#his conversation with maddie all but directly said that

[buddiebitch]

genuinely confused why so many people are saying things like “i’m tired of the will they won’t they i wish they would just tell us if it’s gonna happen or not” (kinda defeats the purpose of will they won’t they?) or from the bummy stans “i wish they would shut down buddie fans once and for all” (both real posts i saw)

just wondering how y’all think watching a show is supposed to work? they aren’t going to come out and say either way until it happens in the show, don’t know why you would think it should go any other way.

they aren’t going to do an interview about episode 7 just to say “yeah tommy’s here for now but don’t worry he’ll be gone and we’ll get buddie going” like that’s not how it works, interviews in the middle of a season are purposefully vague and sometimes intentionally misleading, that’s kinda the point. this isn’t the type of show they want you to be able to predict, of course they’ll mislead us on purpose when they get the chance.

it’s very unlikely that any interview will reveal where the show is taking this, and no interviews yet have said strictly one way or the other so i’m not sure why people are acting like they have

[sakuravalelp]

Ellie(Dani) didn't realize how dangerous Danny's home was for him until he was more worried about her when she got her own home. - Prompt I think(?)

Ellie wasn't sure how to feel when Danny excitedly animated her to accept Arthur's invitation to live in Atlantis.

"Just if you want of course, but you'll get a stable home, and Frostbite said living underwater might be good for your water cores stability."

She had already been planning to accept the offer. Once she gave the guy an opportunity to have some sort of conversation, the guy was pretty chill, and the castle was pretty cool. So yeah, she was going to accept the offer.

But for some reason Danny's eagerness for her to go with Arthur hurt. It felt like he was trying to get rid of her.

She knew that was ridiculous, she didn't even live with Danny. He looked out for her, and was always a call away but, as much as Danny parents her, he was just a child like her. It made sense he was happy to give away the responsibility of taking care of her.

So when Ellie moved into Atlantis, she was expecting to hear less from Danny. After all, she had settle down, and he didn't need to worry about her adventures anymore. That was Arthur's and Mera's job now.

Weirdly enough, it was the complete opposite.

Now that Ellie was living with adults, Danny seemed MORE worried for her. They went from a call once a week or so, to almost daily calls in the afternoons. He would be more insistent about her telling him if anything was wrong.

He would ask specifics about the food she was eating, and her activities of the day, and her room, and the castles security...

Sam had told her that it was because he used to be able to monitor if she was eating well through the transactions of the debit card they had given her. Tuck had told her that he used to evaluate how safe she was through the phones location, and the hotels receipts.

And well, maybe she underestimated how much attention Danny put on her before, but the way the calls went made it seem like he thought she might be in more danger now that she had a stable home.

Which made no sense, because unlike him, she didn't even need to hide her ghostlines. Anything that was out of normal for Atlanteans was excused with meta-abilities, she didn't need to worry about being classified as a non-sentient species.

That was when it caught up to her. Danny was worried now that she was in a stable home because his stable home had always been dangerous for him. It isn't even a think of it being dangerous now that his a ghost, it has been dangerous ever since he was a child. She remembers all of Jazz's rants about how unreliable their parents have always been.

The food has always been contaminated. The security now attacked him directly, but there had always been a possibility of it malfunctioning and hurting the residents. Him and Jazz had always had the responsibilities of not only keeping the house clean, but the lab as well. If she tops it with the house security system attacking him, and his parents been ghost hunters...

Ellie hadn't found it too dangerous back then, Danny mocked Jazz rants with her, and Jack and Maddie were kind when they interacted with her in her human form. The Fentons neglect seemed liberating in comparison to Vlad overly controlling nature. But thinking about it now, after two months living in Atlantis, she doesn't like the picture.

She doesn't like the idea of Danny being somewhere so unsafe, but where would he go? He doesn't have a water core like her, and even if he had gotten sorta used to shapeshifting, he isn't good enough to live in a second form, which isn't recommendable either way. So he wouldn't be able to move underwater with her.

More so, she doubts that Danny would like to leave his Amity, he had taken the sole responsibilities of dealing with the whole humans - ghost conflicts. With the anti-ecto acts, there's no way he would leave the portal unsupervised.

What should she do now? Should she talk with Arthur about it? He said he was part of the heros friend group, what if they already know about the anti-ecto acts and are okay with it? What if they change hoe they act with her when she tells them she isn't actually an atlatean meta?

[inawickedlittletown]

Coming Out is Easy - 7x06 coda

Buck felt the kiss down to his toes. He just couldn’t help himself because seeing Tommy, especially a Tommy fully decked out in gear and covered in soot, it suddenly made it click for Buck. The thing that people had about firefighters. Although maybe it was just Tommy because Buck saw firefighters covered in all kinds of things all the time and it had never brought out this reaction before. It had taken Tommy to get that out in Buck, and so as Tommy strode towards him, talking about the fire in a tired and apologetic tone, Buck walked towards him and kissed him. 

Tommy kissed him right back and it was an assault on his senses. There was the smokey smell that lingered on Tommy and neat slick slide of their tongues meeting and the feel of the short hair at the nape of his neck. Buck could taste him too, a hint of coffee, likely the only thing keeping him standing after so long a shift. 

Buck held onto him even after the kiss ended, his hand still at Tommy’s neck and his other around his waist. They breathed the same air and Buck just smiled and pressed closer, wanted nothing more than to stay there together until they were forced apart. 

“I can’t believe they got married at a hospital,” Tommy said eventually. 

“They didn’t want to wait,” Buck said with a smile. 

Maddie’s call had had everyone rushing a bit, but they had all been happy to be there for her and Chim even if it wasn’t the wedding they had planned and agonized over for the last few weeks. 

“Come on, I know you’re tired so you don’t have to stay long.”

Buck turned and he started heading away, but Tommy grabbed his wrist. 

“Bathroom first.” 

“Why? You don’t need to clean up, Chim and Maddie won’t mind.” 

Tommy chuckled. “Not for me, Evan. You look like you’ve been kissing a chimney sweep.” 

“I doubt you fit in a chimney,” Buck said, a little playfully and incapable of not grinning. 

Tommy chuckled again. “Just, if you don’t want them to have questions, maybe wash your face first.” 

“And what if I want them to have questions?” 

It wasn’t like the invitation to the wedding hadn’t been, in a small way, Buck’s way of just telling everyone without needing to have individual conversations. His sooty beard would more than clear things up and Buck wouldn’t even have to say a word. 

“I’m not going to stop you,” Tommy said. 

“Then let’s go.” 

No one said anything to him or Tommy directly, but there certainly were reactions. His favorite was his parents being both shocked and confused followed closely by Athena’s perfectly arched eyebrow and Hen’s knowing look. They stayed long enough to eat cake and no one said anything when Buck left with Tommy. He was sure, considering they were in a hospital, that everyone would start leaving soon anyway. He had no idea how long the hospital staff would allow it to go on. 

“You really do nothing by halves, do you, Evan?” 

“You’re not complaining, are you?” 

“No. Not at all.” 

Buck reached for his hand, lacing their fingers together and when he looked to Tommy, Tommy was already looking back, his scrunchy smile in place.

[miss-multi45]

Blackmail

Hoodie x FEM!Reader

cw: no smut, mentions of a gun (revolver), reader has an extremely shitty boyfriend, nicknames said: 'babe', 'babygirl', 'gorgeous girl', 'pretty thing', 'good girl', dead dove do not eat, I based this off the scene in euphoria season 2 episode 6 (the scene where nate puts a gun to maddy's head), mentions of stalking, ghostface quote, mentions of infidelity, gaslighting, swearing, hoodie is a murderous gentleman. come get your food (dddne pun)

It had been six hours since you last saw him.

Now don't take this the wrong way. You weren't the kind of girl to get sad when your boyfriend wasn't by your side again after being gone for five seconds. Quite the opposite.

Liam was a piece of shit, but somehow you loved him. So the reason you had been counting the hours until he got back home was that you had a sneaking suspicion that he had been sleeping with other girls, but god you had hoped and prayed that it wasn't true.

After a while of sitting on the corner of your bed with your head in your hands and planning out what you were going to say to him, the front door finally opened and Liam walked in and right up to where you were.

"I'm home, babe." He said as soon as he entered the room, pressing a kiss to your forehead when you looked up. He sat on his side of the bed and began to undress for bed.

"Where have you been?" You stood up, crossing you arms, finally confronting him despite your fear of him.

He chuckled, both nervously and darkly, "Babygirl, what do you mean?" Liam turned to look at you.

"You've been out all day, you haven't answered my calls or replied to my texts, and you didn't leave any notes or messages." You listed them off, making sure to stare directly into his stupid pretty brown eyes.

"Wha - babygirl, I have a job?" He backed himself up, but you had already prepared for this conversation.

"It's Sunday. Your job is out on Sundays." You walked backwards, sitting on your desk chair to keep the distance, because something didn't feel safe about this.

And almost on cue, you heard a metallic click. "What was that?" Your heart dropped, you recognised that click. It may seem stupid, but you had watched enough action movies to know that click belonged to a gun being loaded.

"Liam. What was that?" You pushed your chair back, even though the bullet could reach you in any corner of the room.

A terrifying emptiness took over his features, a hauntingly calm expression. He pulled the gun out of his jacket pocket, standing up and slowly coming towards you while the deadly cold expression stayed on his face.

The space between you and him was big enough for you to stand up from your chair and jump onto the bed. You threw a pillow at him as hard as you could, scared tears starting to develop and fall down your cheeks.

Liam laughed at that, it appeared he found your fear a laughing matter. "Aw, why you crying?" He creeped onto the bed, climbing on top of you and gently pressing the gun to your temple.

The cold metal that was suddenly against your head clicked, and that's when it hit you. He was playing a twisted game of Russian Roulette.

He switched to pressing the gun to his head, and pulled the trigger a few times to no avail. So, he got up and left the room to load the gun with more than one bullet.

But that didn't involve the bang of a gun, and it didn't involve a body thudding to the floor. But it definitely didn't involve a voice saying: "Smallest gun I've ever used."

Several seconds after the voice spoke, you quietly got up and closed the door, crawling back onto your bed and burying your head into a pillow to silently sob into it.

However, your crying session was interrupted by the door opening again. Heavy footsteps walking towards you, the bed sunk from someone's weight behind you.

"Now what happened here?" It was the same voice as before, commenting on the size of the gun. The voice clearly had a filter over it, but it sounded like a male. Stuffing your face further into the cushion, you tensed up when you felt a leather gloved hand gently stroke and pet your side as if the person knew what had just happened and wanted to comfort you.

"Sorry about your boyfriend," Oh, God. "All those muscles didn't help much." Liam was dead, shot and killed.

Whoever it was didn't seem to like the fact that your face was shoved into a pillow, so they grabbed your face by the chin and turned you over to look at them. "Oh, what a pretty thing." Your cheeks had tears marks, and you were still crying.

"Scared, huh?" Now that you were looking at them, it was obvious they were a man. A very broad and tall man, also quite dominant by the looks of it. He had a turmeric yellow hoodie and a black and red ski mask

You sniffled, and the hooded man chuckled and cocked his head before speaking again. "Stop crying." He wiped a tear with his thumb, moving his arm under your back while snaking the other under your waist.

He lifted you in a bridal carry, but you squirmed in his grasp. "That's enough. A gorgeous girl like you shouldn't be in the same house as the dead body of a shit muppet. Is that clear?"

Almost frantically, you used your sweater paws to wipe the tears away. "I want an answer. Preferably a verbal one." the man demanded, and you answered. "Yes." your voice quivered while you spoke.

"There we go." He started walking out of your room and out of the house, into the vast woodland expanse behind your house. "Now, I'm gonna tell you why I did what I did. And you're going to listen." Not once did he put you down.

"I've been stalking your dead boyfriend for three months now, and I only got the order to kill him two days ago." Wait, 'got the order'? What did that mean?

"I didn't need to kill him for another week, but I did it early because of what I saw him do to you, pretty thing." He continued. Oh, he saw everything. "Pointing a gun to your head, laughing at your fear. You don't do that to a woman, especially not your own fucking girlfriend."

You began to stop crying, instead just looking up at him with glassy eyes and rosy cheeks. But after a while you felt a headache build up, and your vision grew blurry and you saw black dots.

"That's it, good girl." That was the last thing you heard.

[gayofthefae]

You can tell when they wanted to Buddie. Because Buck and Eddie synched up being single for a season a half. Their only plots were about each other, it's when they had the lawsuit angst, it's when Eddie was said to have put Buck in his will if they planned that, which I don't find it farfetched that they did - especially given they were renewed by that point, it's when the technophobe cute domestic plot happened, and it's during that time that Buck got closure with Abby.

Ana was briefly introduced but Eddie's interest seemed to be more a setup for his disappointment by her and they did not start dating for about another season. It was a seed but not one that was required to develop.

They were setting up in season 3. I always thought it was abnormal, now that I know they're really doing it, I get why. In every other section but 3x01-4x08, they have both been dating. Buck wasn't over Abby then in the episode he got over her, Eddie got back with Shannon, then while Eddie was with Shannon, Buck got with Ali - but Ali was off screen and took up 0 plot focus away from his relationship with Eddie. It was the classic bad timing.

Then they were both single for TWENTY SIX EPISODES. Within which, their plots had consistent build, processing of their love lives, and focus on one another with casual screentime being spent together with Chris. That was buildup.

THEN THEY DID THAT WHOLE SETUP OF "Buck has a secret he's nervous to tell his loved ones" and it was SO about him being queer until it was swapped out for a therapist.

Then Ana comes back into Eddie's life and Taylor is introduced only two episodes later and in the same episode that Eddie and Ana are officially dating. Eddie breaks up with Ana in 5A but Buck is still with Taylor through the end of the season. The episode they both are single again, Buck defines true love to Maddie in a description of Buck and Eddie's season 5 plot and Ravi describes romance by directly referencing a previous season's line between Buck and Eddie.

Then, they are single simultaneously again for 15 episodes during which time they - also abnormally - have very minimal plot focus on each other.

They switch networks. Buck is immediately single from an off screen breakup that does not affect him at all. He kisses a man in episode 4. In episode 5, the seeds of destruction for Eddie's relationship begin being planted. By the end of the season, Eddie is single, but Buck is not. Now, as of season 8 episode 6, they are both single again.

It is also notable that prior to season 4, their relationships did not hog screen time in the way they did in seasons 4, 5, and 6. Ali was seen once or twice. Shannon only had any romantic and not familial focus for Eddie bookending her time on the show, not throughout. But Ana was a repeated topic of conversation and Taylor became a series regular for a full season.

The entire timeline of it all shows itself to be:

1. Moving on from past relationships

2. Romantic buildup

3. Fox says no

4. They can't date because...uh- they aren't single!

5. Break them up in hopes Fox will say yes

6. Fox says no

7. They're both single so just don't have them interact and hope people don't notice until it's been long enough to make them date people again

8. Make them date people again

9. ABC says yes!

[thanakite]

You know, the scene where Maddie and Steb walk up to Vi and Loris and Maddie knows who Vi is and then lies about how she knows who she is? It's a very interesting scene as literally Maddie, Steb, and Loris all act sketchy in that moment

If Steb or Loris had instead been Ambessa spy you could literally bring up the same moment as a hint that they were a traitor/spy

Maddie's I've already addressed (in this post and in greater detail elsewhere)

Steb's is the least obvious, but to be fair a good spy, would probably not be drawing attention to themselves, but he like refuses to talk to Vi despite the fact that Vi directly looks at him while asking him a question, and while he stands there stiffly and all proper he's very clearly listening to everything despite the disinterest showing on his face, and really the best thing for a spy would be having a chatty partner who can draw attention and ask questions while you just build up your arsenal of knowledge

Loris is the one I'm most curious about though in this scene, because it's a fairly obvious thing to the audience but not to Vi, and it's unclear why he did this, which is that he's very clearly listening in as Maddie talks to Vi and seems curious about what is being said, but when the conversation is over and they need to start making their way to the Memorial, he pretends to be asleep still and as if he wasn't listening

Was it just about not invading the conversation or making Vi think she had to talk to him about what was said? Was it that he didn't really care to have the energy to participate and didn't want to explain why after the fact? Like why do this? And really, was it even necessary? Vi doesn't look at him to check if he was awake or not before shaking his foot to "wake" him, he could have just gone with that woke him up and sat up to get going right away, but instead he plays up still being a sleep and makes Vi work harder to "wake" him and it's truly just like "Why?"

