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dp-marvel94 · 3 months ago

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Graveyard of Identities- Chapter 1

Summary:

Danny should feel lucky to be alive. After a month held captive by Vlad, barely remembering his life before, and nearly dying in his escape, he is finally safe, with friends in the Far Frozen. And yet, dread gnaws at him- a massive revelation at the edge of his consciousness, forgotten until the dead of night. It was a lie. All a lie. His past, his memories: all false. Amity Park, his friends and family: all real but… not his. The secret locks in his throat, unthinkable. He stays silent while the yetis welcome him as one of their own. But they do not know. And he can not tell them. He is not the Danny they think he is. He is not Danny at all.

Word Count: 3346

Next Chapter->

Also on A03

Note:

Hello lovely readers! Welcome to my story for Invisobang 2024! It has been a long time coming and I am so excited to finally share it with you all!

As you can see, this story is the second in a series. For those who read "Hope Can Be Heavy Thing to Hold," this is its much anticipated (by me at least) sequel! Part of me doubted this day would ever come. It's been almost 5 years since I wrote Hope and while I always planned that there would be more to the story, life (and other phic ideas XD) kept side-tracking me. My writing has changed and improved at lot since the end of 2019. And I really hope those lessons produced a better story than otherwise.

For those joining from Invisobang, welcome! Please do not feel intimidated by the fact that this is a sequel. My hope is that this will be a enjoyable story, even without that background. (Though if anyone gets curious and checks out the previous work, I will not complain of course XD)

Since this work was written as part of Invisobang, I was lucky enough to work with two wonderful artists. @suzukiblu made this lovely artwork and posted it here . @mysterious-ink-slime made her own piece, link to be added once it's posted. A huge thanks to both of them! Go give their art all the love!

Also, a special note on the title! For years, I had my heart set on naming this sequel after this particular GFM song and now I have! Graveyard of Identities by Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh; you can watch the music video here . This song is about the transforming power of pain, letting the old die, and rising as someone new. To me, it compliments the theme of this story perfectly. Special thanks to CJ and Maggie for inspiring me with their art and listening to me talk about my own.

And the specialist thanks to my sister, @nervousdragonrebelpie , for listening to me ramble about this story for months. This story is much better thanks to her listening ear and thoughtful suggestions.

Finally, thank to all you readers. I love and appreciate all your support and encouragement. And I eagerly await all your thoughts and feelings and screaming at me in the comments. XD Happy reading!

Was this… death?

Floating sightless, soundless. Almost without thought. Too far away and hazy for fear. Just the numb warmth of darkness.

Drifting without form, the fragile center lay exposed. Something gently brushed. Cradling mist; Soft pin-pricks of cloud. Smell-sight-taste of green, old pennies and lime. The feelings arose, more shapes of ideas than anything real.

The world shifted, brightening into bleary focus. Something inside stirred, the sensation like blinking without eyes. Awareness flickered sharper and then dim. Sharper, then dim.

A vibration caught on his consciousness. Many and small and gently plopping like… rain. Rain, streaming down, around, through. Understanding slowly dawned and then… awe.

Green, crisp and bright as a spring day, overcame him. It flowed in, warm and safe and all encompassing. It filled his mind, every part of himself.

And… Mind. He had a mind, a self. He existed. He was a person. He was still here. Maybe he wasn’t-

Darkness rushed back, like a wave crashing on the shore. A gentle death-like sleep took him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suddenly he was falling. Air rushed passed and bonelessly, he impacted.

The shock of cold stole his breath more than the crash. Something light and airy cushioned his fall, his face half buried in the chill.

Heavily, his eyes dragged open. White filled his dim vision. In the distance…. The sound tickled his ear, an electric roar. Struggling, his gaze drifted up. Blurry silver and blue shapes quickly approached.

His mind crawled, thought unreachable. Unable to process, unable to move, mind and body weighed down by crushing exhaustion.

But confusion chipped at the edge, clawing for purchase. Fear, familiar and ever present, lingered under the surface, though neither rose to awareness, the fatigue too great.

Darkness pulled him down again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beeping near his head crashed through the darkness. He was lying down, soft plushness underneath him. Familiar… too familiar….

A slimy voice echoed in his head. ‘Son, you're awake.’

The boy’s heart rate spiked, a jolt of panic. Burning red eyes flashed in his mind, a clawed hand squeezing his wrist.

He gasped, whole body flinching. Blurry eyes flickered open to all consuming white. Dread surged. No. This couldn’t-

The beeping grew louder, followed by the cacophony of pounding feet.

The boy flailed weakly, heavy body struggling to move. In his elbow… something hard and cold. His arm jerked violently, other hand scrambling. A stab of pain, a release of pressure. Cold wetness welled up, a flash of green on pale skin.

‘Now Daniel. Stop being difficult.’

No, not Daniel. Never Daniel. Danny. His name was Danny.

“Great One, calm down. You are safe.” A calm voice cut through A furry, horned face… wearing a surgical mask?

Panic swelled. Who? Where? What? This wasn’t-

A different, higher voice. “You are safe, Great One.”

Great One? No, that wasn’t… His mind scrambled for purchase, words and thoughts slipping.

“His ecto-pressure is dangerously elevated.” “He’s going into shock.” “Sedate him.”

He didn’t... Where was he? Where was Vla-

The pinch of a needle, jabbed into his neck. No! He would be good. He didn’t need to be punished again-

Consciousness ripped away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An unknowable time later, Danny drifted up through the darkness. Soft and gentle. His heart beat slowly, a calm, even timbre. And he was, at last, aware.

Soft fabric under him, wrapped around his body. The quiet, ambient sounds of lights buzzed in his ears. Far away water dripped. His own soft breathing. Soft white light ghosted over his eye lids.

Said eyes blinked slowly, half-lidded. They felt so heavy. An experimental wiggle of his fingers… the boy groaned, sudden sensation hitting him. Everything ached, from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. Every inch of his skin felt raw and fresh, like it had been removed in pieces and now was newly reassembled. Like a weird gross puzzle.

Danny laughed at the idea and a second later, his lungs spasmed painfully. He let out another, louder groan.

“Great one?” A loud, worried voice cut through the air.

His heart skipped a beat, the surge of fear returning. He’d woken up earlier, hadn’t he? Laying on his back, beeping by his head, all consuming white. And now… He finally registered the towering figure at his bedside.

“Who…?” His voice shook, weak and unused. “Where…?”

The figure leaned closer, the face becoming visible. A furry muzzle, sharp teeth, icy horns.

Danny tensed, a flash of panic. But… the wide, concerned blue eyes. A memory bloomed in his head.

Tightly hugging a white, furry yeti in an icy place.

Instantly, the boy relaxed. “Frostbite?” The names came out with hardly a thought, the knowledge just there in his head.

The yeti’s expression softened, visibly relieved. “Yes, it is me.” A gentle paw gripped his shoulder. “Relax. You are safe.”

Safe…. The word ran in his mind. It felt like an impossible improbability. But… Frostbite was a friend, right? The yeti’s kind eyes and jovial laugh rose in his mind, the image strangely distant.

Danny let out a breath, a surge of relief coursing through him. But the action made him grimace, nose wrinkling.

“Are you in pain?” Frostbite asked eagerly. “Here, allow me.” He fiddled with one of the tubes attached to Danny at his elbow, just passed the sleeve of what was maybe a hospital gown. A plunger depressed. “That should dull the ache.”

The boy gasped as something cold entered his vein. He blinked rapidly, surprised as the pain dulled to a small pin prick in the back of his mind.

“Wow…. That’s… that’s so much better.” He smacked his dry lips.

“Water?” The yeti offered. A glass with a straw appeared and with a flip of a switch, the bed shifted under him, allowing him to recline.

The cup lifted to his lips, Danny drank shakingly. The cool water soothed his sand-papery throat, a blessed respite after… after….

He couldn’t remember. That sent a stab of worry. But he was here with Frostbite, one of his friends. Allies? The shape of that felt right. He’d gotten here, somehow. Wherever here was.

Finally the boy swallowed. “Where am I?”

“In our medical facility.” Frostbite answered. “You have been in and out of consciousness for quite a while. This is your first time being coherent on awakening.”

Quite a while…. It was coming back to him now. He only remembered waking up that last time, panicked at the sound of the beeping by his head. His eyes flitted to the device… a heart monitor.

That was… strangely familiar. His stomach twisted with dread, echoes of previous panic. The heart monitor reminded him of before. He had been… somewhere, somewhere bad. His mouth felt dry, the memory just out of reach…

Danny swallowed. “How did I get here?”

“You triggered a perimeter beacon.” The yeti said, voice taking on a grave tone. “A patrol found you in the snow, unconscious and dangerously unstable. The guards rushed you here and we attended you. It was… We were worried for a long while, that your injury was too great.” His voice wavered with emotion, an air of heavy grief. “That you would… leave us. But…” A watery smile bloomed. “The most dangerous part has passed. You are recovering wonderfully. And you are finally awake.”

“Yeah….” That was… a lot. Danny’s brow furrowed. His mind swam, relief, sadness, and… a mounting unease clashing.

Frostbite seemed to pick up on the feeling. “What is it, Great One?”

“I don’t…” He bit his lip. “That’s… a lot. Thank you for finding me and saving me. I’m grateful, really grateful. I…I know I’m safe. But…” His insides twisted, a queasy feeling. “I…I apparently almost died and I don’t… don’t remember what happened.”

The yeti’s eyes rounded, the concern turning worried. “What is the last thing you remember?”

Before… the heart monitor beeping near his head, a room with white sheet and fancy wooden furniture. A man with white hair, a smug smile, and red eyes.

“Vlad.” The knowledge hit him like a truck. “I was at Vlad’s mansion!” Danny jolted, trying to sit up more fully with a wince.

“The other half ghost?” Frostbite put a paw on his arm, gently lowering him back to the bed. “You are enemies, are you not?”

“He… he kidnapped me.” More images flashed. The plain, impersonal bedroom. The metal panels of the training room. The trap door in the greenhouse. “Vlad kidnapped me. He was…keeping me captive.” His face wrinkled in a grimace. “He made me call him Dad and train with him and watch football…”

“Plasmius keeping you captive.” Frostbite looked just as stricken. “That is worrying….”

Danny’s stomach turned, sickened. “He… he hurt me.” Vlad’s hand across his face, electricity searing his limbs, locked in a small dark space. “He did something to my mind.” The jar of Lethean water, the tree with red and blue berries. “I didn’t remember anything. He was trying to brainwash me into being his… his perfect son but…”

He was missing something, something big. The gap loomed, dark and constricting. His voice quickened, from something uneasy and wary to panic. “I can’t… I can’t remember.”

“It is alright.” The yeti tried to soothe.

The calm voice failed to ease the distress. “I can’t remember.” But… the dark, earthen passage. The lab, bathed in green portal light. Jars and beakers, tables and weapons. The foreboding door. “I was… I was in the lab. I was trying to escape but…” Broken glass and metal, spilled ectoplasm. Vlad’s mocking voice. “He… he interrupted me.”

Danny’s blood chilled, dread dropping in his stomach like a stone. He saw it as clearly as Frostbite across from him.

Vlad’s face set in a sneer, as hellish as the vampire he played at. The taser in Danny’s hand. He jabbed with it but… too late. The man caught his wrist, fingers squeezing. ‘You oppose me at every turn.’

“Vlad… he broke my wrist.” Numbly, the boy stared down at his right hand. The wrist was unwrapped, no sign of the fracture. He felt sick.

“I tried to fight him.” Electricity pouring from his hands, Vlad twitching on the floor. “But I wasn’t… wasn’t strong enough.”

Harsh, hateful words echoed in his mind, too far away to remember. Tears had been on his face, back there in the lab and…. Now, here in the medical wing.

Frostbite said something, paws moving toward his face but all Danny could see…

On the floor, Vlad looming over him, his eyes insane, full of dark possessiveness. Agony gnawed at Danny’s heart, the feeling of his world crashing down around him.

“He held me down, electrocuted me.” Danny trembled, the tears falling. “I couldn’t move, couldn’t fight back. It… it hurt, my core hurt so much.”

A look of understanding, of revelation flashed on Frostbite’s face. But the boy barely registered. Just the comforting furry arms moving to embrace him.

Hands and feet, cold and tingly… then wet. Ectoplasm welling, sickly neon green. “I…I started melting.” Danny froze in Frostbite’s hold, eyes wide and devastated. “Vlad shocked me and I started mel.. melting.”

His hands and feet dissolving away, staring at the ceiling through his tears. “Vlad… he tried to… to kill me. He tried to kill me.”

That was it. That must have been it, the earth-shattering thing he was forgetting. The green spreading to his shoulders, his hips. His core locking up, shaking with agonizing shocks.

In his mind, Vlad hovered over him, shouting. A boom, metal crumpling, sudden icy chill. He couldn’t move. Helpless. He was going to die…

In Frostbite’s arms, Danny shook. “I… I thought I was going to die.” Sudden silence. A figure kneeling over him, unseen through his tears. “I was melting… I… I couldn’t move.”

His heart ached with longing. Familiar faces flashed in his mind. His parents, Sam and Tucker, Jazz. “I…I just wanted to go home. I barely remembered them, barely remembered who I was.” The memory flickered, finding his parents’ picture in the book in Vlad’s office, his real name printed in the pages, and the sheer joy that had overtaken him. “I just wanted to go home.” He was trying to go home to his friends and family but…

In the lab, a mouth hung above him, lips making the words ‘I’m sorry.’

Danny recoiled at the memory, burying his face into Frostbite’s fur. It… it didn’t make sense. Vlad would never say he was sorry. He couldn’t remember… but he was dying, his mind swimming, far away and terrified and-

“I didn’t want to die!” The boy practically screamed. The force of the words, the sudden realization had him violently pushing himself from the yeti’s arms. “Am I dead?!”

“No. No. No.” Danny pulled at his hair. He’d barely gotten to live and now he was dead. “I can’t… I can’t be dead.”

“No, great one.” Frostbite’s paws appeared on his arms, gently pulling his tugging fingers from his hair. “You are not dead.”

Danny blinked, the panic rushing out of him. His heart, or the illusion of one, still pounded, yet shaking arms gently lowered “But…. but I melted.” He flinched at his own words, the next coming out quiet, pained. “How?”

The yeti chief’s brow furrowed. “You said you were in your enemy's lab when this happened. Perchance, do you remember a portal there?”

The boy’s brow furrowed, surprised by the question. “Yes?”

Frostbite nodded gravely. “I suspect you teleported into the Realms.” Danny’s lack of understanding must have been obvious on his face, because the yeti’s expression softened, voice soft and slow like he was talking to a hurt child. “Teleporting is one of your abilities, even if it has not developed fully yet. When your body… dissipated, you would have been reduced down to your core.”

“My core?” Danny looked down at his chest, raising a shaky hand to it.

“Yes.” The yeti nodded. “Grievous injuries will condense a ghost into their core. As long as the central part of their being remains intact, a ghost can survive. But,” Worried eyes fixed on the half ghost. “Cores will crack and fade if there is a deficiency of ectoplasm.”

The boy’s mouth felt dry. “Like in the human world.”

“As in the material realm, yes.” Frostbite agreed. “In a last ditch effort to save you, your core mostly likely used the last of its energy to teleport into an ectoplasm rich environment.“

“So I went through the portal.” Danny bit his lip, voice shaky. “But…I don’t remember that. Why don’t I remember that?”

The yeti gently reached forward, pulling the ghost boy once again into his arms. “Most ghosts do not remember the time spent as just their core. It is like… your human sleep, I believe. Or unconsciousness.”

“Yeah…” That made a type of sense. Distantly, Danny remembered darkness, the feeling of drifting, disconnection from his senses. He swallowed. “So I ended up in the Zone. What then?”

“You presumably drifted for a while.” Frostbite motioned to the boy’s core. “The scans of your core we took while you were unresponsive suggested you had recently re-formed. This is consistent with your lack of external injuries. You most likely came back together in the ectoplasmic nebula near our island.”

Danny’s brow furrowed for a long moment, mind processing. Finally… “I… re-formed? What… what does that mean?”

“Your core rebuilt your body using the surrounding ectoplasm.” A large paw patted the boy’s back. “You are fortunate you drifted into a nebula. The plentiful, active ectoplasm creates a rich, bountiful area for injured ghosts to re-form, and for the new creation of many others. And you found yourself so close to friends…” Frostbite smiled encouragingly. “The Divine must smile on you, indeed.”

The half ghost did not feel very encouraged. He stared at his hands, insides twisting. “So this is a new body…” He shakily removed his gloves, eyes trailing over the familiar fingers. The short, round fingernails, the light green skin, every crinkled line in his palm… everything looked the same as he remembered but… “Are you sure I’m not a full ghost?”

Frostbite squeezed one shoulder comfortingly. “Yes, I am sure. I myself saw your internal anatomy continues to reflect that of your human body. And on your core, the ability to transform between your two forms remains visible as well.”

Danny let out a sigh of relief. He looked at his hands again. Suddenly… he needed to be human again, needed to see that he was still alive. His aura flickered, mind searching for the trigger.

“Do not try to change yet.” The yeti gently reprimanded.

Disappointment rushed through the boy, guilty unease flickering. Had he done something wrong?

But Frostbite continued before he could ask why. “The potential for your human form still exists, but without real world matter to reassemble it, it is inaccessible. We have been providing material world water and nutrients to you intravenously but your body still requires more time to recover.”

“Oh.” Danny nodded in understanding. “That makes sense. Wait..” His eyes widened, his nose wrinkling in distaste. “What do you mean you saw my internal anatomy yourself?” He side-eyed the yeti.

