Work Text:
Her hair billowed out behind her as she raced through the air, leisurely doing her nightly patrol. The town’s lights glistened below her hoverboard and she glanced down at them. She could almost see the specks of people who were working late, or perhaps out partying. She snorted.
Why anyone would want to party on a Monday night is beyond me. She let the thought drift and resumed her flight at a slower pace. She would leave those people to their fun (and their subsequent hangovers in the morning).
It was a cloudless night and the full moon was bright against the starry sky. A few bats were flapping about and eating their fill of the bugs in the air. Yes, it was a calm, peaceful night.
Her radar beeped urgently and signaled the approach of a high-leveled ghost.
Valerie groaned, knowing fully well she just jinxed herself. She gripped her gun tightly and stared into the murky darkness, as if she could will the being into the visible spectrum. She was strung tight, ready to pounce the moment it decided to attack.
“Boo.”
Light laughter filled the air when Valerie yelped and spun, gun instinctively pointing towards the offending entity. She relaxed her grip almost immediately, though, and playfully scowled at the girl hovering to the right of her hoverboard.
“One of these days, I'm actually going to shoot you when you do that.” The girl did a playful loop in the air, and Valerie felt her scowl smooth away into a genuine smile.
“Oh please. I'm much faster than your gun.” Danielle purred and flicked said gun. Valerie only raised her eyebrows in obvious disbelief.
“We’ll see about that. What brings you out of your hermit life in the Zone?” Dani frowned at her words and crossed her arms. Knowing full well that a rant would most likely follow she shifted to let the floating woman to settle on the board next to her.
“I'm not a hermit anymore! I'm living with Danny now! And it. Is. Torture!” She wailed and collapsed dramatically onto Valerie's chest. Valerie simply grunted and shifted her weight again, the years of ghost hunting building more than enough strength to hold the smaller girl.
“Why.”
“He's so boring! Nothing but work, work, work. I can tell he's not happy either, but he refuses to let his advisors or even Tucker to help! Why did he even accept the title of King anyways? So what if he defeated the last king? The hierarchy is stupid anyways!” Dani ranted to Valerie, and Valerie struggled to remain serious. She was obviously worried about her cousin and tried to hide it with indignance.
“There, there.”
“Don't ‘there, there’ me! I thought I would have to worry about him and Tucker being all gross, not him doing boring work.”
Valerie reached and loosely grasped Danielle's hand. “I'm working too, so I'm technically being boring right now.” Dani blushed a bright green and she smirked.
“Well, you're different. You're fun even when you're working.”
“That so?”
“Yeah.” She nodded as if to finalize her decree. She rose off the board.
Valerie felt herself light up as Danielle suddenly smirked. “Race ya.”
She grinned right back and made a show of revving the board like a motorcycle. “Oh, you're on.”
Danielle mimed the starting position of a track player and began to count down.
“3.” Valerie's visor slid over her face and she stood on the board.
“2.” She tensed.
“1.”
Valerie took off like a rocket, ignoring Dani’s indignant shout. She flew at a breakneck speed, knowing full well slowing down would mean being overtaken.
She laughed. Valerie never said she'd play fair.
---
“Cheater!” Valerie laughed again as fists rained down on her shoulder. They were back on the ground in the park next to a quiet lake, only sounds of the night to disturb them.
Well. And the sounds of Danielle's fury.
“I was supposed to say ‘go’ and then it starts! You knew that, cheater!” Dani said and glared at the huntress. Valerie smiled easily.
“I learn from the best.”
Dani snorted and plopped down. “Danny's a bad influence.”
“You really think I got it from him?”
“... Okay, fine, but I'm his clone so I must have gotten it from him. And if you got it from me, due to the transitive property, you also got it from him so there!”
Valerie stared blankly at her. Danielle grinned cheekily.
“I bet you're regretting convincing me to go to school.”
Valerie settled next to the ghost on the grass and laid down. Danielle joined her from her sitting position, and Valerie smiled softly at her.
“Mmm, no. I get to see you every day until I graduate.” Valerie counted it as a victory when Dani blushed a fluorescent green again.
“Noooooooo…” Danielle buried her face into Valerie's chest. Said girl only threw back her head and laughed.
----
bonus aka Danny is a dick to Tucker's sleeping schedule
“I haven't been neglecting her, have I? Oh god, what if Dani's right? I should be hanging with her while she still wants to! I remember being that age and-” Danny “Phantom” Fenton’s rant came to a screeching halt as a large pillow that came sailing from the general direction of the bed hit him directly in the face.
“Dude. Come. To. Bed. Now.” Tucker's voice was venomous even in its sleep deprived state. Danny gulped and complied.
“Now, we can talk about your family issues in the morning all you want after we both have gotten sleep. If you get up one more time, I swear to all the PDAs I have ever owned I will divorce you.” Tucker slammed his head back down into the pillow, throwing his arm around Danny's waist.
It was quiet for five minutes until- “...Tuck, we're not married yet.”
Anyone walking outside at this time would only hear faint whacks of a pillow and screeching about ‘calling my goddamn lawyer, Danny, I swear-’