#is your name danny fenton? why is that only half true? what is your quirk? thats a complete lie but its on line with what hes shown of it

[i-wanna-die-like-now]

Ghost King Danny AU where he meets the past OFA holders in the ghost zone and gets to know them personally, they're the ones that ask him to go to the future to help with some long awaited fight, to ensure that another person didn't die by AFOs hands. Clockwork reluctantly agrees and that's why he is there.

[dreamwraith]

Baking

Summary: In home economics, Tucker and Danny are told to bake a cake. The teachers should know better than to pair those two together when food is involved… Warning: Danny and Tucker are a bit sexist, but hopefully no worse than canon Pairings: Danny and Tucker being best friends. Implied DxS feelings, but nothing official

On Ao3

Danny drummed his fingers against the countertop, and the dull tap-tap-tap-tap created a steady rhythm to the Dumpty Humpty song he had stuck in his head. A tap-tip-tap soon joined his beat, adding a new dimension to the cadence. Danny glanced at his best friend and smiled when he saw Tucker tapping the countertop with his pencil. Tucker returned the expression, but he added a quirked eyebrow. Danny, not one to back down, answered the unspoken challenge by humming softly. As the two reached the chorus, Tucker used his other hand to beat against his leg.

Seconds away from reaching Jonathan's awesome guitar solo, a great SNAP destroyed their tempo and made the boys jump. Danny was so startled, his jump caused his chair to overbalance. Their classmates burst out laughing, and Danny blushed in embarrassment. He quickly climbed back into his seat, but the damage was already done to his reputation.

Their teacher lifted the yard stick from Danny's desk, smirking in satisfaction. "Serves you boys right," she said. "This is Home Economics, not music class. If I catch you goofing off again, I'll be forced to give you detention—and you and I would both hate it if we have to spend more than our allotted hour together."

The two boys blinked stupidly at her.

She glowered. "I'll make this simple. If I catch you two playing around in this classroom again, I'll have you lazy yokels scrubbing every inch of my kitchen!" She turned sharply on her heel and made her way to the front of the class again.

After she'd returned to her lecture and the class stopped paying attention to them, Tucker leaned toward Danny and whispered, "Dude, did she just call us 'lazy yokels'?"

Danny nodded dumbly. "I think she did. What are yokels?"

"No clue…"

"I bet Sam would know if she were here…"

"I bet she'd blame the word usage on Ms. Loretta's man-hating issues."

"If that's true and she hates us, how are we even passing?"

Tucker flashed Danny a wide, white smile. "Not even that witch can resist my charms, Danny!"

Danny smirked, and leaned his cheek against his propped up hand. "There are ten girls in this class, Tucker, and we're the only guys. If no girl can resist your charms, how come you haven't got a date yet?"

Tucker flinched before scowling and muttering something too quiet for Danny to hear.

"What?"

"I said, it's because you keep stealing all the girls!" he whispered.

Danny drew back, blinking in surprise. "What?" He frowned. "What are you talking about, Tucker? I haven't even talked to half these girls!"

"And yet they keep on falling for you!"

"They are not!"

"They are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Prove it!"

"I—"

"Fenton! Foley!"

Danny and Tucker jumped, recoiling away from their counter. But the sound of a large stick striking metal didn't reach their ears and they slowly opened their eyes. Three counters away, at the front of the class, their teacher raised an eyebrow at their odd behavior.

Danny smiled nervously. "Y-yes, Ms. Loretta?"

"Turn to page 324 in your Home Economics book. You and Mr. Foley are baking a cake today."

"Us?" Danny asked.

"Bake a cake?" Tucker added, equally incredulous.

"By ourselves?"

"That is what you are here for, isn't it?" Ms. Loretta demanded. "To learn how to bake?"

Half a classroom away, and Loretta's angered presence was still enough to make Danny and Tucker cringe away from her. "Yes, ma'am," they said.

"Good." She returned to calling out groups.

Danny and Tucker looked at each other, flinching in unison.

"I don't suppose you know how to bake a cake?" Danny asked his best friend.

"I know how to charm my mom into making me a cake…" Tucker answered. "You?"

"Jazz usually handles the normal necessities like suppers and birthday parties." Danny pulled his book toward him and opened to the directed page. "I guess we'll just have to follow the instructions."

"Easier said than done, dude." Tucker tapped his finger below the tsp. symbol. "What does that even mean?"

Danny scratched his head. "Um, I think it means tablespoon…"

Tucker groaned, and dropped his head onto the countertop. "It would be so much easier to get a date with a girl if Ms. Wichita actually paired us up with the opposite sex. I'm always stuck with you in this class!"

"Normally, I'd be insulted, but this time, I agree with you. How the heck does she expect us to bake a cake without a girl's knowledge?"

"It's a conspiracy! She knows why we signed up for this dumb class, Danny. She knows…"

"No, she knows why you signed up," Danny corrected. "I'm here because my best friend insisted he needed a wingman."

"Yeah, but you've turned out to be a terrible wingman. You're supposed to send the ladies my way, not gather your own entourage."

Danny rolled his eyes. "We're back to that? You're being ridiculous, Tuck. None of these girls like me."

"Oh yeah?" Tucker lifted his head, and searched the room. He pointed to Natasha, a geeky redhead with braces and a lot of freckles. "Go ask her for a cup of sugar."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "But…we have sugar, Tuck. Why would I—"

"Just go ask her, clueless!"

Danny pouted but snatched up a measuring cup. "I'm not clueless…" he muttered to himself, walking off towards Natasha's station. Tucker must have heard, because he chuckled and shook his head at his friend's obliviousness.

