Danny Fenton had heard the phrase, "natural glow" before, but this was ridiculous. Looking in his mirror as he got out of the shower and walked into his rather chilly room, he noticed his face looked like one ridiculous green neon orb. Not that this was the most ridiculous thing he had seen, or rather, experienced in the past week, but it was a definitely noticeable side effect of the accident.
The accident. Exactly one week ago, Danny had walked into his parents' supposedly dysfunctional "Ghost Zone" portal, clad in one of his family's ridiculous hazmat suits, on a dare set forth by his two best friends, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley. He had never trusted his parents' inventions, but he was eager to impress Sam a little bit by proving his bravery. Little did he know, as he walked in with his "brave face," the circuit connected to the buttons on the wall was very much alive with electrical current. That's why, when Danny accidentally bumped into the set of buttons, he was surprised to hear the whirring of the portal coming into being, but was too captivated by the reactions taking place around him to make the split-second decision to get the hell out of there.
Sam and Tucker's screams were only distant murmurs as Danny felt a cold surge of raw power overtake him, restricting any movement from the teenager. He felt dead. Beyond dead. Not that he had ever experienced the feeling before, but he was pretty sure this is what it was. And yet this feeling of death felt invigorating, renewing. Like he had conquered death. This was the feeling he was greeted by as he opened his eyes to the blurry figures of his friends' heads hovering above him. Sam was covering her mouth with her hands; Tucker's mouth was wide open. Disbelief. He knew it. He knew he shouldn't be alive. But he was, and he tried to reassure them that he was still there, but it seemed to be the exact case.
Sam still couldn't speak, so Tucker carefully said, "Dude…I think you're…a ghost…"
That snapped Danny back to reality. He bolted upright into a sitting position, exclaiming, "WHAT?!"
Tucker continued, "As soon as we pulled you out of the portal, we…saw you turn…invisible. Like four times."
Danny didn't believe it. He couldn't be a ghost. Ghosts didn't exist, no matter what his parents said. But one look at Sam's face said it all: he was one.
The rest of that night was full of one surprise after another. The trio was still incredulous of what was happening, yet here they were, watching as Danny discovered one new power after another: invisibility, flying, ecto-blasts (which resulted in the first tragedy at Danny's hands: a table lamp). Fortunately, and to the immense relief of them all, especially Danny, he realized he could become human again when he wanted to. He wasn't sure how this could all work, but above anything he was thankful for that. Sam and Tucker had spent the night at Danny's, partly in an effort to support their friend and partly to begin the much-needed mission of making sure NO ONE, most of all his family, found out about his secret.
Over the next week, Danny, Sam, and Tucker had been on full alert at school. There were several moments when Danny had dozed off in class and his head had fallen straight through his now-invisible hand that he had been leaning on, but Tucker or Sam were quick to cover his back before anyone saw.
Also during the week, Danny had to personally deal with the new appearance that accompanied his ghostly half: white hair, new black suit, a (sometimes) ghostly tail, and, of course, the "glow." Tucker had jokingly completed the look with the name, "Danny Phantom" ("Because if you fly, you're a superhero, and superheroes gotta have cool names!"), but it had stuck. But the glow made Danny curious. Everything glowed. His cheeks. His skin. His eyes. He originally hadn't taken his parents seriously in their ghost-hunting knowledge, but he had heard enough to know that ectoplasm was supposedly the ghost version of blood. That must be what was giving him the green glow.
As cool as he kind of wanted to admit this all was (way, deep down), he was starting to get frustrated with how the glow was interfering with his human life. His skin especially had the tendency to turn an increasingly evident green in response to his body's inner feelings or to environmental factors, such as to the cold chill he felt as he went into his room after the shower just now. Fortunately, the glow itself hadn't become too prominent in human form, and even better it faded away rather quickly once Danny's senses calmed down. However, just to be safe, he picked out a warm coat to wear as he got ready for school. Autumn may have just started, but it was already promising to be a harsh winter.
Besides, the last thing Danny needed was the football team calling him "the Hulk."
The mood was abuzz with cheer and excitement at Casper High School that day, on account of the fact that it was a Homecoming Weekend, with a big football game to come later that Friday evening and a dance to follow on Saturday. Even though Danny, Sam, and Tucker were still on high alert for Danny's cover, they couldn't help but get caught up in the joyful spirit. Much to Danny's chagrin, however, his skin apparently also wanted to join the party, prompting him to pull up the hood on his coat to hide his face until he could calm down. It was strange. He still had all his human abilities, but it felt like the new ghost side of him was trying to physically overpower his human half.
