Disclaimer: Yep. Doing more of this one. Because I can. I own nothing. At all. If I did, I'd be doing something else with my life. I also own none of the pseudo-science babble.
After meeting the aptly named 'Magma,' Danny had finished the assigned reading for the class with her helping him through dissecting the language and interpreting things academically. One thing that kept coming up in his homework was that he always tried to identify with characters, and it showed in his analysis even when it was asked for him to be detached. Something in him just couldn't remove himself emotionally from the equation.
It was at night when Danny was most comfortable in the massive housing area of the school. He could wander the halls, floating invisibly along the corridors and through rooms as he wished, so long as he respected people's privacy. Occupied rooms were, obviously, off limits. It didn't stop him from running into sticky situations, though. Apparently one couple had made it their mission to explore all possible uses for a linen closet.
After that, Danny was always careful about WHERE he wandered at night. But that was it. His life consisted of his classes during the day, talking with Amara every so often during his breaks, calling home once a week to let everyone know the edited version of what was going on in his life, and floating through the halls invisible and intangible at night to get some ghostly exercise while the sun wasn't out.
His physical education courses were, ironically, not the worst classes he'd ever taken. Scott Summers was rather understanding as an instructor, and while he pushed people, he also understood when to stop.
Dash had excelled in Phys. Ed. Of course. He'd already gathered together a group of buddies who'd sit in the student lounge area every night and watch sports of one kind or another. Out of the seven of them, however, only two of them were particularly standoffish towards others. One was named Arthur, who seemed to take a perverse glee in using his mutant ability to give commands to make people do things for him when the instructors weren't looking, and the other was… Well, Dash. He'd certainly stopped physically picking on people, but he had picked up more than a couple bad habits from Arthur.
Around the two of them formed a group of the more physically-minded mutants at the school. Julian, a young man with dirty-blond hair standing at 7' tall and weighting close to 300lbs at age 16, who looked like he was built of solid muscle and spent most of his time outside of class at the gym bench pressing busses, was 'the quiet one.' While he enjoyed the sports he and his other friends watched, he'd be the last person standing up and cheering. That guy? He was a schemer. Danny could see it in his eyes. Displays of mutant powers were considered somewhat taboo outside of specific circumstances, for most students. But Julian took it to a whole new level. No one except the faculty knew what he could do beyond being stupidly strong. Not that Danny had any room to judge on that front.
The second was a redhead named Bruce, who while more wiry than the others was louder, more boisterous, and expressive than any three of them combined. Danny could see why Dash and Bruce got along so well. Dash could put his all into a wrestling match with bruce, and Bruce would take it all with a smile and then throw Dash across the room. He was the group's wrestling fanatic. Apparently his dad won the bronze in the Olympic triathlon one year. Oddly he got on with everyone and anyone. Something about the guy just seemed completely genial and friendly, despite his near-obsession with wrestling.
Danny could only watch as Dash found himself a group of friends nearly instantly with his interest in sports. It really brought home how much effort Danny had to put in to making anything like a friend. Tucker had been his friend since kindergarten, and Sam had joined in out of her own choices and TRYING to be an 'outcast.' He'd consider Amara the closest thing he had to a friend here, but she had her own 'inner circle' who she grouped with in most socializing time allowed to the students.
Danny was sitting quietly in the lounge, reading his math textbook and going through the equations assigned to make sure he got it done well before it was due, a habit he'd found over the last few weeks to be the single best strategy to keeping on top of the coursework, when he felt someone sitting nearby. Spatial awareness was a necessity in a fight when your life is on the line, after all.
He looked up and saw the massive form of Julian sitting next to him with a book titled "Into the Criminal Mind" by Adrianne Drake in hand. "Yo." The tall teen said before opening the book. "Hope you don't mind if I sit here. Got a bit too loud over on the couch." He nodded over to where he had been sitting.
Sure enough, the small group now one down was laughing and high-fiving and cheering as some man dressed in sparkly red shorts power-bombed a man in a blue leotard into the mat.
Danny shrugged. "Free world." He said as he went back to his equations.
"Indeed it is." The taller teen nodded. "But for how much longer, I wonder."
This got Danny's attention again, as he turned to the massive teen. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, a bit of wariness creeping into his voice.
"Magneto, terrorism, mass political corruption. All of them are leading to one inevitable outcome, but inevitability itself is a fallacy. All it'd take is one solid push, one way or the other, to get things on track for good or evil. And no one wants to give the world that push, save the ones rooting for the bad end because THEY hope that when the killing's done, they'll still be standing and can reshape society to their own wills." He shrugs, "Sorry. Sometimes I get a bit deep into things my girlfriend says. My name's Julian Drake, but everyone calls me Prophet." He held out a massive hand for Danny to take.
"Danny. No nickname yet." Danny replied, taking the hand as much as he could, his own hand vanishing in the grip of the much larger teen.