With that, Frostbite’s face turned apologetic. “My apologies, Great One. I mean, we had to perform surgery.” His expression turned serious, crinkled with worry. “Our scans found a foreign object embedded in your core. It was periodically electrocuting you, causing… dissolution in your extremities.”

The boy’s eyes widened, stomach twisting. Frostbite had said at the beginning that it had been touch and go for a long while there but…

“It was worsening so…” The yeti paused for a moment there, arms gently squeezing the shaken boy. “The other doctors and I performed surgery and extracted it.”

Well, that was a relief. After a moment, Danny swallowed. “Can I see it?”

Frostbite paused, giving him a searching look. “Are you certain?”

Decisively, the boy nodded. “Yes.”

“Very well.” With that, the chief opened his arms, gently placing Danny back on the bed.

The boy had a long moment to blush, just realizing. He’d been sitting in the ghost’s lap for most of that conversation, like he was a little kid. He wiped his face with his hands, trying to shrug off the embarrassment.

Meanwhile, the yeti stood, rifling through drawers. After about several seconds, he returned. Frostbite gravely presented the jar.

Wordlessly, Danny took the container between his hands. He studied the contents. A tiny metal strip laid there innocently, y shaped and as long as the end of his pinky. “This is it.” A lump formed in his throat. “This is what Vlad used to… to try and kill me.”

The full ghost’s face scrunched up, eyes alight with anger. “I had suspected this device was the cause of your injury. To violate one's core like this…” His nostrils flared, expression positively murderous.

Danny swallowed, eyes just starting to widen.

Then Frostbite sighed. Again, compassionate eyes turned to the half ghost. “I vow Plasmius will never touch you again, not with the might of the Far Frozen standing beside you.” He shook his head. “Still, I am relieved you escaped.” A paw squeezed his shoulder. “The Divine delivered you to our paws and found you safety. I am much joyed to see you recovering.”

Danny’s heart squeezed, warmed by the words. The boy slumped, heaving a sigh. “I… thanks for taking care of me.” Still… his insides twisted, overwhelmed by it all.

“It is my pleasure, Great One.” Frostbite beamed.

The boy grimaced. “Can you call me Danny? Please?”

“Danny, then.” The yeti nodded seriously.

The half ghost forced a smile. He really was grateful to Frostbite. He appreciated the comfort, but…

The boy yawned, a sudden tiredness coming over him.

“Ah, I should leave you to rest.” The chief stood. “Press this button if you are in need of any assistance. Sleep well, Danny.”

“Thanks.” The half ghost nodded.

With that, the yeti left. The door closed and Danny was alone. Soon, despite his anxiously twisting insides, sleep took him again.

#Danny Phantom #My fic #Graveyard of Identities #invisobang #invisobang 2024 #danny phantom big bang #Far Frozen #Frostbite

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faeriekit · 8 months ago

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Lunch Break

a two-prompt phic phight fill for @fuyuthefoxwriter; demon!au and fangs

Notes: 1. This IS a continuation of my prev. demon!au (Visitation) 2. based on the laws of Phic Phight you CANNOT read the previous iterations, as it is nsfw and therefore cannot be linked 3. but for the already present fans…it’s a continuation from that. Also, it’s gray ghost.

Valerie likes her boyfriend.

He’s cute, with a button nose and blue eyes. He’s sweet. He’s kind, and he’s gentle, and if she leaves him alone he takes the toaster oven apart just to see how it works. It’s kind of like living with a small dog who takes apart pillows if you don’t give them enough attention.

Valerie loves her boyfriend.

…But the goddamn teeth.

She pushes his face away, cutting off their kiss with no warning. Danny squawks.

“Danny,” Valerie implores, again, because they are in public and not in the comfort of their own apartment, “If you cannot keep human teeth while we are making out, we are not going to make out anymore.”

Her stupid, human-shaped boyfriend pouts. Valerie should be pouting. Valerie has to avoid shredding her tongue like she’s kissing a cheese grater.

Danny, who is the cause of all this, should not be pouting as if he’s been denied the opportunity to stick his tongue in her mouth for no reason, instead of his habit of turning his extremely normal and flat human teeth into something extremely hazardous to tongues and lips everywhere.

Danny makes the world’s saddest eyes she’s ever seen. It’s very rude of him. Valerie deserves better. “But Val! I brought you lunch!”

For one, it’s six in the evening. A more apt word might be ‘dinner’. Secondly…

“I work at a burger restaurant,” Valerie points out, arms crossing over the Nasty Burger logo on her shirt for extra emphasis. “I already have dinner. I also have to be back on shift in half an hour, so if you’re not going to put your teeth away, I’m going to finally finish Don Quixote or nap trying.”

“Yeah, but you hate eating work food for lunch,” Danny points out, because he does do some very sweet things by 1) recognizing her likes and dislikes and 2) applying them liberally throughout their relationship. He holds up a weirdly large tupperware in his hands. It’s clear. It’s green.

It’s Fenton salad.

“...So my Mom packed you leftovers after I picked up stuff at the Ops Center, since she knows you like the dill vinaigrette she makes after the ectology conference every year, and she added the shredded carrot and the crumbly cheese you like since no one else in the house eats it, plus some of those little orange slices and the croutons…”

Valerie’s lips purse. Fenton salad. Her favorite.

…She takes the container from Danny’s outstretched hands, determined to ignore his smug look. Valerie prefers to be right, but higher in priority comes accepting free food from her boyfriend’s mother.

“You’re welcome,” Danny offers, smugly sweet.

“If I kiss you, will you get me with your teeth again?” Valerie asks. She’s deeply suspicious of both his motives and the timing.

“...Maybe?”

Valerie looks at him. “Change your answer.”

“...No?”

“Close enough.” Valerie draws him in, and Danny lets himself be drawn in; the kiss is sweet, and short, and tastes kind of like mandarin oranges.

He definitely had some of her salad before sharing. Whatever. It’s a good thing she likes him.

The kiss is lovely, and not very long; separating is a little harder, though, when Valerie realizes that Phantom’s tail is still wrapped around her waist.

“...Danny.”

“Mmhm?”

“I have a shift to get to.”

“Yeah,” Danny agrees, entirely ignorant to his least controlled limb holding her back.

“So,” Valerie continues, and then scratches at the fur in his tail until he flinches with recognition. “Unwrap me, please.”

“Do I…have to?”

Valerie’s look flattens. Danny makes entirely unacceptable goo-goo eyes at her.

“I have a shift in ten, and your mom’s salad to devour. Move it or lose it.”

Danny’s tail unwraps. Danny sighs, leaning in for one last peck—

Valerie feels the tips of fangs bite explicitly into her lips.

Her growl is hardly intimidated by Phantom’s rush of guilty laughter, her demon-shaped boyfriend slipping out of her fingers. Great. Now she can taste blood— the thing she was trying to avoid.

Seeing him in all of his claws and fangs and teeth and horns in daylight was always a little strange; he was never quite opaque in sunlight. He was always a touch translucent, only just shifted outside of reality.

And the stupid cow ears.

No, they're not endearing. Shut up.

It certainly didn’t help that if someone saw him turn into a demon, his whole ‘hiding his identity as a half-demon’ thing would be over! He needs to pick better spots for his random acts of infernal dramatics!

“I’m sorrrryyyy,” Phantom shouted from a healthy fifty feet away, floating in the air. It made him hard to reach, but an excellent target. “I looooovvee yoooouuu!”

No. Valerie will resist reaching into her armor for a weapon to shoot her boyfriend out of the sky with. It is rude. It is unkind. More importantly, Valerie’s not interested in having a public identity reveal behind the Nasty Burger any more than Danny is.

It’s fine. There’s other options.

“Put a shirt on!” Valerie hollers back, hands over her mouth.

Phantom’s mouth drops in the distance, little fangs glinting in the evening sunlight. His clawed hands go over his chest, looking for some perceived gap in his coverage. “I’ve got fur! I don’t need one!”

“Exhibitionist!” Valerie heckles back. “Nudist!”

Phantom squawks in offense. “Come on! I’m covered!”

“Get some pants!” Valerie shouts back, finally attracting the attention of one of her employees. At the sound of the Nasty Burger’s nasty back door creaking open, Phantom bolts off.

Good. That’s what he gets.

Temerity peeks through the back door. Her name tag is upside down, again. “Boss…?”

Valerie brushes herself off, grabs a plastic fork from where it was sitting on her ebook reader, and reclines back onto the plastic lawn chair that counts as their ‘break room’. “It was nothing, Temmie. A demon got into the dumpster again.”

“Oh.” Temerity’s countenance warms. She’d always had an interest in the local occult scene. “Did it leave anything behind?”

“Nah,” Valerie replies, popping open her tupperware. Just her lunch, apparently. “You need any help…?”

“Nope! We’ll be fine until you get back in.”

That for sure means something’s wrong. Whatever; Valerie is totally satisfied to finish off the last fifteen minutes of her shift with some literature, a bucket’s worth of satisfaction, and her boyfriend’s dismayed texts pinging in bursts onto her phone.

#phic phight #phic phight 2024 #faer fic #demon!au #gray ghost #valerie gray #danny fenton #VERY quickly uploading this on break #yes they're stupid yes they're in love yes they're antagonistic #spent all the weekend with two supermarket managers. the inspiration is so real

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torscrawls · 8 months ago

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They a Bit Confused, but They Got the Spirit

Maddie and Jack are ready to support Danny now that he's become a half-human, even though he's not ready to talk to them about it yet. He's so lucky that he has such observant and caring parents! They'll do anything they can to make sure he feels accepted and that he knows they love him no matter what, especially since turning into a werewolf must have been so scary.

Wordcount: 1,344

Can be read on AO3!

This is written as a part of Phic Phight for the prompt: Jack and Maddie knew something supernatural was going on with their son, waiting for him to feel comfortable telling them they set out to help him in subtler ways. If only they had actually gotten the species right.

——

“Maybe we should just tell him that we know?” Jack asked one night after they had watched Danny stumble up the stairs and to his room with badly hidden injuries. “This is the fifth time this month.”

Maddie bit her lip with furrowed brows. “I’m not sure he would be open with us if we cornered him like that. We really should wait for him to come to us…” She trailed off, the last few words sounding less than certain.

Jack let out a deep sigh. He knew she was right, but it was so hard to stay silent and just watch their son go through something that was no doubt very scary and disorienting. To not be there for him. Especially since it wasn’t something that was going away any time soon. Speaking of, “I think it actually might be getting worse. Have you seen how his ears have changed?”

The change had been gradual, but as his ears grew distinctly tapered and more inhuman his attempts at keeping them hidden with his slightly too short hair started to fail. Jack had begun to worry that he might have a hard time keeping his condition a secret in school—kids could be unnecessarily cruel—and had given Danny a new NASA-branded hat. He felt more accomplished as a parent than he had in years when Danny had worn it the very next day.

Maddie nodded before biting at her thumb. “Yes, and his nails… And teeth!”

Jack heaved a deep sigh and grimaced. He had seen them too; long and sharp, both nails and teeth. “He’s been trying to hide them too.”

Maddie shook her head. “Our poor baby. He must be so scared. Wasn’t it enough with the late nights and the fights, and—”

Jack placed a hand on her shoulder and she cut herself off with a shaky breath. He drew her into a hug and murmured into her hair, “But he has us now. We’ll support him, no matter what.”

Maddie nodded and leaned back to look up at him with a determined look in her eyes that reminded him of why he fell in love with her in the first place, “Let’s make sure he knows it.”

Jack agreed. He hated that Danny felt that he had to keep the whole thing a secret from them but he and Maddie had decided to support him as best they could until he felt comfortable telling them about his sudden change into a half-human.

They would do their best to support their son even though he had been transformed into a werewolf.

——

It was later that night, with Maddie and Danny setting the table with Jack cooking at the stove, when Maddie decided to try and take the first step. ”Danny, I know how much you like space. And… and the moon.

Danny put out the plates with a distracted, “Yeah, sure?”

“You know…” Maddie began, trailing off as she wasn't sure how much she should reveal that they knew. The last thing she wanted was to scare him even further away from them. “There's a full moon coming up next week.”

Danny immediately perked up, his full attention on her. “Oh, I know!” he smiled, plates seemingly forgotten in his hands. “I’m going to go watch it with Sam and Tuck.”

That made Maddie pause, hand hovering over the table where she had been reaching for the last ectogun to put away before their meal. Maddie cast a glance over her shoulder, meeting Jack's equally surprised one. Danny's friends were involved in this too? She carefully asked, “Oh, with your friends?”

Maddie picked up the gun and twirled it in her hands as she decided to be a bit bolder in her approach. If Danny's friends knew, then he was surely more comfortable talking about this than they had thought. Maybe he had just thought that they wouldn't listen. “So… They know?”

Danny put out the last plate and started on the cutlery. “About the moon? I sure hope so.”

“No…” Maddie fingered the gun in her hands. “About you?”

Danny snorted. “That I like space? Yeah, I think it’s pretty hard to miss.”

Maybe he wasn't ready to talk with them just yet. That was fine, they could wait. “Never mind. I’m happy you have friends you can trust.”

Danny smiled at her. “Me too.” Then he paused with a small frown, “Wait, what do you mean trust—”

Jack turned from the stove with a steaming, bubbling, pot and a shout of, “Dinner’s ready!”

“That looks amazing, honey!” Maddie kissed Jack on the cheek before calling up the stairs, “Jazz, honey! Come down! It’s time to eat!”

“I made sure to make your steak extra bloody, Danny-boy!” Jack said with a wink as he deposited the big pot on the table and turned back around to whisk a frying pan with steaks from the stove.

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Uuuuh, why? I like them well-done. I always have?”

Maddie placed a hand on his shoulder and said, voice as reassuring as she could make it, “It’s okay if your tastes change, you know.”

“We would support you,” Jack added with a smile and a thumbs up as he pushed aside the blueprints to the new gun they had been developing to finally catch that menace Phantom to place the pan on the table.

Danny frowned as he slowly said, “Thanks? That’s great to know.”

Maddie mentally patted herself on the back. They were making progress!

Jazz came into the kitchen and surveyed the set table, eying the green bubbling pot in the middle with a critical eye. “Oh, you’re not done with the experiments for today? I thought dinner was ready?”

Maddie waved her off with a chuckle. “No, that's just the potatoes, silly.”

Jazz grimaced as she sat down. “Right. Of course.”

They finished eating—both of their kids must have eaten too many snacks again since they barely touched the food—and as they were cleaning up Jack hesitantly asked, “So, Danny-boy. Do you want a bone?”

“What?” Danny glanced up from his phone. “I have enough bones myself, thanks?”

Maddie straightened up, fascinated. “Oh, you have a stash? Can I see it?”

Danny slowly put his phone down with a confused frown. “…Yeah? It’s called my body?”

“In your…? Ah!” Maddie laughed. “No, to eat.”

Danny squinted at her. “Why would I want to… eat a bone?”

“You know…” Jack trailed off, gesturing vaguely in the hope that Danny would catch on and they wouldn’t have to spell it out and put him on the spot.

Danny didn't seem to catch on as he slowly said, “No? I don't know?”

“For your…” Jack hesitated and sent a pleading look at Maddie but she only gestured for him to continue. It was best if they really showed that they were there for him through all of these changes. Jack took a breath and finished with—according to Maddie—admirable casualness, “Condition.”

“My what?!” Danny exclaimed in clear bafflement. The poor dear, he had probably thought that he had managed to keep it a secret from them. It wasn't his fault that she and Jack were very observant.

Maddie decided to jump in and try and sooth him. “Oh, honey, it's okay! We love you no matter what.” She gave him what she hoped was a supportive look and added, “No matter what you turn into.”

Danny gaped at her. “Wait, you know?!”

Jazz placed a hand on Danny's shoulder and squeezed. “I told you they would understand.”

“Yeah!” Jack added with vigorous nodding. “It's okay that you're a werewolf!”

Danny blinked. “I'm not a—”

Jack cut him off with a shout, “At least you're not a damned ghost!”

Maddie shook her head in horror. That would be… Unimaginable. “And thank god for that!”

“I'm a werewolf!” Danny admitted with a vigorous nod, clearly relieved to finally come clean to them. “Bark bark! Awoo!”

Jazz removed her hand from Danny’s shoulder and slapped it over her own face.

#danny phantom #dp #danny phantom fic #dp fanfic #phic phight #phic phight 2024 #my writing

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astradyke · 14 days ago

Text

MY EXPERIENCE W/ TIT TOUR (tysons 2)

( written while looping I'm Not Okay (I Promise) by MCR, and also a car alarm going off outside my dorm room repeatedly :') )

NON-SPOILER SECTION:

SO many sweet people in line. someone gave us (me, my best friend, and my other beautiful friend) custom dan & phil stickers (pictured above), there was a lovely person in cat whiskers making sure people knew the difference between the gen admission & silver line, etc. phannies have the coolest fashion sense all the sick lovely lesbians were making me nervous... <3

s/o to my best friend's running capacity we were first in merch line!!! I am so endlessly happy with my photocard haul especially the uni hoodie one that one is my FAVORITE, also I love this long-sleeve so much. I almost got more merch but I held myself back and I think that was a good call! Also a super cool phannie made custom photocards and I got a silly dan one :D

y'all already saw but I met Clo @bitchslapblastoids who is the first mutual I have ever met in real life ever! between you and me... she is super kind and also really cool :]

our seats were so good!! balcony like row F or whatever but it worked out <3 our seatmate was also very kind!!!

pre-show people danced to HOT TO GO! and someone held up a Palestine flag and we all cheered! and people were moshing to von dutch which is so beautiful to me

SPOILER SECTION:

List of favorite jokes included: "Now our show passes the Bechdel test!" "I have kind of an aloof sociopath vibe going. ... which has worked for me :)" "[I am not satisfied on screen] What was that about? // I think I was just horny that day." "Scared of my life without you when I kill you!" "Dan had depression :D!!" "Enough about the gay, we've already done the gay// Enough about the depression, we've already talked about the depression."