Natasha's partner, a brunet named Amanda, spotted Danny walking towards them, and she quickly elbowed her friend. Natasha looked at her, and Amanda answered her silent question by pointing at Danny. Natasha's eyes widened, but she smiled at Danny when he reached their counter.

Danny smiled back. "Uh, hey, Natasha. Hey, Amanda."

"Hey, Danny," they said.

"What brings you over here?" Natasha asked.

Danny held up his white measuring cup. "Tucker sent me over to get some sugar."

Natasha glanced over at his and Tucker's counter, frowning slightly. "Don't you have sugar?"

"Yeah, but something must be wrong with it, because Tucker was really insistent I get some from you guys—er, girls."

Amanda and Natasha shared a look, and then burst out in giggles.

Danny blinked. "What?"

Natasha took the cup from his hands, smiling oddly at him. "It's nothing, Danny. Just a cup right?"

"Yup. Oh, and what does t-s-p stand for?"

"Teaspoon."

"…Oh…" Danny blushed and rubbed his neck, thinking, Whew, that was close.

Natasha turned around to get the sugar, giggling softly. Amanda leaned toward Danny, staring eagerly, almost creepily into his eyes. "So has Goth Girl made her move yet?"

Danny leaned back, blinking. "What? What move?" His eyes widened. "Sam's moving? Why haven't I heard of this?"

"Easy there, Danny," Natasha said, turning back around. "Sam's not going anywhere. It's just an inside joke."

"Oh." Danny pointed at the full cup of sugar in her hands. "Is that my sugar?"

"Uh." Natasha blushed, and jerked the cup out to him, the motion sending some of the crystals over the edge. "Yes. Here."

Danny took the cup, and flashed the girls a grateful smile. "Thanks. See you later."

"Yeah…bye, Danny."

Danny waved his hand as he turned around and made his way back to his own station. He heard Amanda say something about brunets, but she spoke too quietly for him to hear. He shrugged. They were odd, but then, all girls except for Sam were a mystery to him.

Well, he amended, Sam is a mystery sometimes too, but she's like one of the guys! …If I said that to her face she'd probably kill me…

Tucker grinned at Danny once he reached their counter. "So…"

Danny raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"How did it go?"

Danny set the cup of sugar on the countertop. "I got the sugar. What was wrong with ours, by the way?"

Tucker frowned. "That's it? Just the sugar? You didn't get her phone number or anything?"

"No…" Danny said slowly. "Was I supposed to get her phone number for you? Is that what a wingman would do?"

Tucker face-palmed. "My gosh, Danny, you are clueless."

"Hey! I'm still new to this wingman stuff!"

"I don't mean that!" Tucker sighed, and looked up at the ceiling forlornly. "Where did I go wrong with him? I taught him everything I know, and yet he turned out like this…"

Danny wrinkled his nose, eyeing his best friend warily. "You're…acting weird, dude. …Are you being overshadowed?

"Of course not!"

"Then can we just bake the cake already?"

Tucker shrugged. "Might as well. Clearly nothing else is going to happen in this class…And it might be fun…"

Danny chuckled. "If Loretta heard you say that, she'd kick you out of her kitchen for suspicious behavior."

"Good thing she didn't hear it then."

"True." Danny pulled the cooking book towards him, and read a few of the instructions. "Alright. It says we first have to get a large mixing bowl."

Tucker bent down, and reached into the cupboard beneath their counter. He pulled out two bowls. "Red one or blue one?" "Does it matter?"

"I guess not." He put the blue one away, and placed the red one on the counter. "Next?"

"Um, 'pour in two cups of all purpose flour'," Danny read.

Tucker cocked his head to the side. "Is there another purpose for flour?"

"I once dumped a bag of flour over myself when I was eight," Danny said slowly. "Dad saw me, shouted GHOST, and brought out his prototype ecto-gun…Does that count?"

Tucker winced. He reached out a hand, and patted Danny's shoulder. "That's rough, dude."

His best friend shrugged; the present had numbed the pain from the past. Danny opened the flour container and measured out a cup. Tucker watched him pour the fluffy whiteness into the bowl with large, unblinking eyes. Danny repeated the process, and when he poured the last cup into the bowl, Tucker sighed in relief.

"This isn't so bad. We can totally do this!"

"Yeah," Danny agreed, smiling, "so far so good. Next is one, one half cup of sugar." He snatched the acquired cup of sugar off the counter, and dumped it into the bowl. He frowned questionably at Tucker "…Should I get a half cup from Natasha and Amanda, too?"

Tucker rolled his eyes. "No. Our sugar will do."

"If our sugar was fine, why did you make me get some from them?"

"A misguided attempt to help my friend overcome his issues," Tucker responded curtly. "Pour in another cup of sugar already."

"But the book says to only add another half cup."

"So? It's sugar!" Tucker waved his hands around. "How can sugar ruin anything?"

Danny grinned. "We'll have the sweetest cake in the class!"

"You bet!"

Danny dumped another cup of sugar into the bowl.

"'Half cup of shortening'," Tucker read. He frowned. "What the heck is shortening?"

"I don't know," Danny said. "Is it supposed to make you shrink?"

"Who wants that? Leave it out?"

"Leave it out."

"'Three and a half t-s-p of baking soda'…Are you sure that means tablespoons?"

Danny brows furrowed, thinking back. "Um, actually, I think Natasha said it was something else…"

"Like…?"

"…Uh, what's that other measuring spoon?"

"…I don't know!" Tucker threw up a hand. "Do I look like the kind of guy who would know? Why don't you go and ask a girl what it means?"

