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Of all these side effects of becoming a halfa, one thing Danny hadn’t expected was wings. Huge, feathery, cumbersome wings.
Wings were the latest development in a long string of oddities. It started with fangs, then a pair of icy horns sprouting out of the top of his head. After that came a change in the way his hair acted, burning like a cold flame and not entirely corporal. Then shimmering white scales along his back, paired with a reptilian tail. He seemed to gain a new limb or accessory for each ally he made. He wasn’t entirely sure who the fangs came from -there were multiple possibilities in that category (his least favorite of which being Vlad)- but the horns were from Frostbite, hair from Ember, and the tail from Dorathea in all her dragon-ness.
Frostbite explained it as halfas simply being more “adaptable” than normal ghosts, which Danny thought was fitting enough. It was a better option than a thorough examination of his inner psyche. Not that Jazz hadn’t tried to do that anyway after he returned home from that particular visit to the Far Frozen.
But who did he know with bird wings? His feathers matched the pattern and color of either a raven or crow; all black, but with an iridescent shimmer. From a quick google search he thought they looked more like a raven’s, but he couldn’t be entirely certain. These new protrusions were quite large, with a wingspan of 13 feet. This was of course according to Sam, who currently held a tape measure. Tucker held up the other end.
Danny’s parents were out shopping, so they used the open space of the lab to check out his new limbs in a way he hadn’t been able to in the bathroom where he originally discovered them. He’d run away from breakfast at his ghost sense and used the downstairs bathroom as a place to hide. Imagine his surprise when he transformed and suddenly the small half-bath was filled with feathers. By the time he got back from the fight, his parents had gone out for the day. He called Sam and Tuck first thing, and they rushed over.
“Dang, who’d you nab these from?” Tucker asked as Sam showed him the measurement. Danny folded his wings in so that they were tucked flat to his body. He turned around carefully to face his friends, careful not to knock anything over. He already needed a new lamp, dammit.
“That’s the million dollar question.” Danny sighed and reverted to human form. He was lucky that his various ghostly limbs didn’t cross over, or that would be a disaster. Though his canines did feel suspiciously sharp.
“I just hope they don’t get in the way too much when I’m fighting," Danny sighed.
The trio moved on quickly. Danny's wings became just another addition to their already crazy lives.
“I’m gonna murder Skulker.” Danny huffed. The mech had ruffled his feathers, quite literally. Danny collapsed on Sam’s couch, wings taking up the entire thing. Skulker was an idiot. An idiot with a second-death wish, to be exact. It would seem that he’d teamed up with Plasmius again, because no way could he have done this without the other idiot’s help.
The Jaeger-wanna-be had blasted Danny with some weapon or another, which he thought was a dud until after he sucked Skulky into the thermos. Then he’d found that he was unable to revert to human form or use any of his powers. Zilch, zero, zip. None of them, not even his ghost sense wanted to work. He still glowed like a damn flashlight, of course. Never before had Danny gotten a stronger urge to chuck the Fenton Thermos into a lake.
“Move it birdbrain, this is the best seat in the house.” Sam almost sat on his wing, and would have if he hadn’t moved it at the last moment.
“Well excuse me , princess.” Danny huffed. He draped one wing across his chest, noting quite disgustedly that feathers were greasy and not laying right. But he was tired, and that could be dealt with tomorrow.
“I thought we agreed to no bird puns for the night?” Danny shot Sam a look through a gap in his primary feathers.
“But bird puns are always a hoot! ” Tucker interjected from the popcorn machine. Danny laughed and Sam just groaned.
“Okay, no bird puns starting now. Where’s that popcorn, Tuck?” Sam looked over the back of the couch.
“Hold your horses!”
“Ok I can’t stand it anymore.” Tucker exclaimed suddenly in the middle of the movie. He set a hand on Danny’s shoulder.
“Buddy, you smell like you were dragged through a landfill and sprayed in sweat. You gotta do something about your wings.”
“I don’t smell anything.” Danny replied, sinking into the couch and all-too-aware of his wings pressed into the cushions. Sam paused the movie.
