#i was curious what i still had left for dp in my files

[gilly-moon]

Anyone want some danny phantom wips i’ll probably never touch again?

[purpleillusn]

Holiday truce gift for @dp-marvel94, using the post-AGIT Dan adjusting to being half human and a teenager again. I hope you like it and happy (belated) holidays!!:

Second Chances and the Complications Therein

AO3 link

The uniform was horrible, in Dan’s humble opinion, itchy and constrictive against his unpleasantly mortal skin. Unfortunately, his grievances had been dismissed by Vlad, who insisted smugly that it was the best high school he could get Dan into (no doubt with an absurd sum of money). Dan would certainly admit that it looked pricey from its ornate front gates, looking up at its towering Georgian architecture and name “St. Thomas’ School” emblazoned across its billboard sign.. Looking over his shoulder, Dan could very clearly see Vlad loitering in his very conspicuous, expensive car. He scoffed and made his way into the building, stopping by the reception to pick up his timetable. The corridors felt far too large, with high ceilings exaggerated by his current short stature and feeling oddly sparse with teenagers compared to Dan’s vague memories of Casper High. There was at least some normalcy in how the place had the musty smell with notes of BO and aftershave typical of any other high school, even if Dan didn’t particularly appreciate it.

He slunk into his home classroom, leaning by the wall at the front to observe the room. The room had surprisingly few seats - around twenty, half of which were occupied by students in the same stupid uniform as Dan’s, complete with blazers. Dan had, of course, already known he would be attending a private school, but it still felt unreal. The teens were giving him curious glances as they continued to file in and to their predetermined seats, but Dan tried his best to ignore it, only scowling in response. The walls had the usual posters across them with history facts and study tips and sets of drawers containing all sorts of books and stationary.

The teacher entered, giving Dan a visual once over before standing in front of the white board. “Good morning everybody,” she announced, being met with a half-hearted chorus of ‘good mornings’ in return. The teacher then turned the spotlight to Dan, much to his chagrin - his unpleasantly present heart pounding in his chest. Of course, he kept his cool: what kind of powerful ghost shows fear? Not him, that’s for sure. The teacher introduced him to the class, who he greeted as was expected of him, and sent him to his seat on the left side of the room, comfortably near the back and with a clear view out the large windows. Dan certainly wouldn’t complain about being out of the way of most people’s attention…or so he’d hoped, as after homeroom settled down into gentle chatter he found himself being pestered by the girl in the seat to his right. “Hey, my name’s Clara,” she said, ignoring Dan’s lack of enthusiasm. “Kinda generic, but welcome to the school.” “Thanks,” Dan replied with zero enthusiasm, pointedly not looking at the polite smile on her pasty, freckled face. “So, did your family move or something?” Clara asked, and, god, her enthusiasm was frustrating. “We had someone join mid last year and no-one gave him any trouble, so I’m sure you’ll settle in well.” “Yeah.” Dan refused to elaborate.

He had to field a few more questions and friendliness throughout his morning lessons, from a variety of students or varying authenticity and enthusiasm. Dan thankfully had no difficulty with following the class (something he did plan on being insufferably smug about to Danny later), and was soon able to escape the teenage horde in his lunch break. Settling down with his lunch tray in the shade of an old oak, Dan paid no mind to the cold of late November, relishing in the quiet. And, once again, it just wouldn’t last, with Clara heading over despite his glare. “Do you want to sit with me? It’s gotta be pretty lonely to sit out here by yourself.” “No, I’m fine here, thanks.” “If you’re sure. The seat’s always open.” Dan grunted in what could be interpreted as dismissal or acceptance, depending on how much someone ignored his blatant antisocial behavior. At last, she left him to his peace and quiet, but, oddly, some part of him resented the loneliness. He should have been used to it, what with the decade he’d spent with far worse, yet he felt somewhat…sad? Human emotion, he supposed.

