#I’m just making him and Maddie closer in age for this so that when he gets out they’ll be on par with where they are in canon

[lady-kima-of-vord]

It’s definitely not news, but Buddie have continued taking total control of my brain and I can’t think about other media without thinking about them

[soggylampshade-11]

Dead Like Me.

Hi, I've recently binged School Spirits and I really like Wally Clark. There is a criminal lack of fics written for him, so I decided to write one of my own. This includes an OC of my own creation named Sabrina. I hope you all like it!

*Just a note, this takes place a couple years before Maddie's situation happens.*

Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Chapter 1

Triggers: implications of SA, language, violence

I was walking out to the parking lot after cheer practice when someone grabbed my arm. I’d stayed after practice ended to work through some routines with Coach Armstrong for longer than I thought because it was dark out now. So I cried out when the person pulled me under the bleachers.

“Chill, Sab, it’s me!” Zach Hines said, making me relax when I saw it was only him. “Hey, why are you still here?”

“I stayed after with Armstrong to work on some routines for this season,” I explained, watching him move closer to me in the cramped space. “Hey, whoa, what’s up? Personal space is important, my dude.”

“I love how you challenge me,” he grinned, continuing to come to me until my back hit the bleachers. “You look so good in these shorts, I love watching you cheer while you wear them.”

“Dude, Chloe’s my friend,” I said, trying to push him back from me. “You remember Chloe, right? Your girlfriend? About 5’9 with red hair?”

“I don’t want to talk about her right now. I want to talk about you going to Homecoming with me,” he said, ignoring what I said completely. 

He put his hand on my hip and trapped me where I was. “Uh, Zach, I think I should leave. Chloe’s my friend.”

He only hummed, pressing his body to mine and kissing my neck. I kept trying to get him off me, but he was so much bigger and stronger than me. He was the fullback for the football team. His hands were all over me and my heart was racing, fight or flight kicking in. I couldn’t run away from him, so I had to fight. 

“Zach, stop!” I cried, hitting his chest.

“You want this, every girl wants this,” he argued, banging my body back against the wood until I stopped moving. 

“I don’t!” I cried, my adrenaline keeping the pain from sinking into me as my spine repeatedly slammed against the wood behind me. “Zach! Stop it! You’re hurting me!”

“Shut up,” he hissed, continuing to push me until my head hit the wood so sharply everything went black. 

~

There was a surprising lack of pain in my body when I woke up. The sun was shining bright and there were a ton of strangers gathered around me. 

“What happened?” I asked, but none of the people replied to me or even acknowledged that I’d spoken. “Hello? Can you guys hear me? What happened?”

I pushed up into a sitting position and then stood, but they didn’t move out of the way. It was like I slipped through their bodies. When I turned around to look at them, I screamed when I saw my lifeless body laying where I’d just been. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” someone said calmly behind me, making me turn quickly to find a guy wearing glasses and a denim jacket. “Hi, I’m Charley.”

“What the fuck is happening?” I cried. “Why can you see me but they can’t?”

“Let’s go inside, it’s not very fun to be out here with all this,” Charley said, gesturing toward the school. 

“Why would I go somewhere with you?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest defensively. "I don't know who you are."

“Because I’m dead like you,” he replied, making me look at him incredulously. “You’re dead, you died under the bleachers and those EMTs announced it.”

“I’m dead?” I asked in a hoarse whisper, kneeling down by my lifeless body. “Holy shit, I’m dead.”

I felt Charley kneel beside me and place a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, this is the worst way to find out you died on campus. It’s, like, the absolute worst thing to find out when you wake up.”

“Sabrina Wellington, age 17,” one of the EMTs said, making me look over at him even though I knew he couldn’t see me now. “Principal’s on her way, the football field’s blocked off from students. We should get her out of here before they realize what’s going on.”

A lot happened at once after that. My body was placed in a bodybag, the EMT frowning as she zipped it up. A surge of panic rushed through my body, but Charley stopped me when I tried to follow them.

“Once you get to the end of the school boundaries, you get yanked back to where you died. That means you’d regenerate under here again and it hurts,” he said, sounding sad. “I’m sorry, you’re stuck here with us.”

“Us?” I asked distractedly, watching the EMTs carry my body away and load it in the back of an ambulance without the lights on when it drove away. 

“There’s a group of us who died here. We meet up in the gym everyday to talk,” he explained, gesturing to the building with his shoulder. “Do you want to come with me?”

Before I could say anything, I saw Trish and Ellery standing at the edge of the football field. “Can I find you later? I need to go talk to my friends.”

“They’re not going to be able to see you!” Charley shouted after me as I jogged over to them, but I just waved him off. “Okay, see you later!”

I hurried over to my friends and heard them talking. “I can’t believe she’s dead! She was at practice last night, barking orders like always.”

“Hey!” I cried, but they didn’t acknowledge me. 

“It’s like she didn’t know Alison was fighting to take over as captain,” Trisha stated with a giggle. “I guess the fight’s over now.”

“Ladies! Get to class,” Mr. Hill shouted, making us jump. “Don’t forget there’s also a grief counselor here for you if you need it.”

The two of them left me standing there in shock. I’d cheered with them since I was six years old. We’d been inseparable since then… but I think they hated me. What the hell? I walked slowly inside the building, feeling my eyes burn with tears 

I didn’t realize until I pushed open the double doors of the gym that I was going where Charley suggested earlier. There was a gym class happening, but I walked through it easily to join the group of people sitting in a  circle. 

“Is this dead kid AA?” I asked, standing behind an empty chair. 

A girl with dark, curly hair snorted at that and rolled her eyes. “Wow, never heard that one before!”

“Welcome, I’m Mr. Martin,” the man in a sweater vest said, standing up and gesturing to an empty seat. “Please, have a seat and join us.”

I nodded and moved around to sit in one of the folding chairs between a guy in a letterman jacket and the girl with dark hair. She was sucking on a lollipop and looked bored out of her mind. 

“Right, let’s go around and introduce ourselves to our newest member,” Mr. Martin said, sitting back in his seat. 

“Hi, we met this morning,” Charley said, waving at me with a friendly smile. “I’m Charley.”

The girl with the lollipop said, “Rhonda.”

“Sabrina,” I said, bringing my legs up onto the chair with me and wrapping my arms around them. 

“I’m Wally,” the guy in the letterman said, making me realize he looked really familiar. Like he read my mind, he said, “The one that the football field’s named after.”

There was a picture of him hanging in the hallway outside the locker rooms. The thought of the locker rooms made me flinch because I’d seen Zach standing by the doors last night. The feeling of his hands forcing me backward and the roughness of the wood digging into the bare skin of my shoulders.

“Sabrina? Are you okay?” Wally asked, drawing me out of the memory. “You disappeared for a few minutes.”

“Sorry,” I said, sounding a million miles away. 

“You get better at handling the memories,” Charley said gently, making me look over at him. 

I couldn’t imagine he was right, but I nodded my head anyway. The rest of the group was talking about something, but my focus wasn’t here. I was thinking about Zach trying to force himself on me and hurting me. He’d slammed my head against the bleachers so hard that it killed me. 

Then there was the way my friends talked about me this morning. My dead body was found underneath the bleachers where a guy I considered my friend killed me. A guy that I trusted tried to force himself on me then killed me. 

My chest drew tight and I knew I was going to have a panic attack. I was up and out of the gym, running until I was in the girls’ bathroom. I gripped the sides of the sink in my hands and looked in the mirror. 

I was wearing a silver moon necklace around my neck, there was a tube of abandoned cherry lip gloss in the floor, a couple bobby pins on the little shelf below the mirrors, and an empty soap dispenser on the wall. I could hear water dripping from the sink, the sound of water rushing through pipes in the walls, the sound of someone walking out in the hallway, and the distant squeak of gym shoes. 

My breath was back to normal, making me look at my reflection again. The girl in the reflection looked like me when I was alive, but I knew I wasn’t anymore. My eyes were glassy with tears and I wasn’t wearing makeup, so my freckles stood out against my pale cheeks. I busied myself with putting my hair back up to still my shaking hands. 

When I walked back out of the bathroom, Wally was waiting for me. He was sitting across from the door with his arms resting on his raised knees. 

“Hi,” he greeted, keeping the space between us. “You ran off and I wanted to make sure you were okay. I don’t want to crowd you or freak you out, but this is a lot to do on your own.”

“You mean finding out that a person you trusted tried to assault you then hit your head against the bleachers so hard it killed you and then finding out the girls you’ve known since you were six actually hate you is hard to do alone?” I asked, going over to sit beside him. “You just want to be my friend because I’m a cheerleader… was a cheerleader.”

“I’ve seen you cheer before, you’re good,” he admitted, cheeks flushing a little when I looked at him. “Not in a creepy way, in a ‘I watch the football games’ kind of way.”

A small smile found my face as I leaned my head against the wall behind us. “Thanks, I absolutely fucking hated it.”

“No way! I hated football!” he cried, making me look at him with my brows raised. “It was fun when I started, but my mom had insane ideas on what I was supposed to do on the field.”

“Same, my mom wanted me to go to nationals and get scholarships,” I explained, smiling humorlessly. “It turns out my entire team wanted to take away my captain title and give it to another girl. So, I guess I wasn’t as good at it as I thought I was.”

“That sucks,” he agreed, making me laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. “You have a nice laugh.”

“Don’t flirt with me. I just died,” I said, but I couldn’t stop myself from giggling. 

“I died in 1983, I’m allowed to flirt,” he replied, bumping my shoulder with his. “You’re going to be okay, Sabrina.”

“Brina, my friends call me Brina,” I corrected, turning my head to look at him. “And you’re my friend.”

“That’s presumptuous of you, Brina,” he said, smiling brightly when he turned to look back at me.

A genuine smile tugged at my lips, one bigger than the false one I’d used today. My life was over and I’d found out the people I trusted weren’t trustworthy. I cheered in the stadium named after the goofy guy beside me, but I think I liked him more than my living friends.

~

And that's the first chapter of my story! I'd love to hear y'all's input on it! Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, anything really. I'm working on this as inspiration hits and have another 2 chapters ready to go. I hope you liked this one!

[vivianbernadetteaurora]

The colour palette of euphoria characters and how they Evolve or stay the same.

Let’s star off with Rue ,

Rue , is about 15 to 17 years of age, I guess what confuses me is that she seems to be in the same classes, as Cassie and Maddie when her friend, high school friend, is the younger sister of Cassie~ Lexi, (really that’s besides the point )

these two have known each other since they were little girls preschool age nursery age, the later years although I still think these guys are really young and know that she went through this drug addiction to fentanyl and pills, a school age is forever going to stunt, and that’s what makes it so emotional is the age of her ,Rue , because she was around her father who was dying of cancer and she would sit with him they were very close. She would sit with him and take some of his pills to feel closer to him to fill in his mindset to escape the crushing of inevitability of his death.💀

Anyways, as far as Rue fashion goes, it’s all about comfort, and staying stuck by wearing her father’s Hoodie, it’s about baggy tops, army pants, and cut off T-shirts, with a mix of jewellery maybe a couple of rings , I don’t think it actually shows them much of music taste that influences their clothing, where with the previous generations a lot of your clothing with influenced by the type of music you listen to and had a big as, where is all these girls have similar kind of style route that just alters between alternative, girly, and Couture, which I don’t know in high school age are you cannot afford it let alone being an adult it’s hard, so we see, we see her wearing army colours green khaki . And the deep red., even when Jules does her make up it’s not over the top we just see, the reflective of tears, on her eyes when she’s at the funfair,🎪 so I think these colours represent, youth , but also , a need for individuality ,,,,,, And hiding behind her Hoodie sunglasses, because of her addiction🕶️ which is common, a lot of the time addict, hide behind their hair, clothing, jewellery, and other such things, maybe as a distraction from what’s really going on but it’s good to know I’ve heard an addict talk about, I’ve even heard Nikki sixx saying his hair got less and less big, when he was away from his addiction.

An evening in the next season and her colours don’t change too much because she’s got worse, with her habit and the people that she’s associated with, she goes through agonising with during these points you’ve seen more of her, where her hair is tied up, and you can see all the weaknesses and the frailness of her body . And her skin..

We see her do well towards the end of, and at the play after her breakdown /withdrawals ,,,, which Jules Elliot , her mum and sister witnnese3d were she said loads of angry hurtful words .

I feel like the end of the series we see her like he said with her hat up we see a more openness and willing to engage, I’m feeling more clear.

CASSIE

Cassie in euphoria, is similar to ruin in a sense that she alternate between two colours, her colour palette being baby pink and baby blue, let’s just look, at the baby aspect to these names, because Cassie and Lexi’s dad, ends up becoming a opiate addict, leaving the house , would drive them around high, and put their lives in danger, but Cassie has his loyalty to the man, there is massive daddy issue, missing in her life, so when he comes to get his stuff in the middle of the night, knows that he can wrap Cassie around his finger, and get his stuff to sell. It’s a really sad scene.

So then you see her having no loyalty, to the mum, or even her sister or best friend, because maybe she sees it as her mum’s fault, when this isn’t the case at all, they both had a addiction issues, mum was more of a drinker,.

Colour palette is interesting, when she’s going through something hard, her abortion, or her scenes with Nate, where she’s trying to do her beauty routine in the morning we see her in the blue more,.

But she’s having more of a manic moment, we see her switch to pink e.g. the Jacuzzi, and also the play. she gets very drunk at night and really feeling herself.

where she comes in looking like she’s across between Jules and Maddie, with the make up and the outfit, but Cassie has a very volatile side, it’s like BPD. the first season we see her being called a slut for sharing nudes to people and boys getting her to do things she probably didn’t actually want to do, because he really wants to send naked pictures it’s definitely not my kind of thing anyway I’m not shaming anyone but I hate it.

When we see her evolve, into going out with her best friend boyfriend, not long after they broke up we see this other side of Cassie.

That is broken from the, even when she goes to get him in hospital, she is wearing the blue again, and when they say about the play Oklahoma she is crying and in blue again, the last scene ,where we see her have a fight with Maddie, they show the blue side of the make-up.

When she says this is just the beginning, because she’s putting herself through the torment of going out with a man who is emotionally unavailable, many of us women with daddy issues do.

We sometimes see her in white, specially when she becomes young woman and all the creepy men at the parties are trying to, be inappropriate with her almost like taking her innocent with the white. People don’t know the colours sometimes, but I think they’re very prevalent.

Maddy

Maddie out of everybody in the show has the most evolution with her style and contrast because of what she goes through maybe, some of the clothes she chooses to wear and not of her choice out of her boyfriend‘s choice like things he buys for her she doesn’t like apart from the coat which she had wanted for years and he knew that which he thought could make ownership .so when we see her, with she’s often wearing patterns such as Louis Vuitton or matching coordinates, either way when she’s with him she’s wearing these matching outfits so in the first series that’s what we made me see her in cherries or flowers or some kind of thing that makes them match same with T-shirts, she also has a style very similar Aaliyah .

they used a kind of clothing. A lot of the outfits were similar to what wear in the day. There are a few outfits that are completely similar. One of them are pink top where it’s cut down the middle most of the time in the show we drawn to Maddie fashion because it’s very out there and something that she cares about a lot but the same time very powerful unlike her parents relationship she doesn’t want to be like them.

And then the second season we see her style really change when she is looking after the little boy and she gets to try on this woman’s clothing mum she wants to be a cat woman but at the same time keep her power so inevitably she doesn’t go well with Nate as well as Cassie does But often these powerful women can have a that makes you feel powerless often shock people I don’t know why because he kind of men like to take away these women’s spirit .

I call them spirit crushes

We see her in rich Royal purple and ,

green which signifies money and power

Also, the outfits she was on the first episode of season two is very memorable, the black gloves and the hairstyle also I think what people miss from that episode is when she goes into the bathroom. I feel like she knows what is going on not necessarily with Cassie but Nate with a girl because when the guy she has a conversation with there he’s like oh my God, there’s a girl passed out in the bottle and she doesn’t wanna because then that means she has her boyfriend cheating so instead she’s turning her blind eye because she knows that outcome in this situation.

But the evolution of we , she could be one of the women that she watched in season one who come into the salon and have their feet and manicures done she wants to be one of these women, I hardly blame her, being rich and spending money to fabulous amazing.

I think at the end of season two is the evolution of getting clean and also, it’s in Hollywood. It’s shining a light that people really do get addicted that young these Beverly Hills children., it’s normal to them. I know in the case of it was dying but you’ve got a remember they changed the story a bit to things to make it. I don’t know better or for protection or whatever but we see the evolution of that Maddie will be a bit away from here and can get clean, characters I feel like the main part of I feel like I have a bit of all of them inside of me . I would like to Channel Maddie, because I’m giving massive Rue on drugs vibe at the moment, you think what do you think euphoria character? Colour palette signifies to each person..

[fanficshiddles]

Necessary Evil, Chapter 2

‘What did he say?’ Sophie asked Sarah when she saw Loki walking away from her.

‘That he really is Loki.’ Sarah scoffed. ‘Must be a cosplayer and got too big for his boots or something similar. But this could still be a fun get together.’ She shrugged.

‘Well, perhaps being a leader of whatever this is has gone to his head a little. But at least he’s hot.’ Sophie smirked.

‘It’ll be interesting to see what the whole thing is about, why they’re trying to recruit more people and what for.’ Sarah said as they headed over to get another drink. ‘Maybe it’s just a big front, it’s probably just to give some mystery. Make things exciting. It’s nothing more than a regular get together, really.’

‘Yeah, that’s most likely.’ Sophie agreed.

‘Hey newbies! Settling in?’ Casey asked as she approached the two with Matt.

‘Think so.’ Sarah laughed. ‘So how often do you all get together, how long has it been going on?’

‘It started about six months ago, Andy and Maddie were the first two and then it just grew from there. As far as I’m aware, there’s you two plus around another eight people that have just come along today for the first time.’ Matt said. ‘We meet up every week like this, but this place is an open door for all members any time of the day. Usually always someone around nowadays.’

There was a young woman that approached them with a clipboard. ‘Hi, my name’s Jen. I’m just gathering all the new names and information.’ She smiled at Sarah and Sophie.

She took their full name, postcode and age. Sarah wasn’t sure why she needed their postcode, but she was ok giving it since they didn’t want the number part of the address.

‘Thank you, and nice to meet you both. Hope you will enjoy it here.’ Jen said, still smiling as she moved on.

Loki then gathered everyone around him again. So Sarah and Sophie joined Matt and Casey a bit closer than they had been previously, next to George and Hanna.

‘That’s Andy and Maddie over there.’ Matt whispered to Sarah and tilted his head in the direction of the couple that were stood right on front of Loki, gazing at him with so much adoration in their eyes.

‘I hope you’ve all had a chance to mingle around, to get to know one another a bit more.’ Loki spoke loudly to the group, making everyone fall silent instantly.

‘Now, to explain to our newbies here. As I mentioned earlier, my name is Loki. And everyone else here are all my lovely, devoted brothers and sisters. Our goal here is to help me to get back home to Asgard. All I need for that to happen is your trust, loyalty and commitment.’ He put his hands over his heart as he looked around the room. ‘And in return, in the meantime, I can give you sanctuary, friendships and hope. And I give you all my word that the many riches of Asgard awaits when our mission is completed. Idun’s apples, gold and gifts beyond your wildest dreams… And of course, the promise of Valhalla when the time comes.’

Everyone erupted into cheer and clapped loudly, while Loki grinned widely and soaked in being in the spotlight.

Sarah was slightly confused as she clapped slowly, Sophie was the same. But they saw everyone around them going mad after his speech full of promises.

‘I’m still confused.’ Sophie whispered to Sarah.

‘Me too. Asgard riches?’ She whispered back to her.

Loki laughed as he calmed everyone down by putting his hands up, everyone fell silent for him again. He looked at Jen and nodded, she handed him the paper with the information of the newcomers.

