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raaorqtpbpdy · 1 year ago

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Father-Son Bonding (3)

With Maddie and Jazz off attending a women in STEM conference over the weekend, Jack decides to take Danny out for the best father-son bonding activity there is—ghost hunting! They're going to catch that elusive Danny Phantom or die trying! Metaphorically, of course. Jack would never let his son die hunting ghosts, or at least... that's what he thinks.

Written for the prompts:

Jack and Danny spend quality time together hunting that damn ghost boy! Danny is being such a help! Bonus points for if they're both enjoying the endeavor. [from @pricklenettle], Jack Fenton finds out. [from @underforeversgrace], and Jack is excited to hunt ghosts alongside his ghost-powered son, and Danny is enjoying the time with his dad way more than he thought he would. Maddie, however, is deeply troubled by all the ways her son could get hurt, and her overprotectiveness causes a heaviness to fall over the Fenton family home. [from @astatia-ghast]

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Chapter 3: Maddie Fenton Doesn't Know the Half of it (Ch.1; Ch.2)

[Warning for bigotry and unintentional bad parenting]

Maddie Fenton was not happy. First, she and her daughter had been kicked out—politely asked to leave the women in STEM conference because apparently, the small-minded people running the event didn't consider ecto-science "real science", and her talk of ghosts was disrupting the other attendees and the speakers. And now she was watching her husband coming home after obviously having taken their fourteen-year-old son out on a ghost hunt.

She watched the GAV slow as it approached the house. She'd never seen her husband drive that slowly before, and she knew that he knew he was in the dog house after this.

She had made herself absolutely clear on this matter that their children were not to be allowed on ghost hunts until they were eighteen. It was simply too dangerous, especially for Danny, who'd had a fragile constitution and heart problems ever since his accident. And Jack had gone behind her back, taking advantage of her absence to go against her direct wishes.

Rather than going to the garage, Jack pulled the GAV to a stop on the street, obviously realizing that his punishment would be worse if he tried to delay it. It was common for Jack to not know or realize when he did something wrong. He often broke rules only because he forgot they existed. But Maddie had never and would never let him forget this one. So, for once, he knew what he had done.

And he was gonna get it for this.

—

"Stay cool, Danny," Jack said as he pulled the GAV to a stop on the street. "Maybe she doesn't know we went on a ghost hunt."

Danny took one look at his mother's face and shook his head. "I think she knows."

Jack grimaced and tilted his head. Danny made a compelling point. Still, if they played it cool, maybe they could get away with minimal damage.

"Just, smile and act happy to see her," Jack said. "No matter how terrifying she may be right now."

Danny nodded, his brows furrowed in determination.

They both plastered on smiles as they climbed out of the vehicle. Jack greeted his wife with open arms.

"Maddie! You're back early! It's good to see you!"

"We missed you mom!" Danny added, laying it on thick.

It had no effect.

"Don't you dare try to butter me up!" Maddie snapped, holding out a hand to stop them in their tracks. "You took Danny on a ghost hunt?! You know how I feel about that!"

"No, we weren't ghost hunting, we were just—"

"Is lying really the route you you want to go, Jack?" Maddie cut him off sternly. "Because that will only make your punishment so much worse."

"I'm... sorry?" Jack tried instead.

"Is that a question?" Maddie asked. Evidently that hadn't helped his case in the slightest. She didn't wait for him to respond before barrelling forward with her lecture. "Just because we agreed that it would be best to train them for the possibility of fighting ghosts, to protect themselves if they were ever attacked, does not mean I want them going out to pursue those dangerous monsters!"

Jack saw Danny flinch in his periphery and wondered if that was how he had sounded just a few days ago. If Danny had heard his parents calling ghost monsters and thought they must think he was a monster too. If so, it was no wonder he had been so hesitant to reveal himself.

"Now, Maddie, I think you're overselling the danger a bit," Jack tried. "Danny is strong and competent, just like his mother. He can handle it. And I was there the whole time to protect him."

