#An update so fluffy and sappy we're all going to die

[dp-marvel94]

Face to Face- Chapter 51

Summary: When Danny went through the ghost catcher, he expected to be cured of the ghostliness that had haunted him since the accident, not to wake up on the lab floor with his parents saying he’d been overshadowed but everything’s back to normal now. But why does Danny Fenton cry himself to sleep to then dream of flying? Why does Phantom, the ghost who was supposedly possessing Danny remember a life that wasn’t his? Most of all, why do both the human and the ghost feel that something vital is missing, in their very soul? Or: Trying to cure himself of his powers one month after the accident, Danny accidentally splits himself but neither his ghost nor his human half know that that is what they did

First -> Last

Word Count: 3,341

Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

Note: I am so excited for you guys to see this chapter! 😍 And I'm not going to say anymore and risk spoilers. Go check it out! 👀

With yawns, the group hug pulled apart.

Dad stretched, pushing himself to his feet. “This old man’s ready to hit the hay. There’s been a lotta excitement.”

“There has been.” The other adult nodded. “I think we all need to head to bed.” 

Fenton held back a yawn, looking at Phantom. A silent conversation passed and… “I think we’re gonna stay up here a few more minutes. Get some star gazing in.”

Worry flickered across Mom’s face. “Are you sure? You look tired, sweetie. I don’t want you falling asleep up here.”

“We’ll be fine.” Phantom gave her a soft smile. “I can carry Fenton in, if he does fall asleep.”

The woman offered a nod. “Alright. Good night Danny.” 

Good night kisses were exchanged, other parting words and soon…. Fenton and Phantom were alone.

They both shifted on the blanket pile, sitting down side by side and looking at the stars. A beat of companionable silence passed. Just the night sky, deep and vivid with ghostly eyes. The moon, barely a waning sliver. Venus, still bright near the horizon. With a quick search, Human Danny found Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. And the constellations….

“There’s Pegasus.” Phantom’s finger traced the square of stars. 

“And Andromeda.” Fenton pointed above the famed flying horse. His eyes widened slightly, awed. “I can actually see the galaxy.”

“It’s incredible.” The ghost breath, sharing the feeling. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over it, how many stars we can see now.” His eyes shone, quietly giddy.

More patterns were traced. “Perseus. Cassiopeia.”

“And there’s little Lacerta, the Lizard.” The human’s finger pointed out the diamond ‘head,’ the square ‘body’, the little ‘tail.’ “And the swan, Cygnus.” The Northern cross made up the ‘body’, two ‘wings’ outlined with the upper part.

He’d never tire of this, Phantom knew, the sight filling him with so much joy. He loved learning the names of the stars, the stories people told. He dreamed of the far reaches of space, the mysteries and wonders of distant worlds. His mind drifted for just a moment to the portal, to the unknown world accessible through his basement. 

Fenton gave a sigh. “It’s too bad it’s the wrong time of year for Orion.” 

The ghost turned his head. “Our favorite.” His counterpart nodded. “It is a winter constellation, like…” His eyes drifted to the sky, checking for something he was sure wouldn’t be there. Phantom gave a soft smile. “You know, I’m kinda partial to Gemini.”

The human rolled his eyes, putting his head in his hands. “The twins, really?” He looked up, raising a brow. “These ‘I’m my own brother’ jokes.”

The ghost laughed. “You’re the one who started calling me James.” He poked his other playfully. “But seriously though, I like the constellation. It seemed appropriate, and… I don’t know, they’re something… special about this.” He motioned to the two of them.

“Yeah.” Fenton raised a brow, a quiet request to continue.

Phantom nodded. “And… this is it.” He sobered slightly, wide earnest eyes fixed on his counterpart. “If everything goes right, we’ll be back to being a halfa tomorrow.” A flicker of hope, of excitement. If it worked, they would finally be back to how they were supposed to be. But… “This is our last night, like this.” There was a weight to the words, a bittersweet aching in his core. “So… I guess if we have anything else to say to each other while we’re still like this, we should say it.”

The human’s brow furrowed. “Well.” A pause, betraying Fenton’s understanding of the seriousness of the conversation. Then the corner of human Danny’s mouth twitched. “I do have a joke.”

“Do you now?” Phantom’s serious expression cracked slightly, a brow raised.

 “Why didn’t the ghost go to the dance?” Fenton kept his face deceptively neutral.

“...why?” Phantom asked, hesitantly.

 Human Danny grinned. “He had no body to go with.”

His counterpart gawked. “Really, Fenton?” He chuckled. “Really?”

“What? It seemed appropriate considering.…” He wiggled his eyebrows pointing at himself. 

“You. are. Ridiculous!” Phantom practically lunged for him. “He had no body to go with?” A hand furiously noogied the black haired head. “He had no body to go with? How could you do me dirty like that?” 

