Chapter Text
Part I: Ancient Hearts
you came and washed the night away
i haven't felt this way in ages
are you haunting me
or have i finally gone to sleep?
- motion city soundtrack, crooked ways
CHAT OPENED: JANUARY 17, 12:13 AM/00:13
GHOSTH8R (00:13): hey are you awake?
DFENTON (02:27): You're probably asleep now, I'm sorry I missed this. What were you doing up so late?
GHOSTH8R (02:27): i could ask you the same question.
DFENTON (02:31): Had to solve a fight between two friends. Nothing major.
GHOSTH8R (02:31): sam and tucker were fighting?
DFENTON (02:31): No, of course not.
DFENTON (02:31): I mean, those two are usually fighting, but they don't mean it.
DFENTON (02:31): You wouldn't know these other friends.
GHOSTH8R (02:31): r u ok?
DFENTON (02:32): I'm fine, I solved it. Don't worry about me. Why are you up?
DFENTON (02:39): Val?
GHOSTH8R (02:40): couldn't sleep.
DFENTON (02:41): …You've been having trouble sleeping a lot recently.
GHOSTH8R (02:41): i guess so.
DFENTON (02:41): Do you want to talk about it?
GHOSTH8R (02:41): can we not?
GHOSTH8R (02:43): …do you mind just staying up for a little while with me? i could use a distraction. have any good stories?
DFENTON (02:43): I can do that. :) You'll never guess what Tucker did while we were playing Doomed today.
...
CHAT OPENED: JANUARY 20, 6:31 PM/18:31
DFENTON (18:31): Hey, where were you at lunch today?
GHOSTH8R (18:45): i'm sorry, danny. :( something came up.
DFENTON (18:45): This wouldn't be related to that super secret important thing you have to do, would it?
GHOSTH8R (18:46): yeah. you can let me know if it's too much for you. i'm sorry.
DFENTON (18:46): Hey, don't be. I'm the one who agreed to date the girl with unspeakable secrets.
DFENTON (18:46): Besides, for all you know, I've got a few secrets too! ;)
GHOSTH8R (18:47): LOL! yeah right.
DFENTON (18:47): C'mon, an "LOL"? HOW is that funny!?
GHOSTH8R (18:47): i'll tell u, but you've got to promise not to get offended :)
DFENTON (18:48): You could never offend me more than Tucker's body spray does on a daily basis.
GHOSTH8R (18:48): you don't really seem like the lying type. i bet you can't even keep your christmas gifts a secret!
DFENTON (18:48): HEY! I'll have you know I've been able to keep your Valentine's Day present a secret for weeks.
DFENTON (18:48): I bet you could never guess it's a new pair of earrings from that jewelry store at the mall you like.
GHOSTH8R (18:49): DANNY!
DFENTON (18:49): :)
...
CHAT OPENED: JANUARY 23, 1:01 AM/01:01
GHOSTH8R (01:01): danny?
GHOSTH8R (02:34): i don't know what to do
CHAT CLOSED: JANUARY 23, 2:41 AM/02:41
CHAT OPENED: JANUARY 23, 5:07 PM/17:07
DFENTON (17:07): Oh my god, Valerie, I just saw these… why didn't you say anything at school?
GHOSTH8R (17:08): i didn't want to worry you! i just had a nightmare, it's no big deal.
DFENTON (17:08): It's a big deal to me.
DFENTON (17:08): …I get them sometimes, too. I know they're not fun.
GHOSTH8R (17:08): yeah, well, they suck more when it's stuff that's actually happened to you.
DFENTON (17:11): …Yeah.
GHOSTH8R (17:12): wait, really? u too?
DFENTON (17:12): Yeah.
GHOSTH8R (17:14): aw, danny… i wouldn't have guessed :( do you want to talk about it?
DFENTON (17:14): SEE? Feels like a big deal when the person you love says it, huh?
GHOSTH8R (17:15): …
GHOSTH8R (17:15): um. you did NOT just say that.
DFENTON (17:15): What? Say what?
DFENTON (17:15): Oh my GOD.
GHOSTH8R (17:15): you DID NOT just say you love me for the first time OVER INSTANT MESSAGE, DANNY FENTON!
DFENTON (17:15): I didn't mean it!
DFENTON (17:15): I mean, I did! I do!
DFENTON (17:15): UGHHH WHY am I like this!
DFENTON (17:16): I'll see myself out. You deserve a better boyfriend.
GHOSTH8R (17:16): so i can give you your ring back at lunch tomorrow, then?
DFENTON (17:16): Wait, really? :(
GHOSTH8R (17:16): of COURSE not, dork! r u kidding me?
GHOSTH8R (17:16): i might even say it back, if we were somewhere more romantic than IM.
DFENTON (17:18): Like, say, The Diner? Tomorrow night at 7:00?
