Selene: Konbanwa minna~ this is my first oneshot for this profile. I hope you like it.
Tucker: Okay, two questions: One, why are you writing a story that would be guy/guy if you weren't making Danny a girl? And Two, why can't you just post it on your other profile?
Ellie: Oh, chill out Tucker.
Selene: Do I look like a glutton for punishment, Tucker?
Tucker: Huh?
Selene: My sister would be furious if she knew I got plunnies for Danny Phantom. It'd only be worse if it were Detective Conan, Maximum Ride or Invader Zim.
Sam: Why would she be so mad that you're weary?
Selene: My little sister loathes fanfiction.
Tucker & Sam: Oh...
Full Summary: It was Christmas Eve, but all was not well in the Fenton household. With the holidays came for one Ellie Fenton a bad mood rather than the infectious holiday spirit. It was bad enough that Ellie had no hope of getting the one thing she wanted for Christmas- a sign that her parents would accept it if she revealed that she was half ghost and Ellie Phantom. Jack and Maddie's yearly argument didn't help any. Sick of putting up with no signs of a cheerful Christmas for sixteen years in a row, Ellie went to the ghost zone to let off some steam. When Ellie's unleashed rage effects an innocent bystander, she meets Ghost Writer. What began as an accidental meeting ends with the beginnings of something that is more than just friendship. fem!Danny, Ellie is sixteen and was fifteen or sixteen instead of fourteen when she got her ghost powers.
Warnings: Manipulation of time-line, slight deviation from canon, gender bender, light cursing for those particularly opposed to foul language.
Christmas Blues
It was December twenty fourth, and therefore Christmas Eve. Casper High had been on vacation for a few days now. Ellie Fenton, who was secretly also the half ghost- or halfa- Ellie Phantom, was at the mall with her two friends Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, the goth daughter of rich goody two-shoes (in Ellie's mind) and an African American techno geek who was obsessed with finding a girlfriend respectively. To Tina's surprise and slight annoyance, both her friends were very into the holiday spirit. Sam was cheerfully greeting everyone they came across, whether stranger or acquaintance. Even though she didn't even celebrate Christmas. While the sixteen year old halfa was more used to Tucker having more holiday spirit than she did, she couldn't resist a face palm when he tried to use a hat with mistletoe to attract girls. Though she did manage to hold in a snicker when it only got him licked on the lips by a dog and he never noticed that it wasn't the girl.
Ellie was still holding out hope for a better than average holiday season. After all, it had been a while since a ghost had attacked. Even Ember, who took a liking to Ellie's looking past the ghostly teen idol to see a girl not much older than her, and Skulker, who wanted Ellie's head on his wall, hadn't dropped by. Hope was hard to keep, though, when faced with what she saw as an over abundance of joy. She let out a small outburst, just a shout no one noticed, really. The only consequence was Sam finding out why she couldn't stand the holidays. All Tucker even had to do was point to the line for pictures with 'Santa'.
"Christmas is a ho ho hoax!" Maddie Fenton, Ellie's mother, insisted with help from a megaphone.
"Heretic! Santa's as real as real can be!" Jack Fenton, Ellie's father, retorted, loudly and also with the help of a megaphone, "Don't listen to her, kids. Santa is real and he's coming tonight with presents for you all on his flying reindeer!"
As Maddie claimed that it was 'scientifically impossible', the fight escalated. If one cared to pay attention, they would notice that Amity Park's adult resident ghost hunters were scaring some of the children. Naturally, Sam now understood somewhat if that was an annual occurrence. Sam just decided to drop it and try to cheer her female best friend up. She didn't get a chance, though.
"If you need me I'm going to be venting some steam in the ghost zone." Ellie said, walking off with her bag full of Christmas trinkets."
Ellie was sick of the holiday season, she really was. When Jazz and she were kids, Ellie had tried her best to like Christmas enough to get into the spirit of things. If only for Jazz's sake, in spite of the yearly 'real or not' arguments the red head loved the holidays. Most years since Ellie had been leaving the childhood phase of her youth, she had appeared indifferent if one ignored her grumbling and visibly darker than usual mood. Few noticed her enough to see even that, though.