‘I’d like to say an extra warm welcome to all of our newbies tonight.’ Loki then called out all the names of everyone, and with every name everyone clapped and looked at said person. Sarah felt a bit embarrassed being in the spotlight for a few seconds, but was glad it wasn’t for long.

‘As usual, there will be an official welcoming ceremony for you all next week. To give you a chance to get to know us, and us you.’ Loki said as he looked at Sarah with a smile, making her heart skip a beat. ‘That’s when you’ll be given official and unlimited access to our home here.’ He said as he motioned around the place.

‘Now, to everyone else, just keep spreading the word for now. And for the rest of tonight, just relax and have fun. Get to know your new brothers and sisters, answer any questions they may have.’

Everyone clapped again and a few people whooped. Sarah and Sophie just looked at one another, utterly confused.

But everyone was warm and welcoming as they mingled around a bit again, getting more drinks and food too.

‘So… This guy thinks he’s really Loki the God and is trying to get home to Asgard? And we help him, how, exactly?’ Sarah asked Matt, Casey, George and Hanna.

‘He doesn’t think he’s Loki, he is Loki.’ Hanna said.

‘But… It’s not possible.’ Sophie said.

‘It is. He’s right here on front of us.’ Matt laughed. ‘And once we all help him get home… Just think of the possibilities. We’ll be stinking rich!’

Sarah and Sophie shared a look with one another again, still not convinced at all.

‘It’s nice finally having somewhere I belong, somewhere to feel safe with people that actually care for me. I owe it all to Loki.’ Casey said.

‘And this will always be your home, Casey.’ Came Loki’s voice from behind as he approached the mini group. He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a brief squeeze before letting go again.

Casey looked a little flustered. ‘Can’t thank you enough, Loki.’ She bumbled out quickly with a big smile.

Loki just smiled back at her, then looked at the others and his gaze landed on Sarah and Sophie. ‘How are you both getting on? I hope everyone is making you feel welcome?’

‘Yes, they certainly are.’ Sophie nodded.

‘Is the food ok? Do either of you have any dietary requirements? We can certainly cater for anything you require.’ Loki asked as he moved a little closer towards Sarah.

‘No, it’s all good… Thank you.’ Sophie said.

‘Yep, great.’ Sarah nodded in agreement.

‘What brought you both here, hmm? Was it the poster or do you know someone here already?’ Loki asked Sarah and Sophie.

‘Poster for me.’ Sarah said.

‘My cousin, Lara. Though she’s not here tonight as she’s ill.’ Sophie said.

‘Yes, I heard she was ill. I hope she recovers soon… Sarah, I want to speak to you about your artwork, if we may?’ Loki motioned over towards the art.

Sarah’s eyes went wide but she nodded eagerly and followed him across the room.

‘You’re incredibly talented. Are you an artist?’ Loki asked as they reached the art board.

‘Thank you. Oh man, I wish…’ Sarah sighed. ‘I just work in a local shop right now. Trying to pay off my student debts.’

‘Ah. That’s a shame. Your talent should be recognised, not hidden away…’ He looked at her art and tapped his lower lip. ‘Whilst I enjoy our simple poster, and it has worked on getting some people in, perhaps you’d be able to make something… better. Something that will draw people’s attention more. If that’s something you’d be interested in doing?’

Sarah was surprised, yet flattered, too. ‘I… I think I could come up with something, if you really want me to?’  

‘Of course, I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.’ Loki chuckled. ‘Having your kind of talent, definitely don’t want it to go to waste. As I said, the helmet does draw some people in. Perhaps it’s fine for our posters, but it’s not good enough for our logo.’

‘Do you still want the helmet as the main kind of focal point?’

‘Well, what do you think? Was that what got your curiosity?’ Loki asked her, turning to face her fully.

‘Uhm… I’m not sure… I guess it was.’ Sarah shrugged.

Loki smirked. ‘Those that are fans, are drawn to it whether knowingly or not. It’s within you all already. We’re all meant to be here, together.’

Sarah was mesmerised once more by his eyes and voice, but she quickly got her thoughts together again. ‘Yeah… I’d say the helmet is pretty important then.’ She nodded.

‘So you’ll do it?’ Loki asked, hopeful. ‘Of course, it won’t go un-rewarded if you do.’

Sarah nodded up at him with a smile. ‘Yeah, I’ll happily do it.’

She was ecstatic that someone liked her art so much that they wanted more. Though she couldn’t lie, she did wonder what he meant by reward.

‘Excellent.’ Loki clasped his hands together. ‘Take all the time you need for it, I know that masterpieces can’t be done overnight after all.’

‘I’ll give it my all.’ Sarah said. Though she wasn’t entirely sure why she said that really. But there was just something about Loki, he was charming the pants off her and definitely getting under her skin.

‘I am hoping that because you’ve accepted my little task, that means you shall be returning and do indeed want to join?’

Sarah looked around at everyone chatting happily and enjoying themselves, then she looked back at Loki who was smiling dazzlingly down at her.

‘Yeah, I do.’

[halestrom]

awake. a 6x11 spec fic.\

Is this in any way gonna be canon? No. But I can dream, right?

buddie, 3k, PG, spoilers for 9-1-1 episode 6x10, ambiguous ending.

“Just go over and talk to him.”

Evan turned, glaring at Daniel, who shrugged and moved to leave, needing to go to work. He clapped Evan on the shoulder as he walked past. He turned back to the paper he had been reading for the lesson he was in the middle of planning and did his best not to look up and stare at the hot guy who was ordering a drink at the same time every day. At the same time, Evan was there every day, talking on his phone to someone with a worried look.

“Just hold on, okay? Hold on.”

Evan wanted to know who was holding on.

—

“Is this seat taken?”

Evan looked up to see Hot Guy standing there, his phone nowhere in sight and a half smirk on his face that looked good. Evan stared for a second. “Uh…what?”

Hot Guy’s smile turned even more amused. “Can I sit?” he asked. “It’s busy.”

Evan glanced around, seeing the crowded room filled with people he sort of recognized. He could see a lesbian couple and their kid in the corner, laughing over something with a man their age bouncing their other girl on his knee, making her laugh. An older gentleman and woman were talking, and heads bowed together as their kids talked to each other. And Evan was sitting at a table for two but alone.

“Uh, sure,” Evan said finally, looking up at Hot Guy, who smiled and sat.

“I’m Eddie Diaz,” Hot Guy said, holding out his hand.

Evan shook it. “Evan.”

—

“Evan!”

Evan grinned as he spotted Eddie walking over and sliding into the seat across from him. “Hey, man, how’s work?”

“Busy,” Eddie said, shaking his head. “You’d think at some point people would stop doing dumb things that made them want to call 911.”

“You’d be out of a job if they did that,” Evan said, closing the lesson plan he hadn’t been planning.

“That I would,” Eddie agreed, nodding his head. “Besides. Chris thinks I save kittens from trees, and if I didn’t have a job, who would save the cats?”

Evan laughed. “Well, maybe you can be a kitten firefighter only?”

Eddie’s smile was soft as he looked at Buck. “Well, that sounds fun for a while, but I like helping people. I think they do good when they hold on, Buck. Please.”

Evan tilted his head to the side, shaking his head as a conversation from a different table interrupted Eddies last words. “What was that? Sorry.”

“Sorry, am I boring you?” Eddie asked with a teasing smile.

“You’d never bore me,” Evan said immediately, knowing it deep in his chest.

“No?”

“No.”

—

“You got it, bad baby brother,” Daniel said, grinning at Evan.

Evan stared at his brother, at a face so similar to his own that people thought they were twins. Daniel knew him better than most, and he couldn’t lie to him. The same way, he couldn’t lie to Maddie. “I know,” he said, dropping his head back and sighing.

“Ask him out,” Maddie said, dropping into the seat next to Daniel, a bowl of popcorn in his lap. “The worst thing that happens is he says no, not again. Please wake up, Buck.”

“The worst thing that happens is what?” Evan asked, rubbing a hand over his face, wondering if he had dozed off.

“No, the worst thing he says is no.”

—

“Sure!”

Evan stared at Eddie’s bright smile and felt something tight form in his chest. “What?”

“Sure, I’d love to get dinner,” Eddie said, setting his cup on the table and leaning closer.

“As a date,” Evan had to check.

“As a date,” Eddie agreed.

Evan’s heart felt like it was going to burst.

—

“Evan, I want you to meet Christopher, my son.”

Evan knew all about Chris and how much Eddie loved him and missed him the weeks he spent with Shannon, equally split between the two houses and loved by two parents. He waved a hand, feeling awkward. “Hey there.”

“Hi, Buck,” Chris said, smiling up at him and leaning against his Dad.

“Buck?” Evan asked, glancing up at Eddie, who rolled his eyes.

“Dad said that was your name.”

“I said his name was Evan,” Eddie corrected.

Chris smiled at him. “Buck!”

Evan stared at Chris, seeing the smile and hearing the agonized cry of a nickname that sounded right but also wasn’t at the same time. He was Evan, and he had always been Evan. “Well, I love a nickname,” Evan said, glancing back up at Eddie, who started looking concerned. “Buck, it is.”

Evan was sure Eddie’s smile could light an entire room.

—

The first kiss was soft, fingers tracing along his jaw and Eddie's mouth finding his, sure as the sun would rise. It felt like coming home, like years spent circling instead of a few short months. Evan could feel electricity under his skin; he never wanted this moment to end.

—

“I love you,” Evan said softly, carding fingers through the fine hair at the nape of Eddie’s neck.

“I love you. I need you to wake up, please,” Eddie replied, turning and smiling up at Evan. “Chris does as well.”

“Yeah?” Evan asked, his chest warm at the thought of Eddie’s son liking him.

“We need you, please,” Eddie said, the soft look still on his face.

“I’m here,” Evan said, reaching out to draw Eddie into a kiss. “I’m not going anywhere.”

—

“I realize that we’re all gathered here to celebrate Evan and Eddie getting married, but I think we need to take a moment to talk about the most important person in the room,” Daniel said, pressing a hand against his heart before looking over at Chris. “Chris. The man of the hour! Getting straight A’s for another semester in a row. A much more important milestone than marriage, right?”

Laughter spread out across the room. Evan’s face hurt from the smile stretching across his face as he looked around at their friends and family and then turned, meeting Eddie’s eyes over the top of Chris’s head as Daniel kept talking about all of Chris’s accomplishments.

“I love you,” Evan said to Eddie.

Eddie’s smile was wide, his eyes filled with happiness. “I love you, but it’s been long enough. Come on, you need to wake up now. Open up those eyes for us, please.”

Evan had never been so happy.

—

Evan picked Chris up and kissed him on the cheek before putting him back down as they headed toward the car. “How was school?”

“It was good, Buck,” Chris said. “Today we learned about genetics and how we’re both parts of our parents and how that’s important. And I miss my Mom, but you’re important too, so I need you to wake up because I need you here.”

There was a dread that filled Evan’s chest, and he glanced up, seeing the storm clouds overhead, and thought about lighting and Chris’s crutches. “That’s really awesome, and I’ll always be here, okay? But we gotta get to the car, okay?”

Chris smiled at him. “Wake up, Buck.”

Evan smiled back before he hid a yawn behind his hand. “Love you too.”

—

Evan grinned as he opened the door and saw Bobby carrying a covered bowl. “Bobby! Hey, you made it.”

“Course I did. I know you’ve been tired lately, and we want to help,” Bobby said, stepping inside. “Athena will be here soon. We’re all here for you. I need you to wake up, kid. I can’t lose another son.”

Buck looked at the covered dish. “You ever gonna tell me the secret ingredient.”

“Wouldn’t be a secret then, would it?”

“Is that Bobby?” Eddie called from the kitchen.

“Yeah!” Evan called back.

Eddie stuck his head out. “Hey, Cap!”

“Hey, Eddie. Where did you want this?” Bobby asked, walking past Evan and into the house.

Evan looked outside and saw the storm clouds brewing and the distant crack of thunder, and he shivered, shutting the door.

—

“Don’t leave me.”

Evan looked up and met Eddie’s gaze. “What did you say?”

Eddie smiled at him. “I said, did you want pizza for dinner?”

“When have I ever not wanted pizza for dinner?”

“The few times you’ve wanted sushi,” Eddie said, dropping onto the couch next to Evan and pulling up the app to order pizza.

“But pizza is my one and only love.”

“I thought that was me,” Eddie said, not looking up from his phone. “You promised Chris you would be there. And I need you around because I need to know you have my back if anything happens to me. That’s what partners do; we have each other’s backs.”

“I love you more than I love pizza,” Evan said, slouching to the side and resting his head on Eddie’s shoulder, trying to ignore the exhaustion settling into his bones. It had just been a long week at work, nothing else. Nothing to worry about.

“True love.”

—

The storm was raging outside, and Evan could feel his heart pounding, his ribs sore from holding himself tightly as he stared out at the rain-lashed windows, exhaustion from the long week making him want to sink to the floor. “I’m so glad you’re not working,” Evan whispered, smiling at Eddie, who was sitting on the couch, an arm wrapped around Chris’s shoulders, reading a newspaper with his other hand. “It’s dangerous out there.”

His chest ached from the force of the worry as he walked over and sat down next to Chris, dropping his arm along the back of the couch, curling his hand around the back of Eddie’s neck, and squeezing gently.

“I’ll have to go out tomorrow. You know we’re down a person since Buck got injured,” Eddie said, tilting the newspaper toward Evan.

Evan read the title about the Firefighter who had gotten struck by lightning. “That has to suck,” he said, rubbing a hand over his chest at the sympathetic pain. “Any news?”

“We’re hopeful. He’s stabilized, and he’s breathing on his own we’re just waiting for him to wake up.”

Evan frowned, turning to Eddie and the odd voice. “You coming down with something?”

“I don’t think so?” Eddie said, glancing up. “Why?”

“Your voice sounded weird.”

“You’re weird,” Eddie replied, looking back down at the newspaper as a crack of thunder made Evan jump.

“You’re okay, Buck,” Chris said, smiling at him.

Evan smiled back. “I know I am, and I will be as long as I have my favorite people.”

Eddie smiled at him. “Please wake up.”

Evan frowned. “What did you say?”

Eddie frowned back. “I said I love you too.”

“You have to wake up, Buck,” Chris said, snuggling into Evan. “Dad misses you.”

“Eddie’s right there,” Evan said, frowning and feeling panic begin to rise in his chest.

“I know he is,” Chris said, giggling like Evan had just told a joke.

The sound of someone sobbing filled the room, Buck, Buck, Buck, filling the air. Evan sat up straight, staring around, wondering where the noise came from.

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Eddie asked, still reading the newspaper.

The sobbing got louder, and Evab felt pressure on his chest. He pressed a hand over his heart and turned, meeting Eddie’s soft smile as a crack of thunder filled the room, the lights flashing and one of the machines beginning to beep in a rapid pattern whispers beginning to fill the air around him.

He turned, trying to find the noise. “Do you hear that?” he asked, looking back at the TV to see if it was on. It was, and Evan could see a man lying on the bed, surrounded by people being pushed away by Doctors as they rushed in.

“This is too old for you,” Evan said, picking up the remote and turning off the TV, the whispering growing louder and the exhaustion settling even deeper into his bones as he settled back against the couch.

“You’re silly,” Chris said, smiling brightly at Evan.

“You’re the silliest,” Evan replied, smiling back at Chris before leaning down to kiss his forehead and looking up at Eddie. “You okay?”

Eddie’s eyes were sunken, and his cheeks were hollow. There was a paleness to his skin that didn’t make sense. Evan blinked, and Eddie smiled at him, flushed with happiness. “I’m fine. How are you feeling?”

“Wake up. Please wake up!”

The beeping grew louder, and Buck felt fingers brush over his forehead, and something grabbed his hand. He flinched back, looking down and flexing his hand, wondering what had touched him.

“I’m fine,” Evan said, looking back at Eddie. “I’m right where I need to be.”

Eddie smiled brightly. “With me and Chris.”

“With both of you,” Evan agreed. “I love you both.”

“We love you too, Buck,” Chris said, leaning against him as Eddie leaned in to kiss him.

Evan was sure this was the happiest he would ever be, that nothing couple top this moment as the storm raged outside and the beeping got louder, the pain in his chest growing moment by moment and his heart beginning to ache. His eyes felt heavy, but he didn’t remember closing them. He could feel Chris’s hand in his own, and he tried to squeeze, but it was hard when he was so tired, and he just wanted to be back on the couch with Chris and Eddie, happy and safe from the storm.

“Wake up, please. I need my Dad!”

Evan forced his eyes open, pain flooding his senses as the bright light assaulted him. He could hear people yelling, people talking, and people crying. He was under assault, and he was so tired he couldn’t move. He could barely turn his head.

“Buck, there you go, keep them open, come on, Buck, you got this.”

Evan knew that voice, and he blinked again, the light in his eyes moving away, and he could see blurry outlines. He could feel a hand in his own, and he squeezed, not wanting to worry Chris anymore than he already had.

“Good, kid, you’re doing good.”

Evan watched as Bobby’s face appeared in his vision, stress wearing his face down and aging him several years. There were tears running down his face, and his smile was wide. Evan opened his mouth to try and talk, but even that motion was too hard for him.

“No, no, don’t speak. You’re safe. You’re okay, kid. You’re gonna be okay,” Bobby said.

Evan looked to the side, trying to find Eddie and Chris, but he couldn’t see them. He looked back at Bobby, who was smoothing a hand over Evan’s forehead, brushing the hair back.

“Kid, I am damned glad to see you awake,” Bobby said his voice breaking.

Evan wanted to know where Eddie and Chris were. He knew Bobby didn’t want him to speak, but he had to know. “Eddie,” he forced out, his throat aching with the word.

Bobby’s face softened. “Eddie was taking Chris to get some food, but they should be back soon. He’ll be damned glad to see his Buck.”

“Buck?”

Bobby frowned. “Yes, Buck. You.”

“I’m not Buck,” Evan whispered, wondering what was happening.

“Yes…you are,” Bobby said, frowning as he glanced around, searching for something.

“I’m Evan,” Evan said, wondering if something had happened or if someone had mixed something up.

Bobby’s frown, if possible, deepened. “Yes, yes, you are. Evan Buckley, Buck.”

Evan stared at him before he turned at the familiar sound of crutches and watched as Chris walked in, his word, sad face changing into a bright smile when he spotted Evan.

“Buck!” Chris said before he burst into tears.

Evan struggled to get to Chris, but he was so tired, and his body ached. Eddie appeared in the doorway, his face going slack with shock and a series of other emotions before he picked up Chris, who didn’t fight for once and was across the room, settling Chris onto the bed. Chris grabbed his hand and held it tight. Evan tried to squeeze back as he tried to make sense of what was happening.

“Careful, Chris,” Eddie said, stopping Chris from leaning down.

Chris nodded. “I’ll be careful, Dad. I don’t want to hurt Buck.”

Buck. Evan frowned, looking between Eddie and Bobby, confused and wondering why everyone was calling him Buck.

“You got hit by lightning when you were up on the ladder,” Bobby explained, resting a hand on his forehead. “You’ve been in a coma for two weeks.”

“What?” Evan asked, his mind rebelling at the words. Eddie was the firefighter, not him.

“Buck, it’s okay,” Eddie said, resting a hand on Chris’s shoulder.

Evan stared at Eddie for a long time, trying to make sense of the words, of the distance between him and Eddie, and wondering why it hurt so much when they weren’t…they were partners. Eddie was his best friend and had been for a few years now. He knew this. He didn’t know why he was so confused.

“I’m tired,” he whispered.

Eddie nodded, reaching out to squeeze Evan’s forearm, a close friend, the best friend Evan had ever had. “Go to sleep. It’s been a long few weeks, and you’re still healing. We’ll be here when you wake up again. Promise.”

“Okay.”

He could see Bobby’s watery smile, Chris’s bright one, and the soft one Eddie had for the moments like this when something had gone right. But Evan wasn’t sure if everything had gone right. Maybe some sleep would help.