I SO wish we had more episodes as then it maybe would have been addressed, but instead I'm just left with an itch at the back of my brain about it

Were they trying to make sure it wasn't obvious Maddie was the spy/traitor? Did they not decide on who the traitor was going to be right away? Was this just some innocuous thing that was supposed to just be forgotten but accidentally ended up looking sketchy as hell?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We may never know

[notadamnmermaid]

Baked Alaska

Eddie Diaz likes to think he’s a good friend, when he wasn’t actively sabotaging his own life. He gets along decently with Chimney; plays cards with Hen and Karen at their standing ‘parents of teenagers’ meet ups; has a regular pool game with Bosko whenever their schedules lined up; and he enjoys pick-up basketball game days with Tommy. All of this to say, he is a pretty good guy to most people.

But here’s the thing about Eddie: he might like to think he’s a good friend, but he knows without a question that he is Buck’s best friend. So when Buck shows up at his doorstop, forlorn and scowling with a six pack of beer, of course Eddie is going to help him get over his breakup. He turns the music back up and dances, and he urges Buck up to join him. They dance and they drink and they laugh until Buck looks less like he’s going to break down.

Later that week, he helps Buck pack up the few things of Tommy’s that are left around the loft. Maddie and Chim have just dropped off Jee-Yun, so Eddie picks up the bag. He knows that Tommy should be at his station today, so he can drop it off before heading back to Buck’s baking frenzy.

“I mean yeah, Evan’s hot, but he was also, like, really just not my type.” Eddie’s ears prick up at the sound of Tommy’s voice. He’s just walked into Harbor station. He moves silently up the stairs to see Tommy holding court, his back to Eddie. Donato is there, along with Hicks and Gomez, listening to Tommy with a barely perceptible sneer that turns to malicious glee as she sees Eddie stalking up with a finger to his lips.

“But I hooked up with someone at this nightclub in WeHo last month who’s way more my speed,” Tommy continues on obliviously. “An absolute hottie and I can have a fully coherent conversation without him going off on, like, fifteen different tangents. And just the tightest little ass, like my god—“

Eddie thinks he blacked out for a few seconds, because two weeks ago, Buck and Tommy were still dating. But a month ago, Tommy did what?

What?

Here’s the thing about Eddie Diaz: he likes most people well enough, but he loves Evan Buckley, and Eddie will be damned before he lets a raggedy bitch like Tommy get away with hurting him, even retroactively.

“What the FUCK are you talking about, Kinnard?” Eddie’s emphatic voice from directly behind him prompts a jump spin from Tommy. Eddie watches his face pale with hard eyes and his jaw set. From the corner of his eye, he sees Donato take out her phone.

“Ed-Eddie,” Tommy stutters out, eyes darting across his face nervously. “What are you doing here?”

Eddie tosses the bag to the floor at his feet. “Well, I was trying to be kind to my best friend since his ex broke up with him a few days ago; I didn’t think it’d be a good idea for Buck to have to go through some bullshit handoff, when I— being his best friend and your friend— could just bring it over peacefully.

“But back to you: what the fuck did you just say? Did I just hear your bitch ass admit to cheating on my best friend? Was that what I just heard?” Eddie prowls up to the older man and pokes him hard in the chest. Tommy looks like curdled milk as he tries to back away.

“Eddie, listen, please—“

“Oh fuck that, puto,” Eddie snarls, balling his fist up into Tommy’s collar and dragging him down to eye level. “Buck is one of the best men I know, you fuckwit piece of shit coward. What, you didn’t want to tell him the truth, so you broke up with him? Said he would break your heart eventually? What a fucking joke; Buck is the kindest, sexiest, coolest person I know. You don’t deserve to have that type of goodness in your life. And he doesn’t deserve a prick like you taking advantage of him.”

Abruptly, he releases Tommy with a hard shove, completely disgusted by even the idea of being around the other man any longer. He turns and walks off, kicking the bag lightly out of the way.

“There’s all your stuff,” he calls over his shoulder, “now you can lose Buck’s number, and lose mine too for that matter.” He stops for a moment, cocks his head, and looks over his shoulder with a mean little smile.

“But thanks for getting him those Lakers tickets; I’ll make sure he has a real good time.”

When he walks back in to Buck’s apartment, strong hands push him up against the door. Eddie has half a breath to take in the fevered look in blue eyes before those same strong hands cradle his face for a kiss. His own hands move automatically, clutching at broad shoulders and fisting in curly blond hair. A moan rumbles through his chest.

They eventually part, air still being a necessity, foreheads touching. “Lucy sent me a video,” Buck murmurs, eyes wide and smiling broadly. “I’m the sexiest person you know?”

Eddie huffs out a laugh. “And the kindest, coolest, funniest, sweetest, most irritatingly beautiful man I know. Mi sol,” he declares, “Mi amor. Te amo. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize.”

They’re both smiling, tears glinting in their eyes, as they move together for another kiss, and then another, and then another. They part reluctantly as Jee-Yun starts calling for attention from the living room. Fingers laced together and sides bumping playfully, they make their way over to her.

After all, there will be time for more later.

[sporadicfangurl]

Between the stills and the sneak peek that dropped of Buddie (which I haven't and won't be watching as am waiting until I see the episode to see but have kinda seen through gifs) I now have a lot of thoughts about how I think things will go for the buckley-diaz family in this season finale and I just need to write it out before I join Eddie in a mental spiral.

So, for starters, I think the Buddie sneak peek will be the first scene for both Buck and Eddie. I could see there being a scene before this with Eddie knocking on Chris's door begging him to open up/ apologizing for the night before and getting no response from Chris. But, because of all the plotlines going on/needing to get wrapped up in this episode I don't think we'll get a scene like that before the sneak peek scene. Now when it comes to the sneak peek scene, I believe this is the morning after the Kim debacle the night before. Seemingly after Marisol (and Kim) left, Chris locked himself in his room and hasn't spoken or seen Eddie since. Concerned for Chris, but not wanting to overstep or force himself on him, Eddie immediately resorts to pulling out his big guns; aka calling in Chris's Buck. Because if there is one person Chris will let in at a time like this—it's his Buck. I think this scene will end with Buck agreeing to try and leaving to go to Chris's room and as Buck is exiting, Eddie hears a knock on his door and when he answers his parents are on the other side.

We know from stills from the episode that Eddie's parents will be in this episode. Personally, I don't believe either Chris or Eddie called them. I think this will be a surprise visit with them having already been in town and maybe this is there last day in LA, and they just wanted to see Chris and Eddie before going back to Texas. Although there is a small chance that Chris called them although given that I believe Buck was Eddie's first call to help him fix the mess he made I don't think he called his parents. Regardless, once he invites them inside, Eddie takes his parents to the kitchen, and it is in the kitchen that he fills them in on all the things going on with regards to his dead wife's doppelganger and all that went down the night before. During this conversation, Eddie is going to show them a picture of Kim on his phone which is what I think is happening in the still down below.

While Eddie is talking to his parents, I believe Buck and Chris will be having a parallel conversation that will be intercutting with Eddie's scene as Chris expresses his feelings and perspective to Buck about everything. At some point, Chris and Buck's conversation will get interrupted by someone (Maddie, Chim or Hen) calling to tell him that Bathena is in the hospital. Buck will apologize/excuse himself from the talk with Chris and go to the kitchen to tell Eddie about Bathena. Interrupting the conversation Eddie is having with his parents and the reason why Helena's face looks so screwed up/upset.

Eddie will likely initially be conflicted on whether or not he should go to the hospital because of everything going on with Chris, but his parents will usher him to go telling him they'll stay and watch/talk to Chris while he's gone. Buddie goes to hospital together directly from Eddie's house which is why they are wearing the same clothes.

Now am not sure what the hell is going to happen at the hospital, but I will say that I don't think Bobby is either going to die or wake up from the coma in this episode. I think whatever ultimately ends up happening with Bobby we won't find out until the first episode of season eight. Regardless of what happens at the hospital, after everything is said and done, Buddie will part ways with them both going home to their own homes. At Buck's place, I think Tommy will already be at Buck's when Buck arrives home. Maybe Buck left Tommy at his place before he left to go to Eddie's as they potentially woke up together and Tommy just never went home, or maybe Tommy has a key and let himself in. However, it is that Tommy is in Buck's place, he is there, and he prepared/set up Bummy date night. More than likely, either through Buck telling him or the firefighter grapevine, Tommy knows about Bobby being comatose in the hospital and wanting to do something nice for Buck (possibly to help take his mind off of things) he made/maybe order them dinner. Given that Buck is smiley and looking all content in the still below, I do not believe again that Bobby will die in this episode. I just don't see Buck being able to be this happy in a moment with Tommy if Bobby/his real dad dies some time that day.

Moving on to Eddie, when he returns home, I think his parents will be waiting to have a conversation with him about Chris and how they think he should come with them back to Texas. Eddie while obviously be taken aback and a bit defensive about this as this will be last thing he wants. However, I think Eddie's parents will make it clear that this isn't like last time where they wanted to take Chris from him permanently but instead this will just be a temporary thing. Possibly one that Chris said he wanted. Which if they tell him that Chris wants to go with them back to Texas, I think Eddie will resign himself to it.

Which, as hard as this is going to be for Eddie, I personally think it's for the best and the only way that our Diaz boys can finally start to truly grieve and heal from Shannon's death. The truth of the matter is that both Chris and Eddie hide their feelings from one another when it comes to Shannon as a means of protecting each other feelings. When Chris was having nightmares about Shannon in 3x04, he kept it hidden from Eddie because he didn't want to make Eddie sad by bringing it up. And I feel like Eddie has been using his relationship with all these different women as a way to mask his true feelings about Shannon to both Christopher and himself. Dating all these women gives the illusion that he's okay and moved past Shannon, but that is clearly a bold face lie as we can see by the Kim of it all. All that to say, if Eddie and Chris are going to heal from Shannon's death and the feeling of abandonment, she left behind in her wake; they need to be able to feel all of their feelings and pain which neither will do if they're together because they'd be too worried about how their feelings would affect the other. This is gonna hurt, but it's gonna be for the best. Which takes us to the next two and last stills:

Buddie says goodbye to their kid! As much as I wanted Chris to go stay with his Buck that way, he'd at least still be with one of his dads then; he's clearly gonna be going with his grandparents. In what will probably be Eddie and Chris's one and only scene together—THERE GONNA BE SAYING GOODBYE! And as Chris leaves with his grandparents, Buck will be there to comfort and support Eddie through the shitstorm he made for himself. Those are my thoughts and thanks to Hulu not dropping episodes until 5 in the morning I have a whole extra day to just think about all the ways this next episode is about to hurt. Thanks so much for that Hulu. You're just the best.

[oblivious-aro]

Friends in strange Places Ch. 6 Pt 2

What if Vlad was good instead of evil? Link to chapter 1:

Friends in Strange Places Chapter 1, a danny phantom fanfic | FanFiction

FANFICTION.NET

Summary: With a little encouragement from Vlad, Danny works up the nerve to tell his parents. Sam and Tucker realize they have some things to discuss.

Word Count: 8600

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

By the time Danny managed to get the thespian ghost into The Thermos and fly back home, Vlad had already left. Danny was disappointed to have missed him, but he did get a play-by-play of the entire visit from his parents over dinner.

"...and it turns out Vladdie hasn't had any luck designing an ecto-based adhesive either! But thanks to his input, we should be able to increase the efficiency of The Spectre Speeder tenfold!"

"That's fascinating Dad." Jazz deadpanned "So you and Vlad have been breaking the ice okay then?"

"Yup!" Maddie smiled "Oh, I'm so glad Vlad decided to open up to us. It's been so nice working with him again."

"Wow," Jazz said "Vlad sharing his secret with you two really seems to have made a difference in your relationship. Even if he was scared to do it, it certainly seems to have been worth the risk."

Danny glared at Jazz.

"You said it Jazzy!" Jack beamed, oblivious to the secret conversation between his children "Now that we know what's been going on with Vladdie all this time, we're closer than ever before!"

"You don't say." Jazz stared directly at Danny as she spoke.

"I'm done eating, I'm going to my room now." Danny pushed his chair back and began to walk towards the stairs.

"Sorry Danny," Maddie grabbed his shoulder as he passed her "You and your father are on dishes tonight."

"What? But I did them last night!"

"Yeah?" Jazz put the stack of plates in the sink "And who did them the last two nights in before that?"

"That was only because-" he'd had to leave halfway through dinner to deal with Skulker's newest (not to mention very destructive) 'toy'.

"Because what, Danny?" Maddie cocked an eyebrow.

"Nothing." Danny grumbled.

"See you in the lab, Hun." Maddie gave Jack a peck on the cheek "I want to get started on archiving today's data."

With that, she disappeared down the basement stairs.

"Come on, Danno," Jack gave the pouting Danny a pat on the back "The sooner we get this done, the sooner it'll be over. You washing or drying tonight?"

"I'll dry." Danny said. His father had an unfortunate tendency to put dishes away in the wrong places, and Danny did not feel like dealing with Jazz's complaining tomorrow morning.

"So," Danny asked as his dad handed him a plate "How are things going with Vlad? It's really not awkward with his whole, you know...'ghostly' situation?"

"Nonsense Danny!" Jack waved his hand "We barely even talked about it."

Danny wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"I mean," Jack continued "We did sit down and discuss the situation when he first got here, but it didn't take long for us to get back into the swing of researching together just like old times. In fact, the data we collected today has given me a great idea for a new weapon! I call it The Fenton Ghost Gooer!"

"You're not like, married to that name, are you?" Danny scrunched his nose.

"It's gonna be great!" See, your mother and I haven't had much success with ectoplasmic based adhesive in the past, but after studying its behaviour at high velocity under varying degrees of impact force..."

Danny rolled his eyes. It could be so difficult to get his father to stay on a topic that wasn't whatever his latest ghost invention was.

"Dad, would it bother you if you saw Vlad using his ghost powers?" Danny interrupted his rambling.

"What do you mean, Son?" Jack frowned.

"I know you and Mom don't hate Vlad or anything for being half-gho-"

"Of course we don't hate Vladdie!" Jack made an offended expression "He's our best friend!"

"Yeah I know, but I mean like, wouldn't it wig you out to see him flying around or sticking his arm through something? Like, how'd you feel when you first saw him transform?"

"Well I suppose it was a little startling." Jack said "But Vladdie had only really told us about his powers less than a minute ago, so you can't really blame me for being shocked. Your mother and you kids were pretty shaken too, if I recall correctly. Heck, you and your friends barely said a word the whole drive home!"

"Uh...yup! That's right! Totally shocked!" Danny laughed nervously.

"But once your mother and I talked things out, and I got a good night's sleep to think it over, I was able to...what's the word Jazz uses? 'Process' the situation. Sure, it's a little strange that Vlad's got ghostly abilities, but the fact is he does and he's our friend, so we're just going to have to get used to it. Simple as that. The lesson here Danny is that when your problems seem too strange and impossible to figure out, get a good night's sleep. That's something my father taught me. Your brain does amazing things while you're sleeping. Can't tell you how many times I've gone to bed thinking I'd have to scrap some glitchy invention, only to wake up knowing exactly how to fix it!"

Danny wasn't sure he believed his dad. How could Vlad turning out to be half-ghost be so simple for him? Seeing your best friend using the same abilities as the creatures you've hated and hunted obsessively for years had to be a weird, right? Like, at least a little?

"What's got you asking about Vladdie so much anyway, Son?"

"Oh uh, no reason. Just curious."

Jack smiled softly at Danny and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Danny, if Vlad's ghost powers freak you out, you should know you have nothing to worry about. I know he might have looked a little intimidating when he fought that lake monster, but looks are just looks, and despite how Vlad might have looked, he's isn't actually a ghost, so-"

"Ew Dad, you're soaking through my shirt!" Danny pushed Jack's soapy hand off of his shoulder "And I'm not scared of Vlad. I haven't even been scared of ghosts since I was seven."