This year was different, or supposed to have the potential to be. It was the first Christmas since Ellie became half ghost towards the end of her sophomore year of high school. It was also the first time since Ellie and Sam met that Sam's parents weren't dragging their daughter out of town for Christmas. One thing kept the half dead girl from being almost cheerful. This year, what she wanted more than anything was a sign that she'd been right when she told Vlad Masters that her parents wouldn't care that she was half ghost. Instead, her mood was worse than ever. The fights had escalated, and Jazz seemed to think that it was fueled by a mix of the amount of ghosts that had been around proving the Fenton adults once and for all as as not being crazy and their frustration over not catching the 'ghost girl'. Ellie had figured that after being together for at least twenty years the "Santa or no Santa" fights would have died down by then.
Ellie's method of 'venting' frustration proved to be blasting the toys and trinkets to oblivion with her ghost powers.
"I'm sick of it!" she shouted as she threw and shot at one last toy- a stuffed elf.
Only to notice too late that a ghost holding a book was headed out of the ghost zone library she had ended up by.
"Hey, watch out!" she shouted, trying to warn him.
Luckily the ghost, a guy who appeared a few years older than her with semi long black hair, green eyes, and glasses, seemed perfectly fine. (She noticed that he was wearing a scarf and a purple trench coat over his gray clothes.)The book, however, was blown to smithereens except for the title page.
"Oops." Ellie said, "I'm so sorry man, it was an accident! Are you okay?!"
"'Oops'? 'Oops'?!" the ghost seethed, "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"
Ellie flinched. "Not... really, beyond the obvious... hence the 'accident' part."
"You've destroyed my greatest work!" he raged, then morosely, "And that was my only copy."
"I really am sorry... I only came to the ghost zone so no one else would be effected by my bad mood." Ellie once more apologized.
"You obviously failed." the ghost said, "And as payback, you must help me write a new one."
The one surviving page floated right to Ellie's hands before he could reply. "'The Fright Before Christmas'..." she read aloud, then groaned. "Great, more Christmas... I can't even escape the holiday in the ghost zone."
"... 'Escape' Christmas...?" he repeated as he accepted the piece of paper back from her, now too confused to be angry."
"I'm sick of this holiday." Ellie explained, "Every year my parents ruin Christmas with their stupid inevitably blown out of proportions argument over whether Santa Claus is real or not... Because of the mood it puts them in, I would be insane if I thought of listening to someone who told me to try for what I really wanted for Christmas. It would be a recipe for disaster."
The ghost winced, his anger forgotten in the odd maiden's distress. "That would get exhausting after a while for anybody."
She smiled. "It's nice to have someone who notices me and doesn't hate me finally understand."
"Hate you...?" he inquired, "What do you mean?"
"I'm Ellie Fenton, though like this I'm known as Ellie Phantom. I'm the infamous 'Ghost Girl' or 'non-evil halfa'." Ellie said, as both a late introduction and an explanation, "As a human, I'm always not noticed, ignored, bullied, or ridiculed except by my friends and to a lesser extent my family. Most ghosts I've met hate me, usually because I protect humans from them and stop their evil schemes."
Ellie was clearly frustrated and fed up. Quite frankly, Ghost Writer, the ghost she was talking to, was amazed she had been holding up so well. One wrong word from her mouth might have re-invoked his rage, girl or not. (Even such a pretty one.) But Ghost Writer had at this point all but forgotten his previous anger. Now he just wanted to cheer his potential new friend up.
"Well then, Ellie, it seems you realized before I did that we forgot introductions." the ghost noted, "I'm Ghost Writer, though if you wish you may call me Andrew. Now, come inside the library with me. A warm drink should cheer you up."
Ellie perked up. "That would be nice, thank you Andrew... would you by any chance happen to have any mocha?"