Buck closed his eyes and let himself fall back asleep, and hoped everything made sense when he woke back up.

[crazedlunatic]

The Next Steps

“How much longer? Charlie says within two years… but I think he’ll drawl it out until someone new comes in.” Blaine shrugged. “Any time I bring any questions up about it, he throws paper at me. I’m not sure if he’s joking or not is the thing.”

“He’s really not been that into anything law since Emily was kidnapped for ransom… but he’d had, like, five ‘and a half’ experiences like this. What does that even mean?”

“One of his attacks lost him a lung when he was getting big and 28 years old or something.’

“Why don’t you take ove—”

Blaine gave him the look like he always did when he mentioned taking over for Bob. “Just because my grandmother and uncles were lawyers does not mean I want to take over CMJ. They’d even have to make a new sign... but if we can all trick Nick into going to law school-.”

“Cody!” Kurt exclaimed seeing him outside of one of the coffee shops he frequented.

Cody jumped—it was habit after his sexual assault in middle school. When he knew someone was coming to see him it was fine but sometimes he was nervous when people quickly came behind him because of his past.

“Sorry. It’s him showing he likes you more than Nick.” Blaine joked.

Cody relaxed and waved. “Hey, I didn’t know you all got lunch on this side of town.”

“That big festival is happening, so we wanted somewhere a little less…” Blaine began.

“Not full of people my age?” Cody joked.

“Yes, but you are family... When are you two having babies?” Kurt asked.

“Oh my God. Did Nick put you up this?” Cody looked surprised. “Also, thanks.”

“Does that mean you… are talking about it?” Blaine grinned.

Cody hesitated.

Kurt’s face lit up.

“I don’t think it will be anytime soon.” Cody said slowly. “We need to get through things before we’ll consider it.”

“What’s the hold up? Out of curiosity?” Blaine asked.

“Nick doesn’t want to pass down his ‘bad genes.’ He’s afraid that his mental health isn’t well enough for so much added stress. When he’s really stressed it’s hard for him to eat like he should so he wants to make sure he’s really ready.” Cody explained. “Which I think is the best reaction we could hope for taking such a big step.”

“You think it’s a good idea?”

“Yeah!” Cody said enthusiastically. “As long as he does what he needs to do it will set us up to make sure. Closer to time we’ll all three hash out a plan… but not until I’ve gotten through grad school. He’s getting better and branching out more again too.”

“Ryan?”

“Oh, they see each other all the time as of, maybe, 4 months ago? Us, Ryan, and his girlfriend…”

“Maddie.” Blaine said and then made a smooth transition to, “Hello, sunshine.”

Nick groaned and sat in one of the chairs. He looked at Blaine and said, “Dad, you’re rich. Daddy, you’ve almost made more than grampa. Can I drop out?”

Cody rolled his eyes. Thursday classes made him say the same thing every day.

“You’ve got how long left?” Blaine played along.

“Maybe six months after that test I just bombed.”

“You always say this and you’ve never failed any test or final.” Cody was exasperated. “Come on.”

Kurt and Blaine shared a look. They loved it.

“You owe me ice cream if you pass the test.”

“What do I get out of this?”

“An BS degree…?”

“They’re just like us. They banter.” Blaine pointed out. “I’m glad Cody warmed up to me.”

“You walked in on us having sex. What did you expect?”

“I don’t know. That you wouldn’t be having sex in your childhood bedroom.”

“I was twenty. You shouldn’t just walk in. I know you two did the deed at seventeen and eighteen.”

“Well, this has been fun but my 90 minute break is up and the girl is always early and she’s my last appointment of the day which means I’ll still beat Nick home.”

“Rude. Can I just sit in your actual office and work on my homework?” Nick scoffed.

“Yeah. The front desk expects it anyway now. I mean my boss knows because she’s the one who did his therapy.” Cody said, grabbing Nick’s bag for him and waving goodbye to Blaine and Kurt. “But if you’re coming in with me, it’s gotta be now.”

As soon as they had walked into the office, Kurt and Blaine stood up.

“Have I mentioned lately that Cody is the best thing to happen to Nick?”

“An hour ago… I love him and them.”

“Just to be clear… I know that we helped Nick since he was hospitalized but as soon as he got that inheritance from Bob… I’m still seeing him getting better and better.”

“I would say that it was rude to do that but not for Zach… however, Zach’s killing it. I just wish he’d take a job here.”

“How is that we are always talking about our three kids in college? Two of them at the same school?”

“Yeah, for you. Now I’m close to the age Bob was at when I started my internship… or older than that. Ugh. I hate being old.”

[hannahsmusings]

Renee

*I let out a dreamy sigh as he pulls me into the kitchen, not quite ready to stop kissing him yet but I felt so floaty that I didn’t voice it, just following him closely, giggling at his words about showing me the British way* I won’t even tell you what Americans do to get sleepy… I think you’d give me that classic ‘Americans are trash’ look. *I smile up at him, humming and leaning into him closer as he presses a soft kiss to my shoulder, leaning my head on his shoulder and wrapping my arms around his waist so he had both his hands to prepare the tea, tilting my head up to look at him as he brings up that he checked in on the babies, nodding in agreement about the storm dying down* Oh good… I’m glad Benny is back asleep. I hope the little dino nightlight I got for him is working. *I rub my thumb against his side as I watch him fill up the kettle, not even caring that I was clinging onto him like a koala right now* Maddie is the best baby… I think she would sleep through a tornado. They always say the second born is the better sleeper and I think that’s true in her case. *I giggle, Maddie being such a good baby across the board, she hardly ever gave me any issues unless she was over tired or absolutely starving, and I couldn’t help but think that she got her laid back nature from her daddy* *I loved Benny so much but there was a special place in my heart for Maddie, her being so tiny and small and so beyond sweet, my maternal instincts went into overdrive with both the kids, but with her especially, I yearned for her when I was away from her*

___________________________

*the affection for you flowed easily, knowing it was because id kept this all inside for what felt like ages, now i had the freedom to kiss you like I’d dreamed about, hold you like I craved, not feeling this intensely about anyone in a very long time, ignoring the niggling feeling in me that I needed to slow down, just soaking up this feeling and basking in it as long as i could* *blinks out of my thoughts and grins at your comment about Americans, smirking gently* Well we’ve always been the classier of the civilisations. *liking that things felt comfortable and playful still* *loves that you wrapped yourself around me, my heart pounding and knowing you could probably feel it, feeling like a teenager with his first crush as my stomach wouldn’t stop swooping with every brush of your thumb against me* * kisses the top of your head gently as I put the tea bags in the mugs and pour the boiled water in, smiling at the memory of you giving him the dino light* You were definitely the favourite for a long time after that gift, maybe still are. He loves that light. *smiles fondly, having never expected when I’d hired you that we’d be here, and you’d treat my children like your own, part of me wishing they were and then my stomach sinks with such intense guilt at that thought that I have to shake it from my head gently, refocusing on making the tea as I put in a tiny bit of sugar in each mug, easing up a little as you speak about Maddie and that serves as a good distraction* She’s perfection, a total angel. She takes after her Mum, she was always so relaxed. Benny is definitely mini me, anxious boy. *sighs softly at the trauma losing their mum would have on them, hoping I’d be enough as a dad* I’m so grateful they have you. *whispers as the thought comes to my mind, needing you to know how thankful I was as i turn to look at you properly before pressing a soft kiss to your forehead and then reaching for the milk*

[greentrickster]

@someoddmix​  #LMAOOO #GOOD QUESTIONS #what if vlad made the jack program specifically so he could torture it. so of course he made it as close to the original as possible! #but the jack program still INFURIATED HIM and he COULDNT EVEN DESTROY IT PROPERLY because that would require DESTROYING THE PROGRAM #so all he REALLY created was ANOTHER jack that he couldnt kill and it was wholly unsatisfying #so he left it in a forgotten corner of his database to rot #and when the maddie program started to hate vlad (maybe he trained it a little too realistically maybe it also grew tired of his creepy BS) #the maddie program had more freedom within his databse. the maddie program found the jack program #and so started an illicit holo-affair

XD XD XD I love this! Also love the idea that, even in the midst of his hate and obsession, he apparently just... couldn’t envision a Jack that didn’t think he was the greatest. There seems to be some indication that the two of them really were friends at some point in their lives, before Vlad got weird about Maddie, and I would adore seeing people explore that a little more (especially in Vlad redemption or domestication fics). 

Like... Vlad has had so much time and opportunity to kill Jack. He had twenty years where he could have done it and met with no interference or chance of being caught. And he didn’t. Which is just such a fantastic little detail - no matter what a good or convincing game he talks, he can’t kill this man he claims to want dead more than almost anything. Who apparently, on some level, understands that Maddie will always love Jack, not him, if Holo-Maddie’s betrayal is anything to go by (why yes, I am reading way too deep into something that was probably meant to be a simple gag). Who’s hurt and angry that the woman he loves cares more for his best friend than him, and who’s willing to commit atrocities over it, but who, at the end of the day, still can’t bring himself to really hurt either of them.

Because, like... mind control exists in this universe. It’s a thing that’s real, it’s established, it’s what makes Ember so dangerous, and Desiree could probably help him out in getting his desires pretty easily... but Vlad never resorts to anything like that. At the end of the day, he’s always trying to finagle Danny into joining him, Maddie into loving him, but somewhere deep inside he seems to want them to actively choose him. To the point that he programed that very ability to choose into Holo-Maddie.

Like... I wasn’t hugely fond of Vlad back when the show was airing, or for awhile after. He was great as a bad guy, but (yo) I was just sixteen when Danny’s parents built that very strange machine, and I didn’t read into the details very much. As I’ve gotten older, however, Vlad’s gotten more and more interesting to me, because he’s funny, because he’s terrible, because he’s such an absolute disaster of a mess, and it’s fascinating.

(Also because I’m much closer to him than the main characters in age at this point, the fandom tends to draw him as a freaking fox, and I’m not immune to hot fan art. -///- )

Listen, there are so many reasons I don't really consider Phantom Planet canon, but the discovery that Holo-Maddie has apparently never loved Vlad and has been having an affair with the Jack program? The fact that there is a Jack program, who refers to Vlad as 'Vladdie'? That is just- that's gold. That's pure, solid, 24karat gold, and I have no idea why we, as a phandom, don't do more with this little bit of trivia, if only because it raises so many questions.

Like- where did the Jack program even come from?

Did Holo-Maddie make him?

Did Vlad make him?!

Given how Holo-Maddie turned out to feel about Vlad, and how Vlad feels about Jack, why does the Jack program seem to feel the same way about Vlad as regular Jack???

Just- so many questions and such a hilariously Vlad situation!!!

[sl-ut]

desperate

pairing: maddy perez x fem!reader

description: maddy loves her babysitting gig, but there’s always one thing threatening to take it all away; y/n. (MODIFIED REQUEST)

warnings: swearing, SMUT (pls be nice, this is a first for me), masturbation, voyeurism, maddy is slightly ooc for a sec but oh well

words: 1.5K

date posted: 01/02/22

next part

Maddy loved her job.

The house was just big enough for her imagination to run wild, and she liked the domesticity that came with babysitting for such a rich family; It allowed her to picture herself living in a similar house when she was older. It was also a nice break from everything that had happened with Nate that year, and it gave her a proper excuse for ignoring his texts and calls. But nothing, not even a simple babysitting job could go without some sort of issue.

Theo was a nice kid who was easy to get along with, and most importantly, he liked Maddy enough that she could trust him not to snitch on her to his parents about some of the things she did while they were gone. Maddy genuinely liked the young boy, and would consider him to be her second favourite part of the job. The real issue was his older sister, who constantly antagonised the Perez girl for using the pool while she was supposed to be working or wearing such skimpy clothes around her brother. Luckily, Y/n wasn’t usually around that much while Maddy was there, and that was when Maddy would take the opportunity to take a peek into that closet that she loved so much. 

The smooth velvets and thick, soft furs felt right against Maddy’s skin. From a young age, she knew that she was meant to live like this, the epitome of luxury. Nothing made her feel more alive than the thrill of tugging a large white fur coat over her body, and twirling in front of the mirror to admire the contrast of the long string of rubies that hung from each of her earlobes. Then, within a moment, that glee turned to dread as she met a familiar gaze through the reflection of the mirror. 

“What are you doing?”

Maddy whirled around to face the girl, eyes wide as her grip on the coat loosened. Her mouth moved to make an excuse, but no words came out, leaving her gaping at the other girl, exasperated.

“I was,” Maddy stammered, “I mean–”

“Because it looks like you’re snooping around in Samantha’s closet.”

“No, I wasn’t–”

“Oh, please enlighten me, then.”

Maddy shifted slightly, lost for words for what seemed like the first time in forever. She glanced up as Y/n crossed the room, leaning her hip against the counter in the centre of the room, arms crossing over her chest as one of her perfectly-arched eyebrows raised in suspicion.

“Relax,” Y/n sniggered at the panic that crossed her face, “I’m not gonna snitch.”

“You’re not?” Maddy asked incredulously.

“Uh-huh. For a price.”

Maddy rolled her eyes, quickly growing impatient with the mischievous grin that appeared on Y/n’s face, “What kind of price?”

Y/n placed a palm flat against the counter top as she stepped closer, manicured fingers of her other hand curling around the collar of the coat, gently. Maddy’s breath caught in her throat for a moment, and she internally cursed. Such behaviour was so unlike her, but something about her employer’s daughter was bringing her to this state. She found herself pursing her lips and tilting her face as Y/n face grew closer to her own.

“I don’t know yet,” She smirked, leaning closer, their lips only millimetres apart, “But I’ll let you know once I’ve decided.”

Y/n didn’t leave Maddy’s mind for the rest of the night, or for the next week. She scarcely saw the girl over those seven days, but when she did, she was left renderless. Y/n would appear in the kitchen after she’d returned home early in the evening, smirking at Maddy as she greeted her, no doubt catching her gaze as it wandered the length of her body, then she would be gone again.

The next time Maddy really saw her was on a Friday, and not surprisingly, Y/n followed her normal routine of arriving home around dinner time, not that their family had many dinners together, wearing the same preppy school uniform that she returned in everyday. She briefly acknowledged both Maddy and Theo before she disappeared into her room, scarcely to be seen for the rest of the evening.

Maddy, too, followed her routine; Spent some time around the pool, made dinner for Theo, and sent him off to bed. She had been a bit on edge around Y/n since she had caught her digging around in Samantha’s closet, but after taking extra precautions and avoiding the glorious room as much as possible, Maddy was itching to feel the luxurious fabrics against her skin once more. Once she was sure that Theo was tucked in and wouldn’t be back up for the rest of the night, Maddy made a beeline towards the large, walk-in closet, not even noticing that the light was flicked on.

“Shit,” She swore, freezing as her eyes met with Y/n’s through the mirror, their positions swapped from the last time they’d been in the predicament, “What are you doing in here?”

“Looking for a bikini top to borrow,” Y/n turned, and only then did Maddy catch sight of her bare chest as she stood before her in only skimpy thong-cut bathing suit bottoms, “All of mine are too small.” A smirk appeared on her glossy lips, “I would ask you the same question, but I think I already know the answer. Unless, of course, you knew I’d be in here and you wanted a peek.”

Maddy snorted, “Please, as if I’m that desperate.”

Y/n tilted her head curiously, crossing her arms over her chest as she shifted her weight onto one leg, “Gee, that’s pretty ballsy considering that I could easily get you fired.”

“Yeah?” Maddy snarked, “And what if I told your parents that you come home stoned almost everyday, huh?”

Y/n laughed, dropping her hands to land on her hips and she pushed forward to stand only inches from the Perez girl, grinning as she watched her eyes flickered down to her exposed chest for a moment before returning up to Y/n’s mean stare, “And are they gonna believe the babysitter with sticky fingers over me? I don’t think so. Let me know when you get desperate, yeah?”

Maddy exhaled sharply as Y/n’s shoulder slammed into her own as she shoved passed her, releasing the breath that she hadn’t been totally aware that she was holding in to begin with. She stood there for a few moments, eyes darting around the brightly-lit closet before huffing out a deep sigh, and turned on her heel, flicking the light off as she stormed out of the closet.

“Oh, yeah.”

Maddy froze in her place as the sound filled her ears. Tip-toeing across the clean, marble floors of the kitchen, peeking around the doorway that led out into the pool deck. Her eyes blinked a few times to adjust to the sight, resisting her instinct to back away as quietly as possible as her gaze trailed over the rumpled fabric that was Y/n’s bottoms laying flat on the deck, then over to the lounge chair along the side of the infinity pool.

“Fuck,” Y/n’s hips thrusted forward in rhythm with her own fingers, toes curling into the soft cusion as her thighs parted even farther, leaving her entire nude figure exposed to Maddy’s watchful eyes. Her breasts heaved with every deep pant and moan that escaped her parted lips, one of her perkily erect nipples caught between the forefinger and thumb of the hand that hadn’t been pleasuring her in a way that seemed too natural for it to not be a regular practice for her.

A squeal left her lips, one so similar to those that Maddy had practised so often, though instead of putting on a show for someone else, Y/n’s sounds were the product of the pleasurable movements she had been enacting on herself, massaging her sensitive nub as her hips lifted from the chair, brows scrunching as she grew closer and closer to her climax.

Then, without warning, her eyes snapped open, capturing Maddy’s own as a small smirk appeared on her lips as she released an exaggerated moan, fingers speeding up at the sight of the other girl watching her as she came undone, hips stuttering as a small gush of liquid escaped from between her lower lips as she finally slowed her motions to a stop.

Maddy’s mind screamed at her to flee, to escape the confrontation that was to come, but her feet refused to move from their position as Y/n sauntered across the deck, nude figure shining from both pool water and sweat in the dim lighting, pausing only to snatch her dry bottoms off of the deck as she came face to face with her.

“Desperate yet?"

MY WORK IS, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE, TO BE REPOSTED OR SHARED WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. I HAVE NEVER GIVEN CONSENT TO MY WORK BEING SHARED, SO IF YOU SEE ANOTHER ACCOUNT POSTING MY CONTENT PLS LET ME KNOW.

[obsidiancreates]

Born This Way (Because Of Negligence Towards Basic Scientific Safety)

(IDK how far apart the Fenton kids are in age, so Jazz is an Undetermined Age Where She's A Toddler But Also Very Verbal. Maybe it's the Genius Genes letting her learn faster. Let's go with that.)

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Maddie coughs, spitting out another glob of ectoplasm. "Well, at least know it's not an issues with the cooling system."

Jack sneezes out the ectoplasm stuck in his nose, and then grins and stands triumphantly. "Still a step towards success!"

Jazz frowns from where she's playing with her doll, safe within a Fenton Anti-Ghost Toddler Chamber. "Mommy, you should cover your mouth." She points at her own mouth. "Mr. Wummy on TV says dat getting weird stuff in your mouth is bad."

"Mr. Wummy is a cartoon, dear. We're seasoned scientists, we know what we're doing." She wipes herself off, and sits down. "If there were any side-effects to accidental ecoplasmic consumption, we'd know."

"But what if Danny doesn't like it?" Jazz point at her mother's belly.

Maddie pats her belly. "The baby is still just a fetus, sweetie. It can't tell what it does and doesn't like yet. And why are you so sure it'll be a boy?"

"Because I'm your baby girl. So now you need a baby boy!"

Maddie tilts her head and smiles lovingly at her daughter. "Oh, you're adorable." Nothing cuter than Child Logic.

Maddie stands back up, and puts her hands on the workbench. "Now, let's see about that firing mechanism..."

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Maddie brushes her teeth, sighing when her toothbrush comes away glowing green. "We really messed up a lot of experiments today. I think I swallowed a whole ghost's worth."

Jack spits a similarly colored mouthful of toothpaste foam out. "At least it doesn't taste as bad as it smells."

Maddie puts her hands on her belly, the bump now quite obvious. "II hope we're right about it not having side effects."

Jack's expression softens. He gently pulls his wife into a comforting hug. "The doctors all say he's as healthy as can be, Mads. You don't need to worry."

