#Danny gave Red Hood flowers too

[nelkcats]

The correct meaning

Danny didn't know that the first thing he would do when he retired from being a hero would be to open a flower shop, but he found that flowers brought him peace. Maybe it had something to do with commemorating the dead, or with his lack of a headstone, but flowers were soothing.

Ghosts never messed with them, they were almost sacred in the Infinite Realms, and with the help of his friends he researched the meaning of all of them. Besides carrying a small dictionary because he didn't have a photographic memory.

Unfortunately, he couldn't open his flower shop in Amity, his parents made the whole thing very awkward and he didn't know if he would be able to make a bouquet that would go to that cemetery, a cemetery where he didn't belong.

So he opened his store in Gotham, where his sister was staying. He bought a small place and went about tending to his plants. He tended to anyone and gave them a little bouquet depending on what he saw in them. Ivy seemed delighted.

Jason didn't know what to think of hid bouquet with orange lilies, lavender, hyacinths and gardenias. It was certainly an odd combination, and he didn't know why the florist looked so determined to give him the bouquet, but he accepted it, the boy looked happy about it before going back to work.

A week later he gave him a different bouquet, and Jason wondered if he was going crazy, was the florist flirting with him or had he read too many books?

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Danny didn't know what to do with all these flowers. Sure, Amity had done a 180 after they stopped listening to his parents (its just a shame what had happened to them) and they now loved thier guardian and savior.

Which brought him back to the flowers. It was the day after Valentines and he had gotten gifts from what felt like everyone in the city (except Vlad who was in ghost jail via the Observants) leading him to having a massive pile of flowers, stuffed animals and candy to figure out what to do with.

Obviously most of the stuffing were going to be decorating his lair in the GZ but the flowers would rot eventually and he didn't even own a single vase anyway. He was not going to mention the chocolate.

Then Tucker gave him an idea. He can just give them away to other heros.

Cackling he set about plans to ambush the batfam who he had met once or twice when he was exploring through dimensions (and promptly chased out of the city)

He started with Red Robin the smartest and arguably the cutest of the brood. He had picked a good time too because birdy looked five steps away from falling asleep on the rooftop while running, so when Danny through a bouquet or roses at him the soft petals clocked him right in the face.

The look he gave was one of pure confusion as he stared at the plants. Then, all too soon it clicked and the vigilantes face turned a lovely shade of red as he looked around for whoever tossed them. Luckily Danny stayed off the visible spectrum that night.

The next victim was Spoiler who he clocked in the back of the head while she was distracted by talking to a civilian. The yelp she made was glorious and almost made Danny cackle and give away his position.

Red Hood Danny had to be the hardest one. Sneaking up on him was almost impossible. He could sense RH like he could a ghost but something was definitely off. He wondered if Hood could sense him too. Is that how he always seemed to know he was around. It didn't matter in the end because Danny had a lot of free time without the ghost attacks and a near endless supply of ammo. Still. Danny was getting irritated and just decided to chuck flowers at the guy until he landed a hit. He didn't know why hood was freaking out so much over flowers or why he was shooting at the flowers or even what "Pit" he was screaming about but the moment he got a hit in Danny decided to bounce.

Robin was funny. He threw a bouquet and the little bird caught it like a sword before inspecting it with a raised eyebrow.

Orphan was nice. She caught her bouquet gracefully in her arms almost as if she was expecting it and held it to her chest before looking right at him and waving.

While he was invisible.

He bolted.

Occasionally he liked to interfere with the bats rogue battles by throwing a single rose into the frey, startling the baddie of the hour and giving the bat or bats time to collect themselves. Yeah thats right. He Tuxedo Mask'd them. Something that infuriated some of the bats and got other giggling.

He at least knew better not to do this to Poison Ivy. For her he portaled in something special. The look on her face when one of those battery powered toddler jeeps came racing down the street with a full rose bush in a glass bubble and into the fight was something he'd cherish forever. Especially when she realized she couldn't control the thing thanks to the glass.

This leads to the last bird.

Nightwing was probably one of the best victims hes had. He took it like a champ and even played along, giving a little speech about being honored to receive such a gift, prompting Danny to throw individual flowers at the heros feet. Nightwing continued talking and Phantom kept giving him flowers, distracted by what the hero was saying and slowly drifting closer until-

The kick to the side of the head didn't really hurt, when you get used to being thrown through buildings not much could really hurt you anymore but it was enough to stun him and force him to drop his invisibility. Another kick and a few shocks from a pair of acrizma sticks for struggling and he was on his belly at Nightwings feet. He felt something fasten around his wrist and his core felt restricted but he didn't transform back into Fenton.

Crap. Power dampening cuffs.

He was so screwed.

Danny was later upset to discover there was a whole other bat he didn't know about or even get to target once due to him being on the daylight shift.

[gilbirda]

Some Evil!Jazz thing - not connected to any fic I’ve done. It’s DP x DC crossover, but tangentially.

Context: Her parents killed Danny, making her spiral down a dark path and becomes a villain. Goes to Gotham, becomes frienemies with Red Hood and he tries to stop her path of destruction, which is what kills her in the end. He brings her to the Lazarus Pits as a last resort to get her back.

--------

She was falling and falling, submerged in waters that weren’t waters -

(the texture was wrong wrong wrong)

- and she was drowning.

She needed to breathe. She needed to kick her feet, she needed to-

To live?

She remembered dying, very clearly. She remembered her last breath. She had said what she needed to say-

(I love you, I love you. I’m sorry)

- and her body gave up after years pushing it apart and back again, after years pushing her limits, after so much pain. 

She was tired.

And she was drowning.

She briefly wondered if this is how her brother felt the first time he died, if he felt the same shortness of breath, if he saw the same darkness. She wondered what he was thinking when he died a second time. She wondered if he called for her.

(I never knew, I never knew. I’m sorry)

.

.

She breathed in the air.

Finally, after what felt like days drowning in the dark waters, she opened her eyes, finding a field of striking red flowers - rows and rows of rose bushes going all the way to the horizon.

Blood Blossoms.

Of course she knew what they were. 

“Beautiful, aren’t they?”

Her chest hurt as she turned, finding her brother’s face smiling back at her. He was just like the day she last saw him. He was young, alive, his rosy cheeks just as the last time she pinched them, his hair the same mop of black hair she patted for the last time too long ago.

“Danny.” She thought she whispered.

He nodded.

Jazz tried to reach to hug her brother-

(You are alive, you are alive. I love you)

- but her body was pinned in place. She looked down, finding thorny vines growing from the bushes circling her ankles and wrists, forcing her to remain seated in the park bench she hadn’t noticed before.

“Uh-huh,” Danny said, his boyish smile growing bigger. “You have to let go, Jazz.”

Let go? She thought. He nodded at her thoughts. 

“You have to let me go.”

Jazz narrowed her eyes, shaking her head in hopes of clearing her head from the shock of seeing her baby brother alive again-

Danny was dead.

“You are not my brother.”

This seemed to amuse him. “Okay, then what am I?”

She growled. “I don’t know, but my brother would be in complete agony if he were in the presence of so many-”

“Blood Blossoms?” His smile was bitter as he looked around the field. It was a sunny day. Wherever she was. “Hm. I guess he would.”

“Then who are you and why are you wearing my brother’s face?” She tried to jump at him it, but the vines squeezed her harder. She could feel them creeping up her legs and arms. “What’s going on?”

Not-Danny tutted, blue eyes shining red for a moment as he it looked down at the vines chaining her to the bench. 

“Maybe I am a product of your imagination. Maybe I am Danny.” He  it leaned back in the bench and breathed in the clear air, eyes now fixed on the clear blue sky. 

