Chapter Text
“Daniel Fenton”
Dash just stared at his soul mark in shock. He was in absolute disbelief, he rubbed it almost as if hoping it would make it disappear. The dread seeping in was an awful feeling.
Not even two minutes ago he was excitedly waiting for it to be midnight on his 17th birthday. He had been looking forward to this ever since he found out what his soulmate was. Now he knew it didn’t always workout, as his mother liked to remind him. Dash always thought she was just bitter because she wasn’t his father's soulmate. His soulmate died young and he settled for his mother because her soulmate rejected her because his parents had already arranged him for a match with a much more wealthy woman. He felt bad but that doesn't mean he can’t be excited to find his.
For years he waited. He wondered what they looked like, the things they liked to do. He hoped they liked sports and maybe would share his love of art. To be honest, the thing he hoped for the most was that it wasn't Paulina. He liked her as a friend but she could be a bit much. Over the years she treated their relationship like it was a given, the cheerleader and the jock. He felt like he was an accessory to her rather than a “boyfriend”. He used that term loosely as they were never actually dating. They just never corrected anybody when they assumed.
He had just hoped the day he turned 17 and would finally learn who his soulmate was that everything would fall into place. Looking down at his arm, he realized, of course, that wouldn't be the case. Of course, his soulmate would be the person he bullied the entirety of his freshman most of his sophomore year of high school. He was fucked. On the bright side, he knew that Fenton's birthday wasn't for another two weeks. So he had time to figure out what he was gonna do.
On the other side of town Danny was having a normal night chasing down the box ghost.
“I am the Box Ghost.” The fox ghost yelled as he summoned multiple boxes from different dumpsters to throw at Danny.
“Yeah, yeah not like you've told me a million times. Don’t you ever get bored.” Danny snarks as he dodges the boxes and punches the box ghost into the wall.
The box ghost screams. “Never! I will show you the ultimate power of the Box Ghost.”
Danny groans before pulling out of the thermos and sucking him in. Looking over his shoulder at Tucker he complains. “That's the sixth time he's escaped in a week.”
Tucker snorted. “That brings the total number of escapes for the month up to 32.”
“Does it always have to be at night or in the middle of third period though.” Danny snorted as he floats down. He's in serious risk of failing US history.
“He joined forces with the lunch lady last time though? A little bit more original.” Sam said looking bored. To be honest, she agreed with Danny with how annoying the Box ghost has been recently.
Danny shuttered. “Don’t remind me, I feel like my hair smelt like rotten meat all yesterday.”
“It did.” Sam said with her nose scrunched up.
“I think that's all for tonight, besides the box ghost and a lunch lady it's been a quiet week.” Danny said fiddling with the thermos.
“Almost too quiet.” Sam mused.
Danny groaned. “Why do you say stuff like that?”
Sam just smirked. “I like watching you squirm.”
“You two are gross.” Tucker complains as he typed into his pda. He was rearranging his schedule for the week to make room for tutoring.
“We are not.” Sam and Danny yell simultaneously.
Tucker just raises an eyebrow. “Mhm.”
Danny just rolls his eyes. He had no idea why everyone kept trying to make Him and Sam a thing. Maybe in another lifetime or universe. Their current reality however, it just wasn’t gonna be a thing. While Danny was skeptical he would even have a soulmate, he wanted to wait and see. Sam on the other hand didn’t particularly care if she had a soulmate or not. She always said she refused to let the universe dictate what she does. Danny just didn't see their point of view meshing very well in a relationship.
“Danny?” Sam asked curiously.
Snapping out his thoughts Danny looked over to see Tucker and Sam staring at him. “What?
Sam shook her head. “We were saying we were gonna head home.”
Danny nodded his head. “Yeah, I probably will too after a quick patrol around to make sure.”
Tucker and Sam nodded at him before they took off down the street. Danny followed behind them to make sure they got home before he took off to do one last patrol around the city. Flying around the city while it's quiet is one of his favorite things. It’s like he can just rest his brain and relax. The air hitting his face and the look of the stars was never going to get old.
As he was about to finally fly home he noticed someone standing on top of one of the roofs he was flying by. Looking closer he blanched when noticed it was Dash Baxter. He was just gonna fly away, but he noticed Dash looked rather panicked. Cursing to himself and his moral compass he flew over making himself invisible. He decided to eavesdrop for a minute or two to make sure nothing was really wrong.