As Danny walked into English class and sat down near the back with Tucker, he was both grateful and yet nervous that the class was still abuzz with the homecoming spirit. He tried to take his mind off it as the class started by actually trying to pay attention to Mr. Lancer's lecture at the front of the room. But his peripheral vision was soaking in too much of his classmates' activities - notes were constantly passed, whispers were not-so-quietly shared, and even Tucker was texting some girl about going to the dance together. Danny could practically see his glow reflecting off his desk, so he did the only thing that he felt he could possibly do by putting his head down on his desk, cherishing the temporary cloak his hood had granted him.
All too soon, however, Danny heard an irritated voice bellow out above him. "Mr. Fenton, if you would be so kind as to sit up and pretend to listen, that would be much appreciated," Mr. Lancer demanded in a clipped tone.
Danny didn't budge. He could still see his glowing reflection off of his desk.
"Mr. Fenton! Please. sit. up."
Danny knew he was on the verge of trouble if he didn't sit up, so he begrudgingly did so, but made sure to keep his hood pulled down as far as possible. Even though his vision was downcast, he could sense all his classmates' eyes on him, which did nothing to stop the embarrassment from glowing in his cheeks.
"And Mr. Fenton, please remove your hood. It violates school policy."
Now he was doomed. He couldn't risk his face being seen in his current state, but with each passing moment he was pushed further and further into a corner. He heard an impatient sigh escape from his teacher. He had no choice now but to remove his hood before the older man spoke again, so he pushed it back against his hair until it fell off onto his neck, expecting the worst but praying for the best.
He heard gasps all around him, even from Lancer, and he could just see Tucker wincing in sympathy over the situation.
Mr. Lancer was the first to speak up, "Uhh…Mr. Fenton, if you're not feeling well, you may go see the nurse."
Danny let out a small breath he didn't know he was holding. Good. This was good. They thought he was sick. He must've looked really bad though, based on everyone's expressions. He quickly got up and quietly excused himself, running to the bathroom. Once there, he checked to make sure no one was in the stalls before he splashed some water on his face to calm himself down.
After a few deep breaths, he could feel himself relaxing a little bit. He needed to clear his mind though. With one more glance towards the bathroom door, Danny transformed into his new ghost persona and took a glance at the mirror. This was better. The green skin looked more natural with the ghostly green eyes and the snow-white hair. He ran towards the bathroom wall, willing himself to turn intangible and fly through it as he finally found himself outside. He didn't know where exactly he wanted to go, so he just started flying in a random direction. It's not like he was missing anything important in school, seeing as how it was Homecoming Weekend…
Later that afternoon, Danny met up with Tucker and Sam behind the school once they were done with classes. He was ecstatic for the week to be over and despite his earlier incident in class, he was still excited for the events for this weekend. He just needed to come up with a sure-fire way to "save face," so to speak.
"So…Danny," Tucker began as the three of them were almost to FentonWorks, Danny's place of residence. "What exactly were you thinking about that made your face so green during class?"
Danny paused for a moment to remember, only to realize that his emotions at the time were innocent enough. "Nothing, really. That's actually the strange part about it, I was only getting caught up in the homecoming excitement." The problem with the moment had been the strength of his feelings.
"Oh…o-okay then," was his best friend's only reply. For whatever reason, Danny thought he had heard a little bit of doubt in Tucker's voice, but decided to pass it off for the time being.
"You know Danny," Sam chimed in, "I was actually reading about ectoplasm and its properties earlier, and it said that if it's not expelled at normal rates, it could build up in its source to a level of…visibility."
"Wait! Where'd you read that?" Danny asked curiously.
Sam took a book out of her spider-shaped backpack and presented it to the boys for them to see.
"101 Things to Know About Ghosts," Tucker read aloud.
"Is this one of my parents' books, Sam?" Danny inquired.
"Yep." Sam said proudly. "You'd be surprised how helpful this book could be."
Danny just smirked. He was impressed with how Sam had taken it upon herself to learn more about ghosts. Without her, Tucker and himself would probably have completely resorted to a trial-and-error method of learning about Danny's new powers.
Once at FentonWorks and in the sanctuary of Danny's bedroom, the half-ghost offered to go get some snacks while his friends settled in. For a second Danny considered going intangible and floating down through the floor to the kitchen, but then realized his parents were down in the lab and they could burst out into the kitchen in a moment's notice. Perhaps when Danny got better at his powers, he'd be able to pull off such heists in his own house…
Downstairs, Danny gathered a few sodas and made a bag of microwave popcorn before pouring it into a bowl, then headed back upstairs. But he stopped before his bedroom's doorway when he heard Tucker quietly talking to Sam.
