Danny woke up to the sound of someone knocking at his door. Groaning, he pushed himself up into a sitting position and tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes.
"Danny, honey? Are you awake?" Came his mom's voice from the other side of the door. Confused that she was actually home, Danny looked at his alarm clock. The numbers told him that it was 10:32 P.M. Danny frowned. He had been sleeping for most of the day.
"Yeah, mom," Danny called out. "I'm awake."
"Oh good," She replied as she opened his door and stepped into his room. "I just wanted some advice on how to deal with the Box Ghost. He's not really a threat, but he's starting to get on people's last nerve," his mom explained.
With his mind still clouded with sleep, Danny shook his head and tried to put coherent sentences together. He tried to explain to his mom that ignoring him should get him to stop. The Box Ghost just wanted attention so if he was ignored, then eventually he'd just give up and go away for a while. And if that didn't work, it'd be pretty easy to catch him with the Fenton Thermos.
When he looked back at his mom, he realized that her attention was elsewhere. Turning to see what she was looking at, he noticed that Kara was still there, fast asleep. It was a jarring sight cause he hadn't really thought too much about if other ghosts needed sleep too. Obviously he did because he was half human but he had never thought about if full ghosts needed sleep too.
"Danny?" His mother asked softly.
"Yeah, mom?" Danny winced at how guilty he sounded. He had no reason to sound guilty yet he felt like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have.
"Why is there a girl in your bed? More specifically, why is there a ghost girl in your bed?" His mom whispered harshly.
Danny tried to come up with an explanation. He wanted to tell the truth. After all, the truth wasn't bad. He had invited her over to talk and eventually they fell asleep. It wasn't a lie, he would just be omitting what they talked about, or what Kara talked about, rather.
Unfortunately, a sleep muddled brain and a disapproving look from his mother made Danny's brain not work properly. The only things he could get out of his mouth were a bunch of "ums" and "uhs" with a quick "it's not what it looks like" and the classic "we didn't do anything".
His mom didn't look even slightly amused. Sighing, Danny got up and led his mother out of his room softly shutting the door being him.
"Danny, who is that and why is she in your bed?" His mother asked in a demanding tone that he didn't really associate with her.
"She's just a friend from the Ghost Zone." Running his hands down his face Danny grumbled out that they had just been talking and there was nothing to worry about. "We fell asleep mom, it's not a big deal."
His mom just crossed her arms disapprovingly and gave him a glare.
"And why does it matter if she's a ghost or not? Is that what you're angry about? That she's a ghost?" Danny asked, suddenly angry and a little offended. "So if she was human it would be okay that she was asleep in my bed but because she's a ghost it's not okay? News flash, mom, I'm a ghost too!"
His mom seemed to deflate at his words. When she reached out to place a comforting hand on Danny, he moved out of the way. He glared at her, hurt and angry and she looked at him with such a heartbroken face that he almost wanted to apologize. Almost.
"What with all the hullabaloo?" Danny and his mom both jumped and turned around, startled by the sudden interruption. His dad was bounding towards them with a face that conveyed concern and a mild curiosity.
From the corner of his eye, Danny saw his mom look at him. She sighed. "Nothing, dear," She said with such a big fake smile that Danny thought it actually physically hurt her to do it. Danny's dad looked at them suspiciously.
"Are you sure? Because I thought I heard some yelling." He insisted.
Danny's mom just waved him off. "Oh, it was nothing, dear. Just a little misunderstanding," She said with a hopeful look in her eye that her husband might actually believe her. Luckily, Danny's dad was not the brightest person in the world.
He gave them one more look then his face split with a grin. "Well, okay then," He said as he clapped Danny on the back, nearly knocking him over. Turning his attention completely to his wife, he asked if she had asked Danny about the Box Ghost.
"I did, dear, don't worry about it. I'll explain everything to you later."
"Well, okay! C'mon, honey buns, let's get back to work on that prison," Danny's dad said excitedly as he turned around and ran towards the stairs.
"Prison?" Danny asked his mom, shocked. Nobody had told him anything about a prison. "What prison?"
"Nothing to concern yourself with, sweetie. It's just a prison to lock up the more dangerous ghosts. It's all under control." She gave him a quick smile and followed her husband without another look.
