#dannymay2020

Danny shook his head. “Not ghosts.” He panted. “Hunters.”

Dash’s eyes widened. “Hunters? Why are hunters chasing you? Are they serial killers?”

“They’re ghost hunters. They’ve been chasing me for 30 minutes-”

“Why are ghost hunters chasing you?” Dash asked, his brows furrowed. 

“That’s not important.” Danny said as he began to look around again. “I need to find somewhere to hide before-”

The rustling of bushes could be heard coming from the direction Danny had run from. Whispers made their way through the rain towards them. 

“Shit!” Danny whispered. 

Then Danny was being pushed towards the room in the pavilion. “Dash, there’s no time. It’ll take too long for us to open-” Danny stopped as Dash opened the door and shoved him inside. “-it.” Dash started pulling off his letterman jacket and the hoodie he was wearing underneath it. He handed both to Danny. “Put these on.”

“What?”

“Put them on! You don’t want them to recognize you, right?” 

Danny looked at Dash for a moment before shoving both the oversized hoodie and letterman jacket over his small frame. Once he had the letterman jacket situated, he felt Dash pull the hood up over his head. 

“Okay, so here’s what we’re gonna do if they come in here. We’re-”

Both Danny and Dash looked over Dash’s shoulder as they heard the doorknob rattle. 

Dash turned back to Danny and got real close, pushing him against the wall.

“We have to pretend to makeout.”

“What?” Danny looked up at him. 

“What else are two teenagers gonna be doing here in the middle of the night? They won’t ask us any questions if they think we’ve been macking on each other the whole time.” “Like a fakeout makeout?”

“Yeah?” Dash looked down at him. “Why do you have a name for that-”

The door opened behind Dash and he pushed himself even closer to Danny, his face inches from his own. Dash’s hand came to rest against his cheek and the two men who entered the room started talking. 

“I don’t think he’ll be here. The ectoplasm readings aren’t high enough and-” The man who was speaking paused and Danny felt himself tense up. “See I told you. It’s just some teenagers who are probably from Amity Park. All those people there have small ecto signatures, it was too low to be that ghost.”

Dash jumped and turned around to face them, faking embarrassment. 

The other man scoffed. “He couldn’t have gotten far, he couldn’t fly.” The man looked at the two of them. “Have either of you kids seen a ghost around here? White hair? Weird jumpsuit outfit?”

Danny felt Dash tense up at the mention of his ghost half’s description. “No, we haven’t seen any ghosts since we left Amity Park. Is there a dangerous one roaming around out here?”

The first man nodded. “We’ve been following a level eight ghost for about a mile and a half now. We’re worried about it getting back to town.”

“Huh. Well we haven’t seen anything. But, I think we,” Dash grabbed Danny by the waist and pulled him to his side, “are going to head back into town. We wouldn’t want to get mauled out here where no one can find us.”

“What about your friend there? Has he seen anything? He’s been awfully quiet.” The second man said, leveling a look at Danny. 

“Oh him?” Dash laughed nervously. “He’s mute. He doesn’t talk, but he’s been with me the whole time so he wouldn’t have seen anything either.”

The man pursed his lips. “Okay, well, have a nice night you two. Stay safe in that weather out there.”

“Thanks!” Dash said as he waved at them. “You too!”

He pulled away from Danny and grabbed him by the hand, quickly pulling him out of the building and towards his car. He didn’t pull away until he had shoved Danny into the passenger seat of his car and was heading around to the driver’s seat. 

Danny watched the men walk out of the building as they drove away. The further away they got, the more Danny relaxed into the seat. 

He let out a breath and looked over at Dash. “Thanks, I would’ve been toast without you there. You should drive around town a bit just in case they decide to follow us.”

Dash glanced at Danny before turning his eyes back to the road. “Why were they looking for Phantom?”

Danny paused. “What?”

“Phantom. Ghost with white hair, weird jumpsuit outfit.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Come on, Fenton!” Dash shouted. “Don’t lie to me! Were you just hanging out with him? Why didn’t he stay with you? Why didn’t he try to keep them off of your trail? Were you protecting him?”

“I don’t know why they thought I looked like Phantom. They were chasing me, not him.”

