#sam and tucker know the full truth. jazz as well | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual · 2 years

Note

The way I see the Dan thing is that CW saw many timelines where Danny slowly slips into bad habbits by loosing his integrity, not talking to Jazz, drifting from his family and other stuff. But he's too Bound to Rules to interfere directly so he engeneers a sacrificial timeline that lets him steer things to the better by influencing Danny, Jazz and Lancer. So he meddles to make Dan something Danny would strongly want to avoid becoming but could still defeat.

^^^

It’s something that’s only really occurred to me kinda recently. But yeah, Clockwork is probably more involved with Dan existing than we see.

I’ve mentioned it in tags, but a theory I have is that Clockwork more or less created Dan so that the Danny we follow ends up being, well, more heroic! I’m not saying the events that would lead up to Dan’s existence wouldn’t happen without interference, but it makes more sense if they only got that escalated because there WAS time shenanigans.

It’s been a bit since I’ve seen TUE, so I might get some details wrong, but. In basics—Dan (Dark Danny, but for sake of ease we’re calling him Dan) exists because of the following factors: he cheats on a Very Importanf Test; Lancer organizes a meeting with Maddie and Jack at, of all places, the Nasty Burger; Jazz, Sam, and Tucker are also there, I think to defend him?; there’s an explosion caused by sauce vat getting too hot; they literally all die, deader than Danny; Danny goes into Vlad’s custody; Danny convinces Vlad to take out his emotions or kill them down by taking out his ghost half (which is my best interpretation of how exactly they thought it would works-fun fact, this is probably why there’s so many theories and headcanons about ghosts feeling things more strongly in fanon, cause I honestly don’t know what else they expected would happen if they WEREN’T aiming to separate his ghost half); the ghost, now called Dan, kills off the human half, takes out VLAD’S ghost half, and absorbs it, not necessarily in that exact order but yeah; Dan devastates the world in a little under ten years.

Now, cheating on the CAT? Requires the answer sheet that Danny only gets because he’s fighting one of the villains Clockwork sent back. It could’ve happened anyways—but it didn’t. We don’t see how else he could have gotten them. We also don’t see how else that explosive vat gets that close to a heat source.

I don’t know WHY Lancer would choose a fast food chain restaurant. Maybe it’s because he wants to help and see if he can get Danny a retest, or help, or what have you, rather than, idk, expelled, and so meeting officially at school wouldn’t work. Point is, he chooses there. If I recall, I think that bit of exposition came from Vlad? Who wasn’t even THERE. And Danny? He’s used to lying. We can’t actually say if that’s the full truth. I’m not sure why Vlad wouldn’t be told the truth, later, even if Danny gave a different story to the police—or it’s close enough that Danny wouldn’t feel like bothering.

Keep in mind, all those major parts? Danny getting the answers, the meeting, the explosion? All happen. The only reason they don’t die is because Clockwork saves them.

An interesting thing is that Dan takes Danny’s place to ensure he cheats, to ensure this happens.

Which… why? Even if Danny now knows, thanks to inexplicably alive Vlad in the future, why is Dan so persistent that it HAS to go like this? To ensure he exists?

I think it’s cause THAT’S what happened the first time. Dan does what he does, knows who Clockwork is, recognizes the time medallions, because this is LITERALLY what happens. Dan believes he’s inevitable, that he’s in a stable time loop, because Clockwork was interfering the FIRST time. It’s possible that Dan, back when he was Danny, knew he became a villain. And maybe, in some timelines, he becomes a tragic hero. There’s a whole bunch of fanfic where this happens. Particularly crossovers. But in Dan’s, he decides to stop fighting it. Fighting it caused the mess, right? Might as WELL embrace it.

So he convinces Vlad, doesn’t tell him the whole truth, gets separated into parts, kills his human half, absorbs Vlad’s ghost half, and leaves Vlad alone. Because he knows that he meets Vlad in the future. And so he needs to be left alone, so that the loop continues. He knows he needs to develop that ability to warp into other versions of himself, so he does it. He knows he gets a ghostly wail—possibly already developed it, but lost it when he first got separated into a full ghost—eventually, so he’ll be patient. He knows he’ll get a round two, and better yet, he’s seen the script. He knows what to say, what to do, and knows what Danny is going to say and going to do.

And it all goes… pretty much according to plan. Even Danny getting the wail early can be brushed aside or accounted for—Dan might’ve forgotten, between all the murders and destruction, lost some ability when he lost his human half. Maybe it’s just a slight variation, but everything else is still happening.

The major difference? For Danny, Clockwork saved everyone.

For Dan, he didn’t.

It’s a story about timelines. We’ve seen alternate timelines, things effected by time travel, how even if it’s sucks there IS a way things are supposed to go. It’s entirely possible that Dan IS from a stable time loop. He might even have his OWN version of a Dan stuck in a thermos that Clockwork takes.

This explains Dan’s motives, more or less. These qualities, of being sure he’s a villain because he’s seen it, would also make him good at being a sort of… time enforcer? Danny did a couple of time travel stints, but didn’t seem to care much for it. Dan would understand necessary things might be unpleasant for a stable future.

But why would Clockwork even BOTHER? Because in Dan’s timeline, the timeline I propose above, then Clockwork is the whole REASON this happens. Heck, Dan might even be trying to destroy Earth, cause that would destroy the Ghost Zone, which would probably destroy Clockwork.

Simply put? Basically, your idea above, anon. Danny is a heroic character, but as much as fanon likes to push aside some of his… less desirable traits, some of which CAN be attributed to canon bad/weird writing as well as the time in came out at, Danny does have faults. He has flaws. And those can be pushed. Danny hears constantly that he was a villain, especially at the start. His grades suffer, his goals suffer, his relationships with EVERYONE suffer. That has to take a toll. There’s probably quite a few timelines where he turns bad all on his own. There’s probably even more where something or someone does take him out. There’s some where him never facing himself caused him to not develop more heroic qualities or abilities or something. Despite everything, he’s an optimist of sorts. It might not be perfect, but if he tries, it’ll work out for him, something that’s kinda developed and proven because he’s a protagonist in a kid’s cartoon. A true loss would effect him greatly.

Dan is the epitome of all the ways Danny’s stress would elevate any loss that shattered his optimist that he ended up with.

Danny is the epitome of having to LITERALLY face the worst version of yourself, and somehow both lose AND still win. He’s a hero who literally defeated himself at his worst and most powerful.

And that, THAT is the kind of hero Clockwork wants…. For whatever reason Clockwork wants a hero like that. We don’t even know if this is their ‘prime’ timeline. It’s just the one we see. This could very well be the ONLY timeline where Danny stays a full hero character. We do not know.

TLDR; I like Clockwork, but he’s a little sus and probably engineered Dan’s entire existence to the point that DAN HIMSELF is compliant in his own ruining of his younger self, and there’s now at least a split timeline between Timeline Where Clockwork Saved Danny’s Support Network and the timeline where he DIDN’T.

#danny phantom #ask me anything #I probably got a theory breaking detail wrong due to not wanting to rewatch the episode #so feel free to tear me to shreds #I can stitch it back together if I did lol #the ultimate enemy #clockwork #dan phantom

60 notes · View notes

five-rivers · 3 years

Text

Home

The building that housed Fentonworks had never been normal, no matter what neighbors and real estate agents might profess.

Things had happened there. Deaths. Wild twists of fate and shocking coincidences. People who lived there heard noises, saw things, felt things. Experienced sicknesses with no cause. Were cured of sicknesses without cause. Survived things that should have killed them.

It was a thin spot between worlds. Reality was a rippling membrane, frayed enough for things to shine through.

The construction of the neighborhood itself had been… strange. It happened much faster than it should have, as if there was a whole extra shift of workers on the project.

The townhouse that would one day become Fentonworks had stood out even in that mystery. Extra rooms, a basement deep enough to cause a nasty fight with regulators, features not approved by the architect.

It was a wonder they hadn’t hit any of the water lines or the sewage systems. A wonder- and an impossibility. So, the matter was ignored and dropped.

Then the next owners expanded that impossible basement, building another, secret basement and putting things in the walls- They were criminals, of course. It was expected for them to do illegal things. (Although exactly what they had done was… oddly uncertain.)

(Drugs, perhaps.)

Then, the lunatics. Then, the tiny cult that collapsed in on itself. Then the empty years, dozens of transient ghosts trying and failing to pass through, and the ghost hunters. So many ghost hunters, none of them particularly successful.

Then, the Fentons.

Then, little Jazz.

Then, little Danny.

Danny with wide eyes that saw too much.

And all the horrors that the Fentons could dream up, from living hotdogs to weapons that burned like stars and doors to places that should not be visited.

And this was Danny Fenton’s home.

The Manson estate was an odd case, even for Amity Park. Save for the basement, the entire building they lived in had been transplanted, brick and beam, from Germany.

Rich people were bizarre.

Even the Mansons couldn’t explain it. The man who had done it hadn’t been a Manson. The Mansons, who were relatively new money, all things considered, had purchased it from one of the man’s children. Anything to boost their prestige.

It was fancy, and it was old, a gothic and statuesque mansion worthy of its name. Still, it wasn’t quite fancy or old enough to merit the kind of expenditure moving it had to take.

Hence the rumors, squelched by the Mansons, that the place was haunted.

It wasn’t.

The rumors, however, were enough to get one Samantha Manson interested in the occult. Especially given how hard she saw her parents working to hide the rumors from her.

No. The mansion wasn’t haunted. For all it’s oddities and quirks – which only multiplied as the Mansons added more and more features to it – the building itself was mundane.

(The land it was built on might have been another story.)

And this was Sam Manson’s home.

The Foleys didn’t want to know what Tucker got up to in the attic, but liked to think that, with that one exception, their home was a nice one. It was on a nice street, in a nice neighborhood, just far enough away from Fentonworks to keep both sightings of the Ghost Assault Vehicle and resultant property damage and property taxes to a minimum. Within walking distance of the high school, a supermarket, and a park.

They kept the fridge and pantry stocked. Their food might not have always been healthy – red meat was an element of almost every meal – but it was always available and filling. They made an effort for the dietary restrictions of Tucker’s friends of course.

All the rooms were kept clean and neat. Even Tucker’s, by way of bribes. Everything was organized, everything had its place. Except, perhaps, for the stray shoe or piece of schoolwork.

But that attic.

It really hadn’t been anything, before Tucker asked if he could move his computer stuff up there. Just a storage space, one too difficult for either Angela or Maurice to climb up there often. They didn’t consider themselves old, but they couldn’t call themselves young either. Not with a son Tucker’s age.

Once Tucker had realized the attic was there, he had been fascinated. And, well, once he was old enough for them to not worry about him falling off the ladder, they let him go up.

Some days, it seemed, he didn’t come down.

Better than his faintly disturbing Ancient Egypt phase, where he kept bringing pictures of mummified corpses to the table. Or, worse, the werewolf phase.

And this was Tucker Foley’s home.

Amity Park had claimed the distinction of ‘most haunted town in America’ long before the Fentons opened their portal. In fact, that was the reason the Fentons had set up shop there, in the first place.

No haunted town was complete without at least one haunted house. Amity Park had several. Not to mention a haunted hospital, a selection of haunted schools, a haunted museum, a haunted pool, a haunted crosswalk, a haunted mall, a haunted football field… The list went on, essentially ad nauseum.

Of course, that list mostly consisted of places that became haunted after the Fentons built their portal. But even before then, some places offered their dubious charms to tourists.

Mostly gullible ones. More than half of the claims of hauntings before the portal opened were fraudulent in their entirety. These places quickly went broke and got abandoned when real ghosts started showing up.

One of these was the ominously named Raven House, which stood in the hills on the west edge of town.

The story the tourists of years gone by had been told was that a widower had lived out here, all by himself and that one day, he stopped coming to town, or paying his bills, or even getting his mail. When the mailbox at the end of the long driveway was full, the mailman decided to go check on the widower. What he found was a flock of ravens and a skeleton, entirely picked clean of flesh.

No such death had occurred there, nor in any part of Amity. No such person had ever lived in the house, either. The last owners, before the company that decided to market the house as haunted, were a couple with two children.

It wasn’t until months after the portal started up that it became haunted in truth.

“This place isn’t haunted,” said Danny, panning his flashlight over cobwebbed corners on the ceiling. “I don’t think it ever was.”

“That’s what, strike five?” asked Sam.

Danny shrugged. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Four, actually,” said Tucker. “We counted the hospital as inconclusive, since we don’t know if anyone was there before Spectra.”

Danny nodded. “It’s weird, though, isn’t it? That no one lives here, I mean. It looks like a perfectly nice house.”

“Décor’s a bit… eh. Trying to hard to be haunted,” said Tucker, poking a raven decal on the wallpaper.

“I like it,” said Sam. “Needs cleaning, though.”

“Hey,” said Tucker, “you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you? Because I’m pretty sure that’d be illegal.”

“It isn’t as if anyone else is using the place,” argued Sam. “It could be a great backup hideout, if we ever had to… you know.” She glanced at Danny. “Plus, we’d be doing them a favor, really, keeping things clean and lived in.”

“I think it’s an okay idea,” said Danny.

“Yeah, but you think lots of dumb things are good ideas. Like showing up at a party hosted by people who publicly humiliate you on a regular basis.”

Danny grumbled something about trauma responses that sounded like a direct quote from Jazz and something else about that incident being ages (aka weeks) ago. Then, he brightened.

“We could get one of the little ectoplasm generators to power everything,” he said. “Remember all that stuff we lifted from Skulker and Technus? We could actually use it. Study and test things without worrying about whether our parents will walk in. I mean, your attic is great, but still.”

“Plus, we can have actual lab safety protocols. No offense, Danny.”

“I am the one that half-died in a lab accident, so… None taken.”

Tucker rubbed his chin. “Alright. I suppose I can see the appeal… But if we have stuff that can trace back to us, we could get in serious trouble."

“We’ll be careful, then,” said Sam.

“Anything I take from Mom and Dad has plausible deniability. They’ll assume ghosts stole it.”

“We also need to clean if we’re being serious about this. And get a fridge. And figure out the pluming situation.”

“Fridge is on the list. We have to be careful about the outside, too. If this place is suddenly well maintained, people will notice.”

“Sure, but that isn’t something they’d call the cops over,” said Danny. “They’ll just assume new people are moving in. If anyone sees it at all. We’re pretty far away from anything. But pluming won’t be too hard. We just need to bring our own water. Like, toilets flush using physics. If you dump more water in, they’ll go, no electricity required.”

“How do you know that?”

“I can’t even tell you how many time Mom and Dad blew out all our breakers with stuff in the lab,” said Danny. “You pick up a few things.”

“Well,” said Tucker, swinging his flashlight over to examine a discolored spot on the ceiling. “Then… Home sweet home, I suppose.”

There was a house in the hills in the west hills of Amity Park.

And this was the home of two and a half humans and half a ghost.

#danny phantom #dannymay2021 #dannymay 2021 #dannymay #dannymay day 2: home

252 notes · View notes

pransesdp · 2 years

Note

2, 3, 11, and 12 for the latest meme?

2) What’s your favorite fic?

Ack, tbh I haven't really been too up-to-date on reading DP-related fics these days 😅... but I do remember this one fic about an AU-version of "The Ultimate Enemy" (where Sam ended up surviving) was an interesting story to read through from what I recall.

3) If you could canonically rewrite any episode, which would you chose?

Heh... weell there's actually a few that's always been on my mind for potential "rewrite" material (not counting "Phantom Planet" 'cause I mean, everyone does that lol). Here's the three that's been most on my mind atm:

-"Teacher of the Year" (S1) = Had a good premise going with Lancer getting more development + the videogame adventure aesthetics looking cool... but I really could've done without that random "Danny and Tuck act sexist to Sam outta nowhere" subplot :/. Like... weren't these three friends since like, 2nd grade? Why would they act so condescending about her playing games as they do (+especially knowing how Sam is, I doubt she would've let this slide if she's gonna keep hanging out with them)? It just felt so OOC & unnecessary to the story that I honestly think it'd be best to just scrap it (and instead replace it with like, a story of the trio just playing the games on equal terms without much conflict (except maybe getting more "casually" competitive or something for high score-purposes)? Idk-)

-"Urban Jungle" (S3) = While I do still enjoy this one alot based purely on entertainment-value (+all the cool aesthetics like Plant!Sam & Danny's new ice powers), a part of me does feel like it would've benefitted a lot more by being a full-on movie than a regular episode. More time to give the heroes some big stakes, character development, more intense fights (+Plant!Sam being more "active" of a threat), yknow all that jazz .3.