"I still worry anyway, though."

"Of course you do. You're his mom! But we'll worry together, and if you ever need me to, I'll do the worrying for us both! While you relax and give him more tips on how to avoid ghosts once he learns to walk."

Maddie giggles, and sighs. It'll all be fine... nothing to worry about.

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Jazz has her arms crossed, a teddy bear hanging from one hand. "Five times!"

"Yes, and did we mention we're so proud that you can count so we-"

"Five times!" She shouts again, waving her little sticky toddler hand at them. "I saw you eat the bad green stuff five times!"

"We didn't eat it," Maddie says patiently, "It got into our mouths by accident."

"You swallowed it!"

"Only a tiny bit, only on accident, dear."

Jazz puts her hand on her mom's belly. "Danny is gonna be here soon and he's gonna be mad!"

"He won't even know it happened, sweetheart."

"Yes he will! He'll be the smartest ever, just like me and like you and like daddy! And he'll be so upset and never stop crying!"

"Babies do that anyway, sweetie." Maddie rubs her belly. It's true, Danny is due any day now. And yes... there's been some extra Ectoplasm Incidents lately. Maddie just can't stay awake sometimes, and... well. That's not exactly good when working on ghost hunting machines.

"Your baby brother will be perfectly fine," Maddie assures. "He's a healthy baby boy, and he'll be just as healthy when you meet him."

Jazz lights up at the mention of meeting him. She can't wait!

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Jazz bounces excitedly in her dad's arms. She gets to meet her baby brother! Finally! She's going to read him bedtime stories, and protect him from closet monsters, and show him how to throw a tea party!

Jack chuckles. "Calm down, sweetie, you don't get to play with him quite yet! He's still very fragile."

"But he's okay?"

"Yes, he and Mommy are both okay. Better than okay."

Jack knocks on the hospital room door, and they enter.

Maddie is holding Danny, and it looks like she fell asleep. Jazz gasps, even though all she can see so far is the blanket bundle.

"He's tiny!"

"Very." Again. Ah well. Jack had always hoped one of his kids would groww up to be taller than him, but maybe it'll have to be a grandkid.

He walks over, and smiles at his sleeping wife. "Okay, let's be quiet," he whispers. "We don't want to wake mommy."

Jazz nods seriously.

Jack sets her on the bed, and Jazz carefully crawls closer to Danny. She moves the blanket to get a good look at his face, grinning widly-!

She frowns. "Where is he?"

"What?!" Jack hurriedly picks up the bundle, making Maddie startle awake. "Holy-"

"Jack? Honey? What is it?!" Maddie's tone becomes increasingly panicked.

Jack, looking a bit pale, hands the bundle back to her. She gasps.

It's empty, and freezing!

"Where- where is-"

And then suddenly. He's there.

Fast asleep, wrapped up snug and tight. His little face still red from being brand-new to the world, his tiny tongue sticking out of his mouth slightly as he snoozes.

He disappears again.

Maddie thinks she's about to pass out.

Finally, Jazz breaks the horrified silence. "I told you to cover your mouths!"

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Danny sleeps all the way home, and all the way up to his room. Jazz is waiting by the bassinet, and peeks in as soon as he's placed down. She frowns. "Mommy, his hair is white. He's not old."

Maddie sighs. "No, he's not. Apparently it just... does that, sometimes."

Danny yawns, and opens his little eyes. Jazz's own eyes widen as well. "He's glowing!"

"Yes... that happens too."

Danny screws up his face, and starts crying. Maddie picks him up and rocks him. "Poor baby... he's so cold."

"Why?" Jazz tilts her head.

Maddie sighs. "Well... your father and I... we think he's half-ghost."

"How?"

"... Probably... the ectoplasm," Shame burns in Maddie's veins.

Jazz, wide-eyed, reaches to to try and touch Danny. "Is he dead?" She doesn't sound sad, because it looks to her like even if he is dead, he's still alive.

"No!" Maddie shuts the idea right down. "He is a very healthy, living boy! But he's... different."

"Are you gonna trap him?"

"Wh- Jasmine, why would you ask that!"

"He's a ghost."

"No! No, we never treat him like any other ghost. And he's only partly ghost, so it barely counts. Now, Mommy has to feed him so he can go back to sleep. How about you go pick a movie for tonight?"

Jazz nods. She takes that job very seriously. There's a science to picking movies.

She heads off, and Maddie looks at Danny's sniffling little face. His eyes are back too baby blue, but his hair isn't quite black yet.

At least he's still visible.

At least the side effects seem mild.

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It's about 6 am when Jack bolts up too use the bathroom. On his way back, he decides to check on the kids.

Jazz is asleep, cuddling a stuffed animal. Jack smiles.

Danny is also asleep, wrapped up in a cute little onesie and floating above the bassinet FLOATING ABOVE THE BASSINET?!?!

Jack runs over and grabs Danny from the air, pulling out a Fenton Ghost-Whapping Baton!

And then he looks at Danny, who's whining, and sees sleepy glowing green eyes looking at him.

"Oh. Um, sorry, son." He puts away the baton. "I thought a ghost was stealing you."

Danny yawns. Jack sees a cold breath puff out of his son's mouth, despite the room being temperature-controlled to keep him toasty during the nights.

Jack puts Danny back into the bassinet. He leaves, and comes back a little bit later with some equipment.

He sets up a rudimentary ghost-shield to keep Danny from floating away during the night, but won't trap him. He can still float a little, if need be.

"The scariest ghost we've faced yet," Jack mumbles. He kisses Danny's forehead, and sits there until Danny falls asleep. By then, Danny is human again.

Jack leaves, and in the morning he and Maddie begin working on some upgrades for Danny's room.

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Danny babbles happily as Jazz plays peek-a-boo with him.

"Boo!"

Laughter.

"Boo!"

More laughter!

"A-boo! A-boo!" Jazz can't stop grinning. She's a great older sister! Look at her go!

She takes Danny's hands, and moves them over his face. "Now, where's Danny? ... Here he is! Oh."

Danny isn't there. But his clothes are, and something's inside of them. And Jazz is still holding two chubby baby arms, even if they're cold and invisible.

Jazz stares for a second, and then speaks. "... Peek-a-boo?"

Danny reappears, and squeals with laughter!

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Maddie sits down to give Danny his bottle. She's brought him out shopping with her so she can grab some replacement parts that fried in their latest invention, the Fenton Ecto-Extractor!

Jazz had thrown a fit when she'd heard the name, and it startled Jack so bad he'd turned it on too early and it completely collapsed on itself! It took half an hour to convince Jazz that they weren't trying to use it to make Danny normal, just using it for themselves now that they know it can cause... strange things, to happen.

Danny drinks the bottle with no issue, and burps as soon as she starts his back. Really, he's a pretty easy baby. Except for the ghost part.

Maddie is getting him back in the stroller when Danny's face screws up. She watches a cold, visible breath leave his mouth, and then he starts to scream. Sobbing, wailing baby screams, attracting the concerned and/or annoyed attention of most people around them.

"He's just tired," she assures loudly. His breath is still puff out in cold clouds, even though it's perfectly warm in the mall.

Maddie quickly picks him back up and hugs him, bouching and singing to try and calm him down.

Danny starts to quiet down. She puts him back in the stroller, but as soon as she does (as soon as he looks behind her with those bright, bright green eyes) he starts crying again.

She sighs and picks him up, hurrying back to the car. She'll just come back for the parts later. Clearly, something is upsetting him.

Something that she just can't see.

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Jazz leans away from Danny, grinning. "There!"

Danny is propped up on her bed. Maddie and Jack needed to quickly decontaminate themselves, and so Jazz had to watch Danny for just a minute.

And in that minute, she's does some redesigning.

Danny's fluffy white hair has a little bow in it, and she's put some of her kiddie makeup on him.

Danny disappears for a second, and the bow falls. When he reappears, it's not on his head anymore. He looks at Jazz blankly.

Jazz crosses her arms. "No fair! I was making you pretty!"

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Maddie stumbles into Danny's room. She flicks on the light, and turns off the Fenton Ghost-Shielding Hanging Mobile. She reaches in and pulls the crying Danny out of the bassinet, shushing and rocking him.

Danny's eyes are bright green again, and Maddie can see his breath. "Oh, you always get so worked up when this happens," she says softly. "Is the cold upsetting you?"

Danny doesn't answer, just cries more.

Maddie takes him to her and Jack's room, and lays down with him on her chest. Jack rolls over in his sleep and puts his arms around her, cradling both of them.

Danny falls back asleep soon, and Maddie sighs. She can still see his breath, but at least he's calm now.

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Jazz holds up her drawing, and shakes her head. She goes back to scribbling, and moves closer to Danny. "This is black," she says to him, pointing at the crayon she's using. She picks up another color. "And this one is red."

Danny stares as Jazz keeps scribbling. Jazz assumes that means he's learning.

"I'm going to let Mom and Dad know I saw this in my closet," she says seriously. "I think people know you're special and want to steal you!"

Danny blows a spit bubble by accident, and laughs when it pops.

Jazz's eyes hold more determination than ever. She scribbles with the fury of a million warriors. "You're very valuable." She learned that word yesterday. "So you need lots of protecting."

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

"Do you think this will make her feel better?" Maddie asks as she closes the panel.

Jack lifts his soldering mask and nods. "If one thing can make a person feel safe, it's fifty anti-ghost devices hidden in their walls!"

"I just worry about that doodle. What if something really got in?"

"Mads, you personally handcrafted every single sensor put up in the kids's rooms! If a ghost had gotten in, we'd know! To get past then they'd need deep knowledge of exactly how our deigns work and how they detect ghost energy, and no ghost has that!"

"You're right, you're right. Still, I hate to think she might be having nightmares about something like that. It looked like it had devil horns."

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

"Peek-a-boo!" Jazz grins at Danny. "Peek-a-boo!"

It never gets old for him! No matter how many times they play, Danny loves it!

"Peek... a-boo!" Jazz does little jazz-hands.

Danny disappears, and Jazz grins. "Where's Danny? Where'd he go?"

Danny reappears, and-

"B-b-boo!"

Jack and Maddie dart into the room! Maddie swoops Danny up, eyes wide!

Danny giggles, and says it again. "Boo!"

Maddie and Jackie both tear up. In unison they shout, "HIS FIRST WORD!"

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Danny gnaws on the toy with his little baby gums.

"I can't believe it. Already teething," Maddie sighs, holding him. "Seems like only yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital."

Jack wipes his eyes. "He's growing into a young man already."

"Oh, Jack, stop it, he's not nearly a young man."

"But he will be before we know it!"

Maddie pats her husband on the back comfortingly as he begins to blubber.

Maddie closes her eyes, thinking about those early months with Danny, figuring out how to prepare for his floating and invisibility, learning to not panic when his eyes and hair changed color, learning that sometimes when they do his clothes change color as well...

She's startled out of her thought by something warm and wet on her lap.

She looks down to see the teething toy on her thigh... and a whole lot of nothing where Danny's head should be.

Then it' back when she blinks, and he's beginning to whine for his toy.

She quickly picks him up off her laps and retrieves it, giving it back to him.

So... the ghost abilities are still developing, then. She'll have to let Jack know about this later.

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"Daniel Fenton," Jack says, the most serious Jazz has ever seen him, "You're in big trouble this time, mister. I don't know how you did this-"

Jack shakes the empty tube of baby snacks, safe for teething babies.

"But I will get to the bottom of it!"

"Look like he already did," Maddie jokes, setting Jazz's breakfast down for her.

Jazz laughs, because it sounds like a Smart Adult Joke and she thinks those are funny, even when she doesn't understand them.

Danny babbles, smacking his chair's food tray.

"Oh no you don't, mister! You're getting regular baby food this morning and that's all!" Jack grabs the jar of food, and holds up the spoon. "Now, here comes the Fenton Ghost-Tracking Copter!"

He puts the spoon up to Danny's mouth-

-and right through his head.

He gasps and pulls back, and Danny's head reappears. He babbles, smacking the tray again.

Maddie drops her fork. "I can't believe I forgot! That's what I was going to tell you about!"

Jazz looks at her parents. "You didn't know he does this?"

They both gawk at her. "You did?!"

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

Danny reaches up and grabs Jazz's nose. Jazz wrinkles it, and he laughs.

Jazz sticks out her tongue and crosses her eyes, and Danny laughs even harder!

Jazz looks at her parents as they finish setting up the picnic blanket. "I'm the funniest big sister ever!"

"You sure are, sweetie!" Maddie scoops Jazz up and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "You get it from me."

Jack laughs. "It's true! Your mother could get the whole Ghost Hunting Club laughing out HAZMAT suits off all day long back in the day! ... 'Course it was just the three of us, but still, three's a crowd!"

"May as well have been doing stand-up," Maddie says, setting Jazz down on the blanket.

They enjoy the little outing, the sun shining but not beating down, the cool breeze just enough to crispen the air but not freeze.

And then Jazz looks at Danny. She sees glowing eyes, and a puff of breath come out of his mouth. "Uh-oh. Mommy! He's gonna cry!"

Maddie picks Danny up right as he starts to wail. She hugs him, and is shocked. He doesn't feel cold this time!

Is he just cold inside?

Or is there some other problem?

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

Jack rubs his ears. "That child wails like a Banshee!"

"He could very well be doing exactly that," Maddie points out. "We still don't know what other abilities he'll develop as he ages!"

"Or how well he'll be able to control them. ... Mads... should we homeschool him?"

"It's a little early to worry about that, Jack."

"I know that tone, you're worrying about it too."

"... We can't just keep him isolated from the rest of the world, Jack. It'll be unhealthy for him. And what if it makes him lean into his ghost side too much?"

"So you think we should let him go to school."

"Yes. ... But not pre-school. We'll teach him to not use his abilities around other kids, and then send him to Kindergarten."

"... Alright, Mads. If you think that's what's best, then that's what's best!"

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"Come on, that's it! Yes, yes, WHOO!" Maddie picks Danny up as soon as he walks over. "Who's a strong little Fenton? Who's the best little boy at walking in the whole wide world?"

"Danny!" Jazz cheers from the couch.

"Danny!" Maddie and Jack both cheer at once.

Danny laughs and squeals, kicking his legs and flapping his arms. His first proper Walk! Not just a step or two and then crawling, that was real walking!

Jack takes Danny, holding him aloft. "You're a real butt-kicker in the making, son! You'll be as strong as your old man someda-"

Jack feels something bump him, hard.

He shouts as he goes down! Danny going with him!

But as Jack meets the floor, he feels Danny's weight disappear from his hands!

He lands with an "oof", and looks up to see Danny floating above him, surrounded by a faint white aura. Danny looks down and babbles, sucking his thumb. Then... he moves.

He's only ever floated in place before. But as he looks down at his dad, he kicks his little legs and moves! Moving right across the room!

And then he looks behind his dad, and his breath comes out in puffs. He starts crying and wailing hysterically.

Jazz peers at where Danny is looking. "Mommy, hit the air with the stick!"

Maddie gently grabs Danny. "Why, sweetie?"

"Danny is scared! So we have to protect him!"

Maddie grabs her Fenton Baton, and gives the area Danny was looking at a good thwack. She expects it to go right through the empty air.

Instead there's a loud zap! There's a cry of pain! And then a semi-transparent form zooming out of their house!

Maddie's jaw drops. Jack scrambles to his feet and grabs every ghost weapon in radius, forming a protective circle around the family with them!

Maddie looks at Danny, who's now calm.

And his breath isn't visible.

Hmm...

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"We're just seeing if my hypothesis is right," Maddie assures.

Jazz sobs, clinging onto her leg. "NOOOO! HE'LL GET HURT! OR STOLED!"

"Stolen, sweetie. And Mommy and Daddy would never let that happen."

Jazz scream-sobs again.

"What if we can promise you the ghost will be in a big, big box?"

Jazz looks at her mom with watery eyes. "Like around Danny's crib?"

"Yes, like that."

"But-but he's so little."

"It'll just be a second, sweetheart."

Jazz sniffles again. "... Can I hold the stick?"

Maddie smiles softly. "Yes, sweetie, you can hold the stick."

A couple hours later, Jack and Maddie return home with a ghost in a box. It's yelling something, but the box is soundproof.

Jack sets the box down, and goes to grab Danny. He comes back, and holds Danny firmly while walking towards the ghost. Danny's eyes are covered by a too-big hood on his little shirt. He can't see, or hear, that there's a ghost nearby.

Danny's breath comes out a visible puff about two feet away from the ghost, and he starts crying. Jack steps back a ways, and Danny's breaths become normal again. He settles down.

Jack walks closer. Puff of breath, and crying.

Jack steps back. Normal breath, calm Danny.

"He can sense ghost's," Maddie says, looking in awe at her baby boy. Her face breaks into a grin. "He's his own portable ghost detector! He'll never be caught unawares, he'll be able to always defend himself!"

She runs up to Jack and hugs them both, kissing Danny's little forehead. Danny babbles.

"He'll never be caught unawares," Maddie says again in relief. "Oh, this makes me feel so much better."

"Mommy? ... Does that mean we're haunted all the time?"

Maddie's relief hardens and breaks in her chest.

All those times Danny's Ghost Sense has gone off inside! All those times!

She pulls away. "Jack, we're upping our security!"

Jack nods. "Time for FentonWorks 2.0!"

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Danny giggles as his dad chases him around the house. He phases through doors and turns invisible in hiding places, always giving himself away with laughter.

Jack grabs Danny just before he phases through the next door. “Gotcha!”

Danny laughs, happy little kid squeals that you can hear through the whole house. Jack puts Danny on his shoulders and heads into the kitchen. “He’s getting pretty good at running! Say, whatcha making, Mads?”

“Meatloaf. Would you mind helping?”

Jack sets Danny down at the table and helps Maddie make dinner, while Danny eyes something on the counter.

“Cookie.”

Maddie looks over. Danny is staring at the cookie jar. “No sweetie, no cookies yet.”

“Cookie!” 

“Not yet.”

Danny starts to cry. “Cookie!”

Maddie walks over, and gives Danny his binkie. Danny refuses it af first, but once he has it he calms down fast.

He looks at the cookie jar still, though.

And, slowly, he lifts out of his chair. He kicks his little legs, pushing himself forward. He plops down on the counter, and reaches into the jar with an intangible hand. 

He pulls out not one, but two cookies!

He gets so excited that he starts waving his arms, making happy noises.

Jack looks over. “What? Maddie, he’s gotten into the cookie jar!”

“I’ve got it!” Maddie walks over and scoops Danny up in his old Anti-Ghost-Phasing Blanket. Soft, warm, and totally ghost-proof.

Danny whines. “Cookie!”

“I said not yet, honey.” Maddie grabs the cookies and puts them on the counter. She safety pins the blanket around Danny like a little cape, except it takes away his powers.

Danny sits in his chair, throwing a fit! But to no avail. Eventually he just sits there, tear-faced and angry.

And then Jazz walks in. She looks over at the cookies, and then at Danny.

She walks over and snatches them off the counter as quick as she can! She casually walks over to the table, and hands them to Danny.

Danny brightens up. He shoves one cookie in his mouth, and gives the other back to Jazz. His original intention.

Jazz smiles, and scarfs the cookie down just before Maddie turns around.

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

“Why?” Danny looks at his mom with wide, innocent eyes.

Maddie’s heart aches. “People might get scared.”

Danny frowns. “Scawy?”

“No, no, you aren’t scary. But the... idea of ghosts, for a lot of people, can be scary.”

Danny thinks, and then walks over to the fridge. “Scawy.”

Maddie looks at the drawing Danny is pointing at. It’s Jazz’s drawing of The Ghost.

The one that’s been haunting them for months.

Black horns, it looks like. Red eyes. Deathly blue skin. It makes Maddie shiver, knowing it had direct access to her children for so long. 

Danny starts to cry. “I scawy!”

