#This partially pushed me to actually focus on learning anatomy and how to draw heads bc it annoyed me so much

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Happy Pride (I’m so sorry for making this)

[darks-ink]

What A Nice Surprise CH.1

“Last time you disproved a lot of our research without even trying. So we’re trying to do better, and, well. Some first-hand accounts from an actual ghost would be a real help.” “Oh,” Phantom said. “I mean, I guess? It’s the least I could do in return for your help, right?”

(also on AO3 and FFn)

Sequel to Make It Go Away which I’ve been tinkering with in my free time. I was gonna make it a one-shot but then I realized that pacing worked better if I split it.

(Next Chapter)

The doorbell rang.

Jack paused, half-finished gadget still in his hand, and glanced at Maddie. She returned his look and shrugged.

The doorbell rang again, its shrill tone echoing throughout the house. It lasted longer than the first time. Like the person ringing it was getting impatient.

They weren’t expecting any guests, and the kids weren’t supposed to come home from school for another two hours or so. Even with the constant ghost attacks, school rarely let them out early. Besides, if it was one of their children, they would’ve just let themselves in, no?

The doorbell rang a third time.

Jack sighed, dropping the partially-assembled invention on the table he was sitting at. He pushed away from said table with a scrape, lumbering up the stairs.

When he swung open the front door, however, he was greeted by… nothing? Literally nothing.

He frowned, leaning out the door to look around. Was someone playing a prank on him, his family? But no, if that was the case they would’ve stuck around, right? And the street was empty, with no convenient hiding places from where they could’ve watched.

“Hello?” he called out, wondering who rung the bell. Might’ve been a ghost, actually. He silently cursed Maddie and the kids for finally breaking him out of the habit of answering the door with an ectogun, and made to turn away.

Only to freeze in place when a ghost flickered into visibility. Not long enough for curious bystanders to see, but long enough for Jack to see, to know.

“Hi,” the ghost answered, voice hoarse and rasping.

Mutely, Jack stepped aside to let the specter in. A cold breeze swept past him, and he closed the door again.

Once more, the ghost became visible, hovering so close to the ground that the toes of his boots grazed the tips of the carpet.

He looked bad, but, Jack thought to himself, not as bad as last time. Ectoplasm was running down his right arm, where he was trying to block it with his left hand, with little success. Several other cuts and slices were visible scattered across Phantom’s body, but most were already visibly mending.

The ghost looked exhausted, however. Dark bags under his dull green eyes, and his bright aura had dampened considerably. It continued to flicker, like a flame assaulted by a relentless breeze.

Jack laid his hand on Phantom’s shoulders, and carefully guided him to the lab. The ghost dropped the last inch or so he had been hovering, and instead trudged along with Jack. His normally snowy-white hair was gray with dust, the locks even messier than normal.

The ghost stumbled while walking down the stairs, and Jack barely managed to grab Phantom’s hand before he fell. He pulled the ghost back, before hooking his other arm under Phantom’s legs and lifting him up.

The ghost protested weakly, but made no moves to stop Jack.

The noise had alerted Maddie, and she stood in the lab, ready to receive them. The moment she saw Phantom her expression softened considerably, and she smiled at him.

He waved at her, a shy grin on his face. “Y-You said...” The ghost paused for a moment, trying to catch a raspy breath. “That I was a-always welcome here. Right?”

“Of course sweetie,” Maddie said, sincerely. “What do you need us to do?”

“Uhm, well,” Phantom shifted in Jack’s arms, and the man was abruptly reminded that he was still holding the ghost. He quickly sat Phantom on a table, where he slumped in on himself but remained somewhat upright.

The specter then nodded his head in the direction of his right arm. “I kinda hurt my arm, and I think it needs stitches. But I, uh. I can’t really do them with my left hand.”

Jack had sped off to grab the first aid kit the moment he had let go of Phantom, and thus had it ready the moment Phantom stopped talking. He offered it to Maddie, who rolled her eyes but grabbed the needle and thread anyway.

“We’ll take care of it,” she said as she went to disinfect the needle. Jack, meanwhile, had put down the kit and grabbed the disinfectant.

He crouched next to the table that Phantom was sitting on, holding up the spray for Phantom to see. The ghost understood the silent signal, because he unzipped his jumpsuit and shrugged it off, once more revealing his collection of injuries and scars.