-"The Ultimate Enemy" (S2) = I know this is a fan-favorite by the fandom and all... buuuut yeah, I'm still not all that impressed by it tbh :p. Like, okay sure having that darker atmosphere and Danny's biggest "enemy" being the fear of growing up is a good idea in-theory... but, again how does it make sense for him to turn to Vlad when losing all his loved ones?? Like... you couldn't have just had Danny doing the "splitting-my-halves-apart" ritual himself out of his own personal guilt? Honestly I feel like that angle could've added more weight to the story + show how much Danny's ghostly side has become a core part of him than he realized (think of it like how Steven Universe became so drained/close to dying when his "Gem" side got taken out in the "Change Your Mind" special). Then I guess if you had to include Vlad, it'd be through this now-separated Phantom!Danny chasing him down for "revenge" and absorbing his powers, forming into the "Dark Danny" you see today. Or... idk, maybe thats just me lol.

11) Most underrated fic trope?

It pains me that I still have yet to see that many others exploring more of the family backgrounds for some of the characters outside of Danny... like, cmon especially with a case like the gloomy goth girl Sam growing up with preppy/controlling rich parents, it always made curious of how she must've coped with that growing up :c. Sam with those like Tucker as well since we only see his folks in snippets in the show, wonder what they must be up to?

12) Most overrated fic trope?

Idk if this is still a thing "regularly" by the current fandom but... could never really get the appeal of "dissection" fics tbh (let alone performed by his own parents ._.). Like, don't get me wrong I'm all for exploring a bit of "dark" themes here and there fanfic-wise but... really? Danny's folks? The same people who accepted their son wholeheartedly when he first revealed the truth in "Reality Trip"? Idk, just feels too OOC for me to see them doing such a thing to their own kid (ghost-researching jobs or not) .-.

#danny phantom #dphantom ask meme #katygorl #(*apologies for the late responses I had to do a bit of digging in terms of finding what my last few fave fics were lol*)#danny fenton #sam manson #danny's parents #tucker foley

23 notes · View notes

murphy-kitt · 3 years

Text

Birth / Creation - Day One

It was the creation of another life — if you could call death that. Although not fully dead, perhaps death would have sufficed as a better fate than being forced to watch his family grow older, Danny concluded.

At first, Danny hadn’t been too concerned when a majority of his year group started going from weedy fourteen year olds to progressively looking more adult-like, yet he’d remained pretty much the same. He could just be a late bloomer. It wasn’t the end of the world.

Nor could he voice his (definitely nonexistent) concerns to friends or family either, because if he did, that’d make them aware that he hadn’t changed a day since the accident. His parents would get involved, then doctors, and he couldn’t have them find out his secret like that and have the risk of being sent to the GIW.

As each day passed, the timer only counted down faster. There was only so much longer that he could remain like this.

And then his friends started to notice.

They’d been hanging out at the Nasty Burger, just lazing about (for once, there was a rare day when Danny didn’t have to deal with ghosts — a blessing).

“Dude, it’s been ages since we hung out like this, and I swear you haven’t changed a day since the last time.” Tucker remarked through a mouthful of burger, while Sam side-eyed him, violet eyes grazing him.

Danny almost spat out his lemonade.

“Well y’know, I’m just really busy all the time. Studying and everything.” He shrugged, dismissing the second park of Tucker’s comment.

“The failing grades don’t really add up with that lie, but then again, we can’t really expect the truth out of you anytime soon when everything is a lie.” countered Sam, her eyes full of hurt, “But he’s right. You don't look different at all since we last hung out, and that was what, nearly a year ago?”

The table was still. It really had been, hadn’t it?

Time flies when you’re half dead, possibly immortal, fighting ghosts and ruining all your social life. He thought sarcastically, trying to avoid the ever growing panic at Tucker’s observations.

Sam’s words hurt, but he could exactly deny them, could he?

When the portal accident, his powers had been new and scary and uncontrollable. All it would take was one slip up from a stray ectoblast fired out of his hands to seriously burn them. And he had been terrified.

He still was terrified. All the raw power at his fingertips that he could manifest within a split second and manipulate in different ways. Thank his lucky stars that he had control of it.

But that could seriously hurt his friends. And not even that, but what would they think? Betrayal at their friend for not telling them sooner? Disgust, at their friend for being such a ghostly freak? Fear? Would they be scared of him?

In his eyes, it was better to let them think he was a rebel and a liar. Because he didn’t want his friends to be scared of him. All of Amity Park already were, throwing insults at him, telling him to get lost or wishing he didn’t exist, and if his friends pledged the same, it’d throw the teenager over the edge.

Sometimes he wished he didn’t exist either, the freak he was.

“Well my dad was a late bloomer, so it’s nothing bad.” He shrugged. Dread sloshed in his chest, and Danny took another drink of his lemonade as Sam and Tucker considered.

Something was wrong. They’d begun to notice the concerns that the teenager had been clamming up. And it was only so long until his parents and Jazz noticed too.

“Danny.” A hand was placed on his shoulder, before flinching off and gently brushing his skin again. Sam stared at him, with worry in her eyes, obvious concern at his cold skin, but also just.. everything.

“I shouldn’t have made that remark that everything you say is a lie, that was too harsh. Even for me. Through all this, you’re still our friend and we’re here for you. Nothing will change that.” Her eyes fixated on his.

“If you ever want to tell us what’s up, we’re here, okay?” Tucker edged in.

“I don’t know what makes you think that you can’t tell us, but it must be something serious. If it’s affecting you this much, Danny, you need to tell us someday. This can’t stay like this forever, and I think you know that too.” Sam spoke haplessly.

“Maybe not now. Give you some time to know what you’re going to say. What if we hang out at my place next week, and you’ll be comfortable talking about it?” pointed out Tucker, gesturing to their surroundings. He probably thought by Danny’s panicked look he thought it was too public to be telling his secret.

“I hate forcing you to tell us Danny, but it’s gone on for too long, and it’s clearly having a toll on you.” sighed Sam, eyes full of empathy, “So, how about next week?”

“Yeah, sure. Pretty sure I’m free that week.”

“You’re not gonna bail on us for ‘studying’ at the last minute, are you?” Joked Tucker, gesturing quotation marks, trying to lighten the mood.

Sam rolled her eyes.

“And you never know, we might be able to help with whatever it is. It’d be nice to start hanging out again, too.”

God, it would be nice to just hang out like friends again. Just be a normal teenager with normal school work problems. But Danny’s lies webbed far beyond that.

“Okay. Hanging out sounds fun.” A fake smile plastered on Danny’s face, and he took a bite of his burger, lavishing in the taste, while throwing bittersweet glances to his friends when they weren’t looking.

As soon as the words tumbled out of Sam’s mouth, he knew the hang out wouldn’t be happening. Regret filled his stomach as Danny wrapped up the packaging for his burger and stood up, giving them one last goodbye.

Because unbeknownst to both, it was the last they’d ever receive.

—

Danny fidgeted awkwardly at the table as he watched his parents set out the dinner plates, and placed a pizza in the middle of the four of them.

“You’re back early, son!” Jack boomed happily, and his mom gave him a strange look. Danny shrunk down. He really had been absent from his life in the past year, hadn’t he?

Not that it would matter, soon enough.

Checking to make sure the pizza wasn’t green (he could still ingest the pizza even if it was infected with ectoplasm, but he didn’t want to give Jazz a heart attack), the teenager watched his three family members eat their food, with the same reflective feelings streaming over him like they had with Sam and Tucker at the Nasty Burger.

“Are you alright, Danny?” Jazz asked, placing her slice of pizza down.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”

“You seem quiet, is all.”

“I don’t know, I was just thinking how long it’s been since we’ve done a family night like this. Next thing you know we’ll be getting the photo album out and talking about nostalgic memories.” His voice went hoarse at the end, blue eyes pleading a silent message to his sister, hoping and praying that she’d encourage his idea.

Instead, it was Maddie.

“Oh sweetie, that’s a great idea!” His mom got up from her seat and went to one of the kitchen cupboards, fishing out a leather album, worn with age, filled with various photographs, old and new.

“My instant camera! I’d forgotten about this!” Exclaimed Maddie happily, as she brought out a small blue camera and set it on the table beside the album.

“We’ll check them after dinner.”

Dinner went on in silence, and Danny could find no words to bring himself to say, either. Right there, just on the tip of his tongue, threatened to spill. It could be so easy.

It’s only three words! I’m half ghost. I’m half ghost.

But since when was life easy since the portal accident?

Soon enough, the Fenton family had demolished their dinner, and went to settle down and sift through the photo album.

“Oh! Look at this one, both you kids dressed in your Halloween outfits!” Jack pointed to a photo at the beginning of the album, Maddie holding the book in her hands. Perched on the back of the sofa, Danny leaned over his parents shoulders.

Ironically, of all things, he’d been dressed as a ghost that Halloween, when he was about seven. His Dad had erupted into tears of joy when he’d learnt Danny wanted to dress as a ghost, and wanted to hand him a miniature inactive model of an ectogun to finish the look off. Jazz, in all her nine year old adult glory had insisted that seven year old him wasn’t responsible enough to hold an ectogun, so he’d taken a bright green glow stick that resembled ectoplasm instead.

“I’m glad you didn’t end up taking that prototype ectogun.” Jazz muttered, fingers brushing over the photo briefly.

“Seems like just yesterday, doesn’t it, Jack?” A mournful look flashed upon Maddie’s face, and she gave both her children quick glances before looking back down, “My babies have grown so fast..”

Well, I wouldn’t phrase it like that… Danny thought, while the realisation hit him. Growing up.

He wasn’t changing in the slightest. And it would stay like that. Days, weeks, months, years. He’d stay fourteen, while his family would grow older and leave him behind and eventually—

Die.

Cheeks growing damp with tears, Danny avoided Jazz’s concerned look in favour of looking back down at the photos album.

“Everything used to be so different. We all used to be so close, we could all tell each other anything. It’s just like Danny said — we’ve barely done a family night anymore. Especially since both of you are always ghost hunting 24/7 and Danny is…” Jazz trailed off, and three pairs of eyes faced Danny at once.

He felt himself squirm under their glances, and flinched lightly. It was true, he was barely around anymore, mainly from ghost hunting consuming his time, or just in general avoiding them in paranoia of his secret being found out.

“Can we just not talk about this right now?” Danny murmured.

They complied, and Maddie turned the page.

“Tucker and Sam!” exclaimed his Mom, glancing at the picture of his two friends, both facing the camera begrudgingly, the aftermath of a meat fight argument. Danny was the one to take the picture, just before the Lunch Lady had attacked and he’d been in his first ghost fight. Just before their friendship began to break.

“How are they doing, Danny? We don’t hear much of them nowadays, haven’t seen them in a while.” said Jack.

“I saw them today at the Nasty Burger. We’re planning on hanging out at Tucker’s next week, it’s been a while since we’ve just.. chilled together.” The lie whistled through his teeth.

“That’s brilliant Danny!” Jazz gleamed, eyes shining, “I’m glad everything is beginning to get back on the mend for you, especially since this last year has been so… wobbly for you.”

“Thanks Jazz.” He nodded, sitting on the back of the sofa, “It’s time I started fixing things.”

And by fixing, he meant leaving. Creating a new life for himself that quite frankly, Danny was clueless about still. It was only so long until his parents actually caught him, and he couldn’t let them live with the guilt of their actions. Or the opposite, they rejected him. And then followed by the dissection.

“The HAZMAT! I forgot about that! What happened to it?” Suddenly, Jack exclaimed out loud, pointing to a photo, a photo that gave Danny a bucketful of dread when he glanced at it.

Him, standing in the lab, kitted out in a shiny new white and black jumpsuit, wide grin on his face, the portal gaping in the background, foreshadowing events to come.

“It went missing after Danny fixed the portal, didn’t it?” Maddie asked, glancing up at her son.

“Yeah, after the lab accident. I took it off and just never found it again.” He shrugged, digging his fingernails into his left hand fiercely, phantom lightning bolts of pain running through his arm and chest.

“You okay, Danny?” Asked Jazz.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Just don’t like thinking about the accident, that's all.”

“You just said it was a small shock, I didn’t think it was that bad that you avoid thinking or talking about it.”

“It was! That’s all! Just a small shock, nothing more, nothing less.” He gritted his teeth,

“Danny, is this— has this been why you’ve been acting so differently the last year? The accident? Please don’t tell me you’ve been lying about how bad it was. Hiding all that trauma, and I don’t doubt you were injured by it.”

“Sweetie, is it true? Is this why you’ve been acting like this? Because our portal did something awful to you?” Maddie trembled, guilt seeping in her voice.

Oh no. No. Danny edged off the sofa, pacing a few steps back, considering.

“I—“ He tried to lie, but he didn’t have the heart to, not with the deep worry in their voices. “It’s true.”

Breathing quickening, Jazz placed a hand on his shoulder, her teal eyes attempting to comfort him.

“Take your time Danny. You’ve been holding this for a while. We’re all here for you, I promise.”

I’m half ghost. I’m half ghost.

Words pounded in his head, making it ache. Nothing came out.

“I can’t, I can’t do this!” Danny cried out, breaking out of Jazz’s hold and running for the door. He didn’t leave.

“Please son, just tell us. You don’t deserve to live like this.” Jack sniffled, his eyes glistening with unshed tears, “It must’ve injured you badly.”

“It didn’t injure me.” Danny shook his head frantically, as if it would shake his wild thoughts out of his head- I’m half ghost.

His blue eyes ravaged into each family member for the last few meagre seconds. There was no choice. He had to tell them.

“What did it do?” questioned Jazz, trying to control her shaky breathing. His mother and father looked on from the sofa, faces filled with guilt and concern.

He feasted on any last images he might have of his family, then closed his eyes. He didn’t— he didn’t want to see their expressions.

“It killed me.”

He flickered invisible, not waiting to hear or see their reactions, and teleported out.

When he opened his eyes again, the galaxy sky radiated above him, and distant cries echoed into the city night.

—

I’m sorry I hurt Danno :(

This is later than what I’d like to publish it, I’ve been to a wedding for the past two days and the place didn’t have any signal so I couldn’t get online at all. Already prewritten day two, I’m pretty excited for that one!

Murphy

#going angst week 2021 #danny phantom #angst #no one knows au #creation

87 notes · View notes

avaritia-apotheosis · 3 years

Text

Phantom Children [DP x Batman Crossover]

Or: Once upon a time, Talia al Ghul gave her first child away to a family that would keep him safe. But Danny Fenton is more like his parents than anyone realized, and Ra's al Ghul is very curious of his grandson who defied death till the very end.

Posted onto ao3 but i also wanna share this here <3 Giving a huge disclaimer that it's been a while since I watched DP and the only Batman/DC stuff I've interacted with are B:TAS, the JL cartoons, and what I got from fandom osmosis so don't expect any sort of canon compliance.

CW for non-explicit mentions of a car accident and fake character death

| AO3 | [Prologue] | 1 |

------------

DANIEL JAMES FENTON WAS DEAD. Or, at least, dead-er, though only very few people would know of that fact.

His body was found at the bottom of a cliff, under a particularly sharp turn on a very windy road. The car he had been driving crumpled like an assignment found at the bottom of a backpack that was two weeks due. He is found by a search party two days after he had been reported missing; the authorities ended up identifying him from his driver’s license, tucked away safe in his back pocket.

His funeral is a closed casket, attended by his family who grieves and two best friends who are vehemently in denial of it all. People from school came, too. By twos and threes, small groups coming too offer their condolences and say such empty platitudes of how he lightened up the room and was always there to make everyone laugh.

Here is one truth they say: Casper High will never be the same without him.

(It’s funny, isn’t it? For a school so enamored with ghosts, they rarely spared a thought for death.)

