their chests brushing against each other and their breath mingling as they tried to get used to this new closeness. The warmth of Dash’s body against his own, the strength Danny could feel in his hands now that Dash was actually holding him properly, left Danny feeling a little faint and dizzy. There was a long pause as they both adjusted to the feeling of being so close, and then Danny let out a quiet laugh.
“Um. I think we forgot to start some music,” he admitted.
“Oh. Oops,” Dash said, before he abruptly let go, whirling towards the corner where he had a small CD player set up. He had his back turned to Danny, but Danny could still see the way his ears were flushed bright red, the blush extending all the way to the back of Dash’s neck. At least Danny wasn’t the only one feeling flustered.
Eventually the sound of one of the tango songs Ms. Tetslaff had typically used during class started to fill the air, and Dash returned to take his position. “Let’s just try a couple of the basics,” he suggested.
“Sure,” Danny agreed, forcing himself to focus and prepare to follow Dash’s lead.
Even still, it took Dash a moment to begin, the taller teen taking a few deep breaths to center himself. Then the music picked up, and Dash began to move.
And wow, what a difference between how Dash had danced in class compared to now. Before, Danny would have thought that Dash had two left feet, the football player always looking so awkward and uncertain when they’d danced in the gymnasium. But here? Here, Dash was confident and smooth, clearly experienced with the steps. He led Danny in sweeping motions across the floor, Danny easily able to predict what he would do next just by the tiniest tug on his hand, the subtle pressures Dash would place on his back.
Even though they had agreed to start out simple, before Danny knew what was happening Dash had thrown him into a spin, Danny whirling around like a top before Dash pulled him back in. Danny recognized the move, and his leg instinctively snapped up to hook around Dash’s hip, letting Dash pull him into a lean. Their noses brushed against each other as Dash dipped them low, their eyes locked together, and Danny felt his heart skip a beat.
Then Dash pushed them back up, sweeping them back into the regular steps, and Danny forced himself to focus on the music, on the flow of it as it guided his movements. The song itself wasn’t long, and after only a few more spins and simple dips, Dash drew them both to a stop as the music came to an end.
For a moment, in the brief lull between when the first song faded and the next one started, Dash and Danny just stood there, leaning against each other and breathing heavily. Danny didn’t know why he was feeling so flustered - they’d barely begun and none of their moves had been particularly strenuous - but he still felt like he’d just gone ten rounds with Skulker on a bad day.
“That was…pretty good,” he choked out, taking a step back from Dash to catch his breath. “Wow, you’re really good at this.”
“Thanks,” Dash said, sounding just as breathless as Danny. “I’m a little rusty, but it’s coming back to me.”
Danny eyed his partner consideringly for a moment, his mind churning. “You said you used to do this competitively, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Ms. Tetslaff just gave us a few moves that are mandatory for the choreography, but if we want to really blow her away and ace the test, why don’t we do something a little bit more complicated? Think any of your old routines might fit the bill?”
Dash hummed thoughtfully, his lips pursed, as he considered Danny’s suggestion. “Probably not, to be honest. We were pretty young, so we didn’t do a lot of the dips and lifts that Ms. Tetslaff wants to see. But Sally posts videos of her routines sometimes, she might have one that could work.”
“Let’s see!” Danny demanded, suddenly feeling a bit more excited about this whole thing. If Dash was actually secretly a really good dancer, maybe he and Danny would be able to knock this one out of the park after all.
Dash pulled out his phone, much fancier than Danny’s old brick, and opened up ViewTube. He searched up his dance instructor, and clicked on the first video that looked promising. Danny leaned over to watch over his shoulder, and Dash tilted the screen so that Danny could get a better look.
They watched in silence as the video played, but as the dance came to an end, Danny hummed reluctantly under his breath. “I don’t think that one will work. It’s good, but a little too heavy on the twirls, and I think I’d get dizzy.”
“Yeah, it definitely wasn’t one of her best,” Dash agreed. “Though I think she’s mentioned before that her preference is for Salsa, so maybe that’s why.”
“Ooh, what about that one?” Danny asked, pointing to one of the suggested videos listed at the bottom. The thumbnail was an image of a man and woman posed in a dip, the woman’s red dress flared out behind her, the man holding her close and staring into her eyes with an intensity that was visible even from such a small image.
“Let’s see,” Dash said, clicking on the video. Immediately both he and Danny were sucked in as the lights focused in on the pair who were standing across the floor from each other as their starting position in the middle of a wide open stage. The music kicked in, and they slowly began to approach each other, eyes locked and steps confident, until they were circling each other in the middle of the floor. As soon as the music started to swell, the man reached out and grabbed the woman’s hand, pulling her into a twirl so that she landed against him once the beat dropped, his one hand locked around her waist and the other along the back of her neck with her body pressed fully against his. From there, the dance only got more intense, the man sweeping the woman across the dance floor and pulling her into several dips, flips, and lifts that made Danny actually gasp in delight. They moved like they were one, like they were extensions of each other, their passion just as intense as their gaze, the man moving with strength and confidence while the woman followed him gracefully without hesitation. Just watching them left a feeling like electricity dancing along Danny’s skin.
Danny had gotten hot and bothered from videos he'd watched online before, of course, but this was the first time he'd had this reaction from watching a video where both people still had their clothes on.
As the dance and the video drew to an end, Danny felt his breath leave him in a whoosh of amazement. The audience erupted into applause, and then the video stopped, the couple grinning at each other and breathing heavily. The sudden quiet after the stirring music left the silence echoing through the dance studio feel that much more charged.
“Wow. That was…” Danny began, mostly to try to break up some of the tension, but then he trailed off, uncertain what he wanted to say.
“Yeah. I can see why that was the winning dance,” Dash agreed, referring to the title of the video. “They were really good. Did you see how easily he did those lifts? She was so ready she was practically already in the air before he grabbed her.”
“So…do you think we could do it?” Danny asked tentatively. On the one hand, the routine looked insanely difficult, and it must have been if the dancers had won an international competition with it. But on the other hand, just the idea of Dash throwing him around like that, lifting and dipping him as effortlessly as the man in the video had…he couldn't help the thrill that shot through him when he pictured it in his head.
“Well, probably not exactly like they did,” Dash told him slowly, considering what they’d just watched. “A couple of those moves only look good if you're willing to wear a dress, otherwise they're probably more trouble than they're worth. And that lift where she was upside-down doing the steps? Did you see how slow it was? Insanely tricky. I'd be terrified of dropping you on your head.”
“Fair enough, I'd prefer to avoid that.”
“I mean, can you even do the splits?” Dash asked him, referring to one drop in particular about halfway through the routine.
Danny, whose bones had been optional for him since he was fourteen, just shrugged. “Yeah, probably.”
“I also don't recognize the music, so we probably wouldn't be able to find the same song,” Dash continued, scratching at his cheek in thought. “But…aside from that? Yeah…actually I think we could probably pull it off. It would take an insane amount of practice though, especially if we want to be able to do this for Friday.”
“I told you already, Dash,” Danny said firmly. “I don't care what it takes, I need this grade. If I have to practically live in this studio, practicing every waking moment that I'm not at school, I'll do it.”
Dash met his eyes for a moment, searching them, but Danny's determination must have been clear, because his expression slowly shifted from uncertain and concerned to relieved and almost…excited? Danny was trying really hard not to read too much into that.
“Okay. In that case, let's watch it again,” Dash suggested, queuing up the video to play one more time.
They ended up watching it well over a dozen times, both occasionally making quiet comments or pointing out particular moves. By the time they decided they'd gotten the gist, the sun had long set, the only source of light the bright fluorescents overhead.
“It’s getting kind of late,” Dash pointed out, glancing at the clock over the door. “Do you want to head out soon?”
“Soon,” Danny agreed, “but I kind of also want to try running through it at least once, just to see how it goes.”
“With the lifts and all?” Dash asked in surprise, his eyebrow going up.
Danny made a wordless hum of confirmation. “We’ll have to simplify the trickier ones, and probably go a bit slower, but I trust you not to drop me.” And to his mild surprise, he found he was being honest about that. As much as he could still clearly remember all of the times Dash had shoved him around or left him with bruises in their early high school days, he also was very aware of how much Dash had changed and grown as a person. He did trust Dash to try his best not to let Danny get hurt.
And hey, if Dash screwed up? There was always his ghost powers to fall back on.
Dash stared at Danny for a moment longer, but when Danny showed no sign of hesitation, he sighed and started tapping away at his phone. “Alright. I’ll find a song I think will work that’s a bit slower than what they used, and we’ll see how this goes.”
It took him a few minutes, but when the song started to play from Dash’s phone’s speakers, Danny could already feel that the choice was perfect. There was a good beat to follow, the music was energetic and a little bit evocative without being lewd, and there were plenty of strings in the background to satisfy Ms. Tetslaff that it was classical inspired. Danny let the song flow through him, his hips already unconsciously swaying along to the rhythm.
