#No one is going to be able to get near Danny if the class has any say | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

missadmyre · 21 days

Text

Secret Trio + Detentionaire Physique HCs

Randy Cunningham

-he gains scars/wounds due to the suit not always being able to sense an attack quickly, thus not being able to register enough magic shield(?) to protect him (it ain't a robot y'all)

- because of his scars, he mostly skips getting dressed at the boy's locker room during Gym class

- he dresses at the bathroom stalls, though there are times when either Bucky or Julian had caught him shirtless in the bathrooms, they quickly learn to shut their mouths once they realize that "oh shit, this guy has lots of scars, might beat us up if we say anything"

- most of his scars are caused either because of incisions, scratch marks (Tengu!Howard's claws) or those black and blue bruises/blunt trauma because he keeps getting flung onto the walls

- there are burn marks scattered on his torso due to the incident; one time, Jake lost control of himself and turned into a feral dragon because of some drug he inhaled, wasn't a very good time for both parties.

- there's two large scratch marks on both side of his hips because of Danny, who wasn't able to control obsessive urges as a ghost, thanks a lot Vlad, you traumatized them both

- he doesn't have the broadest shoulders but he has pretty damn good legs

- is very flexible

- he does gymnastics and acrobatics on a daily basis

- broke the school record of having the highest jump - his legs are far more muscular due to him always kicking at his opponents

- man has thighs for days

- he has excellent grip strength

- he managed to crush a watermelon using his thighs, go figure

- on a side note, the reason why his chest (specifically, where his heart is) is bare of any scars is because that is his sensitive spot

- the skin on his chest is very thin, so he tries his best to dodge an attack or at least lead the scar somewhere not near his heart

- there are times where his scarf is used against him (ie. choking, to swing him around) so he has faint marks of strangulation around his neck

- very docile than the others

- which is why has longer legs

- he excels more at meelee combat, his weakest is ranged combat

- the Nomicon taught him martial arts; karate, judo etc., which very much amplified his leg power

- you see those heightened senses he has? Yeah let's abuse that.

- he's not that sensitive (he can still enjoy loud parties and crap) but there's a limit to it.

Danny Fenton

- he can only gain wounds/scars when he is on his human form, though there are times when villains had been able to slip through that slit of a moment and managed to damage him while transforming in/out as the Phantom

- his scars mostly consist of large burn marks, chemical burns (from handling ectoplasm as a human), incisions and blunt trauma

- is the only one that have chemical burns

- the large gash on the right side of his torso is from the time when a yokai was able to slash him when he was transforming into the Phantom

- it was also the first wound that Randy was able to heal using the Art of Healing (feelings ensue~)

- he earned some scratch marks from Tengu!Howard, who clearly doesn't like him (he still doesn't know why that roasted chicken hates him, but damn well he does he enjoy teasing the guy)

- has the broadest shoulders

- bro doesn't pull his punches, LITERALLY!

- he has way bigger hands than Randy and Jake

- he punches more than he kicks, thus earning him a pretty heavy fists

- I feel bad for the human that would be unfortunately in the way of Danny's punch

- his biggest achievement is being able to knock down Biffy with his punches in just 10 seconds

- Biffy still hasn't forgiven him for that

- is trying to not get scars on his face due to the fact that his parents had once suspected him of being a gangster when they saw the little scar on the left side of his chin

- thankfully Jazz is able to cover up for him (I mean, getting that scar from shaving? Please)

- his weak spot are definitely his face and legs

- his legs are not the most steady due to him getting way too used to flying, kick him hard on the ankles and he'll fall immediately

- most chemical burns are seen on his hands, he got them from when ectoplasm would sometimes leak out of some Fenton weaponry (most notably, the Ecto Foamer) and he wasn't able to notice it as a human

- the strangling scar on his right wrist came from the long hours of getting cuffed in Ghost Prison, it was so bad the scar stayed even on his human form (he managed to escape but it still hurt y'know)

- his skin color is somewhat pale-ish tan

- since he's half dead, his wounds either don't heal or just heal very slowly, that's why he's careful not to get hit

- on the occasion that he did get a wound but his body wasn't able to heal it, he'll ask Randy for his Art of Healing

- he excels on both hand-to-hand and ranged combat, he has far more experience with guns/laser guns but he still takes lessons of gun handling from Lee

Jake Long

- most of his scars are found on his chest

- his scars include burn marks, scratch marks (Howard! Really?!), strangulation marks on both wrists and neck, a cauterized wound and incisions

- has the most burn marks than anyone on the trio

- the scratch marks from his arms came from his habit of scratching himself when trying to hold his anger

- my man still keeps getting picked on because of his height

- because of his recent molting, there are still dead skin flaking off of him, especially on his back

- the cauterized scar he has is something he both has good and bad memories to; when Jake lost control of himself as a dragon, he literally had to be put down in order to have Lee just treat his wounds, sadly the bandages weren't enough so they had to cauterize the wound using his OWN flame, at least Randy was comforting him through all that

- y'know kung fu, yeah he mastered that

- is very flexible in using both his hands and feet to fight AS a human

- in Dragon form (s1 design bc wtf is that shit from s2), he's a bit more feral as animalistic urges kick in

- it's because of that kind of behavior that he sometimes run straight into danger, earning him all kinds of wounds

- he has stitches all over his back because he got whipped one too many times at the auction incident (he still gets the chills everytime he thinks about it)

- it's also because of that incident that he gained strangulation marks on his neck and wrists because they treated him like an animal, cuffing him and all that

- to get those muscles, he went through a training arc

- you think Howard hating Danny is bad, well check out these two

- Howard and Jake are like, two pets that are fighting for their owner's love (or attention, Howard isn't going to touch that garbage fire called the Ectoham x Longham relationship)

- the moment Randy turns around, they are fighting all over the place, thus having the most scratch marks

- his weakness is his height, surprise surprise!

- when he's on his human form, it's hard to land a hit on an enemy who's clearly way taller than you

- when he's on his dragon form, his big height often causes him to trample or not be aware of unnoticeable traps

- he also can't balance himself when in dragon form, especially when he flies since his wings aren't the type to be able to easily dodge obstacles (it's just hard to make an adjustment when it's a sudden decision and you're up in the air)

- because he breathes literal fire, he always has a hot temperature, those who knew him just let's it be it but when other people touch him, they would question if he has a fever

- his appetite is very big because... energy, the problem is that he has very high metabolism, so while he looks malnourished, he's actually taken what, like 2 boxes of pizza a minute ago (and about to take another one right now, dammit Spud, you're wasting too much money)

- have the sharpest nails there is, mostly likely because of his dragon form has it that it also integrated to his human form

- despite not being able to balance himself AS a dragon, he actually does quite well AS a human, being able to stand on poles/tightropes and shit

- those meditation lessons from his Gramps really did help huh

- he excels at hand-to-hand combat

Lee Ping

- he doesn't get that many scars since he doesn't fight opponents as much as the Secret Trio

- but when he does get a wound, it's mostly just blisters, on some cases, he would have burn marks or incisions

- since he always crawls through vents or tight spaces, he always has blisters skidded all around his arms and legs

- the burn marks came from when he would accidentally get hit from those robot's laser guns on Detentionaire (do they even have a name? But seriously, they hurt like hell, believe him)

- the large stitch across his torso is a very painful memory to look back on (he got captured by Cassandra and was about to get experimented on since he has the power to nullify any and all mind control, he was cut open and was about to be dissected when Biffy, Cam and Holger had caught up to him and set him free from there operating table, the other surgeons got killed while Cassandra got away)

- there are faint scratch marks on his shoulders BUT that is due to the tazelwurm sometimes sheathing it's claws on him accidentally (thank you Howard! Wtf did this guy do to you?)

- by far the most slimmest out of everyone in the group

- which is good because he's got to fit into those tight spaces to do "Lee Ping Spywork"

- can do basic gymnastics

- he's learned some basic and advanced self defense from the Serpent/Li, since he thought it would be useful if his younger brother can beat the shit out people when necessary

- the tallest (not including Biffy) out of the group

- has a scar caused by a stab wound somewhere in his right leg caused by Kimmy when she got transformed into some vicious tazelwurm hybrid, she got killed by Holger but he didn't know it was her (those who knew aren't planning on telling him that he just killed a person or he'll freak the fuck out)

- Biffy doesn't know she got killed, Lee isn't telling that information unless he wants a Biffy going nuts all over the place

- only him and Brandy know about Kimmy's death

- he can fence, he picked it up again when he saw the Secret Trio trying to train with long bladed weaponry so he tried to get some experience in being able to wield a weapon

- handles guns way better than the Secret Trio

- has the weakest punch, they all make fun of him for that

- he is the group's healer, he knew first aid very well and he isn't afraid stitch and treat a wound that is way too tender for the Secret Trio to heal

- he only knew how to stitch wounds because he experiments on his body (would it close if I do this kind of stitch? How about here, is it thin enough?)

- because of his experiments, he isn't able to register pain anymore, his poking and prodding at his skin nullified any jolt of pain

- wears gloves on his left hand because there is a lichtenberg scar on it that is colored toxic turquoise green, he ain't letting Barrage see that and be reminded of the pyramid incident

- which glows when the pyramid subconsciously gives him a power boost or something (heightened strength and senses)

- at first he tried to cover it with bandage but since it glows, it didn't work so they settled on the black glove

- excels in ranged combat

HEIGHT COMPARISON [FULL PICTURE]

#rc9gn #secret trio #rc9gn fanart #american dragon jake long #danny fenton #dp fanart #danny phantom #Implied #ectoham #Longham #Jake x randy #Randy x Jake #Feral Howard #lee ping #detentionaire #Howard may not be that much of an asshole in this au #But he does bite #Or scratch

48 notes · View notes

fangirlwriting-stories · 1 month

Text

Growing Closer to Revelations

Summary: Everyone Knows AU, Danny navigates the easiest problem he's had in a while.

Author's Note: You know what's super helpful when you already don't have a lot of time to write? Getting sick!

Also though check the tags for this one there's potentially triggering stuff near the end

...

Danny has a problem. He has several problems, actually. And most of them have something to do with Valerie.

The two of them have taken to eating lunch together in a classroom that Valerie says is almost always empty at this time. And Danny tries to feel bad about bailing on Sam and Tucker. Theoretically, he wants to hang out with them. And they’re still his best friends, in a very non-theoretical sense. But it’s hard to want to see them when Valerie is actually someone he likes spending time with, and when she’s not constantly telling him how terrible he is to his face— even if she wouldn’t know that’s what she’s doing either.

Thankfully, she hadn’t seemed to have heard anything that they were saying the first time she dragged Danny away from the lunch table, because Danny wasn’t sure if he’d be able to avoid a Phantom rant from her if she had. Valerie had dealt with a lot as a result of him. She had the right to be angry. But so far she hadn’t mentioned Phantom once, and it was a more than appreciated reprieve.

But the fact that she hadn’t heard what they were talking about meant she really had just noticed him looking miserable and dragged him away to make him feel better, which was leading to… the problems.

The first of which being that he’s really starting to enjoy spending time with her, more than he has with Sam and Tucker in a while. He’s pretty sure Valerie’s picking up on that too, which has to be the reason she keeps asking him to hang out after school any days they both have free.

Sometimes Danny has to bail or arrive late because of a ghost fight, but amazingly, she never seems to mind. In fact, more often then not, she says that something happened to come up for her too and she would have to cancel anyway. So apparently they’re both very busy people constantly being pulled in a hundred different directions, which weirdly enough makes them work for each other. It’s so relieving, he feels himself waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never does. There’s an ease to all of it that makes the idea of hanging out with Sam and Tucker instead just feel even more exhausting.

That’s the second problem, though. Sam and Tucker notice. Because of course they do. The three of them are very used to spending time only with each other, of course they’re going to notice when Danny stops doing that. He spots them a couple times in the hallways, and he still has class with them and he’s talked with them before school once or twice, but they’ve never mentioned Valerie. At this point, he kind of wants them to. It’d be better than all of them never acknowledging it and him waiting anxiously for them to say something.

The third problem is similar— Jazz notices. There’s been an awkwardness between the two of them for a while that Danny doesn’t know how to breach, but he can tell she’s noticed. Mostly because she smiles at him whenever she does ask how his day went and he tells her that he spent most of it with Valerie. Danny doesn’t like the feelings that come with Jazz being proud of him for ditching Sam and Tucker. He already feels guilty about it, the fact that Jazz thinks it’s the right thing to do just adds another layer of that guilt as well as irritation at her (which also makes him feel guilty, because really, he knows she’s just trying to look out for him).

Danny spends most of the time, however, dealing with the simplest of the problems, because even though it’s really not simple at all, it’s completely disconnected from Jazz-Sam-Tucker-Phantom bullshit, which is such a nice difference that weirdly enough, it’s a problem he’s enjoying having.

That being he’s pretty sure he’s developing the lamest crush of all time on Valerie.

Not lame because Valerie’s lame, mind you. Lame because he’s lame.

Valerie started as, and probably still is, significantly more popular than him. Even though she’s lost quite a few friends because of losing her money (which was because of him), she’s still nowhere near the bottom of the totem pole Danny’s dangling at. She could probably still ask someone to beat him up if she wanted to, not that he thinks she wants to anymore.

But while hanging out with a total loser is one thing, dating him would be a total other thing.

…Not that he thinks she wants to date him. He’s not still not a hundred percent sure why she’s doing the first one.

But that means his last and simplest problem can be summed up as “I like a girl who’s out of my league.”

Which is nice. It’s so nice. What he wouldn’t give for this to be his biggest problem. Heck, he’s used to this problem. He’s had this problem since he noticed Paulina, which was way before Phantom stumbled onto the scene.

So, rather than complaining to anyone about how his love life is doomed, or how unfair it is or how she’d like him if she got to know him, like he did to Sam and Tucker about Paulina, he finds himself just enjoying time in Valerie’s company. Because even if the idea of actually dating her is doomed, she’s a nice person to like. Spending time together proves that to him well enough.

“Okay no way, now you have to tell me the story!”

“Sure, as soon as you get done trying to deny that you’ll use it as blackmail material for Dash later,” Valerie says, smirking at him.

“Hey, that is not true,” Danny says, crossing his arms. “Why would I bother trying to deny it?”

Valerie snorts. “Believe it or not, I do actually still like some of the people I’ve been friends with my whole life. Even if I know they’re not perfect.”

Danny huffs a laugh. “Oh, don’t worry, I believe it.”

Valerie winces. “Right. Sorry.”

Danny grins at her. “Know how you can make it up to me?”

“I am not telling you the fourth grade vomit story!”

Danny groans overdramatically and leans back against the desk he’s sitting at. “Why do I even bother with you? Clearly you do not care enough about me to give me the things I need in life.”

“Yeah, because that’s my job,” Valerie says with a roll of her eyes.

Danny sits up, considering. “Tell you what,” he says. “If you tell me the fourth grade vomit story, I’ll tell you about the time Sam tricked Tucker into eating a vegetable and the disastrous consequences.”

He sees Valerie perk up, and knows he has her.

Unfortunately, before Valerie can say anything, the bell rings overhead, signaling the end of lunch.

Danny sighs, defeated. “That’s not even fair.”

“Sorry, guess you’ll have to bring your bargaining skills next time,” Valerie says.

“Yeah, yeah,” Danny says as they stand up to gather their stuff. Valerie, unfortunately, had the foresight to stuff her lunchbox in her bag when she finished, meaning she stands up already ready to go.

“Hey, uh, wait!” Danny calls, stopping her at the door. “You wanna… walk to class together?”

Valerie smiles. “Sure. Long as you don’t mind carrying my bag.”

Danny smiles back as he stands. “You got a deal,” he says, and takes Valerie’s bag from her as he reaches the doorway.

“Don’t think this means I’m telling you the story on the way, though,” Valerie says as she pushes the door open.

“Dang it!”

…

“Look, I’m just saying, if I could fly, I’d get places much faster,” Danny says as they round the corner of the park trail and start back towards the entrance.

“I mean, I guess I can’t deny a statement that vague. How fast are we talking?” Valerie asks.

Danny thinks back. “Across the country in a couple hours.”

“No way.”

“Planes do it!”

“Planes fly hundreds of miles an hour!”

“Who’s to say I can’t?”

“You’d have to actually be able to fly, first,” Valerie says, giving him a look.

“That’s not the point! This is all hypotheticals anyway!”

“Well if it’s all hypotheticals how about you just give yourself the ability to teleport places? Then there’d be no travel time.”

Danny snorts. “Man, I wish.”

“Look, being able to fly fast doesn’t mean you should,” Valerie says. “There could be buildings in the way, or people.”

“Well…” Danny hesitates, unsure how far he should go. “Then I’ll just turn intangible like a ghost,” he says, keeping his voice light and casual and ‘this is all a hypothetical, Valerie!’ in tone.

“See, and then I would turn back to ‘just give yourself the ability to teleport’ if you’re adding whatever you want to this hypothetical,” Valerie says. “Look, I wasn’t disagreeing with your first statement. Yeah, you could probably get places faster if you fly there. I just don’t think it would be that fast.”

“Oh, because of your in-depth experience with flying places,” Danny says, crossing his arms.

“And your in depth experience with turning intangible like a ghost?” Valerie asks, crossing her arms right back.

Danny sticks his tongue out, and Valerie does the same a second later.

There’s a moment of silence while they’re both thinking, and then Valerie says: “Now, the sunsets on the other hand…”

“Oh my god, the stargazing.”

…

“Dang, you weren’t kidding about picking things up quickly,” Danny says, from his spot on the chair he’d dragged down to the lab. His parents had been more than a little surprised when he told them who he’d invited over, but he wasn’t grounded anymore, and he isn’t in any kind of current trouble for once, so they didn’t object.

“I have a natural talent for kicking butt,” Valerie says with a grin, without looking away from the computer screen.

“No kidding. Try not to beat my high score, would you?”

Valerie knocks out another Doomed enemy without breaking a sweat. “No promises.”

A chime rings, and Danny glances down to the corner of the screen to see that Sam has signed on.

“Who’s Chaos?” Valerie asks, peering at it.

“No one, don’t worry about it,” Danny says, hoping Valerie won’t ask.

She looks at him for a minute, and he can tell she’s guessed something, but after a second she shrugs, and goes right back to destroying all of the enemies Danny struggles with in this game. Now he just has to hope Sam doesn’t talk to him either.

But while he sees her Avatar show up on their level after a while (he and Tucker had found out she was Chaos a while ago and they’ve been begging her to teach them her tricks ever since), she doesn’t talk to him, which is weird, because Valerie’s playing with his Avatar.

He’s not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though, and instead just watches as Valerie attacks without knowing who’s on the other side of the screen.

He’s not surprised when she starts struggling a bit. Sam is better than him and Tucker combined, and while Valerie is good, it is her first go around with the game.

“Man, this guy is good,” Valerie says, leaning into the screen.

“Yeah, I don’t know anyone who’s ever been able to beat Chaos one on one,” Danny says with a shrug. “I can’t do it either.”

For some reason, however, right as Sam is about to finish Valerie off, she instead stops and leaves.

Danny blinks, confused.

“Wait, why’d they leave?” Valerie asks. “Is that a strategy or something?”

“Not one I’ve seen her use before,” Danny says. “We’ve allied a couple times, maybe she just wanted to spar without actually killing me.”

“I guess so,” Valerie says. She turns the avatar around looking for Chaos a couple more times, but nothing is there.

Though that doesn’t sound like Sam either. She’s definitely toyed with him by beating him up in game a couple times, but she usually finishes him off for lighthearted gloating rights. He doesn’t know what’s so different this time.

They don’t see her again, though, and eventually Valerie gets back to kicking enemies’ butts and gets her health back up.

She beats the level she’s on just in time for there to be a knock on his door and Jazz to stick her head in.

“Sorry to bug you,” she says, as they both glance over. “But is Valerie staying for dinner?”

“No,” Danny says immediately at the same time Valerie says “Sure.”

Danny winces, and glances over at Valerie, who’s looking at him confused and slightly hurt. “What, you don’t want me here?”

“No no,” Danny says, waving his hands. “That’s not it at all. My parents’ food just has a tendency to… come to life, partway through the meal. It’s not exactly their best foot forward.”

Valerie’s look shifts, and she gives him a smile. “Aww, you want me to like your parents?”

“I don’t know if ‘like’ is the appropriate word,” Danny mutters, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was thinking more along the lines of ‘view as normal.’”

Valerie laughs a little. “I already know you’re not normal, Fenton,” she says, nudging him in the side. “That’s what I like about you.”

“Yeah?” Danny asks, smiling at her. “Really?”

Jazz clears her throat. “Hey, still here. So is she staying for dinner or not?”

“Uh,” Danny glances at Valerie. “Sure.” He looks back at Jazz. “But tell Mom and Dad to use the meat that doesn’t have eyes yet.”

Jazz huffs a laugh. “I’ll do my best,” she says, and ducks back out of the room again.

“Seriously,” Danny says, turning to Valerie. “If you really want to stay, prepare yourself for it to have eyes.”

Valerie hesitates. “Is it harmful to eat?”

Danny pauses. He wouldn’t really know. Jazz seems fine. “I don’t think so?”

Valerie nods. “I’ll take that.”

Danny smiles a little, caught off guard. “Maybe I should stop thinking about you as normal.”

“Maybe you should,” Valerie says, smirking right back.

