Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.
Danny Phantom In "Another Shade of Gray"
Chapter One: Start of the Summer
Danny finally realized what people meant when they said high school wouldn't be the best years of his life. High school wasn't his peak. College was where it was at! As a teen, everything that happened at Casper High seemed so dire and extreme. With the exception of fighting ghosts, high school was petty and monotonous. Danny could barely remember the faces at Casper High. He didn't remember tests nor the parties that he was never invited. Eventually he would go to wilder ones and throw a few of his own. His bullies were meaningless. Dash and the others were nothing compared Vlad and other ghosts. The girls he had crushes on were became obscure. He had a long relationship with Sam. Even though they ended up separating, he learned a lot. Pretty faces were meaningless if the personality didn't match; that was a lesson he'd learned the hard way. Once his alter ego became public, women threw themselves at him. Danny wasn't used to the attention and eagerly caught them. Those women were only interested in Phantom. Sam had always loved Danny, both Fenton and Phantom. He'd thrown that love away. Despite the breakup, they remained friends. Tucker and Sam, were the only thing that remained the same for him since high school.
Regan MacNeil University had everything. It was a large, diverse campus. Danny now had friends from all walks of life. There was always something to do: always a game, always a party, always a seminar, always a protest. There were things Danny experienced in college that he'd never considered. He enjoyed RMU's large campus. It allowed him to get lost in its size. There were times he was spotted as Danny Phantom, but once the moment faded he became a normal (though extremely popular) college student. More than all of that, he was Danny. He'd become everything he'd wanted to be. Now that he was a rising Junior, he was saddened that it was halfway over. Danny would be in a new stage of his life, adulthood. Danny wasn't sure he wanted that. College had been amazing; the opposite of high school. He'd seen a lot of memes on adulthood. He didn't want to adult.
Danny originally planned to party for a week after his finals; but when he told his parents, they didn't offer much resistance to the idea. That had Danny suspicious. Last year, they'd called on loop until he finally returned home. Danny wondered what was going on. He packed his suitcase and flew home. That was a perk of being half-ghost. He saved so much on travel and saw so much of the world. It also made him realize what he was fighting for. The land was beautiful. He liked the lights and bustle of cities. He enjoyed the quietness and beauty of countrysides. Sometimes he flew low enough for people to see him. People would point and wave. He saw a little girl who had a chibi plushie of him. These were the moments made fame glorious. Danny smiled until he got home. FentonWorks looked the same, but Danny had been in situations like that before. His parents could be in a trance or an alternate reality. Danny's suspicion grew. He tried to faze into his room, but was met with a ghost shield. Danny smacked into the temporarily visible wall and slid down to his stoop. He changed back into his human form and knocked on the door.
"Just a minute," Maddie called from inside. She opened the door and squealed in delight. "Danny! You're home on time! And here I thought you'd stay at Regan MacNeil doing no good. You've always been able to pull the wool over my eyes." She gave him a big kiss.
Jack appeared from nowhere and swooped them into a man-crushing hug. "I knew he'd be here. Who'd want to spend their days loafing in a college town when they could be here experimenting with the family ghost tech!"
Danny sighed. His parents were normal, or as normal as they could be. There was no ghost that could emulate his parents' crazy. He tuned out his father's explanation of one of his latest technologies. Surprisingly Jack didn't ask him to test it out. Danny shook his head. It didn't hurt to be early. He did miss them. "Are you hungry? I made steaks."
"I could eat. I'm going to go put my suitcase up. I'll be down soon."
"Okay"
Danny walked up the stairs and went to his room. He grabbed the knob and twisted. It jiggled, but the door wouldn't move. It was locked. Danny didn't remember locking his door before he left for school. He made his arm intangible and fiddled with the knob. Volts of electricity fried him. He jerked his hand back. His face fell. Someone was in his room. Danny transformed and phased through his wall. He was ready to fight, but he wasn't the only one. He could hear the ringing from the charging of a high powered weapon. Dark green eyes borrowed into his.
"Valerie?!"
Valerie was in a firm stance. She wasn't moving. Danny was in no mood to fight, but he knew there was no avoiding one. Not with this woman. Valerie Gray hadn't changed much from high school. Chocolate-colored skin, big green eyes, long curly hair, thick and curvy, it wasn't hard to see why Danny had been so attracted to her. She was dressed in a simple red jumpsuit. Her arms and legs were very muscular. Ghost fighting made her fit. She clearly didn't give that up. Just like high school, her ghost tech was pointed at him. She might have been the same, but her weapons had an upgrade. The pressure in the room seemed to change and focus around her canon. Danny knew this weapon packed a punch. He didn't want to find out.
"I'll give you five seconds to get out of my room, Phantom. One."
"Your room? This is-"
"Five"
Valerie shot at Danny. He dodged the first blast, but the second hit him in the chest. The wind was knocked out of him. Danny was pushed back with great force. He uncontrollably became intangible and phased through his room. It wore off and he slammed into the wall. "Talk about a blast from the past," he quipped. His parents ran up the stairs. Danny gathered his senses. "Wait don't go in there!"
