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Chapter Text

The first time Danny’s life was changed by a portal, he had only been 14 years old. 

Sam had encouraged him to check out his parents' ghost portal and see what he could do to fix it for them. 

Of course, that was the day he gained his ghost powers; in a flash of green, electricity shooting through his entire body. 

It was the day where he began his destiny to protect his city from ghost attacks. 

It was also the day he died. Technically. Half-way, at any rate. 

The second time Danny’s life was changed by a portal, he was 21 years old.

 His ghost powers had advanced nicely, becoming one of the most powerful beings in the entirety of the Ghost zone, if not the universe as a whole. He was able to easily capture ghosts now, making his duty as “protector of amity park” a much easier feat. 

He was even stronger than Vlad Masters in many ways, the only person who could rival Danny’s strength. 

Danny’s parents, having learned about Danny’s powers a few years back, had no need to continue ghost hunting as intensely as they did prior. Still needing something to occupy their time, however, they turned to a new form of research; alternate realities. 

It was a concept Danny knew all too well, thanks to both the mishap with Dan and the time he changed the course of Vlad’s ecto-acne. He tried to discourage them from learning more, but the pair carried on anyway. 

Which is when they created a new portal; this one was triangular, tall, and much stronger than the ghost one. This was a portal that could bring you into a whole new universe. 

And of course, by some twisted sense of fate, Danny had walked into the lab to talk to his parents in human form. Except, as soon as he did, he began to float off the floor and towards the portal. 

He could hear his parents screaming, could see them scrambling to grab something to drag him back, but by the time they managed he was already being yanked inside the swirling blue of light. The last thing he saw was his parents’ horrified expressions plaguing their faces, before everything went dark. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been 10 years before Stanley Filman Pines saw his twin brother again. 

10 years of scamming and conning, of prisons and streets, of crappy food and cheap motels. 

10 years of loneliness, of regret, and of misery. 

When he first saw the post card, he thought that maybe helping his brother could be his chance at making amends and turning a new leaf. He hoped that maybe, just maybe, they could be not only brothers but also best friends again. 

He was wrong. 

“You left me behind, you jerk! It was supposed to be us forever! You ruined my life!” Stanley screamed. 

“You ruined your own life!” Stanford yelled in return, kicking Stan in the gut and knocking him back.

Pain exploded on his shoulder as Stan pressed against a burning hot mark on one of Ford’s pieces of machinery. He collapsed to the floor, desperately trying to hold onto his shoulder. 

Ford left me behind… He wants nothing to do with me anymore, he hates me. 

He hurt me…

Well if that’s how he wants to play, then fine. Stan will join him. 

“Stanley! Oh my gosh I’m so sorry! Are you alri- OW!” Ford’s apologies were interrupted when Stan socked him in the jaw and knocked him into the portal room. 

Ford stumbled back, dropping his journal and only stopping when he ran into a lever on the floor. 

“Some brother you turned out to be,” Stan growled, picking up the journal with one hand while still holding his aching shoulder with the other. “You care more about your dumb mysteries than your familly- Well then you can have them!” he snapped, shoving the journal into Ford’s hands. 

He fully intended on turning around and leaving, but upon shoving Ford the strangest thing happened…

Ford yelped as he began to float off the ground, scrambling as he tried to find some sort of purchase to hold onto. 

“Woah woah, hey! What’s going on?!” Stan questioned, eyes widening. “Hey, hey, Stanford!” He ran up to the yellow and black caution lines, reaching out for his brother. 

“Stanley! Stanley, help me!” Ford yelled. 

“Oh no! What do I do?!” Stan questioned as he tried to find some way to help. He could do nothing but watch as his brother floated closer and closer to the swirling blue of the portal behind him. 

“Stanley! Stanley, do something!” Ford yelled, throwing his journal towards his brother.

“Stanley!” Ford screamed as he was sucked into the portal. Stan caught the journal just before he was blown back in a flash of light…

When he came to, he quickly scrambled up and paused. 

There was a figure lying on the ground in front of the portal… Stanford?!

“Stanford, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?! I swear, I didn’t mean it!” Stan gushed as he raced toward the figure. He abruptly stopped in his tracks, however, upon seeing the young man laying before him. 

It certainly was not Stanford. The man had to be barely in his 20s, with fluffy black hair and tan skin. He was wearing white and red shirt with jeans and sneakers, and he was clearly beaten up and bruised. 

Stan took a cautious step forward and nearly jumped back when the figure groaned and slowly began to sit up. 

“Mom? Dad?” The figure asked, slowly blinking open bright blue eyes and looking around. They quickly spotted Stan and the pair froze, staring at each other with equal faces of shock, concern, and most of all, worry. 

Both men yelled at once, “Who are you?!” They both blinked in surprise and Stan resisted the urge to snort at the stupidity of it. There were way more pressing issues going on. 

The man looked around and recognition flashed across his face when he spotted the portal behind him. “Okay, so I’m guessing this is how I got here…” he muttered. He turned back to Stan. “Look, it doesn’t matter who you or I am okay? This portal here, I was accidentally sucked into one. I just need to go through this one and get back-” He made to stand and gasped out in pain, falling to his knees as he held his stomach. 

Just then, the portal began to shake. Acting on instinct, Stan rushed forward and barely managed to pull the strange man away when a huge chunk of metal came crashing to the floor. 

“No, no, no!” Both men exclaimed as they watched the portal fall apart before them. 

Letting go of the strange man, Stan rushed forward to the portal. “No! Don’t do this to me, I just got him back!” He began to bang his fists against the machinery. “Stanford! Stanford come back! I didn’t mean it! Stanford! ” He cried out. 

“Mom! Dad! Jazz!” He could hear the man gasp out behind him and turned just in time to see him fall once more to his knees. The young man looked at the portal with tears springing into his eyes, ignoring Stan’s existence completely. Stan finally noticed the blood starting to pool from the other’s stomach. 

Stan decided then to worry about getting this mysterious man some help first and foremost. He’ll find Ford after. He has to. 

Stan walked over and held out a hand to the other. “My name is Stanley Pines,” he said. 

The other looked at him with concern for a moment, before taking his hand. Stan helped yank him to his feet. 

“My name is Danny. Danny Fenton,” the other said as he stood, having to lean on Stan for support. 

“Well Danny, let’s get you fixed up and while we do, you can explain to me how the hell you got here. Sounds good?” Stan asked, starting to lead the young man towards the elevator. 

Danny nodded. “Sounds good to me.” 

Chapter Text

The monster stood, arms folded behind its back as he watched the scene laid out before him. 

“It’s all coming together…” It chuckled, high pitched and menacing within the void. Soon, soft music began to fill the room and the triangle hummed along, watching what happened with a strange sort of reverence.

“ We’ll meet again~ ”

One brother punching the other, a brawl taking place as they struggled to over power the other.

“ Don’t know where~ ”

A dark-haired man began to walk down the stairs as his parents clung to heavy objects, watching a metal hole in front of them. 

“ Don’t know when~ ”

Floating, scrambling, screaming, falling-

“But I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day ~ ” The beast sang, watching with a twinkle in its eye as two figured collapsed out of separate portals…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stan helped Danny clean and bandage the gash they found on the younger man’s stomach. The assumption was that he got it when falling out of the portal, though they weren’t entirely certain. Danny, in turn, helped Stan clean up and bandage the burn across his shoulder. He didn’t ask where Stan got the wound. 

They sat in silence for a long while after, sitting at the small kitchen table Ford kept in his house. The tension was awkward, and uncertain, as if neither person knew how to interact with the other. 

Finally, Danny broke the silence. 

“So… the portal… How’d you-?” Danny began. 

Stan interrupted gruffly. “Not mine.”

“Oh… Okay… Then… whose-?” 

Stan sighed, running a hand through his mullet. He was silent for a long moment, looking around the room to avoid making eye contact with the other. 

“... My brother’s… Stanford. He- he made it. I’m not sure what it does-” 

“It’s an interdimensional gateway connecting to another point in another universe and bringing the two realities closer together, almost like a wormhole.” Danny said, matter of factly. 

Stan stared at him with a mixture of shock and confusion. “I- have no idea what any of those words mean.” 

Danny snorted, stifling a small smile. “Basically, it brings you to a whole other plane of existence. And since I’m here, in- whatever this place is, then that means your brother must be in my hometown, Amity Park.” 

Stan nodded slowly and Danny could practically see the gears turning in his head, before they finally clicked into place and the older man’s eyes widened. “Wait, that means your from a different dimension?!” 

Danny nodded. “I assume so, though we won’t be entirely sure unless we googled it-” 

Stan stared at him blankly. “Goo… gelle?” 

Danny frowned. “Do you not have google? Or the internet? Actually- what year is it even?” 

“It’s 1982. Also, to answer your earlier question, we’re in Gravity Falls, Oregon.” Stan stated incredulously. 

Danny’s eyes widened. “So not only did I travel to another dimension but I also traveled back in time ?!” 

Stan shrugged with a mixture of concern and panic on his face. “I- Guess so?” 

Danny groaned, rubbing his hands down his face. “Okay- Okay, well, Oregon is familiar which means we must be in the United states, correct?” Stan nodded. “So that at least means this universe is very similar to my own. Which also means…” Danny’s expression brightened. “Which also means any materials my parents used for their portal may be in this universe! We could probably fix your brother's portal!” 

Stan frowned. “You think so? I’m not exactly a mechanic-” 

“I grew up studying all sorts of strange contraptions and inventions, and I helped my parents build our portal back home. If we can get your brother’s portal fixed, we just need to figure out what sort of code he set in place to activate it and be able to bring me back home, and bring him back home as well!” Danny exclaimed, jumping up and wincing when it pulled his still-healing wound. His healing factor kicked in a while ago though, so the strain thankfully didn’t cause it to re-open. 

Stan’s eyes widened again, something akin to hope brightening his own expression. “We… could bring him home…?” 

Danny’s expression softened at the other and he nodded. “We could bring him home…”

Stan stood. “Well then, let’s see what we’re working with.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They spent day after day working on the portal. 

It was obvious that the pair was using the distraction to ignore the grief filling both of their hearts and minds, but they didn’t mention it. Just like they didn’t mention when they heard the other break out into sobs in the middle of the night, through the walls of the house. They both wanted nothing more than to get back to their family and there was no need to dwell on finical things like emotions until they could. 

Setbacks often occurred, since Stan didn’t know anything about engineering or electronics, Danny didn’t know entirely how his parents built their portal and had to guess, and worst of all because they didn’t have the other two journals in their possession. Stan had explained the way to operate the portal was located in three journals, but they only had one, so that meant a lot of their work was guessing and hoping. 

There were also times one or both men grew entirely too frustrated and angry and accidentally broke more of the portal than fixed. 

As they worked, they mindlessly chit-chatted to fill the silence. Stan told stories about the adventures he had with his brother, about the time he screwed up everything by mistakenly breaking his brother's science fair project, and his subsequent life after.

He talked about the scams he pulled and the places he was arrested for absolutely ridiculous crimes. ‘ Pug trafficking?! That’s a thing?!’

In return, Danny told Stan about his family; his ghost hunting parents and his psychoanalytical sister, how they invented a machine to let ghosts through and how Danny and his best friends started the practice of tracking down those ghosts and bringing them back to the ghost zone. They grew closer, and slowly a tenuous, but genuine, friendship formed. 

He failed to mention that he was a half-ghost himself, though. More importantly, that he was now king of said ghosts (including Vlad Plasmius, albeit reluctantly). He also failed to mention Vlad, Dani, and Dan. Stan didn’t need to know about all that. Not yet anyway.

Eventually, they started to run out of food in the house and had no choice but to go to the local convenience store, Dusk 2 Dawn. 

The trip started uneventful, with the pair only grabbing some cheap bread and peanut butter. It was when they were in line that things took a turn. 

“Just the bread and peanut butter then there are strangers? That’ll be 2 dollars and 99 cents!” The cashier, a kind old lady who owned the store with her husband, said. 

Stan dug into his pocket and frowned when he pulled out a paper clip and some lint. He could’ve sworn he had money-!

Danny frowned too and was about to speak when a young lady intruded. “Hey! That’s no stranger! You must be the mysterious science guy that lives in the woods! And his partner!” Murmurs broke out amongst the people within the store, and soon a crowd formed around the pair. 

Danny and Stan paled. “Uh- Uh-! No no, you got the wrong guys!” Stan panicked, quickly tugging the strings of his jacket hood, pulling it further onto his head. Danny frowned, quickly trying to think of a way to get out of this situation. 

“I’ve heard some strange stories about that old shack!” Someone exclaimed. . 

“Ya! Spooky lights and spooky experiments!” Someone else chipped in. 

The old lady’s husband walked over to her, wrapping an arm around her as he chuckled, “Gosh! I’d pay anything to see what kind of shenanigans you get up to in there!” 

The lady from earlier butted in. “Oh me too! Do you boys ever give tours?” 

Danny started, “No, really, we-” and then paused upon seeing Stan’s expression. The older man looked as though a lightbulb went off in his head, as he glanced down at his hand still filled with garbage, and then up at Danny. A determined look flashed across his features and he sighed, before he broke out in a grin, throwing off his hood and turning towards the crowd. 

“Yes, we do give tours! Ten, no no, fifteen bucks a person!” 

There was silence for just a moment, before cheers broke out across the crowd and people scrambled to grab money, waving their wads of cash excitedly through the air. Stan and Danny’s eyes widened. 

“So!” The lady walked over and nudged Stan gently. “What did you say your names were, you man of mystery and his sidekick?” 

“I’m Danny Fenton,” Danny hesitantly said. 

“Oh, I’m Stan-!” Stan hesitated, then added, “Ford… Stanford Pines.” 

Danny frowned and grabbed Stan’s arm. “If you could excuse us for one second please.” He tugged the other away from the crowd and out of ear shot as he whispered harshly, “Stan, what are you doing ?” 

“I know this seems crazy, but this is perfect! We can just give them a look around at Ford’s crazy inventions, make some cash, and bam. We’ll be fine!” 

“Stan, you’re pretending to be your brother!” Danny rubbed his hands across his face. “This- this is a horrible idea-”

Stan set a hand on Danny’s shoulder and the younger pair dropped his hands to look at him. “Look, Danny,” Stan sighed, “I need you to trust me on this. I know this is insane, but- This is what I’m good at. I’m good at scamming suckers out of their money and pretending to be someone I’m not. This may end horribly, but what choice do we have? We need to pay for Ford’s mortgage somehow, as well as for bills and things like groceries. And for certain… other activities… Please. Just- follow my lead on this.” Stan pleaded. 

Danny’s frown deepened but he eventually gave in and nodded. “Fine… I’ll trust you. But I’m not going to get involved more than I have to, okay?”

“That’s totally fine.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At first, Stan and Danny thought the tour was going to go horribly. Especially after the young lady, who they learned was named Susan, was zapped by one of Ford’s old machines and subsequently resulted in her having a lazy eye. But somehow, Stan managed to turn it around and the crowd loved it. 

It wasn’t long after that that Danny was forced to help Stan clean up sections of the shack, turning the place from a home into a part-museum. They turned the secret bookcase down into the lab into a vending machine, changing the rest of that upper room into a gift shop so the vending machine blended in. 

By day, Stanley Pines became Stanford “Mister Mystery” Pines… and by night, Danny and Stan were down in the basement doing whatever they could to get the portal up and running. 

Before the pair knew it, weeks went by. Then months. And soon, a year passed since Ford and Danny were lost to their respective portals. 

Chapter Text

Danny was shocked with how long he was able to hide his ghost side from Stan. 

Sure, the man was very oblivious and Danny was being careful, but there were often moments where Danny was certain the other man would find out. 

There was one instance where, when working on the portal, Danny tripped and nearly face planted into some important machinery. Had he not turned intangible and rolled away from the machines when he did, they could have lost so much of their progress. 

Thankfully, Stan had been turned away at that moment. When he turned back, Danny was simply laying on the floor and rubbing his head. Stan made a joke about Danny being too light on his feet, and that was that. The crisis was averted. 

Another time, Danny was in his room quietly talking to one of his clones. It was a skill he mastered about two years before the portal incident, and he used the ability frequently so that he could make sure nothing tried to harm the shack or discover the secret Danny and Stan kept in the basement. Normally, Stan didn’t bother them or would knock before he came in so Danny didn’t think he needed to worry while the clone filled him in on some stuff happening around town. 

But of course, today was the day Stan decided to barge into the room. The pair of Dannys froze in shock, quickly trying to come up with an explanation of why there were two of them… but paused upon seeing Stan stumbling, glasses missing, and clearly drunk out of his mind. 

“Stan… you okay?” Danny questioned. 

Stan blinked absently at Danny before he grinned dopily and slurred out, “Danny boy, my man! When did you create more of you?” Stan laughed before he stopped abruptly and stared at Danny critically. “... Do you have a twin?” 

“Uh-” Danny gulped. “Well, you see-” 

The thought was interrupted though, when Stan suddenly fell flat on his face and passed out. 

As weird as the situation had been, Danny counted his blessings and brought Stan to bed. 

The closest incident by far was when a Karen of a woman started a fight with Danny over the no  refund policy, one day in the gift shop. 

It had been a stressful day already, since normally Danny didn’t cashier (they hired young teens who needed a small job typically, as a way to let the kids get some work experience before they headed into the real world) but the cashier they had called in sick. 

The woman wouldn’t back down, but neither would Danny. Somehow, the situation escalated enough for Danny to become truly pissed off. He could feel his eyes becoming greener and greener during the entirety of the interaction, and eventually gave in to the leakage of power as he stared down the woman with anger. 

She froze in shock when she finally took notice of Danny’s neon green, glowing eyes and proceeded to run out of the shack screaming about witchcraft without getting a refund. 

Danny considered it a win, but that also meant he had to calm down and he ran to the bathroom and hid. 

For some reason, he really struggled with getting his powers under control. It was almost like they were acting of his own accord, something that hadn’t happened since he was 14 and recently learned about his powers. It was… strange. 

Stan heard about what happened and came to the door, knocking. “Danny, you okay?” 

“I- I’m fine!” Danny squeaked, wincing when he noticed his voice let out a ghostly echo. 

“You sure? You seemed really upset about that bitch earlier. Do you need anything?” 

“I- I’m-!” Danny gripped the edge of the sink hard and his eyes widened when he heard a crack , glancing down to see that his hands were glowing a bright green. He was certain Stan was gonna see the color, or come barging in and witness what was happening. 

Why was this happening?!

But to Danny’s surprise, Stan just sighed. “Alright, I’ll leave you be. But if you need anything, let me know okay?” And he just… walked away. 

It took Danny all of 10 minutes to calm down and he stared at his hands afterwards wondering why the frustration was so hard to manage. 

Similar instances happened every once in a while, particularly on days where Danny was reminiscing and missing home, or when he was frustrated with the portal or customers. It wasn’t particularly often, he mostly had a grasp on his abilities, but the fact that it happened enough still bothered Danny. He worried constantly about the older man discovering Danny’s abilities and freaking out. He wasn’t quite sure why he was so anxious about Stan discovering he was half-ghost though. 

Part of him thought it was because Stan was so new to his life. Back in Amity, everyone knew he was half-ghost already. They learned around the time he turned 18, when he had to accept his coronation as the King of All Ghosts and revealed to the world that Danny Fenton was also Danny Phantom . Which in turn led to Vlad Masters being revealed as Plasmius, and the subsequent truce being settled between the two halfas and the government that followed soon after. 

Needless to say, he hadn’t had to worry about hiding his identity after all that. But this was a new town, a new universe , where no one knew who Danny Phantom was. It was safer for everyone if they were kept in the dark. 

But the other side of Danny knew the real reason he kept it hidden was simply because… 

He was scared. 

He was in a whole new place and had just barely managed to find someone who was willing to help him get home. Had Stan’s brother not gotten sucked into the portal… who knows what would have happened to Danny. As much as he hated to say it, he was grateful that things worked out the way they did. But if Stan learned just how different and inhuman Danny was… he just didn’t want to scare the other man away. 

Of course, he still used his powers, especially after progress on the portal grew stagnant and the pair knew they had to find the other two journals before they were able to activate it. They had tried a couple times, but the threat of ruining their progress stopped them until they could find the journals. 

Since Stan had to run the Mystery Shack, Danny offered to go search for the journals himself. Stan had worried about the younger being alone in the woods, but after Danny reminded him that his mother, a trained black-belt and ghost hunter,  had insisted on teaching Danny all sorts of self-defense, the older eased up. 

Without Stan knowing, Danny would go ghost and fly around the forest in search of whatever he could find that would lead to the journals. 

He never could seem to find them. He tried to use the journal they did have as reference, even going so far as to hunt down each and every creature written inside it to see if the strange and out-right weird beasts that lurked in the woods could have anything they needed, to no avail. 

Day after day, week after week, Danny searched and searched and searched . 

Stan tried to help every once in a while too, but every single time there was nothing . 

And it was on one of the days when Stan came to help search, a year into Danny’s time in Gravity Falls, that everything went wrong. 

“Come on old man! Keep up!” Danny laughed, agility jumping over a fallen log. Since Stan was joining him, he wasn’t able to use his ghost powers. But after years of being trained by his parents and fighting ghosts, the halfa easily dodged and stepped over any and all hurdles in his path. 

Stan, however, was not as quick on his feet. Thus, he was trailing far behind Danny. 

“Why do you have to be so damn fast?! It's not fair!” The older groaned, stumbling a bit as he tripped over a rock. 

Danny beamed, turning around and walking backwards , somehow avoiding every obstacle in his path still. “Maybe because I’m just more skilled!” Stan’s jaw dropped, stopping in his tracks. 

What Stan didn’t know, or see, was the clone that invisibly walked ahead of Danny and warned him of the obstacles, or Danny turning portions of his body intangible in order to avoid tripping or being hit. 

Stan huffed and began to walk once more. “You’re cheating! Being from another dimension means you-” The man was interrupted when Danny shrieked, suddenly being swept off his feet and into the air by a net of sorts. 

“Agh! What the fuck is this?!” Danny snapped, struggling. Stan started to run over. 

All of a sudden, a resounding cheer from hundreds of voices filled their ears and they were surrounded by hundreds of tiny men, all with beards and pointed red hats. 

“Queen! Queen! Queen!” They began to cheer, running to Danny. 

“What the-? Hey! Leave him alone!” Stan snapped, trying to get over to Danny and stop the little men. 

However, a bunch of them suddenly began to hiss in front of him and stacked on top of each other, turning into a much bigger man. Stan was shoved back by the creature and Danny yelped as the net was cut down from the tree. 

Still tangled in the net, Danny was picked up by a group of the men and before either Danny or Stan could react, the group was running further into the woods. 

“Danny!” Stan screamed, racing after the group. He was thrown back when one of the creatures was thrown into him, knocking him to the ground and causing his breath to leave him. 

When Stan got back up, both Danny and the little men were gone. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ford gasped, landing hard against the concrete floor. 

He heard a scream, could barely make out the figures before him without his glasses. 

“Stanley?” He whispered, voice shaky and small. 

He could feel hands grab at him and he winced at the tightness, struggling a bit but allowing them to pull him to his feet. He relaxed minutely when one of his arms were thrown over someone’s shoulders and tried to get his feet to listen and make it easier on the pair of people helping him up some stairs. 

More voices surrounded him, and he could blearily make out 3 more figures. 

His head was pounding, his throat hurt, his body was sore from fighting his brother-

Stan shoving him.

His body floating off the ground.

Being tugged closer and closer to a swirling blue light. 

Screaming, everything going white. 

Ford gasped again, like he was shocked, and quickly shoved the arms off of him. 

“Woah, woah, okay, calm down-!” A feminine voice said. 

Another piped in, this one more masculine, “He’s probably experiencing some sort of shock. If this is Danny, who knows how long he was gone in comparison to us-” 

“ Is he Danny though?” Another female. “He doesn’t look like Danny. 

“Everyone, shut up!” The female from earlier said, before the focus of her voice turned to him. “Hey there… I know this is a lot, my name is Jazz Fenton. What's your name?”

Stanford took a deep breath, leaning against what had to be a wall. “Sta… Stanford… Stanford Pines is my name. Where- Where am I?” His voice sounded weak and was obviously laced with concern. 

“You're in a town called Amity Park, New York.” Ford’s heart began to race at the name. New York… Was he home? 

“Stanford…” The female, Jazz, asked carefully, “What year is it?” 

Ford waved his hand as if brushing her off. Which is when he realized his hands were exposed and quickly shoved them into his pockets. “That entirely depends. Look, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I’m potentially from another point in time, if not a whole other dimension -“ 

“Wait,” a male voice piped in again, “so you know you're not from this universe?”

Ford blinked and squinted, trying to make out where the man was. “No, I invented… wait, you know about them too?” 