Thankfully, when they’re called downstairs later, the food looks relatively normal, apart from the chicken being slightly burnt. Danny glances over at Jazz as they all sit down, but she gives him a nod. So it really is normal then. Maybe they do want to put their best foot forward, with Valerie here.

But they might not have needed to bother. Because for Valerie’s part, she digs right in as soon as they all start eating, not seeming at all phased by the potential for the meat coming to life in the middle of the meal (though this stuff is probably less likely to).

“So,” Dad says, grinning at Valerie. “Danny hasn’t brought you around before. How long have you two known each other?”

“Oh yes, did you meet recently?” Mom asks, thankfully giving Valerie a moment to swallow her bite of chicken. “Danny doesn’t really have a lot of friends.”

“Mom,” Danny hisses, narrowing his eyes at her.

“We met pretty recently, yeah,” Valerie says, seeming unbothered. “We were uh—” she glances at Danny, and they both realize simultaneously they probably shouldn’t say how they actually met. “Hiding in the same spot during a ghost fight,” Valerie finishes, breezing smoothly past the pause. “It was a long one, so we just started talking.”

“A ghost fight you say?” Dad asks, leaning forward.

“You kids weren’t doing any of the fighting, right?” Mom asks before Dad can continue. “If a ghost attacks, you should make sure you’re safe and let the professionals handle it.”

“Oh, no of course not,” Valerie says, waving her hands dismissively. “That’s what I meant. You know, ghost fight, ghost attack, same thing really.”

“Right, right,” Dad says, leaning forward again. “Now back to the ghost part. Do you have opinions on them?”

Valerie glances to the side, seeming a little uncomfortable. “Uh, I should hope so? I mean, that Phantom prick kind of ruined my life,” she says, and Danny goes still.

“Oh, well you don’t need to talk about that if you don’t want to,” Jazz jumps in immediately. “We understand if that’s personal. Ghosts are just kind of a topic around here, but we don’t have to talk about them.”

“Of course not,” Mom says, and Dad nods in agreement, even if he looks slightly disappointed. “Just know plenty of people have been in your position,” she says to Valerie with a sympathetic smile. “Phantom is one of the larger menaces we have to deal with.”

“Hey, I’ve got an idea!” Jazz calls, leaning towards the center of the table. “Let’s talk about anything else! Valerie, what’s your favorite subject in school?”

Danny laughs a little, partly to make it seem like he’s unbothered by what just happened and partly because that’s such a Jazz thing to say. “Of course you jump right to school,” he says.

“It’s something we can all be sure we have in common!” Jazz protests, sounding a little intentionally overdramatic with a glance at both their parents and Valerie.

“No that’s fine,” Valerie says. “Uh, I don’t know. Does gym class count?”

Jazz wrinkles her nose, and Danny can’t help but laugh. “Not to her,” he says with a grin at Valerie.

“I like being active!” Valerie says, holding her hands up in defense.

“Ugh, you would,” Danny says with a smile, making sure Valerie can tell he’s joking.

“And what’s your favorite subject, lunch?” Valerie asks, her tone just as teasing.

“Well, I mean, they took away recess years ago, what else is there to compare it to?” Danny says with a casual shrug, and Valerie laughs.

Plus Valerie’s there during lunch, and he doesn’t sit next to her in any classes, making it a definite plus, but he’s not going to say that aloud.

He glances over at Jazz to try and include her in the conversation again, only to find her looking very uncertainly right at him. He blinks at her. “What?”

He turns to look at his parents, and finds them both smiling. “What?”

“Nothing, sweetie,” Mom says. “Just thinking about dessert. I’m afraid we don’t have anything fancy, would you be okay with some ice cream, Valerie?”

Danny glances at Valerie to see if she knows why everyone’s being weird, but she just shrugs and says, “Sure,” in response to Mom’s question.

Mom brings in ice cream, chocolate sauce, and sprinkles, and they all talk a bit more as they eat, but Danny can feel the energy of the night wrapping up, and he’s not surprised when afterwards, Valerie says she needs to start heading home.

“Do you need a ride, sweetie?” Mom asks her as they start for the living room. “We could drop you off.”

“Oh, that’s okay,” Valerie says. “I can take the bus.”

“Absolutely not, young lady, we can’t just leave our guest to take the bus home,” Mom says. “Hang on, I’ll go grab the keys to the Ghost Assault Vehicle.”

“Uh, thanks?”

“It’s just a souped up RV,” Danny explains as soon as Mom’s out of earshot. “And if Mom’s driving, we’ll be fine.”

“Aww, are you driving me home, Danny?” Valerie says. “I didn’t realize I needed two escorts.”

“No, he’s not,” comes a sudden voice before Danny can say anything back. They both turn in surprise to find Jazz standing there with her arms crossed.

“We need to talk, Danny,” she says.

“What? Why?”

“About your homework,” Jazz says with a subtle glance at Valerie. “Do you have any idea how much you’ve missed this week?”

Danny groans. “As a matter of fact, I do, Jazz,” he says. “You say it like I don’t have the knowledge constantly looming over my head.”

“Well, I’m going to help you come up with a plan to get it done,” Valerie says. “You definitely don’t have a half hour to waste to drive Valerie home.”

“So I’m just going to let Mom drive home the friend that I invited over? That’s kind of rude, Jazz,” Danny says.

“Too bad,” Jazz says. She grabs Danny’s arm and starts pulling him for the stairs.

“What? Jazz!”

But Jazz is insistent, and Danny only has enough time to look back and mouth ‘Sorry,’ to Valerie before they reach the stairs.

Valerie waves him off, thankfully seeming unbothered, before Jazz drags him up the stairs and out of sight.

It’s only once Jazz pulls them both inside of her room that she lets go of him. Danny starts talking before she can turn around, though.

“Okay, seriously, what is with you?” he says, raising his hands up in exasperation. “I wasn’t kidding about that being rude. And why are you suddenly being a stickler about homework, you haven’t done that since you learned… you know.��

“How long have you known that Valerie hates Phantom?” Jazz asks quietly, crossing her arms and completely ignoring his question.

“Uh, I don’t know, I always kind of figured after that whole ‘ruined her life’ thing? Why are you making such a big deal out of this?”

“Because I’m tired of seeing you hanging out with people who bad mouth you right to your face.”

“Hey,” Danny says, narrowing his eyes to a glare. “First of all, Valerie doesn’t know that’s what she’s doing, so it’s fine.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Second,” he continues, “since when is that any of your business? It’s not like I don’t have a lot of experience with that kind of thing.”

“Yeah, and that’s a problem,” Jazz says.

“It’s hardly my biggest problem. It’s not one I can’t deal with. And Valerie never brings up Phantom unprompted anyway. It’s okay.”

“Danny, it’s not—” Jazz takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Just because she doesn’t talk about it doesn’t mean you won’t know,” she says.

“Like how I know Mom and Dad would rip me apart molecule by molecule if they found out? It’s really not a big deal. I can handle it okay? I promise.”

“It’s not about whether or not you can handle it.”

“Well, what’s it about, then?”

Jazz opens her mouth to respond, but is interrupted by Mom calling “Danny!” from downstairs.

“Where are you, we’re driving Valerie home!”

“See, Mom knows it’s rude too,” Danny says, gesturing back at the door. “I’ll be going now.”

“Fine, but we’re going to talk about this when you get back, right?” Jazz calls after him.

“I don’t know,” Danny says, sending one last glare over his shoulder. “Probably not.”

He walks off before Jazz can reply.

…

“Okay so uh, here’s the thing,” Valerie says as the three of them climb into the GAV. “I don’t exactly live in the greatest apartment.”

“That’s okay,” Danny says. “We’re not going to judge you.”

“No, I just mean, you guys live in a house with a bunch of fancy lab equipment and have an entire Ghost Assault Vehicle with gadgets on it as your car. Don’t… expect that.”

“Don’t worry about it sweetie,” Mom says from the front seat as she pulls away. “I know Jack and I might be a little out of touch from time to time, but we certainly don’t expect everyone to be rich.”

Except she used to be just that, hisses a voice in Danny’s head. He tries his best to shake it away.

Valerie gives a slightly bitter chuckle. “Just a bunch of leftover ghost problems really,” she mutters, and Danny winces, looking away as he fidgets with his hands.

“We’ve certainly had our fair share of those,” Mom says. “Danny’s right, we’re not going to judge you.”

Well, judging is one thing. He’s definitely not judging. But a lack of judgment doesn’t stop Danny’s stomach from curling up in guilt when they pull to a stop in front of Valerie’s clearly falling apart apartment building. He makes sure it doesn’t show on his face, lest Valerie take it as something else, but when she climbs out and waves at him, he still feels very small as he waves back.

“See you tomorrow?” Valerie asks, clearly still nervous.

Danny shoves the guilt down and smiles at her. “Definitely.”

Apparently he’s hidden his feelings well enough, because Valerie’s smile turns a little more confident. “Next time, we’re hanging out at my place.”

“Deal,” Danny says with a nod.

Valerie grins at him and heads off towards the front door, waving as she goes.

Danny climbs up to the front seat as soon as she heads inside, and then Mom turns to him before she pulls away.

“Well then,” she says, and she has a knowing tone in her voice that makes Danny realize he’s in for something embarrassing. “She’s a cutie, isn’t she?”

“Oh, my god, Mom,” Danny groans.

“I’m just saying, teenage crushes can be very sweet!” Mom says, turning to pull away.

“Mom!”

“You have my full support if you want to go for it, sweetheart.”

Danny buries his head in his hands. “I’m getting out and walking home.”

“Just make sure you’re both comfortable with whatever you want to try!”

“Kill me twice.”

…

The inside of Valerie’s apartment isn’t much nicer than the outside, but Danny can see effort to make it more of a home. There’s Christmas lights hung up in the living room, though that could also be because there’s no overhead light built in. Either way, the lights look nice, and there’s a couple of posters hung up on the walls, though most of them seem to be referencing something called Scalpels and Secrets, which according to the posters looks like it’s exactly as good as it sounds.

They aren’t there for long before Valerie and him both end up in the kitchen, helping Mr Gray make potatoes. He washes them and passes them to Valerie, who cuts them up and slides them to the other side of the cutting board, and Danny puts them on a tray and shakes some spices over them, and the tray will go into the oven as soon as they’re all there.

“Do you guys make dinner like this together a lot?” Danny asks, picking up another handful from Valerie’s cutting board.

“Yeah. We both tend to get home pretty late, so it just makes it go faster,” Valerie says.

“It’s nice,” Danny admits. He smirks a little bit. “And none of it’s glowing.”

“I’m sorry?” Mr Gray asks, looking over at him in bafflement and slight concern.

“My parents’ food has a tendency to glow green and attack you,” Danny says. “That’s kind of just what happens when you live in the same house as an interdimensional portal.”

Mr Gray stares at him for a moment, then seems to shake himself. “Well, I can assure you none of these potatoes will try to attack you,” he says, passing the last one to Valerie.

“We’re already off to a great start then,” Danny says, and Valerie laughs a little.

“Your parents’ food wasn’t that bad,” she says.

“I’ll be sure to tell them you said that,” Danny says. Valerie laughs again.

“You two seem to get along well,” Mr Gray says with a smile at them. “How did you meet?”

“We got stuck together during a ghost attack,” Valerie says, likely for consistency’s sake so they can tell both sets of their parents the same story. “It went long, so we just started talking.”

“Sometimes life happens that way,” Mr Gray says with a smile and a nod. “I’m glad you two met. Valerie seems happier since she’s started spending time with you.”

“Dad,” Valerie grumbles, looking away. Danny does the same, feeling his cheeks warm.

“What, am I not supposed to take note of someone who makes my daughter happy?” Mr Gray asks. “I don’t know if you know this Valerie, but I like it when you’re happy.”

“Dad.”

Mr Gray chuckles a little, and Danny takes a moment to be glad that Valerie wasn’t in the car last night when Mom was teasing him.

He turns and notices he’s picking up the last of Valerie’s potatoes, so he adds the spices to them and does one more shake over all of the potatoes, and then passes them off to Valerie, who carries them over to the oven, which Mr Gray has pulled open.

“That’s gonna be delicious,” Valerie says as Mr Gray shuts it. He sets a timer for half an hour, and then turns to face them both.

“Well Danny, since Valerie seems to have gotten a crash course in dinners at your house, you should know that we have a tradition when we eat dinner here.”

“Oh?” Danny asks.

“I hope you’re ready for cheesy medical dramas,” Valerie says with a grin. “We’re watching Scalpels and Secrets.”

…

They manage to get part of an episode in before the potatoes are done, and when Mr Gray heads into the other room to get them, Valerie pauses the show and turns to him.

“Thoughts?”

“Oh, uh,” Danny says. “It’s, um…”

“We like it because it’s bad, Danny.”

“Then it’s really bad,” Danny says in relief.

Valerie laughs. “That’s the fun part,” she says. “I’m almost never having more fun than when I get to sit here and make fun of Kelly for being an idiot and Stacy for being a bitch.”

“Valerie!” is heard from the kitchen,

“For being a jerk,” Valerie amends without missing a beat. Then she mouths to Danny ‘She’s a bitch,’ and Danny muffles his laughter.

Mr Gray comes back in with three plates of potatoes that look smothered in butter, and sets a bag of shredded cheese and salt and pepper on the ground in front of them. He hands Danny, then Valerie their plates, and takes his seat again in the armchair. Valerie immediately goes for the cheese, so Danny picks up the salt and pepper and shakes some onto his potatoes, then trades with Valerie when he’s done. They both pass what they’re holding up to Mr Gray afterwards, and he takes them and starts on his plate as Valerie plays the show again.

They eat the potatoes as they finish the episode, which ends on the most ridiculous cliffhanger of all time (Kevin is trying to decide whether or not he’ll tell Kelly he’s cheated for what is, according to Valerie, the fourth time).

“We can watch the next one tomorrow night,” Mr Gray says as it finishes. “I have some work to do. But I can do the dishes if you two want to head up to Valerie’s room to talk.”

“Uh,” Valerie says, leaping up. “Give me a minute first! It’s… really messy.”

“Oh, I don’t mind,” Danny says. “You should see the state my room is in most of the time.”

“No, I just need to put some— things— away! Won’t take two seconds!”

And with that she all but runs off down the hallway next to the kitchen, leaving Danny alone with Mr Gray.

Before it can start feeling awkward, however, Mr Gray chuckles and turns to face him. “Don’t worry about it,” he says. “She gets like this when she wants to impress someone.”

“Impress someone?” Danny asks, surprised.

Mr Gray smiles knowingly at him and doesn’t say anything.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. Just know typical shovel rules apply, and you better not hurt my daughter.”

“Wait,” Danny says, holding up his hands. “I don’t— she’s not— I mean we’re not—”

“Okay!” comes Valerie’s voice, and she appears at the entrance to the kitchen. “You can come back now.”

“Keep the door open,” Mr Gray calls, as Danny heads after her into the kitchen.

“Dad!”

Danny looks down to hide his face, which he’s sure is bright red. He keeps his gaze firmly fixed on the floor until they reach Valerie’s bedroom.

“Sorry about him,” Valerie says.

“That’s okay,” Danny says, finally looking up. “You’re lucky my parents didn’t—” he stops.

He has no idea what Valerie was putting away during the tidying of her room, but she left up the countless newspaper clippings and photographs and drawn up targets of Phantom. There are conspiracy articles, like ones about who Phantom is dating, and ones that are closer to accurate, like pieces about public opinion on him shifting. There are also tons of photos pinned and taped to the wall, some of which he doesn’t have the slightest clue how she could have gotten.

If this is everything she feels comfortable with him seeing, what did she feel the need to hide?

Danny feels a little sick to his stomach. He tries to shake the feeling off, but after a second of him not saying anything, Valerie notices.

“Oh god,” she says, turning to follow his gaze. “Okay I uh, I understand how this looks, but I swear I’m not creepy and obsessive. I figured you wouldn’t mind because your parents are ghost hunters, I just… please ignore these. I swear I don’t spend all of my free time thinking about Phantom.”

“That’s okay,” Danny says, trying to force as much of a casual tone into his voice as he can manage. Even his parents don’t have a hate shrine to him.

Then again, he didn’t completely ruin his parents’ lives. Maybe it does make some sense.

“I just…” Valerie sighs, sitting down on her bed. “I’ve been meaning to take some of these down too. I mean, Phantom’s not this much of a thing with me anymore. Like, he’s still a dangerous ghost and I— someone needs to stop him, obviously, but… just, especially after everything first happened, I was pissed at him. I still am pissed, I’m just not as lonely as I was.” She looks up at Danny, and then jolts upright and looks away. “I mean uh, because my old friends aren’t being quite as huge of jerks anymore. Obviously.”

“Yeah,” Danny mutters, looking down at the floor, as the only place he can put his gaze and not be met with a picture of Phantom.

After a second, however, Valerie sighs again. “And you too,” she admits in a mumble.

Danny looks up. “What?”

Valerie shrugs, looking embarrassed. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I like hanging out with you, Danny,” she says. “It’s nice to have a friend I can just spend time and do normal stuff with,” she says.

Danny keeps her gaze and smiles a little. “I like that too,” he says quietly.

Valerie smiles back at him, and neither of them say anything for a moment.

Finally, Valerie clears her throat. “So uh, ignoring all of the Phantom stuff that I’m taking down anyway… sorry about my dad. My life is way too complicated right now to date someone anyway. I don’t think he gets that.”

“Huh, that’s different,” Danny says before he thinks it through.

Valerie blinks at him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, my life is crazy complicated right now too,” Danny says. “That’s why I want to date someone.”

Valerie gives him an intrigued look. “Okay, again, what do you mean,” she says.

“I mean, I have so much going on,” Danny says. After a second, he moves forward and sits down on the bed next to Valerie, and Valerie easily shifts aside to let him.

“It sounds nice to have a break from all of that, I guess is what I mean. Not in the long term committed partner way, just in the going on dates to have fun kind of way? I don’t know.” He shrugs. “It’s not like it matters anyway, my options are pretty limited in that department.”

“What makes you say that?” Valerie asks, tipping her head.

Danny stares at her. “Uh, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Valerie, but I’m not exactly as popular as your old friends.”

Valerie blinks, like the thought hadn’t even occurred to her. “I mean, that’s not what I—” she stops, and they both look at each other for a moment. Danny can’t tell if she wants him to ask or not.

Then after a second, he sees her look away, and he knows that answer is “not.”

So instead, he shifts his position to dispel the awkwardness and says “Like, can you imagine me walking up to Paulina and asking her out?”

Valerie snorts and covers her mouth, meaning he’s succeeded in moving the conversation on. “Okay, no, I can’t,” she says. “She’d definitely laugh at you.”

“See, that’s what I mean,” Danny says with a grin. “I have to make my choices on more of a ‘who’s low enough on the totem pole to be a real option,’ basis.”

“Well, you sure know how to charm a girl,” Valerie says. “I’m astounded they’re not all falling at your feet already.”

“I know right?” Danny says. “With all of the loserness and unreliability of scheduled activities to offer?”

Valerie narrows her eyes slightly. “That’s not all you have to offer.”

“It is to someone like Paulina,” Danny says.

Valerie rolls her eyes. “Because Paulina’s too shallow to pay attention to anything else,” she says, and Danny… doesn’t know what to say to that.

Thankfully, Valerie keeps going. “I mean honestly, even before she kicked me to the curb the second I had any hardships in life, she wasn’t exactly my best friend. She just… isn’t exactly the most supportive person.”

“I don’t imagine any of them would be,” Danny admitted. “But I can relate. Not having supportive friends can really suck.”

“Yeah, I guess you’d know too, huh?” Valerie says.

Danny doesn’t agree, but doesn’t deny it either.

“Well, whoever it is you’re talking about,” Valerie says. “And of course I don’t have the slightest clue who it could be. I think they’re crazy to not be treating you well. You deserve it.”

“Uh, thanks,” Danny says, though what goes through his head is She wouldn’t be saying that if she knew.

He glances up at her wall. She really wouldn’t.

He shakes it off and turns back to her. “You too, by the way,” he says. “Everyone who treated you like that is a jerk. I just uh, thought that before too.”

“Thanks, Danny,” Valerie says with a smile. “I like to think I’ve upgraded a little.”

Danny smiles back at her. “Me too,” he says. He tries not to feel guilty about the fact that he means it.

…

Mom comes to get him not long after that, and Danny spends the drive home trying to work out his thoughts.

It’s definitely nothing new, caring about someone who hates Phantom. He knew Valerie had an issue with him before. The only thing that’s changed is now he’s aware of the intensity.

When he thinks about it, he can’t blame her. When she says he ruined her life as Phantom, he can tell she means it, and he can tell why. It’s just another of the increasing list of screwups he doesn’t know how to make up for. Losing Valerie’s father his job, apparently dropping Sam from a highwire during his time with Freakshow, blasting Tucker into a wall and giving him a concussion. If any of them want to hate him, well, they definitely all have their reasons. He could be doing better as a hero.

And honestly, if he can deal with his parents talking loudly about wanting to rip him apart molecule by molecule, he can deal with Valerie hating him enough to decorate her room with that hatred.

At least she’s never tried to kill him.

…

He’s out late on patrol, partly because he gets back home late and partly because he doesn’t want to ask Jazz for help and keep them both up, which means he’s out even later. But as a result, despite all her best efforts Jazz can’t get him up in time to drive them both to school. Instead, he runs out the door with toast in his hand, yelling back to his parents that he’d run to make the bus.

