Disclaimer: I wish I owned Danny Phantom! Desiree: -turns me into Butch Hartman- AHHHHHHHHH! CHANGE ME BACK CHANGE ME BACK! -is changed back-
This ended up being a lot closer to done than I expected! Mostly because I felt like my original plans were dragging it out unnecessarily
Valerie saw him immediately, obviously. It was kinda hard to ignore the white haired floating ghost teen. She smiled, lightly waving to him in somewhat excitement.
He beamed upon seeing her, and he waved back as he quickly came up to her. Danny's excited grin had faded somewhat into a shy smile.
"Hey," he said. "It's good to see you."
"…You too," she replied. "Come on. Let's make sure there's no trouble afoot."
Danny nodded, and they began their route. It was so nice and peaceful. There were no immediate threats to be found, nor any hint of ghost activity, save for the one next to her, within their general range.
…But it also meant no distractions.
"So, you and Sam were hanging out earlier?" Danny finally spoke. Valerie gave a half-hearted shrug.
"Yeah," she replied. "It was honestly kinda fun to hang with her." And a huge relief to be able to hang out with more than just Star. Of course she loved Star, but the loneliness of losing all her popular friends and her feeling like she had to avoid Danny and his friends cause of the break-up had gotten to her more and more lately. "I'm guessing she was 'Sarah'." Valerie used air quotes. Danny winced.
"Um…yeah," he admitted what she already knew. "It's already a lot better between us though. I just know Sam's going to make some other guy incredibly happy, but not me, ya know?"
Valerie nodded understandingly.
"I can tell why you like her," she said. "I mean, she seems kinda nasty and cold at school but outside of school-"
"She's super sweet and caring," Danny finished knowingly with a smile. "It kinda sucks when she drags Tucker and I to do volunteer stuff early in the morning on a weekend, but it's also kinda great to feel productive. And she's killer at video games."
"Tucker's cool too," Valerie mentioned. "I remember when we were kinda dating but not really. He's a surprisingly good listener even though he talks a lot. Really good at making a story interesting to listen to."
"Man, I know, right!?" Danny exclaimed. "He's great at telling stories. Good at sewing too. You wouldn't expect it, but he taught Sam most of what she knows and sews all my stuff together."
"Wait, so he didn't just join the home economics class to meet girls?" Valerie was surprised.
"No, he did," Danny confirmed. "But he just had a hidden talent apparently." Valerie thought of her own wardrobe.
"He may need to teach me then," she mused. "Ghosts have ripped a lot of my stuff. I kinda didn't realize how expensive clothes were in general until I couldn't replace them much."
"Well, Tuck's definitely your guy," Danny replied.
"So like…who are you then?" she had to ask. Danny blinked at her. He lazily floated backwards to face her, putting his arms behind his head.
"I'm Danny?" He sounded confused. "Space nerd, good bowler, half-ghost."
"I mean like." Valerie paused, following him as they unspokenly were just waiting for a ghost sense or alarm to alert them to a ghost versus actually looking. "You seem so different as…this. Who's the real you?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"I'm the same person regardless," Danny insisted.
Right on cue, almost as if to prove his point, he accidentally slammed his back into a tree. Valerie's hands flew to her mouth to stifle a laugh as the ghost boy went tumbling a few feet down onto the ground.
"Are you okay?" she managed to choke out, biting her lip to try and stifle her giggles. His face was flushed green.
"I'm good!" Danny quickly assured her, giving her a thumb's up and a grin. His other hand ruffled his hair to get rid of any fallen leaves or twigs.
She finally let herself laugh. Her board floated down to the ground, and she stepped off and towards him. He had a scrape on his left cheek; however he managed to accomplish that was a mystery. Valerie licked her thumb, wiping some of the blood and dirt off his face.
"You're a mess, but I guess you're my mess," she teased. Danny flushed darker.
"I'm your mess?"
"Somebody's gotta make sure you don't lose fights to a tree," she replied. She kept her hand on him.
"So, you don't actually hate me?" Danny tried to lightly joke. His cheek felt surprisingly warm against her hand, and she lightly stroked his skin with her thumb in a loving manner.
"...I never actually hated you," she confessed. Danny raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"Oh really?" he challenged lightly. She rolled her eyes.
"You've pissed me off," she replied. "And I guess I kinda did hate you for a while. But now...I dunno. It was an accident. And you've made up for it in so many ways, and…" Valerie drifted off.
"And?" Danny pressed.
"I don't think I can imagine a life without you anymore," Valerie spoke softly. "Especially now that I know. I mean…you get it."
Danny gave her a stupid, but cute grin. His cheeks were still a light green, and she was a total sucker for it. She couldn't help it.
She kissed him.
"So did you finally decide?" Star asked. Valerie gave a half shrug.
