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#danny just thinks it looks neat at first but then his haunted arm replies back with actual answers and explanations???
ew-selfish-art · 7 months
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DpxDc AU: Tim as a child was never given a lot of information regarding the scribbling messy handwriting that appeared over night all over his arms- naturally he came to his own conclusions.
Tim Drake was home entirely alone at 9 years old and was about to go out for the night to test his brand new long exposure camera lens when he sees the writing on his arm. It’s not English, like he assumed it was at first, but it was using the alphabet to represent… Tim isn’t bad at math but this formula is complex for his little genius brain.
Looking at his camera, he decides he can spare a moment to look it up, solve it, and get back out into old town Gotham in time for Batman and Robin’s final patrol lap. He does just that, finding the problem to relate to some aerospace engineering and then quickly deduces what laws and theorems need to be applied. He finds a pen, writes down his findings in much neater handwriting onto his arm, and goes out. It’s barely a remarkable night at all. He gets a much more memorable photo of Robin roundhouse kicking a hench person.
Things just continued on that way. Tim would find some complex math, physics or chemistry prompt on his arm (surrounded by various question marks or notes or sad faces)- he’d answer it as best he could and move on with his life. Perhaps his parents were manifesting these pop quizzes? Perhaps his subconscious felt guilty about abandoning his studies for more Bat related pursuits? Tim really didn’t care to think much about it once he became Robin- there was too much on his plate and too many peoples problems for him to fix.
Notably, however, after the attack at the Tower, the pop quiz appeared and Tim wrote back that he wouldn’t be able to find an answer to this one. It was the only time Tim questioned the markings appearance and it was because the next thing that appeared was “Hope you feel better soon.”
… his parents wouldn’t include that on a pop quiz. Cursed then. Tim decided it must be a curse, whatever, he’d deal with the implications later in life.
Tim then has the worst year of his life, hes 15, no longer Robin and the questions from his curse are getting less math oriented and more… philosophical. A lot of mentions of death that, in hindsight helped him actually grieve, and a lot of theories about dark matter and souls. Tim answers back as best he can but he’s drained and his answers aren’t very good in his opinion. He gets minimal feedback.
It all comes to a point that he’s at a family dinner, Bruce is at the head of the table, Jason has promised just to stay for dessert, Damian hasn’t thrown a single insult his way and Steph was laughing at him- when a new theoretical model appears on his arm.
“You’re just as bad as Bruce, Timberly. Hiding a soulmate from all of us, how fucking typical.” Jason points out, while watching Tim scribble back some math with a question mark onto his arm.
“A what? No, this is just a curse. I get pop quizzes every now and then.” Tim bats away Steph who rapidly approaches and began to analyze his arm (the rest of the family isn’t far behind).
“Drake. Explain how you came to this conclusion.” Damian seems more curious than anything, if his lack of insults was anything to go off of.
“Since I was young I’ve had at least weekly math check ins, I never had a parent or anyone else around so I assumed my parents had me cursed to ensure I stayed on top of my studies. Sometimes it’s physics or chemistry, for a while there it was a ton of philosophy and behavioral psychology.” He shrugs his shoulders.
“Master Tim, I believe the lack of adults in your life has led you towards a false conclusion. That is most certainly a soulmate mark. The individual to whom you are responding is undoubtedly your other half.” Alfred attempts to calm the room before explaining to Tim. Tim isnt sure if he believes the butler, though Alfred only very rarely lied, so he grabs the pen once more. He writes his first question back: “Who am I to you?”
The room waits in anticipation and within moments a brand new line appears on Tim’s arm and he is vindicated: “We do math together???”
——
The reason Danny is failing English is because his built in homework helper sucks ass at metaphors and has apparently never read any classic literature. The tutor on his arm is great at puzzles and math tho.
Danny gets a reply back one night that he wasn’t expecting (Who am I to you?) and he mentions it to Jazz. Who goes insane that Danny didn’t even question it and just went with “meh, probably haunted” as his explanation for the phenomenon for all these years.
Apparently, if Jazz was right, he had a soulmate who was uh, super fucking smart. That was an overwhelming thought.
The next day Danny is in crisis mode and writes back “Wait, WHAT AM I TO YOU??? Can I help on your homework??”
Danny gets vindicated when the writing on his arm presents a shit ton of dates and information for an unsolved Gotham cold case. See, Haunted.
———
Eventually between Danny becoming the top candidate for astrophysics at Wayne Enterprises and Tim Drake being outed as having contributed tips to the GCPD that solved cold cases- they meet and realize just how dumb they’ve been.
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burning-clutch · 3 years
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If A Ghost Howls In A Forest…
cross posted to a03: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30503925 Danny was hoping his time at a summer camp would be ghost-free, and well, of course not. When would things in his life ever NOT involve ghosts? At least he can hope to get some decent rest tonight, right? RIGHT? Warning: mild descriptions of death 
-.-.-.-.-
Prompt by: KC Summer Camps is not complete without a courage test of walking to the haunted woods at midnight. Amity Park campers are weirdly prepared for this. Other campers are not sure how to deal with that
-.-.-.-.-.-
“Why are we doing this?”
“It’s a sort of initiation type of thing.”
“But WHY?!”
“For the spooks?”
“I’ll get the lipstick…”
“Wait what?”