A ghost sense throws a wrench into that plan. He sighs, ducks down a side street, and transforms, then takes to the sky, casting his gaze around.

After a second, he spots an octopus ghost a street over, diving towards a car parked on the side of the road. There’s a mother and daughter cowering inside it.

Danny heads quickly for the ghost, but the octopus soars straight through the car, pulling the girl along with it. Likely by accident, judging by the way the octopus starts shaking its tail.

Shifting gears, Danny ignores the ghost and heads for the space right under the child.

“I’ve got you!” he calls. “You can let go!”

The girl stops screaming just long enough to look down at him, and the second she spots him, her face brightens. She lets go of the octopus and lands safely in his grip, and Danny lowers them both to the ground. The octopus heads towards the sky, meaning it’s probably not going to cause too much trouble, so he lets it go for now.

Danny feels a sudden jolt from the girl in his arms, and looks down just in time for her to throw her arms around his neck.

“Hey, easy there,” Danny says, shifting his grip. “I don’t want to drop you. You’re alright.”

He turns back towards the car to see the girl’s mother running up the sidewalk.

“Daisy!” she calls as soon as she spots them both. “Oh, thank you, thank you!”

“Mama, he flies!” Daisy calls. She turns to grin up at Danny. “Can you do it again?”

Danny laughs a little. “I don’t know if your Mom has another one of those in her,” he says, passing Daisy back to her mother.

“Oh thank you so much,” the woman says, hugging Daisy close to her chest. Daisy hugs her mother just as tightly as she hugged Danny. Hugs are a thing for her, it seems.

“No trouble,” Danny says, giving the woman a smile. “I should probably go grab that ghost now.”

“Thank you so much,” the woman says again. She sets Daisy down on the ground, and grips her hand tightly.

Daisy waves back at him as the two of them start towards their car. “Bye Mr Invis-o-Bill!” she calls.

Danny holds back a groan and manages to smile back at her. He watches the two of them for another second with a small smile, then turns and takes to the air again, heading after that octopus.

Before he can get very far, however, he hears “Hey, ghost scum!”

He spins around to see the Red Huntress raising a blaster at him. This time he doesn’t bother to hold back a groan.

“Look, I’m busy, can we do this another time?” he says. “I do actually have somewhere I need to be.”

“Yeah, me too, but you don’t see me complaining,” Red Huntress snaps, and she raises her blaster again.

“I wasn’t even— I’m kind of dealing with a different ghost,” Danny says, turning intangible as the blast shoots through him and up into the sky. He stays intangible and turns to look after the octopus ghost that’s definitely long gone.

“Only ghost I see here is you,” Red Huntress says, and Danny sighs and turns to face her again, dropping his intangibility. She doesn’t try to fire her blaster again, but she doesn’t lower it either.

“That’s because you have amazingly terrible timing,” Danny says. “Where are your new sidekicks, did you drop them?”

“It’s not like they follow me everywhere,” Red Huntress snaps.

“Heck of a team, you three,” Danny says. “Look, seriously. I’m tired, and I have places to be. Can we just skip this for today?”

“Not on your afterlife,” Red Huntress says, and fires her blaster.

Danny sighs again. “Yeah, I figured,” he mutters. He dives out of the way just in time to avoid it and darts back the way he came, though he stays clear from his house. The last thing he needs is his parents to notice the fight and join in.

He hears Red Huntress chasing him, but there’s too many people around for him to feel comfortable using intangibility, lest the blast go through him and hit someone else. So instead, he turns so his back is facing the ground and flies backwards, keeping his gaze on the Huntress as she chases. What he really needs to do is to get away long enough to change back and just start heading back to school, but Huntress is right on his tail. He’ll just have to get to a less populated area first.

He starts flying for the end of the street, trying to keep an eye on Huntress while also avoiding slamming into any buildings. Just as he reaches the turn, Huntress fires a blast at him. Danny gives a quick glance down only to see people looking up at him, so he groans, braces himself, and takes the hit in the chest.

Thankfully he manages to hit the ground next to the people instead of landing on top of them, which would have defeated the purpose. It does, however, give him a chance to go intangible and sink below ground.

He can’t see anything underground, so he doesn’t fly too far before heading back up, this time just staying intangible.

The Huntress is looking around, but makes no sign of having seen him or knowing where he went, so Danny lets out a small breath and heads down a side alleyway. He ducks behind a dumpster and changes back. A peek out from behind reveals no one in the alley.

Danny sighs. He’s definitely going to be late for school.

Right as he’s about to step out, however, the Red Huntress lands in the alley with a loud sigh. She looks back out towards the street, and it must be satisfyingly empty, because she hits a button on her suit, and her armor retracts back into a backpack.

And then Valerie Gray looks up and locks eyes with him.

Valerie’s eyes immediately snap wide open, and her hands go to her mouth.

“Oh god,” she says faintly. “You— you didn’t see that! I’m not here!”

Danny stares at her.

Valerie groans and drops her head into her hands. “No no no,” she says. “That’s not— ugh, what are you doing here?”

“I was hiding from an octopus ghost,” Danny says weakly.

“No,” Valerie groans again. “Okay, okay, look, you—” she stops, and moves quickly across the alleyway, then pulls them both behind the dumpster. “I can explain.”

“That you’re the Red Huntress?” Danny says. He grabs the straps of his own backpack to hopefully keep it from being obvious that his hands are shaking.

“Kind of?” Valerie says weakly. “Look, I… back when Phantom first destroyed my life, I got the suit in the mail from… an anonymous benefactor. It started out as a way to get revenge, but then I saw how many people were getting hurt by all ghosts, not just him. I— I had to do something. No one was supposed to find out.”

Danny’s pretty sure the backpack plan isn’t going to work out. He shoves his hands in his pockets instead.

So, nothing new. He’s used to people hating him. He was just wrong about the intensity. Again. It’s fine. This is so fine.

“Danny?” Valerie says, and Danny looks up to see abject terror on her face. “Please, I— I wasn’t trying to lie to you. Please don’t tell anyone.”

Danny definitely can’t breathe right, but Valerie’s scared, so he tries to tap into that to force the feeling away from himself for as long as he can. He clenches his hands into fists until he can feel his nails digging into his hands, and focuses on that to ground himself.

“Hey, of course I’m not going to tell anyone,” he says, proud of how steady his voice comes out. “Val, that’s— that’s amazing.”

And it is kind of amazing, to hear his own motivations echoed so plainly back to him. He hadn’t realized the Red Huntress had any motivation apart from destroying him.

Apart from… oh god.

Valerie looks up at him, a nervous hope on her face, and Danny shoves his own feelings down again.

“You… it doesn’t change how you see me?” Valerie asks.

Danny opens his mouth to say no, but can’t get it out, so he switches gears instead.

“Of course it changes how I see you,” he says, and rushes on before Valerie’s expression can change. “It makes you that much more amazing. I mean you… you don’t have to do this, no one��s making you, and you don’t owe it to anyone. And it’s dangerous, but… but you do it anyway.”

Yeah, he can focus on that. That’s a good part to focus on.

That, and how terrified he’s going to be to be fighting the Red Huntress from now on, because he knows he’s fighting a human and more than that he’s fighting Valerie—

No no, that’s not a good part to focus on right now.

“And that’s amazing,” he says turning back to Valerie. “Sorry I— I feel like I’m just repeating myself but—”

He’s cut off by Valerie wrapping her arms around him and kissing him. It’s barely a second before she stops and pulls back though, looking startled at what she just did.

“Oh shit I shouldn’t have done that without asking,” she says. “I’m so sorry.”

Danny swallows. “It… it’s okay,” he says, giving a smile that comes out much more confident than he feels. “I mean, Val, I would have thought my feelings are pretty obvious by now.”

Valerie laughs. “Yeah,” she says, rubbing the back of her neck. “Neither of us just ever said them out loud.” She smiles widely up at him, looking a mix of grateful and ecstatic.

“You’re amazing too, you know?” she says. “You just— wow, you just rolled with that.”

“Yeah,” Danny says weakly. “I’m a little amazed with that myself.”

Valerie laughs and takes a step closer. “Can I kiss you again?” she asks.

Danny takes a deep breath and shoves this realization far, far down so he can process it later, and instead smiles back at Valerie. “Yes.”

#danny phantom #danny fenton #valerie gray #jazz fenton #maddie fenton #jack fenton #uh what do i put a tw for #tw slight non con?#like Danny's not in a good place when the kissing happens #that kind of situation #everyone knows au #my fic

29 notes · View notes

cinturon-cadena · 6 months

Text

DP x DC Smallville

Okay, I've been forming this theory for a while now, but this scene just cemented it:

The bottom of her boots? Fenton F??? There is no way you can't tell me those aren't Fenton-grade boots!

Hear me out. I have other evidence.

The principal in season 1 is a man of Asian decent named Kwan. Who else do we know named Kwan?

And to top it off, Smallville's Kwan has a son named Danny. Now obviously, his son isn't Fenton/Phantom, BUT assuming at least the class and maybe the entire town of Amity Park learns Danny's secret, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary that some of his classmates grow up and name a child after their town hero. Even if they never learn Danny's secret, Danny Fenton himself did lead the entire class against Ember and Youngblood, as well as exhibited other noble qualities, so it's not out of the question that at least one of his classmates had a child whom they named 'Danny'.

2. As discussed in this post, the whole 'Kryptonite-is-crystalized-Ectoplasm' theory. Now some of the more meticulous (me) might be wondering, 'if this theory holds up and Kryptonite-Ectoplasm is giving random people in Smallville super/ghost powers, then why didn't Amity Park have the same activity?' Why thank you, Skeptical Voice In My Head! I'll tell you why. First of all, Smallville has had 12 years-worth of exposure to the Kryptonite-Ectoplasm, that's why! During the course of Danny Phantom's runtime we only get to see ~1 year pass. 2 if we're being generous. In addition, despite having a literal portal to Hell the Infinite Realms open basically 24/7 in the town, along with near-daily/hourly ghost attacks, the citizens of Amity Park themselves do not seem to regularly come into contact with any form of Ectoplasm. Unlike in Smallville, where people are handling the stuff almost daily - hell, dozens of people just casually wear it as jewelry, and I guarantee more than 1 person has at least a meteorite rock or 2 in their home, as a keepsake. There is also a potential argument to be made about crystalized Ectoplasm-Kryptonite being more potent than the ambient radiation/gas/liquid stuff we see in Amity Park.

3. There is literally a canonical town near Smallville called Amityville. Enough said.

4. Which brings us to number 4. The Boots.

I propose that it is highly likely that Danny's class grew up through the events of Danny Phantom (sin Phantom Planet), and that Smallville takes place somewhere around ~25 years after the Portal opens. Kwan grew up to be a teacher, then principal, and named his son after Danny (whether he knew Danny's secret or not). Fenton Works continued on in some capacity, whether it's still the Dr's Fenton going at it or if Danny/Jazz inherited the family business, and at some point made a line of Fenton-grade combat boots. Heck, maybe Sam had a say in their design (it is the kind of thing she'd wear).

In addition, if this is ~25 years later, then Amity Park would be full of Liminals right now - probably keeping their nature on the down-low so the rest of the world doesn't know, or being held under a Team Phantom (Foley/Fenton/Technus) or GIW-mandated blackout. Either way, the general world knows Amity ParkVille exists, but not that Liminals live there (unlive?).

And because their exposure to Ectoplasm was much more gradual and they would have had enough cultural exposure to ghosts, they would adapt to their newfound Liminality powers much more effectively than the poor flash-exposured citizens of Smallville who end up insane because they can't handle the sudden influx of power they're granted. The citizens of Amity Park have the tech and know-how to deal with weird ectoplasm-induced ghost powers. They've seen and interacted with enough ghosts that the idea of Obsessions/Purposes/insert-headcanon-here isn't far-fetched and they'd know how to deal with it in a slightly more constructive way (or at least, be able to handle the ghostly aggression that Liminals seem to have, if Smallville is any indication).

SO, In Conclusion, Danny Phantom's Amity Park and Smallville are in the same universe, albeit DP is ~25 years ahead of Smallville's setting.

Just Saying.

#smallville #superman #dpxdc #amity park is amityville #and smallville and amityville are near each other #just saying #the POTENTIAL #THINK ABOUT IT!!!!#this could also lean into the 'Phantom was the First Hero' AU #wow this post was much longer than I thought it'd be #whoopsies!#time to go actually finish that episode now.....

31 notes · View notes

charcoalhawk · 2 years

Text

The truth will set you free (and the lies will haunt you forever)

Summary: Maddie and Jack see through Phantom’s lies, but what does that mean for Danny?

Written for Dannymay 2022, for the prompt lies.

It starts slowly.

During a ghost attack Jack is able to land a hit on phantom in the face with the Fenton Bazuka, and later that day Danny comes home with a giant bruise spanning the entire left side of his face.

Danny brushes them off and says he fell asleep in class and fell off his chair.

Less than a week later the two are tinkering on a new weapon in the kitchen when Danny comes meandering downstairs, and after giving a long suffering look at the two of them working on weapons in the kitchen begrudgingly asks what it’s supposed to do.

When they next encounter Phantom and try to use their new perfected weapon the ghost seems to know the exact use and weaknesses of it.

At first Maddie and Jack brush them off as coincidences, but too many things start to add up. Phantom shares a disturbing number of physical traits with Danny, and the two have similar mannerisms and styles of speech. As the months drag on and Phantom continues to haunt them with his presence, Danny starts to avoid them more and more.

Over and over again, Danny shows up at home with unexplained injuries or shoddy excuses, and Phantom keeps knowing more than it should about how they and their weapons work.

It all comes to a head during a skirmish near the Nasty Burger.

Phantom is fighting the Wisconsin Ghost, one of the stronger and crueler ghosts that seems to hold a particular, personal vendetta against both Phantom and the Fenton’s.

At one point a stray ectoblast has started a fire in the Nasty Burger, filling the air with the smell of burning meat as the fight prevents firefighters from getting near.

Phantom and the Wisconsin Ghost are trading blows while Maddie and Jack try to get a decent shot on either of them. Jack eventually gets a successful hit on the older(?) ghost, who after seeing who hit it seems to fly into a rage. Sweeping past Phantom, who Maddie and Jack only realize after the fact had been protecting them, it swoops down to the Fenton’s and bodily picks Jack up before throwing him at the burning building.

It happens in an instant, too quick for either Maddie or Jack to react or fend against.

But Phantom does.

“Dad!”

Phantom wails. It reaches Jack the instant before he would have hit the flames, moving with a speed and power neither ghost hunter had ever seen.

Phantom absentmindedly sets Jack gently down back next to Maddie, before turning to face Plasmius and snarling before launching itself at the other ghost.

Phantom starts to gain the advantage with its newfound motivation, and before long is able to capture the Wisconsin Ghost in its thermos, its Fenton thermos.

Yeah, Maddie and Jack can’t ignore this anymore.

_____________________

It ends quickly.

“What do we do, Mads?” The two of them are holed up in the lab, ghost shield activated in case it tries to walk in while they’re figuring out what to do. Jack stands as if to pace before slumping back against the wall in disbelief.

“We can’t just ignore it anymore! Phantom has obviously done something to our Danny, and it’s been going on for far too long.”

Maddie is silent for almost a minute, still trying to come to terms with it all. How had it taken them this long to realize that there was a ghost living under their own roof? How long had they smiled and laughed and loved whatever thing had taken their sweet Danny from them?

“We have to find out what happened.” Maddie states, “Get it down here and run some tests. Hopefully it’s just a minor case of possession and we can remove the ghost easily.”

“But Maddie, it’s been like this for months. Phantom has been around since the Portal opened, and its actions and Danny’s have been congruent for just as long.”

Maddie’s face suddenly falls, eyes widening as she has a horrifying realization.

“…The Portal. This all started when Danny and his friends snuck down here and somehow opened the portal. He could have- Jack. What if Danny was lying about what happened when the portal activated?”

Jack’s face twists into a grimace as he starts connecting the same dots.

“We never took him to a doctor because we trusted that he would tell us the truth about what happened. Hell, we never ran any tests ourselves!”

“What if,” Maddie’s voice is small, thoughts spiraling after having forced herself to ignore the situation for far too long. “What if Danny died when the portal was turned on, and Phantom is just possessing our son’s corpse!”

The lab is quiet after Maddie’s revelation, with only the hum of the portal as if to mock them.

“Then we have to find out what happened to our Danny. We obviously can’t trust this imposter not to lie, so we might have to take drastic measures.”

The call to action reignites Maddie, and she straightens up to face Jack.

“I’ll get it down here. Hopefully after today’s fight it’ll be too exhausted to be vigilant and I can slip it some sleeping pills. One we have it safely in the lab we can run all the tests we might need to find out what happened. ”

“Ok that’s. Yeah.”

“And Jack?”

Maddie shares one last look with her husband. What they are about to do might be unforgivable, but they will do anything to save their family from evil ghosts.

“Prep the table.”

#dannymay2022 #danny phantom #unreliable narrator #one sided identity reveal #ghosts are referred to as ‘it’#brief illusion to dissection

44 notes · View notes

tumbling-darkling · 2 years

Text

You Can’t Punch a Ghost

Ch 8. Dennys

AO3

First | Previous | Next

(There’s art near the end ;) )

“Danny, you are aware that my students have an exam coming up, correct?”

Danny, who had been peacefully eating breakfast, paused mid bite as he glanced up at Aizawa, panic suddenly fluttering in his chest. Exam? Oh shit, did he have to take the exam?

“Your expression says that you were not aware, and that you’re trying to figure out if you need to take it as well,” Aizawa deadpanned.

Danny choked on his breakfast as this man seemed to read his mind. Didn’t he have a power erasing quirk or something? Did he have two? Had he known of Danny’s secret this whole time and was just messing with him?!?

No- he said his expression gave him away, and he was a bit of a detective when it came to stuff like this. He just had really good observation skills. Which Danny kept forgetting and needed to be way more wary of if he wanted to keep his secret under wraps.

“You will be taking the exam as well, given your skills seem to be on the same level as the rest of my students. But it won’t be detrimental to your grade or participation, this is because of how the exam is set up. We need an even amount of students and the class has an odd amount,” Danny nodded along as Aizawa explained, feeling a lot less panicked than before. “The students that pass will be participating in a training camp during the break, in which I will be supervising in a top secret location for the students' safety. You will remain behind, which I have spoken to Yagi and he agreed to keep watch over you for the time being. That being said, I’m going to set you up with him tonight just to be prepared, he has a… history of encouraging some pretty stupid ideas. I don’t need the two of you burning down the city before I return.”

Danny tried to rake his brain for any familiarity in the name, but nothing came up, “uh… who is that again? Is that Present Mic’s name?”

“No, he’s All Might’s secretary-, why would you guess that it was Hizashi?”

“Cause you two are dating,” Danny said in a matter of fact tone before taking another bite of his meal.

It was Aizawa’s turn to sputter, “Wha-, we are not-! What makes you think we are dating?!”

Danny lazily waved the chopsticks he’d been mastering around in a circle as he chewed, “the vibes.”

“The… vibes.”

Danny nodded, “you get this… energy I guess when you so much as look at him. It’s ridiculously obvious.”

“It isn’t that obvious,” Aizawa deadpanned.

“I’ve only been here a couple of weeks and I noticed, it’s obvious,” Danny hummed.

“You live with me, you notice more about me in a day than my students would in a month.”

“Oh good point. It’s still obvious.”

“Look, my relationships aside,” Aizawa said with a sigh and a pinch of the bridge of his nose, “you will be staying with All Might's secretary. He has immediate contact with the hero himself if you find yourself in any trouble, and tonight I need you out of the house so you will be staying with him just to get you two acquainted. When I’m on the trip, you won’t be able to contact me so this way we can determine if the setup will work or if I will need to figure out something else.”

“Why not leave me with your boyfriend?” Danny asked.

“Hizashi will be out of town during the week, I can leave you with Nedzu instead,” Aizawa threatened.

Danny threw up his hands in defense, “I’ll stay with the secretary!” Aizawa seemed to sport the ghost of a grin as he turned away, and Danny shook his head as he returned to his meal, “they are totally dating.”

Why again did he agree to this?

Toshinori stood to the side as the young man walked into his home and glanced around, a bag in hand for his overnight stay and those eyes scanning over everything in the room.

He couldn’t shake that image, the one he first saw when he met Danny. He tried to convince himself that it was only a hallucination, a product of over exertion and lack of sleep, but he still could feel that chill when near him. Hear that screaming and crying, the distorted body, scarring, the smell, the pressure-!

Pull it together Toshi! He’s a young boy, it was only a hallucination!

“To be clear, Danny has a curfew of 10pm for just tonight, it may change to 12 during the training weeks. He’s nocturnal like that, he has your number and my number, and like any teenager he will eat anything you put in front of him,” Shouta explained.

“I think I can handle a 15 year old, Shouta,” Toshinori chuckled.

“You can barely handle your prodigy and he doesn’t even live with you,” Shouta deadpanned, cutting off Toshi’s chuckle as he turned it into an awkward cough. “Look, you’re aware of Danny’s case. I don’t exactly know what’s going on with his past and relations, so I need a skilled, powerful hero I trust to keep an eye out for him.”

“You trust me?” Toshinori playfully mocked.

“You’re a tank, Yagi. Whatever is thrown at you, you will be able to handle. I have newer theories on what may have happened, but I can’t be too careful. Just keep him from getting killed,” Shouta sighed.

