"Ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce mister and misses Sticky Webb," was announced over the loudspeakers to applause as Sticky and Dijonay walked arm in arm into the wedding reception, Danny applauding, standing next to Penny in her maid of honor dress.

Danny was wearing the suit he'd worn to all the weddings of friends and cousins in the past couple of years.

"Have I mentioned that you look beautiful in that dress?" Danny asked

"A few hundred times before the ceremony," she answered with a knowing smile. "besides, I'm wearing a bridesmaid dress. They're designed to look bad, so the bride looks beautiful."

"No offense to Dijonay, but you're the prettiest girl here," Danny said, leaning in close and kissing Penny on the cheek. Penny turned her head, kissing Danny on the lips.

A kiss that went on for a few minutes until something hit him on the cheeks. Danny and Penny pulled away, seeing a bouquet in his girlfriend's arms. "Dijonay, I think you just made all your sisters angry at me," Penny said, though she didn't look like she was all that upset about not catching the bouquet.

"Hey Penny, it's my wedding, and they can complain if they want to," Dijonay said with a grin before the two best friends hugged while Danny and Sticky just stood to the side.

"Congratulations, Sticky," Danny said to the shorter man. Sticky nodded with a grin, watching his new wife talking excitedly and chatting with Penny. "So when are you going to pop the question?" Sticky asked with a grin

"Dijonay aimed for Penny just so you could ask me that," Danny asked

"I don't know what goes on in my wife's face," Sticky said, smiling when he said, my wife

"You're a genius, and you married her," Danny pointed out while Sticky shrugged

"I'm just saying, man if you need help buying a ring, I know a place," Sticky said before he and Dijonay walked off to mingle with the other guests

Danny looked over at Penny with a thoughtful look on his face as he thought about what Sticky asked.

"So why exactly are you here instead of with our daughter?" Oskar asked him. Trudy and Suga Mama were all sitting around the table looking at Danny.

"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Proud, I want to ask you two a very important question," Danny asked nervously before taking a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I would like your guy's permission to marry Penny," Danny said

Penny's parents gave him deadpan looks. "That's all?" Oskar asked. "Danny, you've been dating Penny for almost ten years now. You really think we didn't figure out years ago you would be the one we'll be calling son-in-law."

"The point is we happily give you our blessing," Penny's mom said before walking over and kissing Danny on the cheek

"Thanks, Mrs. Proud."

"You can call us Oskar and Trudy, your family," Mrs. P- Trudy said

"Now that that's out of the way, do you have a ring yet?" Suga Mama asked.

"No, not yet," Danny admitted, wondering why Suga Mama was asking. She reached into her pocket, pulled out an old velvet box, put it on the table, and slid it over to Danny.

Curiously, Danny opened it and saw a pair of wedding rings inside. "Hold on, those are yours and Daddy's wedding rings," Oskar said, surprised.

"Yeah, they are, and now they're Danny's."

Danny was floored, not expecting this. "Suga Mama, I'm not sure I can take these."

"Of course, you can. I had a good, happy marriage with my husband Percy, and now I want to give them to you," she said, standing up and taking the box off the table, putting it in Danny's hand, closing his fingers around it, and smiling at him, Danny.

"Besides knowing his luck, they'll need all the help he can get," Oskar commented.

"Like your luck any better," Suga Mama said

Danny smiled, pocketing the ring box.

Now, all he had to do was propose to the love of his life.

How hard could that be

The next date night, Danny took Penny to Cafe Les Fleurs. Danny pulled out all the stops, candles and violin music to set a romantic mood. Everything was perfect. He was about to stand up to get down on one knee when his pint-sized cousin Stuart was sent flying through the window, crash-landing into his glass,

"Hey Danny Penny, sorry to crash your date," he quipped when Danny fished him out of his drink.

