The gaping expressions of his classmates were the eye of the storm before he was overwhelmed with what felt like a thousand questions at once. So many were coming at once, he could only make out a handful from the crowd.

"What the hell happened?"

"Did he say he killed someone?"

"Why was he changing like that?"

"Why the fuck did he go to you instead of me?" Danny refrained from rolling his eyes at Paulina's question, as it seemed like his classmates had that handled.

"What are you talking about? Of course Phantom would pick Fenton over you. Do you really think a superhero would settle for any less?" Mikey sassed, followed by a surprising amount of sounds and nods of agreement from the other students, as if the statement checked out.

Wait, what?

Danny winced as he looked to Dash, expecting him to snap at the smaller male for insulting his girlfriend so casually. He was quite caught off guard to find the bully staring frozen at Danny with a stunned and conflicted expression.

"Forget about that! Danny, are you dating Phantom?" Valerie demanding, voice riddled with betrayal as her expression twisted with disbelief. Danny fought back the urge to laugh uncomfortably, knowing it wouldn't help anything. The only problem was he couldn't think of anything he could do to help. If he denied being in a relationship with himself (ridiculous!) he knew that would only convince everyone further that he was. If he played along he'd only open himself up to even more questions from his classmates that he'd have to make up answers to and then try to remember what he made up so the story didn't keep changing. He needed to stall for time so he could figure something out.

"Uhh…" Was all that came out of his mouth.

Is that my fucking vocab word of the day? What is wrong with me?!

Luckily for Danny, salvation came in the form of Ms Tetslaff shushing the students and forcing them to back away from Danny and Phantom.

"Okay, back to work chatterboxes! You can harass Fenton outside of class time. Go!" She declared, shooing everyone off. Once the students had reluctantly scattered, she crouched next to Danny with a cautious expression.

"Are you okay? Is…he okay?" She asked, voice far softer than her usual tone.

"Landed kind of rough, but I'll be fine. I'm not sure about Phantom though. I might have something that can help him in my locker. Could I –" A hand waving in front of him cut him off.

"You can finish early to take care of your little ghost friend. I have seen enough from you today to know you've picked up the game. Off you go! Chop-chop!" She stated, rising to her feet and tone returning to her usual self now that she wasn't as worried for her student. He gave her a grateful nod, before shifting his hold on Phantom so that he could use one hand to help himself stand up while the other wound around his ghost self's ass.

It's just the most practical way to hold him up, it doesn't mean anything. Stop thinking about it!

Danny ran as smoothly as he could back to the locker room, attempting not to jostle and disturb the sleeping ghost in his arms. Once at his locker, he settled Phantom on the ground before rummaging through his stuff to find the vial of ectoplasm that he kept on hand as emergency energy supplements. Popping the lid off, he tilted Phantom's head back and pried his mouth open with his free hand. Ignoring how soft Phantom's lips were, he carefully poured the bright green liquid down the ghost's throat. After a few moments, Phantom began to glow a little brighter and he began to groan his way into consciousness. Sleepy eyes blinked out and glanced around in confusion. Danny internally scowled at himself for finding it cute. There were more important things to think about than whatever that weird thought was.

"Wha… where am I?" Phantom asked, voice mumbling from low energy.

"We're in the locker room. You passed out after you told me you nearly killed Box Ghost." Danny informed flatly. Phantom winced, the memory appearing to return to him.

"Oh." Was all that came out from him.

"Yeah, oh. Care to explain to me what happened?" Danny questioned, shifting from kneeling in front of the ghost to sitting beside him. Phantom groaned and thumped his head backward into the lockers.

"It was awful, Danny. I only meant to shoot a beam to cut a crate in half, but I nearly blasted Box Ghost in half instead! He actually got knocked out, that's how hard I hit him!" Phantom revealed, the emotion in his voice rising as he slumped forward and hugged his knees. Gently, Danny hushed Phantom as he snaked his hand across the ghost's back and around his furthest shoulder.

"It might not have been as bad as you thought. I mean, we've seen ghosts get split in half and immediately reform with no issue. Hell, we've even warped holes into our body to avoid a hit." He attempted to reassure. Phantom appeared to think about it for a moment before shaking his head.

"You didn't see Box Lunch. She was terrified that he wouldn't wake up." He moaned, eyes avoiding his human half.

"But she's a child, though. Born in the Ghost Zone too. She doesn't understand death." Danny countered, giving his ghost's shoulder a gentle squeeze. Suddenly, Phantom jerked away from Danny, turning towards him with a horrified expression as he scooted backwards.