“Ready?” Dash asked him, taking his position across the dance floor from Danny.
Rather than answer, Danny simply smirked and started taking those circling steps, his posture firm and his eyes focused on Dash. His partner took the hint and started circling as well, his eyes locked with Danny, as they slowly drifted together like two binary stars caught in each others’ gravity.
And then Dash’s hand was stretching out, Danny reaching to meet it. Dash’s hand closed firmly around Danny’s, squeezing and giving a strong tug, and their dance began, Danny twirling into Dash’s arms to land firmly against his chest. Already he could tell that he hadn’t quite done as many spins as the woman, but as soon as the thought formed, he dismissed it, distracted by the feeling of Dash’s warm chest pressed against his own, Danny’s hands resting on his broad shoulders. Dash’s hands were like brands on his back and at the back of his neck, and Danny leaned into them as Dash immediately dipped him backwards, Danny’s left knee kicking up as Dash dipped him low before bringing him back up again, their moves quick and snappy. Danny’s leg slid down the inside of Dash’s as he came back upright, their eyes locking once more, and then Dash was stepping backwards, Danny immediately following in his wake like a ship drawn by a sail.
Dash led him across the floor, warm hands firm on Danny, guiding him effortlessly into the next twirl, a brief couple of steps, and then a lift. Danny’s legs kicked through the air, and then he was dropping to the floor, one leg bent, the other straight out and cutting through Dash’s, as if he was about to kick Dash’s leg out from under him. Instead, Dash pulled him back up so that they were once again pressed together, and continued to pull Danny through the dance.
At first, Danny had subconsciously activated a little bit of his powers, making him lighter, less bound by gravity, but as the dance progressed he found that it wasn’t necessary. He could feel the strength in Dash’s arms and back each time he swung Danny up through the air, or dipped him low enough that Danny’s hair practically brushed against the ground. Gone was the earlier nervousness Dash had displayed when they’d first started. Now he was the picture of perfectly intense concentration, his eyes burning into Danny’s own whenever they were face to face. If Danny had any space left in his mind to focus on it, he would have been flustered and flailing to have someone that attractive pressed against him and giving him that much focused concentration, but as it was Danny was equally swept up in the dance as Dash was.
There were a few hiccups as they went through the routine. It turned out that yes, Danny could do the splits, but both of them had been so startled by that realization that they actually stumbled a bit over the next few moves after Danny had successfully done it. And when they got to the point in the routine where the man had flipped the woman upside down, Dash visibly hesitated, clearly uncertain what he should do instead. Danny had ended up leaning a bit to the side to signal that Dash should just go with a simpler dip, and thankfully Dash caught the hint and went with it. Still, he ended up adding in an extra flip that left Danny almost dizzy, so that when he brought Danny back up Danny was forced to lean against him a little bit more heavily than before while he caught his balance.
The song Dash had picked hadn’t quite ended by the time they’d finished running through the whole routine, but Danny knew it would be easy enough to ask Tucker to edit it down. The moment they struck their final pose, Danny dropped low with one leg splayed, Dash bent over him with his hand around Danny’s back and his face practically buried in Danny’s shoulder, it felt like a spell had been broken. The past few minutes of heated dancing suddenly hit Danny all at once, and his heart started pounding in his chest like it was trying to escape, his core buzzing in sympathy.
Slowly, Dash helped him to his feet, breathing heavily, his face flushed bright red. “That was…wow, that was…”
“Really good,” Danny finished for him, equally breathless. “I think we could actually pull this off.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Dash agreed. Was it just Danny’s imagination, or was he standing a bit closer than he normally would for a normal conversation?
To Danny’s dismay, Dash must have thought so, because he took a very obvious step back, clearing his throat. “Um, but that’s probably enough for today. It’s really late, and I’ve got some stuff I need to do at home.”
“Oh,” Danny said, hoping his voice didn’t sound as disappointed as he felt. “Yeah, you’re probably right. It’s late.”
“Did you need a ride?” Dash asked him, making his way over to his own bag that had been left by the door. He dug around for a second and pulled out a set of car keys.
Danny couldn’t exactly tell Dash that he had flown over, and planned to fly home, so he just shook his head and told him, “It’s all good, I can walk.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Dash asked incredulously. “It’s like a thirty minute walk from here to your house, and it’s already dark out. Dude, I can give you a lift, I don’t mind.”
“No, really, it’s fine.”
Dash opened his mouth to argue further, but abruptly his eyes widened with some sort of realization and his jaw snapped shut. All at once his expression fell. “Oh. Yeah, right, I get it.”
Danny wasn’t sure exactly what he ‘got’, but he had a feeling he’d missed something. “Get what?”
“It’s okay. I understand. You’re still not comfortable around me, I get it. Heh,” Dash let out a short humorless chuckle. “I can’t say I blame you, given our history.”
It took Danny a second to figure out what conclusion Dash had jumped to, but the moment it registered, he immediately started shaking his head in denial. “Wait, what? No!” Danny protested. “That’s not it at all! I’m not…I mean…I mean, yeah, it’s not like I’m just going to forget all the crap you used to put me through, but that was a long time ago. You’ve changed a lot since then, and I can see that. I’m not…scared of you or whatever. Not anymore. I swear.”
The look Dash shot him was so pitifully hopeful that Danny couldn’t help but sigh and reach out, resting a hand on Dash’s shoulder. Given that only a few minutes ago Danny’s legs had been wrapped around Dash’s waist as Dash dipped him low, it was surprising that this felt like their most intimate contact yet.
“Dash. I swear. I forgive you, or whatever. What’s happened, happened, but I’ve seen you make an effort, and you’re not like that anymore. You’re not the jerk you used to be, you’ve become a really decent guy.”
Dash let out a soft snort. “Well there’s high praise,” he said, but Danny could see beneath the sarcasm there was genuine gratitude. “Fine, I’m not a huge ass anymore.”
Danny almost made a comment about Dash’s huge ass, but managed to bite it back. “Yeah. Besides, I wasn’t exactly an angel back then either. I gave you a hard time whenever I thought I could get away with it too.”
Dash scoffed. “Oh please, you barely registered on my radar. You should have seen some of the pranks my teammates used to pull.” His expression then turned more serious, his brow furrowing. “Are you sure you don’t want a lift?”
For a moment, Danny was seriously tempted. Would it be so bad to spend just a little bit longer hanging out with Dash, just going along for a nice ride in Dash’s car? This was the most one-on-one time Danny had ever had with the football player that didn’t involve a life-or-death situation with ghosts, and he was surprised at how easily they were able to just chat and hang out. Sure, their attention had been focused mostly on dancing the whole time, but it had still been a surprisingly pleasant experience.
At the same time, Danny did need a chance to just cool off, both literally and physically. A quick flight through Amity Park would be perfect for getting all of these hormones under control. So he simply shook his head again. “It’s okay, Dash. Maybe next time?”
He almost regretted making the offer, but when he saw the way Dash lit up at the suggestion, he couldn’t bring himself to take it back.
“Yeah, alright. What do you think, wanna meet back here at the same time tomorrow?” Dash suggested.
“I’ll bring some snacks,” Danny offered. “To keep our energy levels up.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” Dash asked, turning to finish cleaning up the dance studio.
“See you tomorrow,” Danny agreed, making his way towards the stairs to head back out onto the street. When he stepped out the door, he was amazed at how dark it had gotten already, all of the streetlights on and the stars twinkling overhead. Shoot. He hadn’t told his parents he would be out this late, hopefully they wouldn’t be upset.
He walked a few blocks over, ducked into an alleyway, and then let his transformation rings sweep over him. The moment he changed into Phantom he launched himself up into the air with a whoop, enjoying the feeling of the cool air on his skin and the icy chill radiating out from his core. He needed that cold, to counteract all of the heated feelings he’d picked up back in that dance studio.
This was all for the grade, Danny kept telling himself as he flew towards home. Just for the grade. Dash was just being nice and helping Danny out to make up for their past animosity. There was no reason to read anything else into it.
If only he could get his heart to believe that.
***
The week passed by in a blur. Schoolwork was simultaneously ramping up and slowing down as they approached midterms, their homework load getting lighter but their study sessions getting more intense. Danny had already seen at least one person have a breakdown over their upcoming physics test, but thankfully between Sam and Tucker they had discovered a fool-proof method to get Danny to study and actually retain the information he was reading, so Danny was feeling pretty okay about his upcoming exams. Well, for all of them but one.
Every day after school that week, Danny would meet up with Dash at the dance studio, and they would practice their routine. By this point, they had finalized the choreography, deciding which moves they would use to replace the advanced ones performed by the dancers in the video, and Tucker had assured Danny that he’d have their edited music ready to go by tomorrow. All that was left was just practicing until they felt they could do the routine in their sleep, so that was what they did.
