officially I'm on hiatus, but it appeared in my mind, and I had to share it
based on two concepts of mine: tumblr/mymadmedleyw
post/659317491604029440/ideas-i-might-or-might-not-use-later-1
post/659313745814765568/i-may-or-may-not-considering-to-add-wes-to-my
He wouldn't have said, this wasn't awkward or uncomfortable or just… strange? But it certainly hadn't happened as he would have imagined it, that was for sure. And Wes couldn't tell yet it was good or bad… but then, before he would have taken any other question, his captor abruptly stood up.
"Excuse me for a moment…" the tall figure explained, taking a huge step towards a closed room, but before reaching it, stopped, turning back. "You're not allergic to fur, right?" without giving any response to the out of blue inquiring, a high-pitched sound hit Wes's ears, identifying the reason behind the sudden movement.
"I'm not?" Wes let out then, frowning confused, partly to the visible waiting look, as the man's fingers were clenching on the door handle and on the other hand, to the fact what made it. Growing up in a suburban area (before his father had decided to go after everyone half his age), he could hear the noises that pets in their neighbourhood made. And either, it wasn't that hard to differ each, in particular, if the person in his father's target was working in a pet shop where they had been dragged nearly on every second day, with lame cover stories that they just couldn't have made up their mind which pet they had wanted. Sometimes Wes wondered if their father had bought them one, his affair wouldn't have got into the light as fast as it had happened, but at least that incident drew out a path for him, to go after each kept behind secrets, and to make him being here now too.
"All right, then." the other nodded after a short pause, giving a slight press on the handle, and crouched down immediately as the door got open. Then a quick, almost undetectably fast bright blur was grabbed, without any chance to escape the huge hands.
"Gotcha!" commented the weirdly enjoying tone that Wes just couldn't equal with the almost threatening physical appearance, but after that the disguised ghost walked back, taking the seat again, in front of him, like nothing special had happened. Well, except currently there was a gently held white tiny furball kept within the palm, barely bigger than that. "Sorry, she is usually outside that time, and I have to let her out, or else she starts whining when Dani is here too." came the explanation.
Wes mesmerised followed as the fingers were playing with the few weeks old kitten, who for a mere second was cute and just adorable, then all at once turned to attack madly the hand that forced her to stay in one place. "Auch." the human-outlooked figure grimaced, shaking a bit finger. "Teeth and claws, Val, we already talked about this." was the white pet squeezed a bit, to give her a point, but then with a renewed wince, her owner snapped. "Fine! Damn it… I see you can't behave now, go on your way then." the struggling cat got released right off, after it was clear, she couldn't deal with restricted freedom.
As she jumped down from the thighs, her way was eagerly monitored for a long second, but then accompanied by a deep-voiced murmur, how ungrateful she was, the man turned back to him, behaving like there wouldn't have been a tiny dirty party on loose around them. "Sorry, what was your question?"
Wes for a moment, couldn't recall what he had asked the last time, but then as the other was picking some fallen out short white hair from the darker material of the sleeve, the name came to his mind. His face stretched into a pie-eating grin, laughing over the hilarious realisation. "Val… I bet it's short for Valerie."
"And?" he got an arched eyebrow, undoubtedly seeing no problem with it.
"After all those years…" Wes started teasingly, a wide grin spreading on his face, with a tilted head, not finishing the sentence, and he didn't need that at all. He knew the human-disguised ghost had a very good idea of what he meant under it. And on the other hand, the all had set together too. Once Wes had been already starting to suspect, the red-suited ghost hunter was one of his classmates too, he had heard the brief gossips on the hallway in the school about Fenton and Grey's short dating. (What a great first week that had been for him! And he had thought the only interesting thing he would get starting to attend in a new high school, would be who cheated who among the cheerleaders and the jocks. But no, Amity Park was more than some simply boring town – for his luck.) The whole by that easily formed a clear picture, and he really couldn't see how no one could put together the pieces, when it was stupidly trivial.
"If you are on to say I still have feelings for her, I have to stop you." the man clarified, "I'm not a desperate hormone-filled teen anymore with pointless attractions, Weston. And no, it's not degrading either, it's respect, for my past with her, besides I have every right to name my cat as I want. I don't have to have any greater reason for that either."
"Masochistic affection." Wes titled, neglecting the indignant snort he got for the wording. "And Wes will be fine. Only my mother calls me Weston. Or my aunt. Or her husband, and…" he started thinking about it suddenly, but then the look of the ghost made him shut his mouth, "Okay, back to the point. You are aware, she is the Red Huntress, right? Or knew, depending on your time…"
"Since like the dawn of time, that's not news." his captor shrugged, but then the eyebrows ran together. "How do you know about Valerie? As far as I know-"
"I connected the dots." Wes straightened himself proudly in the chair – or at least, as he could, due to the tied-down state. "It wasn't hard work, really. Everyone else is an idiot not seeing what's in front of their eyes…" he glossed. To that, a half-smile appeared on the other's face.