She couldn’t remember seeing Danny this relaxed.

She couldn’t remember-

(He’s dead, he’s dead. Forget him)

“The important thing is, though, that you have to let go, Jazz.”

“What do I have to let go?” She tried struggling against the vines. They gripped her tighter in response.

“Danny. Your past. Your rage.” He It looked back down. “It is literally chaining you, bringing you down. You are shackled by your own memories.”

“I don’t need-”

“Look at it this way.” He tilted his head, his smile was mischievous, like Danny’s.

(wrong wrong wrong)

“You are dying, Jazz. And what’s beyond that won’t be pretty.”

Beyond?

“I don’t care. Infinite Realms, Hell, I don’t care. I just want my brother back.”

“But didn’t you just say that Danny is dead?”

Jazz saw red, struggling more against the vines. She felt the thorns start breaking her skin. She felt the blood start flowing down to the rose bushes.

“DON’T SAY HIS NAME!” She screamed, instead. 

(It hurts. It hurts)

Not-Danny hummed, still amused by her desperation.

“But he is. And you have to let go.”

The thorns were making their way up to her shoulders and dangerously close to her neck. The pain she could endure, but if she passed out from blood loss she wouldn’t find out what was going on.

“Let’s imagine I let go. What’s next?” She managed to say through gritted teeth.

“Then, you’ll have the power to make things right.”

Jazz fixed her eyes on the blues of Not-Danny, trying to see where the trick was. Power? She didn’t need more power.

She needed her brother back.

But Danny was dead.

Not-Danny hummed again. “You were hurt and lashed out. People hurt you and you wanted to hurt them. Your rage is valid. Your sadness is valid. But you have to let go of the past.”

Jazz could feel tears start falling from her eyes. It hurt so much. Everywhere. The thorns, the pressure of the vines around her torso, the words. She couldn’t breathe.

(Drowning. Drowning in dark waters)

“I- I…” She licked her lips. She tasted her blood. “I can’t.”

“Yes. Yes, you can.” Not-Danny put a hand on her arm, not bothered by the blood or the thorns. “And you have to.”

She chuckled weakly. Nothing made sense. Let go? She had lived out of rage and spite for so long…

Rage wouldn’t bring Danny back.

(You’re dead, he’s dead. I’m sorry.)

“Why would I listen to you?” She squeaked with the bit of air she had in her lungs. “You are not my brother.”

“Does that make a difference?”

More tears fell from her eyes. She had started sobbing, but couldn’t remember when.

It wouldn’t make a difference.

Danny was dead. He was not coming back.

“I’m sorry.” She finally said. 

I’m sorry you are dead.

I’m sorry I wasn’t there.

I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.

“I know.” Not-Danny smiled, reassuring. “I forgive you, Jazz.”

He was still smiling as he took her left hand in his, leaning in to place a soft kiss on her forehead.

“And I love you.” His breath was cold as he whispered against her skin.

.

.

She was drowning. Drowning. Drowning in dark waters. Her chest hurt, but she powered through the pain and kicked her feet to swim back to the surface. Rage and determination drove her towards a light she saw far into the waters. Was it up? Was it a better place? Was it worse?

(Did it matter?)

She broke through the surface to a cacophony of screams and shouts and voices and chaos. Her hands searched for something solid, the ground, anything.

She found the edge, grabbed it with all her might and pulled until she was out of the waters. She didn’t look back at them.

She looked instead at the ring on her left hand, the place where Danny-

Jazz’s hands were shaking as she searched the area over her head, on top of her wet hair. Her fingertips touched cold metal.

She screamed.

[bubblegumbeech]

My first Phic Phight fic!

For @ecto-american’s prompt

His name was Danny.

That was the first thing he knew for sure was true, when he had first woken up it was what everyone called him, and it fit just fine, wasn’t something off or uncomfortable so he let it settle over him before he tried to speak.

His voice didn’t come at first, and it hurt to try so the nurses made him promise to take it easy for now, to sit back and listen. So he did.

He listened as the people around him spoke at length about how much they missed him, about how they couldn’t wait to get him home again, about how glad they were he’d survived.

The loudest and most talkative of the people that visited him and called him Danny, was a large man in an orange jumpsuit that went on long enthusiastic tangents that Danny had long stopped paying attention to. He was almost always with a smaller, authoritative woman named Maddie, who insisted He call her Mom. They told him they were his parents.

They told him they loved him.

And then they told him everything else.

The first time Danny remembered something it was with excitement, he was still in the hospital room and between the visits from the men in the starched white suits, his parents, and the doctor, he had been wrestling with the feeling that something was missing.

It had only been when Maddie had finally taken off the hood and goggles of her jumpsuit had Danny gotten a flash of familiar red hair and asked, “where’s Jazz?”

His heart buzzed at the question, sure, so sure that it would get answered, that he had remembered something.

But both Jack and Maddie had just looked at him, disappointed, and he couldn’t bring himself to ask again.

Eventually, once the doctor declared him competent and unlikely to slip back into his coma, his parents had taken him home.

There were streamers all over the house and a giant party banner that read “Welcome Back” in thick black lettering and Danny forced out a small smile as he looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. Maddie walked up behind him and he flinched, his body acting before his brain could catch up.

She had frowned at his reaction, and when Danny, stuttering, tried to apologize she said it was okay, and with a tightlipped smile, she pulled him into a hug.

He forced himself to relax, frustrated with himself. This was his mother, there was no reason for his instincts to be so afraid. Jack had joined the hug and eventually Danny found himself relaxing for real, sure maybe getting his memories back was a slow uphill climb, but at least he wouldn’t do it alone.

Eventually his parents let him go and told him he was free to walk around the house and reacquaint himself with it. His room was the first door on the left upstairs, the bathroom was down the hall and the basement, apparently, was off limits.

So Danny went upstairs into his room. It looked something like a teenager’s room he supposed. There were the posters hung haphazardly on the walls and they were torn at the corners as if someone had ripped them all off the walls before hastily taping them back up. The bed was made too, and there was a lot less dust than he was expecting after being gone for a whole month.

In fact, it looked like he’d cleaned and organized the whole room before he’d fallen into his coma and Danny didn’t know why, but that thought set him on edge. Maybe he was just an organized person?

It was just… he didn’t feel very organized.

He kept looking around. There was that feeling that something was missing, something important to him, and he walked over to the nightstand by his bed. Placing a hand on the polished wood Danny fought the flash of a model spaceship that appeared in his memories. It wasn’t here though and Danny frowned. Was that something else he’d thrown away and simply forgotten?

Shaking his head Danny headed back downstairs, maybe he should just ask Jack, er, his dad? He should really get used to calling them mom and dad. But before he headed down he went to the room across from his and knocked.

Maybe he was being foolish, but he had expected someone to answer, had a name even come to mind. When no answer came he opened the door himself only to find a storage room, nothing but shelves and boxes and Danny scolded himself for the painful ache he felt in his heart.

It was another week before Danny had another memory, and just like the last two, it didn’t fit quite right. Like a piece from another puzzle jammed where it shouldn’t fit. So he’d asked Maddie.

“Sam?” she’d said, a carefully blank look on her face, “Oh! I remember Sam, she was an old friend of yours you used to talk about her all the time. Shame she moved away.”

And just like that, he’d had his answer as ill fitting as it was. Sam was a girl he knew that moved away, the memory he’d had, of her crying face screaming at him to stay awake just stay awake damnit, was probably from a long time ago. The pain he felt in his chest -just to the right of his heart- at the thought of her not being near and that he’d probably never see her again? That was nothing important.

