#dptt

Ommetaphobia: a fear of eyes

Danny Fenton has a lot of issues. He knows he's paranoid. He knows he has trust issues. And he's dealt with the consequences of that more times than he can count.

He finds one more consequence in Jump City.

[Page 1: Danny knew what it felt like to be watched, like a shiver up his spine.

Page 2: Like a bug under a microscope, sometimes he'd feel a shiver long before his ghost sense slithered out of his mouth. And he knew someone wanted to squish him.

Page 3: The moment he got to Jump City, he could feel the bitter slice of a knife on his throat. Or the narcissistic laughter in his ears.

Page 4: Someone was coming. And he was alone, in the dark, in a new city. He knew he was paranoid, but he felt like he couldn't tell his right from his left.

Page 5: Danny was a magnet for trouble. He knew what it felt like. Like a cancerous growth eating him from the inside out.

Not for the first time, Danny was regretting the day he ever met Vlad.

Everything the man did was to spite him. Everything the man stood for was about stepping on him and crushing him into the dirt. The day Danny walked into his house and spotted the man sitting on their couch, he knew he was in for punishment.

And boy, was he ever.

The curt, crisp ring of the morning bell interrupted his thoughts. Even that felt different from what he was familiar with. Danny sighed heavily as he broke his gaze from the building in front of him to stare at the starched and stiff pants of his new school uniform.

At first blush, at second blush, at third blush Murakami High School was prim and proper and oh-so very polished. And the faculty demanded the same from the students. It was the kind of school that would’ve welcomed Jazz with open arms if she’d applied for a scholarship. And as for him?

Honestly, he was surprised they let him in at all. Even with Vlad’s money lining their pockets.

His parents were thrilled about him coming here. They thought it was a great opportunity. Vlad was thrilled too, for some reason Danny had yet to figure out. It unnerved him.

The only thing he could appreciate about a boarding school like this was that it was in Jump City, Danny thought as he threw one last curious look over the tall, wrought iron fence to the distant tower he could vaguely make out through the high-rise buildings.

Danny went to push through the front door, but just as he did, a shiver crept up his spine.

——-

That’s Terra in the background. I didn’t kill her I swear. Danny’s ghost sense is just going off for other reasons.

murakami au: 1, 2

It was cooler up here. Danny should have said something. Or maybe she just shouldn’t have flown through a cloud.

“I guess that kid was right then. You really can move rocks. With your mind.”

“I think there’s still a good chance it’s just doing this on it’s own,” Terra huffed when Danny laughed, before she shut her eyes in concentration, “We should stop. I don’t know how long I can hold this.”

“What? Come on, are you even breaking a sweat? You’re a natural,” Danny chuckled as he slipped under the boulder and popped up on her other side with a cheesy grin, “Have you been practicing without me?”

He laughed at gravity. But her way wasn’t as easy as his. She knew he wasn’t, she knew, but sometimes she felt like he laughed at that too.

“I definitely am, and no?? I barely wanna practice with you, Danny. I’m not doing this by myself. I kind of have this crazy preference not to go splat.”

“Okay, okay, there’s a spot you can set down over there.”

Slowly lowering her hands, she focused on bringing the boulder down. Until something caught her eye to her right.

Titans Tower. Just the top of it was visible over the cliffs of the canyon, but she knew if she flew higher it would come into view. The isolated tower in the middle of the bay.

She knew it wasn’t. The Titans were always so lively.. but it seemed lonely somehow.

Suddenly, the ground dropped out from under her feet.

Her hair whooshed past her face and the air stung her eyes. She yelled–

And hands caught her under her arms. The boulder she’d been sitting on crashed into the floor of the canyon with a noise that could wake the dead. She waited for the retribution she knew would come. Maybe she would drop Terra. Maybe those hands would come alive with that electric green glow and she’d burn.

She didn’t want to see the look of disappointment–

“Terra! Are you okay?”

Danny. Terra sighed. She just wanted to be on solid ground. For once. Only, come to find out: no ground around her is solid.

“Terra?”

She didn’t look him in the eyes.

“Maybe we should just go back to practicing with pebbles for now.”