Chapter Text
Dash Baxter was certain Danny Fenton was a vampire.
Dash started to suspect something was up about six months ago. Sometimes Fenton accidentally smiled too wide, sporting a pair of fangs, or the lights hit his eyes just right so they shone a crimson red instead of light blue. In any case, Dash knew exactly what the cause was now. The main inciting event that led to his concrete belief occurred just a few days ago, on Wednesday.
He arrived at school early that morning because he’d forgotten his water bottle in the boys’ locker room. They weren't hard to access; Ms. Tetslaff trusted him enough to give him his own key. The moment he stepped through the threshold, however, he felt something was wrong.
The football team was never the cleanest group of people, but he’d never seen the room such a mess. The basket of the few remaining intact footballs had been knocked over, the footballs in question littering the floor, and many of the team’s items, including his water bottle, had been knocked to the ground. The light flickered weakly above him, casting everything in a creepy glow.
He hesitated at the state of the space before crouching down, having half a mind to just collect what he came for and forget the obvious struggle that happened here. He didn’t get far, however, before realizing his face was just a few inches away from a bloody handprint decorating one of the lockers. He gasped, flinching backwards. Almost immediately, his brain started trying to come up with an excuse to just walk away, but his thoughts were interrupted by a harsh snarl.
He swallowed dryly, his tongue feeling heavy in his mouth as his fingers tightly gripped his water bottle. Instinctually, or perhaps stupidly was the right word, he slowly turned the corner to investigate the source of the sound.
Dash would never forget what he saw that morning. There was Danny Fenton, the scrawny kid he used to pick on during their freshman year, crouched in the corner of the room. He seemed to be desperately eating something. The sound of it alone caused a shiver to run down his spine. Suddenly, the source of Dash’s horror turned, as if he had been alerted to a presence, his neck snapping with the movement. There was an agonizing moment of eye contact between the two. Dash’s wide, fearful eyes were glued to the red irises and slitted pupils before him. Danny, face and torso covered in blood, appeared to be holding what used to be a squirrel. Dash was barely given three seconds to process what was happening before the terrifying figure suddenly disappeared in a cloud of red smoke.
Let’s just say, it was an interesting day for Casper High’s star quarterback.
One of the main problems with this discovery was that nobody would believe him if he tried to explain. Not only that, but he would also be doomed to join Jack and Maddie Fenton, the only other people in this town who believed in vampires, as a laughingstock. He was already struggling to maintain his position in his high school’s fragile hierarchy as it was; becoming an outcast to his entire town would just be too much.
It had been years since Dash had hit, or even teased, Danny. Once he was a sophomore, he realized how pointless and stupid the violence was. His mother finally divorcing his father helped with that outcome. Now that he was a junior, he felt guilty for it, too. However, he was never able to work up the courage to apologize to Fenton. In any case, the other main problem with his recent discovery was that the honest-to-God vampire he encountered had a very valid reason to hate him.
After the incident, Danny didn’t show up at school the next day. Dash was grateful for it. It took him a stupid amount of courage to show up on Thursday. He had overheard Sam Manson, one of Danny’s few friends, telling another student that Fenton had the flu. Dash had his doubts about that. The weird goth girl was either covering for him, or what he dreaded was the case, she didn’t know. And if Sam didn’t know, Dash doubted anybody else knew but him.
Dash had no interest in carrying that burden, so he decided to enact a plan to figure it out. He intended to probe in a super subtle way until he found out Sam knew or she found out that he knew. If no ground was made after a few attempts, he’d assume Danny didn’t share this secret with his closest friends.
So, once the final bell rang on Thursday, Dash tried to discreetly approach Sam Manson. He still had his reputation to uphold, after all.
“Yo, Manson.” Dash interrupted the conversation she was having with a classmate, leaning against the closest locker.
Dash was met with a hostile glare as Sam turned around, having to look up at her taller classmate.
“Dash.” The goth narrowed her eyes, studying him with a harsh glower.
The boy in question faltered, needing a moment to regain his train of thought. He certainly wasn’t expecting a hug, but her sudden aggression still stung a little. Manson seemed to have warmed up to him in the past year. At least slightly, ever since he’d dropped the bully act. Now, it felt like she had forgotten they weren’t freshmen anymore. Dash deserved it; there was no doubt about that, but it was certainly surprising.
“Uhm, Hey. Do you… notice anything off about Fenton recently?”
Okay, maybe the probing wasn’t as subtle as he intended. He wasn’t exactly known for his social skills.
Sam appeared to hesitate for a moment before aggressively pointing her finger up at Dash.
“No, what are you talking about?” She grilled assertively.
Dash blinked down at Sam, his eyes widening slightly. Now, there was no way he was afraid of Sam Manson, but he was wondering how he was suddenly the one being questioned.
“I don’t know. I just…” He stopped for a moment, trying to find the words without sounding insane. “something’s different.”
Sam’s glare relented as her expression faltered. She looked around at the mostly empty hallway before grabbing Dash by the front of his letterman jacket and pulling him down to her level. “What do you think you saw?” She whispered.
Dash glanced around, really confused as to why she was suddenly so close and so quiet. Additionally, he was not oblivious to the fact that he had never even mentioned to Sam that he had seen anything in the first place. In any case, he decided to whisper back as he answered her question. “He was eating a… squirrel? in the boys’ locker room, his eyes were red, and then he disappeared. I… I think he’s a vampire.”
Sam sighed with frustration, massaging the bridge of her nose. “God damnit.”
That was not the reaction Dash was expecting. At least she wasn’t laughing in his face and telling everyone he was as delusional as Danny’s parents. He took that as a win.
