Chapter Text
Jazz walked past Danny’s room, before taking a few steps back and looking in. Now, the reason why she stopped was because she felt the air drop about twelve degrees (and the fact she had a frame of reference for the temperature drop told her she spent too long in this town). Sure enough, Danny and his girlfriend were both in the room. Jazz couldn’t even be surprised Ember was there in broad daylight. The ghost sensors in the house had long since been no longer effective because everything in the house registered as ectoplasmic now. However, she couldn’t help but be surprised to see Ember lying on Danny’s bed as he played a game on the floor next to it.
Pleasantly surprised, to be clear. Ember might not be at all who Jazz would have picked to date her brother, but it was clear he was better for her being in his life, and that was more than enough for Jazz.
Ember glanced up at her standing in the doorway with a raised eyebrow before she turned back to watching Danny play on his handheld. She languidly placed a hand on Danny’s head and ran her hand through his hair. Something about her demeanor reminded Jazz of a Saber Cat lounging about between hunts.
Not that she ever saw a saber cat, but the imagery still felt right to her.
Regardless. Jazz felt like now was a good time to poke said apex predator. Jazz walked into Danny’s room and gently closed the door behind her. Danny glanced up and rolled his eyes as he paused his game, and only then did Ember give Jazz her full attention. Danny shot Jazz a look that said she wasn’t welcome, but unfortunately for him, he was a puppy compared to Ember. His bark was cute, not threatening. “What do you want, Jazz?”
Jazz hummed and kept her gaze fixed on Ember. “You two have been dating a little while right?”
Ember huffed through her nose and laid her hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Yes? It’s been… What? A couple months?”
“Maybe,” Danny said, leaning into her touch. “Honestly hard to tell when Clockwork’s involved.” Danny turned and glared at Jazz. “Again, what do you want? I’m trying to turn my brain off here.”
Jazz folded her arms and tried to give Danny her best, you-should-take-care-of-yourself-look that she felt she had perfected, “That doesn’t sound like a good coping mechanism-”
Ember interrupted her. “Clockwork hinted that he might be a god too.”
Jazz worked her mouth for a moment, as she tried to process that. She glanced between Ember and Danny and felt her brain divide by zero. Danny, her silly little brother who she sat down and watched baby shows with to keep him entertained while their parents had scientific breakthroughs and his girlfriend did not scream – or for that matter even whisper – divinity.
She decided she could process that later. She let out a slow breath before turning towards Ember. “So, has he told you he’s been bullied since freshman year?”
Ember blinked and slowly turned towards Danny as he let out a groan. Ember spoke clearly over that, “No… No he has not. Baby pop?”
Danny ran a hand down his face. “Really Jazz?”
“I’ve been asking him to deal with it for a couple years now, and he won’t.” Jazz said. She was sure her voice was smug because finally it wasn’t just her asking him to deal with it.
Ember glanced at her and slowly blinked at her, (reaffirming Jazz’s thought she was like a saber cat) before focusing on Danny. “No, he has not mentioned this. Baby Pop? Care to explain?”
Danny groaned again. “Look, do I like it? No. But, Dash is what many would call a little-”
Ember sat up. “Wait, wait, Dash? The guy who doesn’t know what Spider-Man is?”
“That’s how you remember him?”
Ember waved him off. “There are dozens of people who are easy to manipulate, those who don’t know who Spider-Man are so much rarer.”
Jazz felt like she should respond to that, but she had the sense of mind to know that doing so would derail her purpose. “Yeah, Danny says he has a goal but it hasn’t really made sense to me.”
Danny sighed and put his game on the floor before turning towards Ember. “Look. I’m the loser at school, okay? I used to care, but I really don’t anymore.” Ember lowered her gaze to glare at him and he rolled his eyes again. “Seriously, why should I care what they think?”
Jazz interrupted as she folded her arms. “Because he’s bullying you?” Danny looked at her unimpressed and she turned toward Ember. “I’m hoping he listens to you at least.”
“Baby Pop,” Ember said, her voice crystal clear in the room in a way that Jazz was certain only a ghost of music could be, “Either you handle it, or I will.”