"You drink coffee at your age?" Ghost Writer inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Hey, when you have to fight ghosts and still have to attempt to study or finish your homework no matter how late it is all in one evening most of the week, caffeine is a girl's best friend." Ellie protested.
Ghost Writer chuckled. "I do admit to drinking coffee myself. I hadn't yet graduated college when I died, and my death was recent enough that my friends and classmates wondered why I didn't drink Mountain Dew as if it were water or the only way to ever be awake like they did."
Ellie laughed. "I bet caffeine doesn't affect them at all anymore." she joked.
"It would certainly serve the fools right." Ghost Writer agreed.
"Ha... This is nice." Ellie admitted, "I almost feel... normal... for once."
"Surely before you gained your powers you were a normal high school student?" Ghost Writer asked.
"I'd like to say yes. In most cases I suppose I would... but I'd be stretching it, with a situation like mine." Ellie admitted.
"Oh? Care to elaborate?" Ghost Writer asked, "I've always loved a good story."
Ellie sighed, then began her tale of sorts. "If it weren't for my friends Sam and Tucker, sometimes I would be all alone. My older sister Jazz likes acting older than she really is and seems to think sometimes that she's a psychologist. My parents... well, they've always managed to be too busy or distracted to pay much attention to me. Even the times when they should actually have the time for me."
"Alone...? And what do you mean about your parents?" Ghost Writer asked.
"The first ghost I befriended is the third friend I've ever had. Any other kid with my lack of athletic ability, outstanding beauty, or some kind of special talent would just be another face in the crowd. I'm not so lucky. My parents are ghost hunters with their own company." Ellie explained, "Since all of Amity Park considered them crazy until the ghost portal they built led to the town being overrun by ghosts, I'm automatically dubbed a loser since I don't even follow the popular kids and their every command like a sheep. The only reason my teachers don't treat me with contempt is my consistent attempt to keep my grades no lower than a C+. So before the accident, a techno geek named Tucker and Sam, the goth daughter of a rich family, were my only friends."
"'Accident'?" Ghost Writer inquired.
"The only reason my parents' artificial ghost portal works is because I turned it on. I went inside on my friend Sam's suggestion." Ellie admitted, "My hand brushed the on button I and possibly my parents hadn't even known existed. The resulting surge of electricity probably should have killed me, but instead ectoplasm from the ghost zone fused with my DNA. As a result, I'm half human half ghost- an anomaly if I've ever heard of one."
"You were lucky." Ghost Writer noted with a wince, then realized, "If your parents are ghost hunters then the almost impossible wish you mentioned must have been..."
"Some kind of assurance that they wouldn't hate or try to kill me for being half ghost if they knew." Ellie finished, "But the annual fight lowers my chances from slim to none."
"But you're their daughter, Ellie. Surely they would love you no matter what?" Ghost Writer pointed out, confused.
"I'd like to think so, Andrew. I really would." Ellie replied, "I even said pretty much the same thing to Vlad when the crazed up fruit loop thought I was bluffing when I said I'd oust both of us to stop our fight."
Ghost Writer was even more confused. "Then why...?"
"They're not just ghost hunters, Andrew... they hate ghosts; more than anything. They're convinced they're all evil." Ellie said, "As Ellie Phantom they've tried to catch or destroy me, oblivious that I was also their daughter, Ellie Phantom. As both Ellie Phantom and Fenton my dad repeatedly threatens to rip me apart molecule by molecule if he gets his hands on me while I'm in ghost mode."
"I would have thought that any parent would recognize their child no matter what." was the only response Andrew could think of; after all, what could he say to that when he'd never met these people?
Ellie transformed into a human and back. Her eyes changed from the faintly glowing green of her ghost form to a shade of blue that reminded Ghost Writer of water. Her messy, shoulder length hair went from white to black. Even her clothes changed from the black with white jump suit that had a D on it and white boots to a black and red vest over a plain white long sleeved shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers. Ghost Writer decided that in either form he'd met few girls as lovely as her, even taking her age into consideration.
"I don't think I look all that different, but my parents are way too oblivious even on a good day to see the resemblance." she confessed.
