Lemme set the scene: Amity Park, in the Fenton's kitchen. Danny is about 22-25, still living with his parents because they love him and want to support him, and heroism doesn't pay the bills. He's helping Box Ghost and Box Lunch work on a special birthday parfait for their most favorite Lady, and the kitchen is an absolute mess. None of them are very good at cooking.
Their latest attempt is a violent pink color. It smells... bad. Even by ghost standards, it smells bad. Just looking at it swirling around in the cup makes Danny queasy.
"Are you sure we got the right stuff for this? Isn't it supposed to be red?" He asks. He knows that ghostly materials can be fickle, especially those dang plants.
"Of course! I searched high and low for these leaves," Boxy said proudly, motioning to the basket that they'd pretty much emptied with their failed attempts.
"The book said, 'pink leaves with upside down hearts on them,'" Box Lunch added with a firm nod. "I read it."
"Okay, well, this can't be right. It's supposed to be a nice light red, isn't it? Not... this?"
Danny sighed and dumped this one down the drain too. He winced at the gurgle in the pipes. Right, maybe ghost foods didn't react well to human plumbing...
He looked over the mess and ran his hands through his hair.
"Okay, we're all out of leaves. Let's call it a day, meet back here tomorrow."
"But we only have three days left before momma's birthday!" Box Lunch protested.
"Yeah, and I only have an hour left before I gotta go meet Jazz and her boyfriend for dinner. I gotta get this mess cleaned up. Listen, I love helping you guys, but we can only do so much in one day."
Boxy scooped his daughter up and put her on his shoulders, making her smile a bit.
"Okay, we'll see you later Danny."
The father-daughter duo laughed and flew off to head home. Danny turned to the mess and started cleaning up, unaware of the chaos he'd just caused his hometown.
The messed up parfait was making its way through the water supply now, getting its grubby little atoms all in every pipe. Ghost food really does not play well with humans. Especially ghost food that was prepared wrong, using the wrong ingredients. Just one mistake on the type of leaf- they needed red with a normal heart on it- and now a very potent love potion was making its way through Amity Park.
Citizens all over the city were taking drinks, and restaurants were even serving water from the tap. It didn't take long for a news story about awful tasting and smelling tap water to pop up. Danny had just started the dishwasher and was passing by Maddie on the couch when he heard the news.
"Must be another algae bloom. We get those from time to time, I'm sure people are just being dramatic."
She flipped her goggles back down and got back to work welding.
Danny let out a nervous laugh.
"Yeah, algae bloom. Uh, I'm gonna go meet up with Jazz."
He tossed his jacket on and jogged out of the house, heading for Nasty Burger. Jazz's boyfriend used to be a manager there, so he hooked them up with free or cheaper meals.
Box Lunch was poring over her mom's cookbook, trying to figure out what went wrong, when she squinted at the picture on the page for the parfait.
"Uhhh... Daddy?" She called, suddenly very worried. Boxy came into the room.
"I think we used the wrong leaves..."
She pointed at the image, and as Box Ghost read the description and peered at the diagram a bit, his eyes went wide.
"That doesn't say what those other leaves do, does it?"
"...Let's go ask your mother," he said hurriedly. He took the book and rushed to the bathroom, where Lunch Lady was putting in her curlers for the night.
"What would, say, a drink made with pink heart leaves do to someone?"
"Well, that depends. What color pink? And what kind of heart?"
"Uhh... like, let's say, a... kind of rosy pink, and upside down hearts?"
"Oh, those make love potions, silly. I thought I taught you the ones to look out for."
He shuffled awkwardly, and she finally looked over at him with a pleasant smile.
"Are you teaching Box Lunch about them?"
"Well... Uh... we were trying to make you a birthday parfait-"
"Oh, that's so thoughtful!"
"And we might have used the wrong leaves."
"We uh- Used the wrong leaves. And we enlisted Danny Phantom's help, and-"
"Oh, please don't tell me you dumped it down the drain."
She got up and rushed toward the door.
"Come on! If we hurry we can make the antidote!"
"Antidote?!" He cried as he flew after her, tossing the book on the couch.
Box Lunch hurried over and took her mom's outstretched hand.
"The only way to save those who've drank the love potion from an eternity of gross, sappy puppy love is to either get them an antidote, or to have them kiss their true love. And I doubt humans find true love as easily as ghosts."
She flew out the door, her husband worriedly following her. He just hoped Danny hadn't drank any.
When Danny got home late that night, it was after hours of searching for some kind of 'Cupid' ghost. He was sure there was one. After all, why else were there so many googoo couples all over the place? Ugh, the puppy love made him sick. They were just- ew. Tiny smooches and cringe little pet names, holding hands and cupping faces and rubbing cheeks. It was weird. And gross. And everyone who wasn't like that was weirded out.
He finally came home and headed for the kitchen to get himself a nice cool glass of water before bed.
"Cupid... Cupid... more like 'stupid,'" he joked with a snort, shaking his head. That joke was stupid, he could do better.
He turned to lean against the counter, full cup in hand now, as he heard heavy footfalls down the stairs.
Jack came into the kitchen, yawning, and gave Danny a bleary-eyed smile.
"Hey kiddo. How was your dinner with Jazzy?"
"Oh, good. She told me all about how her thesis is coming along."
He took a sip of his water as Jack opened the fridge, and promptly spat it right back out.
"Oh, ew! Gross, that's awful!"
He shook his head and dumped the offending liquid down the sink.
"Oh, the water? Good thing I got bottles!" Jack said, as cheerful as ever. Danny looked over toward him and froze. Woah... When had his dad ever looked so... well, 'daddy?'
Jack looked over at him, and as soon as they locked eyes that effect took over. Lids drooped, goofy smiles spread.
