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fangirlwriting-stories · 2 days

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Growth Can Suck

Summary: No One Knows AU, Valerie and Danny have an important talk.

...

Valerie feels a lot better now that Danny’s actually told her what’s going on. She doesn’t want to push him, but keeping it in was clearly getting to be too much, and now she actually knows that talking about Phantom with him isn’t a good idea, and she knows to stop.

And she wasn’t kidding about reevaluating her stance on Phantom. She’s been angrier at him than any other ghost for a long time, and that might not be fair. She gets to school a little early the next day to do some research in the library, and according to the news reports she finds, Phantom is responsible for less injuries and less property damage than any other ghost. There are plenty of trustworthy sources talking about times he’s saved people, too. She does need to do some rethinking of things, it would seem.

But she’s going to leave Danny out of it. He doesn’t need more of that from her, and he’s asked her not to.

And he does seem a little bit better in the following days. He smiles more, even if they’re smaller. And he seems less tense than he had been lately. (Valerie still can’t believe he thought she wouldn’t notice.)

Friday morning, however, he’s tense again. When she picks him up to fly them both to school he’s quiet, and she can tell from the look on his face that he’s thinking about something.

“Hey, you okay?” she asks as they land a little ways away from the school. “You’re quiet today.”

Danny looks at her, and instead of answering her question, says, “Can we leave school for lunch? I need to talk to you about something important.”

Valerie nods. “Sure,” she says. “Meet me out here when lunch starts?”

Danny smiles just a little and nods in agreement.

Valerie tries to spend the rest of the morning feeling good about the fact that he wants to talk to her instead of keeping it in, but he looked nervous, and she couldn’t tell what was bothering him this time.

She does manage to put her mind off of it for a bit, however, when she’s approached out of nowhere by Sam and Tucker in between one of her classes.

“Hey Valerie,” Sam says, pushing herself up in Valerie’s face. “Can we talk to you for a second?”

Valerie glances between Sam, who is clearly the one who had this idea, and Tucker, who’s staring at the ground.

Valerie gives it a moment of consideration, glances between them both one more time, and says, “No.” Then she closes her locker and starts down the hallway.

“Wh- hey!” Sam calls after her. “It’s important!”

“I know all about what you consider important,” Valerie says, turning around and walking just closely enough so that no one else in the hallway has to hear. “And I’m not in the mood to talk about it today. See you around. Or not.”

And with that, she turns and walks away, and this time ignores Sam calling after her.

What could they possibly have to talk to her about, anyway? Have they just finally noticed Danny doesn’t want to spend time with them anymore, and they think she’s the reason why?

Well, either way, Valerie’s not giving them the time of day. They don’t have any chance of good faith with her anymore.

Lunch seems to take forever to get there, especially since she knows something’s going to happen during it, but it arrives eventually. She heads out to their meeting spot, not finding it nearly as difficult to dodge all the teachers as it would have been before she started ghost hunting. Danny’s already waiting there when she arrives.

“Hey, she says, pulling out her suit. “You ready?”

Danny pulls out his bandana and nods.

They end up on top of a building, one far enough away from downtown that they won’t be noticed for sitting there, but close enough to the school that they can get back in time.

As soon as they get there, Danny hops off the board and starts pacing back and forth on the roof, instantly banishing any doubt about whether or not he’s nervous about this.

Valerie puts her board away and doesn’t say anything, opting to stand there. She trusts he’ll tell her eventually, he just looks like he needs some time to psyche himself up first.

Finally, he takes a deep breath and turns to face her. “Okay,” he says, “so.”

“So?” Valerie says.

“I need to tell you something really important.”

“At this point I got that.”

Danny takes a deep breath, and then sits down, right in the middle of the roof. Valerie raises an eyebrow, but does the same, sitting across from him.

Danny grabs the straps of his backpack and clenches his fists until the knuckles turn white. “So I’ve kinda been lying to you,” he says.

Valerie nods. “Okay,” she says, trying not to attach a judgment to that yet.

“I didn’t want to tell you this because… well, the reason will be obvious. I mean at first, I didn’t want to tell you because I knew there’d be bad blood, even though I didn’t know the other stuff yet. And then once I found that out, it was kinda… well, that’s the obvious part.”

“Danny?” Valerie says. “You know you’re not making any sense, right?”

“I know, I know. Okay, just— there’s no easy way to put this. I’m Phantom.”

He looks at her like he expects a huge reaction. Valerie blinks.

“Danny, that’s not very funny,” she says, not sure what else to say.

“Trust me, I know.”

“Then why are you saying it?”