The lunch waned, as all breaks in life do, into the next lesson periods, where Dan had an English Literature class in which he was able to comfortably keep his head down and get on with his work, only getting called upon once by the teacher. But alas, good things don’t last, and he had a chemistry practical next, wherein the teacher dictated that they must work in pairs. Dan got on with his health and safety assessment while waiting for the rest to find their own pairs until a remainder made itself known (or didn’t, he didn’t care). This should have run smoothly. “I guess we’re lab partners then,” announced a familiar voice. “I guess,” Dan said, scraping his chair while standing up. “I’m surprised you couldn’t find a partner with how friendly you are.” “Oh, I’m a bit of an…odd one out,” Clara explained, followed by a nervous attempt at a chuckle. “It’s just one of those things, y’know.” Dan set up the test tube rack while she spoke, not looking up at her while neatly placing the tubes in their holder. “I suppose. Still don’t know why you have to work with me.” “Well, I wanted to, but also, well, it’s not a secret that I’m here on scholarship,” she shrugged sheepishly. Dan nodded as neutrally as he could manage. “They’re judging you for not being from a wealthy family?” Clara confirmed as much and Dan did his best to restrain his anger. “They can go screw themselves then.” And surprising himself: “I’ll be your damn friend.” “Thank you,” she murmured, to which Dan grunted. Last thing he needed to do now was screw this up, so kept from any personal topics for the rest of the practical (dissolving stuff in acid was thankfully something they could agree was fun in and of itself). Such went his final period of the day, after which Dan wished Clara well and cleared off, switching into his ghost form for a very much appreciated flight to let off steam. And if he shot a few ectoblasts into the edge of the atmosphere, no-one was there to tell him off.

The horizon gave way to Vlad’s mansion, which Dan homed in on, swooping down intangibly through the wall and into his room. It was tidy in an unhomely manner, with everything ordered on shelves and in drawers. Even his bedding didn’t get to stay ruffled for long with Vlad’s cleaners. Tossing his backpack to the ground, Dan flopped onto his bed to stare at the ceiling a bit before getting on with his homework. He had some time before dinner, so got on with what little homework he got during the day. The work was easy, in his opinion, so he steamrolled through it without issue. His phone dinged while midway through his summary of the experiment done in chemistry and he glanced over at it, seeing it was a text from Danny: “How was school?” “Fine,” Dan quickly sent back, followed quickly by a second text. “Annoying, but not the worst.” His phone went off again with another message from his younger half: “Usual then :) I’m sure you’ll make friends soon dw.” Dan groaned. “Sure.” What a goody-goody twerp, he thought only half-jokingly. Thankfully his phone stayed silent while he finished up his work and pondered which book he wanted to pick off his bookshelf after having finished his last one the night prior. He picked off a sci-fi book he’d got on a whim and sat down to read away the rest of the time until dinner.

The grandfather clock on the landing chimed six, echoing through the house. Dan placed his book down on the corner of his desk, with a scrap of paper bookmarking it in the middle of a chapter, and made his way downstairs to the dining hall. Vlad waited at the head of the table and Dan sat opposite, keeping his eyes down to avoid staring down the space between them. Vlad, of course, asked about his first day at school. Dan shrugged. “It’s embarrassing, having to go back there as a grown-ass adult. I didn’t realise just how annoying teenagers are.” “Well,” Vlad began. “You never got to grow up properly, so this is a good second chance.” Oh, this old man was trying. “I guess,” Dan scoffed. “It’s still demeaning.” “You don’t think you deserve it,” Vlad stated, cutting into the expensive steak delivered by his butler. Dan scraped his knife across the plate in just the right way to piss Vlad off, although the old man kept his downturned mouth shut. It was a stilted affair, with few words exchanged afterwards - even less from Dan. When Dan finished eating first, he excused himself politely and cleared off to his room again.