"Me?" Danny asked incredulously. "Why me?"

"Because the girls actually like you!"

"Don't start that again!"

"It's true!"

"It is not!"

"Problem, boys?"

Danny gasped, startled into another jump. His hand knocked against the bowl, and it would have fallen off the counter, if Tucker hadn't jumped forward and caught it. Both boys sighed in relief. They flashed each other triumphant grins, but Ms. Loretta, standing over them, frowned disapprovingly.

"Be careful!" she hissed.

"Sorry, Ms. Loretta," the boys said meekly.

"By the way, teach," Tucker said before Loretta could turn away. "What does t-s-p stand for?"

Loretta scowled. "You would already know the answer to that if you actually paid attention in my class." She walked away, leaving the boys to gape after her without an answer.

"Now that," Danny said slowly, "is one mean teacher…"

"Uh-huh…" Tucker agreed.

Danny rubbed his neck, and asked hesitantly, "What do we do now?"

"We'll use tablespoons," Tucker responded, like it was obvious. "As they say, you're first guess is your best guess…or something like that." He pulled a tablespoon out of the drawer and started measuring out the suspected amount of baking soda.

"I don't know, Tuck," Danny said hesitantly. "I have a bad feeling about this…"

Tucker scoffed, rolling his eyes. "We're baking a cake, Danny. What's the worst that can happen? Worst case scenario, the Lunch Lady makes an appearance and gets in a fight with Ms. Grouch…Actually, that'd be totally awesome!" Tucker laughed, imagining the fight. Danny smiled. "Now where's the vinegar? Mom's secret ingredient for everything is vinegar…"

------------------------------------------

"FENTON! FOLEY!"

Danny fought evil ghosts on a regular basis, but somehow Ms. Loretta's shouts always made him jump. It made no sense to him! And because the floor was covered in slippery foam, when he landed on his feet, he instantly lost his footing and fell on his butt with splash. Tucker managed to avoid Danny's fate by clinging desperately to the countertop, but his feet did a funny dance over the slick tiles.

Danny pointed a finger at his best friend. "He did it!"

"Lies!" Tucker shouted. He regained his balance, and pointed a finger of his own at Danny. "I'm innocent! Danny's the one who thought t-s-p meant tablespoons!"

"But Tucker was the one who wanted to add the vinegar!"

"And Danny didn't stop me!"

"That explains the foam," Ms. Loretta growled, her voice strained, "but not the flour or the eggs!"

Tucker grimaced as egg yolk slid down his face. "Danny threw eggs at me because he's in some serious denial."

"That's not true!" Danny objected. "I threw eggs at him, because Tucker dumped the flour over m-m-m—ACHOO!" Danny sneezed, and the force of the blast sent his head colliding with the bottom cabinets. The force made the white powder waft off Danny's hair and float around his head. "Ow…"

"But I only dumped the flour over him because I got frustrated with the cake and his cluelessness!"

"I'm not clueless!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"If you're not clueless, then how come you haven't noticed all the moves Sam has made?"

"What moves?"

"You would know if you weren't so clueless!"

"I'm not clueless!"

"Yes you are! And you're a terrible wingman!"

"I never even wanted to be your wingman!"

"Good because you suck at it!"

"And you suck at baking!"

"Like you're any better!"

"I—"

"DETENTION!"

[ibelieveinahappilyeverafter]

Danny Phantom - Transparent

Author Comments: Ha, and you all thought you were rid of me, didn’t you? Too bad for you I’m still here and back with some more stories! This is one of my commissions I finished recently and, god willing, there’s more where this came from!

Summary: Ghostwriter, also known as Andrew Riter, has had a long and difficult life, and a rather difficult afterlife, too. So, when his boyfriend, Danny Fenton/Phantom, starts acting oddly, it’s clear that there’s only one answer as to the cause. Danny was going to betray him to his ghost-hunting parents — now if only he could convince his brother of the matter. 

Fandom: Danny Phantom

Relationship: Ghostwriter | Andrew Riter/Danny Fenton/Phantom

Characters: Ghostwriter | Andrew Riter, Dannny Fenton/Phantom, Randy Riter (Ghostwriter’s Brother)

Rating: Teen Audiences

Word Count: 3,622

Transaction Amount: $20 

                                                      ⁂

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                                    Read the story on AO3!

                                                       ⁂

Typically, considering the rather complicated lives as religion-obsessed assassins they had led when they were, well, alive, Andrew’s brother was rather good about believing him when Andrew suspected someone of showing signs of betrayal. This time, however, Randy looked less amused and more disappointed, arms crossed as he sighed and spoke a vaguely annoyed, “Have you been working on your murder mystery books again?”

“Randy.” Andrew Riter, better known to some as the Ghostwriter, liked to believe that he was a rather logical person. With the fact that he was one of the few ghosts in the Ghost Zone who wasn’t absolutely insane or obsessed with world domination, he had a much firmer grasp on reality and those around him. As such, he knew when he was being paranoid versus when something actually concerning was taking place. “We’ve been betrayed before and I’m telling you that all of the signs are there-!”

Randy held up a hand to stop him, looking even more disappointed than he had even just a minute ago. It was almost impressive and Andrew hated how he immediately snapped his mouth shut, Randy nodding before continuing with a firm, “Your boyfriend is not plotting to betray you.”

“But he could be!” Andrew burst out, throwing his arms up into the air. “It would be perfect, too, because no one would ever expect the hero Danny Phantom to betray his partner!” It all made sense and the plot was laid out in front of him like a glaringly bright yellow brick road. 