It was another couple of weeks of sleeping in that house, waking up and going downstairs to eat with his parents, to chat about memories he didn’t have and tell stories he never resonated with, before he woke up screaming for the first time.

Maddie had instantly run into his room, Jack not far behind and Danny scrambled away from them both. His mind filled with images of painful green light and the ominous glint of red goggles twisting his reflection in their lenses as they looked down on him.

His parents had pushed past the barrier of pillows and blankets he’d made and pulled him into their arms, rocking him and shushing him until eventually he’d tired himself out from crying and fallen asleep again. The nightmares returned.

Eventually Danny stopped asking questions about his memories.

Either they were incomplete, fragments of something real that had been twisted in time, or they were wrong entirely, figments of his own active imagination. He’d never had a sister, they insisted. It was his mother, Maddie that had stayed up late some nights to help him with his homework and bake him safe, edible cookies as a reward. Tucker was a kid he knew at school, yes, but he’d moved away years ago and they hadn’t spoken in person since.

He had blue eyes, when he looked in the mirror, not green.

It was frustrating, being unable to trust himself- his own memories. If it was anything more than broken, incomplete fragments he’d have argued, insisted they were real.

But then again, he also had memories of Maddie leaning over him, scalpel in hand to cut away at his flesh. And he knew that couldn’t be true; the woman that smiled every time he came downstairs, called him sweetie and kissed him on his forehead every night, wasn’t the monster in his dreams. She couldn’t be.

So he ignored them.

He ignored the moments of instinct when Maddie or Jack went for a hug or a kiss and he flinched, ready for an attack. He ignored how he never seemed able to give a straight answer when they asked about his day, even if he hadn’t done anything interesting at all. And he ignored his nightmares, stuffing towels under his doorframe to muffle the sounds of his screams. There was no reason to keep waking up his parents like that.

But no matter how much he ignored, he compartmentalized, or he forced himself to smile, to hug back, and to spend time bonding with his parents, he never felt safe. Maddie insisted that he was, of course she did, this was his home. But even as he smiled and agreed and let her hug him again, he wanted to leave.

This time his dream wasn’t a nightmare. No scary, well lit labs with beakers and glowing buttons, or disgusting, painful flowers shoved into his mouth. Instead there was the ticking of clocks, rhythmic and constant. A gloved hand gently soothed his hair back, and Danny’s fear seemed so far away.

It was the first full night of sleep he’d had since he’d gotten “home”.

That morning he’d asked for an analogue clock. His parents had been confused, but they acquiesced easily and took him to the store to pick one out. The one he’d ended up choosing was a large ornate antique with little clockwork gears and a loud tick. He was excited to put it up in his room, right above his bed.

He slept better after that, and some of the tension that had been building in the house eased.

His dreams were still mostly nightmares, attacks by inhuman ghostly figures were the most prominent. But they didn’t leave the same bitter aftertaste, fear and uncertainty as the ones with the table, the scalpel, and the round, red goggles.

But now they were interspersed with better ones, fuzzy hugs and fields of blinding white, sitting in a garden pruning flowers as a soft, familiar voice gave him instructions, playing video games as the player character, confident and excited with a familiar presence at his back. And his favorite ones, the ones in the clock tower with the hooded figure and his soft smiles. The ones where he felt safest.

The ones that couldn’t be real, not if what his parents told him was true.

The next time they went out as a family after that Danny had wanted to go to a garden, and while at first Maddie was hesitant, Jack had insisted the great outdoors were perfect for helping him recover properly. Danny had been thrilled and hugged both of them in thanks, their answering smiles were soft and Danny had the thought that it had been some time since he’d seen those smiles reach their eyes.

Danny had a video game he apparently liked to play called Doom, and he was pretty good at it, judging by the level of his character. When he tried to message either of the two friends he had on his contact list though, the game glitched and his info got deleted. Frustrated he tried to reboot the system but the game itself had somehow gotten corrupted and there was no hope in recovery.

Just another thing that was apparently important to him that he’d destroyed or couldn’t find.

The worst was the time he woke with Maddie sitting next to him in his bed, she had a troubled look on her face and he didn’t know what it was he’d done wrong. Had he screamed in his sleep without knowing it?

“Danny honey,” she had said, looking over to him but not meeting his eyes, “do you remember what you dreamed about?”

He’d answered no, he hadn’t, which was mostly true. The only thing he really remembered about his dream was the feeling of safety and the ticking of a clock.

It took a month for Danny’s parents to feel comfortable leaving him alone in the house in order to go to work. He watched them walk out the door, fending off forehead kisses and muttered reassurances that they’d be home soon to check on him and that he should call if he needed anything, anything at all.

Once the door clicked shut however, the smile dropped off of Danny’s face and he set his eyes on the one thing he’d wanted… no, needed to do since he had that first nightmare.

He went to the basement.

The feeling of going down the stairs stumbled over a vague, blurry memory and Danny felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand. This was just to be sure, just to prove to himself that all those dreams, all those nightmares he’d been having since his parents brought him home, were just that, nightmares.

He opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, confused when there was no lock, no resistance at all. Hadn’t they said he was banned from being down here? Why wouldn’t they lock it? Even Bluebeard locked the door his wife wasn’t supposed to enter.

The basement was…

A basement.

There were no spooky ominous beakers of strange and unrecognizable fluids, no haphazard lab equipment lying around without safety devices, nothing sterile or blinking and there was certainly no large metal table to strap someone down on.

It was just a normal basement with boxes and a desk, some chairs, a couple of old pieces of random furniture and Danny let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. This meant that Maddie was right, they really were just nightmares, probably some subconscious latent fear of going home with strangers that he couldn’t remember. That was all.

So why did he feel disappointed?

The next week was full of Danny waiting for his parents to leave before exploring the house more thoroughly. More than once he’d gotten caught in a half remembered routine that didn’t actually fit with his surroundings. Like bracing for a fight every time he opened the fridge, or expecting another flight of stairs after the second floor. Once he’d even risked going outside for a walk, trying to find his school based on half remembered directions that only served to get him lost.

It was a new routine that Danny found himself thankful for.

Not that he didn’t love his parents, he did! But for some reason, when they were gone, and it was just him with his space posters and his ornate ticking clock, and the piles of modified schoolwork that was supposed to help him when it was time to reintegrate into school, he felt a lot more relaxed. More carefree.

That was why, when he’d found the picture, it had felt like his world had crashed around him.

His parents had come home to find him sitting in the middle of the basement, tears long dried, and with the picture clutched tight in his hands, crumpled now with how long it had been.

“You lied to me.” he accused once they were within earshot. He didn’t have the energy to speak much louder than a whisper, but it seemed to echo in the silence nonetheless.

“Danny-boy we can explain-”

“No!” Danny shouted, getting to his feet, “You lied to me .”

Jack flinched back and Maddie stepped in front of him, protective, as if somehow, out of the three of them Danny might be the threat. He growled.

“I trusted you to tell me the truth, I trusted you with my memories, memories that were lost to me . I had a sister! You had a daughter . She existed, she was real, she’s in this photo! Smiling! ” Danny couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, it was all too much. To know that the girl in his shattered memories, the one with the soft hugs and the floral scents, that baked him cookies and held him when he cried at night, was real. And that she was gone, erased by the people he was supposed to be able to trust.

He moved to storm past them, to go upstairs or maybe even outside and look up at the sky and try to make something of the twisting, knotted mess that was his emotions, his mind, his everything right now. But Maddie grabbed his arm before he could, tears spilling from her eyes.

