Signing Off
Warnings: General Warnings. Foul language. Violence. Danny and friends are 21. Fenton and Phantom are two separate individuals in this.
Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is a product of Nickelodeon. All characters in this story are imaginary.
Summary: Danny works as hit radio personality Badger, and for quite some time, he has been trying to get superstar Phantom to appear as a guest on his show. When he runs into a strange man, Danny's life takes an unexpected turn as he tries to keep up with college, his job, and his new secret life.
Originally Written: August 2013-January 2014
Chapter 01
"Well, listeners of Amity Park, we're nearing the end of the hour, and I have a few reminders so bear with me here. First of all, I'd like to point out, once again, that the fish seen on occasion in the quad's fountain are harmless. Please stop harassing them with ecto based devices. Electrifying the water doesn't just hurt the ghosts. It hurts anyone that accidentally touches the water while the devices remain active. The next person seen disturbing these peaceful ghosts will have a nice, long, and very unpleasant meeting with our beloved dean.
"Also, the janitors wanted me to say that whoever is leaving raven feathers all over campus should cease such activities or they shall take all the feathers that they've collected and deposit them in your dorm room. And don't think the nickname of the Mysterious Poe is fooling anyone. We all know who you are, and you're not getting any cool points for doing this, Marvin. But speaking of ravens, last weekend, Dash Baxter led our team into a very satisfying victory against our rivals at Elm University. Go APU Ravens! Wow, we have an unfortunate acronym for our school.
"In honor of our star football player, we want you to send in pictures of our winning touchdown at the last second quarterback. We'll be putting up our favorites over the next week, and the one with the most votes by the end of the month will receive two tickets to the very much anticipated Phantom concert. So get out your cameras and start snapping some pictures! And remember, the e-mail address is the midnight badger at pirate radio dot com. And if that's too hard for you to remember, since it is rather late after all, you can always find the link on our webpage.
"Unfortunately, our honored guest has decided once again to be a no show. I know this is about the tenth time I've promised to have the one and only Phantom on our program for you all to call in with your questions, but I really thought he would come this time. I doubt you're listening to this quiet little midnight to two AM show since it's just a local thing and not worthy of the time of a big superstar, but if you would consider making an appearance, I'm sure your fans would really appreciate it, Phantom. Anyway, this is Badger, signing off. Good night, listeners."
Danny waited until the Off Air light turned on before he released a noisy sigh, removing the headset to place them on the console. "Sam," he growled and snapped his blue eyed gaze toward the door of the studio where he knew the woman would be waiting like she always did after the program ended.
"His manager said Phantom would definitely do the show this time." Sam winced, hugging the clipboard she held close to her chest with one arm as she brushed back a lock of ebony hair behind her ear with the other hand. "I tried getting in contact with him throughout the show, but it just kept going straight to his voice mail. It is two AM, after all. Phantom probably has a lot of other appearances lined up, and he does need his rest."
"I get that." Danny sighed as he leaned on the console, pushing up his glasses as he rubbed at his eyes. Exhaustion swept over him in that moment, and he still had some homework that he needed to finish up before an early morning class. "It's just getting really annoying that I keep announcing that he's going to be the guest on the show, and then he flakes out on us."
"It's a good thing no one knows the real identity of the hot radio personality known as Badger," Tucker joked as he joined them in the studio with a chuckle. He had abandoned the red beret that he used to wear some years ago. "I think we'd be surrounded by angry listeners with torches and pitchforks out for your head for the number of times we've promised Phantom would be on the show."
"Don't remind me." Danny groaned, already picturing Dash's furious face inches from his own as the blond jock promised to turn him into a meat patty by pounding him into the ground. He still couldn't believe Dash even listened to the show, and whenever he caught the jock talking to friends about the program, Danny couldn't deny a small swell of pride. Dash, the guy that always treated him like garbage unworthy of even being noticed, liked something about him, though Dash had no idea it was actually Danny Fenton who was the mysterious Badger.
