#grayghost

After being Phantom for a while and hiding his double life from, like, half the people in his life, Danny liked to think that he’d been getting used to the whole lying thing. He lied all the time: to his parents, to his sister, and even to Sam sometimes when she starts nagging about eating green (but he was doing that even before the accident). That wasn’t even mentioning all the normal amount of lying he just kinda does as, like, a normal-ish person. 

So why couldn’t he lie right now?

“Phantom, what the hell did you just say?”

“I said I’ll catch you later because I just had the Nasty Burger Surprise and I think the nasty surprise is what’s gonna greet me on the toilet.”

He’d seen Valerie make a wide range of expressions, from pure hatred to open affection. He’d never seen this combo of shock and disgust before, though. Honestly, he shared the sentiment. 

“I heard you the first time, ghost-boy. Are you messing with me?” She narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion, raising her blaster for added effect.

“No, I swear! I just—okay, I have no idea why I said that. Twice. Sorry.” His stomach grumbled, loud enough that he saw Valerie heard it, too. She hesitated, and he took the chance to run his mouth.

“I really do need the little ghost’s room so could we put a pin in the usual chasing me angrily around town only to—” He quickly shut up at the sight of one, two, more of Valerie’s blasters appearing from her suit’s hammerspace and charging up. Admittedly, he let out a little fart in surprise. 

“Just… go,” she sighed, exasperation and disbelief coloring her tone.

He didn’t need to be told twice, bolstered by both her threats and his genuine need to go to the toilet. He hadn’t gotten very far when he started to hear laughter right in his ear. 

“I can’t believe you said that!” Sam wheezed out.

“You better believe it, ‘cause I’ve got audio proof!” Tucker replied, and Danny could practically see him waving his PDA around. He could actually see that if he wanted to, thanks to the trio’s platonic soulmate bond, but they tended to ask each other permission first before doing any peeking.

He sighed as he sped back to his house. “Come on you guys, I—Crud.” His stomach let out another worrying noise. He started taking off his Fenton Phone, “Tucker, that recording never sees the light of day or you can kiss your PDA goodbye.”

 “Ha! You can try, ghost-boy, you can tr—”

–

Danny sped through the halls, cursing Technus for making him late for an important physics test that he’d actually studied for. He pulled out his phone to check the time when he noticed someone heading straight toward him in his peripheral vision. He skidded to a stop, but still managed to bump into them.

“Oof!”

“I’m so sorry, but I’m literally so late to my test—”

“Danny?”

He looked up and met Valerie's eyes. “Oh. Hi.”

“Hi,” she said back with a small smile. Danny wasn’t really sure what to do with himself. They hadn’t really interacted much since she rejected him to protect him from himself (outside of ghost fights, but that was Phantom and Red Huntress, not Danny and Valerie). 

“I, uh, I’ve missed you.” He immediately regretted that, wow. His face felt hot. Why did he just drop that on her? “I mean, I literally ran into you so I guess I didn’t miss you…”

She giggled a bit, so he was gonna count that as a win. “I’ve missed you, too, Fenton. Well, maybe I didn’t miss literally running into you.” 

The two of them just smiled at each other. 

He opened his mouth to say something cheesy, but she cut him off. “Aren’t you, like, ‘literally so late to your test’?

He closed his eyes and bit his lip. “Crud. Sorry, Val, I’ve gotta go.”

She just nodded. “See ya.”

“See you!” he shouted as he sprinted past her.

–

Danny flew toward the firefight downtown just in time to see one of the regulars beam Red Huntress straight into the pavement. She started to get to her feet, but she winced and quickly sat back down. 

“Hey, you good?” he asked, offering her a hand. She waved him off, but didn’t try to stand again. 

“No, I think my ankle is sprained—” she cut herself off, shaking her head. He gaped a little. He was not used to her being willing to admit weakness, especially to him of all people. “Ugh, just, don’t try that hero baloney with me, ghost-boy,” she said, glaring at him. “Just finish ‘em off. I made it easy for you.”

He was pleasantly surprised that there was less threatening or overall violence involved in that interaction, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He quickly threw himself into the fight, and, sure enough, the fight ended pretty quickly. Another ghost in the Thermos. But he had to give it to her, Red Huntress had done most of the work. 