“Of course! That’s why we assumed your Danny was Danny cause he-“ he couldn’t see the frown, but he could hear it. “He got sucked into the Fenton portal 2.0, a portal created to traverse across the multiverse.” 

“I made the same thing, back home, because-“ Ford froze…

  What if this was a trap? Could Bill be here?! What if he’s controlling these people?

Ford stumbled back and multiple voices yelped in surprise, before a strong pair of hands grabbed him by the shoulders as if to steady him. Ford jumped, startled. 

“Im sorry, I’m sorry, it’s just that- I can’t see your faces well, my glasses-“ 

“Oh! Wait a second- Tucker, hand me your spares.” A female,  that was decidedly not Jazz, said to her friend. There was some shuffling before Ford felt a cool metal placed across his face. 

It wasn’t perfect, but Ford’s vision cleared up well enough that he could actually see the people in front of him.

There were more than he thought; 5 people in total. A young African American man, with black dreadlocked hair, a slight scruff of beard, green eyes, black glasses- clearly he was the one who had the spares- a beanie, and holding some sort of electronic device in his hand (almost like a portable computer?). Then there was a young female, clearly goth, with bright violet eyes and black hair, the one who had handed him the glasses clearly by her hands outstretched in front of Ford’s face. 

Holding him up was another man, much older, wearing a bright orange jumpsuit and short black hair with streaks of gray mixed in. Blue eyes. Another woman was standing beside him, wearing a blue jumpsuit, with neatly kept red hair, looking at Ford with aching concern stretched across her face. She, too, had violet eyes. 

And finally, the last woman. She also had red hair and teal eyes, wore a light blue headband in her hair, a black shirt and blue pants. She spoke, and Ford was able to place that she was Jazz, “Better?” 

Ford nodded. “Thank you.” 

Jazz smiled. “The least we can do.” She glanced up at the man still holding Ford’s shoulders and raised an eyebrow. “Dad, you can let go of him.” 

The man let go quickly and laughed, “Just making sure he’s steady Jazzy-pants!” 

“Sorry about him,” The goth girl said, “He’s a bit eccentric. I’m Sam, by the way. This is Tucker, that’s Maddie Fenton, and Jack Fenton.” She pointed out each person accordingly. 

“So… Now that we got introductions out of the way- Where did you say you were from?” Tucker, who had the electronic, asked. 

“Gravity Falls, Oregon; Year 1982.”

Chapter Text

“You know, this is really unnecessary,” Danny groaned, flopping his head back. 

The little men, which he learned were called gnomes (unsurprisingly), had brought him to their home which was deep inside a cave. He was still tied up and a majority of the gnomes were surrounding him, murmuring to each other and chatting idly. 

Logically, Danny knew he could easily phase out of the ropes. But he also knew Stan would look for him, and so he had debated if he should wait it out and see what the gnomes wanted, or just get out and pretend he managed to escape. He decided to wait. 

The leader gnome climbed atop a rock so he stood above the rest, and everyone went silent. 

“Welcome human!” The gnome exclaimed. “I’m Jeff, and as you are aware, we’re gnomes! I bet you’re wondering why you’re here…”
“Very much so, yes,” Danny huffed. 

“Well, you see, us gnomes have been looking for a new queen!” Jeff grinned. 

The rest of the gnomes began to chorus, “Queen! Queen! Queen!” And Jeff quickly shushed them. 

Danny frowned, tensing. “A queen? What, you want me to help you find some random girl who’d want to rule over you?” 

Jeff shook his head, waving a hand to silence Danny. “No no no, you have it mistaken. We want you to become our queen! You are the most beautiful girl we have seen in-”

Danny’s eyes widened. “I am not a girl!” He screeched, heart pounding as his concern spiked. 

One secret Danny kept incredibly near to his heart was the fact he wasn’t always Daniel Fenton. The only people who knew Danny was originally Danielle Fenton were his family, Sam, and Tucker. His clone, Dani, had been a slap in the face with the fact she was genetically the same as him. Vlad had been much closer to creating the “perfect child” than he had realized, had he known Danny was trans. 

It was a fact he often worried about, but often ignored. He passed as male well enough that no one really knew, even if they knew him before his transition (most kids in school pretended they never knew he was AFAB, even Dash). Being a half-ghost helped a lot too, his dysphoria had lessened so much over his time as Phantom and being called the Ghost King . None of the ghosts cared, especially given how your ghost acts more like who you want to be, rather than who you were when alive. 

“Ya you are!” Jeff the gnome continued. “Us gnomes have an impeccable sense of smell, we can smell the female pheromone all over you! And we have been watching you for a while, we know you haven’t been living with any other females, so you have to be the female!” 

So that’s how they knew. Danny hadn’t taken any of his T-Shots since he got to this dimension. His estrogen levels must have spiked as a result. 

“That doesn’t define female or male in humans! Hell, not every human is one or the other in the first place!” Danny snapped. 

“Look, if you don’t want to be our queen you don’t have to lie to us. You don’t have a choice in the matter anyway.” Jeff stated.

“I’m not lying to you! I’m serious! I’m not a girl!” Danny could feel the anger welling up inside him. His ghost core thrummed with energy, begging Danny to use his powers. 

Another gnome chimed in. “Regardless, you’re feminine enough to be our queen.” The other gnomes murmured their agreement. 

That made something in Danny snap . 

“I don’t know what fucked up lirrle thoughts you freaks have, but I’m gonna tell you this only one more time.” Danny could feel his eyes begin to glow a neon green, washing over the faces of Jeff and the other gnomes. “ I. ” His body became intangible as he rose to his feet. “Am.” Two white rings formed in the center of his torso, moving outwards. “ Not. ” His hair turned white, his outfit changed into a black jumpsuit. “ A girl! ” Danny held out his hands and green ectoblasts shot out, hitting Jeff square in the chest and knocking him aside, as well as several other gnomes. 

Then he screamed, letting out a ghostly wail and blasting all the gnomes back into the walls of the cave, as well as pulling rocks and plant life out of the ground and throwing them aside as well. By the force of the wail, it was a miracle the cave didn’t collapse. 

When he was done, everything in the cave was a disaster and it made the dysphoria crawling in Danny’s mind ebb away a bit. He stood there, panting softly for a moment. 

Which is when he heard a voice behind him say, “Danny?” 

Danny whipped around and saw Stan, standing at the edge of the cave and looking at Danny with wide eyes and confusion plastered on his face. Danny’s own eyes widened, mirroring Stan’s expression. 

Stan saw him. He saw him using his powers. He’s seeing Danny right now. He knows, he knows now, oh ancients, oh shit-

Stan opened his mouth to speak but before he could get a sound out, Danny flew past. He heard Stan yell after him, but he ignored it, flying as fast as he could away from the gnome cave and deeper into the woods. 

When he landed, he practically crashed into the ground next to a large pond deep in the woods. The white rings flashed over him, bringing back dark hair and blue eyes, and Danny curled up on his side and stared out at the water silently. The dysphoria and anxiety finally kicked in, causing tears to well in his eyes as his emotions spilled over. 

He sat there, silently crying long enough for the sun to sink half-way into the horizon, filling the sky with beautiful pinks and oranges that Danny could not appreciate at that moment. He could hear noises behind him the entire time, voices of children most likely playing tag based off the yelling, some animals walking by carefully as if to not startle him. They probably thought of him as a predator. He didn't care either way, too lost in his thoughts. 

It was at that point he heard the crack of a stick and the ruffle of leaves. He didn’t have to look up to know Stan was there, standing a few feet away from Danny’s fetal form. 

Footsteps drew closer before Stan plopped onto the ground beside Danny’s head. There was another moment of silence and Danny braced himself for the questions and comments, the insults or terror, what kind of freak are you?

But what Stan instead asked was a soft, “Are you okay…?”

Danny sat up suddenly, causing Stan to startle, and confused blue met concerned brown. “What?”

“Are you okay?” Stan asked more firmly. 

“You- you’re not- Didn’t you see- Don’t you wanna ask-” Danny stuttered. 

Stan shook his head. “I already knew you had some sort of powers. Figured it came from your dimension, since you didn’t seem surprised by them and I figured you’d tell me when you were ready. But that doesn’t matter.” Danny blinked in surprise. Stan was more observant than Danny gave him credit for. “What matters is the fact that you just got horribly misgendered by a bunch of tiny terrors, I could hear the conversation as I approached, and not to mention said terrors had kidnapped you and tried to force you to marry them. So I ask again. Are you okay? ”

Stan gripped Danny’s shoulder and his face laced with such genuine concern, that Danny broke down once more and clung to Stan. 

All the emotions he had felt and buried since he first got sucked into that portal came spilling out in a wave and he let them fall as Stan held him close. They stayed like that for a long while, the moon half way into the sky by the time Danny’s tears ran out. 

“... I… Should probably explain some things…” Danny hesitated. 

“Only talk if you’re ready, man. Even if that’s never, I don’t care. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.” Stan stated. 

Danny gave a small smile. “Let’s go home first then. I’d rather explain there.”

Stan nodded and stood, holding out a hand for Danny. “Then let’s go!”

A mischievous thought crossed Danny’s mind and he grinned, taking Stan’s hand and pulling himself up while two white rings moved across him. Without explaining a thing, Danny suddenly grabbed Stan by the upper arms and turned them intangible, flying up and towards the shack while Stan screamed in surprise. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“When I was 14, my parents made a portal,” Danny began, curled up on the couch next to Stan. “Their goal was to create a way to the land of the dead, to the zone in which all ghosts lie. Everything seemed perfect, but when they started it… It didn’t work. They were disappointed, and I felt awful for them. I complained about it to my best friends, Sam and Tucker. Sam suggested I try to fix it. It was more or less a dare, really. So, I did. I grabbed a jumpsuit my father had made for me and my sister, and I stepped inside the portal. 

“What we didn’t expect was for it to activate on top of me… At first, everything seemed fine but after a while we realized- I was different. Suddenly, I could turn invisible, I started sinking through floors and getting stuck inside them. We realized soon after what really happened, when a ghost told me themself; I was half-dead. Somehow, the portal killed me but only half way, just enough that I could alternate between the land of the living and the land of the dead.” Stan’s eyes widened at the confession but he stayed quiet while Danny went on, “Then came the ghosts. 

“It turned out that activating the portal let out all the ghosts in the ghost zone. They could now enter our world with ease and wreak havoc across the town. I knew I couldn’t let that happen. I got more in control of my ghost half and started fighting the ghosts, using my parents’ technology to help capture them and return them to the ghost zone. I soon became a hero, saving the town I loved and the world at large over and over again. By day, I was Danny Fenton, a nerdy teen boy just trying to survive high school… But by night, I was Danny Phantom , the ghost boy hero who was either loved or hated for what he did.”

“Wait, why would people hate you for saving them?” Stan questioned. 

“They didn’t hate me because I was a hero, but because I was a ghost. No one knew I was Phantom for a long time, and no one quite realized that Phantom was doing his best to stop the ghosts who came through. The fights caused a lot of damage, and there were times where I was controlled, manipulated, or framed by people and ghosts alike who wanted me gone. The government and various ghost organizations wanted to capture me and re-kill me, or even experiment on me. Many ghosts hated me, wanted me arrested for my crimes against the ghost zone, or simply despised that I interfered with their plans to take over the world…”

Danny paused. There was more to that but… Should Danny tell Stan that…?

Danny hesitated. “There… was one major enemy I had… Really, my arch-enemy for my entire teen years…” Stan’s brows furrowed in confusion, no doubt questioning the suddenly anxious tone that Danny took. “His name was Vlad Plasmius… But I first met him as a human named Vlad Masters.”

Danny could see the moment the gears in Stan’s brain clicked into place and Stan let out a shocked sound, half-way between a gasp and a inhale. “You mean, there’s another halfa?” Danny nodded. 

“Vlad originally became half-ghost because of my parents’ proto-type portal, back in college. He spent many years alone, unaware of my parents not being allowed to visit him in the hospital. He learned about his powers and practiced for many, many years all alone. He hated my father, blamed him for everything, and was obsessively in love with my mother. And when he invited them to a college reunion, we discovered the other was half-ghost. Vlad wanted to take me on as a son of sorts, with my mom as his wife, and my dad dead in a ditch somewhere. That failed time and time again, of course, and it wasn’t until I got older that I realized how desperate he had been for just someone to care about him…” 

Danny frowned. “Vlad was obsessed with the idea of love, of any kind. He was desperate for someone to be there for him. The only reason he fought me was because I was the only one who gave him any ounce of attention, albeit negative, and he was too distrustful of my dad to accept the man’s affections. We’re better now. Around the time I turned 16, Vlad had practically given up any evil doings, and I agreed on a truce with him. Shortly after that, I agreed to let him train and mentor me. Even without Vlad’s help though, I was extremely powerful from the moment I first became Phantom, and my powers only grew stronger the more I fought and trained. By the time I turned 18, I was so powerful that everyone in the ghost zone agreed I should be crowned King of all ghosts, replacing the old ruler Pariah Dark who had been a horrible person and ruler. I ended up revealing I was a ghost to my hometown, and frankly the world, during the same time. And there ya have it.” Danny finished. 

Stan slumped back in his chair, taking a deep breath. “That’s… a lot.” he said lamely. 

Danny snorted. “You’re telling me. I lived it.” Stan rolled his eyes. 

“You know what I mean, Spooks.” Stan grumbled.

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Spooks?” 

“What? You’re a ghost, all spooky and such. So, Spooks.” 

“That is the worst nickname I ever heard.”

“C’mon man! I don’t know much about ghost-you yet, it’s clever enough!”

“You’re ridiculous, ya know that?”

“Yet you tolerate my ridiculousness anyway!”

The pair soon dissolved into laughter. 

After that day, Stan would try to encourage Danny to use his ghost abilities for less-than-nefarious purposes, such as scamming customers. Danny refused every time, but the con-artist still pestered him once in a while. 

Stan would also question what kind of abilities Danny had, and Danny indulged him by showing him what he could do. The overshadowing moment was Danny’s personal favorite; possessing Stan, forcing him to put on a dress, and running around town screaming “I’m a pretty princess!” was the funniest thing Danny had done for a while. Stan wasn’t pleased, but eventually laughed alongside Danny over it. 

His powers also came in handy when fixing the portal and looking for the journals, which they still couldn’t find. 

Stan never brought up the fact that Danny was trans, which Danny appreciated. 

Overall, things were going well and Danny felt more and more secure with spending his time in a whole other dimension. So much so, that he didn’t realize when yet another year passed him by. 

Chapter Text

Vlad Masters was a calculating man. 

Whenever he had a plan, he thought through every crucial step, laid out every single outcome,  every little thing that could go right and wrong and adjusted accordingly. He hardly ever let anything slip through his radar, and was fairly confident he knew mostly everything about the world he lived in. 

Even when he stopped his evil doings and accepted Danny as the Ghost King, despite the boy being so much younger than him, Vlad continued to calculate. Usually it was for business deals, for interactions with ghosts, or when he approached Danny about teaching him more about his powers after their truce. 

When Vlad had a plan, he made sure to explore every option at his disposal. 

Which is what led the older man to now, facing down a being he never thought he’d ever interact with. 

“Your mind is fascinating!” The triangle exclaimed, throwing its arms up into the air. They were standing in some sort of giant library, filled with books about everything known to mankind, and ways to become powerful; a thing of Vlad’s dreams. “So full of potential, of both good and bad, of knowledge and power… You have done so many things and could do so much more!” Clearly, the demon was a flatterer. That was what the texts had warned Vlad about, when he started researching dimensional magic. 

After Danny had been sucked into his parents’ portal, Vlad searched far and wide to find a way to bring the younger man home. Vlad should feel thrilled about the fact, given that he had to take temporary ownership of Ghost King until the true heir returned, but Vlad was anything but. 

As much as he had antagonized the boy when Danny was younger, Vlad truly cared about Daniel. He hated not knowing where the younger man could be, and after exhausting all his options he had no choice but to summon an extremely powerful, and deadly, demon to get his way. He had known the outcome was a possibility, but he had hoped it would never come to this. When he planned out the summoning, drew the circle and lit the candles, he thought through every way the demon could try to trick him, convince him, or even help him. He knew he had to be careful, had to play his cards right, and planned accordingly. 

But it became apparent all too quickly that any worry Vlad had about the demon was far worse than he could imagine. 

“I have a plan; a wonderful, devious plan. I think you would be the perfect piece for it!” Bill Cipher said. 

“And what exactly are you trying to accomplish?” Vlad questioned, keeping his expressions and mind as blank as possible so as not to give the creature any leverage. 

“I want to create a better world,” Bill hummed, tapping a finger to the spot just below his eye like it was a chin, “A fun world, one where anyone can be anything and the weirder the better. A party that never ends, with a host who never dies.” 

“And how would you achieve this?” Vlad raised an eyebrow. 

Despite not having a mouth, Vlad could practically feel the mischievous grin coming off the other. “By merging this world and another together.” 

Vlad frowned. “What other world…?” 

Bill cackled suddenly, the high pitch causing the halfa to flinch. “Why, I can’t reveal everything to you just yet! We haven’t even settled our deal! Tell ya what, dracula-” 

“It's Plasmius, actually.” 

“You help me achieve this plan,” Bill went on, ignoring Vlad, “and I will tell you whatever you’d like to know. I can give you all the secrets to the universe, could explain the very basics of dimensional hopping, hell, I could even teach you how to rule your own universe! And when the time comes, you help me create the perfect world. All the knowledge you could ever dream of, in exchange for helping my plan.”

The demon held out his hand, a bright blue flame surrounding the palm. “What do you say?”

“And what would I need to do…?” Vlad questioned. 

“I’ll let you know when the time comes.” 

Vlad was a calculating man. He knew this would be the best way to bring Danny home, to see the insides of whatever idea this insane monster had in its mind. It was likely going to be a mistake. He knew this was dangerous. But when has any of that ever stopped Plasmius? 

Vlad accepted the hand. “Deal.” 

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Danny thought he’d be more aware of the fact he was about to turn 24 years old. 

    When he was younger, it was all he could think about. The thought of turning 24 meant that he would turn into a monster as well. Hell, when some of his more ghostly features came in, such as small fangs and pointed ears, he had thought he was turning into Dan and had frankly gone to Clockwork in a panic. 

    Thankfully, the time ghost was able to reassure him. Dan Phantom was no longer a threat, not to Danny’s current life. He had been vague about it, as always, that Danny will be fine. 

    “There will always be more than him, Daniel.” Clockwork said as the time diases shifted to reveal different foes that Danny has faced, or may face in the future. Familiar people like Vlad Plasmius and Skulker, but also other creatures like a tiny man in a red hat and a Loch Ness Monster looking creature rising from a lake. The one that really caught Danny’s attention was the single white eye surrounded by yellow, too close to the camera to clearly tell what it was but the image sent shivers down Danny’s spine. 

    “You will find that your time will not create another evil you, but further the good in your very soul,” Clockwork continued, turning to face Danny as he shifted into his elder form. 

    “I won’t turn into him?” Danny asked. 

    “You won’t let yourself turn into him.” Clockwork replied. 

    Needless to say, the dawn of Danny’s 24th birthday should have stressed him out more. 

    But after the portal incident and focusing so much of his time helping Stan run the shack, fix the portal, and search for the journals, Danny didn’t immediately notice when he woke up on a seemingly random day, ready to try a couple new spots for his journal search. 

    When he went downstairs and grabbed a cup of coffee, he also grabbed the daily newspaper and that is when he realized what day it was. 

    He sat at the kitchen table, staring at the newspaper and reading the date over, and over again. It was his birthday…

    He was officially 24 years old. It’s been 10 years since the incident with Dan…

    Of course, three of those years were spent in another dimension, but still. 

    Stan walked into the kitchen while Danny was having his existential crisis and, heedless to his friend’s plight, began to complain about something he saw on TV. When he was mid-way through his rambles, he noticed Danny wasn’t responding like usual, and frowned. He kicked his friend’s leg under the table and asked,“Hey Spooks, you alright?” 

    Normally Danny would scoff or snort over the stupid nickname, but this time he just glanced up at Stan and back down at the paper before mumbling, “Today’s my birthday… I’m turning 24…” 

    Stan nodded slowly, looking confused. “O-O-kay… And that’s a problem because… you… hate your birthday?” He tried. Danny shook his head and he tried again. “You miss home?”

    Danny shook his head again. “I miss home, sure, but that’s- that’s not why I’m upset… It’s-” he sighed. “It’s extremely complicated but basically- I’ve been dreading turning 24 since I was 14…” 

    “The age you turned into a ghost?” Stan asked. Danny nodded and Stan chewed his lip in thought. “Okay… Did you face some sort of monster that made you dread your birthday?” He guessed. 

    Danny raised an eyebrow. “That’s- not entirely far off, actually. But I don’t- I don’t really wanna get into it. But turning 24 is a birthday I never wanted to make it to, or thought I would.” Danny turned back to his paper and stared at the date again, frown deepening. 

    Stan watched his friend’s melancholy expression for a bit, then scoffed and stood up. “Well there’s no use wallowing in pity around here.” 

    “What do you mean?” Danny asked, glancing up at his friend. 

Stan grinned. “I’ve been saving quite a bit of money lately-” 

“Ya, by scamming people out of theirs.”

“And I think we have enough to go on a decent vacation! Waddya say?” 

Danny chewed on the nail of his thumb, thinking. “Where exactly are we going?” 

There was a twinkle in Stan’s eye as his grin grew and he proclaimed, “Las Vegas!” 

Danny blinked in surprise. “Really?”

“Really,” Stan confirmed. “It’s one of the few states I’m not banned from! C’mon, Danny, my man. Let’s go get drunk and gamble!” 

Danny thought for a moment longer before giving Stan an easy smile. “Let’s do it.” 

They called their employees to let them know they’re gonna have a couple days off, packed their bags, and were on the road to Vegas. Danny drove with Stan in the passenger seat and Danny may have let the older man convince him to use his powers by turning them and the car intangible and speeding as fast as possible to the Strip so they got there in half the time… The shock and regret on Stan’s face after made it worth it. 

From there, Stan managed to con his way into a room at Ceasar’s palace and they spent the next few days drinking and gambling. They managed to win big a bunch of times thanks to Stan’s skills, but more often than not they lost and took it with pride. 

It was the night they got there, Stan well on his way of drowning his liver with beer and gambling his money away, that Danny admitted to Stan the real reason why he hated his 24th birthday so bad. 

They were the only two at a pair of machines, and Danny’s voice was quiet as he spoke, “When I was 14, I met… I met another me. One that was 10 years older, stronger, and significantly more powerful than anyone or anything I had ever met… I had accidentally took the answer sheet to the C.A.T test coming up, and was debating on actually using it to cheat. I was stressed, tired, and overworked with both school and ghost hunting. It didn’t help that ghosts that were children of or creations from ones I had previously fought kept, just- appearing to attack me. Me and my friends learned that those ghosts were sent by another, named Clockwork.” 

“Isn’t he that god-like ghost you told me about?” Stan asked. 

Danny nodded. “The ancient ghost of time, yes. He was hired to prevent a dark future from happening, one that began with me cheating on the test. I couldn’t believe it until- until he tried to stop me from attacking him, and accidentally showed me… Sent me 10 years into the future, where I faced the greatest enemy I ever met; myself…” 

Stan frowned, turning in his seat to face Danny. “That sounds existential.”

“It was. My friends ended up there too, but they escaped. Dark Danny, the evil me, made sure I couldn’t leave. Apparently, what was supposed to happen was my friends, parents, sister, and my teacher all gathered at the Nasty Burger, a local burger joint in town, right as it was set to explode by overheating sauce, don’t ask- It did, and killed them all, leaving me alone… After trying to cope, I sought out Vlad Masters-”

“The other halfa.”

“Mhm. I sought him out and asked him to separate my human and ghost halves, so I could cope with the grief. He did, using these gauntlets that can rip a ghost from a human. But then Phantom did the same to them and somehow combined the two ghost halves together…” 

Stan’s eyes widened as he realized, “So Vlad, being all evil douche-bag, combined with you and created-” 

Danny’s eyes went hollow as he stared blankly at the slot machine. “A monster, yes… He… he even killed my human side, brutally by the way Vlad described it, but left Vlad to live, maybe as a reminder? I can’t remember… Being stuck in his future, Dark Danny, who I call Dan, went to my past to make sure all the events happened and he came to be. But my sister was the one who helped me get back home. She managed to send the boo-merage, a ghost tracking boomerang, into the ghost zone with a note on it telling me that Vlad was the key. It traveled for 10 years and found me, so I went to him and that’s how I learned what happened. He agreed to help me, pulling the time medallion keeping me to the future out of my chest and sending me home with weapons to defend myself. I managed to defeat Dan, using abilities I gained in his future that he didn’t accomplish for years.” 

