#phriendship

The sudden rumbling of thunder snapped Phantom to attention, quickly followed by a bright flash he saw from the corner of his eye. Phantom hadn’t realised how tense he was or how heavy his breathing had become until he heard the sound of something scraping. Jolted to awareness, he watched Danny close his second curtain and pull out some spare blankets from his cupboard. When he noticed Phantom was watching him, he gave him a sad smile.

“Want to build a blanket fort?”

“Umm…” Phantom flicked anxious eyes between the covered window, Danny and the door. “I should… see if your parents are done in the lab. Go back to the Ghost Zone.” He knew that wasn’t the case, no matter how much he hoped. The Fentons were in the process of installing new ghost proof blast doors over the portal, as well as a DNA lock so only the family could open them. It was going to be a long process and Phantom knew from what he’d overheard that they would be no where near done at this point in time.

Danny knew that too, because he frowned at the ghost. “They won’t be done for a long time yet. Come on, we can build the fort over the bed and watch movies on my laptop.”

Phantom would’ve argued further, he didn’t want to be here when there was a storm, but he realised what Danny was trying to do. The closed curtains and blanket fort would keep the lightning well out of his sight, and the movies were a distraction for his mind and senses.

Even now, Danny was still respecting his wishes not to talk about it, but he recognised Phantom’s fear for what it was and was trying to help him through it. Phantom felt the gratitude for his only friend increase.

He gave Danny a shaky smile, “Yeah, okay.”

They moved some of the furniture around, turning Danny’s room into a mess purely for the sake of building a giant fort around the bed. It was messy, considering they were trying to build it quickly and Phantom froze in terror whenever he heard or saw flashes from the storm. Danny said nothing during those times, only slowing his movements so as not to startle the ghost, and sometimes placing a comforting hand on his shoulder until he relaxed again. Phantom appreciated it.

Eventually they had a simple fort built, blankets held up by the dresser, table and chairs and weighted with whatever they could find. It was a small fit inside, encompassing the bed but low enough over their heads that they brushed the blankets if they sat up straight. But it was cosy and relaxing.

The two boys curled up on the bed surrounded by more blankets and pillows, the only light coming from the laptop in front of them. With the thicker blankets on the sides facing the windows, any flashes of lightning were impossible to see, calming Phantom even further.

Danny gave his gaming headphones to Phantom and the earbuds to himself, using an adapter to plug both in. With the added blocking of sound the headphones gave him, along with the raised volume of the movie, the sounds of the storm were muted enough for Phantom to block it out.

It took until halfway through the first movie for him to relax enough to lean into his friend. He accepted the arm that wrapped around him and they both became comfortable against the pile of pillows and cushions Danny stole from the living room.

“Wait,” he said, sounding breathless for all that ghosts had no need to breathe, “wait, there’s still danger. Walker’s guards are—“

Maddie’s rifle and Jack’s blaster began to buzz as they powered up a shot, and the ghost’s teeth clicked shut. He tried to inch backwards, but the bedsheet pulled taut and he collapsed onto his elbow.

“Wait,” he tried again, but Maddie had already waited several years and she wasn’t willing to wait for another chance like this.

She aimed her next shot at his forehead. He was too dangerous to hold captive for experiments, but one experiment they could perform right now was to see how much damage a ghost could take before they ceased to exist. She focused on the spot where white hair dangled between his eyebrows and squeezed the trigger just as her target was lost behind a red crossed out circle.

“Maddie!”

Jack shoved her barrel, and the released ecto-charged bullet grazed their son’s cheek and ruffled his black hair before it exploded against a building across the street. The rifle fell from Maddie’s hands. “Danny!”

Danny’s wide eyes stared back at them, his chest heaving for breath. The new cut along his cheek dripped blood down his jaw, but he didn’t seem to notice. He sprawled on the pavement where he had dropped in front of the Ghost Boy, one arm braced on the ground behind him, the other hooked over the ghost’s waist. He had lost his hat at some point, leaving his unkempt hair to tangle around his eyes.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Maddie exclaimed. She took a step forward, but stopped as the Ghost Boy shifted behind her son.

“M-me?” Danny asked, his voice cracking. “You were going to kill him!”

“He’s already dead, Danny!” Jack shouted. Maddie could see from the corner of her eye that he had lowered his blaster and was trembling.

Maddie didn’t care to argue about the Ghost Boy’s existence, not when her boy was pressed against the unstable creature. “He’s dangerous,” she said. She held out her empty hands and slowly stepped towards Danny. “Get away from him, Danny…”

As she got closer, his wide eyes narrowed and his lips pulled back from his teeth. “No, you get away from him! You’re the dudes who shot him!”

“Danny—“

“He wasn’t hurting anyone!”

The Ghost Boy sat up, the bedsheet no longer tied around his neck. He rested his forehead on Danny’s shoulder and placed an ectoplasm-covered hand on the opposite shoulder, bright green liquid soaking into the darker green fibers of Danny’s jacket. Maddie made a small protesting sound.

“I appreciate the rescue, Fenton,” the ghost said quietly, not using the thickened tenor of his voice he usually preferred, “but we don’t have time for this.”

Danny’s spine stiffened, and the arm he had hooked over the Ghost Boy’s waist pulled the ghost’s lower body further behind him. “Just shut up, dude,” he muttered. “Let me be the hero for once.”

The intimate way they spoke to each other made dread pool in Maddie’s stomach, and she stumbled to a halt. This wasn’t the spur-of-the-moment save of someone fooled into believing the Ghost Boy was a hero. They knew each other. How long? How deep did it go?

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Maddie’s breath caught because Danny had already given his answer.

He had jumped in front of a bullet to protect the ghost.

As his familiar blue eyes glared defiantly into hers, Maddie had the disquieting realization that her baby boy was almost seventeen. He wasn’t a child anymore. If they pushed him, he could leave, move in with Vlad or his friends, and they might never see him again. She could see it in the way Danny looked at her now, like she was one step away from doing something he saw as unforgivable. He had drawn a line between them and the Ghost Boy, and if they crossed it, they would lose him.

But why? What had they missed? What was so special about this ghost that Danny would choose him over his family?

Jack’s hand grabbed her shoulder. “C’mon, Mads,” he said softly, shakily, “there are other ghosts we have to hunt down.”

Maddie glared at where the Ghost Boy’s white hair draped over Danny’s shoulder before shifting her gaze to her son’s again. His expression hadn’t changed. Jack and Maddie could force the two apart, but it would be a matter of winning the battle and losing the war. Jack knew that all too well. He gently turned her away before her exhaustion and emotions could get the better of her.

She stooped to pick up her rifle and looked back over her shoulder as she stood. “We’ll be talking about this later, Danny.”

Her son raised his chin and flashed her a mocking smirk. “See you at dinner, Mom.”

The Ghost Boy lifted his head, his cheek pressing against Danny’s jawline. Tired green eyes met hers, but Maddie’s will to glare at him vanished as his and Danny’s faces aligned like a mirror. She froze, her heart stuttering until Jack’s hand guided her away from their son and the ghost who watched her go with a sad expression.