#Sam and Tucker are yelling at Danny and telling him he can put them down now only for someone else to attack Danny

[mkarchin713]

I can just imagine Dragon!Danny’s tail wrapped around Sam and Tucker and basically treating them like his hoard and attacking anyone who gets to close.

The Bats think they have a traditional dragon and Princess situation and would wish the damsels in distress would stop yelling at the dragon who could easily crush them.

DPXDC Prompt #37

Danny is in the basement with his dad testing the Fenton Fisher, or well they were until his dad ran off to go to the bathroom. Danny fights off the dragon that shows up not seeing a certain amulet falling into his bag. He heads to school with it with his packed bags, they we’re going on a school trip to Gotham and he was excited. When they arrived Danny finds the necklace and decides to wear it until he can get back home to find the owner.

Surely everything on their trip goes right… right? Nope, a rouge attacks the coffee shop Danny and his friends are visiting, Danny stays calm for the most part… until they threaten his friends and he sees red and everything goes black…

The batfamily was very confused about this situation, a black dragon with white scales and horns was trampling through the city. Except it wasn’t doing any harm and actually seemed to be helping people, and also seemed to be targeting rouges. They try to approach it but it just yells about protecting everyone, and no one can get close.

AKA dragon vigilante Danny

[starry-bi-sky]

Becoming Phantom - Clone^2 (and by extension, clone danny)

I said I would make it, and so i did! Here's a little ficlet of how danny became Phantom - the human ghost-fighting vigilante in the clone^2 and clone Danny au. Since this does include themes of dissection/vivisection, i'll put in a minor trigger warning list down below.

TW: experimentation - implied torture and vivisection/dissection of ghosts TW: Non-graphic mentions of injuries and blood

TLDR: Danny's parents have been catching ghosts ever since the portal was opened after Danny's lab accident. Danny knows this because he can hear them screaming from the basement. After finally telling his friends about it, he resolves to free the ghosts - and he does. He ends up having a conversation with one of the ghosts, and comes to the decision that he will catch ghosts before his parents do to prevent this kind of harm from happening again.

word count check: 4.9k

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His parents caught another ghost.

Danny can tell because he can hear their screaming from the kitchen, even with the doors closed. It's horrific - the voice is doubled over itself like something out of one of Sam's demonic horror movies, and Danny's heart races like he's run a mile at the sound.

It warps and twists, and almost sounds like its saying 'please.'

He rubs his chest uncomfortably, and pushes his breakfast away from him. His appetite lost and his stomach churning with a deep sense of dread.

Across the table, Jazz notices, and her eyes narrow dangerously at his hand gripping his shirt - right over his heart. He just got out of the hospital last month, and he knows what she's thinking - they don't want to have to send him back.

"I'm fine." He blurts out immediately, dropping his hand. He's not fine, but it's because he feels ill as the lights above flicker and another terrified shriek echoes through the floorboards. He swallows, ill. "I- it's just-" his eyes flick to the door to the lab. "the lab."

Jazz's lips press into thin line, and she pushes her chair back and stands up. "I hate that they're doing this," she says, stomping towards the lab. "It's inhumane, Danny. They're people too, even if they don't look like us!"

Before the portal, Danny might've just shrugged his shoulders and not said anything. He never really cared about his parents' ghost hunting stuff, but figured that since they knew more about it, their rants about them being unfeeling were correct.

Now, though? When he's been woken up in the middle of the night by the house rattling and his ears ringing with the pained cries of one of the ghosts' in the basement? His heart beating so fast he thinks he's been transported back to the lab a month ago, lying on the floor after being electrocuted by the portal?

He's really not so sure anymore. And he thinks he's starting to agree with Jazz. This isn't right. He doesn't think so, at least.

An unsure 'hm' comes out of his throat, eyes tracking Jazz as she swings the heavy metal door open and breathes in deep. "HEY!" She yells, her voice miraculously sounding out over the ghost screaming. The screams stop. "MOM! DAD! CUT THAT OUT, YOU'RE SCARING DANNY!"

There's no sound, and Danny sighs a breath of relief. Not that it does much to slow his anxious heart, the shrieks are burned into his ears, and he's already thinking about leaving now rather than later. He can meet Tucker at his house.

His parents - his mom, actually - appears at the entrance to the lab, her hands drip bright, ectoplasm green, and there's splatters of it across the front of her suit and goggles like blood. Danny feels white in the face, and Jazz looks enraged.

Mom pulls off her goggles, frowning apologetically. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. Your father and I just got carried away, we caught this one just this morning by the park." She says, as if that makes it any better. Danny's eyes are glued to the ectoplasm dripping onto the floor. "We'll wait until you get to school."

Danny wishes they wouldn't do this at all. But he just nods mutely, unable to make his lead-heavy tongue do anything. Jazz speaks for him, and whirls on mom like a tornado about to break loose. "At school? This shouldn't be happening at all - it's wrong, mom!"

Jazz has been the only one vocal about this whole thing ever since mom and dad came home with a ghost trapped in one of their nets - their thermos wasn't working - while Danny was on sick leave after he got out of the hospital. Danny still remembers the utter shock he was in after mom and dad came in dragging it behind them.

The ghost looked like a grown woman, but it - she - had the brightest blue eyes he'd ever seen, and ice-like skin. She'd been thrashing in the net, saying something in a hissy, whispering language that made static build behind his eyes. It had surprised him that he could somewhat make out what she was saying.

It had been fascinating. Up until the screaming started.

He watches Mom make a face that looks like endeared annoyance, and she turns to Jazz with a light sigh. "You're a kind girl, Jazz, but ghosts aren't human, sweetheart. We've told you this." And they have, multiple times. It's become a reoccurring argument.

"Does it matter?!" Jazz exclaims, her cheeks turning an inflamed red with indignancy. She looks appalled. "They're still in pain! You're hurting them!"

Danny silently nods, but they don't see. Jazz is glaring at mom with the burning anger of the sun and Mom just looks exasperated. "Your father and I know this already, Jazmine." Mom says, her arms crossing across her chest.

Jazz's mouth drops open.

Danny's almost does the same. The bone-chilling blood rush leaves him shivering, and his vision spots out in black, fuzzy dots for a few seconds. Maybe, he thinks, it's his heart stopping again with the cold horror.

They know this?

They know this?

And they're still doing it?

He thought he knew his parents - now he's second-guessing himself.

Jazz is just as much at a loss for words as Danny is. And then her expression shutters closed with a fury-kind of icy. "Danny," she says, still staring down their mom. "Go get your stuff, I'm driving you to school."

Normally, he hates how.. parent-y Jazz gets. She acts like a second mom, and like a helicopter one to boot. It drives him nuts on the worst of days. Right now though, he's already rising to his feet before he's even opening his mouth.

"Okay." He croaks, and beelines it up the stairs for his backpack. He doesn't look at mom when he comes back down, he doesn't think he can. He can see her still-dripping hands in the corner of his eye though.

------

"Man, you look like shit." Tucker says the moment Danny sits down in their homeroom class, he's frowning. Danny doesn't say anything to him, he just grunts and drops his head into his arms.

Sam, sitting behind Danny, leans across the aisle and smacks Tucker in the arm. He yelps in pain, and rubs the spot she hit with a glare. "He's right though," Sam says, leaning over his shoulder. "You looked like you were gonna yak over the front row when you walked in."

"It's good that you didn't," Tucker grumbles, "Dash would've killed you."

Danny, despite the shit morning, manages a smile and tilts his head so that his cheek is resting on his arm instead. "Mr. Lancer wouldn't've let him." Sam sniffs, and her fingers are in his hair already - it's been growing out for a while now. He meant to cut it but then the lab accident happened, and he was in the hospital, and then on sick leave, and -- long story short, he was growing it out.

Besides, Sam pulling it back for him was relaxing, and he feels the tension bleeding out of his shoulders already. His anxious heart slowing. "Yeah, he's been weirdly protective since the accident." He says. It was kinda nice, Dash was being forced to back off - finally, more than he was before.

"Probably because if you have a heart attack in class from Dash bullying you, he'll be liable." Tucker snorts, relaxing back into his chair. Up front, the three of them see Dash shoot them a glare from over his shoulder. He probably heard them -- and Tucker doesn't help by giving him an innocent, too-wide grin.

There's a tug, and Danny lifts his head slightly as Sam ties his hair back with whatever hairband she procured out of nowhere. And she says she's not a witch, honestly.

His smile falters, however, when Sam leans back around his shoulder with a frown still evident on her face. "Seriously though, what's up? You were really pale -- paler than normal, that is."

Danny doesn't really wanna tell them - he's kept the whole 'my parents are torturing ghosts' thing to himself ever since he first woke up to the house shaking. It wasn't any secret though that there were ghosts now actually 'infesting' Amity Park though, they'd been popping up ever since the portal turned on.

But Jazz says talking about things helps alleviate stress of what's burdening you, and Danny doesn't usually listen to her. She's his annoying older sister, of course he doesn't. But... this... wasn't really something he wanted to keep secret forever, either.

His teeth sink into his bottom lip, and he averts his eyes. It's like tearing off a band-aid, Danny, he thinks, just... blurt it out. "My parents are torturing ghosts in the basement." He says, only to immediately wince as both Sam and Tucker drop their jaws.

"What!?" They both yell in unison, and Danny ducks his head down as everyone else sitting around them turn their heads.

"Not so loud!" He hisses, peeking through his arms and glaring at the both of them. They both grimace, embarrassment dusting red across Sam's face and Tucker's darkening slightly, and duck their heads down towards him.

"Sorry, what!?" Tucker whispers back at him, his face all scrunched up in disbelief. Sam's redness has faded into pale horror and -- and yeah, yeah, Danny gets it. He feels that way too.

"They keep catching the ghosts and dissecting them." He whispers, and god, he feels sick just saying it. Tucker's face falls slack, and he looks about as ill as Danny feels. "I don't- I don't know what to do about it, I keep waking up to them screaming, and Jazz keeps getting into fights about it with them."

"Oh my god." Sam mutters, her hands pressing together and covering her mouth. Danny nods mutely, chewing on his lip.

"They know its hurting them." He adds, and its still dizzyingly terrifying to think about. He thought he knew his parents. He thought he knew them. He guesses that saying of people being multi-faceted was true. "They don't care."

Sam and Tucker both look green. Or as close to green as they can get. "That's- that's inhumane." Sam breathes, and Danny huffs sardonically - funny, that's what Jazz said this morning. That's what she keeps saying. "And there's really nothing you can do?"

"Not unless I go into the lab myself and release them," he mutters, hiding half his face in his arms. "And I haven't been back in there since I got electrocuted." His parents wouldn't allow it, and it's not like he he was chomping at the bits to go back inside anyways.

...Hm.

"I'm sorry, Danny." Tucker says, his voice low and horrified, "that's- that's awful."

Yeah. He knows.

--------

This is a bad idea. This is a bad idea. This is a bad idea.

Where was Danny you ask? Sneaking down into the lab at sometime past midnight, long after his parents have gone to bed. It's been a week since he said, sarcastically, that the only thing he could do was release the ghosts in the lab, and it hasn't left his head.

Even though he was utterly terrified as he took slow, sneaky steps down the stairs. The thought had been keeping him up at night. He could do it. He could go down into the lab and let them go. He could do something.

It's not like his parents had put a lock on the door. He hadn't even thought about it - if he thought about it, he'd back out. So when he heard his parents go to sleep that night, he waited an hour before sneaking out.

Every sound felt so loud, and his heart had raced in his ears as he creaked open the door to the lab, and closed it behind him for good measure. And his hands were shaking as he reached the bottom of the steps and stepped into the lab for the first time in two months.

And good god, did he almost regret it. There were ghosts in cages of all kinds, and ectoplasm seeping down onto the floor of their cages. They were clutching their chests, of which bled sluggishly through stitched up y-scars. They were moaning, and crying, curled up in the back like frightened animals. And there was a metal table in the center of a room that was stained green, green, green.

"Oh my god." He breathes, horror driving itself up into his throat with the churning of his gut. That's another thing he almost regrets - if only because half a dozen ghosts all snap their heads towards him, and it becomes pandemonium in an instant.

Rattling, yelling, crying, they're all screaming at him. Either to tell him to go away, to give them mercy, or to spew threats at him. It's in that same, hissy language that he's heard before. Whispery, echoing, and overlapping like multiple languages being played backwards and forwards at the same time. It gives him an immediate headache as his mind tries to comprehend and translate it.

Go away. Don't hurt us. Go away. I'll tear you apart. Leave. Leave. LEAVE.

It's all so much. Danny wants to throw himself up the stairs and back up to his room in a prey-driven instinct to flee, flee, flee. He doesn't. He covers his ears and digs his nails into his hair.

He yells. "I'M NOT LEAVING. BE QUIET!" and somehow, it silences everyone in an instant. He looks up, and everyone is staring at him, their multi-colored eyes burning into him.

Tentatively, he lowers his hands, they're shaking. He's still so scared. But courage isn't a lack of fear, its doing something despite it. He blinks back the terrified sting in his eyes, and twiddles with his hands. "I'm- I'm not here to hurt you." He stammers, "I promise. I'm not my parents."

It's silent for a long moment, and then there's an animalistic-like hiss from his left. He turns his head, and there's a ghost of a man curled up in a cage, staring him down with a thunderous look on his face. "Liar." He hisses, his voice warping in that hissy language. There are goat-like horns protruding from his head, and his eyes are yellow and slitted. He's dripping ectoplasm from his chest.

Danny swallows the bile in his throat.

And frowns. "I'm not lying." He says, and the ghost doesn't get hostile, much to his surprise. But there's a ripple of murmurs that spreads through the room like a wave at a ballgame. The ghost that spoke stares at him, then squints.

"You understand us, child?"

And - okay, Danny doesn't like the 'child' comment. He's fourteen for goodness sake, and he bristles silently like it's an insult, but he's no there to argue, he's here to help. So he swallows his pride and starts to walk towards the closed portal.

His legs are shaking, he's afraid they're gonna give out beneath him. The portal scares him, more than it did when he first saw it. But maybe that's because when he first saw it, he hadn't almost died from it.

His heart is pounding in his ears. Is it going to give out again, will he have to go to the hospital again? Despite his insistence that he's fine, Danny's heart hasn't beat right ever since the accident. He's checked. He spent an hour every night with his fingers pressed against the pulse point at his throat, at his wrist, terrified of the slow-beating he could feel thrumming against the skin.

Hearts aren't supposed to beat that slow - that much he knows. He's afraid he's going to drop dead if it drops any lower.

"Of course I do." He swallows, glancing back at the ghost. Everyone's eyes are on him, they burn into him, curious, wary, afraid. He's in front of the portal, in front of the keypad to open it. Shit, did dad put in a password? "Am I- am I not supposed to?"

He pauses to look at the ghost, and the man has moved to stare at him from a new angle in his cage - god he's gonna need to find the key. Mom and dad probably have it in their desk, right?

The ghost is silent. "...No. You're not." He says, and his head tilts to the side as Danny mentally translates in his head. he looks at Danny like he's trying to inspect him, like he's trying to look into him like his parents have looked into the ghost. "What is your name, child?"

"I'm not a child." He bites out, and immediately winces. Shit- he just said not to antagonize them. But the ghost doesn't look offended. In fact, he just grins a sharp, toothy grin like a shark, and raspy giggles and titters echo through the room.

...That's... probably a good sign. "Um," he continues, and turns his back to the keypad. Dad's birthday? He punches into the keys. "I'm- uh, Danny. Danny Fentom- Fanton- Fenton. My parents are- uh, the ones who took you guys." The keypad buzzes and the bar spots red. Wrong password. Dammit.

"Phantom." The ghost says, and the name crawls like a spider across the walls, sneaking up his spine and ringing in the air like the leftover taste of rain and thunder. the rest of the ghosts whisper it amongst themselves.

Danny shivers, it feels like a weight in his chest. It's Fenton, he thinks, but doesn't correct. He doesn't want to push his luck with the being that could tear him apart. "Uh, sure."

He punches in mom's birthday. Wrong. He puts in Jazz's. Wrong. "How come we haven't seen you down here, Phantom?" The ghost asks, and Danny shrugs helplessly. "You are the Danny that the unknown girl yells about?"

He tries his own birthday. Wrong. Fuck. What's the password? The tremor in his limbs worsens with his anxiety, and he tries to keep his breathing steady. What if he can't get this open? What if he can't get them out? He nearly forgets to answer the ghost, and licks his dry lips. "Um- yeah, that's me. The Danny guy." He says, turning to the cages again. "And uh, I don't come down here because my parents don't allow it."

The ghost, uh, goat-man? Tilts his head, there are whispers throughout the room that pick up. And Danny feels like the kid late to an all school assembly and now has to walk past the whole school to find a seat.

Goat-man smiles again, or bares his teeth? "You are the reason why the human doctors haven't cut into us more than they already have." And- that's- that's good? He thinks?

"That's- good, right? You- you don't want to be cut open, so it's good that I, uh, indirectly stopped it a few times?"

A round of titters goes through the room again. The man's grin widens inhumanly so, and Danny's heart spikes with fear. "Yes, it's a good thing, Phantom child." He says, "Why is it that your parents do not let you come down here?"

Danny stares, and swallows again, dry. The back of his neck tingles, and he tastes electricity on his tongue. "I had an accident down here, um, nearly two months ago." His eyes flick to the cable cord where the portal was plugged in, and his heart flutters with the images of green that got burned behind his eyes. He looks away. "The portal, it, ah, electrocuted me. I was in the hospital because it nearly killed me."

