A/N: Hello everyone, welcome to the interlude chapters! These are meant to be shorter, less story driven chapters that flesh out the relationships between Danny and the girls, as well as do a bit of world building. This one got away from me and is pretty much full chapter size, expect the others to be smaller. There's also a continuity hiccup I realized when writing this chapter, but I'll leave it up for you all to find. It's minor in the grand scheme of things, so I won't be going out of my way to fix it, just accept the new canon. This chapter probably needs a content warning for mentions of pornography, but nothing is ever explicitly stated. MPAA says that mentioning pornography still falls in line with being PG rated, and this story is PG-13, so we're good. Enjoy, and please review and comment, I read them all!
Danny double checked his appearance in the mirror one last time. His hair was… well still messy, but in the way that Star always seemed to appreciate. His teeth were nice and white with no hint of any food stuck in them, and his clothes… well he'd done his best. Dark jeans and a white polo shirt would have to be sufficient, he didn't have the fashion knowledge to really do much more. He briefly wondered if he should let Clover into his closet to match some outfits for him. She'd appreciate the challenge probably, but might break his budget making him buy some expensive stuff to 'fill holes' in his outfit selection. Clover wasn't the one to… budget. He put on his deodorant and sprayed some of the cologne that the girls bought him for Christmas. A gift that was as much for them as it was for him. Danny would certainly not complain though, anything that made all four of his girls (because Ember had loved it as well, even if she hadn't been a part of the group who bought it) try to snuggle up closer to him was a welcome present in his book.
Hero work had taken over his life more than usual over the past little bit. Since the start of the new year it seemed Global Justice was constantly calling for him, Kim, and the Spies to deal with some crisis. Doomsday weapons and mass enslavement machines had become far too normalized to them all, to the point that he and Sammy had started riffing on the mechanics of each device as they deactivated them. Kim, Alex, and Clover hadn't gotten in on that, although they did find it amusing. This general thing created a problem. He had been spending a lot of time with Kim and Sammy, snuggling and kissing on flights to wherever they needed to go… and next to no time with Star outside of school.
Today was his attempt to mend that a bit. Kim, Sammy, and Ember were all free today, but Danny had told them that today was going to be all about Star. She had been his girlfriend the longest, since they retroactively considered the homecoming dance that the dragon had attacked to be the beginning of their relationship, but he hadn't been able to make time for her recently, something that made him upset. He didn't like playing favorites, it made the entirety of their relationship feel off, so he tried to equalize them as best he could, letting the only factors that made them 'inequal' being the depths of his feelings, something he couldn't actively control. He was, definitively and without a doubt, in love with Kim and Star. He knew that, and had no problems expressing it to them openly. They had been through a lot together, and he knew their bond would only solidify more and more. Had they been a few years older, Danny wouldn't be surprised if he would be considering engagement rings, but he certainly wasn't ready for that commitment at this moment.
Sammy was quickly falling into that category too. She hadn't been around as long, although their 6 month half-anniversary was fast approaching, and hadn't had quite the time for him to develop feelings. Kim and Star had been fast in that regard, not only because his focus could be entirely on them, but also because they didn't really… hang out with other friends as much. Kim and Star both had their own best friends in Ron and Valerie respectively… but they tended to always hang out as a group. Kim and Star were each other's second best friend, and since Valerie was dating Tucker, Danny's own best friend, group hangouts were just kind of the norm for them. Sammy though, had Alex and Clover, and their bond was so tight between them that they needed their own time. As such, they didn't join group hangouts as much as the others. Though they did always join them at their significantly expanded lunch table. Danny chuckled at that, at the start of Freshman year, it had been just him, Tucker and Sam just like it had been for years. Now their little trio had ballooned to ten people, Eleven if you counted Wade when he joined by video call.
Ember and his relationship had been… odd. He did believe she had changed, he had believed it as far back as Halloween when she helped with Fright Knight, and her appearance at the Valentines Dance hadn't dissuaded that notion, even if he wasn't happy with her taking over Sammy. Ember was loving, caring, and willing to repent for her actions, having offered to donate all the money she had made from her merch sales to a charity of his choice. Danny had told her to donate some of it, but considering he still saw people listening to her music without the mind control aspect, he did believe she had earned a good portion of it on her own merits. Unsurprisingly, she'd chosen a children's music program, and a mental health charity as her donation choices, and Danny couldn't be prouder.
