Title: Confidence
Summary: "What did I tell ya girl? You owe me twenty bucks and dinner at the Nasty Burger!"
Pairing: Dash/Danny a.k.a. Swagger Bishie!
Rating: PG to PG-13 (to be on the safe side because I'm terrible with ratings)
Warning: slash, swearing, and enough fluff to give you lifelong cavities :smiles innocently:
Disclaimer: You'd definitely know if I managed to buy off DP from Butch. :grins evilly:
Author's Note: I have finally succumbed to the DP fandom and all I have to say is I had way too much fun writing this.
"Hey Kwan…"
"Yeah?"
"Can I ask you a favor?"
"…Should I start running?"
---DP---
Confused? Let's turn back time a little to say, a month back, shall we? Hit it Clockwork!
---DP---
They had been relaxing in the grass at the back of the school chatting about life after their upcoming graduation when Kwan's train of thought suddenly veered off its tracks and crashed, hard. "Wait, what?" he practically shouted. "What?" he repeated to the blond quarterback that was his friend, desperately hoping he had momentarily gone deaf and heard wrong.
"I just signed a five-year contract with NFL yesterday." Dash said slowly as if he was addressing a two year old.
"No, after that!" It had been common knowledge that it was Dash's dream to pursue professional football after high school with no interest in college at all. Needless to say, his parents were not too thrilled with the idea but eventually warmed up to it when they had seen their son approached by a number of scouts during the year. Really, it had only been a matter of time until fame and fortune came knocking at the Baxter house.
"And I'm gonna get married."
"With…Danny Fenton?"
The blue eyed teenager—no, young man raised a brow at his Asian friend. "Of course." he replied nonchalantly with a hint of pride in his voice, as if all was right in the world.
It was then the little train of thought went boom, killing off the remaining passengers nearby or still on it. Let us have a moment of silence to mourn for Kwan's no longer existing brain cells.
…Okay, moment of silence over.
"But-But…he's a guy! You're a guy!" Kwan stuttered helplessly. Oh how he wished he had been born deaf.
Dash scoffed, "In case you haven't noticed, gay marriage is legal now Kwan." Kwan continued staring like a goldfish for a long time. His blond companion shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "What? You got a problem with my sexuality or something?" he snapped.
Kwan quickly shook his head. It was not so much the fact he was homophobic (because honestly, he really couldn't care who shagged who) but the fact that Dash Baxter was seriously considering the possibility of marrying Danny Fenton. Did the world suddenly end without anyone informing him or was it just him? He seriously hoped it was the former. "You two are…dating?"
Dash nodded and Kwan resisted the urge to drop his jaw all the way to the ground.
"How long?"
Dash shifted again in his spot under the old maple tree. "Nearly a year." he answered, the tiniest of smiles gracing his lips. Kwan didn't even bother resisting as his jaw fell. "Oh shut your mouth or you'll find out firsthand what a fly tastes like very soon." So Kwan shut his mouth, but that didn't mean it remained that way.
"HOW THE HELL WERE YOU ABLE TO KEEP IT A SECRET THIS WHOLE TIME? THE LIMELIGHT IS PRACTICALLY YOUR SECOND HOME! SURELY SOMEBODY MUST'VE FOUND OUT!" he exclaimed, flailing his arms in weird patterns as if trying to illustrate his point better. Dash was the most popular boy in Casper High; how could it have been so easy to not figure it out?
Dash rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled, "Well, Danny's an expert at keeping secrets and his friends helped keep up appearances. I think Valerie knows too but she hasn't said anything yet."
And whatever was left of Kwan's sanity suddenly flew out the window. "BUT YOU HATE EACH OTHER!" he bawled.
Dash shot back with a semi-annoyed glare. "Seriously Kwan, when was the last time you saw me pick on him?"
Kwan opened his mouth to list a good amount but nothing came to him. It suddenly dawned on him that the two boys hadn't even touched each other ("Not in that way!" he mentally screamed to the hornier side of his poor brain) for the past two years. The last time they did, at least to the public eye, was when Manson's cousin transferred to their school. Boy that was one fight he would never forget— and Dash was actually on Fenton's side! He hung his head dejectedly as Dash laughed.
"Hey, we're still cool, right?" Dash eventually asked in a slightly nervous tone.
Kwan grinned at him, "Of course we are. We're friends aren't we?" Dash returned the grin with one of his own.
They settled back onto the grass and started another conversation until Kwan finally had to ask, "So…why don't you two come out?"
Insert awkward silence here.