GHOSTH8R (17:20): maybe :) let me ask my dad. talk to you at school? ❤
DFENTON (17:21): ❤
CHAT CLOSED: JANUARY 23, 5:23 PM/17:23
CHAT OPENED: JANUARY 24, 10:12 PM/22:12
GHOSTH8R (22:12): just want you to know how lucky i am to have you.
GHOSTH8R (22:12): i had a lot of fun tonight.
GHOSTH8R (22:12): ❤
CHAT CLOSED: JANUARY 24, 10:13 PM/22:13
CHAT OPENED: JANUARY 25, 6:10 PM/18:10
DFENTON (18:10): Hey :)
DFENTON (18:10): You had fun with ME, huh?
GHOSTH8R (18:10): so much that i slept like a baby.
DFENTON (18:12): Seriously? No nightmares?
GHOSTH8R (18:13): kind of hard to stress when your first relationship is going so well. telling me you love me where we had our first date? pretty romantic, neil armstrong.
DFENTON (18:13): This is your first relationship? You've never told me that.
GHOSTH8R (18:14): unless you want to count the one date i went on with tucker. LOL
DFENTON (18:14): Haha, pass!
GHOSTH8R (18:14): why so surprised? don't tell me you're secretly a ladies' man. am i girlfriend number 100?
DFENTON (18:15): No, you're my first girlfriend. I just figured someone as beautiful and smart as you are would've had me beat :)
DFENTON (18:15): Plus, you were in with the popular kids!
GHOSTH8R (18:16): ugh, don't remind me. a few more months and i would've ended up with kwan.
DFENTON (18:16): LOL
...
CHAT OPENED: JANUARY 27, 1:43 AM/01:43
GHOSTH8R (01:43): you know how you told me to message you the next time it happened?
DFENTON (02:51): Hey, I'm here. Are you still up?
GHOSTH8R (02:52): yeah.
DFENTON (02:52): Do you want to video chat?
GHOSTH8R (02:52): i can't, my dad will hear me. the walls are kind of thin :(
DFENTON (02:53): That's okay. Let's just talk here, okay?
DFENTON (02:53): I'm here.
GHOSTH8R (02:54): thank you, danny.
DFENTON (02:54): Do you want to talk about it? Or do you want a distraction?
GHOSTH8R (02:58): what do you do when you get nightmares?
GHOSTH8R (03:06): r u still here?
DFENTON (03:06): Yeah, sorry. It's just kind of complicated.
DFENTON (03:06): I haven't really talked about it with anyone before.
GHOSTH8R (03:06): why not?
DFENTON (03:07): I don't want to freak people out, I guess.
DFENTON (03:08): Jazz has tried to talk with me about it a few times, she must hear me talking in my sleep or something.
DFENTON (03:08): Or she just guessed I have bad dreams. She's good at figuring out stuff like that.
GHOSTH8R (03:08): i really doubt you could freak me out.
DFENTON (03:10): …I guess not. I'm not dating the toughest girl in school for nothing :)
GHOSTH8R (03:10): oh PLEASE, i am SO not the toughest girl in school.
DFENTON (03:10): Oh yeah? Name one girl tougher than you.
DFENTON (03:10): Scratch that, name ANYONE at our school tougher than you are.
GHOSTH8R (03:13): …fine.
DFENTON (03:13): I mean, who else do you know with a 9th degree black belt?
GHOSTH8R (03:13): flattery will get you nowhere, danny.
GHOSTH8R (03:14): you can't change the subject on me that easily!
DFENTON (03:14): And so insightful!
GHOSTH8R (03:14): danny!
DFENTON (03:16): Fine. I guess I don't deal with the dreams that well, to be honest.
DFENTON (03:16): It's just something I've had to learn to live with.
DFENTON (03:16): Sorry, that's totally not the advice you were looking for.
GHOSTH8R (03:17): how long have you had them for?
DFENTON (03:17): A few months.
GHOSTH8R (03:17): so, like, summer?
DFENTON (03:19): Around the beginning of the school year.
GHOSTH8R (03:20): isn't that when you were gone from school for like a whole week?
DFENTON (03:20): Wow, Miss Valerie Gray the Rich and Popular noticed a loser like me was absent?
GHOSTH8R (03:21): you may have been a loser, but you were a cute loser :)
DFENTON (03:21): Pretty cheesy. :)
GHOSTH8R (03:23): so what happened?
DFENTON (03:23): Hey, I'm still cute!
DFENTON (03:23): Or, manly. Handsome? Rugged.
GHOSTH8R (03:24): not that, dork.
GHOSTH8R (03:24): why were you gone from school so long? what happened?
GHOSTH8R (03:38): danny?
GHOSTH8R (03:38): you don't have to tell me if you don't want to.
