Danny stared at the doorbell, trying his best to come up with some way out of this that wouldn't result in him spending the next week shoved in his own locker. He came up with nothing and begrudgingly pushed the small button. As he waited, Danny tugged his hood further over his forehead. Dash had insisted he do at least this much, so no one would recognize him when he came over. Of course, seeing as no one else in town owned a neon green ghost dog, Danny didn't think disguising himself was going to help any, especially if said dog was glowing brightly near his feet.

The door swung open and Danny flinched as a large fist snatched the front of his hoodie and yanked him forward. Dash barely waited long enough for Cujo to run inside before slamming the door. He warily peeked out the window, still holding firm to Danny's hoodie.

"Did anyone see you?" he demanded.

"No," Danny assured him, trying to pull loose and failing. "I had my hood up the whole time and only took back roads." Danny had also turned invisible for most of the trip since he also had no desire to be seen anywhere near Dash or his house.

Dash relaxed and he released Danny's hoodie, now oddly stretched at the front.

"Good. Help me close the blinds."

Danny begrudging went around the room until all the blinds were shut, ensuring that no passersby would accidentally catch a glimpse of Danny and Dash breathing the same air.

Cujo was thrilled that each time a blind closed it made a zipping and clicking sound and the small pup happily darted between Dash and Danny each time he heard the noise.

"There," Dash sighed, before turning and jabbing a finger at Danny. "Stay. I'll be right back with Pookie."

Danny waited until Dash was out of earshot before leaning down to remove Cujo's leash. He hesitated a moment, remembering that Dash did not live in a house with ghost-proof walls, but shrugged the thought away. Cujo had yet to notice that not all houses had walls he couldn't phase through and even if he did figure it out Danny had the ghost whistle to call him back. Besides, he had other things to worry about. "Please play nice," Danny begged softly as he rolled up the leash.

Cujo wagged his tail, tongue lolling happily.

"I mean it. If this goes well Dash might actually ease up on me. But if it goes badly…"

Cujo tilted his head sideways and then bounced up to lick Danny across the chin.

Danny sighed. "Right. You probably don't even know why we're here."

Quick footsteps alerting him of Dash's return just before the larger boy reappeared carrying the trembling brown creature. Danny couldn't tell if the canine rat was terrified or just cold.

Two tails began wagging the moment the dogs caught sight of each other. Cujo darted around Dash's feet, yapping excitedly until the larger boy put Pookie down, at which point they circled each other, taking in every scent from every angle before suddenly dashing about the room. It didn't take them long to find a toy to pounce on. The poor stuffed octopus didn't stand a chance.

Danny glanced at Dash, who watched for a moment nodded and turned towards the couch.

Danny glanced again at the canine pair before looking around for a place to sit. To his surprise Dash was leaning over the arm of the couch and lifting a backpack from somewhere just out of sight. Soon textbooks, papers, and pencils were covering the table.

"You're doing homework?"

"Well duh, we have a test on Monday. I have to study."

"Oh, right of course."

Dash's eyes narrowed. "You forgot."

"No," Danny insisted. "I'm just going to study tomorrow."

Dash sneered, "yeah right," and opened his math book.

"I am," Danny bristled. He made a mental note to study on Sunday.

Dash's glare did nothing to hide his disbelief. "Look, Fenton, neither of us like each other so there's no reason to pretend for my sake."

Danny opened his mouth to argue but was cut short when Dash lifted his hand.

"Save it. I've heard you and your friends going on and on about how you don't have time to study, but still stayed up all night playing video games."

"I don't do that every night!"

Dash folded his arms across his chest. "Oh, then what other activity keeps you up every night to the point you sleep through class and barely complete your homework."

Danny's mouth snapped shut. He couldn't say ghost hunting. It was true but Dash would never believe him and he didn't want that kind of attention anyway. "I...I just have other responsibilities."

"Well so do I," Dash scoffed. "Football keeps me busy after school every day, plus I have all my tutors and I still have to take care of Pookie. You," Dash jabbed his finger at Danny, "spend all your time hanging out with your weird friends and doing who knows what else, and then complain you don't have time for homework."

"You hang out with friends too." Danny accused.

"That's because social interaction is important to my mental health," Dash snarled. "I have a carefully planned out schedule to optimize my time for the best results."

Danny smirked, "and you still fail more than I do."

Dash's fists collided with the table as he stood and Danny was quickly reminded that this boy was considerably larger than himself. Though, what scared him was the quiet that followed.

"THAT is the point." Dash finally said. "You don't even try and you still have a C average. I work my butt off every day and can barely get a D when I'm lucky. Then you complain loudly about your Cs in the hall but don't even try and do better. The worst part is I've seen what happens when you try. When you actually put in the effort you can get As." Dash's mouth tightened as he took a slow breath. "I don't care what else you have going on in your life. If studying was really that important you'd make it work. So don't complain if you aren't even going to try."

Danny couldn't argue. Sure ghost hunting took up a lot of time, but he had to admit that maybe he did play video games a bit too often, and maybe he did spend more time than necessary at the nasty burger or hanging out with Tucker and Sam.

Danny sunk into one of the nearby chairs while Dash returned to solving the problems on his worksheet. Danny had originally been planning to play games on his phone while the dogs kept each other entertained but now it felt like doing so would just prove Dash right. Of course, sitting here doing nothing wouldn't help either.

Danny glanced up at Dash and then swallowed his pride. "Can...can I borrow the history book if you're not using it?"

Dash glanced up at Danny, his face stiff, before throwing the book at him. "Don't bend any of the pages."