After a tour of Amity Park, the group of thirteen teens went to the Nasty Burger to get something to eat.

"I really don't know about eating somewhere with the word nasty in its name," Artemis commented.

"Relax Artemis, the food is great here. Nasty is only one letter away from tasty," Tucker assured her.

"Ugh, we don't have our radio station anymore. Stop plugging that stupid slogan," Sam groaned. Tucker scowled at her before stepping up to the cashier to order.

"Oh, hey Valerie," Tucker exclaimed in surprise.

"Hey Tucker, the usual?" Valerie greeted him with a smile.

"I thought you had the day off?" Sam pointed out.

"Switched shifts," Valerie explained as she tapped out Tucker and Sam's usual order.

"So, usual yeah?" Valerie repeated.

"Er, yeah," Tucker agreed as Sam handed the dark haired girl the money to pay.

Valerie smiled and handed Sam her change.

"It'll be ready in a minute," Valerie concluded and turned to the next in line. She gasped.

"Danny!?" she called. Danny smirked.

"Hey Val, you'd think I'd been gone for months the way you're acting," Danny greeted her with a playful smirk. She grinned with excitement.

"So, you're back?" she assumed.

"Visiting. Just for today. Got in last night and leaving early tomorrow. My aunt had business in Elmerton so I came here," Danny lied, surprising the team who weren't aware of his lying and acting skills.

Valerie nodded, accepting the lie readily.

"Oh, now I wish I hadn't switched shifts. How's Spittoon?" Valerie asked.

"Small and quiet. I hear things have been hectic here with all the ghost attacks though," Danny replied, following her lips without her noticing.

"Yeah, but things have been quiet for a week. Those spooks are up to something," Valerie retorted with a light scowl. Danny nodded.

"I guess. Say, any word on Phantom? Sam and Tuck said he's still missing," Danny inquired, surprising the team. Valerie rolled her eyes.

"Look, I know you think he's a hero or something but he's not. Amity Park is better off without him," Valerie answered.

"Meaning no sign?" Danny prompted, full well knowing that there hadn't been, he'd been flying too fast to be recognised when he followed Cujo to the Guys in White base the previous week. Valerie scowled and shook her head.

"Wonder why?" Danny mumbled. Valerie shrugged herself.

"Probably went back to the Ghost Zone or something. Or maybe he finally realised he's not wanted around here," Valerie suggested.

"Maybe. How are you doing though Val? How's school?" Danny asked. Valerie smiled and nodded.

"I'm fine. Been busy you know with my job and everything. But Casper's not the same without you," Valerie replied. Danny smirked.

"Who's Dash's new punching bag?" Danny inquired with a serious frown.

"Mostly Mikey. But he doesn't have a favourite so much now," Valerie answered with a sad smile. Danny nodded.

"I'll try to steer clear from him today then. Bet he's not going to need much provocation," Danny commented. Valerie nodded.

"I'll try and warn you if he comes in. There's a table at the back of the restaurant you can sit at where you won't be seen," Valerie offered. Danny smiled gratefully. Valerie suddenly blinked and realised where she was.

"Oh, but you're not here to chat. What would you like?" Valerie asked with a nervous chuckle. Danny smiled and placed his order and then stepped aside for the team to place their orders.

Taking Valerie's advice, the group sat at a quiet table at the back of the restaurant.

"What gives about you asking that girl about Phantom?" Wally hissed, unfortunately not seen by Danny and so unheard. Raquel noticed that Danny hadn't heard and nudged him. He blinked and apologised.

"Why did you bring up Phantom with Valerie?" Kaldur repeated. Danny nodded.

"Oh, that's normal for me and Val," Danny answered.

"Valerie's a ghost hunter," Sam interjected.

"Sam," Danny scolded.

"What? They should know. She's Valerie Gray and she's had it out for Phantom for years," Sam resumed. The team blinked and glanced at the girl still at the cash register, taking another customer's order.

"Gray? As in Damon Gray?" Robin inquired. Sam and Tucker nodded.

"She really doesn't like Danny Phantom or Cujo. Blames them for her and her dad going broke and for the A-listers turning on her," Tucker confirmed.

"And you asked her about Phantom?" Zatanna pointed out, frowning at Danny like he'd done something stupid.

"Hey, you don't know Val like I do. Besides, I'm still hoping to change her mind," Danny retorted as he picked up a French fry.

"Dude, how many times does she have to shoot at you for you to understand getting close to her is bad news?" Tucker interjected. Danny scowled at him.

"You can't blame Val. Just like I couldn't blame my parents," Danny decided.

"Why do I feel like we're missing something?" Zatanna muttered.

"Danny used to go out with Valerie," Sam informed her.

"No way," Raquel, who overheard, gasped. Sam nodded with a scowl.

"Yeah, and he wouldn't listen to me when I told him Technus set it up. Nearly got himself killed," Sam growled.

"Wait, Valerie nearly-" Zatanna whispered her eyes wide and fearful.