"Well that's good to hear then." Jack gave Danny's back a strong pat before resuming his scrubbing. "Because there's absolutely no reason to be afraid of Vladdie. And there's gonna be absolutely no reason to be afraid of ghosts anymore once I finish The Fenton Ghost Gooer!"

Danny smiled as his dad started to explain his latest invention.

If nothing else, Jack Fenton was genuine. If he said he didn't have a problem with Vlad's ghost powers, then he meant it.

So why was some small part of Danny still so hesitate?

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

"Aim left! Left!" Tucker cried.

Their entire view was obscured by an explosion before a metallic skull appeared on the computer screen with the words Game Over overlaying it.

"Okay, that might have been a little too left."

"Y'know," Valerie said "I just don't think this game is for me."

"Aw come on, you were way better that time."

"Was I?"

"I mean, you almost made it past level one. That's an improvement!"

Valerie did not look impressed.

"You know, I really thought your ghost hunting skills would translate directly to DOOMED. It's basically the same mechanics."

"What're you talking about? Aiming a real blaster is waay smoother then trying to line up your sight with that thing." Valerie pointed at the computer mouse like it was something offensive.

"Aw well," Tucker shrugged "Can't say you didn't try."

"Indeed." Valerie checked her watch "I'd better get going. Sorry DOOMED didn't work out."

"S'all good." Tucker waved his hand "I still got Danny and Sam to play with. We've got loads of other stuff we can try doing together."

"Alright, but I'm choosing the next date activity." Valerie smiled.

"Sounds good." Tucker frowned "Wait, this was a date?"

"I'm pretty sure this counts?"

"Oh, if that's the case, I feel kind of bad making you spend a date playing a video game you didn't enjoy."

"I mean, I did enjoy watching you freak out every time one of those robot bat things showed up."

"They suck up your health! It's imperative to get rid of them as fast as possible before they become too beefy! Sure, they're pretty harmless if you kill them right away, but it's insane that the developers put an enemy that's capable of getting so powerful at level one!"

"See that," Valerie smiled as she swung her backpack over her shoulder "That's weirdly charming. Now I really got to go. See you tomorrow."

"See you!" Tucker called back. Valerie had officially been over enough times that he didn't need to show her out anymore.

And now that she was gone, it was time for DOOMED with Danny.

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

Pow! Pow!

"Oh my gosh it's satisfying watching an enemy actually get hit." Tucker said over the voice chat. His parents had gotten him a mic set for his birthday.

"I take it DOOMED with Valerie didn't go well?" Danny's asked.

"Dude, she is so bad! Uh, don't tell her I said that."

"Ha ha, I won't. It's weird, though. Considering her ghost hunting skills, I figured she'd be great at this game."

"I thought so too, but nope! It was like that time we watched my little cousin play Mario at my eleventh birthday party."

"Ugh, why'd you bring that up? That was a genuinely painful experience."

"So was watching Valerie play!"

They continued to play in near silence for a while, only talking to warn each other of an approaching enemy.

Just as Tucker was getting ready to call it, Danny spoke:

"Thanks for hanging out tonight, Tuck. I think I needed this."

"Hey, no problem man. Is something going on?" Tucker asked casually. He very much knew that there was a lot going on with Danny, but he figured between Sam and Jazz, Danny didn't need another person smothering him.

That being said, Tucker was still worried about his best friend. He could hardly help it.

"I'm just stressed about telling my parents." Danny paused to blast an approaching spider "I know they're gonna accept me, but the idea of actually telling them is still pretty terrifying. I know it's not a big thing, just two sentences or whatever, but it still feels like the most monumental thing I've ever done."

"Honestly, I think that's pretty reasonable. I know you know they'll be cool, but this is still the biggest secret you've ever kept. Makes sense you're wigged out about finally letting go."

"Yeah, ha ha. I'll figure it out eventually, though. Hopefully. Anyway, one more round?"

"Sure thing Dude."

They were interrupted by the notification sound effect of another player joining.

"Hey, poetry slam ended earlier than I thought it would. You two still playing?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, but we're just doing one last round." Danny replied.

"That's fine. Still gives me enough time for me to hand you both your own butts."

Tucker was pretty sure he could hear Sam's smug grin through his headset.

"Don't think your victory's so assured, Sam." Tucker said "I've been working on a new strategy that'll knock your socks clean off!"

"Ooh! I'm shaking in my rank three crusher boots with bonus spike damage."

Despite Tucker's trash talk, he'd gotten used to losing a while ago. It was just fun to pretend he might one day outrank Sam.

Mostly he was just happy that Danny was getting a break.

...and also the opportunity to test out his new poison upgrade.

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

Danny sighed with relief as he dropped the last of the rags into The Fenton Washing Machine. Not all of the ectoplasm from his parents catapult experiment had made it into the The Containment Tank, and Danny still wasn't having any luck convincing Jazz to swap chores with him.

Danny had just turned the washer on when his ghost sense went off. With a loud groan, Danny turned and glared at the portal. He felt every muscle in his body relax when Vlad floated out.

"Do you somehow just know when I've just finished cleaning the lab?" Danny was too exhausted to muster up a polite greeting "If you're looking for my parents, they're actually out right now. My dad realized we were out of fudge after dinner, and he almost died when he saw we weren't stocked up on baking ingredients."

"I can practically hear Jack's panicked voice." Vlad grinned "But it's actually you I'm after." Vlad said.

"Oh. Really?"

"Yes. Although Jack and Maddie seem relatively comfortable with my ghostly side, I don't think it'd be a good idea to just fly into their lab through the portal as a ghost. I don't think I'm ready for that yet."

"Fair. How'd it go with them yesterday anyway?"

"Rather well, all things considered. Being so open about my abilities with them has certainly been a...mental adjustment after decades of secrecy and hiding, but as I said they really do seem to have taken it rather well."

"That's good to hear." Danny smiled. Hearing Vlad say that made him feel lighter inside. "So what'd you want to talk to me about?"

"I wanted to inquire about your plans to tell your parents about your accident." Vlad said. The lightness in Danny vanished "I assume you haven't already?"

"Uh...no, I...have not done that yet." Danny hoped Vlad couldn't tell how dry his mouth was.

Vlad frowned.

"You seem rather perturbed Daniel. Do you...not want to tell them?"

"I do!" Danny said quickly "Really! It just...never seems like the right time, I guess."

"You guess?"

Danny sighed.

"You know, things aren't terrible right now." Danny rubbed the back of his neck "I guess it's just...I don't really know what will happen when I tell them. I mean, I know they won't banish me to The Ghost Zone or dissect me or whatever, but things are going to..be different, you know? And honestly, that kind of scares me. I guess I was too busy worrying about what could go wrong to think about what would happen if things went right, so I really don't know what to expect."

Vlad's eyes softened with sympathy.

"As they say, misery is comfortable."

"What? No, that's stupid. I hate being miserable, everyone does."

"Daniel you just told me that a part of you would rather live in a house with two people who are trying to hunt you, surrounded by hazardous devices, than tell your parents about your ghost part."

"No, that's- I mean...huh."

"I do understand how you're feeling." Vlad said. "Now that your parents know about my powers, I was more than a tad nervous to come down here yesterday, and there is a reason I stalled telling them until the end of the trip. But, as someone who's been where you are, I can confidently say things are better now that they know. Even with all the unknown elements."

"I know things'll be better," Danny said "It's just so weird to think how much one little conversation can change."

"Things are going to change. It might be a bit awkward with your parents at first, I won't lie. The idea of being in my ghost form around Jack and Maddie still makes me...apprehensive, and I'm not sure I'll feel comfortable with it any time soon. For all I know, I may never."

"Well that's comforting."

"But I'm not scared of my best friends shooting me anymore, so that's a plus." Vlad grinned "Kind of outweighs having to deal with the awkwardness, if you ask me."

"Yeah," Danny laughed half-heartedly "I suppose it would."

"You want my advice? Tell them tonight."

"Tonight!?" Danny almost had a heart attack

"Yes tonight. Not telling Jack and Maddie sooner has been my biggest regret. You know you want to do this. Save yourself the unnecessary worry and just get it done."

Danny thought about it. He supposed Vlad's logic was sound, and if there was anyone he should listen to for tips on telling his parents they were half-ghost it was him, but the thought of doing it so soon made him dizzy. He knew he'd been stalling, but he needed a little more time to prepare than that.

"I'll do it tomorrow night." he said, sounding much firmer than he felt.

"Well I say never put off till tomorrow what can be done today," Vlad shrugged "But the decision is yours. Good luck Little Badger!"

With that, Vlad flew backwards through the portal, leaving Danny alone with his thoughts.

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

Tucker had to stop himself from cheering as the lunch lady finished scooping the casserole of the day onto his tray. In his opinion, it was insanely cruel of the faculty to schedule his biweekly PE period right before lunch. As if gym class wasn't long enough!

He quickly found Sam in their usual spot and took a seat across from her.

"Where's Danny?" Tucker asked before shoving a large spoonful of casserole into his mouth. It was tomato and ground beef with macaroni noodle today.

"Give you three guesses and two of them don't count." Sam replied.

"Ah." Tucker swallowed "Was it The Box Ghost again?"

"Nah, I'm pretty sure it was Klemper. Danny said something about frozen toilets."

"Ooh, maybe Danny should let him keep going for a bit! I think they have to cancel school if the toilets don't work."

"Tucker, broken plumbing facilities in a building with over five hundred people could pose a serious problem. Do you know how many students here have bladder issues?"

"Okay jeez, I was only joking."

There was a brief silence as the two of them started to eat their lunches.

"I really could've used you with Danny the other day, you know." Sam said "It's like you don't even care that your best friend's about to tell his parents the biggest secret of his life."

"What? Sam, of course I care. I'm worried about Danny too, but there's no point in pushing him if he's not ready yet."

Sam was about to angrily retort, but she stopped herself, the conversation with Danny replaying in her head.

Why was she so angry at Tucker? Sure, it was kind of annoying he hadn't backed her up, but she had to admit his logic wasn't totally unreasonable.

"I guess." she relented. It felt weird admitting Tucker was right so easily.

Wait, why did that feel so weird? They were friends, best friends. It shouldn't take so much restraint just to agree with each other about something so minor.

Danny was right. Something was wrong.

Not that it was all Sam's doing, Tucker could be annoying and insensitive. A lot of the time, in fact.

But was Sam maybe...not always interpreting his intentions in the best light? Just maybe?

A lot of mixed thoughts were going through Sam's head, but one thing she knew for sure was that if they wanted to fix what was going on, someone had to start somewhere.

"Hey, um, I just wanted to say I'm...sorry I teased you about Valerie so much. You told me to stop and I didn't, even though I should have."

Tucker blinked, completely taken aback by her sudden apology. It probably didn't help that she'd been giving him the gears less than a minute ago.

Admittedly, that might have been a weird place to start, but it was the first thing Sam thought of, and Sam was the kind of person who liked to start fixing a problem as soon as possible.

She just hoped Tucker wouldn't make fun of her apology for revenge.

"Uh...no hard feelings." Tucker said, his shocked expression morphing into a grin "In fact, since you apologized, and I'm such a gracious friend, I promise I won't make as much fun of you when you get your embarrassing first crush." Tucker winked and did finger guns.

Sam felt a flash of annoyance. Of course, Tucker didn't know she was aromantic, chances were he didn't even know what 'aromantic' meant, so Sam knew it wasn't fair for her to be mad at him.

Well, she had just decided she wanted to fix the kink in their friendship, and an important part of friendship was being able to trust your friends with your secrets...

"Actually...I don't think I'll ever get a crush." Sam said.

"Aww, come on. I know being gloomy's your thing, but I'm sure someday you'll-"

"No Tucker, I'm aromantic."

"Oh. Um, what's that?"

"It means I don't get crushes, and I'm never going to fall in love. Ever." Sam crossed her arms "And before you try to give me another pitying platitude, I'm actually quite happy with this development."

"Okay, but how do you know you'll never fall in love?" Tucker asked.

Anger burned in Sam.

"Ugh!" she threw up her hands "This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you!"

She knew this would happen! She knew Tucker wouldn't take her seriously! She knew he'd-

"No no no no wait, I totally believe you!" Tucker threw up his hands defensively "I just meant, like, how'd you figure it out? I'm sorry, I didn't realize how that would sound! I didn't mean it like that, I promise!"

The fire in Sam instantly died.

"You...really believe me?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because people are never taken seriously when they say they aren't interested in romance. I've lost count of the number of movies I've seen where someone says they're happy being single, but by the end they've started a relationship with someone and everyone's acting like they're 'fixed' now." Sam unconsciously clenched her fists. She'd never realized that that trope bothered her so much until right now. "Plus you specifically never take anything I say seriously."

"What? Yes I do! What are you talking about?"

"Well you weren't exactly the most supportive of my menu update at the start of the year."

"Sam, you literally forced everyone in the school to change to a very niche diet. You gotta admit that's a little extreme."

"Okay fine, maybe that wasn't my best idea. But it feels like ever since then, you've never tried to help me with my world-improving projects. You don't even really listen to my ideas. Like, the world's on fire, and all my friends, family, and fellow students ever seem to want to do about it is laugh at me for trying to fix things!"

The passion in Sam's voice sobered Tucker's normally humorous attitude.

"I didn't think you cared what other people said about you." he said.

"I don't." Sam looked defiantly into Tucker's eyes "I'm an activist to try and make the world a better place, I'm not interested in this for personal glory." Sam gaze shifted away from Tucker's face and she crossed her arms over her body "But y'know, I...might care a little bit what my best friends say about me."

"Oh." Tucker looked away too. "I...I guess that makes sense."

There was a long silence.

"So...how did you figure it out?" Tucker asked "I mean, if you like girls then you figure it out by liking a girl and vice versa, but there isn't really a sign if you don't like anybody, so how do you know you won't like anybody ever?"

Sam raised an eyebrow at Tucker.

"N-not saying you're wrong about saying you're aromantic! Or that anybody else is! I'm really just curious, I swear! Actually you know what, you don't have answer that. I probably shouldn't have even asked."

Tucker proceeded to shove an entire handful of tater tots in his mouth. Sam was pretty sure it was to stop himself from rambling any more. It was a very Tucker thing to do. She might've laughed if Tucker's question hadn't been making her think so hard.

Sam wasn't offended by the question, she knew Tucker was a curious person who meant it genuinely, it was just a difficult question to answer.

"I don't know." Sam admitted "It just...feels right. I don't know how to explain it any better. The idea of not falling in love feels like it fits better than the typical romantic ideas everyone's always pushing, and like, when I read about some of the experiences of other aromantic people I've found online, it just feels so right. Like someone finally gets it. I can't really explain it much better than that, but I just know it's true that I'm not going to fall in love."

"I guess it's like getting a crush." Tucker mused "You can't really explain it, you just kind of know."

Sam frowned. She didn't think it was exactly like that, but she could see that Tucker was trying to be understanding. Not to mention she had just told herself she was going to try and be more civil with him.

"Uh, maybe." she said "Honestly, the idea was kind of weird at first, but the more time goes on, the more I actually really like knowing I'm aro. It's great. Figuring that out feels like scratching an itch I didn't even know I had."

"I definitely get that."

"You do?"

Tucker felt his heart skip a beat.

"I...think I might be bi." Tucker said.

"Yeah? Good for you." Sam gave Tucker a small but genuine smile.

Tucker felt his whole body relax.

Wait, why was he so relieved? He hadn't felt this tense when he was telling Danny or Valerie.

Maybe Danny was on to something about him and Sam...

"You okay over there?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, just uh, thinking about some stuff. You don't seem surprised."

"Tucker, remember the drive in Danny's RV to Vlad's cottage?"

"Oh yeah. I kind of hoped everyone had forgotten about that nightmare."

"I mean, I had planned on never mentioning it again ever, but I don't think I could forget it if I tried. But hey, at least I figured out my romantic orientation. So that's pretty cool." Sam shrugged casually.