No "sorry daddy, I mean father" line, which is devastating, BUT we didn't get the whole 'do you think Dan Howell' can commit schpiel with the wedding... much to think about

our conspiracies were pumpkin, faked sleepless night 3, bar, and wedding! i deeply wanted the other conspiracies i am so not going to lie but it's okay...

our "one minute" tangent was about electricity, clo made a post about this but they made a God and Adam joke because Phil tried to electrocute Dan and it failed so they were just awkwardly touching fingertips for a period of time

Nothing could have prepared me for the Phil on top of Dan choking him with the llama hat thing. Like i knew it was going to happen but still nothing could have prepared me. i think i fully grabbed my best friend's arm and shoulders and shook them a bit

our confessions and like nolemodel bit were really funny shout out DMV phannies!!!

Really made me sad when phil made the joke about babysitting like NO!!! YOUR CONTENT IS THE REASON I CAN SLEEP AT NIGHT WHEN MY PARANOIA IS BAD!!!!!!!! I LOVE U HIATUS YR CONTENT PHIL!!!! But his whole thing about the hiatus being a good thing in the end because it brought us here... <333

every segment felt perfectly timed and the entire show was just so funny and good. Like ultimately i can yearn for having gotten different conspiracies or slightly different vibes but altogether it was incredible.

THE SONG WAS LIFE-CHANGING. I knew more about it thru spoilers than I had thought but either way not only was it so fucking good, like, I'm going to get I-D-G-A-F it saved me tattooed. I have decided this.

WRAP UP THOUGHTS:

I first got into Dan and Phil when I was 11/12-- my first video was post Daniel Howell rebrand, and it was Daniel and Depression, I'll give you three guesses as to why my friend at the time recommended that video. I was obviously a die-hard phan at the time, reading phic and watching the compilations and obsessed with their gaming videos. I remember being like, unfathomably depressed trying to do math homework in bed, and just 'secretely' watching their videos instead. I can remember exactly when the first WDAPTEO dropped, and like how much I wanted to go to interactive introverts but was too scared to (I think I'm glad I didn't go for personal reasons) but my friends did go. I remember I was leaving summer gym class before I started HS when Basically I'm Gay dropped, and watching it-- but I was 13 almost 14, closeted, and while it resonated with me it didn't really hit me that strongly? I remember being most taken aback by the confirmation of their relationship, and the conclusion Dan left about his own sexuality had an impact on me wrt rejecting the constraints of labels, but it didn't really hit me crazily. during hiatus years I watched solo AP semi often but so much was happening... obviously, when the hiatus returned, i came back full force. when it's summer and i can't sleep at night, I watch AP hiatus years solo content; I watched most of the Dystopia Dailys; I saw We're All Doomed's digital release w/ the same best friend I went to TIT with; and obviously, you all have seen me talk about their collaborative content. But after that time, maybe even a bit before the hiatus ended, I rewatched Basically I'm Gay. after all I went through in high school (nothing quite like his experiences, but aspects of it resonated through), that video hit me like a fucking truck-- it made me realize the inherent amount that my queer identity played in my trauma, and it like... made me really emotional lol. also, Phil's openness about his chronic illness has meant a lot especially as I battle with my own-- not chronic illness, but, physical health battles. So when they sang IDGAF it saved me, that was like fucking earth-shattering to me, because they did save me! from when i was 12 years old struggling to do work, wondering why i was so tired every day but at least having them to cheer me up-- to being 19 years old, joints aching and emotionally stressed, watching their pizza mukbang 2 and seeing how much happier they are, how much happier I am. they saved me. and i love them so, so fucking much.

On a very different note, seeing them live has colored my whole, uh, envisioning Dan Howell being trapped in my head in order to cope with my day to day mental isolation, issue, as being like... maybe not the move. so i'm trying to get more used to the quiet of my own head, but hey, over the years, they've helped a lot with that.

I wish i could have met them just to say all these things i'm realizing now, after seeing the show. but TLDR: TIT tysons 2 was the best night of my life. i love them, i love them, i love them, i love them, and i hope they know. i dunno how to move forward with my life after an experience like last night, just, God. i love you dan and phil. i love you phandom. it saved me. TIT saved me.

#astra.fave #<- for self-reference #astra.txt #dan and phil terrible influence tour #terrible influence tour #also i don't know if i had any mutuals in the line but whoever had to hear me bitch about marxist organizer drama for 15 minutes SORRY

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absolutefilthimsosorry · 2 months ago

Note

wouldn’t be mad if you wanted to rec some more… spicy fics 👀

Always up for talking about phic! (though everyone remember @phanfictioncatalogue is an incredible resource and in this house we love them very much)

Here’s a mix of short spicy fics I love (remember to read the tags)

Bruises and Bitemarks by phandomsub

Hold This Pose by yikesola

Unlatch by queerofcups

How He Wants It by Emejig16

i had died the tiniest death (i had spied the catch in your breath) by jonsaremembers

nun as good by calvinahobbes

False God by Foreverjustanemokidatheart

And a cheeky self promo because I can

#astra answers #Anon I want you to know I got distracted uh researching for this and forgot to actually reply so I’m sorry!#phan #phanfiction #phanfic #shut up astra

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phantomphangphucker · 7 months ago

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Phic Phight - Too Fine Too Be Normal

@lexosaurus @hannahmanderr @zombiemerlin

When outsiders have to deal with any member of the weirdo trio it really is best to just roll with the punches. Plus, Orson actually LIKES his techy internet buddy; so what if he’s some kind of superhero pharaoh or something?

Orson blinks at his screen, not for the first time feeling confused and baffled over TooFine’s chat comments.

TooFine: brb gotta go eat a bat, nightshade found the plant paint I covered her fruit tree in

He’s assuming what the guy means is that ‘nightshade’, TooFine’s friend, is trying to hit him with a baseball bat. Strange and extreme but at least this time he’s not claiming to have ‘accidentally fallen into another dimension’. Whenever TooFine leaves suddenly it’s always wildy outlandish stories. Certainly there’s no way he thinks Orson actually believes them right? Yes it was very funny anyways. Reading TF’s impressive imagination always made him feel a little better about life, like even if your life is simple and plain you can bring some crazy into it with your mind.

Sometimes though, it’s clear he’s actually telling the truth, like that one time they were on voice chat and Orson dad popped in to try and convince him to let him teach him how to hunt again, Orson liked meat but he had zero desire to actually go and kill things. But TF started talking guns too, apparently that thing about TF’s in person friend having parents who made weapons was very much true. TF impressed Orson’s dad, meaning his dad now approved of the friendship. At least TF didn’t bring up that ‘ectoplasm’ stuff while his dad was around, the last thing Orson wanted was his dad thinking all his online friends were crazy too. His dad definitely didn’t believe the claim that TF’s friends parents also had a modified military vehicle they used on the actual road; something about how military treads can’t be used on roads because they’re too damaging. TF followed that up with ‘our roads can withstand some pretty heavy artillery’, Orson’s chuckle and eye roll probably convinced his dad that TF was screwing around with him a little.

Either way, hopefully TF gets back in time to keep helping him with this stupid drone he’s trying to build. He’d love to be able to go get the mail without having to actually go outside, so much wasted effort when he’d rather be gaming or reading. Then he gets a voice chat request, the voice that comes through is not TF’s

“Oh shit hey, you actually picked up, wow I can’t believe he made an outsider friend. Weird”, this new teen clears his throat, “okay so, Nightshade actually might have knocked him out in a fit of rage? So he’ll be a bit- hey! No! Put that down! You don’t get to hit him again just because I’m protecting his PDA!”.

TF actually used a PDA? Such old tech? Why? Weird.

“Emilie is PINK! PINK!”.

The boy teen groans, “ugh. Goths. Anyway, while he’s out, he give you any ideas for a good birthday gift? I’ve been banned from giving him weapons or explosives, and the last time I got him a souped up hard drive he hacked the federal government and filed the presidents taxes for some insane reason”.

Orson blinks, “I think he’s been talking a lot about electric cars and electric bikes? What happened after he… did the presidents taxes?”. He really just wants to know where this guy was going to take that level of bullshit.

“I’d rather ideas that don’t require me to steal my rich arch enemy uncles credit card. And eh, nothing much, just got abducted by some secret service folks up into the Appalachian mountains for some ‘one on one’ talks time. He got some new wicked scars out of it even, one looks like a hockey stick! I don’t even have one like that yet! But hey, what’s life without a few abductions here and there? The gov loves shooting me!”.

Orson makes a face, alright so were TF’s friends just as bad as him? Shaking his head, “get him a lock picking kit then, in case anyone abducts him with handcuffs or something”. What the actual hell? He absolutely has to google this.

“Oh that’s not bad-oh hey buddy! You good? No lumps and bumps? No booboos or owies?”.

“You jerk, I’m fine. Why is she still armed!”.

“Emile. Is. PINK”.

“It suits her!”.

“She’s a black apple tree! Pink is never her colour!”.

Oh so the goth did actually name her plants, odd but not insane. And yeah, a hacker did actually do the presidents taxes… weird. There’s no way that was actually TF right? Was he friends with an actual hacker?

“Oh T I totally voice called, or whatever, your online buddy? It seemed like the chat was recent and shit so you know”.

“Man, you are way too overprotective and way too much of a mother hen for a dead guy. Gimme that”.

“Hey at least dead hens can shoot laser beams out of their mouths, way cooler than living ones”.

TF clearly has his… PDA back, “you’re still working on that ‘let me be lazy’ drone right?”.

Orson blinks, “yes, but real talk, did you actually file the presidents taxes?”.

“Oh my zone! DP you shit head! Ugh, look the guy was trying to embezzle my towns funding to buy another yacht, so I figured hey why not forcibly report all his off shore accounts and that weird charity donation to a Russian network. I also might have gone after all his staff too? They weren’t impressed but I call anarchy and how was I supposed to know his people would actually not suck at tracking people?”.

“T, dude, I’m pretty sure the federal government and the goddamn president have better tracking than those G.I.W. morons”.

“Are you going to fix Emilie or what!”.

“Never”.

Orson flips through google results a little more and yeah, a ton of people got hacked for taxes… Hell Orson even stumbles on a whistle blower data leak about ties to Russia that he nopes out of real quick. “TF bud, that’s super concerning”.

“Heh. Fair enough and- oh shit!”. There’s an actual explosion over the line. “Hey, you wanna actually witness shit for a change, because good goddamn. DP! Have you been skipping sleep again! Why is the goddamn sleep god throwing a building at us!”.

What.

You know what.

Fuck it.

Orson sends the zoom invite, it’s accepted immediately. It’s actual pure chaos. There’s shouting, what looks like a sentient star cover blank wearing a mask in the sky, a glowing black and white teen throwing actual everything forbid bath bombs at the thing in the sky. TF looks like he’s from freaking ancient Egypt, with a helm on and everything. Then a bunch of glowing vines shove TF out of screen, a girl in a green and black body suit with a freaking cape chasing after.

For a second he’s wondering if TF is playing a massive prank on him and somehow created a hyper realistic superhero show set up. The… PDA is pointed up at the sky as the voice of the guy who started the voice chat shouts, “I HAVE MIDTERMS! WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO!”.

The blanket creature shouting back, “SLEEP!”.

“Oh yeah I guess I should have seen that one coming”.

Okay so. TF’s friend, whose parents make weapons, is a superhero or something? Google to the rescue.

TF shouts, “why are you stabbing me! There’s a god in the sky! Fight him!”.

“Naw, UnderGrowth actually likes Nocturne, since sleeping humans aren’t actively polluting Mother Nature”.

“Fuck that stupid grass stain”.

“I’m going to end you”.

Orson blinks at his phone, DP, Danny Phantom. A real person, in a real town, that looked like a real superhero. It’s that rumoured haunted town actually, a real haunted town. What the actual hell? Is he friends with a superhero or sidekick? Who’s also a hacker? And eats a concerning amount of meat without getting sick somehow? Has all the stories he’s been getting, and not reacting strongly too, been real??? Alright, okay, gotta play it cool self. He probably actually thought Orson was taking him seriously and has decided that Orson passed some kind of weirdness meter test. This was basically almost an identity reveal wasn’t it? Holy crap he’s involved in a real life comic book secret identity reveal.

The ‘Nocturne’ guy gets blasted into a wall, DP pelting It with eggs he got from somewhere. The Nocturne holding up a massive canister over Its head, “YOU WILL FAIL IF YOU DO NOT SLEEP!”.

“Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit”, TF comes sorta back on screen, grabbing up his PDA, the ‘facial markings’ don’t look like make up, it looks like it’s part of his skin. “Okay okay, so that right up there is a massive thing of halothane vapour from the looks of it, fun. So we’re all probably gonna pass out here, feel free to disconnect if shit gets boring”.

Orson squeaks a little, “boring? You get up to some insane shit. Why is a… sleep god? Trying to knock y’all out?”. Roll with the punches, gotta roll with the punches. Freak out later.

TF snickers, “DP doesn’t get enough sleep and has been frustrating this ghost since he formed. God’s am I right? Ha!”.

“Get back here you!”.

“Oh for crying out loud! I’ll fix your freaking plant okay! Ugh!”. TF gets smacked into a wall all by the plant girl anyways.

Orson eyes the parts of his drone before looking back to the screen, “why are you helping a random friend you made, build a drone when this crap is going on?”. Because it seriously has to be asked.

TF uses sand to push himself out of the wall rubble, “eh, normalicy is nice and shit, plus you’re impressively chill. I bring up sneaking into a death gods liquor cabinet and you just give me a ‘that’s nice, have fun. Don’t hospitalise yourself’. Sure, Red’s chill but she’s more DP’s friend”, smirking, “and his ex, plus she rides a hoverboard and shoots ghosts so…”.

Oh okay, so there’s a fourth one. This is completely insane. Whelp. Guess he’s in it now though. Orson shrugging, “I’ve always been a pretty laid back guy, though this is definitely the craziest thing I’ve seen. Way worse than that chic on drugs or something who was trying to bite people”.

“Oh yeah drugs are bad, way worse than hacking regardless what the government has to say about it”.

Then the canister explodes, giving Orson a serious anxiety spike as bits of metal impale in things and gas starts going everywhere. DP actually does a comedic salute in the air before just falling to the ground. The Nocturne guy looks very pleased with Itself and actually wraps around the probably unconscious teen, hissing at the plant girl when she tries to approach.

TF cringing, “stupid obsessive ghosts. DP looks like he’s been bent like a shrimp”, TF moving his PDA camera and yeah the black and white teens position is kinda shrimp like.

All Orson can think to say is, “great, now I’m hungry”.

TF laughing while hurling a fist full of sand, “HA! Yeah sushi would be great right now”.

“You disgust me”.

“NONE SHALL DISTURB HIS SLUMBER!”.

Was it normal for ‘villains’ to seemingly baby heroes? Because that’s what this looks like. Nocturne literally just wants the black and white teen to sleep, that’s it. Weird. And then freaking pillow monsters??? Start storming the screen, TF and Nightshade/plant girl doing battle with them. The zoom gets cut out so Orson is just going to assume the device got broke.

…

Okay.

So.

That happened.

One question, well many really, but why is someone so tech focused going with a freaking Egyptian theme? Nightshade made sense, he’s pretty sure even her ‘code name’ is actually a plant. And DP was, well, a literal ghost so the Phantom name made sense. Weird that ghosts were actually real still. Yes he’s seen some stuff about them on the news occasionally but it still seemed so far fetched. And he’s pretty sure he saw some people dressed up as DP at last years comic con.

Weird.

Very weird.

Well. Nothing for it now. So he sends TF a message asking if he’s good. It takes multiple hours but….

TooFine: we’re good, DP’s still out cold and has been abducted into a sleep gods lair but like, we good. Sleepy Blanket won’t try to skin him like some people.

OriOri: that’s good? I mean, his skin would probably make a poor blanket?

TooFine: HA! Thats the kinda joke DP would make! He’ll be proud

TooFine: he’ll be proud whenever he wakes up

TooFine: and when Sleepy Blanket stops acting like a crazy dragon protecting its horde

TooFine: and when he finds his way back to the land of living

OriOri: it’ll be a while

TooFine: good. He really should sleep more

TooFine: the dumbass

OriOri: if he gets so little his pissed off god then yeah. That’s impressive actually

TooFine: you have no idea. Anyways, tots sorry for dipping on your little project. I’d offer Techy’s services as make up but he’s an idiot with newer tech

Orson has no clue who that is and isn’t going to ask.

OriOri: at this point I’m more curious why the heck you went with an Egyptian theme for a guy who hacks the federal gov and makes visual horror games

TooFine: eh, it would be kinda weird if a reincarnated pharaoh wasn’t Egyptian themed, you know how it is. Technically you don’t but you know you know

Orson sighs, this was so weird. But he is so not going to let on that he never believe the shit TF said.

OriOri: I guess? Now do you know how to better connect female usb c to an hdmi, cause it’s pissing me off

TooFine: *snort*

TooFine: but of course I do. Debendint on how far you need the connection to work you might have to bike something from scratch. I tots got blueprints and they are definitely not stolen from the fbi terror investigations unit. Definitely not.

