this is my writing sideblog! i follow/like from @mistakenmonarch.
i've written for genshin impact and danny phantom, and in the past i mostly only wrote canonxcanon and gen, but lately i've been getting into x-reader too!
tag list here ďšfind me on AO3 as differential
â masterlists
:: 2026
:: 2025
:: two sides, two coins
â Though it may be lonely, as long as we keep moving forward, we won't forget each other. â
đ˘ ⤡ Genshin Impact | W: 340 | Also available on AO3
đ˘ ⤡ Albedo notices the scars on your thighs.
đ˘ ⤡ Gender neutral reader | Warnings: suggestive, contains references to self-harm
Albedo goes quiet. His fingers remain where they are, hooked onto your waistband, and his face barely breaks its placidness. But his brow furrows ever so slightly, his lips downturned, and his eyes trained soley onâoh. The scars.
You nearly laugh at the strangeness of it; the fact that even someone like you could get so caught up in the heat of the moment. You focused so wholeheartedly on watching Albedo, watching as he liberated your skin inch by inch, watching as his suave confidence gave way to nerves and then back againâall those minute reactions and expressions, everythingâthat your own appearance became less than an afterthought.
"Have you been hurting yourself?" Albedo asks. He is uncharacteristically quiet, voice barely breaking above a whisper, never moving his gaze from that patch of skin.
"Not anymore!" you say hurriedly because he looks so concerned. "See? They're all scarred over. I'm okay now, I promise."
He's quiet for a few moments, then nods, looking back up into your eyes. "I won't ask you to make me any promises," he says, "but, please, tell me if you feel this way again. Let me help you."
You never expected him to be so relaxed about this. This is Albedo, of course, but no one else has reacted this way before. Your parents, your friendsâthey all make demands, and those demands are never about you. It's all about them. About their guilt and their embarrassment. Stop cutting, stop scarring, stop scaring us. Swear up and down on your life that you won't do it again. Break that promise the very next day because it isn't that simple.
With Albedo, there's none of that, and you don't know what to think.
"Yes," you say. "Of course."
You're not entirely sure whether you mean it or not. Albedo seems to accept it, though, glancing back down as that subtle smile returns, gaze lingering perhaps slightly higher than the scars he'd found so distracting.
"Well, then," he says, clearing his throat, "shall we continue?"
đ˘ ⤡ Genshin Impact | W: 522
đ˘ ⤡ You receive a letter from Yanfei.
đ˘ ⤡ Gender neutral reader
The envelope is smooth between your anxious hands. You run your fingers across it again and again as you make your way back to the comfort of your bedroom, tracing the elegant letters of your own name and address. You have always loved Yanfei's handwriting; a precise, readable script. Practical, not too flowery, but beautiful. It is much like the way Yanfei usually writesâor at least the way she writes when she writes to you.
You settle back down at your desk, where the warm drink you prepared earlier still sits. Taking a sip, you reach for your letter opener. Yanfei was kind enough to send one along for your birthday, not too long after the two of you began exchanging letters. It is not anything too special, but it is well-made; even a layperson like you can tell that much.
Inside the envelope sit pages and pages of Yanfei's impeccable handwriting. Not too many, of course, because she has always been very to-the-point, but quite a few. You take a moment just to hold the paper. Then, you read.
I hope this letter finds you well. Truth be told, I was a little worried after last timeâbut from the sounds of it, things are looking up! I'm glad. You really do deserve it (please don't be coy; it's true!).
âŚ
Although I cannot disclose any details of my recent cases and clients⌠let's just say that this last one was a doozy. I expect you'll see it in the Steambird when it finally gets wrapped up. In fact, I know I saw that photographer from Fontaine lingering around. Have you met her? She is quite the character. Still, I admire her perseverance.
âŚ
If you're available soon, would you like to get dinner? Your choice of restaurant. Don't worry about the mora; it'll be my treat. Let me know. I would love to see you again.
You read the last sentence. Then, you read it again. I would love to see you again.
Heat creeping up your face, you shake your head. No, no, no. It isn't like that. Friends eat dinner together all the time. It doesn't mean anything at all. There was no flirting, only a friendly invitation.
You reread the letter, taking deep breaths all the while. Yes, definitely friendly. Absolutely zero signs of romantic intention.
Besides, it really wouldn't do to get your hopes up, only to be crushed by the cold, hard realityâthat all you'll ever be is a trapped outsider, that you'll never belong to this world the way everyone else does, that you know too much and yet are doing nothing.
Deep breaths, you tell yourself.
Instead of letting yourself spiral, like you have so many times since arriving here, you find some blank papers, a pot of ink, and a quill. Although most in Teyvat now use fountain pensâa fact you were delighted to learnâthere is something about a quill that just works for you, despite all the hassle involved.
So, you pick up your quill, and you dip it in pitch-black ink, and you begin to write.
đ˘ ⤡ Genshin Impact | W: 256 | Also available on AO3
đ˘ ⤡ Lyney notices the scars on your thighs.
đ˘ ⤡ Gender neutral reader | Warnings: suggestive, contains references to self-harm
Lyney's hands are all over you, and you don't hesitate to return the favor. He captures your lips in a kiss, your eyelids fluttering closed as you reciprocate with vigor. The constant touches are thrillingâso thrilling that you don't hesitate in the slightest when Lyney's fingers catch your waistband. You help him pull it down, beginning to wriggle free of your pantsâonly for Lyney to freeze.
"Ah⌠mon amour, what happened to you?" he asks. He is soft, gentle, so different to his usual exuberant nature.
"âŚSorry," you mumble. You didn't mean for him to find out this way. Really! You were just so caught up in the heat of the moment, and, wellâit completely slipped your mind. "Sorry. It's exactly what it looks like."
"No, no, you have nothing to apologize for, mon petit pÊtale!" Lyney quickly says, taking your hands in his and pulling you closer. "You don't owe me an explanation. I'm just⌠worried, is all."
"I don't do that anymore. Promise."
"Good," Lyney says with a small smile, "but⌠I will always be here, should you feel that way again. After all, je t'aime de tout mon coeur, mon trÊsor."
With that, he brings one of your hands to his lips, pressing onto it a kissâlike a true Fontainian gentleman. You can't help but giggle at the mild theatrics of it.
"I love you too," you say. "Orâit would be⌠moi aussi, je t'aime beaucoup, mon chĂŠri."
Lyney grins at you. "Bravo, my dear! Perfect yet again."
đ˘ ⤡ Genshin Impact | W: 316 | Also available on AO3
đ˘ ⤡ Durin notices the scars on your thighs.
đ˘ ⤡ Gender neutral reader | Warnings: suggestive, contains references to self-harm
Durin is⌠earnest, you would say, if you had to put a word to it. Earnest and eager. At times like this he seems more akin to a dog than a dragonâfull of nervous energy and hyperactive, yet so, so sweet. He revels in your attention, the kisses you pepper across his face, the subtle pressure of your hand on his hip. He squirms, too, and it's terribly adorable.
Finally, you make for your belt, teasing him with the way you slowly unclasp it. You take your time with the button and then with the zipper. At the first opportunity, Durin reaches for the waistband himself, helping you to shimmy outâcarefully, too, despite his blatant lust for you.
He pauses just short of tossing aside the clothing, though. For a moment, you think the staring might be admiration.
But then you remember.
"What happened to your legs?" Durin asks. He sounds almost like⌠like a kicked puppy, or something. You swear your heart might break in two.
"It's nothing," you quietly say. You fix your gaze across the room. Anywhere but his face, his frown.
"Thisâthis isn't nothing." You nearly miss the puzzled, frustrated twitch of his eyebrows. "This is⌠I heard that people do this to themselves when they're hurting. Emotionally."
"Yes."
"Are you?"
"âŚnot anymore," you say. You're not sure if you're lying or telling the truth.
If Durin disbelieves you, he doesn't say it. He silently plants a kiss right atop the scars, and then a few more. You're reminded, suddenly, of a few months ago, when he stumbled and scraped his hands on the cobblestone, and you did the same thing for him as he's doing for you now: kissing it better.
"You're such a sweetheart," you murmur, leaning down to run a hand through his hair. "Well, you still want to do this?"
For: @insanity-apathy @the-wizard-dipper @sablestarling @duchi-nesten @everfascinated Also for: Akelanakamura and Dizzlypuzzled and higgidigs
Danny is a mess and his powers are only making it worse, good thing heâs got a good sense of humour and knows a lost cause when he sees one. Also, thereâs a crab.
By the time the third locker vanished, everyone at Casper HighSchool had accepted that Danny Fenton was either cursed, chosen, or extremely committed to drama.
Danny, on the other hand, just kept saying he was, âtheatrically burdenedâ or that his parents had probably pissed off some ghost⌠which was sadly very possible given their profession.
Danny just thought that his body was being an ass. Maybe the world was getting back at him for the whole: high schooler with piss poor grades, suspiciously toned reflexes, and a talent for arriving late with leaves in his hair, by day, and the townâs least silent spooky protector a black-and-white ânuisanceâ that fought crime while delivering one-liners no one had requested.
âLooks like your getaway car has been⌠repossessedâ. That one had gotten some actually human robber to surrender mostly out of secondhand embarrassment. Danny was very proud of that one, very proud.
He was also a king of shitty nicknames, like âcandypantsâ and âboxyâ and âtinmanâ and âgrass stainâ and of course good olâ âclockyâ (modified to âcockyâ when ClockWork was being a real know it all bastard).
Dannyâs spooky boy powers used to be simple⌠well okay they were ânumerous but simpleâ. He might have too many individual powers to count or remember or to even learn how to use properly, but a lot of them could just be combined into ecto-something. Ecto-manipulation: creating constructs, invisibility, intangibility, ectoblasts, ecto balls, ecto-kenisis ecto shields, his ecto field, ghostly wail, yada yada yada. Ecto-temperature kenisis: the fire and ice stuff, dropping room tempatures, being really fucking cold. Ecto-enhancements: strength, speed, agility, durability, heightened senses, yada yada yada. Gravity nullification was kinda just its own thing. See, simple. Not really, but really. He gave up a long ass time ago, trying to fully keep track of everything and thoroughly train everything. Total lost cause there.
Then, his folks went and shot him with another one of their experimental weapons, and something changed. For a second heâd been able to see the ghost zone without actually being there, very trippy, then right back to normalâŚ. Well besides the smell of burnt pennies, which made him sneeze, and a glowing portal tore open in the air beside him. A startled pigeon flew through it and emerged three blocks away inside of a bakery.
That was the beginning of The Problem.
At first, the portals only happen when he was stressed. Heâd be worrying over some test he absolutely didnât not have nearly enough time to study for to have any hope of actually passing. Annnnnnnddddd Pop! A tiny green swirly opens under his math teacherâs coffee mug, and it drops neatly into the boysâ bathroom sink. The teacher cried a little when he got it back and saw that it wasnât even chipped.
Another appeared in gym class when he missed a dodgeball, already tensing up for some mocking from Dash and co. The ball went through the portal and struck Principal Ishiyama in the back during the juniorâs assembly.
One opened up in his bedroom while he was trying to sleep only to get rudely awoken by Technus screaming about his newest plan, the portal revealing a view of the ocean at midnight. Salt wind poured in and a crab entered without permission, walking right across Dannyâs bed.
He named the crab Leonardo Da Pinchi.
He wound up taking an honestly ridiculous amount of impromptu portal related vacations to various parts of the world, including the moon one time. He even teleported not just himself, but his whole family to Cancun once. Jazz had been pissed and basically hissed at him about how this âwasnât what she meant by vacation or getting out moreâ.
Then came âhero workâ.
Heâd been chasing down some new lock-themed ghost who was literally locking everyoneâs cars and houses shut, trapping people in them. Danny shouting, âyouâre about to be locked down!â, having every intent to tackle the ghost. Instead, a portal opens beneath his own feet right when the ghost throws a ton of lock picks as knives at him, so Danny shrugs and just drops through the portal to avoid the âweaponsâ; emerging from another portal in the middle of a yoga studio six blocks away.
Twenty women in matching leggings all staring at him. Heâd even managed to land in downward dog, so all he had to say for himself was, ââŚNamast-ay out of crime?â.
Everyone started smacking him with their yoga mats and towels.