She had just about managed to haul herself onto her hoverboard by the time Danny returned to her, but trying to stand up on it was another matter. He saw her foot give out before she did. Fortunately for her, he caught her just in time. Unfortunately for him, Red Huntress did not consent to being carried bridal style by her nemesis. 

Her gut reaction was to sock him in the jaw. 

“Let me go, ghost freak!” She yelled, beginning to squirm in his arms. He nearly did as she wished, barely managing to get her on the hoverboard instead of back on the pavement.

“Ow,” he verbalized, massaging his chin. “I was just trying to help.”

“I don’t need a ghost’s help,” she sneered. Danny rolled his eyes.

“Okay, but like you said, your ankle’s sprained. Just let me ice it real quick. No tricks, I swear on my afterlife.” 

She glared at him. 

“Look,” he sighed, the humiliation of bringing this up would only be worth it if she let him help. “I still owe you for letting me go to the toilet last time, so just let me help.” 

She harrumphed (he could have sworn she was holding back a smile), but didn’t fly away. He took that as a yes. He kneeled down and wrapped his hands gently around her ankle, slowly channeling his ice powers and letting his hands become an ice pack. It was a wonder she was even letting him this close, much less use his powers on her. Ever since the whole thing with Dani, she’d mellowed out a bit. Not that Danny was ungrateful. 

Before he could ponder on that more, Red Huntress’s leg swung a little. Eye level with her shins, he suddenly felt fear. “And don’t get any ideas about kicking me in the face…please.”

“You’re the one giving them to me.”

“Ugh, just—” He let go of her ankle and stood up. “Here,” he said, handing her a little ice anklet. “It’ll melt in a little while, but you can wear it until you get home and get a real ice pack on it.”

She stared at him for a second before accepting the anklet. “Don’t think that this means we’re all buddy-buddy now. I’m just grateful you stuck around to help me after the fight even if you totally didn’t have to.” She covered her mouth.

He gaped at her for the second time that day. “I…you’re welcome?”

Glaring at him one more time, Red Huntress zipped away without a word.

–

It was really awkward the next time they saw each other. They’d teamed up again, sure, but Red Huntress hadn’t said a word to him the entire fight. Now, they stood together on one of the rooftops downtown, finishing off the ghost. 

As the Box Ghost got sucked up into the Fenton Thermos for the umpteenth time, Danny decided to try and break the silence. “So, how’s that ankle doing?”

He was greeted with more silence. Yay.

“What? I know you’re a ninth-degree degree black belt, not to mention a ghost hunter, so you gotta be used to these kinds of injuries, but is it really so bad if I ask—” his tangent was cut off by the Red Huntress flying right up in his face, her hoverboard pointed threateningly at his neck.

“How do you know I’m a ninth-degree black belt?”

“That,” he squeaked out, “is a great question. I plead the fifth.” 

She just raised her eyebrows at him. 

“This is where I make my exit,” was all he said in reply. He quickly turned intangible and invisible, dropping through the roof and down into the next floor. Then, he ‘went human,’ effectively disappearing from Red Huntress’s sensors.  

–

The only thing Red Huntress greeted Danny with the next time he saw her was a sincere, “Oh, good. You’re here.”

He was taken aback, to say the least. “That’s good?”

“What, you don't want it to be, ghost-boy?” she asked, but it lacked her usual venom. She seemed tired, but she still dodged one of the Box Ghost’s boxes.

“Phantom! Now you’re here to witness the true might of objects with four corners!” the Box Ghost wailed from down below them.

Danny ignored him. “Are you okay?”

“No.” She sluggishly dodged another box. Box Ghost was yelling something about being ignored, but neither Danny nor Red Huntress were paying any attention. “You deal with this,” she waved vaguely in Box Ghost’s direction. “I’m going home.”

“What?” Danny asked, as she began flying away. “Why?” 

“It’s shark week,” was the only thing she said before booking it away from the fight. 

“What the heck is that supposed to m—” Danny was interrupted by Box Ghost actually landing a hit. 

–

The next day was thankfully a Saturday, but ghosts wait for no one, and Valerie dragged herself out of bed to just do one round of patrol…just one round. That was when she found what looked a lot like a care package on one of the rooftops along her usual route. It held things like a warm compress, some chocolate, and a variety of sanitary products. There was a note attached which read:

I do know what ‘shark week’ is—I have a sister. It's just that she likes to call it the week of doom and despair. I know what works for her, but not for you, so I just kinda got everything I (and Google) could think of. Hope it helps. Get well soon.