“Well I promise, it’s not pleasant.” Tucker commented. Danny just sank sheepishly further into the couch.
“Do you need help with cleaning them?” Sam offered lightly.
“Nah, I’ll just try to deal with them when I get home.” Danny reached forward to grab the remote but was stopped by Tucker grabbing his arm.
“No way, you’re getting a bird bath. Sam, do you have a tub big enough for this oversized avian?” Tucker asked. Sam was already standing up, brushing the popcorn off her skirt.
“I certainly do.” She grabbed Danny’s other arm and hauled him up off the couch with Tucker’s help. Danny let himself fall forward like dead weight. Water and feathers did not sound like a fun combination, and he didn’t want to find out if his gut was right or not.
“Stop being so stubborn! We’ll be careful. This needs to be done, Danny.” Sam dropped his arm and he acted, quickly smacking away Tucker’s hand and cocooning himself inside his wings. They were right, the aroma wasn’t entirely pleasant, but neither was the thought of washing his wings. He hadn’t done anything more than phase off the dirt yet and had been pushing a real washing off for as long as he could.
It took a lot of coaxing, but eventually, Sam and Tucker managed to stealthily drag Danny upstairs and into one of the many bathrooms. It was a miracle they weren't spotted, but it being almost 11 at night likely helped their cause.
They got into the bathroom and Sam locked the door behind them. Danny plopped down on the floor, struggling to get his suit top off without intangibility. Tucker sat on the countertop and started looking up how to clean birds on the internet. Sam turned on the faucet and warm water poured into the tub. She was careful not to make it too hot.
“Ugh,” Tucker sighed, mid-search.
“Half of these sites are just saying ‘put the bird in water and let it do the rest.’” Tucker sat on the counter, leaning against the mirror.
“I don’t think I have the same instincts as real birds. And these things didn’t exactly come with an instruction manual." Danny got up from his seat on the floor and started looking through the drawers.
“Scissors are on the far right, middle drawer.” Sam interjected.
“You know me so well,” Danny grinned, finally finding the sharp object. Which Tucker immediately grabbed out of his hands.
“Let me do it, you’re gonna end up cutting yourself or at the very least slicing off a feather.” Danny grumbled but turned around when Tucker motioned him to.
“It’s a good thing my suit fixes itself.” Danny mused, earning a hum from Tucker. Danny’s back was a myriad of pale skin, white scales, black feathers, and scars. It was mostly lichtenberg figures, though the remnants of a slice or two could also be seen. The feathers extended past just Danny’s wings, coming all the way up to his shoulders and tufting upwards. What had been underneath the suit was almost dirtier than what was outside of it. The feathers were slick with sweat and pressed into Danny's back.
“Don’t you ever shower?” Tucker asked, half-horrified. It wasn’t from a place of ridicule, just concern.
“Not really in ghost form, I guess. It’s hard for a ghost to get a shower in a house where the walls are literally armed.” Danny responded saltily. Tucker cut carefully through the thick fabric, dulling the scissors. He also had to cut a line through the shirt underneath, a negative black-and-blue counterpart to Danny’s numerous white and red ovaled t-shirts.
“That’s gotta change then. Use this bathroom whenever you need it, just check for anyone inside first. I doubt anyone will come all the way up here, but better safe than sorry.” Sam offered. She tested the water once more and sat back to let the tub fill.
“What if somebody walks by and hears the water running?” Asked Danny. Tucker finally finishes the "alterations" to the back of Danny’s suit, allowing the halfa to pull the fabric forward and tie it around his waist with the arms. His gloves were abandoned on the countertop, and his boots were still down in the theater room.
“Go invisible, and I’ll come up with some excuse. Probably blame it on a ghost. Boxy seems like the best candidate for that, maybe Klemper.”
“Thank-you, Sam.” Danny truly was grateful. The question had crossed his mind before, but he never had the courage to voice it.
“My bathtub isn’t nearly as big, but the offer stands for my house as well. We’ve got a guest bedroom with an attached bath that rarely gets used.”
“You guys are awesome.” Danny grinned. He felt a bit pathetic and sad that he had to rely on his friends for such a simple thing, but he shoved that thought right back out of the door it’d come through.