He hadn't been spending much time with her either in the grand scheme of things. She was a constant companion whenever he was in the ghost zone, hopping in the passenger seat of the Specter Speeder whenever he was mapping out areas and providing her own expertise and experience to help him. Those trips however, had become more and more infrequent as their maps of the local area of the ghost zone filled out. One only needed to look at Klemper's icy outcropping a few times to get a solid sense of it. Ember had said repeatedly she wasn't worried too much about it. Seeing him once a week was enough for her, since time in the ghost zone worked oddly anyway. His once a week visits to her felt almost like every other day, and she was happy when he managed to show up more often.
Danny was still processing his feelings for her. She was certainly physically attractive, and though she had offered to change her form to fit his tastes more, he declined and wanted her to feel comfortable as herself and not someone else. To that end, she had willed herself to look a tad younger, to line her appearance age-wise with Kim, Star, and Sammy, which she said was something she was happy to do so he would view her as more of a peer. Danny could also feel an emotional connection forming between them… without context he would simply say they could be friends, but the look she had in her eyes when she saw him… definitely said that that wasn't enough. Danny accepted that his feelings for her were in the same ballpark as his feelings for Kim and Star had been when they first started dating. Ember was happy with that, since she had had much further to climb to get to that point. Ember loved him, probably as much as he loved Kim and Star, but Danny couldn't return that depth of emotion yet. Thankfully, she understood, and simply viewed it as a challenge, an incentive to make him fall as deeply in love with her as he had been when under her mind control.
Danny stepped out of the bathroom as he steadied himself. Despite everything, he still got nervous just before his dates. Why wouldn't he? Star, Kim, and Sammy would probably be among, if not the most popular girls in school if they hadn't taken up with him, and they were all amazing! He really didn't think he was all that special in the grand scheme of things.
Sam would yell at him for that thought, say his powers made him special.
Tucker would just pull up a video of Whirlydeath again, as well as the picture of them holding their 'banned from competition' letter.
Kim and Star would give him THAT look, then probably take him somewhere private to make out with him until he said he was worth it.
Danny briefly thought about saying it anyway just for the reaction. Then he realized, Star would probably do it anyway if he asked.
Each of the girls was different in their level of comfortability and amount of displays of affection. Kim was largely what he considered average for a couple their age. Private moments contained lots of makeout sessions, but in public it never went beyond a brief peck on the lips. Sammy was similar, although she preferred his arm around her waist when they walked as opposed to holding hands. Ember had said that she was open to anything and everything he wanted, largely due to her age and the lack of reason to wait as a ghost. Danny had to sometimes stop and remind himself that Ember was technically older than his parents, even if physically she currently looked his age (although well developed for his age) and mentally she was probably a high-school senior. She'd been a ghost for over 40 years before he met her, and had been older than him by a few years before she died. There had been some… worries about the age gap, but the common consensus in the ghost zone was that mental age always trumped chronological age, and Danny, who as far as the ghost zone was concerned was a ghost, was well within an accepted mental age range of Ember.
Star though… Star was a bit of an odd duck with affection. It wasn't that she didn't like it, no she loved it. Possibly too much. Star was very hands on, and after dating for only a couple months had attempted to… well she'd tried to take off his pants.
Any other guy would have happily let her, she was initiating an act of intimacy, so obviously she wanted it, and what teenage boy with all his hormones would deny her? Danny. Danny would.
He'd pulled away, removing her hands from his belt as he took in a breath, and was forced to stare at the confusion and hurt in Star's eyes at his supposed rejection. He'd moved up immediately after and held her, telling her that it's not that he wouldn't want that with her… just that he wasn't ready yet. He'd only recently start feeling comfortable enough to tell her he loved her… what she was after was on a totally different level.
They'd held that embrace for probably about 20 minutes, Danny just holding her and letting her feel loved, before she accepted that he wasn't ready, and said she'd be waiting for when he was.
That was thankfully a few months ago, and while Danny still didn't really think he was ready yet… he was certainly more ready now than he had been prior. Such thoughts were put aside though, he really didn't need to have them tonight.
After all, tonight he was supposed to meet her mother for the first time. Star had never really mentioned much about her parents. Danny knew her Dad wasn't in the picture at all, but whether he was dead or just left he had no idea. Star's mother though… he'd never even seen a picture of her, and Star wasn't one to volunteer much information. Apparently, Star had only ever really told her mother she had been dating him after the Ember incident, and after everything with Walker and Star getting overshadowed to break up with him, she was interested in seeing the boy who her daughter had fallen so head over heels for.
Danny made his way up the stairs to the rather nice townhouse the Lett women lived in. He wasn't really surprised, everyone who was in the A-List had money, Dash's parents owned every used car lot in the county, Kwan's father was a top surgeon at Amity Park hospital, and Paulina's Dad was in the state senate, with her uncle being Amity Park's Mayor. Star might not be an A-Lister anymore, but that didn't mean that the requirements she had met to be one had changed. He rang the doorbell, and after only a few seconds, his beautiful blonde girlfriend opened the door with a wide smile, pulling him in for a hug and a kiss.