"Yeah, I think so," she replied. Star visibly perked up excitedly as they sat with their lunch.
"Are you going to go with him then?" Star asked. She took a bite of her food.
"Nope," Valerie replied. Her answer seemed to catch Star off guard.
"I thought you said it was going well?" Star seemed confused, which Valerie expected.
"It was. I think that Phantom and I are better off as just friendly allies though," she explained.
"I guess I can understand that," Star mused lightly. "So are you just gonna skip Winter Formal? Ask Phantom for me though. Or if he has like, a hot brother or a cute cousin." Valerie chuckled.
"I'll get right on it," she teased. "But with Phantom as Red's ally, I think it'd be safe enough to well, you know."
"Hi Val!"
She and Star both shot a friendly smile as Danny unintentionally cut her off with his greeting. He had Tucker and Sam in tow.
"Heya," Star greeted lightly. Her cousin sat next to her, across from Valerie.
"Long time, no see," Sam half-joked. Star rolled her eyes.
"Not long enough," she half-joked back. With them seated next to each other, Valerie couldn't help but notice the familial similarities. Especially whenever Sam's black hair dye was faded some, as it was currently, or if her natural blonde roots were temporarily exposed.
Tucker sat next to Valerie, and Danny on the other side of Sam.
"So Star, you going to Winter Formal?" Tucker asked.
"Yeah, with Kwan," she replied.
"Sweet! I asked Juliet, and she said yes!" Tucker seemed so genuinely excited to share the info. Valerie thought it was adorable.
"Oh I know her!" Star also seemed relieved that Tucker wasn't trying to ask her. "She's really smart, I heard she's been trying to publish a fantasy book she wrote." She turned to Val. "We should ask her to come dress shopping with us." Star glanced towards Sam. "You too."
"Sounds fun!" Sam replied. Valerie could tell that she was faking some of her bright mood for the sake of politeness. "I asked Mikey if he wanted to go with me this morning, and he said yes."
Mikey felt like such an odd choice in Valerie's opinion. But Sam seemed genuinely happy about her news, and it gave Valerie a sense of relief that they were all seemingly moving forward. She knew Mikey anyway. He was a huge sweetheart.
"So you taking up Phantom's invite?" Tucker teased Valerie. She made a negative hum.
"Nah," she replied. "Not really sure if he likes me like that. We're better off as friends."
"What!?" Danny blurted out. He looked dumbfounded. "I'm sure he still likes you!"
Valerie briefly locked eyes with Sam. They shared a "aren't boys just so stupid?" look, and Sam snorted in amusement as Valerie didn't even bother to hide her eyeroll.
"I mean, maybe," Valerie shrugged. "But I dunno. I do like Phantom more now that I know more about him. I'm more interested in somebody else though."
"Wait what?" Danny looked baffled. God, even though he said he was faking being clueless, he somehow actually was clueless too. Sam shot Valerie an apologetic look and just shook her head. Clueless, clueless.
Danny choked on nothing in particular, and Valerie could feel the subtle vibration of her ghost alarm going off. She glanced down, pretending to check the time. When she looked up, Danny was already lying to the group about needing to use the bathroom.
"Wait, Danny."
Danny glanced over his shoulder. Valerie reached into her backpack, pulling out a fake decorative sunflower. Danny's favorite flower.
She got up from her seat, going up to him. She knew that a few people had already begun to watch them.
"Um," Danny paused. "What's up?"
"You wanted to know my answer right?" she asked. Danny just dumbly nodded. She offered him the flower. "Would you wanna take me to Winter Formal?"
Danny's cheeks looked red hot. He hesitantly accepted the flower from her.
"I mean, I'd love to go with you," he half-stammered. He glanced around at the people who had begun to stare curiously. "But uh, what about Phantom? I'm sure he's still into you and stuff."
Valerie gave a slightly amused hum, shrugging her shoulders.
"I like you a lot more than I do a ghost," she replied. She gave a sly smile. "Besides, I don't think he'd be too upset or lonely. I'm pretty sure that I heard a rumor that the Red Huntress has already agreed to a date with Phantom anyway."
He gave her that dumb, goofy grin, cheeks still flushed. Danny seemed to finally get her message.
"Well then. I'd love to go with you."
She felt her watch vibrate again, and being so up close and personal, sheshe could see his ghost sense go off. His eyes sparkled with excitement.
"Let's go," she suggested. He nodded.
They hurriedly walked out of the cafeteria and into the halls. Valerie felt her heart race as she looked over to see Danny change into his ghost form. She quickly did the same.
He gets it. She gets it. Knowing that the other got it made them both fully confident in why they were seemingly made for each other, that they worked well together and as a team, as both Valerie and Danny and as Red and Phantom.
And she wouldn't want it any other way.