When Danny went back into his room, he was both surprised and somewhat sad to see that Kara was no longer there. Ridding himself of those thoughts, Danny quickly stripped himself of his shirt and jeans and slipped back into bed. It was barely passed 10:30 and he had school in the morning. But Danny doubted he'd get anymore sleep.
The next morning didn't go that great for Danny. He was tired and cranky and he couldn't stop thinking about what his parents had said about them building a ghost prison. He also couldn't get his mind to shut up about the story Kara had told him. If Kara could open up to him, why couldn't he do the same with her? Kara had been right, Danny had gone into the Ghost Zone specifically to find her because he wanted to talk. But when the opportunity presented itself, he couldn't bring himself to do it. And that made Danny feel terrible.
A hand gently touching his shoulder startled him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see who it was and his heart dropped when he saw the hesitant smile of Sam. Shoving his books in his locker, he tried to ignore her.
"Uh, hey Danny," Sam said. Hesitantly she asked him how he's been. He had skipped school the whole week before, feeling too depressed to leave his room for more than using the bathroom and going downstairs to get small snacks when he became too hungry to ignore. It didn't surprise him that she decided to confront him about it.
"Fine," Danny shortly replied. "Not that you care," He said as he found his science text book and his Spanish notebook and shoved them into his backpack. He slammed his locker shut and started walking to his next class.
"How can you say that? Of course I care about how you're doing," Sam said, quickly matching his pace as he tried to outwalk her. "You didn't show up at all last week. And you weren't answering my calls, or Tucker's. We're worried about you."
"I just wasn't feeling up to coming to this hell hole, okay? I needed time off." Sam grabbed his arm and forced him to turn around and face her.
"You can't just not show up to school when you don't want to Danny. That's not how it works," Sam angrily informed Danny.
"I thought I could do whatever I wanted. I did save the world after all," Danny said hotly. He was tired and annoyed and overly done with everyone and everything. He didn't have time for Sam trying to nag him.
Pointing a finger in his face, Sam said, "Don't let that get to your head, Danny. That's not a good excuse." By this point people were starting to notice that they were arguing.
"Isn't it?" Danny asked, nearly hysteric. "Everyone always tells me that everything's free or that I can do no wrong because I saved us from extinction. And now, the one time that I actually take advantage of that, you're yelling at me for it? How is that fair?" Danny yelled.
Sam huffed and crossed her arms. "Get over yourself. You can't just skip school when you feel like it. You have to get your education," Sam firmly stated. "You can't become an astronaut on the basis that you saved the world. You need proper education. And you can't get that if you don't come to school!"
They were both breathing hard at this point both angry at one another. Danny wanted nothing more than to go home and go back to bed, but he had forced himself to go to school because of the fact that he bailed all last week. Now, he was seriously questioning his life choices.
Taking a deep breath, Danny forced himself to calm down. They were getting nowhere screaming at each other in the middle of a crowded school hallway. People had already stopped and were circled around them waiting to get some juicy gossip on the once hottest couple of Casper High.
"I don't want to talk about this right now," Danny said as calmly as he could. "I also don't want to finish this conversation later. I told you and Tuck that I would reach out when I'm ready. And I'm not ready. Please leave me alone and don't follow me." Danny turned around and the crowd that had circled around them parted as he walked by. He couldn't wait for the day to be over.
Once school had finished, word had gotten around that Danny was fighting with Sam and Tucker. Any news where Danny was concerned resulted in rumors and fake stories plastered across tabloids, not only in Amity Park but across the world.
It wasn't too long after Danny had gotten home and sat down at the kitchen table to do homework that his phone rang. He looked at the caller I.D. Given the day's events, it would have been shocking if Jazz didn't call him.
So there he was talking to Jazz instead of doing his homework. "Danny are you sure you're okay?" Jazz asked for the millionth time since they had started talking.. Danny hated the tone of her voice. He knew that she was just trying to be sympathetic to his situation, but he couldn't help but feel that she was only talking to him because it was the sisterly thing to do. A mere obligation. And deep down Danny knew that wasn't true but it was hard for him to not think that.