“That doesn’t even make sense. How would they confuse you for Phantom? You don’t even-” Dash paused as Wes’s words crawled through his brain, insisting to the whole student body that Danny was Phantom. Dash’s mouth dropped open and he slammed on the breaks, coming to a sudden stop in the middle of the road. 

Danny braced himself against his seat and the door. “Dash! What the hell!”

“You really are Phantom, aren’t you?” Dash said, facing Danny.

“No, I’m not.” Danny said, glaring at Dash. 

“Oh, shove it. Why else would they describe Phantom when they were chasing you through the forest? You realize that doesn’t make sense, right?” “So, what, I tell you I’m Phantom so you can call me a freak and tell the school?” Danny scoffed. “Yeah, right. No thanks.”

Dash stared at Danny, his expression dropping. “You really think I’d tell the whole school?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t you?” Danny mumbled back. 

Dash continued to stare at Danny. “Because they would hurt you.”

Danny let out a dry laugh.

“What? Why do you think I stopped wondering where you hung out when you weren’t fighting ghosts? I’m not stupid enough to ignore all the ghosts and ghost hunters that have it out for your neck!” Dash sighed. “The longer the GIW were in Amity Park the more I realized the kind of danger you were in.”

Danny’s gaze flicked over to Dash. 

“It wasn’t even just the GIW. Your parents-” Dash’s mouth dropped open again. “What the fuck! Your parents! They hunt you!”

“They don’t know.”

“Well no shit!” Dash ran a hand through his hair. “Holy shit.”

“Listen, Dash, while I would love to keep exposing my deepest secrets to you, I’d really like to get out of this forest.”

“Right, right.” Dash sat forward in his seat again, driving forward. 

Silence settled over them, Danny staring out his window and Dash flicking his gaze to the other boy frequently. 

They finally made it back into town and Dash drove up and down and around the different streets a couple times before finally pulling up in front of Fentonworks. 

Danny sighed and unbuckled his seatbelt. “Finally. Thanks, for, you know.” He was about to get out of the car when he paused, looking down at the jacket and hoodie he was still wearing. “Here, I almost forgot-” Danny started shrugging out of the letterman jacket when Dash stopped him. 

“It’s still raining. You can borrow them and give them back to me on Monday.”

Danny’s brow furrowed. “Are you sure? Don’t you want something to wear in the rain?” 

Dash shrugged. “I’ll be fine. I think I have another hoodie buried in here somewhere.”

“Okay, well.” Danny grabbed the door handle. “Bye.” He quickly climbed out of the car and darted up the stairs to the front door. Before he closed it, he turned back to Dash and waved goodbye and shut the door. 

Dash waited a few seconds before taking a deep breath and he started to drive away. 

“What?” Kyle looked at Wes’ wide eyes and the way he shrunk in on himself. “Oh, not you too. I don’t know what crawled up everyone’s butts but you can come find me when you’re not being weird. I’m going to class.”

Kyle walked away from Wes, adjusting his backpack straps, and made his way down the hallway. The people he passed were white as a sheet and were looking at him with wide eyes. He didn’t know why they were acting so strange, but he would just go about his business as usual.

“Hey, Dale! High five!”

Dale instinctively lifted his arm and turned toward Kyle at the invitation for a high five, but the moment he realized it was Kyle’s hand smacking into his, it looked as if his soul left his body. 

Kyle continued walking down the hallway, whistling as he turned into his english classroom. 

“Lord of the Flies! Mr. Weston?!”

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

“So how come you don’t eat then?”

Wes kicked a rock as he walked beside Kyle, hands shoved into his pockets while he sported a grumpy expression on his face.

“What do you mean? Of course I eat! I’m just not that hungry very often.”

Wes shot Kyle a look. “I haven’t seen you eat since… For a couple weeks now. When do you eat that no one ever sees you?”

Kyle shrugged. “Probably when I’m baked as fuck.”

Wes sighed. “Well you’re not high right now, and you’re not eating, are you going to be hungry enough to join us for dinner?”

“Eh, I think I had a big lunch today. I’ll let you know if I’m hungry later.”

“You think you had a big lunch?” 

Kyle looked away from Wes. “I mean, I assume I had a big lunch since I’m not hungry.”

