I know, I know, it's been a while. I just want to thank those of you that have stayed with me when I began breaking my weekly updates in favor of one to four irregular ones a month. As much as I wish that I could set a schedule, circumstances have forced me to write when available, which isn't often.
So thank you faithful fans.
I also wanted to say that this chapter does contain spoilers for the episode The Ultimate Enemy, and puts a form of slashy understanding into the motives of Dark Danny. If you are uncomfortable with this sort of thing, I ask that you press the back button... and give a review as to why you read this long when there was far worse. This will also be kinda angsty for those of you who enjoy that sort of thing. And yes, I kinda screwed around with a few of the scenes from TUE... think of it as the stuff you didn't see.
Chapter 9: I know
Friday afternoon swung around, and for the first time in weeks, Danny wasn't dreading the alone time with his friends, or more precisely, the aftermath with Phantom. After the confrontation with Valerie, Danny had had a long conversation with Phantom about the need to keep from bruising, and potentially harming his friends, no matter how much Phantom wished to snap their 'scrawny little necks', as Phantom so casually put it.
Sensing his disapproval of the violence, Phantom tried switching approaches. Rather then making others seem worse, he tried making himself seem better, sneaking kisses in the hall, cuddling in front of the TV, serving breakfast in bed, and whispering little nothings into Danny's ear whenever in range were just a few of the things he did on a regular basis, and overall he took care of all of Danny's needs.
Except for one.
Never one to take something laying down (that was Danny's job ;3) Phantom decided to pay Danny back early for his little friendly visit with Tucker and the clingy dark one, or as Danny insisted upon calling her (he used her as an insult) Sam.
At night, he would slip silently into Danny's bed, only after he fell asleep, and beguine caressing the boy. Staring with soft, slight wisps of touch, it soon turned into full blown lust as Phantom worked the boy to the point of release before forcing him back down with harsh scratches and bites, often switching fast enough to make Danny confuse the pleasure with pain, though never enough to draw blood. All through the night this would continue, until Phantom came himself, and would pin poor Danny to the bed, determined to keep Danny from finding the same heights, rubbing the irony of his own release into his face again and again.
Despite the bright red lines and bite marks lacing around Danny's body, and as sick as he knew it was, theses nights excited him to no end. He could no longer sleep for waiting for the cool body to slip net to him and beguine anew the night full of wanting touches. Again and again he would pull the sound of Phantom's growls in his ears as he murmured that same word in his ears breathlessly.
Mine
As much as Danny wanted to stop him, he couldn't seem to find it in him. So what if he pride had been chewed to hell, only to be spit out and set aflame before dropped in a mental cesspool. Because man that was hot. Still he wished Phantom would let him touch him.
Ah yes, yet another part of Phantom's punishment. He could still remember the first night Phantom had bluntly destroy any manly pride the teen clutched onto.
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He was burning.
What the hell had happened to Phantom? Normally by now they would both be within the warming confides of each other's arms while they slept, Danny's link open wide, lest Phantom need a good thought or two to recover from some memory or another, brought on in the form of nightmare's.
Well whatever had gotten into him, Danny sure as hell didn't complain. He had woken to heated kisses upon his neck, sucking lightly on an already aching hickey. While one arm occupied itself with his sides, occasionally flicking lightly across his chest to the hardened pebbles of flesh there, the other wrapped around the outside of a bare leg, reaching around to tease the skin upon his inner thy.
Without hesitation, Danny brought his hands up to cup Phantom's cheeks, to bring his lovers lips to his own, but before he touched skin, the hand on his chest whipped up and wrapped around his abnormally thin wrists, bringing them above his head. Confused to no end at the sudden harshness of the tender moment, Danny began to squirm fruitlessly in hopes that he could free his hands, the pale unblemished skin above taunting him to no end.
He soon forgot his venture as Phantom's other hand finally touched him where he wanted, bringing on the burning sensation in his skin, electricity running strait down his spine and to his loins, tightening his muscles there.
He tried to hold out, he really did, waiting to the overwhelmingly heated body to release his hands and let him touch that perfect skin above, let him help along his lover's own, but the hands never did let go, and Danny finally gave into the sensations billowing through his body.
"Fuck!!"