The human shook with laughter, squirming and trying to get away. “You’re the one who thought I was your dead body.”

“You were asleep!” The ghost exclaimed.

“You’d still have no body to go with.” Fenton giggled. “I’d never let you take me to the dance!”

Phantom lost it, his hand dropping out of his human’s hair. The other successfully broke away, arms wrapping around his middle in his outburst. The ghost flopped down on the blanket pile, tail twitching in his mirth.

“Sorry. Sorry.” Fenton finally broke out, panting for breath. “I just had to get that out of me.”

His counterpart snorted. “I’d never let you take me to the dance.”

“Very funny.” The human rolled his eyes, still smiling.

“You’re never gonna live that down.” The ghost propped himself up with his elbows. “We’ll be at the next school dance. That’ll suddenly pop up in our head and we’ll end up laughing to ourself like we’re crazy.”

“Only if halfa-us actually remembers this.” Fenton pointed out, one brow raised. “Also, we can’t live anything down.” A yawn broke through the words but he powered through. “Kinda comes with being half-dead.”

“We’re making death jokes now!” Phantom sat up, raising his arms. “How the tables have turned!”

“Yep.” His other chuckled. Then… “Seriously though.” His face sobered, a mirror of Phantom’s earlier expression. “About your question… I guess I do have some stuff to say.”

The ghost shuffled closer but didn’t say anything, patient.

The human sighed. “First, I’m glad we talked to Mom and Dad. It was hard but… I think it helped. We… we really did need to do it.”

Phantom reached, a hand going to his counterpart’s arm. “I’m happy we could do it together.” He gave a soft smile. “So much has happened and… it was good to get it all out in the open.”

Fenton nodded. There were a lot of feelings there but… paramount was relief, a peace settling over them. Then… a twinge in his heart. “We never really talked about what happened with Dora at the park.”

The ghost's soft smile waned slightly. “Right. I guess we got pretty wrapped up worrying about tonight.”

There was a lot there as well. Happiness and excitement: Mom and Dad had reacted so well, been so enthusiastic to answer all of the princess’s questions. Sadness and worry: They learned a bit of where Dora was from, the abuse she was suffering and… she’d flown back to her brother. Guilt: people had been hurt at the park, property destroyed. And yet….

Things could have gone much worse if it wasn’t for their ice and quick thinking. They’d jumped into action, Fenton getting people away from the action while Phantom tried to get the necklace off the dragon ghost. They’d both fought, in their own separate ways. But at the end, together….

A shared feeling rose. At that moment…. There’d been determination, surety. Green and blue eyes meet, both sparkling.

“We both pulled off the amulet.” Phantom spoke the words. “And… it felt so right.”

“Like… like that’s what we were meant to do.” Fenton nodded, eyes wide.

The words, the memory made the ghost’s core buzz. “It felt so… perfect. Protecting people and helping Dora.” He couldn’t verbalize, could hardly explain it. But… it felt like looking at the stars. Like…. Somehow, something slotted into place.

“Sidney said about us being a bridge between worlds.” Fenton’s voice was quiet, awed. “It wasn’t just that we did the right thing. We protected those kids and helped Dora get back to the portal. We helped both of them, the ghost and the humans.” The human blinked, eyes widening. “That’s what we’ve been doing since this started really, standing in the middle.”

“Maybe that’s why this happened to us.” The ghost’s lips quirked. “It feels almost stupid to say that. But… we were called down the stairs and into the portal. And we both desperately want to believe it was for a reason.”

That was true. They’d talked about the accident, agonized over the what ifs together, ultimately choosing to table them but still…. That longing for meaning, for purpose lingered.

Fenton smiled softly, giving his counterpart’s arm a squeeze. “And if it wasn’t for some outside reason… we can give it one.”

This felt like the beginning of something. Phantom’s core pulsed, a thousand emotions churning. His mind flickered back, to kneeling in front of Sophie and declaring he was Danny Phantom. And this time, the name wasn’t a placeholder. It was something thought up to make the pain a little more bearable. It was his name, really his name. A truth he chose to accept, to embrace. 

The two sat for a long pause, arm in arm. Feelings, emotions, memories wafted. Peace. Hope. Joy. Expectation. 

“I’m happy I got a chance to get to know you like this.” Fenton finally said, voice so quiet, so tender.

Phantom looked over, meeting the blue eyes. His own softened, shining with affection.

The human continued. “I know we would have figured it out eventually if we hadn’t done this. And being split hasn’t exactly been fun. But you’re right. This was special. I’ve learned so much and…” Fenton put an arm around him, a gentle half-hug “I’ve loved getting to see and talk to you like this.”

Phantom felt his eyes watering with emotion. This moment…. so tender, so close. His chest almost ached, his insides soft and gooey.

