#and how Danny would react to Dan’s reaction

[obsessedwithstarwars]

The Justice League are asked by the United States government for help in apprehending an unknown meta:

Batman: This is Phantom. He’s a meta, wanted for crimes against the United States government. His crimes include destruction of property, robbery, and attempting to rip a hole in between realms. He is considered armed and dangerous.

Superman: He’s… just a boy.

Batman: And an asteroid is just a rock. In comparison to a planet or a sun, it is very small. But the destruction it can do is unfathomable. We can’t underestimate him.

Wonder Woman: What can he do?

Green Lantern: *flipping through files* His power set is… disturbing. I’m not sure how reliable these claims are but it appears he has ice and energy abilities.

Batman: I plan on looking into his power set before we attempt to apprehend him. We head out to Amity Park Illinois in three hours.

[flamingpudding]

Cassiopea and Orion #3

#1 #2

A/N: Finally got some time to continue working on this... to be honest this was pieced together through a bunch of different lunch break writings... sorry if that shows. Also @kizzer55555 totally love your addition on #2! Honestly I squealed when I read it! You were nearly spot on on what I had in mind to where I wanted to go with this story line. Tho I hope you don't mind that I took a bit of inspiration from you while writing some parts of this.

A/N2: Also you guys *sigh of fondness for the dpxdc fandom* originally I wasn't going to tag it just yet but I guess I will now, even if I have no experience writing it and only tried to sort of hint at it a bit for readers interpretations: Spirit Halloween 👻

Ellie frowned watching these people, still sitting on her spot on the railing. Once their initial excitement quieted down and the seriousness of the situation took over, she was left with nothing more to do than to watch the situation unfold before her. A part of her was surprised about the amount of information the big bad bee had on Danny. Some of which she thought was information that previously only Tucker, Sam and Jazz had. But apparently Ellie had been wrong.

Massively wrong by the amount of information she was seeing here. How long had Danny truly been in contact with this guy? There had to have been more than just the occasional phone calls she had caught him on. Did that mean this guy also knew about Dan? About the GIW? About the Infinite Realms? If he knew about all this why, why didn't he help sooner? Why hadn't Danny made contact with this guy sooner either? She did notice him pausing at certain points before continuing like nothing was happening. It didn't look like the onlookers minded, but to Ellie it was an indicator that big bad bee knew more.

She stayed silent the entire time, only muttering a correction ever now on then when she did note that the guy's information was outdated. Still something bothered her the entire time. Ellie didn't know what it was exactly, but the grim faces of the onlookers and the stoic nearly cold sounding explanation of big bad bee rubbed her wrong.

It was only at the end of it that she realize what it was exactly that had bothered her so much.

"What about family? Does she have anyone else left?" One of the onlookers asked and Ellie's head snapped up towards them. That sounded like... no, they weren't...

"According to her, Phantom lost his haunt. Including the code she gave to Robin, we can assume that there is no other safe place left. Unless..." Armored furry turned towards her, and Ellie stiffened only slightly as it appeared that they were finally going to address her again. "What is the status of Plasimus."

"You know about him too huh..." She muttered, not looking at any of them. "Castle is gone, whereabouts unknown, Mom was worried that he was one of the first after the first one of no contact, but that's not confirmed. Nothing turned up to indicate that."

Ellie didn't look up to see the reaction in regards to this information she shared but her head did snap up at the next words she heard. "And your brother?"

Wide eyed she stared at the man that had moved and was now before her, hands carefully placed on her shoulders as he bended down slightly to be on her eye level. Her mind was racing. He knew! This man knew about Dan. Distantly she heard one of the onlookers complain that in all the Infromation Bee had given them he had not mentioned about Ellie having a brother. She didn't react on that, instead searching that man's face despite it being half covered by a bat shaped cowl.

She wasn't sure what she was searching for but she wasn't finding it. Now she wished she had paid more attention to Grandma Pandoras lessons on Aura reading. Dan was in Far Frozen, put into stasis and protected and cared for by Frostbite and his tribe. The other ghosts were looking out for him too, they would do the same for her if she had a way into the Ghost Zone but both portals were gone and Danny, Wulf and Cujo were the only ones currently able to open portals. She wasn't even sure if they knew what Danny had done to protect her.

As her mind wandered Ellie did not realise that the people around her took her silence as some kind of answer. She did not realise how those she doubted onlookers shared grim and saddened looks. Nor how the man before her squeezed her shoulders ever so slightly as if afraid that she would brake any moment.

"Do not worry. You will be safe here with us." The armorer furry reassured her, drawing her attention back to the current moment. Suddenly her earlier suspicion came back to hit her in the face as her eyes once more widened.

"What do you mean?"

"We will take you in and you will be safe and won't have to fear them with us."

She was sure that was meant to sound reassuring but it wasn't. It made her stomach sink. With a moments use of intangibility she pushed away from the man floating backwards and putting more distance between her and these people. Danny gave her the code, told her to use it in a dire situation. That she would get help with that code. That they would help! This didn't sound like the help she wanted. She hadn't even gotten to explain the situation from her side. All they did was apparently assuming something all because of that stupid code Danny, her mom, gave her.

"What about mom?!" She didn't scream but by the faces she might as well could have. "The code was to get help! Mom needs to be rescued! Why are you acting like you won't! Danny promised I would get help when I use it!"

"Danielle." She halted and froze. That tone was stern and it was missing the gravel she had previously heard in that man's voice, it sounded the same way Danny or Auntie Jazz sounded when they needed for her to listen.

"Wait B! I don't think-"

"The code Danny gave you. It's his last resort code, personalised to you. It is one of our many codes we both came up with for our children. One only for situations we did not believe to come back from alive."

"W-what?"

"Aquila, Apus, Phoenix, Cygnus, Columba, Grus, Pavo and Corvus. Each of them has one specific Code personalised for the exact same situation you are in. I am sure Danny has mentioned them to you at least once." Ellie blinked finding a familiarity with these words but also frowned with the realisation that set in with that. Her eyes unintentionally wandered over to the onlookers, no birds, these codes belonged to. She couldn't really tell which belonged to who but she knew Danny must have come up with them as some sort of inside joke.

"B! You can't just-"

"But Mom..." Her voice sounded small even to her own ears.

"I am sorry. But you will be save with us. I promised Danny that years ago."

She knew that her de-aged body was probably influencing her emotional state as she slowly floated back into reach. Before she could sit back onto the rail like she had done the entire time before she felt herself getting dragged to the side and suddenly warm arms encircled her. Ellie blinked confused until her brain caught up. The bird in blue was hugging her. The warmth felt comforting, just like when Danny, Jazz, Val or Sam hugged her and for a moment she let herself enjoy it. Dropping her guard just for a little bit to draw comfort from this warmth.

While Nightwing distracted the little girl in his arms, he made distinctive eye contact over her head with his siblings, before indicating his head towards Batman. Red Robin and Signal nodded before moving towards the man, Robin trailing behind them after he shared one more glance with him. His eyes turned towards Red Hood. The other wasn't even looking at any of them as he was already on his way stomping right out the cave, ignoring everyone around him. Nightwing was going to make sure to send any additional information they would get from Danielle his way later too. Black Bat and Spoiler stayed close to him.

It was moments like these that Nightwing really appreciated the silent understanding he and his siblings had among each other and if Batman was to much into his own head with these stupid codes and apparently already grieving. Then they would step up and if they could give the little girl in his arms the kind of help she had clearly hoped to get from them. It wasn't a promise of safety that the Danielle was looking for or even needed, rather she was hoping for people willing to help her rescue Phantom, her parental figure, her mother, her family, when she had no one else left.

[halfagone]

Danny and Damian are twins... but thanks to Clockwork Dan and Dani's physical ages match Danny and Damian's. They are quadruplets now.

How does Damian react to being a quadruplet now? How does Bruce?

Danny: Surprise! It is quadruplets! *jazz hands*

Bruce: Bruce.exe has stopped working.

Bonus:

They are also gaslighting the League of Assassins that they were quadruplets but they lost and forgot two of the children.

Okay but the fact that you mentioned physical ages leads me to believe that Dan is still a 24/25+ year old man but now in a 14 year old's body or something. I think Damian's reaction really depends on how he feels about Danny. I think Bruce would be just as blindsided by three as he would be for one, but I think he needs to go sit down now, can someone give him a wet rag to lay on his head? This poor man is going through it.

I don't know if they could gaslight the League of Assassins. The assassins/ninjas maybe, but Ra's? Talia??? I'm not so sure. They know a little too much about operations to be so easily swayed, but hey... that could be part of the whole plot. ;3

[ectoplasmic-entity]

Hello. If you're still taking applications, I've got one for Dan Phantom or Dark Danny. (Perhaps it will be considered as more than one, choose what you consider good. And excuse my English, it is not my native language)

I would like the reader to be a woman (with black hair and silver eyes) as the theme of the daughter of the goddess Nyx (I don't remember if there were Greek gods in the series), that the reader be a supernatural creature that sometimes visits the ghost kingdom and she had become friends with the good Danny. About 20 looking.

Where when starting to go to Dark Danny's prison for his rehabilitation and sentence, they do not get along. But then over time they become fond of each other and Dan shows his affection by giving soft bites on the cheeks. (I remember a friend's cat did that when he was in confidence). It would be fun to see little Danny's reaction when he sees the fang marks. (If he considers something more spicy I leave it in his hands, something does not come to my mind, maybe bites on the shoulders)

Major apologies for the wait (¤﹏¤) I was a little stuck on this to be honest, since a lot of ideas were thrown in.

But, fear not, I cobbled a couple of them together since they seemed the most interesting.

Genre: Gen + Implied Romance

Rating: K+

Content Warnings: Mildly spicy near the end, nothing explicit

Words: 2.5k+

An ominous miasma surrounds you as you gracefully glide your way through the spectral realm. A dark veil clings to your slender body, barely distinguishable, and flows like liquid suspended in the air. It was but a scratch on the surface of what your powers were truly like. Long nails brush away your midnight black hair to unveil your luminous silver eyes. Your hair ‘hugs’ your face as you carefully turn your head to survey your surroundings. 

An amalgamation of toxic green energy pummels your senses.

Pulsating. Thrashing.

Rocky ruins and islands obstruct your view. Eerie purple doors and windows barely flash in your peripheral vision. Whispers faintly flow into your ears. You involuntarily shiver yet you still barely react. 

You can feel it all around. The tug and pull of chaotic energy, the anarchy of the Ghost Zone claws at you. You allow yourself to feel this energy, but at the same time, quash it when it becomes too much.

You sigh quietly. Not a spectre to be seen, it was expected.

Order and chaos. 

Chaos rings through your mind.

A sensation rises up in your chest, your heart thuds erratically. Your body shivers violently as your conscience latches onto the thought. A beautiful, divine force from which you were born from. From a mother who was the personification of the night, an offspring of chaos.

It was fortunate you didn’t visit the Ghost Zone often. It wasn’t like you needed to, but a want. A warm, familiar sensation wiggles up into your chest. Too much exposure would have had…unfavourable results. That was the best you could describe it without the complicated details.

You were in this spectral dimension for one reason, and one reason only. Otherwise, you would be wasting time. It was the same every single time, rhythmic and never changing. Your mind could hardly draw any details of the last time your visit was deviated from a specific goal. It worked out perfectly for you.

There wasn’t much in the Ghost Zone that interested you. Except for one individual. You sigh softly as you land silently on a huge chunk of rock. Despite your exasperation of visiting this realm, you always got something out of it. Your eyes peer around with barely concealed eagerness in search of a familiar form.

It didn’t matter how much time passed. He retained that familiarity as he did as a boy long ago. He says that part of him died, but you sincerely doubt that. You could always feel the turmoil boiling inside him, the storm of emotions clashing with each other.

Another sigh blows out of your mouth. He always rejected your help, curiously he never rejected your presence.

A small smile makes itself known on your expression as it tugs at your facial muscles. Not necessarily hope, rather that he was still here and grounded. The fact that a small part of him remained, no matter how much he suppressed it. You didn’t dare push it, though.

You didn’t possess any sort of “ghost sense” whatsoever, so it was going to be impossible to tell when he was here. If he was even nearby at all. You always had quite the trip whenever of the two of you met up. He wasn’t the type to stay in one place for long.

Especially considering the power he had and the danger he posed. There was always an innate sense of danger whenever he was in the vicinity. You were not repelled by it, it was a constant thing for you, and it felt natural to you. The goosebumps you’d get were almost relieving and cooling. It helps that your mother, Nyx, is a dangerous entity herself.

Your senses, you could say, were fine-tuned to danger; and dangerous.

He never struck out at you. You turn on your heels, still in search of him. His red eyes always pierced through you, no matter which direction. Your neck always prickled at the sensation of being watched, the hairs on your neck always stood right up.

He very much had the power to hurt you and would, if he wanted to. You always took care to not provoke him and give him space when he needed it.

You crane your neck to glance behind you. A skintight awareness comes over you as your primordial senses alert you. Your mind hasn’t quite caught on to it yet, deep down you know that something is watching. And it may very well be hungry.

Nearby, on another large chunk of rock, a black and white form greets your gaze. For a moment, a happy warmth swells in you. The dark veil around your body shifts in a different direction.

You stop, uncertainty flashes through you.

The figure remained silent, settled atop of the rock. Seemingly unaware of your presence. Too occupied with themselves to look up.

You inhale deeply in minute frustration. Not even a tiny peep from the figure. Contention fills the air, the Ghost Zone regulates to the background. The chaos within you calms, but occasionally ripples. You feel it in your muscles and your hands clench.

“So, her royal highness graces us with her presence once again.” A smooth, deep voice emerges from the figure.

“You know me better than that,” you state firmly, “Dan.”

The figure – Dan – finally perks up in attention to his name being called.

“Don’t I?” He challenges. “Takes a lot to rise up to godhood.”

His voice is like a hot knife cutting through butter. Warmth rushes up to your chest, you pay it little mind but remain aware of it.

Dan stands up, tall and proud. His physique enhanced by the eerie, spectral glow of the Ghost Zone. You also try to pay little mind to it, yet your eyes wander. Dan’s most striking feature is his hair, few spectres had their hair to that effect.

Flowing and ever-changing, much like Dan himself. Flames that ignite with every twitch, crackle with every shift in his mood.

“It’s a blessing and a curse,” you counter, irritation laces your tone. “You lack…integrity and understanding of godhood.”

The last sentence was a mild jab. Dan’s eyes narrowed; still a jab nonetheless.

“Am I not called ‘the evilest ghost on the planet’ for nothing?” Dan spreads his arms out, muscles flexing, gesturing at himself.

“Your circumstances are…unique.”

“‘Unique’ she says…” Dan folds his arms with a mutter. “You were born from a goddess, I would hardly call that…unique.”

The last word is drawn out, long enough to focus your attention on it. You two have had this argument before, it seems almost customary at this point. To broach a familiarity that wasn’t quite there. Finding a semblance of solace that it was still there.

It continuously mystifies you as to why you keep coming back to this debate. Auto-tuned arguments and comparisons of things that were not even comprehensibly comparable. You’d fire right back, Dan always finds a way to deflect it. Going around and around in a circle, and no one wins.

“We keep coming back to this argument, and it doesn’t change,” you say, not as irritably. It wasn’t necessarily about the subject itself. “What do you hope to get out of it?”

Dan merely grins with a small shrug. “It’s a little amusing seeing you get all huffy.”

A tight feeling scrunches up in your gut. Your voice is caught in your throat, your mouth refuses to move for several seconds.

“Would you rather I get upset?” You inquire tartly. Your gut untangles itself, which is a relief, but your throat retains that fuzzy, scratchy sensation.

“It’s not that,” Dan retorts. He does a little hop off of his rock and floats down to yours. He stops right in front of you, still floating. “You know what I mean, milady.”

You don’t respond right away, Dan is so close to you that you can feel the waves of warmth radiate off of him. It was as if the danger melts away, even if just for a moment. You sigh, again, it aggravates your throat. 

You ignore it.

“Please tell me again why we keep meeting up?” You ask in exasperation. Your hands place themselves on your hips.

“You’d miss me,” Dan murmurs, his hand rises up and dangerously close to your face.

He hasn’t touched you at all, you feel the tingle of a familiar phantom caress. Firm and gentle fingers that would stroke your jawline and left a spark that had you yearn for more. Hands that wanted the affection to chip away years of being touch starved. They pull away, every single time. The spark that remains eventually turns into a sting, fresh and raw on the surface of your skin.

“Wouldn’t…” You start off hesitantly; your voice quickly fades. “I…?”

Dan gives you a pointed look, disbelieving.

“Why else would you keep coming back here?” He asks knowingly, he pulls away and lands elegantly on the rocky surface. “You never want something without a good reason.”

“Curses…” You whisper to yourself. Dan always had a way of getting a reaction out of you. “Dan—you are dangerous, and…”

Your voice continues to falter. Something heavyset settles in your chest. Your facial expression grows soft.

“And…me?” Dan makes a ‘hm’ sound. “No need to say it, milady, I can see it on your face.”

Dan then turns his head away, gaze averting and pretending he doesn’t see you. Subconsciously, one of his hands rubs his wrist in discomfort. Strong enough to soothe pain and not accidentally crush the joint. Now that you actually have a closer look at him…

Something you didn’t see before, are a pair of metal cuffs on both wrists. Glowing brightly with green and worn down. Broken chains dangle from them, swinging back and forth with a silent story.

“Are those shackles?” You ask incredulously. You admit, it was difficult to imagine Dan in restraints like that.

“Why, yes, they are.” Dan grins down at you, his hand now motionless. “Care to try them on?”

You raise a brow unamused, “What did you do now?”

“The ‘being evil’ part, or the ‘being annoying’ part? I think there’s a difference…” Dan answers nonchalantly with a shrug.

“Quit redirecting me and get to the point.”

“Very well… I let myself get caught.” A dramatic sigh escapes his mouth.

“You—what?” Whatever you were about to say dies in your mouth as your mind processes what Dan just said.

“Walker had been trying to catch me for years, he never did because he knew I was too powerful for him.” Dan explains. His hand starts fidgeting with the cuff.

You remain silent and attentive; his story did mildly intrigue you, despite whatever trouble Dan causes.

“Never seen him as happy and surprised as he was when he saw me being ‘escorted’ by his goons,” Dan says with a sneer. His fangs shine in the spectral light. “He was definitely not expecting his precious prison to go up in ecto flames, either. Hah, I even left him exactly one prison cell undamaged.”

The memory of the warden’s shock and utter rage brings a genuine smile to Dan’s face. You aren’t sure what to make of it. It seems so bright on his face that you can’t help but feel the underlying ominousness of it.

A creak of metal rips your attention from Dan. The cuffs that were clasped a tad too tight around Dan’s wrists fall to the surface with a pathetic thud. Not a second too later, a kick off the rock sends them into the murky abyss below.

Dan turns back to you, his eyes shine brightly.

“Now…where were we?”

“We were talking about you,” you answer with uncertainty.

“About us,” Dan counters in clarification.

He comes close to you once again, you don’t react or move; he raises his hands to take your own into his. Lightning shoots through your nerves at the touch. You become stiller, focusing on the warmth that encapsulates you.

Dan pulls you close, your face merely inches from his. Your bodies lightly brush each other, enough to make of the both of you shiver. 

What goes unspoken rises up between the two of you, palpable in the air. As thick as the ectoplasm that makes up the Ghost Zone. You become too aware of Dan’s breath on your face, just as he is aware of yours on his.

“Do you want something?” You ask with a small bite to your lips.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Dan’s voice lowers to a rough whisper.

His muscular form leans in closer, it gives the impression that he is much larger than you are. You have little choice but to gaze into his piercing red eyes. You hold your breath as you feel them examine you.

It’s not long before you gasp, your throat unclenches in relief. The barest of something sharp lightly touches your cheek. Just enough to pinch you and leave no mark. Your cheek stings with anticipation and a rising blush.

Dan draws away with a small grin. His fangs are more prominent than you can recall.

“You, are ridiculous,” you say slowly, the words coming out in soft breaths. “I can’t help but admire you for it.”

You turn away to gather yourself for a second. You hadn’t intended to be so forward like that, though it was freeing to ease up the tightness in your chest.

“I’m flattered you think so highly of me,” Dan comments behind you.

A pair of strong hands grip your shoulders, you tense up only for a moment before you relax. They’re careful to not squeeze you so hard, you know you can pull away any time you like. You can feel the tension seep into your body, numb almost, and the hands hold you up.

Soft lips slowly ease themselves on to the back of your neck. You inhale deeply, Dan’s name on the tip of your tongue. You refrain from moaning out loud, refusing to give him the satisfaction.

His hands start massaging your shoulders as his lips gently nip and kiss their way down. Tingle after tingle grows stronger with every breath against your back.

“Perhaps…” You say softly, glancing behind you. “I can make an exception…for an old friend.”

You hear Dan make a sound of satisfaction. His lips stop at your shoulder, he takes a breath. Then a soft, warm breeze blows on you. You twitch as your skin tickles in response.

“Do ‘old friends’ do…this?” Dan asks, his voice rough.

A sharp prick on your shoulder has you tilt your head back. You don’t need to look to know what it is, the tips of a set of fangs. They barely graze the surface of your flesh, a pleasurable burn wells in place.

Noting your ease of letting him so close to you, Dan invites himself closer. One of your hands eventually holds his, a silent plea. He smirks victoriously.

Neither of you can see each other’s smiles when Dan lowers his head. His fangs glint in the light, you move your head to expose your neck. Warmth surrounds you in a haze.

