Despite his conversation with Sam ending on an uncomfortable note, Phantom was happy to feel the wind in his face as he flew towards where he had heard the manic laughter. Finally, he had a chance to do some good and feel useful again. There was only so much of watching Danny be fine without him that he could take.

Arriving at the mall and entering through the hole in the wall, he wasn't surprised to see Box Ghost going to town building a barricade out of various stock boxes from the surrounding stores. He was surprised to see that he had brought Box Lunch, who was currently terrorising the new Japanese restaurant with their own bento. Phantom winced. He hadn't realised that she'd gotten old enough for Box Ghost to take her on her first haunt and seeing her like this only reminded him of what happened with Dan. Judging by the barricade, it didn't look like old Boxy felt like she was completely ready to fully handle such a public haunt. Phantom sighed, figuring once he shook up Box Ghost he'd retreat with his daughter.

This shouldn't take long.

"Hey! "Bring your child to work day" is next month!" Phantom called out, drawing Box Ghost's attention away from the young woman who was resisting the telekinetic pull on her new shoe box.

"Beware the terrifying duo of Box Ghost and Box Lunch! No boxed goods, edible or not, will be safe!" The ghost declared dramatically. Phantom rolled his eyes, all too familiar of what he should "beware".

"We can do this the easy way, where you pack it in and head home right now, or we could do this the hard way and you can be completely humiliated in front of your daughter." Phantom warned, raising his hands into a fighting stance and summoning ecto-blast energy, prepared to fire.

"No! It is I who will humiliate you in front of your daughter!" Box Ghost snapped angrily. Phantom couldn't help but snort.

"Great comeback, man. Really thought outside the box with that one." Phantom teased, causing the ghost to growl with growing irritation.

"Well, get ready to think INSIDE the box! Because your head is going to smash into this box!" Box Ghost yelled, flinging a rather sizable crate from his pile towards the hero. Reflexively, Phantom shot a beam of energy at the projectile, aiming to split the crate and miss him. Instead, a charged blast was released, completely evaporating the crate and continuing towards Box Ghost, whose eyes widened with shock and fear. Realising too late what was happening to dodge, the blast hit the ghost harshly in the gut, throwing him violently back and slamming him into the back wall of the Japanese restaurant. The wall gave a sickening crack and a puff of dust fell from the ceiling.

"Daddy!" Box Lunch screamed, the floating Bento around her clattering to the floor as she zoomed over to where her father landed. Phantom gasped, looking between the prone ghost on the floor and his hands. He hadn't meant to use that much power. He couldn't figure out how it happened. The young ghost girl, who didn't look any older than four, gripped onto Box Ghost's shoulders and shook him desperately.

"Please wake up! I don't want to fight him! I'm sorry I said I was ready! Please wake up, daddy!" She begged desperately, voice wobbling as she cried. She turned her head in Phantom's direction and upon seeing him, whimpered and began shaking her father more fervently. Phantom panicked as he looked between the crater in Box Ghost's torso and the sobbing girl who was terrified of him.

Fuck! What have I done? Have I killed him?

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that! I didn't want to hurt him! I don't want to hurt you!" He apologised, tears welling in his eyes as he floated closer to the unconscious ghost in hopes of helping. As soon as she yelped in fear, he stopped his approach. Keeping his distance, he watched the still form of the Box Ghost, begging under his breath for him to wake up.

Like a miracle, Box Ghost spasmed as he sat up wheezing. Clutching at his stomach with one hand and shielding his crying child with the other, he looked up at Phantom with a blend of confusion and absolute fear.

"You… you tried to destroy me." The ghost stated with a calm voice that dropped Phantom's heart into his stomach.

"N-No! I wasn't trying to destroy you! It was an accident, I swear! I'm sorry!" Phantom cried out. Box Ghost looked between Phantom and the floor underneath him and he flinched with concern. Following his line of sight, Phantom looked down and saw that frost was quickly spreading out over the floor beneath him in all directions. Knowing he wouldn't be able to calm down on his own, Phantom took off in the direction of the only person who could help.