“Because it’s true,” Danny says, squeezing his backpack straps tighter.

“What are you— that’s not possible, Danny,” Valerie says, even though there’s a pinch of something in her chest that’s starting to react now.

Danny bites his lip, and takes his bag off and sets it down. Then, before Valerie can ask what he’s doing, a sudden white ring appears around his waist, and travels up to his head, until—

Valerie pushes herself back in a scramble, trying to make the person in front of her— ghost in front of her— Danny in front of her— process.

“You,” she says weakly. She has a slightly hysterical moment when she almost goes for her ghost weapons, but the look of anxiety on Phantom’s face stops her in her tracks.

The same white ring appears around Phantom’s waist, and after a second, he’s gone, and Danny’s standing there again.

“I kind of accidentally opened my parents’ portal on top of myself,” he says. “And it… killed me. Sort of.”

Valerie presses a hand over her mouth. “I think I’m gonna be sick,” she whispers.

“Please don’t do that,” Danny says. “It’s okay.”

Valerie stares at him. “Well obviously it’s not okay, Danny,” she says, slightly hysterical again.

Danny winces. “Yeah, it’s really not,” he mutters.

Valerie presses a hand to her forehead and tries to take a deep breath. She can’t think of a single thing right now that could have worse implications than Danny is Phantom.

And then Danny says, “I just, I decided I wanted to tell you after we left the protest the other day.”

Valerie looks up at him, eyes wide. “The— holy shit, Danny, why were you there?”

Danny looks down at his feet. “I told you,” he says, “I was helping Sam out.”

Yeah, Valerie is definitely going to be sick.

“You were right,” Danny continues quietly. “I wasn’t being fair to you by keeping everything from you. And, I know this isn’t what you meant, but it’s still true.”

“You weren’t being fair to me?” Valerie asks.

Danny nods, and looks up at her. “Yeah,” he says. “I can’t be mad at you for hunting me when you didn’t know.”

“Yes you can!”

“…Yeah, okay, I can,” Danny admits. “But I’m not.”

Valerie shakes her head in astonishment. “Why?”

“Well, I really did need to tell you, for one,” Danny says, looking away. “That’s part of it. And I think the other part of it… I really need to stop letting people hurt me. Because I do. Let them.”

He takes a deep breath, and turns to face Valerie again. “I’m sorry if I’m piling on,” he says. “But I think we need to break up.”

And Valerie does feel a little faint, learning so many awful things all at once. But she can’t be mad at him for wanting to get away from her.

God, she really can’t.

“I know ‘it’s not you, it’s me,’ is like, a thing people say to be shitty,” Danny continues. “But I really do mean it. I need to learn how to be Phantom without being surrounded by people who hate me. And that’s… I need to do that.”

Valerie nods. “Okay,” she whispers.

“Please don’t beat yourself up over this,” Danny says. “Some of it is on me.”

“Not all of it,” Valerie says. “Not most of it.”

Danny shrugs. “Agree to disagree, then. But I’ll be okay. And I want to figure something out with you eventually. I… want you in my life, in some way.” He looks down, his cheeks turning a little pink. “I like you a lot.”

“I like you a lot too,” Valerie whispers through the guilt swirling around in her chest.

Danny smiles up at her, not an ounce of anger in it, which she doesn’t understand.

“Hey,” he says. “I really do want to thank you. Being with you… it was really, really good. For the most part.”

Valerie laughs a little, still slightly hysteric. “Yeah.”

Danny reaches out a hand to her, and Valerie takes it. Danny pulls them both to their feet, and gives her one last sad smile. Then he leans forward and kisses her cheek.

“I’ll be seeing you,” he says. “Really.”

Then he turns, transforms into the ghost Valerie’s been hunting for months, and flies away.

…

Valerie’s dad is the first one who notices something is wrong, that night while eating dinner.

“Valerie,” he says, pausing Scalpels and Secrets. “What’s wrong? You’ve barely said a word to me all night, and you haven’t yelled at Stacy once.”

“It’s nothing, Dad,” Valerie says. “I… it’s nothing.”

“Valerie, I know you’re not trying to lie to me right now. Especially because you’re doing such a terrible job of it.”

Valerie laughs a little, and goes quiet again. Dad doesn’t start the show again, though, meaning he’s waiting for her to say something.

“Danny and I broke up,” Valerie ends up on.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Dad says. He sets his food aside. “Come here.”

Valerie sets her own food aside and all but throws herself into her father’s arms. Her dad pulls her close and rubs circles on her back.

“I’m so sorry, Valerie,” he says.

