Stuffed Lock Stock and Barrel

Turned out saving the world was the easy part.

Ghost hunting was difficult, especially at first. Two years into the business and he could capture nearly anyone (anyghost, that is) without much hassle and a lot fewer tardies than in the beginning. But there was still the occasional clever plan, or stupid move on his part, and he would come home bleeding with no explanation for his parents as to why. Yet even that had become easier. He had more powers than he knew what to do with and the two greatest allies/best friends a guy could ask for. The Vlad thing still creeped him out, but he'd saved the world (and his mother) from his evil grasp once again only last week.

He was starting to realize something--he actually knew what he was doing. He was a friggin' superhero, for crying out loud. And that was cool.

This was not. And Danny was pissed.

Just when you start to think that you've become something every kid has dreamed of. Just when you start to believe that you're an honest to heaven hero, someone has to come along and ruin it. Spectacularly. By shoving you in your locker.

Sometimes, Danny really, really hated Dash.

Danny growled, shifting as a pen jabbed him in the back. A paper lunch bag he'd lost months ago crackled, and he tried to hold his breath. He wasn't sure if all the junk in the bottom of his locker was cushioning him, or poisoning him.

He suddenly became aware of the sound of Sam's shoes clumping up close to the locker door. He'd been in this position way too much to not recognize the sound. She tapped once, paused, then tapped twice more in quick succession. All clear, as the signal went.

He went intangible, sliding out the locker head first, his legs still inside. "Can't I beat him up?" he asked plaintively. "Just once? He'll never know it was me."

Sam's eyebrow went up. "My hero," she said in answer, tone flat. He pushed himself out the rest of the way, going tangible, and she grabbed his hand, helping him to his feet.

He sighed and roughly rubbed his back where the pen had attempted to puncture his kidney. Sam reached up (much to her annoyance, he had grown ridiculously fast in the past year while she was still piddling around in the lower five foot range, forced to hang around somewhere in the range of his chin), brushing a few stray scraps of paper out of his hair, wryly taking in his disgruntled look.

"Why?" he demanded suddenly, brushing away her hand, intent on violently attacking his own hair. "Why? Huh? Why me? I don't do enough! Is that it?"

She just looked at him, hands on her hips, knowing full well that it wasn't her he was raging at. Heaven knew she was pissed enough for the both of them, but was far better at hiding it. She simply rolled her eyes.

"He's just an idiot," she said.

"An idiot? An idiot, huh?" He seemed even angrier than before, and she just stared up at him, unperturbed. "Well who's the idiot super-powered ghost boy that let's him do it? I could pound him into the ground. Make his life miserable. Why don't I do that?"

She folded her arms across her chest, looking vaguely annoyed. "Because you save the world, Danny."

He jerked back, blinking his eyes. "What?"

"Oh, come on," she said, tone still irritated, though the twitch of her mouth was starting to give her away. She grabbed his wrist, already turning and tugging him down the hall. "We're going to be late for class."

"We're already late for class," he replied, clumsily trying to catch up with her quick stride. Her hand was still around his wrist, and it was making walking difficult.

"Fine," she said, refusing to let go. "Then we won't be any later."

"And what did you mean by that?" She shot a confused look over her shoulder and he added, "about saving the world."

She came to a sudden stop and he nearly ran into her. He realized they were at the door of their classroom. "Oh Danny," she said, and she was smiling, looking amused. "You really are an idiot super-powered ghost boy, aren't you?" She grabbed his head, jerking him awkwardly toward her, then kissed him on the cheek. "Come on," she said, smiling smugly at the bemused look on his face. 'We're late for class." She turned to the door, then stopped, looking back at him. "Sometimes saving the world means pretending you aren't what you are. You really are amazing, Danny." She twisted the handle, then held the door open.

He walked distractedly inside, ignoring the catcalls he was getting from the jocks in the back, for once not caring what they thought of him. He caught Tucker's eye and they shared a private grin. He could wipe the floor with those morons and both he and Tucker--and Sam, he added as she walked past, adding her own opinion into the mix with a roll of her eyes--knew it.

And really, as it turned out, that was all that mattered.

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Random. Psh. Look at the floor in the picture and it feels like you're falling into a vortex. Bah! I'm tired. I really shouldn't try and post these things at 2 in the morning.

Danny Phantom (c) Butch Hartman