Danny, now aged 21, was standing in the middle of the kitchen of Sam and his shared apartment, looking rather flustered. Sam and he had been dating for five years, since they were both 16 and had gotten married the previous year. Today was her 22st birthday and Danny had a special plan to make her night special. He had spent week cowering the internet for vegan recipes of her favorite foods and had planned an elaborate meal. He had gone to the local farmer's market and Whole Foods to buy the best, locally grown, organic ingredients for the meal. Now, as he began preparing the meal, Danny found he had bitten off a little more than he could chew. He was trying to juggle cutting vegetables for the salad, making vegan lasagna, preparing roles, and mixing cake dough.
"There is no way I'll be able to finish this before Sam get home." Danny mused to himself. "At least not alone. I could really use other pair of hands."
At that thought, Danny got an idea. He smiled subtly.
Mentally reaching for the cold spot in the center of his chest that was his core, Danny transformed in a flash of light. Instead of a human with black hair and blue eyes, now there was a ghost with snowy white hair and neon green eyes floating in the kitchen.
Danny closed his eyes in concentration to form a duplicate. While Danny had mastered the use of that power in battle years ago, surprisingly making a duplicate in mundane situations stilled proved difficult, especially if this duplicated needed enough independence for the task Danny had in mind. As Danny concentrated, he could feel himself stretching mentally and physically. He felts like a rubber band that was stretched to the point of breaking, but yet the strain was not painful. Suddenly he snapped and recoiled as the stretching abruptly stopped. Danny opened both pairs of eyes and felt a strong sense of vertigo as he looked at himself. It was like being in a house of mirrors and seeing endless reflections of yourself. Then both pairs of eyes blinked and the spell was broken.
One Danny, the original, shook his head to get rid of any residual vertigo and looked his copy over. "It worked."
The other Danny looked down as his hands questioningly. "Yeah it did."
The original Danny turned back into his human form. "I'll deal with the rolls and the cake, while you deal with the vegetables and lasagna. Hopefully we can finish before Sam gets home."
The Danny that was currently in ghost form shook his head in agreement. "Sounds like a plan."
Human Danny started measuring the dry ingredients of the bread, while Ghost Danny started boiling noodles for the lasagna and making a marinara sauce. While Ghost Danny was preparing the sauce, Human Danny finished with the dry ingredients, mixed in the wet ingredients, and left the bread to rise. He realized that he needed a dish towel to cover the dough but his hands were covered with dough. Before he could verbalize the thought, a towel was being handed to him by a gloved hand. Danny looked at the grinning face of his copy.
"Here you go!" Ghost Danny exclaimed with slight amusement.
Danny looked from the towel to the ghost questioningly. "Thanks."
Danny briefly wondered how the ghost knew what he was going to ask. Then he realized how ridiculous that question was since he and this duplicate was technically the same person. The ghost's grin grew wider and he chuckled lightly.
"We should put on some music. It's too quiet." The ghost mused.
Danny took his phone out of his pocket and handed it to the ghost." Ok. Here you pick."
Ghost Danny took the phone and turned the Bluetooth on. He wirelessly connected the phone to the large speaker in the corner of the room and quickly opened the music app. He then turned on the music to one of Danny's favorite albums, a fun high energy rock album.
Human Danny grinned over at his duplicate. "Now how did you know that I was in the mode of that cd?"
Ghost Danny smirked back. "Oh I don't know. I guess I had a feeling."
Human Danny laughed lightly and then went back to working on the cake while the dough for the rolls was rising. While he was getting almond milk out of the fridge, he heard loud, off keying singing. He turned to see his copy singing and dancing while sprinkling cheese on the lasagna.
Human Danny grinned. "We are such a dork." He laughed.
The ghost grinned back. Soon, human Danny was dancing and singing while mixing ingredients. In response, the ghost started singing even louder. Danny started laughing and soon both were singing loudly and trying to hold back hysterical laughter while also trying to cook.
