Doctor Dash

Chapter 49

"That's seriously annoying," Kwan said dryly as he glared dully across the table where he was working. When he made the suggestion that Dan help him with building the ghost shield to keep the grade school protected from potential ghost attacks, he thought having Dan around would be a good thing. He failed to take into account the possibility that Dan would horribly frustrating with his vague responses. "Could you at least give me a better clue about what I'm doing wrong beyond cringing," he twisted his face up in a mock expression of mimicking the ghost, "every time I'm wrong?"

"I don't look like that," Dan argued grouchily, obviously not caring for Kwan's impression of the way he cringed. "And wouldn't you feel much more accomplished by figuring this out with minimal help? You'll never truly learn if I give you all the answers."

Kwan's stare remained flat and unimpressed, though he could already imagine a swell of pride at having completed the invention by, mostly, his own efforts. "You know," he said as he twisted a screw tightly into place, "I'm actually beginning to think you don't really know anything about building this. You just want me to think you do to impress me."

"Well, can you blame me for wanting to seem impressive?" Dan smirked, and Kwan wanted to kick him under the table for it despite the flutter he felt inside at the sight of that grin. "Obviously the other you wouldn't want to tell me anything about the invention. He kept clammed up tight about it, which was truly frustrating. But I studied it as best I could. I had to, really, so that I could find a weak point and figure out how to get past it. That's how I learned the Ghostly Wail in the first place, and because of that, Danny learned it at a much younger age. It took me ten years to come up with it and perfect it so that I could use it against the ghost shield." He frowned with bitterness in his red eyes, as he decided he didn't need to masquerade in a human disguise while they were alone in Kwan's apartment. "Danny managed to learn it quite quickly after first seeing it."

Kwan nodded as he listened. "So the whole thing with you was so that Danny would a lesson about how something as small as cheating could lead him to turning an evil as well as having him learn the Ghostly Wail which he might not have learned without you coming into existence in the first place?"

Dan shrugged, picking up one of the parts resting on the table to examine it. "Sounds about right."

"So," Kwan set down the screwdriver as he leaned his chin into one hand, "why were you allowed to exist outside of your timeline after he defeated you? Assuming that your timeline even still existed after that." His brow furrowed as he tried to puzzle out that little mystery. "Ow! This time travel, alternate timelines thing is really hurting my head." He pulled back and rubbed at his forehead.

Dan leaned forward with what he probably thought was a smoldering look upon his face. "How do you know it wasn't so that you and I could meet?"

"You are not seriously trying to play the fate card, are you?"

"What? You don't believe in fate?" Dan blinked in surprise, which effectively ruined the whole look he was trying to go for a moment ago.

"I don't know that I buy into the whole love at first sight thing. I mean, sure, on first look," Kwan gestured at Dan, "you're good looking." He rolled his eyes at the ghost's frown as the corner of his mouth twitched, almost trying to pulling into a grin. "Okay. Very good looking. Hot even. The stuff that people fantasize about."

"That was all I wanted to hear."

"You're so full of yourself." But Kwan laughed, amused by the ghost's sense of vanity. "But would I hop into bed with you the second after we met and claim we're soul mates or something? No." He shook his head. "Maybe soul mates exist, but I don't think you'll know it the moment you meet that person. Relationships are about getting to know each other. Sure. We'll probably fight every now and then, but all couples fight. If they say they don't, they're either lying or there's something seriously messed up there because I don't believe that two different people can get along one hundred percent of the time. We all have our different opinions, which means we're never going to agree on everything all the time. But arguments are a part of a relationship. As long as we can find a compromise or figure some way past the fight, we'll grow as a couple. Maybe it was fate that allowed us to meet, but I think it took more than fate for us to become, um," he fumbled, dropping his gaze with a flustered feeling because they hadn't really had that conversation, "a couple."