“Andrew,” Randy groaned, moving to collapse against a plush, overstuffed couch that Andrew was particularly fond of. There was a reason he kept that couch in his study, after all, which was where he had hidden himself until he could parse out Danny’s true intentions. “Danny couldn’t even lie to you when he was trying to surprise you for his birthday.”

“Which would make his betrayal all the more possible!” Andrew shot back, mind whirling with snippets of conversations and interactions as he paced his study. “He always has to be home on Saturday mornings and when I asked why he looked away and nervously lied about how it was a medical thing-”

“What makes you think that was a lie?” Randy was all but ignoring him, flipping through one of Andrew’s manuscripts that he had thrown towards the couch in a fit of rage. Andrew felt no qualms in picking up a rather large thesaurus and throwing it at Randy, pleased at the following yelp of pain. “Hey!”

Andrew went back to his pacing, ignoring the swears aimed his way as he thought over the other day’s questioning about why Danny always had to be home at the same time on Saturday mornings of all things. Danny had been so nervous, avoiding eye contact and shuffling his weight around and even going so far as to flinch when Andrew had raised a hand to gently rub his shoulder. It was clear to see that Danny knew Andrew was clued in on his future betrayal. 

Catching the book he saw flying at him out of the corner of his eye, Andrew looked to Randy, an annoyed expression showing that he had clearly said something that Andrew hadn’t heard. Andrew decided to respond with a simple, “You’re wrong.”

“You have no idea what I said, do you?” Randy scoffed, Andrew only smirking because replying like that meant Randy knew he was wrong in whatever he had said so ha. “Okay, so the medical thing is a bit weird, but maybe it’s just something he has to do that he’s embarrassed about. That doesn’t mean he’s betraying you.”

“It also doesn’t mean that he’s not not betraying me,” Andrew snapped out, pausing and wrinkling his nose because, hm, that had not felt like good sentence structure. There had to be a better way to word that thought. Perhaps- “Ow.”

Rubbing his now sore head, Andrew glared at Randy, who smirked because he was stupid and had stupid perfect aim and Andrew didn’t care what he said being hit in the back of the head with a pen hurt. Andrew made a mental reminder to make him suffer later, continuing his point instead with a firm, “It makes sense.”

“Fine. Let’s indulge your paranoia for a few minutes here.” Randy sat up as Andrew fought off the urge to insist that it wasn’t paranoia. “Who exactly would Danny betray you too?” Ah, well, that… was a question, certainly. “Seriously?”

“Well excuse me for being more worried about the actual betrayal aspect of this plot!” Andrew snapped back, crossing his arms and looking down at aged, ruffled carpet. “The Observants-”

“They hate me and Danny way more than they hate you,” Randy interrupted with a scoff, which… was true; as much as Andrew hated to admit it. He was just waiting on the day when Randy was kidnapped by the one-eyed cretins. “Try again.”

Andrew chewed on the inside of his cheek, mentally paging through the ghosts and humans that they both knew. “Guys-in-White?” Before Randy could throw something at him again, Andrew shook his own head, “Mm, no.” Danny hated the Guys-in-White more than any other ghost he knew. Plus, it would be embarrassing to be handed over to them. “He would at least have the good sense to give me to his parents, first-”

Snapping his mouth shut, Andrew stared at the ground because that was it. The thread of the plot that had just been out-of-sight. Danny’s parents; the ghost hunters. It made perfect sense. Danny had yet to tell the two of his ghostly nature, but he had been hinting towards it. What better way to get in their good graces than to offer up an actual ghost? 

Andrew looked to Randy, who immediately shook his head, “No- No, no, no, he is not planning on offering you up to his parents-”

“It makes sense.” It was the perfect plan — the perfect story. Danny Fenton, the boy cursed with ghost powers with ghost hunters as parents. What better way to earn forgiveness and respect than to give them that which they had been so desperately hunting over the years? It lined up into clean, crisp arcs: the meeting, the fall, the betrayal, the end. 

Feeling the thrum under his skin of danger, Andrew turned to start pacing again, instead running right into Randy’s chest. His brother caught him by his shoulders, stilling him and holding him in place while looking at him with an expression that was equal parts annoyed and concerned, “What manuscript are you working on right now?”

Ah, now, this is where Randy would dismiss all his worries and say he was paranoid because he had spent too long in one genre. Andrew, though, knew how to get around this. “I’m afraid it doesn’t have a name at the moment-”

“Andrew.” Damn Randy and his knowledge of Andrew’s small quirks and oddities. 

“A Crimson Dinner,” Andrew muttered reluctantly, trying not to wince at Randy’s glaring look. “So what if I have been working on murder mysteries again! That doesn’t explain Danny’s odd behavior!” 

“Jesus,” Randy groaned, Andrew hating how he had the instinctive urge, even after so long, to scold him for taking the Lord’s name in vain. Hm, maybe he had been working on his latest manuscript for a touch too long. “Andy. That kid fucking loves you. He is not going to betray you to his parents — who are not that good at being ghost hunters, by the way.” 

Andrew read the concern buried in Randy's voice and the way his hands tightened on his shoulders in clear worry. What was even clearer was the plea in his eyes to just drop the matter. If this had been another time Andrew would have nodded and agreed that he was being paranoid. He would have lied to Randy’s face and felt no remorse. 

As it was now, though, Andrew only continued with a firm, unyielding, “But what if-” Randy’s groan was unappreciated, but he at least wasn’t flying away from him in a fit of rage.

Which was excellent. Andrew needed a sounding board so he could begin crafting a plan to deal with his boyfriend’s future betrayal.