“We won’t be so awesome in a few minutes. Now get over here.” Sam commanded, and Danny noticed that the tub was now about half-full. A bolt of fear went through him, imagining his wings drenched in water. They were heavy enough as it was. Danny unconsciously squeezed the offending feathery beasts tighter against his back, to keep them from being pulled away from his body. He backpedaled a bit, distancing himself from the tub.
“There’s gotta be a different way we can do this, right?” He asked uneasily.
“Just come here Danny. We’ll figure it out.” Sam coaxed. But Tucker was not nearly as kind, and got behind Danny to physically push him towards the small body of water. The tub was a clean white, and set into the floor. It had white lights underneath the surface and Danny spotted deactivated water jets. It was like a mini hot tub.
Danny sighed in defeat and gingerly lowered himself into the water, facing the wall and the giant wall-length mirror in front of him. The tub was only maybe a third of the way full, and came up to Danny’s waist. He held his wings above the surface of the water, testing out the warmth. It was cooler than he normally liked, but in this form his “normal” would probably be intensely uncomfortable. There were downsides to having an ice core. Plus, he wasn’t sure how sensitive his wings would be to the water temperature.
The halfa watched the reflection as Sam and Tucker pried off their shoes and socks then Tucker rolled up his pants. They sat on the rim of the tub behind Danny, feet just barely in the water. The halfa had to admit, this was a very good setup for such a thing.
“The websites mostly said not to use soap, but if it’s too bad we can. I tried to specifically find info on crows and ravens, but they aren’t exactly conventional pets.”
“I feel like that’s a not-so-subtle jab of some sort.” Danny said with a raised brow. Tucker met his gaze in the mirror.
“What, me? No way.”
“Disregarding that obvious lie, what kinda soap do we wanna use? I'm pretty sure it's gonna be necessary. I’ve got some two-in-one shampoo and conditioner that might be good.”
“Most of these say to use dish soap, but that’s mostly so it doesn’t hurt birds’ eyes or whatever. I say we try your stuff and see what happens.”
“I gotta say, this is one experiment I never imagined.” Danny’s back already ached from keeping his wings up for so long. Tucker must’ve noticed the shaking.
“Why don’t you rest them against the sides of the tub? We’ll just stand so we can reach them better.” Danny did just that, immediately relieved.
“Thanks.” And with that, Sam and Tuck got to work. Tucker on Danny’s right wing and Sam on the left. Each armed with a cup and bottle of 2-in-1shampoo-conditioner, a great contrast from the ectoguns they regularly brandished.
Sam started at his largest feathers, the primaries, working the soap into each feather and quickly creating a sudsy mess. She smoothed out various feathers that Danny hadn’t even realized were out of place until the prickly feeling of a displaced feather was relieved.
Tucker began at the top of his wing, near his back. He ruffled up the plumage in order to get the soap in, which was surprisingly easy with the smaller, softer feathers. As Tucker worked his way out he stuck his hand between the layers instead of moving them out of the way, and Danny wasn’t sure whether it was nice or bordering on painful. After a few rows, Tucker switched to Sam’s earlier method, going through primary by primary.
Danny was left in a state of pure bliss. It was like the sensation of someone playing with his hair but multiplied by, like, seven. He was distinctly aware of each feather, which was surprisingly a good thing.
Danny forgot that the mirror in front of him worked both ways, and while focusing on the sensations he missed the smiles passed between his two best friends in the entire world.
“Having fun?” Sam asked. Danny hummed non-committaly as Tucker reached a twisted feather and moved it back into place. Unconsciously the halfa’s draconic tail swished back and forth in the water, making small ripples and almost taking out Sam’s ankle if she hadn’t moved out of the way.
Danny was on the verge of sleep, held upright only by his wings. Then things went wrong.
A cut-off yelp escaped Danny as his tail was stepped on. His wings flared, spewing soap and water all over the walls. Not to mention the disaster that now was the mirror. His powers had also apparently come back to him at some point during the bath, as he was now waist-deep in an oversized ice cube. Luckily neither Sam nor Tucker were caught in the sudden popsicle that was the bathtub.