As Danny pulled back and looked at her, he could see she hadn't dressed up quite as much as he did for this, although she still looked stunning. She wore some tight fitting but quite nice dark jeans, that contrasted nicely against the white blouse she wore as a top. Her normal hair clips were gone letting her blonde locks flow loose around her. "So… ready to meet my mom?" Star asked, seemingly as nervous about this as he was.
"I'm not sure, but I'm here anyway and it's too late to back out." Danny said with some humor, trying to lighten up their collective mood.
"I'm feeling much the same way… let's just get through dinner and hopefully we can put this behind us." Star said, leading him inside, sitting him down on the couch.
"You seem really nervous about this Star… when we first got together you didn't think your mom would care as long as you were happy… what's all this about?" Danny asked, taking his girlfriend's hand in his as he tried to lock eyes with her.
Star refused to meet his gaze. "I'm not worried about her opinion of you. You'll impress her, I know that. You're a good guy, good to me, and you make me happy, that's plenty for her. I'm worried that you'll think less of me after you meet her."
"Star… why would you think I'd think less of you? What is she… abusive or something?" Danny asked, trying to piece together what the problem might be.
"No! No.. nothing like that. Mom definitely loves me and hasn't done anything like that… she's perhaps a bit more distant than most parents but not neglectful or anything." Star said, coming to her mother's defense in that regard.
"Then what's wrong?" Danny asked, squeezing her hand.
"Danny, the reason my Dad isn't in the picture is because Mom doesn't even know who he is. She's… loose to say the least. Turned it into a career in… adult video." Star said, coming clean.
Danny froze for a second, processing that information. "Oh… I can see why you didn't want anyone to know." Danny said, trying to cope.
"See, that's what I didn't want to happen! You're going to hate me now." Star said, tears welling up in her eyes as she spoke.
Danny wrapped his arms around her. "Star, I love you. Your mother could be a murderer and I wouldn't hold it against you. I'll admit, I'm a bit stunned by what you've told me, but I'm sure you can understand why. I just… well I hope I haven't seen anything with her in it."
"Danny… wait what?" Star said, feeling loved for a moment before confusion at his final words.
"I am a hormonal teenage boy with access to the internet and a friend who has taught me how to completely clear my browser history to where even he couldn't find it. I've seen things." Danny said, flushing at that.
"Hormonal enough to watch porn and not enough to do things with me I see how it is." Star grumbled, not mad but certainly frustrated.
"Star, please. I love you, but… that's a big step. That's not something we get to take back once we're done." Danny said, holding her close and looking into her eyes.
"I… I know. I know having Mom be… like she is has warped my view a bit on what a healthy relationship is like. I.. I don't want to be like her in that way when I grow up, but… I love you Danny, and I want to express it every way I can." Star said, leaning her head on his shoulder as he held her.
"And I love you Star… and if it really means that much to you… we can talk about it. I'd want Kim and Sammy and Ember to be involved in that conversation too. I want us all to be on the same page about what is and isn't acceptable behavior between us." Danny said, sighing.
"Well, at least I know Ember is on the same page as me." Star said, chuckling to herself.
"I'm grateful that the age of Phantom is in question to the public, because I think Ember might be arrested for the things she said to me if someone heard her." Danny said with a flush on his face.
"Not appropriate for minors?" Star asked, a small flush and a teasing smile on her face.
"Not at all." Danny confirmed.
"Maybe I should ask her for some tips then. If just thinking about them has you this riled up." Star said, her voice a little huskier than before.
"Please Star, not just before dinner with your mother." Danny pleaded.
That seemed to snap Star out of it, and she had the grace to at least look embarrassed. "You're right… and we need to… talk to the others before we do that. You refuse to play favorites, and we love you for it, so we need to make sure that they're all okay with us moving forward. Ember certainly is… if half the things I've heard her suggest are things she actually wants, she'll find some way to turn us from just four girls sharing a guy to a full blown harem." Star said, winking at him.
"I sure hope she isn't trying to get any tips on that from Desiree. I'd hate to imagine what kind of tricks an actual harem girl would know." Danny said, shivering as they heard the door open. They quickly put some distance between them as Star's mom re-entered the house.
Scarlett Lett looked very much like what he imagined an older Star would, barring the fiery red hair. The woman was shapely beyond belief, with large breasts and hips, and a slim waist. Danny could realize why her… adult films would be popular enough to allow herself and her daughter to live the relatively lavish lifestyle they did. "Star, I take it this is your dear Danny?" She asked, her voice low and unintentionally sultry.
