Archive of Our Own

"Yes, Danny. That's kind of why there's no space between them."

"And you knew?"

"Hey man, I only just found out." Tucker Folely defended himself.

Sam Manson rolled her eyes, "And you would've found out sooner, Danny, if you took my invitation instead of ditching us for your jock party." Her whole body screamed attitude as she raised an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms, staring down at him.

"I apologized for that," Danny Fenton started sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck, sinking under her gaze, "And this is me apologizing again for ditching the first time you invited me over."

Sam stood up straighter, but looked away, "Well, you're lucky I decided to trust you again and invite you for a do-over."

"Thinking back on it, I can't believe you didn't accept in the first place. I mean, we've known Sam for what, 8 years? And in that whole time we've never been invited inside. We used to joke in middle school that her family was actually a coven of vampires." Tucker Foley stated with a flop as he jumped onto the red oversized cushion directed at the Manson Manor Home Theater.

"Wait, you guys started that rumor?"

"What I'm saying is," Tucker rushed to try and avoid the topic, "We've been friends most of our lives and you never let us in before. Me and Danny used to plan a break-in."

Amethyst eyes stared at them with humor, "Well, now you guys know how un-vampire-ish my parents are." Sam directed one of her workers to move an identical red cushion chair to sit parallel to the others for Danny to sit in before taking a seat herself. The boys looked in awe as she directed the man larger than Dash. Danny felt as though he was sitting on a gold toilet of some sort.

As if reading his mind Sam huffed out, "Only my great-grandfather had a gold toilet and we got rid of that decades ago. Way too unsanitary and impractical."

Tucker and Danny shared a look.

"I don't get it Sam, why didn't you tell everyone, or us for that matter?" Started Danny as a man approached him and gave him a bag of popcorn. He munched on the popped kernels as he waited for his answer.

"Tucker asked the same thing. Well, at first, when we were younger, I didn't realize my family was that different. And then, well, I did have other friends besides you guys when we were kids and they didn't treat me the same. At least with you guys, I wanted to make sure you liked me for, well, me, and not my money. And then time went on and I guess I was too scared to tell you guys. But, now that we're hunting ghost butt everyday, I figured I could trust you guys with my biggest secret." Sam finished with a shrug.

"Sam. Literally, you could be the most popular girl in school. And I know you would love to see Paulina squirm as you take her crown." Tucker took some of Danny's popcorn.

"I don't need popularity. I just told you guys, I'd rather be liked for me than my parents' money. And I have you guys. I don't need anyone else." She said in exasperation.

"And we only need you and all of your inheritance," grinned Tucker, getting her into a hug, which she pushed him off of, "Ahw c'mon. You're saying I have no chance becoming Mr. Samantha Manson?"

Now she was laughing as Danny scowled at his best male friend, "Ahwww," Tucker cooed, "Look, he wants to be Mrs. Samantha Manson!"

The black-haired teens both blushed and yelled threats at their friend.

"Forget his ghost powers for a sec, Sam, c'mon, would you really wanna miss out on all of this?" Tucker asked as he gestured to his body.

"Oh great, my husband wants me for my money and I want him for his bod. What will the children say?"

They all dissolved into laughter.

"Didn't you just say you have a five-star chef in your kitchen, Sam?"

"Some things I'd like to keep normal, okay guys? One of them being hanging out with you two in teenage infested environments."

They made their way down the Manson steps, unbeknownst to a classmate heading towards them.

"Master Daniel, you forgot your backpack." A butler whose charisma blended his face in with all the other help in Manson Manor approached with a purple bag in hand. At least, Danny was unable to distinguish him from the rest of the maids and butlers in the house.

"Thank you uh, Jaques." Danny finished with some help from Sam.

"Man, Master Daniel, I will never get tired of that."

"That's Manson Manor for you."

"Danny, Sam, other boy?" A Latina called out to them, eyes squinted in suspicion, "what are you guys doing in that house? That's the home of the richest people in Amity, no, the state rather. Maybe even more." Paulina looked at the retreating figure of Jaques, "That butler called you Master Daniel. Oh-em-gee, Danny, is this your house?" Paulina finished, fluttering her eyelashes seductively.