"Yeah, tell me about evident signs…" was it muttered, but then with a thoughtful frown, the bright gaze got locked on the contact card, laying on the dining table. It was a poor styled one, but Wes was overall satisfied with it. However, it couldn't be equalled as official as he wanted, but it was a great beginning of his growing private investigator business. (And let's add to that, no one – yet – took him seriously, while he was only a teenager, but people had to start somewhere, hadn't they?)
"You are very talented, aren't you, Wes?" the future ghost wondered aloud then, picking absent-mindedly on the small card. "Maybe I should hire you…" was a barely hearable thought mumbled under the nose.
"Your sister already hired me, and-" Wes started, but then to the narrowed look, he continued differently. "I'm not interested in getting into any family mess. So, if you are-"
"She is not exactly my sister." the figure cut in. For a second Wes waited for the correction, or to somehow save it, that it was now distinctly admitted Danielle wasn't his sibling as it was told to anyone else, but no tale came. Maybe, because it was no use, to tell a lie when he was already caught on to sneak of them. Not even adding, Wes already began to think something was off when the ghost girl had asked him to make research after someone – someone, who turned out a day later as the spectre's brother by an accidentally slipped out confession about the one's secret identity on the hallway in the school. And much to say, why would anyone ask a stranger to investigate about their family member, if it didn't mean the person wasn't?
"I know she is not your sister." Wes acknowledged to the being. "Also, it was quite plain, when I heard her ghost-name. First, I thought you were on a productional line in the Ghost Zone or something, with these lame names: Danny Phantom, Dani Phantom. Come on… But no, it turned out, someone just had a short brain regarding names."
"Believe me, once I have the chance to ask about it, I will." the man noted with briefly curled up lips, seemingly enjoying something over it, but then with a business-like expression tapped on the contact card. "Anyway, names or not, I could definitely use your flair in ferreting out things, so name the price, Wes, and we'll be fine."
"Or else?"
The man raised his eyes slowly at him, Wes expected the red glowing gaze again, that had given the shit scare to him an hour ago, mainly appearing out of nowhere next to his lurking spot, but instead that, now only a challenging grin appeared on the face. "Well, I expected you wouldn't agree that easily… let's get back to it when you pieced together who I am, all right?"
"I know who you are." Wes debated. And really, that was the easiest to put together, once he had started to work on this 'case'. "You weren't much secretive at all either when I said 'Danny Fenton'. You kinda spilt everything, dude. I didn't even have to ask." he pointed, following with his eyes as the figure suddenly got up, moving towards him.
"Yeah, but there is a difference between who I was, where I came from or who exactly I am. Not that they would believe you, if you report to anyone that there is a roaming around alternate future self of your so cherished Ghost Boy, wouldn't they?" Wes frowned at the words. So to say, that was true, but against the younger version's constant bickering, this, now, didn't sound as a mock. But then, before he could have said anything, the ghost grabbed his hands that slowly were getting numb under the forced unable to move state. Then, through a short tingling sensation, what Wes identified as a common phasing through for ecto-beings, he was freed from the zip ties that kept his hands during the entire time on the armrest.
"W-what?" Wes gasped surprised at the releasing. Not that, he would have calculated any vicious act, but still. (It was still controversial to perceive, that he had been knocked out, then when he had come to his senses in a totally normal kitchen – though tied down –, observed by a pair of bright, very much human-like blue eyes, so much the opposite of the outlook he had seen in the brief second when he had lost consciousness, but after a few awkward minutes of staring at each other without any word, he had been asked if he wanted coffee or not…)
Before Wes could have voiced any question about his unexplained unfettered state, he had to realise the human-formed ghost was already a step away, searching for something in a drawer, then after a short scribbling on a ripped-out piece of paper, returned, folding it into half.
"I am not asking you to stop your work, Wes." the man started, sitting back. "I am just asking you to share with me what you managed to figure out about me, and then I'll amend what you could tell Dani, okay?" was it voiced with a rather requesting, than a demanding tone. "You might be fond of the truth, but believe me, in most cases, especially connected to me, truth hurts. And I don't want Dani to get hurt, got it? And I think neither you. If she entrusted you with this task, it means she has her suspicions about me, so, yeah… maybe, sooner or later, it would be the time to tell her everything, but not right now, not yet. But you... you might be a good tool for that, spilling things at an acceptable pace. See? I am not asking you to stop, just- cooperate."