P

Above the period at the end of the note, Valerie could clearly see where a question mark had been erased. The handwriting was kinda familiar, but that didn’t make sense. 

Wait, did ghosts still get periods? That sucked. 

–

Danny’s stomach was grumbling. Next to him, Tucker groaned. Danny nodded solemnly. The lines at Nasty Burger were unbearably long for a couple of teenage boys needing fast food. Finally, the two of them were in front of the cashier.

“I’ll have the Special Meat Lover’s Combo Meal, please,” Tucker said gleefully.

“That shit’s nasty!” came Sam’s voice from the other side of the restaurant, where she’d saved a table for them.

“Nasty’s just one letter away from tasty!” he yelled back.

Danny just rolled his eyes at his friends’ antics, trying to ignore all the other patrons staring at them. He opened his mouth to order his food (but not a Nasty Surprise, never again), “I’ll have the Nasty—”

“Don’t get the Nasty Surprise!”

“Valerie?!” Danny nearly jumped out of his skin. She was right behind him. “Of course, I’m not going to get it, the last time I—”

“Good. It’s just that someone I…know…ate it one time and he had his own nasty surprise on the toilet after.” She cringed at her own words; she looked like she would do anything to take them back.

Beside him, Tucker snickered as Danny turned red at the memory. Valerie, meanwhile, was just looking around the restaurant intently. “Thanks for the warning, I guess. Val, what are you doing?” 

“Making sure the manager didn’t hear me say that. Shoot, he’s coming over here. Bye Danny and Danny’s friend!” And with that, she just left. 

When Danny and Tucker finally made it back to their table, Sam smirked and gave a slow clap. “Thanks for the show, guys.”

–

Another day, another fight with that ghost hunter who liked to call himself Skulker. Normally, he wasn’t really an issue, except today he seemed to be eager to test a bunch of new toys. (Admittedly Valerie was a little jealous. She stopped getting weapon and suit upgrades ever since she stopped seeing Vlad Masters/Plasmius. The price she paid for going soft over a ghost, she guessed.)

She was fighting alongside Phantom again today. She would never admit it, but working with him wasn’t half bad. Case in point: 

“Red!” was all Phantom said as he tossed a number of deadly-looking grenade-bomb-things he’d just pilfered off of Skulker’s utility belt toward the sky. 

“I got it!” She maneuvered her board away from where Phantom and Skulker were brawling. She zoomed straight up as quickly as she possibly could, even after she felt Skulker’s weight on the end of a chain attached to her board. 

“What the—” was all the ghost said before he was dragged upwards by his belt. 

Valerie pushed harder and harder; this only worked if she got it done before Skulker could get over his surprise. She suddenly hit the brakes when she was about halfway to the bomb thingies, detaching the chain from her board and letting inertia carry Skulker the rest of the way. It was a good thing Phantom’s throw was inhumanly good. The explosion was glorious.

Phantom flew up to her just as she caught what remained of Skulker’s charred suit in her arms. He popped Skulker’s helmet open and Fenton Thermos’d the actual itty bitty Skulker away. 

Phantom gestured at Skulker’s suit. “He’s totally compensating for something, right?”

Valerie snorted. “You think?”

The threat dealt with, the two ghost hunters kinda just stood there. Valerie didn’t know what to do with herself and seemingly, neither did Phantom. 

“You, uh…you fight good,” he said, immediately wincing. Valerie closed her eyes and pursed her lips as she tried to hold in her amusement.

“Yeah, well, you’re not half bad, either,” she said. She wanted to smack herself. Didn’t she just say she would never admit that?

–

Valerie was losing her mind. Up was down lately with that ghost boy. Honestly, ever since she met Dani, things have been weird. They team up during ghost fights more and more now, and the other week she just let him go. Not to mention letting him ice her ankle that one time—no, she was not going to think about that.

She slumped down onto the curb, using the Nasty Nat costume as her seat cushion. She sighed and let the back of her head scrape the alley wall as she looked up at the evening sky, the sun setting quickly. What was wrong with her lately? Maybe she was just lonely, a thought that made her scoff. Her dad works extra shifts to keep them afloat now; she barely sees Star with all the extra shifts she’s picking up, too; and Danny…Danny was wishful thinking. As long as she kept up this ghost hunting gig, she’d only endanger him. Thinking about it, the only person that she really saw consistently these days was Phantom. But that didn’t count, right?