"I know. One of the reasons I came over here. You don't have many friends here, do ya?" Julian asked.
"Nah. New here and all. Always felt a bit off in crowds." Danny laughed, a note of embarrassment in his voice.
"I know the feeling. It's why I hang out with Arthur. He takes all the attention off of me. Dash too, now that he's joined in. Bruce is good for a distraction, at least. But here I thought you already had a nickname, Phantom." He ended in a whisper only Danny could hear.
Danny's heart stopped and he froze in position, his eyes trying to find some hint of uncertainty he might exploit within the words Julian just let slip. He didn't find any.
"Don't look so surprised. It didn't take much to put it together. Got pictures of your alter-ego, pictures of you, and a cheap photoshop knockoff. Overlap the pictures and the faces are a 97 percent match. Combine that with the powers you've been willing to share with people, invisibility and intangibility, and it's not hard to figure out. Not to mention Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton… Seriously. I'm not surprised Dash hasn't realized, but there HAD to be someone with two brain-cells to rub together in Amity Park."
Danny was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that within a few weeks he'd been found out. What would happen now? Would this guy tell Dash? Would he tell everyone else? Would it get out and get back to his parents? Or the GIW?
Julian just laughed at the look on Danny's face. "Here I thought you'd try to deny it. Ah well. There go my other carefully crafted explanations. Truth be told? I see him in you. Phantom, I mean. Overlaid with your normal form, I see you with white hair and green eyes. And it's not hard to put that together with the news articles."
Danny nodded. "You gonna tell anyone?" he asked, never quite feeling this small before, even given the physical differences.
"Hell no." he laughs. "I got bigger shit to worry 'bout. But I will give you some advice. People can be cruel, horrible monsters, just as much as any non-human entity or being. But we can also be wonderful, miraculous and forgiving." Julian smiled wide, "Here at the affectionately named 'Mutant High' you'll find a lot of people willing to look past many things. I don't think you're giving people enough credit."
Danny nodded, but still looked confused by the 'advise.'
"Just because they can't see you like I can? There're enough people familiar with hiding things that they know you're still holding back. That kind of feeling doesn't help with making friends." The larger teen nodded once before closing his book. "Have fun with that thought, short-stack. I've got a date and Lennox hates it when I'm late."
Danny blinked and Julian was gone, like he'd never been there.
Things just got a whole lot more complicated, but at least he felt like Julian was telling the truth when he said he wouldn't just randomly tell people who he was behind everything. But the thought worked its way into his brain.
Was he giving the mutants at Xavier's school too little credit? Was he actually damaging his chances at a social life by hiding everything?
Maybe. But he was still scared of what people might think if they knew he was the 'number 1 public menace' Danny Phantom.
Then again, apparently all of them had some trouble when their powers first manifested… Maybe he SHOULD give it a shot? He'd only have one shot at a good impression. Mutant-filled or not? It was still High School. A breeding ground for the politics that ruled the world and the outcasts who didn't partake.
He quickly finished his homework and went to Professor Xavier's office. Knocking on the door, he waited for a few moments before hearing the Professor's voice.
"Come in, Daniel." The Professor said. Inside he sat in his wheelchair with a stack of papers before him. "I was just finishing up with this week's essays before heading out. Miss Grey is going to be speaking at the Senate tomorrow, and I wanted to be there for moral support."
Danny nodded, still cringing at being called 'Daniel.' "Sorry to bother you, professor. I just wanted to talk about our arrangement. About my anonymity…. Do you think it's…. I don't know…" he sighed, not knowing how to phrase the thoughts in his head.
"You think it might be damaging your chances at a social life." Prof. Xavier nodded. "I can understand the concern. I believe that it may. Many people know not to ask too much about their fellow mutant's home-life, or pry too deeply into one another's issues. But at the same time it does make sense that some of the more observant students might notice you are hiding something from everyone."
Danny sighed in resignation. Hearing it from one person was bad enough, especially when that person had figured out his secret on their own, but from an authority figure it made it more… Real. "I see. Thanks, Professor." He said, a note of dejected resignation in his voice.
Prof. Xavier smiled, "Do not worry about it too much, Mr. Fenton. Only you can decide if it is right to tell people more about yourself, and only when you are comfortable with doing so. If and when you do? I have no doubts that you will be surprised by just how many people are willing to overlook indiscretions made from youthful arrogance or ignorance." He smiled wider. "I know, for one, that I am proud of all those who come here to learn, and wish to do good with their powers."
/End chapter.
A/N: Yup. For the sake of reference, I'm keeping Julian's powerset somewhat mysterious, because I haven't quite pinned him down, and I like it that way so long as I don't go overboard. Julian, Arthur and Bruce are OCs, because I felt like it. Arthur's a vocal mind-controller limited to simple commands, Bruce meanwhile is a mid-level super-strength mixed with electric manipulation, which ties into his strength based on 'supercharging' his muscles. Julian is… 'weird' in the words of Agent Hill.