Maddie scoops him up. “No, no sweetie! You are nothing like that monster, nothing like it at all! And you never will be, I promise!” Maddie hugs him tightly. “Oh, my poor baby... how about we take a break? Do you want to help Jazz paint something?”

Danny sniffles, and nods. They head upstairs, leaving the talk for another day.

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“Kindergarten, Jack,” Maddie says, packing the little lunch box. “He’s already in Kindergarten!”

Jack is already openly sobbing as he makes Jazz a sandwich.

“Do you think he understands what he needs to do?” Maddie asks no-one in particular, just worrying.

“He understands perfectly!”

Maddie jumps a little, and turns around to see Jazz smiling proudly. Danny stands right next to her, a shyer smile on his face. Maddie tears up at the sight of him with his little backpack and school outfit on. 

Jazz looks at Danny. “Go ahead! Show them what we practiced!”

Danny puffs out his chest to look strong. “I won’t go through anything, turn invi-invisi- um, turn not-seeing-me, I won’t fly, and, um... and if I feel another ghost, I’ll use this!” He pulls his little Fenton Emergency Pager out of his pocket.

Maddie wipes her eyes. “Perfect, honey,” she says, letting the pride seep into her voice. “Oh, my baby boy! Growing up so fast!” She picks him up and kisses his face. Danny wraps his arms around her neck.

“Do I have to go, mommy? They’ll think I’m scary.”

“Oh, honey. You aren’t scary, I promise.”

“... What if I need to be scary?”

“Mommy will come be scary for you.”

“She very good at it,” Jack chimes in, shivering a little as he remembers the time a ghost attacked while Maddie was buying Danny’s first pair of little shoes. By the time it was over, Jack almost pitied the thing.

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

Maddie gives Danny one last hug. “Remember, calls u anytime you need us, okay?”

He nods. “I love you, Mommy. I love you, Daddy. I love you, Jazz.”

“You’re just going to school, not saying bye forever.” Even as Jazz says it, her lip wobbles and her voice cracks.

Danny floats up to the car window give her a hug, before being quickly held up by Maddie to cover the power use.

“That’s the only time today you’ll do that,” she reminds him. 

Danny nods.

Eventually... the goodbyes are done being dragged out. Danny’s family drives away as the teacher leads him inside.

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

Danny sits on a swing by himself, not sure what to do.

Usually at home he plays using his powers. He doesn’t know how to be good at tag without making it so people can’t touch him, or how to play hide-and-seek without turning invisible.

He kicks the sand. This is stupid. He misses Jazz. He can play with her.

“Hi.”

Danny looks up. Another young boy is standing in front of him, holding some kind of electronic. The boy holds out his hand. “I’m Tucker.”

Danny shakes his hand, focusing very hard on keeping it a real hand. “I’m Danny.”

Tucker shows him the electronic. “Want to play my game?"

Danny looks at it. It’s a coloring game. He nods.

They pass it back and forth between each other for a while, both coloring in different parts of the same picture. 

Eventually it’s time to back in. Danny and Tucker ask if they can sit closer together.

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

“So, how was it?” Maddie asks, gripping the steering wheel tightly as she picks Danny up. “Have fun?”

“I made a friend!” Danny yells! “His name is Tucker and he’s really nice!”

Maddie relaxes. “Oh? How did you meet?”

“He let me play his coloring game!”

“That’s wonderful!”

“We made a tower out of blocks and it was the strongest ever! And I never used my powers!”

“I’m so proud of you, sweetie!”

Maybe Maddie can stop worrying now. ... Probably not.

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

“What if we gave it big scary horns?” Danny says as he doodled something in crayon. “Like the thing that watches my window.”

Tucker looks at him with wide eyes. “A monster watches you?”

“My parents don’t let it touch me. They hunt ghosts.”

“Oh. Do you hunt ghosts?”

Danny shakes his head. “I’m too little.”

“Oh. Me too.”

“You should give it bat wings.”

They both look up. The quiet girl who usually sits in the back is standing in front of them, her hair pulled back in a tight black braid and her clothes perfectly pressed. 

Danny looks at the drawing, and nods. He adds the wings. “We’re drawing the monster from that story we heard today.”

The girl sits down. “I bet it had claws. And could breathe black fire!”

Danny adds them on. “You’re really smart!”

The girl nods. “I am.”

“I’m Danny.”

“I’m Tucker!”

The girl grins. “I’m Samatha.”

“Wow... that’s a long name,” Danny says, eyes wide. “My sister has a long name too. Do all girls have long names?”

Samantha thinks. “I dunno. I haven’t met all girls.”

“Oh. We don’t know all boys, either.”

They spend the rest of free time coloring. Once it’s over, Samantha moves to sit with them.

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

“So, how was today, sweetie?”

“I made another friend! She’s really good, and her parents make her have long hair but she wants it short, and we made this with her!” He shows Maddie the drawing.

Maddie grimaces a little, but turns it into a smile. “It’s lovely, dear. Looks... a little like Jazz’s picture.”

Danny nods.”The monster in the story lived in the window. So does this ghost.”

“... What?”

“He lives by my window. But he can’t come inside, so I make faces at him and make him mad.”

Maddie speeds up a little. “Danny, we’re going to be altering your windows when we get home. Okay?”

“Okay.”

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

Danny leads Sam and Tucker to his room with his tiny arms full of snacks. He brings them inside, and proudly stands in the middle. “This is my room!”

"Cool!” Tucker exclaims. “Whoa, you have a computer?”

Danny shakes his head. “That’s to keep ghosts out. Ghosts hate us.”

“You’ve seen some?” Samantha asks, eyes wide.

Danny grins. “So many!”

“Can we see some?”

“Sure, I can even-”

They hear a gasp in the doorway. Turning to look, they see Jazz. “Danny, you didn’t let me meet your friends!”

Danny looks horrified. “Oh no!” He runs over and pulls Jazz into the room. “This is my big sister Jazz! She’s the coolest big sister!”

“I’m Tucker!”

“I’m Sam!”

Jazz grins. “Guess what I learned yesterday?” She points out of the room. “How to use the remote!”

The trio of toddler’s eyes sparkle. They cheer for Jazz as all of them descend, ready to Take Control Of The TV!

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

“-and this is The Box Ghost,” Danny says, showing his friends the doodle him and Jazz made at home. “He’s silly. He wants to be scary, but he isn’t.”

Tucker and Samantha nods like it the most important thing they’ll ever learn.

Danny pulls out the next drawing. “This is Scary, the ghost from my window.” It’s a new drawing, a little more detailed thanks to Jazz being better at drawing now. And Danny having seen the face so, so many times. “I don’t see him anymore. Mom and Dad kicked him out of the window.”

“He’s ugly,” Samantha says, wrinkling her nose. 

“He looks stinky,” Tucker agrees.

Danny looks over at the window. “Shhhh! He’s here!”

Tucker and Samantha look at the window. They see nothing.

They look back at Danny. They see little puffs coming out of his mouth, and his eyes are the wrong color.

Danny pulls his pager out. “It’s okay. Mommy will come scare him away.”

“We can’t see him,” Samantha says.

Danny nods. “He’s hard to see.”

“Do you have to have glowy eyes like yours?” Tucker asks. “I have to have glasses. Are your eyes like Ghost Glasses?”

Danny thinks, and then nods. “I guess so. ... OH NO!” He covers his eyes. “You aren’t supposed to see that!”

“Why not?”

“Mommy said it’s a secret! You’ll think I’m scary!”

“But it’s not scary.”

Danny tilts his head, still covering his eyes. “It’s not?”

“No, it’s cool!”

He slowly uncovers his eyes. “... Do... you think this is scary?” He holds out his arm, and makes it invisible.

Tucker and Samantha gasp! Danny pulls his arm back, about to cry. They think he’s scary, they won’t be his friends anymore-

“That’s so cool,” Samantha says.

“I wanna do that!” Tucker exclaims.

Danny can’t believe it for a second. And then he grins. “I can do more stuff too! I’ll show you at my house!”

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

Maddie paces the floor while Danny sits on the couch, his little face burning with shame.

Jazz sits next to him, arms crossed. Jack stands in front of him, Maddie pacing beside her husband.

“You told your friends?” Maddie asks again.

Danny nods, keeping his head low. “I didn’t mean to. I saw Scary, and my eyes turned green, and I can’t fix that.”

Maddie sighs. “I know, sweetie, but you showed them more after! We caught you flying them around your room! How can you even carry both of them at once?!”

“It’s easy when I’m a ghost,” he says, still keeping his head low. “Everything’s easy when I’m a ghost.”

Maddie stops pacing. “Oh, sweetie... I know it must be strange for you to suddenly have to hide it.”

Danny nods. He sniffles a little.

“It’s for your own safety, son,” Jack says. “You understand that, right? We just want you to be safe.”

“Other kids can be mean, Danny,” Jazz says. “I’m smart, and some kids are mean to me for that.”

“But Samantha and Tucker aren’t mean!”

“No, they aren’t,” Maddie concedes. “... I guess what’s done is done. Danny?” She kneels down in front of him and gently lifts his head up, wiping his tears away. “We aren’t mad. We’re worried. They’re your friends, but they also don’t understand this the way we do.”

“... Can you make them understand?”

Maddie nods. “We’ll absolutely have a talk with them. You can go get them from your room right now, even. But Danny? No-one else. Okay? These two kids are the only kids you will ever tell. Promise?”

Danny nods, still sniffling. “Promise.”

Maddie puts on her HAZMAT glove and holds out her pinkie. “Fenton promise?”

Danny links her pinkie with his, letting it go ghostly. “Fenton promise, Mommy.”

“Okay. You can send your friends down now.”

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

Danny waits for his mom to come pick him up, Samantha and Tucker sitting next to him.

Samantha looks up suddenly. “I don’t like my name.”

Danny and Tucker look at her.

She stands up. “From now on, my name is... is Sam!”

Danny and Tucker clap, because they learned that’s the polite thing to do when someone has a dramatic moment like this. They learned it from watching the older kids do a play.

Sam sits back down. “I’m Sam,” she says happily. “Sam.”

“Sam is a good name,” Danny says. 

“Easier to write,” Tucker says. 

“Yeah.” Sam is very proud of her new name.

They wait a bit longer, and a long black car pulls up. Sam stands up, but her parents don’t step out.

A tall, white-haired man does, one none of them have ever met before. He smiles down at them. “Hello, Danny. Hello, Danny’s friends.”

“Who are you?” 

“I’m a friend of Danny’s parents,” he says, giving a slight bow (or maybe just bending over to hear them better since they’re so much shorter than him). 

“I don’t know you,” Danny says, accusatory. “Mrs. Emma told us about people like you!”

The Man shakes his head. “I’m not a stranger, I promise. Your parents and I are very close.”

“I don’t know you,” Danny says again. He steps between The Man and his friends. “I’m gonna tell Mrs. Emma on you.”

“Danny, really, your mother called and asked me to pick you up.”

“You liar! She always picks me up!”

“She’s fighting a ghost right now.”

“She leaves fights to come get me!”

The Man sighs. He grabs Danny’s arm. “Stubborn like your parents. Come on, I promise you’ll be fine.”

“NO!” Danny yanks his arm, trying to get away. “LET GO OF ME!”

“Stop making a scene!”

“LET GO! YOU-”

Danny gaps, a puff of breath coming out and his eyes turning green.

“S-Scary,” he whimpers. “SCARY! MOMMY! MOMMMYYYY! SCARY HAS ME!!! HELP!!!”

Danny yanks again, Tucker and Sam finally running inside to get Mrs. Emma! 

The Man scowls. “I’m trying to help you, little badger!”

“YOU’RE THE SCARY IN THE WINDOW!” Danny looks at him with bright eyes, tearful and afraid. “GET AWAY!!!”

Danny’s little hand glows green, and suddenly The Man is clutching his stomach instead of Danny’s arm. Danny runs inside, right into Mrs. Emma’s arms. He sobs to her as she frantically calls the police, trying to read the plate of the car speeding off into the distance.

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

Maddie hands Jazz a Baton. “This is in case this ‘Scary’ come after you,” Maddie says, still shaking a bit. “Okay?”

Jazz nods. 

“Danny, this is for you.” Maddie hands him a black-and-white suit. “This is to keep other ghosts from sensing you, okay? So wear it under your clothes.”

Danny nods, still crying.

Maddie looks at Sam and Tucker. Their parents were late picking them up, but with the attempted kidnapping it was decided that they’ll stay with The Fentons for a few hours until their parents could get them.

“You two get these.” She hands them Fenton Pagers, and Fenton Fun-Sized Ghost Stunners. “They can hurt people too, so only use them on ghosts. Or if someone tries to do... what you saw today, ever again.”

Sam and Tucker nod.

“And Danny? From now on, wait with Mrs. Emma until we come inside to get you.”

“Yes, Mommy.”

“And when I get my hands on this ‘Scary’, I promise you’ll never have to worry about him again.”

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

Danny looks around to see if anyone is watching. He, Tucker, and Sam are crouched under a desk in the classroom while everyone else is out at recess. 

He holds out his hand to the stack of paper, and closes his eyes. For a second, nothing happens.

And then it glows green, and a small beam shoots from his hand! Tucker and Sam gasp!

“You’re like a superhero!” Tucker exclaims, standing up. 

“A ghost superhero!” Sam says, standing up too. “You need a superhero name!”

Danny shoots up, smiling widely. “What should it be?”

They all think for a long, long time.

Sam perks up. “I know!”

She grabs a book from the corner. The book is a Halloween one, mostly for pictures with just a few words. She flips to a page, and points to it. “This word! It means Ghost!”

Danny and Tucker peer at it. “How do you say it?” Tucker asks.

Sam grins. “Phantom!”

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

“Phantom?” Maddie says, looking at the doodle.

Jack nods. “Apparently Sam came up with it! Our boy wants to be a ghost hunter after all!”

“Superhero, this says.”

“Same thing!”

“Jack, what’re you making there?”

Jack holds up the suit, one of the prototype Anti-Ghost-Detection suits for Danny. “I got out my old needlepointing stuff and am making him a superhero costume! See, it’s a P!”

Maddie squints, trying to get a better look at the outline. “It looks like a D.”

Jack looks at it. “Hmm. I guess from some angles. But it’s a P! Or, DP! Danny Phantom!”

Maddie’s expression goes soft. “Awww! Okay, you keep making that, and I’ll hang this doodle on the fridge! But no actual ghost fighting until he’s at least fourteen, right?”

“Absolutely!”

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

Danny steps into the school “Halloween Party” with his hands on his hips and a bright grin, looking like a mini-version of his dad behind him.

“Aww, and what are you dressed as, Danny?” Mrs. Emma asks.

“A superhero ghosthunter!” Danny says proudly. “My parents made this for me!”

“It’s great,” Mrs. Emma says genuinely. “Alright, go mingle! We’re going to make paper jack-o-lanterns later so now is the time to trade candies!”

Danny walks over to his friends, still striking the pose. Tucker, dressed as a robot made out of cardboard boxes, pouts in slight jealousy as Danny comes over. Sam, dressed as a vampire, grins. “P for Phantom!” she yells.

Danny runs over faster. “Yeah! My dad put the logo on!” He shows it off proudly. “I’m gonna be the best ghosthunter ever!”

“You can work from the inside!” Tucker says, getting over his jealousy thankfully quick. “Make them think you wanna haunt stuff too!”

“Yeah!” Danny strikes another pose. “But I’m actually going to catch them all, because I’m Danny Phantom!”

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

Danny and Jazz are playing with dolls in the living room. “Pow! Take that!” Danny shouts, making his doll punch Jazz’s.

“Nooo!” Jazz cries out in a husky voice. “But how? I’m The Scary! Nothing can not fear me!”

“I don’t fear you!” Danny waves the hand of his doll, making laser noises. Jazz shakes her doll around, making dying noises. “I’m Danny Phantom, the strongest ghost boy ever!”

“Nooooo!”

Maddie chuckles, watching them. “That Scary better watch out for more than just us.”

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

“Where are we going?” Danny asks again.

“It’s a surprise!” Jack says again, still as excited as when the road trip started. 

Danny huffs, looking out the window again. “Why couldn’t Sam and Tucker come?”

“Because they’re spending Summer visiting their families,” Maddie says. “And so are we, sort of.”

“I though Auntie lived in Spittoon,” Jazz says.

“She does! This is different.”

After hours (years in the minds of the kids), they pull up to a mansion. All fo the boredom washes away instantly, Jazz and Danny cramming into the window to see it!

“Are we rich?” Jazz demands to know. 

“We’re well-off, but not quite. Welcome to your honorary Uncle Vlad’s house!” Maddie cheers.

“Vlad was out best friend in college!” Jack says, grinning. “He got back in contact with us a few years ago and we’ve been thick as thieves since! He asked us too come over this weekend, and we thought we’d surprise him and let him meet your two at the same time!”

Danny and Jazz cheer! THEY GET TO STAY IN A MANSION!

The family piles out of the car, and stand in front of the door! Maddie and Jack make sure Jazz and Danny look extra nice, and ring the doorbell!

It takes a long minute, so they ring it again!

Finally, a man opens it up! “Oh, Maddie, Jack, I’m so sorry I didn’t hear-”

Danny shrieks. His eyes are glowing bright as they can, his breaths giant puffs! He holds up his hand and send a little beam right into Vlad’s side!

Vlad falls back with an “Oof!”

“Danny!” Maddie scoops him up. “What on earth has gotten into you? Oh, Danny!”

Danny is sobbing pointing at Vlad. “It-it’s him! The-The Scary! He-he tried to take me!”

Maddie and Jack freeze. Slowly, they both look at Vlad. Jazz pulls out her Baton.

“Vlad?” Maddie says coldly.

“Didn’t I only invite you two?” Vlad wheezes.

Jack points a ghost detector at Vlad. It goes off.

“Now, now, I can explai- AGCK!”

Jazz starts happening him with the Baton before he can finish his sentence. Maddie hands Danny to Jack. “Sweetie, close the door and take Danny back to the truck. I need to have a word with Vlad.”

Jack does as told, holding Danny in his lap and soothing him.

“He-he tried to take me,” Danny sobs again.

“Don’t worry, son.” Jack hugs him tightly. “No-one’s ever going to be able to do that. We’ll always keep you safe. We promise.”

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

“And what do we always wear while testing new devices?” Maddie asks, handing Danny a Fenton Ghost-Zapper that would use Danny’s own ghost energy to work.

Danny grins, and puts it on. “Face mask!”

“Because?”

“Because lab safety is very important!”

Maddie grins. “That’s right! And who do we thank for reminding us of that every time we’re in the lab?”

Danny points. “Jazz! Thank you, Jazz!”

Jazz grins proudly. 

[staynoonaz9290]

Temptation - S2 (Intro Part 1)

Where Maddie and Lila are back six months later, still managers of Stray Kids, navigating the world of incubi, and worse… Dealing with unexpected feelings

Group: Stray Kids

Pairing: Each SKZ Member/Fem! Reader (Third Person-Lila and Maddie)

Rating: Mature/Explicit

Warnings: Sexual Content (a LOT of sexual content-please don't read if this makes you uncomfortable), Sex with multiple members (at separate times), Sex-to-survive (Incubi/Succubi), Desperation, Oral Sex (M-Given/F-Given), Fingering, Language, Supernatural Love, Excessive Drinking, Crack Fic, Age Difference, Slight OOC, Slight Angst, Love Triangle

Word Count: 2,039

Main Masterlist | Stray Kids Masterlist

COMPLETE

Intro Part 1 | Intro Part 2

✨Welcome back to another season of Temptation!✨

(Read Season One first HERE)

📚Season Two is filled with much more plotty, angsty goodness and I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!📚

Maddie walked quickly down the familiar upstairs hallway of their mansion, passing each incubus room and reaching up to flatten her hair.

As if it mattered.

She laughed at herself, taking her fingers from the strands as she walked by door after door, knowing exactly which room she was looking for-

It had been a crazy week- all weeks were crazy nowadays, as a manager of Stray Kids- but she’d been running around morning until night, trying to get them ready for their comeback, keeping their feeding on track, following the schedules, and most of all- keeping everyone sane.