He couldn't stop the obscenity as the mixed discomfort instantly brought him down. The almost constant hickey, that had in fact been there since Phantom had broken through the darkness of Danny's mind pulsed painfully from where Phantom had bitten hard enough to make his shoulder ache. Meanwhile, Phantom, who had been working wonders with his hands had squeezed his throbbing length and jerked.
Hard.
Wincing, Danny willed the tears of discomfort away as he once more wondered what had gotten into him, why he had refused him. Again and again this happened, Danny hoping and eventually striving to come, only to have his dick suddenly squeezed or jerked, his nipples twisted, his inner thy or chest scratched, his lip, shoulder, or tongue bitten. Finally he felt the tell tale stiffening, the heady grunts, the thundering shudder, the wet rush as he rocked against him that his partner had finished. Now, finally he could-
No, there is was again, as his thy was pinched with little remorse and shoulder firmly clamped upon. It was then Danny herd the whispering, almost desperate, fast and soft, as if he wasn't even there. As soon as Phantom started, Danny had a feeling that this wasn't just about Sam or Tucker anymore.
"Mine, your mine, you hear me? I won't let them touch you. They... it can't. I won't let it, ever. It can't have you. They won't. You hear me Daniel? They won't have you, I'll snap it in two. Your mine. I'm greedy Daniel, I don't like to share, and I won't share you, I can't. Your mine.
Mine to touch-
Mine to fuck-
Mine to hurt-
Mine to hug-
Mine to look at-
Mine to sleep with-
Mine to talk to-
Mine to eat with-
Mine to kiss-
Mine to hold-
Mine to love-
Mine-
Mine-
Mine..."
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He had ranted on for hours, and latter Danny found himself agreeing. The night before, Danny had found the breath to respond to him, agreeing wholly with murmured yeses and echoes. Phantom had seemed surprised at first, but had continued on with hardly a missed beat. Danny found sweet relief again and again that night.
Even now, as Danny pulled his arms through his jacket, checking for his wallet, he beamed with sensual satisfaction, a fact he wasn't well aware of, and cared little if others noticed. He gave a cheeky look to the scowling lump under the comforter, making sure to to give his ass a little shake towards Phantom when pulling up the jeans, smiling all the while.
While resting in the confides of Phantom's arms the night before, Phantom, with a reluctant tone, had agreed to stay within the household during Danny's outing. Weather it was an admittance towards some trust for him or his friends, he did not know, but when inquired on, Phantom merely let out with a tired, if not somewhat annoyed mumble.
"If they're really your friends, then they won't let you get hurt."
Regardless of the fact that he seemed to be trying to convince himself than Danny, Danny took this as a good sign.
Whizzing about the room, checking for his wallet, tying his shoes, and overall doing all the little miscellaneous things he did before going out, he glanced over as the slouching figure sitting up in their bed, sheets down by his waist, glaring out from snowy bangs. Seeming clueless to the glares, Danny walked over to Phantom arms wide, giving Phantom an almost bone crushing hug before loosening it, letting Phantom drape his arms around his abdomen, tracing his fingers up and down Phantom's spine in a sort of petting motion. Stayed that way, waiting for Phantom to put in his two cents before he was willing to release.
"Be careful." this made Danny smile slightly against Phantom's shoulder. "Keep the link open? I want to know where you are if a ghost attacks." Danny felt his smile widen at what was implied behind those simple words. For one, it was not a request, but a question. For once, he was letting Danny have a say. Nodding, he released Phantom and ran down to greet the frantic doorbell.
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Danny isn't nearly as clueless as people think. He noticed things, and had since the 'lovebird' stage began. He noticed how how Sam would would fidget with her hair when he got near, how when he turned a corner, she would tip her head to the nearest window to check her makeup. He saw the jealousy in her eyes whenever he talked to another girl, mirroring Phantom's in a way that made him laugh in the back of his mind. He knew of her feelings.
And even now, as he opened the door, he knew she had gone the extra mile to make herself presentable. Sweet pea blossoms and violets wafted up from her in a tantalizing aura, and rather then the almost bland purple, her makeup held a slight metallic sheen to it. Lip gloss coated her lipstick in a thin glossy layer, and more hair then normal had been pulled back in her half ponytail, thin locks resting against her forehead. She had added a belt to her clothing, loose and resting on her hip, as well as other miscellaneous things done in bits to make herself look better without raising suspicion. She was goth beauty personified, and Danny knew.