Sharp fangs at first graze your skin, tasting you. Seconds later, a piercing sensation that draws itself out makes you tense. Your breath catches in your throat, a groan threatens to erupt from it. Your chest swells and ripples with passion, a taste nearly foreign and intoxicating.

You wouldn’t have it any other way; just like the old times.

[ectospacecadet]

Post AGIT SPOILERS

Dark Danny character arc

Ok so Dark Danny, or Dan for short, is now in a clone body of his past self. Cool. Personally I’d like to think that Clockwork made the transfer possible by having Dan’s time ectosignature be back to Danny’s own in this timeline. So he’s not got a 24/50-something year old ectosignature anymore BUT he still retains his memories of course. So he’s basically 16-17 years old now.

Why do I think his ectosignature being resynced to this timeline, so that he’s 16-17, should be a thing? Well mostly because I can see the darker NSFW side of this fandom rubbing their hands together and saying “well he’s an adult technically”, need I say more? 🤢

Anyway, aside from that, where can I see Dan’s character growth in the series?

Well, he’s human again for the first time in 12-13 years, he’s going to have to deal with teenage hormones once again. That’ll suck. Imagine going through puberty 3 times?

I don’t think he can go into his human form at first, I feel that seeing his own true human face would give him some form of PTSD. “Well he didn’t react before in UE” Because it was an illusion, not his actual human face. It’s different when it’s a fake face, but when it’s the same, flesh and blood, that you killed? That’s going to hit hard.

This is something he can work on with Vlad, giving Dan a chance to open up about all the wrong he did in his timeline, Vlad has no idea what Dan did, he just knows he’s a messed up ghost hybrid of himself and Danny.

———

I don’t think Dan will be at 100% power, not because he’s reverted to his 17 year old state, but because he’s still recovering from that battle. It doesn’t just mess with him physically but also mentally, so he trains at first but eventually it leads to a hesitant therapy treatment with Jazz.

This also gives Dan room to talk to Jazz about what he did to her, his own guilt towards that, and how he sees his family. Remember, he tried to kill them twice now, that’s going to really effect him. He lost his family from a stupid accident, but knowing he actually wanted them intentionally dead? How messed up is he that he would try to kill his family? How will he react now to seeing them and how affectionate they are with Danny?

As for Sam and Tucker, I think he’ll get jealous of that too, he tries to reconnect with them but it’s a bit difficult when he also tried to kill them. I don’t doubt that he’ll admit to them that he really did miss them, he says so himself in UE, his reaction when they hug him leaves him in a stunned shock too. Then he snaps out of it when Tucker insults him xD But yeah, I think he will try to befriend them again but shortly realises that their friendship wont be like before, that he needs find new friends.

———

Another thing, Vlad’s clones. UE takes place BEFORE Kindred Spirits, meaning that Dan had no idea that the clones existed, so how do you think he’ll react to seeing those for the first time? “What, you had a bunch of these just lying around?” Vlad can explain it all to Dan, about how dozens failed, “died”, and that’s gonna really piss him off.

Then Vlad lets him know about Danielle, a clone that somehow survived the process and surpassed the other clones despite being ‘imperfect’. Dan goes to find her in the GZ at some point, using Vlad’s own ecto-signature tracking device (based on the Boo-merang), he finds her in the frozen Tundra with Frostbite.

She’s with Frostbite because now she’ll be 14-15, meaning her ice powers started to kick in as Danny’s did, so Danny lead her to Frostbite’s world. It’s here that she stayed, found a home and her own identity. Her new name is Ellie. Dan then trains to learn how to use his own ice powers but struggles as he’s got two infused ghost cores. In these training sessions he learns more about Ellie and asks how she survived, he also relates to her more than just being his clone but also another one of Vlad’s ‘mistakes’. ✨Sibling energy✨

She explains that she’s regained her self confidence and her own identity, she liked being called Dani but felt that it was too close to being Danny, she didn’t just want to be ‘his clone’, she wanted to be herself. Dan takes a moment to consider this and offers for her to visit anytime, Vlad is trying to be better now.

———

Onto Valerie, Danny was only starting to have feelings for her around the time of UE, so Dan had those too. But obviously due to their animosity in the future and how he nearly kills her repeatedly, that’s gonna suck big time. He tries to get to know her again, much to Vlad and Danny’s dismay, Valerie isn’t exactly sure on how to feel about Dan since he looks so much like Danny. Which is explained with the statistic there’s an almost exact duplicate of you somewhere around the world, Danny found his and wanted to meet them, not only that but they had similar names, Dan being short for Dathaniel… Danny’s not great at making up shit on the fly, but Dan simply admits he uses the short version because of how dumb the long one is. I also believe that she’s working alongside the Mayor in the anti-ghost protection teams, her dad and the Fentons being the ones to help supply with Anti-Ghost weaponry. Also I do see Dan and Val trying to make it work romantically.

Again this is why Dan needs to be 16-17 again because dear god the implications behind a 24-50-something ghost in a 16-17 year old’s body just makes it so damn confusing on a ‘shipping’ level. I feel that it needs to be 100% clarified at some point otherwise it could get very VERY messy and people will scream p*do no matter which way you go because of the implications 💀

Alright, previous timeline Valerie. I am in agreement that there are 2 Valeries, you see them both in different places in the book so I don’t think they’re the same person. I’m gonna call her Val for this section.

Val is definitely not on Danny or Dan’s side, she wants to out both Danny and Dan as ghosts to Amity Park but struggles to provide proof. Both Dan and Danny have to work together when it comes to Val because she is a genuine threat, but also Danny thinks she can be reasoned with. Initially Dan doesn’t agree but over his redemption arc he basically winds up reasoning with her instead of just wasting her.

———

Alright, what about his relationship with Danny? Well… I don’t think he and Danny will get along initially, he’s… grateful that he didn’t leave him to disappear, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t resent him. Danny got his happy ending, Dan has to work hard to build things he’s lost, he’s not going to like being around him. They do start to act like brothers eventually, but Danny is clearly the favourite child when it comes to that. Dan eventually learns that he never really hated Danny, he just hated himself. He also asks how he managed to save his family, Danny says Clockwork helped.

Clockwork… OKAY BUT for real, why did Clockwork help Danny and save his parents, but not Dan’s??? Clearly he could have, but didn’t. “Everything’s the way it’s supposed to be”, so Clockwork must have seen a timeline where Danny would have to face himself twice just so he can become the bridge? Ooh Dan’s not going to like that. He had to suffer, to kill himself, his family, everything and everyone who died, just for the possibility of this outcome??? Damn. That’s going to suuuuck.

———

Final note: Dan isn’t going to be a good person just because he’s put in a clone. He has to relearn everything, go back to school to gain better social behaviours, try to learn how to fit into society again. He wouldn’t just be a ‘good guy’, think of him more as an anti-hero Danny Phantom. I don’t doubt that he wouldn’t agree with Danny initially about wanting to ‘help’ ghosts, but is quickly reminded about how Danny could have just left him to disappear.

I do also think Danny will take Dan to the old Ghost Runes, Dan is going to need his own purpose now. I’m not sure what that will be.

Thanks for reading!

[libraryfeline]

I assume the bats will have realized Damian went missing, so they will probably be trying to save him, but do they know about Danny, and if so, was it because Damian talked, or did they discover it when they were planning the rescue, or was it after they busted in and found out Damian and Danny dove into the pit to escape. I assume the pit in this is some form of portal, or gateway to the Infinite Realms, but where do they come out at. Are they lost in an unexplored part of the Realms? Or does Danny know the area, or have some way of telling where he is in relation to his haunt or the portal to Amity because it is where he died? What is Damian's reaction to his dead twin brother (or dead twin brother's clone) tackling him into the Lazarus Pit, only to discover it leads to a new dimension? Does Danny reveal his ghost form or does he try to navigate the Infinite Realms while protecting and guiding his (possibly uncooperative) brother in human form? Is Danny Ghost King, or simply a powerful ghost? Does he take Damian back to Amity Park, or does he take Damian directly to Gotham, presumably after Damian tells him that he now lives in Gotham. Does Danny attempt to simply drop Damian off and go back to Amity? Would Damian let him go after he finds out this is his dead twin, or at least a non murderous clone of his dead twin? If Danny leaves anyway does Damian track him down again? How do the bats react to Damian popping back up either through the Lazarus Pit under Gotham, or in some nowhere Midwest town after he disappeared into a different Lazarus Pit and would they think he had died? How long did it take Damian and Danny to get back to the Living Realm, and what would the cover story be for why Damian Wayne disappeared, possibly died, and came back to life? Would they try the same cover story as they did with Jason, that he was supposedly in Europe with amnesia, finally remembered who he was and returned, or that he was revived in a mass resurrection event of some kind? Do they meet Dani or Dan if this is a Dan redemption? What about Vlad, will he show up with some evil scheme and are the bats or Damian present for this? How would they react to the Fenton household, with the various OSHA violations? Is this Good Parents Maddie and Jack that already know about Phantom, or does this situation result in a reveal, and do Maddie and Jack take it well or do they take it badly? What did Danny's friends and sister think of his absence? Depending on how long they were gone would his rogues have taken advantage, or would they also be worried?

This is longer than I thought it would be, however I do not have the time or motivation to do anything with this. Feel free to use any of these ideas, I probably won't, but that doesn't mean they should go to waste.

Tackled for a Loop

Sorry for the lack of prompt last week, but let me tell you, getting carpet replaced is a nightmare. Anyways, onto the prompt/blorb!

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Out of all the situations that Danny had imagined reuniting with his brother, he’d desperately hoped this one wasn’t it.

But, unfortunately, both of them must have scrimped out on luck when they were born.

Back to back, standing right next to a balcony over the Lazarus pits, and surrounded by dozens of murder-ninjas as dear ol’ Pah-paw fruit-loop is trying to convince them to come back to the murder-cult that had just kidnapped them.

They needed out, now.

”Cliche as it is, do you trust me Dami?”

He glances slightly and frowns at Danny.

Yeah, yeah, trusting your thought-dead-but-not-really-twin was kind of hard when you didn’t know if cloning was involved.

“Yeah, well, just don’t struggle.”

Danny then quickly football tackles (Thanks, Dash) Damian over the edge of the balcony and straight into the Lazarus pit, leaving only Gob-smacked ninjas behind.

[x-lipstickstain-x]

Comfort in the Dark

Daniel/Lando Fluff

Daniel squinted at the bright screen of his phone when heard a noise, the time displayed was 1:03am and he was now certain someone was at the door as the knocking continued. It was evidently the sound that had brought his peaceful sleep to a pause. Although he was slightly annoyed by being woken, he knew no one would be at his door at this time without a good reason, which made him a little uneasy. 

With a bathrobe now hugging over his half naked body, he pulled the door open. The frustration built up when he couldn’t locate the culprit, he leaned out of the door, spotting a familiar mop of curls heading away down the corridor. 

“What the fuck man?” Daniel huffed, startling his teammate who clearly hadn’t heard the door opening, his eyes wide at the sound of Daniel’s voice. “Playing knock and run at 1am?” 

Lando winced, strolling back to where he was just a few seconds before, disturbing the Aussie’s sleep. “Sorry I just thought you might be awake, but then you weren’t opening so I just-,”. He continued rambling on an explanation, avoiding eye contact.

“Well I am awake now cause you’re fucking around, mate go to bed we have a race tomorrow.” 

“I wasn’t-,” Lando began, but let out an exhausted sigh, his head shaking. “Nevermind, see you tomorrow Danny.” His tone was so fragile, as if his voice threatened to crack any moment which didn’t go unnoticed by Daniel, just like the way Lando’s fingers were almost pulling apart the sleeves of the Quadrant hoodie he was wearing. 

He had already turned back to walk away again when Daniel softened, his anger replaced by concern and suddenly feeling wide awake. “Wait, are you okay?” At his question, Lando stopped in his tracks with his shoulders slumping even further than before. Slowly turning to face Dan, his head gently shook from side to side in a silent response. That’s all Daniel needed before pushing the door to his room open further and stepping to the side to let Lando in. 

It actually wasn’t the first time Lando had come to him looking as if he was a hug away from bursting into tears. They got on well as friends and teammates, perhaps they weren’t that close off track, though this didn’t stop them from comforting one another when it was necessary. 

It started when Daniel was missing out on Q3 and then not finishing in points for a few races in a row, he felt awful, unable to pinpoint what was going on with him. Lando came to see him that time and instead of the usual ‘I’ll help you with more data if you need it’, he suggested they could hang out, what he didn’t quite expect was for Daniel to just hug him tightly. Lando felt a little awkward, he playfully commented how he could have just asked for cuddles if he needed them. He took him up on that offer the same evening. They didn’t speak about it after. 

The second time it happened, it was after Lando had crashed during qualifying, whenever he closed his eyes to sleep that night it felt like he was about to be thrown around in the car again and he wanted nothing more than to be held. Dan’s room was right beside his, he didn’t know Daniel had stayed up that night, wanting to check up on Lando himself though not quite building the courage to do so, he was relieved when Lando came to him. Once again, they didn’t speak about it after.

The difference between the situations was that both of these were clearly the other needing comfort after a bad experience during the sessions. Though, today Lando had qualified on pole position, his first one in formula 1, so why the hell was he sulking in Dan’s room at this time?

He sat down on his bed, patiently waiting for Lando to tell him what was on his mind. He watched him as he stood in the middle of the room, clearly not sure what to do with himself, tugging the sleeves of his hoodie over his nervous hands then placing them over his face before blurting out. “I’m scared.”

Daniel frowned. “Of?” 

“Of fucking up in the race, fucking up the start, making a mistake, crashing, disappointing the whole team.” He paused to take a breath, his teammate mentally begging him not to continue the list. “What if this is my only chance to win and I fuck it up. It’s all I can think about, Danny.” 

The way he said his name sounded like a beg, a cry to help him stop the thoughts from spiraling. Daniel raised to his feet, stepping closer and using the pocket of his hoodie to draw his smaller frame into his embrace, Lando immediately responded by wrapping his arms around Dan’s waist, his face nuzzling into his chest. Daniel softly massaged out the tension built up in the muscle between his neck and shoulder, a low hum escaping his lips in response to the touch. 

Daniel pulled back once Lando’s breathing had returned to a somewhat calmer pace. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.” He helped him get out of his hoodie before slipping out of the robe himself and both of them settling into the bed comfortably. Surprisingly, Lando didn’t turn away with his back to Daniel like he had done the previous nights they met. Dan figured it was because he felt a little embarrassed about being vulnerable and being cuddled by him, but this time he was facing Dan with his sparkly eyes on him. 

Lando’s eyes closed for a brief moment as Dan’s arm wrapped around him, his fingers brushing through the curls on the back of his head, when his eyes opened their gaze met, sending shivers down Lando’s back. Knowing he had about half a second before Lando would begin to overthink the way his body just reacted, Daniel spoke up. “You know you’ve been amazing all season, you’re capable of getting this win.” Lando winced - even Daniel had high expectations of him, he almost rolled away from him, but Daniel held him still. “But even if you don’t, it’s okay because this is just one opportunity out of many… You’re getting better and better with experience, I’m sure one day getting on pole’s will be a normal thing for you.” 

Lando still seemed unconvinced, a sigh leaving his lips. “You really think I can do this?”

Daniel chuckled, “Of course you can.” There wasn’t the slightest hint of hesitation. “If not tomorrow, then many times in the near future.”

The reassurance was met with a small upwards tug of Lando’s lips, but not quite yet forming a smile. He leaned into Daniel’s fingers which were currently massaging his scalp. He allowed himself to close his eyes and focus on the soothing sensation mixed with Dan’s further whispers of comfort. 

At one point Daniel believed Lando was asleep as he hadn’t spoken or moved a lot, he noticed how long he had been staring at him so he forced himself to reach for the lamp and switch off the light. He absentmindedly moved closer to Lando, his lips pressing to his forehead and he became very aware of what he’s done when Lando stiffened beside him, his eyes now open and very much showing he hadn’t been asleep just yet. Daniel felt his own breath get caught in his chest, he didn’t mean to scare him, now he’s fucked it completely and clearly overstepped some sort of boundary. He moved back, ready to apologise when he saw a sleepy smile slowly form on Lando’s face, the light coming through the gaps in the window curtains allowing him to thankfully distinguish it in the dark. Lando, no longer tense, pressed himself further into Daniel, the Aussie relieved and left with a flutter in his stomach when Lando found his hand and entwined their fingers, whispering a goodnight.

A slam of the door made Daniel’s eyes snap open, letting out a string of curse words when he realised it was Lando who was no longer in the room and apparently wasn’t able to close the door quietly like a normal human being. It was already bright outside so he reached out for his phone to check how long he had left before his alarm would ring. When grabbing the device his hand bumped into something warm on the nightstand that he knew previously wasn’t there, making him slowly sit up to see what it was.

He found a takeaway cup standing on the side, when lifting it closer, the smell of coffee finally reached him, already filling his chest with warmth and switching his mood when he realised how it got there. ‘Thank you.’ Was written on the cardboard with a little love heart underneath, when he turned the cup the other side displayed ‘Let’s get ‘em’ written with the same black marker. 

He stared at the closed door with a fond smile on his face.

In the paddock Daniel couldn’t help but steal glances at Lando to make sure he was doing okay, he was evidently still nervous and Daniel had the urge to walk over to him and hug him. That's why when he had a few minutes spare with still some time before the race due to start and he spotted Lando being left alone in his drivers room, he went over to him. As soon as the door closed behind him and Lando realised who had entered, he walked right over to him, his arms wrapping around his older teammate instantly. Dan whispered a small “hi” before his hand found its way into his hair, massaging his scalp the same way he did last night. 

Lando pulled back to look into his eyes, “Can you do it again?” Daniel frowned at his request, confused if he was referring to him massaging his scalp which he was still doing anyway. 

“Kiss my forehead.” Lando whispered. “You know, like for good luck.” He nervously added, waiting for Dan’s reaction. 

Meanwhile Daniel felt his heart almost leap out his chest with affection. He smiled, pressing his lips to Lando’s forehead and letting them linger for a moment before moving to peck the tip of his nose and carrying on down to his lips. Daniel’s lips hovered over Lando’s letting him pull back if he wanted to, but instead Lando leaned in, capturing his lips in a kiss. 

Maybe this time they’ll speak about it.

[changeling-rin]

Random crossover event. The Links come across a panicking food swearing white haired, green-eyed, floating, glowing teenage boy holding a glowing clearly magical map. The boy is talking about how Dan escaped his confinement and he needs to stop him before he starts killing people again and cause the Apocalypse. Why didn't the infi-map take him straight to Dan anyway? Does he need something here first? The boy hasn't noticed the Links, yet. How do the Links react and if you feel like it throw in the goddesses reaction as well. I do headcanon that Danny would help the Links dispite not being his world especially if the Links help him out with something first. He would be able to bypass the erasing issue by overshadowing one of the Links temporarily.

For once, I know exactly which franchise this is!

Steam leans in and pokes the kid, then leans back and stage-whispers to Wind, "I think he's dead."

"What gave me away?" the kid says drily. "Was it the floating, the glowing, or the intangibility?"

(Meanwhile, Farore: Who is this child and why is he only halfway in my Domain???)

[artificialqueens]

Masters of the Scene, Chapter 7 (Bitney Parent Trap AU) - Veronica

A/N: I know we’re not supposed to play favorites, but I think this chapter is mine. I think it’s actually the emotional core of the story (in every version, including the original novel and both movies). Thanks as always to angel on earth @tumble4rpdr for the beta help. XOXO

Click here for prequels and previous chapters, or here if you’d rather read on AO3. 

Chapter Summary: Adore faces her biggest fear, and Courtney’s reaction is the last thing she expects. 

***

“Wait...what?!” 

Danny closed his eyes, hating the look of absolute devastation on his sister’s face, hating even more that he was the one who put it there. He nodded slightly. 

“She told me today. And then Fame showed up tonight and she’s got like...an actual ring. I couldn’t believe it.” 

“Well...you...you have to do something! You have to break them up!” Adore cried, desperation edging into her voice. 

“How would I do that?” 

“Be a cunt! Make her see that if she stays with Mama, her life will always be miserable!” 

“Adore…” Danny didn’t know how to put it into words, how guilty Bianca had made him feel when he’d thrown his little tantrum. 

“Please, Dan…” Adore’s hazel eyes were a mirror of his own, filled with tears. 

“I think you better tell Mum what’s going on. Get her here, this week. I know you wanted two weeks, but I think-” 

“Okay.” 

It was a testament to how defeated Adore must be, the way she agreed so quickly. 

“It’ll be better once you get here.” 

“Yeah, maybe.” Adore looked down. 

“They’re um...planning to have a little engagement party this weekend. So maybe-”

“They’re already having an engagement party?!” Adore’s head snapped back up. 

“Yeah, I guess they think-” 

“Whatever. This is so stupid,” Adore sniffled. 

“Yeah, but if you can just get Mum here by Saturday…” 

Adore nodded, wiping her eyes. 

“I would tell Mama first if you wanted, but I think with how busy things are, she’d probably just stick me on a plane, so-” 

“No, you’re right. It’s better this way.” 

“Do you know what you’re gonna say?” Danny asked. 

“No.” 

“Are you okay?” he followed up gently. 

“No.” 

But before he could say anything else, offer any words of comfort, Adore’s face disappeared from his screen. Maybe it was for the best; he had no idea what to say anyway. 