"It did kill you." The ghost says immediately, and terror fills up in Danny like water flooding a room. What? What? What? He was alive. His heart was beating, he was alive. "But only for a moment. You've been touched by death, Phantom."

That was so fucking ominous. And terrifying. And terrifyingly ominous. And also really horrifying. Danny does a swift pirouette and turns back to the keypad. Time to figure out the passcode and not think about that, ever again, actually.

"Wow." He rasps, his mind numb as he punches in a random code of numbers and gets a red screen. "How reassuring. Tell death I want a refund." He gets laughter again, and his shoulders scrunch up to his ears.

"It is the reason you can understand us, then." The ghost says behind him. "We are not speaking your language child - rather, you are speaking ours."

Again. Fucking ominous. Danny furrows his brows and stares hard at the keypad - if he was dad, and he wanted to put a password lock on his lifetime achievement in something that was easy to remember and equally important, what would it be?

Oh. Right.

He bites back a groan - how obvious. Danny's an idiot. Or maybe just so scared witless that his brain isn't working right. "Fudge." He grumbles, and punches it into the keypad. It dings green.

Of - fucking - course. Danny rolls his eyes.

He hears a hiss, and Danny rapidly scuttles back as the massive blast doors twisted open like something out of a scifi movie - he'd be geeking out if he wasn't aware of his own rapid heartbeat. Like a gun charging up, an unearthly green glow appears at the back of the tunnel an d then rapidly moves towards him, growing larger and larger.

Danny flinches, half-convinced its going to hit him. He was going to be vaporized, and he brings up his arms to protect himself. But nothing happens, and he peeks open an eye that he closed when the ghost from before murmurs for him to open them.

The portal is - is, well. Indescribable. It fills the dark room with its glow, swirling like a those weird, shimmering liquid dyes put into martini glasses in those aesthetic gifs on the internet. And the light it casts on the walls shimmers and moves like the aurora borealis.

Danny is speechless. It's... oddly beautiful. And terrifying. There's a whole new world in that dimension - if he steps through he won't be on earth anymore.

And... his parents wanted to eradicate the people on the other side of it?

He whirls on foot, his back to the portal - a thing that fills him with dread. his shaking - its worse. Danny almost thinks his feet will give out. "Do - do any of you know where mom and dad keep the keys to the cages?" He asks, but he's already stalking towards the desk on the other side of the room.

The people in the cages grow restless, and they've been silent for the most part - but with the portal open, and him going to find the keys, they'd begun to grow talkative. They were moving more in the cages, talking to each other, excitement filling the air with so much hope Danny could feel it resonating between his ribs.

A new voice, quiet and feminine, speaks up on the opposite side of the goat-man's cage. She's closer to the desk, and she has also been cut open. There are black tears staining her face, and her shock white hair floats like she's underwater. Immediately, on instinct, Danny's head supplies him with a word.

Banshee.

"In the bottom drawer, Phantom." She whispers, her voice lilting and melodic. Her pitch black eyes follow him across the room. "I've seen them put it there after putting us back into our cages."

He nods mutely, and again feels horrified by their treatment from his parents. His pace quickens to the desk, and just as the banshee woman said, there are keys in the bottom drawer sitting on top of a bunch of research papers that have a suspicious green stain on them.

Danny ignores the stain and grabs the keys, holding them up as he closes the drawer. When he turns back to the cages, all eyes are on him. "Um," he rasps, "I found the key." Who do I free first?

His eyes land on the banshee woman first, she's the closest to the desk. And in an arc he follows the lineup to the other side side of the room. He moves to the banshee woman's cage first, and she perks up as he kneels down to the door.

"I'll- I'll go in a circle, first." He announces, fingers fumbling with the key as he inserts it into the hole. The banshee woman had her fingers - clawed and knife-like, capable of tearing out his throat in an instant - around the bars of her confinement. She was staring at him intently.

He hesitates, and looks up. Her eyes are pitch black, he noticed this before, but this close its like its threatening to suck him in and send him swirling through a blackhole. "If- if I free you," he stammers, licking his lips, "will you attack me?"

The banshee woman bares her razor teeth at him, and reaches through the bars to touch his face. It takes all Danny's restraint not to flinch as her nails drag down his cheek softly. "No," she says, "you're freeing us, Phantom. We will not attack you."

Danny.. will just have to take her word for it. He nods, and with a sharp twist of his wrist unlocks the cage with one hand, and flings open the door with the other. In an instant, the banshee dives forward -- Danny thinks she's lunging at him, and flinches violently.

She goes through him instead, leaving him with a bone-deep chill and a heartbeat in his ears. He turns, and sees her dive through the portal like a swimmer diving into a pool.

There is silence throughout the room. And then everyone else begins to clamor once again, just like when Danny first walked in. Danny hurries to hush them - he said he was going around the room! He'll free them, but be quiet, or you'll wake his parents!

He rushes for the next cage, and one by one opens each and every cage. There are cheers, and thank yous, and cries of gratitude. He has to help the weaker ghosts out of their cage and limp them towards the portal. His shirt and hands are stained green with their blood.

(When he goes back up to his room later, he throws it off and throws it away. He can't stand the sight of it, and he scrubs his hands until they're raw.)

It's a lot for Danny to not burst into tears, or to throw up. Until finally he reaches goat-man's cage, and releases him. He is one of the ghosts too weak to fly on their own, and so Danny lets him lean against him and helps him to the portal.

"Will you be okay?" He asks once they are at the threshold, the portal hums softly this close to it. Almost like its trying to beckon Danny inside, like a siren song. Danny ignores it. "Will everyone else?"

"We will heal, Phantom." Goatman says, holding a hand to his chest. He looks tired, this close, and Danny can feel him looking at him, even without any pupils to show it. "Once back inside the Infinite Realms our bodies will heal on its own."

Danny nods silently, and his frown begins to wobble. The stress he's been under is finally starting to take its toll, and he is emotionally exhausted. There is still a lingering taste of fear in the air that doesn't belong to him - but the ghosts that have left. "I'm sorry." He croaks, his voice cracking. "I didn't - I didn't think you guys were human. I'm sorry."

The ghost's expression softens, but he still looks stern. "We aren't human." he says, and Danny frowns, confused. The ghost continues, and reaches out a long finger to tap against Danny's chest, where his heart is. "But do not think for a moment that humanity can be measured by the sound of a heartbeat, child. We are just as humane as you living can be, and we are just as sentient and sapient as you. Do not forget that, and you will not become your parents."

There's nothing for Danny to say to that, except nod once again. His tongue is heavy in his mouth, made of lead. "This will happen again," he continues, and his eyes prick, "they're gonna keep catching ghosts and bringing them down here." And hurting them.

Goatman nods curtly, and raises an eyebrow at Danny. "What will you do to stop them, Phantom?" He asks, "You could keep releasing them after they have been already caught, but that will not stop the pain they face under the hands of your parents."

He's right. He's right. And if Danny keeps releasing them afterwards, his parents will grow suspicious. They'll start sticking around trying to catch whoever is freeing the ghosts. And Danny doesn't want to face what will happen if his parents realize that he's the one freeing ghosts.

His eyes flicker rapidly around the room, trying to think of a solution - what could he do? What can he do?

His eyes land on the thermos sitting on the table.

"I... I could catch ghosts?" He says, unsure, and looks back to the ghost. He nods, beckoning for Danny to continue. "I can catch them in the thermos before my parents do, and then release them back to the Zone."

"That will work." The ghost says, "The thermos doesn't hurt to be in, it's merely cramped. Will you follow through on this?"

"Yes."

The ghost smiles at him a third and final time, his teeth glinting in the green portal light. "Then good luck, Danny Phantom."

He lets go, and disappears into the portal.

[your-soup-overlord]

A tiny look into one of the fics called It's My Party (And I'll Cry If I Want To)!

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“Why don’t you just tell them?” Jazz asks Danny once she sits down on his bed, pushing aside his blankets and patting beside her.

“Mom and Dad love you, metagene or not.” She continues.

“Seriously, Jazz, we’ve been over this.” Danny sighs, sitting next to his sister as she turns to face him better, “They hate ghosts, and have threatened to rip phantom apart molecule by molecule. If they’re willing to do that, then what makes you think they’ll stop once they find out their son is a ghost?”

Jazz frowns, “Danny, I know the accident was terrible and horrifying for you, but you’re not a ghost. You need to accept the fact that it simply activated your dormant metagene and gave you ghost adjacent powers.”

“How can I have a metagene when both mom and dad don’t have one! Jazz, I know you don’t want to believe it but-“

“No Danny,” Jazz exclaims as she cuts him off, “ You’re alive. You can’t be a ghost, because ghosts are unfeeling and-“

“Jazz, just stop!” Danny yells, slightly teary. He stands up off the bed, putting some place between him and Jazz as she also stands up with a deepening frown.

“I know you don’t want to believe it but I am a ghost, I died in that accident. I know you don’t want to believe it, but if I can somehow come to terms with it then why can’t you?”

Jazz just stares him down with her disappointed stare. After a few quiet seconds she then sighs, looking exasperated and somehow even more disappointed as she levels him with a harsh glare.

“Even Sam and Tuck agree, Danny. You’re going to far with this ghost thing! I don’t care what that yeti says, or any of those other creatures! You’re not dead. You have a heartbeat and most importantly, you care. You’re not evil, and all this death talk is beginning to freak Tucker out!  And you especially need to stop around Sam. They’ve begun talking to me about it, and about how you’re scaring them. And, well, we’ve all agree that you need to stop fighting those ghosts. Mom and Dad are perfectly capable of getting them, so from now on you’re benched. Those horrible things have been filling your head with lies, and it’s becoming a problem.”

Jazz declares before she walks out, keeping that awful disappointed glare on him.

Danny slams the door behind her, silently seething and holding back tears. They talk about his death so easily! Yet they don’t care to acknowledge it. Danny died, whether they want to accept it or not, and there was nothing they could do about it.

[suppose-i-was-worm]

I Put a Spell On You

Real Married (Part 2)

“Danny, I would like to request that you return the favor from the other day in kind.”

Damian set his books down next to Danny’s at the library table casually, as if he hadn’t just implied that he wanted to fake date Danny again.

Swallowing, Danny returned his attention to his laptop, typing away resolutely and hoping his blush wasn’t too red.

“Sure, what’s the occasion?”

He thought he saw Damian smile smugly out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned his head, his technical-husband had on his typical blank expression.

“My family is under the impression that I have a significant other, and Grayson was so excited. I cannot bear to disappoint him.”

Danny chuckled.

“Yeah, from what you’ve told me, that tracks. When do you need me?”

“I would like to hold the ruse for at least a month, culminating in a gala at which point we will be free to stage a breakup.”

Squinting, Danny stared at his friend. Fake boyfriend.

“You’re doing this to get out of going to galas again, aren’t you.”

Damian shrugged.

“That is one of the benefits, yes.”

Danny laughed and saved his work, closing his laptop and taking Damian’s hand.

“Alright, boyfriend. Take me out to lunch.”

His husband lifted Danny’s hand to his lips, a smirk dancing across his face.

“Anything for you, Beloved.”

~~~

The next month was wonderful- Danny swanned around on Damian’s arm half the time, and let himself indulge in all the little touches and lingering kisses that he wanted. Damian hadn’t told him when they were meeting his family, but given Damian’s nature, his family probably kept an eye on him somehow anyways.

He especially liked it when Damian wore jeans- a rare occasion, but it meant he could slide one hand into Damian’s back pocket possessively. It made the part of him that was the ghost king 24/7 feel like he was doing something right when it came to his consort.

Danny couldn’t help that he was a guardian spirit. Or that it felt like he was guarding Damian somehow the more he staked his (fake) claim.

Sam and Tucker spent at least an hour teasing him about it when he told them what was going on.

“Danny, you really should tell him how you feel.”

Danny pouted at Jazz.

“He’s not the kind of person who would be okay with that, Jazz. It’s fine, though, I found the ritual to dissolve the marriage. I’ll tell him after the gala.”

Jazz looked at him judgmentally.

“You have to tell him the truth, Danny, or you’ll be heartbroken in the end.”

“I already am.”

~~~

The dreaded gala came before Danny wanted it to. Damian had taken him to get a suit fitted, somehow keeping a hand on him throughout the entire process.

They looked good together- Danny in a black suit with dark green accents and Damian in a matching green suit with black accents. It was a whirlwind getting into the gala, cameras flashing and snapping the entire walk into the venue, Damian’s hand heavy on Danny’s waist.

Danny did his best to focus on the warmth on his hip instead of the nerves roiling in his stomach. He had to not only fake date Damian tonight, but fake fight him and fake break up with him.

He also promised himself that he would tell Damian about the ritual after. The heavy tome that he’d gotten from the Realms sat innocently on his apartment table, disguised to look like a textbook.

“Beloved?”

With a start, he looked up at Damian, who was watching him with concern flickering in his emerald eyes.

“Are you alright, Beloved? We can leave if you are overwhelmed.”

Danny shook his head, noting that Damian’s family was waiting for them a little ways into the venue.

“It’s no more overwhelming than anything here in Gotham.”

Damian smiled gently and leaned down to kiss him, sparking a cacophony of camera flashes and reporters yelling questions.

The two of them made their way past the doors and into the throng of party-goers.

“You must be Danny. I’m sure there’s no need for us to introduce ourselves.”

Danny smiled at Bruce Wayne guilelessly.

“Of course not! Damian speaks highly of all of you. Thank you very much for the invitation tonight- everything looks wonderful.”

Bruce Wayne smiled back, a sharp glint in his eye as he sized Danny up. Danny didn’t flinch, holding the billionaire’s gaze without hesitation.

After a few moments, the older man nodded and turned away, his smile growing wide and insincere.

Danny, a person with no self control, looked mischievously up at Damian.

“I don’t know, Dames- Bernard in psych might be right. The butts do match.”

Three of the other Bats near them snickered, but Damian just looked fondly down at Danny.

Ancients, Damian was a good actor. Danny knew he was just letting himself enjoy this, but Damian surely must be putting on an act. He couldn’t feel the same way, not in a million years. Their connection was forced in the first place, and Danny couldn’t- he couldn’t take more advantage of that than he already had.

Damian led him onto the dance floor, and then into a slow swaying dance.

Danny, pressed close to his soon-to-be ex-husband and the love of his life, couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“I found the ritual to fix the- marriage thing.”

“Oh?”

Nodding, Danny focused on their feet.

“Yeah. It’s at my apartment. We can go take care of that after, if you want?”

Damian was quiet for a long time, so Danny finally worked up enough courage to look up at the other man.

“Are you- angry?”

“No, Beloved.”

The crease in between his eyebrows told Danny differently.

“You look angry.”

“I am not.”

Danny stopped dancing and pulled away from Damian. Okay, might as well start this fight, then.

“I don’t like you lying to me, Dames.”

He heard whispers start to wash over the room as they looked at each other. Danny put his hands on his hips.

Damian crossed his arms.

“I thought you were more observant, Daniel.”

“Don’t call me that.”

The rest of the sentence caught up to Danny.

“What was I supposed to be observing?”

“You really hadn’t noticed? You- of course you hadn’t. You were so focused on finding out how to end this that you never looked at me.”

Danny took a step back at the venom in Damian’s voice, his eyes widening.

“Never looked at you? I- I looked at you the entire time! If I had my way I’d never- Ancients, Damian, you’re the one who doesn’t-“

He cut himself off, feeling ice start to creep across the floor as his emotions took hold.

“Doesn’t what?”

Damian’s voice was quiet, but dangerous, as if Danny had said something horrible.

Danny stayed quiet, stubbornly looking away.

“Doesn’t what, Danny.”

He made the mistake of looking back at Damian, and the anger on his husband’s face made him snap.

“Doesn’t love me back, Damian! You- you were forced into this arrangement in the first place, and I appreciate the help you’ve given me, but I don’t- I don’t want you to feel obligated just because I’m so besotted!”

Danny was practically yelling by the end of his confession, and the look on Damian’s face had changed from anger to shock during it.

“You- Beloved.”

Damian stalked forward, and Danny could only stand frozen until the taller man gathered him into his arms and drew him into a passionate kiss.

It took a moment for Danny to realize what was happening, but then he participated enthusiastically, melting into Damian’s embrace.

When neither of them could breathe, Damian pulled back a fraction of an inch.

“I do not want you to leave me, Danny. I want to tie you to me in this world as we are tied in the next. Please- I beg of you, and I do not beg often. Stay with me, Beloved.”

Danny wrapped his arms around Damian’s neck and drew his husband into another kiss.

[hailsatanacab]

DPxTheOffice

"He's gonna sell it all 'cause he's Danny Phantom"

that's so fucking funny, i hate how much i love this!! i have made it way too long, rip to my five sentence rule - there's such a goldmine of content here lmao

👻

"I'd say it's been going on for... about a month now?"

"Two months," Sam interrupts. "It started just after your parents came in, remember?"

"Oh, Ancients, yeah, them. I can't believe I forgot that."

"Yeah, dude, it's thanks to them that this all started!" Tucker's practically vibrating in his chair, far too cheerful about the whole thing.

"Yeah," Danny sighs, looking directly into the camera. "Thank you, Mom and Dad. Thank you very much."

"Danny's parents are ghost hunters, which, as you can imagine, got Michael very excited. And very into ghosts. He accused Meredith of haunting him the other day, now he keeps spraying her with holy water and yelling 'Begone, foul spectre!' He's really taken a liking to Danny's parents."

"Can't imagine why."

"Yeah, and then—then—" Tucker dissolves into laughter, wheezing as he tries to catch his breath. "Then he brings in that personal trainer! In her yoga pants and crop top, with a pilates ball and everything! Sends her over to—to see Meredith, and then—oh Ancients—then when the woman leaves and Meredith is still there, he locks himself in his office and blasts the Lord's Prayer!"