She’d taken one look at next week’s schedule- filled with promotions, stages, and interviews- and knew it was going to be just as busy.

So Maddie was glad to be getting a bit of stress relief.

Her stomach flipped excitedly at the thought, and even as she rolled her eyes at such a stupid reaction, she was smiling…

Stopping in front of the second to last door, she paused before knocking three times.

Almost instantly, the knob was twisting and the door was thrown open.

Blonde hair- when had Maddie ever liked that before now?- hanging long and a little in his face, eyes flickering purple, a playful smirk pulling on the corners of his beautiful lips.

Hyunjin 

Maddie barely had time to look at him before he was grabbing her wrist, pulling her quickly inside.

“Finally.”

She giggled, stumbling with the quickness of his movements before her back was against the wall, Hyunjin smiling a little as the door shut behind him.

Then he was swooping down, kissing her hard, and Maddie’s arms were wrapping around his neck, the feel of it indescribable.

She was still getting used to the incubus powers- the way Hyunjin’s fingers would slide up the length of her arms, and her skin was suddenly alive, burning in the best of ways, heart racing in her chest, desire running through her veins as she held him closer-

Hyunjin pulled his lips from hers, and Maddie’s head was falling back, finding it a little hard to breathe as he kissed down her neck.

“You took way too long to come up here,” he muttered near her ear, nose tickling her skin. “I almost went and called someone else.”

Maddie wouldn’t have cared- right?- and she laughed, her voice a little strained as Hyunjin’s hands slid slowly down her sides.

“Yeah? You should have. I’m getting tired of this.”

“Tch-”

Hyunjin’s humored exhale had hot breath ghosting across Maddie’s neck, and the feeling of it was a little more than she could handle, a small gasp slipping from her lips, arms tightening just slightly around him.

And even though she couldn’t see him, she knew he was smirking, speaking against her skin again as his fingers fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

“No you’re not.”

Ugh, Maddie hated him, trying to keep her head on straight as she felt his palms sliding up and under her shirt, the feel of his skin on hers like fire-

“Don’t get cocky-” she managed, her own fingers now running down the length of his neck, caressing his shoulders through his thin white t-shirt, just wanting to touch him. “I could go at anytime-”

“You won’t.”

And before she could come up with any sort of response, Hyunjin was kissing her again, turning his head to deepen it, Maddie’s hands sliding up and into his hair, gripping the strands.

He hummed against her lips, her heart skipping a beat in her chest at the noise, Hyunjin’s fingers still running along the bare skin of her sides-

Maddie wasn’t sure why this had started happening.

She just knew on that night six months ago- when Hyunjin had come to her hotel room unannounced, telling her how curious he was about her- that she thought it would be the first and last time they would ever hook up.

That no matter how good it was, she and Hyunjin had always been at odds, and amazing sex wasn’t going to change anything.

Except- well, it had.

Suddenly, Hyunjin was calling her when he needed to feed- when he needed to unwind and gain some energy back after working so hard.

Apparently, Maddie was too weak to deny him, even though she always had a choice. She showed up at his hotel room, his door at the mansion, the bathroom when they snuck a shower together, the library when she knew Lila wouldn’t need it, and the kitchen when they were home alone-

She’d needed some stress relief herself- taking care of eight famous kpop idols was no easy feat- and every time she was with Hyunjin…

Well, somehow he always made it just a little better.

God, what has my life become

It wasn’t like Hyunjin had gotten less annoying- if anything, this knowledge that he affected Maddie so completely made him more full of himself. He was still stubborn, still a bit of a know-it-all, still had a comeback for everything, even if it was just one of those stupid, handsome one-sided smiles he so often had-

Yes, Maddie really had no idea why this had started happening.

But she knew it’d been six months; six months of her there for every feeding, never receiving a contract from Hyunjin, telling her she was the only one he was hooking up with. 

Six months of her knowing this and trying to ignore the weird, twisted knot of happiness inside her at this fact.

Six months of them calling on one another for an escape, not talking about it, just going with it, and Maddie letting it happen.

Because- for some reason- she couldn’t say no.

Again, they broke for air, Hyunjin exhaling harshly against her lips as she moved her hands to the front of his shirt, palms sliding beneath it, feeling the slight muscle there, skin smooth-

“Did you have a crazy week, too?” she asked as she kissed a line down his jaw, Hyunjin sighing and tilting his head back, welcoming it-

“You were there,” he teased, his voice annoyingly steady as she rolled her eyes.

Maddie laughed despite herself, shoving against his stomach- Hyunjin not even budging- and shaking her head.

“I just meant did anything else happen. I’m not with you all the time you know.”

“Thank God.”

He was still teasing her, but his laugh caught in his throat for a second when Maddie scratched her nails up his chest, knowing he liked that and wanting to get back at him-

“I regret asking-”

“Okay, okay-“

Hyunjin tilted his head forward, forcing Maddie to pull back and look at him.

It still shocked her really, how good-looking he was, especially up close like this, grinning a little as his eyes flickered purple again. 

“Ladies first; why are you here, Maddie?”

She still hated the way Hyunjin said her name- voice a little like silk and so totally inhuman, a hot thrill shooting down her spine at the sound of it-

“Well, I-”

His hands were slipping further up her shirt, Hyunjin leaning forward to press a small kiss near her ear before moving down her neck again-

“I looked at the schedule for next week and it’s gonna be nuts-”

Her voice was a little strained, head knocking against the wall.

“It’s always nuts,” Hyunjin murmured. “We’ll be fine-”

“-and last night, Seungmin’s girl showed up at our hotel in Busan instead of the mansion because I messed up the days and gave her the wrong location-”

Hyunjin snorted quietly, and she giggled, throat a little tight at the feel of his breath against her skin again-

“Shut up, it was embarrassing-”

“I didn’t say anything-”

“And then Changbin ruined my plans on Wednesday-”

“When does he not?”

They both laughed, Maddie choking on air as Hyunjin kissed across her shoulders, slowly slipping the strap of her tank top off to the side-

“-because I was supposed to go mini golfing with Jeongin-”

Hyunjin’s hands stuttered against her skin, and he lifted slightly before speaking.

“You were gonna go mini-golfing with Jeongin?”

If Maddie was a little more coherent, she may have raised her eyebrows at him, asking why this was surprising; she and Jeongin had been hanging out quite frequently.

But he was already pushing her shirt up her stomach, fingers gripping her sides more firmly, and she was threading her fingers through his hair again, needing something to hold onto-

“I- yeah, he asked me-” she managed, arching slightly into his touch. “-and I had to miss it because- because Changbin scheduled a feeding he needed me to drive him to on the same night-”

Hyunjin laughed again, and the heat of it against her collarbones had Maddie pressing her lips together, pulling accidentally on his hair.

But he liked it, moaning, hands sliding to the arch in her back, pushing her closer; he was a little needy, honestly-

“Wait a minute-”

Something in Maddie’s brain clicked back into place, suddenly remembering-

“You. You’re the reason I’m here.”

Hyunjin chuckled, pulling back to look at her, a playful smile on his face as her fingers slipped from his hair.

“Finally, you admit it-”

“Pft-” she smacked him on the arm, Hyunjin laughing louder, his eyes nearly disappearing.

She loved it when he smiled like that.

“You called me here.”

Hyunjin’s eyes darted from hers, still smiling.

“I mean… I’m an incubus, remember?”

How could I forget? She wanted to ask, eyes darting up and down his figure; his perfect face, his infuriatingly beautiful hands still touching her skin-

“Yeah, but- normally you don’t call me like this last minute unless something’s going on-”

It was true; while she and Hyunjin had been hooking up on the regular for a while, she only received text messages like this- middle of the night booty calls- when Hyunjin was stressed, too.

For the first time, she noticed the thin line of sweat on his forehead, the obvious square of his airpods case in the pocket of his sweatpants, the Nikes in the corner she knew he used often for practice-

“You’ve been dancing.”

It wasn’t a question, and Hyunjin glanced at the shoes before shrugging a little.

“Yeah-”

“And something went wrong.”

Maddie already knew; this wouldn’t be the first time.

“Not wrong-” he grinned, pushing a strand of hair out of his face. “I just… I couldn’t get this particular move down…”

And while his tone was nonchalant, he was fidgeting with his shirt a little, looking around the room again.

Maddie sighed; Hyunjin was such a perfectionist.

“I’m sure you were fine.”

“I wasn’t, actually.”

He was annoyed, she could tell- a pinch between his eyebrows as he turned back to her- and she sighed again.

“I just mean you perfect anything you put your mind to,” she explained, reaching up to fix his hair again. “And everyone has their off days… Sometimes that day just isn’t the day they’re gonna get something right.”

Hyunjin didn’t interrupt for once, his gaze meeting hers.

“But that doesn’t mean you’re not gonna get it down,” she continued. “You will and you’ll be awesome, I promise.”

Maddie had complete confidence in him; Hyunjin was one of the best dancers she knew.

The pinch between his eyebrows disappeared a little and his features softened.

“Thanks, Maddie.”

There was an odd stutter in her chest at the way he was looking at her; a giddy sort of tightening that had her glancing away for a moment, tucking some hair behind her ear.

“Yeah, no problem-”

She didn’t have time to say anything else before he was kissing her again, hands back on her skin, the suddenness of it sending her heart rate through the roof as heat rushed through her veins once more-

 “Can I get it in writing that I perfect everything I do?” he whispered teasingly against her lips.

Maddie laughed, her breath leaving her lungs in a rush as his hands slid to her back once more, pulling her body flush against his.

“Shut up,” she whispered.

And then her fingers were tangling into his hair, wanting him closer, Hyunjin moving his lips against hers once more.

To be continued...

Intro Part 1 | Intro Part 2

[buckleyblueyes]

ahh that's amazing! thank you in advance. I got this idea into my head: what if there is this one time they're all on a call, and maybe it's something that hits a little too close to home for Buck, maybe it's playing on his fears and insecurities, but the moment Buck sees what they're dealing with he gets SCARED, and freezes, and subconsciously grabs Eddie's hand, because Eddie makes him feel safe. He is his best friend (who he's in love with, ofc) after all. Eddie is well. Surprised. Very much.

Anon! Thank you so much for your patience with this one! I know it's been ages since you sent it in. I hope it's worth the wait and that I did justice to your prompt! (CW: drowning)

Eddie feels Buck tense up beside him as soon as Bobby tells them where they're going: Splash Zone Water Park. They have calls to pools fairly often, and Buck always gets a little bit tense going into it, no matter how long it’s been since the tsunami. Eddie presses his knee against Buck’s in the truck, offering a silent comfort to his friend. Buck seems to push down his fears by the time they pull up to the scene, forcing himself to shift into Firefighter Buckley mode as they make their way through the park. Eddie lets himself be relieved, until they arrive in front of the wave pool.

Of course it’s the goddamn wave pool. Even worse, there’s a nine year old boy laid out on the stone patio next to the pool, dripping wet, brown hair plastered to his forehead. He’s unconscious, bleeding from the side of his head, and his chest isn't rising and falling like it should be. Buck freezes immediately at the sight, reaching out for Eddie with his right hand, and wrapping his fingers around Eddie’s left wrist. It takes Eddie a moment to realize that Buck is feeling for his pulse, grounding himself.

Eddie does his best to steady his breathing and heart rate once he realizes what Buck is doing. The sight in front of them is upsetting to him, of course it is, but he knows it’s worse for Buck. He’s not the one who walked around for hours not knowing if Christopher was dead or alive. He’s not the one who almost died himself (at least, not that day.) “It’s okay,” he murmurs quietly, so only Buck can hear. “I’m here, I’m alive. That’s not Christopher.” It’s purely a medical call at this point, so he makes no attempt to move away from Buck as Hen and Chimney begin administering CPR to the boy. His mother is crying, wailing, begging them to save him. His lips are turning blue. Buck’s grip on Eddie’s wrist is like a vice.

“We got a pulse!” Hen finally calls out.

Buck’s grip doesn’t loosen, but Eddie does hear him let out of a heavy breath. He twists his hand out of Buck’s grip just enough that he can slide his arm up, so Buck is no longer holding his wrist, but is holding his hand. He gives Buck’s hand a firm squeeze and finally hazards a glance up at the man in question. Buck is staring at their intertwined hands now, confused. At least, Eddie decides, he’s distracted from the drowning boy. He runs his thumb along the back of Buck’s hand, in what he hopes is a comforting gesture.

He knows they’re crossing some kind of line here, that hand holding in the middle of an emergency scene (even one where their presence turned out not to be strictly necessary) is not something that he’ll be able to brush off as strictly platonic. It doesn’t scare him like it used to, though. Maybe it’s because he watched Buck date Taylor, so he knows how much worse it would be to not have Buck, or maybe it’s all the therapy he’s been in since the shooting. Either way, Eddie’s not afraid anymore. He and Buck have been on the edge of something--or maybe everything--for months, so if holding Buck’s hand will help ground him, keep his mind from thrusting him back in time, then it’s a risk Eddie is willing to take.

Hen and Chimney are loading the boy into the ambulance--he is breathing again, still unconscious and probably severely concussed, but alive--when Bobby finally makes his way over to them. He takes in the haunted look in Buck’s eyes, and the fact that their hands are still tightly clasped together, and frowns.

“You boys alright?” He asks, but he’s looking at Buck.

Buck nods slowly. “I--Yeah. Just...Brought up some bad memories.”

“This was a rough one,” Bobby agrees. “I’m gonna take us off rotation for a while when we get back to the station.”

“Thanks, Cap,” Eddie says. Buck doesn’t say anything.

Bobby smiles in that warm, fatherly way of his, looking between them. “Take care of each other.”

As if there’s any universe where they wouldn’t.

Eddie doesn’t let go of Buck’s hand until they get back to the station, and only because he needs two hands to cook.

“I’m not hungry,” Buck says, still hovering in Eddie’s space.

“You were about to eat before the call came in,” Eddie insists gently. “You need to eat.”

“And you’re gonna cook for me?” Buck shakes his head. “I think I’ll take my chances with starvation.”

Eddie rolls his eyes, pulling out a griddle and a clean spatula. “I think I can handle grilled cheese, Buck.”

Buck’s mouth opens and closes in surprise. “Grilled cheese?”

“Maddie may have mentioned making it for you a lot growing up.” Eddie flushes slightly at having to admit he’s talked to Maddie about Buck. “I thought it would be comforting.”

Buck stares at him, eyes wide and mouth turning up into a tentative smile. “Yeah, it is.”

“Good,” Eddie smiles back. “Now, go sit down.”

Eddie bustles about the kitchen, pulling out the good buttermilk bread that Chimney always buys instead of the whole wheat bread that Bobby puts on the list, the pre-sliced cheddar cheese, and the butter. “After we eat, how about we video call Christopher?” It’s late in the afternoon, he’ll be home from school by now.

Buck lets out a long exhale. “Yes, please.”

Eddie flips the bread slices on the griddle and places the cheese slices on the toasted side. “Great.”

“I--” Buck starts. “I didn’t know how to ask.”

Eddie looks up from the sandwiches. “How to ask for what?”

“To talk to Christopher,” Buck draws patterns on the tabletop with his index finger. “I know I’m not--He’s not mine.”

Eddie doesn’t say anything at first, just plates up the sandwiches, brings them over to the table, and sits down next to Buck, who takes a small, tentative bite.

“I don’t think that’s true.”

“What?”

“You said Christopher isn’t yours,” Eddie picks up his sandwich, but doesn’t bite into it. “I don’t think that’s true.”

Buck is staring at him again, confused.

“Look, I don’t know what we are anymore, Buck,” Eddie admits. “Things are different between us now, and I don’t know what I’m doing, but I know that you love Christopher, and that he loves you just as much. If that doesn’t give you a right to call him, to reassure yourself that he’s okay, then I don’t know what does.”

“I…” Buck’s eyes fill with tears.

"It's okay, Buck." Eddie reaches over to wipe Buck's tears with his thumb. “Just eat your grilled cheese."

Buck does as he’s told, making it halfway through the sandwich in three bites. “You know, there’s no law that says we have to wait until we finish eating to call Christopher.”

Eddie raises a skeptical eyebrow, looking up from his own half-eaten lunch. “Will you actually finish eating if we call now?”

“Absolutely.” Buck takes a big bite to prove his point. “See?” He says, through a mouthful of food. Something so childish shouldn’t be so endearing, and yet, somehow it is.

Helpless, Eddie pulls out his phone. Carla answers on the second ring. “You better have a good reason for interrupting math homework.”

“I do.” Eddie assures her. “Can you put Chris on?”

Carla gives him a look, but does as he asks. Christopher is grinning--probably excited to have his math homework interrupted “Hi, Dad!”

“Hey, kid.” Eddie can’t help but return his son’s smile. “How’s the math homework going?”

Christopher’s smile falters slightly. “Oh, it’s good.”

Somehow Eddie doesn’t totally believe that, but it’s not important now. “Listen, I’ve got somebody here who wants to say ‘hi’, is that okay?”

The boy’s smile comes back even wider than before. “Is it Buck?”

“Yeah,” Buck says, loud enough that the phone can catch it. “It’s me.”

“Hand the phone to Buck, Dad!” Christopher is bouncing with excitement. “Hand the phone to Buck!”

He does, scooching his chair closer so he can still see the screen himself, and before Buck can even greet Christopher, the kid is launching into a monologue.

“Buck! Dr. Lassiter assigned us a big, semester-long project for science class, can you pleeeaaase help me with it? I want to build a model of the solar system, but it has to be totally accurate.”

The tension Buck's body has been holding onto since the phrase “water park” fell from Bobby’s lips is finally starting to fade.

“Absolutely. Do we want it to move?”

Christopher’s eyes widen on screen. “Yes!”

Buck laughs. “Well then, we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Eddie smiles softly, as Buck and Christopher begin planning their project. He knows he must look like a lovesick fool, but to be fair, that’s what he is. He rests one hand over the crook of Buck’s elbow, and doesn’t miss the pink that appears across his cheeks.

“Alright, you three,” that’s Carla’s voice, “Somebody still has math homework to finish, and I’m sure you boys will have to get back to work soon.”

Eddie sighs. Carla is right, unfortunately. But Buck looks lighter than he has all day. “We better do what Carla says.”

“Will you come over after work?” Christopher asks. They won't get off until after Christopher will already be at school, so Buck will probably go to his loft after work. But Eddie doesn’t doubt now that Christopher has asked, Buck will manage to make it over to their house by the time Christopher is home from school. He wonders if it's too soon to ask Buck to sleep in his bed, instead of going to his loft at all. It's yet another line to cross, but at this point Eddie's lost track of all the lines they've crossed.

“You bet,” is Buck’s answer. “Now get back to your math!”

“Okay, dad,” Christopher says, rolling his eyes, voice dripping with sarcasm. It’s meant to be a joke at Buck’s expense, but Eddie can see the breath catching in Buck’s throat all the same, so he pulls the phone from his hand and takes over.

“Good-bye, Christopher! We love you!”

“Bye Dad! Bye Buck! I love you guys, too.”

Buck finds his voice again. “Bye Superman!”

“So,” Eddie says, putting the phone down. “Do you feel better now?”

“Eddie…” Buck hesitates, dropping his hand down so it rests over Eddie’s. His skin is warm and rough and unlike earlier Eddie can actually enjoy the feeling. “Thank you.” He’s thanking Eddie for more than just the grilled cheese and the phone call, and Eddie knows it.

His answer is simple. He turns his hand over, and interlocks their fingers. “Always, Buck.”

[imekitty]

Grave Error II

Follow-up to this ficlet.

Fun fact: I first tried writing this like a month after writing the first ficlet and struggled so much that I ended up rage quitting in tears. But now a couple years later, I gave it another try!

-----

Maddie stared at the three headstones before her. Her son. Her husband. Her daughter. She was the last one standing in this cemetery now.

