#i rly liked this prompt but shouldve remembered sooner that i know nothing abt american high school lmao

[darks-ink]

To Be

Did someone order post-reveal fluff?

Prompt: With his secret revealed, Danny has to wear inhibitors to school. Most days they're fine if not irritating, but when they get damaged in a chemistry lab everyone's desperate to see his powers before the inhibitors are repaired. Even teachers make a point to ask for "favors" while Danny's allowed to go all out. Prompt by: @wastefulreverie Word count: 3,474

[AO3] [FFN] [more Phic Phight fics]

---

“It’s broken,” Maddie reported. On the surface, her voice sounded sorry, but Danny could hear the relief underneath. It surprised him every time. How his parents continued to love him, despite the revelation of his half-ghost nature.

“Can it be fixed?” Principal Ishiyama folded her hands together, staring down Maddie. She didn’t even try to look at Danny. “You know the rules, Mrs. Fenton.”

“Doctor Fenton,” Maddie corrected, sharply. “And, yes, I am well aware. Jack and I will take it home to fix it, but there are limits to even our skills. It will take a few days, depending on the damage.”

Principal Ishiyama huffed, then nodded, jerkily. “Very well. Daniel will have to stay home and make up the lost work later.”

“What?” He jerked in his chair. “Why?”

“Because your inhibitors are broken,” Ishiyama explained, slowly, like she was talking to a child. Or a stupid ghost hybrid, apparently. “And it is against school rules for ghosts to enter the school without inhibitors.”

“But that’s so unfair! It’s not even my fault that it’s broken!” Danny felt his core stir up in his chest, and forced himself to calm down. Flashing his eyes at her would only make it worse. “It’s only a few days, I can behave myself!”

A hand landed on his shoulder, and his mom shot him a comforting look. She turned back to Ishiyama. “Look, Principal. Jack and I have listened to your strict rules on Danny’s power usage in the school. We’ve built him the inhibitors, just so he can continue to come. I will not, however, force him to stay home because one of the other kids damaged the devices.”

“Dangerous ghosts are not allowed in the school,” Ishiyama repeated, her tone forced. “Without the inhibitors—”

“Danny is not just a ghost, nor is he innately dangerous,” Maddie corrected, her eyes narrowing. “I will not let you punish him for another's actions.”

Principal Ishiyama stared back, her eyes narrowed as well. After a few moments, she said, “Fine. He can continue to attend without the inhibitors, but! If we receive any reports of him using his powers within the school, especially in a potentially dangerous context, he will be punished. Is this understood?”

“Yes, principal Ishiyama.” Danny shot her his most innocent smile. “I’ll be good.”

“Sure you will,” she said, entirely unconvinced. Her expression could not be more skeptical. “Mrs— Doctor Fenton, please let us know when the inhibitors are fixed and ready for use again. Was that all?”

“Yes, it was.” Maddie stood up, tucking the broken inhibitors into a pocket on her belt. “Danny, let’s go.”

He nodded, getting up from the chair.

Wow. His mom really had fought Ishiyama to let him continue to go to school, even without the inhibitors. And he’d been thinking that it had been their idea to equip him with those things.

---

Valerie looked up when he sat down in his usual seat, quirking an eyebrow. “Danny! I thought you weren’t allowed to come to class without the inhibitors?”

“Mom thought it was stupid to punish me if their destruction wasn’t my fault.” He shrugged, putting down his stuff. “Principal Ishiyama tried to argue but Mom looked ready to fight her and, well. Ishiyama wasn’t ready to fight a 9th degree black belt over my presence here.”

Valerie snorted. “That’s fair. I’m a pretty good fighter and even I would think twice about challenging your mom.”

“Yeah, exactly.” He leaned back in his chair to wait for class to actually start. “It’ll probably only be a few days before the inhibitors are fixed again, unfortunately.”

“You don’t like them, right?” Valerie’s fingers twitched around the bracelet on her wrist. He made a mental note to have someone check that thing out; he didn’t trust Technus’ tech.