“No, Dad, I— you don’t understand,” Valerie says. She pulls back and wipes at her eyes. “I didn’t— I hurt him. I hurt him so bad.”

“Sometimes that happens, sweetheart,” Dad says. “It’s part of growing up. You make mistakes, and you learn from them.”

“No, Dad,” Valerie says, pushing herself back to standing, and starts pacing across the room. “You don’t understand. He— I didn’t— I didn’t want to hurt him.”

“I would be surprised if you did, Valerie,” Dad says. “Most good people don’t want to hurt other people.”

“I’m not that,” Valerie says. “I’m not a good person.”

“Valerie, don’t be silly.”

“I’m not,” Valerie insists. “You don’t understand, you don’t understand what I did, I—” she stops, and sits down in the middle of the living room floor.

“Valerie,” Dad says gently. “I’m gonna tell you something that really sucks, okay?”

Valerie blinks tearfully up at him.

“Sometimes, when you’re learning and growing, you hurt people. And sometimes it’s bad. It doesn’t mean you meant to, and it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. What’s important is how you react after you realize you’ve hurt someone.”

Valerie wipes her eyes and sniffs.

After Danny had messed up, he’d befriended her and spent time with her and, eventually, told her everything, knowing it might go catastrophically badly.

Danny had broken up with her and asked for space, so befriending him again probably isn’t an option— at least, not yet. And he already knows all of her secrets.

Valerie raises her gaze and finds her dad smiling gently down at her.

“I promise you, sweetheart,” he says. “You’re not a bad person. You’re growing up.”

Valerie wipes her eyes again. “Dad,” she says. “I… I need to tell you something. About the Red Huntress.”

…

At the end of it all, her dad is sitting in their recliner, looking like she’s taken ten years off his life.

“Alright,” he says, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “I’ll admit, I’m not thrilled to hear most of that.”

Valerie doesn’t say anything, knowing he’s not done.

“I don’t like knowing that you’ve been putting yourself in danger on purpose and not telling me,” he continues. “And I especially don’t like knowing that you’re spending time with this Vlad person. It doesn’t sound like he cares that you’re putting yourself in danger all the time.”

“I don’t know that he does,” Valerie mutters. “I think I’m done with him.”

“Good,” Dad says. “He doesn’t sound like a good person to be around.”

Valerie nods. She’s seen enough evidence of that at this point. She wonders, for the first time, how Thing 1 and Thing 2 got involved with him. Maybe she should try talking to them.

“But,” Dad says, and Valerie looks up at him again.

“I’m proud of how you’ve grown,” he says with a smile. “You’ve recognized your mistakes and you want to change them. And I’m so proud of how you’ve been trying to help and protect people. Every parent wants their child to be a good person like that. I’ll admit I’d prefer if you did it back on the ground—”

Valerie laughs a little.

“But I like your instincts, and I love where your heart is. I love you very much, Valerie.”

Valerie blinks a couple times, and stands up to wrap her arms around her dad. “I love you too, Dad,” she says.

They both stay there for a minute, and then Dad pulls back.

“Will you give me some time to adjust to this?” he asks. “And let me help you how I can?”

Valerie nods.

“Okay. Then I won’t take away your ghost weapons. If you really mean it about telling Vlad you’re done and taking a break.”

“I do,” Valerie says. “I need to take some time to think about things. And— I think I’m leaving things in good hands, with Phantom.”

Though the idea of leaving Danny to deal with everything alone isn’t one she likes. She’ll give him a week off when she comes back to make up for it.

“I think you are too,” Dad says. “If everything you’ve said about him is right.”

He has a look in his eyes, one that says he’s probably figured out the one part she didn’t tell him— Danny didn’t give her permission, after all. And since he still hasn’t, she replies with, “It is.”

And it’s true. She trusts Danny, after all.

“Alright,” Dad says with a nod. “Well— okay then.”

Valerie laughs a little. “You okay there?”

“I’m definitely going to need a bit to get used to this,” Dad says, and Valerie laughs again.

“Thanks for not freaking out too much though,” she says.

“Hey, it could just be a delayed reaction, we’ll see how it goes.”

Valerie grins at him. “Well, then how about we watch some TV as a stress reliever,” she says. “And can we start it over? I want to yell at Stacy with proper context.”

“You got it, sweetheart,” Dad says with a smile. And, after he rewinds the episode, he climbs out of the chair and sits down on the floor next to Valerie and wraps an arm around her shoulders to give her a squeeze. Valerie hugs him back, and they watch the episode while hugging each other.

#danny phantom #valerie gray #danny fenton #damon gray #gray ghost #no one knows au #my fic

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