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The first sign that something was wrong was small. Tucker was the one to point it out. Danny was sleeping over at his house that night. His mom shut off the lights and closed the door, but Danny assumed the lightswitch hadn’t worked. Danny thought the room was too bright to sleep. He asked Tucker to turn off the lights. Tucker thought he was kidding.
Danny didn’t like the strange look he got when he walked to the other side of the messy bedroom floor without tripping over anything.
The second was not so simple. Not as subtle, either.
He was cornered by Dash for the third time that week. Something about a failed math test and a usual punching bag absent. It didn’t matter what he said; It wasn’t like Danny paid any attention to him in the first place.
What would usually happen would be a sassy remark or taunt on Danny’s end, followed up by a punch or a push on Dash’s.
But that day something strange happened.
Danny snapped. He got low to the ground and snarled. Dash scoffed and called him a freak. Danny doesn’t remember much of what happened after his vision turned red.
All he knows is that Dash didn’t back down until Danny was on top of him, clawing at his face with his abnormally long, pointed nails.
And then Danny grew fangs. He was worried they looked like Vlad’s, but Sam said they looked more like a wolf’s. Sam thought it was cool. Tucker said it was freaky.
Danny hadn’t liked that word.
He yelled at Tucker for the first time in years and flew home. He wondered if he could file it down before school the next day. He accidently bit the nail file in half before he could find the answer.
He thought it couldn’t get worse until Valerie said something to him. She flicked his ears and said that he shouldn’t wear cosplay at school. One look in the bathroom mirror revealed his slightly green, pointed ears.
He took the spare hat from Tucker’s locker that day and wore it all the way home. He’d find something to cover it by tomorrow.
But things just kept getting worse. He stood up to ask to go to the bathroom, but asked entirely in ghost speak. He didn’t have to be told he wasn’t speaking English; The words felt sour on his tongue even as he spoke.
He tried to stay calm as the class laughed at him, but couldn’t take it when their eyes never left him and his freaky half-ghost body.
He ran out before he could convince them that he was even more of a monster than they thought.
Danny skipped out on class more often now. The ghost fights hadn’t stopped per say, but they were diminishing. Even the weird-looking animal ghost cowered in front of him.
His suit was too loose now. It hung around his stomach, leaving a gap. When he breathed out he could see the ribs poking out. Just one more thing to make the school freak look horrific.
Dash had come back from the hospital today. He had light scars across his face from when Danny clawed at him. His friends thought it made him look like an action hero. They ignored Danny even more now. They pretended he didn’t exist. And maybe Danny liked that.
Danny likes when his parents leave him alone at dinner. He likes when they don’t ask why he’s been skipping school and skipping meals.
But then he comes home and can’t stop speaking the ghostly language.
He tried to play it off as a joke, but when he can’t even explain the punchline, they reach for their guns.
They demand whatever putrid ghost he was get out of their son. They yell at him for taking over their sweet baby boy and corrupting him into harming his friends.
Danny tries to come up with an excuse, but when he sees Jazz quivering next to them, hiding behind his father, he decides he’s had enough.
He doesn’t say anything more than ‘Goodbye’ to them. He knows they won’t miss him. He doesn’t say goodbye to Sam and Tucker. They won’t miss him, too.
He doesn’t know who else to turn to that isn’t afraid of him but Clockwork. He always felt safe around him.
He flies into the ghost portal in the Fenton's basement without so much as another thought.
If anyone could accept him it was his mentor.
Clockwork, master of all time, had spent years preparing for this day. He’s created a special room just for Daniel.
He littered the top of the ceiling with those silly little glow-in-the-dark stars Daniel had in his old room. He filled the shelves with books about space travel. Fiction or nonfiction, it didn’t matter. Daniel had all the time in the world to read as many books as he wanted in this tower.
Even if his space obsession faded, he would create a new one. Clockwork would create as many as Daniel’s heart could take. Maybe next time he’ll create one about time travel.
He’s been messing with Daniel’s inner clock for a while now. This week was just the special few days where it all accumulated into the ghost equivalent of puberty. It would fade over time, but Daniel didn’t need to know that.
If he’s honest with himself, he’s gotten a bit attached. Obsessed would be the better term, but it felt wrong to call his little passion project an obsession.
He knows Daniel will come to him for help. For guidance. For comfort. And he’ll be waiting to provide it. Whenever Daniel wants it. And whatever he wants, Clockwork will provide. For as long as he’s in this tower.
Who’s to say if his little timepiece will ever leave his lair again?