But someone was watching her.

“I know you’re there,” said Maddie. “You might as well show yourself.”

Nothing happened for a moment. Then Phantom fizzled into view several feet away.

“You’ve grown since the last time I saw you.” Maddie smiled at him, noting his broadened shoulders and height.

Phantom ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. I don’t age as quickly in this form, but I guess have grown a little, huh?”

“In this form? As opposed to what?” asked Maddie. “A human form?”

Phantom gazed at the graves, his lips thinning. Maddie looked down at her withered hands speckled with liver spots.

“I look old, don’t I?” She chuckled. “But I know that’s no surprise to you. You’ve been coming here to watch us when we visit for many years now.”

Phantom gripped one of his wrists, wringing it.

“You just always stayed invisible,” said Maddie. “But I knew you were there. Every time.”

“I just wanted to—”

“Don’t.” Maddie shook her head. “I don’t want to hear your reason.”

A breeze rushed past. Maddie tightened her coat around her.

“But you might as well come closer.” She kept her eyes on the headstones. “Stand next to me. I’m too old to do anything to you now anyway.”

Phantom hesitated before taking slow steps toward her, his boots crunching over dead leaves. He stopped by her side and faced the headstones.

“You really knew I was there?” he asked. “Every time you came?”

“Mmm hmm. I could tell.”

“But then why didn’t you say anything to me before?”

“I had nothing to say to you. And I didn’t want Jazz or Jack to know you were there spying on us. Jack would’ve wanted to hunt you down, capture you.”

Maddie could see Phantom’s bright glow on the edge of her vision as she continued to stare ahead.

“And I just wanted to forget about you,” she murmured.

“Forget about me?” Phantom looked down at himself before raising his eyes again. “But then why are you talking to me now?”

Maddie shrugged. “This is the first time I’ve had to come here alone. And I suppose maybe I didn’t want to be alone.”

They stared at the headstones in silence for some time.

“My entire family.” Maddie felt her throat tightening and tried to breathe to open it. “They all left before me. I just never thought I’d be the last to go.”

Phantom folded his arms and shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “How… I mean, what happened to them?”

“Why do you want to know?”

Maddie looked at him. Phantom kept his head down.

“I just thought you would’ve known already,” said Maddie. “With how much you like to spy on us.”

“I wasn’t spying on you.”

“Then what do you call watching us invisibly every time we came here?”

Phantom blinked a few times, still staring at the ground. “It was the only way I could see you. Because I can’t leave Amity Park. Whenever I try, something just...holds me back. It won’t let me go.”

“Because your ghostly obsession is tied to this town,” said Maddie.

Phantom did not reply.

“But why would you want to leave?” asked Maddie. “Why would you want to see us?”

“You know why.”

Phantom continued keeping his gaze to the ground. Even with his slowed aging, Maddie could see tired lines around his eyes and mouth.

“I still see reports about you when I check the Amity Park news,” said Maddie. “You’re still saving the town, still making those silly jokes and puns while you do it.”

Half of Phantom’s mouth curved up. “Yeah, well, it’s all I have now. I… I have nothing else. Not since…”

He glanced at her before returning his gaze to the ground.

“So you’ve been reading about me?” he asked. “You’ve been...thinking about me?”

“Does that stroke your ego, Phantom? Satisfy your obsession to be a beloved hero?”

“That’s not it.”

They stayed silent for a moment, staring at the headstones.

“I found their obituaries online,” said Phantom. “But neither of them gave the cause of death.”

“I didn’t want to disclose that.”

“Please tell me.” Phantom gripped his elbows tightly. “I would really like to know. Please.”

Maddie sighed. “Jack went first. Heart attack. We had known it was coming for some time. He had been struggling with his blood pressure for years and was terrible at eating healthy. He always ended up cheating with tons of fudge.”

“He never could resist fudge.”

Maddie quirked a brow. Phantom was smiling wistfully.

“Jazz caught pneumonia one day.” Maddie faced forward again, reading her daughter’s name etched in stone. “No idea where it came from. She was in the hospital a few weeks. We all thought she had beaten it when she moved into transitional care. But then she took a turn and was just...gone.”

Heavy tears sprang to her eyes, too hard to hold back.

“I knew I’d probably outlive Jack.” Her voice faltered. “He was overweight and ate all the wrong things. But my children… I never thought I’d be burying them too. Certainly not both of them.”

Her body shook, her old legs barely able to support her convulsions. Phantom stepped closer and held his arm out to her. She took it without thinking and leaned on him.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to leave you so soon.”

Maddie wiped away her tears with her fingers. “Are you really still trying to convince me you’re my son?”

“You still don’t believe me?”

Maddie sighed deeply and did not look at him as she continued holding his arm. “No.”

Phantom’s shoulders lowered, his head fell.

“But I think I might like to pretend you’re my son. Just for now. If you don’t mind.”

Phantom raised his head. She did not return his gaze.

“I don’t mind.”

She tugged on his arm in the direction of a nearby bench. He led the way, escorting her, supporting her.

They sat together for some time. Maddie kept her hold on his arm. And when she grew tired, she lay her head on his shoulder.

And when he lay his head against hers, she allowed it.

The moments were long and quiet. Cold breezes rustled the few leaves left in the trees.

“I’ve missed you, Mom,” murmured Phantom.

Maddie sat up and studied his face. His eyes shone with tears.

She let go of his arm and stood. She walked away from him and never looked back.

And then a fourth grave appeared next to the others.

Danny read the names on each headstone. His sister, his father, his mother.

Finally together again.

He stood in front of his own grave and considered phasing through the ground into his casket to lie with his bones.

[five-rivers]

Solutions to Nonlinear Equations

For @currentlylurking for the Phic Phight.  :)

.

“Ancients, Vlad.  I’m not rejecting you because I’m a rebellious teenager and you’re an adult, I’m rejecting you because you’re incredibly creepy.”

Vlad sniffed in what he hoped was an aristocratic manner and raised an eyebrow, minutely adjusting his grip on Daniel to keep him pinned to the floor.  

“We’re human-ghost hybrids, Daniel.  I’d hoped that you’d have realized by now that we are meant to be ‘creepy.’”

Daniel squirmed and began to mutter into the carpet. “Clockwork never acts like this, I’m fine with him—”

Vlad pulled back as if burned.  He hadn’t heard that name in—in—

In a long time.  

Years.  

The thought was almost expelled from his head when Daniel managed to elbow him in the jaw hard enough to make him see stars. Before he knew it, Daniel had slipped from his grasp and zoomed away.  

Whatever aspersions Vlad cast on Daniel’s mastery of his ghostly abilities, the boy was fast.  When he put his mind to escaping instead of picking a fight, he managed it more often than not, to Vlad’s great frustration.  Hence Vlad’s usual strategy of needling the younger half-ghost until fighting was the only thing on Daniel’s mind.  

He set down on a nearby roof.  There went his plans for the day.  Which, admittedly, had consisted of distracting Daniel while his ghostly minions set up a nasty surprise for him at the school, hence making him fail his test, which would, in turn, convince Maddie and Jack to let Vlad set Daniel up with a tutor, something he had suggested to them earlier, and—

Well.  Daniel would find them, now, no doubt.  

Ah, well.  

He had more important things on his mind, now.  Such as, how in two worlds did Daniel know Clockwork?  Because Daniel never just said things like that.  He barely knew anything about ghost culture.  He wouldn’t know to bring up obscure, secretive, ghost historical figures.  He wouldn’t know what that particular name would mean to Vlad.  

Tongues of fire flared out of his fingers, bringing a measure of stability to the gyrations of his core and his emotions.  

Daniel knew Clockwork.  And, it seemed, met him with some regularity.  Enough for him to compare his actions to Vlad’s.  

Would that ghost never be satisfied with ruining Vlad’s life?  Was he not satisfied with—

He cut off the thought, shaking his head.  Never mind that.  

What Vlad needed to do was find Clockwork.  Which meant inducing Danny to go to him at a time when Vlad when Vlad could follow.  Which meant determining when he had visited Clockwork in the past.  An undertaking to be sure.  

He closed his eyes and teleported to his lab beneath his mansion.  

“Maddie!” he called out, even before his body had fully reformed.  

The hologram flickered to life with a faint crackled from the projector.  “What is it, sugarpie?” it asked with a smile.

“Review the audio recordings from Fentonworks,” ordered Vlad.  “Search for the term ‘Clockwork.’  Report findings to me.”

“Sure thing, honey!”

Vlad had to review the cheerfulness settings on the Maddie program.  Maddie was upbeat, but not that upbeat.  This was almost sickly sweet.  

He threw himself into a nearby chair.  

Clockwork.  He thought he’d never hear that name again.  Not after he’d been literally and figuratively ghosted by him.  

He telekinetically pulled a book off his shelf. He ran his fingers over the leather tooling on the cover.  The book had been given to him by Clockwork, years ago, when he was still in that hospital.

Clockwork had been the one to first show him the Ghost Zone, and all the wonders in it.  Clockwork had been his friend, his only friend, through that long, agonizing hospital stay. He had been supportive, wonderful, kind. He visited often, though not on a regular schedule.  He’d helped Vlad ride out the waves of misery and anger that so often threatened to overwhelm him.  

Then, without warning, nothing.  

No goodbye.  The last time he left, he had even said something along the lines of ‘see you soon,’ although the memory was frayed from age and Vlad could no longer recall the exact words.  For a long time, Vlad had worried something disastrous had happened to Clockwork. But then he had finally managed to build his own portal, reach the Ghost Zone under his own power, and, according to every search he did, every line of inquiry that bore fruit, Clockwork was just fine.  

Vlad had been furious.  He had been betrayed.  He had spent the better half of a decade trying to plot revenge against Clockwork, before realizing that was akin to plotting revenge against a god and turning his sights to a more manageable target.  

Now…

Now, Vlad just wanted answers.  Both as to the reason behind his abandonment and as to why Clockwork was apparently repeating history with Daniel.  

“Sweetie pie,” said the hologram, with a chime, “audio processing complete.  There are over ninety-nine instances where the word ‘clockwork’ is mentioned.  Would you like to play the selected files?”

“Yes,” said Vlad.  “Include the video portions where available, and the thirty seconds immediately prior to and following the mention.”

He turned his attention to the nearest screen.  He had a lot of videos to watch.  

There was an envelope pinned to it.  It was sealed with wax, impressed with the image of a pocket watch and the initials CW.  Vlad attempted, and failed, to suppress the growl that grew in the back of his throat. Was this a joke to Clockwork?

He tore the envelope from the screen, ripped it open with equal viciousness, and began to read.

.

Three cups sat on the tea service tray next to the teapot.

“Are you expecting someone else,” asked Danny, “or am I going to break one of these?”

Clockwork chuckled as he began to pour the tea.  “The former,” he said.  “Although you may always surprise me with the latter.”

He handed Danny his cup.  Danny inhaled deeply.  It smelled sweet.  “What is it?” he asked.  

“A chamomile blend,” said Clockwork.  “For calm.”

“I think Sam drinks chamomile before she goes to bed,” observed Danny, offhandedly.  “Who’s coming?”

“You’ll see soon enough.”

Danny made a face.  “Do you have to be mysterious all—”

The front door of Clockwork’s lair slammed open, and Danny jolted forward in alarm – the only people who regularly did that were the Observants, who didn’t much care for Danny – but Clockwork put a steadying hand on his shoulder and rewound his tea into his cup.

“Clockwork!” came the expected yell.  The yeller, however…

“Is that Vlad?” asked Danny, not quite scandalized, but more than a little surprised.  

“Why, yes,” said Clockwork.  

“Did you – Clockwork, did you invite him here?”

“Other than the Observants,” said Clockwork, “no one can enter unless I will it.”  He took a sip of his tea.  

“But,” started Danny.  

Clockwork raised a hand.  “Don’t worry, he’ll find us soon enough.”  He repurposed the hand to pat Danny’s knee.  “And even should he prove to be in a combative mood, I will not allow you to come to harm.  You are safe here, Daniel.”

“Thanks,” mumbled Danny, looking away, towards the door in the sitting room through which Vlad would presumably enter.  

Sure enough, a few seconds later Vlad half-flew half-skidded into Clockwork’s sitting room.  He leveled an accusatory finger at Clockwork.  “You!” he proclaimed, with a great deal of venom.  

“Hello, Vladimir, I’ve poured you some tea.  Why don’t you sit down?  I understand it has been some time.”

“You under-?  No!  I will not sit down!  I will not drink your tea.  Not after you abandoned me for over a decade, just like that bumbling oaf—”

“Hey!” interjected Danny, not only because Vlad had once again insulted his father, but because he could tell that Clockwork, regardless of his stoic façade, was actually quite upset.  

“Don’t interrupt me, Daniel,” snapped Vlad.  “You don’t know what this, this ghost is. What he does.  You don’t know that he gets close to you, makes you think you’re friends, and then drops you without a moment’s notice.  Did you think it was funny to string along a man in dire straits? Did you?”

“I did not abandon you, Vladimir, I—”

Vlad scoffed and went on a tirade that Danny honestly found hard to parse.  But it sounded like Vlad and Clockwork had known each other in the past and then fallen out of contact in a way that aggravated Vlad’s abandonment issues.  Which didn’t seem like Clockwork at all, but Vlad sounded extremely certain and insistent, and Clockwork’s upset was actually finding its way into his voice, now.  Danny didn’t—

With all the force and abruptness of epiphany, Danny realized what was going on here.  

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Danny, putting down his cup. “Vlad, breathe or whatever.  Clockwork, you did tell Vlad that you experience time nonlinearly, right?”

“Of course,” said Clockwork, clearly offended.

“But Vlad, ah, had you gone through natural portals often when you met Clockwork?  Or, like, did you ever see him without him initiating contact?”

“I didn’t have my portal built yet, Daniel, so, no.”

Danny turned to Clockwork.  “Why did you-?  No that doesn’t matter.  Haaauuuhh, Clockwork, do you have-?”

Clockwork waved a hand and a whiteboard appeared.  

“Thanks,” said Danny, picking a marker up from the little shelf on the bottom.  He uncapped it, then recapped it.  “Actually, before that.  Vlad—” he pointed at Vlad, who looked about one second from exploding “—you have some idea of how old Clockwork is, right?  Or at least how old ghosts can get?”

“Yes, Daniel,” said Vlad, managing to overlay his supercilious ‘I know better than you’ attitude over his still obvious anger.

“Okay, great.  So, just to establish, Clockwork has been around at least since, uh, beginning of time?”

“Give or take,” agreed Clockwork.  “Although I have not experienced it all directly.”

“Right,” said Danny.  “Just, already, his perception of time is different from our because of age differences.”

Vlad looked slightly less angry, and slightly closer to curious.  

“But, then, there’s the larger issue,” continued Danny.  This time his uncapping of the marker was decisive.  He drew a flat, straight, horizontal line across the whiteboard.  “This is our timeline.  We deal with time linearly.  We’ve also got, I don’t know, parallel timelines, like this.”  He drew several more lines.  “You following so far?”

“Yes, Daniel, I’ve read my share of science fiction.”

He was probably rolling his eyes.  Curse his solid-colored red eyes.  It made interpreting his looks and figuring out where he was looking during a fight much more difficult.  

“Anyway, Clockwork isn’t on any of these lines. Because he experiences time nonlinearly.”  He drew a squiggly up and down line on the board that resembled the world’s saddest sine wave.  Or cosine wave.  There wasn’t a y-axis on the not-quite-graph, so it wasn’t like anyone could tell the difference.  They were effectively the same.  

And Vlad still made fun of him for failing math. Danny knew plenty about math.  He just didn’t have time to do the work.  Mostly because of Vlad.  

“Now, that, that is Clockwork’s timeline.  It isn’t always in contact with ours.  It’s, like, solutions to a system of equations. Nonlinear equations,” he specified, in case it had been too long since Vlad had encountered basic high-school-level algebra.

“It is somewhat more complicated than that, Daniel,” said Clockwork, exasperated.  “It’s more of—"  

“Yeah, but this gets the idea across more than the whole parade metaphor, doesn’t it?”

“I would say not.  This doesn’t even begin to touch on my abilities.”

“That’s because we’re just talking about your perception of time,” said Danny.  He considered for a moment.  “And also your ability to interact with our timeline.”

“Which includes my ability to perceive multiple timelines.”

“But that’s complicated, and I still don’t get it,” complained Danny.  

“It is less complicated than what you are currently trying to explain.”

“To you maybe, but the whole point of this is that you aren’t seeing things the same way we are.  You disappeared on Vlad, what, a decade ago?”  He looked to Vlad for confirmation.  

“A decade is hardly any time at all,” said Clockwork with exasperation.  He sipped at his tea.  

“It was fifteen years.”

Clockwork made a somewhat dismissive motion with a gloved hand.  “It’s a tiny fraction of your life as a whole.”

“It’s… closer to a third of his current lifetime,” said Danny with a wince.  “Or a fourth?  I don’t know how old you are, dude.”

“I went to college with your parents.”

“I know, and you were already graying then. Your age is weirdly hard to place.”

Vlad gave Danny a look, but his body language was no longer screaming ‘I’m going to beat the snot after you.’  Danny counted that as a win under the current circumstances.  He disliked Vlad, but in a fight with Clockwork… Well, Clockwork could demolish just about anyone.  

Not that Clockwork would.  Just that he could.  

“Daniel—”

“Please, Vladimir.  Just sit down.  Try the tea. I made it for you.  I knew you would be upset, although I could not see exactly why.”  Clockwork was almost pouting, now.  “Fifteen years is such a short time.”

“Clockwork, I’m fifteen.”

“I know,” said Clockwork, patting Danny on the knee. “Your timeline is so small.  And cute.”

Vlad was now distinctly on his back foot, offput and disarmed.  “His timeline is cute?”

“It is.  Don’t worry, yours is almost as cute.”

Vlad opened and closed his mouth like a dying fish. Danny pushed the whiteboard away.

“Don’t worry about it too much,” he said.  “Like I said, different perception of time.”

“I really didn’t mean to make you feel abandoned, Vladimir.  I simply wanted to give you some time to, ah, how should I put this?  Have space?  Find yourself?”

Vlad sat heavily on the couch.  

“You get used to it,” said Danny.  “But, Clockwork, do you think you can talk him into having fewer evil plans?  Because, really.  There are way too many.  Like, one a week.  They’re destroying my grades.  Have you ever seen anyone else who had weekly evil plans?”

“Evil plans, Vladimir?  Really?”

[forgedroyalseal]

Not Just a Crush

(This is a part of my Fatherhood series, if you haven’t read that yet, I’d recommend doing so prior to reading this)

A/N: What if Cassandra and Horace had twins instead of just Maddie? This is a fic about the relationship Will’s daughter Alyson would have with their son.

It had started with a comment from Jenny over dinner.

“Ally’s got it bad for Ronan huh?” She teased, bumping Will’s shoulder with her own. All of the former ward mates (the surviving ones Will couldn’t help but think), had traveled to Castle Araluen for a bit of a reunion. Jenny had spent the entire day doting on her nieces and nephew, thrilled to have one on one time with them.

“Got what?” Will tried to pretend he didn’t understand her meaning. She rolled her eyes.

“She likes him Will, as more than a friend.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, they are like sibling.”

“That’s what’s people could have said about you and Alyss. In fact, I’m quite certain some did.”

“That was completely different.”

“It really wasn’t.”

“And anyway, how can you possibly know what she’s feeling, did she tell you?”

“No,” Jenny shrugged, “but an aunt knows. I’m surprised you didn’t realized it Will, your ranger skills of detection are fading. Try paying closer attention.”

So he did.

And it didn’t take long for him to realize that Jenny was right. As usual.

___________________________________________________________________

“I hope you know that this is completely unacceptable.”

Horace looked away from where the kids were practicing their fencing with Gilan and turned to his friend, trying to figure out if he was being genuine or if he was making a bad joke. Will’s blank expression didn’t lend a single clue. “No, I don’t know that.”