DFENTON (03:40): No, I want to. It's just… like I said, complicated.
DFENTON (03:40): Not many people know about what happened, either. Just Sam, Tucker, and Jazz.
GHOSTH8R (03:40): that's all? and you trust ME enough?
DFENTON (03:40): Of course I do, you're my girlfriend :) And I love you.
GHOSTH8R (03:40): i love you too, danny ❤
DFENTON (03:41): I'm never going to get used to how awesome it feels to say that.
DFENTON (03:41): You know that big portal in my parent's basement?
GHOSTH8R (03:41): doubt i could forget it.
GHOSTH8R (03:41): your dad wouldn't shut up about how he had gotten it working all of a sudden after years of tinkering.
DFENTON (03:42): Yeah. That's not exactly the full story.
GHOSTH8R (03:42): ?
DFENTON (03:43): He wasn't the one who got it working. I did.
GHOSTH8R (03:44): but you've told me you don't know anything about how their ghost tech works, right?
DFENTON (03:45): And I wasn't lying about that. It just wasn't really broken in the first place. All I did was turn it on.
DFENTON (03:46): Leave it to my dad to forget where he installed the power switch.
GHOSTH8R (03:49): so where was it?
DFENTON (03:52): …It was on the inside.
DFENTON (03:52): But I'm fine now! It's okay!
GHOSTH8R (03:52): danny, WHAT!? you're telling me you were INSIDE that thing when it turned on!?
DFENTON (03:52): You said you wouldn't freak out!
GHOSTH8R (03:52): what am i supposed to say to that, then!? "oh cool, man? no biggie?"
DFENTON (03:54): Ha, I guess not.
GHOSTH8R (03:55): there's no way you're "fine" after that. ghost energy hurts like hell.
DFENTON (03:56): How would you know that?
GHOSTH8R (04:01): i mean, it LOOKS like it hurts.
GHOSTH8R (04:01): hey, wait, you were there when i was fighting that ghost hunter! her gun used ecto-energy.
DFENTON (04:04): Wait, she actually shot you? I never saw that…
GHOSTH8R (04:05): and it's good you didn't! i told you to run and i'm glad you did!
GHOSTH8R (04:05): i'd never forgive myself if i saw you get hurt.
DFENTON (04:07): Valerie, it's not your fault that ghost hunter went crazy all of a sudden.
DFENTON (04:11): Val?
GHOSTH8R (04:20): no, you're right. it's not.
GHOSTH8R (04:21): hey, i'll talk to you later. try and get some sleep.
DFENTON (04:21): Val? Are you okay?
DFENTON (04:26): Valerie?
CHAT CLOSED: JANUARY 27, 4:42 AM/04:42
CHAT OPENED: JANUARY 27, 5:01 PM/17:01
GHOSTH8R (17:01): i'm sorry for being so weird today.
DFENTON (17:22): It's okay. I shouldn't have brought that up yesterday.
DFENTON (17:22): I should've known better.
GHOSTH8R (17:24): wait, what do you mean?
DFENTON (17:31): I mean, that must've been really scary for you. Fighting the ghost hunter.
GHOSTH8R (17:31): oh.
GHOSTH8R (17:33): yeah, it was.
GHOSTH8R (17:33): danny, it meant a lot to me that you opened up like that yesterday. THAT must have been scary.
DFENTON (17:33): A little.
DFENTON (17:33): Okay, a lot. But like I said, I trust you.
GHOSTH8R (17:35): i trust you too.
GHOSTH8R (17:35): if you can tell me your secret… i should be able to tell you mine too, right?
DFENTON (17:35): Val, are you sure?
GHOSTH8R (17:36): yeah. you know what? i am.
GHOSTH8R (17:36): wait
DFENTON (17:40): I'm so sorry, can I talk to you later?
GHOSTH8R (17:40): but can i tell you later?
DFENTON (17:40): Jinx
CHAT CLOSED: JANUARY 27, 5:40 PM/17:40
CHAT OPENED: JANUARY 27, 8:52 PM/20:52
GHOSTBOY (20:52): Hey, are you okay?
GHOSTBOY (20:52): I just wanted to make sure, you took off kind of suddenly.
GHOSTBOY (20:52): And I heard there was a ghost near Elmerton right around when you had to go.
GHOSTBOY (20:52): I mean, my parents told me there was.
GHOSTH8R (20:52): who is this?
GHOSTBOY (20:53): Oh, shit.
CHAT CLOSED: JANUARY 27, 8:53 PM/20:53
CHAT OPENED: JANUARY 27, 8:53 PM/20:53
DFENTON (20:53): Uh, that was me. Sorry.
GHOSTH8R (20:54): "GHOSTBOY"?
GHOSTH8R (20:54): you have two accounts? and why in god's name would you want to name yourself after that ghost kid always haunting our school?