“You don’t even know?” Wes stared wide eyed at him. “Look, Kyle, I know you don’t believe in ghosts but-”

“Ghosts aren’t real.”

“But-”

Kyle sighed. “Look, I don’t want to talk about this right now. I just want to go home and do my homework.”

Wes followed after Kyle quietly, hands tucked into his jacket while Kyle was clad only in his hoodie even in the fall weather. 

Later at home, Kyle was interrupted from his homework when Wes knocked on his door and opened it. 

“Hey, dinner’s ready. If you wanna, uh, come eat.”

Kyle softly shook his head and gestured at his homework. “Nah. I’m, uh, not hungry. Besides, I wanna get this essay done for Mr. Lancer.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll see you later.”

Wes quietly shut the door behind him and Kyle leaned back in his chair and sighed. The churning feeling in his gut was reignited when the invitation to dinner sounded more like… A formality rather than an actual invitation this time. Like Wes knew Kyle wouldn’t be joining them. 

Turning the thought away, Kyle leaned forward to his desk again and turned his attention to the homework assignment Lancer had handed him with a barely there tremor in his hands. He stared at the assignment for a moment before getting up and crawling into bed, pulling the blankets over his body and curling into himself. 

He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. 

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

As Kyle walked through the hallways of Casper High, he began to realize that he now had to look up at many of the kids who were in a younger year than him. Even Wes was slowly beginning to surpass him in height. He’d always been taller than Wes, why was he catching up to him now?

Suddenly, a large body bumped into him on the left, nearly toppling him over to the floor. 

“Hey, shorty, watch it!”

Turning towards the voice, Kyle looked up at Keith who wilted upon meeting Kyle’s gaze. 

“Oh, uh, hey Kyle! I didn’t know that was you there! I thought you were Mikey or something.”

Kyle looked around the hallway and pointed to where Mikey was standing in the middle of the hallway with his friends. The boy who had once been a foot and a half shorter than Kyle now stood at the same height as him.

“He’s over there.”

Keith followed where Kyle’s finger was pointing and nodded vigorously. “That he is, I’ll go- go pummel him for making me think you were him!” Keith walked away towards the scrawny boy. “Hey, Mikey!” 

Kyle’s brows furrowed and he uneasily made his way over to where Wes was at his locker. “Hey, when did you all get so tall?”

Wes looked over his shoulder for a moment before turning his attention back to his locker. “About a year ago. Why? Did you finally notice?”

“Notice what?”

“That you stopped growing.”

Kyle shook his head. “No, of course I’m still growing. I just haven’t had a growth spurt in awhile. I’ll catch back up to you guys.”

When Kyle woke up the next morning and came downstairs yawning, Wes looked up at Kyle and the inch he used to have on him. 

“Of course.” Wes said as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “Who could have seen that coming.”

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

“One of these days I’ll make you admit it.”

“Admit what?” Kyle asked as he tossed a football towards Wes as they stood in the middle of the park.

“That ghosts are real.” Wes caught the football and threw it back towards Kyle who jumped to catch it.

Kyle tsked and tucked the football against his side. “You can’t admit what isn’t true. Ghosts aren’t real.”

Wes sighed and bent over to pick up his stuff. “Whatever.” 

I will never admit that ghosts are real. 

I won’t. I can’t-

-Kyle watched as Danny flew around, putting on a show with his parents special effect technology. The man he was pretending to fight put on a pretty impressive act. Suddenly, one of the special effect machines exploded, shooting into the building Kyle was standing in the second story of. The building rumbled and groaned and he could hear Danny shouting his name.

“Kyle!” 

Then it fell. The building collapsed around him, puffs of dust going everywhere, the road littered with debris. Kyle’s head popped out of it like it hadn’t even touched him even though he could still feel the floor falling apart under his feet-

“Come on, let’s go home. Dad wants us there for some dinner with Vlad.”

Kyle watched Wes walk away for a moment, his heart in his stomach before following behind him, gripping his backpack straps tightly. 

Because if I do…

“When did things get that serious between you two?” Vlad exclaimed, not seeming to notice Oliver’s comment. 

“You’d probably know about all of that if you’d been here.” Oliver said, interrupting Anastasia, as he crossed his arms and continued staring at Vlad. 

