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hannahmanderr · 7 months

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DP Shiptember Day 1 - Catching Feelings... Again ~ "Quick, kiss me!" ~ Gray Ghost

Summary: She didn’t even bother to look up from her work. “Who’d you tick off this time?”

“It wasn’t my fault!” He pressed his back flush against the counter. “She started it!”

Her eyebrow hitched upward. “Who started it?” (takes place after my oneshot Glow)

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If there was ever one benefit of working a grimy minimum wage job in a town like Amity Park, it definitely had to be the opportunity to see some wild situations. At a place like the Nasty Burger, these situations seemed even more prevalent.

Kat would swear up and down that a portal had decided to open itself smack dab in the middle of the grill one night during the dinner rush, resulting in half a dozen hamburger patties falling into the void of the Ghost Zone, a backup in the drive-through, and one strongly worded Yelp review from a visiting tourist.

Irving Burns allegedly had to pull Nasty Sauce from the public after rumors began to swirl around town that Phantom had blown up a ghost with a single packet and teenagers came in droves to take handfuls of sauce packets for the so-called “Nasty Sauce challenge” (Mr. Lancer himself had confiscated dozens of packets on school grounds).

One day, the Nasty Ned mascot costume simply got up and walked itself out the door and into Lake Eerie. That story had made headlines on Channels 4, 6, and 7. The costume was never recovered.

And of course, the family of blob ghosts living in the dumpsters out back loved to cause problems of their own, namely swooping in and stealing customers’ fries like swarms of seagulls.

Valerie became used to these strange events long before her coworkers did. She probably ended up stopping a fair number of shenanigans before the public became aware of them. Even after her father forbade her from bringing her trackers to work, even after she learned the true identity of her number one target and stopped hunting him, the drive to keep the city from devolving into too much chaos was strong.

Still though, if she had to learn to accept one thing, it was that chaos loved Amity Park and Amity Park loved chaos. No one could go long without encountering at least a little bit. That had been a lesson she’d learned a few days ago, when Danny Fenton, her rival turned crush turned ex turned enemy turned crush again, took her behind the Nasty Burger itself (because where else would it be?) and shown her something wild enough only for Amity Park. Something strange. Something beautiful.

In just those past few days, she began to expect the unexpected. She’d nearly expected the horde of ghost squirrels raiding the cafeteria storage the other day to turn rabid on her, but then memories of the soft, cool touch that blob ghosts had left on her fingers and arms crossed her mind. And she, Valerie Gray, the self-proclaimed huntress of Amity Park, retracted her guns and set to help the squirrels find the industrial size canister of peanut butter they’d been looking for.

The squirrels had shown up outside her window the next day offering a trash-covered everything bagel from the bakery a couple roads down. It had been such an endearing display that she made a show of “eating” it in front of them. They’d enjoyed it.

And the day after that, she’d been chasing down the Box Ghost when they passed over an intersection and a tiny boy escaped his mother’s hand-hold and toddled into the street to follow them. She hadn’t been fast enough to get there before the next speeding car got there, but the Box Ghost had dropped the stack of boxes he’d insisted on maintaining throughout the chase to grab the little boy and turned them both intangible before depositing the boy safely back on the sidewalk.

Valerie had stopped short of sucking him into her thermos to ask him why abandon the boxes. Why go against everything he was supposed to be?

“My kid is about his age,” he’d told her shyly. “I just did what any other parent would do.” That answer had been so stunning she’d simply lowered the thermos and told him to get the boxes home to his kid. But in retrospect, it made sense, didn’t it? Ignoring the complexities of how ghosts had kids in the first place, who was to say parental instincts didn’t transcend the line between life and death?

So no, perhaps she couldn’t put a stop to all the chaos that plagued Amity Park. Perhaps some of it still made no sense. But maybe, just maybe, if she could keep her eyes peeled and watch for the unexpected…

Maybe the chaos could begin to form itself into a wild, beautifully intricate harmony.

Apparently, not even all the anticipation in the world could prepare her for Danny Fenton to come barreling into the Nasty Burger during the afternoon lull and launch himself through the counter to cower by her feet.

To her credit, she barely reacted. She didn’t even bother to look up from her work. “Who’d you tick off this time?”

“It wasn’t my fault!” He pressed his back flush against the counter. “She started it!”

Her eyebrow hitched upward. “Who started it?”

Before he could answer, the front doors exploded inward.

Instincts kicked in, and Valerie dropped behind the counter beside Danny to avoid the flying shrapnel. A gust of hot wind blew over them. Despite the heat, a chill crept up her spine. She didn’t need her tracker or to see Danny’s breath fog to know a ghost had decided to make itself known.

“ Where is he? ” a shrill voice screeched. Valerie glanced over at Danny, who had gone pale at the sound of the voice.

With a glare, she silently jerked her head towards the front. Seriously?

He responded with a helpless shrug and a shake of his head. I swear it’s not my fault!