"Yes. Mom, this is my boyfriend Danny Fenton, Danny, this is my mom, Scarlett Lett." Star said, introducing them, her posture perhaps a little straighter than it would otherwise be.
Danny stood up, walking over to offer her a handshake. "It is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Lett." He said, trying to be polite and charming.
Scarlett eyed his hand for a moment before accepting, giving it a light shake. "Well, he certainly seems polite. Rather handsome too in a scruffy kind of way. I can see why you like him." Scarlett said, her voice seeming bored and disinterested.
Danny wasn't quite sure how to take that. On the surface it was certainly a compliment, handsome and scruffy were words that Star called him in endearing ways, so that didn't bother him, but the tone she used… well it didn't fill him with the warmth such a compliment would actually bring. "Thanks Ms. Lett." Danny let out. "I can see where Star gets her looks from." He added, trying to be light-hearted with a compliment.
Scarlett let out a chuckle, taking her fingers and lifting Danny's chin to where his eyes met hers. "Cute… call me Scarlett. Ms. Lett makes me feel old." She said, before turning to Star. "Did you finish dinner?"
"Yes, mom." Star said with a smile. "How about we go eat?"
"Lets." Scarlett said as she walked into the kitchen, her hips swaying as she left.
Danny took a second to catch a breath… he thought Ember was a bit aggressive with her sexuality, but Scarlett wielded it like a weapon. "So… you cooked tonight?" Danny asked, trying to change the subject to anything but Scarlett.
"Yeah, I wanted to cook for you. I like doing it, and the idea of you enjoying it… well it makes me happy." Star said, sidling up to him and kissing his cheek. "Just focus on the nice meal your girlfriend made you and it'll take your mind off of my mom."
"I'm sorry." Danny said, looking at her.
"Danny, she wraps grown men around her finger on a regular basis. I'm not surprised at all you're struggling with teenage hormones. You're doing remarkably well. Your willpower is strong, and I know you love me and the others. There's no problem here." Star said, giving him a reassuring smile. "Besides, if you like how my mom looks… that's probably not too far off what I'll look like in 10 years." she added, winking at him.
"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Danny asked.
"A bit. You could stand to lose control a little once in a while. I know Ember and I won't complain." Star said as she led him into the kitchen. She moved to the oven to pull out the lasagna she made. Setting it on the stovetop, she grabbed a knife and sliced into it, placing three good-sized slices onto plates, and bringing them over to the table, setting them in front of Danny and Scarlett with a smile on her face.
As Star sat down and they both started eating, Danny took a bite of the lasagna. "Oh, wow Star, this is great." Danny said truthfully. It warmed his heart a bit that Star had wanted to cook for him… especially since he knew Kim, Sammy, and Ember were all terrible at it. Ember at least had the excuse that she didn't NEED to eat anymore.
"I'm glad you like it, darling." Star said, leaning on him a bit.
"Oh, you have pet names?" Scarlett asked, looking at the two.
"Uh, not really." Danny flushed, only Ember really used any kind of pet name with him.
"I hadn't used that one on him before." Star said with a smile. "But I think I might just keep doing it. It sounds… right that he's my darling."
"You've been watching that anime again haven't you?" Scarlett asked, causing Star to flush.
"I can't help it. I just see what they have and I want it in my own relationship." Star says, her tone embarrassed.
"What anime?" Danny asked, now interested.
"Well… it's two of them… Rosario Vampire and My Dress-Up Darling." Star said, looking down to hide her flush.
"That Vampire one is quite risque at times. Imagine my surprise when I came home and saw my daughter be so invested in a trio of girls trying to seduce a boy. I'd offered to give her some tips, I am an expert after all." Scarlett said in that husky tone she seemed to always speak in.
"Oh, yeah… I've seen that one." Danny said with his own flush.
"You two are cute. Now, Star tells me you have other girlfriends as well? How did you pull that off?" Scarlett asked, and Danny's blood froze in his veins. He wasn't exactly trying to keep it a secret, but her knowing was… still unnerving.
"I uh… well I didn't do anything." Danny said, a little unsure of how to even answer that question.
"Kim and I, and Sammy later, did pretty much all the actual work to get us together. Danny made us all fall in love with him on his own, but he was pretty miserable at… acting on that interest." Star said, managing to pull the conversation around.
"As all good men seem to be. It's the ones that can act without fear that you need to worry about." Scarlett said, in a tone that implied she knew everything about that.