Danny sighed as he watched Tucker neander off back to their cabin to fetch the Fenton lipstick ray, ignoring the looks of confusion that was shot his way from the other campers that he didn’t know from school. Dash and Kwan had thankfully been, well, not assholes the WHOLE time they had been in the camp. Though to be fair, it had only been a day in this week long fun filled… whatever this was.
Apparently, while things seemed to start out well they were told around the evening campfire and cookout, (which was mostly just them poking hotdogs on sticks and trying not to burn themselves when they ate them,) they were told about a tradition about the new campers being lead up to spend a few hours on their first night on a midnight hike through the ‘haunted’ woods.
Danny was the first to groan hearing this followed by Tucker. Even Dash and Kwan looked unamused as well as the random soccer player that Danny vaguely recognized from school.
To say the councillors were confused by the amity park kids’ reactions would be selling the gambit of expression the councillors had. Teenagers being put in charge of slightly younger teenagers, yeah, nothing could go wrong here, nothing at all…
Tucker came back and tossed Danny a wrist ray while tucking the lipstick he had retrieved into his shirt pocket. A boy from some small farming town an hour’s drive from the camp shuddered. “Haunted Woods? How are you not worried about dark haunted woods? Ghosts are in there!” he exclaimed.
“Cuz it’s just ghosts right?” The Amity soccer player shrugged.
“Yeah, I mean the story they told us said that right? Those hikers that got hurt and died in the woods still haunt it to this day” Kwan supplied with a roll of his eyes. The jock wiggled his fingers doing a decent impression of the box ghost with an even more intimidating “OoooOOOoooOO”
“Yeah, unless they’re gonna be sporting some cool gore this will be lame,” Dash added with a yawn. “Pass.” Dash waved the councillor off before trying to turn and head off.
“Well, you don’t HAVE to go on the hike. But those who skip out will have to endure the punishment tomorrow. If you wanna peel hundreds of potatoes tomorrow morning at the ass crack of dawn you’re welcome to head back…. We’re also going to label you as a coward too so there’s that.”  One of the councillors says with a smug smile on their face.
“Has anyone ever seen anything like that?” A nervous looking twig of a boy asked, wringing his hands nervously.
“Oh I won’t say anything on that matter” The second councillor, Jeff says. At least Danny thinks he remembers the name as Jeff. He should probably learn that given this guy was in charge of the cabin he was staying in, “It’ll be better to leave it as a surprise.”
The first councillor, a jock looking guy, built like a brick house with thick shoulders and neck but a tiny waist and legs looking very much like he needed a few more rounds on leg day, eyed the Amity group with a look as though he were going to try to take scaring them as a challenge. Danny looked the guy over, raising a brow when their eyes locked.
Great, he and Tucker looked like an easy target. He knew that look all too well having spent plenty of time being bullied as well as with angry ghosts who underestimated him. More fun tonight will be had by all he was sure.
“Don’t worry We’ll make sure you’ll get some proper spooks.” the brick house says with what Danny assumed the other thought was an intimidating grin.
Dash snorted. “Fenton’s probably the only one who’ll get scared of the ghosts out there. He runs away from all of them back home.”
“Have you seen my parents? Get too close to a ghost and it picks up some contamination you know exactly what they’ll do!” Danny spat back with a glare of his own only barely managing to stop his eyes from glowing in his rapidly souring mood.
The other kids at the camp blink in confusion. “Wait… You guys are from that tourist town that goes way too far with the ghost theme right?” asked a pale kid with brown hair.
“Oh please, that’s just a gimmick” Answered another kid who crossed his arms in a huff.
“It’s not a gimmick dude, we even have our own superhero!” Kwan answered.
“Uh-huh. Well you’re superhero ain’t gonna save you from the ghosts out here”  Jeff shot back, crossing his arms. “Right, Tom?”
The brick house, Tom apparently nodded knowingly. “Yep, these ghosts are very dangerous and angry ya know..”
“So? It IS Monday,” Tucker offered flatly, earning a snort from the soccer player.
“Can we just… not do this?” A darker skinned nervous boy whined holding onto the arm of the brown haired kid reminding Danny of him and Tucker from two years ago before they got jaded from ghost attacks.
Kinda made him wonder what could have been…
“Nope we're going, so move,” Tom ordered taking up the place at the back of the line while Jeff took the place at the front.
Danny groaned. “Wonder if there will be any ghosts in there?” He wonders to tucker as they were all forced into a line for their ‘spooky’ hike.
“Maybe it’ll be one of Vlad’s abominations?” Tucker suggested.
“Honestly I wouldn't be surprised.” Danny sighed back with a frown. At least if it was a real ghost his ghost sense would alert him to the danger before they got too close.
They entered the treeline and started heading up a hill and towards the supposed site where the hikers had fallen and gotten trapped by a rock or something falling on them. Their legs were broken and crushed and stuck in place, they apparently died unable to get food or drink and unable to free themselves alone, and not able to scream loud enough for help. They still haunt this area… apparently.
Danny had to admit while the tragedy would be able to spawn a ghost but he also doubted there was one sentient around here if there was a ghost at all. He couldn’t sense very high ectoplasmic concentrations around here. Any ghosts that weren’t purely animalistic in nature wouldn’t last long out here without a boost of ecto-energy.
Which means if there was an animal ghost, that boost of energy could come from attacking humans or eating things as animals tend to do... Again attacking humans but instead of feasting on their emotions, well it’s just getting mauled.