⁂

“You’re being weird.” Blinking at the half-ghost that was sitting in his lap and staring at him with amused suspicion, Andrew decided to respond by innocently tilting his head. “Don’t play cute with me. I know you know what I mean.” 

“Haven’t the faintest,” Andrew denied, shivering as Danny’s palms, cool and soft, rubbed against the stubble dotted across his cheeks as the younger leaned closer. “No idea at all.”

“None whatsoever, huh?” Danny raised an eyebrow, those palms still cool against him as he gently nudged Andrew closer to him, pressing a sweet, soft kiss to the tip of his nose. “Not even a bit of an idea?” 

“None whatsoever,” Andrew repeated distractedly, unable to help his frown when Danny pouted and ‘collapsed’ against his chest. Honestly, this one was bad for his heart in far too many ways. “Why do you think I’m acting suspicious?” 

“I didn’t say suspicious,” Danny snorted, looking up at him with a look torn between annoyance and amusement. It was such a sweet look, and Andrew almost didn’t even feel all that bad that it would be Danny to betray him. “I said you’re being weird. You’re acting all… observant-y.” 

Andrew knew Danny no doubt meant that Andrew had been keeping a much more careful eye on him over the past couple of days, but he couldn’t help his immediate response of, “There’s no need for insults, mon cher.” 

The confusion fading into startled laughter was worth the pang of knowing this would, one day, come to an end. Besides, it was hard to feel too upset when Danny was so sweet about the way he earned his trust, cuddling closer to him and giving him soft kisses and teasing him gently and warmly. Really… if this was to be his final hell, it wasn’t one Andrew was all that keen about fighting against. 

“Don’t think I’m dropping this,” Danny managed to mutter between kisses, seemingly as distracted as Andrew was becoming. “You’re still acting weird — and that’s coming from the teenage half-ghost superhero.” 

Andrew scoffed, rolling his eyes as Danny curled back up against his chest, near hiding against him, “And here, I believe, is where I say something about the pot calling the kettle black?” Danny stuck his tongue out, Andrew clucking his own in response. “Maybe I’m just busy trying to uncover all of your secrets.”

It was a tease as much as it was a test, but it hurt more than Andrew would have thought when he felt Danny jolt against him, sudden and sharp as a swirl of fear flashed across his eyes. Danny’s words tumbled together and fell out of him a rush, a half-panicked, “Looks like you caught me. I did steal Sam’s nail polish in seventh grade.”

“I knew it,” Andrew said seriously, responding just how was expected of him. He might have been tempted to put more humor into the situation if it didn’t feel like his chest was aching with the realization that he had been right. Yes… he supposed he really had known it. “Danny…”

Danny, nervously shifting and adjusting to where he was once again sitting beside him rather than straight in his lap, paused to give him a look that was just as nervous, “Yeah?”

“I…” He what? He knew that Danny was going to betray him to his parents? He was fully aware that Danny was keeping something from him and had no intention of telling him? He still loved Danny even though he knew what was going to happen? 

A million words floated through his head, Andrew trying them all out silently one after the other. I love you. No. This wasn’t the time even if it was true. I know what you’re going to do. No, no, no, that sounded far too accusatory. Andrew didn’t want to start a fight with Danny when it felt like he was trying to claw his heart back together as it was. Why did it have to come to this? Don’t you love me? Did I do something wrong? What did I miss? Please, don’t do this- 

“Andrew?” Danny’s quiet voice broke up his thoughts, a cool hand cupping his cheek as eyes looked at him with a potent mixture of worry and concern. It was the barest edges of caution that had him near recoiling, though. “Are you-”

“I’m not blind.” It was nowhere near what he wanted to say exactly, but it was at least a somewhat subtle start. “You… You do know I’m not blind, don’t you?” He had to have known that Andrew was fully aware of what was about to happen. Right? 

“I- Yeah, of course- I mean-! Yeah! I know that!” That caution spiraled out into panic and fear, Danny quickly standing up. “Right, well, uh, I’m gonna go, you know- Kitchen. Food, and everything- Yeah.” Danny was rushing away towards another part of Andrew’s lair before Andrew himself could even offer a response. 

His only saving grace — and oh how far he had fallen to even so much as think that — was Randy entering the room with a low whistle only seconds after Danny had truly left. Andrew didn't know if the man was just that good at sniffing out drama or if he had felt Andrew’s turbulent emotions. 

“Accuse him of his ultimate betrayal of your love and shit that soon? Thought you would have held it in for at least another week or two.” If this were even earlier that day, Andrew would have been tempted to roll his eyes and toss a book at his brother. As it was, Andrew just stared in the direction Danny had taken off towards; the opposite direction of the kitchen. “Hey, this is the part where you give me your hundred page thesis on all of your paranoid-”

“He flinched.” Andrew’s words were quiet, soft enough that they could have been easily talked over. Randy fell silent, instead, and didn’t that just tell Andrew everything he already knew? “We were just… talking. He noticed how I’ve been acting odd, and I teased that I was ‘trying to uncover all of his secrets.’’

Andrew looked to Randy, hating how everything in him felt like begging for advice and support and he didn’t want to lose this. “He flinched.” Danny shouldn’t have flinched- Andrew knew all his secrets; or at least, he thought he had.

“Andy…” Randy trailed off, not saying anything else. When it looked like he was about to try to speak, Andrew simply shook his head. He didn’t need advice. 

Not when the matter would be dealt with soon enough — one way or another. 

⁂

In truth, after his discussion with Randy, Andrew had been prepared to wait months or even years for Danny’s betrayal. The both of them were patient when it came to important matters and Danny was far cleverer than people gave him credit for. He also didn’t like to lose. With that in mind, Andrew had been prepared to wait. 