At this point, Danny was honestly expecting that things would get easier, less awkward between him and Dash as they ran through the routine over and over and over. But instead, the opposite was true. Each time Dash lifted him into the air or pulled him close after sweeping him out, Danny’s heart jumped in his chest. Whenever Dash’s cheek or leg brushed against his own, Danny felt himself go lightheaded. It didn’t matter how many times Dash dipped him, each time Danny felt like he was flying without powers.
Their latest runthrough today, the day before the exam, had been especially charged, Dash’s face somehow so much closer than usual, to the point their foreheads were brushing together as they danced, their bodies pressed so tightly together that they practically moved as one. At one point Danny caught a glimpse of them in the mirror over Dash’s shoulder, and it was all he could do to choke back a gasp as he saw how intimate they looked as they tangled around each other. The only way they could have been any closer was if Danny had gone ghost and literally phased under Dash’s skin.
Oh god, that idea was not helping.
They finished their dance, Danny dropping low, but for once, Dash actually dropped his head with him, his nose burying itself in Danny’s throat against his pulse point. Danny went still, no longer just striking the finishing pose, but actually freezing in place. For a moment, he thought he felt Dash’s lips brush against his skin, and his breath caught in his throat.
Wait. No, those were Dash’s lips, and there, god, was that the tiniest hint of teeth?
Danny couldn’t help himself. He let out a tiny moan, but it seemed to echo through the dance studio, their music long since ended, nothing to distract from that little sound.
Dash went stiff, his fingertips digging into Danny’s waist, and then he jumped back so quickly that Danny almost fell to the floor.
“Sorry!” Dash shouted, backing away from Danny like a frightened animal. “Sorry, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what I was doing, I’m so sorry!”
“N-no, it’s fine,” Danny quickly, trying to regain his balance after such a sudden change of altitude. “It’s…it’s just the dancing, right? You were just getting really into it, that’s all.”
“Y-yeah,” Dash stuttered out, unable to meet Danny’s eyes anymore. “Yeah, you’re…you’re probably right. It was…it was just the dancing. Wow. I can’t believe I did that.”
“It’s…probably a good thing, right?” Danny continued, his voice a little shaky. “I mean, tango’s about…uh…passion. And Ms. Tetslaff said we get bonus marks if we can show emotion with our dancing as well as technique.”
“Right. Right, that’s good,” Dash agreed, but he still wouldn’t look in Danny’s direction.
They’d only been dancing for about an hour, and their test was tomorrow, but Danny could tell that they were done for today. Dash was spooked, and if they tried to run through their routine again, he’d be too nervous to do it properly, and there were good odds one of them would get hurt. So instead Danny sighed and made his way over to his bag by the door.
“I think we’ve gotten it about as good as it’s going to get, anyways,” Danny said as he threw the strap of his bag over his shoulder. He turned back to face Dash, but the other teen was still staring down at the floor, his expression closed off. “...I'll see you tomorrow?”
“...yeah,” Dash said quietly, finally looking up at Danny. Danny's mouth went dry, the conflicted emotions churning in the depths of Dash’s eyes so intense he could taste them with his core. He was picking up a bit of self-loathing, a bit of regret, but…there was more than a little hint of desire.
“See you tomorrow, Danny,” Dash said, and the way it came out sounded like he was talking about more than just school.
Heart in his throat, Danny just gave Dash a nod, and then pretty much turned tail and ran. He knew it was a bit cowardly, but he had a feeling if he stayed there in that room for even a moment longer, he might do something…drastic.
***
Later that night he was on a video chat study session with Tucker and Sam, preparing for their stats midterm next week. They'd been working together for a little over an hour, taking turns quizzing each other and going over the different equations, but Danny had been distracted and distant, and it was clear that his friends had noticed. Eventually, after the third time Tucker had needed to repeat his question, Sam finally had enough.
“Danny, what's going on with you?” she demanded, her pencil slapping down against her desk, studying forgotten for the time being. “You've been spacing out all night, is something wrong?”
“Yeah, dude. I know you know this stuff, you were the one who explained it to me last week, so what gives?” Tucker added.
Caught off-guard by their sudden questions, Danny flinched back a bit. “Wh-what? No, no, everything's fine,” he insisted. “I'm okay.”
“Danny, I just watched you eat your pencil,” Sam told him flatly, looking completely unimpressed. “You haven't done something like that since you were first getting the hang of your powers.”
Danny jerked in surprise and looked down, but sure enough she was right. The pencil he had been chewing on absently a few minutes ago was gone, and when he focused he could feel something long and pointy stuck in his throat. Groaning, he turned his hand intangible and reached inside his chest to draw out his missing writing implement.
“Alright, maybe I'm a bit distracted,” he admitted with a sigh.
“Does it have something to do with Dash?” Tucker prompted. Danny spluttered in shock, not expecting to be called out like that so quickly.
“Wha - how did you - ?! I mean, no? No! He didn't - I didn’t - !”
“Whoa, Danny, remember breathing?” Sam broke in, cutting through his panicked protests. “I know it's optional for you, but maybe give it a try.”
Danny glared at her but did as she suggested, taking a deep breath, until he felt his racing heartbeat begin to calm.
“There you go, that's better,” Sam said once she was sure Danny was feeling a bit more settled. “And yeah, obviously it has something to do with Dash, Tucker. Danny was fine at school today, hangs out with Dash for, what, an hour? And now he's all out of sorts. Clearly Dash has something to do with it.”
Danny didn't like how accusatory her voice was, and he narrowed his eyes at her. “What's that supposed to mean?”
“Did he say something?” Tucker cut in, brow furrowed in concern. “Do something? He didn’t hurt you or anything, did he?”
“No!” Danny denied vehemently at once, shaking his head. “No, he…he didn't say anything or hurt me.”
Even though he had meant his statement to be neutral, he saw the moment Sam caught on to the fact that there was something Danny wasn't saying. He could practically see the wheels in her head turning in real time, her expression shifting from worried, to confused, to thinking hard, to wide eyed realization.
And then, to Danny's growing horror, to a wide, shit-eating grin.
“But he did something,” she accused, sounding almost gleeful. “Didn't he? What did he do?”
“Sam?” Tucker called out, sounding lost, but Sam was focused on Danny like a shark scenting blood in the water, and her grin was just as dangerous and full of teeth.
“What did he do, Danny?” she demanded again, her voice full of innuendo.
“Nothing!” Danny cried out, eyes wide. “Nothing! Nothing happened! He just - shit.”
Sam’s bark of evil laughter nearly drowned out Tucker's quiet gasp of realization.
“Oh. Oh shit, did something finally happen?” Tucker asked, suddenly leaning forward towards his camera with an eager grin, looking just as excited as Sam. “Did you guys finally get your heads out of your asses and realize you're into each other?”
“Wait, what?!” Danny squawked. “What the hell is happening right now?”
“Come on, Danny, did you think we were blind?” Sam huffed with a roll of her eyes. “You and Dash have been giving each other these charged looks across the halls ever since you guys got partnered up for your dance final. It’s not exactly subtle.”
“I - no we haven't!” Danny automatically denied, before he grimaced and asked, “Have we?”
“Uh, yeah, dude,” Tucker confirmed. “Even Wes has started asking me if anything has happened yet. Apparently the tension in gym class is getting unbearable.”
“Oh my god,” Danny groaned, letting his head drop down onto his open notebook and burying his face in his arms.
“I mean, if it helps, we don't blame you?” Tucker offered. “Guys don’t do it for me like they do for you, but even I've got to admit that Dash is a beefcake. I can't imagine how your bi ass could resist.”
“It can't,” Sam piped in with a smirk. “And hey, Danny's a looker himself. No wonder Dash has been staring at him like he wants to eat him all week.”
“Guys,” Danny groaned. “Guys, please.”
“So, what happened?” Sam brought them back to the beginning of their conversation. “What did Dash do? Grope you? Compliment your eyes?”
“...he might have kissed me,” Danny reluctantly admitted, his eyes peeking up over the tops of his elbows.
Their reaction was immediate.
“What?!” Sam shrieked.
“Dash kissed you and you didn't tell us right away?!” Tucker cried, hand pressed to his chest in betrayal.
“N-not like that!” Danny quickly shouted. “Not on the lips! Just…on my neck?”
Sam stared at him, gobsmacked. “Danny. Danny. That's worse? You do realize that’s worse right? That we’re going to freak out even more?”
“Bro, on the neck? How far did you guys get?!”
“It was an accident!” Danny insisted, waving his hands at the screen in denial. “We were doing our routine and it got a little intense, that’s all! It…it didn’t mean anything.”
There was a long, telling pause. Danny had a feeling that if Tucker and Sam had been in the same room as each other, they would have been side-eyeing each other hard. As it was, Sam let out a heavy sigh.
“Danny. We love you. But you’re an idiot.”