More than anything it meant that if there was a malevolent ghost out there that they would have to be on their toes, and Tucker would have to run interference to make sure no one sees Phantom this far from Amity Park.
Well, at least none of the Amity park residents see Phantom this far from Amity.
As they walked up towards the crescent of the hill they noticed it was significantly colder, though it wasn’t a ghostly cold, at least those from Amity knew it wasn’t. The other kids though?
“Oh, man… Why is it so chilly?!” “You think that means the ghosts are close?” “No way man stop saying stupid stuff.”
“It’s probably the river,” Tucker said simply, pointing to the side where there was a winding stream just below the side of the hill. “The way the winds are blowing it’s cooling this area more.”
Danny smirked at his friend's explanation. It was a neat trick sure, but it wasn’t enough to scare the Amity kids. Frowning but not discouraged, the councillors led their troupe up and around towards a cave that was making a moaning noise every time the wind blew.
“They say this is where the hikers were killed, just at the mouth of this tunnel looking for shelter,” Tom says smirking, enjoying the shudders some of the younger teens were giving at the howls of the tunnel. “If you listen you can hear them screaming still.”
“The wind in the tunnel opening?” Kwan asked helpfully.
“No, it’s the howls of the damned.” Jeff encouraged
“And if you look close enough you can sometimes make out the glowing soul of their spirits,” Tom added ignoring the Amity jock.
“Oh neat! I didn’t know they had Panellus stipticus in this area!” The soccer jock said overly happily.
“Dude, when did you become a nerd.” Dash huffed out teasingly.
“I’m studying Bio to get into Uni for Mycology. Dude mushrooms are totally awesome.” Came the smug reply.
“You would know Kevin” Dash snapped back
“Moving on!” Tom called out before shooing the kids away. This was not going according to plan at all… Why are these Amity kids so prepared for this?! Well, hopefully, the next bit will get them…
As they round the cave towards a small rocky outcropping the councillors do their best to draw the younger teen’s attention towards the crevasse where there was supposedly still a shoe from one of the deceased hikers. “If y’all look hard enough you’ll find it I’m sure~,” Jeff told them.
Frowning the kids shined flashlights down into the ditch looking about before one kid called out, “I found a shoe!”
As they did several things happen at once. There was a roaring sound of pain before someone came bolting out of the woods with yellow and green glowing spots all over them. Tucker raised a brow but side-eyed Danny who shrugged.
The Amity kids watched in more confusion than fear as the ‘ghost’ ran out of the woods towards them and took a swipe at one of the youngest teens in their group. “So that’s your ghost? Lame.” Dash huffed out arms crossed. “It’s not even the right colours.” he added with a wave of his hand ignoring the screeching of some of the other kids who were clearly more startled by the ‘ghost’ than he was.
“So, can we go now?” Danny asked with a yawn as the ghost, or really one of the councillors with broken glow stick goo all over them came close to him with an ‘oooooOOOOoooo’
“You guys really didn’t even flinch?!” the ‘ghost complained.
“Oh hey, there you go now THAT looks more convincing.” Someone says just as Danny’s breath fogged a bit before his face.
The halfa looked to where his ghost sense had pointed him to see a big giant green drooling monster beast glaring at the humans towering over the majority of even the tallest in the group. “Yeah, that looks more like a ghost! How’d you do that?” The soccer player said, (Danny really needed to learn his name)
Tom and Jeff and the ‘ghost’ that was harassing Danny all yelp and take a few steps back while the non-Amity kids scrabble and scatter back the way they came.
“No he’s real,” Danny offers with a sigh of exasperation. “Here Cujo down!”
The beast barked and wagged its tail before shrinking down and giving a yip of delight before rushing over to Danny, legs never fully touching the ground as he flew over to the boy.
“Heel! Sit!” Danny calls out stopping the dog in its tracks before the beast could cover him in glowing green slobber.
Cujo did just that sitting practically on Danny’s feet and wiggling his tail so fast it made his butt jiggle back and forth in the effort. The teen sighed and scooped the wiggling beast up into his arms with little effort, mostly due to the fact that ghost dogs only weigh half of what their flesh and bone counterparts would.
“Figures Fent-freak would have a freaky ghost dog” Dash taunted crossing his arms though when Cujo growled, Dash’s smug smile fell.  
“Tha-That’s?” Jeff stammered out, pointing a shaking finger at the wiggling green bean in Danny’s hands.
“A typical Amity park ghost yeah,” Danny replied with a grin.  “So it's cool if we call this hike a night I’m kinda hoping to get some sleep, that’s kinda why I wanted to come here to catch up on that more than anything…” Danny admitted the last part a little quieter as he put Cujo back down.
The councillor nodded dumbly, moving back away from the teen and the ghost dog, looking as though he wanted nothing more than to bolt when Danny picked up a stick and threw it for Cujo to fetch.
“Awe man I think I stepped in Fen-turd’s dog’s invisible crap!” Dash complained as they all started moving back, Cujo yipping as he came back with the stick giving a snort at Dash before loyally following alongside Danny and phasing through trees as they walked.
Seeing this, Tom decided that it would be best if he hurried back to the cabins to get them ready for the new campers. Yes, That’s exactly what he’s doing…
“Dude you can’t seriously be thinking of keeping Cujo around here he’ll destroy the camp,” Tucker muttered to Danny watching the little pup chase its tail as he followed them.