“I know you’re in here, my darling!” the voice called in an angry sing-song. “You can’t run from love!”

This time, both of Valerie’s eyebrows hitched upward. “ My darling? ” she hissed as quietly as she could.

Danny flailed his arms wildly. He at least had the sense to keep them from flailing past the edge of the counter. “ She’s crazy! ” he hissed back.

By that point, the few other employees on shift had emerged from the kitchen to see the commotion. Out of the corner of her eye, Valerie could see Tatiana, the sweetheart dishwasher, peering from around the corner, whispering furiously into her cell phone. No doubt to the city’s emergency ghost line.

Taylor, the shift supervisor, wasn’t anywhere near as timid. “Can I help you with something?” they drawled with a voice Valerie knew they only reserved for the most frustrating of customers.

“Where are you hiding him?” the ghost said, her voice sickeningly sweet. “I know he’s in here, I can smell him!”

If possible, Danny turned paler.

“I have no clue who you’re talking about, ma’am,” Taylor said. “If you wanna buy something, that’s fine, otherwise I’m gonna have to ask you to leave. You’re disturbing other customers.”

Valerie nearly snorted. Not that there were other customers at the moment, but if there had been, “disturbing” probably would have been an understatement.

She stole another glance at Danny, who had screwed his eyes shut and seemed to be concentrating on… something. She couldn’t tell. Still though, seeing him so oddly terrified…

Without thinking, she laid a hand over one of his clenched fists. One of his eyes popped open, first flicking down to look at their hands then back up to peer at her. She offered a tiny smile, and his shoulders relaxed marginally.

“All I want is my sweetheart!” the ghost was saying, her voice still dripping with a faux sweetness. “He thinks he can hide from me, but he’s mine !”

Taylor frowned and rolled their eyes. “Of course. Of course . The one time I get the afternoon shift I ask for, and some crazy ghost decides to show up.”

Another gust of hot, dry air blew over Valerie’s head. She and Danny cringed in sync. Taylor was a perfectly chill person and all, but they had a habit of being a little too blunt. And bluntness did not exactly work well when ghosts were involved.

“He’s mine !” the ghost screeched. “If you won’t tell me where he is, then maybe I should persuade you through… other means . I’ll gladly rip you apart limb by limb until you talk.”

Taylor’s frown melted into concern. “Wait, wait, I didn’t -”

Several things seemed to happen at once.

Valerie caught sight of Danny’s other eye popping open, and she instantly recognized the determined twinkle in his eye - the same one that Phantom got when he was about to dive headfirst into a situation he probably shouldn’t. Under her hand, she felt his muscles tense, ready to spring into action.

At the same time, Taylor’s eyes widened until they nearly popped out of their head. Valerie felt it as the ghost surged forward, her fury following her in a cloud of heat and debris from the destroyed entrance.

In that moment, Valerie had a number of thoughts. The first of which was simply that Danny Fenton needed to stop getting himself into these situations.

The second of which was that none of them, Danny included, probably got paid enough to deal with these sorts of things.

The third of which was that there was no way she was about to let some possessive ghost steal away the boy who had single handedly changed her world more than once, the boy who had waited for her with such patience and such kindness, the boy who had kissed her a few nights ago and shown just how much he cared for her through the golden light of a dozen blob ghosts.

And so before Danny could jump up on his own, she seized his wrist and pulled him up herself.

“Ex-cuse me?” she shouted, jamming her free hand onto her hip.

And just like that, Valerie Gray found herself staring down a cheerleader.

The sheer surprise from the ghost being a cheerleader of all things nearly caused her to falter, but she managed to catch herself in the nick of time. Granted, it was truly a ghostly cheerleader, with pom-poms and hair of fire, fangs protruding from her perfectly red lips, and arms almost twice the normal length, but it was still a cheerleader nonetheless.

The ghost did not do as well at hiding her surprise. She stopped in her tracks and slowly turned her fiery red eyes towards the pair. Her eyes landed on Valerie first, then…

“There you are!” she exclaimed, and Danny squeaked, gripping onto Valerie’s hand for his half-life. “Why did you run, my love? I was only going to make our relationship official . Just a little bite! It wouldn’t even hurt!”

Something snapped in Valerie, and she pulled Danny closer to her. “What are you talking about, your relationship? He’s already taken, thank you very much.” Even as she spoke the words, her heart pounded.

This was so not how she would’ve liked to go about this.

Danny whipped around, his blue eyes boring into hers and his mouth gaping wordlessly. “I’m what ?”

“Who’s this now?” the cheerleader asked. She bared her fangs and narrowed her eyes in Valerie’s direction.

Despite the new wave of intense heat that blasted her, Valerie remained resolute. “I’m the girl who’s about to kick your sorry butt if you don’t leave my Danny alone!”

Her words hit her a second too late. She could only pray her blush would be written away as redness from the heat and not embarrassment.

“ Your Danny?” the ghost hissed, her voice an ominous growl. “Some pitiful, silly human thinks she can take my love away from me? From me ?” She began to laugh hysterically. “You have no idea who you’re messing with, girlie. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, after all.”

