To Be Human (A Danny Phantom/Young Justice Fanfic)

Chapter One

"Danny! School!" Danny groaned as the sound of his mom's voice carried up the stairs from the kitchen, burrowing farther into his covers. No doubt Jazz was already there, eating breakfast with her nose in a psychology book. She hadn't had to battle Skulker at one in the morning though, so Danny thought he should get at least a little bit of a pass.

When his mom's footsteps started up the stairs, Danny dragged himself out of bed with another groan, muscles aching. Skulker's new guns really packed an ecto-infused punch.

Danny was just stumbling over to his closet when his mom knocked on the door. "Danny? Are you awake?"

"Yeah, Mom, I'm up," Danny called back, voice almost as dead as he was. "I'll be downstairs in just a minute."

There was a hesitation on the other side of the door, and Danny listened to the subtle shifts of his mom's body as she debated going back downstairs or not. Eventually, she just said a quiet, "Alright," and headed back down. Danny was thankful she didn't press it. He knew she'd already seen the news this morning. Even when his parents carefully kept it on the quietest settings they could, he could hear the buzz of the TV and the calm voice of the news anchor delivering the 'Ghostly Update' for the morning. He heard pretty much everything in the house, but they all pretended he couldn't. They all pretended he was just a normal boy, normal Danny Fenton.

Danny snorted at the thought, pulling a black and gray long-sleeved t-shirt over his head. Normal? He hadn't been normal for the last two years. Hell, it'd probably been longer than that. Just look at the rest of his family. Had he ever even had the chance to be normal? Danny decided not to open that particular box at six thirty in the morning and pushed it back into the cobwebbed recesses of his mind.

Checking that he had everything, Danny slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed downstairs for a quick bite before school. Jazz was, as expected, sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal and a thick textbook. His mom was at the stove, scrambling some eggs, and Danny could hear his dad downstairs in the lab. He sounded like he was pacing, muttering to himself about ways to regulate the times their ghost portal was active. Danny smiled to himself, knowing it was something his parents had been trying for almost the last two years and that, as much as they'd managed to do, they weren't likely to figure that dilemma out anytime too soon. He appreciated the thought though.

His mom turned and gave Danny a quick, somewhat strained smile when he reached behind her for a plate. "Good morning, Danny. Were you able to get some sleep?" The look in her eyes stopped him from giving the usual affirmative response. They weren't pretending to be normal right now.

"I guess. I think I crashed pretty hard after that fight with Skulker, but I'm still pretty tired." His mom dished some eggs onto his plate and motioned him to sit at the table while she grabbed a glass and pulled the orange juice from the fridge.

"I'm going to have a talk with the ghosts about all these nighttime shenanigans," she said seriously, setting the cup of juice in front of Danny a little harder than necessary. "Honestly, I thought they knew better. It's a school night."

Danny offered a small smile as he scooped eggs into his mouth, swallowing before saying, "I don't think they care if it's a school night, Mom."

"Well, they will when I'm done with them." She crossed her arms, and Danny decided not to push it. She was in her 'Mom Mode' so Skulker and any other ghosts his mom came across in the next twenty-four or so hours were screwed. Danny wondered if he'd get to watch his mom yell at the hunter ghost and co. "All these ghosts coming through all the time are seriously messing with your sleep schedule, and I know you've been worried about that English test coming up. Really, Danny, if you need to stop ghosting for a while, your dad and I can take care of things. Your education should be your top priority right now, not all this fighting nonsense."