“Fuck me man, I’m so fucked.” Dash mumbled to himself. He spent the last hour trying to come up with ideas on what to do. His soulmate was who had been waiting for all these years. He didn’t care that it was Fenton. If the universe thought they belonged together he was willing to give it a shot. He just didn't know how to convince Fenton of that.
Danny watched as Dash kept pacing back-and-forth and muttering to himself. He honestly was worried about the guy. Which is why he couldn't help himself. “You good dude?”
Dash screamed as he turned around. He felt a bit calmer when he realized it was Danny Phantom, and not one of the crazy ghosts. Then he freaked out again because it was Danny Phantom. “I-You what are you doing here?”
Danny snickered before adopting a more serious look. “It’s 1am and you were stumbling around, muttering to yourself looking possessed.”
Dash flushed. “Oh. I'm not possessed or anything. You can go back to your patrol or whatever.” He honestly didn't think tonight could get any worse.
Phantom looked at him for a second. Almost as if he was deciding if Dash was actually possessed or not. He then titled his head. “If not possessed what could possibly have you up this late muttering to yourself?”
Dash sighed. Honestly, he felt like he needed to talk to someone about this and who was Phantom really gonna tell anyway? “I got my soulmate tattoo tonight.”
Danny felt like facepalming. Of course that's what this was about. He remembered hearing the A listeners talk about Dash’s big party coming up next weekend. Paulina was complaining that it wasn't this weekend considering Dash's birthday was today.
Dash continued talking unaware that Danny was only paying half attention. “Yeah so, I got my tattoo and it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Honestly it's not even that it's a dude. I’ve accepted that I’m bi.”
That last bit snapped Danny out of his train of thought. Dash’s soulmate was a dude. He honestly didn't see that coming. He initially figured that Dash was freaking out because his soulmate wasn't Paulina or something like that. He was surprised how open Dash was about being bisexual, then again his open infatuation with his alter ego should've been a clue. Out of curiosity, he asked. “What’s the issue then?”
Dash laughed bitterly. “The issue is my soulmate hates me and I don’t blame him.”
Feeling invested Danny prodded a bit more. “Why exactly does he hate you?”
“I’ve been shoving him in lockers for the last two years and making his life a living hell.” Dash admits angrily.
Danny got a weird feeling in his gut. “That would certainly do it? Do you only regret doing it because you found out he's your soulmate..”
Dash thought about it for a second. Honestly he's been having regrets about what he had been doing for a month now. Something Kwan at the end of last school year about how he doesn't even know what the point of shoving nerds in lockers was struck him. He realized that maybe he didn’t wanna be a stereotypical jock bully anymore. It's why he hasn't shoved anybody into a locker yet this year. “I think I regret being a bully in general. I don’t know it's like, everything shifted now.”
“That’s a start?” Danny said encouragingly. Mostly because he was sick of Dash’s bullying the last few years.
“I guess, I doubt Fenton's ever gonna forgive me for this shit. Doesn’t mean I can't try.” Dash said determined. He would do his best to convince Fenton to give them a shot.
Danny froze. He has to have heard him wrong. There is no way he said Fenton, he had to have just misheard him. “Fenton?”
Dash winced and nodded. “Yeah, Danny Fenton? The son of the ghost hunters that are constantly trying to capture and dissect you.. Sorry. Pretty sure Danny isn’t like that though.”
Danny just couldn't believe what he was hearing. He didn't know how to feel. On one hand, he's excited he actually does have a soulmate, he wasn't sure because of the whole half-ghost thing. On the other hand, his soulmate is the person who has been tormenting him since the end of seventh grade. He needed time to process. “My intel tells me he has no ghost hunting aspirations. Thanks for your reassurance though. Listen since you don't appear to be possessed, I'm gonna be on my way. Good luck with your whole soulmate thing.”
Danny then flew away without waiting for a response. He must have been an auto pilot because it was like he blinked, and now he suddenly sat on his bed at home detransformed. He looked down at his arm, seeing that it was still blank..for now. His birthday was in two weeks. He was feeling so exhausted that the information Dash Baxter was his soulmate, still was not registering.
“I’m so fucked.” Danny mumbled as he fell asleep