"You have some real nerve rejecting my Paulina, loser." The voice of Dash complained from behind Danny. Turning around, he saw the blonde bully menacingly punching one fist into the palm of his other hand like an old timey cartoon of a mobster. Danny rolled his eyes at the threat.

"Let me get this straight. Your beef with me today is that I didn't flirt with your girlfriend?" Danny questioned, quirking his eyebrow up at the taller boy.

"Yeah! You think you're too good for her or something? Nobody disses my girl and gets away with it!" Dash grunted, puffing his chest up like a gorilla. Danny was caught off guard with that reply.

Huh.

"I have to admit, it's kinda sweet how loyal you are to her." Danny commented with a light chuckle, genuinely appreciating the fact that he cared more about Paulina's feelings than about getting jealous. At the compliment, Dash's cheeks tinted pink.

"Sh-Shut up!" He yelled, before stomping past him and Tucker towards Kwan, who was already waiting in the middle of the field. As soon as he was gone, Tucker broke into a gleeful laugh.

"Man, every interaction between you and Dash lately is gold!" Tucker said, wiping a tear from his eye. Danny chuckled and shrugged, not sure what to say. Dash was clearly running out of things to bully him for, seeing as it was getting easier to brush off anything he said or did. With any hope, he'd give up trying by the end of the year.

Once everyone had made their way to the field, Ms Tetslaff split the class up, sending the girls to play against each other while sending the boys to play in the other direction. Usually, Danny would try to weasel his way into playing with the girls for contact sports, as they were faster and better training for dodging ghosts, and also only ever hit or tackled him if they needed to for the game rather than whenever they felt like it. For once, he felt confident enough to stick with the boys. He had a feeling that it would be extra satisfying to watch the football team fall on their faces when he dodged out of their reach today with an embarrassed Dash egging them on.

As they played, he realised he was completely right. Dash was losing it as he watched Danny run, duck, and twirl away from every lunge for his flags. None of them could touch his level of agility built up from years of ghost fighting, and with the new clarity in his mind he found it leagues easier to notice anyone sneaking up behind him. As an added bonus, it felt really damn good to release all the energy that had been building up inside. He wasn't used to having so much, considering usually it was burnt up during battle. He let out an amused laugh, catching himself actually considering joining the football team.

When a boom in the distance stops the game in its tracks, Danny whips around to see if he can spot where Phantom was. Turning just in time, he watched as Phantom took off into the sky, leaving a circle of frost where he had been on the bleachers. Danny scoffed.

Is he showing off?

Before he can plan on making fun of his ghost half when he next sees him, he's distracted by Paulina rushing towards Sam with an excited look on her face, trailed by an annoyed looking Star.

"What did he say to you? Did he talk about me?" He heard her question loudly, despite how far away he stood. Star said something he couldn't hear with an agitated look on her face and shoos her friend away from the bleachers. Star turned back to Sam and said something else with an awkward smile, and to Danny's shock when Sam responded she did it with a soft smile.

What is that all about?

Making her way back to the rest of the girls, Paulina began waxing poetry about her "Ghost Boy" and how she can't wait for him to tell her how he feels so they can have their one magical night. Danny stifled a groan, embarrassed by the memory that he used to be attracted to her. Valerie looked uncomfortable, like all she wanted to do was escape the conversation. Danny couldn't help but empathise with her. The way Paulina went on and on about his ghost half was causing a weirdly bitter feeling to rise in him. He put it down as a protectiveness of his other half from what felt like a predator readying her talons. When Ms Tetslaff blew the whistle to signal a break, probably realising that nothing would stop the teens from gossiping about Phantom for the next five minutes away, Danny gave her a little wave to give her an out. She wore a look of relief as she darted away from Paulina towards Danny.

"Thanks, Danny. Not sure how much more I could have stomached." She thanked, pretending to gag and getting him to laugh.

