Danny was just fifteen when Sam snuck him to the tattoo parlour for the first time. It was the one year anniversary of Danny's accident, and Sam had wanted to commemorate the event with something special. After hours of discussion and planning, it had been decided that Danny wanted a tattoo. Something small, somewhere it was unlikely to be found, but also somewhere where Danny could take care of it himself.

Danny decided he wanted a small ghost on his shoulder, just the outline of one of the blob ones that couldn't usually put two words together. Danny was a halfa, ghosts were incredibly important in his life, and he could think of nothing else that he could afford and get away with on his own. Sam had found the little parlour, and had bribed the tattoo artist to do the job, leaving Danny to just pay for the tattoo itself.

After the first tattoo, Danny soon found himself craving more. Partly to cover the ghost hunting scars, and partly because tattoos were just so amazing. Danny had a folder of tattoo ideas, reference photos, and art that he wanted to get tattooed on himself someday.

When he was sixteen, Danny asked for a tattoo for his birthday present. His parents were skeptical, but after Danny showed them what he wanted and explained (partially), why he wanted it, they relented. Two weeks after Danny's birthday, he got the ring of blood blossoms circling his upper arm, fully coloured in and everything.

Nearly a week after that, Danny got his first ghostly tattoo, getting several ghostly flowers on his forearm. They would be visible only if it was completely dark, which made it difficult to hide them when they glowed. Though it did make for some interesting conversations with Sam and Tucker about the differences of ectoplasmic ink and 'normal' ink. In the years to follow, Danny got more ghostly tattoos, trying to put them in places where his parents wouldn't notice the faint glow they gave off.

Danny, over the next years, was covering himself with ink. From dark ravens, to the Danny Phantom logo (not that his parents ever saw that one), to the little hear that had 'Mom' written in it. These and more, soon littered his body by the time he graduated High School. Some of them his parents knew about, most they didn't.

It wasn't until Danny was almost twenty years old, the same year he'd finally broken down and told his parents what had happened in the accident, that he'd showed them all of the tattoos. Little gemstones, the planets, graves, more ghosts, a purple rose entwined with a red one, and more.

Maddie had been amazed, and disappointed that Danny hadn't told them. She'd asked multiple questions on what each tattoo meant, why and when he'd gotten them. Jack had been beyond excited to see the ghostly tattoos Danny had gotten over the years, asking about how tattoos worked in the Ghost Zone, why they showed up when Danny was in his human form, and wondering aloud why the ectoplasmic ink didn't burn Danny like it would have with a human.

In all, the experience made Danny laugh and made his head spin with questions for the next time he went to go see Clockwork. His parents had also demanded they be with him the next time he got a ghostly tattoo, since they wanted to see the process themselves.

In all, Danny was happy he'd finally told his parents everything he'd been hiding.