Danny looked towards the window, seeing his cousin wasn't the only date. A yellow-skinned woman with long purple hair in a red and black outfit with a glowing red ring on her left hand, two of his other cousins, Cole and Mack, on the street near her feet.

"Okay, how many colors do lanterns come in?" Danny asked, looking toward Penny. "Penny," Danny asked.

"Go ahead, boo," Penny said.

Danny sighed, going ghost. He flew out to fight the angry lady in red. "Okay, lady, quit manhandling my cousins and go back to whatever planet you came from."

The red lantern looked down, annoyed at the cousins. "I'm not here for the copies; I'm here for you, Danny Phantom. I, Princess Mandie of Boudacia of the Red Lantern Corps, have come to take you as my mate, conquer this planet, and enslave your pitiful planet."

"Yeah, I'm happily in a relationship, plus the conquering earth and enslaving humanity thing would be a really big red flag," Danny said. "a bigger red one than your outfit,"

Mandie growled, her hair literally setting itself on fire. "no one else will dare to refuse me again," she said before firing a red blast at his ring.

Danny, annoyed, blocked the energy blast before firing a blast trapping the crazy red lantern in a dome. "go, ghost stinger," Danny said, his eyes glowing green, electrifying his ghost ray the dome knocking out the red lantern,

Danny floated down and froze Mandie from the neck down. "well, this is not how my night was going to go,"

Danny got another chance three weeks later to propose again. This time, he arranged a moonlit carriage ride through the park. He was about to ask when he got a text from Buzz saying it was a 911 and to come to Bellwood.

Flying Penny to her apartment before he flew at top speed to Bellwood, making it to Buzz's apartment. Opening the door, he found Buzz and Gwen. "I got your text. What's the emergency?" he asked.

"There isn't one," Gwen said, giving her boyfriend a look. Buzz grinned

"No, there's got to be an emergency," Danny said. "Buzz, you texted nine one one that it was an emergency and a matter of life and death, so what's going on?"

"I needed you to come right away," Buzz answered with a shrug

Danny looked at Gwen. "Why am I here?"

"Buzz and I are engaged, and he wanted to ask you to be the best man," Gwen answered, "he said that you're his brother, and he wouldn't be the man he is today without you in his life."

Danny smiled. "Buzz, I'd be honored," Danny said; walking over, he hugged his cousin. Buzz hugged him back, a big smile on his face

"Hey, Gwen, how much time would I get for punching a Plumber?" Danny asked

"Depends on the intent species of the officer in question and how much strength you put into it," Gwen answered. "in this case, I don't think a judge would rule against you,"

"Good to know," Danny said before punching Buzz in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, but otherwise fine. "do not call unless you have an actual emergency," he said. "I was in the middle of something important."

"Won't happen again," Buzz promised.

"I'll make sure he doesn't," Gwen also promised.

The next couple of months, things got hectic because every single time he tried to pop the question to his longtime girlfriend and love of his life, it ended up going sideways.

Between busy schedules, evil women trying to steal him away from him, helping Tucker propose to his longtime girlfriend Sam, coming back from Drusselstein with a fiancé of her own, helping Jazz with her wedding to Antonio, and one time when Danny got food poisoning from some bad shrimp it didn't happen.

It was like Murphy's law was doing everything and anything in its power to keep Danny from putting a ring on Penny's finger.

All Danny wanted was for things to be perfect for Penny. She'd dealt with so much craziness between the multiverse clones, ghost attacks, and paparazzi. He just wanted to let her have one normal thing, a perfectly normal proposal.

So since every plan he could think of wasn't working, he decided to ask someone smarter for help, someone he knew who'd already gone through the whole wedding thing already.

That is why he was in Luke's home in Japan, having tea in his kitchen and putting a cup down by a tabloid magazine about Ben and Kim's engagement. 'Yeesh, even in Japan, the paparazzi have nothing else to discuss.'