“Eh, It’s not really fair to keep him in the thermos for the week. Besides I’m sure I can use this guy to get you that extra helping of bacon you wanted.” Danny bribed his friend.
Tucker’s eyes light up and he grins brightly “Cujo here boy! Come see the T-man!”
Danny rolled his eyes, but so long as that was the only ghost they encountered out here, he might actually have a decent week of sleep ahead of him.
He can only hope.
Besides, using Cujo as a threat to Dash sounded like as good a plan as any, and if the councillors were too scared to go near the ghost dog that they would let him sleep in, all the better for him.
Danny smirked, perhaps camp wouldn’t be so bad after all~
-.-.-.-.-.-
Complete Total:  2363
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tinalbion · 5 years
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You Are My Buddy
Dedicated to @slasher-piss because Danny has been the real hype man with me for the new Child’s Play~
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It all started when your sister jokingly bought you the doll, it was a prank gift if anything. She had always gotten you the oddest things for your birthday or any other holiday, so why stop at that? She had to one-up herself every year. When the Buddi doll had first launched, you just had to open your big mouth and say how cute it looked, so your sister kept that in mind. 
 It was a learning toy for kids, this was not an appropriate gift for a person in their 20s to receive, yet here you were, staring at the dingy box. She said she had gotten it at a super cheap price, she didn't say where though. It was over a year old. 
 "A serial killers house, no doubt," you scoffed as you opened the lid, pulling the large doll from its container. 
 She didn't press the matter because you could have been right for all she knew, but all she said was that it was a used one and the previous owner didn't really specify where it had come from. You looked at it with uncertainty, noticing the obvious scuff marks and disheveled red hair, but you only told yourself that it added character, and you also hoped you wouldn't catch anything from holding it. 
 "Its the size of a toddler, holy shit." 
 "Aren't they neat, though?" your sister asked with interest. "I figured it would be cool to have." 
 "No, you ran out of time for my birthday again, and decided to find the cheapest thing ever." She turned to look at you with a hint of frustration. "Uh, no, actually. I heard this doll used to be possessed or something like that, and I know you're into that dark shit. So there, you have a haunted doll, you're welcome." 
 "I swear to God, Mel, if it’s an Annabelle level haunting, I'm so gonna-" 
 The eyes flickered quickly, the bright flash of red almost blinding you as you stumbled back a little. You had plugged it into your phone as you spoke and didn't quite expect the response it had once it was hooked up. 
 "Hi," the doll greeted in a soft voice, its eyes scanning the room as it seemed...lost. "Where am I?" 
 You knew these things were able to be smart, but didn't it have to be downloaded to the cloud for that? You cleared your throat and smiled nervously. "Hi, you're in my apartment. My name is Y/N." 
 "Y/N?" it questioned. "Where is Andy?" You looked over at your sister with horror, completely unaware that it could store previous information even after its hard drive was wiped. 
"Uh, I'm sorry, there is no Andy here. Just me and my sister, Mel." 
 The doll turned to look over at your sister with a curious gaze and then back at you. "Oh," was all he replied. 
 "But don't worry, I'm going to be taking care of you from now on. What's your name?" If it had the previous owners name, maybe his name was stored, too. "My name is Chucky, do you like it?" A smile grew on the eerie dolls face as it looked at you as if it hoped you would accept it. 
 "Yeah, that's a great name." you smiled down at the doll as it glitched a bit, the speech skipping as it thought of the next sentence. 
 "Would you like to play?" 
 "Sure Chucky, we can play. What do you want to play?" You stood up from the couch and watched as the doll did the same. 
 "No one ever asked me what I wanted to play," he said thoughtfully and looked up at you with his illuminated blue eyes. "Can we play hide and seek? I'll count to ten and you go and hide!" 
 You scoffed internally at playing with a doll. How did you ever stop this low to the point of playing a game of hide and seek with a robot? 
Your sister snapped you out of your thoughts and smiled. "Go and hide, dumbass!" 
 "Dumbass," Chucky repeated.
You both looked at him with surprise. "Whoa, I didn't think those could cuss, they're not supposed to," Mel stated. 
 "Guess I got the cool one, huh?" You chuckled. "Alright, I'm going to hide, then."  
Chucky smiled as he covered his eyes with his small hands and began counting. After he had gotten to ten, he began to wander around the house and got a feel for his new home. He had thought about his past, well, the little fragments that were still there. He remembered Andy, but he also remembered losing him somehow. That nagging thought was still there in his head, the one that he was told to suppress. That's probably how he lost Andy, he thought. 
 When the doll roamed around a bedroom as he searched for you, he noticed a shoe sticking out from beneath the long curtains near the window. Chucky reached out and grabbed it, causing you to scream and let out a fit of laughter. 
 "I found you!" Chucky cheered, but then it was as if he suddenly became lost in thought. 
 You looked at him, completely puzzled by the behavior. Maybe your sister was right, maybe Chucky was possessed by something or someone. You knelt down and sat cross-legged beside him, and then you patted your lap. He took that gesture and sat down on your leg.
"Chucky, you're different from the other Buddi dolls. Were you thinking about something?" You wondered if your gut feeling was right or if you were just insane, and you were praying it was the latter. 
 Chucky turned his head to look up at you and gave a half smile. "I am unsure, there must be something wrong with my programming. I keep seeing...other people in my backup. Like memories." 