• • •

Dan rolled out of bed in the morning to grab coffee as his first thing. Vlad might not like it, but Dan wasn’t a morning person and this was how he functioned. Coffee and a modest breakfast consumed, Dan climbed into one of Vlad’s car fleet (the same as the day prior) for a lift to school. He could fly, of course, but being driven was supposed to, according to Vlad, keep him grounded and human-presenting (that could be a lie though: Vlad could just want to show off his wealth using Dan as a proxy). The driver, a ghost, was silent throughout the drive. The man stoically glanced over at Dan getting out outside the school, peeling off as soon as he slammed the door behind him. “Was that your dad?” asked a voice from behind Dan, making him jump halfway out of his human form and spin around. Clara was walking up to him, shrinking in on herself apologetically. “Oh, no, that’s my uncle’s employee,” Dan responded, trying to play it cool. Clara’s amber eyes blew wide. “Damn, he must be loaded.” She then composed herself. “Are you close with your uncle?” “Not really.” Clara opened her mouth to start asking more, but thought better of it. Smart. They headed to homeroom together, and thankfully kept it to mundane talk of homework and similarly useless junk. Homeroom had a short announcement about not causing trouble for neighbours, but nothing interesting. Clara had a different class next, so the two split at the staircase, Dan heading upstairs to his math lesson. A few students shoved on their way up the stone stairs - an annoyance - but the real pain came when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He sighed and acknowledged the person coming up next to him. A gaggle of a few girls and a single boy followed behind the girl Dan recognised as the leader and someone with no good intentions. She reeked of the sort of rich kid he saw at Vlad’s parties - someone who seemed to think themself royalty and that mummy and daddy’s wealth was a replacement for a genuine personality. He was pretty sure she was in several of his classes, but didn’t care to remember which. He braced for whatever bullshit would come his way, loathing Vlad’s choice of school. “No offence, but I saw you hanging out with that Clara girl, and wanted to warn you about her: she’s all two-faced. I used to be friends with her, but then she stabbed me in the back,” the rich girl announced, her lackeys nodding along. “I just want to make sure you don’t have to go through the same thing.” Dan scoffed. “Two-faced, huh? You’re full of it.” “Pardon?” Oh, this brat was gonna turn nasty. “I’ll take the risk, thanks. Nice talk though.” And with that he walked a little faster to his next lesson, hoping even rich kids had the sense to not start stuff where an authority figure might catch them. This was assuming that the teachers would do anything, which was unlikely. Augh, the annoyances of having to act human and non-violent - he could’ve blasted them into the next year if not for social norms.

His hopes came true and he managed to avoid confrontation up until lunch break, when the guy from the rich kid pack came hunting for him. Dan’s wrist was grabbed, but for some reason he couldn’t figure out: perhaps shock, or a flashback to his younger self, he didn’t put up a fight as his scrawny form was shoved into a closet. An oof came from behind him. Turning around in the darkness, which his eyes pierced through without issue, Clara was huddled on the floor. “‘M sorry for getting you into this mess,” she murmured. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault those bullies decided to make your life hell.” Dan saw the red glow before Clara let out an ‘eep’. Don’t address it, it’ll just make things worse. Dan tamped down on that particular expression of his ghost side and used the cover of darkness to use a little of his powers to try and unlock the door. “What’re you doin-” A hand on his shoulder and he spun around, knocking his companion to the ground. Dan apologised profusely, but it couldn’t undo Clara’s bleeding nose or the fact that she was backing away in…fear, perhaps? Logical, he supposed as he began hyperventilating. His stupid, mortal body felt like it was suffocating, his stupid heart pounding in his ears. He clutched at his chest. Light spilled into the room as the door was opened from the outside, briefly blinding Dan, who shut his eyes tight on instinct. When he opened them he could see a stern teacher leveling him with a stern look from a foot above his puny perspective. No words had to be said for him to know he was in for it now. At least he could try and take the blame for whatever they tried to pin them with.