In the days after the funeral, Jack and Maddie Fenton will pour their souls over their research with renewed fervor. Heads hunched over jargon-filled papers. Mugs half-empty with black coffee microwaved for the nth time. Before, they viewed their hell-damned portal as a scientific marvel, a new era in the world of paranormal sciences. One to be measured and experimented on and scienced to exhaustion, until the mystery of ghost and everything associated with it can be explained by theorems and equations and diagrams.

Now, though. Now they look at the green depths with a glint of madness in their eyes. Surely not all ghosts are just ectoplasm with a conscience. Surely at least some of those ghosts might have been different—alive.

All those myths of traversing the realm of the dead had to come from somewhere, right?

Sam and Tucker think along the same lines, except unlike the Fentons they know much more about the secrets of the Ghost Zone. Danny Fenton was dead. But he was already dead, and it seemed too ludicrous—even for someone with Danny’s luck—to die twice. They search what they can of the Zone, call in favors from any of Danny’s ghostly contacts that they can reach to find him. Hell, they even worked with Vlad.

Jazz handles the news best.

No.

That’s a lie.

Her baby brother died and there is no way that anyone would take that news well. But she has to. Where Danny was the heart, she was the family’s pillar. The one that knows how to keep a level head, the one that kept their family full of eccentric geniuses and more-than-human children grounded in some sense of normalcy. She would drag her parents out of their lab and teach them how to cope. Coach them through their stages of grief because Danny wouldn’t have wanted this.

And Jazz was right. Danny didn’t want this. Any of this.

His friends and family are balancing on the knife’s edge and they don’t know. They have no clue.

“Daniel, you will exhaust yourself for tomorrow.”

Danny blinked, tilting his head towards the speaker, eyes glued to the multiple monitors that hung on the wall. “You promised me an hour. I still have ten minutes left.”

“And tomorrow’s training will be more rigorous than the last—but it is your choice, I suppose.” Strong, slender fingers trace the width of his shoulders. Thumbs circling the spot between his shoulder blades. “They will still be there tomorrow. And the day after that. And for many more days to come, I assure you.” Danny snorted. “But if you are not well rested, then there I can’t guarantee the same thing for you.”

Danny leaned away from her touch with a grimace. “You can’t kill what’s already dead, Talia. And besides,” he looked up at her, eyes glowing like the Lazarus pit, “you wouldn’t leave your son to die for very long, yeah?”

Talia al Ghul smiled.

Danny looked away, focusing his gaze back to the live feed of his parents being dragged out of the lab by Jazz. Their faces haggard and empty except for that manic glint in their eyes.

He missed them. Missed them so much.

But Daniel James Fenton is dead.

And forcefully torn out of his husk is Daniel al Ghul.

#danny phantom #batman #danny phantom x batman crossover #dp fanfiction #al Ghul! danny #because the lazarus pit reminded me too much of the ghost zone and because the concept sounds fucking cool that's why #also wayne! danny #because again. cool factor. and i wanted to contrive a way for them to meet without making the fentons assholes or killing dannys friends #and family #phantom children.txt

65 notes · View notes

dannyphantom-justiceleauge · 3 years

Note

I'm glad you agree with Dani having wind powers. I have been thinking about the other halfa's and their powers and why they have them. Vlad is fire, which is volatile and hurts others but it can also keep people warm (perhaps there is hope for him in another universe) and is something often used in human invention and Vlad is very smart. Danny is his opposite, Ice. Unlike fire, ice could be used to subdue his enemies without hurting them (1/2)

(2/2) However Ice is also be sharp and dangerous (he can be mean sometimes) and it is cold, which could maybe represent how alone he feels. It could also be tied into his love for space as space is cold. If Jazz was a ghost, I think she would have water powers, since it's like a melted version of her brothers ice (lol). She is cool and collected and prefers to talk things out and understand rather than fight. She can also be rather overbearing sometimes, like an ocean. Sorry if this is long.

~ ~ ~

it’s interesting to think what the various halfa’s elements would be. makes me think of the into the spiderverse au. i like the idea that jazz would be water. it suits her. cool and collected, even sometimes associated with healing. but equally capable of devastation if used for violence. since psychology is her thing, i’d also draw a comparison to that. it’s used to help and heal, but when used by people like spectra it can be the most damaging attack possible. it can destroy people on a level deeper than physical. i’d likewise suggest that jazz would be the one to figure out bloodbending as a concept for this world, but would proceed to avoid using it. if she ever has a dark dan version of herself, i could see Black Jasmine being far more terrifying than him. when jazz goes bad, she’d go really bad

though in terms of what would push her to that point, it think it’d probably be more difficult and less difficult than what happened to danny. she is all about control and discipline. she’d use denial and psychology to manage for as long as possible. that is if it’s something that no one could have predicted or stopped. an accident. but if say it was a failure on the school or societies part... if say a case of bullying landed danny trapped in a locker during a ghost attack, unable to escape, and he died because of an attack that she was involved in. if he died with her not even aware that he was feet from her and in danger...

well i could see her losing herself in her guilt and anger at the world. he could have been saved. if he wasn’t being bullied, if the teachers had done something, if the ghost hadn’t attacked, if she had known he was there. like i said dark jazz is scary.

that aside, i also want all potential halfas to have elements associated with them now. we’re all pretty much agreed that tucker is electric type, due to his love of technology, but also his impulsiveness. electricity can do a lot of damage when not controlled properly and we’ve seen tucker on more than one occasion struggle with control. he’s overconfident and surprisingly reckless at times. when he’s in his element he’s fantastic but he’s been known to abuse power when he has it. i think that would be his main conflict as tucker ghouly, controlling his powers and using them responsibly.

sam would be representative of the element wood. which is associated with flexibility, durability, and strong emotions. because she’s our resident plant girl. she is willful and passionate but also stubborn and demanding. she demands the most of herself but also others, she wants everyone to thrive but sometimes forgets what’s best for her isn’t what’s best for other. her conflict might end up being empathy, because while she has it in spades, she doesn’t always know how to use it, if that makes sense. she tends to take things as a personal attack on her and her veiws when people disagree with her, which can be pretty dangerous, especially when people absolutely have reasons for their own opinions. she needs to learn to listen to others, if she’s going to be a proper hero

that would leave the final element, metal to val. metal is the most stubborn and inflexible of the elements. she’s strong and disciplined, unyielding in her attacks and views. but as we know that’s for better or worse. she really difficult to convince she’s wrong. she’d probably end up being one of the strongest out of them, she’d figure out the most ways to use her powers and how to shape metal to her advantage. i’m actually struck by the fun idea of val using her metal powers to make jewelry and running a small business selling it. this val would still manage to create a body armor and probably be better at maintaining anonymity with her ghost activity. though i also see her as overworking herself. she tries to do everything and ends up failing classes, alienating her friends, and too exhausted to think straight..she became a ghost before she was friends with danny, so i like the idea of them ending up friends, probably during the flour baby episode, and danny being the one to finally convince her to chill out and manage her health better. full human danny, is still all about helping people and is probably more stable and viably smart when he has time to do his homework. he’d probably offer to help her study and manage her business when too busy, and just having someone to lean on means everything to val.

until of course, plasimius kills jack fenton, and danny goes down the path of seeking vengeance and fighting ghosts. i actually don’t thing they’d know each others hunter identities at first, so they’d initially be fighting for real. danny is almost as stubborn as val. (ice is also inflexable until given the time to melt. and cold and harsh and deadly when angry). i see the green hunter being the most dangerous thing val has faced so far because danny is unrelenting. once she figures out who she’s fighting (i see her giving fenton a necklace of a star when he’s human and hunter losing the necklace during a fight and val discovering it and initially thinking it was stolen but figuring out the truth throughout the episode) fighting someone innocent, who’s justified, but still wrong, she’d be forced to learn to be more flexible and understanding, just to convince danny to stop. because let’s be real, she agrees with danny. plasmius killed his father, if she were in his shoes, he’d do the same thing, but she needs him to understand that she’s not the bad guy. not all ghosts are bad.

she’d also need to learn to be more flexible just to fight vlad/plasmius. because he is manipulative and her straight foward way of thinking and fighting would get her in trouble with him. i could see him framing her for a lot. he’d also be hanging around danny as vlad and manipulating danny that way. she’d essentially be fighting 2 different people who turn out to be the same person. vlad, the billionaire friend of the fentons who’s inserting himself into the grieving family’s lives and encouraging danny to fight vigilante justice. and plasmiaus the op ghost who literally murders people who get in his way. vlad would absolutely do everything he can to keep up the facade of innocent human. leaving all the damage to his ghost half. and val would struggle to prove that he’s evil.

that was a bit of a tangent, anyway. all of the halfa’s having elements associated with them and eventually having an ultimate team up in a universe that brings them together to fight something or another. a team up of the elements. vlad being there and joining the team up as still a villain who the team is suspicious of, but who they need to win. perhaps pariah dark escapes again but this time the mech isn’t available. and danny isn’t strong enough to face him alone. so parallel dimension team up. actually maybe not main danny’s universe. maybe it’s one of the other universes that can’t manage pariah dark on their own. possibly val’s again? if jack’s dead they don’t have a mech. might even be able to incorporate maddie inventing parallel-dimensional summoning in her attempts to bring jack back. bonus points if it’s vlad who’s funding this, knowing full well anyone summon would be unstable and turn to goo soon after arriving.

can you tell i love the into the dannyverse au? this was fun - Hestia

@nastyburger @guardianrex @five-rivers @ibelieveinahappilyeverafter @enigmaris

#Danny Phantom #dpjl #hestiawrites

189 notes · View notes

lexosaurus · 3 years

Text

I Love You

My fic for day 5 of DP Side Hoes Week (yes I’m a day behind).

Character: Jazz Theme: Hospital

This oneshot exists within my Everything Was White fic series [ao3]. You do NOT have to be following Everything Was White to understand this fic, this one exists as a prequel in the timeline and I give enough context in the text for anyone to be able to understand it.

Okay, enjoy!

---

Jazz sat on the armchair, her gaze blank. Hazy. She hadn’t moved since she sat down some time ago. Time moved without reason, and she wasn’t sure how long it had been. Her back hurt and her lips were chapped, but she hardly noticed her discomfort.

The only thing that mattered was the person laying on the bed before her.

The person she hardly recognized.

Four weeks. That’s how long he had been missing from their lives, that’s how long the Guys in White had him. Twenty-eight days on the dot.

She could never forget his eyes as he was dragged out the door. They were wild, desperately staring down their parents who were both pinned down by government agents with guns trained to their heads. He screamed, struggling against his captures.

But it wasn’t enough.

Because in the end, he was thrown in the back of a white van. All while Jazz stood on the stairs doing nothing.

She should have freed him. She could have helped. But she was too weak.

Too weak.

Her eyes stung, and she wanted to cry. Break down. Sob. But she had already used up her stock of tears hours ago, when she finally saw him for the first time since he’d be transferred out of critical care.

He was frail, tiny. Nothing but skin and bones. His body was scarred, torn, encased in gauze and casts. Doctors fluttered about, talking in hushed tones as they analyzed her brother’s body. They tried not to show it, but Jazz knew they were baffled by him.

There was talk about his injuries. He hadn’t woken up yet, at least not completely, but Jazz was already told of the more...drastic injuries.

The Y scar on his chest.

The paralysis.

The starvation.

No one knew what the permanent effects were going to be. No one knew how he was going to fair once he woke up. But there was one thing they all knew for certain, a truth that none of the Fentons had said out loud yet:

Danny was not going to be the same anymore.

She crumbled, allowing her head to fall into her hands. Apparently, she still had more tears to give. A sob tore its way from her throat, pulling with it a wave of emotions that Jazz had just spent the last few hours desperately trying to repress.

She was tired. So, so tired. And yet, this nightmare refused to end.

“Danny, I—I’m so sorry.” Jazz’s voice was raw. The naked truth was hanging right there in front of her, the consequences of her complete failure.

She should have been there for him during the ghost fight. The one between him and Skulker that ultimately led to his revelation right there high in the skies in front of the entire town. She could have helped him.

She should have known the Guys in White would then come surround their house and take him.

She should have tried harder to find him and break him out of the government compound. They tried so hard, but they couldn’t find the stupid building.

She should have practiced her questions better in court. Maybe then the jury would have decided sooner. She could have gotten him released before he was hurt so bad.

“I’m sorry.”

He didn’t respond.

“I love you so much, Danny. I’m so sorry.”

He didn’t respond.

---

“You alright there, son?” Jack asked. He tried to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

It didn’t seem to matter. Jazz doubted Danny even heard their father’s question. She was honestly questioning if he even realized they were in the room.

His eyes wandered around the room as if he were still trying to take in the walls of the hospital. He woke up four days ago, and yet every day had been the same blank wandering gaze.

Jazz hoped it was just the pain medication the hospital was giving him. She desperately clung onto the belief that her brother would snap out of it one day and would come home and he would be back to normal.

Back to how he was before.

“Your mother and I are going to meet with the surgeon.” Jack put an arm around Maddie, pulling her into his side.

Her face was white, streaked with red as if she’d been crying recently, and the bags under her eyes had never been so pronounced. But Jazz couldn’t blame her. After all, she probably looked more or less the same.

“Stay with Danny, alright? We’ll come grab you after.”

“Sure, Dad,” Jazz said, putting on a smile she hoped was comforting.

Her mother muttered something that Jazz didn’t catch, and then both parents were gone.

And Jazz was alone. With Danny.

Again.

She turned back to face him. The doctors had said that he’d sustained significant brain damage, and they weren’t sure yet how much communication he would be able to do. He was too drugged up still, too out of it.

He couldn’t speak, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t understand her.

Or maybe that was her hopeful side talking again. She shouldn’t get her hopes up. She would only be hurt in the end.

“Hey, Danny,” Jazz tried. Her voice was thin. Dry. She tried to wet her lips and spoke again. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I hope you’re comfortable. If you were wondering, you broke your spine. I mean, I’m sure you already knew that but—” Her voice cracked. “—you know. That’s why you, um, might be uncomfortable right now. It’s the brace.”

He didn’t respond. He didn’t even look at her.

Just continued staring at the ceiling.

Jazz wondered if anything was going through his mind. If he had any questions. She would if she were Danny.

She tried to imagine the sort of things he would say. His voice, crackling through the throes of puberty, as he poked fun at her in that annoying way only a brother could accomplish. She tried to envision a world where he could still do that.

And she tried not to think about the fact that there was a good chance that she’d never hear his voice again.

“Your SCI was incomplete, you know. So there’s still a chance…” Jazz shook her head.

There she was getting hopeful again.

“Everyone really missed you, Danny. I—I really missed you.”

He blinked slowly. In her imagination, Jazz heard him say “I missed you too.”

“I love you.”

He didn’t respond.

---

“What band are we in the mood for today?” Jazz asked, scrolling through her playlist.

Danny was starting to come to. He seemed to be able to hold eye contact, albeit not for very long, and his minute facial expressions showed at least some understanding of what was happening around him.

Although, he still hadn’t spoken yet.

Jazz glanced brightly down at him. Now that she knew he was conscious of her presence, she couldn’t afford to show up at the hospital in sweats with her tear-stained face anymore. She had to be there for him. She had to be strong.

Maybe she had been too weak to help him before. Maybe back then, she had failed him.

But she would be damned if she wasn’t strong enough to help him now.

“What do you think? MCR? Blink-182?” she asked. “I got these band names from Sam, by the way. So if she lied to me about what music you listen to now, don’t blame me.”

Danny just stared at her with his owl-ish expression.

“Here, if you want, you can choose.” Jazz held her phone screen out in front of him, watching as his eyebrows scrunched up ever so slightly as he gazed up at the screen.

Jazz felt her smile falter for a split second before she pulled her phone away and straightened herself up on her chair.

She had to be strong.

“It’s okay, I’ll just choose one.” She tapped the screen and set her phone down.

The sound of over-compressed guitars filled the tiny bluetooth speaker on the windowsill, and Jazz beamed down at Danny, waiting for that tiny flicker of recognition to hit his face.

And, to her delight, some of the fog in his eyes momentarily lifted. He looked over to Jazz as if he were seeing her for the first time, the shock and disbelief seeping through the blank slate that was his expression.