"I'm going to keep trying to contact his manager and try to get him to confirm when Phantom can appear on the show," Sam said, already tapping out a note on her cell phone.
"I'm not announcing him as a guest again until he is actually sitting right there," Danny pointed at the seat across from him in the studio that was reserved for guests, "and ready to answer callers' questions. We can't keep telling the listeners that he'll be here and not following through on that promise. I'm surprised we don't have a ton of hate mail."
"Well, actually-" Tucker started until Sam stomped her heavy boot down on his foot, and he yelped, hopping on one foot as he held the other and grimaced in pain. Danny frowned at the pair that were clearly trying to spare him any hurt feelings by showing him the angry mail from their listeners.
"Don't worry about what any of them have to say." Sam stood behind him and wrapped her arms around Danny's neck in a comforting hug. "We're going to get Phantom on the show. Just leave that detail to me. You know I can be very persuasive."
Danny chuckled. "Oh yeah, definitely." For months, Danny refused to be a part of this whole radio show that Sam decided to put together in their freshmen year at college. But after several, almost frustratingly annoying conversations, she managed to convince him to join as their on air personality while Tucker worked the technical side of things and Sam managed everything and used her contacts to get famous guests for the show.
Her arms squeezed just a touch tighter. "See? You just worry about putting on a good show. I'll deal with pinning down Phantom and getting him to show up." She pulled away, patting him on the shoulder.
"I can't believe he's ditched us ten times now," Tucker said, shaking his head as Danny gathered up his things, packing them away in his bag. On occasion during the program when they had songs playing or went to commercial breaks, Danny had a chance, as small as it was, to work on his homework. He still had about five chapters of the book he needed to finish for his literature class, but he would be able to get that finished before the afternoon when he had Lancer's class.
"Well, when you're a big superstar, you don't have to care about the little guys," Danny grumbled as he slung his bag over one shoulder, the strap wrapping across his chest. "Why would he bother with a show that starts at midnight? He's probably out partying at some club right now." He rolled his blue eyes. "Are you two sticking around?" He lifted a curious eyebrow at his friends.
"Y-Yeah," Sam said, turning violet eyes away from him as she studied her clipboard. "Lots of details with the show to work out, you know. Maybe see if there's someone else we can get on the show in the mean time while Phantom remains unavailable."
"Yeah," Tucker agreed, also not looking at Danny as a light flush colored his dark cheeks. "I've got to run some checks on the equipment. Make sure everything's running properly. We wouldn't want to be in the middle of a show and have the whole thing blow out on us."
Danny nodded slowly, but his friends weren't fooling anyone with those weak excuses. He knew once he left, Tucker and Sam would spend the rest of the night together. They thought they were cleverly hiding the relationship, but Danny wasn't as dense as some people thought he was. He caught them shooting glances at each other then looking away with blushes upon their faces more times than he could count. He knew they had feelings for each other before they even started their secret romance, but he left them thinking he was clueless about it.
"Well, I'll see you guys later then." Danny walked toward the door of the studio. "I've got to get some homework finished, and I'd like to be able to get some sleep before my first class." He gave them a wave goodbye as he left through the door. He walked down the hall from the studio then down the several flights of stairs, and headed out of the building where they broadcasted their radio program.
Danny scratched a hand through his hair with a tired sigh. Some nights, it sucked away all his energy to run the show, especially when he thought about the homework he still had left to finish. Luckily, his class schedule allowed for some sleep during the day if he managed things properly. His shoulders slumped as he dug his hands into the pockets of his loose pants and headed in the direction of his apartment. Tucker had an apartment he shared with a few roommates on the other side of the college campus where he would be nearer to all the tech courses that he was taking. Sam got her own apartment, stating that it would be too weird if it was only the two of them living alone in the apartment. Danny agreed it probably would be strange, and the other students would probably start teasing them about being in a relationship. He rolled his eyes with a snort. Anyone who actually looked at the trio of friends would see that the lovebirds weren't him and Sam but Tucker and Sam instead. Unfortunately, not everyone at the college was that smart, or observant, and still believed that there was something going on with him and Sam.
