#they often argue over what really happened to Danny

[mkarchin713]

Danny keeps making lore drops that cause the JL to think Danny was killed during high school.

The Spectra incident makes some leaguers believe he committed suicide

The stories about Danny’s “friend” Poindexter dying in his locker makes others think he was accidentally killed by his bullies.

The tales Danny tells about his family paint a clear picture of negligence on his parents part and the fact he claims to have died in “The Accident” aren’t helpful.

The fact that Phantom has apparently been around for millennium casts more confusion on the situation.

Mean while Danny is just happy he has adults in his life who actually help and support him. He doesn’t want to disappoint them by turning down there offer. This is his first time being patented by an actual competent adult, he’s not sure what to do.

DPXDC Prompt #32

The anti-ecto acts never get passed due to the interference of the Justice League and Danny gets invited to the Watchtower. They have a proposal for him, since he’s a ghost kid (they don’t know it’s half) he probably never finished school. They invite him to stay at Wayne manor and go to school with Damian who’s around the same age. Danny doesn’t want to reveal to him that he’s half human but at the same time he isn’t sure he can stay a whole day in ghost form.

[ive-been-timebombed]

Part one

Danny is the daddy! And king- same thing.

Summoning rituals are the absolute worst. It happens too often and always ends up with one too many bruises.

Red Hood shifted on his knees and pulled at the rope that held his arms behind his back. He looked to Nightwing who was to the right of him in a similar situation only with more rope and tighter knots, he kept escaping so the cultists improvised. Red Hood looked back to the main excitement in the room and rolled his eyes at the idiotic scene.

A big circle of intricate lines and displays of many items. There were five displays, which Jason can only assume were offerings, one had a bag of food that looked similar to batburger. The second had what looked like a child’s school project on the solar system. The third held a map and a.. baby’s doll.? Jesus, what is this idiot summoning? The fourth was of a bright green liquid... Lazarus Pits? It was brighter than the actual pits and looked cleaner. Not to mention the bubbling was also missing from the vile of the pits. The last was a plant and a bag of sand... Jason gave up on trying to understand whatever the hell the fugly dude was trying to summon.

Speaking of.. the man that was scurrying around the circle looking at it making sure everything was good. He looked insane, with almost bright blue skin, black hair, and cultist-type robes. Not to mention the slight transparency of the man. Jason decided his name was gonna be Wickham.

“Oh finally! I’ll get to summon my king to this blasted world” Wickham stepped back from his summoning circle with a wicked grin, “If only my king didn’t have such strange needs to be summoned..” Wickham looked over to the vigilantes and moved in front of them his hands folding behind his back

“I guess you guys don’t know what I’m summoning do y’all?” Oh great.. he’s about to go on a rant.. “Don’t worry! You’ll find out soon!” Wickham turned to his circle again and stood in front of it. He got down to his knees bowing his head and bringing his hands together. He started to speak, a language Jason had never heard, and by the sounds of it neither had Dick.

The circle started to glow the Lazarus green. Jason felt like he couldn’t breathe. The weight of the ritual was suffocating, and despite feeling like he could grasp Wickham's words, they remained nonsensical.

Strangely enough, Jason couldn’t understand what he was feeling. It felt like longing for something that he never had.. like a warm hug from his father, Willis. He could feel excitement and yearning for the green to overcome the room and cover him in the comfort of.. the distant memory of singing and the cold of a rooftop.

_______________

Despite what many had assumed of Danny, he quite enjoyed the summonings. They weren’t too often and gave him an excuse to leave his boring meetings. When he felt the pull of a summons he grinned and waved to the idiot ghosts that were arguing in front of him and disappeared.

He opened his eyes seeing the usual scene of his summonings.. ignoring the strangely dressed mortals that were tied up near the wall.

“King of the Infinite Realms, Ancient of space and the unknown, Defeater of Pariah Dark, Honored of the Far Frozen, Knight of-“ The summoner listed off. Danny sighed he should really get rid of most of the titles..

“Blah- Blah- Blah. What do you want, Mortal..”Danny asked looking down at the summoner and hesitated at the end seeing the slight transparency of him..

The summoner stopped speaking and bowed further to the ground, “My King! I ask that you cleanse this cursed world and take it for your own! With me as your trust-“ Danny once again interrupted

“I’m good, already own this dimension. It’s only one of the infinite-“ Danny groaned before he froze.. this dimension.. it was his home dimension. The very same he was born in and dead. The same he protected with his undead life when ghosts invaded his town.. The same he left his child in to live in..

“My liege?” The summoner spoke up hesitantly glancing up at the halfa.

Danny didn’t bother to acknowledge the mortal. He was to distracted by the small very similar essence to his own only a few steps away. He looked to the tied up mortals and stared at the one that had a red helmet. The red helmet stared back his core begging for help and the support of its paternal core essence.

When Danny was first introduced to the idea of being king he was put in lessons by the many leaders around the realms. First was with Frostbite, the Leader of the Far Frozen, who taught him the biology and science behind ghost. Embarrassingly, he also had to sit through the sex talk once again. But from what he was taught when a ghost has a child or Ling short for Ghostling. That Ling would be connected to its parents or parent for ectoplasm as it would be to young to absorb ectoplasm on its own. The steady stream of ectoplasm would be used to power the young ghostlings core and nurture it to start absorbing ectoplasm on its own. The connection also helped the parent when they needed the location of their ling or just wanted to check up on them. The connection was like a cellphone that only connected to the child to the parent. It told them the location, needs, even if the Ling needed extra ectoplasm. It could be used for a call to come or even a scream for help.

When Danny was younger he had a kid.. the baby was an accident that he didn’t know about till it was left on his doorstep with a letter saying it was his. He called the kid his Baby JayJay short for Jason. He couldn’t feel a core inside the child so he assumed that Jay didn’t inherit his ghostly habits. So he didn’t form the connection between their cores, he didn’t want to hurt the still living soul of his baby by feeding it unneeded ectoplasm. Danny couldn’t stay in his dimension however.. due to the active laws against his kind. And he didn’t want to drag his child into something he didn’t need to be apart of. So he forced down his core wants and said goodbye to his baby JayJay. Then left for the infinite realms to be crowned and ever wondering what happened to his baby.

_________________

Jason couldn’t describe the feeling when he saw the being Wickham had summon finally appear.

It was a human body despite the many not human things. Their hair was a snow white and their eyes glowed a bright green. The clothes they wore had similarities of kings clothing it was a black with gold accents and a star covered cape. The cape floated like it went beyond gravity which Jason assume it did. The man had sharp canines and pointed ears. His hair floated similar to his cape, defying gravity. The feet of the being faded to invisible as it reached the floor. The glowing green flickering off to blue crown on the beings head drooped back a the being landed on the ground.

“King of the Infinite Realms, Ancient of space and the unknown, Defeater of Pariah Dark, Honored of the Far Frozen, Knight of-“ Wickham started before being interrupted by the being.. King Phantom?

“Blah- Blah- Blah. What do you want, Mortal..” The kings voice was echoey and smooth, Jason swore he heard the voice before.

“My King! I ask that you cleanse this cursed world and take it for your own! With me as your trust-“ Do Wickham was a stereotypical cultist. Only wanting one thing that will likely never gain. The being interrupted him again.

“I’m good, already own this dimension. It’s only one of the infinite-“ The king rolled their eyes before they froze their voice stopping with them. They were looking off into the distance so Jason could only guess the being realized something.

Wickhams voice felt muffled when Jason heard him as the being looked straight at him and Jason stared back.

[tiny-space-platypus]

Never really fit back in

Part 2 Daniel or Danyal or Danny?

previous

Danyal took a deep breath. There was only one person who could bring him to his brother. One person who could get him into the Wayne household. Vlad Masters, his godfather, though things were getting better with Vlad it was still awkward. He doubted he'd ever fully trust him but he was the only adult around who knew what he was and at least for right now wasn't trying to kill him for it. Plus he had access to the Wayne Galas and as his heir Danny did too.

"Daniel" Vlad smiled at him and offered him a seat at his table. "I was quite surprised when you asked to have a meeting with me" Danyal took a seat as dinner was served to them. He hesitated before speaking. Danny had been trying to prepare what to say to Vlad all day but now he was here, his mind went blank.

"I-" He paused as he pursed his lips before stealing his nerves once again. "I'd like to take up your offer of being your heir." Vlad stopped moving for a second as his smile faltered. he stared at Daniel. The silence was deafening. Danyal continued or well rambled after an uncomfortably long few minutes of silence. "The Fenton household hasn't felt safe in.. Well it's never been safe but ever since my accident it's just gotten worse. The house is always attacking me, even though my parents- Even though Maddie and Jack know I'm Phantom now that hasn't stopped them- actually I think they've just been ignoring me. And-"

"Daniel,"

"Since Jazz left for college, I've only really had Sam and Tucker but-"

"Daniel"

"They're now busy preparing for their own futures and all that-"

"Daniel!" Vlad spoke a little louder silencing Danny again then sighed. "I will gladly take you in, Daniel. It's the least I can do for you" Danyal relaxed a bit, though not too much. Vlad might be better now but he's still a power hungry fruitloop. Danny still had to be careful but at least Vlad's manor wasn't actively trying to destroy him. At least Vlad acknowledged his existence. And so Danny's new life began.

A few new changes happened after he started to live with Vlad. One he changed his legal name to Danyal (it just felt more real), he and Vlad still argue over changing his last name over to Masters but Danny's not ready for that. Danny had to start taking etiquette classes from both Dorothy and Vlad, Vlad had gotten him plenty of suits and other more comfortable clothes, and Danny had full access to his lab. Though Danny didn't go down there often, it gave him the creeps in a bad way. Most labs did at this point. Instead he had taken over a large room and had a work desk where he tinkered on what ever her felt like tinkering on, or schoolwork, or the loads of paper work he had to do for the Infinite Realms. It was kind of nice having Vlad help with that though at least someone could explain what half of it meant and wasn't as secretive as Clockwork.

Four months passed and things were going great actually. Things were finally starting to feel alright again, maybe this was the best decision. Eventually Danny did tell Vlad about being Damian's brother only because he would have to confront Damian at the Wayne Christmas gala.

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

Damian just like his other siblings dreaded the galas but they were important. It was important to keep building relationships with the public and the rich. It was important to keep a mask on and play the very rich found family of Brucie Wayne. It was important to keep their night life out of the picture.

Damian got ready with his siblings as usual. He listened and complained with them about the Gala as Jason laughed and praised being "dead". At least being the youngest meant he wasn't as bothered by the guests as the rest of his siblings were. All he had to do was introduce himself to the guests, have his picture taken a thousand times and lurk around the party. A boring night that would be much better spent on patrol. Though he was just has confident that the others could Patrol Gotham without them as his father.

The gala was about normal, he greeted guests with his father as Tim went out to do some networking. Dick playing as his usual self, Cass lurking around, Steph tormenting people by being her eccentric self, and Duke wandering around and making small talk. The night was normal till Masters arrived.

By that point Damian had broken off from his father and went to see and spend time with his siblings. Though something felt off after about a half hour. Damian went to report this to his father only to find him still speaking with Masters who had a boy with him. He paid no mind to him. "Father there's-" Damian paused then looked at the boy standing next to Masters who was smiling at him.

Danyal. That was Danyal. That was Danyal. That was Danyal.

Damian just stared at Danny with a look of horror that his father caught quickly. Before Bruce could pull Damian away he heard his brother speak.