 You looked down at him and watched him as he spoke, then you were overwhelmed by the sadness and suddenly wrapped an arm around him. Chucky's gaze met yours and behind the artificial eyes, he seemed confused.
 "Whatever it is, I'll help ya, okay? You are my best buddy, now." 
 His eyes lit up. "Do you want me to sing the Buddy song?"
You couldn't help but chuckle at his enthusiasm. "Yeah, I'd like that."
I hope this was acceptable! 
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ecto-american · 5 years
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Like Father Like Daughter
Summary: "I don't wanna!" Maddie's heart stopped as her granddaughter's annoyed, narrowed eyes flashed a brilliant glowing green at her before the girl returned her attention back to the TV. "Sweetheart, what was that?"
Rating: K+
Inspiration: It's just a plot bunny I had for a while.
Pairings: JackxMaddie, JazzxOC, DannyxWhoever. I had a specific ship in mind, but I left it purposefully vague so you can picture him as being with whichever DP lady you'd like.
Warnings: Contains fanchild OCs for JazzxOC and DannyxWhoever
Other Notes: It’s originally on AO3, along with a second chapter that I’ll post at another time, but I wanna go ahead and just begin crossposting some stuff. I’m planning a companion piece of sorts to this so might as well spam it everywhere I can.
Other Notes: I'm not really all that good with kids. Dawn's age is just kind of vague, but she's not in school yet. Probably around 4ish? I think you start kindergarten at 5. But also to be specifically clear, Danny's wife in this fanfiction DOES know his secret.
Maddie heard the child making car noises to herself as she moved the toy car along the carpet. She smiled, glancing up from the invention she was tinkering with, a relatively harmless little gadget, just a new and improved version of a ghost detector, to see Dawn crawling a bit on her knees to reach another toy from the toy box in the living room. She opened the lid, reaching deep inside.
"What are you getting into, sunshine?" Maddie teasingly asked. The little girl glanced behind her to flash a grin at her grandmother, black hair sticking out every which way. This was despite the girl's mother having dropped her off earlier with her hair pulled back in a neat ponytail. She still had the ponytail, but her hair just seemed to want to constantly stand up on end in a permanent cow lick.
"Vroom vroom," she replied, and she held up a toy airplane that she had retrieved.
She sunk to her knees again, making soft engine noises to herself as she 'drove' the plane around on the floor. Maddie smiled, and she began to eagerly screw the last bit of the ghost gadget together before standing up. She moved to put it on a shelf, out of reach of curious little hands. The invention was essentially done anyway, just in need of some testing, which would wait. Maddie sat down on the floor.
Dawn's bright eyes lit up in excitement, and she eagerly made the plane take off, hurriedly crawling towards her grandmother. Maddie opened her arms and allowed for the girl to 'crash' into her in an explosion of giggles, happily settling in on her lap.
"Uh oh, crash landing," Maddie told her, and she picked up a fire truck. "Here comes the fire department to help!"
"Grandpa would help!" Dawn added, and she wiggled to grab another toy car, one Jack had made of the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle. Maddie smiled.
"Yup, grandpa would come to make sure ghosts didn't crash the plane," Maddie replied. Dawn wiggled out of her lap and onto the floor, reaching to grab another car to come assist with the plane crash. The home was pleasantly silent as the two played.
Wednesday mornings were a special time for Maddie, where she got to be alone with Dawn, and she cherished them. On Wednesday mornings, Maddie would never understand quite how it even began, Jack would go golfing with Vlad before picking up their youngest grandson from morning kindergarten, who would join them until the other grandsons trickled in from their various after school activities. The Fenton grandparents often had a full house until their children came to pick up the grandkids. Dawn wasn't due to be enrolled in school until next year, nor eligible for any activities just yet. Had he been home, the Jack would be on the floor with her and Dawn, playing with their only granddaughter and Danny's only child.
Maddie gave a small chuckle to herself at Jazz's brief jealousy when Danny and his wife found out that they were having a little girl. Jazz had five very energetic boys, and Maddie knew this energy had no limits first-handed. One of the best perks of working from home was the luxury of being able to spend a lot of quality time with her children growing up, and now, she got to watch her grandchildren grow up first hand. Well, Jazz's boys anyway.
"Mom, I'm just not sure," Danny had said defensively. He seemed uncomfortable with the idea Maddie had proposed.
"She wants to go back to work in the future, and we already keep the boys," Maddie replied with a frown. "Danny, it's not any problem to leave Dawn with us while you two work. We don't mind."
"It's not that," Danny was so hesitant. Her son was resting in his living room, laying down on the couch, a four month old Dawn sleeping happily on his chest while Maddie sat in the armchair nearby. "I-I-I, just, you know. It may not be safe for her. You and dad are so active in the lab, what if you accidentally spill something on her?"
Maddie tried to not take it too personally. She remembered life as a first time parent. Danny had already grown incredibly overprotective of his little girl. Even now, he kept a protective hand on Dawn's back to keep her in place, as if the infant was going to suddenly float away.
"We wash our hands religiously, and what would it matter anyway? She's human, even if, somehow, something got onto her, she'd be perfectly fine. Any and all chemicals and liquids and gadgets we have only target and harm ghosts," Maddie lightly argued. Danny flinched, and she noticed that Danny's hand gripped Dawn's onesie, anxiously. "Danny we'd never let her into the lab anyway, and we've been keeping everything down there anyway. You know how nosy the boys are. They get into everything."