Danny let out a slow hum, which ended with him smiling.
Jazz narrowed her eyes. “Danny…” she said slowly, which made both ghosts in the room jump to look at her. “Why aren’t you stopping her?”
Danny waggled a finger at Jazz, “Tsk, tsk, tsk, you think I can control her? Jazz, you know nothing of Ember.”
Ember twisted on Danny’s bed, placing her head in her hands. “It’s not like I’m gonna kill him or anything.”
Jazz decided to address her disappointment at the lack of action on her brother’s bully at a later date.
“I’m just gonna make him do the macarena in front of the whole school.”
Danny turned toward her, honestly looking more disappointed than anything. “That doesn’t seem that bad.”
“Naked,” She clarified.
Danny sighed and leaned against his bed. “That doesn’t seem that bad honestly.”
Jazz glared at Danny. “Danny…”
Danny threw his hands up in the air. “Fine, I’ll handle it! Are you two happy?”
Ember got off the bed and leaned over Danny. “Baby Pop? If you make him cry, I will show you how happy I’ll be.”
Jazz turned on her heel. “And my job is done here.” She said, quickly moving out of the room cause the last thing she needed to see was if Danny took an advance payment. But, it wasn’t a lie that she got what she wanted out of this.
***
Danny didn’t plan on putting it off, but he was surprised the next day when Dash gave him an opportunity. Dash thought it’d be funny to knock all of Mikey’s books out of his hands and send them all across the floor. Danny turned toward Mr. Lancer who frowned, but had determined that telling Dash off wouldn’t be worth his breath. (Yet, he was willing to talk Danny’s ear off about his lack of ‘respect’ for school.
Danny stepped between Dash, who was trying to push some of Mikey’s books away from him, and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Are you really gonna keep doing this, Dash?”
Immediately, all chatter in the hallway stopped. Dash slowly stood up and threw his shoulder’s back. “What’s that Fentina? Did I hear you asking for a whuppin?”
Danny pinched his brow and sighed. “Come on, who even says that anymore.” Danny dropped his hand to his side as he used his feet to slide Mikey’s books into reach. “Honestly Dash? I’m just kind of tired of you thinking you’re the best thing since sliced bread.”
Dash rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles. “Oh, so the little wuss is trying to stand up for himself.”
Danny dropped his backpack at his feet. “You know what Dash? Sure. Let’s go with that.”
Tucker pumped his fist in the air. “Oh man! We doing this?” Danny nodded and Tucker pulled out his phone, “Please tell me I can record this!”
“Knock yourself out, dude, it’s not like Lancer cares.”
Lancer stepped forward folding his arms. “Excuse me! What’s-”
Danny whirled on Lancer. “Don’t start. You had four years to handle this. Honestly, I wanted to let this go, but certain busy bodies decided to get into my life…. And my girlfriend kind of threatened Dash, so yeah.”
Dash scoffed. “You? Have a girlfriend?” Dash laughed a couple times. “That’s a good joke right there.”
“You mean like you have one? How many times did Paulina turn you down these last four years?”
It took a lot of Danny’s willpower to not burst out laughing as several people in the crowd (including Paulina) let out a chorus of “ooooohhhh”s.
Dash glanced about, before looking at Tucker who was holding up his fingers as if he were framing a shot, which granted that was what he was doing. Tucker walked up and grabbed Danny, dragging him to the other side of Dash. “Okay, perfect, now I get Mr. Lancer’s face and Dash in the shot,” he said as he pulled out his phone. It chirped as he started a recording.
The fact that they were obviously being recorded made both Dash and Mr. Lancer hesitate, but Danny was pretty well primed to stir the pot here. Danny waved a hand about before sticking it back in a pocket. “Look, Dash, I know you think you’re super cool and what not.” He couldn’t help rolling his eyes as he continued, “The pinnacle of manliness. Or whatever. But honestly Dash? You’re kinda pathetic.”
Dash glanced at Tucker, who was still recording, then straightened up and tried to tower over Danny. “You wanna run that by me again?”