His parents got battle ready. Jack knocked the door down. "What is it Valerie? A ghost?"
Danny was officially confused. What kind of alternate reality had he stumbled across? His parents weren't alarmed about the lady in red in his room. In turn, she didn't seem startled by their presence. "No, Mr. Fenton," She glared at Danny. "Just half of one."
"So umm, what the heck is going on?"
"What do you mean, son?"
Danny changed back to his human form. He pointed at his ex. "Why is Valerie here? And in my room?"
"She lives here. You know that." Maddie replied brushing it off.
"How would I know that?! When did this happen?!"
"Gosh, almost half a year now." Maddie put her hands on her hips. "Danny, we told you about this."
"No. This is," he turned to Valerie. She wasn't thrilled to see him either. "This is crazy."
"Don't be rude son. Valerie is awesome!"
'Yeah, and you also thought that of Vlad Masters, dad.' Danny kept that thought to himself.
Maddie hugged Valerie. The red ghosthunter seemed to soften. "Valerie's our apprentice. It's been so nice having someone around who's actually interested in ghost tech. It's been kind of lonely since you and Jazz left. With her father in Tokyo... It just seemed natural."
"Yeah Valerie arrives and bam! Amity Park's newest ghosthunting trio!" Jack praised Valerie. "She's almost as good as me!"
Danny frowned. How could he have missed something so major? He started to think back and vaguely remembered moments Valerie was mentioned:
Danny had been up all night studying for this test. Who scheduled an exam the first day of the course? Mr. Lancer would be proud Danny thought bitterly. He was still exhausted from Christmas break. Danny had to rush to class and take the test on fifteen minutes of sleep. He could only hope that he did well. He could barely remember the questions asked. He was groggy on his way back to his apartment. He needed a nap. BZZZZZZZTTTTTTTT! BZZZZZZZTTTTTTTT! Danny's phone vibrated in his pocket. He answered without thinking. "Hello?"
"Danny! How are you?"
"Uh, I've been better. This exam kicked my butt."
"I'm sure you did fine."
Danny yawned. He was barely listening. "What's going on with you?"
"Your little friend Valerie came here the other day. Did you know she was a ghosthunter?! The red one, how about that. Her thermos was acting up so she asks us to fix it. Long story short, she wants to start learning ectotechonology. Isn't that wonderful?"
"Yeah, yeah great." Danny was about to pass out. He responded the best he could before deciding to sleep at his friend's Carlos's dorm to sleep.
There were other times like that, but Danny was either, partying, occupied with a girl, or inebriated. Okay, so he had been told, repeatedly. Still how could his parents have thought this was a good idea? Valerie hated him. It wasn't just the Cujo incident that held her ire. She was also still pissed about him revealing who she was to her father. She also didn't like that she'd been technically dating her nemesis without knowing. She was especially mad at herself. How could she have missed the obvious? Danny Phantom, Danny Fenton? She must have been blinded by anger to miss that one.
Danny couldn't deny they looked happy. Valerie giggled at his father. His mother and she looked comfortable with each other. He would have to deal with Valerie Gray in his home. They seemed to be close. The conversation had changed since he spoke. "No, no, the canon worked great. He went right through the wall. By the way, dinner smells great Mrs. Fenton."
"As warm and fuzzy as this moment is, that's my room. If Valerie's there where am I supposed to sleep?"
Danny growled. He was sitting on the soft pink bed in what used to be Jazz's very pink room. This made no sense. Valerie essentially kicked him out of his own room. Jazzy's room was too girly. Maybe it was too girly for Valerie. He wondered why Valerie did pick Jazz's room in the first place. Her favorite color was red. Pink was just a variant of red. Danny was surprised he remembered little things about her. They hadn't spoken in two years. Danny heard Valerie dash down the stairs to join his parents for dinner. Danny found himself without an appetite.
He decided to call Sam and Tucker instead. They were also home. Sam had been traveling the globe. She had taken up several international protests. Danny was sure she was a polyglot now. Talking with her had gotten easier. He still regretted what he did to her, but knew they would eventually find love with other people. Tucker just finished his first semester of IT school. After being impeached as the mayor of Amity Park, he decided to do what he was good at doing. Danny wondered how Tucker became mayor in the first place. That was a bad idea from the start.
Danny wouldn't mind meeting them at the Nasty Burger. It would always be their spot. His friends didn't answer their phones. Danny decided not to investigate. With his track record he'd find Dash rooming with Tucker and Paulina at Sam's. Danny shook his head. Not ready to face the weirdness of his parents and their apprentice, Danny wrapped the princess inspired sheets around him and went to sleep.
(A/N) I've been wanting to write this story for years. I'm so shocked that there aren't many GrayGhost fanfictions. I've been a fan of this pairing since Life Lessons.
Next Chapter: Beware the Box Ghost (and the Lunch Lady)