"I wish I felt as confident about being bi as you do about being...what was it?"

"Aromantic. Aro for short."

"Aro, got it. I mean, I'm warming up to the idea of being bi, but it's been quite the adjustment for my brain. At first it felt like I maybe wasn't even allowed to call myself that."

"Why not?"

"I mean, I for sure do get crushes on guys sometimes, but it really isn't a lot of the time. I'm really mostly into girls, so sometimes it kind of feels like I'm trying to claim something I'm not sure I have any right to."

"So what? You gotta like 'this many' boys to be bi? And who exactly is checking that?"

Tucker laughed a little before continuing.

"Yeah, I know it sounds kind of ridiculous. I have been feeling more comfortable calling myself as bi the longer I've thought about it, but I still can't quite shake this feeling that at some random moment someone's gonna jump out and call me out on it."

"Don't worry," Sam picked up her milk carton and drained the last of it "If anyone even tries to imply you're not 'bi enough' or whatever, I'll just have a nice little chat with them."

Sam finished her statement by crushing the empty milk carton in her hand, all five of her nails leaving gashes in cardboard.

Tucker was going to laugh at Sam's joke, but the carton-crushing demonstration ad actually been genuinely intimidating (Sam was pretty good at being intimidating), so the noise he ended up making was somewhere between a laugh and a yelp.

Sam nearly jumped out of her seat.

"How did you even make that sound?" she asked.

"I don't know, and I don't think I could make it again if I tried."

Sam laughed.

It was actually really nice hearing her laugh like that. Tucker couldn't recall the last time Sam had laughed at one of his jokes.

That might have had something to do with the fact that a lot of his jokes were made at her expense.

Like, a lot of them.

Tucker honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd really gone out of his way to be nice to Sam. Not since the meat incident.

This was not a comfortable realization.

"Hey Sam," Tucker wasn't exactly sure how to say what he wanted to say, but he knew he had to say something "I'm sorry I haven't been taking you seriously lately. I know I haven't exactly been the best listener. Don't get me wrong, some of you ideas are insane and I want no part in them, but I'm gonna at least start trying taking them seriously now. I'll start taking you seriously, I promise."

Sam was slightly taken aback. She hadn't expected an apology from Tucker, and she hadn't realized how much she'd wanted to hear that until he said it.

"Wow," she started to say "I really-"

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Danny suddenly appeared and sat down beside Sam. Tucker genuinely wasn't sure whether they just hadn't notice him approach, or if he'd snuck in ghost-style.

"It's all good du-" Tucker paused when he noticed the apprehensive look in Danny's eyes "You okay? You look like something's up."

Danny took a long breath.

"Are you two free to come over tonight?"

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

Walking down the basement stairs felt like walking through molasses. Not because it was slow, but because each step seemed to take a monumental amount of effort. The journey was actually over surprisingly quickly.

Danny wondered if there was any way he could have lengthened it.

His parents hadn't noticed his descent, both of them deeply absorbed in...whatever giant metal contraption they were working on. Danny didn't really care right now.

He walked up to his parents and loudly cleared his throat, causing them both to snap their heads up.

"H-hey Mom, Dad."

"Hey Danny!" his father set his wrench down to wave at him "How was school?"

"Uh, g-good. School was good."

"Did you need something, Sweetie?" Maddie frowned, sensing his nervousness.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um yeah, I kind of...have something to tell you. It's...about the accident I had with the ghost portal."

Jack and Maddie's faces immediately turned serious.

"Danny," Maddie said gently "

"Yeah, I know, I know. That's not it though. It's..."

Danny took a deep breath.

And just jumped in.

"It made me...like Vlad."

"Like...Vlad?" Maddie raised an eyebrow.

"Half-ghost. The portal made me half-ghost. I have ghost powers like Vlad."

There was a beat of silence. Maddie and Jack looked at each other briefly and turned back to Danny.

"Now Son," Jack smiled "I know you two both had ghost portal accidents, but there's no way our portal affected you in the same extreme way. Sure, maybe you've been having minor side effects-"

"That you should have told us about earlier." Maddie cut in sternly.

"What your mother said. But there's no way you could have been affected as drastically as Vlad. You don't even-"

Jack was cut off by two blinding rings of light splitting around Danny's waist, turning him into the ghostly version of himself.

The sight made both of his parents go slack-jawed.

Maybe it had been a bit much to transform without warning, but after weeks of stalling and months of hesitation, Danny had run out of patience.

"I'm half-ghost like Vlad." he repeated, summoning the rings and transforming back.

It was shockingly easy to say. Although walking down the basement stairs had been torture, once he'd started talking, it had felt weirdly natural to just keep going, like he was just telling them what score he'd gotten on a math test. Danny had expected more resistance.

Telling Jazz had been harder.

"Y-you really are like Vlad..." Jack's voice was almost a whisper.

Oh right, their reaction. The beating of Danny's heart instantly washed away the peace he'd been feeling.

This was actually much worse than telling Jazz.

"Y-yeah?"

"Danny?" Maddie's voice was strained "How long have you...been like Vlad?"

"Since the first day." I...walked out of the portal looking like that. I just managed to transform back before you and Dad came back."

"Jack," Maddie put a hand on the work bench to steady herself "I thought you said you tested thoroughly for any mutations or contaminations!"

"Of course I did, Madds! I did a DNA test and everything and couldn't find any indication of..."

Jack suddenly stopped talking. He and Maddie snapped their heads to Danny as if they'd suddenly remembered he was there.

"All those months..." Maddie pulled down her hood, revealing eyes filled with horror "Listening to us going on and on about capturing and dissecting ghosts...oh! No wonder you didn't tell us! You must've been scared half to death."

Danny almost laughed at his mother's choice of words, but he was still too tense to move. He knew his parents weren't going to hurt him, but for some reason he felt like he was in trouble.

"Oh, baby." Maddie wrapped Danny in a hug. She kissed his forehead and rubbed his back.

"Y-you guys aren't mad?"

"Mad?" his father said. "Danno, I don't blame you one bit. I'd have been scared out of my britches too if I was in your position and I heard my parents talking about ghosts the way your mother and I do."

He came over and wrapped his arms around Danny and Maddie.

"We love you kiddo." he said "And we're both so proud of you for telling us."

Maddie squeezed Danny harder.

Danny felt his muscles relax and his heart slow back to normal.

He'd done it. He'd really done it.

Honestly, Danny didn't know how he felt right now. It was weirdly quiet in his head.

But one thing Danny knew for sure was that it felt good to finally have to stop hiding.

This was good.

Danny smiled and hugged his parents back.

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

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all sat at the kitchen table, none of them daring to speak. They'd all been counting the seconds since Danny had gone down the stairs. It had only been two minutes, but it had been a very long two minutes.

The only sound being made was Tucker tapping his knuckles on the table. Sam very much wanted to ask him to stop, but she also didn't want to be the first one to speak.

"Do you think we should go down and check on him?" Tucker asked, his hand finally stilling.

"I'm sure he's fine, just be patient." Despite her grounded words, Sam's anxiety leaked into her voice.

"Sam's right." Jazz said firmly "We're all worried, but this is Danny's moment, so it's our job to be his support and remain fluid enough to react to what he needs depending on which way the situation goes. The best way to do that we have to remain calm and-"

The basement door began to open. Jazz was on her feet in an instant.

"Where's Danny?! Is he okay?!"

"Calm down Jazz, everything's good. Great actually."

Danny's voice was light and full of joy. He didn't even sound annoyed at Jazz's excessive worrying.

Jazz's shoulder's instantly relaxed and she went over to stand by her family. Sam and Tucker awkwardly followed.

"So they...all know?" Maddie said, gesturing to the room.

"Yeah." Danny smiled "No more secrets."

Despite how nice a moment this was, it was also kind of an awkward one. Everyone appreciated how hard it had been for Danny to get here, and they were all feeling the relief, but the question of 'now what do we do?' went unspoken amongst them all.

"I...brought a cake." Sam said.

"Really?" Danny asked, surprised.

"Well, if you don't want it..."

"No, I definitely do, I just...why did you get a cake?"

"Well I didn't really know what the proper protocol was for when your best friend tells his parents he's half-ghost, but a cake seemed like, maybe appropriate?" Sam shrugged.

Danny went over to the white box on the table and lifted the cover.

"Congratulations On The Thing With Your Parents?"

"Tucker's was in charge of the writing."

"I didn't see you pitching in any ideas for a tasteful message that would fit on a cake and not attract suspicion from the cake decorator."

"My contribution was paying for the cake."

"Aw, that was such a lovely gesture, you two." Maddie beamed "Jazz, could you get the plates out? Let's serve this bad boy up!"

"I call the first piece!" Jack said.

"Now Jack, considering the occasion, I think it's only appropriate that Danny gets the first piece."

"Oh, alright." Jack smiled at Danny and patted his shoulder "I suppose that's fair. But I get the second piece, since I called it!"

"Jack..." Maddie said disapprovingly.

"Dad can have the first piece. I don't mind, I know how he gets." Danny said. He was just glad that things were still normal. Sure, his parents probably still had some adjusting to do, but they still saw him as the same Danny he was before, and that was big enough of a relief. "But I'm getting a corner piece."

Honestly though, Danny could've had to give away the entire cake and it wouldn't have killed his mood.

It was finally over. He didn't have to hide or make his friends lie for him anymore. Not to the people who mattered, anyway.

Danny continued to stare at his mom after she handed him a piece of cake and began cutting one for his dad.

He was still nervous abut what the future held for his family's dynamic, but for the first time he also felt excited to find out.

But for now he was just going to enjoy his cake.

[bubblepopsims]

Evan picked up the phone and called Rafa. Checking his pink nail polish he waited for him to pick up.

Rafael : “*sighs* he was bound to call at some point..”

Rafael answered the call with a sigh  “So now you decided to call me, while I am at work huh?”

Evan: “Well I could call you back but then you’d be with Maddie so I am pretty sure now it’s best. Don’t you agree? I wouldn’t want to interrupt you two. So Rafa I’m sorry I haven’t called in a while and I could make up some excuse but I know I didn’t call because you would give me an earful about my jokes. Also I know you probably look hot as fuck right now, all serious at your desk maybe a turtleneck?” Evan chuckled lightly “Sorry, I can’t stop myself”

Rafael continued to pace in the same area, shifting side to side while he listened to Evan speak his words. Rolling his eyes dreadfully slow and sighing, lightly tilting his head when he came to the agreement in his head that Evan was actually right for once. “You make a good point here. On all accords, Besides one thing.” He finds himself taking a seat at his desk.

Rafael: “No turtle neck. But let me guess you are probably currently admiring something new you did. Mmm? Tramp stamp perhaps? Maybe the nails, what did you do this time? Pink. perhaps, it is in rotation.”

Evan: “You know me so well, pink nails. Look I called to tell you that all jokes aside I really miss you and you are one of the best people I know. Courts reminded me I should tell you more often. I haven’t been a very good friend lately and you have been going through some major changes. That pic with Maddie and the ring. If I know you well enough I’d say you have fallen pretty hard for her. I see her charms and honestly you two look like a good fit. She is bubbly and extroverted, not to mention very hot.”

Rafael let out a huff and then a sigh “Don’t even worry about it. You are not a bad friend Evan. Self-pity doesn’t suit you. Very Unattractive.”  before his lips creeped up into a smile at mentioning of Madalyn only to fall minutes later. Evan was right, Rafael has been going through quite major changes, including opening his heart up again when the thought of having someone truly fit him was left in the past. Rafael: “It is a promise ring. Madalyn talked about it quite frequently so I took it upon myself to buy her one. She has in a sense flipped my whole life upside down. But it’s good. It’s good. She is good. Fantastic actually. But there is one thing that troubles me.”

“What are you talking about? I am always attractive!” Evan bursted out laughing “Thank you Rafael, you are not a bad friend either”. Evan pondered what to say next, this was some serious matter that Rafa wanted to talk about, he could feel it in the tone of his voice. “I know you, she could have insisted as much as she wanted but you wouldn’t have bought the ring if you didn’t want to. You don’t tend to be a people pleaser nor someone that avoids arguments or serious conversations. So, go ahead, ask away.”  “Evan, come to the bedroom please” Courtney called him so he got up and started making his way towards her.

Rafael sometimes disliked how much Evan paid attention. He knew him... Knew him well enough that the words he was saying were aligned with Rafael's characteristics. He pushed his office chair back and began to pace once more. Trying to figure out the right words to say or even how to say it. Never did he think he would be in this situation.. Especially with Evan. So instead he brought the phone away from his ear and directly spoke into the phone. Rafael:“When did you know.That Courtney was the one? -he sighed deeply and pushed his hair out of his face- I know the definition of love in verses ways, how to describe it, what it looks like without seeing it. But to know is different, to experience it.. it is different. You know me, Evan. As you said, I don’t do things irrationally. But Madalyn -he huffed and let out a small laugh- she.. just has a way of making me feel like I am learning new things about myself. And yes I know, a relationship should be that way. But when did you know? What was it that made you say she is it?”

Evan felt the heaviness of Rafa's words, this wasn't the time for jokes. "Ok, when did I know..."He took a deep breath, kept it in for a couple of seconds and exhaled. "It took me a while but one night we were out with friends, having dinner at a restaurant. I went out for a smoke, I had a bad day, I was feeling wrecked and yet I was putting up a show, I wasn't feeling like I wanted to have so many people around me. Uni was proving difficult, I never had a thing for studying yet I was trying to make my parents happy, not that they ever forced me to do anything but you know..." Rafael: "I know how you felt about yourself Evan, you wanted to prove yourself you were more than what you think everyone thought of you"

"You remember the prank the twins pulled where they glued all of my underwear together? It was that day, it was payback because I got dad to give me his Mustang; well Courtney followed me out of the restaurant me soon after, she hugged me and told me -You know you can be sad- then she tightened the grip and I hugged her back. I thought how the fuck she could read me so well. It happened more often than I liked but that night I understood that she could see me. She could read me and she cared for me. I realized I could be myself with her and that I wanted to hold on to her. I wanted her to keep looking at me like that, she can cut through all my bullshit. Just as I can see through her"

Rafa was silent still, thinking about what Evan just said. This was Evan's chance and he seized it "...well that and the fact that I wanted her to ravage my ass so badly". Shock and horror, it's like Evan could hear Rafa's disgusted face through the phone. "I got you didn't I?"

Rafael listened intently, hearing the tone shift until he noticed Evan’s smile through the phone. Remembering their first discussion about Courtney. His tone has not change. He paced a little more until he stopped dead in his tracks and felt his face scrunch up in disgust. Rafael:“You always have to ruin a good moment between us don’t you.” Rafael groaned and plopped down on the couch staring up at the tall ceiling of his office. His brows bunched up and his chest tightened up. Rafael:“Evan. I am really starting to believe that I lov- His words were cut short when the door to his office opened and in walked Madalyn. His eyes widened, wandering over the outfit she had so gracefully presented. “Holy shit.”

Evan:“Hey dude are you ok? I can call you later…” Courtney was being very clear about her intentions, in another situation Evan was ready to hang up on Rafa but he was being very honest about his feelings and asking for his help so he was hoping that Rafa would cut the conversation short. 

Madalyn raised a brow as Rafa mouthed to her that he was on the phone with Evan. She took it upon herself to get comfortable. Rafael: “Yeah. Sorry I thought I saw something outside.” Rafael scrunched up his face as soon as the lie left his lips. But Madalyn insisted on him not mentioning her. Rafael:“How is Courtney by the way? Madalyn told me she was feeling a bit under the weather recently. Which makes Madalyn want to visit her more. I quite frankly have to hide my wallet so she doesn’t randomly buy plane tickets” he laughed lightly as Madalyn hit him playfully and frowned giving him the look of: fuck you.

Evan: “It was one of those moments where she needs to be alone, well alone with me you know, it happens sometimes. Nothing that lots of cuddles can’t solve.” Courtney started stroking him, he had to keep a moan in, Rafael wouldn’t take it well if he knew what was happening.”Look Rafa, it seems to me that you love Maddie, I bet you think about her always even now that you are working and you are a workaholic” Evan let out a small hiss and motion Courtney to take it slower. 