He accidentally kicked Skulker through portals three separate times. Once to a beach with a very pissed off lifeguard, because Skulker had shot off a taser weapon and basically electrified the entire beach. Another time to wedding, Skulker wound up getting tackled by three bridesmaids and someoneâs uncle named Darren. And the third time, was just directly in front of a semi truck; Skulker left that time muttering about demanding a raise from Vlad.
He wound up redirecting one of Emberâs guitar rift lazer beams into a marble slab, made the perfect cut out of a crab. At least the city later installed it in a park. Danny took Leonardo Da Pinchi to see it, the crab raised its pinchers and did a little jig: Danny liked to think the crab was very pleased.
He even successfully unintentionally trapped a speeding Johnny in between two portals, driving through one and coming out the other over and over and over again. Danny eventually took pity on the guy and ecto-blasted the bike -and Johnny- the next time the ghost exited the one portal.
While rescuing a cat from a tree for publicity reasons, Danny got emotional because the cat resembled Leonardo Da Pinchi the crab somehow. So he accidentally portaled both the tree and the cat into the mayorâs office. Vlad was both pissed, because tree, and happy, because of the Danny-induced cat distribution system.
He even managed to link an active raging house fire to a bakery oven, shit smelled great but did nothing to actually help his situation. The fire fighters were very angry because the smell only reminded them that the call had interrupted their lunches, which were all slowly going cold at the fire house.
There was that one time the portal thing was actually working pretty well for him during a blackout, letting people pass flashlights and supplies and other necessary shit through them to get to other each other faster. Then one fucker had to start putting goddamn rubber chickens through them. Yes that was the kinda shit Danny would do, but it was very noisy and just made everyone mad at him. Since, again, it was something Phantom would do and everyone knew it; he couldnât convince anyone that it wasnât him.
The worst part is that the portals seemed to respond to emotions, but Danny was well known to have all the emotional stability of a soda can in a paint shaker. He was always too tired, a bit battered, stressed, over caffeinated, oh and the whole having the biology and physiology of two different species smashed together into one body. None of that shit was good for being stable in any sense of the word.
Nervous? Portal.
Excited? Portal!
Embarrassed? Three portals.
Crush smiles at him in chemistry class? Catastrophic portal event.
That happened with Valerie, because of course it did. They may not currently be a thing but goddamn does he still helplessly like her. That whole getting tied up and tased by her did things to his brain that he wouldnât mind revisiting more consensually.
Sheâd leaned over his desk, âhey, do you have a pencil?â. And Dannyâs only-slept-for-eight-minutes-and-twelve-seconds brain became a fireworks factory. A portal bursting open right between them, connected directly to the city aquarium. Aka one of the places they once went on a date to⌠talk about awkward, oh my Ancients. Really unfortunately, it connected to the inside of one of the aquarium tanks, not just the open viewing area where people could walk around, meaning that water surged out of the portal and all across the classroom floor instantly. A stingray flapped out onto Mr. Lancerâs desk, literal fish outta water moment right there. The teacher immediately rushing to get the thing in some water, while panicking a little bit about it dying on him. Though Danny thought the guy should be more concerned about the fact that the class was currently flooding, and that there had been a sudden portal, but Lancer was well known for being pretty unflappable in times of extreme stress and weirdness.
Valerie blinking, ââŚyou okay?â.
Danny, soaked to the bone, holds up a pencil, wheezing and spitting out some water and seaweed, ânumber two?â.
Sheâd snags the pencil and mutters under her breath, âI hate this fucking townâ.
Dannyâd obviously tried training, that was the obvious course of action always. Heck, even meditation, which helped until he got annoyed at said meditation; Danny was not a sit down all calm and zen type.
He written a little journal titled Portal Thoughts & Oopses. Entries included such wonderful events, such as:
Angry: opened hole into sewer. Smelly, -2/10
Said âI could eat a horse.â Portal to petting zoo. Horse offended, 1/10
Sad: opened portal to rainy alley. Rude, 1/10. Sad playlist plus rainstorm opened portal to even rainier alley. Universe piling on, 0/10
Mild annoyance at homework opened portal that ate only page three. Teacher unconvinced, worth a retry, 2/10
Laughed too hard at own joke. Portal launched juice box into ceiling fan. Very messy, but also very funny. 4/10
Stubbed toe. Opened portal directly under self. Stubbed same toe again elsewhere. I actually broke my toe. -3/10
Hungry: opened portal into bakery again. Bought croissant, 8/10, croissant was very buttery. Hungry at 2 a.m. Portal to bakery again. Clerk now calls me âDoorboyâ, 7/10
Sneezed twice. Opened two portals. One into other portal. Nearly created self-devouring geometry. Terrified math teacher, was hilarious 8/10
Startled: accidental moon glimpse?? Need follow-up, was awesome. 1000000000/10. Recreated when said phrase âneed spaceâ, zero regrets and new favourite phrase 100000000000000/10
Embarrassed blush event in chemistry. Portal projected donkey sounds for seven seconds. Extremely embarrassing, -6/10
Told Skulker to âtake a hikeâ. Sent him onto mountain trail with map. Efficient and pissed off Skulkerâs tinman ass, 9/10
Said phrase âthis is going nowhereâ: created hallway loop. Kwan kept running through it laughing, 6/10
Panicked during pop quiz created six tiny portals around pencil tip. Wrote in cursive at impossible speed. Finished 10 minutes early but still failed, 4/10
Angry shower singing opened portal to neighborâs bathroom. We both screamed, -5/10
Tried keeping calm while lying. Portal emitted loud buzzer noise. Interesting moral stance, 2/10
Sleepy. Rolled over into portal. Woke up in hammock store, had good enough nap that Nocturne showed up to comment on it, 111/10
Startled by cat. Cat startled by portal. Both reached ceiling, 2/10
Accidentally said âwhatâs cooking?â near cafeteria. Portal to the set of Hellâs Kitchen. Gordon Ramsay furious, risotto excellent, 15/10
Whispered âdrop deadâ at video game boss. Controller fell through portal into antique shop. Tuck was pissed, -4/10
Frustrated with tangled earbuds. Portal untangled them by removing one earbud entirely. Missing still, 1/10
Overconfident mood. Attempted stylish hero landing via portal chain. Landed in recycling bin, -1/10
Had mild panic attack realizing I may never fully control this. Tiny portal popped out a neon yellow ecto-cake pop. Comforting yet sassy, 2/10
Jazz had opinions on the whole issue, of course she did, she always had opinions. Her pointing at him, âyour power doesnât lack control. You lack brakesâ.
âThat feels personalâ.
âIt was meant toâ.
She told him to try meditating more, or journaling, or to stop focusing on a good pun over avoid a punch; massive fuck no to that last one. Never.
Then Leonardo Da Pinchi scared the bejeesus out of her by scuttling quickly across the living room floor, holding a knife in one of his pinchers. Her smacking Danny after he smirked and snickered at her, ânow whoâs the one that needs calming breathsâ.
Then Vortex decided to be an ass and assault the town with unpleasant weather patterns again, basically holding the city hostage beneath a permanent thunderstorm.
âYou will all kneel before my reign!â
Danny, crouching like a gargoyle, whispers to himself, âokay, okay, no panic. No jokes. Calm center. Steady mindâ, pausing and adding, âthough kneeling is rough on the kneesâ. A hint of a portal flickers, Danny glaring, ânope. Not today, Satanâ; and zips off into spectral battle.
Lightning cracks across the skyline, Vortex cackling while little tornados rip around throwing cars and people, at least most folks are running away, and what cars arenât already up into the air are trying to get away as fast as they can. Dannyâs dodging lightning bolts and palm sized storm clouds, the occasional miniature sun. The streets goddamn chaos, some people are trapped on buses, a lot of children are crying, the ghost sirens are going off only to be swallowed by all the thunder.
Valerie, as the Red Huntress, is trying to redirect people, block lightning bolts and over aggressive hail, attempting to fire back at the ghost only for her blasts to get eaten up by tornadoes and spat back out at buildings or her; sheâs clearly more than a little bit frustrated. âPhantom! Would you hurry up and deal with this asshole!â.
Fuck. âIâm trying!â.
Last time he basically only beat up this guy âcause he stole the dudes powers, weather powers he no longer has. So yeah, this is one of those moments where he gets a little bit scared. meaning⌠a bunch of fucking portals pop up, twenty to be exact. They erupt across the street like mirrors punched into reality. One swallows the next lightning blast and redirects it harmlessly into the harbour. Another opens up beneath some civilians, dropping them gently into a lobby at a nearby hotel. Another sends some mini storm clouds off to a pet adoption fair.
Itâs pandemonium with a crap ton of paperwork for dear mayor Vladdie to do⌠meaning the guy is going to get back at Danny for all of this bullshit one way or another. Betcha that guy is really regretting ever bringing Vortex to this town so badly right now.
Danny floats in the center of the madness, breathless, and for once, he doesnât fight the portals; he aims them. Not perfectly, not elegantly, but rather instinctively. Sometimes his powers just be like that; his intangibility, invisibility, and gravity nullification were the oneâs most notably like that. He just⌠knew how to do it as long as he went along with his body, instead of trying to logic it out.
He flies in through one, out through another, rebounding off of a billboard, zips through a third, and lands feet-first on weather assholes back. Smirking at the small, âoofâ, from the ghost. Danny grabbing onto the guys lightning bolt horn things, âforecast saysâŚâ, sending the shock of his ghost stinger, ââŚscattered unemploymentâ; throughly shocking the ghost to high hell.
The rain stops as the steaming ghost slumps over some, people start cheering before he even finishes getting the ghost into his thermos. Heâs so totally going to have to have a word with the Observants about letting their little piece of shit storm god ghost out again.
Later on, in the school field under clearing skies, Valerie finds Danny in civilian clothes. Heâs covered in debris and feeling way too sore to bother getting up. Her looking down at him and crossing her arms, âyou disappeared during the attackâ.
âYup. I was⌠aroundâ.
She smiles, âfunny, thatâs exactly what Phantom would sayâ.
Danny freezes, âuhâ, and a tiny portal opens beside his head, revealing a llama in some distant field⌠the llama stares judgmentally.
Valerie snorts, chucking some food into the portal, the llama looks pleased. âRelax, Danny, you absolute shit kicked dumbass. You suck at fighting weather phenomenonsâ.
Danny groans, lifts his head up to bang it back down into the grass, ending up sticking his head down into a new portal instead thatâs underwater. Jerking his now very wet hair back up, âfuck, goddamnitâ, shaking his hair and eyeing her, still not moving from his spot on the grass, âhow long have you known?â.
âYou once returned a library book while hanging upside down, Star also watched you do it by the way. She also saw you screaming into a toilet, why you did that in the girls washroom I donât know. And she saw you eat a ghost, which, why?â.
âRightâ. WOW Danny really fucked up that secret keeping, goddamn.
She rolls her eyes, âsubtle as a dead skunkâ, shrugging a little, âyour dumbass non-existent self-awareness got me my friendship back though, ainât no point hiding my suit if she knows about your suit, so I guess thanksâ.
He groans, and another portal opens up, raining flower petals from somewhere tropical.
Valerie shaking her head before stepping closer, kneeling down, and flopping over to lay on the grass next to him, âcan you control those yet?â.
Danny looks at the pulsating green tear in reality, the impossible stars inside it, the chaos humming under his skin. âControl? No, fat goddamn chanceâ, he grins, âbuuuuuut, I am getting the hang of making an entranceâ.
Then he takes her hand, uses his feet to push his back upwards against the grass, dragging her along with him limply, and they fall through one of the portals in the grass.
They emerge on top of a table in a bakery three blocks away, Leonardo Da Pinchi the crab was waiting, clicking one claw and waving around an Oreo cookie. And, of course, Starâs there in a work uniform, trying to catch Leonardo Da Pinchi.
Danny scrabbling up off of the table and grabbing up the crab, holding him up above his head away from Star, âhey! You leave Leonardo Da Pinchi alone!â.
Valerie sitting up on the table slowly, âwhy does the crab have a name and how do you know itâs the same crab?â.
Star puts her hands on her hips and glares at Danny, âhe or she keeps stealing all the Oreo cookies, either it goes in a boiling pot or take your weird crab home, get it out of hereâ, sighing, âitâs weirder that you named a normal crab, than the fact that you did thatâ.