“Wait- how’d you gain those powers?” Stan questioned.

“Some of my enemies who were hurt badly by Dan, came and attacked me in the Ghost zone. But I managed to defeat them with my ghostly wail, an ability I gained at that moment. Dan didn’t gain that ability until years after he and Plasmius had combined, he had just learned it by the time I showed up. And I was able to use it to stop him.” Danny replied. 

“And then with him defeated, everything was well afterwards?” Stan hoped. 

Danny smiled tiredly. “Not quite… The boiler… It still blew.” Stan’s eyes widened and Danny hastened to finish. “But clockwork stopped time and appeared to me before my family was hurt, agreeing to bring things back to before I took the test as long as I agreed to keep being a hero and never turn to evil.”

“And you agreed,” Stan guessed. 

Danny truly grinned at that. “Of course I did.” His smile fell shortly after. “But sometimes I fear- I fear I truly will turn into that- that monster again… That I’ll lose everything...” He looked down, so Stan couldn’t see his face for a moment, shame, concern, and fear pouring off Danny in waves. 

Stan placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder and gripped his friend tight, causing the halfa to look at him again with tears welling in his eyes. “You’re a good person Danny,” Stan said seriously. “I have known you for, what, a few years now? Time and time again you have proven to have a huge heart and care for people. Hell- the amount of times you’ve helped me, when I don’t deserve it, is insane!” He smiled softly at his friend and Danny hesitantly smiled back. “You won’t turn into him.” Stan said firmly. 

Danny nodded slowly and then pulled his friend into a tight hug. “If anything happens, Stan, don’t- don’t let me turn into him… Please…” Danny begged softly and wetly into Stan’s ear. 

Stan hugged Danny back just as tight. “I won’t ever let you become a bad guy, Danny.” Stan promised. 

It was at that moment that Stan realized how much he cared about the man hugging him. 

He vowed that he would get Danny home, no matter the cost. 

Despite the seriousness of that conversation, they didn’t let that weigh them down and continued on with their vacation. 

They bet insanely high and managed to win pretty well, whilst also drinking their weight in alcohol. It was a blast, and both men were thrilled at how much fun they were having. 

The funniest moment of them all was when Stan started heavily flirting with a young lady named Eda and kept buying her drinks, the pair getting more and more drunk. 

“Another glass of your finest champagne for the beautiful lady!” Stan called drunkenly, well into his 5th beer for the night. Eda was on her 8th glass of champagne, gladly accepting the next one as it was offered to her. The pair were hammered and Danny, not having any real effects from his alcohol (it took much more than a couple glasses to get him drunk, and he barely had two), was able to watch them with amusement. 

“You know Stanny,” Eda slurred, “You’re such a kind and handsome gentleman! I could marry you right here, right now!” Danny was sipping his beer and inhaled sharply to stifle a laugh, accidentally drawing beer into his nostrils and causing him to have a coughing fit. 

Stan was heedless to his friend’s plight, focussing solely on Eda with a drunken, love-struck expression. “Count me in baby!” 

Which is what led to Stan and Eda getting drunkenly married in Vegas, with Danny as a witness. Danny had heard it was stupidly easy to get married there but he figured that was a hollywood lie, and he couldn’t help but cackle during the entire ceremony at how real the situation was. 

Danny also got his own room that night, since Stan took Eda to the one they shared in order to “consummate their marriage.” 

Of course, the next day when the pair sobered up enough to realize what happened, they ended up going to get the marriage annulled, ended up having to file for divorce, faced a judge to settle the details, and that was the end of that fiasco. It took up the rest of their trip, but seeing Stan humiliated and embarrassed over drunkenly getting married was enough for Danny. 

He couldn’t help but laugh at Stan the entire drive home though. 

It was one of the best birthdays Danny ever had. 

After that, they made it a point to celebrate each other’s birthdays as much as they could every year, regardless of how depressing either one was.

 They didn’t go as all-out as Danny’s 24th, but they certainly got a few drinks and spent the birthdays doing something entertaining. Sometimes going to bars, other times going gambling, once they even went and trashed other local tourist attractions (which sparked a feud between the Mystery Shack and the other attractions for years to come). 

All in all, the longer Danny stayed with Stan, the more the pair bonded and felt at ease with each other. 

Of course, nearly every day Stan ran the Mystery Shack while Danny hunted for the journals, and every night they worked on the portal, desperately trying to not only bring Danny home, but also Ford. 

Just the same, however, the fun they had and the more Danny slipped into his new life, the less he paid attention to how much time passed him by in this new universe, only processing as much by how Stan aged and the technological advances coming into play. 

He certainly didn’t pay attention to his own age after his 24th, not until someone pointed it out to him a decade later. 

Chapter Text

“Stan, are you sure about this?” Danny asked. 

“Positive.” Stan stated. 

It was several years into Danny staying with Stan, some years after Stan learned about Danny’s ghost powers. The pair had been running  the Mystery Shack rather successfully. Stan slid right into his role as not only “Mister Mystery” but also as his brother, “Stanford Pines.” So much so, that he decided he wanted to end Stanley Pines for good until his brother was back home, and could take his place again. 

He practically begged Danny to help him fake his own death and Danny was greatly concerned. “Stan, I don’t think it’s a good idea-” He had said. But Stan stood firm. 

So, here Danny was driving with Stan in the middle of a busy suburban street, in a car Stan had bought as his own name. Danny was currently turned into Phantom, invisible and waiting for the right moment. 

“Get ready Spooks.” Stan muttered. That was the older warning he got before Stan swerved his car right into a tree. 

Danny quickly turned Stan invisible and intangible. With a bit of Stan’s own blood that he gathered and stole from a blood drive, Stan made it look like he stumbled out of the car and into the woods, then Danny turned them invisible again and flew off with Stan in tow. 

They watched from the sky as people came running towards the car, police being dialed and good natured citizens started searching for Stan on foot. They’d never find him. Just the pool of blood Danny set up earlier that day, making it look like Stan was killed and dragged off by some sort of animal. 

It made Danny sick, but Stan laughed like he was the most free he’d ever been. 

Despite Danny’s own discomfort, he was glad the situation at least made Stan happy. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shortly after Stan faked his own death and the situation made the news, the phone began to ring. 

He had been in the process of moving his stuff out of Stanford’s room and into another one, wanting to lock away that part of his brother for a while until he could better handle it, but was interrupted as he heard the tell tale ringing. 

“Danny?! You home?! Can you get that?!” He yelled, waiting a moment. When his friend didn’t respond, he sighed and headed down stairs. 

“Hello, Stanford Pines speaking,” Stan said as he picked up the phone. 

“Stanford?” A familiar voice asked. 

Stan’s blood ran cold and his heart rate picked up. 

“... Dad?” 

“I know it’s been a while since we last talked, given that you’ve been busy with your grant money… But did you see the news?” Stan’s father, Filbrick Pines, asked on the other end. 

Stan gulped, making sure his voice sounded like his brother’s. “Ya… Ya, I saw… Some kind of freak car accident, then possible mauling…” 

“Should’ve figured that idiot would’ve went and got himself killed,” Filbrick groused on the other end. 

Stan’s eyes narrowed and rolled. “Ya, I guess. Look, dad, I gotta-”

Stan paused when he heard a hiccup and his father’s voice spoke, weaker than he had ever heard it before, say softly, “It’s all my fault…” 

“What?”

“I was the one who kicked him out. I set him up for failure… If only I was a better father…” The older man’s voice hiccuped again before he devolved into a coughing fit. Stan could only wait, eyes wide and confused as he listened to his father’s breathing settle and his voice continue… “I wish I could’ve apologized to him, before it was too late…” 

Stan swallowed and closed his eyes against the tears welling inside them. “... I think… I think he already forgave you, dad…” 

Filbrick laughed humorlessly. “I just hope he found peace… I don’t have much left of life, maybe when I get where I’m going I will be able to properly apologize. Maybe I can be a better father when I’m dead..” 

“Hey, hey, none of that!” Stan snapped, though not harshly. “You were a good dad, Filbrick. You did what you thought was best. Stanley-” He sighed. “Stanley followed the path he was always meant to go down… That’s not on you…” 

Filbrick snorted. “You kinda sounded like him for a moment there…” 

“Ya, well, we were twins after all,” Stan’s tears flowed now, and he ignored them. 

“I miss him, Stanford…” 

“Ya… Ya, I do too…” 

“Take care of your ma when I’m gone, ya? She’s heartbroken… Don’t let her lose another son.” 

Stan frowned. “Of course I will. Me and Shermie both, I promise.” 

“Good, good… I’m sorry for how I treated you too, ya know. I know I was hard on you too. But I love you, Stanford. You were a great son… You and your brothers all were…” Filbrick coughed again even more harshly before the line went silent. Stan checked to see the call was still on and he felt his heart freeze in his chest. 

“Dad?” No response. “Dad?!

When Danny got home, Stan was curled up on the floor of Ford’s room, clutching the phone and sobbing. 

He ran to his friend's side and quickly pulled him up and into a hug, prying the phone from Stan’s hands. “Stan? Stan, c’mon, talk to me, what happened?” 

“Dad, he- He called-” Stan gasped out. 

Danny frowned, leading his friend over to the couch in Ford’s room and pulling him onto it. Stan leaned heavily against Danny, tears still flowing from his eyes. 

“He told me he was sorry- Wanted- Wanted to apologize to Stanley, to Stanford- He-” Stan sobbed. “He’s gone, Danny- He’s gone-” 

Danny’s eyes widened. “How-?”

“He- He’s been sick for a while… I didn’t realize how bad-” Stan furiously wiped at his eyes, flopping down to lay his head in Danny’s lap. “... he’s dead… My father’s dead…”

Danny brushed hair away from Stan’s face. “I’m so sorry, Stan…” He whispered. 

Danny could do nothing but hold his friend close while he continued to cry. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nearly a decade since Danny first came to Gravity Falls, the half-ghost walked into the local diner and saw Stan wave him over, still wearing his suit and fez. The man was certainly older by now and his hair was going a bit gray, but Stan’s signature grin never faded. With a grin of his own, Danny slipped into the booth chair across from Stan. “Hey man!” He greeted. 

“Hey Spooks. Uh- Mind telling me what’s up with-?“ Stan gestured to Danny’s hair and clothes; the man was covered in dirt, leaves, and twigs with his hair an unruly mess. Any bruises or scratches he might have gotten were already healed by now though, maybe a slight red spot in their places. 

Danny brushed some dirt off of him. “Got attacked by a giant frog before I could go ghost. I’ll be fine.” 

“Giant frog?” Stan questioned.

“Don’t worry about it, you don’t wanna meet one anyways,” Danny said seriously. “It tried to eat me alive.” 

Stan snorted. “And that’s why you hunt the journals and I run the shack!” 

Danny rolled his eyes and smiled when Lazy Susan walked over. He could see Stan cringe a bit, as he always did when he saw Susan’s lazy eye. But Stan quickly turned on his charm and tipped his fez in greeting. “Hello there gorgeous, how do ya do?” 

Susan flattered and gave a grin. “Wonderful, thanks for asking! What can I get you two?”

“A plate of pancakes for me and a side of ketchup for him!” Stan butt in, cutting Danny off before he can order. Stan cackled at his friend’s expression. 

“I’ll get a number 3 with an extra side of bacon, pancakes, and hashbrowns… Plus a side of ketchup,” Danny ordered. Being half-ghost meant an insane metabolism, and since he didn’t have ectoplasm to combat the hunger he ended up having to eat a ton more food. It was a good thing he didn’t need ectoplasm to live, it just cut down on how much normal food he ate when he did get some. 

Susan wrote down the orders with a giggle. “I swear, Danny, with the way you eat you’d think you’d be going into food comas!” Danny chuckled. “It must be all that exercise we see you doing around town! Must be why you look so young too!”

That made Danny pause and glance over at Stan in confusion. “Why I look so young?”

“Well, ya! You practically look the same as when you first appeared in town, silly! Now I’ll go put those orders in,” Susan giggled, walking away.

Danny sat there dumbfounded and turned to Stan with an incredulous expression. “What’s she talking about?”

Stan raised an eyebrow. “I thought you looking so young was a ghost thing. You basically stopped aging after your 24th birthday, Spooks.” 

Danny’s jaw dropped. “ What?! ”

“Okay, okay, relax Danny. I’m sure it’s nothing. Probably just a side effect of you being a half-ghost, ya know?” Stan reassured, remembering why his friend hated that age so much. . 

Danny ran his hand through his hair. “I- guess so. I mean… Vlad basically stopped aging when he turned 40 ish. I guess I kinda figured it would be the same for me when I got to his age? Not earlier…”

“Except Vlad became a ghost when he was in his 20s, right? You ghostified at 14,” Stan said. 

Danny snorted. “Ghostified?”

“Ghostified.” Stan nodded, mock-seriously. 

Danny laughed. “I suppose you’re right. I won’t worry about it.” 

Their food arrived shortly after and the pair chatted about their days while they dug into their meals. 

In the back of Danny’s mind, he couldn’t help but question the whole aging thing. When he got back home, he confirmed in the mirror that he did look the same at 30 something as he did at 24, despite the fact that he certainly should’ve had some indication of his age; wrinkles and stress lines, grays in his hair and age spots, similar to what was happening to Stan and what had happened to his parents back in Amity. But Danny looked as young as ever. 

He gripped his hair in his hands and rested his elbows on either edge of the sink. He felt… panicked, uncertain, by this. 

If he was frozen in age… Did that mean time wasn’t moving as fast in his own dimension? He’s been gone over a decade, but what if it’s only been a short time for his family? When– not if, he refused to think ‘if’ –he got back home, what would happen? Could he really handle being decades ahead of his friends and family? Or was this just a side effect of being half-ghost? Maybe this was always meant to happen, and he would have to live with the fact he would watch his friends and family die one by one? Could he even die of old age because of this? Vlad certainly didn’t seem like he could, what if it's the same for Danny? 

What if he ends up alone? What if he turns into Dan because of this? 

Danny’s breath caught and stuttered, the hands gripping his hair started to let out a neon green light and when he looked back to the mirror, his eyes were bright, toxic green.

He was panicking again.

Panicking and somehow losing control of his powers as a result…

He gasped in breath, letting it out shakily as he tried to calm down. He could feel a scream, a ghostly wail, bubbling up his throat and in a flash of white rings he quickly went ghost and flew out of the shack. He barely noticed when he phased through Stan and out the door, flying into the woods and landing by the pond, a place he found as a sort of refuge when he was stressed (ever since the gnome incident). 

There, he let out the wail desperately trying to take hold and didn’t care how many trees and plant life he killed in the process. 

He breathed in more deeply afterwards, blinking his eyes open (when did he close them?) and looking around at the ruined trees. It wasn’t too bad of damage, looking more like a bad storm knocked them over than some supernatural force. But even if people did assume the supernatural, they would never suspect Danny being the cause. 

Danny quickly flew back home– he thought of the shack as home now, he really has been gone from Amity for a long time– and curled up on the couch, turning back to Fenton just in time for Stan to walk in.

The older man took one look at Danny, grunted, and plopped himself down next to the younger, pulling him into a side hug. 

Danny didn’t say anything and Stan didn’t pry. Instead, Stan turned on a show and idly chatted away while Danny took comfort in the other’s presence. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ford explained everything that happened to the Fentons and friends. 

He explained how he had a twin brother, how the two were super close and fell apart over Stan’s mistake. He talked about getting 12 PhD’s in various sciences, getting a grant to do his own scientific research, and how he went for the supernatural given how strange his own six-fingered self was. 

He talked about traveling to Gravity Falls, which Tucker looked up and confirmed was not in their universe, and how it was a jack-pot for the weird and unknown. He talked about trying to find the Universal Theory of Weirdness, and how that research led him to a cave, where he met a powerful and ancient demon named Bill Cipher. He hesitated about explaining Bill, but he knew he needed to. If he was to get home, they needed to be aware of Bill lurking in the shadows. 

He spared no details, explaining how he thought of Cipher as a muse and a friend, practically a one-man cult to the demon, and how he truly thought Cipher was going to aid him in his journey. But it was all a lie, in the end, when Fiddleford was partially sucked into the portal and witnessed devastation at the hands of Bill, backing out of the project and leading to Ford confronting his former friend. 

How he grew paranoid and desperate, scared and alone, all because Bill was watching his every move and torturing him at every turn. How he called upon his brother to help hide his journals, so Bill couldn’t trick anyone else and start the machine. And then the fight, and subsequently Ford being sucked into the portal. 

They listened intently to his story, sympathizing with him. They especially seemed worried about Bill Cipher, which was a good thing. They should be afraid. He was a force to be reckoned with… 

When he was finished, they told their own story; the story of Danny Phantom. 

How their town was ridden with ghosts, all thanks to a portal Maddie and Jack invented. How Danny got zapped by it and turned half-ghost, vowing to protect his town and get all the ghosts back in their correct zone. His struggles as a teenaged hero hiding his identity while beaten and abused by both ghosts and peers alike. Sam and Tucker knew the entire time, Jazz found out later, and how his parents and the world at large found out when Danny took the title as “the Ghost King” and the emotions that followed when his parents realized they had been hunting their own son for years. 

Eventually, his parents retired from ghost hunting and turned to alternate dimensions. The ghost zone being a stepping stone, they created their own portal and were testing it when Danny accidentally got sucked inside, Ford stumbling out shortly after. 

They reached an agreement; The Fentons would help Ford get home, if he helped them bring Danny home. Of course, he agreed. 

Tucker also agreed to look into Bill Cipher and confirm there were no traces of the demon in this universe and, if there was, find a way to stop him.

Over the next year, Ford went between helping the older Fentons fix their portal, telling Tucker everything he knew about Bill, and chatting idly with Sam and Jazz about the strange ghosts. He even helped them capture one, called “the Box Ghost”, when he slipped into their house. 

Half-way through the year is when Sam noted that Ford was abnormally aging. 

“Dude, how do you already have such bad wrinkles? Didn’t you say you’re in your early 30s?” Sam questioned one night at dinner. (Her and Tucker claimed they weren’t leaving the Fentons until Danny was home, not that they minded much, and Ford knew better than to question it). 

“Sam! That’s rude to say!” Jazz snapped. 

Ford just frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean- ya, you have stress lines, that’s a given. But you already have age lines and wrinkles, like you’re older than you looked. They’ve been becoming more and more frequent over the months, I’ve noticed.” Sam stated. 

“Huh… Please excuse me for a moment, I need to see what she’s talking about-” Ford stood from the table and hurried to the bathroom, looking in the mirror and froze. 

Sam was right; Ford was supposed to be roughly 30, not even, but he looked closer to pushing 40. And right before his eyes, by the second, it got worse. 

They decided to keep track of it after that day, and when a year passed he looked nearly a decade older than he should’ve. 

Tucker was the one to come up with an answer to this conundrum. 

“What if time is moving faster where you’re from? We’ve gotten a DNA signature from you and I’ve been looking into it… It looks like time is moving much faster for your body than ours. Your DNA, being from a whole new dimension, is following the timeline of that world instead of ours.” 

“So what you’re saying is that, despite being in your dimension, my body still believes it's on its own and is copying what it should be going through, rather than what it is?” Ford questioned. 

“Exactly,” Tucker confirmed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More time passed. 

Danny was there to comfort Stan when his mother passed away. Stan was there for Danny when he worried about how long it had been since he was home. 

The pair worked endlessly to try and find the journals, to get the portal up and running. They tried to test it once, which resulted in their work being pushed back and them having to fix it again. They agreed not to test it until they got the other two journals, after that. 

The shack ran great. They did have to face a new attraction in town, the “tent of telepathy”, but the freak of nature that was the child psychic, Gideon, was drove out of town after he tried to get the shack taken down. 

There were other incidents too, such as random monsters or cursed objects affecting them. They had to be careful and keep an eye out, but Danny being half-ghost made things all the easier. 

Overall, things were… well. As well as they could be, with Danny missing home and Stan missing his brother. But things were well. Danny felt strangely… at home. 

Then, on a random earlier summer, late spring, day 30 years after Danny and Ford were lost to their portals, the young man woke to Stan arguing with someone on the phone. 

“Seriously? Why can’t they stay home?” Stan asked. 

Danny frowned, rubbing his eyes awake. They often got telemarketers calling, so Danny first figured it was one of them. 

“Shermie, c’mon man, I can’t take care of two-!” Definitely not a telemarketer. “Shermie- … Twins, ya say? … Ya... Ya, okay, I guess it would be nice to meet my great niece and nephew,” Stan groaned. “I’ll keep them for the summer. Just one summer. Ya, ya, love ya too.” 

He hung up the phone just as Danny came down the stairs. “Who was that?” He asked.

Stan jumped and looked over at his friend. He sighed. “My brother, Shermie. His grandkids need a place to stay for the summer, because their parents want the kids to experience some new ways of life or something. Shermie isn’t able to care for them since he’s going on a round trip to Europe, and so he asked if I could take them.” 

Danny raised an eyebrow. “When are they coming?” 

“In a couple days. We’ll have to set up a room for them and gather some extra groceries. Thankfully I’m making a lot from the Mystery Shack,” Stan said as he walked into the kitchen, Danny trailing behind. 

Stan got to work making breakfast and Danny started making some coffee before taking a spot at the dining table. “So, how old are these kids anyway?” he asked. 

“Both 12, I think? Their birthday is at the end of August, I know that much,” Stan replied. 

“Twins?”

“Ya, a boy and a girl…”

Danny smiled softly at his friend. Twins. Just like him and Stanford… he could tell that was the real reason why the man agreed to let them stay, but he’d never admit it. 

“So, what should we-“ Stan started before getting cut off by a knock at the door.

“Come in!” Danny called, knowing exactly who it was before Soos came waltzing into the room. 

“Hey dudes!” The mechanic greeted the pair. Jesus ‘Soos’ Ramirez Stan hired back when the mechanic was a kid, much to Danny’s disapproval, but he was a good employee. He loved the Mystery Shack with all his heart, constantly wearing the question mark shirts they sold (Danny was pretty sure he had multiple shirts in his closet, he hardly saw the man wear anything else). 

He may have been clueless and clumsy, but he helped the co-owners fix things around the shack while Danny was off looking for the journals (not that he ever explained that to Soos) and Stan ran tours. Soos and the teen they hired last summer, Wendy, were the only two employees of the Mystery Shack other than Stan and Danny. 

“Hey Soos, you came at the right time. We’re gonna be having some guests this summer,” Danny said. 

“Sweet! Who are they?” Soos asked as he took a seat across from Danny. 

“My great niece and nephew,” Stan said as he handed Soos a plate with an omelet and another, much bigger, one to Danny. He made his own and took a seat between the other two. 

“Neat! Where are you gonna have them stay?” Soos asked as he dug into his meal. 

“I’m thinking about the attic. There should be enough room and nothing too dangerous up there, so long as we clear it out good. I know it’s not in your pay grade, but mind helping me out?” Danny asked. 

“Totally! I’m excited to have some new faces hanging around here!” Soos grinned. 

“Ya, me too,” Stan murmured. Soos didn’t seem to notice, but Danny did and he shot his friend another soft smile.

Chapter Text

“Welcome to the Mystery Shack!” Stan called as the wave of glittery smoke dissipated, revealing the old man in all his Mister Mystery regalia, throwing his hand up into the air with his cane and gesturing to the building behind him. The ‘S’ letter on the Mystery Shack’s sign fell down right as he did and Danny stifled a snicker as he watched. 

Before Stan and Danny were two young twins, a boy and a girl, with fluffy brunette hair and wide, curious brown eyes. They looked kinda like Stan did, when he was younger, and he could tell the older man was doing his best to distract himself from that fact. “I’m your Great Uncle Stan, but it takes too long to say that and time is money so call me your Grunkle instead!” Danny snorted. 

Mabel grinned up at her ‘Grunkle’ Stan. “Hi! I’m Mabel and this is my brother, Dipper!” She leaned in close, holding a hand up to her mouth and stage-whispered, “He’s not happy to be here.” 

“Still can hear you Mabel,” Dipper huffed. He adjusted the star hat he wore and shrugged his backpack further onto his shoulders. The young boy had some sort of permanent scowl on his face, a direct contrast to the beaming smile his sister wore. They were practically opposites, or maybe parallels was the better word for it. 

Mabel just grinned at her brother and then turned towards the Mystery Shack, only for her eyes to fall onto Danny. They grew wide and if possible, her grin got even bigger. Dipper looked over to where she was and groaned. “Mabel, no-!” 

Before he could stop her, Mabel bounded over to Danny and slid up beside him. “Hi there, handsome! If I could rearrange the alphabet, I’d put U and I together!” 

Stan immediately busted out laughing and Danny tried and failed to stifle his own laugh. Dipper smacked his hand to his face and sighed heavily. 