"Hello, Damian. It's nice to see you again"

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

Bruce had never seen his son like that before. He had never seen that look on his son's face before. Something had to be wrong he just didn't know what yet. Bruce excused both himself and Damian from the Masters and brought Damian over to the others. He looked at his son who looked both terrified and shell shocked. Bruce spoke softly.

"Damian, are you alright chum?"

Damian started to hyperventilate and mumble in Arabic. Damian normally spoke in Arabic when upset but this was very clearly different. Bruce brought Damian to his room, not because he was in trouble but because he was freaking out and needed some quiet. That night for the first time Damian openly cried in front of Bruce. That night for the first time Damian held onto Bruce like his life depended on it and sobbed. That night for the first time Damian sobbed into his father.

Bruce didn't know what the Masters did to his son but they won't get away with it. That he swore. He'll have Tim and Barbara look into them later for now his son needs him.

Next

[aph-mable]

dpxdc; My Uncle is Nuts.

My Uncle Is A Nut

Written by:

Aph-mable

@thegatorsgoose

Having been announced the heir and Co ceo of D.A.L.V co, Danny has gotten used to being dragged to formal events with Vlad against his will. Getting caught up in saving one of the many galas he’s forced to attend, Danny catches the eye of one Lex Luther. 

Chapter 1

Danny tries hard not to sigh for the umpteenth time as Vlad drags him towards another group of rich folks and reporters.

When his Godfather had publicly announced Danny as his heir during one of his mayoral speeches he thought he was going to die all over again from sheer embarrassment and frustration, especially when he started calling Danny out of class to work on ‘special’ projects or drag him to Gala’s like this one.  

Usually at least one member of team Phantom would come along, usually Sam since her parents often forced her to attend anyway, unfortunately this time everyone was busy.

Sure Danny could have asked, but he didn’t want to take away what little free time they had during spring break, so for now he was going to face this party on his own. After all nothing really interesting happens at these and he’s not going to end up socializing much anyways. 

At the moment Vlad had rolled him over to a group of men who were chatting away about their latest technology, a nerdy looking yet buff reporter taking notes on everything. 

Danny was only half listening to what was being said when the frootloop budged in, something about wanting to partner up with Wayne tech since DALV co was already partnered with Lex co.

He could only roll his eyes and cringe as his crazy arch nemesis wrapped an arm around the shoulders of the bald ceo who looked just as done as he felt.

Seeing Vlad finally to distracted with his deals Danny took his chance and snuck away, moving his wheelchair as fast as possible to make a break for it, away from the party and to explore the building. maybe even escape if he was lucky. 

Unfortunately as he reached one of the doors the pesky security stopped him, saying he needed to stay within the building, so he pulled out the oldest trick in his book. 

“I have to go to the bathroom, can you at least point me to it?” He even pulled out his pleading eyes to look as innocent as possible to make the security guards feel uncomfortable.

“It’s through those doors over there, just across from the kitchen… do you want-” before the guard could finish Danny was already zooming to the door and shouting, “No thanks, byye!” 

Once out of sight he at least made an effort to head towards where the bathroom was but stopped in front of the kitchen.

First double checking all sides of the hallway, he pushed himself into the kitchen in search of something to tinker with. Danny swears he will drop dead if he doesn't get some kind of technology in his hands. 

When he entered the place was completely empty of any staff. makes sense as they had set up a huge buffet in the main hall and had all the kitchen staff stand against the wall to show who cooked what, like it was some kind of grand show. 

This left Danny to ‘borrow’ a few appliances, they’re rich they can afford it!

He ends up taking a toaster, a blender, and some kind of cylinder air fryer, stuffing them all into his magic bigger-than-it-looks bag and bolting out of there as fast as his wheels could take him so as to not get caught. 

Once he re enters the gala he parks himself in the furthest corner near a window. He starts pulling out his mini tool kit and the items he took, trying his best to hide them by making them semi invisible so it just looked like he was messing with his tools as he gets to building an ecto gun. 

Danny tried to stay alert and scan the room on occasion but nothing much was happening, Vlad was still bragging to the group of men, and there were only three other kids around his age hanging out on the opposite side of the room. One looked ready to pass out while the other two stood next to the door arguing over who’s dog was best.

Danny pulled his goggles down over his eyes and rolled up his sleeves so his specialized gloves could start putting power into the ecto gun. He quickly starts to hyper focus as he tinkered with the homemade gun, his mind drifting off to play among stars that were just out of reach. 

Even with everyone talking around him it all faded to white noise, finally quiet enough he now focused his power to flow through the machinery as he twisted the screws into the right place. 

His very core sang with how peaceful it was as he finished making the home made ecto gun and set it down in his lap. 

Just as Danny turns it invisible to put it away, his chair is suddenly jerked as he’s dragged towards the now frightened guests, a group of men dressed in green and purple question marked suits threaten everyone into a corner as they start setting up strange equipment.  

Clutching his invisible weapon tightly in his lap one of the goons tries threatening him with a gun, but before Danny could react Vlad steps in front of Danny, letting out an instinctual growl to make them back off. 

The goon rolls his eyes before directing them to where he wants them to go, trying hard to not let his hands shake too badly as he thrust more people into the now overcrowded corner, keeping watchful eyes on Vlad who is seconds away from losing his temper and ripping someone's throat out.

Now most people in this situation would just listen to their captors, sit still, be quiet, all that jazz, especially with how many of the goons were now bringing in strange green canisters of gas that gave off the scent of pure fear.

Yet as Danny rams Vlad’s ankles with the wheels of his chair it's pretty clear he wasn’t like most scared civilians. For once he was siding with his godfather as he was very, very angry. Angry that they were targeting innocent people, angry that Vlad was treating him like he was helpless, angry that he had to show up to this stupid gala in the first place… He had noticed some of the other kids giving them the slip earlier, at least there’s that. 

Just as they bring in the last canister one of the goons trips and nearly brakes open the container, which got the already annoyed second incharge to yell at them. 

“For fucks sake! Be careful with those things, we don’t even know what they’ll do yet!”

The younger looking goon, who looks barely out of their teens, shrinks away as they whimper out an apology. He sets the items down as others around them either stare in frustration or sympathy. 

Yeah, no. 

 “Wow you people are pathetic.” 

The second in command turns at Danny’s outburst, taking a step forward and clenching his fists. “What the fuck did you just say?” Danny rolls his eyes before glaring at the goon “I said you’re pathetic, did you get that or do you need me to repeat myself again?”

The crowd looks on in half horror, half shock as the leader walks up to Danny, resting his hands on his arm rests and leaning down to stare at Danny threateningly. Danny leans back in his wheelchair and looks up at him with a bored expression, unphased. Vlad tries to shove his way to Danny, but is held back by several goons. Danny spares a quick glare at his godfather, he has everything under control.

“I may be a criminal, but even I don’t like kicking a kid when they’re already down.” The goon says, moving his eyes down to glance at Danny’s wheelchair and back up again, glaring into his eyes. “So I’m going to give you one last chance to take that back.”

Danny narrows his eyes at the goon as he clutchs the invisible ecto gun in his lap, it’s now or never. With near inhuman speed he quickly reaches for his bag and pretends to pull the weapon out, aiming it right at the goons temple. There’s audible gasps from the crowd as the goon stumbles away with wide eyes before gaining his footing and going right back to glaring.

“And I’m going to give you one last chance to reconsider what you’re doing with your life” Danny smirks at the goon, already reading up the lecture in his head.

“It’s 30 minutes past start time, what is taking you so-“ Danny’s smirk evolves into a full shit eating grin as the Riddler walks in to scold the goons, what perfect timing.

With the crowd distracted Danny uses his other hand to unlock his phone. With a few simple swipes, Danny has the gala on lockdown. With the main asshole inside.

Perfect.

_____________________________________________________________

Damian puts on his Robin suit with trained proficiency once they make it to the cave. Unfortunately he and Jon were the only ones able to leave on time, the rest of the family having been dragged away. Truly, this proved that he had good reason to not mingle with the crowd. It had nothing to do with the noise. Or the lights. Or the small talk.

Truly.

“Who do you think it is this time?” Jon asks, an excited smile on his face. But even while being carried, Damian could see the tension in his frame, the nervous tick in his brow. His friend was worried. “I mean, they have the question mark thing going on, but they also had the gas canisters which I don't think the Riddler does that? And the gas itself kinda smelled like lavender and hazelnuts like fear gas but it was also kinda minty? And not like candy cane minty but like straight mint leaf minty? I don’t know, I only know there’s a difference cus ma tried to make mint tea that one time cus she was super sleep deprived and she read online that mint tea could improve memory or something, that stuff reeked!” Another indication of Jon’s nervousness, rambling. By the time Jon had finished his rant, they had already made it to the gala.

Once he’s put down Damian dusts himself off and turns to Jon. “It is most likely a team up, then.” He pulls out his katanas and readys himself for the fight ahead. “Once you break down the door our job is to stall long enough for the others to get out. We don’t know what the gas can do, so keeping the containers safe is our top priority.” As much as it pains him to admit, just him and Jon won’t be enough to handle it themselves. There’s too many people, and they need some of the bats to disperse around Gotham in case the riddler has set up a larger plan.

Jon smiles at him and nods, hopping from foot to foot in excitement (which he doesn’t find adorable at all). “You ready?” Damian gives a sharp nod before Jon kicks in the door.

“-I mean COME ON, people would PAY you to have a chance at your game show! You could even do your whole “riddle me this!” Thing as it’s own segment! But noOOOOooo, you wanna risk the lives of countless civilians so you can get a fucking furry to answer your stupid riddles, most of which aren’t even original! And NOW you wanna partner up with a fear junky cus why?”

“I-“ a clearly startled Riddler tries to answer before being interrupted.

“Oh yeah, cus your BUDDY, your PAL scarecrow, thought it would be so FUNNY to release an UNTESTED gas in a gala for a fucking THRILL HIGH.”

But instead of a fight they walk into.. this.

 A wheelchair bound boy with black hair and blue eyes (who he’s sure his siblings would call “adoption bait”) holding a strange silver and green gun that looked straight out of one of Damian’s sci-fi mangas, at a confused and startled Riddler. It seems the crowd used this as an opportunity, as the rest of the goons were restrained near the walls by a mix of his family, Kent, and various gala attendees, while the middle of the room was occupied by the armed boy.

“Huh?” Jon let his arms rest at his sides as his head tilted to the side in confusion (it does NOT remind him of a confused puppy, absolutely not). However before Damian could say anything, it seems the boy has finally noticed them.

“Oh, you’re here. Took you long enough.” The boy finally puts the gun down and into a bag at his side. “Have fun.” He says in a bored tone as he turns and starts pushing himself in the direction of a man with silver hair, Vlad Masters, who met him in the middle only to start fussing over him, seemingly much to the boy’s annoyance.

Finally shaking off their shock both Damian and Jon rush to detain the Riddler until the police show up, yet Damian’s curiosity keeps bringing his eyes back to Master’s and his ward. outwardly, the concern seemed genuine, but with how the boy was reacting to just being touched by Master’s… made him think otherwise. 

Even Lex Luthor was side eyeing the man instead of resuming his chatter with father or Mr. Kent, meaning something was happening and Damain was determined to find it out one way or another. 

For now though, they have their hands full because of Riddler and Scarecrow.

Domain knew he should have stayed back with Ace. 

____________________________________________________________________________

End of chapter 1

[lexosaurus]

Hi uhh i have a question i was scrolling at ao3 and i keep seeing pompous pep fiction a lot but i thought it was illegal because there is at least 20 year age gap im getting confused

AO3 is a creative writing/fanfiction archive that allows anything that's legal under US creative writing law. There are some limitations, like scripting out an episode of DP would not be allowed because that's copyright infringement, and posting something disguised as a fic that's not actually one (say, posting your headcanons list or your grandma's cookie recipe) isn't allowed because that's not a transformative work. But otherwise, people are allowed to post any fictional content that they so wish so long as it's tagged properly.