No amount of trying to explain what happened changed the outcome. He was set to have detention at the end of the day and the brats that did this would face nothing. It was almost funny how little was different between this poncy new school and Casper High. Dan would have laughed if his chest didn’t ache already. It was stupid, he knew as much, but he left. Dan beelined for Vlad’s house, paying no mind to the consequences. He was enough of a disappointment already. Once in his room, now more than ever, his personal bubble, he stayed in his ghost form. It kept the physical discomfort at bay, even though it did nothing to help his emotions. He had to have set a new record for time to screw up after starting a new school. He didn’t even really process the passing of time until there was a knocking at his door. Checking the alarm clock on his bedside table, two hours had passed. “What?” he asked. Vlad opened the door, an unrecognisable swirl of emotion barely hidden behind his carefully neutral expression and pristine suit. “I just got a call from your school that you got detention and then bunked off. Care to explain why you’re acting like a delinquent?” Dan’s eyes burned bright. “It’s all bullshit!” “Go on.” Still burning with fury, but seeing an opportunity, Dan switched back to his human form (no need to freak the old man out). He explained what happened as best he could. Around midway through, Vlad gently approached him, wrapping his arms loosely around him in a hug. It was only then that Dan recognised the tears pouring down his face. Sucking in a sob, he reciprocated the hug significantly more tightly. His hug would’ve likely been constricting for a normal human despite how weak Dan felt in the moment. When the tears subsided some and he could speak again, Dan continued to explain, with occasional gasps of sobbing, being patted on the back by Vlad throughout. “Thank you,” Dan said when all else was out in the open, sat side by side on his bed with Vlad. “It’s no problem. We got off on a bad foot, but I want to help you,” Vlad explained softly, before settling into a barely contained vindictive fury. “And I’m sure the headmaster would love a little talk with me right around now.”

• • •

The cool air made visible the warmth coming off of Clara’s lunch tray where she sat under the old oak tree. “Do you mind if I join you out here?” Dan asked, approaching with a tray of his own. “Not at all.” Clara patted the bench next to her. Dan shuffled some and forced out a “sorry about your nose”. It was still a little bruised from the day prior, but not too bad. “Don’t worry about it,” she dismissed, but Dan continued undeterred. “And, I can’t tell you everything, but I know I’m a bit…odd…Anyway, my uncle’s probably going to burn this school to the ground over the bullying here, so just a heads up.” “Noted, and thank you.”

[ladylynse]

So it was recently pointed out to me (via reading someone else's tags lol) that there's only one DP/Merlin crossover on FFN (well, there's 3 but the other two are not in English). Sooo... since you're the queen of crossovers (imo), what would your take be on a DP/Merlin crossover?

aslkdjfalskjdf I’m flattered anyone thinks I deserve that title. Thank you!

I can easily tell you how I’d start a DP/Merlin crossover. Because that’s actually in my giant file of fic ideas. Here you go:

Danny could end up in Merlin’s world after touchingsomething in Clockwork’s tower. He goes to ask about Dani’s whereabouts,feeling guilty for not seeking her out and worrying about her, wanting toreassure himself that she is still safe, that the Ecto-Dejecto worked, thatVlad isn’t after her and that she is in no danger of destabilizing. Clockwork gives him a look. “Do you think I keep track of everyone’swhereabouts?”“Actually? Yeah.” Danny shifted on his feet. “I mean, you watcheverything, right? So even if you don’t keep track of certain people, you couldfind them.” He paused, waiting for some sort of confirmation fromClockwork. When he received none, he ventured, “Right?”This time, he was rewarded with a small smile. “It is possible.”“So you’ll help me find her?”There was a beat of silence.  Then, “And what if she does not want to befound?”Oh. Danny swallowed. “Then I won’t look, I guess. I’ll wait for her tocome back. Just…I want to know that she’s safe, Clockwork. Please?”A sigh. “Very well.” The ghost of time turned, and Danny took a smallstep closer to the table. He’d never seen Clockwork keep anything in his tower before. It made sense thathe did, but he just never had it out when Danny came around. Probably becausehe always knew when Danny was coming. Which meant it had to be strange forthings to be out now, but that didn’t mean there was any harm in taking acloser look. If Clockwork had left this stuff out, then maybe it meant he wantedDanny to see it.

