Doctor Dash

Chapter 40

"At this rate, I might as well just go ahead and tell Paulina too so that you and Kwan don't have to lie to her," Danny said tiredly as he held out a spoonful of creamy ecto peanut butter out for his son to take. The day felt extraordinarily long after that morning when he showed Dash that he was Phantom. The blond man didn't get much of a chance to start in on all the questions he probably had when Danny ended up needing to spend quite a bit of time in the bathroom vomiting. Then Vlad turning up interrupted another chance for Dash to question him, and after Lex woke up from a nightmare, they didn't really get another chance at being alone for a private discussion. While Danny comforted Lex from the bad dream, Vlad made a quick trip back to Danny's house to grab some of his ectoplasm products so that Danny and Lex could regain energy lost from being sick.

Lex took the spoon and sat down on the floor with Xander, who was rubbing at Cujo's belly. Sticking the spoon in his mouth, he sucked at the ecto peanut butter. He seemed to be doing better than last night, or at least he wasn't letting the pain show as much outwardly. From the pain in his own throat, Danny knew his son was definitely still hurting.

"I don't know how good an idea that is," Dash said with some wariness. "You know she had a massive crush on Phantom in high school."

"Yeah," Danny shrugged, "but we've all grown up since then. Though I have to say, it is kind of a relief to have it out in the open now." He picked up the second spoon and dug out another glob of ecto peanut butter for himself. "Now I don't have to constantly watch my back around you." He brought the spoon to his mouth and licked off some of the ecto peanut butter. "Um," he glanced around, somewhat nervously, "how are you handling all of this? I know it's a lot to take in. I was scared of some kind of major blow out."

Dash frowned, scratching the side of his head. "It's," he sighed, "not easy to just accept. I mean, sh-" He caught himself, throwing a wary look toward the boys, who were paying more attention to the ghost dog than to their parents' conversation. "I did a lot of stuff to you back then that I'm not exactly proud of. And," his eyes bulged slightly as he shook his head, "finding out that I did that stuff to my hero? To someone I looked up to? I'm actually surprised you don't completely hate me. You could have gotten away at any point if you really wanted to."

"Dash, that's all in the past. And it's not like I didn't use my powers to my advantage on occasion. I'm not proud of everything in my past either." Danny shifted uncomfortably, lowering his gaze. "But I'm really glad we got the chance to meet again. I really like hanging out with you like this."

"As weird as it to admit it, I do too. Mostly, I only really hang out with Kwan and Paulina, but on occasion, I end up getting stuck talking with some of the moms." Dash rolled his eyes at the memory of that. "Not that they're bad to talk with, but when one of them gets me alone to talk in private, that's usually when the flirting starts. Or you know, purposely spilling a drink on me so that they can help me clean up. But with you, it's like we're old friends and I just relax and not feel on guard like I do when dealing with some of the other parents. I guess it helps that we have some sort of history together and we aren't just talking because our sons are friends. But!" He nearly pulled at his hair with one hand. "How is it you can just forgive me? I made you eat my underwear that one time. It was supposed to be a joke, really. I didn't actually expect you to do it."

Danny laughed weakly and awkwardly. "Yeah, that was really the stuff of nightmares." He allowed a small smile to slip onto his face. "And that's one of those times when ghost powers really came in handy." He laughed at the wide eyed expression of shock on Dash's face. "It was pretty tricky to accomplish, but I managed to turn a pathway through my body intangible and let it slide right through me. I'm actually surprised it even worked." He tugged at an ear. "I wasn't exactly all that great with my powers then. As for forgiving you, well, I'd rather just let all that stuff lay in the past and not let myself get consumed with hate and anger." He knew exactly what kind of monster he could become if he allowed himself to be fueled by negative emotions.