Tucker laughed, "I forgot you just moved here, Danny's house has Fenton written all over it, literally."

Paulina frowned, "Then-"

Danny laughed too, "This is S-" Sam had her eyebrows raised in urgency, her eyes reading "Please. I trusted you."

"-this is s'my aunt's house. On my mom's side. I chill here. A lot. Not many people know because its uhm so on the low. And since these are my best friends, they chill here too. Especially Sam because she's my uhm...special friend?" He trailed off lamely.

Paulina's mouth pinched before she got closer to the shy boy, "And, how special is special exactly?"

"L-like best friend special?"

"Well, seeing as how I'm new and getting to know all the elite in this town, I think a lot of people would like to know just who," she booped his nose, "you are related to."

Sam stared at them with her mouth agape. Tucker held her back before anything else could transpire.

"Mansion Manor, that's what you called it, yes?"

Sam didn't know whether or not to be thankful at that moment that English was Paulina's second language.

"Yeah...Mansion Manor. Heh, the rich aren't always the most creative, ya know?"

Paulina laughed like a bell, "I'd love to hear all about your rich stories. Hey, I'm heading over to Dash's right now. All of us are heading over."

"Who's all of us?" Danny asked.

"All of us A-Listers." Paulina zipped her arm through Danny's, collectively holding him as she walked him in the direction of Dash's house.

"Uhm," Danny looked somewhat panicked and somewhat excited, "I'll see you guys later?" The question hung in the air.

Paulina walked Danny over a few blocks before Sam felt like she could breathe again, "I finally let you guys into my home and he...used me. He used me just now, didn't he?"

"In his defense, he was covering for you." Tucker answered bashfully.

"Yeah, and wound up doing exactly what he's always wanted and what I've never wanted for myself."

"Yo Fenton-Miester, why didn't you ever tell us you were rich?" Kwan started.

"Yeah, I thought all the Fentons were, were ghost-loving freaks. Except for your sister, of course," laughed Dash as he got a few nods in accordance, "she gets a pass."

He tried not to grimace at Dash's words, but there was just something so wrong about guys nudging each other over his sister. Gross. "Oh uhm, well you know, the Fentons are ghost-loving people. It's uhm my mom's side that is rich. They are secluded people, I'm only their nephew so it's not like I can just brag that what's theirs is mine."

"So you're...not rich?" Paulina asked, slowly dragging her hand off his knee.

"No! I mean, like," he started more easily, trying to be suave, "I'm only a Fenton by name, rich in my blood."

She kept her hand on his knee.

Tucker munched uneasily next to her, "Can you blame him for wanting to be near her?"

"Yes. How are you not offended by the fact he would trade you in for any one of them?"

"Because he wouldn't do that. It's Danny, c'mon. You know he has his head in the stars, but he always comes down."

Sam snorted at his lame astrology analogy, "You would think after that party he'd appreciate us a bit more."

"I don't think it's exactly popularity that he's aiming for this time..." Tucker started with a grimace. This got Sam's attention. "I think it's well…her." He pointed to the busty Latina that walked into the Nasty Burger at that precise moment.

Sam's plastic fork broke in two.

They could hear Dash talk as the A-List shuffled in the doors, "So our punch card rotates on a schedule. This semester it's the Nasty Burger," the blonde handed something over to Danny, "the same hall monitor crap applies though." Danny smiled bashfully as he looked over his card in glee. So this was what being an A-Lister is like.

"Yoo-hoo, Danny!" Paulina called. She had cut her way to the front of the register line, "Let's order." She smiled at him. He tried to ignore the obvious gawks he was getting from the row of Paulina-admirers that made up the line as he joined her. She smiled flirtatiously at him and he tried not to mumble his order, "Uh just a mighty meaty burger with cheese, please. And a strawberry milkshake." The worker rang up his order, but before they finished the ring Paulina added, "oh and a mini mighty meaty burger, a side of mini cheese fries," she tapped her finger against her chin as she observed the menu, "is there anything you guys have that's low in sugar?"

"Tofu?"

Paulina made a face of disgust, "only losers eat Tofu. Just make it a mini fruit smoothie."

"Like a kid's size?" The worker dared ask, but Paulina's murderous look made her shut her mouth, "I-is that all?"