He knew she resented Tucker a little in the back of her mind for being a 'third wheel', he knew she had done it for him. So as the true gentlemen he told himself he was, he gave her an extra squeeze when they hugged and commented on her appearance, guilt pooling up in his chest at her blush.
They had left, choosing to walk due to lack of other transportation. For hours they traveled around town, visiting favorite spots Danny had all but forgotten. They ran form one spot to another, a computer cafe, an electronics store, Bookshops, and arcades, and any other place that they found amusing. They had stopped at the public park to rest, Danny lounging on a bench watching Sam chase Tucker around when he attempted to feed the ducks some fried duck from a Chinese vendor. Finally, their stomaches inevitably led them to the one place Danny avoided above all else.
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No way.
Like hell he was going in there.
But even now, as Sam and Tucker grasped his wrists, Tucker himself ranting on about the 'Meatapoluza burger', in which meat was actually baked into the buns, and Sam nagged again and again about his literally 'murderous appetite', and how she would laugh when he keeled over before he turned twenty from heart failure, the neon signs and color scheme brought back horrible flashbacks.
That voice, the perfect blend of his and Vlad's, as everything else about that man had been, deep and nasalish, sarcasm lacing every word. The almost wistful tone as he talked about killing the only two friends her had, Valerie, his family,
Everyone.
Those eyes, a shade of red Sam said he had only seen once in his eyes. His own mirrored reflection, so close to his own self, yet so different. A constant reminder of not what he could be. No, but what Phantom, his precious Phantom could become.
It scared him to think of that thing, Never seeing the light of day unless through his own hosts tormented eyes, trapped in his guilt, unable to escape the toucher of his hosts maddened mind, being trapped in that hungry, cold, comforting darkness, before coming to sweet release from Danny's parallel self, release that the other Danny used in hope and love to keep Phantom from suffering,only to have already lost his fragile mind, hungering only for power as all other ghosts. It scared Danny to think of the things that thing could do, what that thing had done do the small, broken human the other Danny had become.
Vlad had told him what had happened that night, as he watched in horror, trapped beneath medical supplies, unable to help as he watched the monster he had helped create take lustful and bloody glory in the boy he thought of as a son. Danny had been dead long before that darkness incarnate had finished with his body.
It wasn't hard to overpower the man momentarily when he attempted to do Danny in, as intent to stop Dan from coming into existence as he was to stop the horror within that lab to happen again, to make the blood and tears disappear from the walls that he couldn't bear to wash, a memento of his mistakes. Danny had listen silently as he told his tale, crying all the while. He had given the man a last peace, had let him release the dark secret within his mind, only to lock it into Danny's before his inevitable death. The years had not been kind to Vlad. (Though, imagine Vlad's surprise when Danny showed up soon after his journey at his door with a claim of peace, sharing a cup of tea and a civil conversation before leaving him with a tearful look, an apology, and no explanation.)
But one of the things that scared Danny was that lustful look, increasing even as they battled for his friends and family. Dan had left him before with nothing but a whispered promise of pain and humiliation before throwing him in the ghost zone, and he knew that he would have prolonged the explosion, letting his plans go to waste just so his family could watch as he repeated the scene from ten years before in that dark lab, had he lost that fight. Danny had thanked his lucky stars every day that he hadn't.
But what scared him the most, more then anything else, was here and now, when he lie in that bed or was pushed against a wall, and Phantom held that same possessive look. It scared him that he could see Dan in the face he came to love. No it terrified him.
And so did this place. Through a side window, he could see the same sauce container that blew up right before his eyes, incinerating all he loved (or in Lancer's case, tolerated with a slight grueling respect). Deep down, he wanted to overcome his, in his own view, silly fear of a fast food joint. But even as he thought that, he could feel his body react. His palms felt wet, and he could hear his heart beat loudly in his head, and the lights seemed to get brighter, though Danny didn't register that his pupils had dilated.. When his breathing started coming out harsh gasps, Tucker jerked to a halt, catching Danny when his knees gave out and pulled him to the sidewalk next to the Nasty Burger.
Toward being the key word. That looming building only hurt Danny's state. The voices of his friends faded in the background, and the walls of the restaurant seemed to crumble, leaving six familiar faces strapped with green tendrils to the only thing standing, again he was in that battle, again, he could see that look.