"Uh...just...let me think about it. And we both have to talk about it, ya know?"
Maddie shook her head, giving a light eyeroll at the memory. Danny was so overprotective of Dawn. It was endearing, but honestly. She dreaded to see him when Dawn became a teenager. It had taken nearly two years, much convincing and a lot of promises before Danny and his wife caved, allowing Grandpa and Grandma Fenton to keep Dawn while her parents went to work during the day. It hurt a little that Danny seemed so hesitant to let his own parents keep Dawn, especially when there was not nearly as much of a fuss when the other side of Dawn's family got to see and keep her. Jack had assured her that Danny was just worried because they had such a dangerous profession, while Danny's in-laws had a much more relaxed job. Maddie had agreed, despite her heart and gut telling her it was something else.
She forced herself to put aside those thoughts as she noticed Dawn going to grab another toy from the box, this time a spaceship toy. The girl seemed to take intense fascination over it, and she sat down next to the toy box to intensely inspect the toy. It was a new addition to the toy box, Danny's when he was a kid, and Maddie gave a soft smile. She was definitely Danny's little girl.
From the couch, Maddie heard a familiar text tone. She reached out to grab her cellphone with her fingertips, pulling it closer to view the message that she was already so accustomed to getting. A message from Danny, on his lunch break, asking her how Dawn was doing. Could her son be more over-protective?
Sure enough, there it was. Hey mom, love you. How's Dawn? Maddie rolled her eyes, and she sent back the same old, same old text. Hey sweetie, Dawn's doing good. Love you too, have a good day.
She put her phone on the coffee table, glancing at Dawn.
"Your daddy's silly," she informed her, earning giggles from Dawn.
"Daddy fell out of a tree yesterday," Dawn told her. Maddie frowned. This never came up in conversation with Danny.
"Is he okay?" Dawn stared blankly at her. "Did Daddy get hurt?"
"No," she replied. "He missed the ground."
Maddie thought little of the statement. Dawn often said odd things. She brought it up to Jazz, who was quick to say that sometimes kids just said weird stuff that didn't make sense. Dawn's mother defended the words. Maddie had a few memories of Jazz and Danny saying odd things, as well as some of their childhood playmates, and so she brushed it off. Dawn had quite the active imagination as it stood.
She spoke often of a ghost that haunted their home, describing her as a white haired ghost that was Danny Phantom's cloned cousin. Whenever Maddie or Jack showed discomfort, Dawn was always quick to clarify that she was a good ghost, and that she played fun games with Dawn. There was also a ghost puppy that Dawn often spoke of that protected her when she felt scared by becoming a huge dog like Clifford the big red dog only he was green, as well as a giant white, fuzzy ghost with a really, really cold ice hand that often made it snow just for her. There was a pretty princess ghost that turned into a dragon that would take her and her dad on magical trips to really, really old timey-times and who let her be a princess for a day once, trying on her crown and letting her sit in the royal chair. Another fuzzy ghost, this time black that she couldn't quite understand, but who was always very sweet to her and let her pet him. Dawn often reported that he was soft, and while he had sharp claws, he had never cut her, not even on accident.
Danny and his wife insisted it was the overactive imagination, and the grandparents soon agreed. A very active, if odd, imagination. It worried Maddie that Dawn seemed to think so positively of ghosts.
"Why was he in a tree?" she asked. Dawn giggled.
"Hiding from Mommy!" Maddie let out a small chuckle herself. That sounded about right. She glanced at the clock. 11:20am.
"Crash Nebula will be on in ten minutes," Maddie told her. "If you'd like to watch it, you need to pick up the toys you played with today."
Dawn's nose scrunched up, lower lip sticking out in annoyance at the idea of cleaning up, the expression being almost an identical mirror to Danny when he was her age. She looked around at all the toys she had dragged out over the course of the morning.
"I don't wanna," she whined.
"Too bad," Maddie's voice became firm. "If you'd like to switch activities, you have to clean up from your last one."
"Can I do it after?" Her lower lip stuck out further, and Dawn's eyes grew sad. A puppy dog attack, and Maddie gave a small smile.
"Then it'll never get done," she replied, tone light. She was used to the age old game of dealing with kids, and she stood up. "I'm going to go to the lab to put my own activity away." Maddie gestured to the invention she had put on the shelf. "When I come back, I expect to see all the toys put away."
Maddie picked up her invention, and she went down into the lab, closing the door behind her to prevent Dawn from wandering down. She began to put away the tools she had brought upstairs with her, as well as the invention in a proper place. Maddie picked up an ecto-gun Jack had been working on earlier, examining it to see the progress. She'd love to bring it upstairs and show Dawn, but she knew Danny would lose his mind. He had been very insistent on Dawn staying out of the lab, her daughter-in-law too.
She'd never understand that. Jazz's boys came into the lab regularly, with Jack or Maddie supervising of course. The boys had even helped with simple invention tweaking and tinkering. The Fenton grandparents even had the absolute cutest photo that Danny, ironically, had taken of Jazz's oldest mimicking Jack exactly. Jack was working on the Specter Speeder, using a wrench to tighten a bolt, and his oldest grandson was using a plastic toy wrench on his toy Specter Speeder (again, another toy Jack had created for the grandkids).