"No, no not like that. Technus took over her tech and used it to attack Danny Fenton while Valerie was watching. It worked out alright but only because Valerie's a black belt and could hold off her armour while Danny ran off to change. But there's a lot of bad blood you know, especially when it looked like Phantom tried to waste Valerie. He didn't, but he wrecked the armour," Sam corrected. Zatanna and Raquel shared a worried look.

"So if Valerie ever learned about Danny?" Raquel began. Sam shrugged.

"Danny seems to think she'd be fine. But me and Tucker have our doubts," Sam answered.

The teens ate their meals with casual conversations.

"Hey Dash!" Valerie greeted loudly. Danny, despite his relative deafness heard her and looked up.

"Crud," he breathed. At Valerie's register, was a muscular blonde jock named Dash Baxter.

"I should probably make myself scarce guys. Meet you guys outside," Danny muttered before getting up and discretely dumped his trash in a trashcan as he made his way to the exit.

"Huh?" Wally mumbled around a mouthful of food.

"School bully. Danny's his favourite," Tucker explained, watching his friend sneak out of the restaurant unseen despite being visible.

Minutes later, the team and Sam and Tucker left the restaurant and found Danny lurking in a shadowy alleyway close by.

"Sorry about that," Danny apologised. The team shook their heads. They understood.

"But why don't you stop Dash? I mean you're half-ghost. Couldn't you do something?" M'gann remarked. Danny nodded.

"Yeah, and I have gotten pay back on him. But if I straight up told him to back off and defended myself it would jeopardise my secret," Danny explained. A number of the team shook their heads.

"I can't believe what you put up with to protect your secret. If you just told people things would be so much better for you. We could shut down the Guys in White and stop Dash and so on," M'gann muttered.

"I've seen what would happen if my secret ever got out to the public. I prefer this," Danny informed them.

"How?" Robin prompted.

"A ghost relic called the Reality Gauntlet, it could affect reality itself. Don't worry I destroyed it, but not before I erased everyone's memory after I accidently changed on the evening news. It's a long story," Danny answered.

"It wasn't pretty. Guys in White attacked. Fans hounded us everywhere. And our families were endangered," Sam added. The team blinked in shock. Danny nodded in agreement.

"Most ghosts don't go after my family because they're ghost hunters. And they don't go after Sam and Tucker's either. The most humans targeted to get to me was when Walker overshadowed the mayor, a lot of people were overshadowed during that. Mostly teachers and students in my year though," Danny explained.

"Fenturd?!" a male voice called. Danny groaned.

"Great," he grumbled. He turned to the voice and spotted Dash with a few of his football team mates.

"Hey Dash," Danny replied. It seemed that Dash had only gotten something to go from the Nasty Burger, evident by the greasy paper bag in his hand.

"Where have you been? You missed nerd wailing September," Dash growled with a menacing grin.

"Sorry Dash, been away," Danny retorted, following Dash's lips despite the distance.

"I know. Where?!" Dash snarled.

"At my Aunt's. Spittoon, it's a small place, doubt you'd know it," Danny answered, seeing the warning signs in pushing Dash too far.

"Spittoon? Don't a load of hill billies live there?" Dash mocked. Danny rolled his eyes. The footballers laughed. Artemis scowled and stomped past Danny and glared at Dash.

"Why don't you just lay off?" Artemis hissed. Not facing Danny, the deafened halfa had no idea what she said.

"Oooh! And who's gonna make me? You his girlfriend?" Dash taunted.

"No. But he's my friend. You have no right to say things like that to him," Artemis answered through gritted teeth. Dash laughed and pushed the archer aside. Danny watched the exchange warily, unable to follow what was being said as Artemis was blocking Danny's view of Dash's face.

"I don't hit girls. But I have no problem wailing on Fentoenail," Dash informed her and grinned at Danny.

Dash then scowled.

"Stop looking at my mouth!" he demanded. Danny blinked in surprise at the comment and averted his eyes.

"Sorry," he muttered. Dash frowned.

"Hold this," Dash ordered one of his team mates and shoved the paper bag at them. He then approached Danny. Danny looked up and gulped as he knew what was coming.

"I'm going to enjoy this so- stop looking at my mouth!" Dash gloated before scowling in annoyance. M'gann gasped as she realised Danny's dilemma. He had to lip-read to know what Dash was saying and that was only making Dash angrier.

"Danny, I'll tell you what he's saying," M'gann offered telepathically. Danny glanced her way.

"What did Artemis say?" Danny inquired.

"She told him to back off. That you're friends," M'gann recalled.

Danny stepped forward.

"Dash, mind if we reschedule? At school maybe? My friends are only in town today and you don't want them to have a bad impression of Casper High's star quarterback, do you?" Danny suggested. Dash faltered. He glanced around the teens, glaring at him.

"Alright. But only cause my food's getting cold!" Dash relented and turned back to the team.

"And if I catch you watching my mouth like that again I'll give you wedgie! It's freaky," Dash growled before they left. The teens gave a collective sigh of relief.

"Hang on, you're not coming back to school yet," Tucker pointed out. Danny smirked.

"Yeah but Dash doesn't know that," Danny replied. The teens laughed and resumed their outing together.

So the team got a glimpse of what Danny's life at home is like, as well as meeting Dash and Valerie.

Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.

Until the next chapter.