Rafael smirked as he saw the devious grin creep up along Madalyns lips for a moment he didn’t quite hear what Evan was saying. The sight of her was mesmerizing, from this Angle the length of her body to her heels was doing things to him, and before he knew it she was unzipping his pants.  All he heard was the words “love her” and his head turned to the side. Rafael:“You don’t even know the half of it.  She quite literally is driving me crazy. No woman has done that before” he stated letting out a sigh as he felt her hand brush along him.

Rafael didn’t dare to look at her after stating that knowing it will only fuel her. But once again Madalyn took him by surprise and he felt the warm embrace of her mouth. Rafael: “Mmm…-he had to clear his throat- I am really thinking… m-very large with her.” His eyes reverted back to Madalyn clutching her hand that was squeezing the inner part of his thigh. Gesturing her to take it easy.

Madalyn chuckled but went right back whispering quietly, trying to keep the lewd sounds to a minimum, but how could she when he was expressing such adorable facial expressions  “just be sure to not let him find out.. or he might get jealous” she giggled. 

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

Evan: “Rafa, what are you doing? You seem unfocused…” Evan stayed quiet for a moment and motioned Courts to stop for a second, a very difficult request. Something was off, Rafael was never the type to get distracted unless…UNLESS! “Rafa, where is your dick now?! You dirty nasty hypocrite always telling how lewd I am” Evan looked at Courts, they both started laughing he covered the phone mic and whispered to Courts “This is pure gold”. Not wasting anymore time Courtney started working on Evan again doing her best to make Evan slip and reveal that he too was in the middle of sex. Evan: “I will hold this against you fore *cough* forever” he managed to disguise a guttural growl into a cough and looked over at his love and felt like just closing the call with Rafa but he pushed through. He needed to hear Rafa's reaction.

Rafael was beginning to cave in. The sensation of Madalyn’s mouth was overwhelming, from the warmth to subtle sounds and soft moans that escaped her muffled mouth. It was getting to close, he didn't know how much more he could take until he heard as clear as day Evan’s words. “Excuse me?” Rafael stopped Madalyn briefly receiving quite an unpleased expression but he gave her a reassuring look that he would make it up to her. 

Rafael:“Where my dick is, is none of your business and I told you I was at work. Sounds to me like you are becoming quite forgetful at this moment,” he stated not letting Evan have this over his head. “Sure you are not up to something.”  But while he was trying to recover from his slip up Madalyn had taken it upon herself to reveal what was under her coat. Nothing but her nude skin was exposed to him. Rafael’s words escaped him, and his eyes couldn’t help but crawl up her body until they landed on those vibrant blue eyes. He could see it in them. Madalyn wasn’t always the one to be overly aggressive but over this time period being with Rafael, he was getting more unbearably irresistible to her. Maybe it was the hormones maybe it was the fact that she was just genuinely happy with him. But she wanted him. Didn’t matter that they had sex just that very morning.. It was a sense of need for their touch. And that was exactly what Rafael saw in her eyes.  Slowly she straddled him settling on his lap while she gestured to the phone. Rafael knew quickly what she meant. Rafael:“You know what Evan. I have something very important that requires my attention. I am going to have to call you later.”

Evan: “I know WHO the important thing is, you don’t fool me!” The call was over before he could finish the sentence.  He let the phone go and turned his attention to Courtney not before taking a mental note of calling Maddie in the evening.

written by the truly amazing bean @fl0pera (Evan) and yours truly >:) (Rafa without one line but who gives a shit XD we had fun i'd say )

[daniclaytcn]

I was rewatching the coma episode before the finale and specifically with the fact that all the people in the dream were intended to be different parts of buck’s subconscious. Daniel reflected his insecurities, his parents reflected his desire for familial love, specifically his dad with his parents and his mom with children (im still incredibly 👀about margaret comforting buck (her kid) by telling him its okay to “go upstairs and sleep” (die), then buck being reminded of chris and likely the promise he made him to never leave, and then margaret looking at the ferris wheel and saying “it doesnt match what I picked out but if you like it then I love it”) hen and chim are his “guides” and specifically hen was the same as real life, reflecting the role she was playing in his life in his s6 arc. And then bobby was the teacher/lesson giver, also similar to real life. But he also reflected the familial love buck already has (the get well card) so yeah eddie not being there is a choice especially when the only people who did not play a role in helping buck were maddie and eddie (and margaret/phillip), but instead he imagined the worst possible scenario for those two: maddie is in her abusive relationship, and eddie lost chris to his parents which buck knows eddie never wants to happen. And then at the end of the dream the things that try and stop him are him finding eddie, him helping maddie leave doug, and his wish for a relationship with his parents. And he dreams the worst for the people he loves most (including bobby OD) and if bobby is his dad and maddie is his sibiling/mom then eddie is … ??? And Im still thinking about how they chose to parallel maddie and eddie so hard in 6x11 and then contrast them in 6x12 like that was also a choice they made ! (Anyways I just have a lot of thoughts about the coma dream lmao)

this is SUCH a good analysis! i really have so many thoughts about margaret being the one in 6x10 to refuse to even consider the possibility of buck having a child, then in his dream, she's the one to accidentally imply that he has kids, and then she makes a comment about the ferris wheels—that represent chris—not being what she picked out. and holy shit, i never connected the part about her telling him to go upstairs and sleep? that is such a disturbing metaphor.

about maddie and eddie—not only were they the only ones to not help buck escape his dream (margaret and philip didn't, like you said, but they're a moot point here for obvious reasons), they were also the ones in real life to distance themselves from buck's comatose body. we only saw maddie inside the room when her parents were. we only saw eddie in the room when chris was. neither of them were able to look at him directly. and all of this is really something, given that they're the two people whom buck ends up having a significant conversation with the next episode about how the lightning and dying affected him. and, like you said, maddie and eddie are also blatantly contrasted, with eddie knowing buck in a different way than maddie does.

tldr: there's just SO much to analyze and unpack in these episodes skdkdkd

[wanderingwomanwondering]

buddie spec 6b

I’m betting that eddie will have a moment with chim in 6b about buck’s (recently revealed secret) sperm donor storyline that mirrors buck’s similar moment with chim in 2a (Merry Xmas) where buck questions eddie’s clandestine relationship with shannon.

That would highlight eddie and chim’s friendship while also making it clear that eddie misses buck and maybe feels cut out of an important decision in buck’s life, one that he would have expected to at least aware of as buck’s bestie.

A moment like that with eddie and chim could also be an interesting way to bring back past conversations those two have had about the importance of being honest with romantic partners loved ones. I’m mostly thinking about eddie telling chim to tell maddie he loves her and also eddie telling chim in 6a to not avoid the morning after conversation with maddie. I know those were highly specific bits of advice but the heart of them is to be honest with the people you love, and we know that eddie is likely salty that buck didn’t do what friends do and talk to him about a major life thing aka the sperm donor situation.

Here’s my trail of breadcrumbs about Eddie actually being upset with Buck:

604 Animal Instincts - the ep where Kameron and Connor asked buck to be their donor & where Chris was keeping a secret from Eddie that Buck knew nothing about, an exasperated Eddie asks “Buck, where are you going?” while on a call. This feels like the beginning of Eddie being pointedly aware that Buck is out on his own making it really hard for Eddie to keep his explicit 201 vow and implied 309 vow renewal to have Buck’s back (and vice versa).

605 Home Invasion - the ep where someone on a call thought he could do repairs on his own, at the end of the ep we got Buck’s “We thought maybe you could use a hand with some repairs.” and Eddie’s “Yeah we heard somebody really destroyed your house.”

607 Cursed - the ep where the sperm donor decision is revealed - Bobby “What’s with the green juice?” then Eddie doing his best to seem chill when everyone looks to him as the one person who should know, “I don’t know.” When Eddie finds out Hen knew, he plays it for a joke but I think his question “How long you been holding out on us?” was an honest one. He was uncomfortably in the dark about it all and his awkward display earlier in the firehouse when they were all eavesdropping made that super clear.

609 Red Flag - the ep where the sleepdriver rolls a car into the firehouse and eddie notes that she could have hurt herself or the firefam. After that, on the roof when buck joins, eddie chides buck “would you prefer an announcement?” -- the way eddie said that directly to buck, almost as a private side conversation, makes it really feel like it’s about something else. He wanted to be included or considered in some way but he also knows it is quite a personal decision so I think he’s struggling (like Bobby in 414) to make sense of why his partner shut him out!

More 609 Red Flag - also the ep where buck announces that Kameron and Connor are pregnant, only after first making it a point to call eddie. eddie clearly makes a face, chim says congrats then says he’s not sure that’s the appropriate response then eddie chimes in with his signature facial expressions and tone saying “I don’t know. It feels weird to congratulate him.” Again he downplays he struggle with how to feel and what to do with Buck’s decision to leave him (of all people) in the dark.

I might be dreaming but I feel like an eddie and chim conversation in 6b could be just what eddie needs to make him initiate a conversation with buck about the great buddie divide of 6a. It could be a solid catalyst for buck and eddie to have a meaningful conversation of their own. At this point in s6 maybe I’m so starved for buddie to talk about literally anything of import to their relationship that I’m willing to pimp eddie and chim’s friendship to get it. *shrugs*

[viky2318]

Reminder for myself and any content creator: when you start taking the rythm and (almost) post regularly DON'T SAY IT OUT LOUD. you'll get punched by lazyness and procrastination in 0.002 seconds and you'll take a month for something that needs less than a week. with this said, HAVE A SPIDER.

This wasn't what Muffet expected or hoped for. She had been so close to finding Sam, and now that she was ready to deal with them… they were either gone or coming by themselves. She didn't want the others to have to deal with them. She couldn’t risk it. She quickly grabbed Grillby by the arm-

Or at least she tried. He wasn’t there anymore, and neither was Maddy. Even Flowey was gone without her noticing it. Suddenly she felt something pulling her upwards, and she found herself thrown in the white infinite sky. Her strings were all gone, so she had nothing to hold on to. Her “going up” became a “falling down”, as if gravity inverted direction, and she soon fell hard on a huge field. Somehow (miraculously) her bones were intact and she had no bruises or wounds, but her back hurted a bit. She slowly got up, wary of her surroundings. The sky was now of a normal cyan, there was a sun slowly moving in it, and she was surrounded by trees on one side and a huge mountain on the other.

“Sorry for the initial mess, I was experimenting a bit”, a well-known voice explained. Muffet turned to face Sam, throwing at them a magic string and trapping them. The human gave her a friendly look, raising then a brow. “Seriously? I still didn’t do anything”, they commented, making the strings disappear as if nothing. “Where are we?” Muffet asked, keeping her eyes on the human as if they could disappear any moment. They smiled quietly, apparently not minding her almost hostile stare. “This is the Void. not the old man’s Void, of course. It’s surprising how easily it can be shaped at will, right? I’m having so much fun messing around with this place’s codes. It’s like modeling fresh clay. So simple and interesting”, they explained cheerfully. “Where are the others?” the spider asked without hesitation. The human shrugged. “They’re fine, you shouldn’t worry”, they shortly replied. Their simplicity made Muffet only more wary. “I feel like I shouldn’t trust you, you know?” she commented, frowning a bit. Sam looked at Muffet in silence for a moment, then sighed quietly. “... yeah, I never gave you a good reason to trust me…” they admitted. The two remained silent for a moment, a slightly awkward tension in the air. Sam broke the silence, tilting their head on a side. “... sooooo… aren’t you gonna ask why you are here? You know, just for conversation”. “You either want me to get out of your way or to join your murderspree again, and both are things I’m not planning to do”, Muffet shortly replied. Sam smiled more widely. “Ah yes, that’s why I like you, buddy. You’re a smart girl” they commented, taking a step towards the spider. “Anyway, it’s the second one. You’re a professional murderer, quick and merciless but not too aggressive. You can perfectly work alone, without risking other people's lives. The most efficient of the three, in my opinion”. Something tingled in Muffet’s mind at their words. “And what would happen to Maddy and Grillby if I accepted? Would they get discarded? Abandoned in the multiverse without a place to stay? Or would you directly kill them?” she asked with a stern look. The human’s eyes widened a bit in concern, but his smile remained. “What? You really think I would do something like that? I’m not such a soulless being. After all, you wouldn’t even think to come with me if I did”. The spider couldn’t help not trusting them. “What about Flowey? Where is he?”, she asked. At this question, you could clearly see Sam’s smile dropping a bit, his face morphing into a more annoyed one. They clearly didn’t have a good relationship with the flower… “he’s fine. For now. I still have to speak with him, but I'll do it right after I finish with you”. Muffet took notice of the human’s evident hostility against the flower, but decided to not say anything about it for now. Something felt clearly off. There was something in the back of her mind yelling at her that she had no control over the situation, that no matter what the human will do what they wanted without giving weight to her words or actions. Maybe Grillby and Raehel really were right, maybe she really couldn’t do what the smiling man asked her… But she wanted to give it a shot. Just because she could. If needed she could always kill him, right? 

“I’m not going to kill people for you again. It’s unuseful and you know it”, she stated. Sam’s annoyed expression didn’t change. They probably expected such an answer.

“It’s not unuseful, it will only take time. Also, the murder part is just one of the many things that we can do to change the multiverse. With my abilities I could learn to change the universes themselves one by one, and for the better. We’ll eliminate only what is rotten by the root, and the rest will develop in a more joyful way!” Sam explained patiently. But Muffet didn’t like how it all sounded.

“... let me guess. You will decide what to change and how to change it. You will decide what is rotten. You will decide how the worlds will develop. You know, it sounds a bit like a dictatorship or something on the line. You can’t control all the hundreds of timelines of all the universes. You should be always everywhere, and you aren’t Core Frisk. And by the way, not even they can always intervene everywhere”, the spider replied. But Sam didn’t seem to fully listen to her.

“That’s why I said it will take time. I can’t be everywhere, so we’ll have to work on all this bit by bit. It will take a while, maybe a few decades. And for the “dictatorship” part- don’t see it like that. Of course it sounds bad if you picture it as something bad. I don’t want to be a ruler or anything like that. We’ll do what is necessary, and when the situation becomes stable we will leave it as it is. You could find home in a quiet timeline and forget about everything! Wouldn’t it be nice?”. Muffet remained silent for a moment. Sam sounded a bit like some mindless idiot. Were they even thinking about their words?

"... You really think that in the end this all will "stabilize" and keep going the way you decided? Sam, think about it. It all started nice, with those lovely worlds where the important thing was making everyone happy. Underswap, Underfell, Outertale… they were all like that. You know it better than I do. Then, the creators started to create sad stories. It's something normal, that probably was impossible to prevent. Even if you miraculously succeed, and everything actually goes as you said, and for some godforsaken reason everyone is happy, one day the creators will again create pain. You can't avoid it. You will work your whole life on something impossible that you'll never reach, and when you'll die it will all be for nothing". Something in the human's expression changed a bit the more they thought about her words, some sort of bad aura around them. Or were they just getting tired of discussing? After a moment, Sam spoke again.

“... I see. I'd rather avoid using this card, but you really don't seem to listen to me. Remember I said Maddy and Grillby were fine? You were right. I lied. They aren’t. One is trapped in an empty timeline and the other one is dead. But… I can bring them all back. I can erase their memories and send them back to their timeline, perfectly unhinged and happy with their old families. I’ll even spare the flower, if you really want. Only if you help me finish what we started, of course.”

“The choice is yours”.

DO NOT TRUST TH- ...

START PREVIOUS NEXT

[cryptid-killjoy]

Piper had every reason to hate Pierre. No one in her family would even care if she did. Heck, most would not even bat an eye about it. Everyone seemed quite okay with letting Pierre go like he was more trouble than he was worth, but that was the theme of their family. That was the problem and reason why she couldn't let go. Tough love was something their family gave and many didn't respond to well, but that was usually because they refused to learn the lessons they needed to learn. Everyone believed in Maddy, that she could rise above it all. Piper wanted have faith in Pierre.