Ghost Writer chuckled. "Something tells me that your life since gaining your powers would make quite the story."
"I know, right? It sounds just like some comic or cartoon. Tucker and I are always telling if she based a book or TV show script off of our misadventures she could get enough of her own money to escape her parents' attempts at changing her." Ellie agreed, "But she just retorts that we supposedly should switch out video games and reading for fun with finishing the dry and boring or full of hard to understand vocabulary books our English teacher Mr. Lancer assigns us on top of the rest of our homework for all of our classes."
"What kind of books exactly do you read?" Ghost Writer asked, interested.
"More of a variety than Tucker and a much smaller variety than you, I'm sure." Ellie admitted, "I just don't see the point of reading books like 'The Great Gatsby', 'Animal Farm' and books that are basically normal, every day life. And I still do enough of the assigned reading to pass English!"
"... You mentioned hard to understand vocabulary?" Ghost Writer noted.
"Stuff that was written before the twentieth century... Like Shakespeare." Ellie explained, "Shakespeare wrote some interesting plots, but it's so hard to understand the older language."
"If you would like, I can help you with your English homework when anything is giving you trouble." Ghost Writer offered, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes.
"Thank you very much, Andrew," Ellie said with a smile, "I would really appreciate it."
Ghost Writer looked away from her to hide his slight blush, feeling a little out of his element. Had anyone ever smiled at him so brightly just thanking him for a suggestion like that? He couldn't remember.
"Don't mention it." he said, then looking back at her added, "After all, literature is my forte. And I find myself already considering you a friend."
Ellie giggled. "True... and I'm glad. I feel like you're already a friend too."
This time, they both smiled. Neither could remember if they'd ever gotten along with anyone so well so quickly. Before long they were chatting about various books they'd read and even a couple of movies they had both seen. Ghost Writer also encouraged her to cheer up and give Christmas- and her parents- a chance. She would never enjoy the holiday season if she didn't try. Eventually, Ellie glanced at a clock. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise at the time. Sometimes, time really did fly by you were having fun- metaphorically, of course. Clockwork rarely left his tower.
"Is something wrong?" Ghost Writer asked, noticing Ellie's attention had wandered.
"I didn't realize that it had gotten so late." she answered, gesturing towards the clock on the wall, "I should probably go back before Jazz worries or it gets to be dinnertime and my parents manage to realize they hadn't seen me in a while."
"All right." Ghost Writer said, now walking her to the entrance, "Feel free to come back anytime. I enjoyed our talk."
"I'll be sure to." Ellie grinned, "It feels like it's been months since I last managed to relax and enjoy myself like this."
Soon enough, they were at the entrance. Ellie turned to her new friend.
"See you around, Andy. Come see me if you're ever in the human world." she said, then she gave a quick kiss to his cheek and was flying off.
Ghost Writer blushed more obviously than before and put a hand to his cheek, surprised at the action. The ghostly librarian and author wasn't sure if he had imagined seeing Ellie blushing herself as she had turned away. He was sure that he was looking forward to seeing the ghost girl again a little too much for simple friendship.
Before long, Ellie had arrived back at her house... Only to end up heading back to the mall, as everyone was till there. She tried to take Ghost Writer's advice. In the end, she just regained some of her previous annoyance. Especially when Sam's asking Tucker if she had always been moody in December led to him recounting some of her worst Christmases. Worst of all, her parents' yelling eventually ended up spooking the live reindeer that were in the 'North Pole' area the mall had created for the pictures with Santa. Ellie barely managed to keep herself and her friends from being trampled by the ones that even managed to escape.
That evening, the argument was still going. That year it had ended up particularly ridiculous... more so than the year they brought the turkey for Christmas dinner to life. Jack even went down the chimney to disprove one of Maddie's arguments, only for her to retort that it still left the question of how Santa got onto the roof in the first place. It just kept going... until even Jazz was tired of them fighting and asked Ellie to get them to stop. At first the younger sibling didn't reply, intent on giving their parents the silent treatment until they both calmed down. Then, finally, they darker haired sister snapped.