Subconsciously, Jack’s eyes trailed towards the injury that they had stitched up last time. And there, right underneath Phantom’s ribs, on his right side, was a neat scar. It had healed up perfectly. He wasn’t sure how Phantom had taken out the thread (intangibility, probably), but it had done its job.

So Jack allowed himself to focus, instead, on Phantom’s new injuries. There were several scattered around his body, but like Jack had noted when the ghost first became visible, they were already healing up. They likely didn’t need any tending to.

More critical was the deep slice in Phantom’s upper arm. The flesh underneath the slice sagged under its own weight, revealing the sickly ectoplasm-green flesh underneath. It resembled human musculature far too closely for comfort. And even though they had already known how human Phantom’s anatomy was, to see it like this… It was unnerving.

At the deepest point of the incision something solid gleamed, and despite its ectoplasmic coloration blending into the flesh around it, Jack was sure that it was bone.

He carefully cleaned the injury, ignoring Phantom’s hissing breaths and sharp inhalations.

Looking more closely at the ghost, however, he noticed something off. The jumpsuit had hidden it, more or less, but now with his shoulders bare, Jack noticed it. A groove in Phantom’s chest, misshaping his shoulder. It also hung lower than its counterpart.

“Hey, Phantom,” he said, making sure to keep his voice gentle. “I think your shoulder might be dislocated. We’ll need to fix that immediately, before it swells up. Is that okay?”

“Huh?” the ghost answered, eloquently. Then he looked at the injury that Jack was pointing at, and grimaced. “Ah, so that’s why it hurt so much. Uh, yeah, please fix it.”

“Alright. Can you lie down on your own, or do you need a hand?” Jack kept his voice as gentle as possible. Most people didn’t think he could be gentle, but he was fine with that. He didn’t really care about what other people thought of him.

“I can do it myself, I think.” Phantom swung his legs onto the table, making sure to keep his weight exclusively on his lower body and left hand. Then he carefully lowered himself until he laid on his back.

Jack nodded, then took hold of Phantom’s right arm. “I have to pull your arm to make your shoulder pop back into its place, okay? It should be easy to tell when it works, and the pain should decrease, too.” He smiled at the ghost, hoping to calm Phantom’s nerves. “We’ll still need to immobilize it with a sling afterwards, at least for the time being.”

“Ugh,” Phantom groaned, but he didn’t move to stop Jack from relocating his shoulder. As Jack started pulling on Phantom’s arm, the boy continued to speak. “I can’t go out wearing a sling. The public can’t see me like that, and the other ghosts definitely shouldn’t see it.”

“So stay here a little longer,” Maddie offered, finally returning to the table. “You left in quite a hurry last time, and I’m sure that there’s much we learn from you.”

Phantom made a pained expression, but Jack wasn’t sure if it was because the relocating was painful, or because of what Maddie had just said. So he smiled disarmingly at the boy, trying to soothe him. “Last time you disproved a lot of our research without even trying. So we’re trying to do better, and, well. Some first-hand accounts from an actual ghost would be a real help.”

“Oh,” the ghost said. Then he grunted, as his shoulder slipped into the right place with a meaty clunk. “Uh, I guess that that makes sense.”

Jack stood up to fetch supplies to make a sling. Maddie took his place, dragging a seat over with her foot so she could perch right next to Phantom. “So that’s a yes, then?”

Phantom looked like he was going to shrug but then thought better of it. He tried to push himself upright with his left hand, and Maddie was quick to help when he almost collapsed. “I mean, yeah? It’s the least I could do in return for your help, right?” He shot her a boyish grin. “Plus, if you’re changing your mind on how evil ghosts are, then who am I to stop you?”

Jack returned to the table, deftly putting together Phantom’s sling. He made sure to keep the upper arm free, so Maddie could stitch up the injury more easily. “Well, I’m glad to hear so!”

“Thanks,” Phantom said, although Jack wasn’t sure what, exactly, the ghost was thanking him for. “Uh, is there anything specific you want to know about?”

“Well,” Maddie said as she stuck the needle into his upper arm, drawing a hiss from the ghost. “I guess the Ghost Zone would be a good place to start. We’ve never been there, besides the brief stint during the whole Ghost King debacle.”