“Oliver! That’s enough. Be nice to Vlad today.” Anastasia scolded. 

“Your mom’s right, kid.” Neil started. “You gotta be nice to Vlad. Him and I were actually buddies for a bit in school. He always seemed nice. Not sure what he did to garner those kinds of comments though.” 

“Yeah, not sure what he did either except be gone for almost twenty years.”

Neil spit out his water he had just taken a sip from. “Twenty years?! Vlad where were you all that time?”

Vlad waved his hand as he stared out the window over the sink. “Oh you know, getting into the business world and creating a name for myself. Investing.”

“For twenty years?” Neil asked, raising an eyebrow. Seeing Oliver move on his left, Neil watched as the boy stared him in the eyes and made a finger waggle motion similar to one he’s seen Anastasia make when they were younger. Neil’s eyes widened. 

“Wait-”

Vlad lightly pounded a fist on the table and stood up quickly. “Where’s mom? I should go find her.”

“Now, now. Stay where you are Vlad, I’m coming downstairs.” Mrs. Masters said, slowly making her way down the stairs.

“Are you ready? Can we finally start dinner now, mom?” Anastasia asked, her hands on her hips when Mrs. Masters finally sat down. 

“Of course! I can’t wait to see what you guys whipped up today while I was working. I’m sure it’ll be delicious.” Mrs. Masters' gaze turned towards Neil and she started a bit. “Oh my, Neil. I always forget you’re back. Are you still doing good?”

“I sure am, Mrs. Masters. Couldn’t be better!” Neil said before taking another sip of his water. 

“Oh, that’s good! And I’m sure Vlad will be doing just as good in a few minutes as well!” 

Vlad looked suspiciously at his mom in apprehension. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Mrs. Masters waved him off. “So, Oliver, when are your friends coming over again? I’d love to hear more of your music you’ve been practicing.”

“I’m not sure. I try to keep them away from the house when Vlad is here.”

“Oliver!” Anastasia scolded again as she placed a dish of casserole on the table. “What did I say already? Leave your uncle alone.”

“What, like how he left you guys alone for all those years? Gladly.”

Vlad glared at the boy from across the table. “You can’t even fathom what I went through! You couldn’t possibly know why I left!”

“What’s there to know?” Oliver shouted back, grabbing a big spoon and dishing out a big heaping of casserole. “You were gone for twenty years and you come back and make me feel like there are ants under my skin. There’s only one thing that makes me feel like that. You wanna know what it is?”

Neil placed a hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “Come on, Oliver. Now is not the time. Let’s eat dinner and then later you and I can go get ice cream while they talk stuff out.”

“Go get ice cream? What am I, five? We have ice cream in the fridge anyways.”

“Oliver, don’t use that tone of voice with your father.” Anastasia said as she placed a napkin in her lap.

Picking at his casserole, Oliver let out a mumble. “He’s as much of a father to me as Vlad is an uncle.”

Silence settled over the table as Oliver stared at his food, the adults stared at Oliver, and Mrs. Masters looked between all of them. 

Suddenly the silence was broken by knocking on the front door.

“Hey, V-man! It’s me and Maddie!”

“What?!” Vlad shouted, recoiling in his chair. 

“Oh, they made it!” Mrs. Masters said, clapping her hands together. “That boy Jack, I remembered how much you loved him when you were younger and I heard that you guys were talking again! So I figured I’d invite them over for the weekend.” She got up from her seat at the table and headed to the door. 

Vlad sent a glare towards Anastasia and she shrugged at him apologetically. 

“Hiya, Mrs. Masters!” Jack said jovially as the door opened. “It’s been awhile! How are you guys doing?”

“Jack, Maddie!” Mrs. Masters smiled at them. “We’ve been good, come in come in. We just started dinner.”

Jack and Maddie followed Mrs. Masters back into the kitchen where everyone else was still sitting, silently staring at their plates. 

“Hi everyone!” Jack bellowed once they made their way in. 

“Hi, Jack, hi Maddie.” Anastasia said with a smile. “You didn’t bring the kids with you?”

“No.” Maddie said with a wave of her hand. “Jazz is studying and Danny had plans with his friends this weekend. They’re back home.”

“Oh, that’s a shame. We haven’t seen them in awhile.” 