The tags are an awesome feature of the site and are why many people, myself included, choose to use AO3 as their main fanfiction domain. It allows you to opt in or opt out of any tag that you do or don't want to see. For example, I read/write a ton of gore, so I often filter in tags like "Dissection" (using the sidebar) so I can only see those types of fics. But there are tons of people who get squicked out by gore/dissection, so they might prefer to filter those tags out. Maybe they just wanna read a good smut fic, so they'd filter in that tag, while for me, I'm not so interested in that content, so I almost always filter it out before I browse.

I know this seems a bit long winded of me, but what I'm trying to get at is that because fanfiction is fictional, that means that ships and tags that you or I might argue are morally gray or even morally unethical are totally allowed on the site (aka no real children were harmed in the making of said fic, so not illegal). This includes Pompous Pep, which is Danny/Vlad. And if you don't want to see that, as many people probably don't, then the site makes it extremely easy to filter that stuff out! Woo!

The DP Phandom is a really really old phandom and we've had a history of "true vs anti" ship wars back in the 00's, which while a bit different than the kinds of shipping wars you see in other fandoms today, they still happened and were incredibly destructive within our spaces. People were fighting, there was lots of bullying, angry cliques, and overall moral policing "you can't sit with us" behavior to people who frankly didn't deserve it. There's not a lot of creatives left from that era, and the ones that did come back don't have a lot of positive things to say about it.

So yeah, maybe some people on AO3 write things that might squick you out, but from experience we've found it to be far more beneficial to just do our own things. Write the content you wanna write, read the content you wanna read, interact with the people you wanna interact with, and block/mute/filter out/whatever the rest. It's honestly not worth your mental health or sanity to try to police fics/art in here. We're too old, most of us got jobs, bills to pay, maybe even kids to feed, and it's honestly not worth our time. Besides, it's much more fun to participate in phandom events and nerd out with other creatives about silly AUs and tropes and geek out over art styles and colors than it is to worry about that stuff!

[picturejasper20]

Thought’s on Jack & Maddie Fenton?

As characters i think they are entertaining on their own. They are usually fun to see when they show up, having something funny to say. They do have defined personalities in a way you can separate one from the other.

One thing i do like in contrast to parents from other animated series is that they are have plenty of skills, both in intellect and combat. This is such an cool aspect of them because they can be more active in the story instead of being there hanging around.

This is something that the series has in advantage over other shows that have their young protagonists having to save the world. It is also a very easy way for Danny to get the equipment he needs to fight against ghosts.

And it is pretty interesting how them and Vlad used to be part of a main trio that fell apart after the proto-portal accident in collegue years in contrast to Danny's friend trio. It is such a cool aspect that makes them more intriguing, knowing that they were the ones that were what pushed Vlad to become a villain.

Their relationship with Danny is pretty unique as well, since they see Phantom as their enemy in the series and try haunting him. So they are ¨good guys¨ but somewhat semi-antagonists to Danny's half ghost part.

All these things set up very juicy conflicts for these characters.

...The issue is that series doesn't seem to want to explore all these aspects in a deeper detail, we mainly only get to see glimpses or some aspects of it.

And when we do get them learning about Danny's ghost identity and them accepting Danny... their memory gets erased! All the development they could have had of trying to understand that their son is half ghost and maybe joining him in his battles never happened because the series did really want to keep their status quo.

The complexities of their relationship with Vlad never got a proper exploration neither, which is really frustrating because it is one of the most intriguing aspects of the series. We could have seen more of how they used to be when they were younger and if they left Vlad or didn't know what to do after the portal acccident. A lot of wasted potential...

One of the biggest problems in their writing is that usually the series didn't want to explore how they weren't always good parents and more often than not their poor behaviour was excused. A lot of times it was treated like ¨jokes¨ and not something that had an impact on their kids. The most frustrating episode in this is ¨Fright Before Christmas¨ that has Jack and Maddie arguing over something stupid and it is something that Jazz and Danny have ¨to put up with¨ because the narrative say so. Jack and Maddie do this since they find it ¨fun¨, yet they don't seem to care how this makes their own children feel on Christmas

Another thing i wish we could have seen more is what other interests they have outside ghosts or general character flaws that don't have to be related with their parenting. I want to know about them more as individuals and change over time. Other animated shows usually do this better, developing the parent characters showing different sides of them. I would have liked to see something like that with Jack and Maddie.

They are characters that i enjoy watching and i do like their personalities. I just wish they could have been explored in deeper detail because they have the potential to be some of the most interesting characters in the series if they have had that development.

[bambi-kinos]

Hey, I am different nonny, just in case, and I really love your analysis, just wanted to bring up a slightly different opinion.

I don't think we can take everything Danny Laine said as a concrete truth. The reason I say this is because depending on who was closer to who in Paul & Linda relationship when they were scorned - the takes on their relationship greatly differed. I've seen tons of things about Linda being calculating and relentless, stalking Paul from 1967 until she got him. Linda controlling who had access to Paul in entertainment circles, especially the women near him. Linda hating Jane, to the point described in this quote "when Linda came on the scene she made sure that all his old pals that knew and liked Jane were excluded" from Barry Miles. JoJo Laine, Danny's ex-wife, also said Linda was jealous of Jane, hated Linda in general and even claimed that Linda tried to seduce Danny, while Linda hated her to bits in return.

Another thing that immediately comes to mind is an account from Dave Spinozza, who pretty much just wanted to get into Paul's pants, and he framed his firing like this: "we sort of had a falling out. I had a little bit of, actually not with him, I had a little falling out with Linda and it just didn’t work out". He fully blamed Linda for it, even though Paul was uncomfortable with him.

And of course, I am sure Paul had his domineering moments more than enough, arguing about Linda doing stuff he didn't like, but to me, it seems their relationship was on way more equal footing and Linda could hold her ground.

RIP to Denny Laine but he was a fuckboy and I imagine that a lot of the shit he said was out of spite. I absolutely believe that he would lie on purpose or that he misunderstood what was happening in front of him. Denny Laine is still one of the guys who almost murdered Paul and Linda by piloting an airplane while stoned:

Another, far more serious incident [on the 1976 Wings tour] caused Paul’s anger to explode. In flight, inebriated members of the band and entourage would sometimes enter the cockpit and hang out and chat with the laid-back Texan pilots charged with handling the tour plane. On one occasion, trumpeter Steve Howard, holder of a pilot’s license for smaller aircraft, was given a turn at the controls of the jet, acquitting himself admirably. Denny Laine, at the time perhaps worryingly reading a book entitled Anyone Can Fly, was also given a go in the pilot’s chair. After a few minutes, the real flight crew’s attentions having drifted, a call came through from air traffic control warning them that the plane was cruising several thousand feet below its agreed-upon altitude. According to Laine, “When you take anything off automatic pilot, it goes all over the place for a moment or two.” During another flight, one member of the miles-high party—reports differ as to the identity of the culprit—sent the plane into a dive, throwing everyone around the cabin. It was at this point that a furious McCartney discovered that, for some weeks, drunken members of his group had been taking turns flying the plane, with his wife and children on board. Never the most comfortable flier, Paul blew his top. From here on in, everyone in the touring party was banned from the cockpit. “Which is fair enough,” Howie Casey notes. “Even though I was pissed, I’d think, No, that’s silly.”

Man on the Run, Tom Doyle

To help relieve the tedium of the road, individual band members would often sneak off into the cockpit for a quick turn at the wheel, on one occasion sending the deluxe, specially equipped aircraft into a tailspin. McCartney, who had been playing cards with Linda and a couple of the road crew at the back of the aircraft, ended up in a very unhappy heap in the center aisle, screaming bloody blue murder at the highflying, spaced-out pranksters. Laine, who himself had a go, was piloting the plane on the basis of a book he was then reading called Anyone Can Fly, later the title of one of his most interesting solo albums. He comments: “When you take anything off automatic pilot it goes all over the place for a moment or two. At one point, Steve [the brass player] took the plane into a terrible dive, sending everybody at the back flying inside the plane. . . . Paul was very pissed off about that, yeah. Then he found out we'd all been flying for weeks. His bottle went, as they say.”

Blackbird: The Life and Times of Paul McCartney, Geoffrey Giuliano

(quotes from sounwise)

So whenever you read a quote from Denny where he whinges about Paul not ~letting him in~ after all those years in Wings, remember these quotes lmao.

I regard reports of Paul and Linda's marriage the same way I regard John and Yoko's marriage: the qualities that keep rising to the top are the ones that are true. Paul and Linda had a good marriage IMO, it's just that there's also signs that Paul's weirdness about money and his baggage meant that he could lose his temper and that he tried to push Linda around at times. I read Mccartney Legacy Vol 1 last year and that went into some detail about Paul's impatience with Linda's keyboarding skills. When Linda was trying to publish a book Paul is the who allegedly stopped it because he didn't like Linda having the spotlight. There's reports from the guy (surname Cox) who was co-writing a cookbook with Linda that there was tension around it and that he believed it was because Paul did not like Linda getting attention or that Paul was scared she wouldn't be there for him if she was doing something else.

If it was just Denny on his own saying this stuff I'd be more skeptical but he's not the only one.

When I say stuff like "Paul was difficult" or "Linda's marriage was fraught" that's what I'm thinking of. Paul is difficult to be married to (something he's admitted to with the embarrassed feet shuffling he does when he talks about his trad fetish) and Linda herself had a strong personality. It's natural for there to be conflict sometimes.

We also have lots of stories about what a solid couple Paul and Linda were and I think those were true too. Paul is a good father and he stuck it out with Linda when she was dying of cancer, something that can get men to split from a partnership. Like, it's obvious that they cared about each other and they liked being together. If Linda was planning to leave Paul then it was because she wanted to do something else and not be "Paul's wife" forever.

There's always some push/pull in a relationship. Sometimes Linda had to make some sacrifices for Paul's sake. Paul made some sacrifices for Linda too, publicly being a wifeguy when it meant taking a knock to his image and making him an even riskier prospect for anyone wanting to sign him. It wasn't a one sided relationship and it wasn't abusive. It's just that there's a possibility that they ran out the clock on their relationship and Paul's baggage didn't make that relationship easy in the first place.

[mjjune]

3, 5, 6, 11 for red/woodsman

14, 18, 24, 39, 40 for danny/helio

omg so many!!! i'll put this under the cut so it's not clogging up anyone's dash <3

SHIP ASK GAME HERE <3

Red/Woodsman

3. What was their first impression of each other?

Well, it's the prologue, where Red has been visiting her "grandma" in the woods, except this time she gets attacked by The Wolf. The Woodsman happened to be within earshot, and rescued her. So her first impression of him is heroic stranger, and his first impression of her is... small child? lmao

5. Do they argue often? If so, what do they argue about?

Not really!! They banter a little, but really they communicate quite well and even when it comes to things they don't agree on, they won't argue. I think the closest they get is when she's worried about his safety.

6. How do they make up/apologize after an argument?

Going back to the previous question, they don't really need to make up. I imagine it would be a lot of nonverbal communication, knowing looks, and silent admitting the argument was stupid and then acting like it never happened haha

11. How do they feel about nicknames/pet names? If they like them, what pet names do they use? If they hate them, why do they feel that way?