“Oh yeah.” Phantom made an annoyed face. “That was a whole mess, for sure. Uh, what do you want to know, then? Appearance, how it works, social etiquette?” His voice gradually grew softer as he spoke, trailing off into silence.

“Ghosts have social etiquette?” Jack asked, frowning. He had always imagined ghosts as inherently violent creatures, with Phantom as a rare exception. The concept that they had an actual society with rules was one he struggled to grasp.

“Well, kinda. There are some general rules, but for the most part the Ghost Zone is a ruleless wasteland.” Phantom hummed, clearly thinking hard. “I guess that the main purely social rule is that you shouldn’t pick fights with ghosts in their lairs. If they start it, that’s fine, but otherwise it’s kind of looked down upon.” He scratched his cheek, then shrugged with his left shoulder. “The only actual rule I can think of is the Christmas Truce. Like I said, not a lot of actual rules in the Zone.”

“The Christmas Truce?” Maddie quirked a brow at Phantom, not taking her eyes off of the stitching she was doing. “What does that involve, exactly?”

“Oh, uh. I’m not entirely sure, to be honest.” Phantom grinned sheepishly. “I… haven’t been a ghost for very long. My only Christmas so far has been last year, and I only learned about the Truce because another ghost attacked me. Then a bunch of my enemies worked together with me to fight that guy off, because he broke the rule of the Zone.” His expression somehow became even more sheepish. “It was kind of my fault, to be honest. And his intentions had been okay, even if I don’t agree with the way he went about it. I would’ve tried to get him released from prison, except that Walker frigging hates me.”

“Is Walker a ghost we’ve seen before?” Jack had grabbed a notepad to write down everything they learned from Phantom, and he was glad for it already. He was having trouble processing everything Phantom had told them so far, and already found himself distracted by small details.

“He’s caused trouble in Amity before, yeah. But I’m not sure if anybody has seen him.” Phantom sighed deeply. “He was responsible for that first ghost invasion. It was a distraction so he and a bunch of his minions could overshadow some of the townspeople. He’s also responsible for the whole thing with me kidnapping the major, he framed me for it. Walker was overshadowing Montez the whole time.”

“Is that… why you shot at us?” Maddie pulled the needle through Phantom’s skin again. “Because you thought we were overshadowed?”

“Yeah,” Phantom admitted with a groan. “The rays should’ve knocked the ghosts out of you guys, but you weren’t overshadowed. I played right into his hand.”

“But why would he do that? What good did it do for him?” Jack frowned, trying unsuccessfully to figure out why anyone would do such a thing.

Phantom snorted disdainfully. “He wanted the town to hate me, and that’s exactly what he got. I kind of… escaped from his prison, before. So he decided to turn Amity against me, to make it my new prison.”

“Why did he arrest you in the first place? I thought the Ghost Zone had virtually no rules?” Jack studied the ghost sitting on the table, wondering what the teen could’ve done to warrant Walker’s anger.

“Yeah,” Phantom scoffed. “Walker makes up his own rules and then arrests you for breaking them. I had a ‘real world’ item with me in the Ghost Zone, and he decided that that was against the rules and arrested me for it.” He rolled his eyes. “Really, word of advice if you’re ever planning on going into the Zone: avoid the prison, and avoid the huge white ghost wearing a fedora.”

“Duly noted,” Jack said with a grin. “Got any more advice?”

“About going into the Zone?” Phantom frowned, thoughtfully. “Avoid the bigger islands in general, they’re usually lairs belonging to powerful or dangerous ghosts. The only ones I don’t avoid are the Far Frozen and the Kingdom of Aragon, but that’s because they’re my allies. Most of the others are bad news, honestly.”

Maddie pulled the needle through his skin a last time, tying off the thread. “You’re allied with the leader of a kingdom? And the Far Frozen doesn’t sound very hospitable to me, either.”

Phantom grinned at her. “Yeah, I’m friends with Queen Dorathea of Aragon. She was a princess when we first met, but I helped her overthrow her brother so now she’s the leader. As for the Far Frozen, well.” He shrugged. “I mentioned Frostbite and his people last time, right?”

“The ghosts that worship you?” Jack asked. “They live in a place called the Far Frozen?”

“Wait, hold on,” Maddie said as she raised a hand. “Why would you help a ghost overthrow her brother? That doesn’t seem very… good.”