She was broken out of her thoughts when she heard the sound of a sneaker scraping against the pavement near the entrance of the alley. Her head snapped to its point of origin, her body tense and alert, only to relax when she saw it was Danny, framed by the setting sun. She squinted; for a moment the orange light from the sun sorta made his eyes look green. But when he looked up and noticed her, his eyes were as ice blue as ever. 

He looked surprised to see her there. Valerie quickly tucked the rest of the Nasty Nat costume behind her, and spread her skirt a bit to hide the costume’s head. If Danny noticed the thing, he didn’t say anything as he limped over, compensating for his bad right foot by putting more weight on his left. Forgetting the costume, she rushed to his right side to support him. 

“What happened?” she asked as she guided him to her makeshift seat. 

“There was a ghost fight.” 

“What?” she asked, the tension from earlier returning as she quickly scanned their surroundings for any paranormal activity. 

“No, don't worry!” Danny quickly added. “I…Phantom took care of it,” he said slowly, as if he was testing out his words. “My ankle got caught on a pole during the fight—I know, klutz,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck in his sheepish way, “but I managed to get away.”

“Well, at least you’re okay,” she said, digging around in her backpack. Having high-tech ghost hunting gear meant she had a lot of hammer space. She was supposed to use it for weapons or other stuff, but she also kinda just used it to bring anything convenient along. “That ghost boy could have hurt you.”

“You don’t believe that, do you?”

Her hand closed around what she was looking for, but she paused at his words. 

“Of course I don’t.” She nearly dropped what she’d been holding.

Danny looked as shocked as she felt. “Wait, really?”

“Yes,” she said too quickly. “No. I don’t know.” What was she even saying? She sighed. 

“Look, I’ve been having a weird time, don’t listen to me. It’s just that…” She didn’t know what to say. She had no clue what’s been wrong with her lately. “Here,” she said. “It’s an ice pack. Press it to your ankle so it gets better faster.”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” he said, accepting the pack and putting it against his left foot. “Uh, why do you just bring an ice pack around?”

“I also sprained my ankle last week,” she said, settling down next to Danny. She assumed the same position she’d been in before he’d entered the alley: back against the wall, staring up at the sky. She felt him follow her lead. “I bring my own ice around now because last time I had to rely on Phan—,” she coughed, “—tastic guy for ice.” She cringed, hoping he didn’t pick that up.

Danny just blinked. Then a lopsided smile made its way onto his face. “Don’t tell me you’re seeing other guys, Val! Fantastic guys!” He pressed a hand to his chest and ducked his face. “I’m hurt!”

Valerie immediately scoffed. Then, she giggled. “Right. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Danny, but I can see all the other guys I want—you’re not my boyfriend.” 

“But I could be,” he replied, and Valerie couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. It didn’t matter; she wasn’t going to be serious about this. She’s had too much serious lately. 

“Ugh, stop. You’re starting to sound like uh, your flirty friend.”

“...my flirty friend?”

“You know…the one that’s not goth.”

“Oh my God, Val, you have to know his name by now.”

“Well, he was annoying!”

“We’ve all been through so much stuff together! You know, the whole thing with that king ghost or whatever his name was?”

“I didn’t give him that much attention; there were bigger things at stake!” Valerie defended herself. “Anyways, I spent most of that time with Ph—Tucker! See! I remember his name!”

“Good for you. Guess you aren’t really an A-lister anymore, if you know us peasants’ names,” Danny drawled in reply. She could just about imagine the sarcastic look on his face. She glanced in his direction, meeting eyes with him at the same time. The two of them burst into laughter. She couldn’t help herself; this was the most relaxed and free she’d felt in a while. Danny had always had that effect on her. She’d missed being around him.

As the laughter died down, Danny gasped theatrically and put a hand over his face. “She said she spent most of that time with Tucker! Oh what was I to her then?” he whined. “She doth not treasure our time together as I do!”

Valerie rolled her eyes, some sorta retort ready on her lips. She paused. She missed that feeling of being free, but whose fault was that? 

“This silence—say it isn’t so!” he said when she stayed quiet. “Val?”