"Nah, add a number six combo with extra pickles, an extra side of fries and an oreo shake to that too." Dash added and Kwan sprang up from behind him, "Make that two. Oh and onion rings!" A few more guys and girls called out their orders as well.

Danny stared at them, his wallet feeling heavy in his hands and not in a good way, "Uh, don't you guys want to...order separately?"

The A-Listers looked at him strangely, "Don't you have money to burn?"

His cheeks reddened. He had to sell all of his father's belongings to buy a jumpsuit. He certainly did not have enough cash to buy everyone's lunch. Memories of Sam constantly buying pizza and take out for the boys like it was nothing suddenly came crashing at him. She always insisted to pay whenever it was her idea to go out, but she didn't always pay. He and Tucker never expected her to pay. He certainly still wouldn't now that he knew she had money. Their friendship was about equality. He bit his lip in worry as he opened his wallet, trying to think of some excuse as to how to get out of this. Could a ghost come right now? That could work. But life gave him a different miracle.

"Dude, hey, y-you," Tucker jumped out of nowhere and grabbed his wallet from his unsuspecting hands, "Our wallets got switched. You have mine." He laughed.

"Ah, so that's why his wallet had some lame-o NASA design on it," snorted Kwan. Paulina stared at the new brown wallet with a Captain Falcon emblem on it, "Is this some sort of designer?" Danny jumped, "Yes! From—Japan!"

"Way cool, Danny." Her eyes flirted with him again and he almost melted into a puddle.

"You know it." He forced a laugh. He made to make appreciative eyes at Tucker, but Dash beat him to it, "Beat it, loser. Danny's with us now." Tucker flinched as Dash made a show with his fists. He made a pointed look at Danny. "Right." With that, he turned back to his table where Sam was stubbornly looking out of the window.

Danny licked his lips, "Right, so...payment." The cashier shrank back a little, intimidated by the popular group, "It's 72.96." Danny nodded and opened Tucker's wallet. He was picturing a scrapping of cash, probably made up of mostly five dollar bills and singles, but what greeted him instead was a shiny black card. The name on it read Samantha E. Manson. His eyes locked on her again and he could tell she was blushing, but her eyebrows were pulled together in a glare and she turned her face away from him. Paulina flicked his earlobe, "Ay, Danny," and she plucked the card from his hand and handed it over to the cashier. Sam watched as her card was accepted and blue met purple. Wordlessly Sam gathered Tucker and they left the fast food restaurant.

Was it a test? Was he not meant to use it? Why would she offer it to him if he wasn't? Before he could dwell on the issue anymore though, Paulina seized his hand again and led him to a booth he never dared sat at before. It was almost as if someone pulled a golden rope to the VIP section. "So, anymore Japanese designer accessories?"

He blushed and laughed nervously as she got closer to his face, "N-no, just the one."

Her eyes continued to bore into his own, "That's too bad. I wanted to see if any of them would have looked good on me. I would've modeled for you." She smiled deviously as her hand settled on his knee again, threatening to go higher.

"Model?" he squeaked. She bit her lip and dragged her eyebrows up as a response.

"In his defense, again," Tucker tried to ignore the daggers she was shooting him, "This was because you didn't want anyone to know that the house was yours. And why did you offer it to him if you didn't want him to use it?" He questioned. If she was really that upset by it, why didn't she ignore the problem and watch as he crashed and burned? Why would she rescue him?

She didn't answer for some time and they had already finished their walk back to her house before she found the words, "It's what a good friend would do. Cover for each other."

A dragon crashed into his locker.

Except probably for that.

His eyes went to survey his surroundings, almost like a routine, because usually no one was looking at him and he could go ghost. But Star shrieked and hid behind him as Dash grabbed Paulina. Kwan spoke, "We gotta haul ass, Fenton!" He blinked in surprise, not used to attention, "R-right." He made to run for the door just as Tucker and Sam popped up from behind the view of the dragon's tail as it roared its desires.

He had to save them. He looked over at Star who was running beside him. Crap, no, he had to save everyone.

