::
There was a lot that Danny was afraid of. Well, no, maybe that wasn't quite accurate. There was a lot that Danny was afraid to lose, but there wasn't much that he was afraid of- No, that didn't make sense either. Okay, Danny got scared a lot, but he really was never that scared- Jeez, okay, no, Danny was never as scared as when he was sitting in a chair in the principal's office and being stared at by at least four teachers. During school hours.
"I, uh… Can I ask for a lawyer?" Danny was kind of embarrassed that his voice wasn't much more than a squeak, but Lancer gave him a pitying smile, at least, so it couldn't be all that bad, right? Wait, no, this was his life, it was going to be horrible.
"You don't need a lawyer, Danny," Ishiyama sighed, sitting on the edge of her desk and crossing her arms. "Now, Danny. You know we here at Casper High like to make this a safe environment for you and the other students. That means you can tell us anything that you're struggling with. Anything."
"Your secrets are safe with us, Danny," Petricoff smiled, Danny not very reassured by that because he was still kinda pissed about the prom mess- Secrets. Oh, no. "We know that your situation is… Is unique, but we like to think that we here at Casper High are equipped to help you."
"That's not what we should be focusing on." Ah, Grover's anger. Okay, that was a lot better than the other two and those fake smiles. "Danny, have you even told your parents about what's been going on?"
"I- I, uh, well- You see…" Did- Did he admit it, then? All of it? They already knew, it seemed, so there probably wasn't any harm in coming completely clean- Wait. If they knew then why wasn't Andrew in here? Shouldn't Andrew be here? It felt like Andrew should be here. Danny would kind of like to cling to him while they were spilling his life secrets like it was nothing. "That's a very good question, sir."
"Oh, in the name of Charles Dickens, people, he's not sleeping with one of the teachers." Lancer's declaration was met with awkward silence and Danny felt as torn as he did when first stepping through the portal.
On the one hand, none of them knew his secret besides Lancer, and Lancer was very good at keeping his students' secrets when he needed to. On the other hand, though… They seemed to suspect, rightly so, that he was sleeping with Andrew. Considering he wouldn't be eighteen until next year, well, aha, this could- This could get very complicated very fast.
"It might not have progressed that far, but it is a relationship," Petricoff, the germanic demon, frowned and oh- Oh, god. Danny figured it out. He finally- She reminded him of Umbridge from the Harry Potter books. Jesus. No wonder he hated her science class. "I saw them at the prom Saturday, Kim. They were kissing-"
"Wha- We weren't kissing!" Danny flushed as he frantically combed through his memories and- Fuck. Andrew had been stupidly sweet and kissed his cheeks and forehead when he had been relieved of 'duty' and allowed to spend the prom with him. That would have been fine if he hadn't still looked like his normal self, but Danny had been too fucking happy to notice and fuck. "Look, Mrs. Petricoff, I have a boyfriend-"
"A boyfriend that we've never seen or heard anything about, doesn't attend this school, and who no one knows the name of? Not to mention your behavior around Mr. Riter, Danny." Okay, maybe some of the games had gone a bit far, but it had been fun.
"Doloris, please, I've met Danny's boyfriend." Oh- Oh, right, Lancer had, back in sophmore year before they were really dating. "He's Danny's tutor, as well, and helped him a great deal when he was struggling in his classes last year. He's actually quite the nice young man. He attends Saint John's, doesn't he?"
"Yes- Yes, sir." Oh, god. Lancer had chosen the school on the other end of town which was brilliant - beautiful - but he had chosen the religious school. Danny adored this moment more than anything else in the world. "He lives there with his brother and their mother on the other end of town. Mrs. Riter, their mom, she works in the school teaching the preschoolers." Jesus, Danny almost believed that lie himself. Go him.
"We have proof." What? Grover slapped down a group of papers onto the desk, Danny jumping at the noise and staring and this was proof? "Student testimonies."
"You know the students think the food is made from dead bodies pulled from the graveyards, don't you? Like, a quarter of them honestly believe that." Hearing Lancer's suppressed snort, Danny gave a grin. "And, uh, I'm not that well liked? Half of those are probably lies-"
"You have frequently been seen skipping lunch and leaving Riter's classroom after, which just so happens to be right before my class with you. A class you're always late for." No more 'Mr,' huh? So much for teacher solidarity.
"Many students have also noticed that Andrew will have you stay behind after class," Petricoff sighed, aiming for concerned adult and hitting overstepping boundaries by a major degree. "Once he gave you an hour long detention for being a few minutes late to class. Even if there's nothing sexual between you two, that's still an abuse of power-"
"You've given me an hour for breaking those beakers in class back in Freshman year," Danny pointed out, thinking for a moment. "Ma'am."
"There's more." Of course there was. "Students have admitted to noticing you're more nervous and…" Reading over a few papers, Grover pulled a face. "Apparently exhibiting ghostly behavior traits." Wait, what? Ghostly- Okay, Danny would come back to that one later.
"Look, I'm not in some- Some sexual relationship with Mr. Riter. I mean, yeah, I get kind of stupid around him, but I swear to god I know that it's just teenage hormones and totally illegal and it's honestly probably mostly from the fact he actually cares how I'm doing outside of school like he does with all his students." Jesus, they were waiting to cut him off and chew up his story.
"This is true for all his classes," Lancer, the angel, chimed in. "He cares deeply about all his students. Honestly, to accuse him of this without proof is just…"
"Danny." Ishiyama, quiet throughout the whole event, stared straight into his eyes and Danny knew true fear. "Can you honestly tell me that you are safe and Mr. Riter is not forcing you into anything."