Jazz was hardly able to keep the glee out of her voice. “You like it?”

His eyes flickered between Jazz and the bluetooth speaker. Back and forth again before settling back on the ceiling.

“Well, I’ll have to thank Sam for the recommendation later! She can’t wait to see you, you know. The doctors are only allowing family in your room right now, but maybe next week if you’re feeling up to it, Sam and Tucker can stop by. I don’t want to make any promises right now, but you never know.”

Danny’s eyes slowly traveled around the ceiling.

“Are you thirsty?” Jazz asked. “Hungry? Well, you’re probably not hungry. Doctors have been monitoring your nutrient intake a lot. I’m glad, too, because you have some color in your face again.”

His eyes shut, and a content smile twitched on his face.

Jazz couldn’t remember the last time he’d looked so peaceful.

“I love you, Danny.”

He didn’t respond.

---

Danny was home now. That should have been a good thing.

It should have been.

And it was. In so many ways, it was wonderful having him home again.

But in so many other ways, it wasn’t.

Jazz had been under some illusion that once he made it home, things would go back to normal. Sure, he would be in a wheelchair until his PT started, and he might not be able to turn into a ghost for a few weeks either, but her brother would be home.

Except, Danny never came home. Physically, he did. But mentally he was still trapped somewhere far away.

He was talking now at least. He’d started talking the week before he’d left the hospital. He wasn’t able to speak in full sentences, at least not without pausing, and he wasn’t able to really understand long sentences either, but this was a start.

Jazz wanted to hope that things would get better, but hope was a dangerous drug.

After all, even though he’d started speaking again, he still refused to talk about what happened to him. Anytime Jazz would try to bring the conversation up, he’d clam up and close off for the rest of the day.

And that hurt. It hurt so bad. She so desperately wanted to be there and support him, to help him talk through the trauma he’d experienced, but he just didn’t want to.

But that was okay. It had to be okay. She had to be strong.

She stood in front of his door, pausing only to compose herself before knocking.

He didn’t acknowledge her knock, but Jazz wasn’t expecting him too. He was trying to isolate himself, and Jazz wasn’t going to let him.

She’d already failed him once.

“Good morning, Danny!” Jazz bursted into the room, her voice chipper despite the fact that she hadn’t slept last night.

She doubted that Danny did either.

Danny was lying on top of his comforter, already dressed. Their mom must have gotten him situated before shutting herself down in the lab.

Their parents seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

“Come on, get up. I come bearing an activity!”

“Too early,” Danny grumbled.

Jazz ignored him, sauntering into the room brandishing a large, easy piece jigsaw puzzle she’d just ran out to buy that morning.

It was hard to find one for kids that wasn’t either a princess castle or a race car scene. Fortunately, the store had one on sale that had colorful, cartoon baby ghosts covering the image.

“Either you get up, or I drag you up. Either way, you’re doing this puzzle with me.”

“Puzzle?” Danny asked.

Jazz tried not to stare as he struggled upright, only swooping in to set his pillows upright behind him. “Yeah, puzzle.”

She set the box down in front of him, pulling off the lid and revealing the large pieces in front of him.

“That’s...so Boring.”

“Well, the doctors still want you avoiding screens for a little while longer. I figured this was better than staring at the wall.”

Danny eyed the box, his face impassive.

“Here, wait.” She went out into the hallway, grabbing a large piece of cardboard from the wall. “I brought something to make the puzzle on. Figured it would be easier than the mattress.”

“Okay.” He picked up one of the pieces, inspecting it slowly as if he couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

“So…” Jazz plopped herself down on the mattress next to Danny and put the cardboard over their laps. “What do you think we should do first?”

Danny gazed blankly down, his eyes trailing between the cardboard and the puzzle piece in his hand. He blinked, and then put the puzzle piece down on the cardboard.

“Okay, we can start with that one!” Jazz chirped.

“No…” Danny ran his hand through his hair. “No that’s not...need to sort.”

“Oh?” Jazz grabbed another piece from the box. “So what should I do with this one then?”

Danny gazed quizzically over at Jazz, grabbing the piece to inspect it. “Edge,” he finally said, setting the piece down on the opposite side of the board from the first piece.

“So we’re sorting the edge pieces from the regular pieces?”

Danny hummed, grabbing another piece from the box.

“Sounds like a good plan!”

They worked together in near silence after that, Jazz only stopping every so often when she could feel Danny’s attention slipping to ask him to help her sort a piece. It was almost cute how determined he was to complete the task correctly. It almost reminded Jazz of the quiet determination that would slip onto his features in the moments just before he transformed into Phantom.

Solving the puzzle was a whole different beast. If Jazz were honest, she wasn’t sure if they would have been able to finish in one sitting. Danny still tired far too rapidly throughout the day, and he still slept for more hours than he was awake.

But finally Danny snapped the last piece into place, completing their simple blob ghost picture.

“Nice job!” Jazz put her hand up for a high five.

Danny blinked, slowly processing the motion, before his brain caught up and he gave a little smirk, a tiny eye roll, but met Jazz’s hand all the same.

She put the cardboard with the now completed puzzle on the floor before sitting back against the fluffy pillows. Breathing out, she allowed herself to sink back into the cushions for just a moment.

She was so tired.

Her brain swirled, and she wanted to sink deeper into the darkness. But she couldn’t. She wasn’t allowed to.

“Are you asleep?” Danny asked.

“No.”

“Oh. Okay.”

A quiet trepidation settled over the pair. Jazz could feel the unspoken questions hanging in the air like forbidden fruit ripe for picking. But the apples were just out of reach, and she knew the branches wouldn’t sink lower until Danny was ready.

But he had to come home first. He would never be ready to tell her what happened until he finally came back to them. And Jazz didn’t know how long that would take.

“I love you,” Jazz said.

Danny didn’t respond.

---

Thanks for reading!

#danny phantom #dp side hoes week 2021 #everything was white #no beta!!#my writing #phicc #i'll probs go back like next week and actually edit this oneshot #but not rn during the event week

84 notes · View notes

aenxiome · 3 years

Text

Chapter 1: Our Hero the Zero

"You have to tell them," Oh not this again, "I'm sure they will understand" swallowing a sigh, I look up from my food to my best friends and brace for impact, "It's not like you're actually dead."

"If I went up to them and said that I have ghost powers, what do you think they will do? You've met my parents; they shoot first and ask questions later." Sam didn't look impressed, "Once they realize that it's you, they won't. They love you, Danny; your parents wouldn't hurt you." I look over to Tucker, looking for support, but he was too engrossed with his new PDA, 'Simone,' to catch my look.

"Just forget it," I tell them as we leave the cafeteria, "If it's that important to you guys, I'll think about it." Under my breath, I couldn't help muttering to myself, 'maybe in a thousand years.'

From there, we split ways, with each of us having a different elective. Being our resident techno-geek, Tucker has computer programing for this block, while Sam takes a botany course. As I go down the hall, I can't help but wonder why they don't understand the issue.

My parents, the town crazies, are ghost hunters.

What do they think they will do when they find out? Hug me and tell me that everything is going to be all right? If anything, that would bring about the end of my life.

Or is it my afterlife?

Anyway, they're more likely to put me in a cage and study me than anything else. Who knows what type of experiments they would come up with. If anything, it's best to stay quiet and stay out of their way.

My thoughts leave me as I get thrown shoulder-first into the side of a locker. "Well, look what we have here, little Fentina walking all alone. Where did your friends go? Did they finally realize that you're a loser and leave you?"

"Wow, Dash, so original how long did it take you to come up with that one?" He didn't answer, not even acknowledging my question, and continued to insult me. "I'm in a bad mood Fenton. You wanna know why? One of you nerds didn't make my notes. So, I got a 'D'" He jabs the failing assignment into my face, "and I'm going to take it out on you" He pushes me back into the lockers. He gives me a couple of sucker punches to the stomach when the warning bell rings. He looks to the clock and then back at me. "I'll get you later, Fenton," He yells at me while he sprints down the hallway to his next class.

I pull myself away from the lockers and head to my next class. I make it down to the next hall when the final bell rings. I continue on my way to the science hall while dodging the teachers handing out detention slips for running late. When I got to class, the teacher Ms. Tally was waiting for me at the door. "Your late again, Daniel," looking to her watch then back at me, "three minutes late, to be precise."

The thing about Ms. Tally is that you can never figure out if she is angry or not. She has a neutral deposition that makes determining her emotions impossible. There is no way to tell what she is going to do. For the moment, my fate is in her hands. She stares at me for a second, "Get to your seat Mr. Fenton" she says as she walks away, dismissing me. That was close. I was sure that I was going to get detention.

"Mr. Fenton," or second thought maybe I will, "Come back after school we need to talk."

Great, just great there goes my plans with Sam and Tucker.

"Pass up your star charts, and let us continue where we left off yesterday." Ms. Tally called out to everyone. Ms. Tally teaches my favorite subject, Astronomy. This is one of the few classes I have with none of the A-List crowd and the only class where I'm the only one from my year.

It is perfect.

It's a fresh start.

While in other classes, I'm a 'C' average student, in this one, I get to be myself and show what I know. I hope that by the end of the year, it will still be like that. This is my only chance to show that I'm not an idiot. Okay, well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration. I do pretty well in math and other sciences in general, but those classes usually come with help from my friends and others.

No one can say that I'm cheating or getting my results unfairly. In this class, everything that I know is all me.

Once the class has finished passing up the star charts, Ms. Tally talks about sunspots. It's fascinating, really. But all too soon, the hour ends, and the stress of school comes back full force when trying to stay out of Dash or the football team's sight and finish up the day. Finally, I make it to class right before the warning bell and the hour of torture begins.

After Astronomy, anything after feels like it is going on forever. Soon enough, I start to daydream, and the real world falls into the background as I think about exploring the stars. Every once in a while, I would come back down to earth and pay attention to something, but for the most part, my head was up in the clouds.

Eventually, the last bell of the day rings, signaling the end of the day. I gather my things and meet up with Sam and Tucker by my locker. "Danny, you ready?" Well, no time like the present, "Yeah, about that," I say apprehensive when Tucker talks over me in an accusing monotone voice, "you have detention again, don't you?" I couldn't help the hand going to my neck as I said meekly, "Sorry." Sam rolls her eyes, "Can't you just stay out of trouble for once?"

"Well, it's not like I'm trying to get in trouble," I tell her haughty "Yeah, Yeah, we know," They say together. "So, see you tomorrow then?" I ask "tomorrow," she said, agreeing. "Bye, Danny," they call as they walk out of the building.

I dredge down the halls back to the Astronomy classroom, wanting to get this conversation over with. But, once I got there, I knocked on the door, and Ms. Tally walks out with a stack of papers. "Follow me, Mr. Fenton," she orders as we go back to the same halls I had just gone through and then to the front of the building. We stopped once we got to the Office. Only about half of the staff was still there. The rest of them have already gone home for the day.

She has me sit in one of the chairs for a couple of minutes when she goes to the back of the office. When she comes back later, she beckons me forward. She has me trail behind her until we reach Mr. Lancer's office, My homeroom English teacher and Vice-principal.

She knocks twice before I hear the dreaded words, "Come in."

Mr. Lancers' office is a small but clean space and outdated. The carpet has seen better years as it has become discolored and has a bit of a smell. The back of the room is filled with filing cabinets looking ready to combust. In the center of the room is his desk with stacks of paper and an old box computer.

If His office is this bad, I have to wonder what that says about the rest of the school. "Have a seat, Daniel; we have much to discuss." I nod and sit in one of the chairs in front of the desk while Ms. Tally sits in the other. "Um, Mr. Lancer, what is it exactly that we are here to talk about?" He gives Ms. Tally a look, "You didn't tell him?" She shifts a little while Mr. Lancer lets out a loud sigh, "We are here to talk to you about your grades and attendance." This won't be good, "you have been tarty to class fifteen times in the past two weeks, and your grades in some classes completely contradict the rest. So what is going on, Daniel?"

I stare at my hands, trying to find something to say for myself, but all I could come up with was excuses. Finally, Ms. Tally startles me out of my thoughts when she suddenly asks, "What happened today? Being three minutes late to my class is abnormal for you." Mr. Lancer gives her a questioning glance, "Only by three minutes?"

"Yes, Daniel has never been more than a minute late to my class others have but never him; he is almost always punctual." Mr. Lancer silently passes her my class attendant's log. I didn't even have to read it to know what it says, fifteen minutes late here, thirty there, leaving class and never coming back, and other infractions filled that page. "Besides being late, Mr. Fenton also has a habit of falling asleep in class," he informs her.

They both look at me and ask again, "what's going on?" I didn't know what else to do, so I told them the only thing that I can the truth. I told them about the bullying, pushing me into lockers, taking my homework, the punching and jabs in the hallway, and the constant distracting conversations and lollygagging when the teachers' backs are turned.

Ms. Tally didn't say anything while Mr. Lancer looked sympathetic. Finally, after a moment of silence, Ms. Tally broke the quiet, "While that explains why you are always late to class, and we will be doing something about that don't you worry, it doesn't give any reason for the rest of the attendance issues, grades, or the sleeping in class. Is there anything else you want to let us in on?"

"It's complicated," I started before I found myself pausing. I can't tell them about the ghost fighting; that would never end well. So, I ended up telling an altered version of the truth. Sighing, I managed to say to them, "I'm just not getting enough sleep." Mr. Lancer cut me off before I was able to say anything else, "Why is that? What is keeping you up?" Giving him an annoyed look for him cutting me off and his impatiens. "Look, this is hard to talk about. No interruptions, please?"

I ask them, irritated once I get assurance from them both, I start up again.

"There is never a quiet moment at home my parents are either inventing all through the night or going in and out trying to catch ghosts." I sigh, then look at them wearily, Oh, Jazz is going to hate me for this, "being the son of a ghost hunter isn't fun; all of these ghosts that keep coming through keep bothering me. They are either trying to get to and from the Ghost portal or trying to get to Jazz and me to get back at our parents. We never get a break. Not even at school. That's why I keep disappearing all of the time. Jazz doesn't have it as bad since she is older, but as the youngest, it puts a target on me." I make eye contact with Mr. Lancer, trying to figure out if he believes me or not. By the end of my story, his face had paled, looking close to white, while Ms. Tally looks between us with disbelief etched into her face. She looks like she is trying to figure out where the end of the joke is. Once it became apparent that I am telling the truth, her jaw became slack, and she looked at me, her eyes blown wide.

I think I may have broken her.

"Oh, Huckleberry Finn," I hear him mutter, "That definitely explains some things." But then, he looks at me with a tired look in his eye, "and your grades?"

"That's actually pretty easy to understand," I say with a nervous chuckle, "In all honesty, I'm just really not good at liberal art subjects. Give me Science or Math anytime, but I would rather run a mile around the school than do English or history. But, don't me wrong, I do try; I just never really get them." Ms.Tally, who had finally gotten back her composure, looked at me with a single eyebrow raised. " I don't really get it myself, but ill try to explain, um," I run my fingers through my hair as I tink up an analogy, "It's like im doing a puzzle, but some pieces are missing. No matter how hard I try, the pieces that I have left just don't fit into place." I blush a little at my own confession," Does that make any sense?"

"It does actually," he says, "It's like that for many of us. Though it is usually math that causes the most trouble." He sends me a small smile as he turns around towards the filing cabinet. "Just keep trying, and in time the pieces will come together." then pulls out a couple of forms from a drawer, " if you are having so many issues with those classes, why didn't you ask to transfer out?"

"Those are the only classes I have with my friends, and if my schedule changed, there is no guarantee I'll get lunch break with them," I tell truthfully, starting to get worried about the papers he brought out. "Now that you know, can't you just make it so that I sit away from them, the A-list? I would do better, I promise, please don't take me out of class with my friends," I beg him.

Mr. Lancer looked to be thinking it over when Ms. Tally interrupted, "Is that why you don't have trouble in my class, is there no one of that," she pauses, trying to find the right word, "clique; during your period?"

I nod, agreeing with her statement, "The class is filled with people from the older years too, and nobody in there has to agree with my classmates A-list." Ms. Tally looked satisfied with my answer and let it go while Mr. Lancer looked ready to deliver his verdict.