***

Adore knocked on Courtney’s bedroom door, shifting nervously, trying to hold back tears. It took a minute, but Courtney soon answered, worry creasing her brow, probably because of how late it was. 

“Danny! Are you alright, precious? Are you sick?” She reached forward to feel her forehead, and Adore eluded her grasp. 

“I have to tell you something.” 

“Okay. Come in, love.” Courtney guided her to the bed, sitting down beside her. “What is it?” 

“Well…” Adore took a deep, shaky breath. Her eyes still stung with tears, and fear swirled around inside of her. How would Courtney react to this? Would she be angry? Would she yell? After experiencing how deeply and profoundly Courtney clearly loved her brother, Adore didn’t think she could handle being the one who disappointed her yet again. And even though it was based in a lie, Adore had been relishing the new closeness with her mum that she’d experienced as Danny—the idea of losing that, of going back to their old dynamic, made her just miserable. “I…” 

Words failed her, voice breaking as she tried to hold in a sob. 

“Tell me what’s wrong, my love.” Courtney took one of her hands and held it gently, and all Adore wanted was to cling to her for dear life. 

“I c-can’t.” 

“Of course you can. You can tell me anything.” Courtney put a finger under Adore’s chin and turned her face upwards. She tried her best at a jovial tone, saying, “Remember, you’re my favorite son.” 

“But that’s…” Tears spilled down Adore’s cheeks. “That’s the problem. I’m not your son. I’m your daughter.”

Courtney’s eyes widened as a look of realization dawned across her face. And for a split second, Adore thought she understood. But then, she cupped her face and said, “Oh, Danny...I love you so much. I always will. No matter what gender you are-”

“Ugh, no!” Adore pushed her hands away. Of course Courtney would think that was what was going on. She’d fucked this up royally. Now, instead of the perfect trans child she could relate to, she was going to have to deal with the troublemaking brat that always frustrated her. “You don’t get it! I’m not Danny!” 

“Oh, I’m sorry, darling. What would you like me to call you?”

Adore closed her eyes. If tears weren’t pouring down her cheeks, she might have laughed at the utter absurdity of her situation. “Jesus fucking Christ,” she muttered, too exhausted to keep up with the farce. 

There was a moment of silence, then another, Courtney staring at her with that same loving concern, which slowly melted into confusion, her brow furrowing. And then-

“...Adore?”

“Yeah.” Adore nodded, fresh tears blurring her vision, voice quivering as she asked, “Are you mad?” 

“No, just...a bit confused. How...are you here?” Courtney asked, taking Adore’s hands once again. A good sign, maybe, but Adore knew she wasn’t out of the woods yet. 

“We switched. After camp.” 

“Okay. But...but why, darling? You know you can always come here. If you wanted to visit, I’d have been happy to-” 

“I just...wanted to know what it would feel like. To have you love me the way you love Danny,” she admitted, voice still shaky and pitiful, shame coursing through her. “And-and not just love me, because you have to, but to like me.”

Courtney’s mouth fell open, and as a fresh round of sobs shook Adore’s shoulders, her mum gathered her into her arms, rocking her gently, face buried in her hair. Adore finally let it all out, crying her eyes out, not realizing until her sobs began to subside that Courtney was crying, too. 

She sniffled, wiping her eyes on Courtney’s pajama top, finally hearing the words Courtney whispered to her: My love, my light, my sweet baby girl.

Was it possible? Had Courtney really loved her this much all along? If so, why was everything so fucked up between them? 

“Come with me,” Courtney said, wiping her eyes and pulling Adore to her feet. “I want to show you something.” 

She took Adore’s hand and led her from the bedroom into her adjacent office, where she opened up a cabinet and pulled out a bunch of boxes, then set them down on the rug. 

“Do you remember, when you were little, how I used to send you letters?” Courtney asked, and Adore nodded, a bit confused. 

The letters used to come every week—long and detailed, filled with pictures, going on and on about things happening with her and Danny, random facts and stories. Adore remembered dreading the envelopes, the thought of having to read three whole pages (or more) of Courtney’s scrawled handwriting. Adore had a hard time reading, especially when she was younger--yet another reason that she was inferior to Danny, who was always a perfect student, who liked to go to bookstores and libraries as a treat. Anyway, she’d thrown a couple of fits over the letters, and after that, they started to slow down. Only short little notes here and there, usually written on the back of postcards in big block letters. 

“Yeah, I remember.” 

“Well, your Mama and I agreed that the letters were a bit overwhelming for you. And so I stopped sending them. But...but I didn’t stop writing them.” 

She knelt down and opened one of the boxes, gesturing for Adore to peer inside. Adore’s eyes bulged, seeing the piles of fat multicolored envelopes, packets and packets of them held together by rubber bands. 

“Holy shit…” Adore whispered, reaching out to touch one of them. She plunked herself on the rug beside Courtney. “This is all for me?” 

Courtney reached out and cupped her cheek. 

“I never stop thinking about you, Adore. Or missing you. Or wishing that we were...closer.” Courtney bit her lip, green eyes still glassy. One tear slipped down her cheek. “I do love Danny with all my heart, but that has never meant that I love you any less. You’re my baby too, just like him. And I like you too, just as much as him.”

"Why?" Adore couldn't help asking, unable to believe her.

"Why? So many reasons! You're funny and charming and creative, and independent and confident and talented and beautiful, and honestly...everything I wish I could have been when I was your age."

Adore looked back down at the boxes, the years and years of proof of Courtney’s love. But if Courtney really loved her this much, then...

“So then it’s my fault?” Adore asked, voice breaking. 

“What?” 

“The reason we...the reason we’re not close. It’s my fault?” Adore’s lip quivered, stomach twisting with guilt. 

“No! Oh darling, no!” Courtney shook her head, pulling Adore back into her lap. She took a deep breath, voice sounding soft and a little shaky as she said, “It’s not your fault. It’s just this situation, it’s-” 

“It’s not fair.” 

“You’re right.” Courtney pressed a kiss to Adore’s forehead. “You’re totally, completely right. It’s very much not fair.” 

“Mum?” 

Courtney lifted her head, a smile pulling at her lips. “Yes, love?” 

“Do we have to switch back, like right away?” Adore asked, voice hoarse from crying. “If we could just have a few days-” 

“Of course we can have a few days,” Courtney said, squeezing her tightly. “I would love a few days with my girl more than anything in the world.” 

***

“Yeah, but you know what they’re wondering now, don’t you?” 

“Why you left, Geri!” Courtney exclaimed, and Adore laughed. They’d had an amazing day: the morning spent together in the garden, lunch at the Grove and then shopping on Melrose, Courtney showing Adore all of her favorite vintage stores and even letting her buy a couple of things that Adore thought she’d proclaim “too mature.” They’d gotten mani-pedis and then picked up some pizzas to eat together at home, and finally settled into Courtney’s bed for a mother/daughter slumber party, complete with homemade vegan gelato (that was shockingly good) and a big bowl of popcorn. Courtney had shown Adore an absolutely kick-ass movie called The Craft before putting on Spiceworld. 

“What happened to the bomb on the bus?” 

Adore laughed as a bomb exloded offscreen and all the girls gasped. “This movie is so dumb.” 

“Excuse you, this movie is art,” Courtney countered, tossing a piece of popcorn at Adore, who giggled and ate it.

“Thanks, Mum!” 

Courtney broke out into a grin, eyes bright and soft, and Adore found herself getting a little self-conscious.

“What?” 

“Nothing, I just...really like it when you call me Mum. It reminds me of when you were little.” 

“Oh. Yeah.” Adore bit her lip and snuggled up to her, admitting, “Me too.” 

Courtney let out a happy, contented sigh, one arm wrapped around Adore’s shoulders. 

“Did you know…” Courtney paused for suspense, waiting until Adore looked up to see the playful smile on her lips, “...that I’m the one who picked out your name?” 

“You are?!” Adore didn’t know why she was so surprised. After all, ‘Adore’ wasn’t exactly the kind of name that she’d have expected Bianca to pick. But nevertheless, she felt surprised. “Where did you get it from? People always ask me, and all Mama says is that it’s from a book.” 

“Well…” Courtney pursed her lips, then admitted, “Yeah, that’s what I told her.” 

“Wait, what?” Adore turned to look at her, intrigued by her own origin story. “Where was it really from? Was it an ex-girlfriend?” 

“No, not that…” Courtney laughed. “I was, um, driving through this neighborhood to get to a gig, and it was like…this huuuge graffiti on the side of a building. And I thought it was cool.” 

“Omigod, that’s so cool, are you kidding me? My name is from graffiti?” 

“Yeah. Luckily, your mama never asked me what book.” 

“That’s probably because she thought you’d make her read it,” slipped from her mouth before she could stop herself. 

“Adore-” Courtney covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a laugh. “That’s not nice!” 

“Yeah, well…it’s not like I’m some amazing reader either.” Adore relaxed back into Courtney’s arms, content to let the slight shade against Mama stand. “So…how did you decide who would name who?”  

“Mmmm…” Courtney stroked her back, rubbing it in gentle circles, making her feel safe and sleepy. “We each picked out two names, and then we flipped a coin to see who would name the first twin and who would name the second one.” 

“Do you remember the other ones? Like if I’d been first, what would Mama have named me?” 

“All of her choices were very...classic. I think you would probably have been Hannah. Or Elizabeth.” 

Elizabeth Del Rio? Adore pulled a face, disgusted with these generic choices, and Courtney laughed. 

“What, no good?” 

“No,” Adore said, shaking her head. “Okay but more importantly, what name did you have picked out for Danny?” 

“Uhhh...I don’t want to tell you.” 

“Why?!” 

 “Because, you’re gonna make fun of me,” Courtney giggled. 

“Yes, probably, but I still want to know. Come on, they can’t be worse than what I call him.” 

“What do you call him?” Courtney asked, a note of sternness creeping into her voice. 

“Well it's just like a nickname based on a joke, and like, he loves it,” Adore explained. 

“Uh huh…” Courtney looked skeptical. “What’s the nickname?” 

“Roach?” 

“Adore…” Courtney shook her head disapprovingly, but Adore could see the hint of a smile still in her eyes. 

“I swear he loves it!” Adore said. A white lie wouldn’t hurt in this case.  

“Yeah, I’ll bet.” Courtney reached out to tug playfully on her hair. 

“So are you gonna tell me? Is it really dumb? Can I guess? Is it like...Kale Cholula?” Adore giggled. 

“No. But...well it is...a bit...food adjacent,” Courtney said, then clarified, “Organic.” 

Adore thought for a moment and then guessed, “Watermelon Mung Bean?” 

“No!” 

“Parsley?” 

“No, but you’re getting closer. And that’s kind of cute. Parsley,” she repeated. “If I ever have another baby, remind me-” 

“Mum, you’re stalling. Just tell me what the name was!” Adore urged. 

“Okay, fine. It was...Sage.”

“Oh.” After a pause, Adore said, “That’s not as terrible as I expected. But...I think Danny’s awkward enough without being named after an herb.” 

Courtney pursed her lips, tilting her head and giving Adore a Warning Look, and Adore responded with a sweet smile and flutter of lashes. 

“We’re actually getting along a lot better these days,” she said, and Courtney’s face melted into a happy smile. 

“Yeah? Really?” 

“Yeah. I guess sending us to camp together wasn’t the worst idea you’ve ever had.” 

“I’m really glad.” Courtney pulled her in for another hug, kissing the top of her head. Adore sighed happily, loving the feeling of being in her arms. 

“Did you really not suspect anything? Like, when you saw me?” 

“Well...I mean first of all, humans are quite notorious for succumbing to confirmation bias-” 

“Uh, what? Remember, you’re with the dumb twin right now.” 

“Adore, you’re not dumb. Not even a little bit,” Courtney said, brow furrowed.  

“I just meant, like...I just didn’t understand what you meant,” Adore explained. Frankly, she’d always thought of herself as the dumb twin. Danny had done everything first, like walking and talking, and he was good in school, and never had the same trouble she did. But it felt good to have Courtney so adamantly defend her.  

“I meant that...we usually just see what we’re expecting to see. And plus, you and Danny are both at that age where you can change a lot, really quickly. So...yeah, I noticed that you looked a little different, but I thought...okay, he’s going through some changes.” 

“I guess he’s more feminine than me anyway. Is that why you weren’t that surprised when you thought he was trans?” 

Courtney laughed. “Danny has a...lot of compassion, and a gentle soul, and those are things that we often equate with femininity. But that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with gender. So...you know, I never tried to make assumptions. But...to answer your actual question...no, I wasn’t that surprised. I always considered it a possibility.” 

“Yeah, that’s fair. He really loves wearing my clothes and stuff.”

“Well, they do say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, eh?” Courtney gestured to herself. 

Adore chuckled, then looked at Courtney curiously. “It’s kinda weird to think about the fact that you’re like...technically our dad.” 

Courtney laughed. “It’s very weird. But kinda cool, right?” 

“Yeah. Totally.” Adore settled back against her shoulder, asking, “So...what are we watching next?” 

“Hmm...are you up for Priscilla?” 

“Yeah, sounds great,” Adore yawned. 

“Or if you’re tired, we can just go to sleep-” 

“No, put it on. I want to listen.” Adore snuggled into Courtney’s side, eyelids feeling heavy, but not wanting the evening to end. 

“Okay, my love. Whatever you want.” Courtney pressed a kiss to her forehead and picked up the remote. 

***

Courtney stared at her phone, dread creeping in. After a few years of communicating only through their attorneys, she and Bianca had managed to graduate to civil but frosty emails. 

They’d never moved beyond that, and the thought of calling her directly for the first time in years was terrifying. However, Courtney knew that “hey FYI our kids switched places and we need to switch them back” was an inappropriate email, and a text would be worse. Her fingers hovered over Bianca’s contact, a tightness in her throat. 

Here we go…

[natsu-kage]

*Two for one*

The Joker, in his obsession, could clock Dan Masters as somehow related to Danny. The guard is as unflappable and unfazed. It’s almost like he doesn’t care. Joker knows that Scarecrow, one of the first to try and warn him of his folly, has a crush/obsession with the guard as well. It’s like nothing ruffles him, so much like Danny.

One would think he would at least be focus while he, The Joker, was in the same room as a sibling, but no. No noticeable reaction, no tensing of muscles no care of the danger he represented.

Truthfully, he should have listened to Dr Crane, the mad psychiatrist obsessed with fear. This family is wrong and not human. Dr. Nightingale is good at passing for human, but she doesn’t react to him “baring” his soul. Like she knows the truth but is waiting for him to speak it. He’s described his most heinous act, but there she sits with her same calm face and only asks him how he felt when he did them. It’s like she’s seen or heard worse, which isn’t possible.

He’d think she had done them, but she’s like that for everyone. Scarecrow, Dr. Crane, has been going over his research to see if he had truly misunderstood some part of it and has been pivoting better understand why people seek out fear after talking to her. Apparently some out of towners would seek out his gas attacks to experience his fear toxin. Strange, but whatever. Killer Croc, Waylon, has been given more humane quarter when he’s brought in, he has said that the room he meets her in smells like an open mausoleum, though. Every other worker and inmate speaks like the sun shone out her ass. And she acts like it too!

But today, oh today! The Masters had finally slipped up. He’d stepped outside, leaving him, The Joker, alone with his main target, Dr Jasmine Nightingale. Now was his chance...

But he couldn’t move. It felt like a great weight rested on his chest, his arms where tingling. No! A fucking heart attack!

*Click*

“It’s not a heart attack.” Dr. Nightingale’s voice flouted across the tauntingly short distance between them, finger poised over the stop button on her recorder. The Joker’s eyes fully caught her, where they always mixed with red?

“The administration was hesitant to allow me to be your therapist, as I’m sure you know. With how many promising young therapists you’ve pulled in to your sphere of influence. That’s why the Mr Masters has been shadowing our sessions. But, as you can see, I’ve never needed him.” He couldn’t tear his eyes from her as they shift in to a dark red, and yet at the corner his own he could see the shadows shifting to crowd around them.

His mind spiraled back to his meeting with Danny, her little brother. Oh! It runs in the family! His blood thrilled at the prospect of another to-

“I wanted to see if there was any way I could in fact help you. I’ve been able to help so many, even with obsessions far stronger then yours.” She flowed up from her seat with a true boneless grace. Her appearance was shifting, hair from red to a light teal color and her skin a deathly pallor.

“But, you don’t care about being better. You are actively seeking out your end. Death by Hero, behind a thin veneer of trying to prove that “One Bad Day” can make anyone like you. Yes, a bad day can make a person do horrible things. It’s what they do after that matters. Do they wallow in their pain and make it everyone else’s problem”-she cross the short distance and looms over him, coming nose to nose- “ or do they get back up and move forward to make up for what you’ve done? You have wallowed long enough Mr !%@^*#.”

At that name, his heart squeezed is fear. The echoing overlap of names that no human voice should be able to replicate.

“My brothers have a vow, no killing. I will respect that, but that does not mean it is a kindness.” The doctor leaned back and up-up-up. Her body twisting and elongating in to a mockery of a human form, her clothes stretched tight over a jagged bony form. Her right hand, hands?, stretched down to his head. Her palm completely engulfing face and her long, thin fingers wrapped all the way around his skull. Darkness enveloped him.

***

“CODE BLUE! I REPEAT CODE BLUE! THE JOKER IS SEIZING! MEDICAL REPORT TO SESSION ROOM N402!” Dan’s voice blared thought the walkies of Arkham. Behind him Dr. Nightingale was placing a soft pillow under the fools head.

He knew that she was not his sister, and he now saw her as a cousin much like little Ellie saw Danny. They had all agreed to give the Joker a chance. To see if there was anyway to reach him, help him get back up. Just like how Danny had Dan. The bastard had all but spat in their face the whole time. Jazz had finally had enough. More intense therapy would be needed.

Jazz hated taking that form, it reminded her how effected by her parent’s lax lab safety they had been as children. Proving that the young Fentons would have both become halfas with time, even without the lab accident that speed up Danny’s change.

She had adjusted well at least. Now she was here, taking charge of a neglected haunt, Arkham. The lesser spirits were flattered to have the Older Phantom sibling choosing their home to haunt. Even Lady Gotham supported Jazz’s decision.

Having another strong spirit powering Arkham took that burden off of the Lady of Gotham. The Lady had tested this system with her revived Robin, Red Hood, to great success. Now if that bastard would stop sniffing around Jazz.

“Support on the way Masters!” Cash’s voice crackled back to him.

“I read you!” Dan turned fully back to Jazz. “They be here soon. Thank you, I don’t think I could ha-”

“He wouldn’t have stopped. Like this he won’t be hurting anyone else. And if he wakes up, it will be as a new person. Nocturne taught me well.” Her eyes never once leaving the seized body on the ground. “He could surprise all of us and wake up. Statistically improbable, but there.”

Short DPXDC Prompts #195

Danny becomes the most inner connected person with villains, anti heroes, heroes, by being an independent YouTube creator and interviewing them and capturing their hearts. (Think Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan) If you fuck with Danny you’re gonna have to deal with every super person under the sun coming after you.

[scarletwitching]

Wanda: But despite what he tried to do with me, I can’t help feeling sorry for him. Villain though he was to us -- he still was noble in his own way.

Avengers West Coast #62; writers: Roy & Dann Thomas; penciler: Paul Ryan; inker: Danny Bulanadi; colorist: Bob Sharen; letterer: Bill Oakley

I’m on record as saying Roy Thomas was not good at writing Wanda (because he wasn’t) and I have a grudge against this issue for introducing the concept of “nexus beings,” which has become the bane of my existence, but this moment, at least, feels Correct and True.

A hallmark of good (and some bad) Wanda characterizations is this idea that she expresses empathy for -- not cruelty towards -- people who abuse her. I buy that her first reaction after waking up, now knowing that Immortus ruined her life and tried to turn her into a comatose universe stabilizer for all time (did I mention I hate the nexus being thing?), is to feel sorry for him. How one feels about this trait combined with the fact that the ur-abuser, Chthon, is the literal embodiment of evil, is a “your mileage may vary” situation. To me, it seems valid to pit a character whose first response is empathy against a force that cannot be empathized with, but I can see the counterargument.

The flipside of this is that it feels like almost a given that people who have no idea what to do with this character or what her core emotional engine is supposed to be would have her throw him down a well or something.

There are exceptions. That’s the thing you learn from reading 1000+ comics written about the same character over decades by dozens of writers. There are people who can make Wanda reacting vengefully in anger work because their take is so nuanced, so balanced, so well thought out that these two impulses can exist within this one person and you understand that both of them, her empathy and her vengefulness, are flaws in their own way.

So far, those people are Steve Englehart, Dan Abnett, and Andy Lanning and no one else.

[flutteringdreams-matw]

Out of Time (13)

First/Last

Read on AO3

Word Count: 6532

Previously: After a brief team up between Vlad, Valerie, Dani and Danny against Dan, the evil spectre goes after the Fentons. With Danny injured, the others rush off to find his family. Just when Danny starts to think he can recover he remembers the last person involved in the original future - Mr. Lancer.

Now: Fentons and friends v. Dan duplicates. Fights, observant parents enraged Dan and some relevations...maybe.

Please let me know what you think! Feel free to drop a reply or reblog whatever. Next chapter will be out on Sunday (link will be in the replies!)