Yes!! Red is a nickname, actually. Since she is a princess, he's the only person who calls her that, and it signifies that he sees her as basically a real person, rather than authority/figurehead like everyone else does. And she calls him a nickname as well, but it's a regular nickname that's just a shortened version of his first name, which he likes.

Danny/Helio

14. Do they enjoy PDA, or are they more private with affection?

I think mostly they are private, but it depends on where they are. Helio isn't the type to make out on the street or in a random shop, but when they are at Danny's club they are extremely affectionate. They've even fucked in his office lol

18. How do they care for each other when one of them is wounded/sick?

They are extremely sweet :3 On the page (in book 1 anyway :eyes:) you only see Danny taking care of Helio, who's wounded. It's a lot of gentle touches and trying to give him whatever he needs.

24. How do their personalities affect their relationship? Do their characteristics compliment each other, or clash often?

So after the initial "we're enemies (but not really)" passes, they actually complement each other quite well! The way they view the world is actually very similar, and Danny sees a lot of his younger self in Helio. If they do clash, it's probably because Helio is being insecure about something, but tbh Danny is too patient for there to be any real arguments are anything - after that initial angsty hate-fuck period, ofc.

39. When and how did they admit that they loved each other? If they haven’t yet, why?

Lol the real question is: will they ever actually admit out loud?? RIP maybe never. But they have other ways of saying it, but that's too much spoilers >:3

40. Do they have any regrets in their relationship?

As far as book 1 is concerned, I think Danny regrets how much (literal) danger Helio ended up in because of their relationship, but I don't think he regrets actually being with him. Danny does actually fuck up once, and regrets that, but Helio is so traumatized (see: dying) by the point Danny realizes he fucked up that it's kinda null and void, like it's not even on Helio's radar and he wouldn't even consider it a fuck up? lmao Besides, Danny makes up for it tenfold soon after, so it's just one of those things that he carries. By the end of the book I'd say he's over it though.

Tagging a few friends & betas I think will like to see these answers :D @bebewrites @isabellebissonrouthier @jamieanovels @vsnotresponding

[witchcraftandburialdirt]

💕 + 😘 + 💔 + ⚡ + 🍃 + Tarhos @ Haru as per requested-

✧ ── 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒

💕 + Tarhos: Under which circumstance would your muse fall in love with them?

Coughs in Primordial verse Similarly to Danny and Robin, it's nearly impossible for me to see these two meeting and not ending up together; I'm so stupidly invested in them and they've too much chemistry. That being said, Haru and Tarhos are destined to be together in every universe they meet.

😘 +Tarhos: How could they get your muse to like them more than they already do?

This is definitely targeted at modern verse specifically, but just being open because holy shit Tarhos is so bad at communication in that verse. He really needs to take a look at his Base Verse for some pointers about how to rizz Haruko up. Medieval/Joust AU these two are so sweetly in love depsite everything and I'm not sure its possible for them to possibly like eachother more than they already do?

💔 + Tarhos: What must they do to ruin their relationship?

Cheating, hurting him physically, disrespecting his opinions or ignoring his lack of consent. Pretty standard things - frankly the only time this really happened is when Evil Spider God™ was messing with Tarhos' mind at the end of medieval AU, and even then it was moreso just Tarhos being a massive dick.

⚡ + Tarhos: How would they get your muse angry at them?

Depends on what level of angry we're talking about, I'm pretty sure Tarhos (except in modern but he's working on it) lives to delight in annoying Haruko just enough that its still funny. They bicker, argue over the dumbest stuff, I often compare them to this video , Tarhos drops laundry in Haru's buckets and Haru throws it (now wet and cold) at his head - most of their annoyances are very cute.

However, disregarding his feelings and opinions is a surefire way to get him furious in ANY AU, and this does happen because of the Entity. Thankfully before this I don't think their spats last very long, considering how much they talk to eachother.

🍃 + Tarhos: What would they have to do to get your muse to be more trusting towards them?

Stop hanging out with his cunt boss Robin - Honestly? Given their issues in modern, it would fall under the same as 😘. Most of their problems stem from modern verse PFFFT - but its true. Tarhos' toxic masculinity really rubs off on Haru in modern because the less Tarhos shares the less feels like its important or right for him to share. Granted Haru has his own major issues so it isnt as though he's blameless, but Tarhos willing to be just a smidge vulnerable would help immensely.

[ganymedesclock]

not to come trudging into your inbox unwanted, but is there a word for the phenomenon where like, a protagonist meant to be like, an underdog and societal outcast evolves into The Only Real Person over the course of the narrative because the author is so dead set on making the main character a hated little meow meow but also always right and the only valid arbiter of justice?

I don't know if there's one word specifically for that, but at risk of tvtropesification I would describe this as a phenomenon that can happen multiple ways with slightly different flavors.

Type A: What Do You Mean I Have Traits?!

Example: Danny Phantom.

Basically this is distinguished by being present from the absolute start. We are supposed to believe Danny (or Timmy, FOP does this too) is a Total Loser, but, actually, nobody seems to have a problem with him besides Dash and the series never seems to struggle to think of kids who have it worse than him in the social pecking order.

At this point, the Uncool-Ness of the protagonist is essentially a fig leaf. You can also often see this with "everyman" protagonists like the fantasy hero who comes from a small countryside town but will never have any sort of qualities people might look down on as "rural" or "a country bumpkin". See also: the Sky High variant where the hero has to relate to and move within the underdogs but crucially is ultimately revealed to not be an underdog at all by having the most conventional powers at all.

The underlying problem to type A here is it is written with the goal of relating to the lowest common denominator. It assumes that a character being successful, motivated, driven, is unrelatable... but also, someone being a "real" loser who is actually disabled or poor or has actual unglamorous consequences is not relatable either. So you get an upper middle class perpetually single guy with one (1) bully who hates him and one (1) girl who's Tragically Out Of His League (but is also dying to jump his bones) and this is passed off as actually just the safe, generic, reliable guy! perfectly ordinary. And just for YOU, audience, because this is what we think you are: a loser with no reason for it.

(suffice to say I do not care much for this type of everyman writing.)

Type B: The Backstory Creep

This is more common in long-running series, especially manga with their production model encouraging a bit of seat-of-pants-ing. Basically your character actually starts out a real everyman who could be somebody. A good example of this type I'd point to is Luffy from One Piece.

Yes, Luffy has a power uncommon to his setting, but the Gum-Gum fruit isn't lavishly unique among devil fruits; it has its strengths and drawbacks. There are even ways that ordinary people have an advantage over devil fruit users. So Luffy is just a particular promising rookie who we like because of his personality.

Then... it turns out Luffy's dad is famous but somehow nobody before this point has assumed a Monkey D. Luffy is related to the notorious Monkey D. Dragon. And then it turns out Luffy's grandfather is also famous... and then we get into the implications of the Will of D and Gol D. Roger.

You can even do this if your characters already HAVE an obvious connection but it gets worse. Consider also Naruto, and how it's baldfacedly obvious from the start Naruto is Minato's son, considering he looks like a younger Minato with whisker marks; later installments of Naruto decided to make his mother not just an amazing badass but also that the Uzumaki name was attached to some amazing legendary ninja clan, which... people more into the series than me have pointed out this makes really upsetting context out of an early fight where a character who is meant to be wrong argues that all victory or loss is based on who is a superior being, and Naruto argues back that if a nobody like him can defeat his opponent, then it's proof this is wrong and free will is important...

...but never mind that, we can give our hero an entirely unforeshadowed Badass Secret Legacy!

(did I mention both of these variants really like to shit on adopted parents? because of course adopted parents can't give you Proof Of Badassery in your genetics.)

A big part of what I think is wrong with both of these, is that it basically tries to have its cake and eat it too. Your character is powerless and likable and struggling, except they succeed amazingly and have cool parents and all these connections! Your character is dominating and godlike except they're such a rookie underdog they are not responsible for their power at all, and don't have to face any consequences or concerns related to being an overpowered monster.

The more honest way to field it, is that if your character is a luckless street urchin, let the narrative treat them that way. Let them have consequences of it that aren't just pretty or flawless. If your character is glamorous and powerful, let the narrative treat them that way. Even in relatively trivial ways, this kind of power-but-not-actually can create weird vibes.

To pick on Frozen, a film I otherwise actually enjoy a fair bit of- Anna's love of chocolate in the time period of the setting definitely marks her as an aristocrat used to a life of leisure and imported fineries. She has beautiful dresses to wear. None of this makes her evil. But the way the film gives her chocolate is supposed to make her feel like a Relatable Underdog, which... frankly, feels like gilding the lily. Anna's perky disney-standard songs come with some of the most heartbreaking lines. We see that she nearly gets killed in childhood and then loses her memory of the incident leaving her to an experience of extreme loneliness that creates a people pleaser who falls head-over-heels for the first person to actually make time for her and agree with her at all.

We don't need to hear her having the tee-hee indulgence that just like you, folks, she wants to stuff chocolate in her face!

(we also will not, incidentally, depict Anna as plus-sized even though for her time period and setting, her being built like a viking bride would both emphasize the various gags- and serious bits!- where she is obviously very strong, but would also make sense as culturally speaking the idea of thin as the ideal body is a recent innovation and Disney can afford to give body diversity to its heroines. Nor will we actually consistently depict Anna with a large appetite.)

She's so relatable, we see her waking up and her hair is gross and messy!

(we will not ever again see her in any sort of unglamorous look the entire film including while she's dying of a curse and her styles are just as fastidiously tidy as Elsa's, distinguished only by more severe lines on the latter... until she goes to her ice queen design)

So funny, she talks about being gassy in one scene!

(we will never depict her farting.)

And this is trivial stuff. There's one line about gassiness. This could be emphasizing not that the problem is fart joke but the problem is Anna has zero filters, which is fairly consistent throughout the film in both dramatic and comedic areas. I could say something a lot worse about the plot hole that Anna is clearly not meant to be a classist person (she does not treat Kristoff badly and he speaks freely to her early on) but the castle obviously has guards and servants... that somehow did not impact Anna's loneliness, even though their parents are dead and Elsa is obviously not sticking close enough to Anna to prevent her from being friends with them. To the point in For The First Time In Forever Anna is dancing actively around the servants but she isn't talking to them and they aren't reacting to her.

Doylistically, this is just because the servants are setpieces. This is vastly overthinking it and I'm not in their target audience. But I think this comes back to the same thing you're talking about, anon:

An awful lot of writers are very uncomfortable admitting their protagonists have any form of power or privilege that they might need to have a more complicated relationship with than just a "spoiled princess must be humbled" moral.

Even when it's a boring, mild form of power like "everyone does not hate me at school" or "I am allowed to sometimes be lucky"

[prettytoxix]

Jealousy 🍂

Billy Hargrove x Reader

Pov: hes not a jerk

A/n: just imagine this if billy was not an a hole and was actually a decent human being. There’s just a lot on angst. Enjoy.

Summary: you and your boyfriend billy go to a Halloween party

Content: angst, fluff?

Word count: 1380

Billy insisted that we go to a party tonight. Something about how this kind of thing doesn’t happen very often But let’s be real, it’s high school…There’s a party every other weekend because someone's parents are always away on a trip.

He says this one is going to be different because it’s a Halloween party. I want to say “no,” I really do. But I can’t. Billy doesn’t ask for much so I feel like I owe it to him. What's the worst that could happen anyways? I told him I’d only go if he would do a couples costume with me though, to which he agreed surprisingly fast. I got him to dress up Danny Zuko from Grease, which was really easy because he already had everything for it. Black jeans, and a leather jacket. Easy. I’m going as Sandy, wearing a simple leather-type material jumpsuit.