"And I think you're not taking the danger seriously enough," Maddie shot back. "Ghosts are vile, evil, and deadly. They have no regard for human mortality and care only about their own obsessions. Anyone can handle themselves against a ghost until they can't. And I for one don't want to find out at what point our children can't handle themselves.

"And you? Protect him?" She scoffed, crossing her arms. "Don't make me laugh. Half the time when we go out ghost hunting, I have to be the one protecting you! Don't give yourself more credit than you've earned!"

"Hey, that's not fair!" Danny piped up. "Dad did a great job protecting me!"

"Quiet Danny," Maddie snapped. "Don't think you're in the clear. You knew the rule just as well as your father did—no ghost hunting until you're at least eighteen—and you went along with it anyway!"

"Now, Maddie, there's no need to yell at him, it was my idea," Jack tried, but his wife had more than enough ire for the both of them.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not done with you yet!" She glared at him, uncrossing her arms only so she could go back to gesticulating, wildly and aggressively. "You know that ghosts don't hold back just because an opponent is young or inexperienced. Danny could have died!"

At that, Jack glanced at his son, and saw Danny meeting his gaze with a similar look on his face, halfway knowing and halfway sympathetic. Danny was already dead, after all.

Maddie kept going. Yelling and pacing and wagging her finger as she practically bit their heads off right there on the front porch of Fenton Works where all the neighbors could see—not that any of them dared to watch. Maddie could be downright terrifying when she was like this, and no one was spared her vitriol if they dared to make their presence known. That was why Jazz just stood there, absolutely silent, not even daring to go inside the house lest that movement attract her mother's attention and put her in the line of fire.

Time wasn't exactly Jack's best area, but it felt like hours that his wife yelled at them before she finally finished lecturing and started doling out punishments.

"Jack, you are going to fix every single broken or busted thing in the lab. You're going to clean every weapon in the armory—thoroughly. You're going to upgrade the security on the Fenton Portal, and you are going to scrub every surface in the basement until it sparkles!"

"Even the floor?" Jack asked.

"Floor, walls, even the ceiling Jack," Maddie said. "And that's not all! You're also going to fix the lawnmower, the vacuum cleaner, the garbage disposal, and the refrigerator so it stops randomly making that weird groaning noise. All the household repairs you've been saying you planned to do for years, and until every single one of them is done, you'll be sleeping on the couch."

Danny opened his mouth as if to defend his father, but he quickly snapped it shut, probably not wanting to make his own punishment any worse than it was already going to be. Jack could hardly blame him for that.

"And Danny!" She turned on him, hands on her hips. "Until your father has fully completed his own punishment, you're grounded. You are to come directly home after school, you are not allowed to invite your friends over, and no video games! Am I understood?"

"Understood," both Jack and Danny acknowledged dourly.

It seemed a little harsh to Jack, but he knew better than to challenge his wife's decision now, or she'd only make it worse. After a few days, a week at most, she would ease up a bit. At least let him sleep on the bed, if only to reduce the risk of him destroying the couch with his tossing and turning.

"Good!" she said. "Now, I've had a long, and trying day, so I'm going to go upstairs and take a long, soothing bath to relax. You'd better be getting started on your punishment by the time I'm done."

"Yes, Maddie," Jack said.

With that, Maddie finally went into the house, leaving her husband and children on the porch, all three of them waiting a few minutes to make sure she was actually in the back before they entered themselves.

"I'm sorry," Jazz said, her shoulders slumped and voice quiet. "I totally forgot about Dad's tradition of taking us ghost hunting when Mom's away. If I'd remembered, I could have called you and warned you to deactivate the ghost hunting equipment on the GAV before you got home."

"Yeah, that would have helped," Danny griped.

Jack put a hand on his small shoulder to stop him from being mean to his sister. "It's not Jazz's fault," he said. "It was just unlucky timing."