A big part of her knew that by blood they were nothing. Her daddy adopted Esmeralda. But, it was hard for her to admit that anything her daddy ever touched could betray them like this no matter how self absorbed a person is. He supposed to be family. The end. But, not only that for her. It was hard to let go of the memory of her first friend when coming out of hiding off the island, off the Laveau estate. Pierre was such a turning point in her life.

It was a good kiss. Even Piper missed it. It gave her a panging for more inside, but business first. Her own little smirk came up sly on when she felt the results of her touch. They knew what they were doing to each other.

Pierre had questions. Of course he did. Piper saw him glance over to Seven and Zero who were staring at them rather jaw dropped. She did say they were seeing them kissing so that would seem on the up and up. Piper however saw Pierre wasn't going to squirm away or try to anything funny on her like a time loop for being threatening with him about the Belleroses, but she really wanted him to know how serious she was. She saw there was about to be some quid pro quo on this deal though. She let the grip of her vader-like strangulation release slowly to converse.

She almost thought to be offended as if she wasn't enough to be there until she realized she wouldn't want him to be all clingy and with nothing to focus on other than her. Piper is so not that girl. The very thought left the answer easy to answer. It was going to be more magical work on her part, but way better than the bored Pierre image that just came to her. Not only that but considering how she was going to make this happen, something told her maybe Seven being involved wouldn't be the biggest ask to add on to this miracle.

After releasing her strangle hold she cupped his face instead and it would keep them intimately close. She was also keeping their conversation covered with her hands and arms up in front of their faces. It kept his face directly at hers.

"I'll make it work. Seven too. Tell no one beyond the veil. Not one person in the netherworld. Meet me in an hour at our old spot. It has to be there. Deal? Both of you?"

She was waiting for that yes. That's all she wanted. Leave the Belleroses be. Maybe she'd gained too much power over the past year? Maybe she was tampering with too much and would live to regret it? Flotsam had warned all too often of the consequences of tampering and yet still River, Flotsam, Jetsam all tampered anyhow, and Pierre himself had a power that tampered. No. Piper was going to tamper. She had the brain power to figure this out.

"Say yes. Come back to me, Pierre. Come back to us all."

Then she kissed him again. She kissed him good, and hard, and deep like she was scared it was goodbye. She wasn't convinced he would say yes. There was an extra flair of passion leaking into that kiss, the passion behind all her grief, that spent endless amounts of time on her hourglasses, memorials, and fire weilding with his face in her head. For as intense as it started it would end just as softly.

Whether he said yes or no, no matter what came out of his mouth next, there was another set of eyes on them by this point. It was a set of eyes that looked completely shattered. It was a set of eyes that only recently confessed his love to this woman. He stood there not too far away from Zero and Seven.

It was a set of eyes Dale would love to see shattered out of everyone. It was a set of eyes Willem tried to warn and still would love to see shattered anyway. He was just sort of a pirate like that.

Go-Go didn’t know who hip coins was but hey, it sounded like a fun demolition derby type of thing. That was the American dream right there. That was something she wanted to try while she was in this country, and it looked like there might be the possibility of that tonight. Feral was the land of opportunity, it seemed.

“Fuck calendars,” She agreed with a nod of her head, the long hair extensions creating a more dramatic effect with this. She’d almost forgotten for a minute that she was dressed up, and not in comfortable speed gear. That made it all the more thrilling.

Goddamn that was a roar. She could have never met Jetsam, never seen him, and would know that he was a Laveau just from that call alone. She exchanged an excited look with Scout. Oh hell yeah, this was going to be a night to remember.

More and more people were joining them, which was completely fine, the more the merrier. And was she a little excited that the twins were coming? Yeah. She hadn’t seen much of the chaos that she heard that Chip and Dale could cause, not with Chip running his family and creating his own little village. Dale - she knew from first meeting him that he could cause a ruckus, ever since she had seen Anton move.

She was out of the castle with Scout, Halloween party be damned.

--

Bingo! Score! Win 100 tickets!

Ellie suddenly found herself trapped in a box, and without really thinking, she breathed her fire onto it, setting it in flame and stepped out the burning cardboard wreckage, looking around at the culprit, though Babyface had already pinpointed exactly who it was. Goddamn Dale.

“Yeah, let’s go,” She agreed, putting her hand on Babyface’s back to give him a little extra push as they gave chase to find out what excitement they were up to beyond the castle, red hair blending with the blue sparkles of her costume, creating a brightly-colored blur outta there.

They were out and she was ready to go and chase down the Laveaus some more, already pouting, feeling again like a little sister that was left out of something cool with the older kids. But Babyface’s sudden stop and looking out at the water had her slowing her roll, her feet coming to a slow stop, and then she trailed back up to him curiously.

They couldn’t see the island from where they were right then. But then again - with the island not getting in fresh shipments of boys, would it even still be running? Would it still have it’s magic? She tilted her head and looked out at how the moon reflected off of the water, hiding so much both above and below it’s depths.

And then she looked at Babyface, the way that he was looking out and she nodded, determination setting in her face. “Should we see if we can steal a boat, or should we skate it?”

--

Seems like Thomas and Valerie were the only ones. Everyone else was greeting the dead, or dealing with an intruder, or running off to do something crazy. Jetsam had barely looked at them, they were were homefree, they could do as they liked, and what Thomas wanted to do, more than anything in the world right now, was to hold his wife and have a good ol’ dance with her while Ches was still playing the music.

A full on waltz, one hand in hers, the other around that thin waist that made it hard to believe that she had birthed triplets. She looked damn good. Her body had bounced back incredibly, and oh, he missed that stomach of her sometimes but then there were times like this when they could be close because it wasn’t in the way anymore…

No matter what happened with this body, he adored it, plain and simple.

--

Honestly - Pierre had thought that Piper would hate him too. Shit, seemed like everyone did up top, and they had their reasons. It was valid. It took him over a year in Hell to realize that. Even Zero had hesitated on coming up to him and that was his goddamn pup, so Piper - yeah, he had figured she was pissed.

So Pierre was feeling VERY pleased at his reception right now, a little smug, even.

“And I for yours,” Pierre said, his eyes flickering over her face, and how it had not changed much since he had been gone. Those violet eyes, ever so striking, her rich dark hair, so black it was almost blue, the natural dusky tone of her skin. He had a habit of telling those that he was in love with that they were Gods and Goddesses but - Piper stood above the rest.

And even more cocky as she touched him like that, right here, right out in the open. He wasn’t shy about it, didn’t try pushing her hand away, instead greeted her with a half-chub that started to grow harder. Yes, even the dead can grow, apparently. He closed his eyes into the kiss, his first in what felt like eternity, and the sweetest one he could have imagined. “Missed you too, girl.”

Then things started to get intense. He wasn’t opposed to being choked though he wasn’t super into violence in the bedroom, but this was getting real. He could feel it, even though he knew that he could not die again. His eyes opened with confusion and hurt, not with anger, not with fear, just - almost looking like a kicked puppy himself.

The information was hard to take in, not with the distraction of being choked and how achingly hard he was getting under his touch. Oh, aching indeed, it was causing a sweat droplet on Pierre’s brow and all. The Belleroses though - at the mention of him, he flickered his eyes over to his sister, who had her back turned to him, talking to the ghosts of the Merry Men. Wulf, he recognized, from Hog Fest.

And then, his eyes would look around the room again and not find the second person he was looking for, because Frank was out of the room with their flesh and blood intruder and Delta. Then back into Piper’s eyes. “- one question,” He said, his voice hoarse, choking. “Can you only bring back me or-?”

He motioned his head towards Seven. Because that was his boy right there. They went through Hell together - and a lot of Hell’s influences. Pierre was not the same boy that he had been when he went under. But he still stuck to that loyalty to Seven, despite what else might be going on in his mind. He had to at least ask. If there was any chance…

--

Maddy also did a quick look around for Frank and Delta, and found them gone too. But those that were in the castle, she noticed, were friends. Save for maybe Pierre, but regardless, they were people who were not here to hurt them. Still, they shouldn’t give anyone the chance.

She nodded to Bastien as he wanted to go and get Frankie. That made her feel a lot better too. “Go, I’ll be right here, I’ll keep an eye out,” She promised Bastien, lightly brushing her hand against his lower waist, and then turned her attention to her friends, her face brightening up once more.

“Just Agnes missed me?” She asked Wulf with both eyebrows raised, but she would pet the little ghost pig that had served as flower girl at her wedding, her eyes full of delight. “I missed you too, girl.”

-

Lance caught Figaro’s attention though. “LANCY PANTSY!!!” They yelled loudly and ran over to them. After all, they had been quite friendly when they went to the high school together, as all of their friends seemed to have the main character stuff going on. They snapped their fingers loudly, almost imitating Kuzco, expecting people to come out of nowhere and get shit done. “Someone get this man a Geee-Tar!”

--

Elsa wouldn’t have minded if this was the rest of the night. Not a touchy-feely sort usually, but this was River. This was the son that she had for such a brief time. That she had missed so many years with and tried to get those back, tried to be there for him, tried to be the mother he didn’t need once he was an adult.

She also watched as they all went off together, and she didn’t mind at all if Koda went off with them. He deserved to have some fun out there. She was perfectly content to stay here, with the stragglers and the ghosts. But she did look towards Valerie and Thomas too, and found herself pleased that they weren’t being bothered by what was going on. Those two, always in their own little world. Dancing like they were in a music box.

“Absolutely,” She said with a nod, not acknowledging the way that he had corrected himself. Mother - it suited her much more than Ma, anyway.

So she would take his hand and they would have a dance and even Elsa would have a genuine smile on her face, seeing past all the rot, the dessication, to the boy that was underneath. She’d always see the boy. Even when he was a man.

And when he would break off to ask Valerie to dance, of course Thomas would allow this to happen with a bow of his head and a grin on his face, and would stand back and watch, even try to take some pictures with his phone so that this would seem less dreamlike.

--

Frank bit back a laugh. The nerve of this guy. The fuckin’ BALLS, coming in and just demanding that Delta release his father, as if Chernabog was just a house-guest rather than her prisoner around her pretty neck. Despite wanting to laugh, his face remained in that neutral, almost ghastly expression of his.

He listened, staying silent, staying cool for now, as Delta laughed for the both of them. But he couldn’t help the corner of his mouth going up ever so slightly.

“Oh, he’s being quite serious,” Frank said, holding Delta steady, allowing the leather fabric of his shirt to wear her tears, his mind connected to Silas’s. “He has no idea he’s sniffing around the wrong lamppost.”

He let Delta take the lead on the conversation, as per usual. She was a better talker than he was anyway. He kept himself holding onto Silas, one hand clenched on his, standing just behind. Trapping Silas between himself and Delta as he pled his case.

But when he brought up Uncle issues, he raised up his hand and gave Silas a smack on the back of his head - hard.

‘I’m not judging you. I’m judging him,’ Frank thought back towards Delta. And he was judging this guy hard. Was this foolishness, or was it bravery? Or was it just a desperate act of cowardice, because he couldn’t handle life without his daddy doing things for him. He got cut off from Oogie when he got stuck inside of Feral, so he was trying to find the next big thing, the next big Sugar Mama.

“We’ve got a special place for a thing for you,” Frank said, pulling Silas in closer to him, so that the clown’s back was up against his chest. Might even have seemed romantic, in a ‘Frollo’ type of way. “Where I’m going to cut you up, but I’m going to keep you alive. Yes, I’m going to cut you up, and I’ll see what makes you tick, makes you sick. We’ll find out exactly who you are.”

[nerdofspades]

Continuing from this post, with some more details being pulled from this reblog.

When Phantom sees Batman hanging out on a roof in Amity Park (where he can be seen easily, but only by someone who can fly) the first thing he does is sneak up on him.

For Phantom, it's easy. Invisibility, intangibility, and flight make it ridiculously easy for him to not make noise while approaching someone. He just needs to not breath too loud while he approaches. (Or speak. Both of these things are also easy for a ghost. Or a half ghost like him.)

So Phantom does that, and if it's pay back for all the times Batman startled him while he was working. No one needs to know.

The first thing he says is that Batman looks like he's looking for a fight. Batman does not jump or look startled in anyway. Danny is disappointed.

(Danny did manage to sneak up on Batman. Bruce just has excellent control over his reactions to maintain his persona. He also knew Phantom to be mischievous and was expecting this.)

So, Batman doesn't skip a beat and tells Phantom it's just a precaution. Mostly for if a less friendly ghost spotted him first. He wasn't going to start any fights.

Phantom gives a nod and says "good, you're learning."

Which sets off Batman. Because Phantom was not supposed to know. Danny scrambles and manages to brush it off. Batman has Fenton tech. He clearly got it from someone and if it were Jack and Maddie, Batman wouldn't be having a conversation with Phantom. Jazz has never been particularly good at the tech and hunting stuff, but she's got an interest in ghostly psychology. That leaves Danny, and that kid has been in and out of town all summer. That and with the only consistent access to the ghost zone in FentonWorks, it pays to have friends inside the house. And Phantom uses Fenton tech too. Gotta get it from somewhere.

While everything Phantom says is technically correct and factual something about the way he says it (the panicked rambling) doesn't sit right. Batman decides to "make polite conversation." With Phantom about the Fentons.

The more he asks and the more Phantom talks the more concerned he gets. Jazz has basically become Danny's parental figure in any situation where Jack and Maddie aren't technically required. Sure she inherited their genius, but at least half her drive to succeed is tied to getting out of there. They don't have safe food to eat and the entire house has been contaminated with ectoplasm due to Jack and Maddie's lax lab safety. (Phantom off hand mentions that the ecto-contamination will probably have effects on the kids that aren't constantly wearing jumpsuits.)

And the amount of things Jazz and Danny do that Jack and Maddie apparently just don't notice is astounding. Both kids sabotage or steal particularly nasty ghost weapons on a regular basis. Danny sneaks out more nights than not and his parents notice less than five percent of the time.

(Phantom specifically does not mention why he knows all of this, but it is obvious to Bruce that he and Danny do not have a professional relationship. He doesn't have it actually figured out, but he probably thinks they're dating.)

Batman wants them out of that house. Now. It's only when Batman directly brings that up that Danny realizes he's fucked up and said too much. He debates back tracking and trying to play it down again. But. By now he's spent enough time with the League to know about his adoption tendencies and has spent enough time listening to Jazz, Sam, and Tucker to know that he's actually right. That house is fucked up. Trying to cover it up now would just make Batman more convinced he needs to take them in.

So Danny does the opposite. He tells Batman that trying to move them now would be worse. They don't want to be separated and one or both of them would immediately sacrifice everything to help the other if separated from their parents.

The only way to make sure they stay together would be for Jazz to take custody of Danny. So, either she gives up Harvard and stays in Amity so Danny can finish high school with his friends, or Dannt gives up Amity so Jazz can stay at Harvard. Even if Danny manages to convince her to go to school, she now would need a full time job to take care of them on top of needing to pass her classes as a full time student to maintain her scholarship. Doing both would likely be impossible.

They will not thank him for intervening.

(Danny does not mention his obsession. He does not say that leaving Amity is not an option for Danny. That it would mean so much more than just leaving his friends and support network behind.)

Bruce hates it, but concedes. In this case. For now. He quietly resolves to get as much money into Danny's bank account as he can without making it obvious. No need for the League to know about that.

He also suggests that Danny and Jazz get therapy. Offers up a League contact that they can meet at the Watchtower if they don't want to visit anyone local. Especially with their relationship to Phantom. (And now the League.)

Oddly enough, Danny takes the offer. Jazz does too, but that wasn't too much of a surprise. Danny knows that Jazz can't actually be his therapist because of their relationship, and the main reason she's been toeing that line is because Danny didn't have other options. Now that he has one he can take some stuff off her plate and even get her some help off loading all the crap from their parents and taking care of him. So yeah. They take the therapy offer.

(This does nothing to curb the League's belief that Danny is one of Bruce's kids. Jazz gives them a little confusion, but it's not like Bruce hasn't taken in kids with families before.)