“Oh no, King Aragon was a piece of crap.” Phantom scowled. “The guy was pretty much stuck in the Middle Ages, and forcibly kept his kingdom that way, too. Believed that women weren’t equal to men, and all that. He was super controlling over Dora, too.”

“Now that sounds more like you.” Maddie smiled, ruffling Phantom’s hair. The ghost blushed, looking away from them.

“Yeah kid, I gotta agree with Mads on that. Now, as much as I’m enjoying this...” A loud grumble emitted from Jack’s stomach, and he grinned as the others turned to look at him. “How about some food?”

“Sounds good,” Phantom agreed, carefully putting the jumpsuit back on. “I kind of skipped lunch to fight some ghosts.”

“Phantom,” Maddie scolded. “You should take better care of yourself.”

“Ugh, you sound like my mom,” the ghost complained, rolling his eyes. Jack caught the sparkle in his eyes and the lopsided smirk on his face, and was sure that Phantom had just told a joke that both of the humans missed. He wasn’t sure what that would’ve been, though. “But I’ll try, okay?”

“Be sure to do so, kiddo.” Jack helped Phantom slip into his right sleeve, making sure that the sling was still strung right. “If you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of the city.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” Phantom admitted, pushing himself off of the table. “You wanna take the notepad with you so we can continue our little talk?”

“Ooh, sounds good.” Jack grabbed the notepad again, then offered a hand to the ghost. “Can you walk, or should I carry you again?”

“I’ll walk, but thanks.” Phantom grinned at him, then started making his way to the stairs. He went slow, but surprisingly steady.

Their belated lunch had been a mostly quiet affair. Much like last time, Danny and Jack were too occupied with stuffing their faces to talk much. Maddie had apparently been content to sit and watch, reading through the notes Jack had taken so far.

“So,” Danny started, before swallowing away the last of his lunch. “Did you want to talk about the Zone some more, or are we moving on to a different topic?” Then he glanced over at the clock and grimaced. “You’ll have to pick one for now, I can’t stay for much longer.”

“Why not?” Jack asked in-between bites of his lunch.

“I, uh.” Danny hesitated, considering his options. He couldn’t tell them that he had to get back to school, even if that was the reason he had to leave. And he couldn’t tell them that he had to check in with people who might get worried about him, because they already knew he had no else. He sighed. “Sorry, I can’t say. It’s… personal.”

“Oh.” Jack’s expression fell, and Danny felt a stab of guilt at the disappointment in his dad’s voice. He heard it far too often nowadays, with his lackluster performance at school.

“Well, in that case…” Maddie started as she opened the notebook again. “As interesting as the Ghost Zone is, I think it would be best to stick with general knowledge for now.” Maddie flipped to a new page in the notepad. “Anything we could use to help protect Amity from malevolent ghosts would be best.”

Danny nodded, but mentally complimented his mom on her good choice. Besides the fact that there honestly wasn’t much he could tell about the Zone (since he didn’t spend a lot of time there), prioritizing the city was a choice he agreed with.

“Uh, sure. Although I’m… not sure what I could tell you that would help.” He shrugged, shooting them a sheepish smile. “I know plenty about the specific ghosts that attack Amity, how to fight them and stuff, but not much in general. But I do know that almost all ghosts around here are malevolent. Non-violent ghosts usually avoid the city because they don’t want to get shot.”

“But how can you be sure?” Maddie looked up from the notepad to quirk a brow at him. “Unless you attack every ghost that enters the city?”

“Of course not,” Danny scoffed. “I approach them first. If they don’t immediately attack, I ask them why they’re here. And, if their intentions are alright, I help them.” He shrugged. “Usually if they’re malevolent they lash out immediately.”

Jack swallowed audibly, then leaned forward, intrigued. “What about ghosts that have previously attacked the city? Do you immediately attack them when you see them?”

“Depends.” Danny shrugged. “If they’re not causing trouble when I get there I check them out. Sometimes they don’t mean harm, or they’ve changed their minds.”

Jack sat back again, finally finishing his lunch. “Do you ever let ghosts roam free in Amity?”

“Not often,” Danny admitted with another shrug. “But sometimes, yeah. They never stay long, and they let me know when they leave. And I regularly check in on them, too.”