“I think I’m going to like being you.” Fenton smiled.

Somehow, his core felt even meltier. “You already are me.”

The human snorted. “You know what I mean.”

He did.

Phantom leaned into the half hug. “I’m happy I got to know you like this too. I mean…” He shrugged. “We were just human most of our life so I think I know human us pretty well but… you’re not the boy who went into the portal, not anymore.” 

Sadness wafted, the knowledge that that version of them was gone. But…. “I know we can never go back to that and…. I don’t really want to anymore.” Fenton said, no surprise in his words but a quiet confidence. “I’m excited to actually be half ghost. When this works, we’ll…. we’ll finally be the real us, the real Danny again.”

The ghost nodded vigorously, his arm rising to wrap around his counterpart. “Me too. I’m… really looking forward to being human again.” He turned his head, looking at Fenton. “I’m happy Mom figured out the ecto-cookies and stuff. And getting to eat and taste it was great. But… it’s no substitute.” 

For just a moment he wondered; would he be able to taste if he and Fenton were sharing the human’s mouth? Well… the memory pressed into the ghost’s mind; Fenton had tasted the ecto-cookie when Phantom had first tried them. But maybe they could do it on purpose. They’d try it out in the morning, before trying the ghost catcher again.

The human gave a chuckle, sensing the thought. “That could be fun.” Then his eyes drifted back up, to the sky. “I’m really excited to fly.” His serene smile brightened, eyes glowing. “Not dreaming it through your eyes. Not having to be carried. Actually, finally… touching the sky.”

“The way it’s supposed to be.” Phantom breathed.

“The way it’s supposed to be.” Fenton couldn’t help but agree.

There was nothing more to say, not with the parts of their soul touching. Emotions and memories swirled together as Fenton’s eyes started fluttering. 

He yawned. “Tell me about some more constellations.”

Phantom obliged. With his free hand, he pointed to the sky. Fingers waved and motioned, connecting the dots. He rambled, eyes shining. About the notable celestial objects making up those constellations. The galaxies, nebulae, massive stars, and black holes.

“Of course, the Andromeda constellation has the famous Andromeda galaxy. See, it’s right there. It’s also called Messier 31. There’s two other galaxies, dwarf elliptical ones. Le Gentil, called Messier 31 I think. And 110?” He shrugged, hand waving. “See those three bright stars in a kinda curved line. There’s Alpheratz, Mirach, and Almach. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Andromedae.” His freckles glowed, seeming to shift into a familiar pattern. “Alpheratz makes up one corner of the Great Square of Pegasus. And Almach is up there, near Perseus.”

Fenton’s head drifted, settling onto his ghost’s shoulder. “The story, Phantom.” The boy whined tiredly. “About Perseus and Medusa and the flying horse…”

“Alright, alright.” The ghost laughed. “So Perseus was the son of a Greek princess and Zeus, the king of the gods. And of course like any f-ed up Greek myth, the story starts with a prophecy and Zeus shape-shifting to get a lady pregnant, because he can’t keep it in his pants…..”

Phantom rambled, loud and enthusiastic. His hands waved. His constellation freckles shone. 

“So Perseus beheaded Medusa using his shield to see her reflection. That way he didn’t look at her directly and you know, get turned to stone.” He shrugged. “And that’s where Pegasus comes in. The horse supposedly sprung from the blood dripping from her decapitated head. So the horse was actually Medusa and Poseidon’s kid. Which is completely weird and totally messed up. Actually this whole story is so messed up. Sam was right. Where’s the justice? Medusa got attacked by a freaking god in Athena’s temple, turned into a monster, and beheaded. And she didn’t even get a constellation! How’s that fair?”

“You’re such a dork.” The human slurred out sleepily, interrupting the rant.

Phantom’s mouth snapped shut. He smirked, raising an eyebrow teasingly. “I know you are but what am I?”

“Still a dork.” Fenton snorted, snuggling into his side.

The ghost blinked once. Then he rolled his eyes, smiling. “I walked right into that one, didn’t I?”

“Yep.” His counterpart giggled. “Think you’re the king of the comebacks, don’t cha? Silly ghost.”

“Hey, I’m very witty. You just happen to share my brain.” He grinned, roughly ruffling his counterpart’s hair. “Can’t get one over on you, can I?”

“I’m the pun master.” Fenton chuckled, leaning into the touch.

“You’re annoying, that’s what you are.” Phantom teased.

“I love you too.” The human muttered, rolling his eyes.

The ghost stilled, his free hand dropping out of the black hair. His core squeezed, jovial teasing giving way to a soft and quiet joy. The tiredness radiated off of his other self, heavy enough that he was starting to get silly. But those words…. Every syllable was real. 

