Do you think that Danny eventually falls under the strain of managing a double identity in front of Sam and Tucker and finally tells them the truth?
Barring the fact I don’t actually know how the reveal will go down—Yes, definitely. It’s a lot of strain on him, it’s extremely stressful, and it’s hugely guilt-inducing the longer it goes on, too. All for… what?
The thing is… the stakes in Undercover AU aren’t actually that high. Especially on a meta-level; it’s a light-hearted au that doesn’t lean too hard in the angst. As the author (and maybe as a reader) it’s clear that whatever fallout the reveal causes won’t be permanent; sure there will be a lot of emotions flying around, there will be drama to spare, and OH BOY will there will be panic, but in the end, the strength of the friendship the trio’s formed will carry them through. And they’ll be better for it <3
...but Danny doesn’t know that :)
(at least, the stakes aren’t life-threatening when it comes to Sam and Tucker knowing Danny’s identity. his parents still carry threats of being dissected and studied at a molecular level, so, uh…. Yeah, that.)
Ultimately, the stakes for Danny are all emotional; the only thing he’s protecting here is himself. Now that Danny’s got friends, real genuine friends who love him (BOTH of him, ALL of him), he will literally jump in a volcano before he jeopardizes that. he just can’t go back to the isolated world he lived in before, now that he’s had a taste of what his life could be. what it can be.
So every silly juggling act and farcical hoop to jump through is something he puts on himself because he thinks, If Sam and Tucker find out that I’ve been keeping this from them, they’ll hate me. And it’s just not something he can talk himself out of; there’s no evidence of it; he’s got way too many counter-examples to truly believe things will be 100% different with Sam and Tucker; and ironically, only telling them the truth will prove to him that they’ll still love him no matter what.
It’s this awful feedback loop, because the longer the charade goes on, the more sure he gets that when the truth comes out, everything will be over. No more sneaking out to see them as Phantom; no more school lunches together as Fenton; no more no more no more.
To bring it back ‘round to your question, there’s so many times Danny comes close to breaking. When Freakshow returns; when he’s cornered and injured by his parents; when he’s dealing with an identity crisis-induced destabilization; if he starts to suspect Sam and Tucker already know anyway; any time he or Sam or Tucker get something related to his identity mixed up and he doesn’t think he can save it; etc, etc, etc. I bet you, there is a constant non-stop oice in the back of Danny’s head telling him to throw in the towel. It’s just drowned out by the louder voice, the one of fear, that tells him he’ll lose everything if he breathes a single word.
But if he DID break. If he did break and just tell them… god, the catharsis would just be unreal and so good.