"We think he mispelt exorcist. Hired someone in exercise instead."

"Exorcists are all phoney, anyway! And PTs are only slightly less phoney, so make sure you do your research and get someone that actually knows what they're doing before you commit, kids." Danny says, pointing down the camera. "That's how I got so jacked."

Both Sam and Tucker share a look before bursting into even more laughter. With a soft smack on his arm, Sam can't help but tease, "Please, you're 5'4" and look like you'd break your arm if you ever picked up a ream of paper. No wonder your sales are so low."

"Wow, that's so rude. I can't believe you'd do me like that. I'm 5'4 and a half, thank you."

"That's right, babe, and we love you for it."

Their laughter peters out and the trio slowly pull themselves upright in their chairs, remembering the cameras and the story they're meant to be telling.

"Honestly, thanks to these guys, the past few weeks have been a nightmare."

"Now who's being rude? At least this is one of those fun nightmares that you can laugh about later."

"Nope, this is a normal nightmare that everytime you think you've woken up from, you get back to work and see your boss dressed up in a hazmat suit that your parents sent him and realise that actually, maybe the real nightmare was the work colleagues you made along the way."

"Oh. Yeah, that sounds about right, sorry, Danny."

Tucker puts him on the shoulder and stays silent for a grand total of five seconds before turning back to the camera with an ecstatic grin on his face and a deep breath.

"Anyway, everytime one of us goes into Michael's office, we sneak something off his desk and blame ghosts. Sam's hidden some speakers in the ceiling that play recordings of her crying on a timer."

"I should have been an actor. I also got some of the warehouse guys in on it, so everytime Michael goes down there they'll throw a box or two around and make some ghostly moans. Didn't even ask why, they just agreed."

Sam's back to looking very proud of herself. Danny's back to cradling his head in his hands.

"Is that why Boxy's been about lately? Guys, seriously? I need to sleep!"

The only answer he gets is a shrug as Tucker turns back to the camera.

"Oh, and I've also installed a script on his computer so that whenever he types the word 'ghosts'—or 'goats', again, he's not really great at typing—his screen starts getting all staticky and closes down. He shrieks everytime, it's so funny!"

"I wonder if he'll go with a different PT to exercise his office next?"

"We should suggest P90X—your office ghost free in three months or your money back!"

Sam and Tucker are both burst into laughter, sinking deeper into their chairs as Danny just shakes his head. It takes a solid minute for the two to calm down, and more than one pointed question from the producer to get them back on track.

"Where's it going? Does it really have to go anywhere? Can't the joy of the bit be destination enough?"

"I wish it would go away," Danny groans, still not lifting his head. "I get enough of ghost hunting in my free time, I don't need it here, too."

"I've changed Danny's employee file to list him as deceased just to see how long it takes Michael to notice."

"Seriously? Tucker, really? That's—"

"Genius, Tuck. And then we can be all: 'Michael, what are you on about? Danny's been dead for three years!' I can't wait to see his face!"

"You guys know that Dwight's going to actually try to end me if he finds out, right? Pretty sure Dad slipped him a Fenton blaster before he left."

"You know what they say," Tucker says, grinning directly down the camera, "'Gaslight, Ghost them, Get pranked, boss!'"

[camels-pen]

livin' two lives is a little weird

Summary:

Sam and Tucker had no manners. No manners at all.

Danny couldn't really argue with the outcome though.

based on @ectoblastfromthepast's prompt "Everyone knows Danny is Phantom. But they don't know about his *other* double life."

Ao3 Link | Haunted Harry series

“Do I have to do this?”

“Nope.”

“Wait, really?”

“You don’t have to do anything.” Ember grinned. “But if you chicken out and don’t go through with this, I’ll tell Plasmius who really dyed his cats hot pink.”

Danny groaned.

---

“Hey guys, wanna listen to”—she pulled out a CD in a blank case from her bag—“the new Haunted Harry song?”

“What? There’s a new one?”

“Yup, he debuted it at his last concert.” She flipped the case around. The back had Wilted Willows written in scribbly black sharpie.

“Man, I shoulda been there for that,” Tucker grumbled. “Being grounded blows.”

“Shouldn’t have gotten caught sneaking out last time then.”

“I wouldn’t have if you actually brought your rope ladder with you when you came to pick me up.”

“I thought you had it handled.” Sam rolled her eyes. “And who just brings a rope ladder with them everywhere they go?”

Tucker nudged the front of her backpack with his shoe. “You carry a bat in your bag all the time.”

“Yeah, but I need that.”

“For what?”

“Stuff.”

It was Tucker’s turn to roll his eyes. “Very descriptive and not suspicious at all.”

“You know, you’re getting angry with the wrong person.” She bumped shoulders with Danny. “If he’d agreed to show up, he could’ve just flown you to the venue without anyone noticing.”

“I told you guys, I was busy.” Danny walked a little ahead of them, carefully not looking at the CD still in Sam’s hand. “And I’ve heard the guy’s songs. They’re not that great.”

“‘Not that great’? He’s better than Ember!” Tucker yelled.

“Tucker, she mind controlled you.”

“That’s why he’s better!” Tucker pointed at him. “And why you should come to his next show! You’ll love it, D!” 

He looked to Sam for help, but she shook her head. “Harry’s music is really good and his genre is the kind you’d love.”

Danny groaned. “I’ll think about it, okay? But don’t get your hopes up.”

“Here,”—Sam held out the CD to him—“I’ve already listened to this album a dozen times. You can borrow it for a while. I know you’re gonna love it.”

Danny held up his hands. “I really don’t need—”

“I insist.”

“Seriously, I’d rather not—”

Sam shoved it into his chest. “Just take it.”

“Oh, do you hear that?” Danny put a hand to his ear. Sam furrowed her brows. “Sounds like a ghost attack somewhere far far away. I better get going, see ya!” He ducked behind Tucker, transformed and flew off. 

In the distance he heard Tucker say, “Ember’s songs still slap by the way!”

---

“Hey, y’know? I think I’m starting to like this.”

“Told ya, you would!”

“No, you said ‘it’ll be funny watching you flail around’ and ‘I hope your voice cracks when you’re on stage’.”

“That’s basically the same thing.”

---

“...thought I heard Ember back here,” someone’s faint voice drifted down through the vents. It was slightly distorted by the metal and the echoing, but it was familiar in some way.

Danny wasn’t really focused on that though. He was more wondering what kind of “fans” managed to A) realize Ember was helping out with setting up the stage for the show, and B) were so desperate to meet her that they were crawling through the vents.

“Oh can it, you just want to meet Haunted Harry,” another voice said.

“You can’t prove anything.” 

Well, that was. Mildly better. 

Danny turned invisible in his spot at the vanity. There, now he could just wait for them to show up, find nothing, and eventually leave. Hopefully Ember wouldn’t come back to check on him for a while.

The familiar bickering started to get a bit louder and Danny started to realize just who the people were that were arguing in the vents.

He wanted to say he expected better of them, but he couldn’t deny that he’d probably do the same.

“How are we supposed to get through this?”

“Move up, I’ll kick it open.”

Danny watched with no small amount of amusement as there was a loud bang and Sam and Tucker fell through the grate in a heap. 

“Ugh, why’d the floor have to be concrete.” Tucker groaned. 

“Get off.” Sam shoved Tucker off her. “Hurry up and look around, someone might’ve heard us.”

The two practically ransacked Danny’s dressing room. Did they not care about the stuff they’d leave behind for people to clean up? Danny was ashamed of them and not just because it was his dressing room they were messing around with, nor because he’d eventually have to clean up himself. He was just plain ashamed.

They really need to learn some manners.

“Who said that?” Sam asked. Fuck, did he say that out loud?

“Uhh, no one,” he answered, purposefully making his voice deeper.

Sam pulled out the bat from her bag—and of course it was the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick; he really needed to tell Jazz not to lend that out so frequently—and poised herself right in front of the vanity, her gaze a little too far up and to the right of him. “Alright, you can come out quietly or I can swing until I hit ectoplasm.”

“Wait, wait!” Danny turned himself visible and waved his hands. “Chill, it’s just me!” 

“Wh—Danny? Why are you—?” Tucker gasped. “You’re Haunted Harry?!” Oh fuck, he forgot he was still wearing his getup.

Danny gave a nervous laugh. “What? Me? No. I was just, uh, looking for Ember! Same as you guys.” Haha nailed it. Secondary secret identity saved.

“Then why the hell are you wearing Haunted Harry’s costume?” Sam asked. “And wearing the exact makeup he does?”

Fuck. Uhhh. “I’m undercover.”

“Why would you need to be undercover?”

Danny crossed his arms. “How else would I get back here to look for Ember?”

“Ghost powers!” Sam and Tucker shouted, with Sam staring at him unimpressed while Tucker pulled at his short hair.

“You guys are losing it. I mean, what does Haunted Harry even look like?” Wait, no. That’s not what he meant to say. “How do you know I’m wearing the exact thing he does? I heard he changes costumes all the time.” Yeah yeah. That should throw them off. 

“Which is true except you’re wearing his original costume!” Tucker grabbed the lapels of Danny’s jacket and shook him. “The one no one’s been able to replicate properly!” 

Shit. Had no one been able to figure out how to make an entire outfit glow yet? Shit shit shit. This was gonna be harder than he thought. He did his best attempt at looking confused and pitying. “Didn’t you say he’s only been around a few months? Give the fans and dedicated cosplayers a little more faith, Tuck.” The boy looked a bit put out at Danny’s words and mumbled something about having plenty of faith, but not enough glow in the dark paint. Danny patted his shoulder in sympathy.

Okay, perfect. He could still get out of this scot-free. Just one more person to convince.

“Sam—”

“You’re not convincing me otherwise, Danny.”

“It’s not ‘convincing’ if I’m totally telling the truth!”

Sam counted off on her fingers. “The sparkly white jacket. The long black tie. The fingerless gloves. Not to mention your killer eye shadow.” She crossed her arms. “You’re definitely Haunted Harry.”

“And you didn’t tell us! Us!” Tucker said, incensed as he got over his grumbling about cosplays. “Your best friends in the whole world who love your music and would literally die to meet you!”

“Yeah. Dick move, Danny,” Sam said, dumping several bottles of dark coloured nail polish into her bag as if Danny wasn’t looking straight at her. “We would’ve been supportive—”

“We woulda been so supportive! I mean, you’ve been doing this for, what? A few months? And you’re popular, but not that popular.” Tucker ranted, pacing around the room. “I coulda been your number 1 hype man! I coulda sold a bunch of backstage passes and autographed CDs to get us rich! I coulda—”

Danny slapped a hand over Tucker’s mouth. “Stop yelling at me. I only did this because I was blackmailed!”

Sam narrowed her eyes. “You were blackmailed into ‘impersonating’ a popular popstar?”

“No, I just had to—”

“Perform one song I wrote in under an hour in exchange for me keeping quiet on certain things he’s been getting up to in his spare time.” An unnaturally warm arm wrapped around his shoulders. “Ain’t that right, Dipstick?”

Fuck.

“So, it’s true?!” they both asked, sparkles in his eyes. 

“You weren’t even sure? After all that?”

Tucker shrugged. “The lights are really bright on stage and it’s not like we’ve seen Haunted Harry up close before.” Sam nodded her agreement.

Danny groaned loudly.

“So,”—Sam raised her brows—“How long have you really been doing this?”

“It was going to be just one show.” Danny dragged a hand down his face. “I honestly didn’t think it would go this long.”

“Kid took a real shine to it!” Ember said, laughing. “I was hoping to embarrass him, but instead I got myself a mentee!”

“Mentee…?” Tucker asked skeptically.

“Oh yeah, Harry here has been a real treat to train.” She ruffled his hair. Man, he just gelled that into place. “I’ve shown him a whole bunch of things and he’s been soaking up things like a sponge!”

Sam grabbed Danny’s shoulder and pulled him behind her and Tucker, who had brought out a Fenton Ecto-Gun out of nowhere. She readied her bat. “Alright, well it stops now.”

“What? Why?” Ember and Danny both asked.

“We know what you’re up to, Ember, and it’s not gonna work.” Tucker nudged Danny towards the door, whispering, “Don’t worry dude, we got it handled. You get out of here before her music mojo starts affecting you again.”

“You think she’s controlling me?” Danny asked, baffled. “To sing at a cafe every Thursday evening?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Guys, no. Ember’s not—”

“We can talk about it later when we’re far away from her.” Sam tightened her hand on the bat. “That isn’t going to be a problem, is it?” 

Ember watched them, an easy smile on her face. “Not at all, if you two want to drag your boyfriend away for a checkup, be my guest. He’s done for the night anyway.”

“Wh—But the encore!” Danny whined.

“I’ll cover you.” Danny pouted. “Oh, buck up. They’ll all be here next week. And it’ll give them something to talk about in the meantime.” She framed her hands in the air. “‘Up and coming popstar disappears before encore; seen running off with a boy and girl’ sounds like a pretty good headline to catch more attention for your shows, don’t you think?”

Danny felt a flush creep up his neck and he could see Sam and Tucker similarly suffering. “We’re not—I mean, like, it’s kinda complicated—and they don’t really—”

“A-Again, something to talk about later and not here,” Sam said pointedly. 

Tucker agreed, his shoulders up to his ears. “Yeah, uh, because I got a few things to say. Especially about—Oof.” Sam elbowed him in the gut. “Right, yeah, later.”

---

So, they left the venue. 

And, they talked on Sam’s huge bed. 

It was mostly Tucker and Sam realizing they were waiting for the other to ask Danny out and then both commiserating with each other when neither of them could do it. 

Danny was pretty stunned. 

“Why don’t we all just date each other?”

So now he was stunned with a boyfriend and girlfriend.

It would be pretty great if they didn’t still insist Ember was controlling him.

“The Danny I know would never be that good at asking people out.”

“Tuck, Ember was the one who started this whole conversation.”

“Exactly. She’s up to something.”

Danny sighed. “Sam, please. You’ve seen me under her control. You know I’d be more hopelessly lovesick than this.”

Sam hummed. “You have a point.” She lightly kicked his shin. “You really like singing, then? And she’s really been helping you?”

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m as surprised as you are. But when I got on stage for the first time—I don’t know, something just clicked.”

Tucker smiled. “Well, as long as you’re happy.”

“I am. I really am.” He felt a dopey grin spread on his face. “Almost as happy as I am that I’ve got two new partners now.” He felt a giddiness in his chest and covered his quickly warming face with a little squeal. “Holy fuck I am so fucking happy, I could kiss you guys.”

“Well?” 

He peeked out of his hands at Sam. “Well what?”

“What’s stopping you?”

He felt his face get infinitely warmer. “You can’t just say that!”

“Sure I can. If you’re too shy to go first though… Tucker?” Time seemed to slow as Danny watched Sam peck Tucker on the lips. Tucker was stiff as a board and She was beet red. “S-See? Nothing to it.”

“You’re blushing.”

“We’re all blushing.”

“And you guys are beautiful! I could watch you do that all day. Actually, I’d much rather do that instead of embarrassing myself, please continue.”

Tucker and Sam shared a look and they tackled Danny to the bed, littering his face with kisses. He sputtered and his arms flailed around for a moment before his nerves started to flutter away, carried by his laughter.

Once he’d really relaxed into the mattress, they stopped for a moment and shared another look, one that brought a deeper blush to both of their faces. 

He wasn’t quite sure what they were doing, still trying to catch his breath and giggling a bit, but it was very evident the moment Sam bent down for a more lingering kiss, her chapped lips pressed right on top of his own. 

He hardly had time to kiss back before Tucker took his turn, with lips a little more pursed, a little stiff.

It was perfect.

“I think I’ve been blessed by the Ancients,” Danny said, a warm, floaty feeling in his chest.

“Yeah,” Tucker said dreamily, his head in his hands.

Sam herself had a big smile on her face before it slipped away. “Wait a minute.” She narrowed her eyes. “What if the music Ember writes for you makes you mind control other people?”

Danny and Tucker both groaned. “Sam.”

[q-gorgeous]

Broken Dashed Ladybug Chapter 8

ao3

fanfiction

hhehe

Dash took a step back and watched as Danny screamed. His body convulsed with the electric shock and soon his transformation was falling away. Danny fell to the ground with a loud thud and Dash could only stare. 

“Tikki-” He called as he moved to run towards them.

“Chat Noir, behind you!” She shouted before the akuma pulled Danny’s earrings off. 

Dash dodged out of the way just in time. Someone else was behind him and he could smell as they scorched the earth he was just standing on.

He watched as the other person delivered Danny’s miraculous to Sam. She smiled and held her hand out. 

“Well done, Cybercharge. Now we just need to get the cat miraculous and we can make our wish.” 

“We won’t let you down.” Said the one standing next to Dash. 

“We won’t rest until Tucker is back.” 

Dash’s eyes widened as he looked up at Sam horrified. “You akumatized his parents?”

Cybercharge swung at him again. The second half leapt away from Sam as she was putting the earrings on and joined him in the battle. 

“They agreed to it. We’re going to get their son back. We’re helping each other.” 

“You realize this is really messed up, right? Abusing their grief?” Dash blocked a hit with his staff. 

“What about you?” Sam threw back at him. She leapt into the battle and swung her cane at him. He ducked and rolled across the ground and narrowly dodged another shock. “I at least asked their permission. You beat up other kids and wail on them. Isn’t that abuse?”

Dash growled. “At least I’m not a terrorist.” 

