Depths

25. Beat

Hey guys! Wow, college leaves a girl busy. Things weren't this hard in the first semester. Hit spring 2019 and suddenly I have up to three essays due per week with the occasional 2-page research project. Like, damn.

Anyway, I just wrote a horror one-shot which is an alternate ending for this story! Basically what could have happened if Phantom was the monster that society made his species out to be. It is very short, and it is a slightly different universe. Where Danny is female and the existence of sirens is almost like an apocalypse. I only wrote it because I plan on translating it into Spanish to use for my final project, which will be an oral presentation worth 15% of my grade. I just posted it for fun, but if you're interested in reading about 1500 words, it is on my profile.

...

Danny played with the end of Phantom's leather vest, feeling more than slightly uncomfortable with not showering, but unwilling to break his promise. His hair was getting a little frizzy from the lack of conditioner, and he knew that his natural musk was starting to make it's presence known, but he could go one night without his shampoo. 

He and Sam were currently playing video games, but his avatar had already died, so he had to wait for her turn to finish before they could start the next round. It was a little awkward to sit there doing nothing, with nothing but his thoughts to distract him. It was hard to sit there next to his best friend and be unable to think about anything but how worried he was about Phantom. He just hoped to whatever higher power was out there, and he guessed it was apparently Zeus, that his boyfriend would be okay at the ending of whatever he had gotten himself into.

The raven male watched in amusement as his gothic friend enthusiastically hit the buttons on her controller, cursing colorfully at anyone who damaged her avatar's health. 

"You worthless piece of shit! You should have been a blow job!" she yelled loud enough to be heard over the advanced speakers that filled the room with HD sound. Luckily the walls to this room were soundproof, or Danny was sure that Sam's parents would be barging in here to scold the goth about her language.

It was already 1 am in the morning and Danny was getting more and more worried by the minute. Why hadn't Phantom called him by now? Why wasn't it safe to come home, let alone take off the vest? What was Phantom doing that he needed him out of his own house for the night?

"Ugh!" Sam yelled her frustration when her avatar was shot and killed, ending the game for both of them. She put her controller down and allowed herself to calm down from the peak of adrenaline. The scoreboard popped up to reveal that Sam was seconds away from beating her high score, while Danny's score was embarrassingly low compared to his own record high score.

Sam sighed, "well that sucks," she said as she stared at their pathetic results, wondering what they were supposed to do with themselves now. She was worried about Danny's behavior, he was acting very strange and quiet, but she decided she would wait for him to talk to her. Danny was strong and could fight his own battles, and she was the type of friend that only interfered if he either came to her directly or if he was literally about to crash and burn. He didn't seem to be the latter, so all she could do was be patient and approachable.

"Let's watch a dumb horror movie so we can make fun of the bad actors and poorly executed plot twists," Danny said, knowing that a few fake boobs and screaming blonds would cheer him right up. he would rather get his mind off of what was going on with Phantom and attempt to have some fun with Sam. Ever since he had gotten used to having Phantom's cool and comforting body in his bed, he hadn't spent many nights over at Sam's or Tucker's. He was definitely ready to take the chance to make up for the lost time.

"No wonder we're friends," the goth said with amusement as she picked up her remote control and changed the settings to Netflix, searching for the absolute worst rated horror movie they could find. 3 Headed Shark was what they agreed on, and three minutes into the movie, the 2 of them were already laughing their asses off.