“They’re alright, usually,” he answered her, putting away his previous thought. “A little irritating sometimes, but fine most of the time. I just don’t like, y’know, the implication. I get that my powers are scary, but at least I don’t use them to hurt or bully anyone.”

Her eyes dropped back to her wristband. “…Yeah.”

“Val, you know I wasn’t talking about that.” He nudged her with his foot. “Seriously, it’s fine. I was talking about the jocks. Nobody is telling them to wear restraints so they can’t punch anybody.”

“Unfortunately, that’s also true,” she acknowledged. “Morning, Tucker.”

Tucker grumbled a response, dropping heavily into this seat.

“Wow, you’re in a mood today.” Danny quirked an eyebrow at him. “What’s wrong, Tuck?”

“It’s— Don’t worry about it.” He flapped a dismissive hand, pulling his phone out of his pocket to demonstrate. “My phone’s charger broke, I think, or I didn’t plug it in right or something. It’s all out of battery.”

“That’s rough, buddy. Maybe someone has a charger you could borrow?” He reached over to pat Tucker on the shoulder. “If not, I can charge it for you after school.”

“Yeah, you— Wait.” Tucker grabbed Danny’s hand, suddenly, holding it out for inspection. “Your inhibitors are broken. Why can’t you charge my phone now?”

Danny made a face at him. “I’m still not allowed to use my powers in the school, Tuck. The only reason why Ishiyama didn’t force me to stay home until the inhibitors are fixed again is because Mom was about three seconds away from throwing down.”

“Ah, come on, nobody will care.” Tucker shoved his phone into Danny’s chest. “Please?”

“If I get in trouble I’m siccing my mom on you,” Danny assured Tucker, taking the phone. “Just know that.”

Tucker nodded, grinning.

“You’re a bad influence!” Valerie tacked on from Danny’s other side. “But also, I definitely wanna see this, Fenton!”

“The worst,” he repeated, rolling his eyes. He held the phone carefully between his hands, coaxing his core into releasing a little energy. Charging electronic devices was tricky; he had to find the right balance between too much power, and too little.

And to hold back on the ecto. That was also a very important part. No one wanted another incident like the possessed toaster.

Bright blue sparks danced over his fingers. Jumped from the digits to the device held in-between them. The phone’s screen lit up, suddenly, displaying a rapidly filling battery.

Danny waited until the battery passed 80% before stopping the electricity. He held onto the phone for a moment longer, until he was sure that it wouldn’t shock Tucker.

“Make sure it’s charged next time,” he said as he handed the phone back. “Once the inhibitors are fixed again, I won’t be able to charge it for you.”

“I know, I know.” Tucker rolled his eyes, taking the phone. “Thanks, though. You’re a lifesaver.”

---

“Mr. Fenton?” the reedy voice of Mr. Falluca asked, and Danny jerked to awareness. Him, almost falling asleep in class? No sir!

“Yeah?” he replied, rubbing through his eyes. “Sorry, what did you ask?”

“Nothing yet,” the teacher assured him, smiling in a way that instantly unnerved Danny. “But I was wondering if you could offer us a hand?”

Instant paranoia. “Uh, maybe? With what?”

“I was hoping you could help me with a demonstration,” Falluca started explaining, gesturing to the front of the classroom. “We don’t have any equipment for a large experiment, but I have everything I need to a demonstration… except for a bunsen burner.”

“Okay…” Danny said, slowly. “Um. Mr. Falluca, are you aware of the fact that I’m still not allowed to use my ghost powers in the school, even if I’m not wearing my inhibitors?”

Falluca started nodding before Danny had even finished talking. “Yes, of course I know, Mr. Fenton. But the inhibitors got damaged during my class, and I should’ve noticed and interfered long before it came to that. Consider the free use of your powers in my classroom an apology of sorts.”

“What about the other students? Won’t they tell Ishiyama, or Lancer, or something?”