“We didn’t want to hurt you Danny.” she said, voice soft and broken, “we didn’t want to give and then take away.”

She pulled him into a hug and Danny didn’t bother to struggle or try and break out of it, just let her cry into his shoulder as he stood there, waiting for his own tears to dry.

The next day Jack and Maddie left for work with more reluctance, neither one willing to leave Danny on his own again. But worry didn’t pay the bills and whatever it was they were doing at their job, it was clearly important. That was something Danny was starting to remember, all the things that were more important than him.

Danny went to the library this time, determined to start figuring things out on his own. His parents had said that his sister, Jazz, had died in the accident that had put him in a coma. They said they didn’t want to hurt him, or risk him not wanting to recover his memories if they were painful and that grief was difficult to deal with even without the head trauma and emotional conflict.

His parents said a lot of things, Danny was starting to realize. And almost none of it could be trusted to be true.

The first thing he did was look for a death certificate for his sister, Jazz Fenton. After hours of searching, reading every single name that existed in every obituary for this town in the entire month when his parents claimed the accident had happened.

But there was nothing. Nothing at all.

So next he looked up phone records. Any Tuckers or Samanthas he could find, but he couldn’t remember their last names at all, just what they looked like.

How they had been crying over him.

He didn’t know if he believed that they’d just moved away. Then again, it was becoming increasingly clear that he didn’t know what to believe, if he believed anything at all. By the time he’d gotten home it was late, and his parents were already there.

At first they didn’t believe he was just at the library “trying to catch up on stuff” but they calmed back down once he’d shown them his library card and snapped that if he couldn’t even do that much why did they bother bringing him back from the hospital at all.

Dinner had been a quiet affair.

It took another week of library visits and recurring nightmares of dissection tables and glowing ghostly figures that attacked him before Danny gave up on finding out anything about Sam or Tucker. But he still didn’t stop searching for Jazz.

There was something almost obsessive about his search for her, he just couldn’t let it go. He had to know where she was, and if his parents, against all odds, hadn’t lied to him about that ... Well that was something he’d have to come to terms with when he came to it, not before.

He started scouring the Internet for her name desperate to find something, anything on her. And eventually he did.

There was an old article, from at least half a decade ago, that had her picture under the title “Four Teens go Missing in wake of Fenton Investigation”.

Next to her were two equally familiar pictures. Sam and Tucker… and then Danny himself.

Scrolling, desperate to find something, anything to add up the memories he was getting into a clear picture, he began to read the article.

In wake of the Investigation into the Fenton‘s possible abuse, Danny Fenton (15), his sister Jazz Fenton (17), and two friends Sam Manson and Tucker Foley (15), have seemingly disappeared.

The discovery came shortly after Jack and Madeline Fenton were released on parol and allowed to return home to spend time with their children since no physical proof could be found of any alleged wrongdoings.

What could have caused their disappearances remains a mystery. The prevailing theory is that they were involved in a cult that may have demonized the Fenton parents due to their controversial occupation as “ghost hunters”. Another popular theory is that the children fled the results of the case, afraid of the alleged illegal experimentation. Other theories include kidnapping, witness protection, the possibility of murder, and tying up loose ends.

Will we ever discover the truth? It remains to be seen.

Ghost hunters …

Danny felt his stomach drop, a wave of nausea rolled through him and he had to fight off the urge to relive his lunch.

Experimentation?

Nightmares and half remembered memories started clicking into place, finally , and Danny couldn’t stand it. Why were the only answers that made sense the ones that hurt the worst?

Would it have been better if he’d just let it go? If his memories never returned at all? If he just kept living, eating homemade cookies and flinching from hugs until eventually the itch underneath his skin dulled and he could just be happy as he was.

He closed the tab.

There was no one home when he got there, and it gave him the chance to pack what little belongings he had that held any meaning to him at all. The motions were familiar and he had the faintest feeling he had done exactly this before.

Maybe he had.

He’d made it out the front door by the time his parents pulled into the drive.

There was the urge to run, to go back inside and hide and pretend he hadn’t been doing exactly what they caught him doing. But he was tired. He was so tired of feeling wrong and scared and uncertain and never knowing why.

So he held his head up as they got into the car and approached them with their hands raised, cautiously, like he was a wild animal they were afraid of spooking.

Was that what they thought he was?

“Danny, we can talk about this,” Maddie said, beseeching.

He met her eyes with his own. “Will you promise not to lie anymore? I don’t even know how old I am-”

“You’re fifteen son-” Jack interrupted, lying again.

“I was fifteen five years ago!” Danny yelled, his hand tightening into a fist, “I found the article! I read about the case! Five years ago.”

“Danno…”

Oh, he was crying. It was novel almost, Danny had thought he was too tired to cry, that there wasn’t anything more that could hurt him enough to create such a response and he didn’t quite know how to react to it.

He raised his hands awkwardly to scrub the tears away and stepped back, frightened, when Maddie tried to move closer to comfort him.

“Stay back! Stay back…” he looked at his hands, they were young hands, his reflection too, hadn’t changed from the picture in the article at all. Experiments. “What did you do to me?”

“It was an accident.” Jack said, before Maddie stopped him with a gentle hand on his arm.

“We didn’t know Danny. How could we have?” She said, keeping her distance, cautious. “We tried to fix it-”

“Fix what? ” He hissed, “you haven’t told me what happened! You haven’t told me anything!”

“You!” Maddie finally snapped, tears falling heavy down her cheeks. “We were trying to fix you… but it wasn’t working and you just kept getting sicker… weaker… we had to stop.”

It was too much for her, and she turned away, leaning into Jack’s large frame as he comforted her. “We didn’t want to lose you, Danny.” He said, his voice barely above a whisper.

“You already did.”

Danny left his parents there, crying on the driveway of a house that could never have been a home. He had a clock tower to find.

[goodgirlsfanficawards]

It’s fic back Friday and today we’re here to share five fics from June you might have missed and if not, maybe it’s time for a re-read!

No Comprende by PearlsAndBourbon / @pearls-and-unsaid-words​

13 June 2020, M, 2.4K, 1/1

We continued working with Mrs. B anyway, but the boss can’t seem to cut ties with her. It’s like they are magnetic forces when they come to each other. But after Boland Bubbles opened, things became different. I started to go with Rio when we were doing drops with Mrs. B at the beginning, and then one day I was getting ready to leave the warehouse to go with him to meet Mrs. B.

“Nuh, I got it this time. For real.” Rio explained in his cool and calm demeanor.

Mick gave him his typical stoic look. “You sure?”

“Yea.”

365 Days by NoonWitch

15 June, 2020, M, 3.1K, 2/?

Christopher Sr.'s eye crinkle with fondness in the corners. But then they widen in shock as blood spatters across Rio's face.

The thunderous crack seemed to come before the lightning strike of pain, but Rio realized a moment too late that it was a second round that went straight through his father's body and stuck into his.

He fell over while trying to catch his father, his espresso black eyes lifeless already. Rey was shouting in his face but he couldn't hear anything but a dull ringing in his ears and a jumped up pulse in his neck.

Before his eyes he saw a stunning siren with red hair and milky white skin. She was smiling, sparkling powder blue eyes, a dimple in her chin. The vision of her was immediately soothing. He knew her, intimately; although he never met her, didn't know her name. She loved and belonged to him and her smile was like sunshine on his skin. She smelled like roses, clean fresh linen and something sweet like spun sugar. Her fingers ran through her hair and then he felt her touch him before his heart stopped.