After Danny calmed down, he smiled down at the young girl. “Mabel, right?” She nodded. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I am definitely way too old for you, trust me. I’m flattered though.” 

Mabel deflated but just as quickly perked up again. “Oh well! I’m sure I’ll meet plenty of cute boys here!” She then grabbed her bag and skipped towards the shack. 

“Oh my god, is she always like this?!” Stan wheezed, trying to control his laughter. 

“Unfortunately, yes. Yes she is.” Dipper groaned, following after Mabel with his own bag. 

Stan calmed down and walked after Dipper. “You coming, Spooks?” He called back to Danny. 

“Yup!” Danny called back, jogging to catch up. 

“Spooks?” He heard Dipper ask. 

Stan gave the young boy a mischievous smile. “Yup, old nickname I gave him years ago. He can get real spooky acting if he wants, so I tease him by calling him ‘Spooks’.” 

Dipper looked like he was going to question it more, but thought against it and followed Stan up to the attic with the others in tow. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pair were just finishing up getting settled into their new room when Danny walked in. “Hey kids, Stan is out giving a tour so I figured I’d give you one of my own. Want to come see the rest of the place?” 

“Sure!” Mabel said, jumping down from where she was hanging posters up on her bed and joining Danny. Dipper seemed to debate for a minute but sighed and joined the pair as well. 

Danny walked them around the shack, showing them where Stan and Danny’s rooms were, as well as the living room and kitchen, the office, the gift shop, and the full museum. 

The entire time, Mabel was fascinated by everything, constantly “ooo”-ing and “aah”-ing the attractions, while Dipper seemed either annoyed, concerned, or some weird mixture of both. Danny noticed Mabel offering her brother a reassuring smile when he seemed particularly perturbed, and Dipper smiled back at her hesitantly. It was sweet to see, but painful too when Danny’s mind compared them to Jazz and him. 

He tried not to let the memories swarm him though, he didn’t want to lose control of his powers. He and Stan agreed early on that it would be best if they kept Danny’s ghost powers a secret from the twins, alongside the activities they do down in the basement. Not that Danny wouldn’t still use them, especially to make sure the twins didn’t get into trouble, but still. 

Mid-way through the tour, Dipper asked, “So Danny… How did you and Stan meet? How’d you get wrapped up in the Mystery Shack?” 

Danny scratched the back of his neck, pausing in his steps as he thought about what to say to them. “Well… I guess you can say I sorta stumbled into his life? He wasn’t in a great place, mentally, and I myself was grasping with some… hard realities…” Danny said, choosing his words carefully to be as vague as possible. 

“Like what?” Mabel questioned. 

Danny sighed and crossed his arms, subtly hugging himself. “I’m not going to get into it with you kids. Some things are best left unsaid, okay? The point is that me and Stan helped each other get through it. We’re practically family now. When Stan got the idea for the Mystery Shack, it only made sense for me to be co-owner too.” 

“I guess that makes sense… Sorry for bringing up bad memories,” Dipper said. 

Danny just offered him an uneasy smile and gestured for them to follow as he continued the tour. 

Afterwards, the twins were free to do as they pleased while Danny helped Wendy prepare the gift shop for the tour group Stan was finishing up leading. 

As Danny stocked shelves, he glanced out the window to see Mabel rolling around in the grass and Dipper sitting by a tree, with a notebook and pen in his hand. A woodpecker landed on him and began to peck at his hat, which only made Dipper’s expression sour all the more. 

Wendy was watching him too and snorted. “He looks like he’s having a blast .”

Danny chuckled. “Ya, poor thing isn’t excited to be here like his sister is.” 

Then Danny saw the figure approaching the boy and sighed. “Stan, no, leave him be-!”

“Boo!” The pair heard Stan yell, wearing a creepy mask. Dipper startled with a scream, falling back and Stan cackled. Which soon turned into a coughing fit and he croaked out a “Worth it! It was worth it!” As he pounded at his chest. 

Danny stepped out of the shop and yelled at Stan to get back to work. 

“Stan got him?” Wendy asked when Danny strolled back in. He sighed. 

“Unfortunately. I don’t think Dipper’s going to have that great of a summer if Stan keeps picking on him.” 

“Eh, he’ll be fine. His sister seems to be having fun.” Wendy shrugged, gesturing out the window where Mabel was cheerfully chasing after Gompers the goat. “I’m sure he’s going to come around too.” 

Danny nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe you’re right… I’ll still have a chat with Stan later though. Thanks Wendy. Now let’s get back to work.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny watched in amusement as Mabel hid behind some of the merchandise, watching a teenaged boy open up a note she snuck into his pocket earlier. 

“He’s looking at it! He’s looking at it!” He heard her murmur, Danny’s heightened hearing picking up on her voice. The boy opened the letter and read it out loud, looking around in confusion when he did. “I rigged it!” Mabel giggled. 

Danny chuckled quietly to himself at the young girl’s antics, continuing his job of wiping the countertops and shelves of the gift shop. 

Dipper was wiping some jars as he glanced over at his sister. “Mabel, I know you’re going through your whole ‘boy crazy’ phase, but I think you’re kind of overdoing it with the ‘crazy’ part.” 

Mabel scoffed and bounded over to her brother. “What?! Pfft. Come on, Dipper! This is our first summer away from home! It’s my big chance to have an epic summer romance!” 

“Ya, but do you have to flirt with every guy you meet?” Dipper asked. 

“Take it from me, kid,” Danny chimed in, “It’s better that she’s flirting with guys than the other way around. My sister used to get hit on all the time, and I got into a fight with one guy for going too far.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. He did beat Johnny 13 to a pulp for trying to trick his sister into becoming Kitty. 

Dipper grimaced, no doubt imagining Mabel in a similar scenario. “You’re right, I guess. But seriously, Mabel. Every guy?” 

Mabel rolled her eyes. “Mock all you want, brother, but I got a good feeling about this summer! I wouldn’t be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through-” She gestured to the ‘employees only’ door- “that door right now!” 

As if on cue, Stan walked into the gift shop holding some signs and a pitt cola, in nothing but a tank top, boxers, and his fez. He burped and winced. “Oh! Oh, not good, ow.” 

Dipper and Danny laughed as Mabel groaned. “Aww, why!” 

Stan huffed. “Alright, alright, look alive people. I need someone to go hammer up these signs in the spooky part of the forest.” 

“Not it!” Both the twins immediately called. 

“Uh, also not it,” Soos said, looking down at Stan from his position up on a ladder. 

“Nobody asked you, Soos,” Stan deadpanned. 

“I know, and I’m comfortable with that,” The man said as he bit into a chocolate bar and continued fixing a shelf. 

Stan then turned his attention to their cashier. “Wendy! I need you to put up these signs!” 

Wendy didn’t even bother to look up from the magazine she was reading, lazily reaching out an arm to Stan and pretending to grunt as she said, “I would but I, ugh, just- can’t- reach it-” 

Stan sighed and looked to the ceiling in annoyance. “I’d fire all of you if I could.” 

“But then you’d have no one manning your tourist trap,” Danny snorted, setting his rag and bottle down. 

“Ya, ya, shut it Spooks. Are you going out or can you hang these up?” Stan asked. 

“Neither, I’m going around the shack to see what needs to be fixed, since a certain someone can’t seem to be bothered,” Danny replied with a smirk. Stan playfully glared at his friend, knowing the halfa was right. . 

“You little- Alright then, fine,” Stan tucked the signs more firmly under his arm and turned to Dipper and Mabel, “let’s see… eenie, meenie, money… You.” He pointed at Dipper.

“Aw, what? Grunkle Stan, whenever I’m in those woods, I feel like I’m being watched.” Dipper complained with a shiver. 

Stan rolled his eyes. “Ugh, this again.” 

Dipper frowned. “I’m telling you, something weird is going on in this town! Just today my mosquito bites spelled out ‘BEWARE’!” He held up his arm to Stan who raised an eyebrow in response. 

“That says ‘Bewarb’.” He stated. Dipper blushed as he scratched absently at his arm. “Look, kid, the whole ‘monsters in the forest’ thing is just local legend, drummed up by guys like me to sell merch to guys like that.” Stan gestured to a sweaty customer laughing and practically drooling over a Stan bobblehead. 

Stan tossed the signs to Dipper, who just barely managed to catch them. “So quit being so paranoid!” 

Dipper sighed and left to go put up the signs. Danny watched him leave with a frown and gave Stan a stern look. Stan just gave him a look back and Danny sighed, instead walking back into the house part of the shack. 

Later that day, Danny heard the doorbell ring while he was in the middle of writing down what doors needed to be replaced, so he walked down the stairs to go answer it, only to hear Mabel. “What can I say? I guess I’m just irreeesiissstaaabbbllleee~!” She giggled. 

The doorbell rang again, a bit more aggressively this time, and Mabel called, “Coming!” before rushing by Danny to get to the door. Danny watched her run in confusion as he walked toward the living room. 

Stan gave Danny a nod from where he walked out of the kitchen with a pitt cola in his hand, walking into the living room before the halfa. “Whatcha reading there slick?” Stan asked. 

Dipper seemed to fumble for a second, before holding up whatever he was reading and read the title uncertaintly, “Uh- Uh- Gold chains for old men magazine?”

“That’s a good issue.” Stan stated at the same time Danny groaned, “Why that issue?” 

The pair snorted and were about to say more when Mabel called, “Hey family!” She then entered the doorway with someone in tow, who was wearing a black hoodie covered in dirt and twigs. “Say hello to my new boyfriend!”

The man turned around and Danny’s eyes widened. “Sup,” the guy greeted, in a much gruffer sounding voice than normal. His hair was covering one eye and there was some red stuff on his cheek, but Danny recognized him almost instantly. 

Because there was no mistaking it. That was Jeff the fucking gnome under that hood. 

“Hey,” Dipper greeted. 

“How’s it hanging?” Stan asked with a finger gun. 

Danny said nothing, eyes furrowed and set in concern as he stared at the newcomer. 

“We met at the cemetery,” Mabel said dreamily as she reached up and grabbed his arm, “He’s really deep… Oh! A little muscle there… Thats-” She blushed and glanced around. “That’s a surprise…” 

“So, what’s your name?” Danny finally piped in to ask. 

Jeff froze upon seeing Danny and stuttered out, “Uh, Normal- Man!” 

“He means Norman,” Mabel corrected, still staring at him with adoration. 

Dipper’s own expression displayed suspicion as he pointed at the supposed ‘teen’. “Are you bleeding, Norman?” He asked. 

‘Norman’ glanced at his cheek and then glanced between the faces of Dipper, Danny, and Stan. “It’s jam.” Knowing the gnomes, it probably was jam. They must’ve stolen a pie from Lazy Susan again, before coming here. 

Mabel gasped and playfully shoved him. “I love jam!” She turned to her family and gestured between Norman and herself. “Look at this!” 

“So, you wanna go, hold hands? Or whatever?” Norman asked Mabel. 

Mabel blushed and giggled. “Oh! Oh my goodness…” She then turned to her family with a grin. “Don’t wait up!” And ran off. 

Norman gave the others a finger gun and started to move, only to run into the door frame as he stumbled after Mabel. 

Danny glanced at Dipper, who seemed to be lost in thought as he stared after Norman, and then the young boy ran off. Stan had stolen his magazine and the boy’s place in the chair at some point during their conversation with Norman. 

Danny sat on the arm rest and waited for Stan to sip his pitt cola before he spoke, “So you know that was Jeff the gnome under that hood right?”

Stan inhaled sharply, choking on the drink for a second instead of doing the spit take Danny had hoped for, but it still made the halfa laugh as Stan struggled to get his coughing fit under control. “What?!” He asked, incredulously. 

“Ya, that was definitely Jeff. They’re probably stacked on top of each other, guessing they’re going to try and make Mabel their new queen,” Danny chuckled. “I don’t think they realized we were related to her though. Er- that you were, I mean-” 

Stan waved aside his comment. “You’re still family Spooks, even if not by blood. Now, how the hell do we get Mabel away from those freaks?” 

Danny rolled his eyes. “They’re mostly harmless, other than the whole misgendering thing. I’ll just go ghost and keep an eye on them, the kids will be fine.” Danny paused when he saw Dipper run past the room with a camera in his grasp. “Besides, it looks like Dipper is going all protective brother.” 

Stan sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead. “Just- please keep an eye on them okay? I know I’m supposed to be the one caring for them, but-” 

“But you don’t have freakish ghost powers,” Danny responded quietly. 

Stan glared. “You’re not a freak, Danny.” 

They’ve had that discussion many times over the years, and have even fought over it. But it still fills Danny with warmth when his friend corrects him. “You’re right, you’re right. Point still stands.” He jumped up and in a wash of white rings, became Phantom. “I’m gonna go watch them now, go get ready for your next tour.” 

“You got it, Spooks.” Stan stood while Danny went invisible and flew out of the room. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Look, Danny tried to keep an eye on the twins, he really did. But after the third hour of watching Dipper watching Mabel and Norman with a camera, and nothing bad happening? He may have… slacked off. A bit. They’re just gnomes, after all. As long as Dipper and Mabel didn’t run into the whole hoard, they should be fine. 

… Probably. 

Danny especially got distracted when a kid began throwing a tantrum in the middle of the museum and started banging on things. The kid's mother started arguing with Stan when he tried to kick them out, and Stan had called Danny to help. Stan has never been great at interacting with people, that’s why Danny was in charge of customer service. 

By the time that was handled and Danny ensured the rest of the shack was running smoothly, he went outside to check on the kids and noticed they were gone. 

Frowning, he went back in and over to Wendy. 

“Hey Wendy, have you seen the twins anywhere?” Danny asked the teen. 

She glanced up at him then back down to her magazine. “Ya, a little bit ago I gave Dipper the golf cart keys. Said something about zombies, I don’t really know.” 

“The golf- Okay, thanks Wendy!” Danny said as he rushed out of the gift shop. She gave a small salute in response. 

Danny ran around to the side of the shack and made sure no one saw him before going ghost and flying off in search of the kids. It didn’t take long to find them, not when the entire gnome hoard was stacked together and chasing them towards the shack. 

Danny’s eyes widened in horror as the monster yanked a tree out from the ground and he flew faster than he has had to in decades. The tree landed heavily right before the cart just as Danny grabbed hold of the golf cart roof and turned it, and the twins, intangible. 

The cart hurled through the tree as Dipper swerved to avoid it. The boy startled when he noticed his intangible state, which led to him losing control of the golf cart and tipping them over to the side when he braked harshly in front of the shack. Danny let go of the intangible hold when the twins started to climb out, and he floated above them as the gnomes got closer, his legs formed together to make a ghostly tail. 

“What the- Whose that?!” Danny heard Dipper yelp in surprise. The boy was noticeably missing the star hat he constantly wore. 

Danny glanced over and adjusted his voice to sound less like Fenton and more like a classic hero (taking nearly-forgotten notes from ‘Heroic Phantom’ when he had split his personality in two, way back when). He couldn’t let the kids connect the dots yet.  “Fear not citizens! I am Phantom, I’ll uh- Protect you! Or something.” 

The gnome monster ran up with a roar, Jeff yelling something about marriage, but they paused upon seeing Phantom. 

Danny raised an eyebrow, keeping his voice the same pitch as before. “Are you going to go back to your cave peacefully, or am I going to have to kick your butts?” 

Jeff’s voice called out from the very tip of the gnome. “Oh-! Uh, Phantom! We just were, uh- Well-” 

“It looks like you were trying to turn Stanley Pines’ great niece into your queen by force, weren’t you? Didn’t I tell you you had to stop doing that like- Months ago?” 

“Well we did ask! And she said no! So- logically-!” 

“Logically you should’ve left her alone. Now if you guys aren’t going to leave-” Danny held up his hand. “I’ll force you.” and with that, he zapped Jeff right off the top of the giant gnome, sending him falling to the ground with a scream.

Phantom then zapped the middle of the gnomes, sending them scattering across the yard. They began to panic, scrambling up and running away or yelling about needing orders. Before Danny could do anything else, he heard Jeff yelp and looked down to see Dipper and Mabel with a leaf blower, sucking Jeff into it. 

“On three!” Dipper yelled.

“One, Two, Three!” The twins chanted, before shooting Jeff into the sky. 

The head gnome screamed, “I’ll get you back for this!” as he was lost to the woods. 

They then started using the leaf blower to blow gnomes out of the yard like they were leaves. Phantom chuckled and used small ectoblasts to zap the other gnomes out of the yard. 

When all the gnomes were gone, Phantom was about to leave when he heard Mabel’s voice. “Hey stranger! Thanks for the help with the gnomes!” 

Phantom looked over and smiled at the pair. He could tell Dipper was watching him with a suspicious look, but the distance made it hard to tell his exact expression. Which means they couldn’t see him and connect him to Fenton. Good. Just what he hoped for. 

“Just doing my part! I am not always around town, but I try to help if I notice people in trouble. I wish I would’ve gotten to you two sooner though!” He called. 

“That’s okay! Hey, what are you by the way? Some kind of superhero?!” Mabel asked with a bright smile in her voice. 

“I guess you could say that! Let’s just say, I’m here to help and I’ll use my abilities to do so. Have a nice day you two, don’t get into any more trouble!” 

“Bye!” Mabel waved as Phantom flew away. He heard Mabel say something to Dipper as the half-ghost left, but couldn’t make out the words. He probably didn’t need to hear it anyway. 

Of course, he only went far enough into the woods for the pair to not see him, then turned invisible and flew back towards the shack. 

He landed inside the empty living room and turned back into Fenton, before walking into the gift shop just as the twins did. Stan was at the cash register counting today’s sales and he glanced up at the twins. Wendy and Soos were nowhere to be seen, which means Stan must’ve sent them home already. 

The twins looked exhausted, which wasn’t much of a surprise given the day they had. They also had dirt and twigs in their hair. Danny walked over to his friend as the older man made a jab at how the kids looked, which they both ignored. 

Stan watched the pair with a thoughtful expression and sighed when they were about to reach the ‘employees only’ door. “Uh, hey!” The twins paused and looked over. “Wouldn’t you know it, I um, accidentally overstocked some inventory. So, uh… How’s about each of you take one item from the gift shop? On the house, y’know?” 

Danny raised an eyebrow at his friend. It wasn’t often Stan gave away free items.

“Really?!” Mabel beamed. 

“What’s the catch?” Dipper asked, folding his arms across his chest. 

Stan huffed and closed the register. “The catch is ‘before I change my mind’, now take something.” 

Dipper immediately wandered over to the hats while Mabel started to look around the shop, debating between everything. While they looked, Danny nudged his friend in the side with a grin. “Softie,” he murmured. 

Stan rolled his eyes and ignored the comment as he roughly began putting money away into a safe location. 

Dipper pulled on a blue and white hat with a pine tree on the front and looked in the mirror with a nod and a grin. “Hm, that oughta do the trick!” 

“Looks good kid,” Danny told him. Dipper flushed but grinned in response. 

“And I will have a…” Mabel began, pulling something out of a box. With a twirl, she held up the item and exclaimed, “GRAPPLING HOOK! Yes!” 

Stan and Danny stared in shock. The item had to be Ford’s, misplaced or something from when they had reorganized the Mystery Shack. “Uh- Wouldn’t you rather have like, a doll? Or something?” Stan asked. 

Mabel shot the grappling hook into the ceiling, where it lodged in between some boards and stuck enough for Mabel to swing from it. “Grappling hook!” 

Stan shrugged. “Fair enough.” 

Danny snorted. “Just be safe with that thing, okay?”

“Of course I will!” Mabel beamed. 

“Alright you two, parties over. Off to bed!” Stan shooed the pair. Mabel jumped down from where she hang and returned the hook to its gun. 

Once the kids were soundly in bed and asleep, Stan and Danny crept down to the basement level, and worked on their hidden project. As they did, Danny told Stan about what happened with the gnomes. 

If the day was any indicator, this was sure to be one hell of a summer in Gravity Falls…

Chapter Text

Danny walked into the kitchen just as the twins yelled, “Syrup Race!”

They each had a bottle of syrup and were cheering on their respective ones as dollops of the stuff poured out. Mabel was the victor and Danny chuckled, pouring himself a cup of coffee as Mabel choked on her syrup. 

“Woah, Mabel, check this out!” Dipper exclaimed, showing Mabel an article in the news magazine he was reading. 

“Human sized hamster ball?!” Mabel gasped. “ I’m human sized!” 

“No no, this!” Dipper pointed at an article and Danny briefly caught a glimpse of some sort of photo contest. “We see weirder stuff than this every day!” 

Danny snorted and poured another cup of coffee, walking out of the kitchen as he heard Dipper whisper, “You didn’t get any pictures of those gnomes, did you?” 

Danny tuned them out as he walked out of the kitchen and handed Stan a cup of coffee, just as the older man walked in from picking up the newspaper. Stan took the coffee with a gracious smile and then held up the paper. “Get a load of this, Spooks. Turns out that little twerp is back in town.” 

“Gideon? Ya, I saw it on the back of Dipper’s magazine. Think he’ll start something?” Danny asked, sipping his coffee. 

Stan huffed. “Anything that has to do with Gideon is bound to have trouble.” 

Danny nodded in agreement. “Definitely. Let’s try not to worry about it until he does something though.” 

“Agreed. Anyway, today I’m going to take the kids fishing. Think you can join us? I know you’re not exactly a fan of fishing and all.” 

Danny shrugged. “Later, probably. I’m gonna search for the journals first.” 

Stan rolled up the newspaper with a nod then walked into the kitchen. “Good morning knuckleheads, you two know what day it is?” 

Dipper glanced over at Mabel and then Danny with confusion. “Uh- Happy anniversary?” 

Mabel threw up her hands in the air and exclaimed, “Mazel tov!” 

Danny chuckled. “Do you even know what that means?” 

“Nope!” She replied cheerfully. 

Stan rolled his eyes and whacked Dipper in the head with the rolled up newspaper. “It’s family fun day genius! We’re ignoring work and having one of those bonding type deals.” 

The twins instantly grimaced. “Grunkle Stan, is this going to be anything like our last family bonding day?” Dipper asked. 

Danny narrowed his eyes at Stan. “Ya, Stan. Is it?” 

Last time, Stan had the kids create fake money only for the cops to discover them. Danny had, thankfully, managed to convince them the money wasn’t going to actually be used and was instead to be put into confetti cannons for a celebration. The trio were let out, free of charge, so long as they agreed to no longer make counterfeit money for celebrations or otherwise. Danny had been pissed and may or may not have zapped Stan a few times afterwards if he so much as brought the situation up. 

Mabel shivered, eyes staring off distantly as she remembered the events. “Ugh… The county jail was so cold…” 

Stan huffed and shoved Danny aside as he walked over to his great niece and nephew. “Look, I know I haven’t been the best summer caretaker-” 

“I’ve practically been the only one keeping an eye on them,” Danny deadpanned. 

Stan ignored him and continued, “But I swear, today we’re going to have some real family fun!” 

Dipper and Mabel shared concerned looks and Danny offered them a small smile. “I have some business at the museum this morning, but afterwards I’ll see if I can join you guys.” 

That seemed to reassure the kids as they looked up at their Grunkle with grins. Stan grinned back. “Great! Now who wants to put on some blindfolds and get into my car?!” 

The twins threw up their arms excitedly with a “Yay!” before Dipper's brain screeched to a halt as he realized what Stan said and he questioned, “Wait, what?” 

Danny chuckled and downed the rest of his coffee in one go. “Have fun you guys.” He called as he left the shack. 

The trip to the museum was… uneventful, to say the least. Other than the creepy cult in the back that Danny refuses to acknowledge, there was absolutely no sign of the journals anywhere, which at this rate Danny expected. Every building he had searched thus far, multiple times over the past 30 years, he found nothing. Not a single sign of the remaining two journals. By now, he was fairly convinced  that he’d never return home again. 

The thought should be more concerning than it is. 

Danny looked around the museum for most of the morning into the afternoon, and finally gave up and headed to Gravity Falls’ lake to meet up with Stan and the others. He wasn’t a huge fan of fishing, for a variety of reasons, but he had told the kids he’d stopped by and figured he could just relax and watch them struggle instead of partaking himself. 

When he got there, Danny found Stan alone in his boat, pulled up close to a family of three and talking to the young boy there. Danny raised an eyebrow as the parents of the boy started yelling at Stan, before the older man quickly drove the boat away. Danny sighed and walked up to the dock, waving Stan down. 

The older man perked up upon seeing his long-time friend (and wasn’t that a thought, that they’ve been friends for so long…) and quickly pulled up to the dock. 

“Heya Spooks! Glad you could make it,” Stan grinned. 

Danny climbed into the boat and sat down carefully as Stan pulled away from the dock. “Hey Stan. Where’s the kids?”