He hadn’t expected, three days later, to be wincing at Danny’s cold, aching tone when he snapped out a harsh, “Fine. You figured it out. Proud of yourself?!” Shoved into a corner of the couch and curled up and glaring at him, Danny showed every sign of an injured wild animal. It was harder than Andrew would have thought to fight back the urge to try and comfort the teen and talk him down. 

Instead, he busied himself with the thought of wondering how Danny had known that he had figured it out. Andrew opened his mouth to ask that, or maybe deny he even knew, but Danny beat him there with a cold, bitter laugh, “Please. You’ve been acting weird for days, ever since-” Since that joke about ‘secrets.’ “You barely look at me, you’ve been avoiding spending time with me, you haven’t touched me once-”

Danny cut himself off with a jagged sound that had very clearly been a suppressed whine and Andrew hated how much it hurt. He couldn’t stop himself from responding with a quiet, “Danny…” 

“I just- I thought with you it would be different.” Danny’s voice cracked and the sound made Andrew want to release a whine of his own. “I didn’t think-! It wasn’t supposed to go like this!” Danny had his arms wrapped tight around his chest, curled up even more as the desperate, broken expression on his face snapped into one of rage, green eyes blazing with anger.

Unsurprisingly, it was the anger that had Andrew responding, a spark of defiance blazing through him because how dare he-! “You thought I would simply be fine with you betraying me by offering me up to your parents on a silver platter as some- Some gift-” 

“What?” Danny’s tone, loud and sudden and confused, had Andrew snapping his mouth shut. Danny no longer looked angry and hurt and cornered, instead he simply stared at Andrew, blinking slowly. “Hang on… Hang on- Andy, what do you mean when you say I’m ‘betraying you?’” There was confusion and caution and… hope?

It was the hope that caught Andrew off guard, all of his meticulous notes about how odd Danny had been acting as proof of his upcoming betrayal disappearing. Instead he could only stare before managing a weak, “You’re… going to betray me and offer me up to your parents as a peace offering? A ghost they can study before revealing your own ghostly nature to them?”

The laugh, wild and sharp and sudden and relieved, was not something Andrew had expected from Danny. Nor had he expected the rushed out, blurted words of, “I’m trans.” Andrew simply… stared. He had expected betrayal, and heartache, and the bitter reminder that humanity and the dead could never truly be, but he had not expected… that. Danny seemed to realize as such, all of his fear and worry and anger seeming to vanish as a smile reappeared. “You know. Transgender?”

“I- Yes.” Trans. Danny was transgender. “I’m aware of what trans means.” He knew what it meant, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t surprised because he hadn’t… been expecting that. “I… Well. I suppose that does rather make more sense than you betraying me to your parents, doesn’t it?”

Andrew barely took a seat on the couch before he had Danny in his lap, Andrew’s hands snapping out to steady him before he was very quickly distracted by lips pressed against his own. When Danny finally pulled back, it was to more laughter muffled against his cheek as the other buried his way against him, “I can’t believe- Out of every possible sign you thought-!”

“Yes, thank you!” Andrew interrupted, refusing to focus on the warmth he could feel in his cheeks. Ghosts may have been dead, but they could still flush in embarrassment, apparently. “It made a remarkable amount of sense at the time.” Ah… Randy was never going to let him live this down once he found out.

“Oh, yes, of course,” Danny said seriously, leaning back to cup Andrew’s cheeks with his hands, pressing just enough to squish them and make Andrew try to squirm away. Danny, the brat, didn’t let him. “It makes perfect sense that, instead of believing I’m trans, you believe that I’m going to betray you to my parents.”

“That’s not-!” Ah, but that was exactly what Andrew had thought, wasn’t it? “It wasn’t as simple and foolish as you make it sound!” Andrew tried to jerk his head away again, not putting much effort into the gesture when he was more focused on Danny’s relieved, happy laughter. “You’re just a naturally suspicious person, I suppose.”

“This from the former assassin,” Danny shot back at once, his inability to not have the last word kicking in as it always did. “I pass that well, huh?” There was something in the words that made the ends waver. There was a hesitance in how Danny braced himself, beginning to lean back as if expecting Andrew to ever care about something as simple as that. 

Mulling over his words, Andrew tried a dozen variations in his head before he sighed, truth slipping out of him as it always did around his idiotic, ridiculous, wonderful boyfriend, “Honestly, you say that like it matters.” Cupping the other’s cheek, Andrew brought him back in closer, kissing him softly. 

“Doesn’t it?” Danny asked as soon as he pulled back, a hint of fang peeking out as he bit at his lip. Even as he asked, though, Andrew could see the tension sliding out of him, body relaxed and easy to bring back towards his own. “I mean… does it matter?”

“Danny.” Andrew shook his head, incredulous laughter bursting out of him. “I thought you were going to betray me, and I was still in love with you and ready to do whatever you asked of me. What do you think that means?”

“Mm…” Danny trailed off, learning forward for a kiss before stopping just shy with a smirk. “That you’re more paranoid than you say you are.” The smirk was too much like Randy’s for Andrew’s liking and he felt no shame in grabbing a nearby pillow and trying to smother the brat. 

He had to admit, though… The bright, cheerful laughter wasn’t such a bad sound; and he supposed it was rather good that Danny wasn’t about to betray him to his parents. At least, not anytime soon, it seemed.

[darks-ink]

Darkness - Ectoberweek 2020

Yes I wrote this one because I just really wanted to write Vlad and Danny meeting in Antonym-verse, shh. Don’t say anything.