"Yeah, Jazz," Danny replied with an aggravated sigh. "It was just a small misunderstanding with Sam at school. People are blowing it way out of proportion," Danny tried to convince his sister.
"Are you sure? You know if you need to talk, I'm here for you," She sounded so sincere, it made Danny's chest hurt. He knew she was there for him. He really did.
Running a hand down his face, he told her that he knew that but insisted all the same that everything was fine.
"Are you sure you're not fighting with them?" Jazz tried again.
"I'm sure, Jazz. We're not fighting," Danny sort of lied. "I just need some time away from dealing with all these politics and that just meant taking a break from seeing them for a while. I promise everything's fine."
Danny and Jazz sat there for a couple minutes in silence while Jazz thought over what Danny had told her. Danny almost dreaded what she was going to say when she started talking again.
"Danny," Jazz said softly. Uh oh, this can't be good. "Do you need me to come home for a while? Because I can if you need me-"
"No!" Danny cut her off. "You don't need to come home. I have everything under control." Danny said hurriedly. This was exactly what he didn't want. He knew Jazz would suggest something like this if she found out even a hint of what he was going through or feeling right now. He wasn't going to let her drop everything just for him. "Honestly, Jazz. I'm all good," Danny needed to think fast. "I actually had just gotten off the phone with Sam right before you called and we worked everything out. I'm meeting up with her and Tucker tonight at Tuck's house. We're gonna set some things straight and talk things through. Everything's fine," Danny tried to make it sound as truthful as he could. There was no talk with Sam and there were no plans to meet up with Sam and Tucker later. But he desperately needed Jazz to believe that there were.
Danny held his breath as he waited for Jazz to say something. "Okay…if you're sure," Jazz said slowly and Danny let out the breath.
"Oh, I'm sure! Don't worry, sis, everything's fine!"
Jazz let out what sounded like a relieved breath. "I'm kind of happy you say that. I was actually going to be starting an internship next week and I would have had to bail on it to come home. It wouldn't have looked good if I had done that." Jazz let out a small laugh and Danny's brief good mood from successfully fooling his sister was gone. She was gonna step out of an internship just for him. He didn't deserve to have a sister like Jazz. No one did.
Danny tried to not let his sudden sadness creep into his voice. "Oh, that's great Jazz," Danny said with too much enthusiasm. "Yeah, I'm glad you didn't have to come home either. That would have been terrible if you had to skip your internship just to come home and watch over little ol' me," Danny laughed, non too convincingly.
"Oh, Danny. I didn't mean it like-"
"No, I know!" Danny insisted. "Anyway, Jazz, it was nice talking to you, but I gotta jet. I have to get things ready for tonight. Gotta run down to the video store and pick up a couple movies and some popcorn and stuff. Congrats on your internship. Gotta go. Love you, bye," Danny all but said in one breath. Closing his phone with a loud snap, Danny let out a big breath and hid his head in his hands. Why did he have to be such a terrible brother? He stood up sharply and the chair made a terrible screeching sound behind him. Clutching his phone angrily in his fist, Danny marched upstairs, his homework completely forgotten.
How could he do that to Jazz? She just wanted to help. She always just wants to help. And Danny had to go and lie to her. He could have told her everything he was feeling and somehow manage to convince her to stay where she was. He didn't have to lie to her. God, why did he do that? Why was he such a terrible person?
Danny didn't even think twice before phasing through the wall of his room. He threw his phone angrily onto his bed and kicked the thing nearest to him. He was startled at the crinkling noise and the lightness of the object. It was almost like his foot passed through it. Looking down to see what he had kicked, he was surprised to see it was the bag of gummy bears that he and Kara had gotten yesterday. Did she leave them there on purpose? Suddenly invigorated by the prospect of seeing Kara again, Danny picked up the bag and flew down to the lab.
Danny realized once he got in the Ghost Zone that he still didn't know exactly where Kara lived. Luckily, Danny didn't have to go very far to find Kitty. She was talking with Ember at some sort of playground. Nobody was on it except for Ember and Kitty sitting on the swings. Ember noticed him first.