Stan’s expression soured and he looked away, tensing with a defensive air about him. “Apparently they’d rather play ‘monster hunt’ with Soos than hang out with their family.” 

“Monster hunt? What are they hunting?” Danny questioned. 

“According to that crazy old man, there's a monster in the lake and the kids want to try and find it,” Stan huffed. 

“Ah, I see. They probably won’t find anything, the Gobblewonker is way too shy and unless it’s aggravated or has its home disturbed, it will hide towards the bottom of the lake. They’ll end up having to give up the adventure.” Danny nodded sagely to himself. 

Stan’s eyes widened. “Wait, you mean there’s an actual lake monster?! ” 

Danny shrugged. “Well, ya. I discovered him when searching for the journals over on Scuttlebutt Island. He’s typically pretty peaceful, but he gets very territorial. I doubt they’ll get close to his cave though.” 

Stan just stared at his friend with a bewildered expression. Danny just laughed at his friend’s reaction. 

The pair sat there for a while, idly chatting while Stan fished.

At one point, while Stan was trying to fix a knot in his fishing line, the pair heard a voice from nearby. 

“Can you pwease tell me more funny stories, Pop-pop?” 

They looked over to see an older man, around Stan’s age, with two young brunette children a few years younger than Dipper and Mabel. The old man rubbed the boy’s head through his hat. “Anything for my fishing buddies!” 

Stan glared at the trio and Danny watched him with an eyebrow raised. Stan was greatly affected by Dipper and Mabel ditching him, though Danny wasn’t completely sure why. “Just ignore them,” he whispered. 

Stan didn’t seem to hear his friend as the young boy in the other boat rubbed his arm shyly and then looked up at his grandpa with an adoring expression, saying “Pop-pop… I just realized that… I wuv you!”

Stan stood up in the boat with a snarl, shouting, “Aw, c’mon! Boo! Boo!”

Danny groaned. “Stan, stop, sit back down!” 

“H-h-hey now!” The old man stood in his own boat. “What’s the big idea?!” 

The little boy looked over at Stan and then his grandpa with a sad expression. “Maybe he has no one who wuvs him, pop-pop?” Danny had to stifle his snicker with a cough at that. 

Stan looked taken aback and snapped, “Ya, well, I, I-!” 

He was interrupted when a sudden wave crashed over the nearby boats. The pair startled and watched with horror as Soos’ boat came speeding past with what could only be described as a lake monster chasing them. 

As the monster sped by, Danny quickly went ghost and dived down into the water, watching as the boat and monster wove between people, sending some boats flying into the air at the crash of the waves. 

Stan stood drenched, and then threw down his hat with a growl. The man then slumped, sighing with a hand on his chin. “I thought you said the monster didn’t typically react?” 

Danny, hidden beside the boat, look up at his friend with a frown. “It doesn’t… Something isn’t right-” 

“Go save the kids, Danny. I’ll wait here,” Stan said with a solemn expression on his face. 

Danny’s frown deepened. “You okay?” 

“We’ll talk about it later. The kids are in danger, go save them Spooks.” Stan gestured after the others. 

Danny nodded and went invisible. Before he left, he grabbed Stan’s arm and turned the man intangible, letting all the water covering him phase off and onto the boat’s floor. 

Stan smiled gratefully at his arm as Danny let go of the intangibility. “Thanks, Spooks.” 

Phantom didn’t reply, just took off into the air after the kids. 

Phantom sped after the kids and monster, trying to get close enough to zap the creature or get to the boat to turn it intangible, but every time he got close something got in the way. 

He could see the kids panicking, Soos trying to fight off a beaver stuck to his face, and soon he watched with a mix of relief and concern as the boat sped straight into a waterfall. He knew the monster’s cave was behind it, he just hoped it wouldn’t-

Phantom paused, stopping completely in his tracks in shock as the monster got stuck in the entrance of the cave. “What the-?” 

Phantom flew into the cave, invisible still, and witnessed alongside the others as the monster revealed itself to be one of Old Man McGucket’s inventions. He relaxed after that and flew out of the cave to return to Stan.

But before he could get far, he saw the real lake monster rise up from the lake with a roar at the animatronic monster. Phantom turned visible and held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Woah nessie, calm down- It’s just a fake-!” 

The monster wasn’t having it, swiping at Phantom with it’s tail. He yelped and went invisible to avoid the swing, then zapped at the monster. It screeched and snapped at him with his fangs. Phantomzapped at it again, zooming away from the cave and the monster follow with a growl. 

He could see Soos’ boat, mostly destroyed from the robotic lake monster, manage to float out of the cave with the twins and Soos on the ship. The trio startled when they say Phantom and the actual Gobblewonker. 

“Hey! That’s the guy who saved us from the gnomes!” Mabel exclaimed. 

Phantom couldn’t react to her, trying to avoid getting eaten, but he slowed down enough to look over. Which means he  reacted too late to the swing of a tail, which knocked him out of the air and into the water. 

He quickly swam away from the group, trying to get the monster off their backs as it followed him. He flew back into the air as it tried to bite him. He expected the kids to run, get away and save themselves. 

What he didn’t expect was Dipper to yell, “Hey monster! Over here!” 

“Ya! Come get us you big scaly freak!” Mabel yelled in turn. 

Phantom’s eyes widened as the monster turned to face them. “What are you doing/! ” Phantom yelled. 

But the kids grinned at him as Soos picked up a giant barrel labeled ‘fish food’ and threw it into the water. The contents flowed out of the container and the Gobblewonker paused and sniffed the air, dipping its head and tasting a bit of the remaining fish food. 

Something in the beast seemed to light up and it ducked further into the water, consuming the rest of the flakes. Content with its meal, it sunk down into the depths of the lake and disappeared. 

Phantom watched in shock and a good amount of awe and then turned to the kids, who were grinning up at him. “I- Thank you?” 

“Don’t mention it!” Dipper called. “You saved us, we’re just returning the favor!” 

Phantom grinned, flying a bit closer so none of them were straining their vocal cords so much from yelling. . “Well, I appreciate it! You guys go on and enjoy the rest of your fishing trip, I’m sure you’ve had enough adventure for the day!” 

The pair flushed in no short amount of embarrassment, nodding. “You’re right. We’ve ditched our uncle to try and catch the lake monster but- now we just feel bad about it. It wasn’t worth it,” Dipper sighed. 

“Why would you do that?” Phantom questioned. 

“We were trying to take pictures to win a photo contest for $1000!” Mabel piped in. 

Phantom hummed in contemplation, staring at the two as he came up with an idea. 

He glanced down at the camera in Dipper’s hand and then back to the pairs’ faces. “Tell you what. I’ll let you guys take a picture of me for your contest, so long as you promise to go back to your uncle and have a fun rest of your trip.” 

Their eyes widened. “Wait, really?!” Dipper asked. 

Phantom smiled softly and nodded. “Mhm. People don’t really know about me, or if they do they don’t talk about it much. I’m sure a picture of me could do well in a contest, can’t promise people won’t think it’s photoshopped though.” 

Dipper grinned and held up his camera. “I’ll take the risk! We get a picture and go hang out with our uncle!” 

Phantom posed as Dipper’s camera flashed. Then he waved goodbye to the pair and flew away. 

He landed as Fenton in Stan’s boat, after making sure no one saw him suddenly appear there,  just in time for Dipper, Mabel, and Soos to roll up in their busted down boat. It took Stan a bit of convincing to forgive the trio, but after Dipper and Mabel put on hand-stitched hats with their names on it (Danny didn’t realize Stan looked forward to the day that much, no wonder he was so bummed out), he was back to being himself. 

And soon after that, the five of them were having a blast fishing and taking pictures, enjoying their time together.

Danny was fairly certain Dipper and Mabel even forgot about Phantom and the photo contest afterwards. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey dudes! You’ll never guess what I found!” Danny heard Soos call as he entered the living room from the gift shop. Curious, he followed the twins and mechanic as they walked upstairs. 

“So I was cleaning up, and I found this secret door, hidden behind the wall-paper!” As they came up to the door, Danny froze. Soos turned to the twins with a grin. “Its crazy bonkers creepy!” 

“I uh- I don’t know about this-” Danny tried, but the trio ignored him in favor of walking into the room. 

It was the old parlor, filled with various wax statues inside. Danny remembered them and the curse that befell them. Years ago, he had locked them away and covered the door to ensure they couldn't escape and wreak more havoc. 

“It’s my old wax museum!” He heard Stan suddenly call. When did he get there? 

He watched Stan show the kids the various statues with a scowl. 

“I think it’s time I bring these guys out of storage!” Stan grinned. 

“Absolutely not.” Danny crossed his arms. Stan raised an eyebrow. 

“Why not? C’mon Spooks, it's a money maker!” Stan huffed. 

“Well- Um-” How could he tell Stan they came alive and nearly killed them with the kids here? His eyes fell on a puddle of wax, and he got an idea. “Because you’re missing a statute! See?!” 

Stan looked over and groaned. “Wax Abraham Lincoln! Oh, no! Who left the blinds open?” He ran over to the melted puddle and dipped a finger in the wax. “How do you even fix a wax figure?” 

Danny barely paid attention to the conversation, staring at the wax figures with a critical eye as Mabel went on about crafting. Opening the wax museum was going to be a bad idea, he could feel it. 

Later on, that feeling stayed with him, even as a crowd gathered to celebrate the reopening of the wax museum. Of course, they had all been led there with the bribery of free pizza and when Stan revealed that was a lie, the crowd grew angry and trashed the place. Danny just watched the entire time from his position on stage, staring solely at the wax figures with a suspicious eye. 

The waxing moon was supposed to rise on that night… Danny knew what that meant, and he was not happy about it. 

His suspicions were confirmed when he was getting ready for bed and heard Stan scream. 

He didn’t even think, immediately going ghost and sinking through the floor, but he quickly went back to human when he saw the sight before him.

The wax figure of Stan was laying against the couch with its head cut off. And there was only one group who could’ve done that. 

Dipper and Mabel came running down the stairs. “What’s going on?!”

“Wax Stan- he’s been- Murdered!” Stan sobbed. 

Mabel collapsed into Dipper in a dramatic faint, who caught her in turn.

“We need to call the police!” Stan said frantically.

“Stan, it’s a statue, we do not-“ Danny tried.

“Yes we do Spooks! This was a homicide! A horrendous crime!” Stan cried, rushing to the phone. 

He tried to convince Stan to leave the poor officers alone, but Stan went and called the sheriff and deputy anyway, and Danny could only stand there, dumbfounded, when the pair arrived and surveyed the scene. 

“This case is unsolvable!” Sheriff Blubbs declared. Dipper and Mabel started to argue, which is when Danny decided it was far too late at night to deal with this. 

“This case is ridiculous,” Danny interrupted. “I’m going to bed, good luck with- this.” 

The others ignored him as he walked up the stairs and headed to bed. 

The next day, Danny just sat on the patio drinking a pitt cola while Stan attempted to get a wooden coffin out of the car. The twins were ‘inventigating the murder’. 

“Hey, give me a hand with this coffin will ya? Since someone won’t help me,” Stan asked the twins as they started to walk by, shooting a glare at Danny. “I’m doing a memorial service for wax Stan. Something small but classy.” 

“Sorry Grunkle Stan but we’ve got a big break in the case!” Dipper replied. 

“Break in the case!” Mabel echoed. 

“We’re heading into town right now to interrogate the murderer,” Dipper added. Danny snorted, taking a sip of his pitt cola. 

“We have an axe!” Mabel exclaimed, pulling a literal axe out of Dipper’s backpack. “Ree, Ree, Ree!” 

Danny spit out his pitt cola in shock. “What the f-!”

“Huh,” Stan hummed with a finger on his chin, “Seems like the kind of thing a responsible parent wouldn’t want you doing… Good thing I’m an uncle!” 

“Stan!” Danny scolded, incredulously. 

Stan ignored him, instead placing a foot on the coffin and shouting, “Avenge me kids! Avenge me!”

And before Danny could jump up and snatch the axe away from the kids, they ran off. 

“This is ridiculous, Stan,” Danny huffed, once the kids left. “You just let the kids run off with a weapon, of all things! And you’re trying to throw a memorial for a wax version of you!”

“He deserves a proper send off, Spooks!” Stan snapped, trying to drag the coffin towards the shack again. 

“It’s a wax statue.” Danny deadpanned. 

“He’s-!” Stan paused, staring at the coffin and sighed, his shoulders slumping as he dropped the heavy wood. Danny frowned, sitting up. Stan looked up at his friend with the beginnings of tears welling in his eyes. “… It was like having my brother back, Danny… And then losing him, again… I never got to say goodbye the first time and I just- I don’t even know if he’s alive now and- and I miss him…” he murmured.

Danny’s eyes widened. He thought Stan was just being dramatic but that - No wonder Stan was going all out. 

He stood and walked over to his friend, pulling Stan into a tight hug. Stan clung back. 

“… we’ll hold your ridiculous funeral. Maybe it’ll help get some closure. But we will get your brother back, Stan. I swear.” Danny promised. 

Stan just nodded in response. 

So they went and set up the funeral. This time, Danny helped. Which made getting the coffin inside so much easier, what with the super strength and the intangibility powers and all. 

After Dipper and Mabel came back from interrogating Toby Determined (having assumed he “murdered” wax Stan. Danny understood how they came to that conclusion, but he of course knew that wasn’t the real murderer), they held the memorial. 

Stan stood at the front of the room, wax Stan laying in the coffin beside him. There was a photo framed on the wall of Stan and wax Stan.  The wax figures were all seated in various chairs and Danny sat in the front row alongside the other humans. Soos was sobbing, blowing his nose. Mabel was still holding onto the axe with a frown on her face and Dipper just looked disappointed. Danny only felt sympathetic, but the whole thing was still rather ridiculous to him. 

“Kids, Danny, Soos, lifeless wax figures, thank you all for coming,” Stan began, sounding like he was trying not to cry.. “Some people might say its wrong for a man to love a wax replica of himself-” 

“They’re wrong!” Soos proclaimed, jumping up from his seat. Danny had to stifle a snort with a cough. 

“Easy Soos,” Stan soothed. He then looked over at the coffin. “Wax Stan, I hope you’re picking pockets in wax heaven!” Stan wiped a tear from his eye and then ran out of the room sobbing, “Sorry I’ve got glitter in my eye!” 

Soos sobbed as well and ran after Stan. Danny tried very, very hard not to laugh. 

Dipper sighed and slouched in his chair. “Ugh, those cops were right about me.” 

Danny nudged Dipper lightly with a soft smile. “Hey, cheer up kid. You guys did great investigating.” 

“Ya Dipper!” Mabel chimed in, “We’ve come so far. We can’t give up now!” 

Dipper jumped up from his chair and paced over to the coffin. “But I’ve considered everything! The weapon, the motive, the clues-” he paused when he looked into the coffin. 

Out of the corner of Danny’s eye, he noticed movement. His eyes widened as he slowly rose from his chair. Mabel didn’t seem to notice, jumping up from her chair and walking over to her brother. 

“Wax Stan’s shoe has a hole in it,” Dipper pointed out. Danny paced closer to the kids. 

“All the wax guys have that,” Mabel said. “Its where the pole thingy attaches to their stand dealies.” 

Dipper’s eyes widened. “Wait a minute- What has holes in its shoes and no fingerprints? Mabel! The murderers are-!” 

“Standing right behind you.” A voice interrupted Dipper.

Danny scowled, whipping around and immediately taking on a defensive stance, guarding the kids. The pair turned as well, just as all the wax figures rose from their seats. 

Dipper gasped in shock. “Wax Sherlock Holmes! Wax Shakespeare! Wax- Coolio?” 

“Sup homie,” Wax Coolio greeted. 

Wax Lizzie Borden snatched her axe from Mabel and Danny quickly shoved himself between the pair. “I told Stan this was a bad idea,” He groaned. 

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” Mabel panicked, hiding behind Danny. 

“Congratulations, my two amateur sleuths,” Sherlock Holmes said. “You’ve unburied the truth. And now we’re going to bury you!” 

“Over my ha- dead. Just dead. Over my dead body!” Danny scowled. 

Sherlock laughed humorlessly and glared at Danny, pulling out the head of wax Stan. “Oh, of course, I can’t forget about you .” 

“Wait- How is this possible?! You’re made of wax!” Dipper fretted. 

“Are you magic?” Mabel asked hopefully. 

Sherlock barked a laugh. “Are we magic?! She wants to know if we’re magic!” He threw his fist down onto the frame of the coffin, Danny quickly pulling Dipper and Mabel away from the wax. “We’re cursed!” 

“Cursed! Aggh!” The other wax figures snarled. 

“Cursed to come to live whenever the moon is waxing. Your uncle bought us many years ago at a garage sale,” Sherlock said. 

“A haunted garage sale, son!” Coolio added. 

“More like stole you,” Danny muttered. 

“And so, the Mystery Shack wax collection was born. By day we would be the play things of man-” Sherlocks began.

“-But when your uncle and Danny were asleep, we would rule the night!” Koolio finished. 

“It was a charmed life for us cursed beings! That was… until you locked us away.” Shakespeare’s eyes snapped to Danny in a glare. 

Danny glared right back. “ Phantom locked you away, not me, though he did tell me what happened early on. It was because you nearly killed Stan in your ‘fun’!” 

Sherlock rolled his eyes. “Don’t act coy!”

“Wait- Phantom? How do you know Phantom?!” Dipper questioned. 

“Not the time, Dipper,” Danny huffed. 

“Regardless! We waited 10 years to seek our revenge for being locked away. But we got the wrong guy,” Sherlock finished. 

“So- you were trying to murder Grunkle Stan or Danny for real?!” Dipper exclaimed.

“You were right all along Dipper! Wax people are creepy!” Mabel told her brother. 

“Enough! Now to seek our true revenge, you must die .” Sherlock stated as he, and all the other wax figures, had their eyes roll into the back of their heads. 

“Grab the fake candles or heat up something metal in the fire! Now! ” Danny snapped, ripping an electric candle from the table and slicing the head off of one of the wax figures. 

Dipper and Mabel quickly followed suit, each grabbing a candle of their own. “Anyone move and we’ll melt you into candles!” Dipper cried. 

“Decorative candles!” Mabel echoed. 

“You really think that you can defeat us?!” Sherlock Holmes exclaimed.

“ Definitely, ” Danny growled with a fearsome grin. Unbeknownst to the kids, his eyes began to glow a toxic green.

“Very well then. Attack!” And a fight began. 

Mabel darted between wax figures, causing Lizzie to chop the head off of a fellow wax and then Mabel chopped the arm off of another. Dipper sliced the head off of Larry King, and then slices another statue in half. Danny got into a candle versus axe fight with Lizzie, and saw wax Gengis Khan barreling toward him. He quickly stabbed Lizzie and darted out of the way, and the momentum made Gengis Khan tackle Lizzie and himself into the fire place, melting them instantly. 

Danny looked over to the kids and saw Mabel using the head of Coolio to hit others away from her in a twirl. Danny laughed. “Good job Mabel!” He called, running over and slicing apart wax figures. 

Mabel was then able to dart over to the fire and she yelled, “Dipper! Watch out!”

Dipper and Danny looked over to see Sherlock Holmes marching towards Dipper. “Alright! Let's get this taken care of.” He grabbed a sword off the wall and knocked the candle out of Dipper’s hand. 

Danny’s eyes widened and he started to run over but was interrupted by another wax figure. They got into a match as he heard Mabel yell, “Catch!” And she tossed a heated up fire stick to Dipper. In an impressive move, the pre-teen managed to catch the weapon and parry Sherlock’s attacks as he was pushed backwards out of the hall and up the stairs. 

“Dipper!” Danny called with worry. He snarled and sliced down the rest of the wax figures. “Mabel, can you get to work melting everyone?!” 

Mabel nodded. “On it!” She ran over to various wax body parts and began throwing them into the fire in armfuls. Danny ran out of the room after Dipper. 

He quickly glanced to make sure no one could see him and went ghost, flying after the sounds of metal on metal. 

Turns out, he didn’t really need to help. Dipper and Holmes managed to make it onto the roof. Dipper managed to lead the wax to the top of the Mystery Shack sign, knocking down the letter ‘S’. Phantom’s eyes widened as Sherlock knocked Dipper onto his butt, but breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the sun rise over the horizon. 

Sherlock melted and fell off the roof and Phantom landed beside Dipper. “Well, I was going to help when I heard the fighting, but it seems like I wasn’t needed.” 

Dipper jumped in surprise and looked over with wide eyes. “How’d you-?” 

Phantom waved aside the question. “Don’t worry about it. You okay?”

Dipper nodded. “I’m fine…”

“Good, that’s all that matters. Tell Danny hello for me, I better get going,” Phantom grinned at Dipper and went invisible. Dipper’s eyes widened even more in surprise and he looked frantically around as Phantom flew into the attic and turned back into Danny. 

Dipper climbed into the room just in time and Danny ran over with worry. “Dipper! Are you okay?! What happened to Sherlock?”

Dipper grinned. “Taken care of, don’t worry.”

Danny breathed in relief and pulled Dipper into a hug. “Glad you’re okay.”

Dipper seemed surprised for a moment and then hugged back. “You too.”

“Hot belgium waffles!” Stan shouted as he walked into the parlor, just as Danny, Dipper, and Mabel finished melting all the wax figures… probably. “What happened to my parlor?!” 

“I told you those wax figures were a bad idea, Stan.” Danny deadpanned. 

“Your wax figures turned out to be evil, so we fought them to the death!” Mabel chimed. 

“I decapitated Larry King,” Dipper added.

Stan stared at the three of them and then burst into laughter. “You kids and your imaginations. You even got Danny in on it!” 

“On the bright side though, look what we found?” Dipper held up the wax head of Stan and tossed it to the man. 

“My head, haha! I missed this guy!” Stan grinned at the twins. “You done good, kids. Alright, now line up for some affectionate nooging!” 

The kids protested, but Stan pulled them into a hug and noogied them anyways as the three of them laughed. Danny smiled softly at the side and picked up the wax Stan head where the real Stan had set it down to noogie. 

Just then, they heard a siren and looked out the window to see Sheriff Blubbs and Deputy Durland drive up. “Solve the case yet, boy? I’m so confident you’re gonna say no, that I’m going to take a long, slow sip from my coffee.” Blubbs did just that. 

Dipper smirked and took the head from Danny, holding it up for the officers to see. “Actually, the answer is yet.” 

Sheriff Blubbs was so shocked that he did a spit take right into Durland’s face, who blew the coffee at Blubbs and the pair cried out from the heat, driving away in a panic. 

They all laughed. “They got scalded!” Stan mocked. 

“So… We got all the wax figures?” Danny asked.

“I am 99% sure that we did!” Mabel replied. 

“Good enough for me!” Dipper grinned. 

“Me too,” Danny agreed. 

“Alright, alright. Now help me clean this place up, it’s a mess now.” Stan complained and they all got to work cleaning everything up. 

Chapter Text

“Hey look! Its that commercial I was telling you about,” Danny heard Soos’ voice from the living room when he wandered into the shack. He walked over to see the kids and Soos watching lil’ Gideon's commercial. 

“ Learn about tomorrow tonight! At Gideon’s Tent of Telepathy ,” The voice over on the commercial, decidingly Bud Gleeful’s, said. 

“Wow! I’m getting all curiousy inside!” Mabel giggled. 

Danny opened his mouth to speak but Stan came up behind him and beat him to it. “Ya, well don’t get too curiousy. Ever since that monster, Gideon, rolled into town I’ve had nothing but trouble!” Danny moved out of Stan’s way so the older man could pull off his suit jacket and hang it up. 

“It’s true. The little twerp used to harass us all the time and I once caught him trying to burn one of our signs,” Danny agreed. 

“Well, is he really psychic?” Mabel asked, hopping off the couch. 

“I think we should go and find out!” Dipper added, standing. 

Stan began to take off his bolo tie as he replied, “Never! You’re forbidden from patronizing the competition. No one who lives under my roof is allowed under that Gideon's roof!” He huffed and stepped into the kitchen. 

“Do tents have roofs?” Dipper questioned.

“I think we just found our loophole… Literally! Whomp Whap!” Mabel grinned, holding up a string with a loop tied on it. 

“Seriously though,” Danny started as he walked over to the pair. “I know you guys are interested but- Gideon can really be a menace. I wouldn’t be surprised if he figures out you’re Stan's niece and nephew and try something. Just… Be careful? Okay?” 

“We will, Danny!” The twins promised. 

It did nothing to ease Danny’s nerves about the situation. 

Later the next day, Danny was sitting at the table in the living room doing paperwork with Dipper sitting on the couch reading some random book, when Mabel walked in. 

“Woah, what’s with the crazy make-over Mabel?” Danny asked. 

“Ya, where have you been?” Dipper asked, sitting up. “And what’s going on with those fingernails? You look like some kind of wolverine.” 