"We will give it a try," he started holding his hand up in a stopping motion when I started thanking him, "I said we would give it a try, but if things continue as they are or get any worse, you will have to transfer to another class. Do you understand?"

I was nodding, readily agreeing.

"If that's all we have to talk about, may I go?" The teachers agreed when suddenly Mr. Lancer stopped me, "One more thing. Your sleeping problem, what do you plan to do about that?"

"Invest in some really good earplugs," I say, shrugging. Mr. Lancer starts humming a bit in thought while putting the forms back into his desk, "If that doesn't work, then we will be forced to pull you out of an elective and give you a study hall. We can't have you falling asleep throughout the day."

"I'll try harder, sir."

"Have a good day, Danny."

As soon as the words 'Good Day' were out of his mouth, I reached for the door and left. I spotted a clock on my way out of the school, and to my surprise, our talk didn't take any more than forty-five minutes. Once I was out, I walked for a good ten minutes or so, hoping to make it to the Nasty Burger before Sam and Tucker decided to leave.

Once I got to the old dinner, I looked around for my friends, but I couldn't find them in our usual booth. So I looked around some more, hoping to see them sitting somewhere else, but the only familiar faces in there weren't friendly ones. I was just about to leave when I felt a chill going through my body and saw the mist spilling out of my mouth into my face.

I rushed into the bathroom and checked to make sure it was empty before entering a stall and whispered to myself, "guess it's time to die," and let my transformation take over.

My body became inverted, with my black hair becoming a startling white and my eyes going from a light blue to a toxic glowing green. My clothes left my body, and in their place was the hazmat suit from the portal accident.

I rushed out of the nasty Burger and looked around for any sign of danger when I heard off in the distance, "BEWARE, FOR I AM THE MASTER OF ALL THINGS CUBEICAL AND SQUARE!" Oh, for everything good in the world, why of all ghosts did it have to be him. I flew to the back of the restaurant and found him messing with a delivery driver.

I was sneaking up on him when the driver yelped and pointed in my direction, giving away my position. "Really," I say to the driver, "you just had to give me away" I threw my hands up in exasperation. It's going to be so much harder to catch him now. "Come on, Boxxy, do we have to do this again? I sent you back to the zone this morning." That's the thing about Boxxy, the Box Ghost. Despite not being much more than a nuisance, he is one of the most nerve-racking ghosts to catch. If I didn't know any better, I would think he has his own personal portal with how often he slips between dimensions.

Boxxy glowered at me while rushing up into my face, " I AM NOT BOXXY, I AM THE BOX GHOST" I cross my arms trying to make a point, "Isn't that what I just said, Boxxy?"

"BOX GHOST"

"Boxxy"

"BOX GHOST"

"Well, I say your Boxxy."

"BOX GHOST, B-O-X GHOST!"

I wave him off. "Well, come on, Boxxy, I don't have all day" He started chucking boxes at the driver and me while floating away while grumbling about name-calling. It took me half an hour to catch the nuisance, " Any last words, Boxxy" I ask him while pulling out the Fenton Thermos.

"I AM NOT BOXX-" he said while being pulled into the device.

Once he is secured, I retrace my steps, collect the boxes, and return them to the Nasty Burger. When I got there, the driver tried to explain what had happened earlier when I called out to one of the servers.

" Excuse me, but I believe these belong to you." I land in front of the server and gently put the boxes onto the ground. "Oh my gosh, I know you! Your inviso-bill!" I cringed a bit at the name, "The name is Phantom, Danny Phantom," being annoyed that after all these months that people were still messing up my name.

Their aww quickly changed to apologetic, "I'm sorry, Mr.Phantom, sir." I started laughing a little; it was not a giggle, no matter what anyone else claims. It was a laugh, a manly laugh. I couldn't help its escape. No one has ever called me sir before, "It's okay, just happy to help," I reassured. After they had all of their boxes, I flew away.

I started a patrol around the city looking for any malevolent ghost that had managed to get out while occasionally helping little old ladies across the street and saving the occasional cat out of a tree. It's nice to be able to help out even when ghosts aren't attacking. Also, it gives me more time to relax in my ghost form, which I don't get to do very often. Before I knew it, the sun was starting to set, and it was time to make my way home.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #jazz fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #mr lancer #oc character #fanfic #fanfiction #chapter 1

19 notes · View notes

arashikitten · 4 years

Text

Imagine an au where Danny doesn’t know that Valerie is the Red Huntress when he starts dating her. He has no clue that his gf spends half her time hunting him, and Valerie has no idea that her boyfriend spends half his time as Phantom. Both of them desperately want to tell the other, want to be able to trust each other with that information, but Valerie is afraid that Danny will get hurt by a malevolent ghost wanting to use him against her (she has no clue that Danny fights ghosts on the regular), and Danny is terrified that she will hate him for being the ghost that effectively ruined her life (she still rants about Phantom and how much she blames him for getting her father fired. Danny feels very guilty about the entire thing.)

Then, the Dan thing happens. Danny discovers that Valerie is the Red Huntress from her future self, and he is DEVASTATED. He had to witness his family and friends almost die, discovered that his human half is killed by a violent mixture of his ghost half and Plasmius in the future, discovered that he turns evil and kills EVERYONE in that same future, and on top of all that, his girlfriend is the Red Huntress. His girlfriend, who he adores and loves and who snorts when she laughs, who can judo flip Dash without a second thought (and has, on one occasion), who is smart and funny and sarcastic and listens to him when he starts ranting about the stars and space with genuine interest...

Is the same person who screams insults at him from her hoverboard as he flies over the town. The same person who hates Phantom with more burning passion than even his parents, who fires at him with the intent to destroy. And for some reason, that hurts him even more than when his parents fire at him, hurts even more than when he hears his parents talking about dissecting him “molecule by molecule” as he eats his dinner.

Meanwhile, Valerie begins to notice how stressed and nervous Danny is getting. Yeah, he’s a nervous person, but never on the level he is now. He’s always fidgeting, always looking for exits to a room or building, always alert and vigilant. He’s always on the verge of a panic attack, and whenever her... side job comes up in conversation, he flinches slightly and starts shaking. And whenever Valerie tries to help, tries to comfort him, he only gets worse, verging on a panic attack or hyperventilating. It starts to put a strain on their relationship, and neither of them know what to do.

Until one day, Danny breaks down and tells her. He’s been so nervous, so scared that once she knows the truth, that she’ll hate him for it, and the fear and suspense has been driving him insane, because what if she finds out? What if she tells everyone and they hate me for it? So Danny tells her, because all that he has is Sam, Tucker and Jazz (Vlad does not count and he never will), and that used to be all he needed, but ever since he found out about Dan and the CAT and how he killed so many people, too many in that timeline, (how he may as well have killed his own friends and family, it was his fault his fault-) he’s constantly been on the verge of a breakdown, and that tiny, almost nonexistent web of support just isn’t enough anymore.

So he tells her everything. He tells her about the portal, about how he turned it on, how the subsequent blast and shock killed him, but not completely. He tells her about him being a Halfa, about phantom. Tells her about his decision to become Phantom, to start fighting the ghosts that make their way into the human world to cause havoc, because no one else could or would do so without destroying them. Tells her about Pariah Dark, how the fight almost killed him.

He tells her about Dan, about that horrible, horrible future, and how terrifying it is, knowing that he could still turn into that horrible, twisted version of himself.

And at first, Valerie is PISSED. How could he, how could he lie to her like this, about something this massive? How could he lead her on, knowing full well that he was the reason that her father lost his job, that he was the reason the A-listers kicked her from their group. She’s about five seconds from pulling out her suit, or her ecto-gun, and firing at him...

When she pauses. Because right now, Danny doesn’t look like the cocky, confident, annoying half ghost that Valerie has come to despise. No, right now, Danny looks like a normal kid who has to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders and then some, who has to deal with being hated by ghosts for being human and hated by humans for being a ghost, who has to deal with the knowledge that one wrong move could turn him into a monster capable of destroying the planet.

Has to live with the fear of his parents discovering who he is, what he is, and hating him for it.

And Valerie has done the same thing, except this was arguably worse, because how many times had Danny gone out of his way to save her at his own expense? How many times has Danny been hurt, badly hurt, by one of her own weapons?

And she sees Danny shaking, looking at her with wide, scared blue eyes, and they look so much like Phantoms, and Valerie realizes that behind all the death puns and bravado, Danny is a scared, traumatized highschool kid, who got dealt a heavy hand, and now has to deal with just about everyone he knows and cares about either fearing him or attempting to kill him.

So she leans down and hugs him, even as he starts crying, because it’s so much, too much, to know that Valerie doesn’t hate him, that she at least doesn’t completely hate him. And they’re both apologizing through their tears, Danny for what happened with her dad and Cujo and lying to her, and Valerie for the whole Red Huntress/trying to kill him as Phantom thing.

They stay like that for a long time.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #danny and valerie should’ve been endgame #gray ghost #valerie gray #danny phantom angst #mostly angst #but there’s also some fluff #i love this pairing #i will die with this ship #kinda like danny #ayyyyy #pls forgive me

900 notes · View notes

aedelia · 3 years

Text

Burnt Bacon and Bright Stars

Truce present for @grimgrinningghoul !

Danny has had a lot on his mind since he got his powers. Even more so since he dealt with Spectra. He decides to trust his family and finds that some things never change. AO3 | FF.net

Burnt Bacon and Bright Stars

Danny was stretched out on his favorite starry blue blanket while looking up at the night sky. His father was next to him on a big blanket the same color as Mars and talking about ghosts. His voice was big and bounced off the shiny walls as he waved his arms around. Danny liked how his dad talked with his hands and tonight, he’d used his hands to point out Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. To Danny, his father was like Ursa Major, large and bright, and he was Ursa Minor, smaller but still just like him.

“And when the Ops Center is complete, those ghosts won’t be able to hide anymore! This baby will have the most advanced ectoplasm sensing satellites scanning for traces all over the northern hemisphere!”

Danny looked up at his father and wistfully said, “I wanna be a ghost someday. Then I can go to space and fly to the moon.” He rolled over on his side, propped his chin on his hand, and his elbow on the floor. His dad rolled over and mirrored Danny’s position.

“Oh Danny-boy, you don’t want to be a ghost. Ghosts are scary and want to hurt people.”

“Nuh-uh, I would be a good ghost and not be scary. I would even make sure to do all of my chores and help old ladies with their groceries!”

Daddy said, “But Danny-boy, Mommy and Daddy hunt ghosts. We try to catch them and protect people because ghosts are bad.”

Danny pouted before shaking his head, “I would be a good ghost and save people instead of hurt them, like a superhero!”

His dad chuckled as he stood up. “Ghost powers would be good superpowers for heroes if they weren’t bad,” he said.

Danny sat up.

“Ghost powers would be the best for exploring outer space! If you don’t need to breathe then you wouldn’t need an oxygen tank and you could carry a whole bunch of useful tools and bring back space rocks. If you could go intangible then you wouldn’t have to worry about friction leaving or reentering the atmosphere, you wouldn’t need a space suit and could just fly straight to the moon!” Danny pointed up at the full moon which brightly shined over the town. “It would be so easy to explore the other planets in our solar system with ghost powers. Dust on Mars wouldn’t be a problem, storms on Jupiter wouldn’t be a problem. I could go count the rings of Saturn and compare them to Jupiter’s ring.”

Danny hugged his knees to his chest before asking, “Daddy, would you and Mommy hunt me if I was a ghost? Even if I was a good ghost?”

Danny’s father crouched next to him and put his large hand on the boy’s shoulder, “If you were a ghost, I would know you’re good, even if you have big teeth and pointy claws and horns,” He scooped him up and gently swung him around through the air, “Even if you turned green and hairy. As long as you’re Danny I will always love you!” He brought his son to face him, “Even if you turned into a ghost, you’ll always be my little boy.”

Danny giggled and put his hands on his father’s cheeks and gave him nose kisses. “I love you too Daddy!”

Jack gathered the blankets and slung them over one shoulder and Danny over the other. He carried the giggling boy down the stairs all the way to the kitchen. He plopped his son into his chair.

“Well, Mommy and Jazzy-pants should be back soon from the store, and I think they’re bringing home pizza!”

Danny laughed at the nickname for his sister before cheering, “Yay! Pizza!” He threw his hands in the air. “Do the pizza dance, Daddy!”

Jack sighed dramatically before smiling and saying, “Ok, I’ll do the pizza dance.”

He danced around the kitchen, waving his arms and occasionally chanting, “Pizza! Pizza! I want some pizza!”

Danny wiggled in his seat and yelled, “Pizza! Pizza!” every time his dad did. They were loud enough that neither of them heard the click of the front door opening and shutting, or noticed that Maddie and Jazz were home until Maddie’s voice joined in the song..

“Pizza, pizza, here’s the pizza!” She sang as she danced into the kitchen with two big pizza boxes.

Jazz bounced into the room chattering about how excited she was to start first grade and how happy she was to have the big colored pencil box that had all of the important colors and its own special sharpener. Jack danced around Maddie before he pulled her into a spin and dipped her for a kiss while his other hand held the pizza boxes steady.

“Ewww.” Danny and Jazz said together.

When Jack released Maddie and took the pizzas, she asked, “So what have you two boys been up to while we were gone?”

Jack turned to put the boxes on the counter. As he grabbed paper plates and napkins out of the cupboard he replied, “Me and Danny were taking advantage of the clear sky and were stargazing up in the ops center.”

Maddie turned back to face him with her hands on her hips and a mild look of disapproval.

“I hope you cleaned up the floor before you let Danny up there,” she said.

Jack kissed her on the forehead before he passed her some plates.

“Don’t worry, I cleaned up the floor and made sure to put down blankets.”

Maddie beamed up at Jack while Danny and Jazz made gagging sounds at their affection.

“I also told Danny a little about ghosts and what they can do.”

“I want to be a ghost someday!” Danny exclaimed from his seat at the table.

“A ghost? Jack!” Maddie scolded as she turned from Danny’s beaming face to Jack’s stiff shoulders.

She kneeled next to Danny’s chair.

“Danny, why would you want to be a ghost? Ghosts are bad and they attack people.” She explained.

“Ghost powers would be the best for exploring outer space! And I could do my chores faster and go to the Moon and Mars and all of the other planets!” He rambled. “I would be a nice superhero ghost Mommy.”

“I suppose those would be some good uses for ghost powers, sweetie.” She said as she ruffled his hair.

Jazz piped up from across the table, “Ghosts aren’t real, but if they were, Danny couldn’t be a scary or mean ghost even if he tried. So, Danny would be a good ghost if they did exist.”

Maddie smiled and said, “Yes, our Danny couldn’t be a bad ghost. If either of you were ghosts we would still love you.”

Danny leaned forward in bed and stretched his arms out over his head. The last several nights he had been thinking hard about whether or not he should tell his parents the truth about his accident. His powers were pretty much under control now. He hadn’t had any intangibility or invisibility accidents for at least a couple of weeks. He had been trying to remember all the times that his parents had mentioned ghosts before the portal was built. This had been on his mind so much now that he had continued to relive his memories in his dreams. If there was a ghost that could affect dreams or memories he’d be concerned, but he hadn’t heard of any with powers like that.

The memory he had dreamt of this time was from when he was little. He remembered the unfinished walls of the ops center and the silly dance his dad would do whenever they had pizza. Maybe this was the sign he needed that it was time to tell them.

Danny grabbed his phone from the nightstand and called Tucker. His heart felt like it was beating in his ears as the other line rang. After a few unending seconds, he heard a click, and then Tucker’s voice.

“Danny? Are you ok?”

“Tucker, you know how I’ve been thinking about telling my parents about the whole half ghost thing? I had a dream last night and I remembered that when I was little I told them I wanted to be a ghost.”

There was a lengthy pause before Tucker groaned, “Dude. It’s 4 am.”

Danny cringed slightly as he looked over at his alarm clock.

“Were they ok with you wanting to be a ghost when you were a little kid?” Tucker asked. “Because I can’t see them being too thrilled about it. Even back when we were little they were pretty anti-ghost.”

“I remember I told them I wanted to be a ghost because ghost powers would be great for exploring space and the Moon. I even told them how I would use the basic powers to go into space if I was a ghost. They wanted to remind me that ghosts were bad but they did say that if I was a ghost they wouldn’t hunt me. Dad even said that ghost powers would be good superpowers.”