Danny blinks and lowers his hands, holding Leonardo Da Pinchi to his chest. Then the fucking dick pinches his nipple, which of course startles him into making another portal⌠one that he immediately yeets Leonardo Da Pinchi through. Looking to the portal comically horrified, âwhat no! That was a claw-some throw but I was only trying to sidestep the drama, not relocate it!â, scrambling through the portal, shouting, âIâm gonna claw it a day! And- oh hey heâs good! Thanks for catching Leonardo Da Pinchi, Skulker!â.
The ghost can just barely be heard through the portal shouting, âjust get this thing out of my suit! My poor wires and- ow! Thatâs my eye!â.
Star grumbling, âI didnât mean to portal the poor thing literally inside of a ghostâ.
Valerie and Star eye each other before the former gets off of the table and joins the other in walking towards the portal, grabbing Dannyâs legs, and yanking him back into the bakery. At least the portal closes. Valerie points at him, âyou canâ, sighing heavily, ââclawâ it a day hereâ.
Danny pouts, âbut what about Leonardo Da Pinchi?â.
Star huffing, âyou said heâs fine, heâs happier wherever he is and not at my job, that pays me quite nicely but probably wonât if I just let a crab run around free rangeâ.
Danny sighs and slumps into a chair, âfine, I guess the aquarium is an okay placeâ.
Valerie patting him on the shoulder, âand you can even visit him whenever you wantâ. Star shakes her head, walks off into the back, and comes back out with some pastries on plates and sets them down in front of them.
Danny eyeing the food then Valerie, âis this a goddamn date now?â.
She smirks and rolls her eyes, âwhat do you think, ghost boy?â. A chair immediately falls down through a portal.
Star glares, âI will take back the food if you do that again, control yourself, oh my zoneâ, and walks off muttering about witting âchair disappeared due to ghost shenanigansâ report.
Danny very awkwardly takes a bite out of the iced bread thing, Valerie laughs very meanly at him.
End.
Prompts: Danny develops the ability to make portals. Now, if only he could control it.
Danny develops a fun new trait.
Danny thinks his secret is well kept, but it's really not. How did [random citizen] find out?
Danny's powers grow faster than he can handle.
Danny is laying in the middle of the schoolyard staring at the sky in the middle of the day.
Skulker is really not paid enough to deal with this
"When I said 'Let's get out of here', I didn't think you'd go this far."
Danny comes to term with the fact that he'll never understand his full power set
I feel like Albedo would be so weird about sex low-key. I can see him being asexual or him and his partner being both asexual and still wanting to experiment with it for no other reason than that it is a biological function that he is curious about.
He tells Sucrose and Timaeus to stay clear from his lab because he is about to work on a sensitive project. Said project is already chilling on his desk, either snooping through his stuff âwith permissionâ or reading an erotica you found laying around to find inspiration for your next big act.
I think his would be genuinely comfortable with anything you present him with, no matter how weird. In fact, he specifically wants to experiment with the weird shit, including the nichest of fetishes you can find. The weirder the better.
He doesn't care about topping or bottoming either. He'd take any position you are the least comfortable with. The poor thing just really wants resaults, but he won't mind being made into a pathetic whiny mess along the way either<3
I think if ropes or anything similar is involved, he will try so hard not to struggle against them because he knows he is strong enough to tear them up and he doesn't want to ruin the emersion that you worked so hard to create. He is so good at self-control that you would never realize how needy he is for you if not for his glassy eyes and unnaturally twitchy hips.
He's such a good boy I love him sm I think I'm ovulating.
(Lohen x gn!reader, mentions of injuries, slightly suggestive? Masochist!Lohen, crack, reader is just so done, written before Lohen release, I'm spamming Lohen and you can't stop me)
You may as well have been Lohen's personal escort by this point, with how much you have to follow him around to make sure he doesn't die of his bloodlust.
Grandmaster Varka handed you your position with... A grimace on his face and a pat on your back, bidding you good luck on your job with Lohen. You were hired as a medic, not as a field one that runs along with the rest of the knights, but Lohen's personal assistant. You were the one dragging him out of fights with a well placed shout ("Lohen! I swear to the Anemo archon that if you don't come back here right now I'm gonna shove this scalpel right up your-") and a smack to his face if he was particularly restless that day.
Today, in fact, was one of those days.
You harshly pinched Lohen's cheek, digging your nails into his skin as he whined, his whole body covered in blood. You had to forcefully kick away his polearm and use your surgical scissors to cut open his shirt, pressing a clean rag right into his slash wound on his stomach. Then, when the bleeding relatively eased, you cleaned the wound the best you could with the antiseptics you had on hand, before finally moving on to stitching him up.
The stitches, which he was currently struggling to hell on.
You pressed the skin into your gloved fingers as the needle and thread went in, and then out, but kept watching Lohen's expression in the mean time. His face was flushed, pupils dilated and all and those were normal signs. He kept panting, taking shallow breaths in, and you watched as his chest expanded and deflated at an awfully slow pace.
You sighed. "You know Lohen you don't need to bite your tongue when I'm stitching you up. Let loose, I'm not gonna judge for any embarrassing noises of pain or whatever."
His trance of delirium was quickly broken by your voice, and he stared at you with a questioning look, brow raised and all, but still with a deep, flushed face.
"Ya sure?" His voice was shaky at best and you could only nod. Who knew Lohen was one of those that liked to appear tough, to you he was just a lunatic that didn't care much about other's perception of him.
As you pinched at his skin again, his breath hitched for a second, and you stopped to raise your brow. He only gave you a lopsided grin in return, and you shook your head, returning to your work, passing the needle through his skin-
Before he let out a loud moan.
See, moans and groans and whimpers of pain were fairly common in your field, especially when you perform medical emergencies on patients without any anaesthesia. You were fairly expecting a noise, heck with how quiet Lohen was you wanted something, anything to escape his mouth. However, this little noise was different.
It looked as if his whole body was shuddering from something, his face was relieved in a way, but still had that tangible red tint, and his lips were parted the slightest, as if he was experiencing the best pleasure of his life. He kept leaning into the needle rather than turning away, and he looked so awestruck that you had no idea where he was storing all that wonder for.
"C'mon (Name)..." He drawled out, sounding awfully inebriated and pitiful than usual. "Care to be rougher on dear old me?"
You blinked. Leaning into the needle, dragging out his words with half lidded eyes and unusually flushed cheeks. Your eyes darted down to his lap, where he had his legs crossed and partly shaky-
Before realizing the obvious dent in his pants.
"Oh fuck no. No no no, why does this keep happening?! This is so out of my paycheck!" You groaned into your hands, which you had already brought up to cup your face in frustration. Lohen only tilted his head in slight confusion, and you had to constantly remind your stupid, stupid brain to not dart your eyes to the now obvious bulge that he was wearing on display. Thank the Gods that you were far away from the training grounds. Mortification may as well swallow you whole if that were the case.
"Hm? Weren't you the one who said I could "do whatever I want" my dear Mx (Name)?"
Is this guy being intentionally dense?! "That was before I realized that you're horny from being stitched up! Oh gods does that mean I'm an accomplice? Does that mean I've technically been helping you jerk off to yourself?!" Your shout was borderline horrified, and you half a mind to smack him for his snickering.
"Oh come on I've only been jerking off to-"
You smacked a hand to his mouth. In no way were you going to let him finish that sentence.
"Ughh this is so above my pay grade! The Grandmaster should've told me that I'd been dealing with a masochist. But noooo "Lohen is just a bit crazy in the head" instead of specifying how crazy he really is!" You pinched the bridge of your nose with your other hand, uncaring of how it's covered in his gross gross blood.
All he did was keep looking at you curiously, and you had to force yourself to not shiver when he began to lick your gloved hand covered in blood. Pulling away, you threw his jacket on his lap and forced yourself to be methodical, cleaning up your supplies and shoving them into a briefcase. You were practically dead on your feet when you lifted Lohen up and threw his arm over your shoulder, trying to keep blank and not show the grimace etched into your face.
Perhaps moving to another division wouldn't be so bad huh? At least you wouldn't have to deal with this freak of a man following around monsters to kill anymore.
(The next day you found an envelope in your mail stating your rise in a paycheck and a cheeky smiley face drawn in blood right next to the signature stating "Lohen", and you could only sit down on your staircase, your head in hands and groan in absolute frustration.)
đ˘ ⤡ Danny Phantom | W: 2,198 | Also available on AO3.
đ˘ ⤡ The first time, it was a fluke. A bad dream turned real. I didn't bother trying to change it because I didn't think it was what it was. I didn't think. Like always. I charged into the fight without a plan and paid the price.
⤡ Danny's day repeats.
đ˘ ⤡ Prompt by amelette (@a-closet-emo) : Everyday for a week, Danny's been waking up to the same day, over and over again. Yes, he's seen Groundhog Day. No, he's not going to just let whatever ghost is behind this teach him some sappy lesson and get away with it. (Could also be other characters like Wes or Valerie!)
Do you ever feel like you've lived this day before? Not dĂŠjĂ vuâit's more than that. The same wake-up call, the same lessons, the same ghosts. Conversations repeat. I try new responses. The path deviates, but not by much. Everything realigns by the end of the day; my body ground into the asphalt, barely breathing, barely livingâuntil those midnight bells toll, until they morph into the static siren of my half-broken alarm clock.
A checkpoint. A save state. I wake up to the promise of another chance. I fail and fail again and die and still I wake up to the dawn of that same day.
How many times has this day passed? How many times has Sam asked me if I got any sleep? How many times has Tucker reminded me of that testâthat test I never get to sit because I end up fighting for my life instead? How many different ways have I tried and failed and died and woken up hours earlier as though none of this ever happened?
The first time, it was a fluke. A bad dream turned real. I didn't bother trying to change it because I didn't think it was what it was. I didn't think. Like always. I charged into the fight without a plan and paid the price.
I woke up the next day and went to school as though nothing happened. Sam asked if I'd slept. Tucker told me about the English test.
That repeat, I ran away. I flew to the alleyway behind the Nasty Burger where I'd unknowingly died twice. The fight doesn't end any differently. That thing taunts me, throws me aroundâand then Sam and Tucker show up, and they never said it but I know that in those last moments, they regretted everything. I gave up after that.
I woke up and raided the lab. It didn't help. We all still died.
I keep fighting day after day and no matter how I approach it I always lose. Some days I die alone in that alleyway. Some days the others go down with me. Some days the fighting levels city blocks. I wake up and everything resets.
For a few cycles, I let it kill me. If my day will restart anyway, why should I bother trying? Maybe one of these deaths will finally stick.
I get bored of that quickly.
I try running awayâfar away. I lead the ghost through wilderness. I take each cardinal direction. I let it chase me through the ghost zone, once.
I spend a few days thinking, racking my brain for new strategies, everything and anything, because there has got to be some way to escape this, there has got to be some weakness I've missed, some out I can take. I try and try and try again.
In the end, there's only one option left. Ask for help.
It occurred to me the moment I realized what was happeningâand I dismissed it the next.
No one would believe me. Why would they? Even if I convinced them, what then? Would their help change anything? Or would I reset and face explaining myself over and over and over again in some vain hope that this time I finally win?
I escape into the Ghost Zone to blow off some steam. The swirling green of its atmosphere, if it could be called that, is strangely soothing. On my way, I beat up some blob ghosts. They'll be good as new tomorrow, anyway.
I arrive at Skulker's lair without a plan. As always. Skulker shoots first. I fire back viciously. I send punches and kicks flying his way, beams of ectoplasm, anything and everything. My limbs ache when they hit the metal of Skulker's battlesuit. I don't care. A little pain is nothing.
Skulker knocks me to the ground and pins me there. For a moment, I expect him to make good on his promises and shoot.
He hesitates.
"Ghost child," he says. It's expectant.
"What?" I hiss. Squirming, I aim a kick at him. "Let me go."
"Why have you come to my lair?"
"Oh, so you get to come to my house to hunt me, but I can't do the same to you?"
"It's not your style."
"Fuck you. Let me go."
"Answer me, Phantom."
"Why do you care?"
"A hunter must understand their prey," Skulker says, "and you are acting very differently today."
Fuck it. I don't want to tell, but does it matter at this point? It's just Skulkerâand it's not like he'll remember this tomorrow anyway.
"I'm in a time loop."
Skulker gives me such an incredulous look that I can't help but kick him out of sheer annoyance, then a few more times for good measure.
"I'm being serious, you oversized tin can! I've done this day over⌠God, way too many times. Now let me go, I've got places to be."
To my surprise, he listens, unceremoniously stepping back and crossing his arms. "A time loop."
"Yes."