“You still didn’t answer the question.” She charged at him again. He stepped to the side and tripped her. She hit the ground as one half of Cybercharge ran up to him and he ducked down right as they got to him. They stumbled into the other half and they ended up shocking each other but their transformations didn’t fall. Good try at least. 

He rolled away before they fell on him and chased after Sam. 

“I know what my issues are. You’re in denial. You can’t accept that your friend is gone.” He jumped at her and managed to grab her wrists. “You’d rather exchange someone else’s life for Tucker and put that same pain onto someone else just to make yourself feel better.”

“I’m not doing this for me.” She growled. “I’m doing it for Tucker.” She kicked her foot into his stomach and he stumbled away groaning. He scoffed.

“You could’ve fooled me. Do you think Tucker would want this?” Dash yelled at her. “Would he want you to trade someone else’s life for him?” 

“Who would tell him?” She laughed as she gestured widely with her arms. “If the wish rewrites the world would we even remember any of this? Who could tell him?”

Dash glanced at Danny where he still laid on the ground. Danny who was wearing the buffalo miraculous. His eyes widened. 

He was just about to start running to Danny when something pressed into his back and he convulsed. The electricity pulsed through his body and he couldn’t hold in his screams. He felt his transformation slip away and Plagg came out of his ring. They both heaved breaths and Dash fell to the ground. 

Plagg lowered with him with a determined look on his face.

“Cata-” 

His voice cut off as the ring was pulled off of Dash’s finger and Plagg disappeared. Sam’s hand disappeared from his point of view and he tilted his head up to look at her. 

“The means justify the ends.” Sam whispered to him as she walked away. “As long as we get him back, I’m willing to do anything.”

Cybercharge followed after her and Dash lowered his head and rested his cheek against the ground. He took a couple deep breaths and slowly pushed himself up. His muscles screamed at him, protested the movement he was making, but he had to get up. He had to stop her somehow. 

His legs didn’t want to cooperate so he crawled his way across the floor to Danny. When he looked up at Sam he saw that she was wearing both of the miraculous now. Plagg looked like he was about to try and akumatize the ring again, but she commanded him to do something and he stopped. Dread pooled in Dash’s stomach.

He finally made it to Danny and he ran his hand across the other boy’s cheek and rested his hands on his shoulders. 

“Danny, Danny. Wake up.”

Dash frantically shook the other boy but Danny didn’t respond. 

He looked up and saw Sam commanding Plagg and Tikki to do something and they morphed into giant versions of themselves. Gods.

Dash turned back to Danny, who was still unconscious wearing the buffalo miraculous. After a moment of debating Dash saw a bright light and Plagg and Tikki were melding together and becoming one. 

His eyes widened as the larger than life kwami god filled Sam’s underground greenhouse. They didn’t seem anything like Plagg or Tikki. He could almost hear both of their voices weaving in and around each other, but who they were combined was nothing like either of their kwami’s. 

Dash couldn’t hear what Sam was saying but he could hear Gimmi’s response. 

“What do you wish for?”

A pause.

“What do you sacrifice?”

Gimmi blinked and their gaze landed on Dash.

“So be it.” 

Dash’s heart jumped into his throat and a bright white light started emanating from Gimmi. 

There was no time. Danny wasn’t waking up. Danny couldn’t be the one to do this. Dash had to do this.

Dash ripped the buffalo miraculous off of Danny and called on his transformation. 

The light filling the room was almost to Dash when he called on the power of the buffalo.

“Resistance!” 

The light engulfed him and then there was nothing. 

[i-havenothingelsetopost]

He's A Phantom

ao3 link

When Valerie woke up, groggy and disoriented, it was in a dim room. A dim, large room, with rows upon rows of red seats descending towards a huge movie screen.

She was in a theater — and she wasn’t alone. Hers wasn’t the only seat that was occupied. In fact, it seemed that all of them were — it was like the whole town was sat in these seats, blinking and groaning and looking around.

“Where are we?” asked Star from the row above Valerie. She was wondering the same thing — and, more importantly, why they were here. It obviously had to do with ghosts, but which one? How had it managed to kidnap so many people, and why place them in a theater of all places? Valerie tried to remember what had happened —

Oh.

Oh no.

“I’m so sorry, everyone.” She buried her face in her hands, embarrassment heating her skin. What a childish mistake.

“What do you mean?” It was Danny. Danny, who was afraid of ghosts. Danny, whom Valerie never wanted to put into danger — yet there he was, at the very center of the audience, all because of her. “Is everyone okay?”

Suddenly his eyes widened, and in the split second before he covered his mouth with his hands, it almost looked like his breath had fogged. It wasn’t that cold in here, was it? The situation was already miserable enough without everyone freezing to death.

Valerie sighed. Better to just rip off the bandaid. “I think I made a wish.”

“What?!” came Dash’s irritated voice from behind her, and a dejected “C’mon” from Tiffanie.

“So you did!” sang Desiree, appearing from thin air right in front of the screen. “And as you wish it, so shall it be!”

Valerie sprung up from her seat and into a battle stance, summoning her suit — except it didn’t come. Far down the audience, she could see Doctors Fenton having the same issue, their hands grasping empty air where they usually held their weapons.

Desiree tutted. “Now, now, I can’t have you fighting me if the wish is to come true. Everybody sit down so we can start.”

Danny just sighed. “What do you want, Desiree?”

“It’s about what she wants,” the ghost said, pointing at Valerie. “And that is — I quote — for everyone to see Phantom for what he truly is. ”

“What?” Danny yelped. “You can’t do that —”

“Her heart’s desire is my command,” Desiree said, looking down at him sternly. Danny looked like he wanted to hide or run away, but there was no easy escape from the middle seat, even as his friends stood up to make room for him.

“So you’re going to tell us more about Phantom?” Dash yelled, gaining the ghost’s attention. Valerie glanced at him. His eyes were wide and sparkling. Ugh. This was exactly the kind of thing that had driven her to make the wish.

Desiree nodded happily and gestured at the screen. “I am going to show you the most important and illuminating events of Phantom’s afterlife in the form of a TV series. At the end, you will understand him, if not fully, then at least better than you currently do.”

That… didn’t actually sound so bad. It wasn’t exactly what Valerie had meant with her wish, but it would accomplish it in the long run. She might even learn something new and useful while they were at it.

“What’s the catch?” she asked.

Desiree fluttered her eyelashes at her. “A catch? With me? Whatever might you mean?”

Danny grumbled something, but his voice drowned under those of the Phan Club and the Fenton parents. Amity Park really wanted to learn more about Phantom.

Well. It wasn’t like Valerie could do much without her suit. And if it really was going to make the others see what a menace Phantom was… Maybe they could give this a go.

Valerie sat down.

“Good girl,” Desiree said. “Now, if everyone could settle down, we can start the show.”

“Wait!” Sam said, and Valerie groaned. “You said it’s in the form of a series. For how long are you planning to keep us here?”

“For as long as I need to.”

Sam stood on her seat and looked at the crowd. “Don’t any of you have places to be? She’s not going to let us go for hours!”

“Maybe even days! Weeks!” Tucker joined in.

Worried murmurs carried across the audience.

“It’s fine, everyone,” Desiree sighed. “Time passes differently here. It won’t even have been a minute before you’re back to wherever you were.”

“Time doesn’t pass?” Danny was gaping. “Did you somehow rope Clockwork into this?”

Desiree grinned and shrugged.

What the hell were they talking about.

“Well, time is still going to pass for us!” Jazz pointed out from her seat behind Danny.

“We could starve!” Tucker wailed.

“You won’t,” Desiree said. “I took care of everything.”

Danny opened his mouth again, and Valerie got back up. “Just SHUT UP, everyone. The sooner we start, the sooner we get out of here.”

The Phan Club joined in her support (the irony), and eventually, with another dash of Desiree’s powers, they actually got everyone to quiet down. Danny was being hugged by his sister and friends and looked like he was trying not to cry. Valerie felt a bit bad, but… this would be better for him too, in the long run. His parents would certainly be happy.

Desiree found a place that wasn’t in front of the screen, and settled down herself. She snapped her fingers, and the last of the lights went dark.

The screen turned black.

Music started. Neon-colored images of Phantom flashed by, set to the beat. Valerie grit her teeth against the admiring sighs and excited squeals coming from the Phan Club members behind her, but they thankfully fell quiet when the lyrics started.

(He’s a Phantom), the speakers whispered.

(Danny Phantom)

And out of nowhere the screen switched to another face entirely, one with baby blue eyes and a mop of black hair.

Yo, Danny Fenton he was just fourteen when his parents built a very strange machine —

“HOLD ON,” Dash shouted, and Desiree paused the program with another snap of her fingers, sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose. “We’re here to learn about Phantom! Why is it suddenly about Fentina? Nobody wants to see his ugly mug!”

“I don’t want to see yours either, yet here we are,” Danny grumbled.

Dash had heard him and opened his mouth to retort, but he was interrupted by Jack and Maddie Fenton jumping to their feet.

“What did you just say about my baby?” Maddie demanded, hands on her hips — threateningly close to where she usually kept her weapons.

“It’s not about Danny!” Valerie yelled the obvious answer to Dash’s question before the situation could escalate further. “It’s about the Fenton portal! It’s where the ghosts come from, including Phantom, so it’s obviously a key part of the story! Danny’s a good viewpoint character for this part because he literally lives right above it.”

“So does his sister,” Kwan pointed out.

“Yeah!” Dash said. “I’d rather watch her than Fentoenail!”

Maddie whammed her foot onto the back of her seat, ready to scale up the audience to Dash, such rage burning in her eyes that Valerie could feel its heat all the way from here. “You will not insult my son —”

“SHUT UP!” Paulina cried. “Who cares about Danny, we have a chance to learn more about Phantom and I for one am going to take it! Sit down and keep watching.”

Dash looked conflicted. Maddie did not, still ready to go after him, until Jack took her hand.

“We can deal with the boy later. If we keep watching, we could gain valuable information about the spook! It could help us finally defeat him!”

Maddie stood down, and her expression turned into something more calculating, something excited. “You might be right, Jack.”

“No, no, we’re not in any hurry,” Danny suddenly piped up. “Dash, your comment really hurt me. I think we should keep discussing that.”

Something inside Valerie snapped. “Do you want to keep us here forever? The sooner we’re done with this dumb show, the sooner we can go home! Desiree, unpause.”

She did.

— designed to view a world unseen

(He’s gonna catch ‘em all ‘cause he’s Danny Phantom)

“Huh?”

“Did that mean —”

“That did not refer to Fenton,” Valerie groaned over the music. “It’s just a repeating part of the song —”

On the screen, Danny died.

The theater broke into chaos.

[ashboy-3]

I'm Special to

Written for DannyMay 2023 Prompt: Fantasy Au Fandom: Danny Phantom Characters: Danny, Jazz, Ellie, Sam, Tucker, Jack, Maddie, Vlad Words: 1328 Summary: In a world where everyone is born with a special power young Danny Fenton is born powerless. No one believes him when he says he can see people, they just think it's his imaginary friends until one day his powers are shown in full

“Good morning Liam,” Danny whispered as he waved to a small boy of five, walking through the woods.

“Morning Danny! Did you do anything fun yesterday?” the boy asked.

“Not really. Sam tried to test a new spell on me, but it didn’t really work,” Danny gave a sad shrug.

“What was the spell?” 

“Meh it was nothing,” Danny shrugged the boy off as a voice came through the woods.

“Danny, what are you doing out here? You know it’s not safe,” Tucker, a teen his age asked, a boy and arrow strapped to his back.

“I was just out looking for something,” Danny grumbled.

“Ohh Danny, does he have any food?” Liam asked, tugging on Danny’s sleeve.

“I’ll ask him next time,” Danny whispered to the side as Tucker quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Still talking to the air? C’mon let’s get you home before your sister starts to worry,” Tucker sighed as he dragged the black-haired with him through the woods, Danny giving a sad wave bye to Liam.

“Morning Danny.”

“Morning son.”

���Oh, good Morning Danny,”

The voices greeted the teen as Tucker continued to walk him to his house, Danny replying to all of them.

“Really man hearing voices isn’t good. You know you’re not supposed to act like this in public. What is someone sees?” Tucker asked as he closed the door behind him.

“They were just being friendly,” Danny mumbled.

“I know you think that, but no one can hear the voices but you. We don’t know what they might be telling you,” Tucker said, worry filling his voice.

“Jazz!” Tucker screamed as Danny’s sister came running down the hall, a book floating in front of her.

“Oh, Danny there you are! You were gone this morning and I couldn’t find you. I sent out Ellie but she hasn't come back yet,” Jazz patted him down, making sure he was okay.

“Jazz I’m fine,” Danny rolled his eyes, crossing his arms.

“Found him talking in the woods again,” Tucker informed her.

“Really Danny! You know that’s where the hunters go. Honestly, you have no spells under your belt. You could easily be hurt,” Jazz lectured as Danny flinched at the reminder.

“I get it! I’m not normal like the rest of you! I don’t have any spells or special powers! I wasn’t born to be great! All I can hear are these stupid voices!” Danny yelled, running up the stairs toward his room.

“Danny!” Jazz yelled but was stopped by Tucker putting a hand on her shoulder stopping her.

“Give him some time Jazz. I was told Sam just got done trying a new spell on him?”

“And still nothing. Spells and potions don’t work he can avoid special powers, but nothing will give him power. If only Mom and Dad were here to help,” she said sadly as she stared at the portrait on the wall.

“He’ll be fine. He just needs time,” Tucker promised her. “If I see Elle I’ll let her know that Danny’s back. I gotta get back to work,” Tucker waved bye.

Jazz figured she could give a talk to Danny but as she went up to knock on his door she heard voices, well one voice having a conversation, but she never heard a response.

“You’re not a figment of my imagination are you?” Danny asked.

“Of course not my baby boy. You are as special as your sisters,” a woman with hair as orange as Jazz’s spoke softly, laying his head in her lap.

“Then why can’t anyone find my power? Jazz can read any book ten times faster while retaining all the knowledge, Tucker can shoot any target with an arrow no matter how far away, Sam is an expert potions master and healer, and even Ellie can fly and create a powerful blast from her hands. Everyone is a proper mage but me! I’m just bored! All I have are these stupid voices in my head!” Danny cried.

“My Danny boy stupid! Ha! You’re a Fenton! There’s nothing stupid about Fentons!” a bigger guy with the same hair color as Danny spoke loudly.

“Jack! Now is not the time to be loud!” Maddie scolded her husband.

“No, he’s right. I just have to believe I’m special right?” Danny asked them.

“Of course. I’m feeling sleepy. I’m sorry we can’t stay for longer sweetie. We’ll try to be back tomorrow,” Maddie kissed his forehead as the two disappeared into thin air.

“Ready to go on another adventure badger?” a man as old as Jack asked, he had sharp eyes and silver hair.

“Yeah. Maybe getting out of the house will be good for me,” Danny shrugged, opening his window, and getting ready to sneak out. He would have made it to if Jazz didn’t bust in his room, a letter in her hand.

“Danny we have to get to Sam’s now! It’s Ellie! She’s in trouble!” Danny’s eyes widened as he looked towards his mentor who shook his head yes. With no more pauses the two rushed over to the dark purple hut and saw Ellie lying on Sam’s table, breathing heavily with red pouring out of her.

“What happened?” Jazz asked as Sam turned around, mixing a potion as quickly as she could.

“Bandits. They got her by surprise,” Sam’s sentences were short and quick to the point.

“Hey, Danny. Jazz. I don’t think I’m going to make it out of this one. Lost too much blood before I was bought to Sam,” Elle coughed as more blood poured out.

“Don’t talk. You’ll be fine. She’ll be fine right Sam?” Jazz asked tears in her eyes.

Slamming her hands on the counter the siblings could see her shaking. “I’ve done everything I can. Just enjoy your last few minutes with her,” Sam clenched her fist in anger.

Danny was still frozen but felt a push on his back toward his dying sister. Then in front of him was Vlad who looked at him then at his sister.

“Go on Badger. Put your hands on he heart.” Danny did as he was told, no words coming from his mouth as Jazz looked at him in confusion. “Danny what are you?”

“Push your life force into hers. You can do it Daniel,” Vlad placed a hand on top of his, showing him the correct movement. Let the life flow from your fingers into her heart,” Vlad instructed as Danny closed his eyes and the two girls saw gree flow from his fingertips into his dying sister.

Then a powerful shock came inbetween the two and Danny was thrown into a wall and Ellie was sitting up.

“What happened?” she asked, holding her hands.

“Ellie?” Jazz asked, taking a step forward.

“Who else?” she asked with an eye roll as Danny stood up in shock, looking at his hands in wonder. “And who’s that?” she pointed to where Vlad was standing.

“You can see him?” it was almost a whisper from Danny.

“Of course, she can young badger. She now holds some of your life. Some of your power. This makes her able to see all of us that she couldn’t see before,” Vlad explained to the two.

“Ellie your eyes?” Danny pointed.

“What’s wrong with my eyes?” she asked touching her face.

“Their green,” Jazz noticed as she turned on Danny. “What did you do?” 

“I only did what Vlad told me to do!” he said panicked.

“Who’s Vlad?” Jazz asked as Ellie put a hand on her older sister's shoulder.

“Jazz I don’t think Danny’s crazy. I think he’s had the power all along. Danny can see ghosts and save those on the verge of death,” Ellie smiled as Jazz’s eyes widen in disbelief.

Later that night we saw the small family of three happily enjoying a family meal like they used to when they were little. Apologies were given and for the first time in a long time, everyone went to sleep happy.