You and I by tae200243

07 June 2020, G, 565, 1/1

Rio could already feel the tears. His baby girl Emma came through the door. Her little eyes searching for him. Finally connecting with his she dropped the flowers (so much for being the flower girl) and ran to him. “Daddy!”

Laughter filled the room. He squats catching her in his arms. “You were supposed to put the flowers out” he said with a smile.

She just shook her head, tucking her two middle fingers in her mouth and laying her head on his shoulder. He shook his head and look back to the door. Ken and Danny coming through, each had a ring box on a pillow. Once they reach the alter, Kenny stood on Beth’s side and Danny hooked himself to Rio’s, who was still holding Emma, leg.

it’s hidden in heartbeats, exhales and in the hope of open hands by nomind / @inyoursheets​

01 June 2020, M, 5.3K, 1/1

His scent hits her first, sends new waves of tears, makes her clench her eyes shut even more. She doesn’t even need to open them to be sure. He doesn’t say anything as the sobs suddenly tear from her chest with force, making her shudder and hug her arms close to her chest. After a minute she can’t take it anymore, can’t hold back, and it’s like she’s right there in his bed again, only this time she doesn’t have the strength to pull back from him any longer.

With the sobs ripping through her body and her eyes still closed, she slowly sinks into his shoulder. The tears stream, absolutely spill from her like a merciless monsoon, taking over her thoughts. She can’t feel a thing except the wetness in her eyes, the steady presence of his body.

She thinks of all the times she would lie next to him, her pillow wet, her body rigid, needing nothing more than his touch. Everything inside of her screaming at her to roll over and find comfort in his embrace, to press close, even just for a little bit.

Shared History by watermelonriddles / @emilykolburn​

26 June 2020, T, 113K, 20/20

It was rare that Beth got a spare moment to herself but when the opportunity presented itself one Saturday night, she took it and found herself alone at the park. It was one of the smaller ones and every time she had passed it, it was empty. That night seemed to be no different but as she laid back on the table part of the picnic bench, a voice startled her.

“Probably not the best place to pass out.”

She opened one eye and tried to ignore the fast beating of her heart as she peered at the source of the voice. “I’m not going to pass out.”

“Sure, sure.”

Beth sat up and shuffled to the end until her legs are dangling off the edge of the picnic table. The boy before her couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen. He dressed all in black and he had his hood up. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his jeans and he rocked back and forth on his heel.

“Can I help you with something?”

If you know of anyone’s tumblr/twitter and we haven’t found it or tagged incorrectly, please send us an ask to let us know.

[cctaehyung]

vi. first snow.

2016 on december fourth. taehyung recognized the date all too well.

the first time he had experienced the date, he had just gotten a job on this day. after a difficult time cooperating with the father of the ceo, he was able to get the job that he has had until the event happened. but as of now, according to kento, he had gotten the job ever since june 20 of 2016. strange date, he thinks to himself. he doesn’t question it any further, though. in this timeline, he just learns to go with the flow. in order to get by, he just had to question everything only to himself since it was obvious he wasn’t going to get any answers from others.

surprisingly, though, he has a day off today. kento and his family are off on some vacation, so that gives taehyung about a week off from work since standing by kento was pretty much his only job. his job was to make sure that the boy doesn’t get himself kidnapped and to not let his father know that kento was watching some hardcore yaoi porn. in those times, taehyung feels the most stress because if he fails to do his job, not only will he get fired but he’ll be disliked by mr. yamazaki even more. he’s already got plenty of reasons to dislike ricky, but the redhead was not going to let his actual boss believe that he converted kento into anime boys with tremendously large hands. taehyung doesn’t even watch anime anymore! he didn’t want to be slandered!

he’s not used to thinking this week when he means that week of 2016. when he wants to refer to a time in his journal that he has kept since then, he used to debate whether he should write one or the other. eventually, he settled for “this week the first time i experienced it” with a sky blue pen to match his magical outfit that he has worn to this day.

surprising as it is, he’s writing in it now. with a color switching ballpoint pen that he stole from danny’s room, taehyung writes a new entry with december fourth as the date, drawing a number two in parenthesis next to the 2016 that begins the date. he begins with “this day the first time i experienced it, i got a job that i have kept even up to this time.” he writes about how in eight days from now in that time, he would experience a life changing experience after he reminisces the past. it would earn him the color of sky blue, as well as the blue flower on his index finger.

in this timeline, he never does go to a hospital. he never stays in a coma for three weeks with a possibility of dying because why would he? according to other special class heroes, they have already destroyed the tantalus in the summer. it’s strange to know that even though he’s experienced time already, he feels as if he’s missed out on so much already because everything else is different now.

taehyung hopes march sixth stays the same.

he writes about life. there’s no one in mind but himself as he moves the pen across the paper. usually, he would write pages about specific people he’s seen. he’s written about yoongi, obviously. there was an entry dedicated to taeyong and another dedicated to envy. he’s received a glare from kana, once. he briefly wrote about that.

though he had thought about kento and his father while writing it, he didn’t write anything about them besides the fact that they got him the job. just that sentence. “they gave me the job.” of course, he feels a little bad about writing it, but it cannot be helped since there’s not much thought into them. perhaps, maybe in the future, he will go more in depth on his relationship with them even if he’ll be the only person reading the entries.

once he finishes writing, he puts his journal away in a box in his closet. after he tops the box with its lid and leaves the closet, he sees danny burst into his room with excitement on his face.

“ricky! it’s snowing!” it’s another thing that differs from the past timeline. he doesn’t remember it snowing last year on this day. right behind his youngest triplet is soonshim who also seemed to be happy over the weather outside.

“snow is normal in december, danny,” he says, hiding the fact that he was slightly impressed by it.

“don’t you want to come outside? it’s super pretty!” danny smiles. “you can even contemplate it while i wrestle soonshim to the ground in it.”

taehyung frowns. “please don’t wrestle my dog.”

“no promises,” the other replies with a grin. “come on!! get dressed! i don’t mind you turning into an ice cube, but you help pay rent and we can’t lose you!”

“who says i’m going out with you?”

“i do! now get your emo ass out here or i’m going to call the police.”

“fine, fine,” ricky sighs before going back into his closet to search for a coat.

“we’ll meet you out there, okay?” danny shouts while ricky was still searching. “and i’ll try not to wrestle her. but if you find the both of us on the ground, it’s her fault. not mine.” he hears hurried footsteps fading away from his room after that.

he finds one, eventually. it’s red with some fur on the hood. it’s puffy, but he knows it will keep him warm. he wears it to match it with danny’s purple one that looks exactly the same. it’s kind of cheesy to go jacket shopping with his brothers only to get matching ones. he’s just glad he didn’t have to get matching ugly christmas sweaters along with it.

putting it on and zipping it up, he makes his way out of his room and the apartment before making it to the open front door where he sees his brother along with soonshim playing in the snow together. even with the sight in front of him, he doesn’t feel left out from their shenanigans (in fact, he didn’t want to partake in them in the first place). rather, he pays attention to how the snow falls and he thinks to himself silently while they do. due to the fact that it was the season of his birthday and of his favorite holiday, winter had always been his favorite out of the four. the feeling stepping on snow with shoes felt satisfying as he ruins a perfect, untouched bed of white with one footstep. it was all the power of such, small flakes. but if they’re all piled up on each other, they can become something beautiful yet dangerous at the same time. it was quite fascinating.

in fact, the longer he thought about that philosophy, the more he thought about the league. it all started with aku, but as more heroes joined, they became a league. perhaps that’s why taehyung feels as if he was apart of something big whenever he remembers his position as a special class hero. when he looks at his brothers who are apart of the same league as him, he can’t help but feel a bit of pride for not only being higher than them (of course he would), but for the fact that they were apart of something big. with him. that was the only thing that could prevent them from being killed more,

it was the only thing that could have prevented the apocalypse.