Orson was probably going to get arrested one day because of this, but screw it, TF was fun to talk too and made his mostly boring life more interesting. Not interesting enough to ever consider moving to the guys nightmare town though. Not a chance in Hell.

End.

Prompts: Tucker fucked up. Hard. But it’s like, how the hell was he supposed to know that hacking the federal government was a bad idea? Nocturne takes a liking to Danny and decides to help teach him a lesson, whether Danny wants it or not. Outsider POV. Tucker makes a new online acquaintance, and will casually allude to the crazy shit he and his friends get up to while ghost hunting. The new acquaintance thinks Tucker is just embellishing the truth, until…

#danny phantom #phandom #danny fenton #tucker foley #oc centric #pov outsider #have a fic suck my dick #phantomphangphucker #my writing #phicphight24 #phic phight 24 #phic phight #phan phic #fan fic #pharaoh tucker #plant queen sam #hacking

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five-rivers · 8 months ago

Text

Velveteen

Phic phight for @bibliophilea !

It was rich, velveteen black, strewn with diamond dust and the distant, misty gauze of nebulae. The Earth and moon were both crescent-shaped far below, their curves and colors bright with reflected sunlight and the twinkle of cities. The silence up here was complete, a rarefied and encompassing peace. At the same time, the gentle fizz of ectoplasm exposed to vacuum prickled over her skin.

Dani could understand why Danny liked it.

The cold. The quiet. All fears made irrelevant by distance and enormity. Everything was so big. Everything was so small.

Danny flew up next to her, beaming, already back from his tour collecting the space junk from this particular segment of orbit. He created a bubble shield around The two of them and filled it with a haze of ectoplasm.

“Well? What do you think?” he asked. His voice sounded off. Ectoplasm wasn't air.

“It's cool,” said Dani.

“I know, right? Can you believe we're only, like, a hundred miles up? That's like driving to Chicago.”

Dani had been to Chicago before. She hadn't driven there. Or driven anywhere, actually. Flying was better, but boats were also good.

Flying straight up had also been a good deal less interesting than flying to Chicago.

“You'd think more stuff would be here if it's only as far away as Chicago is from Amity.”

Danny shrugged. “Up is hard. But not for us!” He did a little spin. “If it wasn't for the Anti-Ecto acts, we'd totally be shoo-ins for NASA. We'd save them so much money.”

“That could be fun,” said Dani, looking out past the shield, at the stars. “Working together.”

Danny gently nudged her shoulder. “You don't have to force yourself, you know. Sam and Tucker aren't clamoring to find a way up here.”

“Yeah, but I'm your sister.” And she was supposed to be him. She'd be lying if she said it didn't make her feel… less real.

As Jazz had told her ages ago, trauma didn't disappear overnight.

“Jazz isn't here, either. It's okay.”

For a second, Dani wondered if he had read her mind, bringing up Jazz like that, but then she put Danny's statement back in context.

“It is cool. Being out here.”

“It's okay if you don't like it.”

“I do like it.”

“Dani, I'm not going to love you less just because we don't have the same hobbies.”

Well. What was she supposed to say to that?

It was officially getting too serious and sappy around here.

Dani let out a very put-upon sigh. “It is nice. But it's so empty. And it took an hour to fly here.”

Danny's smile was soft, understanding. “A bit much, huh?” He settled back against the curve of the shield. “What would you like to do, if it wasn't for the Anti-Ecto acts?”

“I don't know,” said Dani, floating down to rest beside him. The shield and ectoplasm made the stars twinkle and blur again, but it was more comfortable to see them this way. “Marine biology, maybe. Or ocean wildlife rehabilitation. Those sound cool.”

“Huh. Maybe our next field trip could be to the bottom of the ocean.”

“Oh, yeah, that sounds cool. Not that this isn't, I mean–” She felt the tips of her ears flush with ectoplasm.

Danny started to laugh.

#danny phantom #phic phight

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lavendarlily · 8 months ago

Text

yeah of course my first fic for @phicphight is gonna be crack

for the prompt that wasn't a prompt by @faeriekit

am i doing this right?

prompt: PR096 - No prompt, just a note; I can't guarantee I understand the format of the prompts required here.

words: 777

click here to read on ao3

jack stumbles across something troubling, but finds the light at the end of the tunnel.

Finally. He had the house to himself. Jazz was at a study group, Maddie went to test some weapons in the field, and Danny… well, all Jack knew was that Danny wasn’t home.

Jack loved his family - so incredibly much that it was a miracle you could fit all that love into one man (even one at Jack’s size). Yet between the needs of his children and assisting his wife with her inventions, it was difficult to find a moment for himself. Believe it or not, Jack Fenton did in fact have interests and hobbies outside of ghosts. It was just hard to make time for them, and boy was that new yarn burning a hole in his crafts closet, just waiting to be used. First, there were a few techniques he wanted to research before really digging in.

He fetched the laptop from the basement, and grabbed a soda from the fridge on his way to the living room. Jack settled in, feet resting on the coffee table since Maddie wasn’t home to tell him otherwise. He opened the computer, and groaned to himself when a myriad of open tabs took over the screen.

He’d told the kids so many times! Close your tabs after using the computer! He was always afraid of accidentally closing or deleting something they needed or hadn’t saved. There was also a sense that looking through their history was an invasion of privacy, but whoever had used the computer last would have to give up that privilege. He carefully clicked through the tabs, making sure there wasn’t anything potentially important before exiting out of each one. At least his kids had been doing their homework - Shakespeare analyses, essay writing tips, and hey! They’d found a tutor through some site called ChatGPT that was helping them with their assignment.

He was almost done, ready to dive into video tutorials on achieving the perfect cross-stitch, when he paused. Though Jack tried not to linger on a page longer than he deemed necessary, this one caught his attention. An all too familiar face stared back at him - multiple faces - arranged against a blue background. Jack squinted his eyes at the search bar, reading it aloud.

“Tum-bl-er,” he said slowly. What the hell was this? Jack was certainly concerned at the amount of Phantom propaganda on the screen, leading to an even more troubling question: Which of his kids had fallen under the ghost boy’s spell to have ended up on a hell-site like this?

He scrolled through post after post of photos taken by Amity Park locals, elaborate drawings of the ghost kid, musings of his origins and whereabouts and… oh gosh… love-life. Who were these people worshiping Phantom like this? And why was Jack still looking at it?

It was like a car crash - he couldn’t look away. However, this led him to one post that finally gave Jack a semblance of hope.

Phic Phight.

Jack knew he was no genius, but he side-eyed the misspelling and continued to skim through the rest of it. Fighting was all he needed to hear, especially if there was a group of people who idolized Phantom like… this. The ghost kid needed to go. These people needed to be saved from his manipulation! The words “Team Human” jumped out at Jack from the text, and without needing any more convincing that this is where he needed to be, he clicked the link that led to where he could sign up.

He skipped through all the boring information and went straight into entering his information. There were a few questions he didn’t know how to answer, but he was Jack Fenton! Anyone who was organizing against the ghost problem that plagued Amity Park knew where to find him.

There were only a few questions left, labeled as “Prompts”. Jack wasn’t too certain what it meant, but he could only envision it as where to leave suggestions for the best ways to defeat and capture Phantom. He entered the words electrocute, net, and Fenton Bazooka. He felt a little guilty for not understanding the entire gist of what was going on, so he also left a quick note for the organizer in hopes they would be forgiving.

Jack clicked the submit button at the bottom of the page and smiled to himself. He couldn’t wait to meet all these other folks interested in the well-being of their town. Team Human. It had a nice ring to it. He’d be sure to let Maddie know when she returned - who wouldn’t want the Fentons on their team?

And maybe… he could even get his boy Danny in on it too.

#danny phantom #phic phight #phic phight 2024 #lavswordvomit

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phanfictioncatalogue · 3 days ago

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Jealousy (6) Masterlist

part one, part two, part three, part four, part five

Advent Calendar 2021 (ao3) - Phantje

Summary: Phil lives and works in a town in the North called Lylchester. Well, 'works'. He does charitable things in the name of being nice and his (adoptive) parents. Things are fine. Yeah. Fine. Meeting Dan who has strong opinions about peculiar things shakes up Phil's life and he is falling before he can help it.

Dan lives and works somewhere, or anywhere really. By fate, or call it the British Railway train running times, he ends up in Lylchester. Before he can help himself, he has made the first real best friend he has ever had - Beatrix. And suddenly, life does not seem so difficult anymore. Dan appreciates the work he can do, even if it has him interact with the rich idiot Phil more often that he would personally choose.

am i a joke to you? (ao3) - catbearbunz (bunnieovadamoon)

Summary: aka dan makes a friend with another phil and phil reacts accordingly. (poorly)

aka a silly drabble inspired by phils recent tweet i made instead of working on real phics

Borderline (ao3) - chiridotalaevis

Summary: Dan and Phil Rize Show (August 14th 2018):

D: It’s just because he’s used to having dozens of people having massive gangbangs and doing drugs, while we’re like, let’s play Mario Kart…

P: Speaking of, not gangbangs, but drugs, we went through the border into Canada on a bus…

D: Right, that’s going to be used out of context.

[…]

D: There was a guy from Canada, who was called Chan and he was our border agent.

P: Yeah, Dan loved Chan.

get to heaven in our own sweet time (ao3) - jonsaremembers

Summary: Dan and Phil choose their costume for Halloween 2024. Yeah, it breaks the internet, but they only have eyes for each other.

Daprè Ski (ao3) - duckcrab

Summary: Dan thought he’d made himself clear.

“No skiing,” he remembered saying. “Neither of us are coordinated enough and I like your neck too much just the way it is to see it get broken.”

For Your Eyes Only (ao3) - yikesola

Summary: Despite what the jealousy clawing out from his gut had him say, Phil isn’t his. Phil isn’t his so much so that someone’s flirting with him on Twitter. Someone who, for once, isn’t Dan. Or at least, that’s what Dan’s nerves have convinced him.

A fic about spirals and uncertainty.

Glitch (ao3) - Anonymous

Summary: Phil wrote a movie screenplay

Heat (ao3) - blossomsphan

Summary: Phil has eyes for a cute waiter. But Dan only has eyes for Phil.

hot boy summer (ao3) - calvinahobbes

Summary: Dan deserves to have this time just to himself, with no one around who knows him, no one he'll feel any urge to impress, no one he'll vaguely worry will recount his exploits later. Well, no one except for Phil, but of course that's different.

Jealousy, Jealousy (ao3) - thestreaklives

Summary: Phil gets a gift from a coworker and Dan is having a hard time with it.

Jigsaw Falling Into Place (ao3) - Anonymous

Summary: Dan makes him feel wanted, loved, and confident on the good days until the good days become too sparse to be known

Keep me from you (ao3) - Thedemonqueen

Summary: Even though Dan knows he can’t date anyone ever again, he can’t help but drag Phil away from a man who’s flirting with Phil.

A hurt/comfort au I wrote to reduce today’s HIV stigma<3

Knight of Wands (ao3) - dapg_otmebytheballs

Summary: Dan does not believe in fate and destiny and fortune-telling. Dan finds the idea of fortune-telling at the same time exciting and terrifying. He definitely doesn’t believe in it though. But he’s starting to have doubts.

Dan watches Phil do tarot readings and learns something about fate.

Lightyear Groovin' (ao3) - Tarredion

Summary: In a galaxy far, far away, there’s an abundance of 70s clubs. On Krithoo, local party freak Dan Howell works as a waiter at an often overcrowded cantina, Virgo Volans. And maybe, just maybe, has an infatuation with the extraterrestrial dj frequenting their stage.

Like Fine Print (ao3) - totalincandescense

Summary: Every few weeks, Dan was given an unfriendly reminder of at least one of the many reasons why he never went outside.

The most frequently recurring thing on the list being the general existence of people.

But more specifically, the existence of people who flirted with Phil.

Like You Used To (ao3) - easybubbyy

Summary: The boys go out for drinks with their crew. Dan is a horny and clumsy drunk, and Phil is a goofy and flirty drunk. Smut ensues. Enjoy!

New year, New us: (ao3) - BlueFox1319, UnusPhanus

Summary: “Dan hurry we are going to be late, PJ and the others will be here any minute to pick us up! It’s already seven, we need to be at the restaurant by eight!” Phil yelled down the hall at his boyfriend. December 31st, New Year's Eve, every year the pair went out with friends and spent the first night of the new year together. For Dan and Phil, tonight would be a little different though, Phil had been planning this for months .

Only Cat You Need (ao3) - ByTheFire

Summary: Phil knows he shouldn't be jealous over Dan watching some cat videos, but he can't help himself when he sees Dan take a selfie with another cat on his lap.

scratch bark bite (oh, love me, i lied) (ao3) - Tarredion

Summary: Music & Drama teacher Dan Howell has a well-known rivalry with his coworker, English teacher Phil Lester.

An unforeseen event flips everything Dan thought he knew about Phil and himself on its head. Slowly but surely, the grudge withers, and the two of them cross the line between enemy and friend. But what will happen when their true intents and feelings get revealed? And was what they had ever really a rivalry? Was it even mutual?

Send My Love (To Your New Lover) (ao3) - phantasticworks (steddieworks)

Summary: Dan has some jealousy issues to deal with when he finds out Phil has had a run-in with someone from his past.

The Bongo Incident (ao3) - cosmic_angel_writes

Summary: Dan sees the ginger man flirting with Phil while playing the bongos. Dan can’t seem to get his jealousy under control. He snaps and then is faced with how much he wants the world to know he loves Philip Lester.

The Other Side Of The Counter (ao3) - CanDanAndPhilNot (enbycalhoun)

Summary: Dan needs to stop pining after his bartender, Phil. Maybe another Tinder date will help. Probably not, but he can hope.

Trapped in the dark, you found me (ao3) - Anonymous

Summary: Five times Dan felt lucky to have Phil

(we were in) screaming color (ao3) - calvinahobbes

Summary: Phil thinks he could be jealous. He turns the idea over in his mind, weighing it. He could be more jealous, angry for Dan’s lack of attention.

wear no disguise for me (ao3) - lesbaurinkos (pluginbaby)

Summary: It’s not exactly jealousy, Phil doesn’t think. Not– exactly. But he’s feeling petulant and selfish and maybe like he wants to be a little mean about this… not-Phil. This Phil who doesn’t know the half of what it means to be half of Dan.

(or: dan made a new friend called phil. am i a joke to you)

#phanfictioncatalogue #phanfiction #phanfic #phan #masterlists #jealous #jealous masterlist #jealous!dan #jealous!phil

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tourettesdog · 1 year ago

Note

hia Dog :3

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💕💗

AWWW hi Kate! Thank you ; u ;

And HMMM okay so--

Leap Before You Think

My first DPxDC fic, which is still ongoing. I work really hard on self editing this one and I'm very proud of it. Twin shenanigans have a special place in my heart and I'm excited to share where the story is going.

Halves

I have SO many plans for where this DPxDC fic is going and I'm excited to write more for it. I'm currently working on editing another chappy for it, but my ADHD has been bad so I've also been jumping between a lot of projects.

Lightning

This was the first DP fic I wrote and posted, officially throwing myself into the Phandom. It's still not complete, but it can be read well as-is I think. I hope to come back and finish it sometime soon though.

Okay

Of the fics I wrote for Phic Phight this year, this was my favorite I managed. I'm just such a sucker for identity reveals (as a lot of these show), and good teacher Mr. Lancer.

Cold Hands

This one was incredibly self indulgent and it's one of my few completed fics that's more than one chapter. Sometimes you just gotta write a ship you like cuddling and sharing emotions.

I have more DPxDC and DP-only fics up on my AO3 profile, but I think these might be my faves :D

#dpxdc #dp #danny phantom #fic recs #fic recommendation #dogrecommends #dogfics #dogreplies #phanfic #spite-sapphic-starlight

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bibliophilea · 3 months ago

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You Are Not Immune to Saltwater

Inspired by "You Are Not Immune to Saltwater" by @camels-pen

Album artwork by @skittlespoxxum

For @invisobang 2024

One moment Vlad was going about his day, the next he was surrounded by a bunch of circus performers with a sword at his throat. He blamed Daniel.

Read the phic here: ao3 | tumblr See skittlepoxxum's art for the phic here: tumblr Listen to the song here: bandcamp | spotify

Thank you, @kinglazrus, for heading and doing so much work for Invisobang! Your spreadsheet powers are phantastic, and all the work you put into Invisobang pays off! And thank you, @strawberrycamel and @underforeversgrace, for doing so much work for Invisobang! You guys helped us stay (relatively) sane!

Invisobang is one of my favorite Danny Phantom events! I get to read phantastic phic, see amazing art, and write music for it! Some of my favorite pastimes! I'm always amazed and inspired by the phenomenal work everyone puts into Invisobang!

Berry, your phic is phantastic! I love seeing Vlad get thrown into the deep end with Buggy's crew, and I love seeing him learn so viscerally that he's outclassed (and also that he's not in the middle of a hallucination XXD)!

And Skittles, I love your art! I love how well you convey the chaos of the battle between the pirates and the marines, with Vlad caught in the middle! And the cover art is excellent - I love how it captures the vibes of the phic!

I hope this music does the phic and art you guys made justice!

#danny phantom #one piece #invisobang #invisobang 2024 #danny phantom music #one piece music #danny phantom fan music #one piece fan music #fan music #music #vlad masters #buggy the clown #strawberrycamel #skittlespoxxum #this was such fun to make #i loved working with everyone on this #Bandcamp #Spotify #not a q

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dp-marvel94 · 7 months ago

Text

Becoming

Summary: Throwing up ghosts is just the beginning. First, a ghost that looks exactly like Danny comes through the portal. The memory sharing and body switching are weird. Now the portal inside him is growing and Danny is terrified of what happened once it become too big for his body to contain.