Maddie was a bit heartbroken that Danny wanted to deny Dawn the precious gift of science, engineering and family ghost hunting secrets that she and Jack had to offer. Her daughter-in-law seemed conflicted, wanting Dawn to have the experiences but also heavily mirroring Danny's worries, incredibly concerned when Jack had initially brought up that he was going to get the simple blueprints together to begin a small ghost tracker building project with Dawn, just like he had with all of Jazz's boys. Nothing they hadn't done before with a grandchild. But it freaked the parents out.
She sighed. Maybe when Dawn was a bit older. Or maybe at the next family dinner, she'd bring it up to Danny. There was nothing in the lab for him to be afraid of Dawn getting. Everything down there effected ghosts, and only ghosts. Anything that would be harmful to a human, such as some of the chemicals and gasses needed for some of the more biological side of ghost hunting and testing, was always locked away under key in a cabinet. Always had, always was. No exceptions. It was a safety rule Jack and Maddie took seriously.
Hell, Danny himself grew up practically being an active participant in the lab. Yes, as he hit his teen years, some of the inventions began to target him. They were just glitches in the system, and they only ever targeted their son. Maybe he was afraid of a similar malfunction? But he was never in any true danger. The inventions, the lab, the OP center, it'd only harm ghosts. Danny knew this by heart.
Perhaps if she could get Dawn excited about it, Danny would cave. He did nearly anything and everything to make his special little sunshine happy. Maddie clearly remembered her son swearing up and down a storm as he struggled to put a background playground set of sorts together (with Ryuu, Jazz's husband, and Tucker's eventual help). Dawn was always so eager to play helper whenever Jack or Maddie needed a hand repairing the kitchen sink or the TV, an electronic toy or the Fenton RV. With her imagination focused on ghosts and the interest in repairing, she had the Fenton ghost hunting spirit in her. Maddie could just feel it.
The idea cheered her up, and Maddie finished tidying up before going upstairs to check on Dawn. She heard the TV playing, the familiar cartoon theme song playing. She entered the living room, frowning.
"Dawn," Maddie scolded, putting her hands on her hips. Dawn glanced over her shoulder at her grandmother in annoyance, scowling. "I thought I asked you to put away the toys before you began watching TV?"
"I don't wanna!" Maddie's heart stopped as her granddaughter's annoyed, narrowed eyes flashed a brilliant glowing green at her before the girl returned her attention back to the TV.
"Sweetheart, what was that?"
Dawn's head snapped towards her with wide, thankfully baby blue, eyes. Maddie wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her. She was getting a bit up there in age-no. No. She knew what she saw.
"What?" Dawn asked.
"Your eyes," Maddie said. Her entire demeanor shifted, and she was puzzled. Dawn looked guilty, as if she was caught stealing some of Jack's fudge (again).
"I'm watching Crash Nebula," was all Dawn said, and she turned her attention to the TV. Maddie shook herself out of her shock. Eye color change or not, Dawn still did not do as asked. Maddie strolled over to the TV, pressing the power button. Dawn's eyes grew wide. "Grandma!"
"Dawn, I asked you to pick up the toys ten minutes ago," Maddie reminded her. Dawn's eyes narrowed at her, giving an angry grumble. Maddie's heart skipped a beat as the girl's eyes flashed green again in her frustration. The look on her face was so familiar, but it wasn't an expression she ever remembered Danny giving her. It was eerily familiar yet not.
"I wanna watch Crash Nebula!" she argued. Maddie frowned.
"You may watch it after you clean up," she told her. Dawn's face scrunched up again, and her lower lip trembled. Maddie gave a soft sigh, anticipating the temper tantrum to follow.
As expected, the ghost hunter soon had an angry, tearful grandchild laying on the floor face down, screaming and crying. Maddie paid it no attention, simply sitting on the couch and waiting. Surprisingly, Jazz was the one almost infamous for her temper tantrums, and Maddie always found that letting it pass worked best. She sat back, watching Dawn cry and kick her legs angrily at the air. Her hands were clenched in fists, but she held them still as she bawled. Maddie squinted. Was...she glowing?
Dawn was. She had a faint glow to her, and Maddie sat up straighter, leaning in. Was it a glow, or was it just the lighting? She did have the curtains open wide to let in light. Maddie couldn't tell, and she stood up to walk over. Dawn had calmed down by now, and there was no glow, assuming one had been present to begin with. The girl simply laid on the ground now, sniffling unhappily.
"Are you finished?" Maddie asked. Dawn just nodded. "Are you ready to pick up your toys?" Dawn shook her head no. "Then I think it's time out time." Dawn's lower lip trembled, and more tears poured. Maddie used her hand to lightly nudge her into standing up, which Dawn did very slowly and reluctantly.
Maddie gestured to the small step stool in the corner that had been unceremoniously placed there years ago when the first grandchild temper tantrum had happened, and never removed. Dawn dragged herself over to it, and as soon as she sat down, she began to cry again. Maddie sighed sympathetically. She hated punishing any of the grandkids.
"I'm going to go get started on lunch," she told Dawn. Dawn sniffled, giving a nod. Maddie stole a glance as she went to the kitchen.
From her spot at the counter, she could see Dawn. The girl was sitting still, sniffling and beginning to get upset hiccups. Lunch was just going to be a simple sandwich and chips, and Maddie broke out the needed ingredients, keeping Dawn within eye and earshot. She tore her eyes away from Dawn for less than a second, to assure she was scraping jelly properly from the jar, but she froze when she saw...an empty step stool.