“Nonsense, Danny. They love Phantom to bits,” Falluca dismissed. “Besides, I will say that it’s fine. Even if one of them tells the principal, well. It’s my word against theirs, isn’t it?”

Well, he could hardly argue with that. “If you’re sure, Mr. Falluca.”

Danny was promptly led to the front of the classroom, with Mr. Falluca briefly explaining what they were going to do, and how hot the flames would have to be. It all sounded fairly doable.

They waited until the bell had rung and everyone had found their seats. Mr. Falluca cleared his throat, and the class silenced.

“First off, I’m sorry to say that today’s experiment has been canceled due to safety concerns. The accident yesterday unfortunately spooked my fellow teachers. Instead I’ve put together a demonstration, so you’ll have some form of practicum to match with the theory.”

Mr. Falluca gestured over at Danny. “Now, while I have the materials, I do not have the equipment. Mr. Fenton will help me demonstrate. I expect you all to behave, and not to go running off to inform the principal about this, yes?”

“Yes, Mr. Falluca!” the class chimed back, loud and enthusiastic. Danny’s core hiccuped with startled joy.

“Very good. Mr. Fenton?” Falluca turned to look at him. “The floor is yours. Shift whenever you’re ready.”

Danny nodded, tugging on his core. Light flashed, and a few of his classmates gasped as he transformed.

“Ready,” he said, tugging on the hem of his gloves. He could handle his own flames just fine, but the heated glass? Nah, he needed protection for that stuff.

“Alright. For today’s lesson, we will be focusing on chemical reactions based on heat.” Falluca ducked below his desk, then came up again holding a large bag of sugar. “This will be our material for this test: regular sugar. When sugar gets heated, what happens to it?”

A few glances were exchanged among the students, but no one raised their hands.

“No one knows?” Falluca prodded. “I’ll pick someone to answer, then. Star?”

She jerked to awareness. “Um. It burns?”

“Eventually, yes, but before that, something else happens. Anyone else?”

Complete silence.

Mr. Falluca frowned. “Hm. Well, let’s see if you can figure it out during the demonstration. I’ll put some of the sugar in a spoon, which Danny can heat.”

The teacher shook some of the sugar into a spoon, handing it to Danny afterwards. “Slowly build up the heat, please.”

“Gotcha.” He took the spoon in his left hand, carefully holding on to the far end, and raised his right hand underneath the scooping end. Gently coaxed his core into producing heat.

A small but bright green flame formed in the palm of his right hand, directly underneath the spoon.

Danny angled the spoon a little, so the class could see the sugar on the inside. And then, slowly but surely, ramped up the heat. The sugar warmed up, its color shifting into a warm brown.

“Is it… turning into caramel?” Valerie asked, drawing Danny’s attention away from the spoon again. Huh. Was it? Falluca hadn’t actually told him what it would do.

“Correct, Miss Gray!” Falluca clapped his hands together, cheerily. “Sugar, when heated, caramelizes. Normally, I would say that you’re free to have a taste, but I’m not sure if that would be a good idea now, Danny?”

“Probably not,” he agreed, keeping up the flame. “This level of ecto-contamination isn’t actually dangerous, but it won’t taste good, especially if you’re not used to eating it. And it might make you feel queasy.”

Mr. Falluca nodded along. “Yes, I figured as much. Sorry, kids, no free caramel today! Danny, thank you for your help. You may return to your seat.”

He nodded, extinguishing the flame, and placing the hot spoon onto the desk. Having done all that, he let himself shift back to human, and walked back to his seat.

“Now,” Mr. Falluca started, “As for the science behind this…”

---

Danny had remained wary the rest of the day, but it seemed that the rest of the class had stayed true to their word. Ishiyama didn’t come complain to him, not during any of the lessons after chemistry or during lunch.

He rolled his shoulder, hearing his spine click repeatedly. Next to him, Tucker shivered and grimaced.

“Dude, do you really have to do that?”

“Nah.” Danny shrugged, then rolled his other shoulder. “But I wanna.”