“Yeah, man. I mean, come on. You can’t be this oblivious.”
“Yes I can,” Danny shot back on reflex, before he realized what he’d said. “I mean. Wait. No!”
“Danny,” Tucker said firmly, making sure that Danny was looking him straight in the eyes. “Danny. Listen to me. Dash likes you. Dash is interested in you. And you are interested in him back.”
“I…I mean…”
“It’s okay if you like him,” Sam added, her voice taking on a gentler tone as her expression softened. “I know you guys have a bit of bad history, but it’s like you told us when this all started; Dash has really turned over a new leaf, and he’s made himself into a better person. It’s not a bad thing to like him, Danny.”
“But Sam…” Danny murmured, giving her a pained look.
“If you’re worried about how I’m feeling, don’t,” she quickly told him. “We didn’t work out, and I’m okay with that. We’re still friends, and I’d rather that you be happy, Danny. And if Dash is how you find happiness? That’s fine by me.”
“And me, if it matters,” Tucker chimed in.
“Of course it matters!” Danny insisted. “Tucker, you’re my best friend. Of course your opinion matters to me.”
“Well then, in my opinion, you and Dash need to suck face.”
“Oh my god!” Danny groaned, once again burying his face in his arms.
“Just saying!”
“Alright, I think Danny’s had enough,” Sam said reluctantly. She picked up her pencil and tapped it against her notebook. “Now, do you think you can focus on these worksheets, Loverboy, or do we need to call it a night?”
Grumbling, Danny picked his pencil back up, smoothing out the pages of his worksheets. “We can keep going,” he muttered.
“Great. So, who wants to tackle number six first?”
***
Danny walked into the gymnasium the next morning with butterflies in his stomach. He tugged at the collar of his dress shirt, wishing that he’d managed to talk his mom out of picking out his clothes, but when she’d heard he was going to be doing a test in ballroom dancing she’d immediately insisted on going through Danny’s closet. She’d ended up picking out a pair of loose black slacks and a black dress shirt that billowed nicely when he spun that she insisted would be perfect for dancing in.
He’d been too baffled by her excitement to argue; he hadn’t even known she was interested in ballroom dancing!
He’d texted Dash to warn him about the sudden costume change, but all he’d gotten was a thumbs up emoji in return. Hopefully that meant that Dash had gotten his message and dressed to match, but there was no way Danny could be sure until his dance partner arrived.
In the meantime, he made his way into the gym, noting the way it had been set up for the exam. The floor was mostly clear, but a row of tables had been set up along the far end for the teachers to sit and do their marking, and a set of chairs lined the walls so that the students waiting their turn could watch their classmates dance.
A few of the seats were occupied, and Danny made his way over to where Mikey and his partner were quietly chatting together. Mikey looked up as Danny approached and gave him a nervous smile.
“You ready?” Mikey asked, his knee jiggling. He and his partner had also gone for slacks and dress shirts, so at least Danny didn’t feel overdressed, though theirs were navy and white respectively rather than all black like Danny.
“I think so,” Danny said slowly, dropping into the chair next to Mikey and sliding his backpack under the seat. “I mean, as ready as I can be, anyways.”
“You shouldn’t be worried at all,” Mikey’s partner reassured him, leaning over so he could join the conversation. “I remember dancing with you, you’re good.”
Danny ducked his head, flushing. “T-thanks.”
“It’s Dash I’m worried about,” Mikey’s partner continued, his lips thinning with concern. “I’ve never seen him look so unsure of himself before. Dude’s usually the one we all turn to when we need a confidence boost on the field, so I feel really bad that none of us have been able to help him shake his nerves.”
“It’s okay,” Danny said, playing with the sleeves of his shirt to try to get rid of some of the jitters. “He and I have been working hard, and I’m pretty sure we’ve got this.”
Mikey’s partner gave him a knowing look. “Oh, so I’ve heard,” he said with a hint of a smirk. “Dash has always been one of the last to leave football practice, but lately? He’s always heading out early to meet up with you to…practice.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Danny demanded, feeling defensive.
“Nothing!” Mikey’s partner immediately backed off, hands held up in surrender. “Nothing, I didn’t mean anything bad. I’m just saying it’s nice to see him so excited about something. Dash is my friend, you know? It’s good to see him happy.”
Danny mind flashed back to his conversation with Sam and Tucker last night, the comment sounding oddly familiar. “Oh. Okay, I…I get that.”
“Oh hey, here he comes now!” Mikey’s partner said, eyes lighting up, and he lifted his hand to wave towards the gym entrance.
Feeling like he was moving through syrup, Danny slowly turned his head. The moment he caught sight of Dash standing there, his eyes went wide and he let out an involuntary little gasp, unable to do anything but stare as his dance partner approached. Dash had definitely gotten Danny’s message, but while Danny looked kind of like he’d borrowed clothes out of his dad’s closet, his shirt and slacks loose on him, Dash’s clothes were tight enough to be criminal. As he walked forward, Danny could clearly see the flex of his quads through the fabric of his pants, and his dress shirt was half unbuttoned, leaving his defined pecs and collarbones on full display. His short, spikey blonde hair had been styled, and he even had a fresh red rose tucked in his shirt pocket.
In short, Dash looked like sex on legs, and Danny felt himself melting a little bit. Oh god, he was way too bi for this.
“Wow, Dash, you look great!” Mikey’s partner greeted his fellow football player as soon as Dash reached him, the pair exchanging some sort of complicated secret football team handshake. “Damn, I wish I could pull off that look.”
“Paulia came over and helped me out,” Dash admitted, reaching up to run his hand through his hair before he seemed to remember it was styled and thought better of it. “It’s been a while since I’ve had to dress like this, but she remembered all the rules.”
He then suddenly turned to look at Danny, and Danny froze like a deer in the headlights. Dash visibly checked him out, his eyes sweeping over Danny’s outfit from head to toe and back again, and when they locked gazes again, Dash gave him a little half smile. “Looking good, Fenton.”
“Speak for yourself,” Danny replied in a daze, trying hard not to stare at that flash of exposed chest he could see and failing miserably.
There was an awkward pause, and then Mikey pointedly cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention away from Dash’s arrival. “Sounds like we’re going in order of best Leader first, so you guys will be last. I hope that doesn’t bother you.”
Danny and Dash shared a look, before Danny turned back to Mikey and shrugged. “That’s fine by us.”
“They’re even talking without words already,” Mikey’s partner muttered under his breath, too low for human ears to pick up, but easy to make out with Danny’s enhanced senses. He shot Mikey’s partner a narrow-eyed glare, but couldn’t do anything else before Dash abruptly dropped into the chair next to him, the feeling of his warm thigh pressed against Danny’s own drawing all of his focus.
This was going to be a looooong class.
“Alright, kids, are we all here?” Ms. Tetslaff called out, rising from her seat in the middle of the examiner’s table as the last of the students straggled in. “Good! Then we can get started. Let’s run over some rules first, and then we’ll call up the first pair. Mr. Green? Care to do the honours?”
As Ms. Tetslaff’s assistant stood up to read off the rules, Danny slumped further down into his seat. He’d been hoping to make some space between himself and Dash, but instead he just ended up rubbing their legs together, the contact feeling like a brand against his skin. Dash shot him a look, but thankfully didn’t comment.
Danny didn’t take in one word of Mr. Green’s or Ms. Tetslaff’s announcements leading up to the first pair's performance, the blood rushing through his ears drowning out anything they might have said, but he wasn’t too worried. He’d read over the curriculum guidelines for the course several times while they were finalizing the choreography for their routine, so he knew what to expect. He and Dash just had to make it through the rest of the dancers, do their dance, and then this whole confusing emotional mess would finally be over.
He watched as the first pair went up, snickering along with the rest of the class as poor Wes had to reach down to rest his hands on his partner’s shoulders. Thankfully Rahul looked unbothered, and as soon as the music started, he led Wes gracefully through their tango routine. Danny absently noted that the pair seemed to focus more on dips and lifts, things that were easier to do when taking Wes’ height into consideration, and overall they actually did a pretty decent job. There were definitely points where Danny could see Wes floundering, but Rahul did a great job keeping him moving, and overall it was an exciting routine to witness.
When the pair finished, striking their final pose, both Danny and Dash cheered for them along with their classmates. There was no teasing or jeering, their class having grown well together throughout the dance unit, and it was clear that everyone was looking to support each other. Wes and Rahul gave their classmates twin huge grins as they bowed, their foreheads shiny with sweat, but looking pleased with themselves.
“Great job, boys!” Ms. Tetslaff called out once she’d finished jotting down a few notes. “Now take your seats so the next pair can go.”
The rest of the class passed in a blur of dancing. Each pair had done a slightly different routine, which meant each dance was just as entertaining to watch as the last. Danny found himself just enjoying his classmates, noting their different takes on certain moves, or how they’d learned to communicate without words. By the time the second last pair was finishing up, it finally occurred to Danny that he just honestly, genuinely liked dancing. This was something he was good at, and that he enjoyed.