[first part]

Rating: Gen Warnings: - Genre: Supernatural Words: 2,147 Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Sequel

[AO3] [FFN]

---

“Well,” Danny said, humming thoughtfully.

“Well,” the other person agreed, his bright red eyes absurdly visible in the dark room they were in.

Since the man didn’t seem inclined to talk, Danny didn’t bother to, either. Instead he started peering around, blinking his own vivid green eyes. Even though his retained night vision usually did him little good, he was glad to have it, now. He highly doubted ordinary humans would’ve been able to see in the pitch black they were in.

Unfortunately, the room did not include any hints as to where he was, nor why he was here.

“You’re Danny, aren’t you?” the man suddenly asked, his red eyes narrowed. “The Fenton’s adopted son?”

Danny hummed. He wasn’t sure if he was legally adopted, the human world had so much complicated paperwork, but they certainly seemed intent on counting him as their son. “Yeah,” he finally agreed, figuring he should vocalize. “But I don’t think I know you. Do I?”

The man visibly considered that, weighing options against each other. Finally he offered a hand to Danny. “Vlad.”

“Well, you already know my name, obviously.” Danny shot him a grin as he took the hand and shook it. “But I’m Danny.”

“And you’re half-ghost,” Vlad said, a strange emphasis on the ‘half-ghost’. “Aren’t you?”

“Yeah, well, so are you,” Danny pointed out with a shrug. “I think that the more pressing questions are “where are we?” and “how did we get here?”, don’t you?”

Vlad hummed at that, expression somewhere between pleased and aggravated. Someone was digging for information, huh? “Yes, I suppose you’re right. You don’t know either, then?”

“Nope,” he agreed easily, taking his eyes off of Vlad to look around again. The room was empty and featureless, absolutely non-distinct in how bland it was. “But! I don’t think we’re in the Ghost Zone.”

“How can you tell?”

“Not nearly enough ectoplasm in the atmosphere.” Danny leaned over to knock on the wall. “And these are solid. Humans can go through walls in the Ghost Zone.”

“You seem to know a lot about the Ghost Zone.” Vlad’s eyes narrowed once more.

“Yeah, well.” Danny paused, reconsidered. Vlad didn’t seem like a ghost, not like him. Vlad seemed like a human. If Danny could become part human as a ghost, why couldn’t a human become part ghost? “I guess I spent a good bit of time there.”

“And your parents?” Vlad pressed, cold disinterest in his voice.

Danny snorted, dismissive. “You mean my biological parents? Dunno. Can’t remember them. That’s why the Fentons took me in, y’know? Now can we please focus on getting out of wherever this is before we continue the interrogation?”

“Yes, of course,” Vlad said, graciously. Like this was anything to be gracious about. Danny bet that if he’d been in full control of his powers he could’ve beaten the other half-ghost easy. But, alas. He was still fighting to control his core, never mind use his powers properly. He would have to settle for civilized human behavior.

“Good.” Danny turned away from Vlad, walking along the wall, one hand trailing over it. The whole thing felt solid in a uniquely human way. Definitely no ghosts involved here.

The door, when Danny reached it, was no less solid. He grabbed onto the rounded doorknob and jangled it, but there was no give. Definitely locked. “Yeah, we’re not getting out this way.”

Vlad, who still hadn’t moved, the ass, hummed thoughtfully. “I suppose we will have to use our powers to leave, then. I see no cameras of any sort, do you?”

“No,” Danny admitted, releasing the door and looking around just to be sure. “I suppose you’re right. Some intangibility and invisibility should get us out.”

“Yes, indeed.” Vlad crossed his arms, waiting for a moment before arching his brow at Danny. “Well, go on then.”

“Me?” He scoffed. “It was your idea. You go first.”

The man stared at him for a moment longer, his red eyes boring straight into Danny’s, before he sighed. “Fine, then. But only because I suspect I cannot hope to out-stubborn a teenager, let alone one raised by Jack Fenton.”

Danny quirked an eyebrow at that unexpected hostility. Sure, he’d only known Jack for a month or two, but still. He seemed like a good man.

Vlad’s transformation was similar to Danny’s own. A spark of light from the chest, from the core, forming into rings which passed over the body, and shifted it from one state to the other. Admittedly Vlad’s were bizarrely black, while still giving off light, but it didn’t really matter. Not now, at least.

No, Danny was far more interested in Vlad’s ghost form. He looked rather like a typical ghost, up to and including a thematic appearance. And what an appearance. Vlad had gone full vampire on his looks, with pale blue skin, empty red eyes, pointed ears and sharp fangs. His hair, black in ghost form, was swept up into gravity-defying points, and his clothing did not match the suit he’d been wearing at all.

Hell, the guy even wore a cape. What kinda person did that?

But… Vlad had gone and shifted to his ghost form, so Danny supposed he’d better follow suit. Mentally crossing his fingers that his powers would hold—his core was still settling back into proper stability after his accident—he called his core to the forefront of his existence. Light flashed as he, too, transformed into a ghost.

Vlad quirked an eyebrow at him, judgment heavy in the air. “A jumpsuit, boy, really? You are certainly a Fenton, aren’t you?”

“It’s Phantom, actually,” Danny correctly idly. “The jumpsuit is just a coincidence.” He lifted up from the floor, trying to judge how well his core was doing that day. “Now come on, I don’t have all day.”

“And you think I do?” Vlad scoffed, but started floating as well. “I will go first. I expect I will be more likely to recognize where we are than you.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong, but he didn’t have to be so haughty about it. “Sure, knock yourself out.” Danny swept out an arm in a wide arc to underline the statement, throwing in a sarcastic bow as well.