But then a flash went off. All the teens of Casper High that were just scrambling moments ago came to a halt and Danny noticed Sam on her knees tucking something into her backpack with Tucker standing in front of her as a shield. They used the Fenton Thermos. They were lucky it was just Dora on a rampage and not Skulker; the hunter would put up a fight and despite Dora's size, she was low-level.

Dash snorted at the Goth and techno geek's direction, "You don't waste any time, Manson, do ya?"

She flushed as she scrambled to get up, Tucker making a face at the crew as he fixed his glasses, understanding the sexual innuendo being thrown at them, "You're a pig, Dash."

Dash and Kwan read each other's minds and proceeded to "oink" as they crinkled their noses. Sam and Tucker rolled their eyes before realizing that Danny was still right next to the football players. They looked at him quizzically, scared that he'd start making pig noises too and wondering if he'd join them instead.

He didn't get to make the decision himself when Star hugged him tightly, "Danny, you're so cool. Paulina, did you see that? He grabbed me and made me run with him."

Paulina shimmied her way in between them, "Very noble indeed. But I think we both know who he meant to grab." Star clamped her mouth shut, "O-oh, yes, of course." And the girl proceeded to gush over Paulina, earning her nickname as Paulina's satellite as the Latina looked at Danny appreciatively, "Walk me to English?"

And he did. He tried to subtly look over his shoulder to look at his best friends who were stalking past the football players who had stopped with their farm noises and instead were poking their tongues to their cheeks in time with the fists they had gesturing to their mouths. Danny cringed. It wasn't even just the crudeness of the joke, but imagining his friends sexually involved. Gross. Sam Manson and Tucker Foley did not belong together that way. This was somehow twenty times worse than when people would call him and Sam love birds and he couldn't wrap his head around why.

Paulina chatted with some other A-Listers as Danny sat robotically beside her.

"Danny?"

He was startled from his thoughts and focused his attention on her, "Uh yeah?"

"We were wondering if we could come by Mansion Manor. Maybe have a party or something." She smiled at him, using her sure-fire technique of getting what she wanted with heavy-lidded eyes and a hand on the knee that threatened to go higher, "what do you say?" Her pointer finger made little designs on the inseam of his jeans.

"Uh, ya know. It's...not my house." He ended pathetically after trying to think of a plausible excuse. "My aunt wouldn't exactly let me throw a party in her house."

Paulina pouted. "You're sure?" At his nod, she looked at her desk rather dejectedly before perking up, "Maybe you can take me shopping instead!"

His eyebrows gathered together. "Are you trying to hang out?"

"Yeah, duh." She giggled at him but for once he wasn't hypnotized and tried to press the issue further, "Maybe we can just hang out like, more low key. Get to know each other. You can come to my place.

Her disgust was obvious, "No offense Danny, but I don't really wanna go to FentonWorks." She spoke about his family's business like it was some viral disease.

Offense taken. But her fingers hadn't left his inseam yet, so he tried another tactic. "Okay, well, how about the park?"

She looked like she was considering it for a moment before she looked at him again, "Where's the guy that bought me that gold amulet to try and ask me on a date? Do you not want to buy me presents anymore?"

"That...was Sam's amulet." He finished lamely. She rolled her eyes, "Okay stole me a gold amulet from an annoying witch girl."

"Sam's not a witch. She's a good friend." Her credit card burned in his pocket.

"Look Danny," his name rolled deliciously in her accent, "I think you should know that like-minded people stick together. Rich and pretty and popular," she tapped the inside of his thigh, "with rich and pretty and popular. You have to choose your friends wisely." Her chin pointed at Mikey as he walked into the classroom, "Everyone has their place. The geeks do our homework and we don't completely ruin their lives." Paulina's friends nodded at her wisdom. Star spoke from behind her, "Yeah like, if one of us was poor, well, that'd be the end of that friendship."

He looked at her like she had three heads, "You're serious? Even if it was one of your best friends? Like one of you guys o-or," he racked his brain, "I dunno, Valerie Gray. You're saying you'd ditch her?"

Star shrugged at him. Paulina rolled her eyes, "That's not something you need to worry about, Danny. Your aunt is definitely not losing her money."

"Like you need the money." Tucker teased as he cut into his steak. She rolled her eyes in a joking manner and proceeded to slap his shoulder playfully.