Word Count: 3,312

Also on AO3

Sequel to "An Unconventional Way to Get a Cat", Written in response to this ask I received.

“I just finished your cat acquisition portal au fix and I loved it! Missy my beloved. I can't help but imagine Danny instinctively going invisible and intangible out of sheer 'oh shit' at the end, which would NOT make either of them more calm. Ahdjfkf I also read the end note and I think I speak for everyone in that we would LOVE to hear your deranged ideas <3”

Thanks to @sun-spice for asking.

This is set staring directly after the last chapter of “An unconventional way to get a Cat.” It is part story outline, part rough scenes. But between the length and the fact that I’m really freaking proud of the ending, I figured I should post it here on AO3. It’s pretty tonally different from the story I wrote for phic phight so I decided it should be it’s own thing as well. So y’all get ready. This is going to be a ride. 😅

It begins with something big, bigger than anything else Danny has felt before pushing its way through the portal. There is a big flash of light as the ghost portal opens through him. As the light dies, Danny finds himself floating and glowing. Suddenly, he is a ghost.

His sister stands in the bathroom doorway, eyes wide with shock. Danny mirrors her expression, then after a too long pause….

“Am I dead?!”

Jazz says something, just as panicked as him. But… Danny can’t process through the screaming in his own head. His body feels… strange. Too warm and too cool. His chest is too full, despite the lightness in his limbs. And yet…. He feels better, more right than he’s felt since the Accident a week ago.

That is until Danny turns human with another flash of light. With a stumble, he lands on his feet. He stares at his ungloved hands. Completely back to normal…

“Ugh…” Something on the floor behind him groans.

The boy’s head whips to… a ghost on the floor. It looks like a boy about his age, white haired, in a… strangely familiar jumpsuit.

“What… but that’s-” Jazz, normally so sure sounding, stutters.

At the noise, the ghost's head jerks up. It… his eyes are blown wide, confused and disoriented.

The ghost has Danny’s face.

Both the siblings shout, fingers pointing, questions drilling. The ghost flinches, popping invisible and fleeing. The look on his face….just as freaked out as Danny and Jazz.

For a long while, Danny and Jazz throw out ideas about what just happened. Maybe the ghost is some kind of shape shifter? The two have no idea and no way to find out. They definitely are not telling their parents. And how are they supposed to go after the ghost?

“I can’t… Can we just… forget about this?” Danny finally says, running fingers though his hair. “I just want to finish my cereal, cuddle my cat, and go to bed.”

Begrudgingly, Jazz agrees.

But there is no forgetting for Danny. Having a ghost that looks just like him flying around the town is weird. Danny has weird dreams, as if he is seeing Amity Park from above. Weird, out-of-nowhere feelings invade at random moments. Thoughts that echo, that feel not quite like his own but somehow unquestionably are. And… memories of green swirling clouds and purple doors. Danny feels… strange. He’s felt weird since the accident but this is something else. An invisible line connects him to… something. A feeling that something vital is missing.

Despite his desperate attempts at control, Jazz’s lessons in breathing techniques, meditation, mindfulness… Danny still throws up ghosts. More animals, even… things that appear almost human. He finds himself in weird dreams of fighting ghosts… even when he’s awake. School starts and he inevitably has to tell Sam and Tucker. The trio encounter the Lunch Lady, and… Danny’s weird ghostly double. This is his first time seeing the ghost since that night Jazz found out about his condition. Looking at the ghost boy is strange. It makes his head hurt, vision oddly doubly like he is staring in a funhouse mirror. An uneasy feeling churns through his insides. Those dreams were never really dreams.

One day Danny blinks and finds himself floating above Amity Park.

“What, no.” The boy mutters to himself. “I’m not actually here.” He closes his eyes, trying to focus. “I’m in my bedroom, sitting on my bed. The blanket is soft. There’s a clock ticking on my wall.”

But… he can’t feel the bed under him, can’t hear the clock. The sound of the wind remains stubborn in his ears.

Danny’s eyes pop open. He… can’t snap himself back to reality. Danny looks down, and the nausea he feels has nothing to do with the portal in his guts. He’s actually here, floating a hundred feet above the park.

It’s..like just before his look-alike showed up. Danny shivers at the thought. His spectral double…. Did the ghost possess him (semi-possess?) him again? That’s what he and Jazz decided must have happened back then. The ghost came through the portal and was so confused and disoriented, he immediately overshadowed Danny. There hadn’t been a fight for control, no other voice in his head. The ghost must have been too weak and confused to wrestle for control, hence getting thrown out almost immediately.

This almost felt like that. Except… No, something was wrong. He felt light, no human warmth, no pounding in his chest. Before there’d been… an odd calmest. It almost made him sick, remembering how right that moment had felt.

Shaking the feeling away, Danny wobbly flew back to his house. He phased through his window to find…himself freaking out in his room.

His own blue eyes stare at him, wide with confusion. And yet… they flicker green… something behind them is eerily familiar.

“It’s…you.” “Danny!”

Apparently the ghost switched bodies with him. And his double, Phantom, is no help.

“I have no idea what’s happening.” Phantom in Danny’s body (and isn’t that a crazy thought) raises his arms. “I don’t even know who I am. All I remember is floating on the other side of the portal, guarding it. Like… the first thing I remember in a pain, a green flash and I was in the Zone in front of the ghost portal!” He shrugged, looking sheepish. “I just knew it was my job to guard it. I wasn’t very good at it though.”

Obviously not with all the ghost animals coming through.

Danny’s brow furrowed. “Why did you leave?”

Phantom shivered. “The portal… it was… calling me. Or maybe it was something on the other side. I just knew I had to come through.”

So Phantom had touched the rift. He found himself in the human world. And… suddenly he was with Danny. For just a moment there… it felt like he didn’t exist. There was no Phantom, just…

“Then we turned human and warm and I was just me again.”

Danny doesn’t know what to make of the story, his stomach twisting with a dozen feelings.

Eventually the two switch back. But now the memory, thought, and emotion sharing is even more intense. The two keep switching places. Danny fights the ghost in Phantom’s place. The ghost gets an… oddly familiar taste of Danny Fenton’s life. Inevitably, the two bond, forming an odd friendship through their efforts to hide their weirdness from the Fenton parents and the town as a whole. They find they have a lot in common too. Phantom loves puns as much as Danny does. The human boy’s love of the stars is as great as his ghostly friend’s. Music, books, movies, games. They squeeze so many shared interests into the quieter moments. Sometimes they butt heads because of how similar they are but… overall Danny is happy. Phantom feels like the brother he never had. Maybe the ghost is his twin that he absorbed in the womb. Maybe he’s just a random ghost that he was lucky enough to meet. Either way, it’s nice to have him in his life.

But, things are not all good. The portal is getting worse. More ghosts are coming through. More fights, worse injuries. Phantom’s powers are growing, including new, hard to control ice powers.

And the portal feels colder too. Danny can feel it swirling. The tenderals spread, wrapping around his bones and organs. It… shines through his skin. He can see it, a ball of neon green below his ribs. It flashes brighter, blinding him every time it opens. And… each time, the spot of light is a little bigger.

One morning, Danny wakes up to a tingling feeling on his skin. Like the occasional invisibility and intangibility he experiences when he’s Phantom but… it's pervasive, spreading from his stomach to the surface. He lifts his shirt and… the portal is there. On his skin? In his skin? Above his skin? It does not make any sense but it is there, bound to him and visible. The size of his fist, it swirls below his rib cage. He brushes it with a finger and… it is like touching his own skin. At the same time, it is like brushing cold mist. His hand sinks in, not intangible but like sticking his hand in a bucket. And he shivers. He can feel it, the cold atmosphere of the Realms on his hand… and the portal swirling around his wrist. He feels his hand brushing the mist and his mist brushing the hand. He is both hand and mist.

Danny rips his hand out, as if he has been burned. Horror sinks into him. What is happening to him?

The switching keeps happening and the portal keeps growing. And Danny is scared. He hides it from his friends and sister. At first, it’s not that hard. A shirt is enough to cover the swirling gate below his ribs. But it spreads onto his shoulder, below his belly button. He switches to long shirts and hoodies. He is nervous and on edge, avoiding his friends, changing the subject whenever Jazz asks what’s wrong.

But there is no hiding from Phantom. Not when half the time Danny’s body is his. The ghost is oddly quiet about the problem. Sometimes Danny catches the ghost looking at him, brow furrowed with thought. Phantom is closing off, acting more distant. In his eyes, something like realization, more than just the dread of death, flashes. And whatever it is, the revelation scares him.

But Danny can barely notice as the dread turns to terror. His heart races, he can’t sleep, can’t eat. Every minute, he can feel the portal getting bigger. He can feel it eating at his insides, invading them, turning them to ice and mist as they evaporate. He feels it grow and tear, burrowing deeper to replace and pull apart. And it does not even hurt. It should hurt. Being unmade, being changed should hurt. A part of Danny wants it to hurt. The portal is killing him. In the end, it will destroy him. And he doesn’t want to die. Or…

A much worse possibility screams at the back of his mind, in the way he feels the portal entrance below his shirt, can feel the small ghosts flitting through. Mutation trickles through his veins. Transformation, terrible violating change….

Down in the empty portal one night, Danny cries alone. All this struggling, all this hiding and for what? He really is going to die down here, where he should have all those months ago. The portal has spread to just above his knees, to his elbows. He can barely stand, can barely walk now. He can’t fill his fingers. But he can feel it, every inch. The portal is killing him, tearing him apart. It pulses, ready for release. And part of him wants to give in but… his friends and sister. Phantom, once simply his double, now his closest friend…. Letting the portal take him would be giving up, leaving them. But… he can’t do this, can’t keep fighting forever.

“Danny!” Suddenly Phantom is there, kneeling in front of him.

The human (Is ever human anymore, with this.. thing parasitizing his body?) blinks, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“You can’t give up.”

Danny hears the words, processes them, the same ones he’d been telling himself just second ago But… it’s too much.

“I’m… I’m scared.” He cries. Just moments ago, he wanted to let the portal rip him apart. Dying was terrifying. But… “I can’t… I can’t keep fighting it. I…” A flash of cold. Danny feels the green claw up his neck. “It’s going to rip me apart. It’s going to kill me, really kill me this time. But…” He hiccups, the sound part cry, part laugh. “What if I don’t die? What if…” A tendril curls passed his knee, half way down his calf. “I can feel it, the portal. I can feel it like… like it’s my own skin. What if it… it destroys me but I… I’m still…”

He can’t force out the words, not with the cold tickling his throat, with the tears drowning his voice. But the thought…. What if the portal destroys his body but he still exists? What if it breaks out of his fragile human sheel and becomes him? What if he becomes it? The un-living gate between worlds, trapped in his cage of metal. Without sight or sound, just… his thoughts and the ghosts swimming through him forever.

“You won’t be trapped.”

That… is not what Danny expected Phantom to say. He opens his eyes, tears cutting off in his shock. “What?”

The ghost shakes his head. “I figured it out. Why the accident made me, why you called me through.”

“I don’t understand.”

“We really should have figured it out months ago. The shared memories were a big hint. And the switching bodies.” He rolls his eyes.

“I’m.. I’m dying.” Danny’s mind is screaming, confusion growing into distress. “What are-”

Phantom takes his hands. “You are the portal. There’s no denying it now. It’s part of you. It is you.”

“No.” Pure despair crashes over him. The word echoes, more thought and emotion that sound, Danny’s throat replaced by the green.

It’s true then. A few more minutes and he’ll be nothing more than a cloud of mist, hanging in the frame. At least he’ll get to say goodbye-

“Stop that.” Phantom reprimands. “This isn’t the end. You’ll survive this.”

Danny narrows his eyes. He appreciates the attempt at comfort but it was too late for reassuring lies. Even if he wouldn’t die, this is still the end.

The ghost points up the stairs. “You will walk up their stairs in a few minutes and go to bed. You’ll go to school on Monday and the Nasty Burger with Sam and Tuck. You’ll bug Jazz and…” Phantom is crying now too. “We’ll… we’ll do it together.”

Danny feels it, Phantom means every word. He is so sure but-

“I’m your ghost, Danny. Your ghost.” So much emphasis in the words. “I always have been. Your accident made me. You made me.” Phantom’s eyes glistening with tears. “You called me through the gate. You made me, an echo, your friend. And now…” He sniffled and a soft smile bloomed. “I’m… I’m becoming something more.”

Hands still clasps, Phantom brings one of Danny’s to his hazmat suited chest. The still-flesh fingers feel and…

“That’s… that’s impossible.” Danny’s eyes widened awed.

There under his hand, in Phantom’s chest… something thumps and pulses. A steady drum beat. In Phantom’s chest, his heart beats.

“Is it really?” The ghost raises one eyebrow.

“Yes! You’re a ghost. This is-” Danny cuts off. No, of course, it’s not impossible. He’s becoming a ghost portal and Phantom is being raised back to life. His ghost is becoming human.

The momentary awe crests and Danny plunges back into desperation. “Why are you telling me this?”

His mind whirls. He imagines, Phantom as a human. Like so many times before, laying in his bed, doing his homework, going to school, hanging out with his friends. Danny can’t help but smile. The thought of his fading away and Phantom taking his life, the tastes he’d loved so much becoming real…

“No. I said… I said we’d go up those stairs together.” Desperation rings in Phantom’s voice, stronger than even Danny’s own despair.

Danny blinks. There is meaning there, significance. Phantom is begging him for something and… he does not understand.

“When I first came through the portal, we shared a body and mind.” The ghost pleads, eyes wide. “Don’t you remember? I came through and… I wasn’t me anymore. I thought… it was like I didn’t exist but… but I realized…. That wasn’t it.”

“What are you saying?” Danny begs. The portal pulses, his arms and legs consumed.

“We shared the same space and… I didn’t disappear. I folded back, back to where I came from in first place. I was you again.” Phantom says, the words airy with realization “I’ve always been you.” He squeezes the flesh hands, the desperate touch the only thing holding the green back.“You… you’ve felt it too, the link between us. We’re intertwined.”

The ghost is… right. Of course he is. Danny feels it in his….Phantom’s bones. The shared thoughts and memories. The body swapping. The shared interests and appearance. Dread, excitement, anticipation bubble in what once was Danny’s stomach. A thousand emotions but… paramount is hope.

Danny almost wants to laugh. He became best friends with himself. But…In Phantom’s chest, he can feel his, their heart pounding. If Phantom is wrong and he had just disappeared in that first overshadowing…

“But…. Phantom, what happens to you if that… if… if we…”

The ghost shakes his head. His knowing eyes say he knows Danny’s fear. “Danny, I came from you. From your death. Even with becoming… this…” He motions to his body. “A ghost that’s technically separate from you…. We’ve always been a step from being the same person. I think…. We’d finally fall back into step.”

They would fall into step… The strange sense of fullness, of rightness he’d felt when Phantom appeared… He’d felt different, not quite himself since the accident. Like something was missing. And now, the missing part is in front of him…

And yet… a last trickle of doubt, of fear. The portal quivers, wanting to overtake him. The tip of his nose disappears…

Fear darkens Phantom’s face. “No matter what happens to me, I won’t let you be trapped in the frame. I…” The ghost steels his face. “Whether we sync back into step, or I disappear, or we end up sharing a body permanently… Go back up those stairs with me.”

Danny stares for a long moment. He is just a pair of eyes now, two hands, and two feet. A part of him whispers, it would be easier to let the portal take him. At least he knows what will happen; he feels it in his mist, in the way his ectoplasm wants to expand, to grow to fit the frame. But this uncertainty…

Will he lose Phantom or become him? Was Phantom even real in the first place? Does any of it matter? But the pleading, the desperation in Phantom…. His other self’s eyes.

“O… okay.” Danny stutters, mind made up.

The boy-who-is-a-portal pulls his ghost into a hug. His portal self pulses, straining to fill its proper shape. The last of his mortality in ghostly hands… the two fragmented minds intertwine. Strings twisting tighter and tighter together. Gaps that he hadn’t even felt filling. Threads knitted into a greater and greater pattern. Ghost and human and something altogether other fall into the weave.

It… never was a choice between Phantom and the portal, the creature that was and is Danny, and is so much more realizes. It was, it is, it will be so much more. Form straining to finally become, the being that is Danny releases.

The portal explodes out, a supernova of force, yet contained by his mind. The green mist coalesses, filling the metal machine made by its parent’s hands. The gateway becomes and the new born halfa, its guardian self, floats inside.

Slowly, the halfa floats out of the bridge. He blinks for a long moment, staring at the portal, his other body. A gloved hand over his chest, heart and core intertwined. Ghostly chill in his veins and human warmth.

He breathes out and… laughs with relief. His portal self pulses with mirth, mist curling.

“I’m… I’m alive. That worked. Danny… Phantom… we did it.”

He is a ghost and he is alive. He is a gateway and he is a boy. He is Danny and he is Phantom. And he is whole.

Note: So yeah, yall know how much I love split Danny so this idea was born out of that love. If you’ve read my other words, you’ll probably notice some thematic similarities to Face to Face, hence why I never wrote this despite coming up with this idea first. Seriously, I was daydreaming about this fic while I was in grad school and supposed to be paying attention in the lecture I was TAing. 😅

The portal consuming Danny’s physical body was an interesting idea which came from free story I read on Kindle years ago. It was either a one off short story or in an anthology but I had not luck finding it. It was about a man who got a case of cancerous pocket dimension. Basically, this pocket of space appeared on his stomach and grew like a cancer, eventually destroying him. It was sad, about his wrestling with his impending death and leaving his daughter behind. About how his new part of space was being created with his life and yet he would not live to see it. He was not becoming the space, no part of his consciousness would stay. And yet, the planet that was visible through the spot, a new planet in a whole new universe, which he told his daughter about and showed her to her amazement, was named after her. A part of him did survive.