"Why are you here, then?"
"For fun?" At Skulker's unimpressed look, I roll my eyes. "I'm leaving."
"Where are those humans of yours?"
I could almost mistake that metal-head's expression for concern, if I thought he were capable of such a thing. "I can't tell them."
"Have you even tried?"
I say nothing. Every time they've followed me into battle, they've gotten hurtâor worse. I can't do that to them. I can't. It doesn't matter that they'll wake up again this morning, that they won't know a thing that happened, that I'm the only one who has to bear the burden of remembering.
That's enough of an answer for Skulker, whose palm clangs against his artificial face. He marches up to me and grabs the front of my jumpsuit, hoisting me in the air.
"It's not like you to give up, ghost child."
With that, he flings me back into the zone.
ââ ⢠ăťâ¸â¸
I spend a few more cycles doing nothing, replaying that conversation in my mind over and over. Each day, Sam and Tucker fuss over me. Are you sick? Did something happen? I wave them off, letting the events repeat the same way they always do. I follow the ghost to the Nasty Burger. I taunt it. I get myself killed in the fight.
Have you even tried? It's not like you to give up. What's the point? None of it matters. Nothing matters. Nothing changes. I give up all the time. I gave up on all my aspirations, I gave up on schoolâhow is this any different? Nothing I do fixes this.
Have you even tried?
ââ ⢠ăťâ¸â¸
I don't bother chasing the ghost. I don't even transform. I don't fight it. It crashes my English test and I let it. It tears the classroom apart. I sit at my desk and watch andâ
I wake up. I barely make it to the toilet before retching and dry heaving over the bowl. Nothing comes up, but I feel so sick and for a moment, I wish that thing had really killed me. Killed me like it killed everyone else. A bloody massacre and I let it happen. I could have saved them. I could have saved them.
"Danny?"
It's Jazz. Her footsteps grow louder and normally I would hide, play it off, pretend I'm fine. But I don't. She walks in through the still-open door.
Kneeling beside me, she puts a hand to my forehead. "Are you sick? Do youâ"
"I'm Phantom," I say, before I can think better of it. "Listen. I'm⌠I'm in some kind of Groundhog Day, and nothing I do is working and yesterday, IâŚ"
"Oh," Jazz says. "Tell me. We'll figure out how to fix it."
"âŚI really thought you'd be more surprised."
"I already knew that you're Phantom. The rest isn't that weird."
I fill her in on everything, or at least the most notable attempts; each and every thing that hasn't worked. And, reluctantly, I explained yesterday, too.
"That'sâ" Jazz cuts herself off. After a long pause, she finally says, "That's so unlike you."
It's not like you to give up, ghost child.
"I know."
Jazz looks like she has more to say, but she just shakes her head. "Okay, so it always resets when you⌠when you die, no matter what time of day it is. And you've never managed to make it past midnight, but you've gotten close. Andâfor some reason, you've only ever told Skulker and I?"
"I can't put them in danger."
"Aren't they in more danger, not knowing what's going on?" Jazz asks. "They're already in danger. You could at least give them the chance to help you." They won't remember, anyway.
"You're right," I admit with a sigh, "as always."
"Of course I am," she says smugly. "I'll get the weapons. Call your friends. Let's take this ghost down."
ââ ⢠ăťâ¸â¸
"You'reâwhat?" Sam says, looking more shocked than I think I've ever seen her. "Okay. What's the plan?"
"You guys are gonna take all the weapons you can carry and then we're gonna go beat up a ghost. And hopefully not die."
"Give me a description, I'll see what I can come up with," Tucker says.
The ghost is large, writhing, dark. It's decorated in glowing spots and eye-like markings, with many tentacle-like limbs. Faceless. It never speaks, but it understands what I say to itâI think it does, anyway. That thing is far more violent than any other ghost I've met. It doesn't care who it hurts or maims or kills. Ghost attacks aren't usually deadly. This one doesn't think twice before cutting down a whole classroom just to get to me.
"What is it about you that it's so fixated on?" Sam wonders.
"It can't just be that you're a half-ghost, right? Otherwise, why not go after Vlad, too?"
"I don't know that it hasn't," I muse. "I haven't checked."
Vlad might be an asshole, but something tells me that he has a vested interest in my survival. Besides, he can't get what he wants if tomorrow never comes.
Downstairs, I find his number by the landline. I dial it.
The moment he picks up, I say, "I'm in a time loop."
"Not so much as a greeting?" Vlad snarks.
"Bigger problems, dude. Are you going to help me or not?"
"Yes, yes, your time loop. As it happens, I know a thing or two about those."
"Really? Are you stuck too?"
"No," Vlad says.
"Thenâ"
"It's not something I can explain over the phone," he says. "Drop by my office. I trust you know your way."
I hang up the phone. Cryptic bastard.
Going ghost, I fly back up to my room and reconnect with Sam and Tucker. After repeating what Vlad said, and then telling them to come by and talk to Jazz, I head for Vlad's place. It's not far, but I fly as fast as I can.
I've wasted so much time already. There's no telling when that ghost will show up and send me right back to my bed.
ââ ⢠ăťâ¸â¸
"It has nothing to do with the ghost." That's the first thing Vlad tells me. "It could have been anyone."
"So�" I need him to get to the point. We don't have all day.
"The day restarts when you die. Don't you see? You're immortal."
I can't be. He must be lying. Immortality means never dying and I've died so many times. Stabbed, crushed, shot with ecto-blastsâover and over. All I've done today is die.
"It's a different sort of immortality," Vlad says. "Perhaps you die, but you get better. You live whether you want to or not. It seems that people like us aren't allowed to stay dead. Fitting, isn't it?"
I'm only half-listening.
I'm really trapped, aren't I? I'm trapped until I figure this out. The method doesn't matter. I'll always wake up again to that alarm that I'm really, really starting to hate. I'll have to change it if I ever get out.
If. I'm starting to wonder if I'm dead after all and this is some kind of personal hell made just for me.
"I'll help you." The offer is as surprising as it is sudden. I didn't even ask. "What are you looking at me like that for? Clearly this is more than you can handle."
"âŚThanks," I say reluctantly.
Vlad transforms and we fly back home together, where the others are already fighting that leviathan of a ghost. The street is covered with rubble, but Sam and Tucker and Jazz are all there, huddled behind cars and brandishing half of the lab's armory.
There's shouting. I can't make out what he says, but it's dad's voice, followed quickly by mom's. For the first time since this whole thing started, I'm scared.
"There's no need to worry so much," Vlad says. "If you fail, try again. You have all the time in the world."
He's right. We will win, whether it's today or 'tomorrow,' and I will finally wake up to a new day.
I smile, my resolve steeled. "With all of you around? I don't think I'll need it."
will you let me be your knight, my prince? hear me swear to forever love you, and let lay you down to praise you and adore you? allow me the honour of getting to be so close, the honour of making you feel good, to take some of those responsibilities off your shoulders for a few hours <3
..too excessive? oh please mon amour, when am i not? thats how you love me, no?
â đđ¸đžđť đ´đˇđ˛đ°đąđ˝
oh. oh my god?? are you trying to kill me?? ana. omg. the rizzzzzzz. i dontevenhave words. (when do i ever). :KLSDFGHkjldfgh YOU CAN BE MY KNIGHT OF COURSE MY DEAR
A phic phight phic phor @sablestarling and @phantomphangphucker
âSweetie, come downstairs! We have a surpriseâ Danny sunk further under his covers, 7am and he already knew it was going to be one of Those Days; another wacky invention from his parents that would take up the rest of his week. The pit of dread in his stomach only worsened by the knowledge of the quiz that Mr Lancer had given them weeks to prepare for. Danny had not prepared. Danny had been fighting ghosts! Yâknow, saving the town, banishing the ghosts, keeping everyone safe? That whole thing? That whole thing that had screwed his chances at passing said quiz? That thing? Danny pulled the blanket over his face and let out a long sigh, closed his eyes to steel himself, and kicked the whole blanket off with a thwump.Â
âComing, mom!â Danny stood, rubbing the sleep gunk from his eyes, and went downstairs, expecting some behemoth metal contraption and his parents with that familiar hungry, hunterâs gleam in their eyes. Instead, he found his parents and sister sat around the table, in itâs centre a small bottle of... pills? Jazz shot him a look, brows furrowed in concern, a look he returned in kind.Â
âSo, sweetie, in the spirit of keeping you kids healthy with all this ecto-contamination around the house-âÂ
âI TOLD YOU!â His fatherâs voice boomed, his voice like a chisel to Dannyâs poor freshly awoken brain, âtheyâre fine! Weâve been studying this ecto-gunk for years and nothing ever happened to us!â The fridge took that opportunity to shake with the wrath of last nightâs casserole leftovers, â...but I can see why some preventative measures might be necessary...â Jack sulked.Â
âAs I was saying, you kids are exposed to ectoplasmic radiation as a side effect of living in a house of scientific breakthroughs, so your father and I have created what weâre calling-âÂ
âTHE FENTON ECTO-UNMASKERÂ CAPSULE!â Jackâs chest puffed, his face beaming with pride.Â
âAn ectopreventative pill,â Maddie calmly corrected, âwe donât want to scare the kids out of taking their medicine, do we, honey?â Jack once again shrunk with a dispirited frown. Â
Jazz was the first to probe, âso what exactly does this do? Iâd rather not put anything in my body that hasnât been tried and tested in a controlled environment, and just think of what an unknown substance or vitamin could do to poor Dannyâs puberty development! His hormone regulation!â Despite the validity of her question, Danny found himself rolling his eyes and cringing at the highlighting of his growth, but decided it was best to remain silent and wait for the answer.Â
âUnderstandable, sweetie, your father and I have been taking these once a day for the past week to test its effectiveness and have experienced no negative side-effects. All it should do is gather any ecto-irradiated cells in your body and enable them to disperse naturally.â This caused Danny the concern he had been expecting. If all his cells were âecto-irradiatedâ would this, like, melt him? Worse? Him and Jazz shared an even more concerned look that went unnoticed as their mother took two pills from the bottle and pushed them towards them.Â
âYou donât have to take them daily if you really donât want to, but just take one today and weâll monitor the effects when you get home from school.â Their motherâs pleading look tugged just enough at the heart strings, Jazz gulped, took the pill in her mouth and swallowed thickly. With that, every eye in the room turned to Danny who shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Â
âOh... Iâm not good at swallowing pills, sorry,â Danny scrambled to think of a more convincing rejection but drew a series of blanks and turned to leave and get ready for school, a bullet dodged.Â
âThatâs okay sweetie! Theyâre dissolvable!â Maddie excitedly stood and drew a glass of water, popping the tablet inside which turned the liquid a troubling shade of murky green. She held the glass out to Danny with a patient smile and, out of options, he grabbed the glass, sniffing it with a crinkled nose, and downed it in one. Surely the prototype wouldnât be so effective as to melt him on the spot, hopefully? He closed his eyes and waited to feel something, anything, but to his relief nothing came. Jazz similarly deflated in her seat in relief.Â
âSee? Easy as pie, Danno! Another Fenton masterpiece!â Jackâs pride returned to him and he stood to usher the kids upstairs to prepare for the day. Though there was nothing that could truly prepare Danny, as the medicine began to settle inside him and slowly seeped into his bloodstream, connecting itself to his ghostly cells like a misguided parasite.Â
It was second period before Danny truly began to feel... off. It was like when he first got his powers all over again, he could feel ectoplasm pulsing through him and the urge to turn invisible or intangible was being beaten off by sheer willpower. As his feet began to tingle with that familiar feeling, he knew it couldnât be avoided any longer and raised his hand.Â
âMr Lancer may I be excused?â He hadnât meant for it to squeak out, his distress made obvious. Sam and Tucker turned to look at him with worry but all he could do was offer an awkward, tight-lipped smile.Â
âBlood Meridian Mr Fenton, I suppose it must be an emergency,â Mr Lancer replied to a series of chuckled that made Danny blush, but he was already up and walking to the door before Lancer could finish his sentence, no-one but his friends noticing that the resulting trip and fall had been a consequence of one of his feet sinking briefly through the floor.Â
As soon as the door behind him came to a close, Danny took off in a sprint to the bathrooms past wayward students who simply dismissed his panic as typical Fenton antics. Darting into the bathroom and locking the door behind him, Dannyâs sigh of relief was interrupted by arcs of ectoplasm creeping across his entire body like static shock, his body flickered wildly between invisibility, intangibility, and a mixture of the two. It took all his energy to not sink into the floor entirely, and holding his hands up close to his face and seeing a green glow reflected, Danny knew his eyes must be a vibrant green.Â
