#dash 12/10 spazzes the fuck out when he gets a moment

[ghostasinhades]

Dash doesn't talk about school a lot. Only when Harley asks. Not because he's afraid of her, but because he doesn't have to rely on toxic coping mechanisms when around her. Sure, her methods may be unorthodox (yes, he is fully aware of her incidents with Arkham and Joker. no, he doesn't think less of her for it bc it wasn't her fault), but she never fails to lift him out of a bad mood.

And maybe he is a teeny bit embarrassed/ashamed for continuing to bully Fenton (among some other geeks) after all these years.

If he was going to be honest, he lost Harley for a few years there. Joker really put her through the ringer, and that took one of Dash's few stable figures away from him. Stability is fleeting as an A-Lister with the social climate continuously evolving. All Dash had outside his home was his social standing.

Reconnecting with Harley then reminds him that social hierarchy is subject to shifting opinions based on micro judgements and power plays that he should never cave into as it lowers him to the level of society's scum.

Did that make him scum? Did she think less of him?

He tells her summer before Junior year.

Consequently, she asks lovingly demands that he bring one of his victims classmates to Gotham.

Initially Dash is scalded by this. Why would any of the nerds be willing to go anywhere with him? Not to mention- to Gotham of all places? Home of the Joker? Scarecrow? The Penguin? The Riddler? Did she want some scrawny nerd's death on her hands? On Dash's hands?

(Yes, Dash has been captured by the Joker. Joker only got one hit and one cut, not stab, before Harley broke in with Ivy on her tail. Joker was inactive for about two months after that. It would've been longer, but few things die in Gotham and fewer stay dead.)

Harley reminds Dash of when he was young, bullied, and even of his abuser father (lightly, not to hurt him). Of the help he had so desperately wanted when he was young and how long it took to heal from that. For him to heal and correct himself, he needed to take risks.

Including bringing a geek to Gotham.

Besides, what rogue really wanted to stay on Harley's bad side? Or Ivy's? Dash was untouched since the Joker incident for a reason.

Regardless of how much Dash resents the idea, he loves his Auntie Harley and would be devastated to disappoint her. She always strives for his emotional and mental betterment.

Despite that, Dash knows Gotham as well as he knows his nerds. Mickey wouldn't survive a day without getting picked up by the Penguin's goons. Weston would get snatched into one of the Riddler's gamers the moment they set foot in Gotham. And Foley... well, he simply wouldn't survive. (the idea made him laugh a bit)

But then Dash is going to Fenton. He doesn't consider Harley's offer in the moment, going to yell at him for failing to finish his homework or something (he just needed to blow off some steam) when he catches a glimpse of something in Fenton's eye. Maybe it's that resilience that that began developing in freshman year, of a flash of that ghostly green that always feels like a trick of the light or an afterimage.

Dash doesn't know what it is, but he knows he made his decision.

Now how the fuck is he supposed to bring it up to Fenton without it sounding like a date or romantic getaway?

That's what he should ask himself before he declares Fenton's summer his.

If nothing else, it leaves the nerd and his friends too blindsided to argue or question him.

imagine Dash going to his Aunt Harley’s for the summer

[thatrandomsarahchick]

Even worse: Danny's dad overheard the confrontation and decided it would be a great idea.

He was at the school to try and convince Principal Ishyama to install more anti-ghost weaponry when he saw one of Danny's school friends ask him to spend the summer with his family in Gotham.

(Jack had remembered seeing Dash in their kitchen when he was getting tutoring from Jazz, but hadn't been paying much attention at the time. He also remembers overhearing the boys name several times between Danny and his two best friends. From this, he draws the conclusion that the boys are friends.)

Danny was always so terrified of ghosts, so maybe a summer away would do him some good. Plus, Gotham has fairly stable ecto-levels, even if it was too contaminated for ghosts to form there, so Dann-o could take some equipment with him and get some fresh readings while he was away! They had conceived him in the city, too, though he probably wouldn't tell Danny about that part...

Jack talks to Maddie, who agrees, and they organise the whole trip with Dash's parents as a surprise for Danny. She even has an old friend who's still on the police force that she reaches out to, finding out he's the Commissioner now! He agrees to keep an eye out for Danny and be his emergency contact while he's in the city, though he strongly advises against the trip for some reason.

imagine Dash going to his Aunt Harley’s for the summer