"Enough already! Will you please quit it!" Ellie shouted, then when she actually had her parents' full attention for once complained, "Every single year you've ruined Christmas for me and Jazz because of your fighting! I'm sick of not being enjoying the most cheerful time of year because of your stupid war! Sixteen years is too much; I'm leaving.
From the 'older' two Fentons' reactions, it seemed that Jazz was the only one who didn't have what Ellie said go in one ear and out the other.
"What got into her?" Maddie asked, confused.
"She takes after her mother." Jack said, seeming smug and earning himself a glare.
"I can't blame you for blowing a fuse, Little Sister." Jazz said to herself as she watched Ellie run then transform and fly away, "It's okay, go cheer up. It'll be okay."
Ellie tried to make her way to a non-Christmas home, meaning Sam's house because her family was Jewish. It didn't work... they didn't even celebrate the holiday because of their religion and it was still full of Christmas cheer. So she left fairly quickly, and was soon found by both Sam and Tucker. She eventually stopped in a park, depressed that she was the only one in Amity Park that never had a good Christmas, except perhaps for Jazz. The latter even put the jacket she gave him because it was a present to her from a relative who thought she was a boy around her shoulder. It didn't help her mood any, though. Soon after they left Maddie came along.
"Thank heavens I found you, Ellie. Your father and I were starting to get worried." the woman said, "We stopped fighting and hurried to find you. Let's go home, you should be home on Christmas Eve."
The new found peace only lasted until halfway through dinner. Now Jack and Maddie were arguing over the milk and cookies part... and how reindeer couldn't fly or have enough energy for such a big task. Ellie face-palmed, annoyed but far from surprised. She got up nad excused herself, not even halfway through the food on her plate because she had been talking to Jazz. The adults didn't even notice.
"But Ellie, aren't you going to finish eating?" Jazz said, worried.
"No thanks, Jazz." Ellie said, "I've lost my appetite."
A couple minutes later Ellie was hiding in the lab. It seemed there was no enjoying or at least escaping Christmas. An hour later Ember arrived.
"Hey, Ember." Ellie greeted, "How's it going?"
"Why so down, Cupcake?" the fiery haired singer asked, "It's Christmas."
"You wouldn't have any reason to be enjoying the holiday either if you had parents that won't stop fighting because one of them believes in Santa and the other is too much a scientist to believe." the blue eyed girl told her friend gloomily.
"Awe, Sweetie," Ember said, putting her arm around the halfa, "You should come to the Christmas Truce Party to cheer up. No one should be blue on Christmas. It's why I came in the first place."
"Truce party?"
"Every year we hold a truce during Christmas to enjoy the holidays." Ember explained, "Every ghost in the zone respects it, it's even part of the Warden's precious rules."
Ellie raised an eyebrow, not in a mood that allowed for the comical reaction she might have had otherwise. "... I bet that gets awkward sometimes."
"Only when someone's stupid enough to bring alcohol." Ember said with a smirk, "Vlad Plasmius is a total lightweight when he shows and someone spikes the punch or the eggnog. Now come on- everyone's waiting."
Having nothing better to do since it was only Christmas Eve and not the holiday itself, Ellie shrugged, transformed, and let the blue haired girl drag her off. True to Ember's word, almost every mid to high level ghost she knew was there, and a couple of the more distinctive weaker ghosts she knew by sight. To the teen's shock, the Lunch Lady turned out to be a semi sweet, grandmotherly sort when she wasn't mad. The middle aged ghost even gave Ellie some hot chocolate when she figured out that she didn't like eggnog.
The highlight of the party, however, was when Johnny's failed attempt to score a kiss from Ember when he saw that she was under the mistletoe led to the discovering that the idol was dating Skulker of all people. This was because it had been Skulker rather than Johnny's girlfriend Kitty who had hit the blonde ghost on the head for trying to kiss Ember when he already had a girlfriend. Kitty then stormed off, leading to Johnny going after her. Ellie was giggling over what idiots guys could be the playful banter she hadn't consciously realized was going on between Ember and Skulker as a result of the incident led to Skulker being the one to use Ember's accidental spot under the mistletoe to score a kiss. Ellie quickly moved out of sight, blushing out of embarrassment.
