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Party Hats and Space Binders by shewhoridesonrainbows
A/N: I would like to thank Soluscrow on tumblr for beta reading and answering any questions I had about being trans. A thank you to scribble-through-the-night of tumblr, too, for betaing for me. I'd also like to thank the anon that sent the prompt to me, I wrote more in the last 3 days for this than I have for anything else in the last year.
Danny's room was unusually loud on one stormy day. Dark, thunderous clouds had driven the party of teenagers indoors and all outside plans for the day were abandoned in favor of the warm, dry room. They could feel the piñata, left hanging from the tree out back, sending dirty looks up at them.
The birthday girl, Dani-with-an-'I', still had on a, slightly droopy, party hat as she totally creamed Danny at the video game he'd given her just earlier. Sam and Tucker were switching between cheering for her and rooting for him. Jazz was handing out towels, trying (and failing) to keep his bedspread from getting soaked. Dani was cackling with glee.
"This is the best birthday party ever!" she exclaimed after killing Danny's character, again. She turned and grinned down at him. He'd dropped his controller and flopped backwards on the floor, groaning the whole way down.
He barely turned his head to look at her, "This is only your second one, how would you know?" He propped himself up with his elbows and smiled back.
"Yeah," Tucker chimed in from his perch on the bed with a towel draped over his neck. He'd spread his precious electronics out in front of him, checking them over for any possible water damage. He looked down at them as he continued, "It's only been two years since you were..." He trailed off, not wanting to say the "C" word. The older teens around him also tensed a little bit; Jazz even stopped her insistent mother-henning.
"Since I was cloned. Yeah, I know," Dani finished for him with a roll of her eyes. Danny relaxed after seeing how nonchalant his cousin was being. "I'm the same age Danny was when we all met."
Dani froze, her eyes going distant and her eyebrows coming together. It was obvious she was thinking about something important. Danny sat all the way up and waited.
After a long, silent pause, Dani snapped her head up and looked curiously at Danny.
"Danny, why was I-" she stopped. Whatever question she had was plaguing her mind but she didn't know how to go about asking it. She glanced around at the older teens staring at her. Danny noticed her swallow before she started again.
"Danny, if I'm your clone, why am I a girl?" Everyone stiffened again. She took a breath and hurriedly continued. "I mean, all the other clones were guys, the only difference is that I was younger than them. What made me different?"
Danny's room was silent. Sam and Tucker looked nervously at Danny and Jazz stood next to them, all three waiting to see how Danny would react. Even the weather outside had gone quiet, like the clouds were waiting to see if there would be a storm indoors as well.
His loud exhale broke the silence around Danny. His right hand went up to rub the back of his neck while his left idly toyed with a thumbstick of the controller in front of him. Dani looked like she was ready to bolt. Another beat went by before someone spoke.
"Do you want us to leave?" Jazz asked, Sam and Tucker both nodded as if to say they would go the moment he asked. Danny was about to tell them to stay when an idea came.