Dash looked away but nonetheless replied quietly, "I…don't want him to get hurt again."
Bullshit, they both thought.
"From what?"
"Remember that time that…bastard came?" growled Dash. Kwan nodded. He knew full well that Dash, even now, still harbored a strong hatred for Casper High's resident goth's cousin. Kwan never fully understood why—until now.
"You don't want to see him ostracized?" Yes, a pretty big word for a jock, huh?
Dash nodded.
"…That's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard." Kwan stated flatly.
Dash turned around to face his friend and Kwan realized with a shock how destroyed he looked. "I know, but…I just can't…it's not that I don't love him…I can't bring myself to come out yet." he murmured so quietly Kwan could barely hear him. "It kills him, I know that. I see it in his eyes every time we're together. It's only for a second but I can still see it! Foley and Manson don't try to interfere between us, but I know they hate me and have been telling Danny for the past few months that I don't deserve him if I'm ashamed to keep our relationship a secret."
"Are you ashamed?" Kwan inquired calmly.
"I'm not afraid to show others I love him if need be, if that's what you mean." Dash sighed and ran a hand through his messy blond hair. "It's just that…I don't want to suddenly let the whole world know, you get what I'm saying?"
Kwan patted his shoulder sympathetically. Dash loved Fenton, he really did. You'd have to be blind and deaf to not see it in his eyes, or just incredibly stupid. But he was also not the kind of person who enjoyed having his personal life laid out on the table of society for all to see. "It's okay man." he said.
He just hoped that things will turn out okay, for both of them.
---DP---
How about we fast forward to the present now, hmm?
---DP---
Danny had been playing with his lasagna for the past fifteen minutes before Sam finally asked what was wrong. "It's nothing." he answered dutifully, but his tone said otherwise.
"Dude, you look like Spectra just sucked up your soul with a vacuum cleaner and you tell us it's nothing?" gaped Tucker.
Sam narrowed her eyes. "Is this about Dash?" she asked slowly.
Danny opened his mouth to rebut, but decided against it when he saw her glaring fireballs at him. "Yes…" he replied, defeated.
Tucker and Sam exchanged glances. "What's the problem?"
"If he hurt you—"
Danny hastily shook his head and brought his hands up in defense before his gothic friend could begin rampaging for his boyfriend. "No, he hasn't! You know Dash better than that!" He buried his head in his hands. "I just…don't know what'll happen after graduation. He signed up for a contract with NFL a while ago (here Tucker let out a low, impressed whistle) and chances are we'd probably never see each other again."
But I don't know what I'll do if that happens, because I fucking love him. I need him!
"I don't see the problem with that." muttered Sam bitterly. So what if Dash stood up for one of her best friends during the whole Stephen episode, it was going to take a lot more than that to earn brownie points with her. "Danny, listen to us! Dash may be a good guy but if he's afraid of going public with your relationship, then he's—not—worth it!"
Tucker was hesitant for a moment, but eventually nodded in agreement with her. "We just don't want to see you get hurt."
Danny slammed his palms onto the cafeteria table angrily. "You guys don't understand! He loves me. I know it!" Then why did his throat suddenly feel like a giant lump had lodged itself there? "And I love him too! You can't judge him like that!"
Sam was ready to say yes, they can and they will but those words instantly died in her mouth when the cafeteria doors slammed open and…
…in walked Dash Baxter himself, donned in an admittedly nice tuxedo holding a single red rose and a microphone.
Everything came to a simultaneous halt as three words echoed in everybody's mind: What. The. Hell? Screw the pin; you could even hear a penny drop from the floor above.
Kwan sashayed in seconds afterwards with a boom box. He cleared his throat to grab the audience's attention before pressing the 'play' button. Within seconds, the first chorus of Teddy Geiger's karaoke version of For You I Will was blaring from the speakers. "Please tell me you're not seeing what I'm seeing." Sam whispered to Tucker while their friend's attention switched from them to his boyfriend.
"You mean that ensemble Dash's got? Sorry, but it looks like we're both in the same boat." Tucker whispered back.
Sam looked at Dash, then Danny, and finally back to Dash. A strange noise that sounded somewhere between a scream and a moan escaped from her mouth as her upper body collapsed onto the table the trio was sitting in. "I'm gonna need a lot of therapy after this." she groaned. Nevertheless, she was also interested to see what the school's star quarterback had in store.