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His back burned as he flew back along ground, pieces of rock and glass cutting his back, sticking and forcing its way under his skin, and he cursed at how the scars would likely never leave, and the rocks would never come out. Mentally chastising himself for lack of concentration, he dodged the fist aimed at his head, parrying with his own, landing on a broad muscled chest. It didn't even seem to faze the blue skinned man as he swung again, boxing him on the ear and forcing him to fly against the ground once more, landing no more then ten feet from the rubble of the Nasty Burger and his family.
Muscled thys straddled his waste, and he groaned in protest when he felt the snakelike tongue traced up his neck wetly. Phantom, still trapped within his mind, wreathed and screamed, death threats spewing with vulgarities, and in some weird way, Danny was sure Dan herd every word. But even Phantom froze dead when Dan began to speak.
"Finally, do you have any idea how long I've waited for this boy? Ten years. Ten years since I've tasted your tears. Ten years since I've herd your cries. Ten years since I've seen your blood. Ten long, lonely years I've waited to sample your body all over again. But this time I wont let you go to waste. I'm going to to let you live. I'm going to have you over and over forever. I'm going to make you conscious for every little thing I do to your body, I'm-"
While Danny's body was still in auto pilot, Dan had begun riping the elastic fabric of his shirt, the tearing waking Phantom from his stupor, and he used everything he had making Danny's body move, grabbing a large rock by his head and bashing it into Dan's...
Danny didn't let himself fall after that
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Again, he was back at the now fixed Nasty Burger, lying on the sidewalk, Tucker fanning him with a notebook while Sam seemed to be dialing something on the phone. It took him a moment to realize she was calling the hospital. He tore himself away from the sidewalk, and he could swear he could still see his blood, and his back ached from the nightmare that had just played out in his mind. The link with Phantom's mind bended, but he refused to let it open. If Phantom knew, then he would be there in an instant, regardless of weather or not Tucker and Sam saw him.
He had to get away. The blood, it was everywhere. Flesh, incinerated beyond recognition was smeared hotly across a rock , burning, filling the air with its stench. He felt his stomach lurch, but he held it in even as he ran.
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The door boomed loudly in his ears as he slammed it shut, latching every lock he could find through his blurry vision and shaking hands before racing up the stairs to the bathroom, not even bothering to close the door behind him as he retched above the toilet. His already empty stomach burned painfully as he gagged, green acids and juices burning his throat. At one point, warm, dry, hands wiped dark damp strands of hair from his neck and face, pulling them flat against his scull and holding them there. When he finished, he held his mouth open, regardless of the drool streaming out, knowing the taste in his mouth would intensify were he to close it.
Exhausted, he leaned against the smooth, muscular chest behind him, giving no protest as cool watter was poured into his mouth, swigging it and spitting it in the toilet before he was picked up and carried to his room. After a moment, a damp cool towel was placed upon the burning flesh of his forehead, and he sighed in contentment, swishing the water from another cool glass that had been brought up for his parched throat. But he fought sleep, the images were bad enough when he closed his eyes.
Those ever moving eyes stared down into his own, worry evident in them as his exhausted mind was probed and prodded. To weak to resist, he let the familiar consciousness sort through the chaos of his mind, letting him lock away every worry and fear, and repressing every foul image for latter, until his mind made sense again.
Soon, Phantom's probing dug deep enough to more unconscious fears, those that Danny had, that Danny knew, but refused to acknowledge, those that that flashback had brought to the surface. At one point, he grabbed Danny, pulling him close, letting the relaxed, tired body that hugged back reaffirm Danny's trust in him, showing that no matter his fears, he still trusted him.
Ignoring the knocks downstairs, the frantic doorbell, Phantom slowly climbed up into their bed, leaning against the headboard before pulling Danny into his lap. Rocking slowly, trying to calm Danny's violently shaking body, he pulled off his gloves, letting his fingers run through the silky hair under his chin while his thoughts wander.