(Bruce does remember to handle his actual business before leaving. He was there to give Phantom a League communicator so they could call him for major ghost problems outside of Amity and he can call them if he gets in over his head. While Danny is good at what he does, Batman does not want to call a civilian child to a battlefield if he can help it.)

Dinah (Black Canary) takes them on as patients. Because neither one is directly connected to the League and Dinah spent minimal time with the ghost gear stuff, she doesn't have any concerns about being able to stay professional. She does tell both of them that if they have concerns about that, or if Danny becomes more involved in the League, they can tell her or Batman and they'll work to find a suitable replacement or address those issues in another way.

Neither of them talks about Phantom at first. Jazz opens up much faster, but she also has an easier time obfuscating the relationship between Phantom and Fenton.

Danny doesn't talk about Phantom at all.

Both of them raise a million red flags for Dinah regarding their family life, but both of them reiterate that they would rather not bring it to court.

Slowly, eventually. Danny feels safe. He's still slow and hesitant. He asks a few questions to verify that even the nosiest League members don't know what he tells her. (Manhunter has gotten several talks about not digging into Dinah's memories and if he has to, staying away from any that take place in this room. There is no camera and everything is hard copy. If Bataman were to try and open that door, it would set off an alarm. The walls are lined with lead and so on and so forth.)

Then Danny tells her outright that he and Phantom are the same perosn. They tall for quite awhile about the accident, hero work, his parents, and more. At the end of the session Dinah can tell this is something Jazz has been avoiding with the gift of hindsight and Danny says he'll tell Jazz she can open up about it.

Things look good for them.

[oblivious-aro]

Friends in strange Places Ch. 6 Pt 2

What if Vlad was good instead of evil? Link to chapter 1:

Friends in Strange Places Chapter 1, a danny phantom fanfic | FanFiction

FANFICTION.NET

Summary: With a little encouragement from Vlad, Danny works up the nerve to tell his parents. Sam and Tucker realize they have some things to discuss.

Word Count: 8600

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

By the time Danny managed to get the thespian ghost into The Thermos and fly back home, Vlad had already left. Danny was disappointed to have missed him, but he did get a play-by-play of the entire visit from his parents over dinner.

"...and it turns out Vladdie hasn't had any luck designing an ecto-based adhesive either! But thanks to his input, we should be able to increase the efficiency of The Spectre Speeder tenfold!"

"That's fascinating Dad." Jazz deadpanned "So you and Vlad have been breaking the ice okay then?"

"Yup!" Maddie smiled "Oh, I'm so glad Vlad decided to open up to us. It's been so nice working with him again."

"Wow," Jazz said "Vlad sharing his secret with you two really seems to have made a difference in your relationship. Even if he was scared to do it, it certainly seems to have been worth the risk."

Danny glared at Jazz.

"You said it Jazzy!" Jack beamed, oblivious to the secret conversation between his children "Now that we know what's been going on with Vladdie all this time, we're closer than ever before!"

"You don't say." Jazz stared directly at Danny as she spoke.

"I'm done eating, I'm going to my room now." Danny pushed his chair back and began to walk towards the stairs.

"Sorry Danny," Maddie grabbed his shoulder as he passed her "You and your father are on dishes tonight."

"What? But I did them last night!"

"Yeah?" Jazz put the stack of plates in the sink "And who did them the last two nights in before that?"

"That was only because-" he'd had to leave halfway through dinner to deal with Skulker's newest (not to mention very destructive) 'toy'.

"Because what, Danny?" Maddie cocked an eyebrow.

"Nothing." Danny grumbled.

"See you in the lab, Hun." Maddie gave Jack a peck on the cheek "I want to get started on archiving today's data."

With that, she disappeared down the basement stairs.

"Come on, Danno," Jack gave the pouting Danny a pat on the back "The sooner we get this done, the sooner it'll be over. You washing or drying tonight?"

"I'll dry." Danny said. His father had an unfortunate tendency to put dishes away in the wrong places, and Danny did not feel like dealing with Jazz's complaining tomorrow morning.

"So," Danny asked as his dad handed him a plate "How are things going with Vlad? It's really not awkward with his whole, you know...'ghostly' situation?"

"Nonsense Danny!" Jack waved his hand "We barely even talked about it."

Danny wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"I mean," Jack continued "We did sit down and discuss the situation when he first got here, but it didn't take long for us to get back into the swing of researching together just like old times. In fact, the data we collected today has given me a great idea for a new weapon! I call it The Fenton Ghost Gooer!"

"You're not like, married to that name, are you?" Danny scrunched his nose.

"It's gonna be great!" See, your mother and I haven't had much success with ectoplasmic based adhesive in the past, but after studying its behaviour at high velocity under varying degrees of impact force..."

Danny rolled his eyes. It could be so difficult to get his father to stay on a topic that wasn't whatever his latest ghost invention was.

"Dad, would it bother you if you saw Vlad using his ghost powers?" Danny interrupted his rambling.

"What do you mean, Son?" Jack frowned.

"I know you and Mom don't hate Vlad or anything for being half-gho-"

"Of course we don't hate Vladdie!" Jack made an offended expression "He's our best friend!"

"Yeah I know, but I mean like, wouldn't it wig you out to see him flying around or sticking his arm through something? Like, how'd you feel when you first saw him transform?"

"Well I suppose it was a little startling." Jack said "But Vladdie had only really told us about his powers less than a minute ago, so you can't really blame me for being shocked. Your mother and you kids were pretty shaken too, if I recall correctly. Heck, you and your friends barely said a word the whole drive home!"

"Uh...yup! That's right! Totally shocked!" Danny laughed nervously.

"But once your mother and I talked things out, and I got a good night's sleep to think it over, I was able to...what's the word Jazz uses? 'Process' the situation. Sure, it's a little strange that Vlad's got ghostly abilities, but the fact is he does and he's our friend, so we're just going to have to get used to it. Simple as that. The lesson here Danny is that when your problems seem too strange and impossible to figure out, get a good night's sleep. That's something my father taught me. Your brain does amazing things while you're sleeping. Can't tell you how many times I've gone to bed thinking I'd have to scrap some glitchy invention, only to wake up knowing exactly how to fix it!"

Danny wasn't sure he believed his dad. How could Vlad turning out to be half-ghost be so simple for him? Seeing your best friend using the same abilities as the creatures you've hated and hunted obsessively for years had to be a weird, right? Like, at least a little?

"What's got you asking about Vladdie so much anyway, Son?"

"Oh uh, no reason. Just curious."

Jack smiled softly at Danny and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Danny, if Vlad's ghost powers freak you out, you should know you have nothing to worry about. I know he might have looked a little intimidating when he fought that lake monster, but looks are just looks, and despite how Vlad might have looked, he's isn't actually a ghost, so-"

"Ew Dad, you're soaking through my shirt!" Danny pushed Jack's soapy hand off of his shoulder "And I'm not scared of Vlad. I haven't even been scared of ghosts since I was seven."

"Well that's good to hear then." Jack gave Danny's back a strong pat before resuming his scrubbing. "Because there's absolutely no reason to be afraid of Vladdie. And there's gonna be absolutely no reason to be afraid of ghosts anymore once I finish The Fenton Ghost Gooer!"

Danny smiled as his dad started to explain his latest invention.

If nothing else, Jack Fenton was genuine. If he said he didn't have a problem with Vlad's ghost powers, then he meant it.

So why was some small part of Danny still so hesitate?

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

"Aim left! Left!" Tucker cried.

Their entire view was obscured by an explosion before a metallic skull appeared on the computer screen with the words Game Over overlaying it.

"Okay, that might have been a little too left."

"Y'know," Valerie said "I just don't think this game is for me."

"Aw come on, you were way better that time."

"Was I?"

"I mean, you almost made it past level one. That's an improvement!"

Valerie did not look impressed.

"You know, I really thought your ghost hunting skills would translate directly to DOOMED. It's basically the same mechanics."

"What're you talking about? Aiming a real blaster is waay smoother then trying to line up your sight with that thing." Valerie pointed at the computer mouse like it was something offensive.

"Aw well," Tucker shrugged "Can't say you didn't try."

"Indeed." Valerie checked her watch "I'd better get going. Sorry DOOMED didn't work out."

"S'all good." Tucker waved his hand "I still got Danny and Sam to play with. We've got loads of other stuff we can try doing together."

"Alright, but I'm choosing the next date activity." Valerie smiled.

"Sounds good." Tucker frowned "Wait, this was a date?"

"I'm pretty sure this counts?"

"Oh, if that's the case, I feel kind of bad making you spend a date playing a video game you didn't enjoy."

"I mean, I did enjoy watching you freak out every time one of those robot bat things showed up."

"They suck up your health! It's imperative to get rid of them as fast as possible before they become too beefy! Sure, they're pretty harmless if you kill them right away, but it's insane that the developers put an enemy that's capable of getting so powerful at level one!"

"See that," Valerie smiled as she swung her backpack over her shoulder "That's weirdly charming. Now I really got to go. See you tomorrow."

"See you!" Tucker called back. Valerie had officially been over enough times that he didn't need to show her out anymore.

And now that she was gone, it was time for DOOMED with Danny.

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

Pow! Pow!

"Oh my gosh it's satisfying watching an enemy actually get hit." Tucker said over the voice chat. His parents had gotten him a mic set for his birthday.

"I take it DOOMED with Valerie didn't go well?" Danny's asked.

"Dude, she is so bad! Uh, don't tell her I said that."

"Ha ha, I won't. It's weird, though. Considering her ghost hunting skills, I figured she'd be great at this game."

"I thought so too, but nope! It was like that time we watched my little cousin play Mario at my eleventh birthday party."

"Ugh, why'd you bring that up? That was a genuinely painful experience."

"So was watching Valerie play!"

They continued to play in near silence for a while, only talking to warn each other of an approaching enemy.

Just as Tucker was getting ready to call it, Danny spoke:

"Thanks for hanging out tonight, Tuck. I think I needed this."

"Hey, no problem man. Is something going on?" Tucker asked casually. He very much knew that there was a lot going on with Danny, but he figured between Sam and Jazz, Danny didn't need another person smothering him.

That being said, Tucker was still worried about his best friend. He could hardly help it.

"I'm just stressed about telling my parents." Danny paused to blast an approaching spider "I know they're gonna accept me, but the idea of actually telling them is still pretty terrifying. I know it's not a big thing, just two sentences or whatever, but it still feels like the most monumental thing I've ever done."

"Honestly, I think that's pretty reasonable. I know you know they'll be cool, but this is still the biggest secret you've ever kept. Makes sense you're wigged out about finally letting go."

"Yeah, ha ha. I'll figure it out eventually, though. Hopefully. Anyway, one more round?"

"Sure thing Dude."

They were interrupted by the notification sound effect of another player joining.

"Hey, poetry slam ended earlier than I thought it would. You two still playing?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, but we're just doing one last round." Danny replied.

"That's fine. Still gives me enough time for me to hand you both your own butts."

Tucker was pretty sure he could hear Sam's smug grin through his headset.

"Don't think your victory's so assured, Sam." Tucker said "I've been working on a new strategy that'll knock your socks clean off!"

"Ooh! I'm shaking in my rank three crusher boots with bonus spike damage."

Despite Tucker's trash talk, he'd gotten used to losing a while ago. It was just fun to pretend he might one day outrank Sam.

Mostly he was just happy that Danny was getting a break.

...and also the opportunity to test out his new poison upgrade.

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

Danny sighed with relief as he dropped the last of the rags into The Fenton Washing Machine. Not all of the ectoplasm from his parents catapult experiment had made it into the The Containment Tank, and Danny still wasn't having any luck convincing Jazz to swap chores with him.

Danny had just turned the washer on when his ghost sense went off. With a loud groan, Danny turned and glared at the portal. He felt every muscle in his body relax when Vlad floated out.

"Do you somehow just know when I've just finished cleaning the lab?" Danny was too exhausted to muster up a polite greeting "If you're looking for my parents, they're actually out right now. My dad realized we were out of fudge after dinner, and he almost died when he saw we weren't stocked up on baking ingredients."

"I can practically hear Jack's panicked voice." Vlad grinned "But it's actually you I'm after." Vlad said.

"Oh. Really?"

"Yes. Although Jack and Maddie seem relatively comfortable with my ghostly side, I don't think it'd be a good idea to just fly into their lab through the portal as a ghost. I don't think I'm ready for that yet."

"Fair. How'd it go with them yesterday anyway?"

"Rather well, all things considered. Being so open about my abilities with them has certainly been a...mental adjustment after decades of secrecy and hiding, but as I said they really do seem to have taken it rather well."

"That's good to hear." Danny smiled. Hearing Vlad say that made him feel lighter inside. "So what'd you want to talk to me about?"

"I wanted to inquire about your plans to tell your parents about your accident." Vlad said. The lightness in Danny vanished "I assume you haven't already?"

"Uh...no, I...have not done that yet." Danny hoped Vlad couldn't tell how dry his mouth was.

Vlad frowned.

"You seem rather perturbed Daniel. Do you...not want to tell them?"

"I do!" Danny said quickly "Really! It just...never seems like the right time, I guess."

"You guess?"

Danny sighed.

"You know, things aren't terrible right now." Danny rubbed the back of his neck "I guess it's just...I don't really know what will happen when I tell them. I mean, I know they won't banish me to The Ghost Zone or dissect me or whatever, but things are going to..be different, you know? And honestly, that kind of scares me. I guess I was too busy worrying about what could go wrong to think about what would happen if things went right, so I really don't know what to expect."

Vlad's eyes softened with sympathy.

"As they say, misery is comfortable."

"What? No, that's stupid. I hate being miserable, everyone does."

"Daniel you just told me that a part of you would rather live in a house with two people who are trying to hunt you, surrounded by hazardous devices, than tell your parents about your ghost part."

"No, that's- I mean...huh."

"I do understand how you're feeling." Vlad said. "Now that your parents know about my powers, I was more than a tad nervous to come down here yesterday, and there is a reason I stalled telling them until the end of the trip. But, as someone who's been where you are, I can confidently say things are better now that they know. Even with all the unknown elements."

"I know things'll be better," Danny said "It's just so weird to think how much one little conversation can change."

"Things are going to change. It might be a bit awkward with your parents at first, I won't lie. The idea of being in my ghost form around Jack and Maddie still makes me...apprehensive, and I'm not sure I'll feel comfortable with it any time soon. For all I know, I may never."

"Well that's comforting."

"But I'm not scared of my best friends shooting me anymore, so that's a plus." Vlad grinned "Kind of outweighs having to deal with the awkwardness, if you ask me."

"Yeah," Danny laughed half-heartedly "I suppose it would."

"You want my advice? Tell them tonight."

"Tonight!?" Danny almost had a heart attack

"Yes tonight. Not telling Jack and Maddie sooner has been my biggest regret. You know you want to do this. Save yourself the unnecessary worry and just get it done."

Danny thought about it. He supposed Vlad's logic was sound, and if there was anyone he should listen to for tips on telling his parents they were half-ghost it was him, but the thought of doing it so soon made him dizzy. He knew he'd been stalling, but he needed a little more time to prepare than that.

"I'll do it tomorrow night." he said, sounding much firmer than he felt.

"Well I say never put off till tomorrow what can be done today," Vlad shrugged "But the decision is yours. Good luck Little Badger!"

With that, Vlad flew backwards through the portal, leaving Danny alone with his thoughts.

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

Tucker had to stop himself from cheering as the lunch lady finished scooping the casserole of the day onto his tray. In his opinion, it was insanely cruel of the faculty to schedule his biweekly PE period right before lunch. As if gym class wasn't long enough!

He quickly found Sam in their usual spot and took a seat across from her.

"Where's Danny?" Tucker asked before shoving a large spoonful of casserole into his mouth. It was tomato and ground beef with macaroni noodle today.

"Give you three guesses and two of them don't count." Sam replied.

"Ah." Tucker swallowed "Was it The Box Ghost again?"

"Nah, I'm pretty sure it was Klemper. Danny said something about frozen toilets."

"Ooh, maybe Danny should let him keep going for a bit! I think they have to cancel school if the toilets don't work."

"Tucker, broken plumbing facilities in a building with over five hundred people could pose a serious problem. Do you know how many students here have bladder issues?"