“I mean, I do like spending time with you, Danny.” Ugh, she didn’t mean to make this a serious conversation, but here they were. “It’s just that there’s something,” she started, then paused. “There’s something holding me back. And I know it’s not fair to you.” She shook her head. “Sorry, I’ve been so weird lately, I have, like, zero idea why I’m just dumping this all on you,” she finished lamely.

Danny was silent. He was rubbing the back of his neck. “I…totally get that, Val.” Then, under his breath, “More than you think.” She looked at him up and down; how could he possibly get it at all? She opened her mouth to say so, but then she noticed something weird. 

“Hey…why are you icing your left ankle?”

“I—what?”

“You came in limping on your injured right foot—I know ‘cause I had to support you from your right side.”

Danny looked down to his left hand, where he was indeed holding the ice pack up against his left ankle. His eyes went almost comically wide. “Oh,” he chuckled nervously, “Wow, that’s crazy, how could I forget which ankle hurt?” He quickly swapped the ice pack between his two hands so that it was pressing against the correct ankle. 

Valerie leveled him with a look. “What.”

Suddenly, Danny jumped to his feet in front of her, bouncing around on his heels like he hadn’t limped into the alley just a few minutes ago. “Wow, I’m feeling so much better already—what kind of ice pack is this?”

She just stared at him. Before she could even formulate a response, he took a deep breath, and his eyes darted to the entrance of the alley. Something in his expression changed, but it all happened so quickly, she didn’t know what to make of it. 

“Listen, Val. I gotta go gh—I gotta go. I…I’m always here, and I can take more than you think I can. Just, don’t be a stranger, okay?” “What?” “Bye!” Danny zoomed out of the alley faster than she’d ever seen him move before. Her shock meant he had a head start.

“Hey! Get back here, Fenton! You’ve still got my ice pack!” By the time she’d made it to the mouth of the alley, Danny was nowhere to be seen. 

“What the hell,” she murmured to herself. 

She couldn’t believe the night she was having. What drove her to suddenly get all sappy? Shark week’s come and gone, so she can’t blame it on hormones or anything. 

The sound of her ghost gear beeping from under her clothes interrupted her train of thought. Immediately, she pulled up a screen on her arm, showing her the nearby ectoplasm signatures. There were three sets: Phantom, the Box Ghost, and some pretty weak-looking ones. Since Phantom and the Box Ghost were close together, Valerie figured he was dealing with that problem. 

That was just fine by her. The Red Huntress could take out her stress and confusion on some blob ghosts. 

–

Danny wanted to throw himself into the powered down portal and get blasted again. Actually, no. That was the most excruciating pain he’s ever experienced, even after all he’s been through since becoming Phantom, and he would never willingly go through that ever again. Not even if the whole world was bullying him or something. 

He shook his head. He didn’t mean for that interaction to end so awkwardly. Seriously, he was so used to his super healing that he did not even think about which ankle he was pressing the ice pack to. But before that…the conversation was getting dangerously close to revealing-secrets territory. 

He flopped onto his bed, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars his dad had stuck on the ceiling years ago. Not too long ago, he’d been staring at the real sky with Valerie. He groaned. Did he want to reveal his secret to her? All he’d meant to do was have a conversation with her, test out some theories, and…see if he and Valerie were soulmates. 

He still couldn’t believe it.

–

“I can’t believe it.”

Sam looked at him like he was the one saying something crazy. She pointed a forkful of various greens at him accusingly. “You’re the one who said you both seem to be weirdly truthful around each other, despite actively keeping secrets from each other. There are soulmates who can’t lie to each other. Ergo, you two are soulmates.” She punctuated her argument by putting the fork in her mouth and munching smugly on her lunch.

“It can’t be that simple. Like, what if it’s a ghost thing—”

Tucker chimed in without looking up from his PDA, “You already checked in with, like, all of the Ghost Zone about this, dude. Even Frostbite and Clockwork! They pretty much said no spooky shenanigans afoot.”

“Gee, thanks, Tucker.” Danny groaned, remembering his interactions with the two older ghosts. “Ugh, and the two of them were smiling at me like I was clueless.”“You are clueless,” Sam and Tucker said in unison. 

“Wow. I’m really feeling the love, guys.”“What are soulmates for, Danny?” Sam asked innocently. 