I swear the story was a lot more poignant that my explanation and I really wish I could find it but I’m having no luck. 😭

Anyway, thanks for pushing me into writing this. Feel free to tell me what you think!

#Danny Phantom #my fic #Portal AU #Danny is a Ghost Portal #like literally #eldritch danny #Split Danny

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raaorqtpbpdy · 2 years ago

Text

Splitting Images

Written for the Phic Phight prompt: Instead of giving Danny ghost powers, the portal accident lets Danny see the overlap of the Ghost Zone with the real world. This includes not being able to tell the difference between ghosts and living people. (from @pupstim)

AO3 Link

[Warnings for hospitals, bullying, and mentions of suicide]

When the portal had turned on with Danny inside, the only thought that had managed to form in his head before he was too flooded with pain to think anything, was that there was no way he would be able to come back out alive.

Then he'd woken up in a hospital bed six days later.

Maybe it was because he was still disoriented from the accident, but he didn't think hospital rooms were supposed to be this crowded. His mother was sitting by his bedside reading a science magazine, and that made sense. But there were also several total strangers surrounding his bed. An elderly man, a young woman with frazzled hair and a tiny baby in one arm, a girl Danny's age with no hair, another teenager with spiked up hair, all of them wearing hospital gowns.

"Oh good, he's awake!" said the woman brightly. She wrapped her free arm around the bald girl and pulled her into a side hug. "Not that I don't love you kids, but it's always such a shame when young people like him join our ranks."

Danny made a noise of confusion, but it turned into a cough, startling his mother.

"Danny!" She gasped, putting her magazine down right away and grabbing a water bottle off a table. She unscrewed the lid and lifted his head to help him drink some. "Here, drink up," she said. "Your throat must be dry. Oh thank goodness you're awake, sweetie, you had us so worried!"

"Who're they?" Danny groaned, lifting his chin in the direction of the strangers. His mom turned to look behind her, then back to him, her face confused. The strangers looked confused too, for some reason.

"Who?" she asked, then shook her head. "Nevermind. I have to call your dad and tell him your awake, and Jazz too." She pulled out her phone and started dialing. Once she put her phone to her ear she started talking again. "Oh, I'm just so, so happy you're awake. It was touch and go there for a while. The doctors said they were doing everything they could, but not to get our hopes too high. Even once you were stable, they said they had no idea when you'd wake up. But here you are, awake. You have no idea how relieved I am."

"What happened?" Danny asked.

"You went into the portal and—one moment, you're father's on," she interrupted herself. "I'm putting you on speaker, dear," she said into the phone before doing just that. "Jack, honey, Danny's awake! He woke up just now. Say hi, Danny!"

"Hi, Danny," the boy said automatically and she frowned at him.

"Sweetie, you just woke up from a coma. You can't be a little more serious?"

"Oh, sorry," Danny put on a stern expression. "Hello, Daniel," he said, and both his parents laughed.

"Danny-boy, I can't tell you how good it is to hear your voice," his father said. "Hold on a moment, I'm going to get Jazz!"

A minute later, Jazz was weeping over the phone at hearing her brother, alive, and awake, and already cracking stupid jokes. His mom pressed the 'call nurse' button, and let them know that Danny was awake and responsive. The doctor came in to check Danny over, and determined that he would be able to leave in two days.

Through all of this, the strangers remained. Well, more or less. Some of them left, while other, different strangers arrived. Neither Danny's mom, nor the doctors or nurses ever acknowledged any of them, but Danny watched them from the cornor of his eye. He heard them whispering. Tried to listen in.

"Is he looking at us?"

"Do you think?"

"No, of course he isn't! How could he be?"

"Well, what else could he be looking at?"

When things died down once more, Danny asked his mother again what exactly had happened.

"Oh, well, you went into the portal."

"Yeah, I remember that part," Danny said. "I think I touched some exposed wiring and completed a circuit or something. What happened after that."

"You were electrocuted," his mother said, struggling to keep her voice steady. "The portal that we thought was a dud turned on with you still inside. We all heard you screaming and rushed down into the lab. When the screaming stopped, we feared the worst, but then a few moments later, you fell out of the portal. You didn't have a heartbeat, but I performed CPR and revived you. Jazz called an ambulance. We got you to the hospital. Your heartbeat was still weak, and you were having some convulsions. The doctors managed to stabilize you. You were in a coma for six days, and then, just a few hours ago, you woke up. And that's what happened."

Danny nodded. He looked over at the strangers again.

"And who are they?" he asked, and again, she followed his line of sight before looking back at him with confusion and mild concern.

"I... I don't know who you mean, sweetie," she told him gently. "There's nobody there."

"Oh," Danny said, looking back and forth between his mother and the strangers. "But—"

"I think you should get some rest, Danny," his mom interrupted him, gently pushing him back so he was laying down in the bed again. "It's getting late, and you're still healing."

"You should go home and rest too," Danny told her. "I'm sure you haven't slept much, worrying about me. You can come back and see me in the morning."

"Well...." she looked like she wanted to argue. "Alright. Alright. I won't be the insufferably overbearing helicopter parent; I'll go home. But I'll be back bright and early tomorrow morning."

"Okay, mom," Danny said, and he closed his eyes and pretended to go to sleep while Maddie gathered up her things, kissed his forehead, and then left. After the door closed behind her, Danny waited a few minutes before sitting up and looking directly at the strangers still standing in his room. "Who are you?"

"I told you he could see us!" said the young woman. She'd been there from the beginning, only leaving for a little while, earlier in the day, before returning, still holding the tiny newborn in her arms.

"Can you actually see us?" asked a middle aged man, sounding shocked.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked, frustrated. "Of course I can see you, you're standing right there. Now, who are you? And why are you in my hospital room?"

"My name is Emily," the young woman with the baby introduced. "This is baby Pearl. That's Joseph, Max, and Lila," she pointed to the middle aged man, then to a teenage boy who'd also been in Danny's room earlier for a little while, but left and returned just a few minutes ago, and finally to a girl of about six years who sat criss-cross on the empty bed next to him.

"We're ghosts!" Lila said with a bright smile as she waved cheerfully at him.

"What do you mean you're ghosts?" Danny asked. Max started to explain the concept of ghosts to him, with utmost sarcasm, but Danny cut him off. "I know what a ghost is. I just mean, why are you here?"

"Because we died here," Max said with a scoff. "Tons of people die in hospitals, and we weren't particularly attached to anything else, so this became our haunt. Better question is, 'how can you see us?'"

"I... I have no idea."

When Danny got to go home a couple days later, he tried to forget about the ghosts. It was entirely probable that he was just hallucinating from the stress. He had almost died, after all—in fact, he had actually died for at least a few minutes, and he had every right to still be stressed about it. There was even a chance he was still in a coma, and the ghosts were just a dream he was having.

After he left the hospital, he didn't see anymore ghosts, though. Hospitals had always made him a little nervous, not as nervous as they made Tucker, but nervous. Maybe it was just the anxiety from the location that made him see things. At least everything at home was normal. Well, normal for the Fenton household, anyway. Hot dogs coming to life and attacking, Danny could deal with, but ghosts only he could see? No, thanks.

After another week of rest and recovery at home—during which he finally got to see Sam and Tucker again and they hugged him so tightly they almost broke his ribs and added another month to his recovery time—Danny's parents finally let him go back to school.

Casper High was... more crowded than Danny remembered it being. Granted, he'd only gone to high school for a week before he suddenly wound up in the hospital, but he didn't think the student body was this big. It also looked like the fifties had come back into style while he was in a coma. A lot of girls had started wearing poodle skirts and saddle shoes, and most of the guys had their hair gelled back, greaser style. Danny idly wondered if he could pull that off, or if he'd just look stupid. Probably the latter.

He guessed the kids who'd really leaned into the fifties fad were also the troublemakers, because almost all of them cut class ninety percent of the time. If they kept that up, they were bound to be held back a year. Frankly, it was amazing that they got away with it most of the time. The fifties kids were also pretty mean.

They kept picking on this one other kid with big glasses and an overbite. Danny was walking to class with Sam and Tucker, listening to Sam's passionate rant about how unethical live-frog dissections were and how she couldn't believe the school still did them. He saw a girl in a poodle skirt trip the one kid they all bullied in the hall, sending him sprawling on the ground, and Danny couldn't just stand by.

"Gimme a sec," Danny said. "I'll meet you in class."

"Huh?" Sam cocked her head. "Uh, sure, Danny." He waved them off and went to give the kid a hand.

"Are you okay?" Danny asked, helping him to his feet.

"Oh, yeah, I'm used to it," the boy responded, then he looked up at Danny's face and jumped with shock. "Jiminy Christmas, you're alive!" the boy yelped.

"What? Of course I'm—" Danny stopped himself, his eyes widening. "Wait... you don't mean you're..."

"Oh, I'm a ghost," said the boy, offering his hand. "Sidney Poindexter. And you are?"

Danny looked around to make sure no one was looking before shaking Sidney's hand. He knew that it would look crazy to any onlookers. "Danny Fenton." Sidney's hand was cold and clammy, but it felt very solid and real in Danny's own. If he hadn't been told, Danny never would've thought he was a ghost. In fact, he hadn't. For almost a week now. "So... is everyone in fifties fashion a ghost?"

"Well yeah, we... wait... you mean you can't tell?" Sidney asked, astonished. Danny shook his head hesitantly.

"You look pretty real to me," Danny said. "I'm a little new to the whole 'seeing ghosts' thing. I guess I haven't figured out how to tell the difference as well as, you know, other ghost-seers you might've met."

"Oh, I've never met anyone else like you," Sidney assured him. A fifties jock slapped Sidney on the back as he walked by so hard that the kid nearly fell on his face again, but Danny caught him. "Thanks."

"He didn't seem too surprised that we were talking," Danny observed.

"I don't think he could see you," Sidney said. "You see, I'm the only real ghost in this armpit. The only one who was human and died. The rest of them are fabrications of my curse. I'm trapped in the school, cursed to never leave, and to be bullied for all eternity."

"That's... wow, that's a major—" another fifties kid came by and kicked Sidney in the rear with a wicked laugh—"bummer," Danny cringed. When Sidney turned to look at his assailant with a frown, Danny saw the 'kick me' sign on his back and peeled it off. He showed it to Sidney when he turned back. "The jock probably stuck it to you when he slapped you on the back."

"Probably," Sidney took the sign sadly and looked at it for a moment before crumpling it up and throwing it over his shoulder. "I should know better by now, shouldn't I?" he said. "I mean, it's been almost fifty years. No one just slaps me on the back. There's always some kind of prank involved. I'm just a little washed out at this point."

"You're blaming yourself for this?" Danny asked, astonished. "Getting bullied is totally not your fault." The bell rang, and Danny realized he'd gotten so caught up talking to the ghost that he was now late for second period. "Crap, late for class! I gotta go!"

He took off running to his classroom, and by the time he got there he was wheezing so hard he thought he might suffocate. Two weeks of strict bed rest had done absolutely nothing for his already sub optimal athleticism. He doubled over, using the door frame to hold himself up.

"Mr. Fenton," Lancer greeted. "Nice of you to join us. Would you care to take a seat?" Danny put a finger up, wordlessly asking the teacher to give him a minute to recover.

"Holy moly," Sidney remarked from behind him, apparently having followed Danny to class. "Looks like you're even more of a wimp that I am."

"Gimme—a break," Danny wheezed. "I was—just—in a—coma—for a week." Danny gagged on his tongue for a moment, but eventually, he recovered enough to get back to his seat, breathing heavily as he sat down.

"Very well, Mr. Fenton," Lance agreed. He hadn't heard Sidney, and so he'd thought Danny had been trying to get out of detention for being tardy. "Since this is your first transgression of the year, and you only recently got out of the hospital, I'll let it slide, but don't deceive yourself by thinking I'll do so again. I expect you to arrive to class on time in the future."

"Yes, Mr. Lancer," Danny said, glad that he could finally get a full sentence out, however short it was.

His stint in the hospital, or more likely, the accident that had put him there, had done him absolutely no favors, physically speaking. He probably shouldn't have run in the first place, since he had something called a heart murmur now, along with some other cardiac problems that had been caused by the portal accident. The doctor had written him a pass to get out of gym for the entire year because he was apparently in danger of his heart straight up stopping if he put too much stress on it. So yeah. He'd try to get to class on time in the future.

Danny put a hand on his chest to assure himself that his heart was still beating, since apparently, he could no longer trust himself to know when someone was alive or dead, or even something else entirely. His heart thumped hard and irregularly against his chest, and he sighed quietly in relief. He kept his hand against his chest for several minutes longer, until it finally slowed, just to make sure.

"What were you in a coma for?" Sidney asked, and Danny straightened up in his seat, startled by the ghost he'd forgotten was there. Lancer was mid-lecture now, but Danny's seat was in the back row.

"Entertainment value," he whispered jokingly, glancing around to make sure no one else could hear. "But no, actually, I was in a lab accident."

"What sorta lab accident?" Sidney pressed.

"Can we talk when I'm not in the middle of class?" Danny asked back, just loud enough that Tucker looked over from the seat next to him, eyebrows quirked in concern.

"You good, dude?" he asked quietly. Danny nodded, trying to appear as normal as possible. Realistically, he knew he didn't look any different than before, but he felt like he had a big, neon, Fenton Works-style sign on his forehead that told everyone he was a freak who was talking to a ghost.

"Alright, we'll talk later," Sidney said. "I wouldn't want you to get in a pickle."

Later, during Danny's free period that used to be gym, he met Sidney in an empty classroom to talk. He told the ghost about the portal accident, leaving out most of the gory details, and explained that when he'd woken up, suddenly he could see ghosts, even though he never could before.

"Well that's pretty amazing," Sidney said. "I've never heard of something kooky like that happening before."

"What about you?" Danny asked. "How'd you end up cursed?"

"Oh... I was a coward," Sidney said.

"What do you mean?"

"I... well... back when I was alive, my life was just like this," Sidney explained. "I was the weakling, the loser, the geek. Everyone at school bullied me. They'd crack jokes about picking on me being a graduation requirement, and even goad the shy kids and the nice kids into doing it." He frowned at the floor, hands fidgeting with each other. "I went to grown ups and teachers, but none of them did anything about it.

"They told me not to fight back and wait for the bullies to lose interest, or that I should try not being so weak, or that I should toughen up and turn the other cheek. They never even tried to tell the other students to leave me alone, not one person did. Eventually, I just couldn't take it anymore," Sidney said. "I took the coward's way out. And for my cowardice, I was cursed."

"What exactly to you mean you 'took the coward's way out'?" Danny asked, though he had a gnawing feeling in his gut that he didn't really want to know the answer.

"The flagpole in front of the school is thirty-five feet tall," Sidney said. "Other kids ran me up that thing more times than I can count, they still do. One day, after I'd given up, I decided not to wait for someone else to come get me down, like I usually did. I cut the rope and just... took a dive, headfirst onto the pavement."

"You..."

"That's the coward's way out," Sidney finished solemnly. "And this is my punishment for thinking all I had to do was kill myself to escape my awful life."

"That's..." Danny didn't know what to say. He'd never been suicidal before, but he was doubly not suicidal now, if this was what happened afterwards. "That's so unfair!" Danny finally shouted. "Suffering Hell on Earth wasn't enough, now you have to suffer it in death because you did something desperate to get away from it?! That's messed up!"

"That's the way it is," Sidney said with a shrug. "And there's no changing it."

"Like hell there isn't!" Danny argued. "You don't deserve this! I'm not gonna let it continue."

"And what are you gonna do to change it?" Sidney asked, clearly only humoring Danny. "You've got a witch or a warlock who can break curses?"

"Well, no," Danny admitted, slumping, but he brightened again when he remembered what he did have. "But I've got a goth friend who's really into the occult! We'll figure it out."

"It won't work," Sidney said with a dour shake of his head. "I've been stuck here for almost fifty years. You can't end my eternal punishment with a little occult research and plucky determination."

"I can at least try!" Danny insisted. "Look, maybe it's just coincidence that I can see ghosts now. Maybe there's no greater purpose or higher calling, but even if there isn't, I can't sit here and watch you suffer without at least trying to stop it!"

"I appreciate the thought, Danny, but honestly, just being able to talk to someone who'll take the 'kick me' sign off of my back is good enough," Sidney assured him. "Even if you can't break the curse, you've already made my miserable afterlife a little better just by seeing me."

"Yeah, but I won't be going to Casper High forever. In four years, I'll be out of here, and you'll be back to suffering alone, and I'm not gonna let that happen. Not if I can help it."

"Well..." Sidney still looked dubious about the idea, but Danny could tell he was breaking through. He was giving this downtrodden ghost some hope, his first in fifty years. "Alright. Where do we start?"

The warning bell rang.

"I guess I start by getting back to class," Danny said, standing up and grabbing his backpack. "I'll talk to Sam about post-death curses later today and see if I can find anything out that might help. See you later, Sid."

"Sid?" the ghost echoed.

"Oh, sorry, it's a nickname," Danny said. "I wasn't really thinking about it. If you don't like it, I won't call you—"

"I like it!" Sidney said quickly. "I like it. It's just... I never had any friends, so no one's ever given me a nickname before. Not one that wasn't mean-spirited, anyway."

