Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental multi-fandom project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 22 May.
Inspired by having to attend a relative's graduation ceremony today...
Disclaimer; I don't own Danny Phantom or Ghostbusters (Real or Extreme), Butch Hartman owns DP and... I'm not really sure who owns Ghostbusters, to be honest. Well, whoever they are, they're not me. I'm not making any money off of this, I'm barely sure of where the idea came from, actually...
A 'Five Years' side-story.
-o0O0o-
"A Lot Can Happen in Five Years"
'Commencement; Amity Park, Spring 2007'
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'
-o0O0o-
Casper High School,
Amity Park, New Jersey,
Spring 2007
He'd come to a startling conclusion; waiting was waiting and waiting was dreadful, no matter what someone was waiting for. Waiting for his name to be called was hard enough, Fenton came early enough in the alphabet that it wasn't a long wait; but now, he was waiting on the last name to be called so that the stupid ceremony would finally be over. As soon as it was over, Danny Fenton wouldn't just be done with Casper High, he planned to be getting out of Amity Park as well. The last shred of doubt that he was doing the right thing by leaving had vanished about the same time as 'Exil, N.' walked across the stage to recieve their diploma and a ghost had swooped down and snatched it from them.
It had even shouted about how no one expects the Inquisition; good pop-culture knowledge, even if it wasn't any ghost Danny was actually personally familiar with. Of course, instead of being able to let it go for one day, one of the biggest days in their only son's life, his parents had immediately started shouting about ghosts, taking shots at it over people's heads and chasing it as it flew away... leaving Danny standing in line watching as his own parents basically made a mockery of his graduation and proved once and for all that their ghost hunting and theories would always be more important to them than their relatives - relatives, because they certainly weren't a family. His friends were his real family, and he'd miss them. He'd miss Tucker and Sam, Jazz... he'd even miss Johnny and their rivalry, Kitty - his non-psycho-analysing sister - and Cujo - who had chased off after Dani last time he'd seen either of them - but Danny had a feeling that he needed to do this, get out of Amity Park, start over again some place else... someplace where the name 'Fenton' wasn't automatically associated with his parents and their antics.
Quietly to himself, so no one else could hear, Danny started humming...
'They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway...'