Phantom breathed. Teasing and joking was familiar, comfortable even. He was even used to transparency, tender honesty. But this…. The arm still around his human half tightened, his free arm circling around Fenton’s front. He had said earlier, if they had anything else to say to each other while they were still split, they should say it.

Ghost Danny completed the hug. “I do love you.”

Human Danny didn’t say anything, just smiling before closing his eyes. His free hand drifted up, squeezing his ghost’s.

Finally…. “Can you finish the story?” A yawn. “Then I can go ta bed.”

“Yeah, I’ll finish it. Where was I? Oh right. Medusa. So…” Phantom continued, his other self’s head buried in his shoulder. “Perseus put the head in a bag. The other two gorgons tried to chase and attack him but he escaped, using the helm of darkness to turn invisible…” 

The ghost talked, this time not loud and excited, but instead quiet and calm. Fenton’s breathing slowed. “So he found this girl - that’s where Andromeda comes in- tied naked to a rock and for once had the rationale reaction of being like ‘What the hell is going on?’” 

The human’s body relaxed, muscles going limp. “Perseus came back to Seriphos and found out that his mom was in hiding because apparently, Polydectes, the king- the same who sent on this suicide mission to get Medusa’s head in the first place- wouldn’t take no for an answer. So our man Percy was like ‘That’s it, I’ve had enough of you’ and used the head to turn the king guy to stone and kill him ....”

Fenton’s quiet breath ghosted across his shoulder, a soft snore resounding. “The prophecy that started all this did come true. But for once it wasn’t an evil plot or some cruel joke by the gods. It was just a tragic accident….”

Tiredness brushed at his consciousness, radiating from the human boy half-laying on him. But Phantom would finish this story; he’d told himself he would. “Perseus went back to his new wife and their new kingdom. They had a bunch of kids and ruled in peace and prosperity. Rare for a Greek Hero, there was no tragic ending. No sudden madness, no bloody fall in battle, no cruel betrayal. Finally, they just lived happily ever after.”

The story finished, Phantom smiling as his human half gave another light snore. He let go of the sleeping boy, to gently lower him onto the blankets. But Fenton hung on, giving a sleepy whine.

The ghost chuckled. “Alright. Let’s get you to bed.”

Ghost Danny floated off the ground, one arm still around his human self. It took some maneuvering with his free hand and his tail; luckily the appendage proved to be much longer and more dexterous than his legs. But Phantom managed to move the boy into a comfortable enough princess carry.

He glanced down at the blanket and pillow pile. “I’ll come back for these. Bed first.” He flickered both of them intangible and-

A black and white figure darted in front of him. A whoop of delight. The other person dove, twirling in the air. “This is amazing!” 

Phantom blinked. “What-”

The ghost flipped, swimming back up. And… it was his own ghostly face. “There you are!”

Phantom just stared, mind spinning. What was happen-

Ghost Danny yanked himself out of the dream. He needed to get his human self to bed. He darted down, through the ceiling. 

A rough pull on his mind, from somewhere deep inside of him.

The other figure waved, frantically motioning the on-looker to approach. “Come on! It’s a perfect night for flying.”

Phantom blinked, suddenly understanding. This was… this was Fenton’s dream. And the figure in front of him…. His human self was dreaming, not of being his ghost half but… somehow, Phantom knew, this was a dream of being Danny, their half ghost self.

The ghost boy was hovering over their bed. When did he get here?

“Come on!” Danny? Fenton dreaming of being Danny? Waved again. “The sky’s clear and open. There’s so many stars. Let’s fly, Danny!”

It was tempting, so tempting.

His body felt tingly and light. He lowered, arms holding Fenton just half a foot from the bed. He just had to let go and pry the human’s arm off him. 

A gloved hand moved and…. The dream…

A jubilee yell. Fenton waved, green eyes sparkling. “Come on! You know you want to.” 

Phantom did want to. The sensation of pins and needles washed over his body. But…

The ghostly figure twirled, doing a backflip before leveling out. “No buts! I always dream through your eyes. It’s your turn. Get over here.”

Ghost Danny wanted to. He wanted to sleep, to dream. His grip loosened. He already could barely feel his hands on Fenton’s back, the feather-light sensation like brushing fog… 

Another echoing laugh. A ghostly tail flicked, gaze fixed to the sky. Fenton…. Danny turned his head, eyebrow raised. “Well then?”

Or maybe Phantom was the mist. He released his hold and let himself fall into the dream. 

Two calls of joy echoed, twirling, intertwining, melding into one.

Ghostly light swirling over his skin, the seemingly-human body of Danny Fenton alone fell to his bed. 

Note: Feel free to yell at me in the comments. Seriously, I am so excited about this and the next chapter. I'd been waiting literal years to write them and I'm so happy with how this one turned out!