Danny put his sandwich down and pointed at her. “Why are you so supportive of this whole soulmate theory?” he asked, stressing the word ‘theory’. “Aren’t you supposed to hate Valerie’s guts?” 

Sam waved her fork around dismissively. “That was back when she was being a bitch, and I had a crush on you. Now she’s less of a bitch, and I don’t have a crush on you. Instead, I found out I have a fricking platonic soul bond with the two of you, and now I gotta share a headspace with you two dorks sometimes.”

“Aww, you love us,” Tucker cooed, putting his PDA down and reaching out to hug Sam. She rolled her eyes and stopped Tucker from closing in by just jutting her hand in his face. Tucker ended up leaning on her hand and still trying to reach for her with his arms. 

Danny smiled watching the two of them. Soulmates were not uncommon. Not everyone had a soulmate, and not all soulmates got along. But he was happy to have these two. Aside from all the sappy stuff that comes with discovering that you’re soulmates with your best friends, their bond was genuinely useful because it came with a weak psychic connection—in a crisis, the three of them could coordinate their actions without even consciously thinking about it. And there were a lot of crises in Amity Park.

“I still don’t buy the whole soulmate theory. What if it’s just coincidence or awkwardness or, or something?”

“Shomeone’th in denial,” Tucker singsonged, his face still smushed against Sam’s palm. 

“Eww, Tuck, you got your meat spit on me!” Sam shoved him off her hand and wiped it on his beret. 

“Sam! You’re gonna cramp my style!” he exclaimed, clutching his beret to his chest.

“What style?” Sam asked, eyeing his outfit skeptically.

Tucker huffed, patting off his hat. “You just wouldn’t get it.” He turned to Danny. “Look, man, if you’re really so doubtful, why don’t you try lying to her?”

Danny blinked. “How is that going to help?”

“You keep calling it a ‘soulmate theory’, so go and test it! If you can lie to her—it doesn’t have to be a big lie—then, uh, problem solved?”

“If you wanna call having a baddie as your romantic soulmate a problem,” Sam muttered under her breath.

“But,” Tucker continued, “if you can’t lie and she really is your soulmate, then you might as well test the limits at the same time. See how much of a non-truth you can get away with.”

–

Danny had gone and tested the theory and even confirmed it. He couldn’t outright lie to Valerie, but he could tell half-truths like, ‘Phantom took care of the ghost,’ or whatever. Technically true. But that was only if he was really thinking about it, which probably explained why Valerie kept telling the truth—because she had no idea. But now he had one more question: what now?

He could just tell Valerie about the soulmates thing—maybe if she learned that the universe wanted them together, she would reconsider giving up ghost hunting for him. He rolled over on his side. No, there was no way he wanted her to give that up for him. She was damn good and was becoming a hero for Amity Park in her own right. Maybe he could tell her about Phantom…and get shot on sight for overshadowing Danny Fenton or something. He didn’t think she’d actually do that, right? He groaned, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes until he saw stars. It’s not that he didn’t trust her, it was just that he’d been sitting on this thing for so long, and that was mostly for his own safety. Would it really just be as simple as him telling her and then everything being fine? 

Maybe by making the two of them (AKA the two people with the most to hide from each other) truth-telling soulmates was the universe’s way of telling them that they had absolutely no chance and that they should just give up. 

Or maybe, the universe was telling him to come clean. Crud. 

–

The next time Danny saw Valerie was outside the Nasty Burger, in the alleyway again. She looked tired as she exited the back way, still wearing the Nasty Burger uniform. Her long hair was all gathered up in a loose bun at the top of her head, with a few loose strands defying neatness here and there. She somehow made that cheap uniform look good. She must have just finished her shift. He felt guilty; maybe he should just try again when she wasn’t all worn out from working minimum wage. Before he could chicken out, though, she spotted him.

“Danny?” She walked up to where he was standing at the entrance of the alleyway. “What are you doing here?”

He opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off. “Whatever you’re holding behind your back better be my ice pack. Those things don’t come cheap, you know.”

“W-well,” his voice cracked, but he continued. “I do still have your ice pack, but before I give it back to you, there’s something similar I’d like to give you first.” 

Time to rip the bandaid off. He brought his hands to the front, showing Valerie whatever he had been hiding behind his back. She stared at it a moment, then gasped. She reached for it, and he let her take it from him. As she studied the ice anklet in her hands, she frowned, looking utterly confused. 