"You aren't the only kid here, or the youngest." Technus commented, having seen the direction she'd come from when she ran into him at the snack table, "I'd have figured that even those two would restrain themselves more in public, though at least they kept it pg. Kitty had to save Youngblood from getting the talk via Spectra when they had a make out session around him."
"... Way too much info, Technus." Ellie had said with a grimace, "Then I take it those two are actually dating?"
"They can both be hot headed, so it's a bit of an off and on relationship." Technus said.
Ellie snickered, amused at how literal the statement was. "I can imagine."
Then, she spotted a comical sight. Lunch Lady was chasing the Box Ghost with a rolling pin. She clearly didn't like him much, so Ellie wondered how they would end up together if it really happened.
"They certainly seem to be getting along." Ellie joked.
"You'd be surprised, Ghost Girl." Desiree responded, "Last Valentine's Day I heard that the Box Ghost tried to give Lunch Lady a box of chocolate."
"..." Ellie almost turned green at the thought. "Okay, and I thought it was gross when my parents get all lovey dovey."
"Don't you have someone in mind?" Desiree countered.
Ellie just shrugged. "... Back home the only guys who realize I exist are jocks who happen to be bullies and my sibling like male best friend."
But something in the back of Ellie's mind whispered 'liar'. Confused, Ellie mentally searched for how or why that could be the case. To her surprise, an image of Ghost Writer came up. He had been pretty cute, and when he'd gotten over his anger at the ruined manuscript- which she'd still ended up agreeing to help rewrite- he was really nice. She mentally shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts. It did bring something to mind, though.
Soon after, she left. Now that she was in a better mood, she had one last ghost to see before she left the Ghost Zone. Ellie supposed she didn't have to, but she figured the sooner she saw Ghost Writer the sooner she could thank him. Before long, Ellie had reached her destination. She knocked on the door- loud enough to be heard, but not enough to be obnoxious or startling. It opened on its own, and she entered, giving a shout to make sure Ghost Writer knew she was there.
"Andrew?" Ellie called out, "Are you there?"
Ghost Writer floated into the room, apparently having heard her. "... Ellie? What are you doing back so soon? You seem somewhat down."
Ellie blushed slightly, touched at the concern but hating it when anyone worried about her. "... I just left the truce party, but before I headed back home, I wanted to see you so I could thank you."
"... Thank me? You mean the advice?" Ghost Writer asked in surprise, "How exactly did things turn out, for you to end up back in the Ghost Zone for the second time in one day?"
Ellie sighed. "I went back with every intention of trying out your advice... but I never really even got a chance to see if it would work."
"What happened?"
"Once I was back in Amity Park I headed back to the mall to spend more time with my friends." she explained, "But before I could see if I could manage to cheer up in spite of the crowd,Tucker reminded me of some prime examples of why I don't like Christmas. Combined with my parents' fight, it put a damper on my mood. Then in the midst of the argument Dad spooked the reindeer and a couple escaped."
By this point, Ghost Writer had led Ellie to the library's kitchen for something to drink. "... That can't have been pleasant." Ghost Writer said drily, "How did the man manage it?"
"... He's a pretty big guy, with a loud voice to match." Ellie said dead-panned.
"I see. You were saying?" Ghost Writer prompted.
"... The fight escalated once we were home because they each tried to prove once and for all who was right." Ellie told him, "I left the house to try and cheer up, but long story short it didn't do any good. I was hiding in Mom and Dad's lab for some peace and quiet when Ember found me and dragged me to the truce party I hadn't known existed until then."
Ghost Writer winced. "That's certainly unfortunate."
"I'm so used to it that I've finally just kind of decided to give up." Ellie admitted, "A girl can only end up disappointed over the exact same thing so many times."
"I'm sorry that my advice didn't do any good." Ghost Writer said.