[starry-bi-sky]

clone danny's accident in the clone^2 au

Im thinking about clone^2 danny's accident in this au. he doesn't have his halfa powers in this au. He has his scary eyes and the ghost sense and the ability to see ghosts - kinda takes up a psychopomp role with his ghost cases - and enough ectoplasm to trigger the ghost defenses in his parents' house. But he doesn't have his ghost powers or his ghost half. He's just very strongly liminal.

And im just mmmmm thinking about how that came to be. When I originally made the clone danny au back in the summer i couldn't think of how he had his accident without putting him inside the portal, and I couldn't put him inside the portal and have it turn on and then just say "oh! he doesn't have any powers. he got hit with the full concentrated power of the sun a dimension with just a scratch"

like - like i can't do it. i just can't. i need some plausibility in my aus or i hit road blocks and can't continue (see: my jason variant au and why that took so long to post). but i was at work today thinking about clone^2 au and it hit me like a lightning shot. I think said in the original clone danny post that maybe he got electrocuted by the on button on the outside of the portal. But i was never really satisfied with that answer - it felt too placeholder-y to me. too simple. Less plausible to me than I liked.

so, solution: he still gets shocked by the portal outside, but its from a wiring issue that he spots outside of the portal. My first thought is; the portal had a wire that was unplugged. His parents, essentially, forgot to plug it in. Or maybe in all of their excitement they accidentally unplugged it and didn't notice. It just sounds like the right amount of cartoonishly silly that the Fentons are known for. "We put a second "on" button in the inside portal" -> "we forgot to plug it in"

Danny notices it while he's showing Sam and Tucker around the lab and the two of them are checking out the portal. Something caught his eye from the corner and while Sam and Tucker were talking, he went over to investigate. If this were canon, this would be just before Sam tells him to put on the hazmat suit and go into the portal so she can get a photo (iirc). (So he's currently in reg clothes)

And im imagining it as slightly off to the side. Its two black cords - an extension cord to the outlet and then the cord to the portal. and danny crouches down over it, frowning. his eyes follow the cord to the outlet, and then the cord to the portal, and he picks both up.

'did they forget to plug it in?' he thinks, turning his head to look at the portal's entrance. and logically he knows he should probably put the cords down and tell his parents, let them handle it since they have the expertise for this stuff. But...

his eyes draw back to the plug. it's just a plug. it'd be fine if he plugged it in, wouldn't it? surely, it'd be fine. he thinks about it for a moment.

he plugs it in.

immediately, the energy that had been building up slowly through the wires of the portal - the latent ectoplasm in the room being funneled through whatever tech his parents used to make it - goes through the cord. Like a dam bursting. In a flash, the portal turns on with a worrying bang.

At the same time, Danny is hit with a near-lethal amount of electricity. While not as agonizing as being inside the portal, danny still mentally checks out with pain. and he blacks out. when he comes to, he's laying on his back, still in the lab, with sam and tucker kneeling over him. they're talking - probably yelling, with panicked looks on their faces.

He can't hear a thing they're saying, his ears are full of the overly rapid, irregular beating of his heart and the pounding of his blood. His chest hurts like he's having a heart attack, and he grasps at his shirt as his breathing comes in short, labored.

"Hospital" he wheezes out, and sam gets up and sprints out of the lab upstairs. everything else feels like a blur - his parents and jazz are by him - his parents completely ignoring their swirling, working portal, someone's calling 911, danny's being loaded onto a stretcher with an oxygen mask over his face.

danny gets discharged from the hospital a week later, and sick leave from school for another two. his parents refuse to allow him back into the lab, stating it was too dangerous, and their work comes to near grinding stop to watch over him. It's honestly kinda sweet, but the hovering is annoying him - stubborn, independent teenager that he is. When he gets back to school he's still relatively sat out for phy.ed - he's been getting random heart palpitations (which had been at its worst when he was still on sick leave) and what the doctors think is a strange case of arrhythmia. Although Danny insists that he's fine - he's breathing, alive. Nothing feels wrong with him.

Then one day in class, Tucker turns to him to say something - a joke -and yelps - "your eyes!"

Danny on instinct turns his head to the window, frowning. And in the faded reflection, his eyes are burning shade of green like that of the portal. He blinks, breathing in sharply, and they're back to the his old bright blue.

Unfortunately, they're in english class, and the entire room was staring at them. "Is there something wrong, Mr. Foley?" Mr. Lancer asks from the front. Tucker is still wide-eyed and in shock, and he looks quickly between Danny and Lancer.

"I- no, um- Danny's eyes- they- were, um..." He looks panicked, confused.

Danny steps in, and leans over to Tucker. "I think he just spooked himself, Mr. Lancer." He says, looking frontward with his brows furrowed. "Sorry, it won't happen again."

Mr. Lancer looks unconvinced, and suspicious, but he lets it lie. "Are you feeling alright then, Mr. Fenton? Do you need to see the nurse?" It wasn't a secret to the school or student body that he'd been to the hospital from a lab accident - and that it'd resulted in heart problems that he was recovering from.

Danny grins at him, and pounds his chest lightly, "I'm fit as a fiddle, Mr. Lancer. No heart attacks here." He jokes, and leans back into his seat. Mr. Lancer stares, eyes squinty, and then returns to the lesson.

It keeps happening. Danny's eyes turn green at the most random of times, and the three of them begin wittling down what was causing it. In general, Danny's eyes were turning green whenever he was engrossed with something, or when he got emotional - when he was laughing, angry, upset, anything. Sometimes it resulted in heart palpitations, sometimes it didn't.

his ears were hurting too, aching, like when they were cold. Danny wakes up one morning and spends twenty minutes in the bathroom turning his head left and right - his ears were beginning to point. Sam thought it was cool - Danny just thought it was concerning.

He was seeing things too - apparently. He struck up a conversation with someone on the street once - a strange looking man who looked terribly pale and wore old clothes. He looked delighted to be talking to Danny - and then Sam and Tucker walked up to him and asked who he was talking to.

("What do you mean? I'm talking to him.") ("Danny, there's no one there.") ("What?")

After multiple instances of this, they configure that the accident had given Danny some sort of ability to see ghosts.

("So you're meta now?") ("Mm... I don't know. That doesn't feel right.") ("Oh come on, that basically fits the name to a tee!") ("I know, but I just- it doesn't feel right to call myself meta.") ("If you don't like meta, why not just call yourself liminal? Since the portal is supposed to access the afterlife and it gave you powers to see ghosts.") ("Huh, good idea, Sam. Liminal it is, then.")

And as time goes on - and his parents begin to catch and experiment on ghosts - danny adjusts to these weird new abilities. It's not so bad, he supposes, its just some creepy eye magic and a ghost sense. He can live with that, and no one needed to know. He could go back to being normal - right. ...Wrong.

Do his parents really have to catch ghosts?

plus additional sketch that i made at like 3am last night because i needed to draw it down -- aha ignore the inconsistent drawing ability that i have. i'm more of a writer than i am an artist.

[lexosaurus]

Going Angst Week 2021: Instinct

Read: [1: birth]

Warning: Ghost Hunger

---

Ectoplasm was poisonous to humans. Danny knew that, it was one of the first things his parents had drilled into him when he was a kid.

If humans ingested small amounts of ectoplasm, they’d be sick but would likely be fine the next day. If they ingested large amounts of ectoplasm, they’d be rushed to the ER to get their stomach pumped, and if they didn’t make it there in time, they’d die.

Danny had accidentally eaten ectoplasm-infused cookies enough times in his childhood to be able to taste it’s gross battery-acid flavor. He’d felt enough stomach cramps from his mother’s cooking before Jazz insisted that they install a second fridge in the lab to store their samples inside of to know how much the human body hated the substance. 

Ectoplasm was poison. Period.

So then why was it that when he stared down longingly at the carnage before him, did he want nothing more than to dip his hand into the delicious pool of green and scoop it into his mouth?

He knew he should leave—his parents would be arriving soon—but as he stared down at the unfortunate remains of the giant ectoplasm mosquito on the pavement, all he could think about was how hungry he was and how sick he’d been all week and this was it, this was the thing that would cure him, he just needed to reach down...

Danny shook his head in disgust. He was still partially human, he couldn’t just eat ectoplasm. 

But he was so, so hungry.

Nothing he’d eaten in the past week had satisfied his hunger. No, this was something else. Something that originated deep down in his core. No human food could fix this, he knew that on instinct.

Ectoplasm was poison.

But he was starving.

Danny closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. This wasn’t the first time he’d gotten these strange cravings. They’d been happening ever since he learned how to shoot ghost-rays with his hands. 

At first, it was easy to ignore. Just a twinge of his stomach here, a slight watering of his mouth there. Little annoyances, but nothing he couldn’t blame on exhaustion or academic stress.

But lately, the hunger had been getting worse. Just looking at a pool of ectoplasm made his heart skip a beat, and the sight of an entire ghost mosquito carcass was enough to make him want to collapse in relief.

He needed to do something. Leave. He couldn’t stay here, he was going to lose it. 

God, this was horrible. He was disgusting for even entertaining the idea.

Danny glanced back at the mosquito. Its core had smashed somehow during the fight, allowing its fresh ectoplasm to pool onto the pavement before it. The sun was setting, and it was hitting the fresh green in just the right way.

“Shut up,” Danny snapped. He wasn’t some feral vampire, he was Danny Phantom. Amity Park’s local ghost protector. He wasn’t just going to…

He glanced around. No one was here, and no one was passing by on the street either. Maybe he could afford just one little taste…

...just one…

...no one else had to know…

...he just needed to reach down and…

His fingers brushed the cool liquid, and as if he were shocked he jolted up, pressing his back into the brick building behind him and breathing hard. 

That was close. Too close. He needed to get out of here quickly before he lost control.

But as he stared back down at the gooey carcass, it was as if a trance had overtaken him. His mind fogged up, and all his worries and stresses seemed to melt away.

The only thing he knew was that he was starving, and there was food. 

Danny crouched down over the mosquito and shyly stuck his hand back out over the glowing pool of liquid. He hesitated, as if there were still some part of his mind that was trying to resist when he knew that he just needed to chill out, Danny. It’s okay. Trust yourself.

He was a ghost. He knew what he was doing.

Closing his eyes, he dipped his hand into the ectoplasm. He shuddered, allowing his hands to explore the cool liquid. It felt...nice. And his hunger seemed to yell louder until he couldn’t ignore the voice in his head goading him to eat the ectoplasm, just eat it, eat the ectoplasm, eat the food.

He brought his hand up to his mouth, and it was as if something inside him shorted out. 

His brain switched off, all thoughts left his body. The only thing that mattered was the ectoplasm, the food, his hunger, god this tasted so nice. 

His world was green, and that was all he needed.

---

“What’s wrong with me?” Danny cried. “Why can’t I stop?”

His hands were plastered in ectoplasm, and he could feel the sticky substance dripping down his suit, threading in his hair, smearing across his face.

“Well, isn’t it obvious?” Vlad said, hardly looking up from his paperwork on his desk. “You’re starving yourself.”

“But—but I don’t…” Danny collapsed in a chair and buried his head in his hands. 

“Daniel, really. I thought you were better than this pointless drivel.”

Danny shook his head. In a muffled voice, he whimpered, “Please, just tell me how to make this stop. I—I can’t stop. Please. I don’t want to be this monster.”

Vlad sighed and set down his pen. “Halfas have unique biologies in that due to the nature of our deaths, we have naturally powerful cores. The more powerful the ghost core, the more self-generating ectoplasm they can produce for their bodies, which then can offset any ectoplasm lost through daily functions. Like blood cells. Except, if you use more ectoplasm than your body can produce, it starts looking for other ways to replenish it. Typically for ghosts, the ambient ectoplasm in the Ghost Zone would do. But in the human world, there isn’t enough ambient ectoplasm for us to use, so we starve until our core takes matters into its own hands.”

“So, what. I have to move to the Ghost Zone? I don’t understand. Do you get like this?” Danny lifted his head up to see Vlad massaging his temples.

“Well unlike you, I’m not a complete moron who lets themselves get to the point where they can no longer control themselves.”

“But I don't want to do this! I don’t want to...to eat other ghosts.”

“Then don’t.” Vlad stood and yanked Danny through the floor and into his lab. He shoved Danny into the corner of the room. “Clean yourself up. I won’t have you dripping used ectoplasm all over my clean floors.”

Danny hung his head in a mixture of shock and shame as the hot water from the decontamination shower sprayed down on his body, washing the green stains from his suit onto the floor and down the drain.

Meanwhile, Vlad flitted around the lab, wasting no time in between plucking various tubes and files from their shelves to simultaneously berate Danny. “Really, Daniel, I know you’re an idiot but even you can’t be this appallingly stupid. There are many ways to consume ectoplasm that don’t involve tearing the cores out of your adversaries. Of course, if you continue to insist on being a toddler about your different biology then I have no doubt you’ll be back in this sorry state sooner than you can imagine.”

“Please, just tell me what to do.”

Vlad pulled out what appeared to be glowing green lettuce. “These are ectoplasmic vegetables. They grow in the Ghost Zone. I tend to prefer them with a nice cherry vinaigrette and paired with a glass of dry chardonnay. Do you understand, Daniel? The Ghost Zone is a parallel of the human dimension. If there are plants in the human world, there will also exist a variation of those plants in the Ghost Zone. You find the right ally, and you have your dinner.”

Danny stared dumbly at the plant. He’d only been to the Ghost Zone once before, when he was terrified his parents were getting divorced. And that trip had left him too scared to even think about going back.

“Where do you get yours from?” Danny asked.

Vlad put the lettuce back in the metal refrigerator. “Skulker. You know, my lackey? You may have heard of him.”

“Right.” Danny furrowed his brows. He couldn’t ask Skulker if he could have some of the plants—the ghost wanted to kill him. Again.

But he didn’t know anyone else who had ecto-plants either.

“I don’t know where I’d get them. I don’t know any ghosts.”

“Well, that seems like a personal problem.”

“Please!” Danny begged. “There has to be another way. I don’t know anyone! I can’t do this again. Please, Vlad.”

The true question was hidden underneath. But Danny knew what Vlad was going to say, and judging by Vlad’s vicious smirk, Danny’s assumptions were correct.

“Maybe if you stopped fighting your true nature, you wouldn’t have to beg for my food like a pathetic child.”

“Vlad, I—I don’t know what to do.”

Vlad transformed into his ghost form, his eyes glowing a harsh red against the dim light. “You may be a human, but you’re also a ghost. It’s time you started acting like one.”

He could feel it. His core, taunting him from under his skin. Telling him to give in, just trust it, trust his instincts.

But he couldn’t do it. He was scared, he didn’t understand why his instincts were telling him to act certain ways and do certain things. Why were the emotions of his friends and family suddenly so important to him? Why did he feel so compelled to play protector to the town? Why did he have to try to be so normal around Sam and Tucker?

Why couldn’t he go too long without transforming into his ghost form? Why did it feel like an addiction that was impossible to break?

What was wrong with him?

Give in, just give in. 

“I can’t.”

“You have to, Daniel.”

“But if I do that…”

“Then you’ll finally be admitting the truth of what you are. Why is that so wrong?”

Because I’m a ghost, ghosts are evil, ghosts are wrong, they shouldn’t exist, ghosts and humans don’t mix, ghosts are cruel creatures, they’re selfish, they’ll only act in their own self-interest.

But that was what his parents had told him. Was that true?

Did he know anything about ghosts?

Not really. Except for one, crucial thing:

Ghosts were different. 

Danny Fenton couldn’t be different.

---

<previous / next>

[reading-wanderer]

Compounding Catastrophies

It wasn’t the best day ever, but, between getting away from his bully and hanging out with his friends, it had at least been okay. How did it go so wrong?

(Prompt “Kitties, cats, purrs, and meows!” From @catalystofthesoul )

Picture to go with it here.

“Now don’t forget, class. We have a test on Monday and the first draft of your Call of the Wild analysis paper is due on Thursday,” Lancer announced to Danny’s class. Most of them, including Danny himself, had their eyes glued to the clock as the hands slowly clicked towards the long awaited end of the day. With all of his things shoved into his bag, Danny sat with his leg bouncing impatiently beneath the desk and one hand braced on top ready to jump up as soon as the bell rang so he could, hopefully, avoid the worst of the hallway congestion and get out of the school before Dash, the freshman bully, found him.

Three.

Two.

Danny bolted towards the door as soon as the bell rang. Keeping an eye out for the more strict teachers, Danny sped towards his locker with his backpack slung over one arm for easy removal. No Dash yet.

Skidding to a stop in front of his locker, Danny sped through the code, “Seventeen, thirty-five, nine,” he recited as he twisted the dial lock. The door popped open with a metallic shudder as he whipped off his backpack and started shoving the things he needed for the weekend’s homework inside. Math book, history, Call of the—

“Hey Danny.” Danny startled violently, practically throwing his backpack full of books into Tucker’s chest when the other boy spoke directly into his ear.

“Tucker!” Danny yelled, snatching his bag back out of his friend’s arms as Tucker laughed.

“Come on dude, lighten up. It’s the weekend!”

“I can’t,” Danny hissed looking around before going back to shoving books in his bag. “Dash got a bad grade in Math and I managed to get away at the end of class so he’s probably still looking for me.” Tucker winced, looking around as well before grabbing Danny’s bag and holding it open for him to shovel faster. As soon as he had everything, Danny slammed his locker shut and the two of them skittered towards the front exit.

“Woah, where’s the fire,” Sam snarked as she joined them a couple halls down.

“Dash got a bad grade in math and is looking to take it out on Danny,” Tucker explained as Danny glanced down the hall Sam had come down. No Dash.

