Hi everyone. It's me, the author! Please let me know if you have any recommendations! Also, Supernatural and Danny Phantom don't belong to me :(
Bobby had a history of monumental screw-ups. It came with getting old. But he hadn't felt this crappy in a long time.
Danny had come down the stairs looking miserable. He passed the office and headed straight into the living room, with Dean following him. Sam looked like he was about to say something, but Dean's glare cut him off. The message was clear, "You've done enough. Give him some time."
If Bobby hadn't felt like such a piece of shit, he would have been impressed with how quickly Dean got the kid to come down. Instead, he sighed and motioned for Sam to follow him. There weren't going to be any apologies tonight; Bobby and Sam would have to pay for their curiosity.
Sammy watched the living room door a moment longer before trudging up the stairs. Bobby sighed again and moved to follow him.
He could only hope that, in time, Danny would forgive them.
But Bobby knew that forgiveness is easy to give.
Trust, on the other hand...
Trust is something you have to build.
Danny had expected to be interrogated or at least asked about his past. Instead, he was curled up on the couch while Dean ordered pizza.
Dean returned to the room with a VHS tape, "You ever seen Godzilla vs. Mothra?"
"Um..No"
"Well, that's a damn crime, and we're going to fix it. This" He held up the tape "is a fucking masterpiece.
Danny stared at Dean. Seriously, a monster movie?
Twenty minutes later, the pizza arrived. Danny didn't even notice. Dean was right; this was a masterpiece.
Danny only noticed the food when it was set on the coffee table in front of him. He opened the box, it was basic pepperoni pizza, and it smelled like heaven.
Dean sat on the other side of the couch, pizza in hand, entirely focused on the movie.
Of course, it was at this point Danny had to ruin everything. "Aren't you curious?"
Dean paused, "Yeah. But I'm not going to ask."
"Didn't stop you from looking." Danny couldn't help but enjoy the guilty expression on Dean's face.
"Yeah...Don't really have an excuse for that." Dean sighed, "It's just instinct at this point. We're hunters. We're so used to digging into people's lives that we kind of forgot that..." Dean paused, "well, we forgot that you might not be okay with that."
Danny froze.
That's right. They're hunters.
They're hunters, and he's a ghost.
Shit.
shitshitshitshit
"Kid!" Danny jumped, whipping around to look at Dean. "We ain't like them, kid."
Ain't like them?
Oh. His parents.
"Right." Danny tried to slow his racing heart. "Right. Sorry."
Dean shrugged, but he still looked concerned. "No problem. I get it."
Danny tried to smile and turned back to the movie.
No. No, you don't.
Dean softly closed the door to Danny's bedroom. The kid had fallen asleep during the credits, and Dean had carried him upstairs to bed. After getting Danny into the bed and shoving the window closed, an activity that took way more effort than it should have and somehow didn't wake the kid, Dean headed to his room.
After he and Danny finished their talk, speaking of which Dean still didn't really know where he was with Danny, they finished the movie in silence. Luckily, the silence was only slightly awkward, and by the final fight scene, all tension had disappeared.
Dean sighed and scrubbed his hand over his face. He liked the kid, but a few inconsistencies in Danny's story and behavior kept nagging him.
How is he so strong?
Why does he think someone is after him?
If someone is hunting him, who is it?
It felt like every time he got an answer, it was replaced with a question. Dean trod down the hallway, passing Sam's room on the way; he could hear the moose snoring from out here. Dean let out a snort before slipping into his own simple bedroom. Bobby had always kept a set of bedrooms for them since they were little, and the small basic room was the closest thing Dean had to a permanent bedroom growing up.
"Who is the child?"
Dean cursed and spun around. "Dammit, Cas! Knock for once!"
Castiel paused, tilting his head, "That would require using doors."
"Exactly!"
Cas stared at him for a moment, "Who is the child?"
Dean groaned, sitting heavily on the bed, "His name's Danny. Sammy and I found him on the side of the road and brought him back here. He's a runaway."
Dean fell back on the bed, "and we screwed up."
Cas raised one dark eyebrow, and Dean found himself ranting about how they stumbled across the kid and how Bobby and Sam had dug up Danny's past. Cas listened attentively, occasionally tilting his head when something specific caught his interest.
Dean started to trail off, having worn himself out, "So, yeah. That's what happened."
"The child's parents tried to mix modern technology and occult practices."
"Yep."
"And ended up killing innocent children in the process."
"...Yeah."
Cas was silent for a long time, "That would explain things."
"Explain what?"
"The child. He's not human."