"Well, now you do," Danny smiled at him. "You shouldn't've said that though, because now I'm gonna call you exclusively by nicknames. Sid. Sid the Kid. I don't know, Kidney? Basically, I'm never gonna call you by your real name ever again." Sidney laughed and Danny waved goodbye as he walked to class, thankful he didn't have to run again.

After school, he met up with Sam and Tucker at the Nasty Burger, and he asked his goth friend about curses. She didn't have a single question before she enthusiastically launched into a rand about a book she'd picked up at the Skulk and Lurk about curses and all the various methods of casting and using them.

"What about curses after death?" Danny asked. "Could someone be cursed to, I don't know, be tormented forever in the afterlife?"

"Oh yeah!" Sam nodded, and Tucker groaned, shooting Danny a dirty look.

"You just had to get her going, didn't you?" he moaned, but Danny was more focused on Sam, rambling on about how the souls of the dead were punished for their transactions according to various cultures.

"Of course, being Jewish, I don't believe in the Christian Hell, or eternal torment," Sam said. "In Judaism, or at least the version I practice, there is Sheol instead. Sheol isn't eternal, like hell is. It's just a necessary stopping point for sinners and troubled souls on their journey to olam habah—the world to come. It's the place where they have to, like, reflect and work through the issues they had during life, and grow past them in order continue on toward olam habah."

"So like, if they were a coward in life, then in Shoal they have to learn how to stand up for themselves in order to move on?" Danny asked.

"Sheol," Sam corrected, "and sure, I guess. That's what I always thought, anyway. There's no single, definitive picture of the afterlife, so different people think of it and understand it in different ways, and believe different things. If that's how you think it works, then sure, why not?"

"Okay... cool," Danny said, looking down at the table thoughtfully. Obviously he wouldn't know until he tried, but the Sheol theory was a promising start.

"Hey, Danny," Sam suddenly said in a soft, overly kind voice. "Are you asking about the afterlife because of what happened? Is this you coming to terms with your own mortality or something like that?"

"What?"

"Because you're not gonna die," she said, gentle, but nonetheless absolutely firm. "No matter how weak your heart is or what the doctors said, you're not going to die."

"I'm not afraid of dying, Sam," he assured her. "Well, I am, but like, a normal, reasonable amount, and not a concerning amount."

"And how much do you consider a reasonable amount?" Tucker asked, side-eyeing his friend. Danny thought back to when he'd run to class earlier and spent easily ten minutes feeling his heartbeat just to make sure it was still there. Under the table, he found his pulse-point on his wrist. Still beating. Still alive.

"Uh... I would put my fear of death somewhere above clowns, and below my house catching on fire," he said after a moment, and maybe that was true, or maybe it wasn't, but he honestly couldn't have said which it was. "I was mostly wondering because now that the portal's actually working, Mom and Dad have been even more gung-ho about ghosts, and it's got me curious. Obviously, I'm not gonna ask them, though, because they'd talk my ear off about it even more that Sam would."

"Hey!" Sam complained, throwing a fry at him. "At least I wait until someone asks!"

"Which is why I asked," Danny said with a shrug. "Anyway, did you see that new game that just dropped? Doomed? It looks pretty interesting. I think I'm gonna get it. What do you guys think?"

"Oh totally!" Tucker agreed. "I already bought a copy. I haven't had the chance to play it yet, but it looks like it's right up my alley!"

"Oh yeah?" Sam asked, leaning her head in her hand. "Tell me about it. Maybe I'll get it, too, and we can play together." And just like that, the conversation had moved away from death and curses and Danny had successfully outmaneuvered his friends' concern.

The next day at school, Sidney met Danny at the front door with a smile, and Danny took him to a more sequestered area of the school where they could talk without people looking at Danny like he was going insane. Although, he still wasn't entirely convinced he wasn't going insane, himself.

"I don't know if it'll work, but I figured out something you can try," Danny told the ghost, happy to have found a possible solution so soon. "I asked Sam about curses and the afterlife, and she told me about she-uh, Sheol, I think it was, which is a Jewish thing. Basically the concept is, when you die, you go to this in-between place to deal with all your issues before you can go to Heaven... or, whatever the Jewish version of Heaven was. Sam said it, but I suck so bad at remembering Hebrew words."

"So what exactly are you saying?" Sidney asked. "I'm not Jewish, you know."

"There's no way I could've known that, but that's not the point. The point is, it got me thinking! If the reason you're cursed like this is because you were a coward, maybe the way to break the curse is to stop being a coward!"

"Oh, slice of pie, then," Sidney said sarcastically. "Are you completely off the wall? If I could just stop being a coward, I never woulda been in this situation in the first place!"

"It's okay," Danny put a hand on the ghost's shoulder and gave him a reassuring squeeze, "because, I've got your back."

"You do?"

"Of course I do! We're friends, aren't we?"

Sidney smiled. "Okay." The warning bell rang.

"I gotta get to class," Danny said, letting him go. "During free period, okay, Sid? I'll be right there with you."

"You'd better be!" Sidney called after him as he headed to first period.

Danny's free period came with Tucker moaning about how lucky Danny was not to have to do P.E. anymore, and Danny split off when his friend got to the locker room. Then he made a beeline for Sidney.

"So what's the plan?" the ghost asked him once they were away from prying eyes.

"We go to the cafeteria, and then when someone tries to bully you, you call them out," Danny said. "And I'll be there for moral support."

"Okay, but... what do I say?"

"Oh, you know this one," Danny waved a hand flippantly. "Just say what you've always wanted to say to a bully."

"I've never wanted to say anything to a bully that they'd whomp me for," Sidney answered flatly.

"Okay, how about this," Danny proposed. "Imagine that instead of being bullied yourself, you saw somebody bullying me. What would you say then?"

Sidney opened his mouth, and then snapped it shut, blinking thoughtfully. "I think then I'd give 'em a piece of my mind."

"There you go! Now, come on! Time to put the plan into action."

"Right!" Passing period was over, and the two of them went to the cafeteria without running into anyone living.

As soon as they walked in the door, someone stuck their foot out to trip Sidney and he stumbled. His first reaction was to hang his head and keep walking, but Danny cleared his throat meaningfully and gestured to the bully. Sidney nodded, stood up straight, and turned around to face him.

"Hey!" Sidney yelled. "Y-you'd better quit picking on me!"

"Or what?" the guy scoffed. Sidney looked at Danny for help, and Danny gave him a thumbs up and gestured for him to keep going.

"Well I... I hate bullies!" Sidney shouted. "Y-you'd better lay off or I'll see how you like a t-taste of your own medicine!" Danny mimed shoving someone, and so Sidney copied the motion, shoving the guy who'd tripped him against the wall. Sidney's mouth gaped in astonishment. He couldn't believe he'd actually just done that. He squared his shoulders and looked the bully right in the eyes. "A-and there's more where that came from!"

Despite the stammer, Sidney had actually done it. He'd stood up to one of his tormentors, and he hadn't gotten walloped for it, either. Rather, all the other ghosts in the cafeteria cheered.

"Yeah! Stick it to 'em Poindexter!" one girl shouted. Another whistled and whooped.

A smile found its way onto Sidney's face as the vestiges of classmates who'd once driven him to take his life encouraged and congratulated him. Sidney looked around at all the clapping hands and proud faces as the other ghosts started fading away, one by one. His eyes finally landed on Danny, clapping with the rest of them, and even more proud.

"You did it, Sid!" Danny congratulated, stilling his hands as the clapping died off. "How's it feel."

"It feels damned good!"

"Haha!" Danny rushed forward and hugged Sidney tightly. Upon letting his new friend go, he couldn't resist flashing a smug grin. "Am I the best curse-breaker, and greatest friend ever, or what?"

"You absolutely beat all!" Sidney agreed.

They celebrated by taking a walk around the block. Now that the curse was broken, Sidney wasn't stuck inside the school, and he could go wherever he wanted. Danny showed him all the things that had changed nearby since 1958, and Sidney pointed out all the ghostly things Danny hadn't realized were ghostly.

"Can you see that motorcycle, and that couple?" Sidney asked, pointing to a bike parked on the street and a punk couple canoodling as they leaned against it.

"Yeah," Danny said. "Wait, are they ghosts too?"

"Yup," the ghost confirmed. "What about that house?"

"That wasn't always there?"

"I dunno, but it's definitely a ghost house."

"I thought I could only see like, ghosts, not ghost houses and ghost motorcycles and stuff," Danny said. "I didn't even realize."

"You said that you were in an accident in a portal to the Ghost Zone," Sidney recalled. "Maybe that accident allowed you to see the parts of the Ghost Zone that cross over into the real world. I was stuck in a Ghost Zone version of Casper High, which is in the real world. That house must exist in both the real world and the Ghost Zone. That couple probably died in Amity Park."

"So... what exactly does that mean for me?" Danny asked. "Am I supposed to help all these people work through their issues and move on fully into the Ghost Zone?"

"I don't know," Sidney said. "I think no one knows what they're supposed to do, really. I didn't know I was supposed to stand up for myself. You don't know what you're supposed to do with your new ability. Maybe the only thing we're supposed to do is our best. Maybe all we're supposed to do is try."

Danny nodded, considering. "Yeah... I can do that."

#phic phight #phic phight 2023 #fic #things i wrote #danny phantom #dp #danny fenton #sidney poindexter #dp au #suicide tw

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duchi-nesten · 2 years ago

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Right?

Summary:

After a talk with Jazz, Danny realizes that he maybe kinda procrastinated confessing his feelings for Tucker. Just a little bit.

He was waiting for the right moment, okay!

Wordcount: 4135 || AO3 Link

My first phic for Phic Phight using the prompt by @hpwot !

Danny had wanted to tell Tucker that he had a crush on him the day of the accident. It never went away, but in all the chaos since that day, he's never been able to just say it out loud. A talk with Jazz helps, there's never going to be a right moment, he just has to do it.

Also first fic I have written in literal years, so I hope it’s alright! The plot has escaped me so many times it’s unreal lmAO

She knew.

Danny knew very well that Jazz knew. Of course she knew. She was always incredibly perceptive and caring. All she had to do was look at him to know something was up, reading his emotions like an open book. She was a very loving and overprotective sister and that is exactly why she just couldn’t keep her annoying nose out of his business.

She tried to corner him for a few weeks now, but he always managed to give her the slip. Sometimes even using his ghost powers to do so. Yet Jazz wasn’t known for simply giving up. No matter what he did, Danny knew that sooner or later he would be dragged into an impromptu pseudo therapy session with his sister.

He could at least try to prolong the inevitable though.

He was down in the lab on a Tuesday afternoon. His parents have finally had enough of waiting on him to start on his chores, so they threatened to ground him if he didn’t do it today. Not the worst thing they ever threatened him with, but still.

He was scrubbing on a very persistent ectoplasm stain when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Danny turned around just in time to see his sister descend the last steps into the lab.

Oh Ancients, here we go.

‘’What do you want, Jazz? I’m cleaning.’’ he stated flatly, turning back around to the stubborn piece of ectoplasm. Why was it not coming off? Maybe he should add more peroxide to the cleaning mixture?

He started making his way to the bucket and cleaning supplies laying on a counter in the corner of the lab, but was stopped when Jazz moved to stand in his way.

‘’When are you going to tell Tucker about your feelings?’’ she asked with a pointed look, arms crossed over her chest.

Ah, cutting straight to the chase. She was probably making sure to not give him any chance of running off again. Though it’s not like he would run off this time. He had to clean this god forsaken lab and she knew that. It was exactly why she came down to torment him right now when he couldn’t leave.

Only thing left to do was play dumb.

‘’Who’s Tucker?’’

Okay, not that dumb.

Judging by the flat stare he received from her, Jazz was not amused by that answer either.

‘’I don’t know what you’re talking about.’’ he tried again and made a point to not look at her while he swiftly slipped by to get to his bucket. ‘’I don’t have any feelings. None at all. Ask mom and dad, they’ll agree.’’

‘’You’re not fooling anyone, little brother.’’

He knew that very well. He knew he was extremely obvious about it, Sam has already pointed it out to him on multiple occasions, thank you very much.

That didn’t mean he would let Jazz meddle though.

‘’Just leave it Jazz, it’s none of your business.’’ he huffed and for a while the lab remained silent. He focused on adding more peroxide into his cleaning mixture instead and …oh great the bottle was empty.

He looked around for something else he could use. There was a can of SpriteTM on dad’s working bench. If it’s carbonated would it bubble like peroxide? He needed something that bubbled right?

Yeah, that sounded about right, it could work.

‘’You should tell him, you know.’’ Ah right, Jazz was still there.

He turned around, ready to tell her to get lost again, but stopped when he saw the look she was giving him. Her gaze was softer than before, a little smile on her face. Almost as if she knew something he didn’t. But behind that was also determination. She was tired of his bullshit and would not let him off the hook this time around.

He sighed loudly, throwing his head back in a dramatic fashion. He put the cleaning rag away knowing that he couldn’t avoid this conversation any longer.

‘’Yes I know.’’ he admitted, still slightly irritated. Taking off the cleaning gloves and throwing them on the counter, he fully faced his sister. ‘’I want to tell him. I’m going to. I’m just… waiting for the right moment.’’

‘’And how long have you been waiting now?’’ she asked raising one of her sharp eyebrows skeptically.

‘’...Since… around the accident?’’

It wasn’t just around the accident. It was specifically on the day of the accident, but she didn’t need to know that. He was supposed to tell Tucker all about his little crush on exactly that day. He often wondered, if the portal didn’t decide to fry him, would he have confessed already? It was the plan after all.

In his defense the accident complicated everything by a lot. Becoming half-ghost was a terrifying experience at first. Not even mentioning all the ghosts that started attacking the town shortly after. There was always something else to worry about.

So yeah he kinda procrastinated confessing his feelings. A little bit. Death does that to a mf.

‘’Danny! That was over a year ago!’’

Okay, he might have procrastinated slightly more than just a little bit. Sue him.

Now it was Jazz’s turn to sigh loudly. She uncrossed her arms and moved to sit on one of the metal tables.

‘’There’s never going to be a right time you know.’’ she said beckoning him to sit beside her.

‘’What?’’ he gruntled, begrudgingly following her lead. They were really going to talk about this while sitting on a table he might get dissected on one day. Joy.

‘’Tell me now’’ she started putting an arm on his shoulder. ‘’when you think of a right moment, what does it entail?’’

‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’What would you call a right moment?’’ she tried again.

He considered her question for a second.

He’d definitely want them to be alone for this. It’s personal after all and he’d rather spare Sam from witnessing this. No matter how many times she said she can be there for him as mental support whenever he gets the guts to do it. (Which he did have, by the way.)

School was unquestionably out. Even when Sam wasn’t with them, there were still plenty of other students around. Not to mention Dash, who would not let him live this down. Besides it was school. Who does this stuff at school?

And their usual after school hang outs weren’t special enough. Like hell was he going to confess in a Nasty Burger. Or what? His stinky bedroom?

The cinema? Well they did go to the cinema often, but they went there to watch the movies. And after the movie ended it was time to either have an excited geek out session over it or diss it entirely. No good time for deep conversations.

During fights was obviously also a big no-no. After the fights? They hated their existence after fights. (At least Danny did.) He also often got hurt during those and sometimes Tucker got to tend to his wounds and-

Yeah, after fights was not the right time.

‘’Can’t think of anything, little brother?’’ Jazz’s sudden soft giggles brought him out of his thoughts.

He focused on her. He was sure he looked like a lost puppy at that moment.

Whenever he thought of the right moment he always saw some abstract concept. Something along the lines of you’ll know when it happens. Tucker was important to him, he deserved the best god damn confession. A perfect one, like in those romantic movies they watched sometimes in secret.

But as crazy as his life may be, it wasn’t a movie. And now that he thought about this from the perspective of actual real life…

‘’No moment will ever feel right, Danny. I know you’re scared-’’

‘’I’m not scared.’’ he reacted on instinct.

‘’-but open communication is very important, not only in romantic relationships, but in platonic ones as well.’’ she stood up from the table to stand in front of him instead. Putting both of her hands on his shoulders, she continued;

‘’If you want your friendship with Tucker to be healthy you need to talk to him about your feelings. No matter if he feels the same way or not. You can’t put it off forever.’’

He wasn’t going to put it off forever. Only until the right moment. Which apparently might never exist.

‘’You just have to do it.’’ she shook him a bit for emphasis.

Danny scrunched his face and looked away. He hated when she was right.

He did just have to do it.

He still wasn’t going to do this at school or the Nasty Burger though. He had some dignity.

It wasn’t until a few days later when a true occasion presented itself.

It was a Saturday, he and Tucker decided to sneak some of his parents' inventions up to his room. Finally try to find some way of making them ignore his ecto-signature like they did with the specter deflector. It was way overdue at this point.

It would be very nice to not get attacked by his own parents for once. Plus Tucker looked cute while he worked. Danny almost got his fingers caught in the lock of one of the guns while staring at him with his tongue out in concentration. He always did that when focused hard on a task. Idiot.

Danny even had a thought to confess right at that moment, but they were actually doing something important. He couldn’t interrupt their work, right?

Yeah, exactly. He could tell him later.

With that in mind he continued unscrewing another metal plate from yet another device before handing it to Tucker, who worked his hacking magic.

They didn’t even notice that it got late, too invested in their work. The sun had long set when they sneaked the last of the updated equipment back into the lab. Danny offered Tucker to just stay the night over if he’d like and after a quick call to his parents they were pulling out the inflatable mattress.

‘’I swear to god whoever lost our pump will pay for this.’’ Danny ranted before taking a deep breath and continuing to blow up the mattress. No one in this family has seen that god forsaken pump in years now. His parents always said they’re gonna buy a new one, but no one remembered to do that until the mattress was needed again. Which was always too late.