“Well it seems like you already want to tell them and I have been saying you should tell them since you got your powers. Have you even tried to go to space since you got them?” he asked.

“Tucker,” Danny groaned. “I’ve been way too busy trying to deal with the ghosts that’ve been invading and trying not to flunk all of my classes to even think about going to space.”

Tucker snorted. “I’m sure you’ve managed to at least think of it, but seriously, it’s probably a good idea to tell them before something bad happens and someone gets hurt. Who knows what kind of nasty ghost could attack next?”

“Yeah, you’re right. The longer I wait the harder this’ll be. Thanks for helping me talk it out.”

“Sure thing, buddy. Just, try to keep the existential dilemmas and mental crises to daylight hours.”

“I make no promises.” Danny chuckled.

“Alright, fair enough. But if that’s everything, talk to you later. I’ll even warn Sam for you so she won’t try to talk you out of it.”

“Thanks Tucker, you’re the best.”

“You know it!” Tucker answered before hanging up the call.

Danny laid back down, thoughts racing, as he tried to think of how to tell his parents.

“Hey Mom and Dad, you remember how the ghost portal wasn’t working at first? Well I did get it to start…but I happened to be inside it?” He dragged his hand over his face with a groan.

“Hey you know how we aren’t supposed to be messing around in the lab because it’s dangerous? Well I may have disregarded the rules…but at least now the portal is working?” He grabbed his hair and tugged at it in frustration.

“Maybe I should start with Jazz. I know she has to believe in ghosts now since she saw Phantom and Spectra after the Spirit Rally last week. She did say that I can talk to her about anything though I doubt this was what she was expecting.”

Decision now made, Danny slid out of bed and crept down the hall to Jazz’s room. Her door was slightly ajar with light spilling into the hallway so she must’ve been awake. He lightly knocked on the door and poked his head in through the gap.

Jazz sat in bed in comfortable pajamas with a book in hand.

“Danny? You’re up early.” She checked the clock. “I’m surprised to see you before noon on a Saturday. Come in. Is something wrong?”

Danny shuffled into the room and softly closed the door behind him. He rubbed the back of his neck as he stood by the entrance. His eyes skipped past his sister’s face as they roved over the bookshelves stuffed with psychology and science textbooks. She still had all of her spelling bee medals pinned and hanging around the border of the cork board behind her desk. With posters of quotes from famous scientists intermixed with handwritten motivational phrases, her personality practically oozed from the walls. Now that he was actually in her room, it was like all of his confidence had just evaporated.

As the silence dragged longer, Jazz put her book aside and patted the bed next to her. Danny gingerly stepped forward before he perched on the edge of the bed.

Jazz rolled her eyes and pulled him closer. Once she had rearranged the blankets to cover both of them she said lightly, “Just like when we were little and you would sneak into my bed after nightmares.”

Danny chuckled, tension broken, and said, “Speaking of when we were little, do you remember right when you were in, I don’t know, first grade, and I told Mom and Dad that I wanted to be a ghost someday?”

He felt her go very still. She stared straight ahead for a long moment before she shook her head and answered.

“I do remember that. They were still doing that ridiculous pizza dance back then. Wasn’t that before they finished the Ops Center? You used to stargaze up there with whoever you could convince to go up with you.”

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “Well, remember how we basically all agreed that I couldn’t be a bad or scary ghost even if I tried?”

“I do remember that, too.” she laughed. “Of course, now we all know that ghosts actually do exist. But I stand by what I said back then, even if ghosts exist, you wouldn’t be a bad ghost.”

Danny managed a half smile and took a deep breath.

“So a few months ago when I had the accident in the lab I got more than just a shock. I was in the portal when it turned on and ever since I’ve had ghost powers and can turn into a ghost. I’m not dead! I can turn back to well, mostly normal, very easily. The ghosts call me the halfa, half ghost, half boy. I’ve been catching the ghosts that come through the portal and putting them back in the ghost zone. They aren’t all bad either. I’ve met a few nice ghosts that live in, well haunt, the human world. They’ve been really friendly and helpful! Some of them just want to be left alone, you know? I’m rambling now aren’t I?”

Danny paused for a breath and raised his head from his knees to how Jazz was taking it. She smiled at him.

“Uh, Jazz? Are you going to say anything?”

Instead of responding, she pulled him into a tight hug. It took a moment for him to relax.

“Jazz?” he asked with a sniff, “C’mon you can’t just-“

“I am so proud of you!” she said. “I know it was very brave of you to tell me a big secret like that.”

“Wait, you already knew?” he asked.

“I suspected something was going on for a while, but I only found out last week during the Spectra thing at the Spirit Rally. I was hoping you would tell me when you were ready. I’m proud of you for telling me, and for all you’ve been doing to protect everyone. I’ve been doing what I could to help cover for you with Mom and Dad and your teachers.”

“You have?” He asked, eyebrows creeping into his hairline.

“I may be your bossy big sister, but I care for you and I don’t want to make things harder or more stressful for you.” She paused, and then asked, “Are you planning on telling Mom and Dad next?”

“I thought you just said that you were trying not to make things more stressful for me.” Danny teased. “But yeah, I guess remembering how supportive they were when we were little was the push that I needed to be ready.”

“Well, I’m sure they’re awake now, and the kitchen should be pretty safe right now. I made them clean up their experiments yesterday. If you’re ready, now would be a good time.”

“Yeah…you’re right, it just feels like a lot to tell them. Even knowing that they’ll accept me, I’m still worried that they won’t see me the same, or that they’ll want me to stop hunting ghosts.” Danny said as he slipped out of her arms and off the bed. “Will you come down and back me up when I tell them?” he asked.

“Of course I will! Just give me a couple of minutes to grab a few things and I’ll be right down.”

Jazz flipped her blankets off revealing her favorite pajamas that were covered in different scientific formulas.

“You’re still a nerd.” Danny said as he ducked back out of her room.

“And you’re a dork.” She retorted.

“I love you too!” he called as he headed towards the stairs.

Danny paused at the top of the steps and pulled out his phone to message his friends.

Danny: About to tell my parents

Wish me luck!

Tucker: You don’t need luck

Sam: If things go bad come to my house, I can hide you in my closet.

it’s big enough to have its own ensuite

Tucker: Sweet!

He let out a humorless chuckle and put his phone away. A few seconds later Jazz walked up behind him with a large binder titled, Reasons Why Not All Ghosts are Bad, and Especially not Danny.

“You had enough time to make a whole thing of why ghosts aren’t all bad?” he asked.

“Don’t be silly, I’ve been working on this since the first ghosts showed up and started adding in the bits specifically about you last week. I thought it might come in handy one day to have all of the evidence together.”

“I both admire and fear your organization.” Danny said.

Jazz sniffed imperiously and said, “As you should.”

Danny went down the stairs slowly with Jazz trailing behind him. He stopped at the doorway to the kitchen, but Jazz gave him a gentle push across the threshold.

“Morning, sweetie!” his mom called from the stove where she was frying up surprisingly non-ectoplasmic bacon and eggs.

“Good Morning, son!” his father said from the kitchen table where he was tinkering with a gadget, parts strewn all across the tabletop.

From behind him, Jazz facepalmed and muttered, “So much for keeping the kitchen clean.”

Danny cleared his throat.

“Mom, Dad, I have something I need to tell you.” He picked at one of the holes in his pajama sleeves as he waited for their response.

“Is it about ghosts?” His dad asked.

“Well, kinda.” Danny answered, now rubbing the back of his neck.

“Have ghosts been threatening my boy?” His dad demanded as he leapt up from the table.

“Well yes, and no…” Danny’s voice trailed off.

“What ectoplasmic scum thinks it can mess with a Fenton? I’ll tear it apart molecule by molecule!” Jack exclaimed with his fist in the air.

“Now Jack, calm down,” Maddie turned from the stove and put her hand on his arm, “I’m sure that whatever is going on will make more sense after Danny has had a chance to tell us about it.”

Danny chuckled nervously, glad that Jazz was behind him for moral support. “Let me just start from the beginning then. A few months ago when I had that accident in the lab and got the portal working, I was a lot closer to it than I told you.”

“How close were you?” Maddie asked.

Danny hugged himself as he answered, “I was inside it, there was an ‘on’ button on the inside and I accidentally hit it while I was looking in it.”

“But Danny, the shock of that much electricity, not to mention the ectoplasm, should have killed you! You were fine when we came home and the portal was working.”

Maddie quickly ran over to him, scrutinizing him for signs of injury.

“I was fine! I still am!” Danny added as he backed away with his hands in the air. “I just had a few more side effects than the tingling and numbness from the shock. What I’m saying is, ever since the accident with the portal, I’ve had ghost powers.”

“Ghost powers? Sweetie, humans can’t have ghost powers.” She put the back of her hand to his forehead to check for a fever and then grabbed his wrist to check his pulse. “You don’t have a fever, and your heartbeat is steady if a bit slow. Honey, you’re not a ghost.”

“I know, I’m still human most of the time, I can turn into a ghost and back at will and can use my powers in either form.” He held up his free hand. “Here, look.” Then he flickered his hand in and out of visibility.

His mom frowned. “I suppose the high concentration of ectoplasm would have prevented you from crossing to the other side, especially as you would have been effectively on both sides if you were in the portal when it activated. Is this why you’ve been dropping glassware at school?”

“Yeah, getting control of the powers was a little tricky at first and several times they went off while I was holding beakers or flasks in science class. And that’s basically the theory so far, that being in the portal when it activated saved me from actually dying.”

“Son, why did it take so long for you to tell us?” his dad asked.

Danny looked down, unable to meet his dad’s eyes or to look at his mom wrapped around him. “I was afraid. At first I didn’t want to worry you guys or get in trouble for not obeying lab safety rules. Then I was hunting the ghosts that were attacking the town and I didn’t want you to try to stop me when I’m able to help protect people. I was also worried that you would see me as a ghost instead of your son or not believe me when I told you.”

“Oh sweetie, of course we believe you’re still you. This does explain why almost all of our inventions were going off around you. You’re very lucky that you didn’t get hurt! We’ll have to work at modifying them to ignore your signature.” His mom said.

“Whether you’re a boy, a ghost, or something in between, you’re our son and we love you.” Jack added as he picked up both his wife and his son in a hug. “I bet you’ve got all kinds of insider information on ghosts now! Think of how much you can help advance our understanding of ghosts and how they interact with our world!”

“We love you, sweetie. No matter what.” Maddie said.

“I knew everything would be alright.” Jazz cheered as she joined the group hug.

Danny smiled and basked in the acceptance of his family. He’d been pretty sure that they would accept him, but it still felt amazing to have his trust validated.

A moment later, he wrinkled his nose.

“I think the bacon’s burning.”

Jazz jumped out of the hug.

“I’ve got it! None of you move!” She exclaimed.

She hurried over to the stove, flipped the bacon, and turned the heat down.

As he sat in his parents’ arms, Danny decided that slightly burnt bacon was his new favorite smell.

50 notes · View notes

imekitty · 4 years

Note

If you're interested, I'd have a suggestion for a DP oneshot: it takes place in a classroom, with only Danny and Paulina in it since they're retaking a test they failed. Unfortunately for Paulina, she still doesn't have a clue about the right answers; Danny, on the other hand, having spent a lot of time studying, knows exactly what to do and is almost done. But just as he's about to put his signature, Paulina walks up to him and sweetly asks him what he would like to do since there's still ...

So I know you sent more asks basically giving an entire outline from start to end. However, because I like more freedom when writing, I’ve decided to go with the premise of Danny and Paulina in detention together to get help for a failed test and create my own story. I encourage you to write your full idea yourself if you would like to see it! :)

----------

“Danny, why are you still here?” asked Sam as she shut her locker. “Lancer’s gonna be mad if you’re late for detention.”

Danny groaned. “You’re right. I’m going.”

“Good luck, dude,” said Tucker. “Text us when you’re done and we’ll meet you at Nasty Burger or something.”

Danny grumbled agreement and headed to Lancer’s classroom. Lancer gave him a dull stare from behind his desk as Danny reached the doorway.

But there was another student sitting at one of the front desks, a student who escalated Danny’s heartbeat.

“Paulina?” Danny stammered. “Am I interrupting something? Should I wait outside?”

“No, Mr. Fenton,” said Lancer. “Miss Sanchez also failed our most recent test, so I’m giving both of you some extra help.”

“Hi, Danny,” greeted Paulina, her voice sweet and sultry.

“Hi.” Danny felt stuck in the doorway but forced himself to walk into the room. “Sorry, I just didn’t expect to see you here.”

Paulina laughed. “Well, I can’t say the same about you. This is exactly where I’d expect to see you.”

Danny took a seat next to Paulina. “I don’t actually get detention that often, you know.”

“Yes, you do, Mr. Fenton,” said Lancer, turning to face the whiteboard and write notes with a fresh blue marker. “You currently hold the record for most detentions received in a semester.”

Danny blushed. Paulina giggled softly.

Lancer began drawling on about some poet who died but Danny could barely pay attention. Oh, he certainly tried, but being so close to the most beautiful girl in school was really hurting his concentration.

He stole glances at her out of the corner of his eye. And one time, he swore he could see her looking at him as well.

After lecturing for some time, Lancer assigned a few independent practice exercises from their textbook and disappeared out into the hall. Danny could hear the voice of another English teacher in the school and knew Lancer would likely be talking to her for a while.

Danny looked down at his textbook. He was supposed to answer questions about poetry devices or some other thing he still didn’t really get. He had no idea why English was such a pain in the ass. He definitely didn’t know why he had to learn all this crap about poetry, like when was that ever going to help him fight ghosts or do anything actually important?

His gaze travelled down the textbook page to his blank sheet of paper and then across and off his desk to Paulina, who was busy writing. She stopped when she caught him staring at her.

“Can I help you with something, Danny?” she asked, her tone snide but kind.

“Sorry.” Danny sucked his teeth. “So, um… You failed the test too, huh?”

Paulina breathed hard out her nose and sat back in her seat. “Yeah. I didn’t really have the time to study, you know? And I guess I didn’t realize it would be as hard as it was.”

“Didn’t have time to study?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, I’m not, like, stupid.” Paulina chuckled. “I could’ve passed if I just wasn’t so busy.”

“Busy with what?” asked Danny. “Do you and the A-List hang out a lot?”

“Sure, but that’s not what keeps me busy. Cheerleading, for one. We have to practice all the time, sometimes even in the morning. And the mornings we don’t practice, I’m still getting up early to get in a run and some exercise. I’m the cheerleading captain, you know. I have to keep everyone at their best and motivated. Every day, I’m working out choreography for new routines and figuring out new fundraising ideas.”

“Don’t you have a coach for that?”

“Yeah, of course, but I still do a lot. Cheerleading isn’t just some silly girls’ activity, you know.”

“I—I didn’t say it was—”

“I have to make sure everything and everyone is ready for practice.” Paulina pulled back a finger on one hand as she listed off responsibilities. “I have to text all the girls and let them know about changes in our practice schedule or upcoming events. If any of the girls aren’t getting along, I have to try to keep the peace as much as possible so that we’re still a team. I’m also the one greeting visiting cheer squads during games, making them feel welcome at our school.”

“I didn’t know you did all that,” said Danny.

“The coach manages our time and schedule and makes sure none of the girls are failing in their classes, things like that, but I’m the one really communicating with the girls, you know?” Paulina sighed. “But I wish that was all I had going on.”

“You’re busy with other things?”

“Yeah, being as popular as I am, I’m often being asked by teachers and student clubs to do things. Advertising stuff, endorsing student council candidates, making appearances, giving fashion advice for uniforms. And I never turn anyone down, I always say yes.” Paulina leaned back and looked at the ceiling. “Sometimes I wish I could just say no.”

“Why don’t you?” asked Danny.

“Because it’s expected of me. Being popular means doing things to maintain that popularity. If I start turning people down, they’re gonna think I’m a bitch, you know?”

“But you turn guys down for dates all the time.” Danny smiled and propped his elbow on his desk. “Me being one of them.”

