Chapter Text
Danny opened the door to his house with a groan. Ember, Johnny, and Kitty might have stopped being a pain in his neck, but the others were still taking up the slack. If it weren’t for the fact that Ember was just as upset at ghosts interrupting his guitar lessons with her, the paranoid part of him would have wondered if she had set this up.
As it was, he was thankful that for some of the ghosts, Ember sometimes took her frustration out on them.
Danny and Sam both had changed their lock screen to Ember’s guitar smashing the Box Ghost in the face. It was glorious, and it brought a smile to everyone’s faces when they saw it.
Danny opened the door to his house and had barely gotten through the door when his dad peaked his head out of the kitchen. “Danno!” He shouted. “You’re back home! See any ghosts today?”
“No Dad,” Danny said, exhaustion leaking into his voice, though he did his best to try and hide it. Jazz would have sniffed it out in a second.
“Aw, that’s too bad.” Jack was not Jazz, “That’s okay! I bet you’ll see some again soon!”
“Not exactly looking forward to that…” Danny muttered under his breath. He shrugged off his backpack onto the couch before face planting into the cushions. He hadn’t seen any ghosts today but two days ago was another story, and he was still catching up on sleep.
How Desiree twisted the wish, “I wish I had more time so I could sleep” into something bad, Danny wasn’t sure.
But he would never forgive her.
Jack stepped out of the kitchen and walked over to the couch. “By the way, son,” Jack said, standing over Danny, wiping down the gloves of his jumpsuit with a towel. “Did you clean the lab?”
Danny winced. He had meant to do that but… “Ugh, sorry, Dad,” Danny said, pushing himself off the couch. “I was going to but…” Danny trailed off, trying to come up with a lie that he didn’t feel bad about.
“But ghosts,” Jack said, nodding resolutely. Danny felt a part of him seize up, then he slowly relaxed.
“Yeah... “ Danny said slowly, “but ghosts.”
Jack gave Danny a thumbs up. “No problem, just make sure you find time to get to it next time, alright?” Jack threw the towel back into the kitchen, making a clatter as it landed in the sink.
Danny blinked a few times in confusion, before turning to watch his Dad go down into the lab. Jack whistled a tune as he trodded down the stairs, leaving Danny alone in the living room.
Which gave Danny time to pick his jaw up off the floor.
Danny knew Jack had been more lenient on him since the whole, murderous college fire ghost... thing - It didn’t feel right calling it a ghost attack because that term had gotten so… trivial - but this was a whole new world.
Danny turned back to the couch, the siren call of comfortable couch cushions was calling to him. Luring him in with the promise of sleep and smelling like musty ecto-cleaner.
There was a crash downstairs and the sound of blaster fire before a quick shout of, “It’s okay!” snapped Danny out of his revere. He sighed and turned toward the basement. His Dad may have given him the okay for skipping on his chores due to ghost attacks, but Danny hadn’t made it over 9 months of juggling school and ghost fighting just to slack now.
He had seen what happened when he tried to slack off before.
Danny walked down the stairs to see his Dad organizing the weapons and shoving them into a locker. Danny gloved up and started cleaning too. When Jack heard Danny bagging the trash, he gave Danny a giant smile and a nod before going back to putting the weapons away.
They worked in silence for a little bit, Danny tying up trashbags from various containers, and Jack putting away weapons. Soon enough the trash was all gathered up by the stairs, and the tables were cleared of weapons.
Jack closed the weapons locker, the click of the lock echoed in the lab. “Have fun with Sam and Tucker?” he asked after a moment.
Danny jumped, not expecting to be addressed. “Yeah!” Danny said brightly, thankful for the non-ghost related question for a change. “It was fun! We played Smash for a while!”
“Oh? Getting some practice in so you can face your old man?”
Danny hesitated for a moment, before firing back. “Nope! So I can deal with Jazz!” Jack sputtered for a moment before breaking out in guffaws. Danny chuckled himself before going back to his tasks.
After replacing the bags in the trash cans, Danny switched to wiping down the tables.
“By the way, Danny,” Jack said, breaking the silence once again, “What do you want for your birthday?”
Danny blinked. “Oh…” he said quietly. He hadn’t even thought about that. He had turned 14 almost two months before the accident.
That felt like a lifetime ago.
“I don’t know?” he said quickly when his dad’s gaze began to get concerned. Mentally shoving that aside, he focused on the conversation. “I hadn’t really thought about it to be honest.”
Jack walked over and grabbed some paper towels and also started wiping down the tables. He took a moment to elbow Danny in the side. “Come on, you’ve had to have thought of something you’ve needed! New jumpsuit? Upgraded Fenton Multi-Purpose Ghost-Hunting Stick? Been working on adding a built-in cup holder!”
Danny had to stop himself from rubbing the back of his head. He did not want to go through another decontamination cycle again. “Uh… that’s not really what I need.”