“I know right?! Raaa!” Mabel giggled. “I’ve been hanging out with my new pal, Gideon. He’s one dapper little man!” 

“Mabel, I don’t trust anyone whose hair is bigger than their head, ” Dipper cringed. 

Danny frowned. “You’ve been hanging out with Gideon ?” 

Mabel flushed, glancing up at Danny and rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. “Yes, I have been… I know you and Stan have that big feud with him but it’s just-” She looked over at Dipper and sighed. Her expression hardened into a glare and she jabbed her finger at Dipper.. “You never wanna do girly stuff with me! You and Soos do boy stuff all the time!” 

“What do you mean!?” Dipper asked. 

Just then, Soos came running into the room with a package of frozen hotdogs. “Hey dude! You ready to blow up these hot dogs in the microwave, one by one?” 

Dipper jumped up and excitedly exclaimed, “Am I?!” Before the pair ran into the kitchen.

The sounds of the microwave beeping and their insync chanting, “One at a time! One at a time!” Could be heard. 

Danny looked over at Mabel who stood there with a sullen expression on her face staring towards the kitchen, and he groaned internally. She looked so bummed… 

“Look, Mabel-” He began, the younger one jumping and looking at him. “I get why you like hanging out with Gideon so much… I really do.” 

She sighed, “But?” 

“ But … please. Be careful. I won’t tell Stan anything, I promise, but if anything happens that could be a red flag, come to me immediately okay?” He stood and walked over to her, gently ruffling her done-up hair. “I’m just looking out for you is all, you know that right?” 

Mabel wrapped her arms around Danny in a hug.“I know you are, and I appreciate it. I’ll come to you if anything happens. But really… I’ll be fine.” 

He hugged back. “I’m sure you will… Just stay safe. That’s all I ask.” 

“Thanks, Danny,” Mabel muttered, looking up at him with a soft smile.

He merely smiled back. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mabel and Dipper were sitting on the couch playing video games a couple days later. Danny was at their feet, working on taxes and various other paperwork as he did not trust Stan to do it well. 

She had just finished explaining to the pair about Gideon asking her on a date and was trying to reassure them. “It’s not a date-date, it’s just- you know- I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. So I figured I’d throw him a bone.” 

Danny hummed and Dipper replied, “Mabel, guys don’t work that way.” 

“Ya, Mabes. He’s going to fall in love with you,” Danny added. 

Mabel rolled her eyes and waved her hand as if to brush them off. “Pft! Ya, right. I’m not that lovable!” She grinned and then immediately K-Oed Dipper’s character in the game. “Ka-boom! Yes!” She cheered. Danny grinned at Mabel and tried to stifle his laughter.

“Okay, we agree on something here,” Dipper deadpanned. Danny just barely hid his snort of laughter and Mabel shoved him, flopping back against the couch. 

Just then, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it! It’s probably Gideon,” Mabel said as she jumped off the couch, Danny scooting out of the way to give her room, and she walked over to the door. 

She opened it and shrieked as a horse came through with a neigh. The boys and Mabel gawked at Gideon, sitting atop a white stallion with a black mane, wearing a cowboy hat and boots. “A night of enchantment awaits, milady!” He smirked, reaching out a hand for her. 

Mabel paled, muttering an “Oh, boy,” under her breath that only Danny could hear and she stood. Gideon helped pull her up onto the horse and they were off. 

Danny and Dipper were both grimacing and looked over to each other. This wasn’t going to end well… 

While Mabel was on her date, Dipper, Wendy, Soos, and Danny were lounging around the Gift shop when Stan walked in holding the paper. “Hey, Hey! What’s Mabel doing next to that greasy pickpocket, Gideon?!” 

Before Danny could respond, Wendy spoke up, pulling something up on her phone. “Oh ya, it’s like a big deal. Everybody’s talking about Gideon and Mabel’s big date tonight.” She held up her phone for everyone to see the various messages people were sending about the couple. 

Danny flinched as Stan yelled, “What?!” 

“Stan, calm down, it’s not that big of a deal-” Danny tried to reason and Stan cut him off. 

“Not a big deal, Spooks?! That little shyster is dating my great-niece!” 

“I wonder what the new name will be for the power couple,” Soos inquired. “Mab-ideon? Gide-abel?” He gasped as an idea struck him. “Ma-gid-bel-eon!” 

“Soos, no-” Danny groaned.

Stan snarled and threw down his newspaper. Everyone startled and looked over with wide eyes as he stomped away. 

Dipper called after, “I didn’t know! I didn’t hear about it! And plus, me and Danny told her not to!” 

Danny sighed and stood, ready to head after Stan but paused when the man strutted through wearing his full mister-mystery get-up. “Ya, well, it ends tonight! I’m going right down to that little skunk's house-” He grabbed the door and pulled it open- “This is going to stop right now!” He stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Danny quickly raced after, remembering he couldn’t use his ghost powers around the others, and ran to Stan as the man was getting into his car, grabbing the door before he could shut it. “Stan, wait!” 

“Buzz off, Spooks!” Stan snapped, trying and failing to close the door, as Danny was much stronger than Stan given the whole half-ghost thing. 

“You can’t just go harass a kid, Stan,” Danny sighed. 

“Yes I can! That little twerp is going to get a piece of my mind!” Stan huffed, trying to pry Danny’s fingers off the door.

Danny deadpanned. “Stan, no.”

“Stan, yes!” Stan replied, giving up on trying to pry and instead kicking Danny in the gut. Danny grunted with a wince but stayed firm. 

Danny raised an eyebrow at the older. “What the hell would you even say? It’s not that big of a deal, Stan.” 

“I know that it’s just-!” Stan let out a breath and slumped in the car seat staring out the front window and away from Danny’s gaze. “I just don’t want her to get hurt…”

Danny frowned and slowly let go of the door so he could kneel beside Stan, resting a comforting hand on his leg. “You’re worried about her. She’s your great niece and you want what’s best for her, so you want to fix this before it becomes a problem… I get it, I understand.” 

Stan slowly looked over. “Good…” Stan smirked. “Because I’m going anyway!” He quickly shoved Danny onto his ass and slammed the door shut, driving off before the halfa could say or do anything. 

Danny balked at what Stan had done but eventually just resigned himself to the man’s mischief and stood, brushing off the dirt on him and walking inside. He’ll pay Stan back for that later. He had more urgent things to worry about, namely how Mabel was doing after her date. 

Which was not good, apparently, as she was somehow dragged into another date with the young menace. And after that date, Danny found her pacing back and forth in the living room rambling to herself as if trying to give the pros and cons about the situation. Dipper came up shortly after and the pair looked at each other with matching frowns on their faces. They walked into the room, just as Mabel stressed, “Aaah! I have no way out!” 

“What in the heck happened on that date?” Dipper questioned. Danny leaned against the wall by the entrance to the living room. 

Mabel looked over at them with a frantic air about her. “I don’t know! I was in the friend zone, and then before I knew what was happening, he pulled me into the romance zone! It was like quicksand!” She gripped her brother's shoulders and whispered harshly, “Chubby quicksand!” Danny stifled his chuckle and gave Mabel a sympathetic look as she let go of Dipper. Dipper gave Mabel a similar look and rested a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Mabel, come on. It’s not like you’re gonna have to marry Gideon.” He tried to joke. 

But then Stan marched into the room, wearing a ‘Team Gideon’ shirt. “Great news, Mabel! You’re going to have to marry Gideon!” 

“What?!” Danny and Mabel yelled at once. 

“It’s all a part of my long-term deal with Buddy Gleeful!” Stan grinned, walking over to his great niece and nephew. “There’s a lot of cash tied up in this thing. Plus, I got this shirt!” He looked down at himself, gesturing to the shirt and frowned. “Ugh, I am fat…” 

Mabel screamed and ran out of the room with her arms thrown into the air. 

Stan called after. “Bodies change, honey! Bodies change…” 

“I’ll uh- go check on her,” Dipper frowned, quickly hurrying after Mabel. 

When he left, Danny leveled a glare on Stan. “Seriously, Stan?!” 

“What?!” The other questioned, holding his hands up in surrender. “I did nothing wrong!” 

“Stanley Filman Pines, please tell me you did not marry off your great-niece to Gideon, especially after that poor girl has been stressing herself sick over what to do to end things with him?!” Danny yelled, jabbing Stan in the chest with a finger, feeling his eyes begin to glow a toxic green and his ghostly energy pulse with anger. 

Stan paled, quickly backing away from his friend. “Well, I, uh- It’s not really- She doesn’t have to- uh-” 

Danny growled, the sound reverberating around the room. “You should be damn lucky you’re my friend and I’m not so mad at you as I am at Gideon for stressing Mabel out so much.” 

Stan quickly nodded with an unmanly squeak as Danny turned and marched off to the bathroom to calm down. Or maybe punch something. Whichever came first. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So you’re going to break up with Gideon for Mabel?” Danny asked the next day when Dipper was getting ready to leave. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” 

Dipper shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. A man-to-man conversation is what he needs, I’m certain of it. Besides, it beats Mabel having to do it herself and either getting tricked into another date or feeling guilty for everything.” 

Danny sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I suppose, just- be careful.” 

“I will, I promise. See you later, Danny!” Dipper called as he walked out the door, leaving with Mabel to the date’s location. 

Afterwards, things seemed to have gone rather well, surprisingly. Dipper explained that he went in, told Gideon that Mabel just wasn’t interested and it seemed the younger boy understood, and that was that. Everything seemed to be… back to normal. 

As normal as Gravity Falls can be, at any rate. 

Danny watched as the kids played in the yard with Soos and glanced at the door when the phone began to ring. 

“Your turn!” “Your tur-! Aw, man,” Danny heard the kids say before Dipper walked past him into the gift shop to answer the phone. 

With his heightened sense of hearing, and with the door being left wide open, Danny was able to hear the conversation (even the voice on the other end) and he frowned in concern at Toby Determined’s voice offering to interview Dipper about the strange happenings in Gravity Falls… Dipper, of course, agreed immediately and enthusiastically, writing down the address that Danny recognized immediately as Gideon’s family’s warehouse. 

Danny’s heart dropped. It had to have been a trick… there was no way in hell he would let Dipper go alone to that place, but he also knew Dipper would not want Danny to be there. 

So Phantom it was then. 

When Dipper left that evening, making an excuse to Danny and Stan about wanting to visit a local shop or something, Danny lied to Stan about deciding to go hunt for the journals since the kids were off doing whatever and he went ghost, following after Dipper. 

The place was dark when Dipper walked into the warehouse, calling out a “hello?” that echoed around the building. Just as Phantom flew in after Dipper, the boy himself disappointedly about to leave,  the door slammed shut and the lights turned on one by one to reveal Gideon himself. He was sitting upon a chair in the middle of the building, turning around to face Dipper and stroking the head of a plush version of himself, like some evil villain petting a cat. It kind of reminded Phantom of Vlad Masters, towards the end of his evil scheming when he decided to prank Danny by copying a villain from a movie almost to a tee. It was really just to get a rise out of Danny before he became king, but it was silly nonetheless. 

This seemed ridiculous too, but also felt… darker. A dangerous air was about Gideon that made Phantom instantly on the defense, ready to become visible and defend Dipper at any moment. 

“Hello, friend,” Gideon greeted with an evil grin. 

Dipper grunted, rolling his eyes. “Gideon.” 

Gideon looked down at the plush in his lap, playing with the arms. “Dipper Pines. How long have you been living in this town? A week? Two? You like it here?” He asked, almost conversationally, before glaring at Dipper. “Enjoy the scenery?” 

Dipper crossed his arms. “What do you want from me, man?” 

“Listen carefully, boy,” Gideon hissed. “This town has secrets you couldn’t begin to comprehend.” 

Phantom frowned. What the hell was Gideon blathering on about? 

“Is this about Mabel?” Dipper asked. “I told you, she’s not into you!” 

“Liar!” Gideon screeched. “You turned her against me!” He jumped down from his chair and grabbed at his bolo tie. 

Phantom and Dipper’s eyes widened as the tie began to glow. Gideon drew closer, still snarling, “She was my peach dumpling!” 

“Are you okay man?” Dipper asked. Then he gasped as a bright greenish glow surrounded him and he was lifted into the air before thrown into boxes of plush Gideons. 

Phantom’s eyes widened and he froze in shock. Gideon marched over to Dipper with a smirk, one arm behind his back as he smugly stated, “Reading minds isn’t all I can do!” 

“But- But- You’re a fake!” Dipper stuttered out. 

“Oh tell me Dipper,” Gideon grabbed at his bolo tie again, “Is this fake?” 

Suddenly all the items in the warehouse rose from their boxes, an evil grin on Gideon's face. 

Gideon began to throw various items at Dipper and that’s when Phantom snapped into gear, quickly turning visible and blasting the cups and clocks away before they could hit Dipper. “Enough!” 

Gideon paused, eyes narrowed. “Who are you ?!” 

“Names Phantom, don’t believe we met,” Phantom glared. “But I’ve heard a lot about you, Gideon. And you’re going to leave this poor boy alone!” 

Gideon glared back. “Just try and stop me.”

Then all hell broke loose as he hurled everything at Dipper and Phantom. Phantom threw up a ecto shield again, allowing both Dipper and Phantom to run as everything was thrown their way. Dipper ran towards a wall and yelped as a shelf began to fall. Phantom quickly grabbed Dipper, turning him intangible and yanking him away from the falling unit, rolling them to the side. 

Gideon laughed sadistically at the scene before him. Phantom and Dipper landed against the wall and Phantom let go, turning them both solid again. “Grunkle Stan was right about you!” Dipper yelled at Gideon after he caught his breath. “You are a monster!” 

“Your sister will be mine!” Was Gideon’s only response, laughing. He then pulled the string on the plush Gideon and the toy began to laugh too. 

Phantom glanced around the room, trying to figure out a way to neutralize Gideon’s powers, but that was quickly forgotten as Dipper grabbed a bat and charged at Gideon. “Kid, no!” 

Dipper was raised into the air again and he glared. “She’s never gonna date you, man!” 

“That’s a lie!” Gideon snapped as Phantom ran over, his eyes widening as Gideon looked over at a pair of sheep shears and raised them from their box, freezing Dipper in place as they slowly raised towards him. “And I’m gonna make sure you never lie to me again, friend.” 

Phantom snarled and raised a hand in order to shoot an ecto blast. But was promptly stopped when something heavy hit him and knocked him into a shelf and boxes fell around him. 

“I almost forgot about you too!” Gideon laughed, the shears aiming towards Dipper opening and getting closer. 

Gideon aimed his hand towards Phantom-

But was cut off when the door flew open and Mabel yelled, “Gideon, we have to talk!” 

Gideon froze for a split second, turning around to face Mabel as the shears quickly fell. Dipper and Phantom both let out a quiet sigh of relief and Phantom turned intangible again, carefully making his way over to Dipper. “M-Mabel! My marshmallow, what are you doing here?” 

Mabel rubbed her arm with a frown. “I’m sorry Gideon, but I can’t be your marshmallow… I needed to be honest and tell you that myself.”

‘ Proud of you for standing up, Mabel, ’ Phantom thought as he crept closer to Dipper, trying not to let Gideon notice his presence. 

“I… I don’t understand…” Gideon’s hand tightened around the bolo, and Dipper began to choke. 

“Agh! Mabel, this probably isn’t the best time to be brutally honest with him!” he rasped out. 

“Shit- Hold on Dipper!” Phantom hissed, racing towards the boy, safety be damned. 

Gideon didn’t pay attention though, focusing solely on Mabel as she walked over to him with a small smile. “Hey, but we can still be makeover buddies, right?” She grabbed his hands, which made him loosen his hold on Dipper. “Wouldn’t you like that?” 

“Re-Really?” Gideon asked, hopefully. 

Just as Phantom made it to Dipper, Mabel grabbed Gideon’s bolo and yanked it off his neck. “No! Not really!” 

Dipper yelped as he fell, but Phantom quickly caught him and lowered him to the ground. “You ok?” Dipper nodded. 

“You were like attacking my brother and Phantom! What the heck?!” Mabel continued to screech. 

“My- My tie! Give it back!” Gideon begged, reaching for it. But Mabel threw it towards Dipper who caught it easily. 

“Ha! Not so powerful without this, are you?” Dipper mocked. 

Before they could do anything else, Gideon came barreling towards Dipper and tackled him, the pair crashing through and falling out the window, dropping the bolo as they did. 

“Dipper!” Mabel cried. Phantom quickly flew after the two, hearing Mabel scramble for the bolo and trying to get it to work. 

His stopped heart felt as if it was stuck in his throat and his core pulsed with fury as he flew after Dipper and Gideon. He couldn’t let them get hurt, couldn’t let Dipper get hurt and his ghost side grew even more stressed as it pushed him faster, begging him to save Dipper and beat Gideon into a pulp. He couldn’t let anything happen to Dipper, he had to save Dipper, he had to-

The pair were still fighting in mid-fucking-air before they processed what was happening and screamed as they fell. Phantom flew as fast as he could after them, still just out of reach- 

He paused his flight, reaching out with his powers towards the pair falling below them, grasping onto their energy signals and latching on. His powers rushed outward, towards the pair and they were quickly surrounded in bright green light and Phantom quickly yanked upwards, freezing them in midair just before they could hit the ground. He could feel frost begin to creep up his arms from his fingertips as the temperature dropped around them. His powers pulsed with anger, his core begging him to act more, to attack. To defend Dipper until his last breath and pummel Gideon to the ground. It was a fierceness he hadn’t felt in years and the emotions behind them were quickly draining him as he struggled to keep control of his ghost side. 

\He slowly lowered himself and the pair to the ground, dropping them when they were close enough to not get hurt and collapsing himself, his energy rushing back to him as he tried to catch his breath. They were safe. Dipper was safe… 

Moments later, Mabel came floating down herself off of the cliff, holding onto Gideon’s bolo with a fierce expression. She landed softly in front of Gideon and leaned in with a glare. “Listen Gideon. It's over. I will never, ever, date you.” 

“Ya!” Dipper agreed. Then Mabel chucked the bolo onto the ground, which caused it to shatter completely with a puff of green smoke that looked oddly like a skull. 

“My powers!” Gideon cried, before his face hardened and he rose to his feet. He pointed at Mabel and Dipper and slowly backed into the woods. “Oh, this isn’t over… This isn’t the last you’ll see of ‘widdle’ ol’ me…” And then he was gone. 

Dipper and Mabel glanced at each other. Phantom huffed, rising from the ground to his knees. 

His powers pulsed weakly, still angry and begging for more of a fight, the chill still heavy in the air regardless of how he tried to get it to stop. He ignored the pulsations  as the twins noticed him again and quickly ran over. 

“Are you okay?!” Mabel asked, worriedly. 

“You like- Totally saved my life back there man, thank you so much!” Dipper added. 

Phantom gave them a weak grin. “I’m fine, I’m fine… all in a day’s work. I’m just glad you’re okay, kid.” 

Dipper frowned. “How did you, like- Know? That I was here?” 

Phantom winked. “Let’s just say I have a buddy on the inside, who worried about your safety.” He tried to stand and gasped in pain as his core pulsed again, falling back down. The pair gasped in shock and quickly went to either side of Phantom. Each wrapped an arm of his around their shoulders and helped him partially to his feet. 

It was awkward, given that he was taller than them, but he appreciated the support as he tried to get his legs to work. His eyes were burning bright, able to see the greenish glow washed across Dipper and Mabel’s faces. 

They started to carefully, slowly, walk back towards the warehouse where Mabel left her bike. As they walked, Dipper hesitantly asked, “So… You said your name was Phantom, right?” 

Phantom nodded. “Mhm, that’s the name. Don’t wear it out,” he joked. Mabel giggled. 

Dipper smiled. “Uh- Well- Do you mind if I ask a couple questions, Phantom?” 

Phantom tried to shrug but it didn’t really have the same effect with his arms wrapped around the kids and half dragging his feet. “Go for it. I ain’t going anywhere anytime soon until my powers cool down anyway.” 

“Okay, Uh- Well… What… are you? Exactly?” Dipper questioned. 

“Hitting me with the tough questions already, huh?” Phantom chuckled. Dipper flushed and stutteringly tried to backtrack but Phantom cut him off. “Relax, it’s okay. To put it extremely simply, I’m not exactly… how do I put this…” 

“Normal?” Mabel offered at the same time Dipper suggested, “Human?”

He chuckled again. “Not quite either of those, though not being normal is closer… I’m still human-ish but not entirely so, I guess. More like- More like I’m human but enhanced by something out of anyone’s control. That’s the easiest way I can put it, I’m not really allowed to give more info than that.”

Dipper hummed like he wanted to push more, but seemed content with the answer for now at least. “Okay, I guess that makes some sense. Next question, then?” Phantom nodded for Dipper to continue. “You said earlier you ‘knew someone on the inside’ and before that, when I was fighting Sherlock on the roof, you told me to say hello to Danny… Is that who you mean? Are you like- friends with Danny?” 

“You do look kinda like him, actually, in the facial features,” Mabel added. “I mean- you’re more broad, and still have sharper features. Plus your hair is white, your ears are pointed, your eyes-” 

“We get it, Mabel,” Dipper interrupted. 

Phantom sighed. She was right. Even as Phantom, he still looked a lot like Fenton except… Stronger. Closer to how Dan looked, which was a whole other baggage to unpack that he refused to dwell on. So he had to come up with an explanation that could explain that and him knowing, well, himself… 

“To put it plainly, I met Danny accidentally when he was out in the woods,” Phantom started, forming the lie as he spoke. “He was being attacked and I saved him. We… realized how similar we looked during that time but uh- we aren’t exactly sure why that is. He uh- He originally thought maybe I was his guardian angel, or something,” Phantom internally cringed even as he chuckled like it was a fond memory. A guardian angel? Seriously?! That made it sound like some cheesy romance movie or something. 

“I see… So why does-?” 

“Were you a couple?!” Mabel interrupted Dipper with a squeal, eye’s sparkling.

“Well would you look at that! I’m feeling better and we made it to your bike! Alright now, got to go, bye!” Phantom rushed, letting go of the twins and turning his legs into a tail as he darted off. His powers were much more relaxed now, but his core still ached from leaving the pair so quickly like that. But he was not indulging in that sort of questioning until he could get his head on straight and now was not that time. 

Later that evening, Dipper and Mabel were slumped on the couch tiredly with Danny flopped on the floor at their feet. They had explained everything that happened to Danny when they had gotten back, omitting their convo with Phantom other than the ‘we figured out how you met’ part. Stan was hanging some sort of clown photo on the wall and he turned to the trio. 

“What the heck happened to you guys?” He asked. 

“Gideon,” Mabel groaned. 

“Gideon.” 

“ Gideon, ” Stan rasped, walking over and sitting on the skull coffee table. “Ya, the little mutant swore vengeance on the whole family.” 

Danny chuckled. “What, is he gonna try and nibble our ankles or something?” Stan laughed. 

“Oh ya… Ya! How’s he gonna destroy us now, huh? Try to guess what number we’re thinking of?” Dipper mocked. 

“He’ll never guess what number I’m thinking of.” Mabel smirked. “Negative 8! No one would guess a negative number!” 

They all laughed and continued to mock Gideon. Stan leaned onto the kids, trapping them to the couch as they laughed, adding as Danny poked at him, “Oh! I bet he’s planning our destruction right now!” 

It seemed like the issue was finally over, and they were free to move on with their lives. 

Though Danny still couldn’t help the uneasy feeling in his chest, that this really wasn’t the last time they’d see Little Gideon…

Chapter Text

Mabel was sitting atop the globe in the gift shop and spinning, with Dipper sitting beside her with Journal 3 in his hands. Normally he’d keep it more well hidden, covered with a booksleeve, as Danny seemed to worry whenever he and his sister got involved with the creatures of Gravity Falls and Stan just straight up didn’t believe in it all. But in the safety of the gift shop, where only his sister and Wendy were, he was free to read as is. 

Currently, he was skimming through the journal to see if he could find any information on Phantom. The man had to have been given his powers by something , right? And how did he know Danny? What was the history there? 

His current thought process was leading him down a very strange trail of thought. Particularly within the pages he was currently reading… But spirits seemed completely ridiculous right? Of course, he had to ask his sister for her opinion. “Mabel? Do you believe in ghosts?” 

The eccentric young girl replied, “I believe you’re a big dork! Hahaha!” Instead of giving an actual answer. 

Deadpanning, Dipper stopped the spinning globe with a pencil, causing her to fall over with a yell. 

Then he saw Danny and Stan walking towards the door and quickly shoved his journal into his vest. Maybe he could ask Danny his opinion on ghosts, once Stan leaves them be? That didn’t sound like such a terrible idea… 

“Soos! Wendy!” Stan called as he walked into the shack, Danny trailing lazily after, lightly shoving past Stan to walk further into the building while Stan stayed put. 