Paulina also smiled. “Personal things like that are okay to turn down. I mean like anything to do with the school and clubs. Of course I can’t just date every guy who asks me out. Can’t give the impression I’m easy either.”

She looked ahead at the whiteboard, her smile vanishing.

“I do get a lot of guys asking me out,” said Paulina. “I know it’s just because I’m pretty. But looking this pretty all the time is work too. I have to eat right and watch my weight and exercise and spend half an hour each night on my skin care routine and an hour each morning on my hair and makeup and then touchups throughout the day. I never know when someone might take a picture of me and send it around. I can’t risk ever looking bad.”

“You have never looked bad,” said Danny. “Like ever.”

Paulina’s smile returned. “Thank you. That’s sweet.” She groaned and stretched out her arms. “But I tell you, Danny. I probably only get three to four hours of sleep a night. I’m running on coffee and energy drinks all day long. This detention is really cutting into my time, too. I’m probably gonna be up late finishing all my other homework.”

She continued to stretch. Danny normally might’ve enjoyed watching her but he was too struck by her words.

She only got three to four hours of sleep a night?

But… That was how much sleep he usually got a night.

And yet she looked amazing every day and he knew he was just a pale haunted mess with dark eyes.

“So what about you, Danny?”

Danny blinked. “Hmm?”

“Why did you fail this test?” asked Paulina.

“Oh. Um.” Danny looked up and to the right. “I was also too busy.”

“Oh, yeah?” Paulina tossed a piece of hair over her shoulder. “You do come to class late a lot. Do you have like some sort of astronomy club meeting in the morning?”

“Astronomy club?”

“Yeah, don’t you like space and stuff?”

“Oh. Yeah! I do. But I’m not in the astronomy club.”

“Really? I would think you’d be their president.” Paulina chuckled. “Well, are you in any school clubs, then?”

Danny thought about the meetings he had with Sam, Tucker, and sometimes Jazz about their ghost-fighting strategies. “Not school clubs, no.”

“Any extracurricular activities at all? I know you don’t play any sports.”

“No…”

Paulina pursed her lips. “Well, then what is it that keeps you too busy to study?”

Danny looked off to the side, humming softly to himself.

“I often see you with Sam and Tucker after school at the Nasty Burger. Or on Saturdays at the mall.”

Danny turned back to her. “Well, yeah, we like to hang out after school to wind down. Don’t you hang out with your friends? You don’t do all that work all the time, do you?”

“Yeah, of course! I’m actually scheduled to hang out with them right after detention.”

“Scheduled?”

“Yeah. It’s important to me to make time for my friends, so I often schedule it to make sure it happens.” She tapped open her calendar on her phone and showed it to him. “I even keep Saturday nights free for possible dates, see?”

Danny stared at the empty slot under Saturday and wondered if this was a hint and if she wanted him to ask her to go out on Saturday.

But no way was he about to risk embarrassing himself by asking.

“So do the three of you do something that keeps you too busy to study?” Paulina put her phone back in her lap. “You, Sam, and Tucker, I mean.”

Danny scratched through his mind, raking for something, anything that wasn’t the truth but also maybe not a complete lie. He couldn’t let Paulina think he was just lazy and hung out with his friends eating burgers or walking around the mall all day.

“We, uh… Yeah.” Danny pretended to cough. “We help my parents out with their research.”

“Research?” Paulina scrunched her mouth. “You mean, like, ghost stuff?”

Danny nodded. “We sometimes test out their inventions.”

“That sounds kind of dangerous. Is it?” Paulina narrowed her eyes, appearing to scrutinize him. “Is that why you so often have injuries? Like that bruise by your collarbone there?”

Danny hastily tugged at his shirt collar. “Oh. You noticed that?”

“Yeah. Of course. A lot of people notice you’re often sporting some new cut or bruise.”

“Oh. Well, that’s, uh—”

“I’ve even heard some teachers say they might need to call CPS.”

Danny’s stomach flopped. “What?”

“Yeah, I hear lots of things teachers say since I’m around the whole school a lot.” Paulina shrugged. “But I’ve noticed Sam and Tucker sometimes have injuries as well. So is it from helping your parents out with their ghost research?”

“No, it’s not like that!” said Danny quickly, almost panting with the effort. “We just sometimes test out their inventions, give feedback, strategize on how to catch certain ghosts. Just stuff like that, nothing huge.”

“Ooh, catch ghosts like the ghost boy?” Paulina’s tone changed to almost a squeal. She held her hands near her chest.

“Uh.” Danny swallowed. “Well—”

“If your parents do ever catch him, you must let me know, okay?”

“I—”

“Because then I can get the A-List together so we can find a way to rescue him!”

Danny stared at her. “You’d really do that?”

“Well, of course! The ghost boy has done so much for all of us. He even saved my life once, you know! I could never just let him be captured.” Paulina lowered her voice. “Oh, but please don’t tell your parents that.”

Danny slowly nodded, holding back a smile. “Oh, sure, I would never tell them that. You have my word.”

“Here. You should have my number.” Paulina ripped off a corner of her notebook paper and scribbled some numbers on it before handing it to him. “Call or text me if they ever catch him, okay? Please?”

Danny took the piece of paper from her, feeling like he was in some sort of trance. Did this just happen? Did Paulina Sanchez, the most gorgeous girl in all of Casper High, just give him her number? To her cell phone? Like her personal cell phone?

He very carefully folded and placed the paper in his pocket. “Sure, absolutely. I’ll definitely call you if they catch him.”

She smiled and hummed, such a cute sound that made his heart flitter. But then her smile faded when her gaze travelled to his collarbone. Danny casually raised his shoulder and pulled his arm across his body to cover the bruise.

“So.” Paulina’s pretty full lips smacked. “If those injuries you keep getting aren’t from helping your parents with their inventions, then where are they from?”

Danny could feel sweat forming behind his ears.

“I mean, you’re not really that clumsy, are you?” Paulina chuckled.

Danny also chuckled, not really sure why except that she was doing it and he had no idea what else to do because he couldn’t tell her the truth and yes he was clumsy but no not that clumsy but what else could he tell her?

What would protect his parents? What would protect him?

Her expression grew warier the longer he stayed quiet.

The classroom door opened. Danny and Paulina promptly faced forward and hunched over their desks.

“Sorry I was gone so long,” said Lancer as he reclaimed his spot at the head of the room. “How are you two understanding everything?”

Paulina looked up and smiled, a secret smile Danny could tell was meant for him even though she never once glanced in his direction. “I think we’re understanding just fine, Mr. Lancer.”

Lancer looked over her notebook page and nodded his approval. Danny had no idea why he even bothered to try covering his completely blank page when Lancer came to look over his work.

“Why am I not surprised,” muttered Lancer. He knelt beside Danny’s desk with a sigh. “All right, Mr. Fenton. Let’s do this first one together to get you started.”

Behind Lancer, Danny could see Paulina flash him a smirk before returning to her own work.

He had always thought he was just busier than other students, had more responsibilities and expectations than everyone else. But he didn’t even have extracurricular activities like most students. Ghost fighting was his extracurricular activity. And somehow Paulina and everyone else still managed to do okay so why couldn’t he?

Maybe he really wasn’t that different from other kids his age after all.

Lancer was trying to talk him through something. Paulina was still wearing a small smile as she did her own work.

Danny nodded to himself and focused. He could do this. He could be like everyone else.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #paulina sanchez #pink astronaut #imekitty writes #imekitty ask #prompt writing #helled-blog

128 notes · View notes

writingpitcheswearingpearls · 3 years

Text

Nothing Says Soulmates More Than Sharing a Soul: Chapter 13

Ao3 Link

Once out of Danny’s body, Phantom found himself hyperventilating and his vision fading to black around the edges. This was it; the moment of truth. He was about to find out what Danny thought of him now that he’d seen his true colours.

“W-What just happened?” The sound of Tuckers voice got Phantom to turn and face him, which the ghost immediately regretted. Standing in front of Phantom with clenched fists and a heaving chest was Danny. There was so much pain and anger in his eyes, Phantom couldn’t help but immediately burst into tears.

“Danny, I –”

“Get out! I don’t want to see you!” Danny cut in with a furious growl. Phantom’s eyes widened with fear. He tried to say something, anything, but all he could let out was a pathetic whimper before turning and flying away as fast as he could.

As he frantically flew over the town, he felt pure dread fill his entire being. His absolute worst fear had been founded. Danny hated him the second he knew the truth, and now he’s lost the most important person in his life. Not only that, but he’s lost everyone else that’s important to him too. After all, it wouldn’t make sense for anyone to pick him over Danny. They’d only ever been there for him because they were under the impression that he was the friend they knew and loved, not some stranger who didn’t even have a clue who he really was.

Not being able to think clearly, Phantom flew straight back to Danny’s room and collapsed onto Danny’s bed, curling in on himself as he sobbed into the pillow that so painfully smelled of Danny. He knew he shouldn’t be there, but he had no idea where he was meant to go and it was the only place he felt safe. He figured as long as he left before Danny got back, there wouldn’t be any trouble.

“Danny? Are you back?”

At the sound of Jazz’s voice, Phantom choked on a sob. He somehow needed her and couldn’t handle the idea of talking to her. Immediately, Jazz burst into the room and rushed to him, apparently hearing him through the wall. She sat next to him and began giving frantic, yet still soothing strokes up and down his back.

“Danny! Are you hurt? What happened?” She asked in a panicked tone. At the sound of the name she called him by, he let out a small moan of distress and curled further into himself.

We haven’t told her yet…She still thinks I’m him.

“I- I’m not…” He tried to say through his sobbing, but the pain and fear attached to what he was trying to say made it all that much harder to let out.

“It’s okay. You can tell me anything, little brother.” She encouraged in a gentle voice full of protective feelings and love that he didn’t deserve. Finally, he found the strength to push himself up and back away from her touch.

“That’s just it! I’m not your little brother!” He exclaimed, bringing his arms close to his body and digging his nails into his biceps. It was all he could do to stop the frost that was building around him from spreading any further and hurting Jazz. He wanted to look up to see her reaction, but he couldn’t bring himself to.

“Don’t say that –”

“But it’s true! I was never actually Danny! I’m just some pathetic ghost that latched itself onto him, leeching off his memories and his friendships! Now you know the truth, you’ll want me gone too!” He cried out, lifting his hands to his face to clench his hairline.

“Phantom…” She said softly, before her hands wrapped around his to pull them away from his face.

“Please look at me. I… I already knew that you weren’t Danny.” That made him look at her.

“What? But then why did you call me that earlier?” He questioned with eyes wide with shock.

“It was a reflex, sorry. Having thought of you as Danny for four years, it will be hard to get used to the truth, even though I’ve had a couple of days to wrap my head around it. The point is that I know you’re not Danny, but I also know that nothing else you said was true.” She explained with a serious, yet empathetic expression. He opened his mouth to protest but was cut off when she raised her hand to gesture that she wasn’t done.

“You talk about yourself like some sort of malicious parasite, but that isn’t true at all. You’re a hero and the last thing I’d call you was pathetic!” She reassured. Phantom shook his head and looked away.

“You can’t know that. I have no idea what type of person I was before Danny, so who’s to say that fusing with him wasn’t intentional?” Phantom argued. The room was silent, and Phantom was afraid that what he’d said had convinced her.

“When that alternate future version of you fused with Vlad’s ghost, did he immediately go evil?” She asked.

Fuck, she thinks I’m going to go evil!

“I- I think so. I’m not sure.” He answered, shaking from how fast his core was pulsing with panic. He risked a look at her, only to become shocked to find her smiling.

“Great. So it stands to reason that when somebody fuses with an evil ghost, they are influenced to take on those evil traits. When Danny fused with you, he didn’t become evil, he became a hero. What do you think that says about who you were?” She explained with a confident tone that she reserved for when she was pretty sure she just won an argument. To Phantom’s confusion, it may have been warranted. He couldn’t find a way to argue with what she said. The calm only lasted a moment before he remembered the last time he spoke to Danny.

“Well, just because I didn’t go in a shit person, doesn’t mean I’m not a shit person now. You don’t know what I’ve done since separating from Danny.” He redirected. Her brow quirked in confusion.

“It can’t be that bad.”

“The second Danny found out, he never wanted to see me again.” Jazz blanched at his statement, visibly taken aback by it.

“What? That can’t be right. He wouldn’t –”

“But he did! He was everything to me and now that he hates me I’ve got nothing!” Phantom cried out, frost flashing out of him and spreading around the room, causing Jazz to flinch and jump up from the bed in shock.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that!” He apologised quickly, nearly reaching for her before thinking better of it. Jazz looked around the room at the ice damage, breath slowing down.

“It’s okay Phantom, you just surprised me. I’m not hurt. Has this been happening a lot?” She eventually said. Phantom groaned as he dragged his hands down his face.

“Yes. I can’t control my powers properly, especially my ice core. Danny has been helping me, but… without him I don’t think I’ll be safe around people anymore.” He admitted. The only place safe for him would probably be the Far Frozen. Frostbyte would surely take him in, even if he’s only half of “The Great One”. Jazz sighed, before sitting on the bed again.

“Phantom, I’m one hundred percent certain that if you just talk it out with Danny, you’ll find that he doesn’t hate you. That being said… spending some time away from him might be a good thing.” Phantom’s eyes snapped back to her, scared by what she’d said.

Is she telling me to leave?

Something about his expression must have told Jazz to realise what he was thinking, as her eyes widened and she suddenly raised her hands into a gesture that read “I mean no harm”.

“I’m not telling you to leave! I’m just saying that if you do leave, it may be good for you. It’s clear that you’re extremely dependant on Danny, so spending time away from him could help you develop as an individual and self-regulate.” She clarified. Phantom felt his shoulders drop, not realising that he had hunched them in the first place as he thought about what she said. Those sounded like things he wanted, but the idea of being separated from Danny for a long time gave him an uncomfortable tightness in his chest.

“In any case, you should wait until you talk to Danny before deciding anything. If you’re wrong about how he feels it will feel awful to leave with such a painful misunderstanding lingering between you. If you’re right, you’ll regret leaving without a proper chance to apologise and reconcile.” Jazz added on, bringing his attention back to her. The smile she gave him was warm and understanding, which he found deeply relieving.

“Thanks Jazz. For the advice… and for still caring about me even though I’m not your brother.” Phantom thanked sincerely, hoping his tone conveyed how deeply he meant those words. For a moment, Jazz’s eyes watered, before she suddenly lunged at him and pulled him into a hug.

“Listen closely Phantom, because if you don’t, I’m going to have to repeat it until it gets into that ectoplasmic skull of yours. Just because you aren’t Danny does not mean you aren’t my brother! You have been a part of my family for the past four years and that doesn’t end just because we aren’t blood related, you hear?!” She declared, voice shaking with emotion. Phantom couldn’t help but cry as he wrapped his arms around her back and clung desperately to his big sister.

“Dude, are you okay?” Tucker’s words cut through the tense silence. Danny turned to him and took in the concerned expressions of his two best friends. He groaned as he turned back away, too emotional to make eye contact with either of them.

“Not really.” He admitted lowly. So many emotions were bubbling inside him at that moment. Anger, betrayal, embarrassment, but mostly confusion. He wasn’t even sure confusion was an emotion, but he sure was feeling it.

“Did you want to talk about it?” Sam asked cautiously.

“Yeah, what the hell happened back there?” Tucker chimed in, voice raising in confusion. Normally, he would have loved to fill his friends in on what happened, but to do that he would have had to have processed what happened, and he did not want to do that any time soon.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Danny growled bluntly, hoping his anger would mask his fear.

“But –”

“Drop it, Tucker. He’ll talk about it when he’s ready.” Sam cut in. She offered Danny a supportive smile, which he tried to reflect back weakly.

“Fine, topic dropped. What do we want to do now, if we’re avoiding dealing with our problems?” Tucker relented. Danny was almost stunned for a moment. If he had told his fourteen-year-old self that Sam would be the one enabling him not to process his feelings and Tucker would be the vaguely more responsible one, he would have gotten a laugh and a “good one, Amorpho” from him, before immediately getting attacked. The thought made him chuckle lowly, before thinking of how to answer his friend’s question.