"Anyway, after… well after a while Kim came to me and asked if I would be willing to share him. She's the reason he asked me to the dance that became our first date in the first place, so when she realized she had feelings for him too… I'd kind of already had my hooks in him. I couldn't have imagined him picking me over Kim Possible though if he'd had to choose, and… well I took the advice you always told me about guys. If you want something, take it. So I agreed with Kim that we could share him. After we asked him out together… we've been happy ever since." Star said with a goofy grin, directing his attention toward Danny.
"And this Sammy girl you mentioned?" Scarlett asked.
"Oh, yeah. She met Danny on a field trip and apparently had an instant crush on him. They texted for a little bit as friends and she just kept getting it worse and worse for him. When her parents got moved to Middleton for work and she started attending our high school with us? She had it BAD. Kim and I could tell, so we let her in. We like her a lot, Kim and I are smart, but SHE'S the real brains of the operation now." Star added, thinking back about the situation, and their cover story for how Danny and Sammy met.
"That was just after you and Danny had that awful spat. What was that about?" Scarlett asked, and Star and Danny froze. They'd never made a cover story for that.
"Umm… well we don't really like talking about it." Star said, trying to buy some time.
"It was some stuff with my… I guess it's like a job." Danny said, taking initiative, careful to craft a story with as few lies as possible.
"Oh? Do tell." Scarlett said.
"Well, my parents are ghost hunters, and I help them with that. I got hurt during one of our missions and… well Star didn't like that. We had a bit of a disagreement, because she wanted me to stop getting myself hurt when doing it, and I said I couldn't just let ghosts run rampant around Amity Park. The pain I was feeling, alongside some frustration at Star not getting why I was doing what I was doing kind of ended up with us blowing up at each other. We made up pretty quickly though. The whole thing with the mayor getting possessed gave Star the perspective of why I do what I do, and I started taking a slightly more back-seat approach with my parent's ghost hunting." Danny said. Technically, the only lie in there was that he and Star had an argument about that. He had been hurt on missions before, and Star did take it pretty badly when it happened. Her mind control rant had even kind of taken form of that, and while Danny might actively be fighting ghosts, he is very backseat with his parent's version of ghost hunting, all he does for them is help them build and test their gadgets, otherwise they do their own thing.
"I see." Scarlett said, examining Danny for a moment. "Your parents allow you to help them, even with the dangers?"
"I've been working with the equipment since I was 12, and have been learning martial arts from Mom and boxing from Dad since I was 6. I'm pretty well qualified. They usually don't actually want me near the dangerous parts though. I help maintain equipment and keep them charged." Danny said. More not lies, just phrased carefully.
"I've noticed Star having some of your family's devices. Do you intend to make my daughter fight ghosts?" Scarlett asked.
"I don't intend to make your daughter do anything. I've given her the gauntlets and the lipstick so she can keep herself safe if a ghost attacks, but I would infinitely prefer her to run if possible. Those are there if standing her ground is her only option." Danny said, squeezing Star's hand in his.
"Lipstick? How does lipstick fight ghosts?" Scarlett asked.
Star grabbed her purse from the living room, pulling it out. She twisted it and fired a blast out the window into the sky. "Functions as an actual lipstick, with added ghost fighting laser inside. Admittedly, they still haven't made a color I like." Star said with a touch of sadness.
"We've been trying, babe. It's just really hard to find pigments that don't absorb the laser." Danny said, smiling at her.
"How does that work, and why isn't it a laser pointer instead of lipstick?" Scarlett asked, now curious.
"Inside the base is a custom fenton ectoplasmic laser emitter, powered by one of our proprietary fusion cell batteries. The laser focuses through a lens beneath the lipstick, and then fires through it. The reason we went with this design over a laser pointer is that the actual lipstick functions as a sort of protective solution for the lens. It gets scratched very easily if exposed to air, but the lipstick keeps it from getting scratched. We did a few experiments with a laser pointer version, and we offer one, but the lipstick continuously outperforms it in sales. Most people prefer it because it's much easier to explain having lipstick on their person than a laser pointer." Danny said, giving the basic rundown.
"And why not a pen?" Scarlett asked.
"The thickness we need for this would look… odd on a pen. You probably notice that these are a bit thicker than a normal lipstick tube, but not terribly so. A pen of this thickness isn't very comfortable to hold." Danny added. "We had one briefly, we sold about 10 before people complained they were too thick, and we're space limited by the battery, which cannot get any smaller for physics reasons. Lots of top researchers are convinced we're already breaking physics by having it be as small as it is."
"Star never mentioned you were smart." Scarlett noticed, turning to look at her daughter with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, I'm not. I'm dumber than a box of rocks. I've just been around this long enough to know about it." Danny said, waving off the compliment.