âShit.â Dannyâs body began to tremor and sweat as that buzzing feeling shifted from his feet upwards, âshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit-â he was interrupted as his panicked voice began to gain force, teetering on a ghostly wail, the bathroom door lightly tremored and he heard the hinges begin to vibrate and whine under the pressure. He felt his phone vibrate and took it out with shaking hands.Â
TooFine: You good dude? You left in a hurry, need us to escape math?Â
Ghastronaut: not good very not good powers going crazy took pill thismorning parentshelpcomenowÂ
It was all Danny could say before the tremor in his hands rendered it impossible to type anything even close to legible. Danny curled up in the corner of the bathroom stall, ignoring the suspiciously wet floor, and closed his eyes tightly, trying to control his breathing and quell his rising panic. In his focus Danny neglected to notice tendrils of ice creeping out from beneath him, slowly freezing the ground beneath him in a low chorus of cracking and rumbling. By the time Tucker burst into the bathroom with such speed the ice almost sent him careening right into the opposite mirror, Danny was close to despondent, all of his energy and willpower concentrated in controlling his power just enough to prevent some kind of catastrophe.Â
âDude? Hey! Can you open the door? Whatâs going on?â All Tucker heard in response was a quick series of mumbles ended by a low whine, no movement could be heard aside from the continued spread of ice across the floor and now trailing up the bottom of the walls, he pulled himself closer as the cold penetrated him and threw himself to the floor to peek under the stall and get a better idea of Dannyâs situation.Â
âShit! Dude can you move? What do we do?â Tucker was frustrated with his helplessness, as he watched his friend tremor, fingers digging into his arms enough to turn his skin pure white, Danny stiffly shook his head to the negative and looked up, meeting Tuckerâs eyes. Â
Dannyâs eyes were true, vibrant green.Â
âWe gotta get you outta here man, câmon, second periodâs gonna end soon we only got until then.â Tucker gathered all his strength, very grateful heâd worn boots instead of sneakers today, and threw all his weight into kicking open the door to the bathroom stall, barely maintaining his balance against the ice now coating the floor. He hesitated only briefly before trying to pull Danny up by his shoulders, hissing and drawing back at the deathly cold that met his fingers.Â
âSssssorry...â was all Danny could eke out before Tucker had drawn his sleeves over his hands and managed to pull Danny to his feet, guiding him carefully but quickly towards the door, briefly stopping to text Sam an update:Â
TooFine:Â powers going wacko meet us at the spot asapÂ
AgriGoth: See you there.Â
They navigated the corridors as cautiously as they could, stopping at every corner so Tucker could check for truants/would-be-witnesses. Barely getting out of the fire exit in the gymnasium before Danny reeled back, pushed Tucker as far as his trembling body could allow, and released a wave of ectoplasm in every direction. The floor fractured beneath him as the door nearly blew clean from its hinges, Tucker collected himself from the floor ten metres away, about to scramble back to help his friend.Â
âN-no! Donât come closer!â Danny squeezed out, head rising to meet Tucker, eyes still glowing but with a look of clear, pleading panic, sweat dripping from his brow but quickly freezing on his face, dropping to the floor like hail. Fate took its opportune moment as Dannyâs ghost sense escaped his lips and his expression changed to one of desperation, instincts screaming to go, fight, save them. The choking pressure on his core becoming unbearable, the thrumming in his chest akin to that of a panic attack.Â
âItâs okay!â Tucker yelled from across the courtyard, âsomeone else can take care of it! We need to get out of here!â It was no use as white rings began to flicker to life around Dannyâs torso, instincts warring with reason as his ectoplasm surged, yearning for release. Danny opened his mouth to speak, but could barely whisper without a powerful wave of energy bursting outwards. He took off with a thunderous boom, the ground beneath him cracking further and leaving Tucker on the other side of the courtyard, looking up at the sky, marred by concern and worry.Â
Technus had quickly seized control of the newly rebuilt electronics store, rebuilt from his previous seizing control of the newly rebuilt electronics store. The owner breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that heâd paid extra for better insurance premiums, and promptly ran away. Â
âIt is I, Technus! Master of all things beeping and pinging! Behold my awesome electronic power and despair as I take over the world!â He declared, to no-one in particular. Technus had barely taken a step in his new mechanical armour before a streak of pulsating green slammed into his side, sending him flying a block over. He flipped onto his back, shaking his head from the force of the impact, and looked up.Â
Suspended in the sky was... the ghost child? His form was vibrating so aggressively he appeared to be a blur of black and white, sparks of ectoplasm and ice shooting out in destructive arcs as waves of pressure dissipated in every direction. His hair rose and fell with unreleased power like static before a lightning strike and his body moved spasmodically and awkwardly, forceful restraint clear in every fibre of his body. Â
âGhost child! Donât think that a little power boost will stop the Great and Powerful-â the Ghost Childâs eyes snapped onto his and for the first time in his existence, Technus was rendered completely silent. Blazing portals of pristine green bore down on him as the ambient pressure that had enveloped him before grew in strength, forcing him fully to the floor, unable to speak, unable to move, barely able to even think, Technus was filled with a primal fear that spoke to his baser ectoplasmic instinct to survive. He twitched and convulsed, desperately willing himself to move as the ghost boy hung in the sky like a dark sun, his lack of action Technusâ only saving grace, releasing any and all technology he had attached himself to in the hopes that the dropped weight would enable him to wriggle away from the looming threat.Â
Danny didnât want to hurt anyone, ghostly or otherwise. He fought against the sheer unfathomable power that coursed through him, the internal battle setting every muscle in his body alight with a pain only akin to that of a portal opening inside your body, afraid to cry out in case a wail escaped that destroyed Technus and the surrounding buildings wholly. He fought against his coreâs instincts to protect his people, to destroy the threat with full capability, as he felt exhaustion begin to worm its way from his mind to his entire body. The arcs of ice and ectoplasm became broader, slashing the road beneath him and decimating trash cans and post boxes as he willed them to remain within range, though the wayward strikes that cleaved windowsills and rooves petrified him. He didnât want to hurt anyone.Â
The relief was palpable as Technus slowly crawled away, but the urge his core projected outwards to squash the threat only became more unbearable, which is why as Sam and Tucker came sprinting up the street towards them had Danny experience reprieve and dread in equal measure. Sam managed to barely dodge the sweeping bursts of power, pulling her Fenton thermos from her hip and capturing Technus in his weakened state; the threat was removed, and along with it his core silenced and the tension in his body released. The swift drop in energy hit Danny like a truck, his ghost form dispersing as he fell to the ground, his fall only broken by Tuckerâs haphazard attempt to catch him, creating a pile of limbs in the middle of the street. Sam ran back to meet them and her and Tucker struggled to catch their breath.Â
â...Holy shit.â Was all she could say, and unable to gather any more context about the situation aside from the brief text Danny had sent about some mysterious medicine his parents had made, they called Jazz.Â
Safe to say after that Danny took his pills to his room to take, and swiftly crushed them and dumped them in his trash. Â
Tags: Gray Ghost, mild swearing, soulmates (romantic and platonic)
Prompt: Soulmate AUâbut soulmate pairs are unable to lie to each other.
At this point in their ghost hunting careers, Danny and Valerie were both used to lying. But why couldn't they seem to keep that up around each other?
Maybe by making the two of them (AKA the two people with the most to hide from each other) truth-telling soulmates was the universeâs way of telling them that they had absolutely no chance and that they should just give up.Â
Or maybe, the universe was telling them to come clean. Crud.
After being Phantom for a while and hiding his double life from, like, half the people in his life, Danny liked to think that heâd been getting used to the whole lying thing. He lied all the time: to his parents, to his sister, and even to Sam sometimes when she starts nagging about eating green (but he was doing that even before the accident). That wasnât even mentioning all the normal amount of lying he just kinda does as, like, a normal-ish person.Â
So why couldnât he lie right now?
âPhantom, what the hell did you just say?â
âI said Iâll catch you later because I just had the Nasty Burger Surprise and I think the nasty surprise is whatâs gonna greet me on the toilet.â
Heâd seen Valerie make a wide range of expressions, from pure hatred to open affection. Heâd never seen this combo of shock and disgust before, though. Honestly, he shared the sentiment.Â
âI heard you the first time, ghost-boy. Are you messing with me?â She narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion, raising her blaster for added effect.
âNo, I swear! I justâokay, I have no idea why I said that. Twice. Sorry.â His stomach grumbled, loud enough that he saw Valerie heard it, too. She hesitated, and he took the chance to run his mouth.
âI really do need the little ghostâs room so could we put a pin in the usual chasing me angrily around town only toââ He quickly shut up at the sight of one, two, more of Valerieâs blasters appearing from her suitâs hammerspace and charging up. Admittedly, he let out a little fart in surprise.Â
âJust⌠go,â she sighed, exasperation and disbelief coloring her tone.
He didnât need to be told twice, bolstered by both her threats and his genuine need to go to the toilet. He hadnât gotten very far when he started to hear laughter right in his ear.Â
âI canât believe you said that!â Sam wheezed out.
âYou better believe it, âcause Iâve got audio proof!â Tucker replied, and Danny could practically see him waving his PDA around. He could actually see that if he wanted to, thanks to the trioâs platonic soulmate bond, but they tended to ask each other permission first before doing any peeking.
He sighed as he sped back to his house. âCome on you guys, IâCrud.â His stomach let out another worrying noise. He started taking off his Fenton Phone, âTucker, that recording never sees the light of day or you can kiss your PDA goodbye.â
 âHa! You can try, ghost-boy, you can trââ
â
Danny sped through the halls, cursing Technus for making him late for an important physics test that heâd actually studied for. He pulled out his phone to check the time when he noticed someone heading straight toward him in his peripheral vision. He skidded to a stop, but still managed to bump into them.
âOof!â
âIâm so sorry, but Iâm literally so late to my testââ
âDanny?â
He looked up and met Valerie's eyes. âOh. Hi.â
âHi,â she said back with a small smile. Danny wasnât really sure what to do with himself. They hadnât really interacted much since she rejected him to protect him from himself (outside of ghost fights, but that was Phantom and Red Huntress, not Danny and Valerie).Â
âI, uh, Iâve missed you.â He immediately regretted that, wow. His face felt hot. Why did he just drop that on her? âI mean, I literally ran into you so I guess I didnât miss youâŚâ
She giggled a bit, so he was gonna count that as a win. âIâve missed you, too, Fenton. Well, maybe I didnât miss literally running into you.âÂ
The two of them just smiled at each other.Â
He opened his mouth to say something cheesy, but she cut him off. âArenât you, like, âliterally so late to your testâ?
He closed his eyes and bit his lip. âCrud. Sorry, Val, Iâve gotta go.â
She just nodded. âSee ya.â
âSee you!â he shouted as he sprinted past her.
â
Danny flew toward the firefight downtown just in time to see one of the regulars beam Red Huntress straight into the pavement. She started to get to her feet, but she winced and quickly sat back down.Â
âHey, you good?â he asked, offering her a hand. She waved him off, but didnât try to stand again.Â
âNo, I think my ankle is sprainedââ she cut herself off, shaking her head. He gaped a little. He was not used to her being willing to admit weakness, especially to him of all people. âUgh, just, donât try that hero baloney with me, ghost-boy,â she said, glaring at him. âJust finish âem off. I made it easy for you.â
He was pleasantly surprised that there was less threatening or overall violence involved in that interaction, but he wasnât about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He quickly threw himself into the fight, and, sure enough, the fight ended pretty quickly. Another ghost in the Thermos. But he had to give it to her, Red Huntress had done most of the work.Â
She had just about managed to haul herself onto her hoverboard by the time Danny returned to her, but trying to stand up on it was another matter. He saw her foot give out before she did. Fortunately for her, he caught her just in time. Unfortunately for him, Red Huntress did not consent to being carried bridal style by her nemesis.Â
Her gut reaction was to sock him in the jaw.Â
âLet me go, ghost freak!â She yelled, beginning to squirm in his arms. He nearly did as she wished, barely managing to get her on the hoverboard instead of back on the pavement.
âOw,â he verbalized, massaging his chin. âI was just trying to help.â
âI donât need a ghostâs help,â she sneered. Danny rolled his eyes.