Maybe he really should look into taking it up as an extracurricular.
The idea was knocked out of his mind a moment later, though, when he heard Ms. Tetslaff call out, “Baxter and Fenton? You’re up!”
Danny and Dash looked at each other, exchanging worried glances, before rising as one. Dash walked over to the student managing the music and handed over the USB stick containing their song before making his way back to the dancefloor. Danny waited for him from his own position on the opposite side, shaking out his last minute jitters.
“Ready?” Dash asked him, giving him a meaningful look. The intensity from their last practice session was back in his eyes, and it left goosebumps on Danny’s skin, chasing the nerves away and replacing them with a feeling that was closer to anticipation…and hunger.
Danny smirked, letting his eagerness and excitement show in his own expression. “Oh yeah. Let’s do this.”
The beginning bars of their music caught his ears, and Danny let out a slow breath, centering himself and letting everything else fade away. All that existed for him now was the music, the dance, and Dash.
They circled each other as the song warmed up, their eyes locked together, their bodies slowly drifting closer. And then Dash reached out, Danny met him halfway, and the dance began.
It was electric. Never had they danced so well together, even after all of their practicing; something about doing this now, their final dance, leaving what little air that existed between them feeling charged and potent. Their moves were more deliberate, the stroke of Dash’s hands along Danny’s back more prolonged, the slide of Danny’s leg across Dash’s hip more teasing. They moved as one, without hesitation or pause, each of their steps perfectly placed, each of their moves going off without a hitch. Danny spun faster, dipped lower, kicked higher than he ever had, and Dash met his passion and energy with just as much intensity. His hands burned against Danny’s skin wherever they touched him, and Danny found himself getting completely lost in the dance, wishing that it would never end.
But eventually, it did, Dash dropping Danny down into their final pose in perfect synch with the final beat of their music. This time, there were no lips against Danny’s skin, but he could still feel the phantom brush of them from before, could swear he could still feel the soft bite of teeth tracing along his shoulder. They paused there, frozen in place while they just took a moment to catch their breath.
It took Danny far too long to realize that the silence was stretching way longer than it should have. Slowly, reluctantly, he moved away from Dash so that he could look out over the rest of the room to see what had happened to their spectators.
Every single jaw in the room was hanging open. Danny had never seen Ms. Tetslaff look so gobsmacked, and he was pretty sure someone could have knocked Wes over with a feather. Everyone was staring, and Danny couldn’t help but duck his head in embarrassment, kind of tempted to just bury his face in Dash’s chest while he was at it so he didn’t have to make eye contact with anyone.
But just as the silence stretched to the point that Danny was honestly starting to feel panicked, Rahul suddenly surged to his feet, eyes wide, and blurted out, “Holy shit, what the fuck guys? That was hot as hell!”
It was like a spell had been broken. All at once the room was filled with chatter as their classmates all began to gasp and discuss Danny and Dash’s dance. To Danny’s amazement, pretty much everyone was staring at them in amazement, rather than disgust or discomfort. Apparently they actually had done a decent job.
“Alright, alright, that’s enough!” Ms. Tetslaff’s voice broke out through the crowd, followed by a short blast from her whistle. Everyone fell silent, looking towards their gym teacher, but Ms. Tetslaff only had eyes for Danny and Dash. “Boys,” she breathed out, looking slightly dazed. “I’ve got to say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that. You…definitely seemed to capture the passion required for the best tango dances. I…just…good work.”
The praise seemed faint, but her expression revealed that she was pretty much at a loss for words. Danny decided to take it as a compliment.
Ms. Tetslaff stared at them for a moment longer, and then seemed to shake herself out of whatever fog she’d drifted into. “Right! Well, that was the last of you, so consider this the end of your exam! You’re all free to go, I’ll hopefully have your scores ready sometime next week. Class dismissed!”
They all poured out of the gym, groups forming to talk about how their performances had gone, or moves that they’d particularly enjoyed. Danny and Dash ended up bringing up the rear as they’d been the last on the dancefloor, and their shoulders brushed together as they both reached the chairs where their backpacks were waiting at the same time. Danny glanced over out of the corner of his eye, and was unsurprised to find Dash looking back.
“How do you think we did?” Danny asked quietly as he pulled his backpack out from under the chair.
“Did you see their faces?” Dash scoffed, rolling his eyes. “We clearly aced it.”
“Yeah, I think you might be right,” Danny agreed, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “I mean, that was probably the best runthrough we’ve ever done.”
“Yeah. It was just. Man. You really brought the energy, Fenton.”
“You brought plenty of energy yourself, Baxter,” Danny said teasingly, giving Dash a playful shove. Dash smirked back at him, but then he looked up and his expression fell as he saw the empty gym around them.
“I guess this is it, huh?” Dash said quietly. “Next week we’re moving onto the next unit. No more dancing.”
“Oh. Yeah, guess you’re right,” Danny agreed, his mood souring. It wasn’t exactly a surprise, they had known very well going into class today that this would be the end of their dance unit, but Danny couldn’t help but feel a little ping of loss. Not just for the dancing, too.
“I guess you’ll get your evenings back, at least,” he pointed out with a weak smile. “No more worrying about meeting up to practice with me.”
“Yeah…I guess,” Dash said, but he still looked like he was feeling just as lost as Danny.
The bell rang, and Danny jumped and cursed. “Shoot, I was hoping to have time to change before Spanish.”
“Oh. Oh yeah, me too. I was hoping to get changed before my next class too,” Dash said, sounding a little bit more alive now. “I, uh. Guess I better hurry and go do that.”
“Yeah, me too,” Danny agreed, though he still didn’t actually move to leave.
It wasn’t until Dash hooked his backpack strap a little bit higher up on his shoulder and gave Danny a tight smile that didn’t reach his eyes that Danny felt like he could actually move again.
“Guess I’ll see you around?” Dash asked.
“Yeah. I’ll, uh, see you later,” Danny replied, feeling kind of like he was missing something. Or missing out on something. But that was silly, right? No matter what Sam and Tucker had said, Dash had only been trying to help Danny out, and get them both a good grade. Anything that Danny had felt between them was just the result of spending so much time together dancing such a charged routine. There was clearly nothing more to it.
He couldn't fight back the wave of disappointment and regret that washed over him as he watched Dash turn and walk away, making no move to stop him.
It felt like he was making a huge mistake, but no matter how hard he tried to force himself to say something, nothing came out. Dash’s back taunted him until it disappeared through the doorway, leaving Danny standing alone.
***
Danny had no idea why he was here. It was completely ridiculous, but here he was, once again showing up at the dance studio at 6pm as if he and Dash would still be working on their dance routine, even though the test was over and their partnership was finished. It was such a waste of his time, but somehow he couldn’t help himself. Maybe it was just force of habit, maybe it was something more, but Danny just felt this urge to come here, even if there was no point.
He hadn’t bothered to wait for Dash to open the door for him since that first day, having learned that Dash always got there early to set up and would leave the entrance unlocked for him. This time he figured it would be different, and he’d have to phase inside, but as soon as he arrived his muscle memory took over and he found himself automatically reaching for the knob on reflex.
The door swung open.
Surprised, Danny actually stumbled a bit, not expecting the lack of resistance. He looked upward, noting that all of the overhead lights were already on. He tried to tell himself that maybe the owner of the dance studio had come back early and was checking on the place, but his hammering heart had other ideas. He made his way up the narrow staircase feeling faintly like he was walking through a dream; he knew exactly what was awaiting him at the end, but the stairs seemed to stretch on forever ahead of him.
Eventually, though, he reached the top. He hesitated on the last shadowy step, the light from the dance studio spilling across the threshold onto the landing forming a barrier he was terrified to cross. Somehow he just knew that if he stepped into that light, whatever happened next, there’d be no turning back.
He took a deep breath through his nose, his heart racing and his core humming, and stepped into the light.
The moment he walked into the studio, his eyes landed on Dash. The football player was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, his back to the door, doing a leg stretch. He was bent practically in half, gripping the toes on his extended leg while the other was bent beneath him. Between the two of them, Danny knew he was the more flexible - thanks ghost powers - but seeing how easily Dash could move made his mouth run dry.
He didn’t know how long he stood there staring at the way Dash’s back muscles shifted and flexed as he stretched, but eventually Dash sat up, and turned to face him. He startled a little when he spotted Danny standing in the doorway, but he didn’t look surprised.
For a moment, Danny wondered if he should avert his eyes, try to hide that he’d been watching Dash like a creep, but when Dash met his eyes and didn’t look away, Danny decided that he wasn’t going to bother hiding anything. He liked what he was seeing, and if Dash had a problem with it, Dash could say something about it.
Somehow he got a feeling that Dash didn’t mind.