"Don't let him downplay it. He's not top of our class or anything, Sammy, Kim and I are beating him in that regard, but he's super great with mechanics. He and his friend Tucker built a robot for their middle school competitions that got them banned from competing again because it was too effective." Star said, bragging on Danny a bit.
"That was all Tucker's idea, I just put it together." Danny said, trying to dismiss it.
"And Tucker says he had the basic idea and did the code, while you completely figured out how to actually bring it to the real world. Tucker said 'let's make a big spinning bowl' and you made one so effective it destroyed everything!" Star said, lightly shaking her boyfriend in an attempt to get him to see how smart he was.
Scarlett chuckled a bit to herself at seeing them interact. The pair chattered off in their own little world as she observed them. Scarlett had never really had this, she'd never brought a boy home to meet her parents, and no boy had ever wanted anything from her that required her to meet his. She'd worried a bit that her… unique style of relationships would rub off on Star, would unfortunately turn her into another her. She had the body for it, at 15 she was already fairly developed, and assuming her genes came through, she'd only get even more so. That's the kind of thing some less than chivalrous boys would take advantage of, and Scarlett knew that she wasn't able to properly model how to fight off those boys' advances, because Star herself had been the result of one of them. She'd only been 16 when she was pregnant with Star, and to this day still didn't know who her father was. She'd long since given up on caring, it might have mattered when she was 16 or 17, but by the time she finished high school (and she DID finish, even had a little 1 year old Star in the audience sitting on her grandfather's lap) it didn't matter to her anymore. None of the boys it could have been ever bothered asking, and she had the love and support of her family to make it work.
Looking at Star now though… part of her could see that the only part of that life that she needed to worry about would be a teen pregnancy. Danny was a good boy, she could tell that, and he'd step up to be a good father. She also knew that Star was taking precautions against such a thing, she'd taken her to her appointment to get put on birth control shortly after their first date. That had been a fun conversation they had, at least for Scarlett. Star had been so embarrassed as Scarlett hounded her for questions about the boy, but Star had remained pretty close-lipped about the whole thing. She had no intentions of needing it particularly quickly, but wanted to go ahead and start it. Scarlett equal parts wished she had been so practical, and was glad she hadn't. Being a teen mom had been hard on her, but Star was well worth it. She'd be quite pleased if Star would at least wait until she graduated to have a child. Scarlett was in no hurry to be a grandmother.
"So, Danny. What are your plans after high school?" Scarlett asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.
Danny and Star stopped their conversation and sort of jerked back to a normal position, Star having been lightly shaking him the entire time. "I'm definitely intending to go to college, where I haven't decided yet, but I've got time to think about that. Two years before applications really need to start going out. As for what I would be studying… I had wanted to be an astronaut, so that had implied Astrophysics or something along those lines would be necessary." Danny said, thinking back to his childhood dreams… something he hadn't really thought about in a bit.
"Had wanted?" Scarlett asked.
"I guess I still might. Changes in my life have made me think more about something like mechanical engineering like my parents did, or maybe some other thing. Being an astronaut had been my dream for so long, but… I'm admittedly unsure if it's still my dream. The things that excited me about it before still do excite me, and I do still have all the effort I put into it before, years of Space Camp and my Junior Astronaut certification, but… I don't know if it's everything I want anymore." Danny said, sighing a bit as he answered.
"What changed?" Scarlett asked.
Danny and Star sent a brief look at each other. Phantom had changed. It seemed unlikely that Danny would ever be able to be an astronaut and leave the Earth undefended from ghosts for months at a time if he were to go to space. Kim and the Spies could only do so much, they were human, fully human with no powers. Some of the stronger ghosts would be too much for them, even Walker would run ramshod right through them, much less someone like the Fright Knight, or someone worse if they existed. His parents could do a bit more… but they couldn't be active in the fight forever. Jack was already showing signs of his age, the white hair on his temples a reminder of how time passes. Valerie may choose to take up the mantle after them, but that's a decision that's on her. Technus couldn't really fight other ghosts, and even if Ember had turned over a new leaf, assuming she would actively defend Earth from other ghosts was a stretch. Johnny and Kitty even more so. Danny and Vlad were the only two people with the real power to keep the world safe from ghosts, but Vlad would certainly not take up the mantle.
"It's… private stuff. Stuff I'm not really ready to talk about with anyone who isn't family or really close friends." Danny said, phrasing himself carefully.
"Does Star know?" Scarlett asked.
"I do, and I won't tell you. Danny's got a lot going on, and I'm happy to support him during it. Just… leave it at that, okay Mom?" Star requested, locking her hand with Danny's.