Soos immediately ran up to the door, panting as he asked, “What’s up, Mr. Pines?” 

“I’m heading out, so Danny’s in charge. You two are gonna wash the bathrooms, right?”

“Yes sir!” Soos replied with a salute. 

“Absolutely not,” Wendy said right after, also saluting. Danny chuckled, picking up a clipboard from behind the counter so he could start working on inventory stock. 

Stan laughed and then narrowed his eyes at the group. “You stay out of trouble. Especially you, Spooks.” 

“Unlike you, I happen to have a clean criminal record, old man,” Danny responded without looking up from the clipboard. 

Stan spluttered in mock-offense, but then rolled his eyes and gave Danny a fond smile. “Ya ya, goody two shoes. See ya later.” 

Everyone said bye as Stan closed the door and left. Soon after, Wendy ran over to a curtain in the corner of the shack. 

“Hey guys! What’s this?” She called as she went over and grabbed the edge of the curtain, pulling it aside. “A secret ladder to the roof?” Danny already knew about the hidden entrance, having used it a handful of times himself and even helped Wendy set up some chairs up there. 

Soos frowned with worry, glancing at Danny. “Uh… I don’t think Mr. Pines would like that…” 

Wendy held out a hand to Soos. “Aah?”

“Aah…”

“Aah?”

“You’re freaking me out, dude!” Soos fretted. 

“Can we actually go up there?” Dipper asked, standing up and walking over with Mabel.

Wendy looked over to Danny. “Can we, Mr. Fenton?” 

Danny shrugged. “Sure you can. Just be safe, okay?” He trusted she would keep the twins out of harm's way. The girl was fierce and very protective, he’s sure they’ll be fine. 

Wendy and the twins cheered, chanting, “Roof time! Roof time!” As they climbed up to the roof. 

Soos still seemed worried, but Danny’s ease at the situation calmed him down. 

Danny heard the trio chatting and cheering, and a car alarm going off, but nothing sounded broken so he didn’t care as he finished taking inventory. Only when he heard a car pull up and Wendy climb down the roof by using a nearby tree, did he step outside and give the girl a raised eyebrow.

She flushed. “I’m uh- done with my shift?” 

Danny rolled his eyes. “You’re really not. But I’ll let it slide since Stan isn’t here. Just come in early to make up for it okay?”

Wendy grinned. “You got it, Mr. Fenton!” She then climbed into the waiting van and they were off. 

Later that evening, Mabel told Danny about Dipper’s supposed crush on Wendy (which the boy adamantly denied having) and the pair teased him for it until they went to bed. 

The next day, Danny walked into the gift shop right as Mabel yelled, “Random dance party for no reason!” and she started to dance with Wendy. 

“Go! Go! Go! Go!” They chanted. 

“Come on, Danny! Join in!” Mabel called, waving him over. He laughed and walked up, dancing with the pair. Years of ghost fighting kept him light on his feet, so while he wasn’t a great dancer he certainly could move. 

“Dipper!” Wendy called over to the boy, who was holding a clipboard. Of which he juggled for a moment when he startled. 

“Wha? Uh- Yes? Yeah?” Dipper stammered. Danny and Mabel looked at each other and stifled their snickers. 

“Aren’t you gonna get in on this?” Wendy asked. 

Dipper walked over sheepishly. “I, uh, don’t really dance…” 

“Ya you do!” Mabel corrected. “Mom used to dress him up in a lamb costume and make him do…” she leaned in close to Wendy and Danny, stage whispering, “The lamby lamby dance!” 

“Now is not the time to talk about the lamby dance,” Dipper hissed. 

“Lamb costume?! Woah!” Wendy exclaimed, looking over at Dipper. “Is there, like, little ears and a tail or–” 

Dipper rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Well, uh- uh-” 

Mabel held up a photo from her scrapbook and showed Danny and Wendy the image. “Dipper would prance around and sing a song about grazing.” 

They laughed and Dipper glared at his sister, just as the clock chimed. “Hey, look at that. Quitting time. The gang’s waiting for me.” 

“Have fun!” Danny said just as Dipper called, “Hey wait!” 

“Uh, maybe I- er- we ,” He gestured over to Mabel, “could come with you?”

Danny raised an eyebrow. The boy was down bad , huh? 

Wendy frowned, glancing at Danny. “Oh, I don’t know… My friends are pretty intense… How old did you guys say you are?”

Before Mabel or Danny could say anything, Dipper declared, “We’re 13! So… technically a teen.” 

“Alright, I like your moxie, kid,” Wendy chuckled. “If it’s alright with Danny, you can come. Let me go get my stuff.” 

Dipper immediately whipped around to face Danny as Wendy walked away, a pleading expression on his face. 

Mabel, meanwhile, looked confused. “Since when are we 13? Is this a leap year?” 

Danny snorted. “That’s not what a leap year is, Mabel. It's just an extra day added every 4 years. Now, as for you two hanging out with Wendy…” 

“Come on Danny!” Dipper pleaded. “This is our chance to hang out with, you know, the cool kids!” Under his breath, he added, “And Wendy and whatever.” 

Mabel gasped. “I knew it!” She jumped down from her spot on the counter and exclaimed as she did a dance. “You love her! Love love, love love love!” 

“Oh hey, what’s that?” Dipper asked, pointing off into the distance. 

“Huh?” Mabel questioned, trying to look. Dipper then flung her hair across her face from behind, causing her to sputter. 

Danny laughed and helped Mabel fix her hair. “Okay, okay. I’ll let you guys go. But if anything goes wrong, call me or Stan immediately ok? I don’t care if you have done something illegal or inappropriate, if you’re uncomfortable or worried then call us .” Danny stressed. 

Dipper and Mabel nodded. “We will!” And then they ran off as Wendy returned, heading out. 

Later that evening, Stan was sitting on the couch watching TV while Danny worked on a piece of machinery for the portal at the kitchen table. It was inconspicuous enough that it could be mistaken as a car piece or something. The Tv switched shows, the narrator saying, “ You’re watching the black-and-white-period-piece-old-lady-boring-movie channel. ”

Stan looked around for the remote, barely moving, then called, “Kids! I can’t find the remote and I refuse to stand up!”

Danny snorted. “They went out with Wendy and her friends.”

“ Stay tuned for the Friday night movie, The Duchess Approves, staring Sturly Stembleburgiss as The Duchess and Grampton St. Rumpterfabble as the irascible coxswain, Saunterblugget Hampterfuppinshire, ” the Tv droned. 

Stan looked over at his friend with panic. “Danny! Help me!” 

Danny slowly smirked, turning invisible and Stan yelled, “No! Noooo!” As the movie began to play. Danny laughed so hard his stomach hurt. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh, come on, pick up, pick up…” Dipper whispered, heart racing. 

“Hello, this is Fenton?” He heard from the other end and breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Danny! Danny, I need your help,” Dipper stressed. 

“Dipper? You ok?” He could hear Danny’s concern through the phone. “What’s going on? Where are you?”

“I’m at that abandoned convenience store, Dusk 2 Dawn. We broke in to mess around but I- I think the place is haunted. I keep seeing all these creepy things but no one is listening to me and I don’t know what to do ! I don’t know if you believe in ghosts but-” Dipper rambled. 

“Dipper,” Danny interrupted. His voice suddenly sounded dark … Almost angry. Was he mad at Dipper…? “I need you to calm down and listen to me very closely, got it?” 

“Got it,” Dipper breathed, trying to calm his racing heart. 

“Ghosts are very much real and very much dangerous. You need to get everyone out of there as soon as possible okay? Do whatever it takes to convince them to leave. I’m sending Phantom over as soon as possible, he’ll know what to do.” His voice softened, comforting Dipper’s very frazzled nerves. “Just hang tight. I promise, help is on the way.”

“Thanks Danny,” Dipper replied before hanging up the phone. 

Please hurry, Phantom , he thought as he ran over to the others. 

Then things went from bad to worse. 

It all happened so fast. The teenagers had found the tape markings of the dead couple and were going to lay down, but when Dipper suggested that they shouldn’t and that the place may be haunted, they were all so disappointed and annoyed at him- And so Dipper impulsively laid down in the tape marks. 

Which is when Tambry was sucked into a TV and Thompson into dancey pants. Dipper frantically tried to find something within the journal to help them. Lee was sucked into a cereal box, Nate into hot dogs, and Mabel was possessed by the ghosts. 

The entire place was flipped on end, everything flipping upside down as things fell from floor to ceiling and flew around the place with the ghost’s ethereal green glow. 

“Dipper, what do we do?!” Wendy cried. 

“Duck!” Dipper yelled back and the pair ducked as a shelf came flying by. 

“Quick! In there!” Wendy yelled and they scrambled under a pop machine cabinet. 

Just as they made it inside, the doors burst open in a bright blast of toxic green. 

Standing upside down– er, technically upright– at the entrance to the convenience store was none other than Phantom, who flew up and flipped around so he matched the upside down nature of the place. Dipper breathed a sigh of relief, but that feeling was cut short upon really noticing Phantom. 

His snow-white hair billowing around him as if defying gravity, hands and eyes glowing brightly. But what was really startling was the pure rage coming off the hero in waves… It was as if his anger was bubbling just under the surface, begging to be released, but he refrained. He felt not just dangerous, but deadly . As if he could snap you in half without barely lifting a finger. Pure power flowing around him and drawing you in, while also pushing you to listen and obey.

 It was terrifying. 

Both Wendy and Dipper gasp in shock and look at each other with no small amount of worry. 

“Alright, Ma and Pa. Show yourselves, please,” Phantom grounded out, trying to be polite. 

Two spirits appeared; an older man holding onto Mabel and an older woman standing beside him. “Oh!” The lady, Ma, started, “You’re that Fenton boy!” 

“I apologize ma’am, but that is not who I am. My name is Phantom, I’m like you,” Phantom flew over to the pair, the glow slowly dimming but still there. “Now, I have to ask you to let these guys go.” 

“ NO! ” Pa screamed, suddenly growing and being covered in fire. Dipper flinched back in fear, still safe within the confines of the cabinet he and Wendy were hiding in, but Phantom seemed unphased, arms crossed. 

“Why not?” He asked. 

“Those cretins are teenagers! Awful, awful teenagers! We refuse to let them go until they atone for what they’ve done!” Ma snarled. 

Dipper frowned as a thought crossed his mind. Without hesitating, he crawled out of the cabinet. “Dipper! What are you doing?!” Wendy hissed after him, but he ignored her. 

He stood on the floor– ceiling, it's the ceiling– and exclaimed, “Hey ghosts! I’ve got something to tell you! I am not a teenager! ”

Phantom and the ghost’s heads snapped over to look at Dipper, but the reaction was instant as everything settled and fell to the ground. Including Mabel, whom Pa dropped (and Phantom caught and gently set down). 

Pa and Ma looked delighted, Phantom looked both concerned and angry. “Oh, well why didn’t you say so? How old did you say you were?” Pa asked. 

Dipper frowned and glanced over at Wendy, then at Phantom. But he knew he had to do this. “I’m… 12. Technically not a teen…” 

Phantom sighed. “So that’s why you guys are still around? Teenagers?” 

Ma frowned. “ When we were alive, teenagers were a scourge on our store!” 

Pa continued, “Always sassafrassin’ customers with their boomy boxes and disrespectful short pants! So we decided to up and ban them! But they retaliated with this new fangled rap music.”

“The lyrics, they were so hateful! It was so shocking, we were stricken down with double heart attacks!” Ma’s face brightened. “That's why we hate teenagers so much! Don't we, honey?” The pair nuzzled their noses together affectionately and Dipper resisted the urge to cringe. 

“So that’s why your spirits haven’t let go. You never got vengeance against those teens,” Phantom guessed. The pair nodded in agreement. “Well, is there something we can do to encourage your departure and let these teens go? Clearly they’re not all teens, you don’t want to hurt the kid, right?” 

Pa looked thoughtful and nodded. “I suppose not. Tell you what. Do any of you know any funny little dances?” 

Phantom’s gaze turned to Dipper with a raised eyebrow. Something about those bright eyes staring at Dipper made him feel squirmy and anxious, as if they were looking into his very soul… But the feeling was ignored and replaced with embarrassment, since that look could only mean that Phantom knew Dipper knew a dance… 

Dipper flushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Uhhh… Is there anything else I can do?”

“ NO! ” Pa screeched again, lighting up in flames and Dipper stepped back, holding his hands up in surrender. 

“Okay okay okay!” He appeased. “I do know… the lamby, lamby, dance… But I can’t really do it without a lamb costume!” Thinking he bested the ghosts, he put his hands on his hips in triumph.

Only for Phantom to smirk and snap his fingers, which caused his clothes to be replaced with none other than a lamb costume. 

Dipper glared but resigned to his fate as he began to sing and do the lamby lamby dance. 

As he sang, Pa began to light up again without the anger from before, encouraging Dipper to continue with a “Yes! Yes! More! More!” 

Dipper finished off the song with a finger to his cheek, and there was a small flash of light after. When he looked up at the source, he saw Phantom holding a phone with a downright evil grin on his face, the jerk . 

Pa and Ma grinned. “That was some fine girly dancing, boy. You and your friends are free.” The doors to the shop opened and Dipper’s clothes returned to normal.  

“Well, I don’t think you have to worry about us coming back, so-” Dipper began. 

“Because I’ll make sure of it.” He gave Dipper a look and then turned to the ghosts, leading them away from Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy and quietly talking to them. Dipper tried to listen in, but they were too quiet to be heard. 

After a moment, the ghosts disappeared, leaving behind Phantom, and suddenly everything was flipped back on end. There was a chorus of screams as the teenagers fell to the ground harshly, all free from the elaborate traps the ghosts had put them in. 

They all groaned, rising and rubbing their heads. Mabel looked ready to puke, stating, “Ugh. I’m never going to eat or do anything ever again.”

Dipper smirked, holding up a remaining smiley dip packet. “Hey! There’s still some left.”

“Evil!” Mabel shrieked, smacking the product out of his hands. 

“What- What happened after everything went crazy?” Lee asked, looking over at Wendy. 

Before she could reply, she was intercepted by Phantom.“That doesn’t matter. You can explain to them later.” The group looked over to the flying man, hovering just above them and eyes still brightly glowing toxic green. His arms were crossed and he looked… disappointed. 

“What you are going to explain now, however, is why the ghosts were ready to kill all of you?! If I hadn’t come here when I did, none of you would have lived past the night!” He snapped. 

They all frowned, rubbing their necks or arms and looking ashamed of themselves. 

Dipper sighed and slumped, glancing up at Phantom with an apologetic expression. “It was my fault, Phantom… I uh… I laid down on the tape markings…” 

Phantom’s eyes practically bulged out of his head and his hands clenched into fists and began to glow. “You did what?! ” He roared, causing everyone to shrink back. “Of all the-! Laying down in-! Do you have any idea how utterly disrespectful that is?! It’s like someone defecating in your bed!” 

A chorus of “ews” and “gross” were murmured across the group and Wendy stepped forward. “It's our fault, really, Mr. Phantom. Dipper only did it because of us.” 

“Ya, what she said!” Nate agreed. “I was going to lay in it, but Dipper tried to stop us.” 

“And when he did, we all started mocking him for it. Which led to him laying down in the tape instead… It was all peer pressure, and we’re really sorry,” Lee added. 

Dipper gave a grateful smile to the teens for their defense and Phantom turned his hardened gaze towards the older ones. “I see. You guys should know better than to mock a kid for being concerned. Which, might I add, he was entirely justified in. Heck- he called Danny in a panic because you lot weren’t listening to his fears! Utterly unbelievable . If I didn’t understand the psychology behind why you guys act the way you do, I would be scolding you like some sort of disappointed parent. But I presume that this event left you all more than traumatized, and will keep you from doing this again, ya?” 

They all nodded their agreement. 

“Good. Then all of you, get out of here! Except for you two-“ he turned to Dipper and Mabel- “I already texted Danny and he’s on his way to pick you guys up. You’re lucky he cares about you kids, he’ll be much kinder to the situation than I am right now.” 

Dipper sighed and nodded. “Alright…”

Phantom led the teenagers out of the convenience store, but not before Wendy said goodbye to Dipper, “Well, I’m probably scarred for life. Think I’m gonna go stare at a wall and rethink everything. Next time we hang out, let’s stay at the Mystery Shack ok?” 

Dipper perked. “Next time?! Ya! Ya, let’s uh- Hang out at the shack.” 

Wendy grinned and waved goodbye as she ran after the others, and soon they were gone. 

Phantom flew back into the building and landed beside Mabel, kneeling beside the groaning pre-teen and feeling her forehead. She winced. “Your hand is freezing!” 

“Ya, I have a colder body temperature than humans. But that also means I can more accurately tell body temps, and you don’t seem to have a fever. No more candy for a while, ok?” 

Mabel nodded in agreement. 

The statement about Phantom’s temperature suddenly connected a few strings that were tugging at the back of Dipper’s head as he realized something. ‘...listen to me very closely, got it? Ghosts are very much real and very much dangerous.’‘My name is Phantom, I’m like you’, ‘I’m still human-ish but not entirely so… More like I’m human but enhanced by something out of anyone’s control.’ It suddenly all made sense. Glowing eyes, powers, able to appear and disappear at will- The coloring of his powers matched the eerie green of Ma and Pa’s, not to mention that Phantom can fly… Heck, even his name-!

“Wait, Phantom, are you a ghost?!” Dipper gasped. 

Phantom froze, eyes wide. The tension in the room from Phantom’s anger was gone in an instant, startled by the revelation. 

“I’m- actually surprised you figured it out so soon, honestly. I’m, in fact, a ghost. Good job,” Phantom replied, voice seeming to shake a bit and a look of… nervousness? Concern? Was flashing across his features. 

Dipper began to pace as the thoughts raced in his mind, this new information clarifying so many things, but most of all… “So that must be how you and Danny knew each other! When you were alive, you guys had some sort of connection but then you must’ve died and became a ghost, but that still doesn’t explain why you help people all the time and why you haven’t moved on like Ma and Pa did, or about-”

“All in due time, Dipper,” Phantom interrupted. “All in due time. But for now, I think I hear Danny’s car coming up the road. I’m going to go and let you guys chill out from your adventure, no pun intended.” He gave a small smile to the twins, his anger and nerves fading completely and leaving behind something soft in its wake. “Try not to get into any more trouble, ok? I swear you kids are the most incident prone people I have ever met.” 

“Thanks for saving us, again, Phantom… I’m… I’m sorry about- well-” Dipper frowned, looking to the floor. 

A freezing hand on his shoulder made him look up in surprise. “You were also the ones to fix it, and send the ghosts on their way to peace. While I am certainly upset at you, I’m not mad at you. I’m more upset over the fact that you guys got hurt than you being rude to the ghosts. Just try not to do it again, ok?” Dipper nodded. “Good. I’ll see you later.”

And then Phantom was gone. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phantom quickly transformed back into Danny as he landed in the car, and drove out of his hidden spot in the woods and onto the tarred parking lot. Bolting out of the car and running to the doors, he was greeted by Dipper and Mabel flinging themselves at him and talking a mile a minute, trying to explain everything that happened to them (mostly Dipper, since Mabel was sugar high). 

He managed to corral them into the car and was silently listening to their explanations, calmly telling them that he’s just glad they were safe when finished and also teasing Dipper about the lamby lamby dancing, using the excuse that ‘Phantom texted me a photo’ to explain how he knew that happened. 

Danny didn’t stay mad at them. That anger was practically gone when Dipper apologized to him as Phantom, he didn’t need to. That didn’t stop him from still ‘agreeing with Phantom’ when Dipper explained what the ghost had told him, but he wasn’t mad. 

He could still feel the anger in his core though. It's been getting worse since the Gideon incident. His powers wanted to manifest more than ever in the last 30 years since he first arrived in Gravity Falls, but since he’s been going into Phantom so often to protect the kids, he at least didn’t need to worry about them flaring like they did in the early days. 

He still wasn’t sure why this was happening… It was like Danny’s ghost powers were unstable in this dimension compared to his own. But he didn’t dwell on the fact any longer than he needed to, especially when he pulled up to the Mystery Shack and got out of the car with Dipper and Mabel. He wrapped an arm around each of them and walked to the front door… 

Only for Stan to scream and throw the TV out of the window.

The trio stared at the destroyed glass and broken TV as Stan poked his head out of the shack and sheepishly explained, “Uh… I couldn’t find the remote?” 

“I hate you Stan,” Danny deadpanned. 

“No you don’t Spooks!” Stan called back, ducking back into the shack.

Chapter Text

“ He’s coming ,” a multitude of voices whispered, surrounding him in the empty void. “ He’s coming ."

The prophecy shall be fulfilled .

                                                                                                              The prophecy shall be complete .

  lufrewop eb lliw lessev siH                                                                                  

                                                                  He shall bring back the weird .

                      His vessel will be extraordinary . 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               .ʜtiw bɘnoʞɔɘɿ ɘd ot ɘɔɿoʇ ɒ ɘmoɔɘd lliw ɘH

                                                                                                                                          It is almost complete .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         He is almost here.   

                                                                               Wkh Flskhu lv rq klv zdb .

Welcome our new master,

7;0;4;0;17;0;12;0;8;0;15;0;0;6;0;12;0;19;0;11;0;8;0;21.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny awoke with a gasp and his heart racing out of his chest as he sat up. The sun was shining brightly on him, weaving through the trees and he rubbed his head in confusion. 

“What was that dream?” He asked aloud, as if hoping someone would respond. No one did, of course.

Danny stood and brushed the dirt off of himself. He must’ve dozed off when searching for the journals. How long has he been out here? A few minutes? Hours? If he was gone for too long, Stan might worry. 

He shook his head to clear it and quickly turned into Phantom, heading back to the shack while still trying to mull over the dream. But the more he tried to figure it out, the more his head hurt. 

When he landed outside of the gift shop, as Fenton and with no witnesses to his sudden appearance, he was no closer to figuring it out than when he had the dream, so he gave up. Especially when he noticed the wooden board through the door handle and a note from Stan reading, 

‘Danny, We’re at Greasy’s diner. Meet us there and leave the yahoo. -Stan’

Danny did no such thing, removing the board and walking inside to ring up Tyler’s order.

It was after Tyler left when Danny made his way into Greasy’s diner, walking in and seeing the family just as Mabel and Stan burst out laughing hysterically, with Dipper looking offended. 

He walked over and his sensitive hearing picked up the conversation. “Fine, family of little faith! Get ready to eat your words.” Dipper snapped, rising from his seat. “And a plate of delicious pancakes!” Then he started marching towards the front and paused upon seeing Danny. 

“Hey Dipper, what’s the rush?” Danny casually asked. 

Dipper’s face went from startled to determined as he responded, “I’m going to beat that manliness tester!” He pointed behind Danny, who turned to see the machine. 

Danny turned back to Dipper with a raised eyebrow. “You know those things are rigged right?”

Dipper waved aside Danny’s comment, walking past him towards the machine and Danny followed. The older man leaned against the wall and watched as Dipper stood in front of the handle and flexed his hand. “And a one and a two…” He murmured.

“Quit stallin’!” Stan called from his seat. 

Dipper took a deep breath and grabbed the handle, squeezing with all his might as the lights went up, and up, and up- Only to drop down to ‘wimp’ as Dipper let go. Dipper frowned disappointedly. “Aw, what? You were right, Danny. This thing is broken.” He turned to face the rest of the diner. “It’s totally broken guys. It’s like- a million years old, probably ran out of steam power or-”

“Hey, let me try,” Danny interrupted, gently nudging Dipper out of the way.

“You sure? It’s pretty rickety man, I wouldn’t even-” Dipper tried, but Danny didn’t listen as he gripped the handle and barely applied any pressure to the machine.

Immediately, the lights snap up to the top one by one and the machine whistled before it burst, knocking the plate of pancakes and sending them flying everywhere- Only for them to land on everyone’s plates miraculously (and with the help of an invisible clone Danny had summoned the other night). 

Dipper looked utterly appalled, staring at Danny with a mixture of shock and disheart. Danny gave Dipper a reassuring smile. “I have good luck with these kinds of machines.”

Dipper just shook his head, muttering “I need to get some chest hair and fast!” before stumbling out of the diner, tripping as he went.  Danny frowned, watching Dipper leave and then went over to Stan and Mabel. The pair were snickering and giggling, watching after Dipper. 

“Is he okay? He seemed really upset over losing the machine…” Danny questioned. 

“Oh, he’ll be fine,” Mabel replied. “He’s just sensitive because he gets moments where he doesn’t feel like-” She paused and frowned. “He… Er- Uh- He- Um-”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Mabel?” Danny prompted. 