With everything he was feeling, he wanted nothing more but to distract himself from what had just transpired between him and Phantom. He was even willing to do something he had been avoiding doing ever since he became a hero.

“Is it too soon to go to Mikey’s party? I really just need to get drunk right now.” Danny asked, finally turning to face his friends. Tucker snorted out a short laugh.

“It won’t start for another couple of hours, and it won’t be cool to show up for another few.” He answered matter-o-factly. Danny groaned. He should have realised. Years of not being able to go to parties really made him a complete novice at them. Seeing his disappointment, Sam stepped closer to Danny with an encouraging smile.

“If you wanted something to do while we wait for the party, we could have drinks at my house and play video games.” She suggested.

“Pre-drinking before a house party? Wow, we are finally acting like real teenagers!” Tucker cheered enthusiastically. Danny put on a grin, hoping it conveyed his gratefulness to both his friends, while concealing the feelings he desperately wanted to ignore.

After sneaking into Sam’s parents’ liquor cabinet and several rounds of Ultimate Mecha Strike III that got progressively worse the more the trio drank, Tucker finally announced that it was fashionably late enough to show up at the party.

Sneaking more booze into their bags, the three of them took off on foot towards Mikey’s house, which was luckily only a short distance from Sam’s estate. Being in the same part of the neighbourhood, Danny really shouldn’t have been surprised by how nice Mikey’s house was. Not as intense as Sam’s “old money” mansion, but still quite fancy.

“Wow, drunk Danny sure is interested in architecture.” Tucker commented teasingly.

“Oh shit, was I talking out loud?” Danny asked, immediately being answered by two grinning nods.

Before they could knock on the front door, it swung open to reveal a red-faced Mikey with a wide, excited smile.

“Danny! You came!” He exclaimed far louder than necessary. Tucker cleared his throat.

“We’re here too, y’know.” He grumbled, making Danny and Sam giggle. Mikey took a big step back and gestured for them to enter.

“Come on in! If you brought drinks, you’re best to put them in the fridge now if they need it. We’re running out of room fast!” He advised, before wandering off at the sound of someone shouting his name from the other room.

Standing in the doorway, Danny felt his heart racing. Here he was, at a real-life high school party that he was invited to. He was drunk and without a care in the world, with no responsibilities or ghosts to worry about –

Suddenly, the thought of ghost brought a vision of beautiful green eyes to his mind. He shook the thought out of his head, before pacing further into the house to find something to distract him.

“Hey! It’s Fenton!” Turning to face the sound of the voice, he saw Kwan and a group of footballers gathering around a ping pong table. The rosy tint in Kwan’s cheeks and the delighted smile brought a warm feeling in Danny’s stomach. Before the jock could even gesture for him to come over, Danny found himself gravitating in his direction.

“You up for some beer pong? You can be on my team!” Kwan offered. Danny chuckled.

“Sure, but I’m warning you that I am already pretty drunk, so my aim is probably shit.” He warned, winning a light laugh from the group of jocks.

“All good, bro! That just means an even playing field!” A footballer he couldn’t remember the name of called out, words slurring together slightly.

Danny turned to ask Sam and Tucker if they wanted to play, to find that they had only just caught up to him.

“Do you guys want to play?” He asked. Sam rolled her eyes.

“Ugh, no thank you. I hate beer, and they probably don’t have a vegan friendly one, either.” She replied. Danny did a double take.

“Wait, beer can be not vegan? How?” He asked, very confused. Before she could answer, Danny felt himself being pushed toward the ping pong table by Tucker.

“Come on dude. You know she won’t stop once she gets started.” With a shrug, Danny returned his focus to the group of footballers.

“Alright, let’s do this! Now… how do you play?”

Danny wasn’t sure how, but he managed to be insanely good at beer pong, quickly annihilating Tucker and the other team and winning an uproar in cheers from his own team.

Learning how to aim while losing blood must have been good training for this very moment.

Busy chuckling at his own thoughts, Danny was caught off guard when he was suddenly swept into a bear hug by Kwan.

“That was legendary, bro! Seriously, is there nothing I can say to convince you to join the football team?” The boy gushed, ruffling a hand through Danny’s hair and messing it up even further.

“Yeah, especially considering sign ups are well and truly over and this is our final year?” Danny replied, not sure whether to return the hug or not. The contact certainly felt nice, but there was something this was just… off about it. Maybe it was the fact that Kwan seemed to be running hot too, so there was no cooling relief like when he was holding Phanto –

No. He wasn’t letting himself think about him. It hurt too much.

“Oh, right. My bad.” Kwan laughed, pulling away from Danny. He had to admit that the jock was quite handsome, and the glistening of his sweat was weirdly mesmerising.

“Wow, dude. You sure are hot.”

“WHAT?” Danny exclaimed, not sure if his line of thinking had made him hallucinate hearing that or if it had actually happened. Kwan laughed again.

“I meant your temperature, bro. Are you coming down with something?” At that question, Tucker jumped into the conversation, wrapping an arm around his best friend.

“Nah, he’s fine. He’s just running warm because of his growth spurt, that’s all.” Tucker explained, with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“That checks out. You did seem to fit four years of growing into like, three days. Why don’t you have one of my rum and cokes to cool down? They’re in the fridge door!” Kwan offered, before waving and wondering back to the footballers.

“Danny, are you alright? You really are burning up…” Tucker commented, voice laced with concerned. Danny sighed before slinking out from under Tucker’s arm and stomping towards the kitchen.

“Look, I don’t want to talk about how I’m feeling, I just want to drink until I can’t feel my fingers, okay?” If he couldn’t feel his fingers, maybe he wouldn’t remember how Phantom felt underneath them. Maybe he wouldn’t want to run them through his ghostly hair and relish in how soft it was.

“Whoa, take it easy, okay buddy? I don’t want you getting hurt.” Tucker advised; voice laced with concern. While Danny appreciated that Tucker cared, he was in no mood to be lectured, so he ignored the warning and continued his path towards the fridge and grabbed one of Kwan’s cans. When he was halfway through downing it, revelling in the cooling sensation, he heard a sigh come from his friend.

“I’m going to go find Sam. I think I need her help with this.” He admitted reluctantly. Danny huffed with indignation.

“Fine, go get her. Neither of you will be able to stop me from having fun tonight.” He scoffed. Hearing a surprising chuckle from a new voice, Danny pivoted suddenly toward the source of the sound to see Spike leaning in the doorway.

“Damn, Danny. I am loving your new look on you. Have you ever thought about eye liner? I think it would look awesome on you.” Spike commented, eyes tracing up and down Danny. For a moment, the blue-eyed boy shivered under the gaze, before offering a non-committal shrug.

“Come with me, I’m going to put some on you now.” With that, the punk boy had grabbed Danny’s free arm and tugged him towards what looked like an entertainment room, before pushing Danny onto a fairly large couch and stepping out of view. Quickly he returned with a bag and was pulling out an eyeliner pencil. Any concerns about getting pink eye from sharing the pencil immediately evaporated the second Spike perched himself on Danny’s lap. The pressure gave him an instant flashback to the times Phantom was in his lap.

“Sorry, this is just the easiest way to do this.” Spike apologised, a blush rising in his cheeks.

“I bet you say that to all the boys.” Danny was pleased with the laugh that quip won from the punk boy. Quickly, Spike stilled again and continued drawing along Danny’s lash line.

“With lines like that, it’s no wonder Punny Phantom chose you.” Danny couldn’t help but stiffen at the mention of Phantom. Spike leaned back to look at his work, only to frown as he noticed something.

“Uh oh, did something happen between the two of you?” At the punk’s concerned question, Danny groaned and realised that he must have been grimacing.

“Sort of? I don’t want to talk about it.” He mumbled, looking down and away from the boy in his lap. Suddenly, a hand pressed lightly into his cheek and turned his face back up to Spike.

“Hey…if you ever want to talk, or not talk… I’m here.” The punk boy offered, eyes lilting on the words “not talk”.

As Spike leaned closer in towards Danny’s face, it occurred to Danny that the guy might be into him. He was going slow, seeming to give Danny an opportunity to stop him. Feeling his heart rate increase, he wasn’t sure if he wanted him to stop or not. The guy was pretty cute and he seemed like a decent enough person having calmed down a lot from their freshman year, but there was something missing.

Before Danny had to make a decision, the door to the room slammed open, causing both boys to jolt in shock. Peering around Spike, Danny saw a very drunk Sam standing in the threshold, hand still on the door with an angry expression on her face.

“I have to go.” Spike said abruptly, scrambling off of Danny’s lap and pushing past Sam, revealing that she had Tucker and Starr behind her.

“What were you doing in here?” Sam asked with a scowl. Danny gulped nervously, not sure what he did wrong.

“Spike was putting eye liner on me. Do you like it?” He replied, hoping his nervous smile would be enough to smooth out her agitated mood. Sam narrowed her eyes, as she scrutinised his appearance, before a strong blush spread across her cheeks.

“Y-Yes.” She mumbled. For a few moments an awkward silence hung in the air, as Danny waited for anyone to say anything. Eventually, Starr groaned before pushing Sam toward Danny.

“For crying out loud, I thought you were going to confess, not stare awkwardly at him.” The blonde complained. Sam hissed lowly, her blush getting ten times worse as she staggered toward him. Danny was thrown off by what Starr had said.

“Confess? Do you mean like, to murder, or…?” He asked cautiously, trailing off when Sam stopped right in front of him. Either way, he was nervous for whatever she was going to say. She opened and shut her mouth a few times, before scrunching her face up and turning back towards Starr and Tucker.

“I can’t do this! It’s too hard!” She complained, earning an eye roll from them both. Seeing how distressed she was, Danny reached forward and took Sam’s hand gently, the touch getting her to whip back around to face him.

“You don’t have to be nervous, Sam. You’re one of my best friends; you can tell me anything and I’ll still want to be your friend.” He tried to reassure. Unfortunately it seemed to fail, as she let out a frustrated groan.

“That’s the problem! I’ve always just been a friend, but I don’t want to be!” She exclaimed almost angrily. Danny couldn’t helped but flinch, releasing her hand as he leaned away from her.

“Y-You don’t want to be friends with me anymore?” He asked, feeling tears begin to well in his eyes. The groan from every person in the room was Danny’s only warning, before Sam suddenly dropped herself onto his lap and pull herself in to his body until their lips met in an intense connection. It was at this point it clicked for Danny that Sam had romantic feelings for him.

As she gripped tightly into his shoulders with one hand and raked through his hair with the other, he took the moment to contemplate how the situation made him feel. He knew he should feel amazing; Sam was beautiful and someone he was very close with, not to mention the crush he’d had on her for the past four years. Theoretically, this was everything he should want and he should be satisfied.

The only problem? He couldn’t feel any of that. He tried kissing her back. He tried smoothing his hands over her waist. He even tried grinding into her. Nothing. Frustrated, he pulled away from her and groaned as he slapped himself in the face and leaned back into the couch.

“Ugh! What is wrong with me? Why can’t I just do this?” He mumbled, tears welling in his eyes. Why couldn’t his body react like it had with Phantom? Or even how he’d felt a minute ago with Spike in this same position. A scoff brought his attention back to the girl in front of him.

“I can’t be that bad at kissing.” Sam grumbled, crossing her arms defensively.

“Sam, I don’t think you did anything wrong. He’s just gay.” Starr interjected before Danny could open his mouth.

“What? No, I’m bi. I’ve had feelings for girls before, I swear! I even had a crush on Sam for like, four years! I don’t know why I’m ruining this!” Danny cried out. The irritated look in Sam’s eyes melted into one of sympathy as she slid off of Danny’s lap to sit next to him.

“It’s okay Danny. Sexual orientation can change, and crushes fade. I’m just sad I missed my chance.” She reassured, taking his hand comfortingly.

“But how did it change so fast? I swear a week ago Tucker caught me with a boner when you were picking up litter in a mini skirt.” Danny argued, before breaking eye contact with Sam to look at Tucker, pleading with his face for his friend to back him up. Seeing the thoughtful expression on his face made Danny’s stomach sink.

“Danny… I think those might have been Phantom’s feelings.” At the sound of Tucker mentioning the name, it all made sense. He’d always assumed he only started getting interested in girls after the accident because he’d only just reached that part of puberty, but what if it was because Phantom was the one who was attracted to girls? It would certainly explain why he hadn’t felt anything for any girls since they split. A weight lifted off of Danny, from both understanding himself better, and for the knowledge that Phantom was just as much in control when they were fused as he was. He let out a relieved laugh.

“So I wasn’t controlling him this whole time! He still had free will!” He exclaimed happily. He couldn’t wait to tell the ghost the good news.

“Uh… now that we can mention him without you losing it, can you please explain what the fuck happened back at the library?” Tucker enquired, making his way deeper into the room and sitting on a recliner. Danny found himself off guard, suddenly remembering that he was mad at Phantom.

“Ugh, don’t even get me started! He full on let me believe I was this perverted asshole that didn’t deserve a chance with him, but no! Turns out he was only acting weird because he did have feelings for me and was too much of a coward to tell me the truth! If he had just told me he was awake when I kissed him in my sleep then I wouldn’t have spent this entire time agonising over what a bad person I was!” Danny complained. As he spoke, it became very clear to him that the entire time he’d spent with Phantom as separate people, he’d been repressing his own feelings for the ghost to the point of almost being unaware of them. Seeing gears turn in Sam’s mind, he waited for her to speak.

“So, the problem was that he didn’t make it clear how he felt, which made you feel like he couldn’t love you?” Sam questioned, to which Danny nodded emphatically in response.

“Right… and how is that any different to what you are doing now?” She continued, stopping Danny dead in his tracks.

“W-Wait, what?”

“Come on dude, you had a look inside his mind and the first thing you did was tell him to fuck off, essentially. As if that didn’t tell him you aren’t interested. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought you never wanted to see him again at all!” Tucker explained, rolling his eyes. Danny felt his own eyes widen with realisation and despair.

“Shit! I only meant I need space to cool down while I was mad at him! He probably thinks that I hate him! What if he runs away to the Ghost Zone? I have to go home and tell him the truth!” Danny exclaimed in a panic, before jolting to his feet and dashed out of the room.

“What the fuck was that all about?” was the last thing he heard from the room before he darted his way through the house and back onto the street.

Thanks to his increased speed and endurance, the sprint home was in record time, and luckily he had managed to sober up in that time. He wanted to talk to Phantom with as clear a mind as he could, so that he could tell Phantom how he felt without there being any more confusion between them. As silently as he could, he opened the front door. Luckily, he could hear his parents tinkering away frantically in the lab, so he didn’t have to worry about them slowing him down. Unable to slow his heart rate down as he climbed up the stairs, he focused on slowing his breathing and on what he was going to say.

“Don’t worry Phantom! I don’t think you’re a pervert! I’d probably watch you shower, if given the opportunity.” No, no, no… that doesn’t sound right. Just keep it simple and say you don’t hate him!

Figuring that was a good place to start, he took one last deep breath before opening the door to his bedroom.

To find it empty.

Disappointed, Danny walked into the room and looked around. The only sign that anyone had been in here since they’d left earlier today was that the computer was now on. He paced over to the screen to see a folder open with a single video file in it labelled “Goodbye Danny”. Nervously, he tapped on the file and the video began playing. On screen, Phantom was stepping away from the screen and steadying his breath before looking straight into the camera. It broke Danny's heart to be able to tell that he'd been crying.

“Hey Danny. By the time you’ll be watching this, I’ll have already gone into the Ghost Zone. I know Jazz said I should wait to talk to you before I go, but I think seeing you would hurt too much. When you told me to leave, I didn’t know who I would be without you. I… I need to be someone on my own, but I can’t do that if I stay with you. When I feel like I’m ready, I’ll come back to see you. But I’m not sure how long that will take, or if I’ll still feel the same way about you. I just want you to know that I’m sorry for what I did, and I’m sorry I let you down. I hope you find someone who deserves you. Goodbye Danny.”

With that, the video ended on Phantom leaning forward to stop recording, and Danny found himself as frozen as the frame on screen.

He was too late; Phantom had left him.

#Danny Phantom #danny fenton #danny fenton x danny phantom #danny fenton/danny phantom #fan fiction #pitch pearl #pitchpearl

23 notes · View notes