After getting ready (it ended up taking over an hour because Billy couldn’t stay focused), we get into his Chevrolet and drive over to the party. On the way there we blast music from a CD that Billy keeps in his car. We drive by the house once before finding parking because of how packed it is. There are probably about 15 cars parked on the road and several more in the driveway. I can only imagine how many people are inside and I can already feel myself getting overwhelmed. I’ve never done too well with large groups. I start to twist and turn my rings from anxiety and Billy takes my hand in his own.

“Hey, relax. If anything starts to go south we’ll leave, alright?”

I take a deep breath and stop fidgeting with my rings. “Okay,” is all I can say.

We both get out of the car and Billy locks it behind us. On our way inside, Billy takes my hand into his and gently rubs circles on the back of my hand with his thumb.

Before we even get inside some of Billy’s friends pull him away to the backyard for some contest going on. I’m not overly interested in partaking in it so I head into the house where the music is overwhelmingly loud. There are so many people in there and it begins to feel too crowded. Maybe if I go to the bathroom for a minute I can calm myself down and try to enjoy the party. I walk up to the bathroom door and lift my hand up to knock but I can hear arguing inside.

“Bullshit! All of it!” “So it was all a lie?”

I don’t want to get involved, so I walk away. I think about it for a second and those voices sounded very familiar. Was that Steve and Nancy? It doesn’t matter. I move into the kitchen area to see if there’s anything to drink. On the island in the kitchen is a big punch bowl. I’m sure it’s spiked with some sort of alcohol but at this point, I don’t really care. I grab myself a cup and start to ladle the punch into it.

I stand kind of near where the punch was for about 10 minutes maybe just surveying the crowd. Seeing all the faces I recognized because of how small our town is. I take note of painting in the living room just trying to avoid socializing at any cost.

Steve approaches me, obviously drunk. He’s probably upset if he’s the one that was arguing in the bathroom. He grabs a cup, starts to fill it with punch, and looks me in the eyes.

“Do you wanna dance, Y/l/n?” His words slur together. I don’t have anything against Steve, but I know Billy would kill me if he saw me anywhere near Steve. Billy and Steve don’t have the best history.

“No thank you, why don’t you go ask someone else?” Steve puts his arm around my waist and I try to pull away but I can’t. I look around to see if anybody is seeing this and just then Billy walks in through the back door. We lock eyes and I plead for him to help. He furrows his brows together and rushes over, taking long strides. He makes it by my side quickly, abruptly pushing Steve away from me.

“What’s the matter with you, Harrington?!”

“I’m just trying to have a little fun, man.” Steve shoves him back. I tug at Billy’s arm.

“Can we just go?” I whisper into his ear. Billy grabs my hand and leads us out of the house.

“We’re not done, Harrington!” He snaps before leaving out the front entrance.

We walk to his car and Billy just stands outside not unlocking the car for a moment. Placing his hands on the top of the car and lights a cigarette.

“Can you believe that guy? Unbelievable. I’m going back in there.” He blows out a large puff of smoke.

“Billy, can we just drop it and go somewhere…do something else? Anything?”

“Y/n, he put his hands on you-”

“Are you jealous? Billy Hargrove is jealous of Steve Harrington? I don’t believe my eyes.”

“Me? Jealous?” he scoffs. “No…. No, I’m not jealous.” Now he’s just trying to convince himself of that fact.

“Whatever you say, Hargrove.” I chuckle. He unlocks the car reluctantly and I sit inside finally feeling myself relax a bit. I’m just glad that things didn’t end in a bad fight. Billy starts the car irritated.

“Hey, do you want me to drive? You know I don’t like it when you drive when you’re angry.” He steps out of the car without saying another word and trades spots with me. I sigh out loud knowing the conversation we’re about to have isn’t going to be my favorite.

“You know you don’t have to be jealous of Steve, right?”

“I’m not…” He mumbles under his breath.

“Billy, please look at me.” He looks up grudgingly and I search for anything in his eyes. Anything at all that says he’s telling the truth but all I can see is pain.

“Listen, I want to believe you, I do…” I turn the car off because this conversation obviously is going to take a minute. “but your body language and attitude are saying different.”

“Fine! Maybe I’m a little jealous of Harrington! Is that what you wanted to hear!” He throws his hands up defensively.

“I’m not trying to start a fight here! Don’t snap at me!” Billy slumps down in his seat and apologizes quietly. He’s had a bit too much to drink I can tell. “You know what, never mind. Let’s just forget any of this happened.”

I start the car and pull away from the house while Billy sulks in the passenger seat smoking. I drive around for a bit to relax my nerves before I finally park in an empty parking lot near his house. Billy suddenly breaks the silence between us.

“I’m jealous of Steve because he’s much more desirable than someone like…me… you deserve more than this mess that I am.” He gestures to himself.

“What do you mean by that? Steve isn’t as desirable as you think. I prefer you. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Y/n, I’m just scared of losing you. And I’m scared that I’m going to put walls between us and shut you out like I do everyone else.”

“I’ll make sure that never happens.” I’m feeling so overwhelmed with everything that happened tonight that I can feel my cheeks start to heat up and a tear or two fall down them. Billy looks over and places his hand on my face and uses his thumb to wipe my tears away.

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Billy tugs me close to him as we lean over the center console of his car while our lips embrace passionately and hungrily.

I have never found so much comfort in a person even after a fight.

[tmnt-fun]

Raph Adopts The Mud Dogs(Chapter 1)

Depending on how well this does I'll keep writing it :)

Word count- 1289

The mud dogs were a… pretty well-known bunch. They’ve been doing a lot of stuff, breaking the law, and stealing things from people. You know, just… standard lousy things. About a year ago, they met this guy, said he was someone else, was not that person, course.

And they got mad. 

Of course they did! They got lied to, why would they NOT get mad about that? They tried to kill the guy, blah blah blah, shit happened. Honestly? Dastardly Danny seemed the most hurt by it. He trusted that big green freak and what happened? He got his back stabbed. 

Malicious Mickey seemed pretty bothered too; he trusted the guy as well and it felt weird to know that he was being lied to that whole time. He really thought that they could have been friends. Loathsome Leonard tried to get them to calm down, who cares? Ain’t like that guy was ever gonna come back, but… yeah. 

They were all pretty down in the dumps for a bit after that. 

Ha! At least Loathsome Leonard was back to being the leader. The boy in blue is always the leader! Like he said. They shoulda listened to him in the first place, then that wouldn’t have happened…

Though, sometimes, they have to be honest. They did think about that red guy, what was his name again? Eh, whatever, didn’t matter. They did sometimes think about him. Malicious Mickey thought that his plans of evil were really good! They were strange and seemed thought up at the moment but dang, if they didn’t get them a lot of money and a place to stay. 

Now they have a new place to stay!

In jail… again.

Malicious Mickey was sitting on the bench, his tail pulled up his head rested against it while his fins were wrapped around, hugging it to his chest. Loathsome Leonard was walking back and forth in front of the bars, punching at them every once in a bit. He was pretty pissed at himself for getting them caught! How was he supposed to be a good leader if he gets himself and his group caught? Dastardly Danny was just laying on the bed his arms behind his head, staring up with a small frown on his face.

They tried to break out when they were caught; yeah, didn’t work very well. Got shot at, Dastardly Danny had bandages wrapped around his arm to prove that. He didn’t get hit, just grazed, but that was enough for him to be pretty dang pissed right now. 

The other two knew not to talk to him when he was like that. Not that he would be mean to them or anything, more just he got overwhelmed sometimes. Dastardly Danny sighs and looks over at Loathsome Leonard and sits up on the bed, holding his ankles with his legs crossed. “Ey, stop banging on the bars. It ain’t helping and it’s giving me a headache” 

“You shut your mouth hole, it’s gonna work” What would? Banging on the bars? Yeah, that’s gonna help a lot. Loathsome Leonard punches at the bars again then hisses, holding onto his hand his eyes shut tight. Damn it! Malicious Mickey looks at them, frowning, then turns his head down and moves his fins over his head to cover where his ears would be.

He hated it whenever they got caught. 

The two of them started to bicker, Loathsome Leonard and Dastardly Danny. They argued more often when they were caught, they just butted heads sometimes. Dastardly Danny was overwhelmed and Loathsome Leonard disliked being in tight places.

While they were bickering, one of the guards came over to the cell and stood, with their arms crossed. Most likely waiting for them to stop their bickering. She was a fox, three tails though. She taps her foot on the bars, “Hey” she said to get their attention. 

The three turn their heads quickly at the sound, and Loathsome Leonard squints, “What? Can’t ya see we’re busy here?” He snapped, which causes Dastardly Danny to push on his arm, muttering, “Shut up and listen to what she’s gotta say” Loathsome Leonard snaps his teeth at the other one, something he did when he was annoyed which made the other roll his eyes. 

"Right," she starts, "Well you three are lucky, someone's come to bail you out" That was confusing, who would do that? Big Mama might have? But why would she go and do that? 

Malicious Mickey stands up, moving over, "Who did that?" he asks. 

"Raphael, like I said... very lucky" she turns, walking off which caused Loathsome Leonard to snap, "Hey! Don't walk away from us while we're talking to you, chick!" 

She ignored him which made him huff and puff. Annoying! He turns to look at the other two, "Do you guys know who this Raphael fella is?" They both shake their heads, Malicious Mickey holding his fins together in front of him. They were both confused... well all of them were!

That was until there were footsteps and a very, annoyingly, familiar voice, "Hey guys..." 

Loathsome Leonard slowly turns his head to look at the person that was talking. That big red turtle was there, holding his arms behind his back and looking at them with a little nervous smile. 

“You little-” He runs at the bars, reaching out to try to grab him, “Get over here!” Dastardly Danny blinks then frowns and walks over, pulling him away, “Leonard, what are you doing? He’s the one that got us outta here” his eyes shoot up to look at Raph, who was frowning.

He sure has changed, got taller, one of his eyes was… pinkish? Sharper pupil. Weird. 

“Don’t care, I’mma beat him!” He goes limp in Danny’s arms though, panting softly to try to catch his breath. 

Raph sighs shaking his head and he walks closer. “Look, guys, I’m doing this cause I feel bad for what I did earlier, I shouldn’t have lied to you three.” He puts his hands together, smiling, “Raph’s gonna help you three get out of the crime life”

That made the three of them start to laugh, thinking he was joking… he was not. 

And that’s how they were now walking out with him, he had the key to their cuffs and they knew that they wouldn’t be able to get out of these easily without that key… they figured hey, why the hell not try to work with Raph for a little while, up until he decided that they were good enough to take off the cuffs. 

Then they would leave. 

Malicious Mickey seemed to be having a hard time walking. Raph looks over his shoulder at him, “Hey, you need a little help?” When Malicious Mickey squinted at him, he corrected himself, “Do you want some help?” 

“How’d you help me?” he asks, annoyance in his voice. 

“Uh… try not to shock me, aright?” he asks, then walks closer and gently scoops him up in one of his arms making the other two blink then snicker while Malicious Mickey’s face went a bright color, “Hey hey hey!” he waves his arms the best that he could; a little embarrassed. 

Raph laughs and looks forward, “Don’t worry, it’s just for now. I won’t drop you” The eel huffs but relaxes, grumbling under his breath as he looked forward. It… felt weirdly nice to be held like this, most wouldn’t even bother trying cause, you know, the fact that he could shock. He could control himself pretty well! Just… not all the time. 

Loathsome Leonard and Dastardly Danny started to tease him all while he was ignoring them. He had the high ground now, boys. 