“I didn’t think you’d ever come back here,” Dash said, finally breaking the silence that had stretched out between them.
“You didn’t?” Danny asked absently, his eyes trailing down Dash’s chest. He was a little bit sweaty already, either leftover from football practice or perhaps from doing some solo dancing here at the studio.
Dash shrugged. “Not like you needed to,” he pointed out. “We finished our test, probably knocked it out of the park. We’re all done dancing together.”
“Are we?” Danny tilted his head, finally looking back up at Dash’s face. Whatever his expression looked like, it made Dash flush and actually step back a bit.
“A-aren’t we?” Dash stuttered, looking wary, but not scared. Danny tasted the emotions in the air, and picked up the sweet flavour of intrigue…and desire. He couldn’t fight the smirk that pulled at the corners of his mouth.
“I mean, I wouldn’t mind trying it one more time,” Danny told him as he dropped his bag to the floor, finally making his way into the room. He took his time, enjoying the way Dash’s eyes started to trail over his body as he walked closer. By the time he stood in front of Dash in the center of the floor, Dash’s eyes were bright, his cheeks flushed, his lips parted slightly as his breath escaped him in puffs. Seeing the reaction Danny could cause in him just by walking into the room sent a little thrill shooting through Danny’s veins, his confidence building the longer Dash stared.
“You…want to dance with me again?” Dash asked, his tongue darting out to wet his lips.
“Yeah,” Danny confirmed, his eyes following the swipe of Dash’s tongue across his mouth. “Yeah, I mean, it went well, but tango is supposed to be passionate, right? Pretty sure we could do it better.”
There was a pause. Danny waited, heart in his throat, for Dash’s response. This was the moment where everything would be decided, Dash’s last chance to back out. If he wasn’t interested, if he wanted to turn Danny down, this was his opportunity; all he had to say was no, and Danny would back off, and leave him be. Somehow, Danny had a feeling that Dash’s answer wouldn’t be no.
Sure enough, Dash took in a shaky breath, and then let it out. “I think you might be right,” he said slowly. “Let’s…try.”
Danny almost slumped in relief, but managed to keep his composure. Instead, he made his way over to his usual starting position across the floor from Dash before turning back to face his dance partner. Dash had moved over to where his phone was resting against the wall, tapping away at it for a few seconds until a familiar song started to play. As soon as the music began, he tossed his phone carelessly onto his bag, and made his way to his own starting position.
Danny had thought the air between them had been charged before. But the sparks that had passed between them each time they’d danced up until now had been nothing but faint sparkles compared to the electricity he could feel on his skin as he started to move. He and Dash stared at each other, unable to look away as they circled each other, closer and closer and closer.
Dash’s arm stretched out, his palm open and inviting, and Danny was ready, taking Dash’s hand more eagerly than he ever had before. Dash pulled, and they lost themselves in the dance.
Danny twirled into Dash’s arms, landing against his chest with Dash’s hands grasping at his waist and neck, just as they had countless times before during their practices, but this time Danny allowed himself to have a bit of fun with it. He rested his palm on Dash’s pec, giving it a little squeeze and letting his thumb brush against the nipple he could feel pebbling up beneath the thin material of Dash’s workout top. Dash let out a little gasp, his grip on Danny tightening the tiniest bit, and then he was dropping Danny down into the dip. Danny let himself fall, his knee coming up, and when Dash snapped him back upright Danny let his leg run firmly down Dash’s hip, enjoying the feeling of heat against his thigh. He heard Dash make a little punched-out sound, but before he could make any sort of remark, Dash started moving backwards, pulling Danny into the first step sequence.
The first twirl was nothing special, but the next move was a lift. Dash lifted Danny effortlessly into the air, Danny’s legs kicking out, but when Dash lowered him back down, he let his hands grasp Danny’s ass and squeeze it. Danny let out a little squeak of surprise, which turned into a gasp as Dash’s hands trailed up his hips and sides as Danny finally came back to the ground. Danny was so flustered that he almost forgot he was supposed to be going into a drop, but he managed to recover his wits and slide his leg out between Dash’s own.
Normally his leg was supposed to slide straight through the middle of Dash’s, but this time Danny let it brush against Dash’s ankle, dragging it up the inside of Dash’s thigh as he rose back up to their starting position.
“Oops,” he said cheekily, giving Dash a smirk.
Dash snorted, and resumed their routine, though Danny didn’t think they’d ever been pressed so tightly together as they were now.
Dash definitely took advantage of their closeness a moment later. Dash pulled Danny forward into their next spin, Danny’s leg automatically coming up to hook onto Dash’s hip, but as Danny leaned back into the dip, Dash rolled his hips forward into Danny's, the contact making Danny groan aloud. Dash pulled Danny back upright, and gave him his own little smirk.
The heat in Danny’s glare was definitely not from anger. “Asshole,” he growled.
Dash hummed, sounding very pleased with himself, and spun Danny around into a drop, where Danny fell into the splits, before pulling him up and holding him flush against his body. This close together, Danny could feel exactly how much Dash was starting to enjoy this particular run through of their routine jabbing into his hip, and he was pretty sure Dash would be able to say the same.
As they reached the end of their routine, their motions were becoming sloppier than when they had first started practicing together, but Danny no longer cared. This wasn’t about dancing anymore. This was about what would come after.
Sure enough, as Danny dropped into his final pose, Dash’s face followed him, burying itself in Danny’s neck. But this time Dash didn’t hold back. His lips closed on Danny’s skin, suckling gently, and Danny’s hand that was holding onto the back of Dash’s shoulders for support tightened, clinging now instead of holding. They lost their balance and fell, but Dash’s arm was around Danny’s waist, and he controlled their tumble so that Danny landed softly on his back, Dash’s warm heavy body lying on top of him.
Danny didn’t bother holding back his groan as Dash settled above him, lips still fixed on the space between Danny’s jaw and shoulder. He clutched helplessly at Dash’s back, panting and squirming against Dash’s bulk, but Dash didn’t seem to be in any hurry to move. He kept sucking and nipping at Danny’s skin until he was satisfied he’d made his mark, and only then did he pull away.
Danny glanced over to check his reflection in the mirror, and let out a little gasp when he saw the rapidly darkening bruise on his skin.
“Did you just give me a hickey?” he asked, incredulous.
“Yeah,” Dash confirmed, sounding both bashful and pleased with himself. “Couldn’t resist. You didn’t sound like you minded, anyways.”
Danny didn’t have the heart to tell him that thanks to his healing powers, the hickey would be gone by morning. Instead, he rolled his eyes and huffed.
“Just shut up and kiss me, asshole,” he demanded.
Eager to please, Dash leaned down to do just that, and their lips met in a bruising kiss, Danny tugging Dash closer with his arms wrapped around the back of Dash’s neck. Dash’s hands came up to grab around Danny’s waist, his fingertips gripping and flexing against Danny’s hipbones as they traded sloppy kisses.
As their kissing deepend, Danny felt Dash shift the slightest bit above him, lining up a little bit better, and then he rolled his hips down, grinding against Danny’s rapidly hardening dick. Danny broke their kiss to moan in surprised pleasure, his head falling back against the smooth studio floor.
“Oh god,” he groaned. “Do that again.”
Dash ground his hips downward again, his head falling to rest his forehead against Danny’s shoulder as he slowly rubbed their cocks together through their clothes, humming in pleasure against Danny’s flushed skin.
Danny’s breathing was growing more and more labored, so he almost missed it when Dash lifted his head the tiniest bit to whisper in Danny’s ear.
“Can I suck you?” Dash murmured.
Danny didn’t know when he’d started squeezing his eyes shut, but they flew open now. He shifted back the tiniest bit, Dash leaning away to give Danny space to move, so that he could look Dash properly in the eye.
“Are you serious?” he choked out.
Dash just nodded, looking too turned on to form words.
“Yeah. Yes. Yes, please, fuck yes,” Danny said, uncaring of how much he was begging. Dash sucking him off was not something he ever reasonably expected to happen, but he’d be lying if he said he’d never jerked off to the idea of something similar. He was a teenage boy, and goddamnit as much as Dash had driven him nuts in the past, he was hot as hell and Danny was weak for a pretty face and plump lips and broad shoulders.
“Please,” he begged again.
It was all the permission Dash needed. Instantly he was shifting backward, reaching for the waistline of Danny’s sweats, hooking his fingers under the elastic of both Danny’s pants and boxers at once, and pulling them down over Danny’s hips. Danny arched up to help him, biting his lip to keep a whimper from escaping.
He shouldn’t have bothered. As soon as his dick was freed, springing up to point proudly into the air, Dash paused, his eyes wide. The look of wonder and excitement on his face overcame Danny’s resolve, and he let out a little groan, trying and failing not to squirm under the attention.
“Da-ash,” Danny groaned. “Come on.”