âOkay, but like you said, your ankleâs sprained. Just let me ice it real quick. No tricks, I swear on my afterlife.âÂ
She glared at him.Â
âLook,â he sighed, the humiliation of bringing this up would only be worth it if she let him help. âI still owe you for letting me go to the toilet last time, so just let me help.âÂ
She harrumphed (he could have sworn she was holding back a smile), but didnât fly away. He took that as a yes. He kneeled down and wrapped his hands gently around her ankle, slowly channeling his ice powers and letting his hands become an ice pack. It was a wonder she was even letting him this close, much less use his powers on her. Ever since the whole thing with Dani, sheâd mellowed out a bit. Not that Danny was ungrateful.Â
Before he could ponder on that more, Red Huntressâs leg swung a little. Eye level with her shins, he suddenly felt fear. âAnd donât get any ideas about kicking me in the faceâŚplease.â
âYouâre the one giving them to me.â
âUgh, justââ He let go of her ankle and stood up. âHere,â he said, handing her a little ice anklet. âItâll melt in a little while, but you can wear it until you get home and get a real ice pack on it.â
She stared at him for a second before accepting the anklet. âDonât think that this means weâre all buddy-buddy now. Iâm just grateful you stuck around to help me after the fight even if you totally didnât have to.â She covered her mouth.
He gaped at her for the second time that day. âIâŚyouâre welcome?â
Glaring at him one more time, Red Huntress zipped away without a word.
â
It was really awkward the next time they saw each other. Theyâd teamed up again, sure, but Red Huntress hadnât said a word to him the entire fight. Now, they stood together on one of the rooftops downtown, finishing off the ghost.Â
As the Box Ghost got sucked up into the Fenton Thermos for the umpteenth time, Danny decided to try and break the silence. âSo, howâs that ankle doing?â
He was greeted with more silence. Yay.
âWhat? I know youâre a ninth-degree degree black belt, not to mention a ghost hunter, so you gotta be used to these kinds of injuries, but is it really so bad if I askââ his tangent was cut off by the Red Huntress flying right up in his face, her hoverboard pointed threateningly at his neck.
âHow do you know Iâm a ninth-degree black belt?â
âThat,â he squeaked out, âis a great question. I plead the fifth.âÂ
She just raised her eyebrows at him.Â
âThis is where I make my exit,â was all he said in reply. He quickly turned intangible and invisible, dropping through the roof and down into the next floor. Then, he âwent human,â effectively disappearing from Red Huntressâs sensors. Â
â
The only thing Red Huntress greeted Danny with the next time he saw her was a sincere, âOh, good. Youâre here.â
He was taken aback, to say the least. âThatâs good?â
âWhat, you don't want it to be, ghost-boy?â she asked, but it lacked her usual venom. She seemed tired, but she still dodged one of the Box Ghostâs boxes.
âPhantom! Now youâre here to witness the true might of objects with four corners!â the Box Ghost wailed from down below them.
Danny ignored him. âAre you okay?â
âNo.â She sluggishly dodged another box. Box Ghost was yelling something about being ignored, but neither Danny nor Red Huntress were paying any attention. âYou deal with this,â she waved vaguely in Box Ghostâs direction. âIâm going home.â
âWhat?â Danny asked, as she began flying away. âWhy?âÂ
âItâs shark week,â was the only thing she said before booking it away from the fight.Â
âWhat the heck is that supposed to mââ Danny was interrupted by Box Ghost actually landing a hit.Â
â
The next day was thankfully a Saturday, but ghosts wait for no one, and Valerie dragged herself out of bed to just do one round of patrolâŚjust one round. That was when she found what looked a lot like a care package on one of the rooftops along her usual route. It held things like a warm compress, some chocolate, and a variety of sanitary products. There was a note attached which read:
I do know what âshark weekâ isâI have a sister. It's just that she likes to call it the week of doom and despair. I know what works for her, but not for you, so I just kinda got everything I (and Google) could think of. Hope it helps. Get well soon.
P
Above the period at the end of the note, Valerie could clearly see where a question mark had been erased. The handwriting was kinda familiar, but that didnât make sense.Â
Wait, did ghosts still get periods? That sucked.Â
â
Dannyâs stomach was grumbling. Next to him, Tucker groaned. Danny nodded solemnly. The lines at Nasty Burger were unbearably long for a couple of teenage boys needing fast food. Finally, the two of them were in front of the cashier.
âIâll have the Special Meat Loverâs Combo Meal, please,â Tucker said gleefully.
âThat shitâs nasty!â came Samâs voice from the other side of the restaurant, where sheâd saved a table for them.
âNastyâs just one letter away from tasty!â he yelled back.
Danny just rolled his eyes at his friendsâ antics, trying to ignore all the other patrons staring at them. He opened his mouth to order his food (but not a Nasty Surprise, never again), âIâll have the Nastyââ
âDonât get the Nasty Surprise!â
âValerie?!â Danny nearly jumped out of his skin. She was right behind him. âOf course, Iâm not going to get it, the last time Iââ
âGood. Itâs just that someone IâŚknowâŚate it one time and he had his own nasty surprise on the toilet after.â She cringed at her own words; she looked like she would do anything to take them back.
Beside him, Tucker snickered as Danny turned red at the memory. Valerie, meanwhile, was just looking around the restaurant intently. âThanks for the warning, I guess. Val, what are you doing?âÂ
âMaking sure the manager didnât hear me say that. Shoot, heâs coming over here. Bye Danny and Dannyâs friend!â And with that, she just left.Â
When Danny and Tucker finally made it back to their table, Sam smirked and gave a slow clap. âThanks for the show, guys.â
â
Another day, another fight with that ghost hunter who liked to call himself Skulker. Normally, he wasnât really an issue, except today he seemed to be eager to test a bunch of new toys. (Admittedly Valerie was a little jealous. She stopped getting weapon and suit upgrades ever since she stopped seeing Vlad Masters/Plasmius. The price she paid for going soft over a ghost, she guessed.)
She was fighting alongside Phantom again today. She would never admit it, but working with him wasnât half bad. Case in point:Â
âRed!â was all Phantom said as he tossed a number of deadly-looking grenade-bomb-things heâd just pilfered off of Skulkerâs utility belt toward the sky.Â
âI got it!â She maneuvered her board away from where Phantom and Skulker were brawling. She zoomed straight up as quickly as she possibly could, even after she felt Skulkerâs weight on the end of a chain attached to her board.Â
âWhat theââ was all the ghost said before he was dragged upwards by his belt.Â
Valerie pushed harder and harder; this only worked if she got it done before Skulker could get over his surprise. She suddenly hit the brakes when she was about halfway to the bomb thingies, detaching the chain from her board and letting inertia carry Skulker the rest of the way. It was a good thing Phantomâs throw was inhumanly good. The explosion was glorious.
Phantom flew up to her just as she caught what remained of Skulkerâs charred suit in her arms. He popped Skulkerâs helmet open and Fenton Thermosâd the actual itty bitty Skulker away.Â
Phantom gestured at Skulkerâs suit. âHeâs totally compensating for something, right?â
Valerie snorted. âYou think?â
The threat dealt with, the two ghost hunters kinda just stood there. Valerie didnât know what to do with herself and seemingly, neither did Phantom.Â
âYou, uhâŚyou fight good,â he said, immediately wincing. Valerie closed her eyes and pursed her lips as she tried to hold in her amusement.
âYeah, well, youâre not half bad, either,â she said. She wanted to smack herself. Didnât she just say she would never admit that?
â
Valerie was losing her mind. Up was down lately with that ghost boy. Honestly, ever since she met Dani, things have been weird. They team up during ghost fights more and more now, and the other week she just let him go. Not to mention letting him ice her ankle that one timeâno, she was not going to think about that.
She slumped down onto the curb, using the Nasty Nat costume as her seat cushion. She sighed and let the back of her head scrape the alley wall as she looked up at the evening sky, the sun setting quickly. What was wrong with her lately? Maybe she was just lonely, a thought that made her scoff. Her dad works extra shifts to keep them afloat now; she barely sees Star with all the extra shifts sheâs picking up, too; and DannyâŚDanny was wishful thinking. As long as she kept up this ghost hunting gig, sheâd only endanger him. Thinking about it, the only person that she really saw consistently these days was Phantom. But that didnât count, right?
She was broken out of her thoughts when she heard the sound of a sneaker scraping against the pavement near the entrance of the alley. Her head snapped to its point of origin, her body tense and alert, only to relax when she saw it was Danny, framed by the setting sun. She squinted; for a moment the orange light from the sun sorta made his eyes look green. But when he looked up and noticed her, his eyes were as ice blue as ever.Â
He looked surprised to see her there. Valerie quickly tucked the rest of the Nasty Nat costume behind her, and spread her skirt a bit to hide the costumeâs head. If Danny noticed the thing, he didnât say anything as he limped over, compensating for his bad right foot by putting more weight on his left. Forgetting the costume, she rushed to his right side to support him.Â
âWhat happened?â she asked as she guided him to her makeshift seat.Â
âThere was a ghost fight.âÂ
âWhat?â she asked, the tension from earlier returning as she quickly scanned their surroundings for any paranormal activity.Â
âNo, don't worry!â Danny quickly added. âIâŚPhantom took care of it,â he said slowly, as if he was testing out his words. âMy ankle got caught on a pole during the fightâI know, klutz,â he said, rubbing the back of his neck in his sheepish way, âbut I managed to get away.â
âWell, at least youâre okay,â she said, digging around in her backpack. Having high-tech ghost hunting gear meant she had a lot of hammer space. She was supposed to use it for weapons or other stuff, but she also kinda just used it to bring anything convenient along. âThat ghost boy could have hurt you.â
âYou donât believe that, do you?â
Her hand closed around what she was looking for, but she paused at his words.Â
âOf course I donât.â She nearly dropped what sheâd been holding.
Danny looked as shocked as she felt. âWait, really?â
âYes,â she said too quickly. âNo. I donât know.â What was she even saying? She sighed.Â
âLook, Iâve been having a weird time, donât listen to me. Itâs just thatâŚâ She didnât know what to say. She had no clue whatâs been wrong with her lately. âHere,â she said. âItâs an ice pack. Press it to your ankle so it gets better faster.â
âOh, uh, thanks,â he said, accepting the pack and putting it against his left foot. âUh, why do you just bring an ice pack around?â
âI also sprained my ankle last week,â she said, settling down next to Danny. She assumed the same position sheâd been in before heâd entered the alley: back against the wall, staring up at the sky. She felt him follow her lead. âI bring my own ice around now because last time I had to rely on Phanâ,â she coughed, ââtastic guy for ice.â She cringed, hoping he didnât pick that up.
Danny just blinked. Then a lopsided smile made its way onto his face. âDonât tell me youâre seeing other guys, Val! Fantastic guys!â He pressed a hand to his chest and ducked his face. âIâm hurt!â
Valerie immediately scoffed. Then, she giggled. âRight. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Danny, but I can see all the other guys I wantâyouâre not my boyfriend.âÂ
âBut I could be,â he replied, and Valerie couldnât tell if he was being serious or not. It didnât matter; she wasnât going to be serious about this. Sheâs had too much serious lately.Â
âUgh, stop. Youâre starting to sound like uh, your flirty friend.â
â...my flirty friend?â
âYou knowâŚthe one thatâs not goth.â
âOh my God, Val, you have to know his name by now.â
âWell, he was annoying!â
âWeâve all been through so much stuff together! You know, the whole thing with that king ghost or whatever his name was?â
âI didnât give him that much attention; there were bigger things at stake!â Valerie defended herself. âAnyways, I spent most of that time with PhâTucker! See! I remember his name!â
âGood for you. Guess you arenât really an A-lister anymore, if you know us peasantsâ names,â Danny drawled in reply. She could just about imagine the sarcastic look on his face. She glanced in his direction, meeting eyes with him at the same time. The two of them burst into laughter. She couldnât help herself; this was the most relaxed and free sheâd felt in a while. Danny had always had that effect on her. Sheâd missed being around him.