"You'd think the excitement that fuels her inner trashy romance novel would have died down by now." Tucker commented, arriving next to Danny out of breath. Valerie sighed and shrugged, clearly not getting the appeal.

"Dude, are you seriously cool with your girlfriend clearly thirsting over other guys?" Kwan questioned, eyes going from Paulina to Dash with a doubtful expression. Dash flicked his hand dismissively.

"Phantom doesn't count. He's our free pass." He replied nonchalantly. Danny felt like his brain took a dive from a high board.

"OUR?" He blurted out, causing the attention of the rest of the class to snap to him. Danny tried to calm down as he felt himself heat up. Why was he so angry at the idea of Dash taking a shot at Phantom? Surely he's just irritated that Dash could be so interested in someone who used to be a person he bullied every day, because jealousy would make NO sense.

"I know that look Fentini. You're just jealous because I have a much better chance with a hero like him than you!" Dash yelled at Danny, face going read from being embarrassed again. Danny growled.

"I'm not jealous, I'm mad that you have the audacity to harass me because you think I'm gay when you are clearly attracted to guys!" Danny argued back, frustrated by the hypocrisy. Dash crossed his arms and looked away.

"Tch… it doesn't count if it's a ghost! They don't have genitals." The bully replied, mumbling awkwardly. Danny raised an eyebrow at that statement. Where the hell did he get that idea?

"What are you talking about? Phantom has a-" He started to say, before Tucker elbowed him in the side to cut him off. Unfortunately, the damage was done.

"How the fuck would you know that?" Valerie questioned, looking downright disturbed by the fact that Danny knew what was in Phantom's pants.

Come on! Say you heard it from your parents! It's the perfect excuse!

"Uhh…" Was all that came out.

Fucking brilliant.

"Phantom! He's come back for me!" Paulina exclaimed, interrupting one of the most awkward moments of Danny's life. Whipping his line of sight up to where she pointed, he saw his ghost half hurdling back in their direction. No… his direction. Danny panicked. Phantom was coming in too hot, there was no way he'd slow down in time to not –

Phantom crashed into Danny, throwing him harshly to the ground and shooting a pain from his tailbone up his spine. Danny tried to sit up, and Phantom immediately wrapped his legs around Danny's hips and his arms around his shoulders, burying his face into the crook of his neck. The ghost was freezing cold to the touch and was hyperventilating in a way that made Danny's heart lurch.

"I nearly killed him… I nearly killed Box Ghost! Right in front of his daughter! I couldn't control myself. What if I had killed him?" Phantom murmured into Danny's neck, his hold around the human tightening with anxiety. Danny twisted his head to look at Phantom as he tried to process what he'd just said. His form was distorting, shifting into how he had looked when they had woken up the night before. But Danny couldn't find it in him to worry about that, as what Phantom had said was finally registering to him. He said he couldn't control himself and nearly killed Box Ghost, but what did that mean? Did he get mad and try to kill him? No, he would never do that. Not Phantom. Not the boy who shook and cried at the idea of genuinely hurting someone. Danny wrapped one arm around Phantom's chest and began stroking his back while his other hand began raking through the ghost's white hair, hoping the touches would soothe him.

"It's okay, Phantom. You stopped, so you did control yourself. You didn't kill him, so he'll be fine and back to annoying the shit out of you in no time." Danny reassured softly. Phantom shuddered and his body relaxed, breath evening out and temperature rising. The sudden change concerned Danny. He shifted the hand in the other's hair until it was cupping his cheek and pulled Phantom back enough to look at his face. Just as he suspected, his other half, although back to normal, had passed out in his arms.

"Oh, Phantom. What is happening to you?" Danny whispered, pulling him back in and holding him close once again. He'd have stayed there as long as Phantom needed, if it weren't with the awkward throat clear that snapped him attention away from the ghost in his arms. Looking up, absolutely everyone in the class was staring at him with wide eyes and dropped jaws.

Shit.