Actually, how did his inventor parents not have a pump in the lab?

All this blowing was making him dizzy. He paused and took a look at the barely half blown mattress spread across his lap and the floor. This was going to take ages.

The fact that Tucker was laughing at his misery didn’t make it any better.

‘’Don’t faint on me dude.’’ he chuckled from his position on the bed. He was watching Danny struggle while scrolling on his phone and refused to help him whatsoever. ‘’You’ve got so pale in the past 5 minutes, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.’’

Danny would punch him if he didn’t think that his giggles were adorable. And also because he was wearing glasses. You don’t punch people with glasses.

‘’Actually, why am I doing this?’’ he asked instead, raising the corpse of a mattress by its valve. ‘’It’s your bed for today.’’

‘’Because if you don’t provide me with a comfy place to sleep I’ll just steal yours.’’ he said that while cuddling up to Danny’s pillow like it belonged to him. ‘’But here, I can help you stay awake.’’ with an evil grin he shoved his socked foot right in front of Danny’s nose.

‘’wHa- DUDE-’’ Danny yelled startled. It reeked so bad. ‘’Get it out of my face, do you want me to fully die?’’ he pushed the foot away but Tucker just moved it back in front of his face. While Danny was busy wrestling with his leg, he swiftly took off his other sock and threw it at him unexpectedly missing his head by an inch.

Nevermind the glasses. This was clearly a declaration of war.

Danny turned intangible to phase through the attacks. The moment Tucker realized what was going on he retreated, rolling off the bed from the other side. He barely managed to escape before Danny threw himself on the bed sheets that Tucker was occupying just a second ago.

‘’CHEATER!’’ Tucker screeched while he scrambled to his feet. He ran to the desk chair and put it in between them like a shield. As if that could stop someone who can phase through solid matter.

Actually, in this house it was quite a safe assumption to have. Nevermind.

Danny was about to give chase, but stopped when out of the corner of his eye he spotted something laying on the bed.

‘’Oh no, would you look at that.’’ he said smugly, picking up Tucker’s beloved phone and showing it to him. ‘’What’s this?’’

‘’...No..’’ Tucker’s eyes widened at the sight of his poor little electronic device in the hands of enemy.

‘’Looks like your phone…’’ Danny teasingly turned the phone in his hand as if studying it.

‘’Danny...’’’

‘’Would be a shame if someone… hm I don’t know… posted something embarrassing onto your techno geek forums…’’

‘’You wouldn’t dare…’’

Danny just smirked at him and started unlocking the screen. Honestly Tucker did this to himself by letting Danny know what his passcode was. And by sticking his stinky sock into his face.

‘’NO.’’

Before he even managed to sneak a glance at Tucker’s unlocked phone he was being tackled by his best friend. He stretched the arm holding the phone out and used the other one to keep Tucker from reaching out.

‘’Give it back!’’

‘’No, I don’t think so.’’ he laughed. He had half a mind to phase the phone into the wall, but before he got to do it Tucker jabbed him in the hips. Hard.

His grip on the phone faltered for a small second, but it was just enough for the other boy to steal it back.

‘’HA! I WIN!’’ he threw his hands out in victory and started coddling his phone. ‘’Don’t worry my sweet child. I won’t let that menace touch you ever again.’’ He didn’t even notice that he was pretty much sitting on said menace’s lap.

Danny did notice though. He felt his cheeks warm up while he stared up at his best friend.

Should he say it now?

…

But they were having fun right now. He can’t do it while they’re having fun. What if Tucker didn’t feel like having a serious conversation right now? It was silly goofy time…

But it was always either silly goofy time or serious ghost related issue time…

So was this a right moment after all?

It didn’t feel quite right.

No moment will ever feel right, Danny. His sister’s annoying voice rang out in his head.

Right.

‘’Uh… Tuck-.’’ he tried, but no more words came out as his throat closed up. He could hear how his heart started beating faster. His core following right after by vibrating uncomfortably out of sync. A sudden and unexpected dread overcame him out of nowhere.

What the hell.

‘’Yeah?’’ Tucker looked down at him finally realizing what position they were in. He blushed as well and quickly moved to sit beside him instead.

Danny barely noticed though. He still struggled with finding his voice, not understanding what was wrong.

Why couldn’t he just say it? He wanted to tell Tucker. He always planned on doing it. He wasn’t afraid to tell him about his feelings.

…right?

‘’Uh… Danny? You good man?’’ he heard him ask. His voice was filled with concern. Danny would feel bad for making him worry if he wasn’t busy trying to sort out his feelings.

Tucker was very important to him. That’s why he always waited for a perfect moment to confess. But he knew he could do it at any time. He wasn’t afraid to say it out loud.

Or that’s what he thought at least.

He realized now that waiting felt like a shelter. He didn’t have to worry about Tucker’s reaction if he just waited for the right moment. He didn’t have to fret change or be anxious over losing what they had if he just waited instead of fessing up.

Nothing would ever change if he put it off forever.

‘’You’re actually scaring me man.’’

Danny’s eyes focused back on Tucker. He was staring right back at him worriedly.

‘’Yeah- uh.’’ he cleared his throat. He felt like he was about to throw up, but at least he could speak again. ‘’I just… realized something.’’ Danny said, slowly raising into a sitting position.

‘’Are you okay?’’

Danny looked at his best friend and for the first time wondered if there’s even a slight possibility that he likes him back. Sometimes it felt like he did, but he wasn’t so sure now.

He never dared to think about it much. Maybe that’s what helped him keep his confidence for so long. He always knew they would be fine no matter what. They were best friends for goodness sake. Some silly feelings weren’t going to ruin that.

…

…Right?

…

Jazz was right. He was scared.

‘’Danny?’’

But she was also right when she said that he just needs to do it. He can’t hide it forever. It wouldn’t be fair to Tucker. Just say it out loud. Rip the bandaid off. Now or never.

Just look him in the eyes and say ‘’I like you.’’

…

Wait shit he actually said it out loud.

‘’What?’’

Danny quickly hid his face in his hands. Curse his impulsiveness. He didn't get to overthink it fully yet!

The room was quiet. It felt like neither of them were breathing. Which Danny probably actually wasn’t, since he didn’t need to. It was hard to tell when the silence slowly suffocated him.

He had to finish what he had started though. He was a big boy, he could do it.

After what felt like years, but was probably only a minute, Danny finally took a deep breath and lifted his head.

‘’I like you.’’ he repeated with a little more confidence. It took a lot to stop his voice from shaking. ‘’As in… you know.’’

He chanced glancing at Tucker’s face and saw his friend’s shocked expression. His mouth agape and eyes wide staring right back at him.

Danny looked away.

‘’What?’’ Tucker asked again softly, cocking his head to the side.

‘’It’s fine if you don’t feel the same way I just- I just needed to say it because well I-’’ he was interrupted before he could stutter any more.

‘’No. No no no. It's fine, I just….’’ a quick glance back at Tucker made it clear that he was unsure of what to say as well ‘’...You just surprised me, is all. Did you… realize this now or…?’’

‘’Pft. No.’’ he said like it was obvious. ‘’… I… I’ve- uhm it’s been like this for a while and I.. I wanted to tell you for a while too, but… turns out I was scared. And that’s what I realized now.’’ he explained lamely.

‘’You realized you were scared to tell me…now?’’

‘’Yeah.’’

‘’And right after realizing you were scared… you went ahead and did it…?’’

‘’...Yeah..’’

‘’What.’’ Tucker laughed a little bit. ‘’You’re dumb.’’

Danny didn’t waste a second throwing a pillow at his face. ‘’You’re dumb.’’

Tucker laughed a little bit more, but Danny could hear a slight nervousness in his voice. They were quiet for another second, but it was only getting more awkward again.

He told him. It took all his courage (or more like impulse) to say it out loud and he did. What else was he supposed to do? This was not how he imagined it to go at all. He was supposed to be confident god damn it.

Tucker looked like he wanted to say something, but struggled. Great, Danny made him uncomfortable.

Good job, Fenton. You ruined it.

It was time for his favorite coping mechanism. Ignore it and pretend nothing happened.

‘’Anyway… uh… gotta finish …with the mattress.’’ he started climbing out of bed, picking up the abandoned piece of vinyl monstrosity.

Tucker didn’t say anything. He just continued looking at him as Danny sat down on the floor, back turned to the bed, so he didn’t have to look at him.

It was another few minutes of silence. The only sound being Danny slowly blowing up the mattress and some small fidgets from Tucker.

Ancients, he shouldn’t have said anything. Should’ve just kept it to himself. And now Tucker had to spend an entire night here too. Should he offer him an escape? Offer to fly him home so he doesn’t have to be here and be awkward with Danny? Or would that be more awkward?

Really he should’ve at least waited until morning. No such thing as the right moment, screw you Jazz. He could think of at least 3 better moments than this.

‘’Danny?’’ Tucker said weakly. Danny flinched a little bit at the sound of his voice, but slowly turned around to face him.

‘’Yeah?’’

They once again stared at each other for a while. This time Tucker broke eye contact first.

‘’I-uhm… like you too…’’

…

What.

It was Danny’s turn to be shocked. He just continued staring. Blinking. Absolutely dumbfounded.

‘’Oh. Uh… Cool.’’ he replied like an idiot.

Tucker nodded slowly, gaze still directed elsewhere.

‘’Yeah…uh… cool.’’

A pause.

Tucker picked on his fingernails.

Danny played with the valve of the mattress.

They heard a car drive past, right under the opened window outside. A muted explosion sounded from the lab.

The phone they were previously fighting over chimed with a new notification.

‘’God this is so awkward.’’ Tucker muttered, followed by another nervous laugh.

‘’I KNOOOW.’’ Danny whined, slamming his head face first onto the bed. He dropped the mattress to tug at his hair.

‘’Why are we so awkward?’’ Tucker asked. Danny could hear him anxiously playing with the bedsheets now.

He lifted his head back up, putting his chin on the bed instead.

‘’I don’t know man.’’

It turned out he didn’t screw up after all. Apparently they both liked each other.

He felt relief flooding him when his brain finally registered what this meant. His heart was still beating loudly in his chest, but at least the vibrations of his core became softer. Almost like a very quiet purring.

He liked him back. They liked each other back.

So why were they being so awkward about it? Both of them knew now how the other felt. It shouldn’t be awkward anymore.

But on the other hand both of them were also clueless nerds with little to no experience in dating, too shy and afraid to initiate anything.

At least they were afraid together.

Danny took a chance and very slowly reached his hand out to Tucker’s. The other boy flinched a bit when their shaky hands made contact, but instead of retreating he just awkwardly adjusted the position, so they were softly holding hands.

Danny smiled at Tucker and he smiled back.

It was something new for them both, but they’ll be fine. They’ll figure this out at their own pace. Small steps and all.

Before Danny could voice his thoughts Tucker pulled on his hand and pushed his sock under his nose again, laughing maniacally.

‘’EW TUCKER. Way to ruin the moment!’’ Danny yelled laughing and threw himself on the other boy.

‘’You were being too awkward!’’

‘’Says Mr. Confidence!’’

Yeah, they will definitely be just fine.

They wrestled again. Maybe it was still a bit awkward. Maybe they were more aware of the other's movement or where and how they touched. But it was fine. Danny felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his chest. And judging by the genuine smile on Tucker’s face the feeling was mutual.

When they got tired of playing around, they laid down on the bed and talked a bit more under the cover of darkness with Danny’s glow in the dark stars acting as a source of light. (They’ve had so many sleepovers at his house that even Tucker learned to ignore the big, bright FentonWorksTM sign casting neon light from the window by now. Only the stars mattered.)

They fell asleep like that, the god forsaken half-inflated mattress laying forgotten on the floor.

And when they woke up the next morning, cuddled up to each other, everything finally felt right.

…

‘’Dude, is that you purring?’’ Tucker gave a half suppressed laugh. Danny only hit him with a pillow in response.

#take a shot every time a right moment is mentioned #kad writes #thats a new tag #danny phantom #savant par #phic phight 2023

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paperandsong · 1 year ago

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I present a list of 16 Underappreciated fics with recommendations in the authors’ own words, taken from responses to this post: Unloved Fic Tag Game. Most are Phantom of the Opera fics, but there is one from Rebecca and another from Elisabeth. Take a chance on these hidden gems - many authors say these are their best work. They were written with love.

Remember that it is never, ever too late to give kudos and leave comments on fics - no matter how old they are!

All Imaginable Pangs by @les-gnossiennes-fantomatiques: It’s a pre-canon Leroux fic set towards the end of the 1860s, told from the point-of-view of a well-to-do Parisian courtesan. Do you like people talking about art and the nature of creating things? Do you like angst about growing older and not feeling at home in your own skin? Do you like lots of incredibly awkward smut and romance?

Annard Noz by @paperandsong: Little Christine and Raoul roam around Perros-Guirec collecting stories until a vexed old woman frightens them with the legend of the Laveuses de nuit. I wrote this for the Légendes rustiques project which uses French legends recorded by George Sand and reimagines them as stories Christine and Raoul may have heard as children. If you like folklore you might be interested in this series.

Beneath the Winter Snow by @pianomanblaine: I wrote this story for the Advent Calendar a few years back. It was the first fandom event I participated in after picking up writing again a few months before, and the response I got made me feel very welcome here. It’s a simple and very fluffy oneshot, and I had a lot of fun writing it, so I hope people will have fun reading it as well.

The Day My World Crumbled by @nerdywriter36: It’s a Nadir/Rookheya fic, which is definitely a rarepair only familiar to those who know Susan Kay’s book. It was basically just a way for me to flesh out part of their story that had been plaguing my mind for a while that needed to get let out.

The Dead Are Gone, They Don’t Come Back by @conquerthenight: (Mind the tags) Normally I cringe when reading my own writing, but I have yet to do so for any of this series. I would recommend this series to: anyone who wants a reason for Ileana to be so unconfident and scared other than “she just is”, anyone who either wants Maxim redeemed or wants any insight into his POV because the fourth work in this series explores his POV, anyone who wants to read from Rebecca’s POV (the second work in the series is from her perspective), anyone who read the novel Lolita who would’ve rather read from Dolores’ POV instead of Humbert’s, and anyone who believes recovery fics help them cope with trauma.

Digging into the Youth that is you by @enigmawritesstuff: What you get is a dynamic that deals with trauma in a healthy, heartfelt and loving way, that makes you feel seen and touched. It helps me feel that there is hope that one day you'll be understood as you need, or want, to be, and that's okay. To need someone to help you stand sometimes. Which is why this phic is actually quite dear to me.

A Fierce Inequality of Love by @shinyfire-0: My most underappreciated fic is the first fic I ever wrote. I wrote it in the late 90s or early 2000s, back when fandom was brutal and people gave vicious reviews if they didn't approve of a fic. This was one was castigated because (spoiler!) Christine does not stay with Erik. I love the tragedy of the man, and so I LOVE a tragic ending for him. And maybe, despite the fact that she escapes him, it's a tragic ending for Christine, too. Anyway, this one came straight from the heart.

Les Flambettes by @textsfromthefifthbasement: I think it's probably not as popular due to the archive warning and the fact that it sounds like an R/C fic. But it is a horror story involving the trio with a braided structure alternating between past and present. Part of the Légendes rustiques project.

Mirrorverse Addendums by @sarcasticdolphin: I know it is a bit dense - there’s a lot of history to cover, and I want to do it correctly. Elisabeth das Musical fandom as a whole lends pretty well or being fandom-blind as it is quite close to historical fiction.

Notre Dame des Lorettes by @catcorsair: This is a short prequel story centered on Erik that takes place during the paused construction of the Garnier amidst the fall of the Paris Commune of 1871. Just give it a shot! It’s such a short little one shot, and frankly, I think it’s probably my best fic in terms of writing.

Our Love Brings Ruin by @battydings: For anyone who wants to read a story about the complicated feelings that revolve around validation and being wanted/needed, but don’t mind a bit of death, this story is for you. Because more than being a story about a couple who are complicit in murder together, it’s about a woman who is willing to step over her own personal values in the name of validation.

Phantoms of Paris by @lincolnlogger: If you're looking for a story where Andre, yes Manager Andre, gets a lot of narrative POV privileges, you've come to the right place. If you want Erik facing his past head-on via therapy sessions, you've come to the right place. If you want Nadir hanging on by a thread, you've come to the right place.

Philia by @brendadaaedestler: One of the main characters featured in the one shot is a character from Susan Kay’s novel, which [you] not many have read, though you don’t need to have read Kay’s novel to understand the one shot. You would probably like [it] if you enjoy reading fluff content.

Unexpected Variables by @meilas: Beauty and the Beast 2017. I thought it was funny when I came up with the idea. I actually don't care if anyone else reads it or not.

Vainement, ma bien aimée by @illuminaughti-online: I think "Vainement" might be my best-written from a technical sense. Also? I genuinely like these kids, as well as the folklore and a nice creepy setting. Give Baby Raoul a chance and you might wind up rooting for him after all as he tries to come to terms with the fact that the world is a terrifying place and that Christine intends to plunge into it headfirst regardless. Part of the Légendes rustiques project.

You are Music by @apileofpans: If you like E/C/R getting together in a healthy way with a healthy dose of communication and understanding between the three of them, this is the fic for you! There is a scene between everybody one on one and I just… GAH!!!! It’s like a wonderful hopeful fic with promises to come, it’s just like. Comforting in a way!!!

photo by @shinyfire-0

#phantom of the opera #phic #rebecca #elisabeth das musical #fic rec

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