“That’s my specialty,” Toshinori grinned.

Shouta rolled his eyes and turned to leave, “Be on your best behavior, Danny.”

Toshi felt a chill and glanced down before he startled, nearly leaping in the air as the young man was right next to him. When did he get there?!

“Got it, Dadzawa!” Danny called.

Shouta paused in the doorway for a second before sighing, “I see Denki taught you some new nicknames.” Then he closed it behind him and Toshinori was left alone with the boy. Whose gaze slowly drifted up to Toshinori, eyes that he recognized as experienced, calculating, cautious, and very piercing. Then suddenly they shifted, the look changing to that of a general teenager. Did he just imagine it?

“So… Aizawa said you’re All Might’s secretary? So you have him on speed dial or something?”

Toshinori snapped out of his thoughts as he realized the young lad was attempting small talk with him, “er-! Yes! I am-, and I do. I’m the person you talk to if you ever need All Might for anything at all!”

Danny looked him over again, “are you like… his little brother or something?”

Toshinori raised an eyebrow, “why would you think that?”

“Hair, eye colour, similar taste in clothing,” Danny shrugged.

“A-all just a coincidence,” Toshinori laughed nervously.

Danny hummed and turned around, glancing back around his apartment, “do you know what the deal is with him and Midoriya then?”

Toshi coughed up a little blood, “Wh-what could you possibly mean?”

“He tends to pull Midoriya aside and they whisper a lot together, or they share this look that seems like they have a secret code that no one else really gets. Midoriya talks about his mom a lot, but not his dad, just wondering if Todoroki is right about him being his secret dad.”

More blood came up, “d-dad??!”

“You never noticed-?” Danny glanced back at him and jerked, “ARE YOU BLEEDING-?! Should I get a cloth or a bandage or-?!”

Toshinori held up a hand as he wiped off the blood, “no-no! No need to panic just, I have an old injury, causes a bit of upset with my health is all!” He tossed out the bloody tissue, “I can assure you that All Might is not young Midoriya’s father, he just… sees that Midoriya needs extra help from time to time is all.” Toshinori pulled out a chair and sat down, patting the table to indicate that the young lad should sit as well. “Say, let’s talk a bit about you. Care to tell me something about yourself? Family? Interests?”

Danny slowly took a seat, “well uh, Aizawa already told you about my … well, my predicament, right?”

Toshinori flushed as he realized that that bit of information had slipped his mind, “Ah-, right. Amnesia. Well, you do have interests, correct? Surely, you didn’t forget about those?”

Danny shifted slightly in his seat, suddenly appearing so small as he awkwardly tapped his fingers against the table, “I like space…”

“Space? Like in the sky kind of space?” Toshinori pressed, suddenly interested. He loved Midoriya like his own son, but that boy had interests which he had a hard time following along with sometimes. He should probably try interacting with the other students and learning of their interests. If one is passionate, then integrating those kinds of interests can boost performance and overall happiness.

Danny nodded, “I just… like it a lot. Planets, the stars, the questions surrounding it, how it’s different-,” Danny suddenly stopped mid sentence, then picked up the sentence in a higher tone, “-from anything anyone has ever experienced!” He laughed nervously. An odd reaction, but Toshinori decided to sum it up to nerves. “It’s a shame that there isn’t more advanced space travel… especially when everyone has powers.”

“Well, in this time of peace, there may be more motive to look towards the stars,” Toshinori smiled. “Technology changes very fast, it could be possible for people to return to space within the next decade, and not all research is immediately public. Some company may be researching that kind of travel right now and we are none the wiser.”

Toshinori glanced back towards Danny and, for what felt like the 100th time in that last hour, jumped a little when he noticed the young man had gotten much closer and was staring at him with wide and wondrous eyes, “really? You think that there could be more space travel being studied at this moment?”

Toshi chuckled nervously, “of course! There are so many people in this world with different passions and dreams, I would be surprised if no one was.”

Danny pulled back, seeming to be deep in thought, then he had a question that caught Toshinori off guard. “What about Multi-Dimensional travel?’

Toshinori blinked, “multi-…what?”

“Like…” Danny waved his hands around a little, “other worlds, not in … space-space. But in another plane of existence, in its own world with its own solar system and universe. Worlds that exist… on a different level of space?”

“Well, I am not sure that these… other worlds exist.” Toshi could have sworn he heard Danny say ‘oh they exist all right’, under his breath.

“So… no one is studying creating a portal or something for if it did exist?”

“I can’t say for sure. It is very possible there are studies about that kind of thing being done by very small research institutions, but it’s not as tangible as space travel.”

Danny looked… a little disappointed by that bit of information, then it was wiped away as he stood up from the table, “do you have any snacks?” The change in subject was quite abrupt, and Toshi wanted to know why he went from space travel to dimensional travel. Was it a connection to those movies that kids watch? Was it something else?

“I do, in fact. Spread out throughout the kitchen, I’m sure you can find something you may enjoy! Say, I can order us some take-out as well if you haven’t eaten yet.”

Danny paused, “What kind of take-out?”

Toshinori jerked awake in a cold sweat, his grip on his bedsheets a death grip, the lingering images of the nightmare still fresh in his mind's eye. They had only been getting worse with his age, and while they did begin to fade at the beginning of the school year, they had swiftly returned when whispers of All for One’s reemergence had surfaced.

He slowly peeled himself off his bed, his limbs heavy with exhaustion and his mind still hazy as he tried to shake the effects of a terrible awakening. He ran his fingers through his hair, which easily got caught in the tangled mess.

With a heavy sigh, he exited his room and headed for the kitchen, deciding that a glass of water should ease his mind and stomach.

He lightly shuffled through the halls then came to a stop at the entrance to the kitchen.

The fridge door was open, and a shadow was leaning into it.

The hairs on the back of Toshinori’s neck prickled, the cold sweat returned tenfold, and he took a stumbled step back, knocking into a side table in the hall and creating a deafening clatter.

The shadow whipped its head up at lightning speeds, green orbs boring deep into Toshinori’s soul. Death gripped Toshinori’s heart.

Fight or flight instincts kicked in.

He activated One for All on instinct.

In fear.

The light turned on.

Danny stood in the place of the shadow, noodles dangling from his mouth and his eyes wide, looking like a deer caught in headlights.

“D-Danny?”

The noodles fell from the boy's mouth.

Toshinori could just feel his best friends glare setting his soul on fire from across the room, “he fucking did what?”

“Turned into All Might when he saw me getting a midnight snack,” Danny played with a pencil as he sat across the table from the detective, completely unfazed by what he had just witnessed. A reaction that was a relief but also a conundrum. He expected yelling, screaming, disbelief, and all he got was a small gasp. He had to inform Naomasa, and after telling the detective, his old friend basically kicked down his door. “You guys don’t need to make a big deal about this, I won’t tell anyone,” Danny dropped the pencil he was trying to balance on his nose.

“You see, social media would spread the information like wildfire which could be very dangerous-, pardon, did you say you aren’t going to tell anyone?”

Danny shrugged as he struggled to get back his pencil, “Yep, won’t tell a soul. I bet Midoriya knows though, doesn’t he?”

Toshi began to sputter again, “how- how did-?”

“Remember how I thought you were his dad because of your ‘subtle’ talks? They aren’t very subtle.”

Toshinori tried to hide in his hair from the new glare that Naomasa sent him. “So you won’t tell anyone?”

Danny grinned, his teeth a little too sharp and a little too wide, “the dead are the best at keeping secrets.”

This kid really picked up fast on Aizawa’s jokes.

With Danny back in bed after their talk, Toshinori led his friend back to the front door, “I’m sorry that you rushed here at such an early hour, I just assumed you would see my text in the morning and stop by later in the day.”

“I was doing research on the Stain case,” Naomasa rubbed his eyes, “in case you forgot, there’s a vigilante running, or more like flying around that barely anyone can catch. Only Eraserhead got close to catching him but the kid is slippery.”

“Kid?” Toshinori asked.

Naomasa nodded, “Eraserhead has been the only one to get close enough to confirm it, though many had suspicions based on his personality and size. Though even Eraserhead is doubting that what we are facing is entirely human. The various quirks indicate possibly a more advanced Nomu, but I wouldn’t go as far as to call him inhuman.”

“He considers a child, inhuman? Are you sure we are talking about the same man?” Toshi softly gasped.

“Well, I don’t believe he meant it as to see the vigilante as less than or monsterous. He just said that he didn’t believe him to be entirely human. And that was it. Other than telling us that the kid finally provided a name for himself,” Naomasa chuckled to himself, “it’s really quite fitting honestly. He goes by Phantom.”

Phantom. For a vigilante that disappears into thin air, untrackable and untraceable.

It truly was fitting.

Toshinori hummed to himself in thought. “Say, what about Danny? He said he would keep my secret, did your quirk confirm he was truthful about it?”

Naomasa suddenly looked even more tired, “Your school has a gift in finding the most odd children, even in a world full of quirks like ours. His first answer was clearly truthful, there was a pull to it, a lingering feeling as if there was a personal reason why he was quick to keep the secret a secret. But his joking answer, about the dead keeping secrets? That was fully truthful.”

“How is that odd?” Toshinori frowned, not catching on.

“Not many know this but my quirk can be outmaneuvered, but it’s not an easy feat. An answer must be both truthful and false at the same time. This can be based either on someone not being entirely confident in an answer, which can be easily figured out by tone and body language. Or it can be a carefully constructed answer that integrates true and false information so closely that my quirk has a difficult time distinguishing what is true or false. Jokes about death, or answers regarding death in general usually fall in the former category. Mainly because nobody knows what happens after death. Danny’s answer was clear, firm, and he was entirely confident in his answer.” He shook his head, “though more odd were his other answers about anything regarding his personal life. Everything he said had a balance of truth and falsehood. It’s one thing to have one answer mess with my quirk but nearly every other word he speaks sends off that reaction?” Naomasa sighed heavily. “I don’t think he’s a bad kid. A little sarcastic and direct, but means well. He’s just a conundrum. A mystery.”

Toshinori leaned back, “well, Aizawa did find him in a dumpster and he does have amnesia regarding most of his past.”

Naomasa stared at him, “... Toshi, I cannot deal with this kind of new information at this hour.”

Toshinori chuckled, “ah, well. Aizawa did say he has an investigation going regarding trying to figure out his past. If you find yourself having any free time, I’m sure you will take time to at least look through it.”

Naomasa stepped out of Toshi’s apartment, “... I’m going to get some rest. I suggest you do too, Toshi.”

“Have a good evening, Naomasa.”

Naomasa raised a hand in acknowledgement as he left.

Toshinori closed the door and leaned back.

That was enough excitement for the rest of the week.

It was the day before the exam. Everyone was on edge, they didn’t really know what to expect or if they would pass or fail. Aizawa spoke of a summer training camp for those that would pass, and those that failed would be left behind.

Nobody wanted to be left behind.

So failure just wasn’t an option. They had to all pass, which meant a large number of the class was holed in corners or empty rooms attempting to cram last minute studying. Danny and Denki had a different idea for the final day before exams though.

“Stressing the day before is bad luck, if you need to cram, you do it 10 minutes before the exams start,” Danny stated. It wasn’t like he usually had free time to study the day before the exam back at home, but Denki was a staticy mess. Danny could barely get close to the other teen in fear of getting electrocuted shocked. So he decided to try and calm down the others' nerves through a day of bothering everyone else. “So to get that good luck rolling, we are going to pull a few harmless pranks!”

“Shouldn’t we not be bothering them? Everyone is stressing about this exam and they may not be too happy about us bothering them throughout the day,” Denki frowned, crossing his arms as he glanced towards the window.

“We aren’t tearing apart their homework if that’s what you’re thinking,” Danny grinned, “that would be cruel and is more likely to incite violence. I should know, it usually happens to me on a daily basis! No, our aim for today is to confuse and disorientate.”

“What do you have in mind?” Denki seemed to let his curiosity take hold, and Danny pulled out a piece of paper with really basic and shoddy Japanese written on it. Denki gasped, “You’ve been practicing!”

“Yes, I have been!” Danny huffed in a prideful way, “but we should really focus on the contents of the paper!”

Denki squinted at the writing, “oh. But we need to work on your verb conjugations.”

“Ignore the errors! This is for pranking not for marking!”

Denki rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything more about the errors. Danny smiled excitedly as Denki read through the list, eyes widening at some bits before finally looking up Danny again, “these… these are perfect.”

Danny took the paper back with a grin, “let’s get to work then!”

The devious pair ran off down the halls towards their first victims in the study hall, the simplest pranks happening first.

The heaviest studies were in the room: Midoriya, Iida, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. Though they expected Bakugou as well, he was nowhere in sight. Danny wasn’t too worried though, he had a different prank for him.

Danny and Denki split up, planning to have their attacks quick and unexpected from all parties. Danny went for Midoriya as Denki went for Yaoyorozu, Danny approaching directly while Denki stuck to hiding behind tables and other pieces of furniture.

Danny sat across from Midoriya, elegantly hiding his ghost sense with a cough into his elbow as he got close. While that was something he really should look into, his focus was on pranks. The cough did catch Midoriya’s attention, and boy did he look stressed. He pulled out a protein bar and slid it over to Midoriya with a grin, “Hey, thought I would come in here and hand out some snacks! I’ve been told you’re especially bad at eating when studying,” he explained.

Midoriya glanced at the offering, and accepted it with a grateful smile, “That’s so thoughtful, Danny! You really didn’t have to- I’m sure you're stressed about your own exams and everything…”

Danny shook his head as he held up his hands, “I’m a relaxed studier, I study better after long breaks,” he shrugged off and stood back up. “Good luck!” And he walked off casually, leaving the study hall and into a bathroom where he shifted to phantom to turn invisible and headed back towards the hall. He hovered over to Midoriya and waited for him to eat the snack, which he just finished as Danny returned. While he returned his attention back to his books, Danny snuck the wrapper and replaced it with another protein bar, exactly the same as the last.

Knowing that Midoriya probably won’t notice it right away, he lightly blew against the back of his neck on the side of the protein bar, causing him to look up again and behind him. Of course he didn’t see Danny, but as he went to go back to his book he spotted the brand new protein bar. Danny had to stifle a giggle as Midoriya clearly became slightly confused at the sight, looking around for the wrapper of the protein bar he was pretty sure he just ate. He then shrugged a little and opened the new one, eating it as he went back to studying. Danny waited for him to take the last bite before placing down another protein bar.

Midoriya went to put the wrapper down and spotted the new snack. During his double take, Danny slipped the wrapper from his hand and hid it, so as Midoriya tried to look for the wrapper from the bar he JUST ate, it had vanished.

Now he was really confused.

He looked around some more, and as he looked under the table, Danny placed down two more protein bars next to the existing one. Midoriya looked back up and yelped as he saw more protein bars. “Wha-?” He looked behind him and Danny dumped five more bars onto the pile.

Midoriya looked back and screamed, stumbling back and falling backwards off his chair, startling everyone in the room into looking up from their own books at the fallen student. Danny could barely hold in his laughter and had to rush from the room, back into the bathroom where he transformed back, laughing the entire time at his classmates' poor confused look. He would admit to the prank later and pretend he’s also pretty good at sleight of hand tricks, but the confusion of the prank may help loosen Midoriya up a little. Not to mention free food, he had to ask around to figure out Midoriya’s favourite snack without directly asking him.

When Danny managed to control his laughter, he walked back in just in time to see Denki giving him a thumbs up from behind a table.

He grinned back and took a seat across from Iida, Yaoyorozu in sight while Midoriya was seeming to have a bit of a crisis as he inspected each protein bar as if expecting it to bite him back. He swallowed the little bit of laughter he had left as he leaned on the table, “hey Iida, could you help me out with something?” He asked.

Iida glanced up, “of course! As class president and a student of UA, I would be happy to help out another student! What is it that you need?” He chopped his hands in a downward motion as he spoke. Behind him, Denki had attached a string to Yaoyorozu’s pencil and tugged it further and further away from her every time she reached for it. Her eyes were glued to her book though, and she didn’t seem to notice as Denki stopped each time she would finally look up and see the pencil halfway across the table.

“Well it’s about some Quirk history,” Danny said, Iida nodded and looked down at his bag, probably reaching for a book. Danny took this moment to put on a fake pair of glasses.

Iida found the book and looked back up and paused at his new look, “you wear glasses?” He asked.

Danny frowned, “of course I do? Have you never noticed?”

Iida blinked, “I-I swear I… I must have never noticed. So what is your question?”

“Well kids get quirks from their mom or dad or a mix of both, right? But do people get quirks that aren’t like either parent? And how exactly?”

“Oh! Well this is simple, there's an entire chapter about quirk genetics in history!” Iida exclaimed and looked back down at the book, flipping through the pages in search of the chapter.

Danny took off the glasses.

Iida looked back up and blinked once more, “what happened to your glasses?”

“What glasses?” Danny asked.

Iida narrowed his eyes, “erm… well you see, Quirk biology isn’t always accurate and mutations can happen,” Iida moved on back to the question at hand as he glanced down at the book and Danny put the glasses back on. “So a mother and father can have, say an ice and flying quirk but the kid has a rock quirk-, DANNY DO YOU OR DO YOU NOT HAVE GLASSES?” Iida exclaimed as he looked back up and saw them again,

“I do have glasses, is it that hard to figure out?” Danny asked as innocently as he could.

Yaoyorozu was starting to catch onto the pencil thing, keeping her hand on the pencil itself. Though every time she moved her hand Denki would pull it away.

Iida blinked and Danny made the glasses invisible in that millisecond.

Iida blinked again and they were visible again,

He blinked once more and rubbed at his own eyes, the glasses turned invisible again.

“Wha-,” Iida gapped as Yaoyorozu loudly stood up and yanked the pencil, and Denki, out into the open.

“Denki?!” Yaoyorozu hissed.

Danny stood up, slamming his hands on the table and yelled, “SCATTER!”

The two tore across the study and burst through the doors, Iida and Yaoyorozu yelling after them as they cackled like little prank gremlins.

They only managed to escape Iida as they slammed the doors to the hall shut behind them, turning wildly around corners and wheezing out fits of laughter. “Amazing, we pulled it off!” Danny laughed, “I didn’t expect us to manage to get all three, a shame we couldn’t get to Todoroki though.”

“Man, this is so much more fun when you are doing it with someone who is actually good at pranking,” Denki wheezed. “Do you do this often? You’re, like, really good at it.”

Danny grinned, “here and there. Mostly harmless stuff, of course. I once went a little overboard and had a weird Freaky Friday body swap, it didn’t last too long but I tend to stick to the more friendly confusion type of prank because of it. Ready for the next targets?”

“Hell yeah!”

Shouta had given his class a day to prepare for the exam, expecting them all to use the time wisely to review subjects they were uncomfortable with, and be able to walk into the exam with confidence. He wanted his class to pass with flying colours, to strive for the heroes he saw in each of them.

It also gave him time to do more research regarding Danny.

He was beginning to suspect an abusive home instead of possible gang violence. But he hadn’t ruled the possibility completely out as some of his mixed up memories could be attributed to the aspect. It wasn’t unheard of to have parents who abused their children to also be part of criminal crowds and even subject their children to experimentation within these crowds.

Danny had unlocked some memories at some point. Mentioning an older friend helping him with his quirk, and his parents not keen on this person based on looks. The friend possibly had a mutation quirk and Danny’s parents could have been not very accepting of mutation quirk users. There was also a nagging thought that Danny did remember what happened to him, but didn’t want to share in fear of being returned to such a cruel family. The rabbit hole was getting much deeper the more he thought about the case-

Something yellow caught the corner of his eye and broke his train of thought.

A turn of his head confirmed that there was suddenly a lemon on the corner of his desk.

Shouta blinked once. And then once again.

He didn’t put that there.

He slowly reached for the citrus fruit, picking it up and trying to figure out where it came from.

He glanced around the room again, nobody had entered his classroom in the last half hour and he was certain that the lemon had not been there when he entered.

Where the hell did it come from?

He looked up and jerked, seeing another lemon sitting right in front of him.

Shouta looked around quickly after, but couldn’t spot the culprit. There were just… lemons.

Oh.

Nope.

Shouta stood up, placed down the first lemon he found, then left the room.

He was not dealing with this right now.

Fumikage was heading back from the library with some books needed for his studies when he spotted Danny and Denki ahead speaking to each other. From the distance, he couldn’t seem to catch what they were saying yet as he got closer he began to realize he couldn’t just understand them from the distance, it was also how they were speaking.

He couldn’t understand a word.

Fumikage had to pause in front of them in order to attempt to place whatever language they seemed to be speaking but it just… didn’t seem familiar in any way other than a small vagueness about it.

Denki spotted him staring and grinned with a wave, “hey Toko! How’s it going?”

“My dark studies have been going well…” Fumikage answered in a mysterious way, “though… what language is it that you two are exchanging information in? I cannot seem to recognize it.”

Danny tilted his head in confusion, then spoke the gibberish again. Fumikage didn’t catch any of it.

“Danny just said we are speaking Japanese? Are you feeling alright, Toko?”

Fumikage paused, looking between his two classmates before he shook his head, “I think I’ve been reading for too long…” he muttered and stalked away from them, hearing them return to speaking that strange language.

He would later wake up at 2am in a cold sweat, realizing that it was familiar because that language matched Danny’s eerie accent perfectly.

Ochako was having a hard time focusing on the words of her notes, the stress of the exam eating away at her sanity as she struggled to remain focused. But it was difficult.