As the laughter died down, Danny gasped theatrically and put a hand over his face. âShe said she spent most of that time with Tucker! Oh what was I to her then?â he whined. âShe doth not treasure our time together as I do!â
Valerie rolled her eyes, some sorta retort ready on her lips. She paused. She missed that feeling of being free, but whose fault was that?Â
âThis silenceâsay it isnât so!â he said when she stayed quiet. âVal?â
âI mean, I do like spending time with you, Danny.â Ugh, she didnât mean to make this a serious conversation, but here they were. âItâs just that thereâs something,â she started, then paused. âThereâs something holding me back. And I know itâs not fair to you.â She shook her head. âSorry, Iâve been so weird lately, I have, like, zero idea why Iâm just dumping this all on you,â she finished lamely.
Danny was silent. He was rubbing the back of his neck. âIâŚtotally get that, Val.â Then, under his breath, âMore than you think.â She looked at him up and down; how could he possibly get it at all? She opened her mouth to say so, but then she noticed something weird.Â
âHeyâŚwhy are you icing your left ankle?â
âIâwhat?â
âYou came in limping on your injured right footâI know âcause I had to support you from your right side.â
Danny looked down to his left hand, where he was indeed holding the ice pack up against his left ankle. His eyes went almost comically wide. âOh,â he chuckled nervously, âWow, thatâs crazy, how could I forget which ankle hurt?â He quickly swapped the ice pack between his two hands so that it was pressing against the correct ankle.Â
Valerie leveled him with a look. âWhat.â
Suddenly, Danny jumped to his feet in front of her, bouncing around on his heels like he hadnât limped into the alley just a few minutes ago. âWow, Iâm feeling so much better alreadyâwhat kind of ice pack is this?â
She just stared at him. Before she could even formulate a response, he took a deep breath, and his eyes darted to the entrance of the alley. Something in his expression changed, but it all happened so quickly, she didnât know what to make of it.Â
âListen, Val. I gotta go ghâI gotta go. IâŚIâm always here, and I can take more than you think I can. Just, donât be a stranger, okay?â
âWhat?â
âBye!â Danny zoomed out of the alley faster than sheâd ever seen him move before. Her shock meant he had a head start.
âHey! Get back here, Fenton! Youâve still got my ice pack!â By the time sheâd made it to the mouth of the alley, Danny was nowhere to be seen.Â
âWhat the hell,â she murmured to herself.Â
She couldnât believe the night she was having. What drove her to suddenly get all sappy? Shark weekâs come and gone, so she canât blame it on hormones or anything.Â
The sound of her ghost gear beeping from under her clothes interrupted her train of thought. Immediately, she pulled up a screen on her arm, showing her the nearby ectoplasm signatures. There were three sets: Phantom, the Box Ghost, and some pretty weak-looking ones. Since Phantom and the Box Ghost were close together, Valerie figured he was dealing with that problem.Â
That was just fine by her. The Red Huntress could take out her stress and confusion on some blob ghosts.Â
â
Danny wanted to throw himself into the powered down portal and get blasted again. Actually, no. That was the most excruciating pain heâs ever experienced, even after all heâs been through since becoming Phantom, and he would never willingly go through that ever again. Not even if the whole world was bullying him or something.Â
He shook his head. He didnât mean for that interaction to end so awkwardly. Seriously, he was so used to his super healing that he did not even think about which ankle he was pressing the ice pack to. But before thatâŚthe conversation was getting dangerously close to revealing-secrets territory.Â
He flopped onto his bed, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars his dad had stuck on the ceiling years ago. Not too long ago, heâd been staring at the real sky with Valerie. He groaned. Did he want to reveal his secret to her? All heâd meant to do was have a conversation with her, test out some theories, andâŚsee if he and Valerie were soulmates.Â
He still couldnât believe it.
â
âI canât believe it.â
Sam looked at him like he was the one saying something crazy. She pointed a forkful of various greens at him accusingly. âYouâre the one who said you both seem to be weirdly truthful around each other, despite actively keeping secrets from each other. There are soulmates who canât lie to each other. Ergo, you two are soulmates.â She punctuated her argument by putting the fork in her mouth and munching smugly on her lunch.
âIt canât be that simple. Like, what if itâs a ghost thingââ
Tucker chimed in without looking up from his PDA, âYou already checked in with, like, all of the Ghost Zone about this, dude. Even Frostbite and Clockwork! They pretty much said no spooky shenanigans afoot.â
âGee, thanks, Tucker.â Danny groaned, remembering his interactions with the two older ghosts. âUgh, and the two of them were smiling at me like I was clueless.ââYou are clueless,â Sam and Tucker said in unison.Â
âWow. Iâm really feeling the love, guys.ââWhat are soulmates for, Danny?â Sam asked innocently.Â
Danny put his sandwich down and pointed at her. âWhy are you so supportive of this whole soulmate theory?â he asked, stressing the word âtheoryâ. âArenât you supposed to hate Valerieâs guts?âÂ
Sam waved her fork around dismissively. âThat was back when she was being a bitch, and I had a crush on you. Now sheâs less of a bitch, and I donât have a crush on you. Instead, I found out I have a fricking platonic soul bond with the two of you, and now I gotta share a headspace with you two dorks sometimes.â
âAww, you love us,â Tucker cooed, putting his PDA down and reaching out to hug Sam. She rolled her eyes and stopped Tucker from closing in by just jutting her hand in his face. Tucker ended up leaning on her hand and still trying to reach for her with his arms.Â
Danny smiled watching the two of them. Soulmates were not uncommon. Not everyone had a soulmate, and not all soulmates got along. But he was happy to have these two. Aside from all the sappy stuff that comes with discovering that youâre soulmates with your best friends, their bond was genuinely useful because it came with a weak psychic connectionâin a crisis, the three of them could coordinate their actions without even consciously thinking about it. And there were a lot of crises in Amity Park.
âI still donât buy the whole soulmate theory. What if itâs just coincidence or awkwardness or, or something?â
âShomeoneâth in denial,â Tucker singsonged, his face still smushed against Samâs palm.Â
âEww, Tuck, you got your meat spit on me!â Sam shoved him off her hand and wiped it on his beret.Â
âSam! Youâre gonna cramp my style!â he exclaimed, clutching his beret to his chest.
âWhat style?â Sam asked, eyeing his outfit skeptically.
Tucker huffed, patting off his hat. âYou just wouldnât get it.â He turned to Danny. âLook, man, if youâre really so doubtful, why donât you try lying to her?â
Danny blinked. âHow is that going to help?â
âYou keep calling it a âsoulmate theoryâ, so go and test it! If you can lie to herâit doesnât have to be a big lieâthen, uh, problem solved?â
âIf you wanna call having a baddie as your romantic soulmate a problem,â Sam muttered under her breath.
âBut,â Tucker continued, âif you canât lie and she really is your soulmate, then you might as well test the limits at the same time. See how much of a non-truth you can get away with.â
â
Danny had gone and tested the theory and even confirmed it. He couldnât outright lie to Valerie, but he could tell half-truths like, âPhantom took care of the ghost,â or whatever. Technically true. But that was only if he was really thinking about it, which probably explained why Valerie kept telling the truthâbecause she had no idea. But now he had one more question: what now?
He could just tell Valerie about the soulmates thingâmaybe if she learned that the universe wanted them together, she would reconsider giving up ghost hunting for him. He rolled over on his side. No, there was no way he wanted her to give that up for him. She was damn good and was becoming a hero for Amity Park in her own right. Maybe he could tell her about PhantomâŚand get shot on sight for overshadowing Danny Fenton or something. He didnât think sheâd actually do that, right? He groaned, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes until he saw stars. Itâs not that he didnât trust her, it was just that heâd been sitting on this thing for so long, and that was mostly for his own safety. Would it really just be as simple as him telling her and then everything being fine?Â
Maybe by making the two of them (AKA the two people with the most to hide from each other) truth-telling soulmates was the universeâs way of telling them that they had absolutely no chance and that they should just give up.Â
Or maybe, the universe was telling him to come clean. Crud.Â
â
The next time Danny saw Valerie was outside the Nasty Burger, in the alleyway again. She looked tired as she exited the back way, still wearing the Nasty Burger uniform. Her long hair was all gathered up in a loose bun at the top of her head, with a few loose strands defying neatness here and there. She somehow made that cheap uniform look good. She must have just finished her shift. He felt guilty; maybe he should just try again when she wasnât all worn out from working minimum wage. Before he could chicken out, though, she spotted him.
âDanny?â She walked up to where he was standing at the entrance of the alleyway. âWhat are you doing here?â
He opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off. âWhatever youâre holding behind your back better be my ice pack. Those things donât come cheap, you know.â
âW-well,â his voice cracked, but he continued. âI do still have your ice pack, but before I give it back to you, thereâs something similar Iâd like to give you first.âÂ
Time to rip the bandaid off. He brought his hands to the front, showing Valerie whatever he had been hiding behind his back. She stared at it a moment, then gasped. She reached for it, and he let her take it from him. As she studied the ice anklet in her hands, she frowned, looking utterly confused.Â
âDo you like it?â he asked, trying to muster some of his usual Phantom bravado. âItâs not as useful as a reusable ice pack, but I did add a little star charm here on the side.â
She looked at him like heâd grown a second head. âHow do you have this? IâThe last one melted.âÂ
He raised an eyebrow at her. She seemed so confused she hadnât even realized that he shouldnât know about it all. âThe last one, Val?â he asked innocently.
Her eyes narrowed, and the air shifted. Danny felt like he was looking at the Red Huntress more than he was looking at Valerie. âStart talking,â she demanded, pointing the anklet at him like it was a deadly weapon.Â
Danny raised his hands up in surrender. âOkay, okay. I have somethingâokay, I have, like, four somethings to admit, so can you promise to save any and all violence until Iâve gone through all of them?â
âFine,â she gritted out, still eyeing him suspiciously.Â
âThe first is that I know you hunt ghostsâthey call you the Red Huntress, even.â
âHow?!â
He raised his hands even higher. âItâll come up, I swear! The next thing I know is that you broke up with me because you were worried about putting me in danger, like with the ghosts and stuff.â
âPlus, youâre a scaredy-cat around anything ghost,â she muttered.Â
Side comment aside, this was going better than Danny expected. âTell me, Val: if I told you that you didnât have to worry about me at all when it comes to ghosts, would you rethink your decision?âÂ
âDannyâŚâ she looked hurt. âI know it was sudden, and honestly I still have feelings for youââ She covered her mouth.âWhat am I saying?â she asked, horrified.Â
âWait, no, thatâs exactly related to the fourth thing!â he said.Â
âWhat are you saying?â she demanded, turning the question on him, instead. Her cheeks were red from being embarrassed now, on top of being confused.
âThird thing first! Or⌠third. Look, the third thing I have to admit kinda explains a lot.â He took a deep breath, trying to mentally prepare to share the biggest secret heâs ever kept. But then that breath took a frigid turnâhis ghost sense. Come on.
Somewhere on her person, Danny heard Valerieâs suit start beeping. She growled, and started sprinting down the alleyway.Â
âVal, wait!â
âYou stay right there, Danny. I mean it!â she shouted over her shoulder. As she ran, her suit suddenly started covering her body, until she threw out her hoverboard in front of her and hopped on seamlessly, taking off into the air.
He blinked. Heâd never actually seen her transform before. That was freaking cool.Â
Oh, rightâthe ghost. âIâm going ghâ!â He stopped dead in his tracks. A big group was just exiting Nasty Burger, and a couple of them were giving him odd looks. âIâm goingâŚin here!â he said, instead, running deeper into the alley.
â
âYouâre late,â Red Huntress said to him in lieu of greeting.Â
By the time Dannyâd caught up with her, sheâd already had the Box Ghost beaten down. He mostly just needed to show up with the thermos.
âYeah, well, not all of us can transform as discreetly as you can,â he muttered.Â
âWhat?â she asked. âYou know what, nevermind. I have someone waiting on me.â She started turning around, back toward the alley.
âWait!â He grabbed her wrist. She looked at him incredulously, but he didnât let go. She didnât fight back. They just stood there in the air, staring at each other for a moment. He was the first to break the silence.
âI, uh, have something for you,â he said, letting go of her arm and trusting her not to immediately bolt. He reached behind him and gave her something.
âMy ice pack?â she asked softly, accepting it from him. âBut I gave this toââ
âTo Danny. I know.âÂ
She just stared at him, eyes darting between him and the ice pack. Danny squirmed a little, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously.Â
âOh, God.â Her eyes widened comically. âDannââ
âNow why donât we take this somewhere a bit more private,â he butted in quickly, pointing at the crowd that had gathered to watch the ghost fight from street level.