[ageofnations]

Chamomile // drw

Summary: Danny often feels overshadowed by his best friends and bandmates. You, however, can’t seem to get your mind off of him.

Pairing: Danny x fem!reader

Word Count: ~2.2k

Warnings: talk of alcohol, sad Danny

A/N: Here's a little something I've been working on. I'm not exactly sure how long this will be, but I'm hoping for at least three more parts! I had to do the friends to lovers trope soon because I am lovesick lmaoooo. I hope you all enjoy! Sorry for the bits of angst to start with. I expect lots of fluff to come very soon...

Part I

There weren’t many moments of silence while you hung with your best friends, and today was no different.

The boys had invited you to the studio with them to “watch the magic happen” as Josh had put it. They were working on a new single, one that had been months in the making. They just couldn’t figure out what else the track needed, but they knew having you with them would help. You always seemed to be a good luck charm in their eyes. They performed well when you came to concerts, they wrote well when you were around, their moods were lifted with you by their sides. When they asked you to join, you couldn’t turn them down if you wanted to.

Now that you were there, you couldn’t really tell if the “good luck” you exuded with was running out or just nonexistent. You had been lying on the lounge chair in the far corner of the room scrolling mindlessly through social media. You tried to stay out of the way, but close enough to still know what was going on. The boys had made little progress for the past hour. They started by arguing about what riff would sound the best in the bridge of the song. Eventually, the conversation shifted to who had the best “musical influence” between them all and how it would impact the song. They had been going back and forth so much that they were expressing very few complete thoughts. They were essentially making the same point. Everyone except for Danny, that is.

Danny had contributed very little to the argument between the brothers. When it first started, he gave pointers about how each riff would sound with the bassline they had already established, but he was largely ignored. He tried to quell the argument about musical influence by making the point that they all had similar interests, but they talked over him. You could see him go from being highly invested in the conversation to uninterested altogether. He was used to the brother banter and even was known for diffusing it as it evolved into all-out screaming matches, but today was a little different.

He had only said one sentence to attempt to find a compromise between each of the members’ ideas and preferences, but his idea was shot down almost immediately. Anytime he had tried to open his mouth to speak, he’d either get cut off by one of the Kiszkas yelling at another or stop himself before they could do so. He chose to sit behind the drums and keep his mouth shut, picking at the tape on his drumsticks to pass the time.

You had noticed his change in demeanor, but were unsure how to approach the group about it, or if you should at all.

Danny spoke softly again. You could only make out his words because you were already looking at him. “I just think I should have a say in it, too.” He didn’t look up from his drumsticks in his hands as he spoke to the group.

The boys once again, albeit unintentionally, talked over Danny.

You sighed and broke your concentration from the situation at hand, continuing to scroll through social media. You felt bad for Danny, and it felt awful to see him in such a weird position, but you weren’t sure what you could do to help. Your attention was brought back up at the sound of the door shutting, with an empty chair behind the drum set.

You look back at the brothers as they continued to ramble about music tastes. They didn’t seem to notice that Danny had left even though the light-hearted dispute had turned into a heated discussion. You roll your eyes and rise from the chair. You quietly exited the room to attempt to find where Danny had gone.

“Dan?” You called as you shut the door behind you. You didn’t receive a response, so you begin your search in each of the various rooms. You didn’t know the layout very well, as this had been one of the very few times you had been to the studio with them. You kept saying Danny’s name as you progressed through the building, but received nothing in response.

It had been 5 minutes of looking around, and you already felt as if you had been running in circles and accidentally checking the same rooms. You started to worry slightly. You didn’t think he was in any trouble - as if he could get himself in trouble - but you did wonder if he had left the building entirely. You retrieved your phone from your back pocket and began to search for Danny’s contact.

Just as you were about to start typing, you heard the shutting of a cabinet in a room slightly further down from you. A room you realized you hadn’t checked. You lock your phone and walk to it.

You encounter a small room that reminded you of a break room of sorts. One that seemed to belong in a corporate office with bright fluorescent lights overhead. The walls were a dingey color, and you could tell that they used to be solid white once upon a time. It was a kitchenette with various outdated appliances, adorned with vending machines full of junk. You wondered if the owners had ever renovated it since the original building was founded.

You see Danny across the room pouring some type of steaming liquid into a mug. His back was to you, so you let yourself admire his figure for a moment before saying his name again, softly so you didn’t startle him.

He turned his head slightly upon hearing you, still not turning to you completely or meeting the eye contact you so desperately wanted. He hummed once he finally recognized who had joined him.

“Hey, Bip,” he said plainly with a sigh. Your nickname paired with his soft voice made your heart flutter. He was the one who had coined the term, and every time he used it, you couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgic. You had always mispronounced the famous lyrics of Cinderella’s fairy-godmother’s “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo,” replacing them with “bippity-boppity-boo.” Dan first noticed it during one of your Disney movie marathons you forced them all to sit through. After many discussions about the “magic” you had over the boys, the name Bip seemed to fit.

You focus back on the situation at hand. Danny forced a bit of a closed-lipped smile as he acknowledged you, but you could see the exhaustion laced in its beauty. He turned back to the beverage he was making. “Enjoying yourself today? I’m glad you could come with us.”

You walk to the open counter lined against the wall opposite Danny and hop on top of it. “I’m glad I could come, too. I’m not sure if it’s really helped like you guys thought it would, though,” you respond with a breath of a laugh. You hoped he would open up without you having to pry, but you were almost positive that wouldn’t happen.

In fact, he didn’t react to your statement at all. He simply kept his eyes down and continued steeping the warm beverage in front of him. You watched his hands as he fiddled with the teabag. It was barely noticeable that his hands were shaking, but he aimed to mask it by gently lifting the bag and submerging it in the liquid repeatedly. You tried again.

“Dan, are you okay?” You wanted to get straight to the point so he couldn’t keep avoiding the conversation.

But again, he didn’t answer you. This time though, you noticed the deep breath he took, and that seemed to be as much of a response as you needed.

“Danny, look I-“

“Do you want some tea?” He interrupted. He was already reaching, only slightly, in the cabinet above him for another mug similar to his. “They only have chamomile here, but I can make you some coffee if you’d like.”

You swallowed what you planned to say to him, deciding that he just didn’t feel like talking about whatever was going on. “Chamomile is fine, thank you.” Your voice sounded shaky from the tension in the room. He was practically finished making the second drink by the time you answered. You smiled at the gesture, but you couldn’t help but worry even more about him. You weren’t even sure you wanted anything to drink, but he seemed to need something to put his mind to.

He grabbed the new drink in front of him and carefully walked to you. “Careful. It’s still hot,” he warned. He still didn’t meet your gaze, but he made sure you had a solid grip on your drink before making his way back to his original spot. His drink was more than done by this point, but he continued to meddle with the tea bag for a moment.

He ran his hands through his hair briefly before finally turning around and propping up against the counter. He held his drink gingerly and raised the cup to his lips. The soft slurp of the liquid was louder than intended, but he still didn’t initiate any conversation to cover it up. His eyes seemed to be locked on a spot on the floor, taking in nothing and everything all at once. For the first time, you surprisingly couldn’t read him no matter how hard you tried. Danny had been your friend before any of the boys, so you had plenty of practice understanding his body language. But this time, you just couldn’t. It began to feel awkward staring at him for so long, so you look back down at the beverage in your hands.

You tried to focus on the feeling of warmth from the mug on your cold hands. The way the smooth liquid ran down your throat and provided instant comfort. You hoped the tea was doing the same for him. You wanted to be there for Danny if he needed to talk to someone, but you hoped you weren’t making him uncomfortable or making things worse.

You two sipped in relative silence. Minutes had passed and you were wondering why the others hadn’t tried to reach out to see where you both had gone. Danny had finished his drink before you, and he was rinsing his mug out in the sink beside him. He set it on the drying rack and wiped his hands. He ran his fingers through his hair one more time and took a deep breath. You could see his shoulders visibly relax.

He turned to you, finally meeting your eyes for the first time in hours. “Just put the mug in the sink when you’re done. I’ll wash it later.” He flashed another small smile, and before you knew it, he had left the room. You finished your drink a little later, but instead of leaving it in the sink, you decided to wash it. Danny always picked up any task and took it as his own responsibility when he didn't need to. This was such a simple chore, one that you could do yourself, so you disobeyed his wishes before leaving the kitchenette.

The rest of the time at the studio went by fairly quickly. When you had entered the rehearsal room again, the argument had died down, and the boys were back to working on the song. Danny’s mood had shifted slightly, but you still noticed that he didn’t talk as much as usual. However, they surprisingly had made a lot of progress for the last half of rehearsal, so they were excited to finally get some time to unwind.

“Y/N, you coming back to our place to have a couple of drinks with us, or do I need to go ahead and take you back home?” Sam asked. You had ridden with him to save yourself the trouble of finding the studio yourself.

Before you could respond, Josh chimed in. “I’m gonna make a bonfire, too, so I need all hands on deck. You HAVE to come.”

Jake shoved his twin playfully. “No, we’re gonna make a bonfire," he motioned to Sam, Danny, and himself. "You’re just gonna set it on fire and whine about it not being big enough.”

You all shared a hearty laugh at the image painted in your minds. The idea of spending more time with your best friends sounded delightful, especially when alcohol would be involved. Usually, when the boys were drunk enough with a fire going, they would sit around it and sing or reminisce about the early days of the band and the early days of your friendship. It was one of your favorite things to do with them, so you agreed to tag along.

As the brothers talked about the plans for the night, you couldn’t help but be proud of the smile that made an appearance on Danny’s face when you said yes. It was probably the first genuine smile you had seen from him all day, especially with the tension from earlier. It was one that made his eyes crinkle a little with the bridge of his nose. It made your smile grow just a bit, especially when you noticed his cheeks pinken when you made eye contact.

You also noticed the familiar feeling of butterflies in your belly at the sight, and you couldn’t wait to see what the night held in store for you.

read Part II

[fishoutofcamelot]

BBC Merlin - in particular, its fandom - really ought to take on the Danny Phantom mindset when it comes to secret-keeping.

For context, Danny Phantom is a show about a boy who gets turned into a ghost, but must hide this from his parents who happen to be ghost hunters by pretending he's still fully alive. Obviously he keeps this a secret from them, for fear of what they would do to him if they ever found out what he was. Secret-keeping hijinks and glossed-over angst ensue.

And trust me, if you think the magic in BBCM is a queer allegory, just wait till you watch Danny Phantom.

Never in the series is Danny's secrecy viewed as a bad thing. In fact, both canon and an overwhelming majority of the 'phandom' are in agreement that even though his parents wound up accepting him in the end, their anti-ghost rhetoric made him feel extremely unsafe - and on that basis alone he was under no obligation to tell them his secret. The narrative isn't framed as Danny being responsible for his parents' views - instead, the responsibility is on his parents alone to abandon their prejudices and become better people.

Thats not to say Danny is free from accountability, of course. While DP is far from perfect, one thing it does rather well is explore the ways families can drift apart, and how maintaining relationships is a team effort. Danny pushes his parents away - and for good reason - but in the process he also pushes away any opportunity for reconciliation, assuming the worst of his parents for his own safety even in the face of their personal growth.

Sound familiar?

Likewise, Merlin is also constantly surrounded by dangerous, harmful rhetoric against himself and people like him. Arthur in particular is often either actively espousing or remaining passive in the face of this rhetoric. Like, I really do love Arthur, but it would be a disservice to his character to pretend he was always entirely in the right. And we could go in circles about whether or not Arthur deserved to know, or what he would/wouldn't have done if he found out Merlin's secret. The bottom line is, Merlin didn't feel safe. Arthur's words and actions directly contributed to Merlin's uncertainty, which in turn fed his fear.