The gesture clearly wasn’t lost on Vlad, but he apparently made the choice to ignore it, flying towards one of the walls and flickering invisible before he hit it. With a roll of his eyes, Danny followed, focusing his senses on the feel of Vlad’s core so he could track the man while invisible.

Outside it was… also dark, admittedly, but not as hopelessly pitch-black as inside. A glance upwards confirmed that it was a regular dark—stars barely visible due to a nearby city, and the new moon that was supposed to come that night.

Vlad was still nearby, although invisible, so Danny let himself drift over. “Well,” he said when he was close enough, keeping his voice low since they were still invisible. “I don’t think we missed much time. The moon phase is correct.”

“Hm. And what do you know of where we are?” Vlad asked, a tone of curiosity layered under the smarminess of his voice. “Or have you spent all your time looking up?”

“I thought you were going to focus on our location?” Danny shook his head, realized Vlad couldn’t see, then decided to look around anyway.

And, huh.

“Well, at least we’re not far from home,” he said, feebly.

They were on the outskirts of Amity Park.

“You aren’t, no.” Vlad huffed, a sound of displeasure. “Unlike you, however, I live in Wisconsin.”

Cool. That meant very little to Danny. He was pretty sure that it was a state in the country he was living in, but where, or how far away it was? Absolutely meaningless.

“Okay, well… If you know the Fentons you can probably stay over?” He let his invisibility drop, since the strain on his core was rather unnecessary. The people of Amity Park didn’t look up enough to care about ghosts in the sky. “And if you didn’t… Well, they probably would let you stay over anyway. They’d love to talk more about your half-ghost-ness.”

“Joy,” Vlad muttered, and he could not possibly have put more distaste in the word. “And you do not care to stay invisible, then?”

“I can’t keep it up forever, dude.” Danny shrugged, letting his legs blend away into a tail as he drifted in the direction towards home. “Besides, I know Amity Park. It’s a safe place to fly without invisibility, trust me.”

Vlad scoffed, but dropped his invisibility as well. “Very well, then. Lead on.”

Danny nodded back, then shifted into proper flight, making sure to keep his speed fairly low. As annoying as it was to have to hold back, he knew he couldn’t make full use of his powers, not while his core was still recovering from the transition. One day, hopefully, he’d get back to his prior strength.

Still, that did make him wonder. It definitely seemed like Vlad was a human who’d become half-ghost. How did that work, compared to Danny himself? How strong was Vlad? Did he need to wait for his core to mature the usual way? That almost seemed easier to Danny than what he was going through. A slow progressive growth, rather than having all these powers and not having the power to use them.

And Vlad had conveniently skipped around explaining how he knew the Fentons, too. Honestly, he was kind of giving Danny the creeps. Something about his behavior was just… off. Weird.

Or maybe that was just how slimy he was, how haughty, how superior. Yugh.

Vlad didn’t try talking to him while they were flying to FentonWorks, although he did raise a questioning eyebrow at the neon sign when they landed behind it.

“The glow of the sign will hide our light,” Danny explained with a shrug. He’d been told by Jazz that the sign was an oddity among humans, but he didn’t think it was that weird. “We can enter the house through the door up here.”

“Why not phase inside?” Vlad asked, crossing his arms. “That way no one will see us.”

“True. But it’s also rude to go inside without announcing yourself.” Danny grinned at Vlad, displaying his own sharp teeth, before releasing his core to shift back to human form. The flashing light was barely visible beyond the glow of the sign. “Coming, Vlad?”

The other half-ghost sighed, making a motion like rolling his eyes—despite the fact that they were empty in his ghost form—but transformed back into human form as well. “I would’ve thought that using ghost powers meant we were no longer following human sensibilities, but it’s your house.”

Human sensibilities? What, has no one ever told this guy the rules of lairs in the Ghost Zone? Yikes. “You do realize that it’s a thing in the Ghost Zone too, right? Not randomly wandering into people’s lairs?”

“And how would you know?” Vlad sneered back, his eyes dark for the first time since Danny had met him. “You’re what, fourteen? And clearly new to being half-ghost, too.”

“Yeah!” Danny snapped, feeling his core kick up a notch. He was so tired of this asshole. “Yeah, I’m new to being half-ghost! Because I was a full ghost before this!”

He leaned in closer to Vlad, seeing the reflection of his glowing eyes in Vlad’s. “Just because you think you’re a big deal doesn’t mean you are. You don’t know shit, Vlad.”

Satisfied that he’d gotten his point across, Danny whirled around, pulling open the door and climbing down the stairs. After a moment, he heard Vlad follow.

“You are… a ghost turned half-human?” Vlad asked, quietly. “Not the reverse?”

“Not like you, no,” Danny confirmed, opening the door to the upper floor hallway. “But the Fentons will still want to talk to you.”

“No.” Vlad stopped before crossing the door. Danny, too, stopped, turning around to face Vlad again. “No, I don’t think that that’s going to happen.”

“What?”

“I thought I had found someone like me. For that, I was willing to put up with Jack Fenton, at least for the moment. But now?” Vlad scoffed, a derisive sound. “For a poor ghostly imitation? No, certainly not. Goodbye, Phantom.”

With that, Vlad whirled around, vanishing from sight. Danny could still track his core—apparently Vlad had shifted forms almost immediately—but he was, in fact, leaving.

“Well. That just happened,” Danny muttered to himself as Vlad left the premises entirely. “Wonder what the chances are that the Fentons know more than one guy named Vlad.”

He shrugged to himself, continuing down to the living room, where his family waited. Guess he had some more mysteries to solve now.

Like that room. What the fuck was up with that?