Tucker glared at him, then flinched, turning towards the teacher. Mrs. Tetslaff was growling, but apparently not at them.

“Mr. Baxter, your showboating as landed another ball stuck in the rafters. How do you think we’ll get it back, hm?”

Dash shrugged, seemingly caught somewhere between meeting her gaze and cowering from it. “It’s no big deal.”

“No?” Tetslaff gritted back. “Why, are you gonna fly up there and fetch it for us?”

Danny knew what was coming even before Dash pointed at him.

Ah, yep, there it was. Right on time, buddy.

“Danny can do it, can’t he? Fly up there and get it for us?”

Tetslaff followed the finger, and Danny straightened up under her hard stare. “Hm.”

“Uh, I’m actually not allowed to use my powers in the school,” Danny tried. Nudged Tucker. “Right, Tuck?”

“Yes, yeah, exactly.” Tucker nodded along, like the good friend he was. “Buuuut…”

“No one will care, Fenton,” Tetslaff agreed, gesturing him over. “I’ve got your back.”

Well… he supposed that if it was fine with Falluca, it would be unfair not to help Tetslaff too. Right?

“I’ll have to shift,” he pointed out. “That okay?”

“Just go, scrawny.” She stepped back, half-turning. To stop the light from blinding her, maybe?

He nodded, already reaching out to his core. It woke, whirring more powerfully, releasing ghostly power into his system. Light flashed, rings haloing over his body, until he was left in his ghost form.

“Whereabouts is it?” Danny asked, craning his head up. With his enhanced vision he could see the rafters just fine, but chances were that the ball was wedged somewhere behind a beam.

“Right up here,” Dash said, pointing, and, ah. Danny had almost forgotten that the guy was also here. “Should be a pretty straight line.”

“Alright, I’ll… go get it, I guess.” Danny let gravity fade away, slowly lifting off of the ground. When no one tried stopping him, he let himself fly properly.

It was hard not to notice that almost everyone had stopped moving in the gym, though. All staring up at him and whispering, hushed.

Danny bit his lip, doing his best to focus on grabbing the ball. Whatever they were saying, he didn’t want to hear.

He halted, having leveled out with the rafters. Now where was that ball that Dash had gotten… ah! There it was.

And… stuck, apparently. Danny wrapped both of his hands around it, tugging, but it wouldn’t let go. He could’ve tried pulling harder, probably, but he was afraid of using too much power and destroying it entirely.

He bit his lip. How…

Oh, duh.

With his hands still on the ball, Danny forced it intangible. Pulled it out from its place behind the beam with ease.

“Got it!” he called down, holding out the now-tangible ball. “But, uh… There’s a few more up here, I think?”

“So that’s where all my balls keep disappearing to!” Tetslaff grunted so loudly that even Danny could hear it. “Drop that ball, Fenton, and go get the rest!”

“Gotcha!” He released the ball, watching it plummet down. Dash caught it before it hit the ground, though, raising a thumb’s up in Danny’s direction.

Ugh, weird. He still hadn’t gotten over Dash’s… everything, after the reveal.

It was better than getting beat up, he supposed, but just… weird. He’d gotten so used to all the normal stuff that the changes were throwing him off.

Actually, maybe that was why he was still so reluctantly to trust everyone with his ghost powers. Not a secret anymore, but he still kept it like one.

The fact that Ishiyama had outlawed it helped on that end too, admittedly.

Danny shook the thoughts off, floating over to another ball stuck in the rafters. Well, no point in worrying about all that, right? Fretting never helped anyone.

He grabbed onto the ball, tugging it loose with ease. Looking down to make sure it wouldn’t hit anyone, he released it. It hit the ground with a pleasing rubbery noise, bouncing off to the side.

A quick glance around led him to a third ball, but after that the rafters seemed clear.

“That was the last of them, I think,” he shouted down to Tetslaff.