“Do you like it?” he asked, trying to muster some of his usual Phantom bravado. “It’s not as useful as a reusable ice pack, but I did add a little star charm here on the side.”

She looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “How do you have this? I—The last one melted.” 

He raised an eyebrow at her. She seemed so confused she hadn’t even realized that he shouldn’t know about it all. “The last one, Val?” he asked innocently.

Her eyes narrowed, and the air shifted. Danny felt like he was looking at the Red Huntress more than he was looking at Valerie. “Start talking,” she demanded, pointing the anklet at him like it was a deadly weapon. 

Danny raised his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. I have something—okay, I have, like, four somethings to admit, so can you promise to save any and all violence until I’ve gone through all of them?”

“Fine,” she gritted out, still eyeing him suspiciously. 

“The first is that I know you hunt ghosts—they call you the Red Huntress, even.”

“How?!”

He raised his hands even higher. “It’ll come up, I swear! The next thing I know is that you broke up with me because you were worried about putting me in danger, like with the ghosts and stuff.”

“Plus, you’re a scaredy-cat around anything ghost,” she muttered. 

Side comment aside, this was going better than Danny expected. “Tell me, Val: if I told you that you didn’t have to worry about me at all when it comes to ghosts, would you rethink your decision?” 

“Danny…” she looked hurt. “I know it was sudden, and honestly I still have feelings for you—” She covered her mouth.“What am I saying?” she asked, horrified. 

“Wait, no, that’s exactly related to the fourth thing!” he said. 

“What are you saying?” she demanded, turning the question on him, instead. Her cheeks were red from being embarrassed now, on top of being confused.

“Third thing first! Or… third. Look, the third thing I have to admit kinda explains a lot.” He took a deep breath, trying to mentally prepare to share the biggest secret he’s ever kept. But then that breath took a frigid turn—his ghost sense. Come on.

Somewhere on her person, Danny heard Valerie’s suit start beeping. She growled, and started sprinting down the alleyway. 

“Val, wait!”

“You stay right there, Danny. I mean it!” she shouted over her shoulder. As she ran, her suit suddenly started covering her body, until she threw out her hoverboard in front of her and hopped on seamlessly, taking off into the air.

He blinked. He’d never actually seen her transform before. That was freaking cool. 

Oh, right—the ghost. “I’m going gh—!” He stopped dead in his tracks. A big group was just exiting Nasty Burger, and a couple of them were giving him odd looks. “I’m going…in here!” he said, instead, running deeper into the alley.

–

“You’re late,” Red Huntress said to him in lieu of greeting. 

By the time Danny’d caught up with her, she’d already had the Box Ghost beaten down. He mostly just needed to show up with the thermos.

“Yeah, well, not all of us can transform as discreetly as you can,” he muttered. 

“What?” she asked. “You know what, nevermind. I have someone waiting on me.” She started turning around, back toward the alley.

“Wait!” He grabbed her wrist. She looked at him incredulously, but he didn’t let go. She didn’t fight back. They just stood there in the air, staring at each other for a moment. He was the first to break the silence.

“I, uh, have something for you,” he said, letting go of her arm and trusting her not to immediately bolt. He reached behind him and gave her something.

“My ice pack?” she asked softly, accepting it from him. “But I gave this to—” “To Danny. I know.” 

She just stared at him, eyes darting between him and the ice pack. Danny squirmed a little, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. 

“Oh, God.” Her eyes widened comically. “Dann–”

“Now why don’t we take this somewhere a bit more private,” he butted in quickly, pointing at the crowd that had gathered to watch the ghost fight from street level.

“Fine.”

Danny breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasn’t shooting him on the spot. “C’mon, I know a spot.

– 

Danny dangled his feet off the edge of the Ops Center, right on top of Fenton Works. Red Huntress—well, Valerie—sat next to him, her helmet off. Her hair was even messier now, her long curls waving in the wind. In one hand, she held her ice pack; in the other, she held the half-melted ice anklet. 

“All this time?” she asked, her voice soft. “It really wasn’t your dog, was it?” He shook his head. 

“That time when you wrecked my suit!” she said accusingly.

“I knew you weren’t in it, obviously, since I literally saw you right there next to it.”

“Then with my dad back when Pariah Dark was attacking?”

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Ah, that. I had to stop you somehow! Sorry.” She just rolled her eyes. 