"Okay jeez, I was only joking."

There was a brief silence as the two of them started to eat their lunches.

"I really could've used you with Danny the other day, you know." Sam said "It's like you don't even care that your best friend's about to tell his parents the biggest secret of his life."

"What? Sam, of course I care. I'm worried about Danny too, but there's no point in pushing him if he's not ready yet."

Sam was about to angrily retort, but she stopped herself, the conversation with Danny replaying in her head.

Why was she so angry at Tucker? Sure, it was kind of annoying he hadn't backed her up, but she had to admit his logic wasn't totally unreasonable.

"I guess." she relented. It felt weird admitting Tucker was right so easily.

Wait, why did that feel so weird? They were friends, best friends. It shouldn't take so much restraint just to agree with each other about something so minor.

Danny was right. Something was wrong.

Not that it was all Sam's doing, Tucker could be annoying and insensitive. A lot of the time, in fact.

But was Sam maybe...not always interpreting his intentions in the best light? Just maybe?

A lot of mixed thoughts were going through Sam's head, but one thing she knew for sure was that if they wanted to fix what was going on, someone had to start somewhere.

"Hey, um, I just wanted to say I'm...sorry I teased you about Valerie so much. You told me to stop and I didn't, even though I should have."

Tucker blinked, completely taken aback by her sudden apology. It probably didn't help that she'd been giving him the gears less than a minute ago.

Admittedly, that might have been a weird place to start, but it was the first thing Sam thought of, and Sam was the kind of person who liked to start fixing a problem as soon as possible.

She just hoped Tucker wouldn't make fun of her apology for revenge.

"Uh...no hard feelings." Tucker said, his shocked expression morphing into a grin "In fact, since you apologized, and I'm such a gracious friend, I promise I won't make as much fun of you when you get your embarrassing first crush." Tucker winked and did finger guns.

Sam felt a flash of annoyance. Of course, Tucker didn't know she was aromantic, chances were he didn't even know what 'aromantic' meant, so Sam knew it wasn't fair for her to be mad at him.

Well, she had just decided she wanted to fix the kink in their friendship, and an important part of friendship was being able to trust your friends with your secrets...

"Actually...I don't think I'll ever get a crush." Sam said.

"Aww, come on. I know being gloomy's your thing, but I'm sure someday you'll-"

"No Tucker, I'm aromantic."

"Oh. Um, what's that?"

"It means I don't get crushes, and I'm never going to fall in love. Ever." Sam crossed her arms "And before you try to give me another pitying platitude, I'm actually quite happy with this development."

"Okay, but how do you know you'll never fall in love?" Tucker asked.

Anger burned in Sam.

"Ugh!" she threw up her hands "This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you!"

She knew this would happen! She knew Tucker wouldn't take her seriously! She knew he'd-

"No no no no wait, I totally believe you!" Tucker threw up his hands defensively "I just meant, like, how'd you figure it out? I'm sorry, I didn't realize how that would sound! I didn't mean it like that, I promise!"

The fire in Sam instantly died.

"You...really believe me?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because people are never taken seriously when they say they aren't interested in romance. I've lost count of the number of movies I've seen where someone says they're happy being single, but by the end they've started a relationship with someone and everyone's acting like they're 'fixed' now." Sam unconsciously clenched her fists. She'd never realized that that trope bothered her so much until right now. "Plus you specifically never take anything I say seriously."

"What? Yes I do! What are you talking about?"

"Well you weren't exactly the most supportive of my menu update at the start of the year."

"Sam, you literally forced everyone in the school to change to a very niche diet. You gotta admit that's a little extreme."

"Okay fine, maybe that wasn't my best idea. But it feels like ever since then, you've never tried to help me with my world-improving projects. You don't even really listen to my ideas. Like, the world's on fire, and all my friends, family, and fellow students ever seem to want to do about it is laugh at me for trying to fix things!"

The passion in Sam's voice sobered Tucker's normally humorous attitude.

"I didn't think you cared what other people said about you." he said.

"I don't." Sam looked defiantly into Tucker's eyes "I'm an activist to try and make the world a better place, I'm not interested in this for personal glory." Sam gaze shifted away from Tucker's face and she crossed her arms over her body "But y'know, I...might care a little bit what my best friends say about me."

"Oh." Tucker looked away too. "I...I guess that makes sense."

There was a long silence.

"So...how did you figure it out?" Tucker asked "I mean, if you like girls then you figure it out by liking a girl and vice versa, but there isn't really a sign if you don't like anybody, so how do you know you won't like anybody ever?"

Sam raised an eyebrow at Tucker.

"N-not saying you're wrong about saying you're aromantic! Or that anybody else is! I'm really just curious, I swear! Actually you know what, you don't have answer that. I probably shouldn't have even asked."

Tucker proceeded to shove an entire handful of tater tots in his mouth. Sam was pretty sure it was to stop himself from rambling any more. It was a very Tucker thing to do. She might've laughed if Tucker's question hadn't been making her think so hard.

Sam wasn't offended by the question, she knew Tucker was a curious person who meant it genuinely, it was just a difficult question to answer.

"I don't know." Sam admitted "It just...feels right. I don't know how to explain it any better. The idea of not falling in love feels like it fits better than the typical romantic ideas everyone's always pushing, and like, when I read about some of the experiences of other aromantic people I've found online, it just feels so right. Like someone finally gets it. I can't really explain it much better than that, but I just know it's true that I'm not going to fall in love."

"I guess it's like getting a crush." Tucker mused "You can't really explain it, you just kind of know."

Sam frowned. She didn't think it was exactly like that, but she could see that Tucker was trying to be understanding. Not to mention she had just told herself she was going to try and be more civil with him.

"Uh, maybe." she said "Honestly, the idea was kind of weird at first, but the more time goes on, the more I actually really like knowing I'm aro. It's great. Figuring that out feels like scratching an itch I didn't even know I had."

"I definitely get that."

"You do?"

Tucker felt his heart skip a beat.

"I...think I might be bi." Tucker said.

"Yeah? Good for you." Sam gave Tucker a small but genuine smile.

Tucker felt his whole body relax.

Wait, why was he so relieved? He hadn't felt this tense when he was telling Danny or Valerie.

Maybe Danny was on to something about him and Sam...

"You okay over there?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, just uh, thinking about some stuff. You don't seem surprised."

"Tucker, remember the drive in Danny's RV to Vlad's cottage?"

"Oh yeah. I kind of hoped everyone had forgotten about that nightmare."

"I mean, I had planned on never mentioning it again ever, but I don't think I could forget it if I tried. But hey, at least I figured out my romantic orientation. So that's pretty cool." Sam shrugged casually.

"I wish I felt as confident about being bi as you do about being...what was it?"

"Aromantic. Aro for short."

"Aro, got it. I mean, I'm warming up to the idea of being bi, but it's been quite the adjustment for my brain. At first it felt like I maybe wasn't even allowed to call myself that."

"Why not?"

"I mean, I for sure do get crushes on guys sometimes, but it really isn't a lot of the time. I'm really mostly into girls, so sometimes it kind of feels like I'm trying to claim something I'm not sure I have any right to."

"So what? You gotta like 'this many' boys to be bi? And who exactly is checking that?"

Tucker laughed a little before continuing.

"Yeah, I know it sounds kind of ridiculous. I have been feeling more comfortable calling myself as bi the longer I've thought about it, but I still can't quite shake this feeling that at some random moment someone's gonna jump out and call me out on it."

"Don't worry," Sam picked up her milk carton and drained the last of it "If anyone even tries to imply you're not 'bi enough' or whatever, I'll just have a nice little chat with them."

Sam finished her statement by crushing the empty milk carton in her hand, all five of her nails leaving gashes in cardboard.

Tucker was going to laugh at Sam's joke, but the carton-crushing demonstration ad actually been genuinely intimidating (Sam was pretty good at being intimidating), so the noise he ended up making was somewhere between a laugh and a yelp.

Sam nearly jumped out of her seat.

"How did you even make that sound?" she asked.

"I don't know, and I don't think I could make it again if I tried."

Sam laughed.

It was actually really nice hearing her laugh like that. Tucker couldn't recall the last time Sam had laughed at one of his jokes.

That might have had something to do with the fact that a lot of his jokes were made at her expense.

Like, a lot of them.

Tucker honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd really gone out of his way to be nice to Sam. Not since the meat incident.

This was not a comfortable realization.

"Hey Sam," Tucker wasn't exactly sure how to say what he wanted to say, but he knew he had to say something "I'm sorry I haven't been taking you seriously lately. I know I haven't exactly been the best listener. Don't get me wrong, some of you ideas are insane and I want no part in them, but I'm gonna at least start trying taking them seriously now. I'll start taking you seriously, I promise."

Sam was slightly taken aback. She hadn't expected an apology from Tucker, and she hadn't realized how much she'd wanted to hear that until he said it.

"Wow," she started to say "I really-"

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Danny suddenly appeared and sat down beside Sam. Tucker genuinely wasn't sure whether they just hadn't notice him approach, or if he'd snuck in ghost-style.

"It's all good du-" Tucker paused when he noticed the apprehensive look in Danny's eyes "You okay? You look like something's up."

Danny took a long breath.

"Are you two free to come over tonight?"

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

Walking down the basement stairs felt like walking through molasses. Not because it was slow, but because each step seemed to take a monumental amount of effort. The journey was actually over surprisingly quickly.

Danny wondered if there was any way he could have lengthened it.

His parents hadn't noticed his descent, both of them deeply absorbed in...whatever giant metal contraption they were working on. Danny didn't really care right now.

He walked up to his parents and loudly cleared his throat, causing them both to snap their heads up.

"H-hey Mom, Dad."

"Hey Danny!" his father set his wrench down to wave at him "How was school?"

"Uh, g-good. School was good."

"Did you need something, Sweetie?" Maddie frowned, sensing his nervousness.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um yeah, I kind of...have something to tell you. It's...about the accident I had with the ghost portal."

Jack and Maddie's faces immediately turned serious.

"Danny," Maddie said gently "

"Yeah, I know, I know. That's not it though. It's..."

Danny took a deep breath.

And just jumped in.

"It made me...like Vlad."

"Like...Vlad?" Maddie raised an eyebrow.

"Half-ghost. The portal made me half-ghost. I have ghost powers like Vlad."

There was a beat of silence. Maddie and Jack looked at each other briefly and turned back to Danny.

"Now Son," Jack smiled "I know you two both had ghost portal accidents, but there's no way our portal affected you in the same extreme way. Sure, maybe you've been having minor side effects-"

"That you should have told us about earlier." Maddie cut in sternly.

"What your mother said. But there's no way you could have been affected as drastically as Vlad. You don't even-"

Jack was cut off by two blinding rings of light splitting around Danny's waist, turning him into the ghostly version of himself.

The sight made both of his parents go slack-jawed.

Maybe it had been a bit much to transform without warning, but after weeks of stalling and months of hesitation, Danny had run out of patience.

"I'm half-ghost like Vlad." he repeated, summoning the rings and transforming back.

It was shockingly easy to say. Although walking down the basement stairs had been torture, once he'd started talking, it had felt weirdly natural to just keep going, like he was just telling them what score he'd gotten on a math test. Danny had expected more resistance.

Telling Jazz had been harder.

"Y-you really are like Vlad..." Jack's voice was almost a whisper.

Oh right, their reaction. The beating of Danny's heart instantly washed away the peace he'd been feeling.

This was actually much worse than telling Jazz.

"Y-yeah?"

"Danny?" Maddie's voice was strained "How long have you...been like Vlad?"

"Since the first day." I...walked out of the portal looking like that. I just managed to transform back before you and Dad came back."

"Jack," Maddie put a hand on the work bench to steady herself "I thought you said you tested thoroughly for any mutations or contaminations!"

"Of course I did, Madds! I did a DNA test and everything and couldn't find any indication of..."

Jack suddenly stopped talking. He and Maddie snapped their heads to Danny as if they'd suddenly remembered he was there.

"All those months..." Maddie pulled down her hood, revealing eyes filled with horror "Listening to us going on and on about capturing and dissecting ghosts...oh! No wonder you didn't tell us! You must've been scared half to death."

Danny almost laughed at his mother's choice of words, but he was still too tense to move. He knew his parents weren't going to hurt him, but for some reason he felt like he was in trouble.

"Oh, baby." Maddie wrapped Danny in a hug. She kissed his forehead and rubbed his back.

"Y-you guys aren't mad?"

"Mad?" his father said. "Danno, I don't blame you one bit. I'd have been scared out of my britches too if I was in your position and I heard my parents talking about ghosts the way your mother and I do."

He came over and wrapped his arms around Danny and Maddie.

"We love you kiddo." he said "And we're both so proud of you for telling us."

Maddie squeezed Danny harder.

Danny felt his muscles relax and his heart slow back to normal.

He'd done it. He'd really done it.

Honestly, Danny didn't know how he felt right now. It was weirdly quiet in his head.

But one thing Danny knew for sure was that it felt good to finally have to stop hiding.

This was good.

Danny smiled and hugged his parents back.

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

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all sat at the kitchen table, none of them daring to speak. They'd all been counting the seconds since Danny had gone down the stairs. It had only been two minutes, but it had been a very long two minutes.

The only sound being made was Tucker tapping his knuckles on the table. Sam very much wanted to ask him to stop, but she also didn't want to be the first one to speak.

"Do you think we should go down and check on him?" Tucker asked, his hand finally stilling.

"I'm sure he's fine, just be patient." Despite her grounded words, Sam's anxiety leaked into her voice.

"Sam's right." Jazz said firmly "We're all worried, but this is Danny's moment, so it's our job to be his support and remain fluid enough to react to what he needs depending on which way the situation goes. The best way to do that we have to remain calm and-"

The basement door began to open. Jazz was on her feet in an instant.

"Where's Danny?! Is he okay?!"

"Calm down Jazz, everything's good. Great actually."

Danny's voice was light and full of joy. He didn't even sound annoyed at Jazz's excessive worrying.

Jazz's shoulder's instantly relaxed and she went over to stand by her family. Sam and Tucker awkwardly followed.

"So they...all know?" Maddie said, gesturing to the room.

"Yeah." Danny smiled "No more secrets."

Despite how nice a moment this was, it was also kind of an awkward one. Everyone appreciated how hard it had been for Danny to get here, and they were all feeling the relief, but the question of 'now what do we do?' went unspoken amongst them all.

"I...brought a cake." Sam said.

"Really?" Danny asked, surprised.

"Well, if you don't want it..."

"No, I definitely do, I just...why did you get a cake?"

"Well I didn't really know what the proper protocol was for when your best friend tells his parents he's half-ghost, but a cake seemed like, maybe appropriate?" Sam shrugged.

Danny went over to the white box on the table and lifted the cover.

"Congratulations On The Thing With Your Parents?"

"Tucker's was in charge of the writing."

"I didn't see you pitching in any ideas for a tasteful message that would fit on a cake and not attract suspicion from the cake decorator."

"My contribution was paying for the cake."

"Aw, that was such a lovely gesture, you two." Maddie beamed "Jazz, could you get the plates out? Let's serve this bad boy up!"

"I call the first piece!" Jack said.

"Now Jack, considering the occasion, I think it's only appropriate that Danny gets the first piece."

"Oh, alright." Jack smiled at Danny and patted his shoulder "I suppose that's fair. But I get the second piece, since I called it!"

"Jack..." Maddie said disapprovingly.

"Dad can have the first piece. I don't mind, I know how he gets." Danny said. He was just glad that things were still normal. Sure, his parents probably still had some adjusting to do, but they still saw him as the same Danny he was before, and that was big enough of a relief. "But I'm getting a corner piece."

Honestly though, Danny could've had to give away the entire cake and it wouldn't have killed his mood.

It was finally over. He didn't have to hide or make his friends lie for him anymore. Not to the people who mattered, anyway.

Danny continued to stare at his mom after she handed him a piece of cake and began cutting one for his dad.

He was still nervous abut what the future held for his family's dynamic, but for the first time he also felt excited to find out.

But for now he was just going to enjoy his cake.