"She was terrified of me. She looked at me like I was him." Phantom cried out, tears bubbling in his eyes and shoulders shaking.

Oh.

With the first appearance of Box Lunch from this timeline combined with what happened today, no wonder Phantom's mind went there. To Dan.

"But you're not. You never will be." Danny argued, inching towards the ghost only to have him flinch further away.

"How can you be so sure? The thing that made Dan a monster was losing his human half and look at us now!" Phantom exclaimed in panic, the tears now streaming down his cheeks with an oddly beautiful glow. Danny's heart clinched in his chest at the sight.

"Hey! You haven't lost me! I'm right here!" Danny shouted, brow furrowing with determination. Phantom turned his face away sharply and bit his lip as his eyes scrunched shut. The expression and the shuddered breathing did nothing to help the concern Danny felt for his ghost half. It looked like he was about to have a full blown panic attack. Danny quickly crawled to Phantom, closing the distance between them in a moment. He knelt between Phantom's splayed legs and reached up to cup his hands around the ghost's cheeks and turn his face back toward him.

"Phantom, look at me. I'm not going anywhere. We're going to figure out what is wrong with your powers because I know without a doubt that it is not because you're going to the dark side. There is too much of what makes us good in you, I can see it. If you can't see it, please believe me then." Danny declared as calmly as he could. As he stroked his thumbs over his ghost half's cheeks, wiping away the luminescent tears, Phantom's lids opened, revealing shimmering, stunning hyalite opal eyes that gazed into his own. He saw a flurry of emotions dance in those eyes, flickering through doubt, hopefulness, and something else he didn't know how to label. Danny watched Phantom's eyes trail away from his own and down towards his lips, presumably because he was thinking about the words that had left them moments ago. A pained expression flashed across Phantom's face before his eyes shut again and shook his head for a moment. Before Danny could ask what was wrong, Phantom was leaning into Danny, wrapping his arms around him in a needy hug and burrowing his face into the crook of his neck. Danny returned the hug, letting out a deep sigh of what he assumed was relief. The fact that it felt like disappointment was confusing. Phantom had finally calmed down and now they were hugging, something they both needed. What did he have to be disappointed about?

Not wanting to linger on such thoughts, Danny pulled away from the hug and gave Phantom what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Judging by the weirdly flustered look and awkward coughing he got back from Phantom, he hadn't done a very good job. But still, Danny was confident that his ghost half would be fine.

Phantom was well and truly fucked.

If the comforting touches and heart-felt speeches that came out of very kissable lips weren't enough, Danny had to go back in for the kill with that fucking smile. Phantom was one hundred percent certain that they were never this charming, and dare he say gorgeous, when they were the one person. His made him feel so confused and downright ashamed that more and more he found himself so attracted to his human half. As much as he tried to rationalise that it was just some sort of manifestation of his desire to be complete again, he knew it wasn't true. He had a straight up crush on Danny. He'd deny it to anybody that asked, but he couldn't deny it to himself any longer. Himself, himself, that is. It was very important to deny it to the other himself and make sure he never finds out. Speaking of which, it was time to move the conversation forward so that Danny would stop with that damn smile that gave him ghost butterflies.

"D-Do you have any theories?" Phantom stammered, backing away and going back to leaning against the lockers tiredly. Having a mild mental break down really seemed to take a lot out of him. Danny squirmed, before rising to his feet and making his way back to his locker and began pulling out his clothes to get changed. Phantom winced, knowing that if Danny was making himself busy so that he wouldn't have to make eye contact, he probably wasn't going to like what his human half was going to say.

"Maybe… I've been making you weaker?" Danny suggested quietly. Phantom growled, before using the lockers to help him pull himself to his feet and staggered over to Danny, who looked like he knew what was coming.

"Danny, I know in my heart that I am stronger with you than without you." Phantom told him with full conviction. Even if his human half had been muting or filtering his ghost powers, it didn't mean that was making him weaker. If anything, the refined control made him stronger as a protector. Danny turned to Phantom with a warm smile and boy, was he glad he was already leaning against the wall.

"Now I am even more certain that you will never become Dan. You would never leave me to fuse with Vlad." Danny chuckled, before shucking his shirt off. Not prepared for the sight, Phantom gasped as he ogled the human. It was the towel situation all over again. Only this time, Phantom wasn't in denial, so nothing could stop his eyes from drinking in the sight in front of him. Just like the water droplets from the shower, the sweat that clung to Danny's chest only served to accentuate the tone of his muscles and give him a warm and very human glow. When Danny's eyes widened with concern, Phantom figured it was time to come up with an acceptable reason for him to gasp that had nothing to do with his narcissistic thoughts.