DFENTON (20:55): Hey! To be fair, I picked that username way before Phantom came to Amity Park. It's my IM account for Doomed.
GHOSTH8R (20:55): aw jeez, you really call him phantom?
DFENTON (20:56): Why wouldn't I? It's his name.
GHOSTH8R (20:57): i don't care what his name is. that ghost ruined my life.
DFENTON (20:58): What do you mean? I always see him helping people.
GHOSTH8R (20:58): well then he's got you under his thumb, too.
GHOSTH8R (20:59): don't your parents hunt ghosts? HOW can you think that?
DFENTON (20:59): Not all ghosts are evil, Valerie.
GHOSTH8R (21:00): ugh, now you even SOUND like him!
GHOSTH8R (21:01): i don't care if all ghosts are evil or not. THAT ONE is.
GHOSTH8R (21:01): i'm too tired for this. i've barely slept the last two days. i'll talk to you later.
DFENTON (21:02): Valerie, really?
DFENTON (21:13): Valerie!
CHAT CLOSED: JANUARY 27, 9:21 PM/21:21
CHAT OPENED: JANUARY 28, 4:41 PM/14:41
DFENTON (14:41): So you're ignoring me at school now?
CHAT CLOSED: JANUARY 28, 5:38 PM/15:38
CHAT OPENED: JANUARY 29, 12:01 AM/00:01
GHOSTH8R (00:01): i feel like shit for talking to you like that yesterday, danny. i was too embarrassed to talk to you today.
GHOSTH8R (00:04): i'm sorry. sleep deprived or not, you didn't deserve that.
GHOSTH8R (00:05): you don't know what the ghost boy's done.
GHOSTH8R (00:06): not only did he get my dad fired, my dad who does nothing except for work hard all day to support me, not only did he destroy nearly everything we owned…
GHOSTH8R (00:06): but he tried to murder me in front of MY OWN FUCKING BOYFRIEND!
GHOSTH8R (00:07): he was fine burning my limbs off one at a time. slow, methodical… in front of a high school! KIDS were there!
GHOSTH8R (00:08): i don't care how old he was when he died. i don't care if he looks like a human kid. he's not. only a monster would do something like that.
GHOSTH8R (00:08): i can't sleep because of him. i can't eat.
GHOSTH8R (00:10): every time i close my eyes i see him, i see the look in his eyes. he was HAPPY, danny. he was thrilled to end my life.
GHOSTH8R (00:10): i'm just a KID, danny! and he didn't care one bit.
GHOSTH8R (00:11): it's only a matter of time before he finds out who i really am and comes to finish the job.
GHOSTH8R (00:11): and i act tough but it's so fucking scary, danny.
GHOSTH8R (00:11): what if he hurts you? what if he hurts my dad?
GHOSTH8R (00:12): that's what i've been wanting to tell you. and now i'm doing it over IM while you're asleep like a coward.
GHOSTH8R (00:13): it's usually me in that red ghost hunting suit.
GHOSTH8R (00:14): i know it's dangerous. but someone has to protect this town from all the ghosts constantly trying to kill everyone.
GHOSTH8R (00:14): because as scared as i am, at least i have the power to do something about it.
GHOSTH8R (00:14): i know your parents hunt ghosts too, but we both know they're not enough. they always show up long after the ghost boy does.
GHOSTH8R (00:15): danny, i meant it when i told you i loved you too at the diner.
GHOSTH8R (00:16): i hope this doesn't change anything between us. i hope you still want to be with me, knowing that protecting this town has to come first.
GHOSTH8R (00:16): even if that means i'll always have nightmares. even if it means i'll be forced to see his uncaring, murderous face every single night when i try to sleep.
GHOSTH8R (00:17): if i saved just one person's life, it was fucking worth it.
CHAT CLOSED: JANUARY 29, 12:17 AM/00:17
CHAT OPENED: JANUARY 29, 6:31 AM/06:31
DFENTON (06:31): You've felt like this all this time? You're afraid of him?
DFENTON (06:31): The ghost boy is the reason you can't sleep?
GHOSTH8R (06:36): yeah.
DFENTON (06:36): What if there was a way I could prove he won't hurt you?
GHOSTH8R (06:37): danny, did you hear ANYTHING i said? i SAW him try to KILL me.
DFENTON (06:37): Trust me, loud and clear.
DFENTON (06:37): You said you trusted me too, right?
GHOSTH8R (06:38): i did.
GHOSTH8R (06:38): i do. i really do.
DFENTON (06:39): Then come over tonight. And I'll show you that you never have to be afraid of him again.
GHOSTH8R (06:41): …okay. i'll see you at school, danny. i love you.
DFENTON (06:42): I love you too.
CHAT ENDED: JANUARY 29, 6:42 AM/06:42