that was the reason why it started, after all. everyone parted ways and the league was losing members quickly. even if the majority of the league didn’t survive, most of the resistance members were apart of it.

but with the fact that he was looking at the snow and the thought of the apocalypse came to mind, his thoughts eventually lost themselves. rather than thinking properly, he looks at the perfect snow white world and sees gray all over. no longer was it the winter of 2016, but rather the colorless summer of 2020 of that time. he sees gray around himself with only small blotches of red in random spots of the scenery. no longer does he hear his brother’s laughter and the happy, high barks of his card. sounds of happiness are suddenly replaced by the sound of taehyung’s heavy breathing.

in a week from today at that time, he would experience a life changing experience. in four years from this year in that time, he would live through the nightmare he sees now. no one is with him at this point. all of his family has left him. no one was with him to make him feel all better. even with the resistance by his side, he felt so alone with noone to lean on or turn to.

the moment he realizes all of this, his knees go weak and he feels himself fall to the floor, feeling the scenery around him change once again. he’s in a different place, but he’s still in the same time. the whole world was in gray and red once again, but with him is the familiar boy who he held in his arms during his last few moments.

“taehyung,” the boy says with a weak smile. “y-you need to go on without me. you need to protect everybody and, and-” he interrupts his own sentence with a cough, more blood leaving from his mouth.

taehyung wants to shout. he does. he wants to shout at yoongi for being so careless and for getting himself hurt. taehyung does not even remember his intentions for doing so. all he could even think about at that exact moment was that he was losing someone. he was losing someone so important to him that he had dated for three years and he could do nothing about it. when he sees yoongi’s eyes that were quickly losing light, he sees memories from the past and expectations for the future fade away. all the memories full of smiles and laughter and the future with even more vanish in the literal blink of his eyes.

“ricky, ricky,” he calls out silently to get his attention.

“why are you crying?” another voice asks to bring him back to reality.

time suddenly comes back to ricky and he is brought back to 2016 with snowflakes falling from the sky, not helping with the fact that taehyung was shedding tears now. it was easy to recognize which one was a snowflake on his cheek and which one was a teardrop.

danny’s in front of him now. he’s full of so much excitement and life that the longer he looks at his brother, the more sadness he feels.

he couldn’t be out here. he couldn’t be with other people now. he needed to be alone.

“i need to go back inside,” taehyung says, using his sleeve to wipe his nose and his cold, shaking hands to wipe his eyes. “i’m sorry.”

he turns away, walking back into the apartment complex in silence.

[gottacatchghosts]

Dannymay Day 3

April Showers Bring May Flowers Dannymay 2017

Prompt: Day 3: Animals/Fangs

Word count: 1183

Characters: Phantom, Sam, Tucker

Warnings: none

Extra notes: This is an AU where Danny dies in the ghost portal. His ghost half forms before he dies so he looks like a combination of Fenton and Phantom and he doesn’t remember anything from when he was alive. The timeline is a little modified but his first interaction with the human world was the events of Control Freaks, where he met Sam and Tucker. His closest companion is Spooky the owl. That should be enough of a recap to not be confused. :0

Let me know if you have any questions!!

[writing tag] | [Dannymay tag] | [Dannymay 2017 tag] | [My fills] | [fic index]

Phantom likes that he looks human enough to blend in with humans. He likes to hang out with his human friends a lot and that means doing human things and going to human places. He’s not sure how people don’t notice he’s a ghost, but as long as he doesn’t actively use his powers, no one gives him a second glance.

It’s kind of awesome.

He doesn’t need to eat, not really, but it’s quickly becoming one of his favorite past times. Sam yelled at Tucker for twenty minutes the first time the techno-geek brought him to the Nasty Burger but either she gave up or quit because she’s never mentioned the topic again.

He likes milkshakes the best. He likes the coldness and the sweetness of them and he likes that they’re easy to consume, something that’s very useful to his underworked jaw. He especially likes mixing the flavors and always thanks Sam and the workers behind the counter profusely when he orders shakes that have two different flavors mixed together—Sam for paying for it, and he workers for agreeing to make them, despite ordering off menu.

It’s not that he hasn’t eaten solid foods before, oh no. He just likes shakes a lot more.

It takes several months of knowing the two humans before Sam notices something new about Phantom.

“Do… Do you have fangs?” she asks out of the blue. Phantom looks up, half a burger stuffed in his mouth, and nods, taking a huge bite. “Since when?” Her voice is incredulous.

Tucker looks away from his own meal, a feat in itself, and watches the ghost, mouth falling open. “You have fangs?”

Phantom chews as quickly as he can. “Uh huh,” he grunts, nodding. He bares his teeth and pulls his lips away with his fingers. “See?”

“That’s so cool!” Tucker breathes out, staring at the pointed teeth in awe.

Sam is similarly entranced and Phantom smiles around his fingers briefly before letting go. “Not all ghosts have fangs.” He gives a toothy smile that shows off his incisors now that his human friends know what to look for. “Some of the others I’ve talked to like to make fun of mine though. They say they’re too small. But I don’t mind. At least they fit in my mouth.”

“Are they hard to talk around?” Sam asks, eyes trained on his teeth.

Phantom bares them a bit more visibly for a second, amused. “Nah. They’re easy to forget about, honestly.” He picks his burger back up and rips into it, conversation over. Sam’s nose wrinkles and she finally goes back to poking at her salad. Tucker snorts and continues eating his own burger.

The topic doesn’t come up again for the rest of the day.

Several days later, settled comfortably in Sam’s basement theater, while they’re watching some cheesy vampire movie, Tucker suddenly laughs out loud, startling his two friends. “Dude!” he gasps out, arms wrapped around his middle. “You’re like a vampire!”

Phantom scoffs and glares, offended. “I am not! I’m a ghost! Ghosts are much better than vampires!”

Sam snickers on his other side, sitting up in her reclined chair to glance at him. “I dunno, ghosts are so mainstream now!” Her eyes cut to Tucker. “They’re like cellphones!”

Phantom and Tucker both cry out in indignation. “Don’t be mean, Sam!” Phantom whines, tugging his hood over his head, hiding his face. He crosses his arms and listens to Tucker grumble and sigh as Sam laughs. “Ghosts are much cooler. At least we’re real!”

“Are you trying to tell me vampire ghosts don’t exist?”

Phantom hesitates and hums, raising one hand to his chin, arms still folded. “You know, now that you mention it, I’ve heard these rumors.”

Tucker pulls his hood down and stares him in the eye, leaning on the arms of the plush chairs. “Go on.”

Phantom cracks a grin, looking between his two friends. “The Ghost Zone loves its gossip, you know,” he tells them, voice dropping conspiratorially, “and a lot of rumors involve ghosts that are weird or different.” He doesn’t tell them that he’s the topic of a fair few of said rumors. They don’t need to know. “Rumors lead me to Spooky, so they can be pretty accurate sometimes.”

Tucker looks up, trying to locate the ghost owl. “Where is she, by the way?”

Phantom closes his eyes and focuses on his core, stretching his ghost sense out as far as it can reach—which is a long further in the human realm than the Ghost Zone. Coming back with nothing, he opens his eyes and shrugs. “I dunno. I haven’t seen Cujo in a few days either so maybe they’re together. You know how Spooky gets.”

Tucker nods and Sam waves her hand. “Anyway, the vampire ghost rumors?”