Well, definitely, this didn't turn out as he would have expected – Wes was thinking, reminding himself to the sight of those eyes when to that, in a flash, his entire (yet) meaningless life came to his mind, along with the many things he hadn't reached and stuffs like that. But currently, giving a look at the not at all hostile tall figure, the request sank. "You are asking me to spy on your sister." Wes translated, to that the future man's frown deepened.
"Uh- no?"
"Yes, you do. And I'm not gonna work for two sides." Wes cleared, and indeed that was one thing 'working' for the girl from the freshman year (even if her other identity was now widely known as Phantom's companion for the entire town, thus she couldn't be labelled really only as just a young innocent teenager), but there was a line. Truths had to come to light, period. He wasn't going to keep things down, that just wasn't his style.
"Actually, I was thinking being triple agent about hiring you…" the man revealed, fiddling on the folded paper, then after a second, giving a thoughtful scratch to the temple, cleared it up. "Listen… I need to know if things could be tracked down for others too. You are smart enough to know what particular information to seek after, which means, someone else with proper access could link it together even easier, once they'd get what to search. I don't want them to start looking up after me at all, and make discoveries, even alerting the higher force by that." Wes didn't have to ask about it, it was continued with a genuine concern in the other's voice. "My employers… I've got a job, and I have to stay inside."
"Who are your employers?" Wes wrinkled his forehead, getting a very bad feeling about this addition, and even, who counted as the 'higher force'? Did he just step into a whole conspiracy? (Not even, adding to the already expanding mess around 'Danny Fenton' and his class-mate's secret identity, Wes hadn't ever thought a girl-version or a time-travelling issue could be connected to that too. It was shivering and exciting at the same time. He felt not a bit flattered to dig even deeper into the issue. And he seriously had believed Phantom posing as a human, namely Fenton, was the biggest discovery in his life!)
As he peeked at the man, he caught the other was smirking now, from ear to ear. "Such a nosey person like you, I am quite sure you'd love it, am I right?" was he asked, then the piece of paper was slipped towards him. "But we'll only talk about the details when you already know who I am, until then… you can reach me on this." the figure tapped on it meaningfully.
"I know where you live, and I know Dani's cell number." Wes noted, feeling unnecessary a handwritten information about their address or anything that could have been written on it.
"It's a shaded down number, brainiac, connected to my notebook." the man lectured him. "Obviously, I don't use a public number for everything." well, he had to admit, that was a stupid idea, and to tell the truth, hardly imaginable either, so then Wes accepted the paper.
"Not fishy at all, you have an untraceable contact." he called out the ghost, but then the concept around it crossed his mind. Number, undetectable… "Can you make one for me too?" Wes took the question, before he could have realised, he enquired about it aloud.
"You have a notebook?" was a surprised eyebrow raised up.
"Not yet. Just the family computer, that my Nanny uses for playing solitaire. I am saving for one though." Wes confessed, frowning annoyed. Even doing homework properly was just out of question most of the time, thanked to his Nanny's addiction – not even talking about it very much created a barrier in his search works too, limiting it to a bare minimum amount of time.
"I can buy you one as your first payment." came the offer, Wes gazed at the man, blinking over it, but that didn't seem as a simple response, he had to tell. "I am serious." was it pressed with a nod, then the fingers lifted up, pointing towards the piece of paper. "Contact me, when you know who I am, then we could discuss our agreement."
So then, after scared out his skin, trapped into a chair with zip ties, nearly one and a half hour later, as he left the building, getting back to Amity Park, Wes folded out the paper in his hand, gazing at the number. Then, he spotted slightly recognisable words from the other side. As he turned it around, he couldn't hold back a giggling over the neat italic words: 'Out of our deal: please, don't talk about Val to Dani. She'd kill me if we own a cat. Thanks – Dan'.
"And they say I'm the weirdo…" Wes shook his head, unbelievably, thinking about the day until the bus reached its destination. But soon, the swirling mess, shifted into wondering about how much beneficial it would be for his future works to have a shaded number, along with a personal notebook. He already had idea, what to search on that firstly, so then, he got out of his backpack his notes and started to add what he had learned about the ghost-girl's brother in the past hour, having a very strong feeling what the other must have meant under 'them'.
yeah, I gave Dan a cat, because he deserves one, this is out of question
and yes, she is named Val, because I found it funny, and for many reasons, it is fitting too
(I am trying to add Wes to my current big idea, but as much as I don't know much about him, and either this concept won't be used until I didn't figure out everything that could be counted as a plot – so in short for a long long time… -, it just stays as a short scene, a sneak peek, you could say, and as a testing too with his character, interacting with others)