Trans Danny Phantom oneshots

Divulge

Divulge

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"Mom? Dad? Can I talk to you?"

Of course, Maddie Fenton is prepared for anything when her twelve year old daughter walks into the kitchen with bloodshot eyes and tear-streaked cheeks near midnight three days before her first day of middle school. It could be anything from a simple crush or nerves about starting a new school to the recently reoccurring nightmares that have been shaking her up so badly that she can't even tell them what they're about.

She and Jack have been nursing cups of coffee in the middle of what's bound to be a long night of calculations. Papers are strewn across the table in haphazard piles mixed with sparking prototypes and their slightly charred blueprints. She's determined to get a Ghost Portal working someday, but there's no way that's possible unless they get something else working first. Anything else. At this point, she doesn't care what.

She clears one of the chairs (also covered in charts and papers) and grabs her daughter's hand, pulling her gently toward it. "Of course, sweetheart. Do you want some hot chocolate?" She's already halfway to the stove, refilling Jack and hers mugs and filling up the kettle.

Her daughter shrugs noncommittally and wipes some of the tears from her face with the back of her hand.

Jack, cheery as ever, doesn't seem to notice how she's sniffling. "Danielle! Just in time! Come take a look at this - the electric currents are designed to capture ectoplasmic radiation and draw it in!"

She gives him a half-smile and backs away from the dented thermos he's holding out to her. "Um. That's great, Dad." Her voice cracks just slightly.

"Isn't it?" He grins and takes a swig from his coffee mug. "It's not quite ready to hold ghosts yet, but hey - it'll hold soup!" His eyes lock on the coffee pot. "And maybe even coffee..."

The kettle starts to screech just in time, drawing him away from testing the device with a perfectly good pot of Maddie's favorite coffee. She shifts it away from him wordlessly and makes Danielle a big mug of hot chocolate with just a sprinkle of cinnamon, just the way she likes it. "Here you go, honey," she says as she sets it down on a clear bit of table and presses a kiss to her daughter's forehead. "You wanted to talk to us?"

Danielle nods and pulls the mug closer, peering into it thoughtfully as if hot chocolate holds the answers to the world.

Something's been wrong the past few weeks. Of that, Maddie's sure. She may not be the most present mother in the world, always in the lab or doing research, but she knows when her children are going through a rough time. Danielle hasn't cleared her plate all summer, hasn't spent any time outside unless she's walking to Tucker's house. She hasn't even gone to the community pool to swim and spend time with her other friends.

She's privately glad that Danielle came to them, because she hasn't been sure how to go to her.

Danielle breaks the silence suddenly. "You love me no matter what, right?" She won't meet their gaze.

Maddie sees Jack frown from the corner of her eye as she reaches for his hand. "Of course we will, Dani," he says with the same sort of passion he says everything else.

She takes a deep breath that rattles her shoulders. "Even if I was messed up? Even if I was a ghost or something? Not," she adds quickly, "that I'm a ghost. They don't exist. Jazz said so."

"Dani," Maddie says slowly. She's not entirely sure where Danielle is planning on going with this, but if she was worried before, she's terrified now. She's never seen her daughter look so petrified, not even when the Christmas turkey tried to attack.

She looks up from her hot chocolate, green eyes watering and wide. "Even if I was a boy? Because I am. I think I am. I feel like one."

Relief crashes through Maddie's body like a tidal wave, pushing her out of her chair to envelope her child in a hug. She'd been so worried about danger, about trouble, but this? This she can handle. Jack moves with her, like a synchronized unit, and they become a huddle of Fentons in the middle of the kitchen, the smallest one crying hysterically in the middle.

"Sh, sh." Jack cradles him in his arms and pushes the long hair off his face. "It's okay, it's all okay, Dani - uh. I mean -"

"Daniel," he says through sniffles sniffles. "Danny. Or whatever. I don't care. That's what Tucker's been calling me. Danny's fine. With a 'y.'" He hiccups, almost spilling his hot chocolate in the process.

Maddie takes the mug out of his care and sets it on the table before rejoining the hug. "We'll always love you, Danny with a 'y,'" she promises and presses a kiss to first her son's forehead and then her husband's cheek. "No matter what."

"Proud of you, son," Jack adds, the words rolling of his tongue as easily as if they'd always been there. "You've been brave. Not that it's a shock - us Fenton men are always brave!'

Danny laughs, shaking his head. "All right, Dad. If you say so."

Tomorrow, there'll be things to do. Research and talking and trying harder to truly understand, because she knows it's an ugly world out there and she's going to do her best to learn how to fight that. Shopping and appointments to make, because she has a feeling her son - who argues every time he's supposed to wear a skirt - won't want to start the school year with Jasmine's frilly pink hand-me-downs. Catching up on work, because these calculations and recalibrations will have to wait.

But now, the most important thing is to sit here and be with their son.