"Well if isn't the savior of our world," Ember bit out as a form of sarcastic greeting. "Don't you ever get tired of saving us? Because I do." Danny frowned. Kitty rolled her eyes at her friend and looked at Danny with a reassuring smile.
"Just ignore her," Kitty said. "It's what i do." Kitty just smirked at the glare Ember gave her.
"Uh, right. Anyway, do you guys know where Kara lives? She left some stuff at my house that I wanna return," Danny said, holding up the bag of gummy bears.
"Aw, does the baby have a girlfriend? How cute."
"They're not dating, Ember," Kitty jumped in. "Isn't that right, Danny?" Kitty asked, getting up from the swing suddenly standing nose to nose with him.
"Uh, right," Danny choked out. Kitty laughed, stepping back a bit.
"Relax, kid, I'm just messing with you. Kara gave me this whole talk about respecting you and stuff. She said I act very inappropriately when I'm around you and that it probably makes you uncomfortable. She asked me to stop. C'mon," Kitty said. "I'll take you to Kara's." Waving quickly to Ember, she shot off in the direction of Kara's place and Danny scrambled to follow.
Before he knew it, Danny was standing outside of Kara's door. To his surprise, her apartment wasn't actually that far from the Fenton Portal. Danny was kind of relieved to know that. Soon enough, Kitty pat his shoulder as means of goodbye and left without another word. It was another two minutes before Danny got up the nerve to knock. Kara opened the door and she looked shocked and a slight look of guilt flitted across her face when she saw it was Danny who knocked.
"Hey, Danny," Kara said with a small smile. "What are you doing here?" She asked as she stepped aside to let Danny in.
"You left the gummy bears at my house. I just wanted to bring them to you," Danny explained, holding the bag out to Kara.
"Oh, thanks," Kara said taking the bag and placing it on the coffee table. "And I'm sorry by the way," Kara said pushing her hair out of her face. "For leaving without saying goodbye. It just didn't sound like your mom wanted me there."
Danny looked around at Kara's place. It was nice. Very homey and humany which was a little surprising. She had a couch and a coffee table in the living room and a small dining room and there was a door that probably lead to Kara's bedroom. There was no kitchen, no TV, and no bathroom as far as Danny could tell. And the furniture all looked like it was taken straight out of a film from the 50's.
"Oh no it's okay. I actually should be the one to apologize. You were right before. I came to find you because I needed to talk." Kara just nodded and went to go sit on the couch. Danny followed her. "I'm sorry that I didn't talk and I'm sorry you felt like you had to talk since I wouldn't." Kara looked away from him. "Maybe I am depressed." Taking a deep breath Danny said, "Actually, no. I am depressed. I think I've known that, but I've just been in denial. I've always been pretty gloomy and pissy but I didn't want anyone know anything was seriously wrong, that it wasn't just normal teenager stuff. I felt like the minute I admitted that I was depressed, suddenly my parents or Sam and Tuck would know and then it'd become a whole thing. I'm sorry."
Kara looked up at him and gave him a soft smile. "You really didn't need to apologize."
"I know," Danny said slowly. "But I wanted to. You're like the only person that understands me and I don't want to push you away too." Danny looked away from Kara and turned his attention to the doors that were floating around outside. "It's kind of cool that you can still see the Ghost Zone from your apartment considering we went through one of the door portals to get here," Danny mused.
"Uh, yeah. I mean I never really though of it but I guess that it is pretty cool. I don't know how they do it."
"Considering the fact that ghosts actually exist and the abilities that some ghosts have, it's not really surprising that they found a way."
They stayed in silence for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Danny knew he should talk to Kara. He's been keeping things in for too long and after his conversation with Sam and after talking to Jazz, his brain felt close to melting down. He already felt like a small weight had been lifted off his shoulders just from admitting to her that he was depressed. Moving towards the window, Danny made sure he couldn't see Kara's face. He knew it would be easier to talk if he couldn't actually see her. And just for good measure, he squeezed his eyes shut. "Sam and I got into a fight today," Danny could barely keep his voice from shaking. He was so nervous and sad about the whole thing. It was almost physically painful to talk about.
"About what?" Kara asked gently. She stayed in her spot on the couch, but Danny could almost guarantee that she had turned to face him.