“You’ve gone four years knocking books out of the other nerds hands as we’re walking by, hasn’t the joke gotten old yet? You’re like a ten year old who’s learned a bad word and just won’t stop saying it to get a reaction, only a ten year old will eventually grow out of it.”
Dash nodded in Tucker’s direction. “You ain’t gonna be on camera forever, Fen-toe-nail. Just you wait.”
“Why wait?” Danny used his foot to slide his backpack away and towards the wall. He held out his arms wide. “I’m right here Dash, and I’m kinda done playing pretend with you. So why don’t you actually try to hit me for once?”
Dash glanced at Tucker who waved. “Don’t worry, I have it on camera here he’s asking you to punch. No getting in trouble for this one.” Tucker laughed, actually no, he cackled. Most of Danny’s rogues could take pointers on their evil laugh from Tucker on this one.
Dash turned toward Lancer and then toward Danny. “Just remember, you asked for this.” He said, rearing back and throwing a haymaker right into Danny’s face.
Thing was, Danny was dead. He’d been dead a long time. Sure, he was alive too, but that didn’t change the fact that half the time it was his will and emotions that kept him upright instead of his physical nature. Dash’s punch probably would have knocked any human out.
Danny, however, didn’t even flinch.
The hallway grew silent as Dash pulled his hand away from Danny. Danny leveled Dash his best I-am-completely-unimpressed-with-you look and sighed. “Dash, come on. I said to hit me.”
Dash blinked and took a step back. “What the-” he started, then he grit his teeth and threw a hook into Danny’s face. Again, to any living person, it’d have ended with them crumpled on the floor.
“Dash, if you don’t stop trying to pet me and actually throw a real punch, I’m gonna hit back.”
Dash let out a roar, one that was usually accompanied by someone being taken out. Usually on the football field, but occasionally off it. He aimed for Danny’s liver, a hit there would drop a normal man. It didn’t matter how tough you were when your body’s nervous system says to stop everything. It wasn’t just one punch, but three in quick succession.
Danny just grabbed Dash by the back of his shirt and pulled him back. Dash was taller than Danny, not by much anymore, but he still was. But right now Danny was very much the bigger man. “Look, if you have performance anxiety, we can do this later.”
Dash stumbled back when Danny let go of him. “What the hell? You’re a wimp! How are you still standing?”
Danny sighed and pinched his brow again. “I really have to spell it out for you don’t I?” Danny sighed before fixing Dash with a look. “I’ve been letting you try and bully me the last four years Dash. You literally can’t hurt me. But you can hurt the other kids, so I figured you know what? Let’s just let you get it out of your system. You’ll grow out of it eventually, right?” Danny jammed a thumb behind him towards Lancer. “Lancer over there is so fond of telling me the real world isn’t gonna let me slide on by with me doing whatever I want. There’s gonna be consequences, right? Because the real world isn’t like high school. Oh no, it’s real and that’s why it’s so important that we learn what we need to in highschool. Before we get a real bad wake up call. Isn’t that right, Lancer?”
Lancer stammered for a moment, but Danny ignored him and continued. “So, Dash, here’s your wake up call.” He took a step towards Dash, who immediately took a step back, almost stumbling to try and keep the distance between him and Danny. “Quit being a bully, because you’re going to piss off the wrong people. I was content to let you go on by, but,” Danny smiled and shrugged, “My girlfriend told me if I didn’t handle this, she would. And uh… frankly? I don’t know if you’d survive the experience.”
Danny turned and picked up his backpack as Tucker walked over and gave him a high five. “Dude, I’ve been waiting for you to do this for years! God, Sam is gonna be so jealous that she missed it.”
Danny laughed. “Yeah, well, she’s got her own plans.” Both him and Tucker fell into a fit of laughter as they remembered just how much Sam was gonna pull out the stops for her highschool graduation party. Sam didn’t often want to throw money around to show her status, but after four years of everyone looking down on them, she was ready to flaunt it for one night.
“We’re still gonna have to make it up to her.” Tucker said, as they both started walking down the hallway. Dash scrambled to get out of their way.
“Nasty Burger on me?”
“Works for me at least!”