She needed air. She didn’t care where it was as long as it was anywhere except this particular room. She harshly stood up and stumbled out of the study hall into the hallways, pacing down towards her homeroom. It should be empty in there, a good time to relax, open a window, and think of nothing for a few moments.

She slowed down as she spotted Tsu up ahead in front of the classroom door but not entering the room. Slightly confused by the action, Ochako approached the other girl and softly asked, “hey is something wrong?”

Tsu glanced over to Ochako, then pointed into the classroom, “I think someone either got kidnapped or murdered.”

Ochako paused, then yelled,”WHAT?!” Before quickly dashing to the doorway and looking inside the room as she stood next to Tsu. She gasped at the sight, the classroom was a mess, blood seemed to be splattered all over, bloody words covered the chalkboard before a handprint ended it and dragged down towards Aizawa’s desk. The words spelled out ‘Bakugou did it’.

Ochako slowly inched into the room, taking in the shattered desk, a broken window with some sort of makeshift rope hanging out of it, blood splatters on the walls and floors and even marks that suggested someone had been dragged-! Getting closer to the desk she saw someone collapsed under, covered in red-

The closet behind her opened and someone fell out onto the floor.

Tsu and Ochako both screamed.

Danny nursed a black eye with a frozen bag of peas as he sheepishly grinned up at the two girls looking down at him and Denki with righteous fury. Look, as a half ghost, he needed at least one prank to be ghost/dead/corpse related and what was funnier than faking a crime scene?

Yeah they both knew they would have to clean up the classroom later but throwing around the red paint and smashing furniture was worth it.

Especially making his classmates scream.

Honestly, this prank was nonspecific and he was really hoping he could have gotten Todoroki with it, but this worked too.

And holy shit could Ochako throw a punch.

Falling out of the closet and playing dead, getting Denki to distract them momentarily so he could stand up and then using his ‘scary eyes’ and ghost voice to say boo? Amazing, worked like a charm!

Though now he knows that Ochako is a fighter and not a flighter.

Danny and Denki leaned against the ledge of the roof of the building, “final prank of the day. I left the best for last,” Danny grinned.

Denki frowned in return, thinking back to the list Danny had shown off earlier, “I thought we did everything on the list?”

“Oh, this wasn’t on the list,” Danny’s eyes glinted devilishly and Denki gasped as he realized there was one person from the class that they missed.

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes.”

Denki looked down towards the ground and saw Bakugou leaving the building. Oh shit. He wasn’t.

Danny pulled up a water balloon from seemingly out of nowhere. He was.

“Danny, didn't you tell me that a balloon from this height could kill a person?!”

“Oh I’m not doing it from up here,” Danny lazily waved his free hand, then used it to grip the air and tug, revealing a torn hole that opened just over Bakugou’s head.

Danny tossed the water balloon through it and closed the portal.

“DUDE WHEN DID YOU-?!”

Danny grinned and dragged Denki to the edge of the building and pointed down towards their explosive classmate, who had stilled since being hit with the water balloon and being completely soaked. The teen very slowly cranked his neck to look up, where even from their height, they could see those red eyes basically on fire.

“I’m going to kill you motherfuckers!!”

Bakugou then slammed through the doors and disappeared into the building, and Danny burst out laughing like an absolute madman. “Danny-,” Denki nervously tried to calm him down as he began to worriedly look towards their only means of exit, which was the single door that led to the roof. The door Danny was making no effort in heading towards. “Danny we should totally bail before he gets here, Bakugou punches hard,” Denki tried to reason.

Danny only managed to flash another grin as he cackled, stepping back closer to the edge of the building, “just- just wait. This is the best part,” Danny managed to wheeze, which only confused Denki even more.

He was about to ask him what he meant by that when the doors were BLASTED off their hinges to reveal Bakugou in a smoking and smoldering rage.

Denki was pretty sure his life was flashing before his eyes.

“Would you look at that? You morons managed to corner yourselves. And now I can finally fucking fight the walking popsicle!”

Despite the carnage that blazed behind Bakugou, the look of absolute murder in his gaze, and heavy implication of them both about to get their asses handed to them, Danny only shot Bakugou the widest, most shit eating grin Denki had ever seen. “You’re gonna have to wait for that fight.”

In a swift, split second motion, Danny scooped up Denki in his arms like he didn’t weigh a thing, leapt onto the ledge of the building, and promptly stepped backwards off the edge, all without breaking eye contact with Bakugou.

“You motherfuckers-.”

Denki’s stomach leapt to his chest as they dropped, and he instinctively screamed. His arms flung out and wrapped around Danny’s neck in his panic, squeezing his eyes shut as he dug his face into the other boy's shoulder and hung on for dear life. He was expecting death to meet them, he had no idea what Danny was thinking with the stunt.

And then they hit something solid way faster than Denki anticipated, did they die? Is this death?

Death felt cold.

No wait-, he was still breathing. He slowly opened an eye and took in a sharp breath.

Ice surrounded them on both sides as wind whipped against his face, the pair sliding down a massive ice slide Danny must have somehow made in mere seconds. Danny held up Denki by the legs since Denki was supporting the other half with Danny’s neck, Danny’s free hand dragging behind him as they slid. It took Denki a moment to realize that the reason that Bakugou hadn’t leapt on the slide after them was that Danny was destroying it on their way down, the ice cracking and shattering under that free hand.

But Bakugou still had a backup plan.

His palms sparked, then exploded, and then he was chasing after them.

Oh right, he could fly.

“He can fly?!” Danny exclaimed.

“I can fly, you dead sons of bitches!!” Bakugou shrieked.

Danny then quickly flicked his free hand up, ice swiftly followed, creating a solid wall of ice that Bakugou smacked into like a fly on a windshield.

Danny cackled at the sound he made from the impact, and turned back towards their destination, returning to destroying the ice behind them. The pair never slowing during the entire interaction.

Denki glanced up at Danny’s face and felt his heart skip a beat. The destroyed ice that trailed behind them left small droplets and ice pieces in the air that glittered in the sunlight, Danny’s hair wisping around his face, and that giddy yet goofy grin. The twinkle in his gaze, the specks of green in his irises that only seemed to show up on the rarest of occasions, becoming suddenly aware that he was basically being cradled by probably the strongest human he had ever met. Even if he did look like a twig.

His heart flipped again.

Oh.

They made it to the bottom of the slide, and Danny easily lowered Denki down to his feet, his legs wobbly was it because they were almost murdered by a classmate or was it something else? Danny twirled and dramatically flared his arms out, “well? Best prank of the day, wasn’t it?” He laughed. “I’ll admit I didn’t expect him to chase after us from the roof but you know, it did make it all that much more exciting!”

Denki’s heart was hammering way too fast, all he could do was nod along as Danny leapt around him and made faces at Bakugou who was angrily trying to chip through Danny’s wall of ice he had the unfortunate experience of slamming into at full force. The absolute joy on Danny’s face, the perfect lighting-, oh now his face felt hot.

“Hey man, you alright?”

Denki jerked, “uh yeah of course I am why wouldn’t I be alright?”

A chapter or two ago we had a little contest (on AO3) for you all to submit prank ideas and that has finally come to fruition. They were all pretty good and some of them might make it into future chapters but for today, I would like to thank the following readers for the inspiration they gave to this chapter. For the gaslight, gate keep, ghost speak prank, we have Flopyflor and KarinMaaka07. For the idea of a murder scene, we have Selkierai. And our personal favourite, Lemons, from HG_Anna!

-J & Internal_Screaming

First | Previous | Next

127 notes · View notes

voiceless-terror · 3 years

Note

I am so completely enamored with Danny as jons ex and I would be forever in your debt if you finished that

i wasn't expecting people to like this idea so much, its definitely one of my weirder ones xD since im not sure when i'll get around to actually finishing it (if ever) you can have a very rough chunk of it instead. you'll have to forgive any mistakes, im not up to editing it.

In a surprising show of athleticism, Jon ducks under Sasha’s chair before the specter of his past manages to see him.

Sasha swears at the action, backing up in her chair and peering down at Jon in bafflement. “What on Earth are you doing, Jon?”

Instead of answering her question, he backs up even further, tucking his feet out of sight. He thinks Sasha’s umbrella must be under here, and judging from the sharp point currently jabbing at his thigh, he probably broke it. “Is he still there?” he hisses, tilting his head to avoid bashing it into the desk.

“Who?”

“That- that man!”

A pause. “Tall, dark and handsome?”

Jon’s turn to pause. “I suppose you might call him that,” he replies stiffly. And it’s true. The man, from Jon’s brief, panicked glimpses, is at least six foot, with thick, dark hair and a bright grin.

And he looks exactly like Jon’s ex, Danny Stoker.

He’d done an almost comical double-take after a cursory glance; at first he’d thought Danny was the new hire, but this man was more angular, like a sharper, leaner version of his ex. So no, it couldn’t be him.

That didn’t stop him from diving under the nearest object, ergo Sasha’s desk. Not the wisest of decisions, considering his throbbing side, but he’s never been known for grace under pressure.

He’s not exactly sure why this fight or flight mode’s been activated- he and Danny had parted on fairly good terms, each recognizing that although they cared about the other, they simply weren’t compatible in the long term. They’d dated for a little over six months when Jon was a freshman, and he’d fallen hard.

Danny had been his first real relationship, and Jon was shocked that someone like him even looked his way. Impossibly handsome, incredibly fit, desired and envied in equal measure, and he dated scrawny, shy, insecure Jonathan Sims; the rumor mill went wild. They’d met at a party, and not even a good one. In a brief moment of liquid courage, Jon managed to insert himself into a group and fit in one snarky joke that sent Danny into stitches, the rest of the partygoers following his lead. For one second, Jon felt like he truly fit in, like he was someone worth knowing.

Danny had a way of making someone feel special. Big, romantic gestures, surprising him after class, taking him on little expeditions beyond campus. Jon didn’t drive, still doesn’t, and Danny wanted to show him the world outside of their privileged little campus.

But, like all of Jon’s relationships, it came to an end. Jon wasn’t ready for such overwhelming affection (didn’t think he deserved it, quite frankly), and Danny needed someone who could handle his fast-paced lifestyle. Jon was not that man. They broke up amicably, even if Jon shed a few tears in private, saw each other on campus a few times. Danny tried to reach out more than once, just as friends, but Jon’s never been able to handle more than one relationship at a time, and by then he’d met Georgie.

But now it seems the past is unavoidable, and standing near the circulation desk. Well, now walking in his direction, if the steady footsteps were any indication. Jon’s heart begins to hammer in his chest as it hits him that he is, in fact, hiding under a desk because a man who sort of looks like his ex is in his general vicinity. Coward.

“‘Lo!” God, even the voice is similar, if not as deep. “Tim Stoker. Reporting for duty.”

Stoker. Tim Stoker. Jon startles, slamming his head against the desk with a yelp.

Somewhere in his spiraling thoughts and throbbing head he remembers- Danny had a brother. An older brother that he adored. This must be the famous Tim- Danny made him out to be a saint, and though Jon never met him, he felt some fondness via Danny’s descriptions. But Tim’s going to have no fondness for him, especially considering Jon’s current position, hiding in pain under his coworkers desk.

“Pleased to meet you!” Sasha chirps, very clearly amused by the situation. “I’m Sasha James. And this-” she tugs at one of Jon’s legs, dragging him a few inches into sight. Jon buries his head in his hands and wishes he were invisible. “-is Jonathan Sims. We’ll be training you.”

“Excellent.” Tim’s voice holds the same good humor Danny’s always did, and sends a pang of nostalgia through his chest. “Er, you alright down there?”

“Yes,” Jon responds robotically, scrambling to his feet and standing behind Sasha’s chair, unwilling to meet the man’s eyes, lest he be drawn in. “I- uh, lost a pen. P-Probably left it in the copy room, I’ll just be going...there.” With that incredible performance, he fled.

And only tripped once on the way out.

________

So Jon’s kind of cute.

Tim doesn’t normally go for tiny disgruntled academics, but Jonathan Sims is an interesting fellow. He’s got a reputation for being the ‘problem child’ of the Research Department, awkward and prickly and always available with a snide word. He wields his books and files like a little suit of armor, and the only person he’s seen him open up to is Sasha. Besides their little conversations, Jon is all work and no play.

Except with Tim.

Sasha says she’s never seen anything like it, with one of her secret little smiles. Jon’s always staring. Usually, the man can’t hold eye contact to save his life, but he’ll spend full minutes looking at Tim when he thinks he can’t see. The first few times, Tim would turn around and smile, but that practically sent the man into convulsions, dropping his papers and jumping out of sight like a spooked cat. It was funny the first few times, but Tim pitied him enough to ignore it now. He hopes Jon enjoys the view.

God forbid he ask the guy a question. Jon will look around the room, as if waiting for someone else to answer, when it’s clearly directed at him. He’ll blush and stammer his way through every explanation, keeping a wide berth of at least two feet between them. Even when Tim wants him to look at his screen, he’ll squint from far away. Tim starting to think he smells bad, or has some sort of communicable disease unbeknownst to him.

“It’s not that,” Sasha assures him, again with that unreadable smile. “Trust me.”

Time to try something else.

He prints out his latest follow up, a rather elaborate statement regarding mistaken identities and absolutely nothing supernatural. He knows Jon prefers to look at things on paper, as screens ‘trigger his migraines’ if Tim understood his mumbles. Maybe if he can engage with him on familiar territory for the both of them, he’ll be able to hold a conversation. Tim specifically requested his help on this one.

“If you could just look it over, make sure everything’s up to snuff, that’d be great,” Tim says to the top of Jon’s head, as the man refuses to lift his own to meet his gaze. “You know how Dr. Walker is. Always-”

“Finding mistakes where there are none? I’m familiar with her methods,” Jon snorts, and Tim feels like he’s getting somewhere. A whole sentence! With classic Jonathan Sims snark! “I-I can give it a look. I’m rather busy, but -”

“Take your time,” Tim says with a dismissive wave of the hand. “I finished a bit early, so I don’t need it for a few days yet. Don’t want to put you out.”

“You’re not.” Jon meets his eyes for about ten seconds before ducking his head back down.

Progress!

#tma #jonathan sims #tim stoker #jontim #jondanny #what a tag i need to use it more often #if people do actually like this i might be tempted to give it another go #i think the outline for it ended up being too long for a week event #so i got lazy and gave up #asks #my writing #danny stoker #jondanny au

489 notes · View notes

redrobin-detective · 3 years

Text

The late Daniel Fenton

It was shaping up to be a beautiful if chilly December day and Casper High, as always, was bustling. It was 7:49 and class was about to start. The teacher watched the last few kids stumbling in at various levels of wakefulness. He already knew who would be the ones to rush in after the bell but that was alright. Life was too short to stress about being a few minutes late to class, especially in Amity Park of all places.

He looked up to see Madison, one of his shyer students walk in before making a beeline for his desk. She was biting her lip and nervously rubbing her hand down her skirt. “Hey,” she began quietly.

“Good morning. What’s up, Mads?” He asked casually. She looked upset, he could probably put on a video for the class if she needed to talk. They really needed a permanent counselor but the constant ghost attacks ran off most of them so he’d taken up the unofficial mantle. It felt good to help his students like that, make up for past wrongs.

“Are we um, expecting any new students?” She asked, her eyes darting over to the door she’d just come through. “Any transfers, exchange students or anything like that?”

“No,” the teacher frowned. “Amity isn’t the kind of place people transfer into. Why?”

“There’s a kid in the hallway,” she mumbled. “I don’t recognize him, he’s got a backpack and everything but he’s... I don’t know he doesn’t feel right.”

“Oh you’re talking about that weird dark haired kid,” Kyle said as he entered and sat down with a slouch. But even the class slacker looked unusually tense. “Dude’s creepy, can’t put my finger on why but he definitely doesn’t belong.”

“Oh,” was all the teacher had to say. Suddenly he realized how cold the classroom had become, the uncomfortable feeling that was pressing ever so slightly down on them. “I suppose it makes sense, the ghosts have been quiet lately with the Truce and all. He probably got bored.”

“Sir?” Madison said.

“Shannon,” he said instead, looking over at the frizzy haired girl hunched over her sketchbook furiously at work. “Would you do me a favor and move to the vacant seat in the second row? Just for today.”

“What? Why?” the girl whined even as she gathered up her various arts supplies and got ready to move.

“That’s Mr. Fenton’s seat,” he said taking in a deep breath and closing his eyes in preparation for what he was about to see. Danny would come here, of course he would. This was Lancer’s old classroom and Danny had him for first period English Lit. He and Dash both did.

“Mr. Baxter? What’s going on, is it a ghost?” Malik asked from the back row while Shannon shuffled to her new temporary seat.

“Yes but you don’t need to be scared,” he said softly, evenly. “He won’t hurt you.” The bell rang but Dash didn’t start the lesson. Instead, he waited. Danny had never been on time to class the entire time Dash had known him, of course death wouldn’t change that.

“Sorry, I’m late Mr. Lancer,” Dash gripped his desk so he didn’t jump when Danny Fenton simply appeared in front of his desk instead of walking through the door like any other student. “My folks couldn’t drive me, they’re still working on their stupid ghost portal.” A quick glance over at this class showed varying levels of fear, shock and curiosity but they were Amity kids through and through. The cold, powerful energy radiating off Fenton told them it was best to play along with whatever the ghost wanted.

“Perfectly alright Mr. Fenton,” Dash said softly, searching the 14 year old’s perpetually young face. He hadn’t changed a bit since Dash last saw him their second week of freshman year. It seemed unreal seeing how the years had taken their toll on Casper’s favorite son, Dash Baxter. God had they really been that young once? “Take a seat and we’ll get started.”

Danny shrugged and walked over to the seat Shannon had just vacated. He sat just the same, one leg stretched out and the other propped up against the leg of the desk. As soon as he took off the backpack and put it around the chair, it disappeared. He didn’t say anything else, just sat as stared at Dash with piercing blue eyes like he could see right through him.

“We had been talking about the lead up to the Civil War but let’s table that for today,” Dash said, proud his voice only wavered a little. He knew other people had seen Fenton around town. Lina saw him standing outside the Nasty Burger maybe five or so years ago. Dale, who used to live near Fenton Works swore he sometimes saw someone moving through the windows of the long abandoned house. He’d always secretly dreaded the thought of seeing Danny Fenton again, afraid he’d finally get was coming to him.

“Instead, we’re going to talk about local history,” he continued, not daring to take his eyes off the undead teen. Every other living student was tense, afraid. He wished he could assure them that the ghost wouldn’t lay a hand on them. In the event Fenton decided to ditch the hero schtick, it would be Dash and Dash alone he’d come after. “Amity Park has long had rumors of being haunted dating all the way back to the 1600s. It wasn’t until the last century that scientists determined that Amity Park is located on top of a thin spot between our world and the ghost realm. Natural portals form here all the time allowing spirits to pass through.”

No one spoke and barely anyone breathed except for Danny would wasn’t breathing at all. He just sat and stared at Dash with steady, unblinking eyes.

“Jack and Maddie Fenton were the scientists who discovered the weak point in reality in Amity. They devoted their entire life to the study of ghosts and made remarkable advancements in our knowledge of ectobiology and culture, the first being,” he paused as Danny cocked his head in confusion, squinting his eyes suspiciously at Dash. “The first being their manmade portal to the ghost zone. The portal remained active for almost two decades for research purposes but was shut down following their deaths.”

“You’re not Mr. Lancer,” Danny said suddenly, his eyes shifting from baby blue to an ectoplasmic green. Marty, who was sitting to the left of Danny, swallowed a squeak of fear and squeezed his eyes shut.

“No,” Dash sighed, “Lancer died almost thirty years ago now. Best teacher I ever had, he gave me his blessing when he passed on the job to me.”

“I,” the ghost ran his hand through his hair which was starting to lose its color. Seeing Fenton looking so scared and confused made him ache. It reminded him of old times. Dash had spent most of his life making sure he helped hurt kids if only to make up for the one he’d never been able to make it up to. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s okay, Danny,” he soothed. “I know it’s a lot to take in.”

“The portal, it wasn’t working at first,” Danny justified, his aura glowing a little more. “Sam and Tuck, they were curious. They wanted to look but I told them it wasn’t allowed, Sam, Sam she dared me to go in. I put on the hazmat suit and went inside and found the on button inside. I accidentally hit it and-” he paused midsentence and looked down at his hands. They weren’t pale flesh anymore but covered in white gloves. The black was completely bleached from his hair. A few of the students gasped as they saw the strange would be student melt into Phantom, the ghostly hero who’d been protecting their town since their parents were young. “I died.”

So much time had gone by. People were born and people were buried and the truth became distorted until it was just a legend passed jokingly around cafeteria lunch tables. Amity’s youth had forgotten their town’s history until it was sitting in a desk, trying once more to be one of them.

“You did,” Dash said sadly. He remembered hearing the news of Fenton's death. An assembly had been called the morning after the accident. Lancer had cried at the podium, Manson and Foley hadn’t returned to school for a week and had never been the same again. Dash hadn’t known what to think at the time, only that the kid he’d beat up for the crime of being different would never show up to school again. Or so he’d thought. “It was a tragedy, you were mourned by a lot of people.”

“I know you, don’t I?” Danny said quietly before he sat up straighter. “Dash?”

“In the flesh,” Dash grinned shakily.