"It was my fault." Danny gripped the window sill. "I skipped school last week after we talked. You know, after I told Sam and Tucker that I didn't want to see them right now? I was so upset and I didn't know what to do with myself. My parents were easy to trick. I mean, all I had to do was go invisible and make sure my backpack was hidden if they came to check if I left. Which they only did twice. They leave for work not too long after I leave for school and they don't get back till after dinner. They're hardly ever home. They didn't even notice I had been skipping," Danny explained, his chest feeling heavy as thought about how lonely it was being home by himself all the time.
"Anyway, at school today, Sam confronted me about skipping last week. She said that she and Tucker were worried about me. Then she said that just because I saved the world doesn't mean that I can get away with skipping school. Something like I need to actually know things to become an astronaut, so I can't just bank on the teachers to give me an 'A'. Like, I know that but she was treating me like I was dumb or something. And then we were drawing a crowd and I told her that I would talk to her when I'm ready. But because of the incident at school people all over the world know that I'm fighting with my best friends, or with Sam at least. It's the latest gossip people have on me since Sam and I broke up. My sister called me around the time I got home from school asking me about it," Danny let out a dry laugh.
"You know what she offered to do?" Danny asked. He didn't even wait for an answer before he said, "She offered to come home. She was gonna back out of an internship just because I'm upset. Like, who does that? I don't deserve to have a sister like her. She's always done so much for me and I feel like I've hardly done anything for her except put her in danger and cause her trouble. It's not fair to her that she's stuck with me as a brother. Nobody deserves to have a brother like me. I'm so lousy at it." Danny felt the burn of tears behind his eyes. He was tempted to cry but he did his best to hold back his tears. If he started crying now, he wouldn't be able to stop and he wanted to keep talking. He needed to keep talking.
"After I got over the special treatment that people gave me for Phantom Planet, I just wanted things to go back to normal. The only problem is that I can go anywhere in the world and there'll be people who know me. I brought that onto myself. I don't regret saving the world, but I regret coming out to it. I could have flown away and not been on camera when I told my family that I was Danny Phantom. But I was caught in the moment, and in shock that things had actually worked and that my parents knew my secret and I changed back," Danny said starting to get angry the more he talked about that day. "It made sense at the time- in the moment." Danny shook his head at himself.
"God, how could I have been so stupid? I still can't believe I did that. I hadn't have done it then I wouldn't be in this mess. I'd be happy fighting ghosts as the famous world-saving Danny Phantom and just go home and go to school and go to the damn corner store without people freaking out over what I did. It's so fucking annoying. I don't want free stuff. I don't want to have an unlimited amount of excused absences. I don't want free food when I go out to eat. And I don't want to take a picture with any stupid tourist that comes to Amity Park because they want to run into the kid who saved the world. I'm just sick of it."
"I went from being a nobody to the most recognizable person in the world, at least according to the tabloids. And now," Danny wiped a tear away angrily. "Now I get no privacy. Now people always try to talk to me. Now people expect things from me that nobody ever expected of me, Danny Fenton, before they found out I was Phantom. They had actually said to do away with the police because the oh so glorious Danny Phantom will take care of everything, as if I don't have anything better to do with time than to not only catch troublesome ghosts but regular criminals too. If Tucker hadn't had been elected mayor, I'm sure I'd be the only thing standing in the way of crazy ghosts and criminals running rampant in this town," Danny huffed
"I just want everything to stop. All the voices telling me what I should do. All the pressure that those voices put on me. I just want it to go away. And the easiest way for everything to go away is if I go away. Forever. Permanently. Just, gone," Danny finished softly, his voice cracking filled with tears.
By this point he couldn't hold the tears back anymore. He just stood there facing the window letting the tears fall. He was surprised when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Kara. He stupidly was surprised to see her. He almost forgot that he was talking to her. She had unshed tears in her eyes and the most understanding and open expression on her face that it made Danny let out a choked sob. Without even thinking, he rushed forward into her arms and buried his head in her shoulder. His body shook hard as he clung to Kara's frame and cried. And Kara, in the most gentle and caring way just wrapped her arms around his back and held him close, not saying a thing. And Danny finally let out everything he'd been feeling for the past three years.