“Here,” he said, “look.” He transformed back into regular old Danny Fenton. Valerie gasped, nearly dropping the ice pack and the anklet. 

“Whoa!” he said, helping her keep a hold of the two things. He cupped the hand holding the anklet and channeled a little of his ice powers. When he removed his hand, the anklet had been made whole again. “Neat trick, right? I can do some ghost stuff like this, but not as much as I can as Phantom.”

She barely acknowledged what he did with the anklet. She was still just staring at him with wide eyes. “So…you’re like Dani, then.” It was a statement, not a question.

He sighed. “Technically, Dani’s like me. She’s my clone.” 

She finally broke eye contact, looking into the horizon. “This is insane.”

“I know,” he said. “Like I told you last time, Val, I get it. More than you know. And that’s not even including the fourth thing yet.”

“You’re not done,” she deadpanned.

“Nope!” he said, popping the ‘p.’ “Have you noticed how, like, both of us have been weirdly…truthful around each other lately?”

“Yeah…like, me with the ice pack or you with the nasty surprise.”

He frowned. “Don’t remind me.” She let out a tiny giggle. “But, yeah. Try lying to me right now, Val.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, but obeyed. “I want to kil—to ki…to threaten you without actually following through.” It was her turn to frown. “Whoa.”

He nodded. “I can’t lie either—well, technically, I can tell, like, half-truths.”

“Like that time in the alley, when you said Phantom fought the ghost.” “Exactly. It wasn’t false, but I had to kinda concentrate to not tell the whole truth there. So…” he trailed off, not sure how to bring this up. “I know this is gonna sound crazy, but the fourth thing is—”

“You’re going to tell me that we’re truth-telling soulmates,” she said without any fanfare. Danny blinked at her. 

“I…you accepted that pretty easily.”

She shrugged. “My parents were truth-telling soulmates, too. This whole thing between us sounds pretty similar. How did we not notice this sooner?”

“I’m thinking it’s ‘cause we never really had a reason to lie to each other, back when we were dating. I mean, Technus was pushing everything around us to set us up perfectly, so there was never a need to lie to each other—”

“Technus was what?!”

“Oh, yeah.” Danny began listing things off on his fingers. “The lights going out in the restaurant so they had to use the fancy candles for us, the kiss cam catching us sitting together at the arena, the ferris wheel stopping at just the right moment. There’s more, but I can’t think of the rest right now.”

“So, Technus is a creep,” she concluded, which sounded fair enough to Danny. 

He continued with his explanation. “And then we only spent more time together as Phantom and Red Huntress later on…which is exactly when we started being weird around each other.”

A silence followed that went on for a while. Danny didn’t mind; he knew it was a lot to process. Heck, he’d been sitting on it longer and still hadn’t fully processed it yet. He leaned back on his elbows and just watched Valerie digest everything. There was a stray strand of her hair flapping against her face in the wind. He was suddenly overcome by the urge to tuck it behind her ear. He shook his head.

Valerie looked back at him, having noticed his staring. Her gaze was not unkind, but it was still plenty confused. Nonetheless, she reached for his hand. The ice anklet sat cold between their palms. 

“So,” she said, “what now?”

–

“Hurry up, ghost-boy!” Red Huntress yelled, going top speed on her hoverboard. “We’re going to be late!”

He rolled his eyes. Easy for her to say; he was the one who had to stay behind and suck up the ghost into the thermos. “Coming!”

He caught up to her in an alleyway. “Come on, transform already,” she said impatiently. 

“No way,” he said. “I have an idea.” 

“What—whoa!” she said, as he grabbed her by the shoulders, and turned them both intangible and invisible. “This is weird.”

“Shh! This only works if you don’t make noise,” he said, carrying them both from the alleyway and into Casper High. He deposited her in the girls’ bathroom, then transformed in one of the boys’ bathroom’s cubicles. 

Valerie greeted him with a smirk when they met outside the bathrooms. “Well, that was convenient.”

Danny shrugged. “Being half-dead has its perks.” 

She gave him a half-horrified, half-disbelieving look. “I’m still getting used to that.”

He shrugged again and reached for her hand. She had a lot to come to terms with—like the fact that she had a chip on her shoulder about all she’d done to him before she began to mellow out. But they were figuring things out together. She accepted his hand, and they walked to class together.