Before Dash could respond, he was getting dragged into the nearest empty classroom by the jacket Sam was still holding. “If you tell anyone about this, I will fucking murder you, Dash Baxter.” She hissed.
The blonde in question pushed Sam away from him, horrified by what she had just said. Not about the murdering, surprisingly enough, but more so the fact that she wasn’t denying it. “Wait– I’m right? He’s a vampire!?”
“Promise you won’t tell anyone.” Sam insisted, her glare as frigid as ice.
Dash sighed, thinking about what this promise would mean for him. It felt like Sam had no intention of explaining anything to him unless he relented. He also supposed he didn’t really intend to tell anyone, fearing he would sound crazy.
“Dash!” Sam snapped suddenly, her already small amount of patience was clearly dwindling.
“Fine, fine! I promise.” Dash raised his arms in surrender, not wanting to get his eye clawed out by the girl’s long, painted nails. Paulina had taught him enough times how much damage those things could do.
“Good.” Sam appeared to relax, her shoulders loosening as she finally let go of his letterman jacket. “Look, Dash… It’s not really my business to tell you about this stuff, but–” She paused, her gaze shifting slightly like she suddenly had an idea. “I think you should talk to Danny about it.”
“WHAT?” Dash cried, resisting the urge to grab Manson by the shoulders as his voice echoed throughout the empty classroom.
“Be quiet!” Sam insisted, holding her arms out to punctuate her intention. “...You’re not scared of him, are you?”
“No!” The jock quickly replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “I just- vampires are real?”
Sam folded her arms, a stark contrast to the body language she was displaying just a few moments ago. “I’m not telling you anything else, Baxter. If you want to know more, you’ll have to ask Danny yourself.”
Dash let out an exasperated sigh. That really wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
“What?” Sam narrowed her eyes at him.
“Nothing.” Dash muttered. “Yeah, I can ask the nerd about it.”
“Cool. You better not call him a nerd, though.” Sam advised as she walked out of the room.
Dash was left in the empty classroom, thinking long and hard about what he was supposed to do next. He didn't like it, but if he wanted to know more, he only had one choice.
~~~
The next day, Dash Baxter was standing before the front door of FentonWorks. Danny hadn’t shown up at school today, and Dash was really starting to doubt the flu story now.
He had been standing in front of the building for at least ten minutes, struggling to work up the courage just to knock.
The door loomed over him, forcing him to look up at it. The chill breeze gave him goosebumps as he tilted his head. The normally tall boy felt incredibly small in that moment. He despised this feeling. It’s why he used to try so hard to avoid it. The cherry on top was that he was feeling this way because of Danny Fenton.
Would Danny even want to see him? Sure, it seemed like most of the animosity between the two had fizzled out over the years, but Dash couldn’t just erase what he’d done. As much as he regretted them, he had to live with his choices.
Just as Dash had finally worked up the courage to raise his hand and curl his knuckles, to his shock (and dismay), the door suddenly opened.
The person who now stood under the doorframe was just the person he both was dreading to see and who he came here for, wearing some sweatpants and a loose-fitting NASA shirt: Danny Fenton.
“What?” He sneered, accidentally flashing his fangs– at least Dash hoped it was an accident. He didn’t seem very happy to see his former bully, but it also appeared that he was expecting his arrival. Maybe vampires could predict the future or something.
Dash faltered at his sudden entrance, resisting the urge to take a step back. Danny came across a lot more menacing now that the quarterback knew his true nature. His blue eyes were tired and carrying deep bags, and his skin was a lot paler than he remembered.
“Uhm…” Dash stammered, struggling to remember the phrases he’d been rehearsing on the way over. “...Can we talk?”
Danny let out an exasperated sigh, muttering something about Sam under his breath. Ah, that’s probably how he knew Dash was coming. He abandoned the future-sight theory for now.
“Sure.” Danny agreed reluctantly, pulling Dash out of his train of thought.
“Really?” Dash couldn’t help but be surprised. He was expecting Danny to slam the door in his face and force him to just accept that he gave it his best shot. Maybe Fenton would be getting something out of this, too.
“Wow.” Danny let out a soft chuckle. “You didn’t have much faith, did you?”
“...No.” The blonde admitted with an amused sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. He was grateful for the tone shift, relieving a lot of the tension between the two.
“Come on.” The shorter boy stepped out of the way, allowing Dash to walk past him into the living room.
He couldn’t help but look around as soon as he entered FentonWorks. It seemed like a totally mundane home, except for the lingering smell of garlic and the huge metal door connected to the kitchen. Everyone at school made up stories about what went on inside, but the last thing Dash was expecting was for it to be so normal.
Danny started walking upstairs, to his room, Dash assumed. He followed behind the other teenager, still feeling slightly afraid. What if he was just luring him upstairs to suck his blood and… do whatever it is that vampires do? He shook the thought out of his head, reminding himself that he’d found Danny hunched over a squirrel on Wednesday. He doubted the unathletic, usually kind-hearted teenager actually hunted down and ate people. Oh God, he certainly hoped.
Once they finally reached Danny’s room, the boy in question opened the door and sat down on the twin-sized bed in the corner.
Dash found his gaze exploring the room like he had done when he first entered the house, finding nothing out of the ordinary as he sat down in the chair by the desk. The walls had many posters depicting space or rockets, and it was even surprisingly clean. He found himself wondering if Danny had cleaned it in preparation for his arrival. Maybe that was a little too self-centered.
“So.” Danny interrupted Dash’s thought process for the second time today. This was starting to become a pattern. “What did you want to talk about?” Dash noticed the small smile on the boy’s face. Fenton knew exactly what his guest wanted to talk about.
The vampire wasn’t going to make this easy for him, was he?