Shaking his head, he tried to rid the thoughts from his mind as he cut across the campus, passing under the trees and their thick canopy of leaves. It made his walk from the radio studio to his apartment shorter, but the trees blocked his view of the twinkling stars overhead. Some nights, he could stand there gazing up at the vastness of the sky for hours, naming the different constellations in his mind as he found them. He always enjoyed stargazing, ever since he was a child and he would sit in his mother's lap as they pointed out the stars to each other. He really loved those nights.
A bark tore his attention away his thoughts of stars and space. Dropping his blue gaze toward the ground, Danny smiled when he saw the green dog bouncing around his feet and barking happily at him. He crouched down and scratched behind the dog's ears, or at least he mimed the gesture. Being a ghost, the dog was intangible, making it hard to physically touch him. Unless of course, the dog wished to be touched.
"You should know better than to come here, Cujo," Danny said, giving the dog a stern look. "What if a mean old dog catching ghost hunter decided to pay us a visit?" Though the college campus was generally a safe place for ghosts, like the fish that appeared in the fountain, ghost hunters were still a concern for all the local ghosts. Amity Park was famous for all the ghosts that lived in the small town, and the residents learned to live in harmony with the ghosts, though there were still quite a few anti-ghost members residing within the town. And the occasional students with a mean streak that liked to harass the ghosts. Danny came to know his fair share of them during his lifetime. But ghost hunters still managed to make an appearance in Amity Park to stir up trouble and disrupt the peace.
Cujo sat down before him and barked, his purple tongue hanging out of his parted mouth. When his tail wagged behind him, it was with such force that his whole body seemed to shake from the movement. It was hard to imagine that anyone would kill such an adorable puppy, but there Cujo was like so many other ghosts in town. They even had the ghost of a lunch lady that still worked in the cafeteria. Any changes to the menu had to go through her, or the whole college would feel her wrath.
Danny chuckled and shook his head. "Okay, okay. I know what you want." He dragged his side bag to the front and dug around inside it. When Danny held up his hand, Cujo stood up and barked, prancing around in a circle in wait of the treat that was in the man's hand. "First, you have to show me a trick." Danny held his hand back, waiting for the dog to perform.
Cujo tilted his head, one black ear dangling at the side of his head while the other ear perked upward in a show of his confusion. Danny didn't cave. They met several years ago when Danny was still in high school, and every time the dog came around, Danny made him do a trick before giving him a treat. Then the cute little puppy that barely even reached to his knees suddenly shot up in height, towering over the man as thick green drool dripped from his mouth. Danny stared up at the ghost, his jaw nearly dropping at the sight of the ferocious looking dog.
"That... sure is some trick," Danny remarked numbly, having never seen Cujo sprout up like that. In a blink of the eye, the dog reverted back to his normal, playful size and barked for his treat. "Here you go." Danny tossed the little blob of ectoplasm shaped into a dog bone biscuit that Cujo easily caught in his mouth, munching happily on it. "You better get back home before anything happens to you. Okay?" He gave the dog another stern look, but Cujo merely licked him on the cheek after eating his treat. With a sigh, Danny stood, wiping cool moisture from his cheek. "See you around later." He waved to Cujo before continuing on his way home as he hummed to himself.
Author's Note: Whoops! I slipped and wrote the second chapter of this yesterday and still working on the next chapter of Phantom Dreams. So I decided to come and post this up here. I also may have created a blog for the Danny Fenton of this story (themidnightbadger on tumblr) if you want to send him any asks. *twiddles thumbs* Also, this idea was inspired one night while I was chatting with icyandthefrostbites on tumblr.