Just like with Danny Phantom, Merlin isn't responsible for Arthur's views and opinions. Arthur is a free-thinking adult who can make his own decisions. And sure, blah blah blah, Arthur only ever encountered evil sorcerers and dark magic, so he never had the chance to challenge his views - but Danny's parents were also consistently exposed to evil ghosts wreaking havoc, yet they found it in themselves to change anyway.

(And to add to the parallels, "Sins of the Father" from BBCM and "Reality Trip" from DP both feature instances where Arthur and Danny's parents respectively grow from their harmful misconceptions and accept that which they used to hate. But then Merlin and Danny take actions to restore the status quo, resetting any growth they may have had - textually because they thought it was for the best, but subtextually I would argue it was because they were still scared of change and exposure and rejection, and the status quo made them feel safe. Was this the right thing to do? Probably not. But their actions are entirely understandable given the circumstances. Idk, i just thought that was an interesting parallel worth mentioning.)

TLDR - Merlin lying to Arthur wasnt a bad thing, BBC Merlin and Danny Phantom are uncannily similar, and both Merlin and Danny deserve lots of hugs

[jamiethebeeart]

Chapter 2 Link OR I'll put it under a readmore. (I might write a third chapter covering the accident and call it good, or I might be inclined to continue it the story. Don't know yet :P )

Sam squared her shoulders as she walked past the A listers standing in front of the cars in the parking lot.  None of them could (legally) drive yet, but they loitered there as though to give the impression that they could.  Hearing bits of the girls’ conversation she involuntarily sneered and started up the school steps.  Students were pushing past her, barely concealed body odor drifting past her face every so often.  The front doors of the school swinging open and closed with the constant in and out of people kept blasting Sam with early morning chatter.  Scowling, she made her way inside to the buzzing fluorescent lights and squeaks of shoes on tiles.  She sped up, dancing around groups of students talking in the middle of the hallway – left, right, up the stairs, down a hallway, turn right – and there were Tucker and Danny.  Her shoulders dropped as she heard Tucker’s laugh at something Danny said.  Coming to a stop beside them she started to hi before she glanced down to Danny’s jaw.  A Fentonworks bandage (which was really just green bandaids) covered a scratch that she knew wasn’t there yesterday.  The sounds of other students seemed muted and Sam closed her mouth before opening it again.

“What happened?” Sam asked halfheartedly, not really wanting to know.  She heard the ticks of the hallway analog clock somewhere behind her.  Her heart keeping time to each click as Danny smiled at her.

“Ah it’s nothing.”  Danny looked sheepish.  “I tried to pick up a flask from the counter while balancing some boxes and a trash bag.  It didn’t end well and I ended up with a scratch from a fork.  It’s really nothing though!  Barely made a mark, but my mom refused to let me leave the house without something to cover it.”  Danny laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.  “Anyway, Jazz already scolded me for trying to do too much, but Dad slipped me some fudge to put in my lunch for it!”

“Oooh sweet Danny!  You’re going to share right?” Tucker asked.

“Mmmm I don’t know Tuck, are you sure I can’t glance at your math answers before second period?”

“I’ll take pictures of it and show you during lunch if you let me have some of that fudge,” Tucker bargained.

“Cutting it a little close to your math class, don’t you think Danny?” Sam leaned in towards him, “I think we should just split the fudge ourselves.”  Sam gave him a conspiratorial smirk, while looking at Tucker.

“Hey! It’s plenty of time before his 6th period math class!” Tucker argued.

Danny laughed as the first warning bell rang out over the din.  “Lunch it is Tucker, don’t forget!”  He said as he waved at his two friends, disappearing into the crowd.

A smile on his face, Tucker said bye to Sam and walked off as well.

Sam left out a breath, letting her face fall as she leaned her forehead against a locker.  The stupid bandaid.  On his jaw.  She could feel her anxiety building as students brushed past her, not letting her forget that she had a classroom to be in rather soon.  But her thoughts darted from one thing to another as she put her hands over her eyes.  His freckles from over the summer break were fading, but still there.  His hair was getting long, bangs almost flopping into his eyes when he nodded.  The little scars on his hands from a pencil, grazing past a knife in the sink, falling on a rock, splitting the skin on one of his knuckles.  The way his voice started dropping, coming more from his chest than the prepubescent resonance that she used to know.  His favorite white shirt with that stupid red oval, a 2 for 1 deal to her black shirt that she couldn’t convince him to not buy.  Someone jostled her backpack and the roar of students moving through the hallway came back full force making her take a deep breath, and she lifted her head.  ‘It would be alright.’ Sam thought.  ‘It will have to be,’ she told herself, slipping into the flow of students heading to class.

She made her way to her first period classroom – not shared with either Danny or Tucker – and sat down.  Robotically, she opened her backpack, took out her binder, notebook, pencil.  Laid on the desk and backpack placed on the floor next to her.  Final bell ringing, the teacher stands up at the front of the class and begins.  Automatically copying down the notes, her mind wandered back to Danny’s bandaid throughout the class.  She tried to control her breathing, in for 4 seconds, pause, out for 8.  ‘It could be a coincidence’ Sam thought.  ‘Just because things are similar, it doesn’t mean it’s now.’  The ball of dread, heavy in her stomach, refused to move.  The bell rang and Sam quietly huffed before packing away her materials, getting ready to head to the next class.  It wouldn’t – couldn’t - change anything to sit there and worry about it.  The first to leave the classroom, she darted between people to make her way to the next class as quickly as possible.  Heading down the stairs and to the other side of the building, she saw Tucker coming down the other hallway at the same time.  Meeting up in the middle of the corridor, Tucker and Sam passed each other with a smile and nod respectively.  Sam took a sharp right into her classroom, a worried expression taking over again as she repeated the same routine.  Taking notes and mulling over what the next few days would bring, she passed through the rest of her morning classes the same way.  The second lunch bell song pulled Sam out of her thoughts.  Gathering up her stuff in her backpack, she slowly stood up and pulled on her spider backpack to one shoulder.  Letting the initial rush of students to move past her to the lunchroom, she squared her shoulders, lifted her chin, and made her way to her locker and then the lunchroom, like someone on their way to a battle.

Peeking through the door windows, a line of teenagers were still waiting to buy a lackluster school lunch, blocking the way.  It seemed the line was still exceptionally long and Sam walked to the second set of doors, heading to the back of the lunchroom.  Danny was already sitting at their table, half of it spotted in gum chunks and gouges scraped through the top.  Sam walked to the opposite bench and slid into it, to sit across from Danny.

Danny looked up, offering Sam another glance of the bandaid, and saw the flinch she tried to hide.

“Ok, what was that for?  I know you don’t eat meat, but it’s not like I’m shoving my lunch onto your plate,” Danny rolled his eyes, incorrectly guessing at the reason for the flinch.

Sam latched onto the excuse, pretending he was right, “Ok Mr. Omnivore, say what you want, but I’m still allowed to react to the senseless slaughter of innocent animal life that you participate in to fill your stomach.”

“Oh no, Danny, don’t tell me you started this conversation again?”  Tucker walked up, the school lunch tray clattering down in front of him.

Sam sniffed as she pulled out her lunch, “it’s not my fault you two refuse to see the benefits of an ultra-recyclo vegetarian diet.”

“Sam, I’m not even sure that you know exactly what that means,” Tucker groaned, proceeding to shove a sporkful of meatloaf surprise into his mouth.

Sam rolled her eyes and opened up her container to reveal her tofu grass sandwich.

Danny eyed it warily before turning to Tucker to ask about the math homework.  Launching into a conversation about equations and how Tucker totally screwed up number 3, but he “thinks I got the rest of them right,” Sam leaned back, watching them.  Mechanically swallowing bite after bite of her sandwich, she glanced up at the clock.  Tick Tick Tick thrumming in time with her heartbeat, still infuriatingly audible in her ears.

“So –“ Danny began, before swallowing the last bite of his home lunch.  “You two want to come over today to my house?  Jazz said my parents were leaving on a last minute trip to Elmville to pick up more supplies at the junk yard and won’t be back until dinner time.  Still don’t understand why they can’t also text me that information but whatever.”  Pulling out the bag of fudge he grinned, “We can probably use the lab monitors to set up a movie or something.”

Tucker slapped his back before reaching over for a piece of fudge, “Oh hell yeah dude!  The lab monitors are, like, huge, and I bet the sound system isn’t half bad either.  Count me in!”

“Alright, Sam how about you?  Wanna hang out after school? … Sam?”

Sam breathed in through her nose.  She didn’t know what her face was doing, but she tried to slap on a smile, “Yeah, sure, I’ll come.”  Feeling her smile wobble she glanced down to put her lunch away in her bag.  She could hear the slap of Danny pushing away Tucker’s hand from the fudge.

“Here Sam, take a piece,” and the bag was pushed into her field of vision.

Popping a piece in her mouth, “Thanks,” she said, with a fudgy grin.

“Oooh ew,” Tucker said, “I can’t believe you’re taunting me and being gross at the same time.”

Danny chuckled as he finished off the last fudge piece before it could be snatched.  Swallowing it, “So what did you guys think of last night’s episode?”  and the lunch table turned to typical teenage conversations.

The Fate of the Dead

(Go to the end for prompt source and ao3 link) Chapter 1:

Sam was able to see the future. 

“A gift” her grandfather whispered on his deathbed.

“A curse,” her mother sneered. 

“Hope,” her grandmother said. 

“Witch” her playmates said. 

One move to a rinky dink town later and even though her parents didn’t say anything, Sam understood – keep quiet, say nothing, and everything would be fine.

-

While the first few years of Sam’s life were a whirlwind of activities, fancy parties, and frilly, fashionable dresses, the next few years were quiet.  Living in a small town where no one knew who the Mansons were, was an adjustment.  Sam, even at her young age, could pick up on the quiet resentment from her parents.  The sidelong looks at the TV over news of celebrity parties, the glance over at Sam when reading the Socialites section of the newspaper, and the way that they frowned when Sam started talking about her visions.  By the time Sam entered 1st grade, she stopped mentioning them to anyone, family or otherwise.  Why would her parents care about the sight of blood on the playground, or the car crash on the interstate?  They couldn’t stop it, and Sam couldn’t either – not without knowing information like “where” or “why” or the most important of all – “when”. 

-

Walking into the 2nd grade hallway, she found her teacher waving students in that they recognized from open night into the classroom.  As Sam approached, the teacher brightened, “Hello Samantha!  Walk right in, there’s a seating chart at the front of the classroom.  Please find your seat and sit down.  Class will start soon.”  Nodding, Sam walked into the classroom and saw a large easel with sticky notes plastered to it.  Each one was arranged into groups like the desks behind her.  She located her seat, turned around, and almost ran into a boy with black hair.

“DANNY!”  A woman slid to a halt, bumping the classroom teacher a little as she caught herself on the door post.  A backpack held up in one hand and breathing hard, like she’d ran to the school.  After a moment, she looked up, “Danny, you forgot your backpack.”

The black haired boy turned around, “Oh!  Thanks Mommy!” he grinned as he ran back to her. 