Dash stepped up boldly and with his head held high, headed for the opposite side of the cafeteria, the entire student body's eyes riveted on him all the while. He opened his mouth and began to sing into the microphone:
Forgive
me if I stutter
From all of the clutter in my head
'Cause I
could fall asleep in those eyes
Like a water bed
Do I seem
familiar? I've crossed you in hallways
A thousand times
No more camouflage I want to be exposed
And not be afraid to fall.
Somewhere before the last line, Dash had finally reached his destination; Danny Fenton. Before either he or his friends could react, Dash handed the rose to his boyfriend, earning him a cute blush from said halfa.
Oh I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have
And
cannon ball into the water
I'm gonna muster every ounce of
confidence I have
For you I will
You always want what you can't
have
But I've got to try
I'm gonna muster every ounce of
confidence I have
For you I will
For you I will
For you I
will
Without any warning, he pulled the extremely surprised—and still flustered—Danny into a slow dance. A collective "Aw!" from a majority of the female population, and surprisingly enough even from a few boys, echoed throughout the cafeteria as one.
Just before the bridge, Dash spun Danny gently back into his seat and continued singing.
If I could dim the lights in the
mall
And create a mood
I
would
Shout out your name so it echoes in every room
I
would
That's what I'd do, that's what I'd do
To get through to you
Yeah
I'm
gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have
And cannon ball into
the water
I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have
For
you I will
You always want what you can't have
But I've got to
try
I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have
For you I
will
For you I will
For you I will
Kwan subtly turned down the volume of the song as Dash put the microphone on the table, kneeled down on one bended knee and caressingly held Danny's left hand in both of his. They were vaguely aware of the intake of baited breaths around them. Sam and Tucker subconsciously grabbed a hold of each other's arms and squeezed.
"Danny, I…" Dash gulped. "I love you. I know I haven't exactly shown you the best example of it lately, but I'll never forgive myself if I don't do this." He exhaled deeply and reached into his pocket before continuing, "I can hardly remember a time in my life when I didn't have you by my side, nor do I intend to. I want to spend my future with you…and I can only hope you do as well." He produced a small, velvet black box and placed it in Danny's hand, covering it with his own.
Had Danny been a girl, he would have fainted a long time ago. Thankfully, he was not a girl. "Dash…what are you talking about?" the raven-haired asked softly after mustering enough strength to breathe. He can't be…is he?
"What I'm saying is…" Dash took a deeper, longer breath.
Sam brought her hands up to cover her wide open mouth and let out a resonating gasp, "Holy shit." She was really going to grovel after this.
"Will you marry me?" The lid of the box popped open to reveal a modest but nonetheless beautiful diamond ring.
It was then the students of Casper High learned the true meaning of deafening silence and suffocating anxiety.
Danny fought hard to choke down the tears brimming in his eyes and brought his free hand to his mouth. Aw, fuck. He threw his arms around Dash's neck and sobbed openly. "Of course I will you idiot!" After a very short moment of stunned silence, Dash returned the warm embrace by wrapping his arms around the other's lithe waist.
Thunderous applause erupted from all the tables around them. Dash could hear Valerie give an exceptionally loud whoop before turning to Paulina with a triumphant smirk. "What did I tell ya girl? You owe me twenty bucks and dinner at the Nasty Burger!" Dash glanced in their direction to see a grumbling Paulina digging through her neon pink purse but, strangely enough, without the same amount of reluctance as usual when losing a bet. Their eyes met and both girls flashed him earsplitting congratulatory smiles.
Dash grinned back and returned gaze to his fiancé, who was looking up at him with tearstained cheeks. "Hey, what are you crying for? You know I hate it when I see you cry." He wiped the tears away with his thumbs and pressed his lips to Danny's for a soft kiss.
Danny laughed and kissed him back, "I love you, you big jerk!"
"I love you too."
And as they say, they lived happily ever after.
Author's Note: Okay, I admit it! I couldn't stop smiling to myself while typing this. :sighs: And the song part? I hadn't originally wanted to add one in but I couldn't help it! My friend recently forced me to watch A Walk To Remember and I actually thought about putting in Cry by Mandy Moore until Teddy Geiger came up on my iPod. By the way, this one-shot (and, with any luck, its prequel series) was partially inspired by the movie and I advise everyone to watch it!
Please review! Constructive criticisms are welcomed with open arms and flames will be used to burn my upcoming tests:offers cookies with puppy eyes:
And to those wondering, no, I will not be continuing this because it is a one-shot. On the other hand, I am planning to post a prequel series (which will explain everything from Sam's cousin to Valerie's bet with Paulina) so watch out for that in the hopefully foreseeable future!