Will sighed. “Horace, she’s a child. She can’t- she isn’t- it’s just- no.”

“Will, they are the same age. Actually that’s not true, Alyson is 6 months older than Ronan.”

“That’s not the point. 16 year old boys are the worse. Remember when we were 16?”

Horace cocked an eyebrow, “Yes, and if they come across any bridges I’ll start to worry.”

“You’ve spent too much time with Halt.” Will muttered.

Horace laughed, “It’s a crush Will, let them be. Besides, Alyson could do worse.”

Will didn’t respond. It was true, the only boy Will would even consider worth his daughter’s interest was Ronan. In fact, years ago, when the children were toddlers still stumbling around, Will, Horace and Cassandra would offen joke about arranging Alyson and Ronan’s marriage so that Will and Horace could be officially related. Now he was starting to wonder how he could ever joke about such a matter.

______________________________________________________

Later that evening, once everyone else had gone to bed, Will walked the halls of Castle Araluen. He hadn’t slept through the night since Alyss had died, the feeling of waking up covered in his wife’s blood never leaving his skin, and being in an unfamiliar bed had only made his insomnia worse.

He noticed a flicker of light coming from the crack under Ronan’s door. Pausing, he leaning in and heard muted voices. He was able to make out Ronan’s clearing, but there was another voice. A female one. One that he knew better than his own.

Flinging open the door, Will stormed inside. There on the bed sat his daughter and Ronan, a blanket draped across them both, their lips pressed together.

“What is going on?” He shouted.

“Dad!“ Alyson leapt up from the bed. Seeing that was still wearing her night clothes, Will let a tiny, minuscule part of himself relax.

“Alyson, go to your room.” His voice shook as he tried to reign in his emotions.

“Dad let me explain,” She begged as she tugged her dressing robe tighter around her.

Will’s eyes remind glued to Ronan. “Is he dying? Is he experiencing some kind of psychological torment? Are you the only person in this entire castle who help him?”

Alyson sighed, “No but-“

“I thought not. Save your explanation for the morning. Now, Go. To. Bed.” His voice was deep and solid, and Alyson knew there would be no arguing with her father. Without another word, she left, shooting one last glance over to Ronan, who was too focused on Will to notice.

Once Alyson left the room, Will took a moment to take a deep breath and think. Ronan sat on the bed, nervously fidgeting with his hands. Will was happy to see that he also had his clothes on. So things hadn’t gone that far tonight. But there’s nothing to say they wouldn’t have if Will hadn’t interrupted.

Finally unable to stand the silence for any longer, Ronan said, “Uncle Will please don’t be mad at Alyson.”

Will raised his hand, cutting him off. “You have one chance to tell me the truth. If you lie to me, I’ll know. Now, why was my daughter in your bed in the middle of the night?”

Ronan had heard countless stories of Ranger Will Treaty, the bravest and smartest of them all (or at least that’s what his dad said), but to Ronan, he was always just Uncle Will, quick with a joke and always ready to listen. He had never understood how the loving and kind man he had grown up with could be the same, larger than life hero his father described him as.

Now he saw it.

He saw the steely expression, the dark eyes, the clenched jaw. He saw The Ranger.

“She came in to talk.” Ronan saw the immediate disbelief on Will’s face and continued in a hurry. “No really. We hadn’t had a moment alone since you two arrived. We were always either with Maddie or our parents or someone else. We just, we just wanted some time. To catch up.”

“And how did “catching up” turn into you shoving your tongue down my 16 year old daughter’s throat?”

Ronan blushed so deeply that even in the dim light Will could see it from across the room, “It just sorta happened.” He mumbled.

Will shook his head, “No, it didn’t. You don’t just kiss someone like that for the hell of it. Have you planing this?”

“No! Not really. I mean,” Ronan rubbed the back of his neck, clearly unsure how to explain what he was feeling to the father of the girl he had just been caught kissing in his bed.

Will sighed and said, “Ok, why don’t you try to tell me about it like you would if it was any other girl? Tell me as Uncle Will, not Alyson’s dad.”

Ronan nodded. He used to tell Will everything. Every fight he had with his parents, every crush, every fear. He could do this. “She’s my best friend. There is no one like her. She’s incredible. Brave and smart and strong. I’ve never known life without her. And the older we get, I don’t- it’s like I’m starting realize I don’t even know if I could live without her. I know I wouldn’t want to. It feels like something has changed, a shift in the wind. I told her that tonight, and she said she feels the same way. Then we just… you know, kissed.”

Ronan couldn’t read Will’s face. He didn’t look angry, he looked sort of, sad? “I’m sorry Uncle Will.” He wasn’t quiet sure what he was apologizing for, but he felt like it was the right thing to say.

“I would have thought you’d be old enough to realize this, but apparently not.” Sighing heavily, Will pull a chair over to the bed and seat besides Ronan. “People do not treat men and women the same. They don’t hold them to the same standards. If someone else where to discover Alyson and you… together, she would be ruined. Her reputation, her future, it would all be tarnished. She would be shunned by society. Whereas you, would be fine. Frankly, your reputation would benefit. You’d be admired by your peers. And anyone who disapproved of your actions would be told “He’s a teenage boy, what do you expect?” Do you understand?”

Ronan swallowed, “I’m not sure. Why is it so different?”

“I don’t know. I wish I could change it. I hate that I need to raise my daughter in a world that will never respect her as much as it will me, but that is the way of the world. For now. So if you truly care about Alyson-“

“I do!”

“-Then you need to respect her, and understand that the choices you make will have greater consequences for her than for you.”

Ronan looked down in deep thought. “I didn’t think about it like that.”

“I know you didn’t Ro. I know you wouldn’t hurt Alyson. I probably shouldn’t have come charging in here like a hellhound. But she’s my little girl. Someday you’ll understand what that means. How it clouds your judgement and causes you to act irrational.” Will stood up and squeezed Ronan’s shoulder. “In the morning, we are all going to sit down and have a chat. If you and Alyson genuinely want to peruse a relationship with one another, then there need to be ground rules. Starting with no more midnight rendezvous.” Ronan nodded.

“Alright then, get some rest kiddo.” Will started to leave the room when Ronan called out after him.

“I love you Uncle Will.”

Will smiled, “Love you too Ro.” He shut the door softly as he stepped into the hall.

“Looks like we’re going to be brothers after all.”

Will startled at the sound of Horace’s voice. He turned to his friend, “How long have you been standing out here?”

“Long enough to figure out what was happening. I’m pretty sure you just gave Ronan the fright of his life.”

“I’m not going to apologize for it.”

“And I’m not expecting you too. In fact, I have half the mind to go in there and scold him myself. He should know better. Cassie will have a fit.”

Will laughed, “She shouldn’t go too hard on him, I don’t think he meant harm.”

“No, but like you said, this isn’t just about him. Had anyone else found them, we’d be planing a wedding for the spring.”

Will shuttered at the thought. “Believe me, I know. And we are definitely bring that up when we talk with them.”

“I can’t say I’m looking forward to that conversation.”

“Neither am I. I’m not ready for this Horace. I knew parenting would be hard. That there would be sleepless nights and fights and fear. I knew there would be nappies to clean and busies to kiss and sacrifices to make. But this, this never even crossed my mind.”

“Tell me about it. If I’m not up worrying about one kid, I’m worrying about the other. I assumed things would get easier as they got older, but I’m realizing that was ignorant thinking. It seems to get harder every day.”

“But it’s worth it, isn’t it?” Will grinned.

Slinging his arm over Will’s shoulders, Horace says, “Yeah brother, it is so worth it.”

[datawyrms]

snap

It is The Day I post my Invisobang fic! it was a wild ride to write everything and not post. This is actually the second fic I did, as the first fell into my pit of ‘i hate it now’ and will sit in limbo for the rest of eternity. I teamed up with Spirit ( @ghostportals ), who has done some accompanying art! That, and Red @redead-red saved my bacon by doing some betaing last moment, so tell em they’re great too. Hope you’re all enjoying the flood of finished fics and art this week! Only the first chapter is here, the rest is posted on my Ao3 and complete. hope you enjoy!

One careless fall changed Danny's life forever. He was kind of hoping one fall like that was enough for any lifetime. Clearly fate disagreed.

It's fine though! He's got this. He's fine. He can totally explain why he ran off with his own body to mom and dad.

The stairs had always been a little too steep, a titch too narrow, but he was used to them. Jazz worried too much- the whole Fenton family knew how to take them two steps at a time. He wasn’t going to admit she might have a point just because he’d slipped one time. He wished there was a railing to catch himself with- it would have spared him some of the pain of his head knocking on the stair.

It didn’t hurt that much. Plenty of ghosts hit harder, and far more frequently.

“Took a bit of a spill eh, Danno?”

Great, dad saw him slip like he was three again. He wanted to speak, wave his behemoth of a father off before he got tangled up in some long lecture about whatever they were working on down here. Just had to sit up.

He was a little stunned or something. All those late nights made his limbs rebel when he wanted them to hurry up. Come on, before he tries to help and accidentally shaves his hair off with some anti-ghost stepladder or something.

His arms stubbornly rejected his internal horror story. His attempt to say ‘I’m fine’ was more a gurgle than anything. Way to go, Fenton. Do everything to get dad to worry! Really using those genius genes. Jazz probably stole his anyway, or they got fried in the accident. Come on! A bit of self berating should have him sitting bolt upright by now. Maybe his arm twitched. He felt something move, anyway. More like a muscle spasm.

“Danny? You okay?” The large man came closer, his usual jog slowed.

Of course he’s fine. He could see dad, sort of. He totally moved his eyes to see him better, even. Stupid ghost powers were just acting up.  It’s okay,  just give me a second to stand up. You’re worrying over nothing.

 Jack had already made it over, crouching to get a better look at his fallen son. Like he was trying to look smaller or something with how carefully he was moving. Where was all that slow, ginger movement when he was driving? Or trying to tell them about some new invention that might burn off your eyebrows?

 I’m fine, dad. He couldn’t get the words to come out, but he was just fine. He really didn’t like the strange look on his father’s face. After all, ‘Jack Fenton doesn’t know the meaning of the word fear’ or whatever random thing he felt like shouting when chasing after entities from another dimension. Come on dad, stop looking like that. It was creeping him out. Moving should be easy, a snap, but part of him didn’t feel like doing it. Apparently an important part? He could visualize exactly what to do, but he wasn’t sitting up. He swore he could feel his muscles clenching but not finishing the movement. Maybe they were testing something down here that just made all the ectoplasm hiding inside him take a nap. His ectoplasm was so fired after this.

 “Can you look at me kiddo?”

 Coaxing him. This was weird. Why wasn’t he just hauling him off the floor and laughing about how clumsy he was at his age too? Looking at him was easy. Pretty hard to miss him, with all the bright orange.

 “Maddie? Can you come over here?” His question was strangely stilted, not much of a bellow.

 Dad was going to get the wrong idea because his body didn’t want to cooperate. Great. Fantastic. He could feel the warmth in his chest, the sign his heart was still going. He was just fine, just a bit inconvenienced at the moment. Why couldn’t dad just be  dad  and do something dumb like pick him up with one hand while sounding way too excited about some new tool that he built?

 “What’s wrong?” His mom said, her footsteps doing the same thing dad’s had. Speed that suddenly cut down to almost nothing. “Danny, did you hit your head?”

 “I think he might have, he’s not responding. I didn’t want to try to move him-“

 “You did great Jack, it’s okay.”

 Gross. He hoped they didn’t get caught up in one of their lovey dovey circles while he was stuck trying to get his stupid legs to remember how to do things. He was responding! He groaned, and he definitely twitched a bit. Weren’t they paying attention? He tried again, a bit more forcefully and ignoring the pang in his neck. More of a jolt from someone with too much static cling than actual pain, really.

 “Should I call 911? He isn’t moving! He just stayed there- didn’t even act all tough for his old man!”

 Jack was panicking.  Dad was panicking. Over nothing! Why wasn’t mom distracting him with fudge or some random study? No one was being normal today. Danny shuddered, he knew he did, it went with the pulse under his skin.

 “That’d be great sweetie, just stay close.”

 “In case you need my big strong arms to help carry him, right?”

 “Just in case.” She wasn’t wearing the hood of her jumpsuit, at least.

 It didn’t make it more comfortable when she crouched down, biting her lip and staring at him. Like this was concerning. It was the opposite of that, he was a klutz, a gangly teenager, it was normal for him to be a bit banged up. This shouldn’t concern her, or anyone. The only reason it bugged him was the not being able to move right now nonsense.

 “You aware in there sweetie?” she said, rather loudly and clapping near his ear.

  Yes I am, but I can’t tell you. Maybe he could focus on taking a breath and it would kick off whatever turned off his mind to body connection. Had he done anything strange before coming down here? Not really. He could absolutely feel her digging her nails into his earlobe though, ow! More motivation to move, but something wasn’t getting across. Maybe he was getting a bit freaked out about it too. Only because of his parents being weird. He was fine, he had to be fine. It was nothing, less than nothing.

 “I’m just going to make sure he’s still breathing Jack, do you have anyone on the line yet?”

 A loud response, but not to her question. “No it’s not a ghost emergency! It’s a human emergency!”

 Of course he was breathing. He couldn’t look that bad from such a small fall. Just breathe out the words ‘Hey mom, personal space’ and they’d laugh and it’d be nothing. All this fussing was making his skin crawl but of course he had to have ‘special ghost freezing up’. Was it his ice powers? Like he could get his powers being snarky like that, appreciated it in a twisted sort of way- but it would be better around people who wouldn’t assume the worst? Like anyone else. Even Dash.

 “Tell the operator he isn’t breathing.” Maddie’s voice was cold and controlled, even as she went back to biting her lip right after.

 He was totally breathing. He could feel the air that ran in and out of his lungs, the swell and fall that other ghosts knew as a weak point, a way to slow him down. He knew what being doubled over, air shoved right out of him from a harsh blow felt like, how it felt like the portal again. Throat twitching, body heaving and trying to regain what it lost. The darkness that bit at the edges of his vision as every nerve went screaming  You’re Dying . Hated that feeling, shook the ghosts who did that hard once they were in a thermos. This was nothing like that.

 “He isn’t breathing, you need to hurry! My wife knows CPR- just tell them to hurry this is my  son , please”

 Yelling to hide the quaver in his voice. Like a kicked puppy yelping. It sounded so wrong. This was going to be so awkward after. They’d just...pretend this never happened, right? That’d be for the best. No, he was going to get grounded forever for some ‘dumb prank’, since he was fine and worried them so much. Which didn’t seem too bad if it stopped all of...this.

 He moved a little. A toe, he was pretty sure. More notably was his mother, carefully getting him off the uneven stair to be flat on his back. Trying to keep his head from moving, and she couldn’t see he was looking at her? When she was this close? Too busy trying to be calm. Who could be busy enough to think he wasn’t breathing or tracking with his eyes? Another twitch, another inward curse that he couldn’t get back in control.

 “Just hold on, help is coming.” She said, but the half ghost couldn’t tell who she meant, exactly. Him, dad or herself? Either way the quiet remark did not prepare him for the sheer force slammed into his crest. Like she wanted to slam right through him! Was it so much to ask that his parents stop nearly killing him by trying to help? Just try moving again and everything will be fine.

 He couldn’t keep the mental mantra up when he heard- when he felt his ribs crack from the pointless force. She was killing him, he didn’t need help breathing, he had to get it through to them no matter how much his body buzzed and resisted his need to move. He had to focus and push through it, ignoring how cold and wrong it felt, how it seemed like he was squirming free of something that didn’t want him to go.

 Her bone crushing assault stopped once he got his arm up, not even needing to touch her before she froze. The fear was wrong, out of place so he redoubled his efforts, twisting and struggling against himself, the sticky mass that wasn’t letting him act or speak to calm them down.

 The phone hit the floor. He heard it. So why didn’t dad say anything? Danny twisted, wanting to make sure he was okay. Still stuck. At least he had a hand free and most of an arm, the edges of his fingers tracing the tiles of the floor. He could brace himself that way, pushing down hard to try and jar his shoulder loose. He could hear air moving, like a harsh breath out. Good- breathing was good. Even when it sounded so harsh and low. 

 “Jack- are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Maddie moved back, giving him the space he wanted ever since she’d cracked his ribs. They still stung under his skin, hissing at him to keep his parents away before he managed to get even more injuries over something so silly.

 “I’m not sure what we’re seeing.” The phone remained on the floor.

 That didn’t seem right. He’d sat up, mostly. Half sat up, propped up with an arm. Still mostly stuck and uncomfortable, the snapping and crackling sensation still clinging to his free shoulder. Really, he felt worse than how he started. at least there wasn’t pain in ‘hah my body is playing freeze tag without me’ land. The pulling sensation made his head ache and vision swim to the point he wasn’t actually sure if he was still looking at the ceiling or not. He couldn’t go back to just being frozen though, that’d suck. So just convince the rest of himself to get up. No problem!

Were lies in his head always this unconvincing? It felt like yanking himself free of a too sticky slime, strands clinging and tugging back until they finally snapped, parts still stuck but free of the main mass. At least ectoplasm had the decency not to stretch when you got drenched in it most of the time.  Come on, focus and keep it together.  He let out a wheeze as the last stubborn strands snapped, ignoring how loud it sounded to properly reorient himself.

 Sitting up, properly, good! Parents staring with weird, half horrified expressions: bad. Very, very bad. 

“I’m okay, I just fell.” Danny spoke, he could speak properly again. So why? “Sorry for scaring you guys?” He tried again, trying to ignore the first thought across his mind.

 They kept staring. Maddie seemed to be recovering, shoulders starting to relax, but she seemed to be reaching for her belt.

 He didn’t sound right. No, that wasn’t quite right, he just sounded wrong for Danny  Fenton. Who he should be right now, he hadn’t been able to talk, let alone go ghost. This probably looked really, really bad. How had he switched, anyway?

Mom was reaching for a gun, wasn’t she? Crud. Now he regretted talking at all, how was he going to explain why Danny Phantom was treating two ghost hunters like his parents? Or how he managed to look like their kid. Maybe he could change back and convince them they were seeing things?

Yeah no, that was way too dumb.

 “Wait.” Jack rested a hand on his wife’s shoulder, causing her to stop pulling the weapon. He wasn’t looking at the ghost at all, just her. Maddie remained stiff, not able to ignore the glowing kid on her floor.

 Okay...dad was usually the gung ho one. Maybe he could get away with this? Danny tried to get a better grip on the situation. Felt a new pain, sharp and cold in his throat. Deep green scars clashed against his white gloves and ran all across his jumpsuit,  glow intensifying as the panic choked him into silence. Fresh and angry like back- back before he managed to stumble out of the portal when he died when the accident happened.

With his human arms just as scared below them, still against the tile. The damage looked old, half scabbed over with only a dull glow deep in the death marks wounds. His arms attached to the rest of his body- that he was half out of. 

 Why? How was his body still and silent while he was sitting and looking at it. He’s cold. His body is cold. It isn’t  breathing  there isn’t some other facet of his personality sitting behind the dull blue eyes. This isn’t how it works! If he splits, it’s just temporary, he can fix it but his other half- corpse is wrong.

The pulling and clinging at his legs doesn’t feel like slime anymore. Rotting flesh that wants to drag him back, smother him in a cloying warmth that will only remind him why it burned, how it hurt. He had to move, he couldn’t stay half like this, it would get better once it wasn’t like this.

It didn’t want to let go as he tried to pull away, ectoplasm getting snagged on every nerve and muscle fiber, each pause a reminder of the shock and pain of his end that day.

He knew he screamed when he pulled free and slammed into the wall, furious green scars still marring his jumpsuit where there should be none.

 What would Mom and Dad think?

 No no no no no. He spotted movement from them and acted. He couldn’t let his mom break his body more, or look at it too closely. Dad couldn’t see what happened! This was fine, he could fix this!

 He grabbed his corpse and fled through the wall.