Sam stopped, shocked – not because of the almost run in, but because that boy looked like a younger version of the one she saw in one of her oldest visions.  The only recurring one she’d ever had.  As the boy shooed his mother off and turned around to head back to the easel, Sam woodenly headed to her seat, refusing to look up from the floor.  Swinging the straps of her bag over the back of her seat, she smoothed her skirt, and sat down.  She blinked a few times, fighting back tears.  Not all of Sam’s visions were unpleasant, but the ones that were, tended to be rather extreme – this particular one included.  She had almost convinced herself it was a recurring nightmare rather than a true vision, but there was no way she could have imagined those screams.  She breathed in and out to calm herself like her mother showed her, fists clenched under her desk, hidden, like her father.  As the thunk of a backpack landed on the desk next to her, she shook her head a little and looked up.  “I’m Sam,” she introduced herself to the boy next to her.  A hand stuck out in his direction.

“Tucker,” the boy grinned, as he shook her hand.

By the end of recess later that day, Danny was sporting a bloody nose, Tucker was on the ground, and Sam stood in front of them, glaring at the blonde kid who started it all.

“Step aside, if you know what’s good for you!” the kid said, trying to stand up tall, chest puffed out.

“You can’t hit a girl!” Danny yelled around the hand clutching his nose.

“Yeah!  That’s, like, super mean!”  Tucker said as he started to stand.

“I might!” was the response.

Sam glared harder, “You can try.”

“Move!” Dash screamed.

“No!” Sam screamed back.

“Over here!  There’s some little kids fighting!”  An older student was yelling across the playground, motioning for a teacher’s assistant on recess duty to come over.

By the end of the day, Dash was suspended and Sam had made two lifelong friends.

-

“But Saaaaaam,” Danny whined, “why do we have to go the long way to the park?”

“Yea, Saaaam whyyy, my feet already hurt from PE today,” Tucker said, a few steps behind the other two.

“Because I said so,” Sam rolled her eyes.  “It’s nice out today - why wouldn’t we take advantage of it?”

Danny slowed down to settle beside Tucker and stage whispered, “I think this is payback for painting the inside of her locker pink.”

“No.”  Tucker solemnly said.  “She’s just trying to kill us.”

Danny nodded, “Aaah, that makes sense.  Do you think she’ll at least pay our funeral expenses?”

Tucker snorted, “She should at least pay for our coffin lining.  I’m thinking light blue.  Sam, what do you think?  Light blue?  Or should you do green for me?”

Sam rolled her eyes and turned around to walk backwards to talk to them, “I think you two are melodramatic and insufferable.”

The boys laughed at her, seeing the uptick of her mouth.  They walked a little faster.  Sam turned back around right before Tucker slung an arm around her shoulders as they fell in step with her. “So, a bottom of the line white?” Tucker asked.

Danny gasped, “And here I thought Sam wasn’t like those, quote, ‘basic bitches’.”  The boys cackled as Sam shrugged Tucker’s arm off with a huff.

“First – I called them shallow.  Second, I would at least spring for a black lining.  If I can’t convince you two to go goth in life, I’ll have to make it happen in death.”  Sam held her head up in mock snootiness before side eyeing Danny and laughing at his grimace.  They made it to the park walking past the people walking dogs and others playing with young kids to the far end.  The trees started to get dense and the park area slowly transitioned into proper woods.  They could hear birds quieting down as they pushed aside branches and went through some bushes.  A slight breeze pushed through their group as they came upon the dry creek.  Stepping on the large stones in the creek bed, they made their way across to a fallen tree on the other side.  Tucker and Danny let out twin groans of relief at being able to plop down.  Sam made a face at their antics and took the seat in between them.

“So,” Sam started.  She refused to look at either one.

The chirping of the birds started up again.  Danny shifted his foot around at the dirt under his shoe, looking up at the sky.  Tucker took off his glasses to clean them off on his shirt.  After putting them back on, Tucker raised an eyebrow, “So?”

Sam laughed sheepishly, “I forgot.”

“What?!” Danny blurted out, taking his eyes off the clouds to look at her.

“Yea! What?! You’re the one who wanted to take us out here today!” Tucker added on.

“We could be at home playing DOOMED, ignoring our homework, instead of out here, tired, overheated, and ignoring our homework,” Danny said.

“That’s it then, I guess I’ll have to take out my homework and have you help me.”  Tucker paused hopefully.  “Unless you suddenly remember?”

Sam furrowed her eyebrows, looking down, “No.  Let’s do our homework.”  She unzipped her spider backpack to pull out her binder.

Danny looked behind Sam’s back at Tucker mouthing, “Are you serious?!?”

Tucker widened his eyes, shrugging and shaking his head towards Sam, “Sorry?!?!”.

Sam sat up with her binder and pencil, cutting their silent back and forth short.  “Alright.  Is it going to be English or History?"  She looked at Tucker, down at his untouched backpack, and then back up.  “Seriously?”  A signature Sam frown was gifted upon him.  “You were the one to suggest this.  Hurry up.  As soon as I’m done, I’m leaving you two behind in the woods.”  At the thought of having to walk back by themselves, Danny and Tucker scrambled to get their backpacks open and homework out.  Sam smiled a little.  As much as she loved these moments, she was already mourning their end.

Prompt: You can see visions of the future, but you learned long ago to keep them to yourself. Now, you have to speak up or risk losing everything you love. Source: https://prowritingaid.com/fiction-writing-prompts

The Fate of the Dead - Chapter 1 - J_Bee - Danny Phantom [Archive of Our Own]

[ectoentity]

Turnabout

Ectoberhaunt Day 25 / Ectober Week Day 1: Boo! vs Headstone

Characters: Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, Jazz Fenton, Danielle “Dani” Phantom

Rating: G

Words: 1,254

Other tags: pranks, ghost instincts, silly

Read on AO3 here.

The closer to Halloween they got, the weirder Danny acted. It wasn’t too obvious at first. He floated a little more, even in human form. That happened normally a couple times a month, but suddenly Sam and Tucker were having to pull him down to the ground multiple times a week. Then it became a daily thing.

If that was the only ghostly habit, Sam and Tucker wouldn’t have been so stressed out. It seemed like Danny’s eyes were green more often than they were blue recently. Cold practically radiated from him. He was even more quiet and seemed to go invisible as soon as he knew no one was looking at him.

Even that wasn’t the worst of it.

The worst part-

Something cold and wet wrapped around Sam’s ankle. She hissed out a breath and grimaced at the feeling, even though she wanted to screech and jump. That was just going to encourage him.

“We’re in class,” she whispered at the ice-covered hand around her ankle. They were supposed to be doing silent reading. The hand went away. A few seconds later, Danny popped back into visibility in her peripheral vision. He pouted at her, those big puppy dog eyes of his really working overtime. Sam wasn’t immune to it, but she was tired, so she just shook her head and went back to the reading.

The worst part was the ghostly pranks and scares. Danny was so far keeping his desire to spook people to Tucker, Sam, and Jazz. If they hadn’t been in class, Sam might have played along with it and acted surprised. Ignoring him ultimately meant that he was going to try harder next time. But if she had made a noise, people would have looked, and they might have noticed Danny wasn’t in his seat, and…

For the first time in her life, Sam couldn’t wait until Halloween was over.

Thankfully it was the last class of the day. When the bell rang they ran to the lockers - some more literally than others. Sam grabbed Danny's arm to keep him at least slightly grounded.

They got to Tucker’s locker first. He opened it up to grab something, but stopped. Inside, all the books were lined up so they stood on their edges, somehow balanced on top of each other. If one moved, the whole thing would come down.

“Okay, I’m honestly impressed with this one,” Tucker said. “How did you balance them like that?”

“It took… a while,” Danny admitted. “Did you really think catching the Box Ghost took me all of lunch?”

In the end, the books did end up falling out of the locker. Danny grinned at the chaos, but he instantly launched into trying to recruit them for his next prank.

“Come on, it’ll be fun! You just have to mess with the circuit breaker to her room. When she sees I’m not doing it, she’ll be freaked out.”

“This isn’t sounding like a very ghostly prank, dude,” Tucker argued. “Besides, last time your sister got mad at me, I ended up with ecto-goo in my hair. You don’t know how long that takes to wash out.”

Danny groaned. “I already pulled everything else I can think of. Put all her books in the wrong order, moved everything in her room slightly to the left, taped a knife on Bearburt and made it fly around. She’s jaded. I even put food coloring in her shampoo, but apparently she’s been checking it every day just in case.”

Sam laughed. “Then what makes you think that Tucker playing with the lights is going to get any more of a reaction?”

“I don’t know! I’m just trying to think of something that won’t get me sucked in a thermos again.”

The argument continued as they walked to Danny’s house. Rather than put Danny’s plan into action, they went up to his room and got out the Mario Kart. Danny kept spending more time messing with them than trying to win. As far as Sam was concerned, it was a perfectly acceptable use of his energy. It hadn’t stopped her from winning almost half of the games, after all.

Then the power went out.

“Oh, come on!” Danny grumbled. “I really hope Mom and Dad didn’t blow the power out again.” He got up and opened the door to the hallway. It was still perfectly well-lit. Danny blinked and tried the light switch. Nothing happened. “Uh, Tucker?”

“I’m right here,” Tucker said. “Sure it’s not a ghost thing?”

“My ghost sense didn’t go ott,” Danny said. “And I kinda doubt Plasmius would bother just turning off my lights. I’m gonna go flip the breaker.”

Sam and Tucker shrugged but stayed where they were when Danny went to go fix the lights. As soon as he stepped into the hallway, the lights there went out.

“Okay, what the hell,” Danny said with a bit of a waver. Instead of going downstairs, he knocked on his sister’s door. “Jazz?”

She opened the door. “What is it?”

Danny’s face fell. “There’s something going on with the lights.”

“Okay? I don’t know what you want me to do about it,” Jazz said in a short tone. “I’m trying to get my homework done tonight.”

“I know, I just… wasn’t sure if you were doing it?” He smiled a little nervously as he said it. Jazz huffed.

“I’m not nearly as childish as you, Danny. Why don’t you go figure it out?” With that she closed the door. Danny turned back to Sam and Tucker.

“I’m gonna be right back. It’s probably some wiring that got messed up last time Mom and Dad recalibrated the house defenses.” He walked down the stairs right in time for the main living room lights to turn off.

“You okay?” Sam called down.

“Y-yeah! Just give me a minute!”

Beside her, Tucker whispered, “I forgot how scared he gets when there’s no ghost involved.” She elbowed him, but either Danny wasn’t paying attention or was slightly too far for his super-hearing to pick it up.

As Danny made his way to the garage, more lights turned out around him. Tucker and Sam lost sight of him when he got to the garage. That’s when all the lights turned back on.

Danny flew back upstairs - literally. His eyes were wide. “Yup, just dumb wiring! I’ll let Mom and Dad know later. Nothing weird.”

Tucker and Sam shared an amused glance. “What happened?”

“Nothing!” he said in a voice that was way too high. “Went in the garage and there was nothing wrong with the fusebox.”

The lights went out again. Danny jumped so high he almost hit the ceiling.

“You alright, Danny?” Sam asked. “You look like you saw-”

“BOO!” shouted a voice directly behind Danny. This time he did go through the ceiling.

Danielle burst out laughing. Sam couldn’t help laughing along. “That was great! He didn’t suspect anything!”

“I was so worried when he came up with the lights idea earlier,” Tucker said. He went back to texting Jazz. She came in with a big grin on her face and a very grumpy-looking Danny Phantom at her side. Danielle instantly stopped laughing.

“Happy Halloween?” she said. Her shoulders came up a little nervously.

Danny sighed. “Yeah, okay, you got me.” That instantly put a smile back on Danielle’s lips. “Good job, guys.” He floated over and put Danielle into a headlock and gave her a noogie. “But there’s still two days left!”

“Worth it!” Danielle cheered.