"Dawn?" Maddie called out, both as a warning but also initial panic beginning to set in.
"Yes?" her voice came from the living room. It sounded like she was still in the corner, but Maddie didn't see her.
"Dawn, where are you?"
"I'm sitting!"
Maddie frowned.
"I don't see you!"
"I'm sitting!" the voice was desperate and whining, louder and more insistent.
"Where are you sitting?" Maddie asked. She tried to keep her voice calm and level, but inside, she was angry and confused. Where was she?
"On the stool!" Dawn insisted.
Maddie's eyes scanned for any signs that Dawn had gotten up and moved. Her eyes drifted over to the couch and chair, and they went back to the stool. She jumped when she saw a familiar, teary-eyed girl sitting on the stool. She put her hand to her chest. Her heart was going crazy. Maddie knew for a fact that Dawn was not sitting in the stool a few moments ago.
"Honey, what happened?" Maddie tried to keep the accusatory tone out of her voice, and she did, but she knew she sounded a bit panicked.
"I didn't move!" Dawn cried out, lower lip trembling.
Dawn was never a liar. She was almost honest to a fault, and she had never, to Maddie's knowledge anyway, lied to her before. She was a good kid, a very sweet kid. Maddie didn't know what to believe. She knew she didn't see Dawn just a moment ago. She was almost afraid to leave Dawn alone in the living room again.
"Sunshine, why don't you come help me finish making lunch?" she asked. Dawn seemed to brighten up at the idea of leaving time out early.
"Okay!" she agreed, and the girl's sour mood seemed to lift.
Maddie kept a close eye on Dawn, but nothing else happened. As normal, lunch was served and ate. As normal, Dawn offered to help clean up. As normal, Maddie got the message that Jack had finished his golf game (having lost by a long shot but as normal, he had fun hanging out with his best friend and was on his way home soon with Dawn's cousin). It was too normal now, and Maddie couldn't help but wonder what happened in the living room.
After cleaning up from lunch, Dawn was finally willing to pick up and put away the toys.
"Do you want to watch Crash Nebula on Netflix now?" Maddie offered, and Dawn's eyes lit up, thankfully still blue.
"Yes please!" she chirped, and Maddie handed her the remote. She already knew how to work Netflix, and within moments, Dawn found the familiar icon of her favorite show and began an episode. Maddie smiled, leaning over to kiss her temple, earning a small giggle.
"Grandma's going to go get something from the lab real quick," Maddie spoke up. Dawn just nodded in response, already engrossed in her activity.
Maddie disappeared down into the lab, heart and head pounding anxiously as she tried to process what exactly happened. She knew Dawn was there. But then she wasn't. Of course, it would be logical to just assume that her granddaughter had gotten up and out of time out. Kids did that all the time. But to disappear from view and return as quickly and suddenly as she had...Maddie wasn't buying it.
She shook her head, picking up the detector she had been working on earlier, also plucking a few small tools before bringing it upstairs with her. Maddie didn't want to be blind to the obvious. Her granddaughter simply had discovered lying and was doing so to do. She couldn't get caught up in the nonsensical details.
Maddie returned to see her granddaughter in the exact same spot on the floor as she had left, eyes glued to the TV.
She settled into her seat, glancing at the clock. Jack would be home in less than a half hour or so. Maddie hummed lightly to herself, turning on the invention to begin testing. The display lit up, and it began to slowly load. Soon, the main menu popped up, and Maddie began to fiddle with the options and controls she had programmed. For now, she just wanted to assure that the controls worked at the basic level, that the options all showed up and that the settings could be adjusted, that the screens lit up and that the mapping system worked as needed.
She frowned as she noticed that it was detecting a nearby ghost, as indicated by the dark green outline that was designed to alert if a ghost was within a selected radius, the default being a ten foot. Was it glitching already? How could a ghost be nearby without her noticing?
Curiosity caused her to go into an option that gave the exact location of the ghost in question. The device should be able to scan a ghost and read their ectoplasmic signature, which would give the quick answers one would need if a ghost was nearby. Was it safe, how dangerous, who was it, etc.
Her heart froze, and she sat up straight as it told her a ghost was very, very close to her, barely three feet away. Which meant it was close to her granddaughter. It had to be a malfunction. It couldn't be within three feet of her without her noticing. Maddie went to check the information the device picked up on the supposed ghost.
Name: Unknown
Age: Unknown, est existence: 1wk
Pwr lvl: ERROR 412
Misc: ERROR 412
Maddie's breath caught in her throat. Error 412 simply meant that there was a lack of ectoplasmic sampling to get a proper reading. But with a ghost supposedly so close? She was on high alert, and she put her hand on her hip, where an ectogun was always there, just in case. As well as the Fenton lipstick. With one hand searching for the exact pinpointed location, she stared at it in disbelief as it told her that the ghost was two point six feet in front of her, sitting in the same spot as her granddaughter.
"Dawn?" Maddie spoke up, voice almost trembling a bit in worry. Dawn scowled, twisting to look at her, and for what felt like the hundredth time that day, Maddie's heart skipped a beat.
"What!?" came the cranky voice of her granddaughter, who was glaring at her with annoyed, bright green and glowing eyes. Maddie recognized the scowl. It was the same kind of scowl and glare she saw Phantom wear all the time towards her, and those eyes were a perfectly replica of his.
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