"Still, you and I fought ghosts when Mom and Danny were at that mother-son science symposium thing, too," Jazz pointed out. "I should have done something."

"That's not your responsibility, Jazzy," Jack assured. "Don't worry. I'll blase through those household repairs in no time, and tinkering in the lab? That's hardly a punishment. You'll be un-grounded soon enough. Come on, Danny, help me put away all this stuff?"

He was hoping to talk to Danny in private for a few minutes, without Jazz there.

"Sure, Dad."

The two of them got in the GAV, and jazz went into the house as Jack brought the vehicle around to park in the garage.

"Danny... about the whole Phantom thing... and your mother..."

"You don't think I should tell her, right?" Danny guessed.

"Hrn, it's just... after hearing all the things she said today... and she's not as willing to change her views as I am," Jack said, not really sure what he saying, or particularly wanting to say it, but wanting to make sure his son was safe. "Maddie... all her theories and observations about ghosts. She made them herself. They're all based on her own studies and research and she's sure she's drawn all the right conclusions.

"Me, I'm just an engineer," he continued. "I was willing to believe whatever she told me when it came to ghost biology and psychology, because those are her fields—at least I was until... well, until I had a first-hand source to contradict her. I'm not sure she'll be so quick to accept those contradictions when she was the one who came up with those theories, fist-hand source or not."

Danny looked down at his hands in his lap for a long moment, not saying anything. And for that moment, Jack was sure his words must have upset his son.

"If you disagree, Danny, it's your secret to tell, but—"

"I don't disagree," he said. Then he went silent again.

Although he was determined to wait for his son to collect his thoughts, Jack quickly became antsy in the silence, and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"I was so happy after I told you, and you took it so well," Danny said. "It made me think that maybe mom would react the same way, and maybe it would be safe to tell her. And then we got home today, and I had to listen to her talk about ghosts and it was... it was even worse than usual. It was just... disheartening, I guess, to realize the reality after getting my hopes up like that. But I agree that telling mom right now wouldn't be a good idea."

"But that doesn't mean you can't ever tell her!" Jack added, trying not to let his son's hopes be completely dashed. "No matter how staunchly she's convinced of her views right now, I'll change her mind. I'll warm her up to the idea that not all ghosts are evil, and that they don't have to be destroyed. And I'll release the ghosts we trap through the Fenton Portal and make sure she doesn't hurt you while you're out as Phantom."

"You promise?" Danny asked, his voice so small.

"I promise," Jack said. "It's my job to keep you safe, and that's what I'm gonna do. You can count on me."

"Alright, then I will," Danny agreed, a small smile making its way onto his face. "We should get started putting all this stuff away. There's a lot of work to do if we want our punishments to be lifted."

—

Things were different after that. Knowing Danny's secret changed more than just Jack's personal opinions of ghosts. Suddenly, he was hyper-aware of his wife's anti-ghost rhetoric. All the awful things she said like they were objective facts. He'd never thought much of it before, but now, every time, it made him think of their son and his chest ached with sympathy.

That wasn't all, though. Ever since she got back and learned that he'd taken Danny ghost hunting, she was even more protective of her son than before. She kept close watch on him, and that prevented him from sneaking out as Phantom to protect the town from ghosts.

Thankfully, he had Jazz and Jack both helping him out—and Jack was still surprised that Jazz had found out about Danny before him—but even so he struggled.

Just as Jack anticipated, he was allowed back into the bedroom after only a week, though she still expected him to finish all the chores and repairs she'd given him. But things didn't go back to normal.

There was something oppressive hanging over the household now.

Jack had to change her mind about ghosts sooner rather than later if he wanted their family to go back to the way it was. It was his only hope. But even still, he wondered if things would ever be like they were before.

Somehow... he was starting to doubt it.

#danny phantom #dp #danny fenton #jack fenton #maddie fenton #jazz fenton #fic #things i wrote #phic phight 24 #phic phight #light angst #father-son bonding

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