Danny finished the cake and put it in the oven. He then put the risen bread in a loaf pan and put that in the oven too. He then decided to help his copy wash and cut vegetables for the salad.
Soon, all the food was cooking in the oven and all that was left to do was wait. Danny and his copy cleaned the apartment. While Human Danny set the table, Ghost Danny swept the kitchen. He sang and danced with the broom.
The ghost looked at his human counterpart. "I hope Sam likes the food. I want her birthday to be really special. Do you think she would want to go dancing tonight?"
Danny looked at his ghost questioningly. "I don't know. She says normally doesn't like typical romance stuff but we both know she actually does."
The ghost shrugged his shoulders and smiled lovingly. "We can do whatever she wants. As long as she is happy."
Danny then realized the bag of flour was still on the counter. He tried to put the bag away on a high shelf but dropped the bag. The bag fell on him and flour exploded out, coving his head and the floor. Human Danny turned to find his copy trying to hold back laughter.
Danny narrowed his eyes in mock annoyance at the ghost who then started laughing in earnest.
"Our hair matches now." Ghost said between laughs.
While Danny was trying unsuccessfully to get the flour off of him, both Dannys heard the door open.
"Danny, I'm home." Sam called from the other room.
"Crap!" Both Dannys exclaimed at the same time.
"She wasn't supposed to be home from another 20 minutes! We're not ready!" Ghost Danny worried.
"Go stall her!" Human Danny exclaimed, with wide eyes slightly panicked.
"Why me? You do it." Ghost Danny responded with an identical expression of panic.
"I'm covered in flour!" Human Danny responded with slight annoyance.
"Ok. Fine" Ghost Danny replied grumpily.
Ghost Danny phased through the door to the living room to find Sam taking off her shoes.
"Sam! You're home early." Ghost Danny observed trying to hide how flustered he was.
"Yeah, my class got canceled so I left early." She replied, standing up.
He suddenly grabbed her by the collar of her and kissed her lightly on the lips.
Sam eagerly returned her kiss.
When they broke apart, the ghost looked at her lovingly. "Happy birthday, Sammy."
Sam blushed in response and leaned in for another kiss. She then heard the shrill beep of the smoke alarm going off. There was a loud bang from the kitchen and a loud exclamation of "Crap!"
Sam quickly opened the door, ignoring the calls of "Wait Sam!" behind her. She found her husband in his human form, covered with flour in front of the open over. A slightly burnt load of bread and loaf pan was on floor.
Sam looked back at the ghost version of her boyfriend.
He looked at her slightly disappointed. "It was supposed to be a surprise."
Human Danny spoke up. "Hi Sam."
Ghost Danny floated over to his human counterpart, who closed the oven and picked up the bread. Sam looked between the two. "Is someone going to explain what's going on?"
Human Danny explained. "I was going to surprise you with dinner for your birthday. I needed extra pair of hands." He gestured to his copy.
"I'm the extra pair of hands." Ghost Danny grinned while waving his hands.
Human Danny continued. "Dinner won't be ready in 20 minutes. It was supposed to be a surprise so I needed a good distraction."
Ghost Danny then grinned and looked at her with playful eyes. "I'm very good at distracting you. Aren't I Sammy?"
Sam smiled and rolled her eyes at her husbands's antics, giving the ghost another kiss.
Human Danny looked at them with mock annoyance. "Don't I get a kiss too?"
Sam looked at him playfully. "I don't know you've already had two."
"But not on these lips." With that Human Danny leaned in and passionately kissed her.
The kiss got increasingly heated as the couple got lost in the moment. When they broke apart for air, Sam deeply looked into Danny's eyes. They were now glowing green, as he had reabsorbed his duplicate during the kiss.
Sam looked at him seductively. "So you found another practical use from your powers, huh? I just thought of another. You want to try it later?" She whispered seductively.
Danny grinned. "Yeah. But first your birthday dinner. Then we can go out and do whatever you want. Maybe even go dancing."
Sam beamed. "That sounds perfect."