Seeing Double

Seeing Double - Part 2

Maybe he should have followed Jazz to the home theater. She was probably eating popcorn for dinner while watching boring football documentaries. What's so wrong with football anyway? Other than the way the sport inherently reminded him of Dash, that is.

But this was definitely worse. It was like going to a school dance with your parents. And also everyone else's parents. While you're the only person in the room born after the 1960s. Was it normal to bring your kid to your college reunion? It couldn't be, Danny was the only kid here.

He flinched as a new song began to play on the speakers over head. Oh no, this was his dad's favorite song. He was gonna track him down and make him dance that stupid pogo stick dance where they jump up and down like idiots. Time to get out of here.

For the first time Danny realized his stature was working in his favor. He slipped in between the other dancers easily and had almost made it across the room when he felt a meaty hand land on his shoulder.

Oh no.

"Listen Dad I can't dance right now," Danny said. "I really need to go to the bathroom!"

"That's not important," his dad said. "I need to talk to you about Masters."

Danny blinked. His dad never addressed Mr. Masters by his last name. It was always Vladdy or V-man or something. He squinted up at his father and was startled to note that the man stared back with strange green eyes. Green eyes!

"Phantom?!"

The ghost flinched with his father's face. "Let's talk somewhere else."

"What are you doing?!" Danny slapped the hand off his shoulder and spun around to directly face him. "Get out of him. Right now!"

"Wait," Phantom said. "It's not safe for me to-"

"If you don't get out of there right now I'm going to scream for my mom," Danny said. "I swear to God I will. And she'll, I don't know, vacuum you out. And then torture you!"

Phantom puppeteered his dad's arms to lift in mock surrender. "Fine. Meet me in the kitchen." Then he saluted.

Danny knew he was gone when his dad blinked, his eyes blue once again.

"Whoa," his dad said. "It took me so long to find you the song's almost over!"

Resigned, Danny allowed himself to get dragged back towards the dance floor.

oOo

"What the hell possessed you to think that it was okay to, to," Danny sputtered. "To actually posses my dad?!"

Phantom chuckled. "That one was weak."

They were standing in the pantry. Well, Danny was standing. Phantom was floating. And glowing faintly, enough that they could see each other without a light.

"Seriously," Danny said. "What are you doing out here anyway? I didn't know ghosts could just..."

"Leave the place they haunt?" Phantom reclined in the air, floating on his back now. "It's not always as simple as that." He cradled his head in his palms, fingers interlocked, elbows sticking out. "Ghosts are more complex than you Fentons give us credit for."

"Yeah, yeah my parents are racist, spare me," Danny said. "I thought this was urgent?"

Phantom frowned. "It's Masters."

"What about him?"

"He's possessed," Phantom said. "There's this really powerful ghost-"

"Wait you mean like the way you possessed my dad two seconds ago?" Danny grabbed the back of Phantom's jumpsuit and tugged him out of the air. He overestimated just how light the ghost was and pulled with too much force, falling backwards as Phantom bounced against his chest.