"Hey, Andrew?" Daniel began, looking up from the floor that he had been staring at for the past ten minutes. Ghost Writer, also known as Andrew, gave Danny a hum of acknowledgment and slightly looked up from the black leatherbound book in his lap. The halfa and the ghostly author were curled up back to back on the couch in Danny's home. Jack and Maddie had left for a ghost hunter's convention and Jazz had to head back to college, leaving the whole house just for the two of them to keep up while Danny's parents were away.
"How...how do ghosts have kids?" Andrew's eyes widened and he mostly closed his book, using his thumb as a bookmark as he turned to look at his mate. Danny caught the other's gaze and blushed profusely, looking away immediately and curling up a bit to hide his embarrassed expression. "Ah! N-nevermind, it's a dumb question-" A had was gently put over his mouth and the hand pushed the halfa's face to look at his mate.
"Mon petit, it's not a stupid question," Andrew assured, though his face was flushed slightly violet from the question. "It was just a bit...sudden. I mean…" He trailed off and Danny understood. Danny pushed his mate's hand off of his mouth and he shifted to look at Andrew, though his baby blue eyes did everything they could to avoid Andrew's shining green ones.
"I'm sorry. I just-" Danny paused, thinking over on what he would say, "...back when Clockwork was trying to get me to fix the timeline where my alternate future evil self never had a chance to exist, I had met the Box Ghost and Lunch lady's future kid and until then I didn't think ghosts could have kids." His blush has gone away somewhat, even though there was still a noticeable teal green dusting his cheeks. "And it just kind of confuses me, I thought ghosts were either formed from the Ghost Zone itself or became that way after dying with unfinished business."
Andrew nodded in understanding, finding a scrap piece of paper to use as a bookmark before setting the book aside. Educating his mate was more important right now. "Well, Danny, it's not common for ghosts to have children, most mates just take in ghost children. You have to have a strong bond with your mate and even then, the success rate of having your own ectobiological child is low enough as is."
"Okay, but, how does it happen?" Danny asked a bit impatiently, eyebrows raised and head slightly tilted forward and eyes looking up slightly. He was happy to be learning more about the subject, even if it felt like the other was beating around the bush. Andrew sighed quietly, rubbing his temples and muttering "Why didn't Clockwork teach you this damn it" before looking back at Danny, who was now less embarrassed and more curious on the subject at hand. Seeing that as a sign that Andrew would be giving an explanation, he sat up a bit straighter with a small smile. Andrew looked up at Danny and sighed, but returned his mate's smile anyways.
"For starters, the majority is more of an emotional experience than sexual, almost completely opposite of how human reproduction works," Andrew began, shifting into his tutoring mode. "Both parties must be absolutely willing and ready to have a child, and both must be overall healthy in physical, mental, and emotional aspects." Andrew nearly didn't notice Danny taking out a small notebook and a pen, but he merely rolled his eyes and continued. "If the two mates have those aspects marked down, then it's on to the next part, which is core compatibility."
Danny tilted his head slightly. "Compatibility?" He thought it over for a few moments. "Well, I guess that makes sense because of the elemental cores, right?" Andrew nodded in response and Danny gave a small smile.
"Compatibility mostly applies to elemental cores, such as Ember and Skulker and their fire cores, Technus with his electric core, and you with your ice core." Danny continued to scribble down what Andrew was saying and he couldn't help but give a small smile. "It tends to get more difficult when it comes to more abstract core types, such as Clockwork's or mine. I'd rather not go into detail with the abstract ones, it gets confusing and I still have trouble with knowing the compatibility with those."
"Would our cores be compatible?" Danny blurted out, catching the both of them by surprise. Danny nervously looked at the ceiling and messed with the small floof of hair that was tied up with a hair band. Andrew's eyebrows rose a bit and another violet blush rose to his cheeks, slightly beginning to suspect why Danny had really asked about this topic. "I mean, I'm just wondering," Danny added a bit quietly to try and fill the awkward silence that filled the room.
Andrew though ti over for a moment before answering, "I believe so. There isn't usually a problem between abstract and elemental cores. It's more so between cores of the same class type. For example, a nature core or an ice core wouldn't be suitable to have a ghost child with a fire core." Danny's eyes seemed to light up a bit at his answer, a small smile on the halfa's face. Andrew quietly chuckled and kissed his mate's nose, and Danny reeled back slightly blushing.
"Andy!" Danny whined, drawing out they for a good few seconds. "You're supposed to be educating me about where ghost babies come from!" Andrew didn't bother to hide a small laugh and the writer tousled Danny's hair, much to the younger's annoyance.
"You never seemed eager to learn when I was tutoring you for your senior year, mon cher," Andrew teased. Danny gave a joking pouting face and crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at the sofa cushion. "Alright, alright, stop pouting. It's a terrible look on you." Danny gave a playful half-smile and straightened back up, the notebook and pen back in his hands. Andrew shifted his position on the couch a bit, getting more comfortable, before continuing. "Where was I again?"
"You seemed just about done comparing core compatibilities," Danny answered, glancing down at his notes before giving a nod. "Yeah, that part."
"Ah, yes. Anyways, if two mates are willing and ready, healthy, and have compatible cores, it all leads up to the most difficult part, which is the combining of a piece from each mate's core." Andrew paused, letting Danny catch up with scribbling down his notes, before continuing. "It can be very dangerous, Danny. If you give too little of your core there's no hope of the child being born, but if you give too much it can result in the death of one or both mates." Andrew's voice grew a bit somber as he ended his sentence and it almost seemed like Danny flinched. "That's usually the reason for the low success rate. It varies from every single ghost how much of your core you need to give."
Danny gave a quiet nod, skimming over his notes before looking back up at his mate. "Alright. Let's say the core combination was successful. Then what happens?"
"In the lucky chance that the core combination is successful, the combination will reside in one of its parent's core so it can develop the strength it needs in order to create its ghost form. Whoever is carrying the child's core, their chest glows a color that tends to match the color of either of the parent's powers. When the child is developed, it separates itself from the parent carrying it." Andrew got up from the couch, stretching his arms a bit. "And voila, you have a child." Danny nodded and quickly finished up taking notes before giving an accomplished smile and getting up, kissing and nuzzling Andrew on the cheek.
"Thank you, mon ange," Danny cooed, pocketing the notebook and stretching his arms a bit as well. He took out his phone from his back pocket, checking the time before putting it back. "It's getting to be around dinner time. What do you want to have tonight?"
Andrew looked over to his mate and smiled warmly, bringing his arms up and draping them over Danny's shoulders, bringing the other closer. "Well, mon cher," Andrew purred, a warm smile rising on his face. "I was thinking on having you tonight." Immediately, Danny's cheeks flushed teal and he barked out a laugh, leaning his forehead against Andrew's chest.
"Andy, mon ange, that was cheesy, even for you," Danny giggled, looking back up slightly with an affectionate look, face to face with an amused and equally affectionate Andrew. He loved moments like these, just simple slice of life moments with his ghostly mate. It made everything feel normal, like he wasn't a half ghost that had to play hero for his town and had to hide that part of his life from people that he cared about and people that could hurt him.
"Maybe so, mon cher, but you can't say that my taste preference is wrong."