“Right,” Dash breathed, and it was all the warning Danny got. Dash’s hands wrapped around his hips once more for support, and then Dash was leaning down to swallow Danny’s cock into his mouth.
Danny cried out at the sudden feeling of warm, wet heat enveloping his length, and tried to arch up into it. Dash’s hands on his hips tightened, pinning him down, leaving Danny feeling helpless and flushed all over at the casual show of strength. If Danny really wanted to, he could have drawn on his ghost powers and shoved Dash away, but he had no desire to be anywhere right now but pinned under Dash’s body.
“Oh shit,” Danny breathed, his head flung back. His fingers came up to bury themselves in Dash’s short hair, hanging on for dear life as Dash began to suck and lick at his cock, the feeling of Dash swallowing him down almost to the root before coming back up to mouth at the tip making him so dizzy with pleasure he was half afraid he'd pass out before he finished.
This wasn’t exactly Danny’s first time - he and Sam had dated for a while before their romance had mostly fizzled out and they’d realized they made better friends - but it had definitely been a while since he’d had anything but his own hand stroking his dick, and he found himself quickly getting overwhelmed. God, this was going to be over embarrassingly fast, but Danny couldn’t really bring himself to care when it just felt so damn good.
He made the mistake of looking down at one point, and the sight of Dash’s blonde head moving up and down between his legs, his plump lips wrapped tightly around Danny’s cock as he sucked and bobbed, was so hot Danny could only curse and squeeze his eyes shut, turning his head away. But that only left him facing the mirror, which was even worse because now he could see the way they were lying together, Danny flat on his back with Dash hovering over him, his back muscles flexing with every dip of his head.
And then Danny realized there was something else he could make out in their reflection. At some point Dash had let go of Danny’s hip with his one hand, and he had shoved it beneath the waistband of his own sweatpants, gripping his own cock tightly. Danny could see the flex of his arm as he jerked himself roughly, searching for his own climax even as he continued to suck Danny’s dick down so deep it must have been choking him a little. Watching Dash jerk himself off while he sucked Danny at the same time sent a rush of lust racing down Danny’s spine, and he felt his orgasm begin to build in earnest.
Worried that Dash wouldn’t want Danny to come in his mouth, Danny tightened his grip on Dash’s hair. “D-Dash…I’m gonna…I’m gonna…”
When Dash didn’t seem to react, Danny decided to make his warning more urgent. He gripped Dash’s hair in both hands, and pulled.
The moment Danny yanked on Dash’s hair, Dash let out a low moan that Danny could feel rumbling from deep in the football player’s chest. Danny could feel the vibrations across his dick in Dash’s mouth as well, turning his slow slide into his climax into a freefall, and Danny couldn’t help the tight whine that escaped him.
“Dash! I’m gonna cum!” he cried out, his voice thin and faint as his orgasm began to build in earnest.
Rather than pull away like Danny expected, Dash just swallowed him down deeper, groaning again around Danny’s cock, and that was it. Danny tipped over the edge and his orgasm crashed into him like a truck, his back arching and his toes curling as a scream tore out of him, pleasure tearing through him so strongly he almost blacked out.
It felt like it took ages for the aftershocks to subside, but eventually Danny collapsed back down against the floor, shaky and sweating. He blearily blinked his eyes open, looking down to see where Dash had gone, and when he spotted him Danny’s eyes went wide.
Dash’s pants were shoved down around his hips now, leaving his cock exposed, and he was frantically jerking it while staring at Danny with an almost pained expression, the tip of his cock wet and leaking.
“Danny,” Dash groaned. “Danny please. Can I…can I…?”
Danny wasn’t sure what Dash was asking, but honestly he could have asked Danny to go set himself on fire at this point and Danny would be too blissed out to say no. So Danny simply nodded his head, agreeing to whatever Dash wanted.
Dash groaned in relief and shuffled forward on his knees until he was straddling Danny’s body, perched over his hips, still pumping his hand over his cock. Danny weakly reached up to try to help, but Dash batted his pathetic attempts aside, clearly fine with taking care of himself. His breath was hitching, a tiny whimper building in his chest as he got closer and closer to cuming.
At the last moment, Danny realized what Dash had been asking for, and he let his mouth drop open, his eyes hooded as he stared up at Dash hovering over him. The sight of Danny lying beneath him, waiting and ready seemed to be the final thing Dash needed to tip over the edge, and he came with a loud groan, thick ropes of cum splurting out to splash over Danny’s face and chest. A little bit landed in Danny’s open mouth, and he made a face at the unexpected bitter taste before swallowing it down, figuring it was only fair.
The room went quiet aside from their laboured breathing, Dash sitting back against Danny’s hips and letting his head hang against his chest. With a low groan, he slowly tipped over to lie down on the floor next to Danny, looking exhausted and flushed and totally blissed out of his mind. Danny just let himself stare, enjoying this chance to drink in Dash’s features without any interruptions.
A few moments later, once their heart rates and breathing was finally coming back to normal, Dash let out a small laugh that was barely more than a puff of air.
“Somehow, I feel like that wasn’t our best run through yet,” he joked softly.
Danny snorted, shifting so that he was lying on his side facing Dash with his head propped up on his closed fist. “Says you. I sure as hell enjoyed that.”
Dash’s eyes fluttered open, meeting Danny’s smile with a soft one of his own, before his expression suddenly pinched. “Oh shit, you’re a mess. Sorry.”
Danny glanced at himself over Dash’s shoulder in the mirror and immediately winced. Dash wasn’t wrong; Danny’s shirt and hair were both splattered with cum, and it was already visibly starting to cool and crust over.
“Ew,” Danny said, his nose wrinkling in disgust.
“Here, quick, take your shirt off,” Dash instructed, and Danny rushed to comply, pulling his soiled tank top up and over his head. Dash took it from him, turned it inside out, and used it to scrub the worst of the cum out of Danny’s hair.
“We’ll probably have to wash it out in the sink quickly,” Dash mentioned after checking Danny over.
“That’s fine,” Danny sighed, reaching up and playing with one of the spikes of hair that was still kind of wet and sticky. Then he winced. “Ah crap, we got some on the floor too.”
Dash shrugged. “No biggie, I know where the cleaning supplies are. Why don’t you go wash up in the bathroom and I’ll take care of the floor?”
“Sure,” Danny agreed, already pushing himself up to his feet to go and do just that.
Five minutes later, Danny walked back into the studio with dripping, but much cleaner hair. Dash was just finishing up, tossing a bunch of dirty paper towels into the trash can and putting the cleaning supplies away in a cupboard, but he turned and looked up with a strained smile when he saw Danny approaching.
“I think your shirt is a lost cause,” Dash told him quietly, holding up the ruined shirt. “But if you need a spare, I’ve got one.”
Danny had one too, but he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to wear Dash’s clothes. “That would be awesome, thanks.”
Dash headed towards his gym bag, not meeting Danny’s eyes for a second, and Danny felt his heart sink a little in his chest at Dash’s cold behaviour. Was Dash regretting what they’d done? Danny had enjoyed it, and he’d thought Dash had too, so why was he acting all shifty now?
Sure enough, he wouldn’t even look Danny in the eye when he handed over the spare t-shirt, his eyes fixed on the floor as Danny tentatively took the soft fabric and pulled it over his head. He only glanced up briefly once Danny was done, giving a smile that didn’t reach his eyes when he saw how much Danny was swimming in the too-big shirt, before he looked away again.
“It might be a bit big,” Dash admitted, staring at a spot on the far wall over Danny’s shoulder.
Danny frowned, starting to feel a bit hurt. Sure, Dash had done most of the work, but Danny had tried to help. Was Dash pissed that Danny hadn’t reciprocated enough?
“You can get it back to me on Monday in gym,” Dash said, turning away and heading towards his bag. “Or not. I don’t really care, I’ve got plenty.”
“Dash, what - ?”
“Thanks again for helping me with the test,” Dash continued as if Danny hadn’t said a word. “We really did knock it out of the park, the whole team was saying so.”
“Dash - ”
“Well, anyways. See you around, Danny.”
“Dash, wait!”
Danny may have used a little bit of his powers to get ahead of Dash before the football player could disappear out the door, but no one would ever be able to prove it. Danny planted himself firmly, making sure there was no way Dash could get past him short of shoving him out of the way, and then glared up at the taller teen.
“Dash, what the fuck?” he demanded. “I’m trying to talk to you and you won’t even fucking look at me. What the hell? Did I…did I screw up?”
He’d meant the question to come out firm and commanding, but instead his voice became lost and confused as he stared helplessly at Dash’s stony expression. “What did I do wrong?” he choked out, feeling a lump forming in his throat.
Dash’s eyes widened for a split second before his expression suddenly cracked. “Oh fuck, no, no, Danny, you didn’t…I didn’t…shit.” He buried his face in his hands and sighed, before pushing his hands back up over his head, brushing his hair out of his face. “No, god, Danny, no, you didn’t do anything wrong, you were amazing. Are amazing.”