“Right, right. So. I’ve never heard any of this directly, it’s always been in passing, but they say there’s this demi-ghost and he has a small fraction of the Ghost Zone in his pocket.” Phantom holds on a hand and closes his other around it, trying to visually demonstrate control.

“What?” Tucker asks, drawing out the word. He leans back, brow furrowed. “Demi-ghost?”

“Yeah, like a half-ghost or something. Like I said, I don’t have all the details. But rumor has it, he’s really powerful and he’s been around for, like, twenty years or so, and he’s got a reputation. Ghosts from here to the Far Frozen are terrified of him and apparently he’s got a small gathering of minions.”

“What’s this have to do with vampires?” Sam asks, bringing them back on track. “While this is really interesting, it seems off topic.”

“But it’s not! Most ghosts assume the other half of the guy is human, but a lot of them assume he’s half-ghost-half-vampire!” Phantom throws his arms in the arm theatrically and Tucker snickers. “He’s probably not a vampire,” he assures his friends, “but he looks enough like one. Or so they say. I’ve never seen the guy. Black hair spiked up to look like horns, blue skin, solid red eyes, some kinda white suit and a cape; it all screams Dracula to me.”

“Whoa.” Sam and Tucker murmur together, sitting back in their chairs, possibly trying to picture this ghost.

Phantom nods, tucking his arms together again. “The rumors say he’s virtually unapproachable unless you like having your limbs torn off.” He shivers and pulls his knees closer as well. “He sounds scary.”

“I wouldn’t wanna be anywhere near that guy,” Sam agrees, turning back to their movie. It’s still playing, though Sam had put it on mute once Tucker dissolved into hysterics.

“Yeah,” Phantom sighs, tugging his hood back up. He doesn’t tell his friends how this demi-ghost, known simply as Plasmius, or “the halfa” by ruder ghosts, only comes to the Ghost Zone when he wants something. He only traverses the Infinite Realms in search of something, and, more often than not, it’s power. He doesn’t tell them the rumors that say Plasmius is looking for him. He doesn’t want them to worry.

“Me neither.”

[arinhanson-yousay]

Quiet Study Session

{Hallpass ch4} The gang learns new things despite communication barriers.

Danny had planned a night out for him and Arin in advanced, nervous about it all, he timidly asked Thomas to help him plan it even. Thomas had seen the nerves affect his husband and of course, smiled through the entire booking dinner reservations and picking the right bouquet of flowers to give Arin. 

"He's too special for like red roses. I know him better than to just get him some basic-bitch flowers."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with red roses!" Thomas chuckled seeing how serious Danny looked as he said something so silly. "Red Roses are a symbol of deep love and romance. It's a universal symbol that means I love you, and when you get red roses you never have to question what you mean to someone." Danny watched Thomas as he spoke, practically seeing the stars in his eyes. And the very moment he was done talking he had to kiss him, both smiling against the other's lips.

"You're right, you always are, but I still can't see Arin holding a bunch of them. It… it doesn't look like him." Danny said still holding Thomas gently by the face. His thumbs rubbing his cheeks softly, just admiring him as he thought.

"What can you see him holding?" Thomas asks excited, putting a hand over one of Danny's. "Pick colors he'll like and we can look up what they mean! It will be fun!" Danny smiled. Kissing Thomas again. A bit longer now while he thought of colors, then sitting back again. 

"Pink and Purple. Those are his favorite and the bouquet will look really cute. 

"Perfect! Let's look them up." They both grabbed their phones and pulled up a search engine, but Danny kept a hand on Thomas, just resting it on his thigh. "You get pink I'll get purple." Danny started to cackle as he read what he found.

"Pink roses can stand for femininity, elegance, refinement, and sweetness." He got out with a sarcastic tone and laughed even more. "That's Arin to a T!" He shook his head but read on. "A deep or hot pink rose can convey gratitude, appreciation, recognition and is a great way to say “thank you,” while a light or pale pink rose conveys grace, gentleness, joy, and happiness…" Thomas looked to Danny when he trailed off, seeing the peaceful smile on his face as he related all those things back to Arin. He saw the peace it brought him knowing the flower he picked by chance said what exactly what he felt. It made his stomach churn a little after reading what his search produced. "What about purple. What am I saying with purple?"

Thomas jolted a bit when their eyes met and he was addressed. For a moment he forgot he was an active participant in this. Just for a split second, he felt like he was eavesdropping. 

"Oh uh, you know." He locked his phone and tossed it to the side. "Purple is the color of royalty and enchantment." He rolls his eyes with a chuckle at the simplicity of it. "Add them if you want to." Danny chuckled more and gave a nod. 

"Sounds great." Before Thomas could even have another thought about what he'd done, Danny's lips were pressed back to him, and his back was pushed to the bed, and his thighs were pushed apart. "But you know what else sounds great?"

"You?" 

"Ooh, so close." He chuckled before going in for Thomas's neck with kisses and then nip, hearing him hum then gasp. "It's definitely you though."

In contradiction to how the rest of the night went, Danny wasn't feeling too hot the next morning. His throat was sore and he coughed a lot so he was at the doctor’s right away. If anything was popping up now they had to catch it quick because he had a show coming up. If he was sick it could not only ruin a chance and promise to preform but the night he planned right before with Arin. At first, he thought that it could be risky to drop the L-bomb just before a big event, but he was reminded in many ways Arin would definitely say it back. That didn’t mean making it perfect was any less important! He was excited to go perform the next night on that high, but now...

Vocal Rest.

It's what the index card read that Danny handed Arin. On the back it read: but just because I can't talk doesn't mean I can't give you a great night like I promised! 

Arin was almost heartbroken when Danny showed up and he saw the front of the card first, but once it was in his hand so he could fully read it, accompanied by the pink and purple Rose's he couldn't help but chuckle and blush. He looked Danny over then, his hair pulled back and dressed in nice, clean pressed clothes. He loved his scruffy boy but damn did he look like a tall drink of water in a button-up and vest! Before he says anything else another card is in his hand. Arin feels underdressed, even though he isn't.

[You look amazing ♡]

Arin blush but then started to laugh hard. Danny didn't even know why but he had to suppress laughter to keep from making noise. He tended to laugh when Arin did. "If you write these in advance how did you know I'd look good?" He asks through his chuckles. Another card is quickly in his hand. 

[Because I know you. I know how beautiful you are]

Arin feels his face heat up and he giggles sheepishly as he tucks those cards away in his jacket's breast pocket so he could keep them. Danny has a few cards prepared of things he wanted to tell Arin on their way to the restaurant. Arin would read them as Dan drove and soft music played. He would do his best to ask yes or no questions Dan could just nod or shake his head to. He told him things too and Danny was great as showing his interest and asking things without having to speak just by how his lip would curl or brows would move. This was the easy stuff but it was reassuring. Both of them quietly basked in the pride of enjoying conversation somehow when one couldn't be held as they listened to music the rest of the way. Arin would sing or hum sometimes, while Danny drummed to the beats on the steering wheel just to get his musical expression out.

Dinner was harder. It was harder to take the time to sort his cards so he started to text Arin, but that was hard itself. For either of them to stop eating, for Arin to pause his conversation to wait for Danny's replies. Danny was sure he hated this, but each time he looked up at Arin after sending a message he was smiling. He got to gaze at him as he read to, just see Arin as he was when he wasn't engaged and alert. What a treat. Most messages Arin would look up from laughing then head go right back into their topic or a new segways. They made it work.