Danny reached out to pick up the nearest object at hand, andClockwork’s voice floated back to him. “Don’t touch anything.”“Sorry,” Danny mumbled, withdrawing his hand. ———– caught hiseye, and he’d reached out again before he really realized what he was doing.Surely it wouldn’t hurt just to turn something over to get a better look at it,right? Clockwork just wanted to make sure he didn’t break anything.

Famous last words, right? *grins* So, I personally would set a crossover back in Merlin’s time, as opposed to showing Merlin in Danny’s time. There’s…just a lot more risk with Danny being the unwitting time traveller. (Also, he’s canonically time travelled, so there’s that, too. I mostly just like time travel, though. And a Merlin who’s lived through so much would be less surprised by everything with Danny than a Merlin who has not.) Then there’s the potential for initial misunderstandings, which is pretty much a given for any crossover fic of any length that I write. 

In this scenario, Clockwork allowed the time travel to happen, which would mean there’s something Danny needs to do. (This would also be my cop out for language differences not being an issue.) There would be something to do with the Veil and the Dorocha and–perhaps even more importantly, depending on the ultimate plot–the Cailleach, and possibly but to a lesser extent the Horn of Cathbhadh, since those are the most logical connections between the two shows, and those are the kinds of connections I use to build a stronger crossover. Something like the Cup of Life may or may not turn out to be a Ghost Zone relic in Danny’s time. 

Danny would also really misunderstand magic at first, since his reference for it is basically Desiree; that’s the only kind of magic that he knows is ‘real’, and not something out of stories/to do with technology/channelled by gems. He might not understand how the Sidhe staff works, exactly, but he’d pick up on it being magic a lot faster (and therefore be wary of it if he ever saw it) than he would figure out that the reason weird stuff keeps happening is not because his powers are acting up or because he’s being clumsier than usual because he’s nervous about this entire situation. (Who knew magic was ever banned in Camelot? He thought he knew the stories of the Arthurian legend as well as the next person. Apparently he does not. Or apparently the truth is a lot different than the stories.) He’s not particularly worried about being burned at the stake when he can just go intangible, but he’s changed the past by mistake before, and starting another witch hunt because he uses his ghost powers in front over everyone is not preferable. It would probably not be good. And he should figure out how the heck to get back home. Or even just to the Ghost Zone. He thought Clockwork would’ve popped in by now to explain something or at least berate him, but he hasn’t. 

Now, Merlin’s used to hiding his magic, even if he’s not always terribly good at it, just like Danny’s used to hiding his secret. And until Danny hears someone refer to Merlin as Merlin, he’d be expecting Merlin to look like Dragoon. Which would give Merlin a little bit more freedom when it comes to investigating the stranger that turned up in the courtyard of the citadel which apparently no idea of where he was and no guards reporting seeing him sneaking around until someone saw him and started ringing the bell to alert everyone that there was an intruder. Danny’s excuses, naturally, will be terrible. Merlin’s excuses are also terrible. I’d pretend that he could spot another liar, if only with Gaius’s help. Merlin would initially think Danny has magic, except he’s apparently never heard of Emrys when Merlin’s forced to ask out loud when Danny cannot hear him telepathically. Except Danny’s reaction when he does realize that Merlin is Merlin? That is unnerving. Really unnerving. Merlin might even call Kilgharrah and ask if there’s anything in some prophecy he hasn’t been told about yet about someone fitting Danny’s description.

I would probably set it once Arthur’s king–I like going AU between S4 and S5–but, uh, finer details would depend on why exactly Danny needs to be there. Which I haven’t figured out, which is why I haven’t written anything else for this idea. Morgana would probably get involved eventually, if only because she’s curious about the newcomer once she catches wind of him, and possibly because she thinks she might be able to use him. Poor Danny, still unable to escape from people who want to control him–and have the means to do it.

(unrelated idea but another idea for this crossover)