"So, how's work?" Danny asked. Luke ran a ghost research lab for his parents here in Juban. It was like the one back home, complete with an ops center and a massive Fenton Works sign, though the sign was in Japanese, and Luke and Mina didn't live above the lab.

"Work is progressing at an optimal rate for a lab of my size and field of study," Luke answered. He wore his red hair in a short style that showed the Martian thought projectors on his ears and a pair of reading glasses, "though I imagine you're more interested in asking for my aid in asking how to properly propose to Penny without it ending in your general romantic yet fraught with perils pattern you've had since the beginning of your relationship."

Danny sighed. "am I that obvious?" he asked.

"It was elementary, my dear cousin, between your high expenditures on your usual date night, your growing frustration at other members of our families for planning their nuptials while still happy for them, and the small jewelry box you hid from Danielle at family dinner last week it was clear to see."

Danny nodded. "that's why I need your help, Luke. I want everything to be perfect for Penny, but it keeps blowing up in my face sometimes."

Luke took a sip from his tea. "I'm happy to help if you could offer me counsel with a problem of mine."

"Absolutely," Danny answered.

"Very well lately, Mina has been ill. Her symptoms have included nausea, lack of energy, and unusual cravings. Now, being a concerned husband, I made an appointment without a physician and discovered the cause of said problems that she is currently expecting."

"Luke, that's great news you're going to be a dad," Danny answered. "Wait, what's the problem."

"I'm concerned with just that, becoming a father," Luke answered, frowning as he looked down at his teacup. "as you no doubt remember, I and the rest of my brothers and sisters came into this world as a science experiment, disposable pawns to be used by our father Vlad Plasmius in his war with you."

Danny nodded. Vlad was at the top of his list of worst parents ever

"Due to this early exposure to a highly psychologically unstable and unsuitable parent, we do not refer to Uncle Jack with the same familial title despite genetically speaking he would be our father. My concerns are that I will be an unfit parent to my child."

"Luke, that's crazy. You're overthinking things. You're not going to be perfect, but that kid will love you no matter what you do because they will know that you." Danny blinked in realization. "love her; you tricked me into giving myself advice."

"That is what happened, yes," Luke said.

"Is Mina actually pregnant?"

"About two months into the first trimester," Luke answered. "I've already had this discussion where Henry tricked me into giving myself the same advice."

Danny stood up, walked over, he hugged Luke. "thanks, Luke, I needed that,"

"My pleasure. Feel free to use the portal in my lab to return to Amity Park to propose to Penny finally," Luke said, "preferably within the next twenty-four hours."

"Why are you guys betting on my love life?" Danny asked first as a joke but got silence from Luke. "seriously."

"It is not just about you. There is more speculation on all our as-of-yet-engaged siblings with long-term romantic partners. The current least likely to have become engaged would be Hunter, though there is speculation on whether or not the couple simply eloped without telling her father afterward."If Hunter did that, Mom would kill him," Danny said, laughing. Luke laughed in agreement before he left to see Penny.

He had a question to ask.

Penny stepped through the front door of her apartment, closing the door behind her. She set down her groceries on the table. Looking up, she saw Danny.

"Hey boo, what are you doing here," she asked. They didn't have a date planned.

"Penny, I've been trying to ask you something for a while now, but I haven't because I wanted everything to be perfect for you because of how crazy it has been, but if I keep waiting for perfect, I'm going to be crazier than Deadpool, so I'm just going to do it."

Danny got down to one knee, pulled a jewelry box out of his pocket, and opened it. Penny gasped, seeing the ring in the box. "Penny Proud, will you marry me?" he asked.

Penny gasped, tears flowing down her eyes. She nodded. "Yes," she answered.

"Yes," Danny asked, hopeful.

"Danny, we've been together for nine years. Of course, I'd marry you," she said. Danny grinned; standing up, he put the ring on her finger before the newly engaged couple kissed.

And it was perfect.

Special thanks to Number Boy and Merry Christmas.