So this is a little embarrassing. Tonight we realized that this amazing prize drabble has been sitting in our drafts for three years. (peep us panicking under the readmore)
So without further ado, congratulations, @sput-niik for completing all 31 days of Dannymay all the way back in 2020!
This drabble was for your Day 30 artwork - family, because danny with a cat is adorable!
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Danny capped the lid of the thermos with a sigh of relief escaping his lips. For a fearful split second, he thought his breath escaping into the cold air was his ghost sense, but relaxed when he realized there was no tingle of ectoplasm in his breath.
Mew.
Danny paused, his ears perking up. The alleyway was abandoned, with only a dumpster full of trash and a chain link fence dividing the alley into two. No one was in sight, ghostly or otherwise.
Mew!
Danny lowered himself to the ground, and transformed back. His eyes adjusted to the darkened alley, and he blinked.
A small black kitten dashed out of a open trash back and skittered under the dumpster, a small piece of rotten meat in its small mouth.
“Oh,” Danny breathed. Wary of the dirty road, he leaned down and stuck his head under the dumpster, nose crinkling at the smell of soured milk.
The kitten was curled up on top of a plastic bag, devouring its chicken leg to its heart’s content. It regarded Danny with narrowed eyes, and when Danny stuck a hand in it let out a faint hiss.
“Little one, where is your mama?” He cooed. He always had a soft spot for cats. It only let out another hiss at him.
hi im still on this also im too lazy to put this on ao3 since the rest of dannymay2020 is only on ffn knjbhgv
Lightning flashed above the trees as Danny ran through the forest. His feet slapped through the mud and the rain plastered his hair to his face.
His powers were shorted out and the hunters pursuing him were gaining on him. He couldn’t last much longer just running through the dark, slippery forest. He’d have to find somewhere to hide eventually.
As he passed another tree, the woods opened up into a small clearing. He could see a small pavilion-picnic structure before the path led to a parking lot further away. This was going to be his best shot for now. He slowed as he walked closer to it, looking for a way in when he suddenly walked into someone’s chest.
Panic shooting through his chest, Danny punched the person in the stomach and tried to dart away before they grabbed onto his arms.
“What the fuck… Fenton?”
Danny looked up with wide eyes into Dash Baxter’s face. He could cry from both relief and dismay right now.
“Why do you look like you’re being chased by ghosts?” Dash paused. “Are you being chased by ghosts?”
Danny shook his head. “Not ghosts.” He panted. “Hunters.”
Dash’s eyes widened. “Hunters? Why are hunters chasing you? Are they serial killers?”
“They’re ghost hunters. They’ve been chasing me for 30 minutes-”
“Why are ghost hunters chasing you?” Dash asked, his brows furrowed.
“That’s not important.” Danny said as he began to look around again. “I need to find somewhere to hide before-”
The rustling of bushes could be heard coming from the direction Danny had run from. Whispers made their way through the rain towards them.
“Shit!” Danny whispered.
Then Danny was being pushed towards the room in the pavilion. “Dash, there’s no time. It’ll take too long for us to open-” Danny stopped as Dash opened the door and shoved him inside. “-it.”
Dash started pulling off his letterman jacket and the hoodie he was wearing underneath it. He handed both to Danny. “Put these on.”
“What?”
“Put them on! You don’t want them to recognize you, right?”
Danny looked at Dash for a moment before shoving both the oversized hoodie and letterman jacket over his small frame. Once he had the letterman jacket situated, he felt Dash pull the hood up over his head.
“Okay, so here’s what we’re gonna do if they come in here. We’re-”
Both Danny and Dash looked over Dash’s shoulder as they heard the doorknob rattle.
Dash turned back to Danny and got real close, pushing him against the wall.
“We have to pretend to makeout.”
“What?” Danny looked up at him.
“What else are two teenagers gonna be doing here in the middle of the night? They won’t ask us any questions if they think we’ve been macking on each other the whole time.”
“Like a fakeout makeout?”
“Yeah?” Dash looked down at him. “Why do you have a name for that-”
The door opened behind Dash and he pushed himself even closer to Danny, his face inches from his own. Dash’s hand came to rest against his cheek and the two men who entered the room started talking.
“I don’t think he’ll be here. The ectoplasm readings aren’t high enough and-” The man who was speaking paused and Danny felt himself tense up. “See I told you. It’s just some teenagers who are probably from Amity Park. All those people there have small ecto signatures, it was too low to be that ghost.”
Dash jumped and turned around to face them, faking embarrassment.
The other man scoffed. “He couldn’t have gotten far, he couldn’t fly.” The man looked at the two of them. “Have either of you kids seen a ghost around here? White hair? Weird jumpsuit outfit?”