“You sure? Wait till you see these babies in action!”
Danny shook his head. “No, really… Honestly? I’d like just a quiet night in, but I don’t think I’m gonna get that…”
Jack stood up to his full height, and Danny was reminded that his Dad was large ; not just in the “I eat fudge with every meal” kind of large, but also “There might be a ghost in the other room and walls are for chumps” kind of large. Jack squared his shoulders and faced Danny.
“Because of ghosts?” he asked sternly.
“No,” Danny said, this time not needing a lie, “because I have summer school?”
“Oh, right.”
There was an awkward silence for a moment before Jack coughed into his fist. “Wanna take out the trash and play video games?”
“Sure!” Danny said, but even before he had finished saying that, his dad was already at the stairs.
“I call first player!” Jack shouted, before running up the stairs. Danny followed close behind him.
Unknown to either of them, Ember faded into visibility in the lab. “Phantom’s birthday?” she muttered to herself. She placed her hand on her chest. She couldn’t even remember what her heart beating felt like. “Huh… how about that…” She glanced at the stairs before diving back through the portal.
Johnny opened the door and raised an eyebrow. “You know, if nothing else, this whole deal you have going on with Phantom means you’ve been dropping by more often.” Johnny stepped away from the door and let Ember into his lair.
Ember nodded and sat down on the couch. “Where’s Kitty?” she asked.
“I’m here!” Kitty shouted from… somewhere. Ember wasn’t sure. She never really went deep into Johnny’s lair. It didn’t sound like the kitchen.
Johnny scoffed. “What? Not here to see me?”
“Hell no,” Ember stated flatly, giving Johnny a flat look.
Johnny laughed. “Ouch.” He grabbed a beer and a root beer from the fridge and then gave Ember the root beer.
Ember took it and popped the top off. “You know I hate repeating myself.”
Johnny let out a hum as he plopped in a chair. “Might be a moment. Kitty was getting ready for date night.”
A moment later, Kitty came into the room, wearing a robe. Apparently, she decided that talking to Ember was more important than getting ready. Ember approved. “What is it, Ember?”
Ember fiddled with the bottle in her hands. “Danny’s birthday is coming up.”
Johnny stopped drinking and slowly lowered his beer. “Wait…” he said quietly. Ember watched a million expressions flicker across his face, though she knew exactly what he was thinking. The same thing happened to her, after all.
Ember nodded. “His birthday .”
Kitty dropped onto the armrest of the chair. “That’s right. He’s alive, ” she uttered. She placed her hand on her chest, trying to feel a heartbeat she didn’t have.
Ember nodded and took a sip of her root beer. “Yeah, I…” She licked her lips as she thought about what she wanted to say. “Do you think we should tell the others?”
Johnny chewed on his lip before looking up at Kitty. “What do you think, Kitten?”
Kitty nodded resolutely. “Yeah, definitely.” She folded her arms as she spoke. “I don’t think any of them will do anything, but they’ll probably call a truce.”
“Okay,” Ember began hesitantly nodding, “that’s what I was thinking… it’s just…” she gestured angrily, throwing her hand about haphazardly, “Skulker...”
Kitty waved it off. “If the rest of us call a truce, he will too.” After a moment, Kitty laughed and clapped her hands. “Oh my god! This is going to be so exciting! What else should we do for a birthday ?”
Ember leaned back. “Pfft! What? You actually think I’m going to do anything else? I found out and talked to you guys, and we’re going to get a truce called! That’s my gift!”
Kitty rolled her eyes. “Oh please, you’re not going to be that basic.”
“Excuse me?”
Johnny smirked at her. “Yeah, I bet I could come up with a better gift than that.”
Ember jumped up. “Are you guys saying you’re better than me?”
Kitty inspected her nails. “Well, it definitely sounds like we’re better at coming up with gifts than you.”
Johnny nudged Kitty. “Kid doesn’t seem to have much time to study. I bet I could throw together some driver’s ed stuff for him.”
Kitty smiled. “Oh! I bet he’d like that!” She slipped off the armrest and into Johnny’s lap. “I was thinking of giving Danny an I.O.U for twelve hours without Skulker.”
Johnny laughed. “Oh, man! That’s a good one! You’re going to become his favorite!”
Kitty turned toward Ember. “See?”
Ember glared at the two of them and walked around the coffee table, and leaned over them. “Oh… it’s on.”
Ember ran a hand through her hair, causing it to flare up more. She spun on her heel and marched out of Johnny’s lair, each footstep echoed in the room and caused things to rattle across the room.
Johnny brought his eyes back up when she turned around and slammed the door shut. “Man…” he laughed, “what a diva.”
Kitty glared at Johnny, letting him know his staring hadn’t gone unnoticed with her. “Well… she is a rock star,” she pointed out.
Johnny took a sip of his beer, then made a face. “God damn it, she made my beer warm!”