The relationship between Danny Van Zandt and Leia Chang is known as Deia (Danny/Leia), and was formed in Season 8 of Degrassi: The Next Generation and continued into Season 9.
Relationship History[]
Overview[]
The two had mutual crushes on each other and eventually began a relationship. They originally spent most of their time together, but by the end of their relationship, they had lost their spark due to the fact that they had nothing in common. Under the influence of Chantay Black's advice, Leia breaks up with him, so that he would inevitably come back to her. However, he pursues a relationship with Chantay instead, as he realized he had developed feelings for her.
Season 8[]
In Uptown Girl (1), the two meet through Mia, though Danny does not pay much attention to her.
In Uptown Girl (2), Leia tells Danny that Mia slept with Tom Blake to get her modeling job, which results in him breaking up with her. At the end of the episode, Danny and Leia can be seen looking at Mia in disgust while she is surrounded by her new friends.
In Bad Medicine, Danny sees Leia rejecting Derek's proposal to go on a date, and Derek asks Danny to try and set him up with her since they are friends. Danny and Leia are later sitting outside together, and she tells Danny that she needs to drink coffee to dance. He asks her about her performances, but she says that she dances every day for herself. Danny gets Leia to agree to go on a date with Derek on the condition that Danny would "save" her. Derek and Leia's date wasn't going well, and the conversation only picked up when they began to talk about Danny, which was the very moment Danny walked in to "save" Leia. Danny then decides to leave after Leia appeared to be having a good time.
Danny later talks to Sav about how he messed up by setting Derek up on a date with Leia, before he realized that he also had feelings for her. Danny wonders why Leia would like him since Derek is annoying, and Sav tells Danny to just tell Leia his feelings, though Danny says he couldn't do that to Derek. After school, Leia confronts Danny about why he didn't show, and Danny merely tells her that he was busy with football stuff. Leia tells him that she only said yes to the date with Derek because she thought that Danny would be there, but Danny says that it is done since Derek really likes her, which causes her to walk away from him.
Danny later watches Leia dancing alone in the gym, and Derek witnesses him watching Leia, realizing that Danny has feelings for her. Later in class, Derek tells Danny to go for Leia, which makes Danny happy. After the game, Leia and Danny talk, and she asks how Sav was, who had been beaten up by Riley; Danny tells her that he is tough for someone that used to collect stickers. Leia tells Danny that she doesn't want to date Derek, and the two begin to kiss, starting a relationship.
In Causing a Commotion, Danny leaves Sav and Anya alone because he has a movie date with Leia.
In Jane Says (1), Danny tries to get Leia to hang out with his friends because he wants them to know how awesome she is, even though past circumstances make it awkward between Mia, Leia, and Danny. Danny, Peter, and Sav arrange a sleepover with their girlfriends at Peter's loft, and to try and get out of it, Leia lies to Danny, saying that Sav has been trying to hit on her lately. Leia doesn't fit in well with Danny's friends, and during a game of Truth or Dare, she lies about knowing Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy. Peter can tell that she is lying and wants to look out for Danny, telling him to see if Leia can get them into a sold out concert to prove if she was being honest.
The next day, Danny asks Leia if she could get him and their friends into the show, and Leia assures Danny that she can. When they are unable to get into the concert, Peter and Sav help Danny realize that Leia lied to him about Fall Out Boy and Sav hitting on her. Peter and the rest head back to his house to watch Lost, saying Danny is invited, but not "Liar Leia." Leia and Danny head to The Dot where Leia apologizes to Danny for lying to him, saying she wanted Danny's friends to like her so that he would like her. Danny tells her that if they are going to stay together, she can't lie to him, and she promises to never lie to him again.
In Danger Zone, they went to the Black and White dance together, where they slow dance together.
Season 9[]
In Just Can't Get Enough, Leia is in the audience while the Studz audition for a spot to play in the Winter Beach Bash. After they finish their song, Danny steps from the stage, and him and Leia hug in the background.
In Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', Leia gives Danny a side hug after Sav has finished playing "The Anya Song" for Anya to win her back. The two leave together with Sav and Anya. Over a text message, Holly J. Sinclair. reveals that Leia asked her if she could bring Danny to babysitting. Jane Vaughn comments, "God forbid they spend two minutes apart", implying they are together most of the time.
In Beat It (1), Leia is sick of going to Studz's concerts for Danny, so she asks Anya if she can hang out with her instead.
In Waiting For a Girl Like You, Leia and Danny are sitting together at a picnic table with Sav and Anya. Danny isn't paying attention to his Matchmaker form because he's busy working on a standardized test. Leia tries and fails to make him laugh. Danny picks up his stuff and leaves them, and she watches him as he walks away.
Leia confides into Chantay Black that she thinks she is losing Danny because they have nothing in common, saying sometimes it is like she isn't even there. Chantay convinces Leia to break up with Danny "to show him who's boss" and so he'd see what's he's missing. Leia breaks it off with Danny, telling him she thinks they'd be better off as friends. However, Danny doesn't come back to her, and is interested in Chantay instead.
Timeline[]
- Start Up: Bad Medicine (810)
- Break Up: Waiting for a Girl Like You (909)
- Reason: Leia thought that Danny didn't like her anymore and broke up with him, taking Chantay's advice that Danny would come back and their relationship would be reignited.
Rival Relationships[]
Trivia[]
- In Jane Says (1), Leia lied to Danny by telling him that his best friend Sav Bhandari was hitting on her.
- Danny's close friend Peter Stone disliked Leia.
- Leia was previously friends with two of Danny's other girlfriends: Mia Jones and Chantay Black.
- They were both friends with Anya MacPherson.