Jack frowned as he destroyed two more of the shadow ghosts. In the confusion of the attacks and recognition that Danny was finally back in the city, he barely noticed when most of the ghosts disappeared. "I know you're there!" the man yelled angrily. "Show yourself before the might of Jack Fenton!" His frown deepened when nothing jumped out at him. It was too quiet. Jack brought the Fenton Bazooka down to his side and searched the skies for a familiar black and white blur. Even the fighting above the city had stopped. The worried father's left hand turned on the switch on the Fenton Phone. "Tucker, what's happening?"

The line of the Fenton Phone crackled to life. "There's still shadows around the town," his son's best friend told him. "But a lot of them are leaving to go attack the perimeter. Ethelwulf's out there, so they're probably trying to take him out."

Jack's chest tightened slightly. "And Danny?" he asked fearfully.

He heard Tucker sigh worriedly. "Gone - he's not coming up on the scanners," Tucker replied. "It's like he vanished again - but he must still be here somewhere. Clockwork lost sight of him when he, Danielle, Plasmius and the Red Hunter were fighting Dan. I don't think he would leave again without checking in with us."

Jack hummed in agreement, scanning the skies again. "There's something else going on," he said murmured. "It's too quiet."

"Agreed," Tucker confirmed. Jack heard a small beep on the line before the teen spoke again. "Mrs. F - how does your end look?"

"I've got no hostiles," she replied quickly. "Though the Red Hunter's here - they said we're in danger."

Jack frowned as he heard Tucker swore under his breath. "Does Red know where Danny is?" He heard Maddie relay the question to the ghost hunter, getting a muffled reply before she responded.

"The office building off of Third Street," Maddie told them evenly, trying to mask her worry in the face of the hunter. "Jack, how close are you?"

"Very," he replied, holstering the bazooka and taking out the scanner. There was still no sign of Danny on it. "I'll get him, Mads."

He heard some more muffled noises on the other end before his wife spoke again. "Jack, Phantom said Dan is coming after us. Be careful."

"I'll keep my eyes peeled from here Mr. F," Tucker added. "Just get to that building. I don't know why Danny isn't coming up on the scanner, but I have a bad feeling about it."

"Will do," Jack replied, hearing the line of the Fenton Phones go dead. He looked down at the scanner, changing it to scan for ghosts above Danny's ecto-levels. It pinged, showing three entities on the scanner - none of them were at that office building. "Come on Danny," he murmured to himself. "Where are you?"

"Dad?"

:-=-:

Maddie heard the line disconnect, turning to the mysterious Red Hunter with a frown. "What else did Phantom tell you?" she asked, trying to mask any emotion that would give away her concern. Jack will find him. He'll be okay.

"Not much," Red's robotic voice replied. Maddie still couldn't figure out their age nor their gender. "Just that Dan was coming for your family."

Maddie nodded, again pushing aside her worry. She needed to prioritize. "Okay. How stocked are you? I need to reload a couple of my bazookas after the shadow attacks. I think I have a couple extras if you need them." Red nodded, and Maddie led them back to the RV. "I saw you fighting up there," Maddie commented, attempting to make conversation. "Must have been intense."

"You have no idea," Red said darkly. "Dan uses this sonic power - think Phantom called it a wail?"

"Ghostly Wail, yes," Maddie agreed. "Phantom has that too."

Red stopped. "Phantom has that power too? Along with those electric attacks?" they exclaimed.

"Yes," Maddie answered. "Wait - electric attacks?" The mother paled slightly. "He was using his core powers?"

Red cocked their head to the side. "Core powers?" they said weakly. "You know what - I don't think I can handle another surprise today."

Maddie chuckled fondly. "With Phantom involved - I take it there were many." She beckoned Red onward, turning the corner to where the parked Fenton RV waited for them. She opened the trunk, tossed a bazooka to the hunter and rummaged for a Fenton staff.

"Mrs. Fenton," the Red Hunter started apprehensively.

"Yes dear," she replied, still looking for her staff.

"Your truce with Phantom started last summer right?"

Maddie stopped her mission and looked at Red. "That's not the question you want to ask," Maddie retorted, "Is it?"

Red looked at her, startled. Maddie noted that they must be young if her question made them falter. "No," they said. "But honestly Mrs. Fenton, I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."

Maddie smiled wryly. "Oh, you'd be surprised." She turned back to the RV with a triumphant cry, reaching inward and grabbed the Fenton Staff. "Phantom is… well he's remarkable. The more I learn about him, the more I realize how wrong Jack and I were about everything. All we needed to do was listen." She grabbed more ammo from a drawer on the left and started to change a couple empty cartridges. Maddie glanced at the Red Hunter as they looked on apprehensively. "So, have you been listening? Or did you go in guns blazing like my husband used to?"

Red shifted guiltily. "More like…observing," they said. "Phantom told us to take a shot if we had it." Red started to reload their weapons also. "And we were going at it - Dan duplicated himself into 4. I was struggling then Phantom… Phantom got hit real bad. Phantom said to take it..."

Maddie swallowed nervously. "Did you?" she asked.

Red shook their head. "There was this light - something that leads me to think… Mrs. Fenton I don't think Pha- "

"Mom!"

:-=-:

Jack's head whipped up at the voice, mouth hanging open as Danny walked towards him. There wasn't a scratch on him; blue eyes looking at him confused and a bit of something else. "Danny!" Jack called out, rushing forward in relief. "We've been looking for you! What happened?"

Danny's head tilted to one side, still confused. "I don't remember," he said. Jack stopped a few feet away, confusion and scepticism growing at the boy's response. "The last thing I remember is going to bed last night."

Patience Jack he reminded himself. "R-really?" Jack asked. He watched 'Danny' closely, realizing that he seemed to have shrunk an inch or so from yesterday. "Nothing at all?" the boy shook his head.

Jack frowned slightly, left hand inching toward his side for a smaller ecto-gun. "We're fighting an evil version of Phantom," Jack said evenly, watching the teen's reactions in front of him. Blue eyes were narrowed at Jack's left hand. He swallowed slowly, more alarm bells ringing in his ears. "From the future; he has most of Phantom's powers. But Phantom will stop him."

The boy's eyes flashed red for a second before settling back to blue. "Will he?" Not-Danny asked darkly. A Ghostly Wail sounded in the distance, a look of annoyance crossing the imposter's face as he faltered slightly. Jack pushed aside any worry from the wail and pointed the ecto-gun toward the teen in front of him.

"He will," Jack told him simply. "Just like how I'll stop you from hurting my family."

Blue eyes widened slightly before he laughed menacingly. Not-Danny's face contorted into one of anger and frustration, full of malice as he stared at Jack. "Your family? Don't you mean our family?"

"You aren't my son," Jack told him darkly. He fired the ecto-gun, hitting the imposter in the chest. The teen faltered slightly, red eyes now glaring back at the man in front of him.

"But I was your son," he replied sinisterly. White rings of light appeared around his waist, transforming him into a much taller figure. Blue skin, flaming white hair, long cape and piercing red eyes stared back at Jack. Dan Phantom had made his reappearance. The ghost frowned at Jack's lack of reaction. "You know... I pictured this going differently." He raised a hand lighting it in green energy before he was knocked to the side by a small white and black blur.

"You stay away from him!" Danielle yelled, sending a large ecto-blast toward the downed ghost. "Jack! You okay?"

Jack smiled in relief. "Better that you're here kiddo! Want to give me a hand?"

Danielle smiled back. "Oh - you have no idea."

:-=-:

Red and Maddie both turned at the exclamation. Danny Fenton was running toward them with a giant grin on his face. "Mom! I'm so glad I found you."

Red started to move toward the boy, but Maddie grabbed the hunter's elbow. "Danny?" she called out. "What are you doing here?" Red noticed how rigid the woman went and how her eyes moved as if she was characterizing a threat.

"It's - wait is that the Red Hunter with you?" Danny asked, looking between the two.

"Didn't know your son was a fan," Red said jokingly.

Maddie frowned. "When you last left Phantom," she whispered urgently. "What condition was he in?"

"Mrs. Fenton?" Red reacted.

"Mom?" Danny asked again, continuing toward them.

Maddie moved quickly, pulling the Red Hunter behind her and drew her ecto-gun, aiming it directly at her son. The boy stopped, putting his hand up fearfully. "What was the last thing I said to you," the mother asked threateningly.

"Mom? You're scaring me a bit," he said.

"Mrs. Fenton! That's your son!" Red yelled, grabbing the woman's arm.

"What was the last thing I said to you Danny?" Maddie repeated, putting her finger on the trigger.

"Wait! Mom, this is crazy!?" Danny yelled out to her. "It's me!" When Maddie didn't budge, he turned desperately to the hunter. "Valerie! Tell her she's crazy!"

Valerie stiffened, turning to Maddie with wide eyes. The elder Fenton nodded, narrowing her eyes at 'Danny.' "Dan, I presume?" Maddie questioned.

'Danny' blinked, before blue eyes became red and a nasty smile came across his face. It looked so alien on her son's face. "How'd you know?" Dan asked menacingly. His eyes drifted toward Valerie. "Oh right, you didn't know I knew. Whoops."

"Among other things," Maddie replied coolly. She turned to the teenage hunter. "Valerie Gray right? 9th degree black belt and a wicked ghost hunter?" Valerie nodded absently. "Valerie - I need you to focus right now okay?"

"He knew?" she whispered in surprise. "All this time?"

Maddie cursed internally as Dan's hands lit up in green energy. "Valerie, that isn't Danny," she told her urgently. "Dan is manipulating Danny's image - I swear to you that isn't him."

"Well - not anymore," Dan drawled, looking at his hands with fake interest. "Then again, not like either of you ever paid attention to me."

Maddie's eyes narrowed. "Don't you dare blame us for what happened to you - that was your choice."

Dan chuckled, holding out his hand toward them. "Don't you mean… it was his choice?" He fired an ecto-blast directly towards his mother and Valerie.

:-=-:

The ghost growled at the newcomer, pushing aside his cape as he stood. "You're teaming up with a ghost?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at his father.

"Danny and the Fentons have had a truce since last year," Danielle said smugly, launching herself at the ghost again. Dan dodged, only to be blasted by Jack Fenton.

Dan snarled as he got back up. "A truce huh?" He flew at the orange clad man, dodging a few of the attacks and landed forcefully in front of him. "Did he tell you who I am then? How I came into existence?" Dan stood tall, smirking into the man's gaze. "How he destroyed the entire world?"

Jack's eyes narrowed. "He'll never become what you are," he told the ghost of his son. "Never. Danny promised us he'd defeat you - just like he did last year."

Dan stood up straighter, cocking his head to the side as red eyes studied the man in front of him. Danielle flew protectively in front of the father, ecto-blast at the ready as they both glared at the evil ghost. Dan's eyes widened finally, taking a few steps back in shock. "You know?" he breathed, looking between the ghost in front of him to his father. "You know my secret?"

Jack's eyes softened slightly as he saw a small glimpse of his son in the evil spectre. Danielle frowned between the two men, her arms still ablaze with green energy aimed toward Dan. A kaleidoscope of emotions came across his face, as if he was having more than one conversation before it disappeared. Dan threw his head back as a deep unsettling laugh erupted from his mouth. Jack and Danielle tensed as his eyes focused on them again.

"He told you," Dan said, his body shifting his stance into one more animalistic. His body was hunched, red eyes looked deranged and hungry for something. "He had the guts to come clean and you and Mom accepted him?" He smiled cruelly. "Oh, this is going to be good."

:-=-:

Jazz dove behind a car, dodging another ecto-blast that came her way. She clutched the bazooka tightly, peering upward to locate Dan. "Where is he?" she murmured, teal eyes scanning the skies.

"Come on out Jazz," Dan drawled. She heard him land as she ducked behind the car. "All I want to do is catch up with my dear older sister… well I guess younger sister now."

Jazz frowned, recognizing something off in Dan's dark tone.

"I know you're listening," Dan continued. Jazz jumped as he made a car explode with an Ecto-blast. "Isn't that what you always told me? 'I'm here for you Danny,' 'Talk to me Danny,'? Well I'm talking!" Another explosion, closer this time made Jazz turn, watching as a flaming car rolled across the road.

She swallowed, mind racing. Why does he want to talk? Why is he so fixated on me listening? Jazz frowned again, ignoring her pounding heart as Dan's footsteps came closer. He's referring to me as his sister… the last time he spoke about us it was in past tense. Jazz's eyes widened. Could it be? Jazz gasped as the car she was hiding behind was lifted into the air. The red-head scrambled upright and away, staring up into the face of the older Phantom.

"Found you," he sneered, throwing the car to the side.

Jazz raised the bazooka and took aim. "You were saying," she said, eyes narrowing.

Dan scoffed. "Really Jazz? The bazooka? I thought the peeler was more your speed."

Jazz put her hand on the trigger. "You said you were talking," Jazz repeated. Her adrenaline and nerves were squashed by her burning curiosity and theories as she looked the ghost over. She felt slightly vindicated to see that he looked injured. Danny must have gotten him. "So talk."

Dan's eyes widened incredulously, tilting his head to the side. "Braver than I thought," he said darkly with a small chuckle. "It won't help you. Don't you want to know where your Danny is? I can see those wheels turning in that big brain of yours."

Jazz's glare faltered for a second before she shook her head. "It's not Danny I'm thinking about," she said evenly. "It's your sudden change of tense." Dan looked at her in confusion. "Your timeline doesn't exist anymore - but you don't belong here. Your friends and family died."

Dan snarled in her direction. "And yet you're right in front of me!"

"But I'm not your Jazz," she said gently. She saw what she was missing now. "I'm his big sister. Not yours."

Dan roared, making Jazz flinch as he released a blast behind him. "He'll lose you too. He doesn't deserve this timeline - what good did he do to deserve this? Not cheat on a test? He should suffer, just like I have!"

"You're different people," Jazz continued. "Danny made his decision a long time ago. He's come a long way from the darkness you caused."

"I caused? I caused!?" Dan shouted. His ghostly aura flared at her words. It took everything in her not to run away. "This was all his fault. Danny Fenton - playing the hero. He's no hero Jazz. All that good you think he's done? He'd throw it away in an instant if it was hard work. Why'd you think he never told Mom and Dad?"

Jazz moved backward slowly, bazooka still aimed at Dan. Come on, use your research and knowledge of the subject, she told herself matter-of-factly. This is still a version of your brother - you know his insecurities, his fears. "You might not have," she told him. "But my brother did."

Red eyes widened at her words. "What?" he whispered. Something shifted in the air around her, making Jazz shiver. "What did you say?"

Jazz swallowed again. "Danny told them last summer," she said, confirming her theory. "We've been fighting as a family ever since."

Dan's wide eyes looked through her, the blue flames on his head flaring dangerously as his temper rose. "Why does he have it so easy?" he roared, ecto-energy exploding around him.

Jazz was thrown back at the display of power, skidding across the road with a yelp. Her ankle twisted beneath her as she fell, bazooka sliding a few feet away. She was right - Dan was jealous of her brother. She reached for the bazooka and finally fired, hitting true. Dan didn't register that he was hit, dark red eyes staring directly at her. She moved to get up, wincing as she felt a twinge of pain in her ankle. Dammit. Her teal eyes widened as Dan smiled cruelly, walking toward her. I'm a sitting target!

"He will pay for what he did to them," Dan vowed menacingly. "He's barely much of a threat now anyway. Once he watches you all die, he'll be too broken to stop me."

"Not today Phantom!"

:-=-:

Maddie pulled Valerie to the ground, dodging it before returning fire. Valerie, finally breaking out of her stupor, summoned her sled and pulled the Fenton onboard. She turned, flying away from Dan.

"Hang on Mrs. Fenton!" Valerie yelled, making the sled go faster. Maddie frowned, turning back to see the now familiar white light come alive around Dan's waist, before transforming him into his true form. The ghost snarled as he took off, giving chase behind them. Maddie fired, watching Dan dodge as he gained.

"Valerie, we need to split up," Maddie said.

"Nope - not happening," the girl retorted. "That thing wants you dead remember?"

"I do," Maddie replied. "But we need to divide his attention. I hit him low, you hit him high?"

Valerie turned; head tilted a little before she understood. "Got it." Valerie dived, coming close to the ground as Dan let out a volley of attacks. The teen dodged them, nodding to Maddie. The elder jumped off the jet sled, skidding across the ground and hit a clean shot at Dan.

"I'm right here!" she yelled, shooting rapidly at the incoming ghost. "Why don't you come at me?"

Dan growled, dodging a few blasts as he landed heavily. Red eyes found violet, an eerie smile forming. "You don't even know half of what Danny's been into, have you?"

Maddie dropped the ecto-gun and took out the Fenton Staff, twirling it in place. "Perhaps - but you're not Danny!"

Dan chuckled, mocking her with a hurt gesture. "Now, that stings a little," he said sarcastically. "Just because I killed my weaker half and destroyed the world, I'm no longer a Fenton? Like I don't have any of my memories?"

Maddie's eyes softened a bit, but her voice still had an edge to it. "No," she said. "It's because you forgot who you are."

Dan faltered, eyes widening at the implication of her words. Maddie took that as an opening, rushing forward with her staff. She used it to jump up into the air, moving it fluidly to strike. Dan was thrown back with a grunt as Maddie continued to attack. Eventually, he managed to hold up his arms to block, growling in annoyance. His hands alighted in green energy as he thrust them outward, pushing Maddie backward.

"You knew?" Dan asked with wide eyes. "You knew whole time?" Maddie pursed her lips, eying Dan warily as he continued to process. The evil ghost shook his head. "No, there's no way… I would have-" he broke off, suddenly looking far away.

Maddie frowned, standing straighter and putting a hand on her ecto-gun. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Valerie coming in for an attack; she needed to stall him. "I found out last year," Maddie said. "Danny told us everything."

Dan's eyes glowed red, turning back to the mother with a small smirk. "Oh Mom," he spat menacingly. "Not everyth-"

"Eat this Phantom!" Valerie cried out, shooting one of her blasters and hitting Dan in the back. He disappeared mid-sentence, leaving a trail a smoke from where the blast hit.

Maddie let out a relieved sigh as Dan disappeared, nodding as Valerie flew back toward the ground. "Nice shot."

Retracting her sled, Valerie lifted the tint in her visor, letting the woman see her smile. "I've been waiting to do that." She inclined her head toward Maddie. "You okay? Did he say something to you?"

"Nothing that I didn't know already," Maddie replied quietly. She looked out in the distance with a frown, bringing her hand up to the Fenton Phone in her ear. "Jazz? You there sweetie?" No response. "Jazz?" she tried again, worry starting to creep up for her daughter.

Valerie frowned also. "Phantom was worried about her too," she said. Maddie's head turned quickly at to the girl's face. "He sent Plasmius over to her."

"Why Plasmius?" Maddie murmured to herself, dread creeping up within her.

"He said she was the most in danger I think?" Valerie answered. "Mrs. Fenton - Plasmius and Phantom are probably the only ones that can take that ghost one on one. With Phantom injured - Plasmius in the next best thing. She'll be fine."

Maddie was silent for a few moments. "Think you can track him?" she asked the hunter.

"Plasmius?" Valerie asked. Maddie nodded. "What are you thinking?"

Maddie rubbed her arm absently. "If Phantom's worried about Jazz and sent on his arch-enemy to protect her, then she might be in more danger than we realised."

:-=-:

Dan turned to be blasted by a magenta blast of energy.

Jazz gasped in surprise as Plasmius flew at Dan with such intensity. "Vlad?" she questioned.

Noticing the young girl, Vlad promptly duplicated in two, leaving one to clash with Dan and the other to head in her direction. "Are you alright Jasmine?" he asked.

Jazz attempted to stand again, but faltered as the pain in her ankle flared again. She winced, rubbing it as she looked up at Plasmius. "Think I sprained it," she said.

Dan roared as he traded punches with Plasmius' duplicate, getting both of their attention. Jazz frowned, noticing that Dan didn't use any of his ghost powers.

"He's getting tired," Vlad said, answering her unasked question. "Dan has been duplicating non-stop and clashing with all of us. About damn time too; don't know how much longer any of us can keep him at bay without that shield."

A whine of an ecto-gun made both of them look up as both Valerie flew into the fray, Maddie on the back of her sled with bazooka raised at Dan. She fired, hitting both Plasmius and Dan, making Vlad's duplicate disappear. Valerie continued the onslaught with a barrage of missiles toward the Dark Phantom. Dan looked up at them both, snarling before he stopped, glaring at the four foes.

"To be continued I think," he said snidely, smiling. His eyes met Jazz's, gleaming with malice. "Let's see if your precious Phantom is stronger than me." Dan disappeared, making Jazz frown.

"Jazz!" Maddie called out. Valerie flew over, retracting her sled as both women touched down. "Honey, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Jazz confirmed as Maddie ran over to her. "Just twisted my ankle." The mother nodded, letting out a small breath before she glanced at the older hybrid and nodded. Vlad gave her a small smile that she did not return.

"It's not like him to retreat," Valerie said, breaking up the reunion.

"He's not retreating," Plasmius said quietly.

Jazz shook her head. "He's jealous," she corrected. "I thought it was something like human envy but isn't that." She winced as Maddie helped her up. "That evil Phantom was born out of his worst failure and never recovered. Our Phantom managed to overcome that failure to get to where he is today, and has all of the future Phantom's deepest desires - or at least the desires he had when he was 14."

Maddie frowned. "So he wants to destroy Phantom?"

Jazz paled. "Not just destroy," she said. "I think he's trying to punish Phantom." Jazz locked eyes with her mother. "Mom, we need to find him. Dan's unstable and has 10 years on our Danny Phantom."