“Ugh. What a meathead,” Sam snarled, glaring out over the crowd as if the bully would suddenly appear, “I oughta give him a piece of my mind.”

“I don’t think that’ll help,” Tucker pointed out, “he might just take that out on Danny too.” Danny cringed, ducking down a bit further.

“Come on, let’s just get out of here before he finds us,” Danny urged.

“Fine,” Sam sighed, rolling her eyes. Somehow, they managed to make it out the door and down the street without the tell-tale yell of “Fenton!” ringing through the air. Once they were about a block away, Danny let out a relieved sigh and straightened out of the uncomfortable hunched posture he had taken in an effort to stay out of sight.

“So, what’s everyone’s plans for the weekend?” Tucker asked, his own shoulders relaxing as Danny’s did, “I, for one, plan to watch the new Zombie Squad movie coming out on Saturday. Room for two more if you guys want to come.”

“Ooh! I heard they were introducing a new super zombie into the mix. Count me in,” Sam cheered.

“Sorry guys,” Danny said with an apologetic smile, “Mom and dad put me on kitten duty this weekend while they finish up their big project in the basement.”

“Speaking of the kittens,” Sam said, attempting to sound casual despite the excitement underneath, “are you going to let us come over and see them yet?” Danny scratched the back of his neck, frowning.

“I don’t think I can. Vlad’s not really bonding with them the way he usually does, so Mom and Dad don’t really want other people coming and messing with them. I mean, he’s been letting Dad hold them.”

“Seriously?” Tucker asked, “but he hates your dad. Wasn’t he sneaking into their room in the middle of the night to maul him, like, a couple weeks ago?”

“Yeah. They started putting the riot door down when they went to bed again for a while.”

“Wow, that’s pretty bad. But I thought that was…normal? At least for Vlad. Is that why your parents went and got the kittens for him?” Tucker asked, scratching his head, “doesn’t he usually just wander off and steal the kittens himself?”

“Yeah, but he’s been sneaking into the basement and gnawing on the wires to Mom and Dad’s big project too, so they decided not to wait for him to go looking on his own.”

“Did it help?” Sam asked, morbidly interested despite herself.

“With the night time attacks? Yeah. He’s been corralling them in me and Jazz’s rooms like normal. As far as the project? Not even a little bit. Now there’s six cats sneaking into the basement and gnawing on it. Mom said Vlad almost tore through one of their big extension cords— That’s why I got put on kitten duty even though they’re almost two months.” Sam scowled.

“Ugh. How did they not notice him chewing through their cords? Aren’t they huge? Why do they even have a cat, they barely take care of him.”

Danny shrugged helplessly, “I mean dad’s had him since college so they can’t be that bad.”

“Danny, I asked your dad when the last time Vlad went to the vet for a checkup was and your dad said that he ‘didn’t believe in checkups’. I mean, they literally let him run off and bring home stray kittens four times a year! That’s not good pet ownership!”

“She has a point,” Tucker agreed, “how many times have you gotten fleas now?” Danny grimaced.

“Don’t remind me,” his skin crawled at the memory of the tiny bugs crawling on him and biting. No matter how many times it had happened, he never got use to it. At least he had gotten better at using a flea comb. “That’s the good thing about mom and dad getting him shelter kittens, none of them have fleas.”

“You think at this point they’d start getting him, like, preemptive flea treatments. Or a flea collar. Or at least keep the flea bath stuff on hand instead of running out to get it every time,” Tucker pointed out.

“Mom said flea collars can hurt the kittens if they get too much of the poison from it on them.”

“But what about the stuff you put on the cat once a month?” Sam pressed. “they could just pick it up while they’re shopping.” Danny sighed.

“Dad says he doesn’t think that stuff actually works.”

“Of course not. That’s it,” Sam said, throwing her arms into the air, “we’re going to come see the kittens. I don’t trust your parents.”

“Fine, fine,” Danny said just barely dodging getting hit upside the head, “you can come see them, but if Mom and Dad say you have to leave, then you have to go.” Sam whooped and grabbed the boys’ arms.

“Come on, let’s go!” she yelled, dragging them down the street.

“Sam, slow down!” The boys yelped as they were forced to run to keep up. Thankfully, Fenton Works was only a few blocks away. Soon, though not soon enough for Danny and Tucker, they found themselves outside Danny’s home. The FentonWorks sign loomed high above them, buzzing cheerfully in the afternoon light despite not needing to be on at all. As soon as she hit the stoop, Sam let them go and turned to find them practically falling face first onto the pavement.

“You two really need to work on your stamina,” Sam said, eyeing the two boys as they panted heavily and leaned on the worn stone steps. Tucker made an unhappy noise between pants as he slowly slid to the ground. “Danny, keys?” she requested impatiently.

Danny pulled his house keys out of his pocket and tossed them to her before leaning down and tugging Tucker back into a standing position. “Come on, before she steals my cats,” Danny joked with a cheeky smile.

“Dude, she might,” Tucker joked back, “you better keep an eye on her.”

“Come on,” Sam complained from just inside, “hurry up!” The boys grinned at each other before charging into the house after her.

“Mom! Dad! Sam and Tucker are here,” Danny yelled as they took their shoes off in the foyer and set them on the rug beside the door. When no one answered, Danny just sighed and led the other two to the kitchen where his parents had put up their special ‘Vlad proof’ baby gates.

Sam squealed as the loud cries of playing kittens drifted out, practically bouncing as they waited for Danny to unlock the stupidly complicated mechanism that kept the gate doors closed.

As soon as it was open, Danny gestured for the other two to go in quickly before stepping in himself and re-locking the gate behind them. The sight that awaited him was a familiar one, even with the addition of his friends.

The table was pushed against the bit of side wall not taken up by counters with all the chairs tucked carefully underneath, leaving most of the middle of the room open for the gobs of random cat toys and pieces of random trash for the cats to bat around and play with as they pleased. The two cat boxes bracketed the doorway from the front like stinky sentries— a fragrant reminder that Danny needed to clean those out later. Vlad’s cat tree, a large structure with several perches of varying height and a couple different hiding spots made by his dad out of some of their older, failed ghost projects, was positioned right between the counter and the door to the basement, giving the cat a perfect view of anyone and everyone in the room.

Vlad was exactly where Danny expected— sitting on one of the lower platforms, tail flicking as he stared down the basement door— while the kittens scurried around on the floor below seemingly without a care in the world. Usually, or at least usually when he had stolen the kittens himself, Vlad would be right down on the floor playing with them or would at least have his favorite of the bunch up on the perch with him as he groomed them, but ever since Danny’s parents had started their big project he could be found glaring at the basement door.

Danny didn’t know how he knew that his parents were working on a new ghost portal, but Vlad had always been weirdly smart. And weird in general. Honestly, the kitten theft was probably one of the less remarkable things about him. According to his mom, he had once been a normal black and white tuxedo cat with yellow eyes, but after a run in with his parents’ prototype portal in collage, his fur had turned a dark reddish-magenta where it had been black and an almost off-white pink where it had been white before. His eyes had also shifted into a brilliant almost-neon red that practically glowed in the dark. According to his parents, beyond the color change and setting off their trackers once in a while, Vlad didn’t have anything else wrong with him.

The kittens, in contrast, were normal from the black and white color of their fur to the way they mobbed Sam as she kneeled on the floor. “Awww,” Sam coo’d, as she reached out for them to sniff at her, “they’re so cute.”

Blake, the only long haired among them and the largest of the bunch, was quick to jump into her arms and ask for pets. He was quickly followed by Flynn, the smallest despite his position as second oldest, as he started jumping up Sam’s back to bat at her ponytail.

“What’s with the wheels on that one,” Tucker asked, pointing at the kitten attempting to join Blake on Sam’s lap and failing as the cart attached to his back got caught on Sam’s leg. The kitten’s yellow eyes were squinted in displeasure as he cried loudly for Sam’s attention.

”Mattie was born without back legs, so Dad made a cart for him so he could still get around.”

“What are the other one’s names?” Sam asked as she cuddled and coo’d at a loudly purring Blake and no-longer-yelling Mattie while the last two, who Jazz liked to refer to as ‘the twins’, had turned their attention to tackling each other and trying to bite at each other’s ears as they fought for what little lap room was left.

“The big one is Blake, the tiny one is Flynn and the duo that are constantly tackling each other are Danielle and Jasper.” Tucker laughed.

“They named them after you and Jazz?”

“Yeah,” Danny grumbled as he walked over and started petting Vlad, who started purring softly and leaning into the touch even as he refused to stop staring down the lab door, “They’re planning on keeping those two since Vlad’s hitting 21 this year. I think Mom’s just waiting for him to drop dead one of these days so she can dissect him.”

“That demon cat? No way,” Tucker said, throwing an arm over Danny’s shoulders, “he’s going to live to a hundred out of pure spite.”

“Don’t call him a demon,” Sam complained from the floor as she finally looked up from the kitten mob, “he’s a sweetheart.”

“To you maybe,” Tucker snarked, “you’re not the one who woke up to those red eyes staring you down in the dark.” Danny snorted.

“You should have heard him scream,” Danny teased. “He woke everyone up and Mom and Dad burst in the room with their ectoblasters and everything.” Sam gave a bark of laughter.

“I wish I’d seen that.” Tucker gave her a faux scowl, leaning forward to retaliate with an embarrassing story about her, when the lab door slammed open, startling all of them.

“Danno!” Danny’s dad cheered, “guess what!”

“Uhh—Wait, Vlad No!” Danny yelled as the cat ripped himself out from under Danny’s hand and lunged for the door. Danny’s dad just barely managed to snatch the cat out of the air before he could zoom down the stairs. A low growl started in Vlad’s chest and Danny’s mom quickly grabbed the cat before he attempted to draw blood. The cat settled down with a huff, tail lashing but no longer in danger of biting someone.

Danny rushed forward and collected Vlad before his mom could start lecturing him on keeping ahold of the cat when the lab was open. “So, what was the big news?”

His mom gave him a look that promised a lecture later, while his Dad declared, “the portal is done! We’re gonna bust straight into the ghost zone. You guys wanna watch?”

The trio shared a look, each daring the others to respond first. Sam carefully unburied herself from the kitten pile so she could stand next to Danny and Tucker. “Uhhh, sure?” Danny answered finally as the guilt set in when his dad’s smile started to droop a bit. Vlad huffed in his arms, but obligingly returned to laying down on his cat tree when Danny set him back on his perch.

“Come on!” His dad cheered, excitement returning as he herded them down the stairs while his mom guarded the door from feisty felines.

The first thing Danny noticed upon walking down was that the lab was a mess. It was normally a mess, with multiple projects in various states scattered all over the place, but right now? There were spare parts and tools everywhere with no sign of any kind of organization while large cables crisscrossed the floor without a distinct start or end. The only remotely clean looking area was right in front of the brand new hole in the wall. The hole looked big enough to drive a car through and was lined with shiny metal panels. The outside was framed by a large metal arch with various devices branching from the sides. His dad practically danced across the floor while the rest of them were forced to carefully pick their way over to the one bare spot.

“This is going to be a once in a lifetime experience!” Danny’s dad boasted loudly, “Who wants to man the camera?” In sync, Danny and Tucker both took a large step back, leaving Sam the only one standing there.

She turned and shot dirty looks at both of them before turning back to Danny’s dad and offering up a wary, “Uh, I can.”

“That’s the spirit! Here,” he said, passing her a bulky digital camera with his face plastered to the side, “this is the Fenton Photographer! It can take pictures of ghosts even when they go invisible. Just snap some pictures when we get the portal going and any ectoplasmic horror lurking around should show up on screen so we can—”

“Hey dad,” Danny interrupted, “should we be putting on our safety gear so we don’t end up like Vlad.”

“Yeah,” Tucker agreed, “pink is so not my color.”

“Don’t worry Danno! We have all sorts of safety features packed into this thing. No chance of any blasts escaping containment this time!”

“Your father’s right,” his mom agreed as she stepped off the stairs to stand with them, “the size to power ratio on this one is much more stable. Plus I made sure that the ectofiltrate was in the filter instead of diet soda this time.” The pointed look she gave her husband did not go unnoticed by anyone and the man gave a nervous laugh as he scurried to where two large cables were sitting on the floor and lifted each by the plug.

“Ready? And,” Sam lifted the camera, “Bonzai!”

Jack slammed the two plugs together. The trio tensed up. A moment passed.

Two.

Three.

Jack’s shoulders slumped. Maddie hummed, eyes narrowed as she grabbed one end of the wire and stared following it back towards the wall and then into the sub basement. “I found the issue,” she sang, “it wasn’t plugged into the generator.” The lab was suddenly filled with the sound of whirring machinery and the clicking of panels sliding into place. Sam brought the camera back up from where she had lowered it after the first failed start. A low buzzing started, the frequency rumbling through their chests. Danny and Tucker moved a little closer to each other, placing themselves just behind Sam in the process— something Danny knew she would have commented on had she not been otherwise occupied.

Danny flinched as a bright green spark flashed into being, arcing across the portal frame. He could hear Sam taking pictures as the spark left a line in its wake that was slowly growing in size. Danny could feel something buzzing along his skin. Then, all of a sudden, there was a soft popping noise and the light disappeared, leaving the portal frame empty.

Danny winced as his parent’s shoulders immediately slumped. His mom darted over to the counter where papers were scattered haphazardly. “How did it not work, I went over the calculations at least twenty times. Why didn’t it work?”

Danny watched quietly as his dad walked over, slung an arm over her shoulders, and the two of them started talking quietly. Danny, Sam, and Tucker shifted and glanced between each other.

“Should we…” Tucker asked looking pointedly towards the door. Danny nodded.

“Hold on,” Sam muttered as they started towards the stairs. Then, raising her voice, she asked, “Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, what do you want me to do with the camera?”

“The camera!” Danny’s dad cheered, pulling the device from her hands. “Maybe there’s something on here!” Danny watched with baited breath as his parents leaned over the camera and slowly scrolled through each picture— their shoulders going lower and lower as their faces radiated disappointment. Finally, Danny’s dad tossed the camera back to Sam, totally defeated.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said, turning and frowning at the portal frame, “maybe… we just need to take a step back and re-think some things.” He sighed, scratching at the back of his neck as he started slowly trudging back to the stairs. “I’m gong to go get something to eat, maybe take a nap.”

“I’ll join you,” Danny’s mom agreed, voice soft. As the duo climbed the stairs and left the basement, his mom’s voice drifted down, “There has to be something we’re missing. Maybe if we let—” The trio shared uneasy looks as they stood alone in the lab.

“Soooooo,” Sam said as she looked around the room, “should we, like, unplug it or something?”

“Maybe?” Danny answered as he scratched at his neck. He really wasn’t sure what his parents would want them to do. “I don’t know if—”

Danny froze. In their disappointment, his parents had left the door ajar— a fact Danny suddenly became very aware of when the door burst open, letting in light from the kitchen as well as all the cats. He burst into motion, scrambling towards the stairs, where Vlad had Mattie, cart and all, dangling from his mouth while the other kittens scurried after him.

“Ah, shoot!” he yelped as he tripped on one of the random pieces of machinery scattered around. “Guys, help me grab the cats.” Tucker, the closest one to the stairs, lunged for Vlad as the cat made it to the basement floor. The cat took one look at him and jumped out of reach before Tucker could make contact. Tucker hit the floor with a pained, ‘oof’. The other cats jumped onto his back and then sprang off in different directions as Vlad b-lined to the portal hole. He only paused to set Mattie down in the open area before going to sniff at the portal frame.

“Vlad no. Don’t do that!” Danny yelped as he pulled himself free of the hoses that had gotten wrapped around his ankle only to unbalance and fall back in them as Danielle and Jasper skittered right where his foot was about to land.

Sam, meanwhile, tossed the camera onto the work table and lunged for Blake and Flynn as they tried scooting past her underneath the table. For a moment, she manage to catch Flynn. Unfortunately, Blake barreled into her hands a second later, making her flinch back in surprise, dropping Flynn back to the floor. The two darted away before she could make another grab.

“Vlad Stop!” Danny shouted as the cat finished sniffing, led the kittens straight into the wall tunnel, and started pulling up one of the thin metallic panels that lined the space. Kicking away the spare parts around him, Danny jumped to his feet and ran for the jumpsuit locker. He quickly donned his white and black protective gear before darting in after them. Grabbing Vlad, who growled loudly, Danny practically threw him into Sam’s arms before turning to grab the kittens.

His foot came down on something warm and wiggling and Danny threw himself back before he could crush Flynn. He threw out his arm in an attempt to regain balance, trying brace against the wall.

Something small and round depressed beneath his hand.

The whirling of machinery was his only warning before something cold and sharp and foreign slammed through every inch of his being. The last thing he heard before passing out was the sound of screaming.

-x-X-x-X-x-

When he woke again, it was to the familiar feeling of a rough tongue rasping over his face. Danny groaned. Every inch of his body was sore and painful and, despite the blankets wrapped around him, he was freezing. The only spots he was warm were the places he could feel little sleeping bodies tucked in next to him and the large bulk of Vlad on top of his chest. Danny cracked his eyes open and watched him pull back, his bright red eyes staring into Danny’s tired blues as he meowed and started purring loudly in the otherwise silent room.