“But you’re so old,” Danny said, once more distressed. “Your hair is grey and there’s wrinkles on your face and-and you’re a teacher now?” The last line was said with incredulity, his eyes flaring again. “You used to push me down the stone steps of the school and shove me into my locker and call me names.”

“Yeah, I did,” he sighed, feeling every one of his years. He was pushing 70 but he didn’t think he’d ever stop feeling like a stupid 14 year old who took out his frustrations on the ones who didn’t deserve it. “But you were the last; I never touched another kid again. I’m married now, four kids. I’m vice principal now, teach History and coach the school’s football team. It’s,” his voice caught again, still unable to process how young and stupid Fenton looked sitting there like no time had passed at all. It made Dash feel like all his accomplishments and attempts to be better would never amount to anything so long as his last victim roamed the earth unable to find peace. “It doesn’t fix what I did back then but I make damn sure that there won’t be any bullying at Casper so long as I’m here.”

“Huh,” Danny said, slouching once more in his seat but it looked less like his earlier teenage laziness and more weary. He and Dash were the same age after all, just because only one of them got old doesn’t mean time didn’t still affect them. “You did change, a lot of things did.” Danny looked down at the desk, “how long has it been?”

“Almost 50 years,” Dash sighed. “My wife wants me to retire but I guess I always find more things to do.” He paused then decided it was now or never. “I’m sorry Danny, for hurting you back then. I wish I'd gotten to know you better.”

For just a moment, Danny was perfectly clear. Even half floating out of his chair and looking like the local celebrity, his eyes were so painfully human. A boy killed before he ever got a chance to get started. Who’s will to protect was so strong it lasted half a century. It haunted him late at night to think of the glory and power of Phantom overshadowing just how incredible Danny Fenton had been. Not that anyone had seen it at the time. Soon there wouldn’t be anyone left to remember that quiet, kind teenager and then Danny Fenton really would be dead. Kill him just as thoroughly as that portal had.

The moment was broken by a breath of cold leaking out of the ghost’s lips and, just like that, his highschool classmate was gone and Phantom was left in his stead. He looked curiously around the classroom as if he didn’t know how he’d gotten there.

“There’s a ghost, stay here and don’t leave unless the fighting gets too close. I’ll get it though, don’t worry. No kids are dying today.” Maybe it was Dash’s imagination but he thought he saw Phantom’s eyes linger on him for an extra moment, trying to place where he knew the teacher from. Dash just smiled.

“Our lives are in your hands. Good luck, Phantom,” the ghost teen saluted before fading away entirely. Dash let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, suddenly exhausted but also lighter at the same time. It wasn’t every day you got to look your mistakes in the face and apologize. “Shannon, you can move back now.”

“No, I’m okay here,” Shannon said as she flipped to a new page in her sketchbook and looked intently at the spot where Fenton had once sat. “It’s like you said, that’s Danny’s seat.”

“I had no idea, Phantom’s been around for like, ever,” Freddie mumbled, pushing up his glasses. “But he used to be just like us.” And still was, Dash thought sadly. Danny would never grow old, never go to space like he’d always dreamed or marry Manson like he’d probably intended to. He was stuck, in more ways than one for who knows how long.

“Yes, that’s why it’s important to know your history. The Civil War and my other lessons are important but we can’t forget these smaller, more intimate histories. If we lose these lessons to time then we risk repeating the same mistakes over again.” He looked his students in the eyes, holding their attention.

“So we’ll continue today with the local history. Before he was ghost butt kicking superhero, Phantom was Danny Fenton, son of the local ghost hunters and a bit of an outcast in town. The Daniel Fenton Foundation was founded about a year after his death and was-”

#danny phantom #dead danny au #if bitch fartman won't redeem dash then I guess it up to me #god can you imagine growing up and growing old only to look at your past victim in the eye and see nothing has changed for him?#i could go on and on about what other characters got up to #but this is about the tragedy of the loss of Danny Fenton #not only his life but his memory #time moves on and Fenton got lost in the mix #once Dash's generation dies then Fenton will just be a cautionary tale #a ghost story #No one will remember that their hero was one long before he got his powers #god Im fuckign sad now #eat up and enjoy your angst

621 notes · View notes

ladylynse · 3 years

Text

Dimensional Displacement [FFN | AO3]: Danny has a love-hate relationship with the Fenton Booo-merang. This time, it didn’t do him any favours. This time, it knocked him through a portal—and from what he can glean from the Water Tribe siblings he meets, odds are, there’s a reason for that.

-|-

For @geronimo-alonzi as a thank you for donating to my ko-fi. (Yes, they won my fic giveaway, but I finished this one first.) Loosely based on this three sentence fic.

-|-

Danny had been clobbered in the head by the Fenton Booo-merang more often than he’d like to admit, let alone count, but this was the first time it had knocked him through a portal.

That wouldn’t have been a particularly bad thing if the portal hadn’t immediately closed behind him.

One minute, he’d been minding his own business in the Ghost Zone, coming back from a visit with Frostbite that Jazz must have forgotten about if she’d sent the Booo-merang after him. (Sam was stuck with her parents at some fancy dinner party thing somewhere and Tucker was working on designing a computer game for his comp sci assignment, a class neither Sam nor Danny was in, so it had to have been Jazz.)

The next minute, Danny was…. He didn’t even know where he was. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. He’d caught the Booo-merang before either he or it had hit the ground, but once he’d righted himself to look around, there was no familiar skyline or something equally useful to him. There were only trees and rocks and dirt roads as far as the eye could see, even from a considerable distance up in the air.

Well.

That wasn’t quite fair. He could see a silver river cutting through the trees in a path roughly parallel to the road, but in terms of helpful things, he was coming up empty.

He didn’t even know which direction he’d need to fly to get to a city. It was too light out to see any distant glow of city lights against the scattered clouds, and all he could smell when he breathed in was fresh air and pine needles and something else—moss? The general mix that was pretty much mulch on the forest floor?—that was decidedly natural, not the signs of human activity he’d been hoping for. Sure, following the road or even the river would get him somewhere sooner or later, but what was he supposed to do, pick a random direction or go eenie meenie minie moe?

Danny did another loop above the trees, looking for some sign of anything, and came up with nothing.

“Come on!” Danny yelled at the patch of blue sky where the portal had closed. He spun in a circle, the Booo-merang clutched tightly in his fist, but it didn’t pull in any direction, and he didn’t catch so much as a glimmer of the familiar green of the Ghost Zone. “Just open up again already!” It was as effective as he’d expected it to be, which was not at all, but screaming out his frustrations made him feel a bit better. “Now! Please?”

Unsurprisingly, the portal didn’t listen.

Out of appealing options, Danny threw the Booo-merang. Logically, he knew it wasn’t the Infi-Map. Logically, he knew that the universe did not often do what was convenient for him, even if he sometimes got incredibly lucky in a fight. Logically, he knew that the chances of the Booo-merang deciding to reprogram itself to find portals just because it had done it this one time (likely coincidentally) were slim to none.

Illogically, he didn’t expect the stupid thing to circle around and hit him in the back of the head again.

Danny cursed and landed to retrieve the fallen Booo-mang from the roadway, muttering under his breath about how much he’d like to just dismantle the thing and hide the pieces. He wouldn’t, of course. It worked too well to risk Sam, Tucker, and Jazz losing the ability to find him if they really needed to. It had been dicey enough the few times his parents had decided to try to ‘fix’ it, only for disaster (Vlad) to strike in the meantime.

That didn’t mean Danny couldn’t fantasize about bashing it against a rock, though. There were plenty of those around.

“That’s a weird looking boomerang,” someone said from behind him, and Danny nearly jumped into the air right there.

He didn’t, mostly because he was getting used to Sam and Tucker trying to surprise him, but it was a near thing.

He wasn’t used to people sneaking up on him. His ghost sense was reliable, Dash made more noise walking around than even Jack Fenton, and, well, most of the people who hunted him couldn’t be subtle if they tried, especially since a good chunk of them liked hearing their own voice. He’d only ever really had to worry about Jazz, and self-preservation in the face of tickle attacks had given him the ability to be extra sensitive to her presence whenever she was in a certain mood.

The two who’d caught him by surprise now must have come from the trees on the other side of the road, and he hoped that meant they hadn’t seen him do anything particularly ghostly. Granted, neither of them was screaming, so he should be safe. They didn’t look terrified, either. Wary, maybe, but not scared.

Danny guessed that they were both somewhere around his age. Siblings, by the looks of them, but probably not twins even if they’d both decided to leave the house wearing oddly styled blue clothes today, at least compared to the usual jeans and T-shirt combo Danny was used to seeing. Unless he wasn’t anywhere near the States anymore? Or unless he’d been flung through to a different time. But the boy had spoken English, and it hadn’t sounded funny to Danny’s ears, no lilt of a foreign accent or strange phrasing that he associated with Shakespeare or something.

The girl was his height, the boy a bit taller, and they were both staring at him.

They probably thought he was the one who was dressed strangely.

The boy pointed. “Your boomerang,” he repeated. “It looks weird.”

The girl elbowed him in the gut—none too gently, judging by his immediate wheeze—and hissed, “Sokka!”

Yeah, those two were definitely siblings. And even if the girl wasn’t older, she definitely had the annoying (and annoyed) sister tone down pat. Danny had heard (and been on the receiving end of) the same from similar exchanges with Jazz more than once.

“Sokka’s going to apologize, right, Sokka?”

The boy frowned and then threw up his hands. “Right. I apologize for saying your boomerang looks weird. It looks interesting.”

The girl stepped on his foot, and he yelped. “What was that for?”

“You know what that was for!”

“It’s fine,” Danny said. He still wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. Maybe the portal had dumped him out in the middle of some historical re-enactment thing. Granted, there should really be more people around if that were the case—or at least hidden cameras. He was better at spotting them now. Vlad and his creepy spy tendencies aside, Danny had gotten good at noticing (and avoiding) cameras so he didn’t let his secret get caught on tape. (There were a surprising number of places in Amity Park not under video surveillance, or at least not under real video surveillance even if they had fake cameras out; he could practically transform in the middle of the street sometimes.)

Still, nothing about this felt staged. It didn’t even feel like one of his enemy’s tricks, some giant setup that was meant to trap him or whatever. That’s not to say Danny was wholly convinced this meeting, whatever it was, was merely chance—he didn’t particularly trust Clockwork not to arrange things as he saw fit without warning anyone—but it didn’t feel overly contrived, either. There was just….

Something felt off, and he couldn’t explain what it was.

“It’s fine,” Danny repeated, since the two were looking at him dubiously, but the familiar phrase felt strange on his tongue, almost like—

Wait.

“Okay, this is going to sound like a weird question, but where are we?”

The boy, Sokka, blinked. “Did you hit your head or something? We’re in the Earth Kingdom. Or, wait, do you mean where in the Earth Kingdom? Look, if you need new supplies, there’s not much in the last few villages, but we’re about a day from—”

The girl elbowed him again, and he fell silent. Danny could see the growing suspicion on her face for what it was, could see suspicion settling on the boy’s face as well, but he wasn’t sure if it was because he’d asked the wrong question or because he’d asked something at all. He’d been paying attention this time, watching Sokka’s lips, and Danny didn’t have to be a good lip reader to know that he hadn’t been saying the words Danny had heard.

Well.

More accurately, he hadn’t been saying them in English.

And Danny, in answering, had somehow not been speaking English.

That was not, as far as Danny was aware, something Clockwork could do to him.

He didn’t know a ghost who had power over language, though, unless the Ghostwriter had something else up his sleeve and this mess was it. Nocturne would be able to pull anything in a dream, but Danny couldn’t see why he’d bother including something that would be an obvious tell like this, so it shouldn’t be him even if he had decided to come back. More likely, it was someone he hadn’t fought before, someone who had targeted him, seen an opportunity when the Booo-merang had hit him and seized upon it to throw him…here.

Wherever here was.

The Earth Kingdom, apparently.

“Um.” The girl still looked like she expected him to start fighting, and her stance…. Danny didn’t recognize it, but he did know that she looked ready to move at any moment. Her brother had taken her cue and, while Danny hadn’t been paying attention, pulled out a boomerang of his own. That couldn’t be good. “Look. I know how this sounds.” How he sounded, more like. If he had some accent he couldn’t hear because he wasn’t speaking their language properly, whatever it was, this had to be a setup after all.

Someone had sent him here to be dealt with. By this world, this dimension or construct or whatever it was, if not necessarily by these two people.

Granted, Danny wasn’t sure why someone would go to the trouble of letting him understand and be understood in the first place if that were the case, since he could get in just as much trouble without speaking the native language.

Surely he wasn’t actually supposed to help someone here, right? This wasn’t even his world. Or the Ghost Zone. Whatever was going on here was most definitely not his business.

Except now he was in the middle of it, so if there was something going on, it would be beneficial to find out what it was sooner rather than later.

This wasn’t some Jumanji kind of thing where he’d been tossed into a game and had to do whatever it was to get out again, was it? It didn’t feel like the time he’d gone into Doomed, but that had been intentional, and this….

Okay, no, he didn’t have enough information to speculate, which meant he needed to get some information out of these two in order to get somewhere. “I just…. I was kidnapped and dumped here for some reason, and I’m trying to find my way home.” That was close enough to the truth that it shouldn’t raise any red flags. Hopefully. “My name is Danny.” Introducing himself as Phantom, even in ghost mode, wasn’t something he wanted to do when he had no idea how these people felt about ghosts. Besides, it wasn’t like they’d ever see him as Fenton. He just needed to stick to the ground and pretend to be a normal human being, which he could most definitely do—at least when the sun was bright enough that his slight glow was basically nonexistent. He doubted it would be terribly noticeable even under the cover of trees.

“Danny,” the girl repeated, not relaxing her stance. “That’s an unusual name.”

Sokka just cocked his head at Danny. “Why would anyone kidnap you?”

It was spoken like it was an innocent, thoughtless question, something that could be brushed away with a laugh, but Danny could read an underlying tension in each of their faces. Sokka was waiting on his answer, and so was his sister. Danny’s response might very well determine what happened next.

Consequently, Danny didn’t miss the fact that Sokka didn’t offer up any potential explanations that he could jump on.

Another lie wasn’t going to do him any favours, not when he knew so little. “I don’t know.” He could guess, but he didn’t know. From the looks of it, though, these two wouldn’t be satisfied with that. Chances were good they wouldn’t be particularly satisfied with his suspicions, either, which was that someone wanted him out of the way for whatever they were planning—or maybe that someone had decided they wanted to have a little fun with him at his expense, if world domination wasn’t on the table. “My parents are inventors. Maybe that’s why?”

“That doesn’t explain why whoever took you would leave you here,” Sokka pointed out, and Danny wished these two weren’t so smart. “If you were taken because you were valuable, you wouldn’t have been left behind unguarded.”

“So maybe they kidnapped the wrong person and realized that I wasn’t who they wanted?”

Sokka exchanged glances with his sister before murmuring, “We can ask Toph. I mean, it’s possible they found us, but if he is really a Fire Nation plant picked solely for his eye colour, they’d have at least dyed his hair and given him some normal clothes.”

Danny decided not to ask who the heck picked people for something based on eye colour and not skill or merit or experience or something normal like that. Aside from derailing the conversation from anything potentially useful, Danny was pretty sure Sokka hadn’t realized he’d been overheard, and it wouldn’t be in Danny’s best interests to let them know how good his hearing was.

Still, he took the opportunity to tuck away the Booo-merang before they could ask any questions about it that he wasn’t up to answering. Maybe it would make him seem like less of a threat if they didn’t think he was ready to use it as a weapon—not that he knew how to use a boomerang as a weapon, but he was pretty sure Sokka hadn’t pulled his out to see which of them could throw it farther or throw it properly—and maybe then they’d trust him enough to answer his questions. Hopefully. He was perfectly willing to meet this Toph if it meant figuring out where he was and how to get home, especially since it would be easy enough for him to cut and run later.

The movement was enough to draw the attention of the siblings, though, and both pairs of eyebrows rose. Had they not expected him to make what he hoped would be taken as a gesture of trust or were they wondering how the heck he’d gotten it into his pocket? Maybe they thought he was trying to hide it, which wouldn’t help matters at all. Then again, if they thought that he thought it had been a subtle move, then maybe—

No.

He had to stop doing this. He didn’t know enough about these two to try to guess their thoughts, let alone what actions they might take against him.

Danny shifted on his feet, glad they hadn’t jumped to attacking and that they weren’t even asking questions about the Booo-merang, since practically anything about it would be difficult to answer. At least they hadn’t seen him flying. Even for people familiar with ghosts, unknown ones tended to be cause for concern until their threat level was assessed, and Danny didn’t want to invite trouble and immediately find out what this world had that messed with ghosts. Sure, he wanted to know what could hurt him here, but finding out while it wasn’t actively being used against him was infinitely preferable.

“Where did you say you were from?” the girl asked after a beat, even though they all knew he’d never said anything about that.

“Nowhere you would know,” he hedged, which was true enough.

“We travel a lot,” the girl said, and her brother snorted.

“What Katara means is, try us. If we can help you get back to your family, what do you have to lose?” Sokka offered Danny a grin, and his stance had visibly relaxed, even if he hadn’t put his boomerang away. It might be just for show, especially since he still had a weapon out, but at least the girl hadn’t drawn any knives or something like that. “Look, from one guy to another, you don’t need to make up some crazy story if you’re a runaway or something like that. We’re basically runaways.”

“We’re running towards something, not away from it.”

“We were almost runaways.” To Danny, Sokka added, “Gran caught us, but she let us go.”

Katara rolled her eyes, and Danny looked between the two of them as Sokka continued talking. It was obvious that they’d changed tack for some reason, no doubt trying to get him to trust them, but the blatant switch made him uneasy. Did they not realize how obvious that was or was this just their usual dynamic?

“I’m from Amity,” Danny eventually interrupted. He knew from the way that they were looking at him that neither of them had forgotten he had yet to answer the question. He’d already told them they wouldn’t know the place, so technically he could’ve said Amity Park, but for all he knew, these two had been sent to get information out of him, and the less he told a potential enemy, the better.

Come to think of it, maybe he shouldn’t have told them his real name, and maybe he should’ve just made up a village name rather than dropping heavy hints about his hometown.

“Which is near—?”

Danny ignored Sokka’s prompt. He didn’t even have a good enough idea of the geography of this place to make that up, especially when there was a chance they knew the area, runaways or no. “Do you know where I could get some water? I haven’t found any since I woke up.” That wasn’t true, but they wouldn’t know that unless they were getting some more intel about him from someone unseen.

The siblings looked at each other again, and then Katara faced him and said, “We’re headed to the river. Come with us. You can get your water, and we can share our catch if we get anything.”

“Wait, I didn’t agree to share my meat!” Sokka exclaimed. Katara’s only answer was a dirty look, but it was enough to have Sokka subsiding into grumbles.

“I’m not hungry yet,” Danny said, which also strictly wasn’t true, but he knew he didn’t need to eat much.

“You might be hungry by the time we’re finished,” Katara said over Sokka’s griping.

Danny hesitated, trying to figure out how weird it would be if he made up some excuse not to go with them. What were the chances that this was a trap when he’d brought up the river—or at least water—before they had? It wasn’t that he thought they’d be able to take him out if it came to that, even if Jazz had more experience fighting normally than he did, since he typically relied a lot on his powers when he could.

These two might be better fighters than him—there were almost certainly better hunters, given how silently they could walk—but he’d always have something like intangibility in his back pocket if it came to it, and they wouldn’t. Still, when it came down to it, he wasn’t used to fighting humans. What if he didn’t pull his punches enough and seriously hurt one of them?

“You can tell us about Amity,” Katara added. “We’ve never been there.”

Danny really hoped that was true and that there wasn’t a place in this world called Amity that they knew well. Still, when they started walking, spreading out so he was always in sight and they never had their backs to him, even when they hit the trees on the other side of the road, he kept pace with them. “It’s pretty much like you’d expect.” Except for the ghosts. At least his ghost sense hadn’t gone off here. Yet. “This is probably the farthest I’ve ever travelled from home.” He couldn’t get much farther away than a completely different dimension that (probably) wasn’t as connected to his world as it was to the Ghost Zone, anyway—unless he counted when he’d time travelled, but he wasn’t about to bring that up.

Katara opened her mouth to ask another question, maybe to press him for details, so Danny cut her off. “What about you two?”

They looked at each other again. How many times were they going to do that? Hadn’t they already decided how far to trust him? Danny knew it wasn’t very far, but they’d clearly decided he wasn’t going to straight up attack them at this precise moment, so even if they didn’t tell him the whole truth—

Sokka gestured at their clothes. “We’re Water Tribe.”

He said it like it was obvious, like Danny should’ve known already, but of course it explained absolutely nothing.

“Southern Water Tribe,” Katara added unhelpfully, despite Sokka’s frown. “We wanted to see the world, and now we are.”

As cover stories went, it was better than Danny’s. Barely. “Right,” he said, wondering again why he’d been dumped in the path of these two. “It’s a nice world to see.”

Somehow, that was the wrong thing to say, because they were both looking at him like they’d expected him to say anything but that. “What?”

“There’s a war on, you’re supposedly kidnapped and dropped off somewhere in occupied territory without any of the proper paperwork, and the best you can come up with is it’s a nice world to see?” Sokka turned his incredulous look from Danny to Katara. “He cannot be Fire Nation. This kid is more sheltered than Toph was supposed to be.”