"Don't worry about it... it's not like there's anything you could have done." Ellie reassured.
"I suppose you're right." Ghost Writer confessed, "Though, I could and most likely would have made it much worse had I gotten any angrier before."
Ellie paled. "Did you say 'make it worse'?"
"I can control and manipulate reality with my Quantum Keyboard." Ghost Writer informed his new friend.
"... Whoa. That's pretty cool, Andrew." Ellie said, then realized, "It seems I have a habit of befriending the especially powerful ghosts when they don't end up as an enemy or someone who confuses me."
Ghost Writer chuckled, then noted,"... Did you say you went to the truce party?"
"Yeah." Ellie confirmed, "Ember's one of the few ghosts I've met more than once or twice who doesn't hate my guts, so as I said, she dragged me- literally, might I add- to the truce party."
"As I recall, most of the ghosts that consider you an enemy attend. That must have been... interesting, to saw the least." Ghost Writer said.
"It was interesting, all right." Ellie agreed, "And awkward. I definitely did not need to know that Ember and Skulker are dating or that the Box Ghost has a crush on the Lunch Lady."
"That's surprising." Ghost Writer commented, "But I suppose that the first pair does suit each other."
"... I was scared by the site of said couple making out. Then surprised by the site of the Lunch Lady chasing the Box Ghost around with a rolling pin." Ellie complained, "Too much information and ew respectively."
"Even the latter pair deserves some happiness, Ellie." Ghost Writer retorted.
"Doesn't change the fact that the though is more gross than seeing my parents acting all mushy." the teen claimed.
"It is disturbing if one is able to picture it. Surely you're not one to judge though, Ellie." Ghost Writer reasoned, enjoying the debate, "Every couple has someone, acquaintance or otherwise, that finds their displays of affection disgusting or disturbing. Such as a friend or sibling. I doubt you're any different."
Ellie decided this unexpected turn in the conversation was a little embarrassing. Rather than reply to the implication vocally, Ellie shook her head and looked away. At first, Ghost Writer was confused. But as he was intelligent, he soon got an idea of what she was trying to say.
"Ellie, what do you mean by 'no'?" he asked.
"In this case, I'm not a classic example of a hypocrite." Ellie was blushing now, she'd never admitted the full extent of her lack of a love life to anyone,"I've... never been asked out or ever even liked a guy enough to consider confessing."
"A beautiful, witty girl like you?" Ghost Writer said in surprise, "Surely you jest."
"I already told you that in Amity Park I'm considered a loser." Ellie reminded her friend, downcast.
Ghost Writer's eyes softened, "It's quite alright, Ellie. You're young. You have your whole life ahead of you to find someone."
Encouraged by his words, Ellie looked him in the eye and smiled. Ghost Writer returned her smile with one of his own. Suddenly the half ghost looked up, and blushed.
"What is it Ellie?" he asked.
She just answered with a question of her own."... Is that what I think it is?"
Following Ellie's gaze, Ghost Writer looked up himself. Only to be surprised himself. It was a somewhat familiar green plant with small berries hanging from the ceiling. The dead author knew that he hadn't put it there. He couldn't help but wonder if it was his brother Randy.
"... Mistletoe? How on Earth did that get there?" Ghost Writer said.
Ellie was bright red now, and tongue tied. "..."
Seeing that she was nervous, Ghost Writer took matters into his own hands. He wouldn't, however, be presumptuous and simply take advantage of a pleasant if slightly odd tradition. "May I?"
Ellie nodded yes. Ghost Writer put a hand on her cheek, almost caressing it. Then he leaned down, and covered her lips with his. To his delight, she returned his kiss. Shortly after they pulled apart. The kiss was chaste because Ghost Writer hadn't wanted to startle Ellie, but she knew that few girls got such a memorable first kiss. She smiled shyly.
"I know we just met, but I already find myself quite taken with you." Ghost Writer confessed, "Would you give me the honor of taking you out on a date?"
Ellie's smile brightened. "I would like that."
The End