“Oh, so now you like me? You growled at me earlier,” Danny asked sullenly even as his body relaxed at the familiar sound. Vlad sniffed at his face. Seemingly satisfied, he leaned back on Danny’s chest and shifted over to start grooming the pair of kittens tucked into Danny’s left side. One of them, Danielle or Jasper purred loudly as their face was dislodged from his side by the grooming. He knew it was one of them because he could feel a cart digging into his knee, the tiny body tucked beneath his chin had to be Flynn, and Blake was kneading his hip. It was only thanks to the thick blanket covering him that he was saved from the kitten’s needle claws stabbing into his flesh. Danny considered moving and dislodging the cats, but his head was pounding and his limbs felt like lead. Even thinking about moving was making him tired. Besides, the purring was pretty nice…

With a sigh, Danny laid this head back down and let himself drift back to sleep…

-x-X-x-X-x-

The next time he woke up, there was no sign of Vlad or any of the kittens. He still didn’t feel great, but he did feel a lot better than the last time. He was debating between getting up and going back to sleep when his door opened up revealing an upset looking Jazz.

“Jazz? What’s wrong,” he asked. Her eyes darted towards him and her face brightened dramatically.

“Danny!” she yelled, running forward and wrapping her arms around him.

“Uh, Jazz? Are you okay?” he asked, patting her back awkwardly as she hugged him just a bit too tight.

“Am I okay? I should be asking you that,” she sniffled as she leaned back to look at him. Danny blinked at her.

“What happened?”

“What happened? What do you mean? You got hit by their stupid portal turning on is what happened! They’re lucky you didn’t get killed!” Danny flinched back a bit at her volume and Jazz’s face softened. “Mom and Dad were pretty worried when they heard you screaming. Dad had to catch you when the portal spit you back out.”

“Where are they?” Danny asked, looking around the room as if they would pop out of thin air. His shoulders slumped when he didn’t see them, “are they fixing their portal?” Jazz looked away and started chewing on her lip nervously.

“They’re… out looking for the cats. Vlad apparently dragged the kittens off somewhere while they weren’t looking. They got hit with the portal too— mom and dad think they might not make it since they’re so little.”

“What?” Danny asked, horrified. “But. They were just here a bit ago. Vlad woke me up. The kittens were fine. What do you mean ‘they went missing’?” Danny asked as he struggled into a sitting position and scanned the room once more. When no cats were apparent he became frantic, “they were just here. I know they were!” He went to shove himself out of bed when Jazz intervened.

“Danny, you’ve been asleep for two days,” Jazz said, putting her hands on his shoulders and pushing to try and get him to lay back down.

“Two Days!” Danny yelped, eyes wide.

“Mom and Dad are looking everywhere for them, but you need to rest. The portal that hit you was a lot bigger than the one that hit Vlad. Mom wants to make sure you don’t have any weird reactions.”

“Mom doesn’t even like Vlad,” Danny cried as his body gave out and sent him crashing back onto the mattress, “she was gonna dissect him.”

“Look,” Jazz pitched her voice low and glanced towards the door, “I don’t think you have to worry about that. Vlad’s a lot smarter than mom and dad give him credit for. And a lot weirder. I’m sure he’ll be back before you know it, but you need to rest before you hurt yourself.” Danny sniffed, eyes wet with frustrated tears.

“Fine,” he snapped, rubbing almost violently at his eyes, “but as soon as I’m better I’m gonna find him.” Jazz ruffled his hair.

“I know you will little brother. Now how do you feel about some soup— straight from the can and warmed up on the stove.” Danny nodded miserably. Jazz sighed and ran her fingers through Danny’s hair. “Don’t worry Danny, I’m sure Vlad’ll show back up soon.”

[kizzer55555]

Danny finds out about the pranks one day and shows up. Ellie has just finished robbing the heroes again. Waving around their gear and money in victory. She is on a power high, nothing can stop her now!

Then the heroes see something phase up from the ground behind her. It’s a figure that looks strikingly similar to the kid currently dancing in front of them. From the white hair, green eyes, glowing aura, and the face itself all down to the outfit. Yet this person is older, and male. For a moment, the Justice league are wondering if now they will have to deal with two kids seemingly immune to all of their abilities.

The male clears his throat and the girl freezes. She slowly turns around and..oh. Yeah the Justice league know that look. That’s a disappointed mom look if they’ve ever seen one.

Ellie casually tries to hide the heroes’s items behind her back. “Hiiiii Danny. Fancy meeting you here!”

Danny raises an unimpressed eyebrow.

Yeah, this is clearly a kid with their hand caught in the cookie jar. It’s cute that she’s trying to deflect but it’s clear the male isn’t buying it. Then he makes her return all the items and apologize to ‘the nice heroes’ and then apologizing again on his little sister’s behalf while she pouts and is being held by the scruff (but doesn’t struggle, unlike when the heroes tried this exact move before and almost got their arm clawed off).

But does this stop? Of course not! When do Kids ever learn their lesson! Especially when it’s something fun. No, they just learn not to get caught. And this starts the adventures Of the Justice league actively seeking Phantom out to ‘taddle’ to him about his sister’s actions as he’s the only one capable of getting her to stop. They just show up in amity park either flying around and calling Phantom’s name to get his attention (Danny hides his head in embarrassment during class as Tucker and Sam snicker in their seats) they just walk around until he comes to them (Danny had whiplash when he saw Batman walking down the street), and some even set out stuff to try and lure him out (Flash actually got pretty close when he set out a bunch of candy and video games, at least until Technus showed up). When the heroes do get Danny’s attention, it’s usually to tell him that oh, his sister mugged Superman again, she broke into this important museum, she started a riot in Arkham and no one’s really sure how she got in there in the first place, she ate Scarecrow’s mask, she robbed Luthor, she ransacked the Flash Family’s pantry, she rewired all of Constantine’s Magic books and put a curse on him so he can only swear on old book titles and breakfast cereal, she’s using Superman’s cape as a cloak similar to batman, she sold Aquaman’s trident again, She sold Green Lantern’s shoes, and she took the batplane for a joyride!

Danny has no idea how this became his life. (Secretly he’s so proud of his sister and her gremlin energy but he’s a hero and he has to be ‘responsible’) Danny doesn’t know why all these heroes are coming to him and whining like little children but apparently this is his life now. (I just love that thought, where the Justice are in a serious meeting, and then Ellie does something so they all groan and go to Amity yelling“Phaaaantooom!” Like one would go “Mooooom! She’s doing it again!”)

Wait until they meet Vlad and learn this is all his fault.

Ellie isn't allowed to travel alone Anymore

So! Ellie was raised in a Lab by a Genuine Bonefied Supervillain. She was raised to be a Villain as well, so her Moral Conpass is a little skewed.

Sure she *mostly* knows what is right and wrong from Danny's quick lesson before her Adventure around the Country, but she still has trouble separating what is moral and what is not from time to time.

So it's really no surprise that the moment she left Amity Park she somehow ended up being branded a Villain.

Look, it's not her fault she didn't know not to attack the flying guy in Blue Spandex when he approached her! One of Danny's biggest warnings shen she left had been Stranger Danger! She did what any 12 year old girl would have done when approached by a strange Older Man!

Its also not her fault that her powers (being Magic based), managed to affect him! She didn't even use her full power! (She maybe should have kicked him in a different place tho...she hopes he wasn't planning on having kids...)

So she did what her instincts told her to do. She took any money he had on him and ran the hell away!

It wasn't until she was 2 cities over when she saw a newspaper titled, "Little Villain Girl Mugs Superman in Broad Daylight!", that she realized she may have screwed up...

After that, she really had no excuse.

She knew that she probably shouldn't have kept Mugging the Heroes who approached her, but she wasn't a Fenton for nothing! Her Family Motto had always been "Commit to the Bit", and she was gonna stick to it!

So when the Fast Red Guy tried to tie her up, she phased off all his clothes and took off with his money (not the mask, she knew enough not to take that off)

And when the Grumpy Bat Guy tried to corner her with some weird papers he pulled out of his Belt, she just distracted him while her clone picked his pockets and made off with the wheels of his Car. That one made her a pretty penny!

The flying Green Guy was fun, his attacks were just throwing Ghost Candy (pure willpower) at her. He did stop doing do after she nicked his fancy talking Ring however, but it was fun while it lasted

Then she came across a Orange Fish Guy, and he actually seemed nice enough. But she was committing to the Bit, so she took the fancy Trident he had and sold it at a nearby Pawn Shop for some extra cash. He would probably be able to find it, that's why she chose a nearby location.

All in All, her Adventure had been really fun! So she decided to visit Amity Park again to tell Danny all about it!

...

Aquaman walked into the meeting room of the Watchtower, a very frustrated look in his eye.

Barry spoke up first, "Oh! I know that look in your eye! She got to you too didn't she!"

Arthur just glared at Barry for a second before walking over to his Chair, sitting down with a thump. "She is certainly a tricky child."

"What did she take this time?" Clark asked.

"..mttrident..." Arthur grumbled out quickly.

"What was that?" Asked Barry with a twinkle in his eye. He heard it, but he wanted everybody else to know.

"She took my trident, Okay!" Arthur shouted out.

"I feel ya man." Responded Hal, "At least with me she threw it back at me when she realized it wasn't making 'candy' anymore. What did she do with yours?"

"She sold it at a Pawn Shop!" Arthus yelled in frustration, "She managed to steal one of the most Powerful Magical Weapons in the world, the Symbol of the entire Atalantean Royal Bloodline, and she sold it and a Pawn Shop!"

"...how much did she get for it?" Asked Hal.

At this, Aquaman just collapsed to the table and groaned.

...

Alternatively she could have just kept all those things, and gradually built up a collection of all the JLA's most treasured possessions.

She has Supermans Wallet, not very important to him but it was her first mugging

She has Batmans Utility Belt (trackers removed) along with his Tires

She took Flashes Costume Ring (his civilian clothes still stuck inside)

She took Green Lanterns ring as well, but unfortunately it managed to escape after a few days. It was feisty.

And her crowning Jewel is the Trident she took from Aquaman.

(She avoided WW, cause she likes her too much to steal anything from her)

[reallydumbdannyphantomaus]

Science Fair

this is my holiday truce gift for @bee-lesbian who requested sam, danny, and tucker just hanging out and being friends! sorry for the lateness, but i had some fun with this just letting them be chaos children :)

“Are you sure this will work?” Danny said.

“It’ll work,” Tucker said.

“It will not,” Sam said, “but I don’t think it’ll kill you since you already died once.”

“Sam!”

“What? He did!”

“Guys, please stop talking about my untimely and exaggerated death.”

Sam rolled her eyes. “Only when you stop poorly paraphrasing Mark Twain.”

“Okay Danny, are you ready?”

“No.”

“Great!” Tucker handed him two cords, one red and one green, both with bits of exposed copper wire at the end. Both wires were connected to the charging port of Tucker’s laptop. “Operation: Halfa Battery is a go!”

“Sam, help?”

“Uh-uh, mister. You told Tucker a week ago that you’d help with his science fair project; you don’t get to back out now.”

“You’re just hoping something blows up, aren’t you.”

“Pretty much,” Sam said, stepping a safe distance away and pulling out her phone to record. “Now, smile for the camera! Just because I can’t put this on YouTube doesn’t mean I don’t want this recorded for myself.”

“Well, you better be prepared for my resounding success!” Tucker said, donning a pair of safety goggles as Sam and Danny did the same and hiding behind a tipped-over table. “Danny will be the new portable laptop charger!”

“My dream job.”

“Okay!” Tucker clapped his hands together. “Ready?”

“Ready!” Sam pointed her camera at the boys.

“Ready.” Danny sighed.

“Go!’

Danny grabbed both of the exposed ends of the wires and… nothing. No flash, no bang. A faint whirring sound came from Tucker’s computer as it began booting up, but that was all.

“Haha!” Tucker stuck his hand in the air in a V for Victory pose. “Eat that, Sam!”

“Aw,” Sam said, putting down her phone. “It works.”

Tucker crept out from his shelter and approached his laptop. Tapping in his password, his glasses reflected the light of the screen as he signed in and pulled up something that shone white on his glasses. Like a goddamn anime character.

“Hey Tuck,” Danny said, “how exactly were we supposed to show off the…”

“The Halfa Battery,” Tucker said.

“Yeah. How are we supposed to show that off without revealing my secret?”

“Uh, we… well, we can...” Tucker stopped typing. “Huh. I hadn’t thought about that.”

Danny smacked himself in the face, letting go of one of the wires. (Tucker yelled “Hey!” as the laptop quickly ran through the little power it had stored and shut back down.) “I said I’d help, but under no circumstance will I tell the school that I’m half ghost for your science fair project!”

“We could put you in a ski mask?”

“Tucker!”

“You could do it as Phantom!” Sam said, shouting from… even farther away it seemed, and behind another table. When had she moved back? At some point, she’d also put her phone back up and seemed to be recording again.

“You could do it as Phantom. No one would recognize you.”

Danny sighed. “I could do it as Phantom.”

“You should try it out now, though! Make sure it still works.”

“We should try it out now. We’ve changed a variable.”

Danny switched to his ghost form. “I guess we’re trying it out now.” The electricity of his ghost powers that always buzzed beneath his skin amplified by an order of magnitude. He looked again at Sam, who flashed him what looked like a thumbs up, though she was too far away to tell for sure.

Tucker looked back at his laptop and shrugged. “It’s an old model anyway,” he said, moving to hide behind his overturned table again. “Ready!”

“Ready!”

Danny grabbed the wire he’d dropped, avoiding the exposed bit, and prepared to turn intangible. “Ready!”

“And… go!”

Danny touched the exposed wire, completing the circuit once again. The whirring started up again, this time with a high-pitched whine. The laptop booted up. The whining crescendoed, loud and almost painful. Danny was the only one closed enough to the computer to feel the sudden excess of heat that it was giving off.

Danny turned intangible.

The laptop exploded.

There was less fire involved than any TV explosions he’d seen. The wreckage of the computer was smoldering, sure, but there was no huge fireball. No flames licking the ceiling of his parents’ lab. Instead, Danny got to watch as, in a flash of green light, Tucker’s old, shitty laptop flew apart into a dozen pieces. A piece of the screen had embedded itself into the wall behind his head, and another bit had reached Sam’s table in the back of the room. Several were sticking out of Tucker’s table too.

“That was so cool!” Tucker popped his head up from behind the table, glasses askew.

Sam appeared with a fire extinguisher, spraying it on the still-smoking remains. “You should absolutely do that for the science fair.”

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can’t believe I have to say this, but we cannot bring an exploding laptop to the science fair.”

“You can if you aren’t a coward.”

“Tuck. Please.”

“... What would you both say to helping me build a transparent protective bubble that can withstand, say, an exploding laptop?”

Danny groaned. His friends were the worst.

He loved them so much.

[q-gorgeous]

Going Home

fanfiction

ao3

Danny wakes up in a bed that is not his own, he is covered with big splashes of ectoplasm and he has no memory of the day before. Prompt by @phantomfana

word count: 1033

ayeyeyeyeye

Danny groaned as he started slipping back into consciousness. What had happened yesterday? All he remembered was playing video games with Sam and Tucker and then suddenly everything was blank.

He rolled onto his other side, grimacing at a pain in his stomach but he ignored it in favor of going back to sleep. “Oh thank fuck, you’re awake.”

Danny’s eyes shot open at the voice that spoke next to him and he bolted up and then clenched at his head when it started aching. When he opened his eyes again, he looked to his left to see Dash staring at him with wide eyes. His brows furrowed and he looked around the room, which clearly wasn’t any room in his house. 

“What happened?” He mumbled, rubbing a hand against his face. “What am I doing here?”

Dash’s brows drew down. “You don’t remember?”

“No?” Danny said, his gaze darting back to Dash. 

Sighing, Dash ran a hand through his hair and looked at the floor. “Last night Phantom was in the park doing his nightly patrol.”

“Phantom?” Danny asked.

“Yeah. He was doing his usual rounds when the Fentons got there. I couldn’t hear everything they said, but they sounded like they were trying to ask him something. After a little while they started getting mad and shooting at him.”

“Okay.” Danny said. “He’s usually fine after dealing with them. What happened?”

“They pulled out a new weapon I’ve never seen before and shot him with it. He started falling out of the sky and he landed on the ground near me. I could hear them getting closer so I picked him up and started running here, but…”

Dash looked back up at Danny. 

“I saw him, you, transform.”

Danny’s eyes widened and he began trying to scramble backwards in the bed away from Dash. He hissed as a pain shot through his stomach again and stilled when Dash started waving his hands back and forth in front of him.

“No! Don’t do that! I don’t know what they hit you with but whatever healing power thing you usually have going on hasn’t kicked in yet for some reason.”

Looking down, Danny saw a big green stain on the front of his shirt. He lifted up the hem and saw bandages wrapped around his abdomen, green starting to peek through the fabric. 

“I would have gotten you a clean shirt but I figured you wouldn’t have liked that.” Dash said quietly. 

“You bandaged me up?”

“Yeah?” Dash asked with a frown.

“Why? Why would you help me?”

Dash stared at Danny. “Why wouldn’t I? You're the town’s hero. It’s not like I was gonna leave you there for your parents to find you.”

Danny’s eyes widened in panic again. “My parents- did they see me transform?”

“No.” Dash shook his head. “They were still too far away by the time I grabbed you and started running.”

Danny breathed out a sigh of relief. “Well that’s good. Now I don’t have to worry about going home.”

“Going home?”

“Yeah. You know.” Danny paused. “The place where I live?”

“Why would you- Your parents just shot you out of the sky! How can you go back home after that?” Dash yelled.

Shrugging, Danny just looked at Dash. “It’s not like this is the first time that’s happened.”

Dash’s shoulders slumped down and he dropped his face into his hands. 

“Doesn’t that terrify you?”

“Well, yeah.” Danny said. “But it’s not like I can just disappear because then they always come blasting at Phantom wondering where their son is.”

Dash let out a short laugh. “I wonder if that’s what happened yesterday when they were talking to you.”