"Your father's on it," Maddie assured, hugging her daughter tightly. "Phantom will be okay."

Valerie exchanged a worried frown with Plasmius. "I know you all know Phantom a bit better than I do, but I doubt he'll be up for a fight if it comes his way."

"Ms. Gray is right," Plasmius confirmed. Valerie scowled in his direction as he revealed her identity to Jazz. The red head barely blinked at the admission. "Daniel will try to lure him out of the city by himself to try and keep you out of the way. He won't make it."

Maddie bristled at that man's assessment. "And how would you know what he can and can't do?" she snapped.

Vlad's eyes narrowed in frustration. "Really, we're going to do this again?" he retorted. "How many times do I have to tell you, we're the same Maddie."

Maddie pursed her lips. "You are not the same!" she argued. "The choices he made? Miles different than what you chose."

"And yet here we are, fighting a future version of him that embodies everything that you believe me to be," Vlad replied coolly. He sighed tiredly. "Do you even know, truly know, how many times that boy barely makes it out of these fights alive?"

"Plasmius," Jazz warned, frowning in thought as she looked between the two adults. Maddie gestured for Valerie to take Jazz, storming up to Plasmius furiously.

"How dare you," she accused. "Of course I do."

Vlad shook his head. "You've seen the recoveries, Maddie," he said softly. "You've never seen him in mid-battle. You've never seen what he had to go through to make it back."

Maddie stood, fuming silently. "And you have?" she asked at last.

"How do you think he survived Pariah?" The three women stiffened at his words. Vlad sighed again. "You've known the truth for less than a year, my dear. It's not your fault that you didn't know. The only reason he's alive right now is because I created the ecto-enhancers." Maddie frowned in confusion at the name. "Daniel is not going to stop if he believes you all are in danger - and trust me when I say that Dan will kill him without our help."

Maddie swallowed, ignoring Jack's voice in her ear as he called for anyone to respond to him; she could hear it in his voice. "If you cannot figure out how to separate their ecto-signatures, even with Plasmius' help, then you must be prepared to accept what Danny decides to do. Along with the consequences that come with it." Clockwork's warning rang in her mind as she stared at Vlad. She knew Vlad was right; Danny was going to fly into battle regardless of what was best for him.

"I believe in him," Maddie said softly. "I may not have been there for him, but I'm here now Vlad. I know what he'll do, what he thinks he'll need to do. If he's going to lure Dan out of the city, then we're going after him. Jack and I are going after him."

The adults stared at each other in grim understanding before Jazz gasped.

"You know," Jazz said softly. "Mom, you know don't you?"

"Know what?" Valerie asked, questioningly. A second later, she gasped too. She turned to Jazz. "Wait, you both know?"

Jazz furrowed her brow at Valerie's question before her eyes widened.

Vlad turned his attention to the teen hunter. "How'd you figure it out?" he asked quietly.

"What was it? 'For such a smart girl, she's very easily led.'" Valerie quoted angrily.

Plasmius sighed. "I guess there's not much to say about that then." Valerie opened her mouth to retort. "At least for now. If we're going to help Daniel, then we're going to need to get past the shadow ghosts and take out as many as we can so we don't leave the town defenceless.

"And how, are we going to do that?" Valerie asked irately. Her answer came as the ground rumbled beneath her feet and the massive energy of the Fenton Shield took over the town.

:-=-:

Jack's eyes widened, making a move to attack but Dan disappeared with a faint pop, leaving him running into thin air. "Danny," the worried father said, turning to Danielle. "Where's Danny?"

Danielle's eyes widened, realizing what Dan's disappearance meant. "I left him at an office building," she replied, pointing off in the distance to a building a few blocks away. "Follow me!"

Danielle flew, Jack following quickly behind - ignoring the burning in his legs from the amount of running he had to do. Get to Danny. "How was he?" he asked, frowning as ran.

Danielle's mouth grew thin, looking down with familiar green eyes as she answered. "Not up for a fight if one comes his way."

Dread crept up into Jack's stomach again, quickening his pace. "Then we have to find him before Dan does." They turned a corner, Danielle pausing for a second before nodding and heading right. As they came up to the building, Jack stopped, out of breath as he looked at the damage to the downtown core. The amount of debris was only amplified by broken windows, gaping holes in brick buildings and large burns above them. "Some party," he joked, narrowing his eyes as he caught his breath.

Danielle smiled a lop-sided smile - so eerily similar to Danny's that another pang of worry hit him with full force. Danielle continued, oblivious to his turmoil. "You had to be there," she quipped, her smile fading slightly. "Come on - he should be around floor 3 or 4." She flew upward, leaving Jack outside with a small frown.

"Sure - leave me to the stairs," he said bitterly, kicking the door in as he broke into the building and headed up the stairs. "Not like I'd appreciate the lift or anything." By the time he reached the top of the third flight of stairs, he huffed deeply, grabbing onto the wall to steady himself. Definitely need to train some more. He rubbed his face tiredly, remembering that he barely slept over the last few nights before adrenaline kicked in again. Danny; he had to find him.

"Danny!?" he yelled into the office. It was bitterly cold - someone had cranked the air conditioner. Odd - there's no one here. "Son! It's me!"

"Jack!" Danielle's alarmed voice made him race over to her. He saw her floating ahead of him, back toward him as she blocked a row of cubicles. As he reached her, he stopped looking at the floor in front of them.

Various bottles of water littered the floor along with an ice bucket that was half melted. Dried ectoplasm smeared the wall and part of the cubicle. A few scorch marks of thin lines were against the wall. He swallowed thickly, trying to hold back his emotions as surveyed the scene.

"He was right here," Danielle whispered softly. "We - we told him to wait here - That we would protect you from Dan."

Jack stepped forward a little bit, looking at the marks on the cubicle as Danielle kept floating in shock. "Danny," he whispered, putting his hand out to touch a bit of ectoplasm. Jack turned his head to Danielle, who stared at him blankly. "He wasn't taken," he told her matter-of-factly. He turned back to the rest of the floor, walking toward another cubicle and seeing a smeared handprint of ectoplasm along the top. "It looks like he moved this way."

"Jack," Danielle whispered, getting the man's attention. "Danny wasn't okay when I left him," she told him thickly. "He… he couldn't... Dan had him by the throat and then his hands lit on fire." Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at him worriedly. "Something's wrong with his core - something about it overheating. We need to find him."

Jack's mind raced with the implications of her words. Immediately he brought his hand to the Fenton Phone in his ear. "Does anyone have eyes on Danny?!" he said tersely, moving quickly through the office to retrace his son's steps. He stopped at the giant hole in the wall, finding no other evidence that Danny was still there. When static reached his ears, Jack's frown deepened. "Maddie? Jazz? Tucker?" Danielle flew towards him, mirroring his worry and impatience. "Fenton 2 to base! Do you read me?" Again, static reached his ears, anger getting the best of him. Jack's face darkened as he turned abruptly.

"Jack?" Danielle called nervously, floating behind him.

To hell with being patient. "We were wrong," Jack said with self-loathing. "Danny needs us - now. Where would he go?" He turned to Danielle, the girl flinching under his intense gaze. "What else did he tell you? He told Red that Dan was going after us, where would-" Jack stopped, eyes widening as another thought catching up to him. "Jazz. Who's with Jazz?"

Danielle bit her lip. "Danny told Plasmius to go to her. Said she was the most in danger."

Jack growled. "That has to be it. He must be going to Jazz - Danny doesn't trust Plasmius."

Danielle's brow furrowed in thought. "He doesn't," she agreed slowly. "But this is bigger than them. Plasmius saved Danny back there. If it wasn't for that jerk, I don't know if -" Danielle gasped suddenly, a deep rumbling from beneath them cutting through their conversation. Jack turned to the broken wall in the building to see a deep green shield appear around the town. It flew outward, stretching over the downtown area, past the part and stopped just shy of Elmerton.

Jack's eyes widened, recognizing what the shield meant. He took out the scanner, setting it for a lower level of ghosts and saw quite a few ghosts being pushed out of the town. Small optimism came back to the man as he turned to the confused half-ghost behind him. "Come on - he's must still be in the city. We'll find him."

:-=-:

It was chaos in the Fenton Lab.

Tucker looked up from the control console in a daze, watching Frostibite bandage one of the Far Frozen's ghosts from the battle outside. There was still no sign of Danny's ecto-signature on the scanner, and still no word from Mr. Fenton on if he managed to find him.

Why aren't I out there? He thought angrily as he looked at the shield code again. He sighed, resigned before he looked over to Clockwork. "Any sign?" he asked the Time Master, who still sat on his chair glancing at the screens.

Clockwork shook his wearily.

"Damn," Tucker swore.

"Tucker of Tech - I need your assistance," Frostbite called over.

Tucker sighed, rushing over to Frostbite and another injured Far Frozener. "Can you hold this still?" Frostbite asked, gesturing to a large splint on the furry ghost's arm. Tucker nodded, looking queasy at the small sight of ectoplasm from the broken arm.

The ringing phone of the Fenton's lab made Tucker jump. Shooting a quick apologetic glance to the injured yeti, he turned back to the Master of Time. "Clockwork - can you get that? It might be important."

Frostbite froze the ghost's arm, creating an ice cast as Tucker hastily retracted his hands. The ghost nodded in thanks, and Frostbite gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Now to find some more gauze," the yeti leader said.

Tucker nodded, walking back toward Clockwork. "Who is it?" he asked the Time Master. Clockwork shrugged in respond. "What do you mean you don't know who's on the phone?"

"You asked me to get it," Clockwork replied. "I have it."

Tucker looked at him incredulously. "Did you answer it?" he asked, frustrated.

"I was supposed to it?" Clockwork retorted.

Tucker let out a long sigh. "Clockwork, you're the Master of -" Tucker broke off as he noticed movement at the workbench with unmodified prototypes. "For the love of all things technology Frostbite don't touch that!" Frostbite jumped, dropping the Ghost Gabber and breaking it. "Seriously, the Fentons haven't adjusted all their weapons yet! You're lucky it's just the Gabber. Check the infirmary for more gauze - Mrs. F has them stacked." Tucker sighed, inwardly vowing to never be left alone with so many ghosts without Danny present. He took the phone from Clockwork, who red eyes twinkled as he hovered by his side. "You've reached FentonWorks Base Operations."

"Sound and the Fury - Mr. Foley!" Mr. Lancer's voice exclaimed from the other end. "What are you doing down there?"

"Mr. Lancer?" Tucker asked in disbelief. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion and exasperation. "What - you know what, never mind. The Fentons have me manning coms while they're out 'kicking ghost butt.' What's wrong - there's kind of a lot going on at the moment." His eyes drifted across the lab and back to the scanner. Nothing yet. Where are you Danny?

"More than whatever evil ghost we're facing demolishing the entire town? Or rather, the school?" Tucker could hear the sarcasm in the teacher's voice and was willing to bet he had his disappointed teacher face on.

"What!?" Tucker exclaimed. He pulled the phone closer to the chair, rolling himself back to the console. He checked the scanners again. "Damn, he must have duplicated again without us knowing. You okay Mr. Lancer? How did you escape?"

Mr. Lancer started to answer, but a different voice beat him.

"Tuck."

Tucker stiffened, eyes widening. It was quiet, raw but unmistakably his voice. He didn't dare to breathe, worrying that it may his mind playing tricks on him, but he wanted to desperately believe it was him; that he was okay. Eventually a soft whisper escaped Tucker lips.

"Danny!?"

[ntyr-bby]

Clothes on

Pairing: phan

Genre: smut

Summary: after what happened on Phil's house, he asks Dan to talk. One thing leads to another and he discovers Dan's neck is quite sensible

.....................

Promp request: If your open to promts, I would really love it if you did one about the first time phil discovered dan's neck thing. I've seen it done before but I just really love your writing! Thank you!!

A/N: Thank you so much for your kind words!! Sorry this took so long to write, I hope you enjoy!

part 1 here (read it before if you want some context)

........................

It's been a week since "the incident", as Dan calls it, the regret of it happening made an appearance about two days later when he had to take his chemistry exam and his mom told him not to worry and that the study-time with Phil would show up. With flushed cheeks Dan managed to get the best grade on his class, but also a semi erection.

Thank you, Lester.

On wednesday Louise, his best friend, mentioned how Phil hasn't been around much, meaning he didn't make insinuations towards Dan all week. Dan fakes a smile, not knowing how to respond to that and shocking himself at not being gratful for not having Phil and his inapropied comments around.

Is friday now and Phil is sitting in the table in front of Dan in the cafeteria. Well, Phil, his best friend PJ and a girl Dan has seen in a few clases but never learned her name. He is not rude, he just has a bad memory. The fact that she is sitting next to Phil has nothing to do about it, he swears.

Dan shakes his head and looks back at his food, Louise is busy taking her English exam and since they don't share that class, Dan is left to have lunch by himself. He looks up again at the same time the girl takes Phil's hand and pulls it into her lap. Phil goes with it, caressing her leg a little, just like last Saturday he did to Dan.

Stop. Dan tells himself, not wanting to go down that memory lane again and let alone in that moment.

When he focus his view one more time, he is meet with a pair of blue eyes looking back at him. Phil winks at him and Dan almost chokes on the fries he is eating. Obviously this doesn't go unnoticed by Phil, who smirks at him.

"Are you okay?" Phil mouths.

Dan rolls his eyes, turning away. But the older doesn't take that as an answer and walks towards Dan's table.

"Are you okay, Danny?"

"What do you care," Dan answers with an agressive tone than even surprises him.

"I do. Why are you so angry, though?"

Dan looks at Phil as he sits down, a look on his face that says "what are you doing?" but no words leave his mouth.

"Dan?"

"I'm not"

"You clearly are upsed" Phil points out. Is not like Dan's responses are the nicest towards him anyway, but he can tell something is up.

"Now you know me?"

"Is because of last week?" Dan looks at him with a mix of shock and shyness on his face. And that's enough for an answer. "Dan-"

"Don't" he cuts Phil off. But blue eyes look and him sternly.

"We have to talk. After school, I'll take you home."

Phil doesn't wait for an answer and Dan doesn't bother on even thinking on one. He knows Phil will wait for him either way and even if Dan tries to avoid him, they are neighbours so that wouldn't last long.

...

Just as expected, Phil is waiting for him on his car right in front of the school, Dan climbs in after telling Louise is something his parents make him do, so she doesn't ask more questions.

"I thought you wanted to talk," Dan says after they ride in silence for a few minutes.

"You're so angry today"

"You already pointed that out."

"And I made a question you didn't answer." Phil's actitud changes to a serious one, making Dan more nervious about the conversation.

"Why would I be angry about that?"

"You are. What I want to know is why."

"I don't know" he answers because he honestly doesn't know what makes him angry. He wasn't angry after it happened, in fact he felt pretty good but he is not telling that to Phil. He wasn't angry when the exam bonner happened, he was embarrassed. He wasn't angry when Phil wasn't paying attention to him anymore, he was sad.

Wait.

"Oh..." Dan let's out in realization.

"What?"

"N-nothing."

"Dan." Phil turns to look at him, only to see Dan is fidgeting with his sweater's sleeves to then focus on the road again. "Listen, I'm not gonna force you to talk to me, but if I did something that made you mad you need to let me know so I can apologize."

There's silence in the car once again until Phil parks in front of Dan's house and the younger one doesn't get out.

"I've never done that." Dan says, and as he noticed Phil is confuse, adds. "I mean, I've make out before, but you know... Never... Not like... What we did."

"Oh" now is Phil's turns to realizes things. "Dan, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pressure yo-"

But he still doesn't get it.

"No, no." Dan cuts him off, again. "That's okay. You didn't pressure me into it... I enjoyed it..."

Phil can't help but smile a little at that confession.

"Don't get cocky" Dan demands when he sees him.

"Sorry. Why are you upset then?"

"You didn't..." he takes deep breath, "you stoped being around, you didn't say anything to me the whole week. And then," Dan stops himself not sure if he wants to keep telling Phil all about how he feels.

"And then?" Phil encouraged, he has turn around all he can in his seat to look at Dan properly.

"A-and then... In the cafeteria your hand was on her lap and I..."

"And you got jealous?" Phil is a bit surprise and chuckles, finding Dan adorable for acting all shy about it.

"Is not funny!"

"No, is cute"

"Phiiiiil!" Dan covers his face with his hands, feeling how warm it is from the embarrassment of the confessions he just made.

"Aw, baby. I'm sorry," Phil tries to moves his hands away. "Sorry for saying you are cute when you are the cutest"

Dan groans and uncovers his face to glare at Phil.

"Sorry for not talking to you, too." Phil continues, "I thought it was better to give you some space, I didn't know how you would react if I approached you,"

"And..." Dan urges him to go on.

"And I'm sorry I let Lenna put my hand on her lap."

Dan smiles at him, Phil words are genuine but his curiosity (and jealousy) gets the best of Dan and asks "why did you let her?"

"Because you were looking" Phil answers with a smirk and Dan kind of wants to punch him. But Phil is quicker than him and closes the space between them and in a matter of seconds their lips are barely touching.

"Wanted to see if you got jealous," he moves his mouth closer to Dan's ear, "Wanted to see your reaction so I'll know if you were interested in more"

"M-more?"

"Uh-uh" Phil kiss his neck softly, "In me. In us." he leaves another kiss, a bit more firm and it causes Dan to tremble. "Are you, baby?"

"We... We should go inside." Dan answers, finding the will power to move Phil away and open the car's door. Leaving Phil to chuckle victorously to himself.

Dan managed to open the door to his house and leads them into his room without Phil taking off his clothes until they are upstairs.

"This is my room" Dan says nervously, covering his shaky hands with his sweater sleeves once again.

"Is nice." Phil says, looking around in his way to sit on the bed. "C'mon here,"

Dan obeys and walks to stand in front of him. Phil holds his hands, "I know people think I'm an asshole and just fuck around but I'm not, Dan. I mean, yes, I've had sex with some people," this is not a surprise to the youngest and he appreciates Phil's honesty, "but if you don't want to do anything we don't have to. If you want to stop, you tell me and I'll stop, okay?"

Dan nods, looking at Phil's eyes to know he means it and then back to his hands that even when they are been hold by Phil, are still shaking.

Phil pulls him in, puts Dan's hands on his own shoulders and holds Dan by his waist until he gets the hint of what Phil is asking for. Dan straddles his neighbor and is pretty sure the guy can feels how his heart is beating so fast.

"Fuck, this is a nice view." Phil says, getting back Dan's attention. "You in my lap, all flushed. You look so damn good."

"P-phil..." the youngest wishpers

"Tell me what you want, baby boy"

"K-kiss me?"

They meet in the middle, Dan has to bend a little since in this position he is taller than Phil for once. The kiss is a bit messy at first, the tension of the whole week making its way into it but soon they find a rhythm, one that is soon follow by Phil's hips bucking up into Dan's ass.

"Hmmm" Dan moans against Phil lips at the actions.

"I missed those sounds" Phil breaks the kiss, letting Dan breath and his moans to not be muffle. If there is something he regrets about last week is the fact they have to keep quite and he couldn't hear them properly.

Phil takes a look at Dan's face, noticing how the pink on his face match the color of his sweater and how his lips open to let out a moan when Phil repeats the movement with his hips.

"So hot," Phil murmurs against his lips, kissing him firmly before kissing his jawn and making his way to Dan's neck, making him shiver when his lips touch a particular spot, the same way it happened in the car. Bringing one of his hands up, he tills Dan's head to the side, making room for himself, and testing a theory he kiss him there once again.

"Aaah" Dan moans particularly loud and his hips move against Phil's erection, causing the oldest to groan, his lips still on Dan's neck and causing pleasure once again.

"Oh god!" Dan is glad both his parents work until late and he has the house for himself all afternoon. He knew his neck was a sensible place for him, but didn't expected to have that reaction to Phil kissing him. Maybe is the contrast of Phil's soft, warm lips and the cold, hash feeling of the olderst' piercing against his neck at the same time. Or the movements that are just a reflection of how much experience he has compared to Dan.

Either way, it feels like nothing the has feel before.

One of his hands moves up to the back of the punk's head, but he doesn't know if he wants Phil to stop or continue, so for a second his fingers just play with the black hair. Phil takes all that as encouragement and sucks Dan's skin into his mouth, just hard enough to leave a mark, and gently so it stills feels good for the guy in his lap. Dan moans even harder in respond and tugs at Phil's hair.

Phil licks the spot after leting go, sutting the pain a bit and sending more shivers down Dan spine. "You're sensible there," he says all proud of himself. And keeps kissing to see if he can find another good spot.

Dan is overwhelmed, he is just sitting in Phil's lap moaning not even realising he is humping against Phil until the oldest holds him by the waist, stoping Dan's movements.

Dan groans, words are to much work for his horny brain and sounds are his only way of communication right now. Phil finds this funny aparently, he is chuckling against Dan's neck while he kisses and licks.

"I think you can cum just by this," he says refering to the actions with his lips, "you're so horny anyway, all I need to do is kiss here," he touch slightly with his thumb, "and suck here" this time he kisses, "and you could cum untouched. Should we try, baby?" he kiss again, Dan moans predictably and tries to move his hips unsuccessfully.

"Yes, yes. Please... I-I need t-"

Dan doesn't finished his sentence because Phil's lips are moving right after the first 'yes'. He sucks particularly hard, this time making sure it leaves a mark and Dan throws back his head screaming in pleasure as he hits his climax.

Phil holds him for a second, but can't help the movements of his own body as he sees the image in front of him. "F-fuck, Dan." he groans, doing his best to not just buck his hard on into Dan's ass right there and then.