“Good job, Fenton!” she yelled back, sticking up a thumb. “Now get down here and show us that athleticism of yours!”

Well. Couldn’t win them all, could you?

---

Valerie appeared to be mashing her head into her locker door. Danny paused, hesitantly, then crept closer. “Are you alright, Val?”

“Peachy,” she grumbled back, not taking her head off of the metal surface. “I broke my lock and now I can’t open my locker anymore.”

“Ah…” Well, that explained it. “Can’t you get it fixed, or replaced, or something?”

“Yeah, but that’ll take a bit.” She lifted her head, finally. “I can’t leave all this stuff overnight.”

Oh, she had her ghost hunting gear in there, huh? “Oh, you have that stuff in there, gotcha.”

She was staring at him, now. “Say, Danny…”

“I don’t think I like that tone of voice,” he said, frowning at her. “What are you doing, Val?”

“Can’t you…” She blinked at him, big watery eyes. Oof, he thought she’d outgrown the cutesy pretense. “Phase it out for me? I mean, you charged Tucker’s PDA, and I’m your friend too… right?”

“Now you’re playing dirty,” he grumbled, rolling his eyes. “Ugh, fine, but you’ll have to cover for me.”

Valerie nodded, swapping places with him so she stood facing the hallway. Her back pressed against his own, warm and solid with muscle.

He took a deep breath, pulling on his core once more. Tingles ran through his arm, turning the limb cold and see-through.

Danny phased his arm through the locker, carefully feeling around for Valerie’s bag. It wasn’t that hard; there was limited space in a locker, after all. His fingers grasped onto the tough fabric, before he pulled it out. His arm, and the bag, returned to their solid state.

“Thanks, Danny.” Valerie took the bag from him again, bumping him gently. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Yeah, well. Don’t mention it.” He grinned back. “Literally, or Ishiyama will kill me.”

She snorted, swinging the backpack onto her back. “Yeah, I gotcha. See you tomorrow.”

---

Danny walked into the classroom, nodding at Mr. Lancer.

“Ah, Mr. Fenton,” the teacher greeted him. “I was about to ask you for your help, but I see your inhibitors were fixed sooner than predicted.”

“Uh.” Danny paused, looking down at the bracelets around his wrists. “Yeah, I mean. They’re not up to 100% functionality, but… Wait. Why?”

“Us teachers, we had planned on giving you ample opportunity to use your powers while you could,” he explained, lowering his voice so no one else could overhear. Danny crept a little closer. “But we had planned on spreading it out a little, since we thought we had a few days.”

Danny blinked at him, surprised. “But… If you’re all okay with my powers, why do I still have to wear the inhibitors?”

“Principal Ishiyama is in charge, I’m afraid.” Lancer smiled, ruefully. “And even if we had more of a say in the matter, I’m afraid that our students’ parents are very vocal about allowing a ‘potentially dangerous’ ghost in the school.”

“Right,” Danny said, stomach plummeting. “I… of course.”

“It’s needlessly cruel, and untrue as well, but I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do about it.” Lancer patted his shoulder. “Listen, Danny. Just know that we, the teachers and the students, will always support you. We know you, the real you. Don’t mind those others too much, okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I… yeah. Thanks, Mr. Lancer.”

“Always.” Lancer gestured over to the classroom as a whole. “Better get seated now, Danny. And if you ever run into trouble…”

“I know who to ask.” Danny’s core chirped in his chest, and he smiled at Lancer. “Thanks.”

He walked back to his seat, sitting down between Sam and Tucker.

“What was that about?” Tucker asked, leaning closer. “You in trouble?”

“The opposite,” Danny admitted with a laugh. “Apparently all the teachers banded together to let me use my powers while the inhibitors were broken, but they got fixed faster than they’d expected.”

“Wow, really.” Sam blinked, turning to look at Lancer. “I didn’t expect them to be willing to rebel against Ishiyama like that.”

“Yeah,” Danny said, his core rumbling loud and pleased in his chest. “It keeps surprising me, too.”