His feathers were now all fluffed up like a cat, effectively undoing much of the work that had been done. Danny felt goosebumps raise up on his skin in a wave, which oddly included his wings. Now that was weird.
Danny phased out of the ice (leaving quite the neat-looking hole from where his body had been) and regarded it, as well as the horrid state of the bathroom.
“Got a hairdryer?” Danny chuckled sheepishly.
Danny soared through the Ghost Zone towards Clockwork's lair. He relished in the lightness of his wings now that they were free from gunk, glad that his feathers were no longer sticking together and moved smoothly over each other with every hearty flap. It was almost freeing, and worrying. He hadn’t realized just how badly he’d been neglecting them.
Danny wanted to ask Clockwork about his wings and who they might be from. He didn’t expect a clear answer, but any clue would be a good one. Maybe he could also get some tips from the omniscient on how to take care of them better, since just phasing the dirt off didn’t do the trick.
Briefly switching from wing flight to ghost flight, Danny landed right outside of CW’s lair. It was a massive purple clocktower that contained various other spires rising into the sky. Or at least what counted for a sky in the Infinite Realms. The Clocktower looked almost small on the outside, but as far as Danny knew it was infinite on the inside.
“Clockyyyyy!” Danny called as he stepped inside. The doors opened right up for him, so there was no way CW wasn’t already aware of his presence. It was actually Danny’s first time visiting since his wings had popped up two months ago. Ghost attacks had picked up, and with Vlad making yet another cloning attempt he’d been otherwise preoccupied.
“To what do I owe this visit, Daniel?” Clockwork asked, materializing from both nowhere and everywhere all at once. He was very paradoxical like that. He was in child form, practically draping himself over still his full-size staff.
“I don’t expect a straight answer, but I was wondering if you might know who I got these babies from.” Danny presented his wings in all of their beastly beauty, proud of just how clean they were and how the feathers shimmered in the light. They dwarfed his body, spread out to his full wingspan. A look of surprise glanced across CW’s features, something that was new to Danny.
“Ah, that explains a lot.” Clockwork said to himself. As he thought, he shifted to adult form. His staff now fit comfortably to his proportions, and he leaned against it.
“I am unable to clearly see events that evolve myself, particularly ones ectoplasmic in nature, as the very energy is unpredictable and can cloud my vision.”
“M'kay?” Danny responded, barely absorbing the information. He folded his wings against his back and collapsed on a nearby couch, grabbing one of CW’s infamous brownies from the tray on the table.
“It would appear that you gained the wings from me.” Clockwork added, and Danny almost spit out his brownie.
“But you don’t-” Danny was proven wrong before he even got the sentence out, as Clockwork’s form shifted ever-so-slightly. It revealed a great pair of owl wings from underneath his cloak, pressed against his back. The feathers were mostly white but were dotted with black in places. It reminded Danny of Hedwig, the snowy owl from Harry Potter. Clockwork’s wings were more proportional to his body than Danny’s were, though at the same time they were much larger.
“It was most unlikely that you would develop a trait mirroring myself, although I suppose it is logical with how much time we’ve spent together.” Clockwork mused. Danny didn't even realized he'd moved until he had crossed half the distance between them. Danny reached out to touch it and Clockwork gave him a nod in permission.
“How do you keep them so clean?” Danny ran a hand lightly over Clockwork’s left wing, which he’d stuck out slightly more to the left as though bidding Danny feel it. The feathers were much softer than his own, and were a bright white that almost glowed. It matched Clockwork’s long white hair, which Danny had spotted on the occasion that the elder ghost removed his hood. It was rare, but it happened.
“Through manipulation of time, mostly. Technically my wings have never aged since the moment they existed.” Clockwork seemed a bit uncomfortable at the touch, even though he’d offered it. Danny backed up, retaking his place on the couch and stuffing his face with another brownie.
"That’s no help,” Danny sighed.
“But at least that's one mystery solved. Why do you have wings?" Danny questioned. A grin that almost bordered ‘creepy’ territory spread across Clockwork's face.
"I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase. Time flies. "