Dan moans at the feeling, puching down into Phil. "You're hard" he says dumbly, still a bit out of breath.

"How can I not? You just came from a hickey sitting on my lap,"

"Ughh" Dan complains, embarrassed by what just happened, hidding his face against Phil's neck, who laughs lightly, only causing more friction against his own erection. He moans and Dan push down again.

"You wanna help me cum?"

"Uh-uh" Dan nods.

"Shit. You really are incredibly hot." he holds Dan by his hips once again, moving him in a rhythm Phil finds satisfying.

Dan holds against the leather jacket Phil is wearing while letting him have control of his body's movements as the older pleases for his own satisfaction. Groans leave the youngest throat as the movements become more rough, Phil stops moving Dan's hips and now is bucking into him while holding the chestnut in place. Is like he is fucking into him and that thought is just what Dan needs to let out another loud moan.

"You like that?" Phil asks satisfactorily, "You would love for me to fuck you, don't you? Oh god, I'll love to do it, baby." he rambles, himself moaning too at the thought of what that would feel like. The encounter of last week giving him a good idea of it, "I'll love for you to ride me," he admits, "Just like this but without clothes, nothing between us. Oh, that would be so fucking good. Tell me you wan it, babyboy."

"I-i want it." Dan answers as fast as he cans. And he knows he is not as experience as Phil in the matter, but seeing him so turn on gives Dan confidence to keep talking. "I want you to fuck me. Want to ride you. Want to feel your cock inside me, d-daddy."

Hearing Dan, the innocent soft boy, saying those things and calling him that is what helps him reach his orgasm.

"F-fuck," He bucks up particularly hard as he cums agains Dan's ass, imagining what it would actually feel to cum inside of him.

.......................

the end

.......................

Let me know if I should write part 3, I think I got and idea for it hehe

[feverinfeveroutfic]

chapter twenty-four: showtime

“Alright, gentlemen,” Sam started with a rubbing of her hands; she glanced over at the three men on either side of her as if they were her students. She was ready to head on out to the castle: the first time she would be witnessing a show near a castle.

“Alright, what?” Dan asked her as he gave his feathery hair a little toss back with a flick of his head.

“It's nearly showtime, isn't it?” she pointed out.

“Within like a couple of hours, yeah,” Charlie replied: he had just woken up from his nap. He had already put on those notorious bright red shorts for the show, but he seemed to be in no hurry whatsoever. And as far as Sam and Marla knew, he would have to take a whole series of naps on this stint of their tour. At least the two of them and Belinda were headed home after this show: she couldn't hardly think about Charlie having a difficult time just to keep his eyes open for a whole flight over to the next stop, and then the next one. Nevertheless, Sam stood there in between the beds with her hands pressed to her hips as if she meant business with them.

She glanced over to either bed, to Charlie and Dan there on her right, and to Frank on the left: Joey had gone out somewhere, and yet he left his guitar behind.

Stormtroopers of Death all over again for her, except this time around they were in a genuine hotel room rather than the front seat of Charlie and Marla's car.

“Where'd Joey go, by the way?” she asked Frank.

“He left for a few minutes to play fetch for a few minutes,” he replied with a straight face.

“For a few minutes and also for a few minutes?” she retorted back to him.

“Yeah! At least that's how he told it to me.”

“Well,” she cleared her throat, “don't you guys wanna like—go to the castle and rehearse for a bit?”

“Bon Jovi's the headliners so—not yet,” Charlie croaked out, complete with a rub of his eyes.

“Well, if they're the headliners doesn't that mean they go on last?” Sam asked him, to which he hesitated for a second and he gazed up at the pale ceiling above them.

“Yeah, they do. Fuck.”

“It's alright. Because it's a couple of hours, we can walk over there.”

“Walk or skateboard?” Frank joked.

“You can skateboard, Frankie,” Sam told him off with a straight face. “We kind of need our lead singer, though.”

“We?” Charlie tried to hold back that bout of laughter but he wound up laughing so hard regardless of that fact.

“You kind of need your lead singer,” she corrected him.

The door swung open and Joey stumbled right into the room right then. He gave his long black curls a toss back from the side of his face and the side of his neck, and he showed Sam a little smile.

“Hey! There he is!” Frank proclaimed.

“Here I is—what's happening?” He strolled over to the bed closest to the window and he picked up his guitar from the floor.

“I just suggested to the boys here that you guys ought to head on over there,” she informed him.

“It's not for a couple of hours, though,” he pointed out as he crouched down onto the floor with the guitar cradled on his lap. He then poked his head up over the edge of the bed.

“You got that little bag in your purse still?” he asked her.

“No, I took it out of there when Marla and I got home a couple of weeks ago,” she said.

“Damn.”

“Besides, you don't need that shit, Joe,” Dan pointed out.

“It's just pot, Danny,” Joey insisted. “It ain't gonna kill me.”

“It was stinking up my purse, though,” Sam told him.

“It's good for inspiration, though,” he said.

“It's also taking a hit on your memory, too,” she added.

“Lemme play—lemme play!” he exclaimed.

“Okay, okay—don't be such a baby.”

“I ain't no baby,” he scoffed.

“I'm gonna check on Marla and Bel—and Aurora, too.”

“How's she doing by the way?” Charlie asked her.

“Who, Aurora?”

“Yeah.”

“Hung over like crazy earlier. Her and Emile both got drunk under the table last night—and I thought they were still drunk, too. Now my only hope is that they're good to go. If not, well—we'll see how things go with them and we'll see how Jon and Marsha both react to it. I'm especially worried about her because she's my best friend.”

“What about him?” Charlie tucked his hands underneath his head.

“He's my old landlord and I'm not paying him rent anymore—it's still worrying, though.” She paused for a second and then she recalled what had happened the day before.

“Does Alex know about those drawings?” she asked him in a low voice. “Like, who did them?”

Charlie lifted his head a bit and he glanced across the room to Joey crouched down on the floor. “He has seen them,” he replied, also in a low voice, “yeah he has—but I didn't see his reaction, though. The next time we see him, ask him what he thought about them. He's like me and Lars—he's really into art. I'm sure he liked all four of them.”

“You know where they're staying?” she asked him, to which he shook his head.

“Aurora probably knows but who knows how she's feeling right about now.”

“True.” Without another word, Sam left the room and headed on back across the hall: Marla ran a brush through her candy apple red hair right before the mirror on the wall. She lifted her gaze over to Sam and nodded her head at her: the light from the lamp behind her shone onto her hair so it looked as though she had a soft pink crown upon her head.

“How's Aurora doing?” Sam asked her as she stood in the doorway.

“Still out like a light,” Marla replied. “Bel's doing better, though.”

Indeed, Belinda, who had taken her spot there on the edge of the bed closest to the door, turned to Sam and showed her an exhausted smile.

“It's been a little difficult,” she confessed, “but it's been better, though.”

“Do you know where Testament is staying in?” Sam asked the two of them; Marla shook her head and Belinda shrugged.

“I only saw Alex and Greg the other night at dinner,” Belinda admitted, “haven't seen them since then.” She then smirked at her. “Why, you got a date with one of them?”

“I wanna know what Alex thought of those drawings I made for Anthrax,” Sam told her, “I also wanna know if he knows that I made them.”

“I'm sure they're around,” Marla assured her as she picked up her brush again and tossed her hair over her shoulder. Sam fetched up a sigh and turned her attention back to the corridor behind her. They had to be close by there in the hotel especially since Metallica also pitched in for dinner for them.

“God, I've never been so tired in my life,” Belinda groaned. “I'm better than I was before, but still.”

“I've been off kilter a little bit, too,” Marla consoled her. “Not as bad as that, but it's still nothing to sneeze at, though—”

Sam then doubled back into the corridor and she strode onto the front room for any signs of life. A few other guests congregated around that big heavy table but no signs of them. She headed outside to the porch and she hoped that a single walk about the place would give her a view into one of their rooms somewhere in there. But then again, the trees all along the one side of the building there kept her from doing anything more than that. She returned to the hotel and she walked past the table into that short nook back there.

A few more rooms, but each of them had their doors closed.

How five men had vanished into thin air in there in the hotel was beyond her. She stood there in the middle of the floor with one hand pressed to her hip and another hand upon brow in repose. How five men just disappeared in there.

She had no idea if they were even in those rooms; they could have been in the hotel down the street for all she knew. Thus she returned to her own room for another few moments, or at least until Belinda felt up to snuff on her part.

“No clue where those guys are,” Sam confessed to them.

“Well, shit.” Marla gave her bright red hair a little tousling over the shoulder, and then she put on some perfume in to go in junction with that black velvet camisole.

“You guys always look so rock n' roll,” Belinda groaned out from the bed. “Especially you, Sam—you got a pendant from Ronnie James Dio for god's sake. And a bracelet from Joey.”

“A bracelet Ronnie gave to Joey,” Marla corrected her.

“Hey, the very second I saw you in Bill's class I thought you were a total punk chick,” Sam assured her as Marla gave her a spritz of perfume on her wrists.

“Punk chicks come in all shapes and sizes,” Belinda pointed out. “Especially as Zelda will tell you.”

“Kudos to her, by the way,” Marla added as she put the cap back onto her perfume. “For watching Genie and the apartment.”

“And just kudos to her, too,” Sam chuckled.

A knock on the door caught their attention.

“Come on in,” Marla called out. Frank poked his head in there.

“You girls ready?”

“Born ready,” Sam told him, and Charlie laughed from right behind him. Belinda stood to her feet and the three of them headed out of the room. Frank and Charlie led them towards the front door, complete with that skateboard tucked underneath his arm.

“Joey and Danny already went over there,” the latter informed them once they stepped outside to the cool, crisp late afternoon: the overcast sky darkened into a rich royal blue with the setting sun behind them. It would be nightfall by the time Metallica and Anthrax took to the stage.

“Oh, I see—they don't want me to come along,” Sam jeered at that.

“They're guitar players,” Charlie assured her. “Joey's also the lead singer, too, so—they kinda have to be. None of us make the rules and one of us probably should've told you that but—it's water under the bridge at this point.”

Sam shook her head at that: the silver pendant Ronnie gave her clinked a bit with each and every step in the meantime. They crossed the street towards that treeline, which was then followed by the tent; beyond that stood the stage before the castle: the sounds of music caught her ear, and she wondered who had gone on right then. They reached the tent's doorway when Sam spotted Joey over in the corner where she and Ronnie had congregated the two days before.

“This way, Char—” Frank declared from behind her. A cloud of smoke emerged from that corner of the tent.

“Sounds like W.A.S.P already took to the stage?” Marla said aloud.

“No idea, to be honest,” Belinda confessed; she turned to Sam with those tired eyes. “We're gonna go check this out.”

She nodded in response and the two of them went ahead to the other side of the tent. Just so long as she got alone with Joey again.

She made her way over to him and the cloud of wispy haze that surrounded him. That rank smell coupled with something a little more fragrant. His eyes were closed part of the way all the while. He nodded at her and showed her a little smirk, but she gaped at him in concern.

“Joey, it's nearly showtime and you're baked out of your wits—”

“It's not out of my wits,” he insisted with his eyes still closed part of the way. “I just had a couple of puffs of smoke and that was it. Nuthin' more, nuthin' less than that.”

“Where did you get some?”

“Remember that lighter Frankie had?” he asked her.

“Vaguely.”

“Well, apparently, he still had a good deal of juice inside of it. So I asked Lars and then he gave me a couple of puffs and then he himself had a couple.”

“Lars had some pot on him?”

“Not a lot, mind you—but still enough to loosen me up.”

She frowned at him. It wasn't a drink, but he still had a hit of marijuana so soon before showtime

“Well, I worry about you screwing up, though,” she said, concerned, “especially on your own song, for chrissake.”

“I'll be fine,” he insisted.

“Fucked up—insecure—neurotic—and enigmatic,” she stated complete with a counting on her fingers.

“You mean emotional,” he pointed out.

“Whatever—well, at least you got it right. That tells me you're lucid.”

“Lucid? Loose is more like it.”

“Loose—like a loose pair of underwear.”

“Loose like a loose cannon is more like it,” she retorted back to him. She gazed down at those dark lips as they parted a bit for her. She hesitated for a second, and then she peered up at his brown eyes, those twin gaping dark holes as they gazed back at her from the hazy darkness behind him. She had to do something, something to get him back on track, even if it was just a little hit from a joint. She had nothing else to resolve it, except for the fact she had seen him naked, twice, and he always nudged her to be on display for the world to see—

She lunged for the sides of his neck and she moved her face into her own.

“C'mere, you,” she insisted.

“Whoa, what?”

“You're not going up on stage like that—no way, no how—” She pressed her lips onto his, firm and hard as if she meant it. She held his face back from her own and he looked at her in a gaze.

“Whoa. You really wanna go there, don't ya?”

She glanced around them.

“Not in here, though,” she said in a low voice and with a scowl still plastered on her face.

“But sounds good, though.”

He slung the guitar off of his shoulder and showed her his tongue. She gripped onto his hand and led him out of there; the last thing she heard as they left the tent was W.A.S.P leaving the stage on the other side of the tent. She forgot the exact lineup that evening, but she knew Anthrax were going on after Metallica.

She had to do this quick.

They headed out to the trees right as the sky darkened some more, that time into a rich violet color: the canopy overhead only added to the impending darkness.

“Where we going?” Joey chuckled.

“Right here—” She turned around and she pressed him back to the trunk of a tree. She pressed her lips onto his once again, complete with her hands tucked behind the back of his head: all through those soft ringlets near the nape of his neck. His deep chest pressed against her own. His slim belly as soft and silken as the very tongue she caressed against.

Metallica rang out through the dense dark trees that surrounded them. Joey dropped down a little more towards the bottom of the tree trunk just so Sam could put her arms around his slender little body. Her lips locked onto his and their tongues met one another in the middle: he tasted like that burnt end of the joint coupled with a bit of coffee. At least he wasn't drinking.

Jason's bass floated through the branches and Sam closed her eyes once she recognized its grinding thunder noise under Kirk and James' guitars. Lars thumped on his kick drum and everyone in the audience clapped along with him.

“How now brown cow,” James bellowed into the microphone. “I said, I said, I said'a—how now brown cow!”

Joey ran his hands down Sam's sides and onto her hips.

“Oh, fuck—if only we had a little more time,” he pled.

“You'd fuck?” she teased him.

“Just for a li'l quickie—but Metallica only got a short set on hand this time around.”

“So you gotta be back up there?”

“Yeah.” He then stood to his feet and ran his fingers through his black curls once more.

“Alright. But afterwards, we're picking up where we left off.”

“Of course, of course.” He flashed her a wink and the two of them returned up the pathway to the tent. Sam walked on to the side of the stage as Joey fetched the guitar and doubled back into the backstage for Frank, Dan, and Charlie. She rounded a corner and she recognized those five heads there at the side; beyond them was Metallica as they wrapped up the final song of their set. She skirted along the curtain and they turned their heads to her.

“Hey, there you guys are!” she declared.

“Yeah, we never left!” Eric joked, and Greg and Louie burst out laughing at that. Before she could say anything more, the audience behind them erupted into cheers for Metallica: James' long golden blond waves floated behind his head as he waved at everyone. Kirk and Jason gave everyone the sign of the horns while Lars blew Sam a kiss.

Like clockwork, Anthrax took to the stage: Charlie had tied up his hair into a tight ponytail behind his head while Joey had taken off his shirt, thus the flood lights shone onto his bare brown skin such that he resembled to a ghost.

“Hello, Britain!” Joey announced into the microphone head. “It's been a while.” He let out a long low whistle; even though the noise died down before him, a sound barrier began to form before Sam, such that she couldn't say anything more to the five men behind her; she turned around in time as Joey picked up that white flying V guitar and slung it over his shoulder, and took his black curls out from underneath the strap. “As you can tell we are officially a four piece now—but it's alright 'cause I got this guitar here courtesy of a guy you all might know, Dave Mustaine—”

Several people before him cheered at that.

“But anyway, we ain't messing around here, though,” he pointed out. “We're gonna have some fun tonight and while we're in Europe. Some new songs, some songs you may've heard of, some old ones, too! Fuck yeah, let's do this!”

He stepped back and ran his fingers through his black curls before he held onto the guitar neck and spread his legs apart. Frank led them into it with a rising bass line. The sound of Charlie's drums resembled to that of a gunshot. Frank gave his long lush dark hair a toss back with a jerk of his body and Joey mirrored him all the while. It was so strange seeing them perform as a quartet rather than as that five piece, but Sam stood there off to the side of the stage with Marla and Belinda with her eyes keen on the stage before them.

Charlie let out a short little drum solo before Joey picked up with the singing. He stood there with one leg forward and one leg back and his body stooped forward, and the guitar down by his thighs.

They had the sound to keep them apart from Metallica and even Testament, and Joey's voice was indicative of that.

“What is it!” Frank shouted into his own microphone.

“Caught in a mosh!” Joey followed up as though they were talking over each other.

They also had that sense of humor.

Sam peered out at the audience, at the mosh pit that formed out there in front of them. It went on for the entirety of the song no less.

“This song is definitive Anthrax if you ask me,” Joey declared into the microphone head. “Off our new album Among the Living. This is called 'A Skeleton in the Closet'!”

“This is a good song,” Chuck remarked.

“For real,” Sam replied back to him with a chuckle.

“Joey's a machine!” Marla declared over the roar of Frank's bass in junction with Charlie's thundering drums. Joey turned away from the audience so he could better receive feedback from his amp. His black curls obscured his face from Sam's view; she peered over her shoulder at the sight of the vast stretch of audience beyond the edge of the stage. Most of them were there to see Bon Jovi and Cinderella, but she could tell that most of them were in fact enthralled by the sight before them. Joey with his hair down in his face as he kept up the rhythm.

He was no solo artist like Dan, but he could play those powerful, grinding riffs. She kept her eyes fixated on his fingers down over the pick guard: he played like that and with his fingers to boot. Meanwhile, Dan's feathery hair fluttered and waved about on the crown of his head against the gentle cool breeze: he kept his gaze fixated on the strings underneath him and he let the solo out of the cage.

She thought of Alex right then: he stood somewhere back there and she knew he was feeling down and out about the sight before her. She peered over her shoulder at Chuck and Eric right there, and complete with looks of awe plastered upon their faces. She only saw the back of Alex's head but she knew that he was watching with a bit of that outsider feeling.

Much like their brothers in Metallica, they only played a short set before they cut things loose for Dio and then lastly Bon Jovi.

Joey took off the guitar and gave a big wave to everyone as they all gave him cheers. They were cheering for him. Sam ran her tongue along her lips as they all backed away from the side of the stage so as to give them room. Everything was dark, and yet Joey's silhouette and that upstate accent proved to be enough for her. She followed him back towards the tent while the boys from Testament were laughing about something.

“Back here, Sam—” he coaxed her. She followed him off the stage and towards the tent, which was lit up by the mere flicker of a hurricane lantern outside of the doors.

“Wait, Joey—don't you wanna see Ronnie go on?” she called after him. Using only the ambient light from the castle and from the stage lights, she followed him towards the trees; but he never replied to her as they returned to the same exact spot there in the bushes. He then stopped and turned around, which in turn made her stop right in her tracks. They were only a few feet away from the street and the sidewalk, but that particular spot in the trees kept them away from any prying eyes in their direction.

“So, hey, you wanna do that again?” he offered her.

“Why, you think you can do that again?” she teased back at him.

“Well—'cause Cliff touched you but he never went any further than that, though,” he pointed out.

“Besides, you didn't answer my question, either,” she told him. “Don't you wanna see Ronnie and his band?”

“We can listen,” he replied as he extended his arms to her once again. He brought his chest in closer to her and he bowed his head for her again: she pressed her lips onto his. Unlike the first time, he didn't taste like a joint anymore, but rather like salt dissolved in fresh water. He hadn't broken out a sweat on his brow, but he had exorcised some of that adrenaline out through his body like the work of a wizard. He had even more adrenaline now courtesy of being up on a stage before some several thousand people all the while.

She wasn't the one performing and yet her heart hammered away inside of her chest as well.

His rough hands ran up her back towards the hooks on her bra. They were going to do it right there out in the wilderness, out in the open, out there for all the world to see. And yet they had no one else around them. Her bra loosened and the straps slid down her shoulders a bit.

She gasped at the feeling of his lips against her neck and her collar bones. She could feel his fingers wedged right in between her legs. She shuddered at the feeling, such that he stopped right in place.

“What's wrong?” he asked her in a hushed voice.

“I can't,” she confessed.

“It's okay—I got you covered. I'll walk you right through this. I promise—just follow my lead.”

She then gasped and pulled away from his lips.

“What's the matter?” he asked her.

“I just realized why my mom likes you so much,” she whispered to him.

“What's that?”

“You're like my dad,” she said, to which he stopped what he was doing to her.

“I—I am?”

“Well, you have similar traits as my dad,” she corrected herself. “Between your protection towards me and your dark hair—it makes sense. You remind her of my dad. But then again, that's just a guess. I don't know exactly why she likes you as much as she does. I have to ask her.”

“Next time you and I see her, you gotta,” he insisted.

“Well, duh.” She scoffed and rolled her eyes at him, and he chuckled at that. He leaned in for another kiss on the lips, one that had a little more power to it that time around. She ran her hands up his back towards the base of his head and those especially soft black ringlets under the bulk of his hair. Even if her mother had a thing for him, she had to make her claim on him. Joey was hers now, there in the trees as Ronnie crooned out to the black sky overhead.