Jack turned towards Neil and held a hand out. “Hi! I’m Jack.” Neil grabbed his hand and shook it as Jack squinted at him. “Say, you look familiar. Have we met before?”

“I think we hung out a few times as kids when you came to visit Vlad. I’m Oliver’s father.”

Jack stared at Neil in shock, turning to look at Anastasia and Oliver, pointing at Neil. “This is Oliver’s dad?” Jack asked in a voice much too quiet for him. 

Anastasia nodded and a smile lit up Jack’s face and he scooped Neil into his arms, giving him a bear hug. “Isn’t that amazing! Welcome to the family!”

“Jack, I don’t believe you’re a part of this family.” Vlad said, still staring at his plate.

“You’re kidding me right?” Oliver snapped. “He’s been more of an uncle than you have! He’s been here the last twenty years that you were gone, seeing when you’d come back!”

“He’s the reason I left!” Vlad shouted, slamming his hands down on the table as he stood up. “He’s the reason the accident happened, the reason I was in the hospital, the reason I could never be the same again! He doesn’t deserve to be a part of this family!” 

Oliver stared at Vlad with wide eyes, the room was silent again. 

“Vladdy-” Jack started. 

Aggressively, Vlad pushed his chair in and stomped his way upstairs. Heading into his old bedroom, he slammed the door shut and collapsed on the bed. He lay on the bed, in his room that had hardly changed in the past two decades, but had miraculously stayed clean all that time. 

After a few minutes of pouting, Vlad hears a soft knock at his door. He considers going invisible, but that would probably only raise Oliver’s hostility towards him if Vlad just disappeared. 

“Vlad?” Jack's voice carries quietly through the door, much more gentle than most times Vlad has heard the man speak. Vlad ignores him, facing the wall next to his bed. 

The door slowly opens and Vlad can feel Jack peeking in at him. 

“Can we talk?”

“No.” Vlad curls further into himself. 

“Okay. Well then, I guess I’ll talk.” Jack closes the door behind him and makes his way to Vlad’s bed where he sits down beside the other man. 

Vlad can feel the other man fidgeting behind him. Jack doesn’t fidget. Maybe out of excitement or boredom, but Vlad doesn’t know the last time Jack has fidgeted out of nervousness. 

“You know it was an accident, right?” Jack says quietly. This causes Vlad to flinch. Of course he knows it was an accident. That didn’t stop it from ruining his life. 

“I had really wanted to show you guys that it’d work. That we could really get into the ghost zone. Maybe if I had just let Maddie put the finishing touches on it then…” Vlad heard a sigh and could tell Jack was running a hand down his face. “That was the worst day of my life.”

This statement startled Vlad, the fist he had been clenching to his chest falling open in his surprise. 

“When you screamed, I-” Jack’s words got caught in his throat, but he pushed through. “I thought you were dead. I thought when me and Maddie stood up, that I’d find you dead on the floor.

“And then we could never see you in the hospital, we had to finish school, by the time we had finally arranged a time to come visit you, you were gone. No one knew where you went. We were all scared.”

Guilt filled Vlad’s being, memories of the nightmares he’d had of his ghostly side taking over and hurting his best friends coming to the front of his mind. The terror he’d felt not knowing if he’d follow through with any of it. 

Finally, Vlad turned over to his other side to face Jack, his hand coming to rest beside Jack's knee. Vlad kept his eyes averted, but he could feel the other man staring down at him. 

“I’m sorry, Vlad.” Jack whispered. “I wish I could’ve said that sooner.”

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Vlad blinked his eyes a couple times before he lifted an open hand to Jack. Turning his gaze up, Vlad could see Jack’s watery eyes. 

Jack gently grabbed his hand, running his thumb along Vlad’s knuckles. 

Vlad took another deep breath and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, Vlad heard the door open and close softly. Someone else sat down on the bed near him and small fingers ran through his hair. Distantly he could hear Maddie whispering to Jack, but he was too relaxed by this point to zone back in. He thought about the last time they did this back in college, during midterms. 

He hadn’t realized how much he missed this, missed them. Guilt fills his chest again as he thinks about the twenty years he spent away from everyone and he grips Jack’s hand a bit harder. 