“Maybe.”

They fell quiet after that. Dash stared at the bed, thinking, while Danny fidgeted with the blanket draped over him. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Danny spoke again.

“Well, I think I should probably go home now before they start wondering where I am. Wouldn’t want them to keep looking for me around town.”

“Are you sure you’re okay to go?” Dash asked. “You’re injury-”

“Isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever had. I’ll be fine in no time.”

Dash huffed. “If you say so.”

He watched as Danny started trying to scoot forward and out of the bed.

“Here, let me help.” 

Dash helped pull Danny to his feet, keeping him steady on his feet. They looked at each other for a moment before both looking away. 

“You’re not going to tell anyone are you?” Danny asked quietly.

Dash gaped at him. “Why would I tell anyone?”

Danny shrugged. “You’ve bullied me all the time that we’ve known each other. It's a valid question.”

“I guess you’re right.” Dash said. “But no, I’m not going to tell anyone. Realizing it was your parents who have been chasing their son this whole time… I wouldn’t want to put you into that kind of danger. Who knows what could happen.”

Nodding, Danny looked back up at Dash. “Thanks for, you know, helping me.”

“It was the least I could do.”

Nodding again, Danny stepped away from Dash and a bright flash of light appeared around his waist. Dash watched in awe as it split and traveled up and down Danny’s body until it left Phantom in his place.

“Woah.” Dash whispered. 

Danny smiled at the look on Dash’s face and gave a small wave before turning to the wall. He was about to fly away when a hand grabbed his wrist.

“Just.” Dash met his gaze and then looked away. “Be careful out there.”

He chuckled and patted the hand that was around his wrist. “Don’t worry, I’ll do my best,”

With that, Danny gently pulled his wrist from Dash’s hand and flew through the wall and up into the air. He took a deep breath. He wasn’t looking forward to the questions and scolding he knew he would get from his parents, but he hoped he’d at least be able to get a clean shirt before they could see him. 

He took off and began flying away from Dash’s house and towards the fate his parents had waiting for him for breaking curfew. 

[ecto-american]

Liar Liar

Phic Phight Oneshot for Ectopal: After an argument with her now grounded son, Maddie wishes that Danny wouldn't lie to her-and Desiree overhears. [TransDanny]

The OG prompt: After an argument with her now grounded son, Maddie wishes that Danny wouldn't lie to her-and Desiree overhears.

Potential TW for trans-related venting and implied violence, but there’s nothing graphic

on FFN and AO3

The front door opened, and Maddie frowned as she glanced at the clock that informed her that yes. It was definitely hours past his curfew.

No lights turned on, but she still could tell from the faint light of the one kitchen light, the light that the family just never turned off so that they could see at night, that it was definitely her son doing his best to remain quiet. And now that she knew he was safe, all of her fears about if he was okay and his safety melted away and allowed for anger to start boiling.

"Daniel James Fenton," she finally called out. The figure froze, and she flipped the light switch on. Before her was her son, looking as guilty as ever. One hand was on the wall, guiding him as he approached the stairs, the other holding onto his binder and shoes. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"...Um...Can I plead the fifth?" he asked weakly. Her frown deepened.

"It's nearly two in the morning, and on a school night!" she scolded. "Let's not even talk about how you snuck out right now." His shoulders slumped. "You could have been dead for all I know!"

"I'm sorry," he replied quietly.

"Where were you?" Maddie asked.

"I was at Tucker's, we got caught up playing video games," he said. Maddie scowled.

"Tell me the truth," she said. Danny scowled back.

"I am!" he insisted.

"Then how come Pamela called me?" Maddie asked. At the name of Mrs. Manson, Danny paled.

"...She called you?" his voice croaked out.

"You bet she called me," Maddie snapped. "What were you thinking?"

"I wi-I just!" Danny cut himself off as he seemed to struggle to find his words. "I'm just wanting more freedom! I'm an adult now! I can legally buy cigarettes!" Maddie couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Well I wish you wouldn't lie to me!" Maddie argued back. Danny flinched at her words. "And maybe if you didn't, I'd let you have more freedom! But you lied about going to your room, you lied to me just now about where you were, and I already know that you're going to lie to me when I ask you what you and Sam have been doing!"

"We weren't doing anything!" Danny half-yelled back. "We fell asleep binge watching one of her true crime shows!"

"Don't lie to me!" Maddie told him.

"I'm not!"

Maddie made an angry grumbling noise, crossing her arms.

"You're ground, all weekend," she informed him. Danny didn't respond; he simply made a face at her. He brushed past her to angrily stomp up the stairs. She didn't bother snapping at him over that too.

"So you have wished it, so shall it be."

Maddie turned around rapidly at the voice. It wasn't Danny's...and Jazz was miles away at college…But what she did hear was Danny slamming his bedroom door shut. She'd get onto him about that in the morning.

A quick inspection, and she found nothing, and she decided to just call it a night. She went upstairs herself, pausing at Danny's door to listen. She could hear Danny shuffle around for a moment, though after a moment, she saw his light go out and heard his bed creak as he rested on it. She just knew he was going to fall asleep in class tomorrow. Maddie sighed, and she went into her room.

Jack was just coming from the bathroom with a light yawn, and she felt guilty.

"Did we wake you up?" she wondered. Jack gave her a small smile and shrugged.

"It's okay," he assured her. Maddie huffed.

"No, it's not," she insisted. "He should have been home. He was over at Sam's house until about ten minutes ago. Pam called to complain about it."

"Ah, he's just doing what teenagers do," Jack replied. Maddie frowned as she got into bed.

"Well that mentality is how we end up grandparents way too early," she reminded him. Jack gave a light sigh as he also slipped back into bed.

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed. "I'll talk to him about it soon."

"Thank you. He's pretty mad at me right now," Maddie turned her bedside lamp off. Jack chuckled.

"He'll probably be mad for a bit, but he'll get over it," he reassured her. He switched his own bedside lamp off as he got settled back in. "Night, love you."

"Love you too."

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

Despite the late night, Maddie was up early. She could hear that Danny was already up and getting ready in the bathroom, so she didn't feel the need to say anything to him just yet. They could reserve any conversation for after school.

By the time she came downstairs, Danny was in the kitchen staring at the toaster, backpack on the kitchen table.

"Morning, sweetie," she greeted him warmly.

He gave her a somewhat dirty look, and he mumbled a cranky and short "morning" in response. She opted to ignore his attitude for now, and she went over to the coffee maker. While she was waiting for Danny, she had gone ahead and scheduled the coffee maker to start making coffee, and man was she glad. It was already pouring, and it smelled great.

"Danny, do you want a cup of coffee?" she asked him. He glanced over, and he shook his head no.

"Mm no thanks," he replied.

"Did you sleep okay?"

"I slept like shit."

Maddie glanced at Danny in surprise, and he stared back at her, equally as confused. Danny never cussed at her.

"Cause you stayed out all night, huh?" Maddie lightly accused, leaning her hand on the counter.

"No, cause I slept with my binder on and now my chest hurts," he snapped back. Maddie frowned.

"You're not supposed to do that," she told him.

"Well maybe if I wasn't fucking born like this-," he began but cut himself off. He looked so confused, and Maddie was too. Not at the statement. She had no doubt that it was true, but where did all this cussing come from? He knew better than to talk to her like that, and it was so...weird. Danny glanced back to the toaster, clearing his throat. "Sorry, I...I uh…" Two pop tarts popped out of the toaster, and he quickly snatched them up. "I gotta go. Bye."

"...Have a good day," Maddie called after him, staring as he quickly walked out, and she heard the front door close. She made her cup of coffee, and she got to work.

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

She jumped as their ghost alarm went off, but Jack and Maddie wasted no time quickly collecting their things and rushing out the door and into the RV. It led them right to the scene. A fight against Amity Park's most popular ghost and another fairly familiar ghost, a green skinned woman with flowing black hair dressed exclusively in blue.

Maddie messily pulled into a parking spot off the side of the road, and Jack immediately hopped out. Maddie followed suit, and she hurried towards the action.

"Stop granting every damn wish you hear! I swear, it's ridiculous!" she could hear Phantom yell.

"I'm merely giving people what they ask for," the woman, Desiree Maddie believed she was called, replied smugly.

Phantom looked like he was gonna say something more, but stopped when he seemed to glance over and notice their arrival.

"Let's just finish this," he said instead, and he blasted her, only to miss. The woman smirked, but it was quickly cut off by a secondary blast from Jack.

"Jack!" Maddie gasped in excitement. "Excellent shot!" Jack grinned proudly, firing another. Only to miss, as sorta expected.

"I do not have time for this!" Phantom scowled. Maddie rolled her eyes. What the hell does a ghost have going on? He pulled out the Fenton Thermos and sucked the other ghost in.

"You ever going to return that?" Maddie called out sarcastically.

"It's my thermos! You gave it to me!" Phantom called back, immediately giving her a weird blank look. Maddie narrowed her eyes.

"We didn't give you anything," she replied. She held her hand out expectantly. "Give it back."

Phantom opened his mouth to rebuttal, only to get blasted. It knocked him back and made him drop the thermos. Maddie dove for it as Jack fired more shots, and she was thankfully able to grab it before it hit the ground. However when she looked up, Phantom was gone.

"Mads! Did you see that!?" Jack asked. She looked up at him with a proud smile as he jogged over to her.

"I did!" she replied cheerfully. "You've gotten a lot better!" Jack puffed up proudly. "Where did Phantom go?"

"Dunno," he admitted, and his shoulders immediately fell a bit. "After I got him, he flew off. Musta been scared." He offered his hand out to her, and she accepted it.

"Probably," she agreed. She held the thermos up. "Least we got this back though." Jack nodded. "We'll put her back in the Zone later. Let's get some lunch."

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

Maddie made a point to make sure she was upstairs so that she could make sure Danny came home on time, given his grounding situation. While she waited, she began to make some cupcakes. As she was mixing batter, she heard the front door open and close.

"Hey Danny," she greeted from the kitchen. She glanced at the clock. He was ten minutes later than he normally would have come home, but it wasn't enough for her to say anything.

"...Hey mom," came the reply. He stepped into the kitchen, and Maddie glanced at him, only to do a double take. His right cheek was badly swollen from a bad bruise. Maddie immediately wiped her hands on a dish towel, staring at him.

"What happened?" she asked, stepping towards him. He stared at her in confusion before putting his hand to his face. He pressed his lips tightly together and didn't answer. She asked once more, more firmly. "Danny, what happened?"

He opened his mouth to say something, only to choke on nothing and close his mouth again. Maddie went to the freezer to get an ice pack. She motioned for him to sit down. He sat at the kitchen table, and she pulled a chair up to him. She pressed the ice pack to his face, and he took it from her, leaning his elbow on the table.

"I'll only ask you one more time," she began, only for Danny to angrily cut her off.

"I got beat up today, okay?" he replied, sounding exasperated. Maddie blinked.

"By who?" she asked. Danny gave her a sour look, and he refused to speak. "Danny…"

"I don't wanna talk about it," he finally spoke. He began to stand up. "Look, I'm fine. It's not a big deal."

"It's a huge deal!" Maddie argued. She grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to sit back down. "You're going to tell me what's going on right now. Who hurt you?"

"Just some dudes at school," he tried to keep his answers short. But Maddie was having none of that.

"But why?" she pressed. Danny stayed quiet. "Daniel James-"

"What do you want me to say, Mom?" he snapped. "That I constantly get my ass kicked for being queer? That every day I get reminded that they think I'm some freak that shouldn't be allowed to exist? Let alone in any kind of relative peace? People don't like me. Why do you think I want to get my name changed as soon as possible? Why I've been begging for surgery as a birthday gift? It's so that when I go to college, nobody will know."

"...I had no idea," she said slowly.

"Yeah, I know," he said shortly. He got up, managing to evade her touch again to go for the stairs. Before she could say anything else, he was upstairs, and she could hear his door closing.

What had gotten into him? Maddie had never heard Danny talk about any of those things to her before. How long had these feelings been going on? Why had he never talked to her before about this?

She forced herself to stand and return to her baking. Mindlessly, she began to fill her cupcake tray up with batter, slipping them into the oven when she heard noise in the basement. She frowned, quickly setting her timer before going down.

Phantom was there, looking through her stuff. Snooping around. He was carefully looking around, muttering to himself as he hunted for...something.

"Can I help you, Phantom?"

The ghost jumped, turning on his heel.

"I'm looking for the wishing ghost so I can undo a wish," he replied. She raised an eyebrow at his blunt honesty.

"What wish?" She asked. Phantom scowled, narrowing his eyes as he seemed to think hard.

"That's private," he replied. She glared back at him, but then it hit her.

"Well I wish you wouldn't lie to me!"

Her son couldn't lie to her. Because of the wishing ghost still trapped in the thermos. She hadn't had a chance to empty the thermoses of ghosts she had Jack had caught over the past two weeks.

"I suggest you leave through that portal then before I blast you through it," she said. "The wishing ghost is staying here with me." Phantom narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her.

"Not without that wishing ghost," he replied. Maddie picked a blaster off the table near her, pointing it at him. He held his hands up defensively. "Whoa, take it easy. Why do you want Desiree so bad? Don't you normally throw the ghosts back into the Ghost Zone anyway?"

"I do, and let's start with you," she replied. She pulled the trigger. It hit Phantom square in the chest, pushing him into the open portal. She quickly stormed up, slamming the closed button.

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

It was hours before Danny finally came down from upstairs. She knew that he had stayed upstairs, for once, instead of sneaking out again, from occasional footsteps and the sound of him talking on the phone. Maddie had actually just gotten off the phone with him, having called him to ask what he wanted from their favorite Chinese restaurant before she sent Jack out to pick it up. Soon as Jack was out the door, Danny came out of his room and downstairs. She gave him smile as he came into the living room.

"Hey sweetie, dad will b-"

"I know about the wish."

Maddie instantly felt guilt wash over her as Danny stared at her with a frown, arms crossed. She stayed where she sat on the couch.

"What makes you say that?" she questioned. Danny's lips tightened, and she knew that he wasn't going to answer her. "Danny-"

"And I know that you know about it!" he accused. "I've been through this kind of thing before! Why haven't you undone the wish yet?"

"Because you don't need to be lying to me!" Maddie finally snapped back as she got to her feet. "For once, I'm getting honest answers from you after almost three years of constant lie after lie!"

"And you're okay with this being how you get those answers?" Danny talked back. His fists balled up, though they stayed by his sides. "Instead of making me feel okay and comfortable telling you these things? Or wait for me to be ready to say something?"

Ouch. Maddie flinched, and she just knew that had Jazz been here...she'd be absolutely agreeing with Danny. And she knew in her gut that Danny was right. Maddie's shoulder slumped.

"I know," she said quietly. Danny looked completely taken aback. "...But why haven't you said anything? You know your dad and I love you so much. I had no idea you've been in this much pain."

Danny stared at the ground, shifting to lean against the doorway.

"...I didn't want you guys to feel like you were bad parents," he replied. "Because you're not. It's not your fault everybody else sucks, or that I have to wait for surgery or to get my name changed and everything. And you can't fix it. It's just how it is."

"Dad and I would have started fighting harder for you had we known," Maddie said softly. "All we ever want is for you and Jazz to be happy and healthy."

"Yeah, I know," Danny half-grumbled. "It's just...It's just how it is. And I can't even tell the therapist that, cause she keeps pushing back everything if I hint at being depressed about it."

"If that's the case, we can find a new therapist," Maddie replied. "One that'll take you more seriously." Danny shook his head.

"No, it's okay. I'll be done with school this year, and I'll be seeing a new one anyway when I go to college," he said. Maddie frowned.

"But still-"

"Mom, it's fine," he interrupted. He smiled. "Seriously." She sighed. "Please, just. Undo the wish."

"...Okay," she finally agreed. She began to walk towards the basement, only to pause, turning to him. "But first." Danny raised an eyebrow at her. "What were you and Sam doing up so late?" Danny gave her a sour look, rolling his eyes.

"...Sam's been having a hard time lately. Lots of girls at school bully her for the same reason as me, and it's just been hitting her super hard lately," he explained. "I was up late with her cause she was crying so much, and we fell asleep while I was holding her to make her feel better."

Maddie's heart twisted a bit. She truly wish she had known. And she already made a mental note to march into Casper High first thing Monday morning after having a long phone call with Pam that night. A call to Vlad too, to get in touch to see if he'd help hire a lawyer. She had absolute hell to raise, and a school she was ready to sue.

"But seriously," Danny's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "I'll eventually come and tell you these things when I'm ready. Don't rely on dumb ghost wishes."

"Yeah, I know," Maddie replied somberly. "I'm sorry, Danny." She took a few steps towards him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. After a moment, she felt him return the hug. She let go, cupping his cheeks and making him lean down a bit so she could kiss his forehead. "I just worry about you. I want you to feel like you can always come to me. You're my baby boy."

"I know, Mom," he smiled. "And I will when I need you, but I'm not a little kid. I can handle a lot of things on my own."

"Yeah, but you're still my baby," Maddie sighed. Hell, he and Jazz were both taller than her by now. They definitely got that from Jack. Or in Danny's case, he got nearly everything from him. Almost a mirror image the older he got. Danny's cheeks flushed a bit.

"Mo-om."

Maddie chuckled.

"Come on, let's go undo the wish. I have the wishing ghost still in the basement," she said. She paused. "But once we undo the wish, will you honestly tell me how you knew?"

Danny stared at her for a moment, seemingly thinking. And he nodded.

"Yeah. After dinner, just you and me," he promised. "I'll tell you the whole story. Start to finish."