She let go of his lips and she looked right into his serene face, and those closed eyes, now soft and smooth. His skin looked much healthier and more radiant than before. Playing guitar had saved him.

Something moved from the corner of her eye. She glanced over and she spotted Alex right there at the sidewalk with a wounded look on his face: the plume of silver over his brow shone under the ambient light from the castle. She gaped at him, but then he bowed away from there and into the darkness.

Sam returned to Joey and the placid look on his face, just in time for his eyes to open up for her once again.

“You done?” he challenged her, to which she shook her head at him. She brought her lips back for another round with him, but she couldn't hardly shake the look on his face. There was something there with Alex that he wasn't telling her. She had too many questions now as Joey kissed the side of her neck and ran his fingers through her dark hair.

“You seem uncomfortable,” he confessed right into her ear.

“I'm not,” she assured him. “I promise—I'm not.” He moved his head a bit so he could have a better look right into her face.

“You just seem a little bit more tense than normal.”

“It's okay,” she said in a broken voice, “it's okay—I'm just—not used to—doing this outside.”

“Oh, I see—it's alright. It's just us here. Although—the ground is a little bit soggy. Think sump'n bit me, too.”

“Something bit you?”

“Yeah, right on the ass.”

“Sure that was an insect and not my own fingers?” She pinched him right then which in turn made him gasp. Some voices caught her attention.

“I hear people comin', too,” he said.

“I do, too.” He pouted his bottom lip for a few seconds and then he gave his black curls a little flick back with a movement of his head.

“Let's go catch Ronnie, shall we?” he offered her.

“We shall.”

[phantomphangphucker]

Hiding The Devils Mark - PhannieMay - Day 31 Free Day

Summary: Danny’s a little too used to this kind of crap

Warning: corpse, mentions of taxidermy

Chapter 2. of Dealing With The Devil

Danny sits awkwardly on his bed, not exactly needing the whole sleep thing anymore. Flipping out his phone as he remembers Jazz. “Hey, you can sleep now” “Told you, you wouldn’t really have to worry. Well much anyway” “Well the talk went good but Dan showing up did not” “Dan!?! Are you safe? Are they? Is anyone? Please tell me he’s not just running around” “He's sealed away, again. Everyone’s fine, though the carpet has some new and very red stains” “Danny! That doesn’t sound like everyone’s fine!” “It wasn't from anyone alive Jazz” “God, that is disturbing and not what I needed for a good nights rest” Danny, chuckling, “at least you still get to have those” “We so need to have a talk about that humour of yours” “And that’s my cue to hang up. How about you just sleep better for the both of us” “Not sure that’s even possible Danny, but goodnight” “Yeah, night” Danny hangs up and opts to spend the night gaming, completely ignoring his everything for a time.

Danny frowns at his ghost-shaped clock, “well normally a Thursday wouldn’t be so bad but uh, all of this”, Danny gestures over his body, “isn’t exactly school material”. Flipping out his phone to text his now, most likely awake, friends. The two had pretty much forcefully become very early risers, to deal with whatever bullshit well before school. Not even bothering with punctuation, “My room frying pan with extra sauce parent approved” - d “Dude, fuck your life” - t “It’s the death of me” - d “You’re both awful, and I’m already here so beam me up Scotty” - s “Now see that was awful”- t Danny, invisibly, sticks his head out and sure enough, Sam’s there. Floating down just as Tucker arrives, grabbing both of them. “Dude, little warning. Especially after last nights bullshit”. Danny talks as he drops them in his room, still invisible, “Tuck, what?”. Sam rolls her eyes at the air, “pretty sure Dan got out, that or someone is a real ass. We’d been seeing him out of the corner of our eyes for like two hours”. Tuck nods, “very creepy. Did not sleep. Do not recommend Dan as a sleeping pill”. Danny though annoyed at Dan once again can’t help but laugh, “I’m pretty sure you got the more pleasant experience. Pretty sure the living room is horribly stained and my parents are probably traumatised”. Sam crosses her arms though clearly worried, “ok spill, what happened? And could you cut out the invisibility, we already know you look weird; extra sauce thing is always an “I look fucking weird or more ghost than normal” type of thing”. Danny rolls his eyes as Tuck questioningly taps on his own canines, “Tuck it’s way more than fangs. And the rundown of the night is grade A fucked. Even more so when the least fucked up or weird thing to happen was me literally dying”. “Uh don’t you basically do that everyday dude?”, Danny laughs his ass of at that and losses his invisibility. Scaring the crap out of both of them, “dude holy fuck! Uh, nice hair?”. Sam winces a bit, “ok the Dan hair is plain unpleasant, making your hair like that is probably the most petty thing he has ever done”. Danny glares a little, “ok I think there’s a slight misunderstanding here”. Danny sits on his bed, rubbing his neck a bit, “guys when I said literally dying, I meant it. Like, my human half was literally murdered. Which I’m pretty sure doesn’t qualify as petty. Especially since he showed up again to beat me with my own damn corpse, in front of my parents”. Both of them stare at him for a bit hoping he’s kidding, Tucker’s the first to speak as they clue he’s not, “dude, what the fuck. You mean you’re a full ghost now? Completely dead?”. “Fuck Danny, what are any of us supposed to do with this?”, Sam and Tucker both sit down next to him. Danny’s ears flick down a little, “yup, completely fucked. Very dead and fuck if I know. Oh and to add more to the pile, CW showed and you’re looking at the new ghost king”. Tucker weakly smacks Danny on the back, “king thing is almost expected dude but everything else is completely screwy”. Shaking his head, “but I’m guessing, since you’re still at home, the rents reacted not horribly?”. Danny smiles at this, “sure I had to turn off the lights and shit so I could explain before they saw me but yeah. Complete acceptance, dad’s honestly more curious than anything”. “Good, we all knew they would but Danny, is this just how you look now?”, Danny can’t blame Sam for being bothered by the hair. The rest is much more general ghost crap, but white flaming hair is very Dan. Running his hand through the flames a little, “yeah, stuck with it. Not exactly impressed but really? Can any of us really be surprised? Dan is me, sort of. So looking like him isn’t really unexpected”. Both of them nod, though Tucker wiggles his fingers in Danny’s hair as he speaks, “well at least it doesn’t burn, currently anyway. The town is going to freak and, oh fuck, school dude? Full ghost means no human form?”. Danny shrugs, “I know, but Dan can make himself look like human me so maybe I can too. Bastard did that in front of my parents too. Can’t say I’ve been successful thus far though”. Sam nods thoughtfully, “well how much can you cover up? Makeup will do for the skin, clothing over the suit but everything else?”. Danny smirks and yanks the same beanie over his hair and ears, and points at blackout sunglasses, “I’ve got nothing for the teeth though. But I can just not open my mouth very wide...”. Tucker pokes at Danny’s very obvious glow, “and ghostdeglow for that I’m assuming”. Danny rubs his neck awkwardly, “if my parents can make more, yeah. Not really any left now”. “Contacts are another easy fix for the eyes, you just have keep them from glowing. Voice though”. Danny’s only response is a shrug, cause there’s really nothing long-term for that. But thinking about his parents' initial reaction, “ghost flu. Works short term and no one in Amity is going to question that. If I can’t make myself human looking and sounding, I'm fucked though”. Both them nod again, as all three flop back to lay on the bed. “And there’s the whole can’t sustain myself out of the zone for more than few days issue. Which I guess we don’t even know is for sure yet but still”, all three jolt as Maddie knocks on their door. Danny sits up a bit, “yeah?”. Maddie sticks her head in and looks at his friends, Tucker’s the one to answer, “we’re just making him human passing, school is still a thing after all”. “You’re doing that by laying on the bed? And I’m not sure that’s even possible”, Maddie eyes Danny a bit. Danny smirks, “both of them have passed themselves off as me before. Less drastic but still”. Sam grins and slams a Danny wig on him for emphasis, making Tucker chuckle, “ok that looks very weird over blue skin!”. Maddie shakes her head, laughing, “you have a wig specifically for this kind of thing? Jack would be calling you a sneaky genius again”. The three grin goofily at her while Danny asks, “need the ghostdeglow stuff though, so I hope that stuff is easy to make. Hopefully, I can take a human looking form so once I figure that out I shouldn’t need it anymore”. Maddie nods by then grimaces, “like what that thing did. To look like you, human you”. Danny nods which earns a curt nod from her, “well the ghostdeglow will take at least an hour but that’s do-able”. Danny smiles at her before she leaves. “Man Dan is an arse”, currently Danny couldn’t agree with Tucker more.

After about an hour of packing on makeup, “well that’ll probably work. But it’s really obvious you’re caked in make up, painfully so”. Danny glares at her, “yeah it damn well feels like it. If anyone asks, ghost flu makes your skin green and I wasn’t going to school like that”. Sam snickers as Danny throws on the same turtleneck and a pair of jeans, searching for some gloves. Danny’s adjusting the beanie over his wig, to fully hide his ears; when Maddie knocks again. “Done, Sweetie. And oh wow. That is way more convincing than I thought possible”. Danny smirks at her as she hands him the spray can thing, “welcome to the life, or un-life in this case, of having a secret identity”. Maddie only laughs as she heads back down. Promptly giving himself a good spray down and checking himself out in the mirror, “well damn, this might just work. But yeah it looks like I face fucked a jumbo makeup palette or whatever”. Earning chuckles from both of them as they all head downstairs.

“Son? I thought you couldn’t be human anymore?”, this makes all four of them laugh. Maddie composes herself first, “Jack dear, it’s a disguise. A scary good one apparently”. Danny lifts up his sunglasses to prove the point while snickering at his dad’s clearly impressed face, “Wow you are turning out to be the biggest genius in the family, just applied very differently”. Danny laughs while Sam and Tucker talk simultaneously, “he’s a moron”. Both his parents raise their eyebrows, as Sam smirks, “he’s swallowed at least six sporks accidentally and constantly forgets that dodging is a thing”. Danny shrugs as everyone sits down for breakfast, which he really only eats because it’s routine.

“Wow Fentit, I didn’t think your “fashion” sense could get any lamer”, Danny rolls his eyes at the sound of Dash’s voice, though hoping Dash doesn’t try to pry anything off. Danny can’t help but find it weird to have to force himself to be quiet. Instead just flipping Dash off, as Paulina comes up snickering, “wow, I never took you for makeup. I’m not sure whether packing on so much is impressive or sad”. The two A-listers don’t even get a chance to do anything as the trio just slides into class, with Mr. Lancer coming in early as usual. Unfortunately for Danny, Mr. Lancer calls on him to read, “I’d really rather not”. Nearly everyone snaps their heads toward him as they hear his voice, Star is the one to pipe up about it though, “what’s wrong with your voice? No way that isn’t some ghost-related thing”. Danny groans, “ghost flu, and no it’s not contagious”. A couple people make faces at him but Dash snickers, “I think Fenton should read”. Danny glares at him through the glasses, while Mr. Lancer asks him, “if it’s not bad for you, then, yes please read”. Danny rubs his neck as he reads while some snicker at his echoing voice.

“Well that was uncomfortable”, Tucker can’t help but snicker at Danny’s complaining. “Dude, you know your voice actually sounds good right? Ghostly, but powerful”. “Tuck Buddy, I’m damn well aware. If my voice wasn’t powerful sounding that would be weird. Considering everything, not a very good thing right now though”, Danny cringes a bit as some random kid does a double take at his voice. Groaning and talking much quieter, “yeah I so need to work on the voice changing thing. If I even can”. Sam nods at them as they join her for second class.

By third people were asking Danny to say random shit, Danny was only obliging because it seemed to put Dash off from bullying him. Come lunch, saying “I’m Batman” for the tenth time was getting very old though. Danny’s luck only goes downhill after lunch. Sitting in sixth for his second class with Mr. Lancer, as his ghost sense goes off. Sticking his hand up as Mr. Lancer shoos him off, “normally I’d say no and you’d leave anyway, but I’m not questioning it today”. Danny does genuinely appreciate that, until the ghost comes into the classroom and everyone starts freaking out. Danny glares at the laughing Technus, with an arm full of old calculators, “you have got to be fucking me”. Danny only glares harder as Mr. Lancer turns on the ghost shield and starts ushering the class out, while dodging flying electronics. The rest of the class just books it out of the school while Mr. Lancer tries to get Danny to hurry up, “Fenton now is not the time to be daydreaming!”. Danny glares at him, and just tries coming up with a good lie, “I’m not, I just can’t leave. Ghost flu doesn’t exactly react well with anything anti-ghost”. Mr. Lancer gapes at him so he proves his point by knocking on the, very solid for him, shield. Before having to yank Mr. Lancer out of the way of a blast. Glaring at the busted to Hell door and practically dragging Mr. Lancer by his shirt collar, as they avoid more calculators and ectoblasts. “Child! Why do you drag around the old man!”, Technus is genuinely confused as Phantom doesn’t usually want humans involved, but he also feels somewhat cautious because something about Phantom feels different. “Oh I don’t know, maybe because he was trying to get me to leave and then you pulverised the poor door”, Technus lowers his arms and tilts his head at Danny over his voice while Mr. Lancer throws a desk at him, which he easily avoids. Danny turns and gapes a bit at his teacher, “why are you the one teacher here that will actually try to fight the ghosts? And why the hell don't you carry hunter weapons? They’re allowed and I’m sure they work better than a damn desk”. Technus nods a bit before shrugging and going back on the attack, he’s not sure what’s up with Phantom but he’s notorious for being strange. Mr. Lancer yelps and actually drags Danny out of the way this time, “I’m not about to let my students get hurt or be the targets, Daniel!”. Danny can’t help but laugh a bit, being the target was like eighty percent of his life or death, “I think I’ll be just fine Mr. Lancer”. “The child is correct! Everyone knows him to be more than capable! But today I, Technus, will be the capable one!”, Danny can’t help but glare at Technus and his stupid big mouth. He can’t help but glare harder as the wind Technus is stirring up with all the damn flying microwaves and shit, blows his hat off. “Things can’t be normal for even one day, can they?”, Danny full force throws one of the coffee machines at Technus, which hits him way harder than either actually expected. Danny has a feeling Technus only takes the hit out of shock at Danny’s exposed light blue and clearly pointy ears. And Danny knows that while Technus is a bit of a fool, he’s not an utter moron. Nobody moves for a bit as all the tech crap just falls to the ground, Danny’s a little weirded out that Technus looks sad and angry. “Who did this whelp”, Technus doesn’t hide the venom in his voice, none of them wanted the special little halfa fully dead, but someone clearly did this. And even Technus wants that person to have a very bad day. Danny blinks a bit, kind of weirded out, putting a bit of power into his voice because he really wants Technus to just go away, “no one any of you know, keep it that way”. The two stare each other down for a bit before Technus frowns even more, talking quietly for once before slipping through the floor, “sorry”.

Danny kicks at the random electronics as he goes to retrieve his hat, as he’s picking it up Mr. Lancer walks up behind him, “I’m not exactly sure what just happened but, ghost flu was another one of your, oddly good and creative, lies. Wasn’t it?”. Mr. Lancer keeps talking as Danny straightens up, Findling with the seam of the beanie a bit, while Mr. Lancer keeps talking, “no flu can change a persons physical body like this, and ghosts don’t behave like that to regular people, so what’s really going on?”. Danny groans, knowing full well he’s kind of fucked here as he puts back on his hat. Talking as he sits on one of the few not knocked over desks, while adjusting his ears under the beanie, “I’d rather you didn’t ask but I know you’re smart, so how about you tell me”. Normally Mr. Lancer would glare at his most difficult student but his gut feeling just left him feeling sad. Knowing this particular student would lie about pretty well everything, Mr. Lancer goes for blunt honesty, “somehow you died and now, are a ghost”. Sighing as Danny doesn’t even attempt a response other than shrugging, “Daniel, I’d rather know what happened and you’re officially excused from your other classes. Hell, you shouldn’t really be here, not even sure how you are. But considering this town, a causality was bound to happen and with your reckless parents; I can’t claim to be too shocked”. Mr. Lancer sits across from Danny and just waits for him to talk. Danny groans a little as he eyes-balls his, clearly not going to believe anything else or let this go, teacher; before folding off his sunglasses. Looking at him, Danny can tell Mr. Lancer’s trying to school his expression, sighing, “like I said, I know you’re smart. But in case you can’t tell, I’m trying to not have everyone know. At least right now anyway, things are complicated”. Mr. Lancer nods understandingly, “of course things are complicated. That’s death, even more so when ghosts are involved. But it is my understanding that not only should ghosts not really remember their human lives but also not still be trying to live them”. “I’m different. I’ve been partly dead for years, two to be exact. I lie to cover up ghost shit. I run off to deal with ghost shit”, Danny’s honestly rather annoyed but considering he still can’t make himself look human, he knows he might have to have this talk with a lot of people, eventually. Because obviously, completely covering up his full death was not going to work out, it hadn’t even been a full day and someone had already called him out. “You mean to tell me that electrical accident, which you played off almost excessively as being no big deal, partly killed you? If it wasn’t for the fact that, knowing your house, that shock was likely from something ghost related; I wouldn’t believe you. But I appreciate this rare moment of honesty from you”, Danny can tell his teacher means it. Mr. Lancer is always someone who cared, sometimes too much really. Though that did result in Danny having a bit of a soft spot for the man, nodding as he talks, “yeah, though my lies and secrecy were and still are necessary. It’ll all depend on certain things if this becomes public knowledge. With Technus, I highly doubt he’ll keep his mouth shut. So I know it’s likely already public knowledge in the zone but that’s expected and fine. Things are more touchy here”. “Well, you are clearly more mature than I knew. Which is honestly concerning Daniel. Care to explain why a high schoolers death would be such big news? Yes, you being a ghost and still in school might be more than a little problem but otherwise? Not to mention why ghosts would care?”, Mr. Lancer can tell Danny’s debating something in his head but judging by Danny’s facial expression, he isn’t going to lie. Danny smirks almost playfully, after fully deciding that lying at this point would just make him a complete ass, “I’m pretty sure not only Amity but the stupid GIW might just lose their heads, finding out that not only was the local town hero not fully dead and now is, but is also just some Highschool kid”. Danny’s not sure whether to be impressed or amused that his teacher goes wide-eyed as soon as he said “hero”. Deciding to humour his, honestly favourite, teacher; Danny lifts up his sweater to show of his flaming DP symbol before dropping it back down.   “Well, that is certainly not what I expected, though it does explain a lot. You’re right this will be a big deal, anything Phantom is. But I am not about to allow some government dogs to harm one of my students, even ghost ones”, Danny shakes his head and laughs a bit as Mr. Lancer gets up, fixes one of the kettles and makes himself some tea. “The GIW can’t touch me unless I let them, pretty much. I’m more worried they’ll interfere with my duties or harass my family. But if they cause too much of a fuss then yeah that will be a problem, their dumb antics have nearly destroyed the zone and earth more than once. It’s entirely possible they could instigate a war”, this makes Mr. Lancer cough a bit and stare at his student. Composing himself a bit, “I did not know those men were that much of an issue. It’s almost impressive how blind the government can be to things. And I guess they wouldn’t exactly listen to a teenager or a  ghost would they? Government officials do tend to put themselves on a pedestal, unwilling to listen to those outside their ranks”. “Many have tried talking to them, so no they won’t listen. Though with an entire town telling them off, maybe. But if things go bad with them, I won’t be giving them a choice. I rank above them and if they don’t listen, then they’ll pretty well have to deal with the entirety of the zone dropping on them. Like I said, war”, Danny shakes his head and frowns, knowing even if he didn’t give any kind of command, a fair amount of ghosts would lose their shit at a bunch of humans going after and insulting their king. Especially since Danny’s actually well liked, he knows even his enemies are closer to frienemies. But at the same time, a human vs ghost war is bound to make the Observants flip and no way he wants those eyeballs involved. But he also knows that they’re not dumb enough to be unaware than he’ll do whatever he can to make sure shit doesn’t go totally south. Even if he’s not a halfa anymore, he wants to protect both species and worlds. And honestly, a protection based obsession is a pretty damn good one if you ask him. Mr. Lancer sips at his tea, thoroughly impressed but also saddened by his strange student, “why would the whole ghost zone come to your defence? And I know you don’t work with the government, so whatever ranking you have they likely will not care”. Danny blinks and smiles a bit warmly, fiddling with the ring under his glove. Sure he didn’t have the crown yet but it may as well be official, “I’m well liked by pretty well every ghost, even my enemies really. It wouldn’t take much for them to come to my aid. But I’m more than just a student, ghostly hero and sort of ghost hunter. The other title I hold isn’t public at all, and preferably will stay that way, regarding the human world anyway, even if everything else comes to light”. Danny will admit he’s kind of enjoying being a startling enigma right now. It’s moments like this where he really understands ClockWork and it really is no wonder the two get along so well. Danny can’t help but smirk as Mr. Lancer is clearly egging him to go on, “Mr. Lancer, being some operative high ranking official or even being president of the United States itself; is nothing when compared to the king of an entire dimension. Especially a dimension filled with powerful creatures”. Danny actually has to catch his teachers teacup as he gapes at him. Chuckling again, “couple that with the fact that the only two beings in existence that are actually stronger than me, are either sealed away or forbidden from interfering unless there’s a word ending catastrophe, I’m sort of a big complicated mess that nothing else can really compare to”. Danny sighs as his ghost sense goes off, “well I’ve probably freaked you out enough for a lifetime and duty calls. But, uh, being all that I may be, I’m not some high and might prick and I’m concerned with keeping people safe. So, um, don’t worry?”. Danny cringes at Mr. Lancers stunned face a bit as he turns invisible and flies out the school, after phasing his disguise into his locker. Making sure not to use his intangibility full body/on his face. because his stupid makeup will come off. He knows whoever it is will be shocked by the hair but it’s a ghost, they’re all going to know eventually. He’s more worried about the town’s reaction, can’t fight in a wig though.