âFine.â
Danny breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasnât shooting him on the spot. âCâmon, I know a spot.
âÂ
Danny dangled his feet off the edge of the Ops Center, right on top of Fenton Works. Red Huntressâwell, Valerieâsat next to him, her helmet off. Her hair was even messier now, her long curls waving in the wind. In one hand, she held her ice pack; in the other, she held the half-melted ice anklet.Â
âAll this time?â she asked, her voice soft. âIt really wasnât your dog, was it?â He shook his head.Â
âThat time when you wrecked my suit!â she said accusingly.
âI knew you werenât in it, obviously, since I literally saw you right there next to it.â
âThen with my dad back when Pariah Dark was attacking?â
He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. âAh, that. I had to stop you somehow! Sorry.â She just rolled her eyes.Â
âHere,â he said, âlook.â He transformed back into regular old Danny Fenton. Valerie gasped, nearly dropping the ice pack and the anklet.Â
âWhoa!â he said, helping her keep a hold of the two things. He cupped the hand holding the anklet and channeled a little of his ice powers. When he removed his hand, the anklet had been made whole again. âNeat trick, right? I can do some ghost stuff like this, but not as much as I can as Phantom.â
She barely acknowledged what he did with the anklet. She was still just staring at him with wide eyes. âSoâŚyouâre like Dani, then.â It was a statement, not a question.
He sighed. âTechnically, Daniâs like me. Sheâs my clone.âÂ
She finally broke eye contact, looking into the horizon. âThis is insane.â
âI know,â he said. âLike I told you last time, Val, I get it. More than you know. And thatâs not even including the fourth thing yet.â
âYouâre not done,â she deadpanned.
âNope!â he said, popping the âp.â âHave you noticed how, like, both of us have been weirdlyâŚtruthful around each other lately?â
âYeahâŚlike, me with the ice pack or you with the nasty surprise.â
He frowned. âDonât remind me.â She let out a tiny giggle. âBut, yeah. Try lying to me right now, Val.â
She raised an eyebrow at him, but obeyed. âI want to kilâto kiâŚto threaten you without actually following through.â It was her turn to frown. âWhoa.â
He nodded. âI canât lie eitherâwell, technically, I can tell, like, half-truths.â
âLike that time in the alley, when you said Phantom fought the ghost.â
âExactly. It wasnât false, but I had to kinda concentrate to not tell the whole truth there. SoâŚâ he trailed off, not sure how to bring this up. âI know this is gonna sound crazy, but the fourth thing isââ
âYouâre going to tell me that weâre truth-telling soulmates,â she said without any fanfare. Danny blinked at her.Â
âIâŚyou accepted that pretty easily.â
She shrugged. âMy parents were truth-telling soulmates, too. This whole thing between us sounds pretty similar. How did we not notice this sooner?â
âIâm thinking itâs âcause we never really had a reason to lie to each other, back when we were dating. I mean, Technus was pushing everything around us to set us up perfectly, so there was never a need to lie to each otherââ
âTechnus was what?!â
âOh, yeah.â Danny began listing things off on his fingers. âThe lights going out in the restaurant so they had to use the fancy candles for us, the kiss cam catching us sitting together at the arena, the ferris wheel stopping at just the right moment. Thereâs more, but I canât think of the rest right now.â
âSo, Technus is a creep,â she concluded, which sounded fair enough to Danny.Â
He continued with his explanation. âAnd then we only spent more time together as Phantom and Red Huntress later onâŚwhich is exactly when we started being weird around each other.â
A silence followed that went on for a while. Danny didnât mind; he knew it was a lot to process. Heck, heâd been sitting on it longer and still hadnât fully processed it yet. He leaned back on his elbows and just watched Valerie digest everything. There was a stray strand of her hair flapping against her face in the wind. He was suddenly overcome by the urge to tuck it behind her ear. He shook his head.
Valerie looked back at him, having noticed his staring. Her gaze was not unkind, but it was still plenty confused. Nonetheless, she reached for his hand. The ice anklet sat cold between their palms.Â
âSo,â she said, âwhat now?â
â
âHurry up, ghost-boy!â Red Huntress yelled, going top speed on her hoverboard. âWeâre going to be late!â
He rolled his eyes. Easy for her to say; he was the one who had to stay behind and suck up the ghost into the thermos. âComing!â
He caught up to her in an alleyway. âCome on, transform already,â she said impatiently.Â
âNo way,â he said. âI have an idea.âÂ
âWhatâwhoa!â she said, as he grabbed her by the shoulders, and turned them both intangible and invisible. âThis is weird.â
âShh! This only works if you donât make noise,â he said, carrying them both from the alleyway and into Casper High. He deposited her in the girlsâ bathroom, then transformed in one of the boysâ bathroomâs cubicles.Â
Valerie greeted him with a smirk when they met outside the bathrooms. âWell, that was convenient.â
Danny shrugged. âBeing half-dead has its perks.âÂ
She gave him a half-horrified, half-disbelieving look. âIâm still getting used to that.â
He shrugged again and reached for her hand. She had a lot to come to terms withâlike the fact that she had a chip on her shoulder about all sheâd done to him before she began to mellow out. But they were figuring things out together. She accepted his hand, and they walked to class together.
Danny couldnât lie, if anything had to come out of him making a fool of himself about ânasty surprises,â he was glad that it was this.Â
đ˘ ⤡ Danny Phantom | W: 1,282 | Also available on AO3.
đ˘ ⤡ Danny gets his wisdom teeth removed and all is wellâaside from all the strange things he's saying (and doing).
đ˘ ⤡ Prompt by Yellow (@yellow-rhymes-with-dna) : Danny gets his wisdom teeth out. What does he say while loopy? To who? (Can be crack or angsty)
Listening to Sam was his first mistake.
C'mon, you're a ghost. You'll probably be fine. Besides, some people don't get loopy anyway.
Yeah, right.
ââ ⢠ăťâ¸â¸
"Mooom, I'm Phantom," Danny says suddenly. He's sitting in the passenger seat, mouth still stuffed full of gauze, so that his words are nearly unrecognizable. "I'm a ghooooost," he says, hands up and fingers wiggling for emphasis.
Maddie does not look away from the road. "That's nice, Danny."
"I'm serious!" he insists. "Wait⌠no, that's a starâdidja know Sirius is the brightest star? Orrr the brightest twooo stars? It's a bin'ry system."
"Be careful about the gauze," Maddie says patiently. Or, as patient as she could be, stuck in traffic with a drugged-up and endlessly chattering son in tow. As glad as she is to actually spend time with him for once, his mouth is going to hurt later and talking is not going to make it any better.
"I'm really a ghost. Half-ghost. Haaalf-a-ghost! Halfa!" Danny laughs like he's said the funniest thing in the worldâbut Maddie can't make heads or tails of it. Whatever they gave him, it was clearly good.
The rest of the ride home is full of Danny rambling about ghosts, much to Maddie's confusionâshe thought he hated ectology. A lot what he says is garbled by the gauze and way the meds make him slur his words, but Maddie catches most of it. Half-ghosts, Phantom (Inviso-bill?), something about Vlad? His train of thought becomes nearly impossible to follow, so she nods along until he starts complaining about pain instead.
ââ ⢠ăťâ¸â¸
Crash!
Before Maddie can so much as turn around, more follows. Crash! Crash! Crash!
Her ecto-blaster is in her hand and she races up the stairs. A ghost? An intruder? She's prepared for the worst. But when she finally reaches the living room, the source of the noise, no one is there except Danny, still lying in a pathetic heap on the couch.
Crash! A blast of green erupts from Danny's hand and strikes the ceiling. Maddie looks up. Next to that newest scorch mark are several more, dotted along the edge of the room.
"Danny, give me the gun."
Danny tilts his head at her, confused. "I don' have a gun."
"The blaster, then. The ecto-ray," Maddie says, one hand on her hip and the other held out expectantly.
"I don' have one," Danny says. He flips onto his backâand shoots the ceiling again.
"Cut that out," she snaps. "Our ecto-blasters are for ghosts. Not for perfectly good ceilings."
"I still don' have one."
"If you don't have one," Maddie says very slowly, as though she is talking to a moron (and, well, thanks to the meds, she basically is), "then how are you shooting ecto?"
"I tooold you," Danny says, also quite slowly. "I'm a ghooost. Ecto-blasts are what we do."
And, well, Maddie doesn't know what to make of that. Clearly he does have a ray gun, or maybe a wrist ray or lipstick laser, but she isn't going to wrestle with him just to take it away. Not worth it. The house will survive.
"Okay. Fine. You're a ghost. But ecto-blasts are for other, evil ghosts. Just like the ecto-blasters. Okay? Stop shooting the ceiling."
Danny groans, pouting and curling back up. "Ugh, fiiine. You're no fun."
ââ ⢠ăťâ¸â¸
When another crash sounds from the living room, Maddie doesn't think to question it. The entire house is built from sturdy material and further reinforced by them. One can never be too carefulâand given the number of times their home defenses have misfired, it seems as though it was the right call. That it came in handy for a loopy, trigger-happy Danny is unexpected, but fortunate. That crash was a bit louder, sure, but the ceiling can take the abuse (even if she'd rather he put the damn blaster away).
Then, she hears voices. Danny's, of course, but also another that she doesn't recognize; deep and echoing, almost like⌠a ghost.
She runs in, ecto-blaster in hand, and in no time has it aimed at the ghost. It's a tall, robotic one, with flaming green hair and weapons strapped to its back. She puts her finger on the triggerâbut Danny shouts something, and a blast of green knocks the gun from her hand.
"Oops, sorry, mom," Danny says, wincing. "Don't shoot. Skulker is a friend."
"I am no friend of yours, whelp," the ghost says.
"You're not even tryin' to capture me. We're basically best buds!"
All Maddie can do is stare in disbelief as her sonâher son who avoids everything ghost related like the plague, who runs away at the first sight of an attackâbickers and banters with this, this Skulker character, as though they've known each other for years.
"Danny, that is a ghost. A dangerous ghost. From the Ghost Zone."
"Yeahhh?" Danny asks. "So?"
"I think I should go now," the ghost says, a touch awkwardly. "Recover well, ghost child. I look forward to hunting you again."
"Yeah, yeah. Tell Ember I said hi." Danny waves lazily at the ghost, who only nods and flies away, out through the wall and onto the streets.
"Danny," Maddie says expectantly.
"What?" After a few moments of silence, staring each other down, he starts talking again. "Skulker came to fight me," he says, enunciating each syllable carefully. "I told him no. Cuz of the teeth. But he's a freakin' ghost and I guess he's the monster kind and not the dead kind cuz he had nooo clue what I was talkin' about. So I was tellin' him about it. An' he was listening very politely and symâ sympaâ he was bein' nice. Until you interrupted. Rudely."
At this point, Maddie can't decide if he's making things up or telling the truth or something in between. There are some things he has been inventingâbeing a ghost, for oneâbut that Skulker was in her living room just minutes ago, and he did leave quietly instead of fighting, and it did sound as though he and Danny were only talking before she showed up.
"âŚOkay," she says simply. "Why did Skulker want to fight you?"
"I tooold you! I'm Phantom!" Danny exclaims. Then, matter-of-factly: "He wants to hang my pelt on his wall."
Back to make-believe. She'll just have to ask him again later.
ââ ⢠ăťâ¸â¸
It's hard to believe so much happened in merely a few hours. Danny's procedure should have been mundane. Maybe he would say some silly things as the anesthesia wore off, and maybe she would need to steer him clear of any ecto-weaponry (not that that worked)âbut talking to ghosts? Claiming to be one himself?
She can only hope Jazz's recovery won't be nearly as exciting.
Not long before dinner, she makes a start on decontaminating the kitchen. Strictly speaking, she should have done this a while ago, but, well, better late than never. There's no telling how ectoplasm exposure might impact Danny while he's still healing and vulnerable.
She has barely started when Danny appears out of nowhere. He stands in the doorway, watching silently as she clears out the fridge.
"Hey, wanna see a cool trick?" he asks.
Before she can answer, a halo of white light appears at his waist, splitting and revealing none other than Phantom himselfâstanding where Danny was, staring at her, glowing andâandâ
Now, she can't unsee it. They have the same face, the same voice, the same⌠everything.
"âŚI guess you weren't lying," Maddie says faintly.
ââ ⢠ăťâ¸â¸
Unfortunately for him, he remembers every single word. Bad luck, getting the weirdness without the amnesia.