*~*~*

Dani dances.

Her giggles echo in the small living space of the spacecraft, the only home she’s ever known. She spins and spins, bumping into the walls and the ceiling and the floor before she trips and flips into her father’s lap.

"Careful, my little comet," her father says, their secret language humming and clicking in her ears. He smiles fondly down at her, and she giggles, floating up to give him a kiss on his forehead.

"Yes, papa!" she dutifully answers, before darting away, her giggles and her long, blue scarf trailing in her wake as she spins and spins again, doing her best to emulate the graceful twirls of the woman in the flickering holovid.

The woman smiles at no one as she flickers, and she speaks in their secret language, voice soft and gentle, yet commanding attention.

"When we spin, we spin with our core, the same way our home spins - the core of our planet pulling the surface with it, pulling us all with it into a celestial dance which guides us in our journey through the universe."

Dani stops spinning to listen, attention rapt upon the woman, before smiling widely and spinning again. She doesn’t see the way her father’s smile cracks, the way his eyes shine with tears before he wipes them away.

She does notice when he floats to the center of the room and pauses the holovid, staring at the flickering image of the woman. Her smile is radiant, deep black hair floating mid-twirl, eyes shining with joy. Dani’s father stares into her eyes.

"It’s time to say goodnight to mama," he tells Dani. Dani looks between the holovid and her father’s eyes, wrinkled in sadness even as he smiles gently. She nods quietly, and floats up to the woman’s face, and kisses her on the forehead. The flickering image tingles her lips.

"Goodnight, mama," she says, before turning to her father and hugging him hard.

"I love you, papa," she says in their secret language.

Her father huffs in surprise, before wrapping his arms around her, burying his face in her hair.

"I love you, too, my little comet."

*~*~*

Dani dances.

She twirls and weaves through the club, almost floating effortlessly between people as she dances, flitting between dance partners like a bee collecting pollen from one set of flowers before flying to the next. The white highlights in her skin tight jumpsuit and her loosely braided hair shine in the ever changing lights of the dance hall - purple, then red, then blue, then green flashing and fading into each other in time with the music. The black in her hair reflects the lights above her, but not as brightly; the black in her suit is nearly invisible in the throng of bodies and low light, hiding the motions of her lower legs and lower arms as she dances through the crowd - hiding her hands as they filter through the pockets of dancers, picking out wallets and coins and credits before stashing them in one of the many hidden pockets in her suit.

She glances at the bar for the fifth time in as many minutes, and this time makes herself hold eye contact with the beautiful woman staring at her. The woman’s red jumpsuit seems to change color in the low, changing light, and the black, reflective highlights accentuate the curves of her muscles and body. Her dark, curly hair is cropped short, geometric designs buzzed along the sides of her head. But what captivates Dani the most are her eyes. They are bright green - almost as green as Dani’s own eyes - and though they’re hard now, they shine with a life Dani can’t help but drink in, can’t help but want to explore.

She dances over to the bar and props herself up against it, smiling a winning smile at the woman in red.

"Can I buy you a drink?" Dani asks sweetly.

"Only if you can tell me whose credits you’re using," the woman replies, raising an eyebrow.

Dani doesn’t miss a beat. "Phillip McCarthy. I’m sure he won’t miss it."

The woman’s other eyebrow raises to join the first. The McCarthy’s are notorious for their smuggling operations in this sector of the galaxy - anything from drugs to artifacts to people. If it sells, chances are the McCarthy’s have a say in where it goes. Phillip in particular is known for his ruthlessness. Heir to the smuggling kingdom and drunk on his mother’s wealth and power, he goes where he wants and brings the party with him. Few who cross him live to tell the tale; the rest speak only to the coroners, and only speak of terrible, painful death.

The woman glances to the dance floor, where McCarthy drunkenly grinds and bellows to the music in the spotlight, surrounded by his posse - pilot fish seeking out a taste of that spotlight, that wealth, that power. She seems to make a decision, and her eyes soften as she lets out a low whistle, cracking a smile. "Ballsy. I’ll drink to that."

Dani lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, and can’t help but grin. She waves down a bartender. "Two fireflies. On me."

She scans the credits, then turns back to find the woman staring at her. She notes the blush in her cheeks, and her grin turns sly. "Like what you see?"