"…he ran out, then Dash said, 'What? Fentonio getting nervous about asking his goth girlfriend to the dance? Looks like he doesn't have the guts to do it!' And then Lancer continued with class, but Danny just didn't come back," Tucker revealed.
"Really? Huh. Didn't think Danny was gonna ask anyway…" Sam trailed off, slightly discouraged by this new revelation.
"Hold up! Were you expecting him to ask him? Did you want him to?" Tucker pressed.
"No! I mean…I don't know…maybe? I mean, everyone always has a date anyways, right? But it's okay, because we're all going together as a group. Yep. We're good," Sam prattled out.
Danny was completely taken aback by the conversation that had just transpired. What was this about asking Sam to the dance? Like he had told Tucker on the way home, he had just got caught up in his excitement. He had never considered asking Sam - they were best friends! But…she had a point - everyone has a date at these things. But they were all going together, as friends… Danny had gone very quickly from no worries to being very uncertain. But he had no time to focus on that now, so he stepped into his room with the snacks.
It was Sam who noticed his face first. "Uhh…Danny? Are you feeling okay? Your face looks flushed again."
He took a look in his mirror and saw that he had a green blush going. He had only been thinking of the conversation the other two had just been having, so why was he reacting so strongly? He looked back at Sam. "I…uh…had to go back down and up the stairs twice because I had forgotten napkins. Guess I climbed just a little too hard?" he said as he dispersed the snacks around.
The other two gave him a strange look, but decided to leave it at that and continued on to talk about other things…
The homecoming football game had been a blur for the three friends. Casper High had gotten the win by a landslide, thankfully, which meant that come Monday morning, the football players' bullying would be slightly less severe than if they had incurred a loss.
But now they were at Danny's house again the next night, getting ready to go to the homecoming dance. Danny had been in the midst of an internal mind battle all day, for ever since Tucker had told Sam about what Dash had said, he had latched onto the idea of asking Sam to the dance…more so than they already had planned. He wasn't sure what was spurring him on though. They were strictly friends…right?
Not to mention, all of this internal dialogue was definitely showing itself upon his face. Thankfully, it hadn't been as bad as the day before, but to those not in the loop, he was sure he looked queasy yet again. It was going to be an interesting night for sure.
The three finally left for the dance and arrived at Casper High in due time. The line to have their tickets checked was somewhat long, so they wasted no time in joining it at the end.
At some point, however, Danny watched as Sam went over to a group of classmates that were standing off to the side of the line to say hello and chat for a few minutes. Danny knew this was his chance to officially ask Sam to the dance. As long as they were still outside the gym, he had the opportunity, technically speaking. But the nerves inside him were starting to dance themselves at the prospect of what he was about to do, and pretty soon, his face darkened by a few shades of green. Perhaps once he asked her, he would calm down. He just needed to do this already, no turning back.
"Hey Tuck, can you hold my spot?" he asked without waiting for an answer. Tucker said yes, but Danny had already begun making his way over to Sam, repeating mantras of "You can do this. It's just Sam" over and over to himself. He was almost to her…
Without warning, Danny felt a large hand push down on his head, which was followed by its owner's heavy body leaning against him like a countertop. "Hey guys, look. Fentocinni's on his way to go talk to his girlfriend," Dash told the other football players that had followed him.
"Sam is NOT my girlfriend!" Danny insisted. Even though the jocks hadn't done much yet, his blood still began to boil at the downfall of his attempt to ask Sam to the dance and he knew his face was glowing greener by the second. This was not going to be easy for him.
"Then why does it look like you're gonna…HURL!" Dash said. On the "hurl," Dash had pushed Danny forward into another football player's shove, and pretty soon, he was the guest of honor in their game of human pinball. Danny took most of it by the chin, mainly because his anger was growing within him and if he didn't contain himself there was a chance his ghost powers could make an undue appearance to fend off the bullies. But when he fell hard onto the concrete, he was ready to snap. It took everything in his willpower and then some to make the split-second decision to just run and get out of there.
In one last attempt to embarrass Danny, Dash yelled out after him, "Hey everyone, make way! Fentonowski's gonna puke!"
Danny hadn't notice, but Sam had watched the event unfold herself, getting incredibly upset as the half-ghost was belittled and pushed around. Dash had already moved on to doing other stupid things, so Sam ran after Danny, finally catching up to him at the football field.
"Danny, wait!" she said as she turned him around by the shoulder. "You don't have to run from those jerks. You're a million times better than them."