"What if Vlad somehow did this to us?" He asked, mentally fist pumping at the fact that what came out of his mouth made sense. Vlad was not only someone who knew their secret, but also had a history of messing around with their DNA. Danny scrunched up his face as he thought about the theory.

"That doesn't make a lot of sense. He's only obsessed with us because we're a halfa like him. Why would he un-halfa us?" Danny questioned. Phantom shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe he's up to something and he needed us distracted?" He responded, using all his will power to keep his eyes up on Danny's face, lest he get even more distracted. Danny thought about it for another moment, before sagging and then putting his black tee back on.

"I want to say that sounds like a reach, but I wouldn't put it past him." He admitted.

The sudden, shrill ringing of the bell caused both boys to flinch in surprise. Phantom felt his stomach fill with disappointment. The bell meant everyone would be coming back to the locker room to get changed and he wouldn't be able to keep talking to him.

"We can hound him after school. Are you okay for now?" Danny said, snapping Phantom out of his sad spiral before it got too bad. Phantom gave him a nod, but as he pushed off the wall to float beside the human, he thunked back to the ground and wobbled on his feet dizzily. Danny reached out a hand and steadied him by gripping onto his shoulder.

"You need to rest. Stay quiet and invisible and everything should be fine." Danny stated, and before Phantom could ask him what he meant, he found himself being hauled onto the human's back, reflexively wrapping his arms around his shoulders. Dropping his visibility, Phantom kept his eyes up as Danny changed his pants, glad for how easy their new positions made avoiding gawking at the human's form. It also felt amazing to be able to lean into Danny like this, to have the boy's warmth spread over him in the most soothing way. What he could do without was the growing temptation to press loving kisses into the human's neck, or to reach up and turn his face toward him so he could kiss him on the lips, or just kissing him in any way he could think of really. It would be so easy to do with him so tantalisingly close, but he had to resist or he would ruin everything.

"Oh man! You should have seen Dash's face when Phantom crashed into you. He actually got more jealous about him than his actual girlfriend. As soon as you left everyone started roasting him so bad. You're my hero, dude." Tucker laughed, slapping Danny on the back. Although Phantom was sure he made himself completely intangible where Tucker's hand went, his friend's expression shifted into one of mild shock and confusion.

"Uh, so where did Phantom go? What was wrong?" He asked, stepping back towards his own locker to get changed back into his regular clothes. When the rest of the boys entered the locker room, Danny gave Tucker a shake of the head to signify "we'll talk about it later." The laughter from the members of the football team drew Phantom's attention to them, seeing that Dash was stomping towards Danny with a furious expression while the rest ambled behind rolling their eyes.

"Come on, Fentana. Tell them you're not dating Phantom!" Dash demanded. Phantom winced, realising what it must have looked like to everyone else.

"I'm not dating Phantom." Danny said blankly, clearly not having the energy to deal with Dash today. Even though he knew it was true, and that it wasn't a possibility for them to date, the statement still hurt. Dash let out a weird laugh, before turning to the other jocks and pointing harshly at Danny.

"See! What did I say? Phantom would never date someone who is such a loser!" Dash declared, words dripping with malice. Right when Phantom wanted to scoff, he felt Danny tense up and his temperature rise rapidly. A heavy frustration rose in Phantom, angry that the bully continued to treat Danny in such a horrible way even after all these years. Maybe it was time for the blonde to be taken down a notch. Knowing Danny wouldn't be happy if he hurt Dash, he came up with another way he could get to him.

With one hand Phantom slid Danny's shirt up to expose his stomach and hip bone, with the other he thread a hand through Danny's hair and gripped tight enough to pull his head slightly to the side. Danny let out a gasp that reset Phantom's brain.

This is a brilliant idea!

"Whoa, what's happening with Fenton?" Kwan asked, eyes darting between Danny's stomach and hair. Phantom pushed his hand underneath the shirt, allowing the shape of his hand to be seen through the material, before pressing loud kisses into Danny's exposed neck. An involuntary moan escaped Danny's lips, leaving Phantom to revel in both the sound and the flinching reactions of the jocks in front of them.

"Holy shit! Phantom's going at him while invisible!" One of them exclaimed. Suddenly, every other conversation in the room stopped and every pair of eyes snapped onto Danny. It was at this moment that Phantom realised how short sighted this idea was.

Oh well, better commit…

Phantom allowed himself to become mildly visible and watched Dash's eyes slowly trail up Danny's stomach and neck until he made eye contact with Phantom. Dash looked as though he was about to faint, which only made Phantom grin.

