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After everything that happened with the asteroid and Danny’s very public identity reveal, life has gotten stressful for the youngest Fenton and his friends. There were good things to come out of it, Danny was no long bullied at school, he did not need to come up with any lame excuses to run away when a ghost showed up, and he and Valerie were on fairly good terms. But every coin has a flip side, the news followed him around all the time, people expected more from him, and worst of all, his parents were acting like he had died. Well, he had, but they were acting like he had fully died
Maddie was always crying, always muttering about how she lost her baby, Jack always glanced at Danny with the most pathetic looks. Almost pitiful looks. It was like they didn’t realize that their son was still right in front of them, that nothing had truly changed.
Everyone in Amity Park knew about the Fentons’ neglectful behavior towards their children, they had even before Danny’s secret got revealed to them all. The closest neighbors had promised the oldest Fenton child, Jazz, that if anything were to go wrong at home they would take in Danny for a bit. Though not all of them thought to much about this anymore, it was a concern in the backs of everyone’s minds when they learned that the two biggest Ghost Hunters in Amity Park had a son who was a half-ghost. It was even more of a concern when the yelling started, shortly after Danny Phantom had saved the world.
“Stop mourning me as if I’m not right in front of you!” A shout came, it was clearly Danny yelling and the thin walls of the neighborhood allowed for the two closest neighbors to clearly hear the brewing fight.
“Danny, you died! You died and we didn’t even know!” Maddie exclaimed, anyone who has met the woman could imagine her running up and cupping her son’s face in her hands.
“Exactly! It’s been months, don’t grieve now! We’re past that!” Danny shot back. Nobody had dared bring up the Fentons’ complete obliviousness for the last few months, but now that it was finally said out loud nobody could deny it.
“That’s enough!” A strong voice, Jack’s voice, boomed over the other two. It was followed by silence, then the phone of the Gray house ringing.
Valerie, having had heard everything that went down next door to her, picked up the phone in a rush, “Gray household.”
“Hey Valerie, can I send Danny over there for a bit? Things are getting tense over here.” Jazz asked, voice hushed and rushed.
“Of course, I’ll let my dad know.”
“Thank you.” Jazz answered before hanging up. Valerie placed the phone down, took a breath, and then nodded to her father. That motion was all he needed to know that Danny was coming over for a bit. He left to set up the guest room.
It didn’t take long for there to be a knock on the Grays’ front door, Valerie opened it quickly and ushered her friend in. She looked him over once, he hair was a bit messy, he looked more tired, but what stood out to her was the bright red, hand-shaped mark on his cheek. Before he could say anything, Val pulled him into a hug and let him break down in her arms. She made a promise to herself to protect him, as she once did.