“Come any closer and I’ll show you the fury of a woman scorned.”

The cheerleader’s face melted into a sinister grin. “I was gonna tear this one’s arms off and use them for toothpicks,” she said, nodding towards a terrified Taylor, “but I’ll gladly start with you instead!”

Valerie had no idea what possessed her the moment the ghost lunged towards her and Danny. Maybe it was the sheer mental exhaustion from having her world turned upside down over the past few days. Maybe it was little more than a moment of panic. Maybe it was the burning drive to prove herself to this she-demon and show that no one would come between her and the people she loved.

(She’d dwell on that last bit later.)

She turned to Danny. “Quick, kiss me!”

Danny tore his eyes away from the cheerleader. “Wait, what ?”

And because she didn’t have time to try and convince him or tell him her plan (not that she had one), Valerie flung her arms around his neck and pulled him in close.

The moment their lips touched, something akin to a spark erupted between them, creating an audible crackle in the air.

Or maybe that was just the ghostly edge to the cheerleader’s shriek of pure rage.

Valerie liked to believe it was the former.

Whatever it was, the effects were instantaneous. She had her eyes closed tightly as she kissed Danny, but she could feel as the heat that had been flooding the two of them stopped abruptly, almost as if Danny’s naturally cool presence had been amplified to create a barrier around them. The change in temperature was soothing against her irritated skin. Judging by the way Danny relaxed into her embrace, the change felt just as nice to him.

“Whoa, whoa!” Taylor shouted from behind them. “Keep it PG, jeez .”

Behind her closed eyelids, Valerie rolled her eyes. Overdramatic much?

At some point, the cheerleader’s incessant shriek became too much for her ears to handle, and she broke the kiss. Still leaned in close, she put her lips next to Danny’s ear. “Thermos?” she whispered.

For a moment, Danny just wavered in place, staring with a dreamy, unfocused look in his eyes. “Huh?”

She thwacked him on the shoulder. “Focus, Fenton!”

“Oh!” He shook his head. “Right! Uh, thermos! Yes! Not, uh… I’m just - um…” He peered past Valerie’s shoulder to where Taylor stood. “Just… don’t let them see, I - er…”

She watched in amusement as he clumsily patted his pockets, then reached beside him. His hand disappeared into thin air for a moment before reappearing with a Fenton Thermos.

“A literal pocket dimension,” he whispered with a goofy grin. The thermos nearly slipped from his grip, and he flailed to catch it.

Valerie was faster. She snatched the thermos out of his loose hold. “Yeah, no pocket dimension can make you any less of a dork.”

“Maybe, but I’m still your dork.”

Her face burned red, but she still managed to point the thermos at the still-shrieking cheerleader and suck her in. “A dork who let one kiss distract him that badly,” she threw back, handing the full thermos to him. “And put that back in your ‘pocket’ before you drop it.”

“I’m not gonna drop it!” In spite of his protest, he slipped the thermos back into the empty space. “See?”

“Wow, congratulations on doing something your average toddler can do and not drop something.”

“Aw, you noticed?” He flashed her a wide, impish smile. “Do I get another kiss for that?” he asked with a wink.

Valerie hummed and turned back to the cash register. “I don’t know. Do you have a decent explanation as to why there’s some ghost girl chasing after you?”

Danny opened his mouth and froze with a finger in midair. “Uh… Okay, wait, listen! There’s a perfectly good explanation for this. I didn’t start it, I swear! She saw me fly- er, walking around and just pounced on me!”

“Mhmm.” She struggled to hide her laugh as she put on her best disinterested face. How was it that Danny Phantom, who had managed to elude her for years and fend off powerful ghost after powerful ghost, could end up struggling this much?

And how on earth did it manage to be the cutest thing ever?

“Valeriieee,” he whined, tugging at her shirt sleeve. “Please! I promise! I’m not cheating on you!”

“I didn’t know you two were together.”

Both of their heads whipped around to see Taylor leaning against the counter and shaking their head. “Or that a ghost that hot could be that terrifying.”

Valerie paused. “Wait, hot like, hot ? Or, like…”

Taylor shot her a glare. “Not. Another. Word. You do you, and I’ll do me. I could say plenty about your choice in partner.”

“My…?” She turned to Danny, matching blushes painting their faces. His endless blue eyes stared back at her helplessly. Something in her chest throbbed faster and faster, and she couldn’t help the smile that grew on her face.

“Yeah,” she said. She took his hand and squeezed it. “He’s definitely mine.”

The look on his face shone even brighter than it had a few nights ago under the light of the blob ghosts.

Taylor’s eyes bounced between the two of them. “Good for you, then, I guess. He can’t stay behind the counter, though.”

#danny phantom #danny fenton #valerie gray #gray ghost #dp shiptember 2023 #shiptember #shiptember 2023 #anyway have i mentioned i love these two

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