"What were you saying?" He asked with a lilted voice, before gently biting into Danny's neck and winning a shiver and a moan from the raven haired boy. Dash opened and shut his mouth as if it were dry, eyelids drooping as his pupils dilated.

"I… I have to go." Dash mumbled in a daze, before bolting out of the locker room. The second the bully was out of the room, the students within it exploded with conversation. Returning to his previous position and invisibility, Phantom glanced around the room to see several guys exchanging money with each other.

"Nice one, Fenton!" One of the jocks cheered, before turning to get changed.

"Wait, you're happy I humiliated Dash?" Danny questioned with a shaky voice, seeming like he was still recovering from what Phantom had just done to him. Nothing stopped Phantom from grinning with satisfaction at that. Kwan shrugging snapped Phantom's focus back to what was happening.

"Dash has had it coming for a while now. Especially considering how he still acts like a stereotype bully from the eighties. It's like, come on man, we know better than that now." Kwan explained nonchalantly, as he too moved toward his own locker.

Phantom found himself caught off guard. Where did that come from? Now that he thought about it, for a while now the only people who seemed to go out of their way to bully anyone lately was Dash and Paulina. Star was still savage, but she only seemed to dish out sick burns when someone dropped the opportunity in her lap.

"Huh." Danny let out. It seemed that they had been so busy with ghost hunting that they somehow missed a complete dynamic shift within the school, and the fact that eighty percent of their bullies seemed to have retired from the business. Danny walked over to Tucker in a daze. Their now changed friend noticed Danny's expression and let out an amused snort.

"Nice moves back there, dude. Who knew you were smooth enough to render yourself speechless?" Tucker teased, elbowing Danny in the ribs. Phantom was glad he was invisible, because he didn't need anyone to see that he was blushing madly at the idea of seducing Danny.

"What? No, I'm just confused. How long have the A-Listers not cared about bullying people?" Danny asked, winning a stunned look from Tucker.

"Are you kidding me? Have you really been able to pay so little attention to high school politics that you failed to notice the collapse of the A-List Empire?" Tucker questioned with disbelief, as they made their way out of the locker room and headed towards the next class.

"I guess? When did that happen?" That question won a groan from Tucker.

"When we were like, sixteen, dude. Seriously, though. I knew you were oblivious to becoming popular, but I didn't realise you were oblivious to everything! It was a whole thing at the time!" Tucker exclaimed, exasperated. Phantom tried his best to think back two years ago, trying to remember what could have happened that made them miss something like that. Was that when that unoriginal weirdo that called himself the Goblin King was rampaging? Or was it when the Kelpies were luring people into bodies of water? Phantom winced at the realisation that so much weird shit happened in their life that he couldn't even be sure of what happened when.

"Wait, I'm popular?" Danny asked with a bewildered tone, resulting in Tucker bursting into laughter.

"Yeah, I suppose it's only fair I finally clue you in. But in my defense, you not knowing about your sway on people certainly helped my chances with the ladies. Whenever you obliviously turned someone down, boom! There I was to make the lovely lady feel better." Tucker explained animatedly. Phantom felt stupid for the sick feeling rising in his stomach. Any girl that had been interested in Danny were also interested in him because they were – are the same person! Nobody can steal him from himself! Being jealous was stupid!

"I…have a sway on people?" Danny echoed with disbelief. Tucker rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, of course you do! Do I really have to straight up list why? You dated not one, but two of the most beautiful girls in the school, even if it was just a short amount of time. You've been defending and taking hits for people from Dash for years. On several occasions during an emergency when you couldn't get away to transform you took charge and got people to safety. I also have it on good authority from a reliable source that you have a cute face." Tucker counted on his fingers, with a tone that made it sound like these were annoying facts.

"Who told you that?" Phantom blurted out, unable to reign in his jealousy. Tucker jumped and yelped, flinching comically away from Phantom and Danny.

"Fuck! I forgot you were there! Oh shit, if we don't fuse you guys back, I'll have twice as much competition!" Tucker lamented, stomping defeatedly into their next class for the day.

"Finally! What in the name of Waiting For Godot is taking everyone so long!" Mr Lancer complained as they entered the empty classroom.

Oh right, the bell went ages ago…

Realising that the fact that they were the first ones there meant everyone else was still talking about what happened during PE, Phantom groaned lowly. This was going to be a long school day, and they really didn't need anything on top of preparing to confront Vlad. Even if the guy had nothing to do with what happened, as a Halfa with scientific knowledge he was unfortunately probably the most qualified for fusing them back in to one person. It was strange, but Phantom found himself both longing to be one again, and dreading it.

Well, time to spend all day trying to unpack what that means.