The woman sputters. "W-what? No, no way, um, not that you’re not gorgeous or anything, I just - I didn’t come here for - look, can I get a name from the beautiful woman who just bought me a drink?"

Dani laughs, and feels her own cheeks blush green. Who knew a woman with such a confident stare could be so cute?

"It’s Dani," she chuckles. "And what can I say, I see a beautiful woman staring at me, how can I not buy her a drink?"

The woman frowns. She opens her mouth to retort, but a purple arm comes between them, hand adorned with expensive rings pressed against the bar. Dani looks up and sees Phillip McCarthy doing his best to loom over them despite his swaying stature. More intimidating is his posse - all in varying stages of drunkenness, but none as drunk as McCarthy, and there are a lot of them.

McCarthy squints his eyes at Dani. "You stole from me." Then he smirks. "But you’re new around here, aren’t you? Tell you what - I’ll let it slide if you do a little dance with me." He leans in close, and Dani wrinkles her nose at the stink of liquor on his breath. "I’ll show you what a real McCarthy can do for you."

"No thanks." Dani puts a hand on his chest and pushes him away. He stumbles back, surprised by her strength. Then he growls, stepping back towards her.

"Hey bitch, do you know who I am? I could make your life a living hell - you stole from me." He forces his face into a smile. "But I’m a nice guy. I can be forgiving. I’ll give you one last chance to do the right thing."

McCarthy grabs Dani’s arm, and Dani glares. Who is he to touch her like that? Before she can act, the woman in red grabs the hand that grabbed her, just above the wrist.

"Let her be, McCarthy. She was just about to return those credits. Right?" the woman side-eyes Dani hard. Dani rolls her eyes and pulls the credits from a secret pocket with her free hand, flicking them at McCarthy.

McCarthy‘s face sours. The credits bounce off his chest, and one of his posse picks them up. "Stay out of this, Gray," he snarls. "This is about respect. And I’m gonna teach her a lesson."

His hand tightens painfully on Dani’s arm, and Dani hisses. She feels the woman - Gray - tense beside her. Gray peels the hand from Dani’s arm and twists, earning a squawk from McCarthy, before shoving him back into his posse.

"I said, let her be." Gray growls.

McCarthy’s face twists in drunken rage, and he rounds on Gray. "How dare you-"

Dani kicks him in the throat, and he chokes, eyes wide with surprise, crumpling backwards to the floor.

Shit. She didn’t mean to kick him that hard - just hard enough to get him to shut up and back off from Gray. She stares wide-eyed at his crumpled form, barely able to hear Gray’s voice over the pulsing of her core in tune with her heart. He’s gotta be alright - she doesn’t know what she’ll do if she did any permanent damage, or worse, killed him-

McCarthy coughs harshly and works himself to his elbows. He stares up at his posse. They stare back. Then he flushes bright pink and points, croaking, "Get them."

Gray springs into action, fighting down the part of the posse closest to the door. They’ll never make it that way - not with more of the posse gathering by the door, ready to catch them should they make it past the first wave. Four of them turn on Dani, and she leaps into action, sweeping her foot out and spinning, knocking them away from her and clearing a path to the dance floor. She grabs Gray’s wrist, startling the woman.

"This way!" Dani shouts, and pulls Gray into the crowd.

Gray pulls against Dani’s grip. "There’s no exit that way!"

Dani pauses for a second, locking eyes with Gray. She smiles confidently. "Trust me."

Gray holds her gaze, then grins and nods. She twists her wrist and suddenly they’re holding hands, Gray a half-step behind Dani as they navigate the crowd together - Dani twirling and dancing between dancers and posse alike, Valerie twirling with her and taking down McCarthy’s people as they flee. They operate in sync, as if they’ve known each other for longer than five minutes, and Dani revels in the feeling. This is better than dancing on her own, better than dancing with a throng of bodies in time to the music - this is the most alive she’s ever felt.

The crowd thins, and she guides Gray to the back of the warehouse, dodging security. The back wall is lined with small windows 20 feet above the floor. They should be closed, but Dani knows for sure that one of them is open to the night air. As they approach the wall, she grins at Gray and lets go of her hand, putting on a burst of speed to reach it first. She kneels below the open window, holding out her hands to give Gray a boost.