Danny felt Dash tense up at the mention of his ghost half’s description. “No, we haven’t seen any ghosts since we left Amity Park. Is there a dangerous one roaming around out here?”
The first man nodded. “We’ve been following a level eight ghost for about a mile and a half now. We’re worried about it getting back to town.”
“Huh. Well we haven’t seen anything. But, I think we,” Dash grabbed Danny by the waist and pulled him to his side, “are going to head back into town. We wouldn’t want to get mauled out here where no one can find us.”
“What about your friend there? Has he seen anything? He’s been awfully quiet.” The second man said, leveling a look at Danny.
“Oh him?” Dash laughed nervously. “He’s mute. He doesn’t talk, but he’s been with me the whole time so he wouldn’t have seen anything either.”
The man pursed his lips. “Okay, well, have a nice night you two. Stay safe in that weather out there.”
“Thanks!” Dash said as he waved at them. “You too!”
He pulled away from Danny and grabbed him by the hand, quickly pulling him out of the building and towards his car. He didn’t pull away until he had shoved Danny into the passenger seat of his car and was heading around to the driver’s seat.
Danny watched the men walk out of the building as they drove away. The further away they got, the more Danny relaxed into the seat.
He let out a breath and looked over at Dash. “Thanks, I would’ve been toast without you there. You should drive around town a bit just in case they decide to follow us.”
Dash glanced at Danny before turning his eyes back to the road. “Why were they looking for Phantom?”
Danny paused. “What?”
“Phantom. Ghost with white hair, weird jumpsuit outfit.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Come on, Fenton!” Dash shouted. “Don’t lie to me! Were you just hanging out with him? Why didn’t he stay with you? Why didn’t he try to keep them off of your trail? Were you protecting him?”
“I don’t know why they thought I looked like Phantom. They were chasing me, not him.”
“That doesn’t even make sense. How would they confuse you for Phantom? You don’t even-” Dash paused as Wes’s words crawled through his brain, insisting to the whole student body that Danny was Phantom. Dash’s mouth dropped open and he slammed on the breaks, coming to a sudden stop in the middle of the road.
Danny braced himself against his seat and the door. “Dash! What the hell!”
“You really are Phantom, aren’t you?” Dash said, facing Danny.
“No, I’m not.” Danny said, glaring at Dash.
“Oh, shove it. Why else would they describe Phantom when they were chasing you through the forest? You realize that doesn’t make sense, right?”
“So, what, I tell you I’m Phantom so you can call me a freak and tell the school?” Danny scoffed. “Yeah, right. No thanks.”
Dash stared at Danny, his expression dropping. “You really think I’d tell the whole school?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t you?” Danny mumbled back.
Dash continued to stare at Danny. “Because they would hurt you.”
Danny let out a dry laugh.
“What? Why do you think I stopped wondering where you hung out when you weren’t fighting ghosts? I’m not stupid enough to ignore all the ghosts and ghost hunters that have it out for your neck!” Dash sighed. “The longer the GIW were in Amity Park the more I realized the kind of danger you were in.”
Danny’s gaze flicked over to Dash.
“It wasn’t even just the GIW. Your parents-” Dash’s mouth dropped open again. “What the fuck! Your parents! They hunt you!”
“They don’t know.”
“Well no shit!” Dash ran a hand through his hair. “Holy shit.”
“Listen, Dash, while I would love to keep exposing my deepest secrets to you, I’d really like to get out of this forest.”
“Right, right.” Dash sat forward in his seat again, driving forward.
Silence settled over them, Danny staring out his window and Dash flicking his gaze to the other boy frequently.
They finally made it back into town and Dash drove up and down and around the different streets a couple times before finally pulling up in front of Fentonworks.
Danny sighed and unbuckled his seatbelt. “Finally. Thanks, for, you know.” He was about to get out of the car when he paused, looking down at the jacket and hoodie he was still wearing. “Here, I almost forgot-” Danny started shrugging out of the letterman jacket when Dash stopped him.
“It’s still raining. You can borrow them and give them back to me on Monday.”
Danny’s brow furrowed. “Are you sure? Don’t you want something to wear in the rain?”
Dash shrugged. “I’ll be fine. I think I have another hoodie buried in here somewhere.”
“Okay, well.” Danny grabbed the door handle. “Bye.” He quickly climbed out of the car and darted up the stairs to the front door. Before he closed it, he turned back to Dash and waved goodbye and shut the door.
Dash waited a few seconds before taking a deep breath and he started to drive away.
He had a feeling he wouldn’t be getting the sight of Danny in his jacket out of his head anytime soon.