Danny, who had stumbled at the word war, kept walking and hoped they hadn’t noticed. If they had, maybe they’d think he’d tripped over a tree root or fallen branch or hole or something. They weren’t following a trail, so that was a perfectly reasonable explanation, right?

“It’s all right,” Katara said as she reached out to touch his arm, and, okay, from that gentle tone, which was a complete change from anything earlier, it must mean she had noticed, knew he hadn’t tripped over anything in the terrain, and—from how she was looking at him now—thought it wasn’t surprise that had tripped Danny up, either. “Trust me, I know what it’s like to be a little naïve until you have a chance to leave home for the first time, but unless you’re got a camp around here, you’re not prepared at all.”

Sokka finally put his boomerang away and smirked at Danny. “We at least left home with supplies.”

“Did you have to run without any warning?” Katara asked, giving her brother a pointed look.

“Oh, uh, kinda.” Danny winced, knowing that had to sound like a lie. “I…I didn’t really plan on leaving when I did. This just…happened.”

Sokka raised an eyebrow, but Katara said, “You don’t have to worry. We’re the last people who would turn you in to the Fire Nation.”

Right. So the Fire Nation were the bad guys, at least according to the Water Tribe and, if he was putting things together correctly, the Earth Kingdom, where they were. Meaning the Fire Nation had invaded the Earth Kingdom if this was occupied territory. Danny thought about asking why these two had come into occupied territory themselves and then decided he didn’t want to risk getting into a discussion that would show off how little he knew. If they had decided he was a runaway who knew practically nothing about the world, well, that worked in his favour.

“Thanks.” Danny wasn’t sure what else to say. “Why are you helping me, though? Won’t that put you in danger?” That had to be a fair question in this situation.

“We can’t help everyone,” Katara said quietly, “but we can help some people, even if it’s just a tiny bit. Sometimes, that has to be enough.”

Danny really didn’t know what to say to that, because she certainly wouldn’t understand if he said he knew the feeling, so he smiled weakly in thanks and let the conversation drop.

They were still watching him, but they were more subtle about it now, and it didn’t look like they were watching him more closely than they were watching everything else.

Being downgraded from a threat was a win, though. Danny hoped he didn’t do anything to mess it up.

“There’s no shame in being a refugee,” Sokka said after a moment. “Being from a richer family might’ve bought you an isolated childhood, but it wouldn’t guarantee your safety.”

“We won’t try to hold you for ransom if you tell us where you’re really from,” added Katara.

Danny glanced at her. “I said I was from Amity.”

“I could say I have a platypus bear as a pet,” Sokka interjected. “That doesn’t make it true.”

“We know what it’s like, thinking you understand the way things are and then realizing how little you know,” Katara said quietly. “It can be overwhelming.”

“And it would explain why you’re in your nightclothes,” Sokka said. He’d come in range of Katara’s fist, but he danced out of the way as she swung in his direction. He hadn’t even needed to look at her to know it was coming. “You didn’t know enough to keep your valuables hidden and got robbed your first night on your own, didn’t you?”

“I—” Danny knew it was an excuse for his ignorance being handed to him on a silver platter, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep up with a lie like that when he knew so little. “These aren’t my pajamas,” he said instead. Let them believe what they wanted to believe; that would make his life easier. Even if it blew up in his face somehow, he could truthfully say he’d never said they were right.

They might be suspicious that he hadn’t outright denied it, but then again, he’d already told them something a lot closer to the truth.

“Uh huh.” Sokka glanced at Katara again, and she gave a slight shake her head that Danny didn’t understand.

“Let’s get you some food and water first,” Katara said. “Then we can see about finding you other supplies.”

Danny decided not to point out that they’d already told him it was slim pickings for supplies around here. Not that he had the money to pay for anything, but Sokka had already guessed that. Besides, they thought he was running around in his pjs.

Judging by the sour look on Sokka’s face, he’d evidently translated his sister’s words to mean that she wanted to give him some of their supplies, something Sokka clearly wasn’t sure he approved of.

Katara must have had similar thoughts on Sokka’s expression, since she murmured, “It’s this or bring him with us, and you know what’s safer.”

Katara might not have minded that Danny could overhear her last words, but Sokka closed the distance between them, pulling his sister farther away from Danny before hissing, “It’s not the only option, and you know it. We can’t afford to give away any of our supplies, and just because Toph can make sure he’s not coming in with the intention of stabbing us in the back, doesn’t mean he wouldn’t blab to anyone once he figures out who we’re travelling with. You know as well as I do that that wouldn’t take very long.”

“He’s just kid.”

“Technically, like Aang keeps reminding us, we’re just kids. Who very much cannot afford to so much as drop him off in the next village. Show him the river and teach him how to catch and cook his meals? Fine. Picking him up as a stray when he’s not bringing anything to the table? Not fine.”

“He’s lost.”

“So? He’s not hurt. He’s already in a better position than some refugees. He’ll survive until he can walk to the nearest settlement. Then he can try to get help from people who can actually give it.”

Katara bit her lip and slowed to a stop. “There’s something else.”

“What?”

Danny very much wanted to know the answer to that—what had Katara figured out?—but he tried not to react so they didn’t know he’d been listening in. He deliberately turned away and stared around the trees instead, a mix of deciduous and evergreen. He couldn’t pick out any specific types of trees—nothing distinctive like oak leaves that he could see—and, as far as he could tell, the woods were utterly devoid of critters. He had no idea if that was because this world wasn’t real or if it was simply because all the animals in the region had had warning of their coming and hidden accordingly.

Danny knew his disinterest wouldn’t be very convincing, but if he was lucky, they’d think he’d given up on trying to eavesdrop.

“There’s something…off about him. Not necessarily something wrong, but something different. I can’t…. When he asked about water, I wanted to make sure he wasn’t hiding any on him or nearby in case it was a trap, and— He didn’t feel the same as you or me. I can’t explain it. Toph might have a better idea than I do. Or…or Aang.” The last word was a barely audible whisper.

“You think this might be a spirit thing?” Sokka’s response was closer to a suppressed shriek than anything else, and Danny winced.

“I think he might be spirit touched,” Katara answered, and Sokka’s sharp inhalation was painfully audible. “I wasn’t good enough back then to notice anything about Yue, but—”

“Fine.” Sokka’s voice had gone flat. “I don’t want to shun someone and accidentally anger the spirits. I’ll teach him to fish. You go back and interrupt advanced earthbending practice and pick a meeting place, but make sure everyone’s packed in case this doesn’t go the way you think it’ll go.”

“I know to be careful.”

“We all know to be careful. Some of us just need more reminding than others.”

Katara didn’t say anything else, but she must have nodded or done something similar because Danny heard Sokka stalk back over to him. “Katara’s going back to talk to the rest of our group about what we might be able to spare,” he said as Danny turned back to face him, “and I’ll show you how to fish in the meantime. If you don’t catch anything, I’ll give you one of mine.”

Danny wasn’t about to admit that he’d overheard their entire conversation, so he smiled and said, “That sounds great, thanks.” It didn’t stop the uneasiness from settling in his gut, though. Sure, now he knew these people believed in ghosts, and Sokka’s response made it clear he didn’t want to get on their bad side, but Danny had no idea what being spirit touched meant. He didn’t know if that was seen as a good thing or a bad thing.

More to the point, if it was a bad thing, he didn’t know if these people had something suitable with which to attack spirit touched people, since if they did, chances were good that it would work on him.

He was not lucky enough to get a free pass here.

Still, the odds were good that he’d be able to escape if they did attack since he’d know to be on watch for something, and he wasn’t about to turn down an offer of food. He had no idea when a portal would open and he’d be able to go home. Until then, the best he could do was survive.

He’d survived this much, and his life had hardly been a walk in the park since the accident, let alone before. He wasn’t about to let some ghost fling him into an unknown world and succeed in taking him down. He needed to get out of this to kick their butt and prove to them that they couldn’t get rid of him that easily.

Assuming this wasn’t all a series of genuine coincidences and not the result of the careful manipulation of events.

Danny didn’t want to think about that, though.

He had a much better chance of getting home if there was someone he could beat, and he was going to get home.

Somehow.

(see more fics)

#danny phantom #atla #avatar the last airbender #danny fenton #sokka #katara #crossover #fanfiction #dp fanfiction #atla fanfiction #my writing #ladylynse #snippets #crossover snippet #geronimo-alonzi

167 notes · View notes

charlietheepicwriter7 · 3 years

Note

I am kinda curious about a few thing as in the

Ghost brother Au :D

1. Would he be able to sense kwamis with his ghost sense? (It wouldn't help much since he is always near Marinette but man if he was ever in a room alone with hawk moth or Gabriel Agreste and his ghost senses went off he would definitely relive some of his trauma since you had said he'd start targeting Marinette after sand boy. It would be like how Vlad targeted him yet this time he is forced to watch from the outside unable to step in without revealing himself. Pain I swear) (oof if they akumatized Natalie or somebody else to look like hawk moth as he was trying to flee that would clear him way more than him being akumatized and plausible since he did make an akuma look exactly like chat noir. Danny would seem crazy being so certain it was Gabriel and no one he trusts listening.)

2. Since the predigeous guardian was able to be akumatized implying they can be manipulated could Danny theoretically over shadow a kwami? (He wouldn't be seen so less risk of being caught and could be helpful in the heat of the moment. I don't think overshadowing would be smart on an akumatized person though since hawk moth can sense emotion locations and hawk moths strong will as seen in sandboy could possibly beat him out giving away more info than he should.)

3. If Danny went intangible before an akuma tried to akumatized him (out of view hopefully.) Would it not have an item touching to effect him through leaving an odd stale mate of hawk moth not being able to corrupt or see him? Heck if that is the case that would be pretty sad any time Danny was near having a breakdown he'd just hide unseen and untouchable just to not risk hurting anyone. Heck ladybug may even cover for him assuming he is out doing something miraculous related since she gave him one not realizing that he's actually just in his room or wherever he hid.

4. Has Danny ever seen Marinette's main teacher? She gives off Jazz vibes kind, organized, red headed/blue eyed, loves knowledge and helping people get through their emotions through methods a therapist would probably recommend (like how she does the breathing exercises with the whole class.) That would be like a punch to the face seeing someone who could almost be Jazz if only she grew older. I just made myself sad thinking of that happening

5. Does Danny still like flying (invisibly of course) or does it make him sad?

1) I don't care what BH says, ghosts are dead people, not monsters. Danny's ghost sense only works on ghosts, so he can't sense kwami.

2) I can see overshadowing working with two different way: one, Danny can overshadow akumas but doesn't because the person already has had their bodily autonomy taken away. Two, since akumatization is already a type of possession, Danny can't possess them. However, if he reaches the victim before the butterfly does, then the akuma can't form.

3) Akumas, like kwami, already have an element of intangibility, so I don't think going intangible would work. They're drawn to the emotions, not the visibility of the person. However, they might only work on Danny, since he is half human.

4) Danny met Bustier when she first started being Marinette's teacher and has avoided the woman ever since. He regrets doing that; Bustier might be a good person, but doesn't really compare to Mr. Lancer (even if they cater to similar types of people). In a really salt version of this AU, Danny would figure out a way to become a teaching assistant for her class in order to minimize the damages.

5) Yes, Danny still loves flying, invisible or not. People occasionally mistake him for an akuma.

A lot of your questions have to do with how miraculous magic and ghosts interact, which is really interesting to think about. Thanks!

#danny phantom #miraculous ladybug #miraculous phantom #ml dp crossover #marinette dupain cheng #ml salt #minor #dp salt #world building #ghost brother au

305 notes · View notes

nastyburger · 4 years

Photo

its a dp spiderverse au! more about each character under cut

Danny B. Fenton: mirror of peter b in the movie obvi, older version with a different hair color. very tired, broke, and burnt out on the whole hero thing but still maintains his secret identity human life. works as a teacher in casper high, but not a core subject so he’s super lenient and staff doesnt care too much about how he teaches his classes. basically astronomy and intro to robotics, those fun side elective classes people take before doing the real thing in college.

considered one of those “cool teachers” because of how laid back his teaching methods are, rarely gives out assignments or homework too (”less for me to grade”). the students respect him so if he randomly walks out of class for a “smoke break” they wont snitch. honestly, this danny actually gets more out of teaching than his hero work at this point in his life

when he gets sent to the “canon dimension” and has to be the adult among a group of 6 kids, he often unintentionally uses his “teacher methods” against them (*clap clap* “alright guys listen up” / “did he just teacher clapped us???”)

Dex: based on peni parker, the only one out of the dimensional group who actually isnt a halfa. he was kinda sickly growing up so he spent a lot of time at home around his parents and the lab, taking more of an interest in the inventions and robotics as a result. he helped build/design the portal, so the button isnt as far inside like every other iteration of it (its still inside but instead near the entrance).

because of this, he was only partially shocked by the portal, his right arm being lost after taking most of the damage. the incident wasnt enough to get ghost powers, but it was enough to give danny a sort of affinity/psychic link to all technology using ectoplasm. he can mess with any gadget that uses the substance within range and view, and if he focuses hard enough he can even manipulate nonsentient ectoplasm on its own. controlling technology is his main link though, especially with the tech in his arm partially extending his reach to things that use electricity as well

this danny’s parents knows about the mutation and his ghost fighting is no secret to the masses. jack and maddie were actually the ones to make dex’s prosthetic and mech in the first place (that does mean the occasional embarrassing protective parent program in them though).

he goes by dex because of his prosthetic arm. the tech is called “The Fenton EX-J9 14″. tucker was the one who coined the nickname, taking danny’s first initial and combining it with “ex” to make “dex”. the name eventually just stuck

Sam Mourner: mirrors gwen, universe is loosely based on the reverse trio au, its all mostly self explanatory. although, since her story reflects gwen, her danny is actually dead in this universe. like canon, sam and tucker were with danny during the accident but this time sam goes in WITH danny. danny activates the portal like normal, but he doesnt survive. sam somehow makes it through and gains ghost powers. like gwen, sam doesnt “do” friends anymore after losing danny, she and tucker has a bit of a strained relationship with her pushing him away so he doesnt get hurt helping her fight ghosts. tucker still does his best to stick around and keep in touch with her despite sam’s wishes

she wore a purple hazmat suit (at danny’s insistence for safety) that gets inverted to green, she later layers some other clothes on top of the it to more suit her style. I imagine this sam actually wears purple contact lenses instead of literally having purple eyes, she was wearing them at the time of the accident so it gave her ghost form’s eyes a little bit of weirdness.

Tucker Ghouly: not really based on anyone in the original spiderverse movie, really just his own character so there isnt as much to explain in this one since its basically just the inverse trio au (tuckers got powers, sams the nerd, dannys the goth and general love interest blah blah blah).

embarrassingly enough, tucker did “die” in his superhero pjs. the accident occurred during a sleepover at danny’s house. danny having checked out the portal earlier that day and not being able to find the problem with it, so tucker offers to go down there himself and do his techno geek business after danny relays the story to his friends. while rewiring the button to the portal, the thing turns on and the rest is repeated history

#danny phantom #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #does this au have an actual name so i can not tag it as spiderverse au #dannyverse au #reverse trio au #inverse trio au #technically with sam and tuck haha #ghost draws #PHANTOMVERSE #THIS AU IS CALLED PHANTOMVERSE #thank you tags for informing me of the actual name because i knew versions of this already existed i just didnt know what it was called

6K notes · View notes

filthyslashertoad · 3 years

Text

Random Slasher Dating Headcannons

This includes: Michael Myers, Billy Loomis, and Danny Johnson/Jed Olsen

Michael Myers

When the bastard goes out to ‘work’ he’ll sometimes bring you back rocks because he thought they looked nice and also because he is a penguin.

Even though Michael despises horror movies, he still likes to watch them with you, but don’t be surprised when you hear a scoff after unrealistic scenes.

If you have a cat most of the time he will ignore it, but every now and then you’ll catch him cuddling with it. Though if you bring it up he will deny it and stop doing it all together.

Sometimes he wonders what it would be like to have a domestic life with you since he’s never been able to experience it.

When it rains Michael likes to stay near you and keep you warm since it gives him an excuse to cuddle with you.

Billy Loomis

Every morning he likes to go get coffee before class and sometimes he’ll bring you something as well. After a while he will learn what you usually get and will go out of his way to get it.

Will never admit it but has gotten jealous when you hangout with Stu. He’s a very jealous grease rat

He’s lowkey insecure so when you call him handsome or just compliment him he remembers it and looks back on it when he’s sad.

Before you were dating him he stalked you for over 4 months learning everything about you so that he could talk to you about your interests, but when he went to talk to you he got nervous and forgot.

Danny Johnson/Jed Olsen

One of Danny’s favorite ways of showing you affection is taking you out on dates whether it’s going to a restaurant, watching a scary movie, going on a walk etc. He does this because even though he always has a calm facade he’s nervous about what you think about him.

If you have any features or traits that you hate about yourself is what Danny loves, mostly because when he compliments those features it makes you flustered, but he also genuinely thinks you are handsome/beautiful.

When your not looking he takes pictures of you, don’t be surprised when you find pictures of you on his wall that you don’t remember taking.

Danny has lowkey thought about what you would look like wearing his Ghostface outfit and hopes one day you will. He may force you to

478 notes · View notes

dirtykpopsnaps · 3 years

Text

Oh, Shit...He’s A Swimmer — Dannyphantom.exe smut

Warnings: This fic contains 18+ material. Anyone under 18 seen interacting with this fic will be blocked!!

Contains: Swimmer!Danny. Lifeguard!Y/N. (Kind of) public sex. unprotected sex (he pulls out, but wrap it up). I think that’s it?? This isn’t really kinky...

Also, a short appearance from William_papa_

Requested: no

Words: 3, 541 (oh, holy shit)

A/N: Okay...the character Nicole in this fic is *heavily* based on my best friend. Some of Nicole’s lines are things that she actually says.

————————————————————————

All around me, students hurry from class to class. The sun is shining brightly overhead and I hum happily in the warmth. A soft wind tussles my hair as I make my way towards the main building. I hike my bookbag further up on my shoulder and pull open the door, looking around for my best friend. My eyes flit over several groups of students before I see her and smile brightly. “Nicole!” I exclaim, hurrying over to her. Nicole’s eyes meet mine and she smiles happily, pushing away from the wall she was leaning on. “Ready for lunch?” I ask.

“Ugh, yes. I’m a hungry hippo,” she complains, rubbing her stomach. I laugh lightly, rolling my eyes at her.

“Has Will shown up yet? I didn’t see him,” I say, looking around again.

“Okay, if he was here, you would see him. Your brother is a giant,” she reminds me.

“Tell me about it. Dunno how he got all the height in the family and I ended up a measly 5’4,” I sigh.

Chatting back and forth, Nicole and I walk into the dining hall. We grab a table and I set down my bookbag before heading towards the cafeteria line. I grab two plates and hand one to Nicole, looking at the food that’s being offered today. Calmly, I grab some fries and a chicken patty on a bun before getting a water bottle. Nicole grabs her food and follows me back to the table.

At the table, we both sit down. I notice some a new bookbag and ID have appeared and immediately know that Will is here. Nicole must notice, too, because she comments on it before sitting down and starting to eat. Our lunch conversation is fairly normal. We talk about classes and assignments that we have to do. When my brother joins us, I start talking about something funny that happened in one of my classes today.

All around us, other students are talking happily with their friends. When our conversation lulls, I start looking around at the other students. This is something that I like doing sometimes, people watching. It’s interesting to see what other people are doing and wonder what’s going on in their life. My eyes scan over the room, resting on no one in particular. Suddenly, my eyes are drawn across the room and I see...him. He’s sitting by himself at a table, just staring off into space. His white-blonde hair looks cute and fluffy and I have the urge to run my fingers through it. His strong arms are on full display, leaned against the table with his chin his palm. Truthfully, he’s very attractive, but I’m more just curious about who he is.

I must have been quiet for a while because I’m pulled back to the conversation with a shout of my name. I blink a few times, focusing back on Nicole and Will. They’re both staring at me and I flash an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry...what were you saying?” I ask. Nicole rolls her eyes at me jokingly.

“What am I, chopped liver?” She asks. I laugh lightly, shaking my head.

“No, no, sorry. Just people watching,” I say.

“Any interesting people?” Will asks, looking around the cafeteria. I look back over in the direction of the white-haired boy.

“Well...there’s this guy that I don’t recognize. He might’ve transferred this semester or something,” I say, shrugging lightly.

“Where?” Will asks, looking around again.

“Over there. He’s alone at a table, white hair.”

Quietly, Will follows my eyesight and he seems to see the boy, too. “Oh, that’s Danny,” he says calmly, going back to his food. I stare at him in surprise.

“You know him?!” I ask in shock. Will shrugs his shoulders.

“I mean, not well. I share some classes with him. He’s nice enough,” Will explains.

“Oh, okay,” I say, starting to eat again, too.

“Yeah, he sits near me so we talk sometimes. I occasionally tell him about my soccer games and he talks about his meets.” Nicole knits her eyebrows together, turning to Will.

“His meets?” She asks. Will nods his head lightly.

“Yeah, he’s on the swim team. Joined early this semester.”

For a few seconds, there’s silence between the three of us. Then, the information he just gave us settles in.

“Wait a second...he’s a swimmer?!” I ask in shock. Will gives me a confused look for a second before answering.

“Uh...yeah? I’m pretty sure, anyway,” he says slowly. “Am...Am I missing something?” His eyes quickly dart between Nicole and I. Immediately, Nicole and I make eye contact. She throws her head back, cackling at the situation I’ve gotten myself into.