"I won't pry any further, I just wouldn't want him to be keeping a secret from you that might affect you." Scarlett said, her eyes darting between the two. There was a tension about whatever this secret was, not between them, but around them. To everyone else who didn't know it. It must be something big.
"I don't hide anything from Star. I've always endeavored to be completely honest with her through our relationship." Danny said, shooting a small smile to his girlfriend.
"I'm glad, I've never had a relationship like you two do, but I imagine secrets don't lend themselves well to that." Scarlett said, looking between them.
"You've never had a relationship like us?" Danny asked with a raised eyebrow.
"When I was in high school, once I realized how… enjoyable sex could be, I wasn't terribly picky about getting to be romantic with someone to have it. It was fun, it was casual. I can't say I regret it because it brought me Star. After she was born though… well I started my career, I imagine Star has told you what I do. Men who learn what I do aren't exactly interested in… long term commitments. I think only a handful have even met Star, and I don't think a single one ever came back after." Scarlett said, traveling back in her memories.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Danny said truthfully.
"Why would that be?" Scarlett mused.
"I'd want everyone to feel something like what I have with Star. She means the world to me, and I imagine she feels the same. It's something I think everyone wants, and something I know some people have craved." Danny said, images of Vlad's obsession flashing through his mind.
"And if I'm happy as I am now?" Scarlett asked, her tone with a bit of an edge.
"That's fine, but I would think that having something like what Star and I do would make you even happier. It's like a cake. Just the actual cake is delicious, but if you put some frosting on it, it's even better. I imagine we have opposite opinions on what the cake and what the frosting is in this scenario, but I imagine the whole thing is still preferable." Danny tried to explain, his naivety and inexperience showing, but there was something in his earnest words that gave Scarlett pause.
"You believe that I'm only eating frosting in this scenario?" Scarlett asked.
"In my version of it you would be. The cake is the fulfillment I get from my relationship with Star, the love, the companionship, the simple joy of being together. Sex in that would be like frosting, not needed to be satisfying, but it does improve the experience. Probably, I don't have any experience to know that for certain." Danny said, flushing a bit. "If sex for you is the cake, that's fine, but that doesn't mean you can't have your own version of the icing as well."
"It's interesting to meet someone who isn't judging me for what I do." Scarlett mused, looking at Danny.
"Why would I? Assuming you're taking legitimate jobs, the industry exists for a reason. People buy it, people watch it. I imagine most people have at least seen something once." Danny said, his practical mind coming through. "I'm not the best in my economics class, but even I know that if there is a demand there will eventually be supply."
"You're far too open minded for your own good I fear." Scarlett said.
Danny took a moment to think back to Technus, to Sidney, to Ember, Johnny and Kitty. If he hadn't been open to the idea that a ghost could be good, Technus would likely be doing whatever he could to use technology to take over the world. Sidney would have haunted the school forever and never managed to find his own closure. Ember would keep attempting to take over the world, and Johnny and Kitty would hate him for having the chance to save her and not taking it. "Keeping my mind open has led me down a lot of good paths. My relationship with Star, Sammy, and Kim chief among them." Danny said, a smile on his face.
"I suppose that leaves the question that I imagine all of their mothers have asked… why isn't my daughter enough for you?" Scarlett asked, the friendly if detached demeanor she had built up over the course of the conversation gone, a hard edge replacing it.
"She is. She would be. If it was just Star I would be happy. But the other girls wouldn't be. I didn't accept this situation out of some twisted belief that I was 'worthy' of their affections. That I deserved them because of anything. I accepted this situation because they looked to me, and told me that they thought the way they would be most happy is with me, even if the others were there, that I couldn't bear to see them sad. It hasn't been easy, I know Star effectively burned her final bridge with her former friends, and we get ridiculed constantly… but we're happy." Danny said, squeezing Star's hand.
"You made her choose between her friends and you?" Scarlett raised her eyebrow, a hint of anger in her voice.
"No, Danny didn't. THEY made me choose between him and them… and I don't regret leaving them for a second. They're egotistical, awful people, and I'm ashamed I was blind to it for so long. The only REAL friend I had before Danny and I got together was Valerie, and she made the same choice I did. We fell in love with the 'losers' as my old friends would have called them, and now we have friends that care about us for more than our appearance or the amount of money we have. Kim and Sammy are better friends to me than Paulina ever was." Star said, matching her mother's anger with her own. "Did I have to choose? Yes, but Danny didn't make me. He might be the reason it happened, but I'm glad it did."
Scarlett seemed taken aback by Star's feelings on the matter. "I see. Well… I suppose that satisfies my curiosity. You've got your hooks quite deep in my daughter Danny. Let's hope you don't abuse that."