“You...want my human corpse? What the fuck? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but seriously, what the fuck?”, Danny floats, bent over a bit as Skulker shrugs at him. “Still your pelt, whelp. And I’d say I’ve got the best claim on it”, Danny can’t help but gape at him. Promptly dodging a net and some harpoon thing, “pretty sure its owner has the best claim, tinman”. “Oh like you’re going to do anything with it, ghost child!”, Danny can’t help but admit he’s right, and the idea of having a funeral and burying himself is kind of really messed up and genuinely disturbing. However, “Skulk, can’t say I even want to know what you would do with it”. Danny snickers at Skulker looking disgusted and judgmental, shooting at Danny more aggressively for his comment, “you should already know full well. Like any hunter, I preserve my prizes”. Danny blinks a bit as he gets hit a couple times, he knows he really should get better at the whole dodging thing but it almost seems pointless. Sure it hurts but he’s way too durable for it to do real damage, “you want to preserve me? That is oddly sweet, Skulkie”. Danny feels almost honoured at Skulker’s clear mild embarrassment at being called out. But Danny flat out grins as he clues in that this could be a way to avoid the whole, how to bury his corpse without revealing he was dead or sticking it in the back yard. Because man was that creepy, but his body getting taxidermied is almost just as creepy. “Still very gross and creepy though, but you’re not exactly wrong”, Danny feels more creeped out as Skulker’s face clearly lights up. Skulker stops firing at him and glares at him eagerly, getting an idea because no way is Skulker keeping his pelt or whatever, not to mention being kind of curious if anyone knew about the king thing. Danny crosses his arms as he flies backwards in the direction of his house, “just take the damn pride in getting to preserve or whatever my “pelt”. Not keeping it though. If it belongs anywhere, it’s my castle”. Danny can’t help but laugh at the utterly bewildered look Skulker gets, “oh man that face is worth it. No point in you telling anyone one though, something tells me they won’t quite believe you”. Skulker is honestly more excited now, keeping his prize or not, this is basically a job for the freaking ghost king. Not too mention getting to work on such a unique and one hundred percent rarest pelt is beyond his obsessions wildest dream. Eagerly flying invisibly next to Phantom and not even caring that Phantom shoots him jokingly, Danny shakes his head, “you are such a damn creep sometimes. But at least I know you won’t be a disrespectful ass”. If there’s one thing Danny knows Skulker would treat with insane levels of respect, it’s his most sought after pelt. Which is both creepy and comforting. Skulker floats a safe distance away from the hunter family’s house while Danny invisibly digs through the living room floor, not having a damn clue how far down he phased his corpse. Frowning a bit at the utterly mangled bloodied thing, he almost can’t wait to see Skulker looking disgusted. Though he’s not sure if Skulker would be more disgusted by that being done to Danny or just by the not-so-pretty state of a “pelt”.

Floating out to Skulker, still invisible, “no ones to know for now you weirdo. You know how I love to be dramatic, CW will get his kicks too I’m sure”. Danny’s occasional dramatic and rather flashy nature is really one of the few things he doesn’t care that he had in common with Dan. “Whatever whelp, but very well. And wow I hope you beat the lights out whoever did that”, Danny nods frowning as Skulker gingerly takes in the shredded corpse; while they’re both hidden in an alleyway. “That thing is sealed away and being kept that way. He’s not from this timeline and he is not someone you should even try finding or going near. You met him in that other timeline, let’s just say you weren’t well off and you wanted him very much destroyed. So did every other ghost, that hadn’t been destroyed anyway, and what was left of humanity”. Skulker stares at him, “I’ll take your word then. I’m no fool, I know when you’re serious”. Looking back to the corpse, “it can’t be perfect but...” Danny tries to ignore Skulkers giddy grin. Rolling his eyes at him, “just get out of here before it’s spotted or before I hit you, again”. With that Skulker books it away, gingerly cradling Danny’s corpse.

Danny’s not too surprised his friends are waiting for him at home, “dude, the hell? Where’d you go?”. Sam and his mom both glare at him but he can see his mom is trying really hard not to laugh, “well, pretty much the whole ghost zone definitely knows, Mr. Lancer figured it out, and Skulker just flew off with my corpse. And what was so funny?”. Tucker actually laughs while Sam slams her head on the table and his mom looks horrified. Tucker wipes at his eyes a bit, “that is so something he would do but also just absurd, especially cause I know you just gave it to him, didn’t you?”. Maddie gapes at Danny as he rubs his neck sheepishly, “he had the guts to ask and he agreed to not keeping it. Just making it not look torn to shreds”. Sam snaps her head up, “taxidermy, nice. Honestly, you getting taxidermied is almost expected, very goth. I approve”. “How are you ok with that? How are any of you ok with that? And Danny the makeup is not helping this be less messed up”, Danny cringes at his kind of freaked mom. Rubbing his neck again, but phasing the makeup off above the kitchen sink. Washing it down as he responds, “we’re sort of used to all my weird mom, they’ve literally seen me get turned into jello and liquified. Skulker’s whole thing is that he wants my pelt aka skin. He’s a poacher and collector of all things rare and unique. It’s kind of hard to beat me in the rare and unique department. Plus I’m strong, so there’s respect there”. Tucker shrugs, “we’re pretty well sure Danny here is indestructible or something. Might have only been a halfa thing though so who knows”. “Aka I'm complicated and also, no offence or anything but I’d rather pass on the whole burying my corpse in the back yard or just leaving it under the living room floor. That’s way more creepy than getting it preserved, even if it is Skulker doing it”. Tucker laughs again, “and really dude, he’d probably rather destroy himself than damage or disrespect anything even close to being your pelt. He’s probably treating it like the freaking holy grail”. Maddie sighs while Danny smirks, knowing full well that Tucker is right. Skulker would probably destroy anyone who so much as even attempted to touch it, which was perfectly fine with him. Maddie pinches her nose as she plates everyone’s food, “I can see your point Danny and I’ll admit myself, just the thought of having a funeral for you is unnerving. Especially when you’re still walking around”. Danny frowns a bit through a mouthful, “agreed. But unless I can make myself look human or at least change my voice, there’s really no way to avoid Fenton dying going public; which means a funeral. Especially since I’ve already been called out on it”. Sighing a bit, “at least this way we don’t have to deal with someone asking what the hell happened to me, because my corpse didn’t exactly look pretty. And again, Skulker’s not keeping it so...”. Jack sticks his head out the lab door, “Son quick question, do you actually need to eat or are you just doing it because everyone else is?”. Danny blinks a bit though rather happy about the lighter topic, “I can still taste it so I can enjoy it just fine. Even if I don’t need it. Most ghost do still eat, just for the experience rather than needs”. “Well, it would be a bit awkward if you were the only one not eating sweetie, so thanks I guess? But if a funeral does have to happen then it’s closed casket, regardless of what state it’s in”, Maddie shivers a bit and glares at the, definitely stained, floor. Sam rolls her eyes at Danny’s slight green blush, “you are so extra Danny. I mean it’s very goth to display bones and taxidermy, but of your own body is almost masochistic and egotistical“. Danny shrugs at her, “um, guilty as charged? I rather like the notion of a reminder for pretty much everyone that I was human and part human, once. Not here though”. While his parents share a worried look, Tucker slams his hand on the table looking almost giddy, “dude Phantom, that’s right! Phantom Castle!”. Sam laughs, “well that’s one way to thoroughly both impress and amuse pretty much every ghost. No one else has probably ever or even would display their own corpse”. Tucker claps Danny on the shoulder, “talk about a power move! You freaking well better make one hell of an extravagant and unnecessarily over the top unveiling ceremony or something”. “Already got cheesy “I’m really freaking dead this time” ghost paper cut outs in mind. And at least one person will fake die. Plasmius piñata is definitely happening”, Danny is chuckling into his hand while his mom eyes him worryingly. Sam waves her off, “Danny’s sense of humour is out to lunch. If he’s joking about his death than that means he’s in a good mood and perfectly happy. We’d be worried if he wasn’t making a joke of this”. Danny nods at his mom, “joking about my half death and, I guess, full death, is practically one of my things. A trope I guess, all us superhero types have em”. Maddie’s still a bit weirded out but thinking back to all his strange jokes, it’s pretty obvious that Danny’s being honest. Danny smirks devilishly, “and I mean you are talking about someone who’s superpower was literally dying on command”. Earning him a few groans.

Danny is trying to figure out the whole human transformation thing when his mom knocks, “yeah?”. Danny looks to the door as Maddie pokes her head in, “not that I’m complaining but how are you not getting weak or dissolving? It’s been a full day, I figured that your human half was what made you able to stay here before, but now?”. Danny blinks at her a bit, knowing full well that he is a bit weaker nothing drastic though, he hadn’t really been thinking about having to go to the zone, “yeah my human half was doing that. And the reason I’m fine right now, is both because this is Amity and because I’m strong. Amity has tons of latent ectoplasm in the atmosphere because of all the ghosts. Our house and my room have by far the most, because of the portal and me. So ghosts can sustain themselves way longer in Amity than other places on earth”. Danny proves his point by manipulating some of the rather thick ectoplasm in his rooms air into a ball, tossing it in the air a bit, “the ectoplasm that’s latent in my room is more specifically mine so I can manipulate it and it supports me or whatever”. Chuckling and tossing the ball to his mom, who inspects it while Danny talks, “that’s why my room’s always so cold. I have an ice core so my everything is cold. But this is not the zone. I can’t just stay here. So yeah, I’ll have to go to the zone eventually but I’d like to try and sort all this out first”. Noticing her frown and sad glance at him, “obviously I’m not going to just stay away. I’ll be around, just a bit less. Can’t say I know how long I need to be in the zone at a time though. Like I said, not quite sure yet how being full ghost is going to effect my existence yet”. Rubbing his neck and glancing out the window, “probably have to deal with the whole ghost king thing as soon as I make a zone trip too”. Maddie chuckles a bit weakly, “kind of forgot about that. It’s pretty crazy to think my son is the king of the things I hunt”. Looking at Danny as he meets her eyes, “you sure you’re okay with us being hunters? I mean, you’re a ghost and aren’t we basically attacking your subjects?”. Danny smiles softly at her, “it’s fine. Any ghost who comes to the human world expects to get hunted, we pretty much agreed to it. Plus, most who come are looking to start problems. Amity is probably one of the few places that actually gets friendlies, like me or ClockWork. So I guess just don’t hunt the ones that aren’t causing issues”. Chuckling with a smirk, “and obviously don’t hunt ClockWork, that will end embarrassingly for you guys. And absolutely do hunt Plasmius and feel free to annoy any floating eyeballs wearing a cloak. Unless I’m talking to them anyway”. Maddie shakes her head, “if you’re sure. But consider all that talkabout experiments and destroying, off the table. Okay, sweetie?”. Danny smiles warmly at her, “of course, I don’t want you guys to stop being who you are and doing what you love, just because I’m different or because some of your theories were wrong. Being hunters is part of who you are as people, be like telling me to not be overprotective or not make jokes”. Danny chuckles a bit and waves his mom over to the bed, “now feel like being a scientist and shooting out wild theories on how a ghost would go about transforming to make their human form? Cause I’m gettin nowhere other here”. Maddie eyes him for a bit before sitting down, tapping her chin, “well, we both saw how that thing changed, so how similar looking was you transforming before to that? And I’m guessing you’ve already try replicating how your transformation felt?”. That was the first thing Danny had did pretty much, so he nods, “yeah, tried that, multiple times actually. I could transform in more than one specific way, so I just tried every one. And it looks and sounds the same, which isn’t exactly helpful”. Danny knows it’s entirely possible that he simply can’t, how Dan became a full ghost and how he did were not the same. Well, actually, the only real difference was the lack of consuming Plasmius. But Danny wasn’t about to go and do that, for so many reasons. Maddie pokes at him, “why not try the reverse?”. “Um, what?”, Danny’s not following his mom’s train of thought at all. “Why don’t you try the reverse of the transforming feeling or feelings?”. Danny blinks, “so try to transform ghost? Eh, maybe. Seems kinda backwards but”. Danny doesn’t really move or anything, as he tries, having done it so much over the years, made it so simple to do. Not exactly surprised when it doesn’t work, shaking his at her, “nothing”, Danny tilts his head as an idea hits him. He could just try this like using it the way he’d use a normal power. Instead of focusing on the cold light energy and little sparks of electricity inside his veins, that doesn't seem to be there anymore. His rings normally would form like a ball in his chest, where his core was, before shooting out into the rings; and they were cold... Maddie’s opting to stay silent as it’s obvious to her he’s got some kind of idea, both them jumping a bit as a bright ball of light forms only seconds before expanding outwards. Danny smirks at the floating, but not separating ring. It felt way colder and had a slight blue tint but otherwise not that different. Though it’s clear he’s going to have to work on this since the rings don’t just do their thing naturally anymore. His mom mouthing, “wow”, is enough to make him lose his grip on this. She cringes apologetically a bit as the light just snaps back into him. Waving her off as he brings it out again, this time cooking energy around the top half and the lower half, adding a down pull to the bottom and up pull to the top. Smirking as they do indeed shoot over him, and the change does feel different as it goes. Kind of like being compacted into the thermos but with more room. Looking at his glove free hands over before smiling at his mom, “nice”. Maddie shakes her head affectionately, “I would tell you to get some sleep but”. Patting him on the back but jumping as he just snaps back to his new normal look. Danny doesn’t blame her for glaring, rubbing his neck, “sorry bout the light show. This works like a new power, not like the transforming I’m used to. Always takes a bit to get good at new powers”. Especially when he hasn’t gotten a new one in quite a while, so he’s not quite as used to adjusting to new as he was in the first year. “Well, the weekend coming up will give you lots of time”, Maddie nods at him before kissing him on the head good night. “Oh gross! My head is literal ghost fire you know!”, Danny pats at his hair some while Maddie walks to bed with a soft smile.

Danny spends most of the night practicing with transforming but also watching to see if it can get exhausted, trying to figure out just how much of his ectoenergy it uses up. None to pleased when it’s clear it uses up a decent amount, nowhere near his wail but a bit more than a strong ectobeam. Eventually opting to see how long he can just lay and maintain the human appearance, preferably while focusing on it as little as possible. Not too surprised that he does have to actively maintain it now, but it was hardly different than forcing himself not to float; which he was very used to.

Stretching in the morning, before hopping down the steps. Aiming to be as human as possible for as long as possible, he needed to know the limits of this. “Wow son, either you’re concerningly fast at this or you solved a problem”, Danny sticks his head in the kitchen just before the doorbell rings. Talking as he walks to the door, “option two, testing out how long I can keep it up though”. Tucker only looks confused for a few seconds when Danny opens the door, “dude! Nice, you just saved your own ass!”. Danny tilts his head back and laughs, “we all have to do that way too much!”. Tilting his head back down and smiling as they walk in, “it’s not the same though. I have to intentionally maintain it, so no startling me when others are around”. Both them give him a thumbs up but he knows Tucker is going to intentionally startle him at some point, just not in school. All of them have breakfast around the table, before the trio wave as they head off to school. While his parents shake their heads, affectionately, at their overpowered ghost of a son; in the trappings of a human. End.

[jestbee]

Dumber Ways To Die - Timestamps

I quite enjoyed doing timestamps last time so here are some more

They got long again so I put them under the cut

0:10 Phil checked and Dan has worn white in the last 7 videos - Why is that a thing you’re checking, Phil?

0:27 Dan has finished talking about the hoody an wants to do the dapg intro but Phil wants to know if he can have the hoody when Dan is done - apparently he can’t because there is sharpie on it. As if Phil ‘clumsiest person ever’ Lester doesn’t have sharpie on tons of his clothes. It’s going to become a joint hoody I can see it

0:35 Dan being v casual as Phil assaults his neck. Just, you know, the one thing he says he hates people doing more than anything. Except Phil. Apparently. 

0:39 Phil does no appreciate Dan not reacting while looking for the sharpie mark

0:43 Dan says Phil has killed him inside dozens of times.

0:45 and then realises what that sounds like

0:50 Phil has done research on the dumbest death ever for the video and Dan is fond af

1:21 coordinated itching

1:32 Dan i fond over Phil’s need to play for snacks

1:47 The only cookie in the hotel room. I love it when they confirm they’re sharing. If... yanno... the two beds in the background wasn’t proof enough.

1:54 Phil’s sassy snapping while Dan pulls faces

2:00 Phil doe a little training montage mime. At least, I think thats what that was

2:10 Phil claims to have had a lot of peril in his life. Dan, who has been there for nearly a decade of it, and probably has an entire mind palace of information relating to the rest of it, pulls faces as if he doesn’t think thats quite true

2:32 genuinely thought there would be more of a ‘Phil can’t be in the sun’ joke there but other than Phil saying it once, they didn’t repeat the joke they have been on tour so, good for them I guess

3:23 Phil fails his first game 

3:27 Phil is keeping track of scores (because its v important they decided who eats this cookie) and Dan pulls a lil sarcastic fish face

3:32 Phil says Whatever Trevor and I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say that since school

3:34 He also says Get Back in Lane Blaine and I’ve... never heard someone say that before

3:44 Dan says Phil needs a bit of Bug Removal and I... don’t get it?

3:55 Phil is confused as to why Dan’s score is so high

4:05 safety lessons with Dan: Don’t look at candles too much it damages your eyes

4:32 “that’s what happened to us in the womb” - quote from Phil

4:45 intense ski action - your mum joke

4:48 Dan tells Phil he’d like to go on a chalet holiday. Take a hint Lester, your man wants to be treated right

4:53 Dan is distracted by Phil making a two bros sitting in a hot tub joke

5:03 Phil casually calling Dan, Danny is one of my favourite things. Just wouldn’t have happened a few years ago and now it is EVERYWHERE

5:13 Phil telling Dan to feel his pain and calling him Laddy Boy, Dan is not impressed

5:24 Dan reminding us all of Phil’s English Language degree. Again. 

5:36 Dan publicly shames Phil for not being able to tie his laces. Hasn’t he revealed this one before? I feel like we already knew that.   Or maybe Phil just gives off that vibe. 

5:41 Okay. Phil telling Dan to “just suck it” is probably the best thing thats happened to me today. 

5:45 Dan calls this violent and aggressive... do you prefer him to ask politely, then?

5:52 lil shove. I almost didn’t include this because its so common place now. 

6:04 Phil is in the hole

6:13 Dan says holding a sneeze is ‘Orgasm Denial’ Phil (v nonchalantly I might add) informs him that no, apparently holding 8 sneezes in a row is the same pressure as orgasm denial. This is a thing Phil Lester knows. And told us all about.    I’m not sure what to do with that information. 

6:24 Phil says bonce and Dan doesn’t think some people will know that that means head. IS that just British slang? 

6:31 Dan calls Phil a salmon tapper

6:34 they see a bear. Why do they have this thing about bears? Oh wait... I know why. 

6:46 misplaced dabbing there Danny, you didn’t win

6:49 more shoulder shoves

6:53 Phil says “Take the L.... Bob” and I’m sure this is a reference to something I don’t get going by their subsequent reactions. Can someone fill me in? I’m old and I can’t keep up with the memes. 

6:59 Dan wants to delete Phil

7:20 just making ‘oo’ sounds at each other. Lovely. 

7:51 Just... Dan poking Phil softly on the face, all up in his business with barely a reactions. This is the flirtiest part of this video 

8:00 Phil trying to bite Dan’s finger? Sign me up. 

8:01 Dan reminds Phil not to bite his finger as he doesn’t know where it’s been

8:03 Dan gives us a look straight into the camera because... he knows what that sounds like

8:09 they get into a discussion about what is heavy petting vs light petting and the whole things is just... like I’d write all the stamps for everything they say but there’s too much. Just watch the whole damn section. 

8:51 the finger of truth is back

8:54 Phil nearly pokes Dan too... help me

9:36 “I thought I was getting into the groove but it turns out the groove was a lump” - Quotes from Phil. Dan isn’t impressed. 

9:50 I love that when Dan is playing Phil is RIGHT THERE, you know? Like, right over his shoulder all shuffled in close. 

10:00 Dan points a lot

10:37 and clicks his fingers

10:55 Dan likes the room to be very cold. I bet he’s constantly turning the AC up and walking around in his lil sweater paws and Phil is there like, just turn it down and be at a normal temperature. Why didn’t they expand on this? Why didn’t Dan react? I need to know more. 

11:14 Dan has won, and claims his prize. I don’t know why the look on his face is so adorable. And Phil’s lil whiny voice? Yea please. 

11:19 Phil you can’t just lick things and claim them as your own.... is this how ownership works in your household? 

11:21 Dan takes a moment to consider his options because I really don’t think he cares that Phil licked the outside of a packet but...

11:23 Phil’s face because he knows he’s won.

11:29 Phil regrets licking it and Dan still doesn’t really know what to say

11:53 Phil shares horrible stories about other ways people have died. I’m with Dan in thinking that might not have actually happened but where does Phil get this stuff?

12:28 Dan with his hand in Phil’s hair was the best way to end this video. Thank you.