“Nope...nothing that you should know,” I say, looking back down at my food.

See the thing is...I kind of have a thing for swimmers. Nicole knows this, as I’ve told her about it several times. Honestly, I don’t know what it is. I just find swimmers very...hot. I’m not really sure why, but I’ve always found them particularly attractive. Up until recently, I was on swim team myself. I only stopped when I started college because my major is very intensive and I didn’t want to have to focus on too many things. Maybe I’ll join again one day, but who knows.

For the rest of lunch, Will keeps trying to bring the topic back up. Thankfully, Nicole helps me change the topic again every time and I’m able to avoid telling him anything. As much as I love my brother, talking about crushes and things I find attractive can be hard. He can get a bit overprotective sometimes and it’s kind of frustrating. So, if I can avoid conversations like that, I do.

Soon enough, we finish lunch and each head out to our different things. Nicole and will still have lectures, so they head towards their lecture halls. My classes finished for the day, so I go back to my dorm to work on homework. Thankfully, I don’t have too much work and I’m done within a couple hours. I take a break for a while and just turn on some random YouTube videos. Around 5 o’clock, I change into my swimsuit and pull clothes over top. I’m having dinner with Will and Nicole like every night and then I’m going to head to my job at the school’s indoor pool. I’m the lifeguard, so I kind of need to be there for people to be able to swim.

Dinner is normal, small conversation between the three of us. Thankfully, Will seems to have forgotten about our lunchtime conversation, so I don’t need to worry about that. When I’m done with dinner, I say goodbye to Nicole and Will before heading towards the college’s sports center. The sports center is a large building over by the football field and holds a lot of the college’s indoor sports. There’s a gym, dance rooms, track and basketball courts, plus an indoor pool. I’m almost always here, even when I’m not working. Like I said, I enjoy swimming, so I usually swim when I’m not working.

Calmly, I walk into the sports center and make my way towards the pool. I unlock the doors and turn on the lights, pulling my clothes off and putting them in the lifeguard locker. For the most part, the lifeguard shifts are pretty quiet. Of course, there’s the regulars that come in, but they usually take Friday and the weekends off. I sigh softly, sitting in the lifeguard chair and just listening to the buzz of the overhead lights.

For a while, everything is pretty quiet. Then, out of nowhere, I hear one of the changing room doors open and close. Not thinking much of it, I look up to see who’s entered the pool. Standing just at the end of one of the pool lanes, slowly getting into the water is...him. The boy from lunch...Danny, I think Will called him. I feel my eyes get wide before I look down at my lap again, my mind going into a frenzy. ‘He’s never come before, why is he here now?! He’s here to swim, you idiot. Oh my god. Holy shit...I have to watch him swim. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.’ I’m internally screaming at the thoughts of having to watch this incredibly hot guy swim.

Taking a deep breath, I try to clear my head. Looking up again, my eyes fall on Danny. He’s in the water now and is slowly starting to swim laps. I watch as the water makes ripples where his arms and legs enter and exit. His drenched white-blonde hair sticks to his forehead when he comes up for bits of air. His arms are on even better display than they were at lunch and I can’t help but watch as his muscles flex while he swims. ‘stop that. but... no, stop that! he’s gonna think you’re some weirdo!’ my mind yells at me. I sigh softly, fiddling with the rings of keys that I have.

Suddenly, I hear someone speak up and my heart stops. There’s only one person that it could be. “You know...it’s rude to stare. Though, I’m not complaining,” he chuckles. His voice is a little higher than I imagined, but it doesn’t bother me. I scramble for words, trying to think of *anything* to say to him.

“Sorry. I don’t mean to, I just...I...you’re...you’re really handsome and I...I can’t help it,” I stumble over my words. Internally, I’m smacking myself over the head. Y/N...you are a goddamn idiot.

“Oh, well, I’m glad you think so. You’re rather pretty, as well,” he smiles. I stare at him with wide eyes.

“I...me?!” I ask, pointing at my chest. He laughs lightly, his beautiful caramel eyes lighting up.

“Is that so hard to believe? I’m surprised you don’t hear it more often.”

Resting his arms against the tiled floor, he looks up at me from the water. “It’s...not so much hard to believe as it is surprising to hear from someone as hot as you,” I explain.

“What can I say? I see a pretty girl and I just have to let her know,” he chuckles.

“I’m not complaining, just a little surprised,” I respond. He flashes a bright smile.

“I’ll just need to make sure to compliment you more often.” With that, he pushes off the wall and starts doing laps again.

While he’s here, I do my best to focus on my actual job. Though, my job is to make sure he’s okay, so...I suppose I was doing my job, anyway. No one else comes into the pool, surprisingly. For a couple hours, it’s just the two of us talking. Danny stops every once in a while and holds up short conversations to me. While he’s swimming, I try not to stare at him too much. Though, there’s not much else to do in here, so my eyes keep getting drawn back to him. Every few laps, he switches swimming styles, sometimes swimming free style and other times backstroke.

The time slowly ticks by and I’m bored out of my mind. Besides having Danny to talk to, nothing else is going on. I sigh softly, leaning back against the lifeguard chair. Against the wall, the clock clicks again and I look up. It reads back 9 o’clock and I stand up, getting Danny’s attention. He stops swimming and looks up at me, treading water. “Pools gotta close,” I tell him. He nods his head once and swims down to the end, climbing out of the water.

Yet again, I have to force my eyes to look elsewhere. The water droplets running down his broad back is so much more sensual than it should be. I jump in surprise when I feel his presence next to me. Trying to keep my breathing steady, I look up into those gorgeous, caramel eyes. “You know...I’ve been thinking of this all night,” he hums softly. I feel his cool hand brush against my face lightly. “Can I kiss you?” He asks. My breath is completely gone and all I can do is nod my head. He flashes a small smile and leans forward, capturing my lips with his.

Leaning forward, I wrap my arms around his neck. I can feel water dripping onto my skin, but I couldn’t care less. His lips taste slightly salty, most likely from the chlorine, but I don’t mind it. His hands are resting against my hips, kneading the skin. When he pulls away, I try to lean up and chase his lips. He just chuckles at me. “Darling...if you want this to go any further, I suggest we move to the locker room,” he says softly. My mind is so fuzzy that it takes me a few seconds to realize what he means. Then, it dawns on me. We’ve been making out in the middle of the indoor swimming area.

Looking over towards the locker room, I bite my lip. Do I want this to to further? There’s only once place it could go. Plus, I barely know him. I look back at Danny and immediately my mind goes blank again. *How* can he be so gorgeous?! All thoughts leave my head and I take Danny’s hand in mine, leading him towards the men’s locker room.

Calmly, I push open the door and head inside. Danny follows after me, letting the door shut behind him. Suddenly, I feel his hand start shaking slightly. Looking over my shoulder, I see Danny shivering slightly. “Are you okay?” I ask in shock. He laughs lightly, nodding his head.

“Yeah, I’m alright. The locker room is just cold,” he tells me. It’s only then that I remember that he hasn’t even dried off yet. I immediately let go of his hand and he walks over to the lockers. He opens one up and pulls out a towel, drying off his hair and then the rest of his body.

For a little while, I just watch him dry off. When he’s on, he sets the towel down on the wooden bench in the middle of the room. He opens his arms up to me and I walk up to him. I wrap my arms around his neck again and he pulls me into another kiss. This kiss is more sweet and soft than the last one. “Do you still wanna do this?” He asks softly. I nod my head and twist my fingers into his hair, but he shakes his head.

“Ah, ah. Use your words.” I sigh softly, looking into his eyes again.

“Yes, Danny, I want to do this,” I reassure him. He smile softly and starts to press kisses across my jaw and neck. I lean my head back, giving him more room to work with.

When I feel his kisses start drifting down more, I take my fingers out of his hair and pull down the straps of my top. Danny pulls down the other strap and helps me pull the fop off. When it hits the ground, he hums lightly, pressing more kisses to the tops of my breasts. I sigh softly, leaning back against the lockers. When he takes one of my nipples into his mouth, I gasp softly. Danny takes his time, moving back and forth between my nipples and leaving small hickies on my breasts. I tug lightly at his hair, getting more and more frustrated. “Danny, please do something,” I whine. He chuckles and nips lightly at my nipple before he starts moving down again.

Smoothly, he kneels down and continues pressing kisses down my body. But, as much as I want him to continue, I’m already overly frustrated. I groan in frustration and pull him to his feet again. “Danny, I swear to God, if you don’t do something, I might die,” I complain.

“Oh, someone’s demanding,” he chuckles darkly. I narrow my eyes at him, taking deep breaths. However, before I can open my mouth again, he snaps the elastic of my swimsuit against my hip. “Don’t worry. You won’t have to wait much longer.” He tugs my swimsuit bottoms down and they fall to the ground, joining my top. Now I’m completely bare in front of him.

Normally, this would make me feel a bit self-conscious. But, right now my mind is too focused on him. I help Danny tug down his shorts and they join my small pile of clothes. My eyes are immediately drawn to his hard cock, but Danny lifts my chin up lightly. We make eye contact again and he smirks at me. I’m pulled onto his chest, but we don’t break eye contact. Danny takes one of his hands and rubs his cock between my folds, collecting the essence there. Then, he lines himself at my hole.

As he pushes into me, I feel a slight stinging. I hiss at the feeling and he immediately stops, but I shake my head. “I’m okay, I’m okay. Don’t stop,” I tell him, my voice faltering a little. He continues pushing into me and I take breaths, raking my nails down his back. Danny groans at the feeling, but doesn’t stop until he bottoms out. When he’s completely inside me, he holds me tightly to his chest and allows me to adjust for a little bit. I take deep breaths, trying to relax my body.

Once I’ve relaxed a little bit, Danny presses me up against the lockers again. I told tightly to his shoulders as he pulls out, then snaps his hips back in. When he snaps his hips, I’m pushed up the locker a little further. He slowly begins to build a rhythm and I hold on tight, slowly starting to feel the pleasure take over. I twist my fingers into his hair, leaning my head back against the locker. “F-Fuck, Danny,” I mutter softly, panting.

“God, you’re so fucking tight. Is this your first?” He groans. I shake my head, my eyes screwed up.

“N-No, just...it’s been a while,” I pant, my nails digging into his shoulders.

Over and over, Danny snaps his hips into me. As he pulls out, he rubs against the spot within me that even I can’t hit. I moan loudly, not even caring that anyone could walk in at any moment. The exhilaration and fast pace pushes me to the edge very quickly. I rake my nails down Danny’s back again, moaning. “D-Danny, I’m gonna come,” I moan.

“Come for me, sweetheart,” he pants. At his words, I fall over the edge and clench around him. The feel of euphoria floods my veins as my orgasm hits me hard.

Just as I’m coming down, I feel Danny pull out. He pumps his cock in front of me for a few seconds, then he spills over his hand and onto my lower stomach. He head is thrown back as he moans loudly, letting the pleasure run through him. His hair is sticking slightly to his sweaty forehead and I smile softly, brushing his hair off his forehead.

For a few seconds, we both catch our breaths. Danny steps away and comes back a second later with a paper towel. He wipes his cum off of my stomach and throws the towel away, then we both start dressing again. There’s silence between us and my thoughts are yelling that this was stupid. He’s probably gonna leave us now and never talk to us again. I pull on my swimsuit before turning and starting to leave. However, before I walk off, Danny grabs my wrist. “Where are you going? I thought the pool closed,” he says. I nod my lightly.

“Uh, yeah, but...I still need to lock up,” I remind him.

“Oh. Is it okay if I wait with you? I wanna walk you back to your dorm.”

As soon as he says that, my heart swells. That is actually really sweet. A huge smile spreads across my face. “Yeah, Danny, of course. I don’t mind,” I giggle lightly. He flashes me a bright smile and we head back into the pool area, locking up. When I’m done locking up, I throw my clothes on overtop of my swimsuit. I make sure that I have everything before walking back over to Danny. He holds the door for me and we both head back towards main campus.

On the walk back, we exchange phone numbers. We talk a little bit about things like our majors and what we like to do. “You should come to one of my meets,” he offers, looking down at me. I nod my head happily.

“Yeah, I’d really like that. Maybe I can get Will or Nicole to come,” I suggest.

“That would be nice. But, yeah...it would be cool to see you at one of my meets,” he smiles.

Too quickly, I’m back at the main door of my dorm. I pull out my ID and open the door before turning back around. “Text me!” Danny calls. I giggle lightly and wave to him before heading inside. As soon as I’m out of sight, I squeal to myself and do a little happy dance. Wow...that is not how I expected work to go tonight.

#dirty kpop snaps #tiktok fanfic #tiktok #smut #dannyphantom.exe #dannyphantom.exe smut

119 notes · View notes

bartletforamerica · 3 years

Conversation

How the Bartlet Administration Reacts to COVID-19

Abbey: is not taking any chances. After losing the fight to get the President to retreat to the farm or Camp David, she gets him to agree to limit himself to the oval office and the residence, with as few in person meetings as possible. Even before they’ve pulled together a White House task force, she’s made sure that everything is being disinfected and that her entire schedule is either canceled or made virtual. Her staff is the first to be working from home (and oh boy does she scold if she finds out any of them did something she thinks is foolish), with most of the rest of the White House staff following shortly after. She makes it her mission to do PSAs on what people should be doing and even does a virtual Sesame Street collaboration to teach kids how to wash their hands.

Zoey: Is not super pleased to be stuck in the Residence 24/7. She’s doing classes from her bedroom, so yay to not having to get out of bed early, but she can tell people are super disappointed that her camera is set up so that she has only a blank wall behind her [it turns out the secret service is very touchy about where you take video calls]. She also gets officially hired and given a security clearance for the sole fact that she’s one of the only people allowed to be near her dad who is tech-literate. She ends up doing some of her reading on the couch in his office so that she's on hand for when he's supposed to be skyping with the senior staff and can't figure out what link to click. She spends a lot of time worrying about Ellie, who helping do research about the virus, and texting her friends.

The President: is not happy to be closed up away from people. He also thinks that Abbey is overreacting where he's concerned. He misses actually getting to be around the younger staff. He and Zoey do a cooking from home video at C.J.'s suggestion, so that the country can see he's alive and to encourage people to not go out. They make chili and fight over whether it needs more cumin or oregano while Abbey records it and pipes in from behind the camera. The country is treated to a history of chili and a diplomatic incident nearly happens because apparently Mexicans deny having any association with it, even though most food historians say it has Mexican roots. The flaming debate doesn't stop a second episode at Thanksgiving where the country is treated to the history of the yam and all the secret spices that go into the President's stuffing. A large portion of the country gives him flack for putting Oysters in his stuffing. [In a small bedroom in an Illinois apartment a woman finally figures out why Joe Bethersonsen sounded so familiar.]

Leo: moved into the Residence because there was no way he was going to talk the President off ledges via skype for however long this lasted. He can only do so much. Zoey helps him learn to use Skype and he finds himself missing Margaret desperately even when he spends most of the day with a computer dedicated to having her on Skype so he can turn to it and ask her questions. She insists he get exercise and eat healthy (something he thinks she’s collaborating with the first lady on behind his back—they say very similar things much of the time). He skypes with Mallory on Sunday mornings over breakfast in his room and they pretend they’re at a hotel having a fancy brunch.

Charlie: is not particularly happy. He got sent home with everyone else because he’s not particularly necessary to have on hand if the president isn’t going anywhere. He’s still getting paid and he does do some work (the most important bit being hanging out on the phone with the president so he can ramble about history so Zoey can get her own reading done, Leo can browbeat the staff, and the first lady can do her own job) but he’s been ordered by the president and first lady to focus on getting extra school done while he can.

Donna: started freaking out the first day there was a rumor of a new disease in China. Then the White House shut down and even senior staff got sent home unless they absolutely needed to be in the building (basically just C.J. and some of her staff). And her roommate (not the one she'd really liked, who had a cat, but one she hopes is only temporary) works for a GOP congressman who thinks the whole thing is a hoax and bans masks in his office, so Donna is not at all happy and spends time she should be working cleaning things her roommate touches and that's sixty percent of how she ends up living with Josh.

Josh: is struggling with not being allowed to leave the house on pain of the first lady taking him to task (something about his lungs and the bullet). Even when he was putting his nose to the grindstone to make it through college and law school, he liked being around people while he studied, so he was usually in the library or a cafe rather than his room. He works best when he can bounce ideas off people and take in new ideas. When he was grounded after surgery it absolutely sucked and that was why he drove everyone crazy calling them all the time. Yeah he was bored, but he was also lonely. Plus he's not the best with technology. He very nearly went on national tv with his boxers showing, if not for Donna skyping him beforehand and making sure he fixed the camera. Between needing not to be alone and needing his assistant to be able to actually help him, the invite for Donna to stay with him slips out when she's complaining about her roommate. She shows up two hours later with two suitcases of clothes and two suitcases with pasta, toilet paper, and flour.

Donna and Josh: are handling the pandemic much better now that they're together. Josh can bounce ideas off Donna without it tying up his phone line. And she can listen in on his calls to the various members of congress about the stimulus package that they're working on. It's an even better look at Josh's job than she had before, and while it makes some of her work harder to focus on, she feels like she understands some things better than she ever has before. Josh even starts listening to her about how to sway certain congressmembers to their side. When they're not working, Donna forces Josh to cook with her so they're not entirely subsisting on delivery. They tried making bread and managed to spill half a bag of flour on the floor in the process but they ate all of it, even though it tasted pretty bland. Josh finally got Donna into baseball when it came back. Toby spit out his beer when he was on speakerphone with them and he heard Donna accurately yelling at the Mets for screwing up. Donna wears Josh's clothes more than her own, since she doesn't have to be on camera most of the time. They're platonically sharing a bed because they haven't found a convertible sofa for his living room that they like, they say, and it doesn't make sense for one of them to sleep on the couch, which they say has a spring that makes it uncomfortable to sleep on, even though Donna lounges on it all day with no problem. They are absolutely not dating and so they tell all their friends.

C.J.: spends five minutes laughing every time she gets off the phone with Josh or Donna. She loves her friends but god they're so completely in denial. It does, however, give her a much needed break. Her job has always involved a lot of people and knowing what venue to meet them in to ensure that she gets or passes on the information she needs. COVID protocols mean no more one-on-one meetings with journalists in her office, no more gaggles following her through the halls. The press corps were not happy when they moved all briefings outside and insisted on face masks and shields in addition to everyone sitting six feet apart. She gets asked about the president's health at least once a day and they start doing weekly waving from the balconies just so the press corps can get footage of him, healthy and shouting down to Danny and some of the others. Someone makes a cartoon of the president in the tower, with Abbey as his dragon keeper and though no one is willing to justify a cartoon with a comment, privately C.J. thinks it's accurate. She's always admired Abbey's fierce protectiveness of her family, even when she doesn't agree with every way it expresses itself or when it interferes with C.J.'s job. She has to come up with new ways to push the White House agenda (keep the economy afloat, stay home, no, don't listen to the GOP governors or those running for the primary, those ideas are not good, go the fuck home and stop having parties) and while some work, others bomb. It would help if everyone would stay on message and not screw up.

Sam: would like to make it clear that he did not know how many people would be at that gathering. He thought he was going for an outdoor meal with just a few old friends who could help raise money for the democratic party, not a fifty-person birthday party. The media fallout nearly gets him fired. Instead he gets yelled at by C.J., then by the First Lady. Mallory even sends him a card about how stupid he was. He's pretty sure that having Donna around is the only reason that Josh hasn't made the same mistake by now. It had to have been a toss up as to which of the two of them would screw up. Sam just isn't lucky enough to have a Donna (Sam is very happy that Josh has a Donna, Sam just wants Josh to realize that he talks about Donna the same way most men talk about their wives, because it's really hard not to respond to "why do I put up with finding her hair clogging the shower drain" with "because you love her and can't live without her, stupid"). He instead has adopted a cat for company. It tries to scratch him every time he tries to pet it. Sam spends his days trying to find a way to say "fuck the economy until we've beaten the virus" in a way that is palatable to the American people while trying to remind Toby that they can't actually say that outright. This is not an easy task.

Toby: would like to tell most of the American public to shut up, stay indoors for two months, pretty much nobody excepted, and if you don't, then you get tossed out to sea. He's come within an inch of telling anti-mask people they deserve to get sick on the record and is strongly advocating that the federal government figure out a way to mandate that every person in the country, minus those with legitimate medical exceptions, get the vaccine as soon as possible. He is also about to get evicted because it turns out his neighbors do not appreciate having rubber balls bounced against the walls for hours on end. Apparently, the thud is rather annoying. He worries about everyone, though this is delivered brusquely. Out of everyone he's taking the new work from home situation the best. No one can pop in to distract him, or comment on his eating habits. And if he doesn't want to talk to someone, he can always turn his phone to silent and pretend not to have seen they called. He's not pleased the Yankees lost to the Rays (necessitating rooting for either the Dodgers or the Rays, one of which beat his team and the other which betrayed New York), but he can at least take solace in the fact that the Mets didn't even make the playoffs.

#the west wing #pandemic #covid #jed bartlet #president bartlet #abbey bartlet #zoey bartlet #josh lyman #donna moss #josh x donna #sam seaborn #cj cregg #toby ziegler #leo mcgarry #basically there are still dumb people even with a good administration #but they try #and abbey will make sure they stay safe or else #i think this theoretically slots in somewhere in season... three?

294 notes · View notes