He to, was terrified of Dan. Of the possibility of him. Of the fact that he knew exactly how that man's mind worked, and how easily he could have been him. For some reason, he was as connected to Dan's mind almost as clearly as he was to Danny's, something he had exploited to it's full potential during the final battle, giving hints and warnings at Dan moves, saving Danny from many scars, and hopefully defeat. He could feel Plasmius's conscious huddled somewhere in the back of Dan mind, forgotten and gone, lying with a part of the other Phantom's mind in the same cold darkness Phantom had inhabited till he was freed. This gave Phantom an odd sense of relief within itself.
No matter what Dan claimed, he was not wholly Phantom. It was that darkness calling the shots, using the parallel Phantom's mind and body to get to the thing it craved. Power, blood, death...
Danny
More then anything it wanted Danny.
Somewhere in the back of his consciousness, he registered that the doorbell and knock had been replace by the phone, ringing unmercifully. He reached down to that slight consciousness that all things had, and used to remember, telling the phone to be quiet for a while, and smiled at the satisfying click, telling him that the phones had all disconnected.
He glanced down at Danny who was shaking, breathing deeply, but still awake, eyes blank, allowing his body to catch up with his mind. He allowed the frown. Those meddlers would never understand, even if they did remember anything about Dan. But they hadn't, Danny had made sure of that, in that brief time when they had been trapped outside of time, after the battle, but fore Clockwork had allowed them all a second chance. He had begged, pleaded, for some sort of relief from the embarrassment. Clockwork, ever meddling, had erased all traces of Dan in their minds, leaving Jazz with any sort of recollection. All she remembered was writing the note, trying to help Danny with a, for all she knew, large threat. She knew not the face, the voice, nothing, only the knowledge that she was helping, which was enough for her.
He kept his eyes on Danny looking for a sign that he had come back to his body. Seeing none, he allowed his thoughts to wander once more, relishing in the empty space in Danny's mind, his heart, where the darkness once resided. It would never have Danny. He could sense small parts of it in everyone. Though it was their own personal darkness, it all still hungered for something. For the dark, annoying female Danny called Sam, it hungered for independence, to be looked at differently, by Danny especially, which was one of the many things about her that irked Phantom deep down. There were others too, human and ghost, who held that darkness, some who let it rule them, mostly ghosts. (Something about that Valerie's was familiar, and it hurt him to look at.)
But his own, the one that wrapped around him coldly and comfortingly, that wanted Danny almost as much as he was gone, banished forever. He would never become that monster.
He would never let the darkness have Danny.
Looking down for the third time, he saw the clarity in Danny's eyes return, and a small smile graced his lips. Leaning down, a curtain of white enveloped them as he place feathered kisses on Danny head, nose, and cheeks.
"It's gone Daniel." Danny too knew that Dan was mostly the darkness, though he didn't understand what the darkness was like Phantom did.
"I know."
He brushed his nose against Danny's slowly again and again, a childish game he learned from watching couples in the park that he herd called 'Eskimo kisses'. It was a game he enjoyed greatly.
"I'll never let it have you."
"I know."
Leaning down, Phantom brushed his lips to Danny's, relishing them as they hung lightly to his own from their moist breath.
"I'll never become him."
Danny pulled back, cupping Phantom's face, starring. Slowly, a smile spread across his lips, making Phantom smile as well.
"I know."
Leaning upwards, he pressed up against Phantom. Kissing him softly, glorying in the soft warmth of his lips, and the hard warmth of his body, still cupping his face.
'I know'
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I know I know, it's been a while. But like I said, I write a majority on weekends, and it's been all sorts of chaos from homework to sleepovers to writers block. I'm already working on the next chapter for my other story, I promise.
I'm trying to hold on to the fact that Phantom is a ghost, and in so dose not 'feel' the same way we humans do. No matter how much he cares for Danny, which is a lot, he takes one look and automatically thinks MINE!!! I'm trying to go deeper into this when he goes out of his way to humiliate and 'punish' Danny in bed. It's not really for his own sick pleasure, though that plays a (small) part, but more that he's showing Danny that he belongs to him, and that he can do whatever he wants with his body and make it do what he wishes. Theses sort of things will play a big part in the sequel... yes I'm planning a sequel with an actual plot, and it's one I'm looking forward to writing. This story is merely a filler to get to that point.
I also hope that this sheds a little light on why Phantom really doesn't like people. X3
And yes, I know Danny isn't terrified by the Nasty Burger, but it's my god damn fanfiction. And remember people,
I LUVS YOU ALL!!
RR&R