"Oh for the love of God, stop flirting," came Dash's voice from behind them, "Manson, keep it in your pants. So Danny ditched you and you hop onto the next best thing? Well, in geek standards."

She flushed angrily and made to stand up, but she stopped when she felt a cold presence behind her. "I didn't ditch them."

Dash stared at him like a fish, "Dude. This is a loser table. Rich people don't sit with losers."

Danny sighed tiredly, "Ya know Dash, I don't really care about those rules anymore." He set his tray down, but before sitting down, he fished his A-List membership card out of his pocket and threw it in Dash's direction. "Here, I won't be needing that anymore."

"You'd rather get whaled on, Fentonio?"

Tucker looked at Danny hesitantly. He didn't think anyone would ever actually choose to be a punching bag.

"If it's with them."

Dash gave him a look of pity, "Your loss, man. And we were gonna have a party this weekend too." Dash went back to his table, but not before smacking Tucker's beret into his steak. Danny grimaced and picked up the abused article, discreetly making the thing go intangible to get rid of the sauce.

Tucker accepted his hat back, "Thanks," he asked hesitantly.

"Oh," Danny fished the wallet out of his pocket too, "This is yours and this," he took the credit card out and handed the items to their respective owners, "is yours. I'm sorry I used your card, Sam. I'll find a way to pay you back, promise."

A small smile found its way to her face, "It's okay. You don't have to. So...what brings you back to our humble geek table?"

He sighed, "I think you had the right idea, Sam. They didn't really like me for me. They just—wanted the money they thought I had. And they were kinda dickish." He shrugged one shoulder, "If I'm ever gonna have Paulina like me, well, I'd rather it be because she likes me. I mean, that's what a girlfriend should be, right? Someone I can trust and like," he rambled, "oh and I couldn't even go ghost! They move in a wolf pack! I'm sorry you guys had to take care of Dora alone," he apologized sheepishly, "That won't happen again." He groaned. "God, wait, does that mean I'd need a girlfriend who liked me for me and know my secret? I'm never gonna get a girlfriend!" He moaned as he put his head in his hands.

Tucker burst out laughing at his friend, too consumed in his giggles to stop even as Sam smacked him repeatedly in the arm, "Shut it—shut it!"

"B-but he's so clueless!" He laughed.

Danny blinked and sputtered, "I am not! Paulina thought Captain Falcon was a Japanese designer, okay? And they thought Mansion Manor was a good rich people name! Now that's clueless!" He defended himself.

The trio stared at each other before dissolving into more fits of laughter.

"C-C-Captain...Falcon!"

"Ma-Mansion Manor!"

Star looked over at the geek table with an eyebrow raised. She watched as the three laughed. Valerie questioned her staring and Star blushed.

"Any reason why you're staring at geeks?"

"No! No! Yes? I dunno," she glanced over at them again, "Danny got me thinking about whether friendships were worth preserving even if they're not in your social class I guess."

Valerie's eyebrow raised, "What, you're saying you would risk your popularity to befriend someone who's not popular? Or rich? Or hot?"

Star stared down at her lunch tray, "I dunno if I'd have the guts, but," her eyes looked up at the table again, "He did."

Paulina slapped the table angrily at her arrival, "Oh, I can't believe him! How dare he throw away the A-List!" She flipped her hair angrily over her shoulder, "And I was giving him all my best moves and he didn't even buy me anything!"

Valerie questioned them, "How did you guys even discover he had money anyways? Wait, why would he have that stupid garage sale if he had money?"

The A-Listers stared back at her blankly for a few moments before they all scrambled angrily, "Oh I knew Mansion Manor was a made-up name!"

A snort from behind made the table whip their heads around to see Sam Manson throwing away her trash and hiding her chuckles behind her hand, "Sorry, don't mind me!" She licked her lips to keep herself from laughing.

"Hey," a nameless popular girl smirked, "At least it was Danny Fenton and not Sam Manson that invaded us for a day. At least he's cute. Imagine if that was her house?"

Paulina couldn't stop her giggles, "That's like saying the world was ending."

Sam returned to her table and looked appreciatively at her friends. They smiled back at her. No, the world was not ending. All was right.