Danny kept his head down, speaking softly to the turf beneath him. "That won't stop them from pummeling me though. And it's not like I can retaliate. I had to run before I did anything I might regret…"
"Listen, Danny. I know you wouldn't ever actually do anything to them. You're too good of a person." She tilted his head up, getting a good look at just how green his face had become. "Wait a second…duh! Yesterday, you guys didn't let me finish telling you how to fix your glowing problem! Danny, you just need to release a bunch of the energy that you've been building up!"
Danny considered for a second what she was saying. As simple as the solution sounded, it did make sense.
Sam continued, "Just…focus your energy at the goal post at the other end of the field! It'll kinda be like revenge against Dash anyway."
"Okay. Stay out of the way though," Danny replied, transforming into his ghostly form. He looked down the field, breathed in, and in one smooth motion channeled all the power in his inner core through his hands as one large ghost ray towards the post at the other end. It felt good, like a huge relief had been taken from him. He'd have to do this more often, that was certain.
Once he was spent, he turned back into his human self and looked at Sam expectantly. She nodded and remarked, "It worked! You look like your normal dorky self again."
Danny let out a small laugh at that and smiled warmly at her. "Come on. Let's go back to Tucker," he said, leading the two of them back to their friend, who was now near the front of the line to get in.
Once their tickets were checked, they went inside the gym where they were greeted by a massive crowd of dancing teenagers and loud, powerful music. Tucker made an immediate beeline for the snacks table, leaving Danny and Sam to fend for themselves. It was then Danny realized he still hadn't gotten the opportunity to ask Sam to the dance, and seeing as how they were inside now, it was too late. But another opportunity presented itself just then as a slow song came on. And now that Danny was moments from asking her to dance, his other bouts of nervousness earlier were dwarfed in comparison to what he felt now. There was no reason for him to be nervous though. This was Sam! There were pictures of them as little kids hanging upside-down from monkey bars for crying out loud! He could do this, he could do this…
"H-hey Sam?" He had no idea what his face looked like at this point, but he could certainly feel the heat rising in his cheeks. "Would…you like to dance…with me?" He practically whispered the last part of his question.
Sam looked over at him in surprise. If Danny didn't know any better, he was sure he had seen a small blush rise in her cheeks as well. That was a good sign, right? "Sure, I'd love to," she said, and with that she took his hand and led him to the dance floor to a spot no one would really notice them, putting her arms around his neck as he put his hands on her waist.
"This is nice," she pointed out as they began swaying to the music. They continued with the rhythm for a while, relishing the closeness of each other's body.
Danny wasn't sure when she had noticed, or when it had even happened, but all of the sudden Sam looked up at him and exclaimed, "Danny! Your eyes are glowing!" Indeed, both his face and eyes were set at a low green. This was a first for the eyes glowing though. "I thought you were good after the football field," she noticed.
"That's what I thought. I guess I must be feeling very strongly right now though." He tried to avoid her eyes by looking down at their feet shuffling around. He wasn't sure what he had just admitted, or even if he had admitted anything, but it wasn't helping his case. What was going on with him?
"It's okay Danny. I think it's cool. And it definitely makes you unique."
Danny looked up at her at that. "Really?"
"Of course. If I were to look around this gym right now I guarantee you I couldn't find another guy who had awesome super powers and killer glowing green eyes." They both laughed at that.
"Thank you, Sam. I'm so lucky to have someone like you to make me feel better." Uh oh. Did he just say that out loud? He looked at her and noticed a frozen expression of shock across her face. "I mean, you and Tucker, of course. You guys are both great friends that I can count on." The feeling of cheesy awkwardness was returning to him again.
It was Sam's turn to look at her feet. "Not a problem. Not at all." At that moment, she stole a glance back up at him, only to notice that he was staring right back at her with a look she hadn't seen before, at least not directed at her. They both looked away quickly, both blushing furiously before going back to returning each other's gaze.
Danny didn't know what he was doing anymore. His mind must have been on automatic, because before he knew it, he was leaning in closer and closer to Sam, finally resting his lips on hers for a soft, gentle kiss. Whatever had caused it, he was glad he did it. Her lips were soft and carried the subtle taste of pomegranate, and in that moment he felt closer to her than he had ever felt before. As he pulled away, he kept their foreheads touching and they stayed looking into each other's eyes, all while still dancing slowly to the music. It was only then he noticed one particular aspect of her eyes that hadn't been there before their close proximity to each other.
With a soft chuckle, he told her, "Hey Sam, your eyes are green now too."
Hey hey! So this was my first official fic ever. It was written for the Christmas Truce '14, based off of a request for "glowy Danny."
I was new to the fic game, hence the dorkiness.