Work Text:
Maddie had not been the most… safe person when it comes to lab safety.
Especially when it comes to ectoplasm exposure.
So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that she was heavily exposed during the early stages of her pregnancy. Which happened during a mini portal test for proof of concept, the second of such attempts, there was a blast of ectoplasm and a partial tear in reality.
A tear just large enough for a young ghost to come through and get attached to the unknown fetus.
When Danny was born, he wasn’t entirely human.
No, he had something else born with him.
Well.
Within him.
As an infant, Danny didn’t know how different he was.
Jazz had an inkling.
Maddie and Jack were mostly unaware.
Moments of green eyes staring into the middle space rather than blue.
Of unnatural strength holding onto baby toys.
Of too cold hands and feet.
As a toddler, learning to speak and walk, Danny started to notice.
Noticed how he was stronger than others his age.
Noticed how he could do things his sister couldn’t.
Noticed the whisper in his ear to keep quiet.
To not tell others about his strength.
To not let others see his specialness.
Jazz’s inkling stayed as nothing more than an itch on the back of her neck.
Maddie and Jack more unaware than before.
As a grade schooler, Danny had trouble making friends.
He drew the shadow that always hovered in the corner of his vision.
Had moments of memory loss.
And more moments of confusion, finding himself in places he didn’t remember getting to.
Of not remembering class time but knowing the material.
Of moments where his mouth said things he didn’t mean or think.
The only one to stick around the strange kid with color changing eyes and too cold hands was Tucker.
Tucker who also had trouble making friends.
Tucker who spoke too fast about things that others didn’t know.
Who couldn’t sit still when excited.
Who’s mind ran faster than his mouth with thoughts jumping topics more than any other.
In middle school, the voice in Danny’s ear so normal that it was just part of his daily life.
He knew by now that he was different.
Had powers that should only belong to the entities in his parent’s research.
The memory gaps were no longer so frequent as he learned something important about the shadow at the edge of his vision.
Phantom, as he started mentally calling the entity, was a separate being that shared space in Danny’s head.
Now old enough to know how to communicate effectively, the two were able to converse and learn from each other.
Learn how to share the single body, to let each other take control without putting the other to sleep, for a lack of a better term.
Learn how to rely on each other.
Learn how to help each other.
Danny felt he had an older sibling that was always with him.
And also a best friend who fully understood him.
Middle school was also where he met Sam.
The girl who went from forced prep to goth.
And actively tried to make friends with the two odd ball boys.
Tucker didn’t mind, finally having medication to help slow down his racing thoughts, his too fast mouth, and smoothed his focus.
Danny was just glad to have someone else to talk to that didn’t think he was unnerving.
Jazz had given up trying to figure out her brother, glad that he had friends and was out of the house away from their parents.
Not because they didn’t care, they were just oblivious and the weapons they made tended to focus a bit too much on Danny.
They were getting closer to finishing the portal.
Phantom was both excited and nervous about that.
Danny turns 14.
And the portal is finished.
Sam and Tucker want to see it.
Danny can’t come up with a reason to stop them, especially since it doesn’t seem to be working.
And neither can Phantom.
Danny puts on his hazmat suit, and approaches the portal.
Phantom is the one who catches him when he trips on exposed wire. Stopping their fall into the wall.
Into the on switch on the interior wall.
Backing out carefully, Danny tells his friends they’re done.
They agree and head upstairs to play Doom.
The next day, Danny gets pushed by Dash, taking a tumble down the stairs.
He doesn’t break anything.
Because Phantom caught them.
But he did hit his head.
Passed out on the floor, Phantom floats above Danny, free for the first time in years.
Free to return the favor for hurting his Danny.