Gray smiles at the move, kicking off of one of McCarthy’s men and using the forward momentum to sprint to Dani. She leaps into Dani’s hands, and Dani throws her into the air, sending her soaring to the window. Gray grabs the window sill and pulls herself effortlessly through, out into the night.

Dani grins and stands, surveying the mix of McCarthy’s posse and club security running towards her. McCarthy himself has somehow made it to the front of the posse, and he stops and snarls upon seeing her. She grins cheekily and waves, making a show of jumping up to the window - not many people fly in this sector of the galaxy, she’s learned. She hears McCarthy screech some sort of profanity, and something about his mother, as she pulls herself through, dropping to the next roof and picking up her backpack in a single, graceful movement. She takes a moment to look upwards, at the night sky.

The sky is only partially covered by clouds, a dark expanse faintly speckled with unfamiliar constellations where the clouds don’t touch. The light pollution from the surrounding city drowns out most of the black and stars, but she can just see Wolf 359 peaking out from behind a cloud. She smiles. Maybe she’ll head there next.

"You gonna stand there all night?"

Dani starts and turns to see Gray, eyebrow raised, but hand held out towards her. She blushes and grins, stepping forward to take her hand. This time, Gray leads, guiding Dani off the roof and through the streets and alleyways, away from the club and into the darkness.

They only stop for breath when they’re sure they aren’t followed. It’s then that Gray lets go of Dani’s hand, walking along a street and staring at the ground. Dani’s about to ask what she’s looking for when she suddenly stands up straight, turning back to Dani, hand outstretched.

"Hand over the credits," Gray demands.

"What? No!" Dani scoffs. "That’s like, half my haul!"

Gray rolls her eyes. "You can keep the rest. I don’t know where you’re from, but around here, credits are traceable."

Dani sighs, but does as she’s told. Gray shoves the credits down the sewer grate next to her. So that’s what she was looking for.

"The sewer flows downriver," she says. "You should head in the opposite direction, towards the space port." She points a thumb behind her, down the alleyway. "That’s where you’re headed, right?"

Dani gapes at her. "How did you-"

Gray raises an eyebrow. "It’s like McCarthy said - you’re not from around here. And you’ll need to get off planet now that you’ve pissed off Mr. High and Mighty."

Dani winces. "Sorry about that, Gray. But what about you?"

Gray smirks. "I can handle him. I’ve been doing it for years. Oh, and the names Valerie. It’s what my friends call me."

"Valerie." Dani tests the name out on her tongue. It feels right. She beams up at Gray - no, Valerie - and then bounces up to her. She caresses Valerie’s cheek with one hand, and kisses her chastely on the corner of her lip.

"Thank you, Valerie," she whispers in her ear.

And then she bounds away, dancing through streets and alleyways, climbing to the rooftops, almost flying as she careens upriver, towards the space port.

*~*~*

Dani dances.

Valerie dances.

They meet again, multiple times in both of their travels. And they dance.

And they dance.

And they dance.

*~*~*

Valerie dances.

She pushes off from the airlock, gliding into her lover’s arms. Together they twirl in the vastness of space, the stars and ship revolving around them, but they only have eyes for each other. Then Dani smiles, and kisses the top of Valerie’s helmet, and spins away from Valerie.

Valerie’s suit stabilizes her spinning with a thought, and she spins more slowly now, tracking Dani as she twirls through space, with Valerie at the center - Valerie at her center. She doesn’t know how, or why, but she’s managed to capture the most beautiful comet in the world. She is somehow the force which pulls Dani from shooting aimlessly through space - the star about which Dani orbits. Valerie is Dani’s star, and Dani is Valerie’s comet. Wherever their paths may lead, whichever outer reaches of space Dani flings herself to, Valerie knows that she will always, always come back to her.

Dani comes in for a hug, and they spin together, staring into each other’s eyes, naught but plexiglass and atmosphere and the vacuum of space between them. No one but themselves for hundreds of miles.

"I love you, my comet," Valerie says in Dani’s secret language.

Dani’s smile widens, and her eyes shine with the light of a home she’s never known - a home she chooses to make herself, with Valerie at her center.