"Yes- A hundred percent total and definite yes, ma'am. I feel perfectly safe in his classes and he's not forcing me into anything- Except maybe do my homework, but I've seen that's a shared trait by everyone here." The lack of laughter had him sitting back in his seat with a nervous smile. "Tough crowd?"
"I'll walk you to your next class, Danny," Lancer sighed, setting a hand on Danny's shoulder and guiding him to the door the second he stood up. "Remember, though, that we're all here for you and are willing to listen to any problems you have." Danny almost believed the good teacher act until they were a few feet past the door and Lancer was slapping the back of his head.
"Ow!" Clutching at the spot which startled him more than hurt him, Danny turned a betrayed look to Lancer. The man had been on his side. "Why?"
"For the endless amount of trouble you attract into your life," Lancer huffed, looking as exhausted as Danny felt. "You both need to be more careful."
"We're-" Glare. He was glaring. "We're trying?" They had been trying to be careful to make sure nothing was public, but then the prom… "I just- I was so happy to be able to spend the night with him, sir, and-"
Lancer held up his hand, Danny snapping his mouth shut at once. "There's no need to explain, Mr. Fenton, but do attempt better precautions in the future, especially when it comes to locking doors." Here he was given a look so judgemental, Danny wondered what the man had seen of them. He wasn't blushing, so probably just a kiss or heavy making out.
"I promise we'll be at our absolute best and try to keep the PDA to outside the school." Chewing on his bottom lip as they walked, Danny cleared his throat. "So, uh, am I in trouble, then?"
"I'm sure you've had enough detention this school year." Don't ask, don't wanna know, just keep walking. "Daniel." Oh, no, full name. "If you really do need to talk to someone and can't get to a friend in time, you know where my classroom is."
"That… That's good to know, Mr. Lancer." Having another person in his corner could never be a bad thing, at least. "So about that grade on the last pop quiz…"
::
Ghostly behavioral traits. What students had told the teachers the he was exhibiting ghostly behavior? Not just that, but those student testimonies had proven to be a lot more accurate than he was expecting. Just how many people were paying attention to him?
Jeez, okay, still lunch, he'd hide in the library and hope Andrew was there. He needed to talk to him about this, because they really did need to be more careful. At least until next year when Danny turned eighteen, then everyone could go screw themselves when it came to having a say in Danny's sex life.
Jesus, okay, calm down, Fenton, keep a calm head- Ghostly behavioral traits. Just what was that supposed to mean? Did that mean all of his clinging and possessiveness from the games, or did that mean… Had some of them seen something? Danny wasn't exactly hiding his powers as much as he should have been, but it was getting hard to when so many people in his life knew his secret now and had accepted it.
Would it really be so bad if others found out, now? Before, back when he first got these powers, it felt like if he ever told anyone then it would be his real death. Now… Section 13 already knew who he was, all the ghosts did, his family, even Lancer. Spectra and her comments were now nothing but an old scar he could ignore. He belonged to both worlds, after all.
"-no, you have to conjugate the verb and then use it in place of an adjective." Pausing from behind a bookshelf, Danny frowned and what the hell kind of language were these kids learning.
"Name is my Star?" Okay, Danny knew Star could speak English- Oh, that might be how it was arranged in the language they were learning. He knew Japaneses did that weird switch around thing.
"No, no, no, see, it'd be like my name is Mikey." Mikey was studying with Star?
"Okay, is it I or a repeat of our names?"
"No, no, there's a word for I, see? I. I like reading."
"I hate you."
"When did you learn the word for hate?"
Okay, all the A-Listers were talking strangely and working together with the nerds. Danny had to find out what the hell was going on, now. He was also surprised so many people were here during lunch. "Hey, guys, what's up?"
"Oh, hey, Fenton." Dash… Dash wasn't starting a fight? "Feeling better? You looked like shit before break."
"Uh, yeah." Oh, that was right, Dash had come up to him and been all freaked out. It had freaked Danny and Tucker out- Wait, had he just called him Fenton? Not Fenturd?
"Hey, Danny, you spend a lot of time around Mr. Riter. What's the word for hello?" In… In French?
"Bonjour?" This was weird. "I mean, you can use that or salut, but salut is more friendly and informal and can be used to say goodbye, too."
"Not in French," Paulina sighed, as if he was being slow. "In ghost." In… In ghost? "So far we have my name is, but nothing else." Wait- Wait, the odd way they were talking, they had been… Oh.
"You- Where did you learn Ghostspeak?" They knew how to speak Ghostspeak, which meant they were understanding it. Why could they understand it? Only ghosts…
"We heard Mr. Riter talking it a lot and just picked up the simple stuff," Nathan beamed. "It wasn't all that hard, really."
"Yeah, simple stuff," Dash groaned, leaning back in his chair. "The rest of it is a bitch to learn, especially speaking it."
"Ri- Right." Speaking it. The students of Amity Park were speaking Ghostspeak. But that- That was impossible.
"Sounds a lot like Latin with the verbs," Mikey helpfully put in. "But then some stuff reminds me of Sanskrit, what little I know-" Mikey was cut off by a strange, high laugh- Oh. That was Danny.
"Uh, yeah, Ghostspeak is based off dead languages that have crossed over. It adapts to the current time, but the base is made up of old African languages, Latin, Sanskrit, and a few others. Look, guys, I gotta go, I'll see you around."
Danny left before he could answer any more questions, quickly heading towards Andrew's classroom because this… This suddenly felt far bigger than Danny's secret.