Danny excused himself once, going to the bathroom and just freaking out for a little bit. This wasn't good enough, he thought to himself. He couldn't even talk, how could he get this across? He looked to the door and for a moment just let himself think of how easy it would be for his date to walk right in here, and with Arin, how likely that was. What a strange idea that the men's bathroom could no longer be a fortress to which his dates could not enter… legally. He washes his hands even though he didn't use the bathroom and returns to finish their meal. 

Arin is in his phone when they get back in the car, he apologizes again and again as he types a reply to a business email that couldn't wait, Tucker even blowing up his phone about it. "I'm sorry, I'm such an asshole, geez and crackers…" he mutters as he clicks and clicks away, having to correct many typos from being so frantic. Danny wishes he could tell him it's okay, that he understands. He even wishes he could flirt about it, saying that's what he has to put up when he's dating the boss. So much he wanted to blurt out but he can't. He sighs and removes a hand from the wheel, reaching over and putting his hand on Arin's knee, giving it a squeeze, trying to give him his support. He can hear Arin has stopped typing but can't look and see his eyes flicker to the hand then to Danny, but he knows they have and he softly smiles for him to see. Arin goes back to typing, focusing to save time and not make so many mistakes that will just take longer. Danny keeps a hand on him. Whether it rest on his thigh or go to his back or back of his neck to offer a gentle calming touch of his fingers or nails. Arin shivers a bit when he tries to run them up to his hair from the base of his neck and Danny stops himself. He had to let him focus, not pull his attention. By the time they are home he is done but looks Dan apologetically. Before he can talk Danny is out of the car and tries to slide across the hood of the car to the other side to open Arin's door. It's not very smooth, he almost eats it, but he lands on his feet trying not to lose it as he got the door. Arin is cackling as he stands, and Danny had effectively made him forget what he was going to say. Perfect. He takes Arin's hand as they walk back to Gamma, taking a long way just so more people could see Arin and how nice he looked and that Danny got to be the one with him. He thought of texting that to him, but it felt like that would cheapen it so he didn't. 

The timing was almost perfect but Ethan runs right into them as he tries to get out of Arin's room. "Oh dang!" He looks between the two men and blushes a bit as they both look at him with wide eyes, both looking so damn fresh tonight. "Sorry sorry sorry!" He takes Danny's free hand and puts the key in it before pushing up their hands that are holding each other and running under them, back to his own room down the hall. 

"What the fuck?" Arin looks after him, ready to chase him down for answers, but Danny has pulled him into the room. He grins at him as he holds him to his chest in candlelight, soft music plays and they step on flower petals as Danny leads Arin in a simple sway of a dance around his room. When it all starts to make sense Arin just looks at Danny for a moment, then lays his head on his shoulder. He doesn't know what to say, how to feel, he's just overtaken by such a wave of emotion it makes him sheepish and he just sways with his boyfriend. Danny is so tempted to hum to him or even sing but he stays quiet. He has to.

There's something different in this moment that they both take the quiet time to process. This is different. It's not as it's always been, they connected differently. As scary as the thought had been to them both at first,  as they took this time, it was okay that they didn't feel like friends right now. They felt like partners. However, both were just hoping the other felt the same as they swayed quietly in flickering light. Arin is the first to lift his head slowly as to not hurt Dan who had his head leaned on it. When their eyes meet Dan's are wide for a second, then they are smiling at each other with a chuckle from Arin, then they are kissing. It's not clear who went in for it first and is almost as if the idea was simultaneous in both of their minds. There is a similar agreement as they move to be against the wall, then on the bed, and Danny's vest is removed. No need to ask, no need to instruct, it's natural. 

Arin can feel where this is going, where he wants it to go and where Danny is ready to be, but he starts to speak between kisses. "Dan… was this supposed to be when you finally deflower me?" He asks planting on more kiss on him, then holding him at bay so he could look him in the face. 

Dan quickly shakes his head. Frantic even.

"I think it's nice, you don't have to be koi about it." He says and kisses again, then plays with Danny's lower lip with his thumb a bit as he waits to see what he does.

Danny shakes his head again and turns his head to the thumb as his teeth lightly run over it before he sucks on it for a moment. 

"Was this just a bonus then?" Arin asks trying not to just moan out the whole sentence. 

Danny nods and runs his tongue up Arin's thumb, smiling in that wild sultry way at him, just previewing some of what he's learned and was ready to show him..

"What was tonight for then?" 

Danny pauses only for a second to consider how to answer, then his finger it pressed to Arin's chest and he pokes gently a few times. 

"Me?"

He nods. Arin kisses him again.

"If it's …. Fuck, if it's my night then can we try and… try and cool off?" He asks sounding like he is whining at his own request, pouting at his great idea. "Our first like real real time, it be amazing if it was just like this, right? But! I…" he rolls his eyes and sighs before kissing him once again, trailing that over his jawline and up to his ear. "When we fuck, you're gonna have to be able to scream my name." He teases and kisses him hard on the cheek before pulling back again. Danny looks totally starry-eyed and dazed at him, and Arin is happy to take that as a sign he isn't upset about this or think he did anything wrong. Even more so as Danny takes him gently by either side of his head and pulls him in to put their foreheads together. 

"I love you, Arin." Danny's voice is rough, and meek, but as he holds Arin tenderly it feel like the most powerful words he ever spoken. 

"I know, Dan." Arin softly chuckles and puts his finger to the others lips to discourage him from taking more. 

"No, Arin!" Danny isn't loud but he is urgent as he pulls away from the silencing finger. His voice sounds ragged still. "I lov-!" Arin pushes it back and shakes his head. 

"I know Danny, I know… I know." He nods a bit then presses their heads back together, and they stay there for a while. "I love you too." Dan takes Arin's hand and puts it in his chest so he can feel his heartbeat pick up just before a kiss. 

"All of this to say you loved me?"

Danny nods and pulls a card from his back pocket. He checks it then hands it to him.

[I want to make sure you feel it]

Arin cackles when he reads the card. "Are you sure you weren't just trying to fuck tonight?" He snorts and an instant later he finds himself pinned to the bed, Danny's hand on his stomach, tickling relentlessly. "You fiend!" There is a playful struggle, a little more making out, and clothes lost to the floor before they are laying in the bed with an old muppets movie playing. Arin has some flowers from the bouquet Danny got him and he is sticking short stems and petals into his hair. "God, you're fucking gorgeous." Arin notes just as if it was fact and nothing spectacular. 

Danny sighs in a daze and rolls his eyes trying not to give away how that crass choice of words let butterflies loose in his stomach. He perks up for a second, reaching for his clothes on the floor and fishing a card out of his pocket. 

[The Rose's. They have meanings]

Arin nods as he reads it and smiles. "I know, based on the colors." He says and leans over to kiss him. "I'm into that shit, that's why you shouldn't have wasted your voice." He teases him and kissed him again then takes a picture of him with his decorated hair, but Danny looks confused so Arin stops to look confused back at him. "The Rose's are my favorite colors but like ya know they also mean appreciation and true love." Arin blushes a bit, scared he overthought this and Danny didn't mean what he thought he did. Danny pulls out his phone and types into google to find the meaning of the pink roses again, the purple for the first time for himself.

The purple rose can come in a variety of shades and the lighter shades are associated with love at first sight as well as true love. The darker shades mean more of a long-term love and romance.

"Was I wrong? I still love them just for the colors. You can tell me." He says chuckling a bit, forcing the most level voice he could even though he was a bit shaken and disappointed. However, Danny was shaking his head when he put his phone back down. He looked up at him and smiled, which made Arin melt. He touched his t

Forehead with a gentle finger and nodded to try to show he had the right idea. "Tru- true love?" He asks still lit up pink. Danny nods again. "I true love you too."