"I'd rather die than abuse her trust." Danny said, a marked seriousness in his voice.
"I hope there is an action to back up those words, but I have no desire to see you actually die. I feel that would make my daughter very sad." Scarlett said, smirking at him a bit.
Star laughed a little bit. By some interpretations, she saw Danny 'die' almost every day, she'd made a joke about him being scared half-to-death when they'd first gotten together. The… question of Danny's mortality was something that was just… funny to her. She knew any actual danger or peril he would be in wouldn't be funny to her, knew that seeing him hurt or injured or bleeding made her heart hurt just imagining it. But the idea of Danny playing jump rope with his own mortal coil was still amusing to her.
"What are you laughing at?" Scarlett asked, her eyebrow raised.
"Danny's serious face." Star said, covering for herself, although she did find it funny. She took a second to mimic it, before laughing again. Danny was, generally, a pretty carefree and goofy guy. He'd get serious when people were in danger, but he was happy to quip at ghosts and goof off when he needed. Danny wasn't a serious guy, so seeing him be it in this instance? It was hilarious.
"Come on, why are you laughing at that?" Danny asked, his voice giving a bit of a whine. This only made Star laugh even harder.
"Because it's funny! You're very rarely REALLY serious, so seeing you use it now? Not when you're like fighting a ghost or helping Kim out? It's funny!" Star said between laughs.
"I thought you said you take a backseat with the ghosts?" Scarlett asked.
"Sometimes I can't, or if there's some less dangerous ones I can handle on my own. A couple have attacked the school and I've dealt with them on my own." Danny said, more not lies. "I don't take unnecessary risks, but something like a little blob ghost just needs to be caught in a thermos and not even fought."
"A Thermos?" Scarlett raised her eyebrow again.
"Don't ask. It's not worth it." Star said.
Conversation went smoothly for the rest of dinner, and Star couldn't help but be amazed at how… present her mother was during the conversation. Star knew her mother was generally focused… somewhere that wasn't here. She could focus when Star needed her to, but for basic mundanities she was content to have her mind be elsewhere. This was… odd. Maybe it was just a need to focus on her romance options, a desire for Star not to turn out like her mother.
With dinner finished, Scarlett told the two to go out and do something fun for their date. Star, wanting the awkwardness of the night to be over, readily agreed and pulled Danny out of the house, the pair of them making their way to a nearby park.
As they sat on one of the benches, looking over the nearby duck pond, Star spoke. "That went better than expected."
"What had you expected?" Danny questioned. He could barely remember what he thought, the anxiety of the thing so palpable still that all he could remember was a deep unending dread. He'd have rather fought the Fright Knight again, if he didn't think getting nicked by the Soul Shredder wouldn't put him back in that situation.
Actually thinking about it, Soul Shredder would make it worse. Mr. Possible and Mr. Simpson would be there too. And Ember's dad, somehow.
Star's squeeze of his hand pulled him out of that anxiety nightmare. "I… well I was worried you'd be wrapped around her finger too."
"Star…" Danny said, looking into her eyes. Those beautiful turquoise eyes he couldn't get enough of.
"She… controls men. I've seen her do it, pulled over for speeding? A bit of cleavage and she's off without even a warning. A flirty wink getting her a couple grand off of her car. And… I was terrified that despite how strong I know you are, how resistant you have been to literal mind control, that you'd fall for it too. That you'd just see how attractive she was and roll over for her." Star said, sulking.
"Well, I had one thing that helped." Danny said, squeezing her hand tightly. "Might have made it harder initially, but it certainly kept me cool in the end."
"And what would that be?" Star asked.
"You look just like her, barring that red dye job. She might be an older, more developed you, but anything she did that was attractive? I'm sure you could do it better. Because I know that I love you more. I don't play favorites, and despite what you and Ember keep telling me, I'm not a total sucker for red-heads with green eyes. You girls mean the world to me, and I don't need my eyes to wander. I've got four lovely girls already, when I'm not even sure I'm deserving of-" Danny was saying before being interrupted.
"Shut." Star said, grabbing his lips. "No bad talking my boyfriend. No one gets to do that. Not even him." She leaned in and kissed him, sliding her tongue across his lips to deepen it as she moved to straddle him.
Danny pulled back from the kiss after a few moments. "You're very eager today."
"Have to be. I'm competing against two superheroes and a rockstar." Star said, a little breathless from their kiss.
"Star, it's not a competition." Danny said, his voice soft.
"It's cute that you think it's not. Now I'm not done." Star said as she leaned in for more.
Danny didn't have any reasons to complain.