“Then it might be a good idea to let us know which ones we should avoid hunting.” His mom lowered her notepad to look at him properly. “A ghost that made a deal with you might pick a fight with us if we show up.”

“If they do it’s their fault. I tell them to avoid ghost hunters, and it’s pretty easy for most of them.” He crossed his arms. “Besides, most of the ghosts I make deals with also sometimes cause trouble. I can give you a list of all my allies though, so you can avoid hunting those.”

“That’ll work,” Maddie agreed with a nod. She lowered her eyes to the notepad again, ready to write down the ghosts he listed.

“Well, let’s see.” Danny frowned in thought. “I obviously already mentioned Frostbite and his yeti’s, since they worship me. They basically never leave the Zone, but they’re pretty recognizable. Big, white, furry, ice horns.” He mimicked the shape of horns with his fingers. “And I also already mentioned Queen Dora, the blue-skinned princess with an amulet that lets her turn into a dragon. She also never leaves the Zone. Similar to her is Pandora, who also never leaves her part of the Ghost Zone. I haven’t known her for very long, though. She’s really tall, blue skin, four arms.”

He rubbed his chin, continuing to run through his list of ghosts. “There’s Wulf, giant bipedal wolf. He rarely stays in the Zone, but he can make his own portals so he tends to avoid Amity. If he does show up, you might need a translator. He doesn’t speak English, only Esperanto.

“Speaking of canine ghosts, there’s also Cujo. He’s a green ghost dog, no smarter than a normal dog so he sometimes causes trouble on accident. About this big, usually,” Danny held out his hands to indicate the size of Cujo’s puppy form, “except that if he gets angry or upset he turns into a giant dog.”

Now that Danny had a chance to think about it, it was honestly kind of sad how few true allies he had. Sure, he had made friends with a number of the ghosts, but most of them rarely left the Ghost Zone. Speaking of allies however…Sidney was one of the few ghosts who actually regularly helped him, but he couldn’t mention that. After all, he helped Danny with his schoolwork, which wasn’t something that Phantom was supposed to bother with. But he had to mention the ghost to make sure his parents didn’t target him.

“Sidney Poindexter is also… fairly neutral. He haunts Casper High and sometimes helps ward off bullies. I have a deal with him to make sure he doesn’t take it too far, and it’s easy to keep an eye on him since I spend a lot of time around the school anyway. Lots of ghosts target it, after all.” Yeah, that would work.

“Uh, there’s Clockwork. He’s an ally, but he never leaves the Clocktower and tends to be busy. Besides, you couldn’t catch him anyway.” Seeing their incredulous faces, Danny raised a pacifying hand. “No, really. Clockwork can control time. He can appear and disappear without anyone even noticing.” And that was all of his allies. There were three more ghosts he usually made deals with, so he might as well mention those too.

“As for ghosts that I have deals with… There’s Amorpho, but I made a deal with him so that he would stay out of Amity, so hopefully you won’t see him. And there’s Johnny 13 and Kitty, who I usually make deals with nowadays. They’re the biker ghosts, they usually only come out here on dates.” He shrugged, offering a sheepish smile. “And that was about it for semi-friendly ghosts, really.”

“That’s… kind of sad, kid.” And now his dad was frowning, clearly upset. Good going Fenton! Way to make your parents sad without even trying!

“It is what it is,” Danny replied with a shrug and a somewhat casual air. “If protecting Amity and its people means that I don’t have a lot of friends… So be it.”

“Well, you’ve got us now,” Maddie declared, a sharp edge to her tone. She sounded… surprisingly protective, something he would expect to hear as Fenton, not Phantom.

It was… nice, to hear people talk about him like that. Normally it was always one form or the other.

“Thanks.” He smiled at them, then glanced at the clock and grimaced again. If he hurried he might make it back in time for his last class.

He pushed himself out of his chair, phasing out of the brace. “Sorry, but I really have to get going. Thanks for all the help, and for… for hearing me out. I can’t say how much I appreciate it.”

His dad clapped him on the shoulder, making sure to hit the good one. “Of course kiddo. You’re always welcome here.”

“Yes, what my husband said.” Maddie smiled at him. “But try to come by some time without needing stitches, please.”

Danny huffed out a laugh. “I’ll try. Thank you, and goodbye!” And then he faded from visibility, launching himself out of his chair and towards Casper High.

(Next Chapter)