“Then what the hell? Why are you suddenly acting like we barely know each other?” Danny asked.
“I…” Dash winced, before looking away again, his expression defeated. “I just…”
Fed up, Danny huffed and crossed his arms. “What, Dash? You just what?”
“I just really like you, okay?!” Dash snapped, looking up to meet Danny’s glare with a heated look of his own. “You’re smart and funny and fucking gorgeous and I’ve been into you for a while, but you used to get this look on your face if I got within ten feet of you like you thought I was going to stab you or something and - and I get it! I swear I get it, I was awful to you and I’m sorry and you totally have every right to not want anything to do with me! But I really, really like you and I don’t…I don’t know, I just can’t handle the thought of us spending all this time together and getting to know each other and literally having sex, and then you just going back to looking at me like I’m…some kind of monster.” He trailed off as he finished speaking, his gaze once again dropping low.
And Danny couldn’t really think of a decent response to all of that because his brain was still trying to wrap itself around Dash’s confession.
“You like me?” he blurted out, instead of saying anything actually useful.
Dash glanced up from behind his bangs, giving Danny a shy look. “Yeah. Since, like. Probably last year? Remember that day you showed up in that jean jacket?”
Danny didn’t, but he had a feeling he knew the one. Sam had insisted he try on one of her jackets, and they’d both agreed he’d looked so good in it she had gifted it to him on the spot.
He hadn’t worn it since they’d broken up, but he still had it hanging somewhere at the back of his closet.
“You looked so good in it, I couldn’t stop staring at you all day,” Dash confessed, rubbing a hand along the back of his neck. “It got me paying attention to you for the first time, and I realized that you’re actually a really incredible guy. I couldn’t say anything, of course. You were dating Sam at the time. And then after, I just…you always seemed so scared of me. I figured I made you uncomfortable enough as it was, I didn’t want to throw feelings at you as well.”
They fell silent, Dash staring at his feet while Danny chewed over his words. Honestly, it was a lot to take in. Dash, the star of the football team and literal wet dream come true, being interested in him? It sounded almost like a joke. But one look at the torn expression on Dash’s face and Danny knew this wasn’t a trick or some sort of prank. Somehow, for some reason, Dash genuinely…liked him.
Huh.
“You know…I haven’t actually been scared of you since we were, like, freshmen,” Danny said slowly, taking a tentative step forward and into Dash’s space. Dash looked up, expression still wary, but at least he was listening, so Danny forged on. “Even when you were an asshole always shoving me around, I was more annoyed than afraid. But I’ll admit, all those bruises hurt. I haven’t been flinching away from you because I’m scared, it’s because I guess a part of me still expected that any time you come close, I’m going to get hurt.”
Dash’s expression fell into a look of defeat, and he started to open his mouth to say something, but Danny cut him off with a finger pressed to his lips.
“I think the problem,” he continued before Dash could interrupt, “was that I didn’t exactly have a lot of experience with you touching me where it didn’t result in me getting hurt. But guess what, Dash? That was a long time ago, and now? I have a lot of experience with you touching me without hurting me. I now even have some experience of you touching me and doing the exact opposite - making me feel really good. And which do you think I’m going to remember now whenever you get close to me?”
“The…good stuff?” Dash asked hopefully, Danny’s hand falling away from his mouth.
“Yeah, Dash. The good stuff,” Danny confirmed with a gentle smile. “I mean, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I haven’t flinched away from you all week, ever since we started practicing together.”
Danny’s smile turned downright devilish when he added, “And if you really want to make sure that I don’t jump around you anymore, you can try blowing me a few more times, just in case.”
Dash stared at him, slack-jawed. “W - are you serious?”
“I mean, you should probably buy me dinner first or something,” Danny teased. “But yeah. And maybe next time I can actually return the favour.”
“I…are you…are we…?” Dash stumbled over his tongue, clearly at a loss for words.
Taking pity on him, Danny laughed and said, “Yeah, Dash. I wanna go out with you. If that’s what you want, too.”
“Y-yes! Yes, absolutely!” Dash’s expression slowly shifted to gobsmacked disbelief to sheer unbridled joy. “Are you kidding me?”
Danny laughed again. “Good! Maybe we can catch a movie, then? Tomorrow? I’ll pay for the tickets if you get the snacks.”
“That new Bond flick?” Dash suggested, his grin bright enough to light the room.
“Well duh,” Danny agreed with a smile of his own.
“Great. Sounds like a date,” Dash said.
“Pick me up around five?” Danny asked as he grabbed his bag up off the ground, throwing it over his shoulder, before heading towards the door.
“Sounds good,” Dash confirmed, still standing there in the entryway with that dopey grin on his face.
“And maybe our next date, we’ll go dancing,” Danny added. Dash laughed, and nodded.
“We kinda gotta.”
“Later, Dash! I’ll see you tomorrow!” Danny called as he started down the stairs.
“Wait! Danny, wait!” Dash suddenly cried out, making Danny draw up short.
He turned back to face Dash from a few steps down the stairwell, brow furrowed. “Yeah?”
To his surprise, Dash leaned down, his hand coming up to cup Danny’s face, and he pressed a gentle kiss to Danny’s lips. Danny’s eyes went wide in shock for a split second, before he let out a tiny moan and leaned up into the kiss, enjoying the feeling of Dash’s soft lips against his own.
After a moment, Dash pulled away, and Danny’s eyes fluttered open.
“What was that all about?” he asked softly.
“I, uh. Just really wanted to do that,” Dash admitted, just as quietly. “Is…is that okay?”
“Yeah,” Danny breathed. “Yeah that was…really okay.”
“Can I do it again?”
Rather than answer, this time Danny was the one to reach out, grabbing hold of the back of Dash’s neck and pulling him down into another kiss. Dash hummed in happiness, taking a few steps down so that Danny didn’t have to stand on his tippy toes to reach him, his warm arms coming up to wrap around Danny’s waist and pull him close.
They exchanged kisses for another minute, before Danny finally reluctantly pulled away.
“I could get used to this,” he said with a happy sigh.
“Me too.”
“Alright, I really do need to get going,” Danny said sadly. “But I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. It’s a date,” Dash laughed.
“Have a good night!” Danny cried out as he finally made his way down the stairs and out the front door, tossing a final wave over his shoulder.
“See you tomorrow!” Dash called after him.
By the time Danny made it home, he felt like he could have floated away even in human form. He made his way through the house up to his room, only briefly calling down to his parents in their lab that he was home, tossing his stuff aside and flopping down on top of his bed with a happy sigh. He just lay there for a moment, basking in the memories of everything that had happened since this morning.
And then his phone rang.
He answered it before he could think better of it, not even bothering to check the caller ID before he accepted the call and brought the phone up to his ear.
“Hello?” he said.
There was a pause. And then -
“Oh my god, you got laid?!”
“What the - Sam?!” Danny shrieked as he bolted upright, pulling his phone away from his face to check the number.
“I’m here too!” Tucker called out in the background. “Nice job getting it, Danny!”
“Wha - I - How did you - ? I didn’t even say anything!” Danny yelled in disbelief.
“I know your ‘I just had sex’ voice, Danny!” Sam crowed in triumph. “And that is 100% your ‘I just had sex’ voice!”
“That’s more information than I ever wanted to know about my best bud,” Tucker said. “But I trust Sam’s word on these things.”
“Oh my god,” Danny groaned, burying his face in his free hand and falling backward onto the bed again.
“That’s what he said,” Sam said without missing a beat. “Now, spill. I want deets, bitch.”
“Oh god, save me Tucker.”
“Normally I would, but honestly I gotta admit, I’m curious.”
“Not you, too!”
“Tell us everything,” Sam commanded gleefully.
Danny groaned again and then sighed, recognizing that he was fighting a losing battle. “Alright, alright, I…I might have a date tomorrow.”
He had to pull the phone away from his ear as both Tucker and Sam started shrieking with excitement.
“They figured it out! They figured it out!” Tucker cheered like Danny and Dash had won some sort of championship.
“Fuck yeah!” Sam yelled. Danny could practically hear the fist pump she must have been making.
“Oh my god, you guys are the worst,” Danny laughed, settling more comfortably into his bed, a wide grin spreading across his face, while he waited for Sam and Tucker to calm down. Something told him it might be a bit.
While he was waiting, though, he reached over to his nightstand and picked up a pamphlet that had been sitting there for the past few weeks, glancing over the glossy pictures of a familiar dance studio. He flipped it over, his eyes tracing over the phone number to call if he wanted to sign up for lessons, his gaze lingering on the list of dance styles that the studio specialized in.
Tango was right there near the top.
Smiling to himself, Danny set the pamphlet aside for now. He had a date tomorrow to look forward to.
And maybe a few calls to make.