Mabel suddenly looked sheepish, rubbing the back of her neck. “What am I saying?! Pfft, I don’t know what I’m talking about ha ha ha! Uh…” She sighed at Stan’s blank look and Danny’s critical stare. “It’s, uh- Not really my place to tell…” 

That sounded familiar. Danny had a sneaking suspicion he knew why this bothered Dipper so much, now…

Danny’s frown deepened, looking towards the front door of the diner. “... I’m going after him.” He decided, marching out of the diner, ignoring Mabel and Stan attempting to call him back. 

If Danny’s theory is correct, Dipper shouldn’t be alone right now. 

It took a bit, but with the help of his clones and ghost powers, Danny was able to find Dipper in the middle of the woods.  

The young boy looked like he’d been crying and was currently bench pressing a stick as if it were heavy weights. He sat up and pulled his shirt down partially, looking at his chest. “No chest hair yet…” And then he flopped back on the grass. 

Danny stifled his snort as he walked over, sitting on a log beside the pre-teen. “Hey Dipper… Whatcha doing?”

Dipper startled, jumping to his feet. “Oh, Danny! I was just, uh-” 

“Trying to get chest hair?” Danny teased with a smirk. Dipper flushed and nodded. Danny chuckled and patted a spot beside him. “You know you don’t need chest hair to be a man, right? There are many ways to be a man.”

Dipper sighed and slumped down onto the log, beside Danny. “I know, I get that, it’s just- Stan and Mabel were really picking on me for it and it just caused me to feel…”

“Small? Wimpy?” Danny tried.

Dipper shrugged. “Not quite, but- ya. Kinda… there's a bit more to it than that...”

Danny nodded. “I get it… You don’t have to go further if you don’t want to, but… If you don’t mind me asking?” Dipper gestured for Danny to go ahead. “Well… You and your sister claim to be identical twins… You can’t physically be identical if you’re a guy and a girl… But that wasn’t always the case, was it?” Danny glanced over at Dipper to see the younger hunched over, hugging his knees to his chest and resting his head upon them. 

“... Mom and dad had identical twin girls when we were born… But I knew I wasn’t a girl early on…” Dipper responded. 

“So them picking on you for not being manly caused you to feel dysphoric?” Dipper nodded. Danny folded his hands in his lap and stared at the forest ahead, watching the life move about their normal days, unaware of the struggles the pair were going through.. It took a moment for Danny to figure out what to say as he got his thoughts in order. “... You know, growing up, I wasn’t always named Daniel…”

Dipper looked up at Danny in confusion and Danny continued, “I have one older sister, ya know. And when I was born… My parents thought they had two girls.  I was originally Danielle, not Daniel.” He finally looked over at Dipper’s wide eyed expression with a soft smile.  “I went on puberty blockers at around 7 and started my testosterone shots at 13, when my sister insisted it would be better for me and got me a therapist, who agreed with her.” There was more there, of course; being a ghost helped stop his female hormones, and frankly the T-shots were more of principle than actual need at this rate. Hence why he’s still fairly masculine after being off them for thirty years (though that could’ve been the different time zone theory that Danny had formed). But what he said was enough when Dipper’s eyes began to well with tears and an expression akin to hope and disbelief crossed his features. 

“You’re trans too?” Dipper whispered. Danny nodded. 

Dipper’s face broke out into a grin as he flung his arms around Danny. Danny hugged him back tightly as Dipper broke down crying. He could barely understand the young boys babbling, as he said something along the lines of “I’ve never met anyone else who understands”, but Danny didn’t need to hear the words to get the emotions. He remembered the first time he met another trans person; it felt like he finally found his community, people who knew what he’s gone through. 

Danny rubbed Dipper’s back, holding him close and allowing Dipper the space to let it all out. 

After a long moment, Dipper finally stopped crying and pulled away from Danny’s hug, wiping his eyes. “I’m sorry, I just-”

“Don’t worry about it, Dipper.”

“Mason.” Dipper stated. 

Danny raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“My name is Mason,” Dipper replied. “You told me yours, so I think it's only fair that I tell you mine. I, uh… Don’t really tell people that…”

Danny gave him a soft smile. “Thank you for sharing with me. How’d you choose the name Dipper, then?”

“It’s just a nickname… My birth name could be either or so I didn’t really feel the need to change it, even though I don’t go by it, but the name Dipper- well…” He flushed, but a determined expression crossed Dipper’s face as he took a deep breath, took off his hat, and pushed his bangs aside. Across his forehead was some sort of marking in the shape of the big dipper; a birthmark. 

Danny’s eyebrows shot into his hairline in surprise. “So that's how you got your nickname… Huh, that’s pretty interesting.” Dipper fixed his hair in front of the mark and replaced his hat with a grin. 

Danny stood and held out a hand to Dipper. “Come on, why don’t we get out of the woods and go do something fun? Just the two of us?”

“Really?” Dipper beamed up at the older and Danny’s heart clenched. This kid was going to re-kill him…

“Really. Come on, let’s go!” Dipper took Danny’s hand and they were off. 

They ended up going all around town together, chatting and laughing. They had some lunch (since Stan ruined Dipper’s earlier and Danny hadn’t had anything), and did stereotypical “man” activities such as playing football (they did awful, neither knowing how to do the sport), went and got tailored suits, and wrestled each other. Danny of course won the wrestling match, but he also went extremely easy on Dipper, having ghost strength and all. 

But mainly they just hung out. Simply walked side by side either in comfortable silence, or chatting away a storm. 

It turned out they had a lot more in common than originally expected. Both Danny and Dipper were fascinated by the paranormal, the weird and unknown, which Danny had assumed but Dipper never realized Danny enjoyed too. Danny got to hear about Dipper’s obsession with research and mysteries, wanting to be a ghost hunter when he was older. Danny told Dipper about how he wanted to work at NASA when he was around Dipper’s age, and how he was fascinated by space. They both talked about their struggles with connecting to their parents (albeit Danny giving a watered down version) and with having sisters who ended up taking the attention away from them.

 Dipper talked about how he didn’t have any friends other than Mabel, how he was a loner kid and often ignored by his peers. Danny could relate to that, and he was thankful he had his best friends during his middle and high school days. Danny told Dipper about his best friends, Tucker and Sam, and the crazy adventures they’d get up to (other than the ghost hunting stuff) and how he missed them, having not seen them in many years. How Stan was really his only friend now, not even able to talk to his family anymore. He didn’t go into detail of why, and Dipper didn’t push it. 

They even talked more about being trans, and the struggles each of them faced as a result. Danny wasn’t able to talk too much though, since he couldn’t tell Dipper about being a ghost and struggling with that reality on top of his transness. But it didn’t matter. 

Overall, though, they connected. They understood each other.

It was nice. 

The pair found friends in each other. 

Danny can’t remember ever having a friend other than Stan… Even his memories of Sam and Tucker were hazy nowadays, more general ideas than specific instances. The longer he stayed here in Gravity Falls, the harder it was to remember his life from before. 

And while he cared about Stan, the old man didn’t quite understand Danny and his struggles. Dipper was closer, in that regard. Two loners lost in an unknown world, just trying to survive. 

It made his ghost core ache with the need to wrap up the young boy in a ball and protect him; ensure no harm ever comes his way. He had to shove the feeling down so his powers didn’t act up. 

Hours later, they ended up sitting together outside an ice cream parlor, on a bench, watching the world go by as they chatted. 

Danny had an arm around Dipper and the younger looked up at him with admiration clear in his eyes. “Thank you for all of this, Danny. I appreciate it. It’s helped a lot.”

Danny grinned. “Anytime, Dipper. This was fun, we should hang out more.”

“Maybe you can come on a mystery hunt with Mabel, Wendy, Soos, and I sometime?” Dipper suggested. 

Danny thought about it for a moment. Could he join the kids? What if something went wrong? He couldn’t exactly become Phantom… “Hm, I’ll think about it,” was his reply. Dipper nodded in understanding and they fell into comfortable silence. 

“Hey, Danny?” Dipper asked a minute later, voice hesitant. 

“What’s up?” Danny glanced down at him. 

“How do… how do you know Phantom, exactly? He wasn’t exactly clear…” He questioned. 

Danny frowned, slowly moving his arm away from Dipper and staring off into the distance. To Dipper, it might’ve looked like Danny was remembering something. For Danny, he was struggling to come up with an explanation. 

How do I know Phantom?

“Well…” He started, “We met when he had died… He wasn’t wrong about saving me, he told me about that conversation. If he hadn’t appeared, I wouldn’t be here now. I met him at 14, and he’s been around me ever since. He’s busy a lot, saving the world and all. But that’s why you see him around the shack, though he is often invisible.” It wasn’t totally a lie. 

Phantom is always around Danny, seeing as he is Phantom, and they ‘met’ when Danny died half-way. He would’ve been fully dead if Phantom didn’t form. Arguably, Phantom is invisible around the shack too, since Danny has clones running around and while he’s Fenton, Phantom has ‘disappeared’. 

“So, did you think he was a guardian angel?” Dipper inquired and Danny burst out laughing at the unexpected question. 

“Not a guardian angel , holy shit I forgot he said that-” Danny cackled, having forgotten his own words as Phantom. “No, no- I said he was a miracle.” 

Dipper nodded in understanding. “Oh, I see! Cause he came back after death, right?”

“Yup,” Danny chuckled. “Anything else you’re curious about?”

“Do you know how he became a ghost?” Dipper questioned. 

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Wow, asking the big ones huh?”

Dipper flushed. “Is that bad…?”

Danny shook his head. “Not entirely. Since you’re just asking me, it’s not a big deal. But don’t go around asking all ghosts how they died, including Phantom, as they can get really sensitive about it. As for how he died…” Danny frowned. “It was an accident, really… His parents made a machine of sorts, and he got zapped inside of it…”

Dipper’s eyes widened in horror. “He was electrocuted?”

“Sorta. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but the machine killed him… And he came back as a ghost. Shortly after, he met me.” Really shortly after. 

“That’s awful… No wonder he wouldn’t want to talk about it.” Dipper frowned. 

“No ghost likes to think about how they died. It’s personal to them, they only share if they feel it’s necessary. But enough of that, that’s too depressing. Why don’t we go see if we can find the others, hm?” Danny suggested, standing up. 

Grasping onto the change in topic, Dipper nodded in agreement and stood as well, following Danny as they headed towards the shack. 

Though they were interrupted when they started walking past the Greasy Diner and heard banging on the window. Looking up, the pair saw Mabel with her face press to the glass. Her voice was muffled, but she was exclaiming, “Dipper! Danny! It’s me, Mabel! I’m looking at you through this glass! Right here! This is my voice, I’m talking to you from inside!”

Danny laughed and Dipper gestured to Mabel to calm down as he nodded. The pair headed inside and walked up to the table. 

Stan was sitting beside his great niece, eating a slice of pie happily when the two approached. “Did you see me through the-?” Mabel tried.

“Yes,” Dipper interrupted, rolling his eyes as he slid into the booth seat. Danny slid in beside him. 

“What have you two been up to?” Mabel asked. 

The pair glanced at each other. “Hanging out,” Danny responded. 

“What have you been doing?” Mabel asked, leaning closer to them from across the table as if they were about to spread some juicy gossip.

Danny chuckled. “Just some typical boy activities, I don’t think you’d be interested in it.”

“Good, don’t care,” Stan said. Danny rolled his eyes and kicked Stan underneath the table. The older man grunted and shot Danny a playful glare. 

“Wait!” Mabel gasped suddenly, drawing all three men’s attention to her. “Do my eyes deceive me!? You have a chest hair!” She pointed at Dipper’s chest, who looked down and his eyes widened in joy. 

“You’re right! I do! Ha ha! This is amazing! I really do!” Dipper cheered. 

Danny grinned. “Congrats, Dipper.” 

Then Mabel pulled out a pair of tweezers and plucked the hair off of Dipper’s chest, cheerfully saying, “Scap-book ortunity!” As she placed the hair in her scrapbook. 

Dipper deflated and Stan shot him a grin. “Don't worry, kid. If you’re anything like me, there’s more where that came from!” Stan then proceeded to pull his shirt down to reveal the bushy chest hair beneath. 

The twins cried, “Oh, gross!” As they all laughed. 

“Seriously, that’s disgusting,” Dipper deadpanned and Danny cackled at the reaction.

Chapter Text

“ You’re making a mistake, Cipher,” the voice echoed in the empty space. 

The monster rolled its eye, turning to glare at the ghost behind him. This again . “Shut it, old man. You’re not even supposed to be in the Nightmare realm, anyway.”

The flickering illusion’s grip tightened on his staff, a deep frown present on his childish face. “That is beside the point, although you know it is untrue. I know what you are planning, Cipher. It will not result in what you are hoping for.” He shifted into his adult form and the monster scoffed. 

“Oh ya? And what am I hoping for time-freak?”

Clockwork shifted into his elder form. “Home. You are hoping to recreate it…”

Bill’s form turned red in anger as he grew twice his size, towering over the ghost. “ You know nothing of my home! ” He roared. How dare this sorry excuse for a god say such things?!

Clockwork didn’t even blink. “I know everyone’s past, present, and future the moment they enter this universe, Cipher. I do not know your home. I know you. Possibly better than you know yourself.”

“… if I didn’t need to keep you alive for the stability of this universe, I would kill you permanently right now.” It snapped, shifting back to normal. 

“But yet you need me, and thus you will not remove me from this void.” 

“Once I take over this world, I will dispose of you and every other being who steps in my way. Mark my words, old man.” 

“I shall. I already know the result, anyway.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh no Mabel, I- I don’t feel so good…” Dipper groaned. Danny looked over from where he was hanging some streamers and snorted, seeing Dipper and Mabel on the couch with silly string behind their backs. “I- BLAAAHHHHH!” Dipper yelled, spraying silly string at his sister as if it was coming from his mouth. 

“Grunkle Stan! What did you feed us!? BLAAAHHHH!” Mabel countered, spraying Dipper. The two then proceeded to spray at each other while making throwing up noises and laughing. 

Danny saw Wendy dart over to the kids, exclaiming, “Guys, guys, stop! Something terrible just happened!”

Danny chuckled as he finished hanging the streamer and stepped down from the ladder, since Stan was too scared to go on one himself, and grabbed a bottle of silly string. He could hear Mabel, Dipper, and Wendy laughing hysterically as they sprayed each other. Danny walked over to Stan, hiding silly string behind him, as he groaned, “Hey Stan, I genuinely don’t feel great-”

“Not you too, Spooks, no-” Stan scoffed and Danny smirked before spraying Stan with silly string and pretending to throw up. 

Everyone but Stan laughed and the older man glared at his best friend with playful betrayal, grabbing the silly string and spraying Danny back. Danny let out a totally manly shriek and ran as Stan chased him with the silly string for all of 5 minutes. 

The man couldn’t keep up with Danny and cursed him out with food-related curses (reminding Danny of a certain billionaire every time) and then grabbed all the party supplies from the twins and Wendy. “Alright, alright! Party supplies are now off-limits.”

“Mr. Pines, whose birthday is it again?” Soos questioned. 

“It’s no one's birthday, Stan is just trying to attract people to the shack,” Danny responded. 

“I thought this party might be a good way to get kids to spend money here, yes,” Stan agreed, grabbing a rolled up paper and posting the ‘pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey’ onto the wall.

“Nice!” Soos grinned.

“The young people of this town want fun! I’ll smother ‘em with fun!” Stan smirked, clenching his fist to emphasize the point. 

Dipper grabbed a bottle of diet pitt cola and poured some into a couple  red solo cups for him and his sister. “Maybe comments like that are why kids don’t go to the Mystery Shack in the first place.”

“I gotta agree with Dipper,” Danny snorted. 

Stan rolled his eyes and snatched the bottle from Dipper’s hands, replacing them with a stack of papers. “Hows about you make yourself useful and copy these flyers?”

“Oh boy, a trip to the copier store!” Mabel cheered as Dipper grinned.

Soos came up to the kids and spoke in a sing-songy voice, “Calendars, mugs, t-shirts, and more! They got it all in the copier store!” He chuckled and then grew sheepish, rubbing his neck. “That’s not their slogan, I just really feel that way about the copier store.” 

Danny chuckled. Soos sure was something. He was about to speak when Stan interrupted him. 

“Save the trouble. You know that old copier in my office? I finally fixed the old girl up! Good as new! So you can go ahead and use that. Go, shoo!” He then proceeded to shoo the kids out of the room.

Danny frowned. “Stan, you know I tried to get rid of that thing for a reason, right?”

Stan rolled his eyes. “Ya, ya, Spooks. Old and broken or whatever, but I ain’t wasting more money at the store if I got a perfectly working one at home!” 

“That’s not-” He sighed. “You know what, fine. Whatever. Ima go to the bathroom quick.” He hurried out of the room and into the bathroom, locking the door. 

Then, in a flash of neon green, suddenly a clone of Phantom formed in the bathroom next to him. He made sure the clone had enough sentience to think and speak properly. “What’s up, OG?” It asked. 

“Hey man. I need you to keep an eye on the kids while they’re using the copier okay? Remember when we used it?” 

“Oh ya!” The clone acknowledged, drawing from Danny’s memories. “Copies bodies or whatever. You got it OG!” 

“Sweet, thanks man.” The clone-phantom gave a thumbs up and disappeared. 

He didn’t have the clones out often these days since it can drain his energy if done too much, but he knew what kind of stuff the kids can get up to on an average day  and Danny remembers when he first used the copier and accidentally made his hand come to life. Forming a clone to keep an eye on the kids so Danny can pay attention to the party was the best option. 

Later on, when the party was set to begin, Danny set up shop in the corner of the parlor. He’s never been much for parties– the only ones he went to back in Amity was because of Sam primarily- and frankly he’d prefer to stick to himself and observe. 

Like now, for instance. Stan was talking with Mabel, Soos was working the sound board, and there were party havers all around. 

After talking with his niece, Stan danced on over to Danny and leaned against the wall beside him. “Hey Spooks! Don’t I know how to throw a party or what?” 

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Sure, man.”

Stan chuckled. “And if anyone wants to leave, I’m charging a fee of $15!” 

“And what if they don’t have the money for it?” Danny questioned with an eyebrow raised. 

Stan paused. “I, uh… I hadn’t thought of that-” 

Danny laughed. “You gonna have teenagers camping out here all night?”

“Uhhh- Gottagobye!” Stan yelped, running away and Danny laughed harder. 

He noticed Mabel dancing and cheered her on, until she stepped away to get some water. He could see and hear her talking to a pair of girls she sat by, but he ignored them in favor of looking up at the DJ stand.   

Danny saw Soos hold up a book and spoke into the microphone, “Remember dudes! Whoever, um- Party hardies? What? Gets the party crown!” He held up the crown with a grin. “Most applause at the end of the night, wins!” 

Just then, a young blonde girl around Mabel and Dipper’s age sashayed her way up to the front, with a pair of girls flanking her. “Party crown?” Danny’s sensitive hearing picked up her saying. She held out one hand to Soos, making a ‘gimme’ motion while opening and looking into a makeup mirror. “I’ll take that, thank you very much.”

Danny frowned. He recognized the brat as Pacifica Northwest, a fact confirmed when he overheard Mabel and the kids she was talking to say the same thing. 

Soos chuckled nervously. “I can’t just give you the crown. It’s sort of a competition thing?” 

Danny’s frown deepened and he started to walk up to the stand as Pacifica laughed and picked up the microphone. “Honestly, who’s gonna compete against me? Fork girl? Lizard lady?” She gestured to Mabel’s comrades and laughed more, Pacifica’s bratty friends joining in. 

“Hold me, Candy!” “Our kind isn’t welcome here!” The girls cried. 

Just as Danny was about to reach the stand, Mabel came barreling past and popped her head up to the dj table. “Hey, I’ll compete!” He heard the girls gasp.

Danny grinned. “Atta girl, Mabel.” He murmured.

Mabel turned to Pacifica and held out a hand as Danny came up beside Soos. “I’m Mabel!”

Pacifica raised an eyebrow and smirked. “That sounds like a fat old lady’s name.”

“Hey man, don’t diss fat old lady’s. They could save your life someday,” Danny intruded. 

“That’s why I’m taking that as a compliment!” Mabel agreed, flashing a grin at Danny. 

Pacifica narrowed her eyes. “May the better partier win.” She stated, and then sashayed away with her entourage. 

“Nice meeting you!” Mabel called after with a wave. “She’s going down.” She added, far too innocently.

Danny chuckled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You got this Mabel. I’m sure you’ll win!” 

“You really are going up against Pacifica?” One of the girl’s Mabel was talking to asked. She had short, straight black hair and round glasses, and had forks tapped to her fingers. 

“Yup!” Mabel grinned. “OH ya! Danny, meet my new friends!” She gestured to the girls. “This is Candy and Grenda!” 

Danny gave a casual wave. “Nice to meet ya.”

“Woah, you’re one of the Mystery Shack co-owners right?” The other girl– Grenda– asked, her voice deep. Danny nodded. 

“Now, let’s party hard girls!” Mabel cheered, grabbing them and running off. 

“Are you going to dance, Mr. Fenton?” Soos asked later, while the pair watched Pacifica and Mabel dancing. Danny was very obviously cheering Mabel on, not subtle at all with his favoritism. He maybe should be more neutral since this was meant to be a publicity test for the Shack but… Fuck it. 

“Oh, no no,” Danny chuckled, glancing over at Soos. “I don’t dance publicly.”

“Why not?” Soos questioned. 

Danny shrugged. “‘S Never been my cup of tea. I can dance, not great but somewhat. I just dislike the thought of people who aren’t friends or family seeing me do so.” It stemmed from being the Ghost King and expected to attend social gatherings with both humans and ghosts alike, and having an image to uphold. But Soos didn’t need to know that.

“Huh, I guess that’s fair dude. Mabel looks to be having a blast though,” Soos commented. Danny turned back to the girl and grinned upon seeing her thrilled expression. 

“I hope she wins,” Danny said. Soos hummed in agreement.

“Pst. Danny,” He heard a voice whisper and frowned, checking Soos and seeing he was engrossed in his ‘DJ for dummies’ book, and then looked behind him to see a floof of white hair peeking out from behind a balloon. 

My clone , He thought as he walked over to the wall and casually leaned against it. 

He whispered, “What’s up?”

“You’re about to see a few of Dipper’s copier clones coming up. He’s made a few of them and they’re trying to help the OG Dipper get on Wendy’s good side. Just a fair warning.”

Danny snorted quietly. “Seriously? Of course he is… Alright, thanks man.”

“No problemo,” The clone said as it disappeared. 

Danny’s clone was proven right a few moments later, after both Pacifica and Mabel sang parts of different songs and Soos announced someone was stealing a person’s bike. He saw Robbie, one of Wendy’s friends who clearly has a crush on her, run out of the shack immediately after. Seems like the clones were at it. Then Soos turned the music to a slow-song.

He saw Dipper run up the stairs to the main part of the house afterwards with a panicked expression on his face. Danny snorted quietly to himself. The boy was down hard and completely overthinking it, wasn’t he? 

An hour later, Danny was cheering Mabel as she break danced in the center of the floor. He suddenly heard a crash and looked over to see Stan was chasing after a dollar bill on a string, and moments later a Dipper with the number ‘5’ on his hat came up to him. “Woah, Danny! Stan’s ruining the concession stand! You uh- You better go stop him… Right?” 

Danny raised an eyebrow and snorted, sipping the cup of punch he got earlier. “Nah, I think he’s got it.”

He could see panic cross the clone's face for a moment. “Uh- He really, uh- He really looks like he needs you!” 

“Look, ‘Dipper’-,” Danny used air quotes on the name with his free hand- “I already know what’s going on, you and, well, you aren’t all that slick. I won’t intrude on whatever you’re planning so long as no one gets hurt, capche?” The slow music from before started to play again. 

‘Dipper’’s eyes widened. “I have- No idea what you’re talking about?” He squeaked.

“Dude. I’m observant. I see the 5 on your hat instead of the pinetree, there’s another you in the rafter’s distracting Stan, and another outside manning the entrance. I also know the copier copies people, I did that to myself by accident before it got destroyed in the first place. Go help the others, I’m just gonna chill right here and drink my punch ok?”

“... You’re freaky, you know that Danny?” Clone Dipper stated more than asked. 

Danny slowly sipped his punch and finished it with a ‘ah’. “No duh, I’m freaky. One of my best friends is an old con artist, the others a pair of 12 year olds, and the last is a ghost. Wanna run by that with me again?” 

The clone blinked and just slowly backed away. Danny snorted and nodded his head along with the song music. 

Which is when he noticed Soos chasing a lazer dot like a cat and another clone Dipper in the rafters. He chose not to do anything about it, but did ask Soos, “Are you going to get tired of that?” 

To which he responded, “Never!” 

“You do have a DJ to run but go off.”

It was later in the night, interrupted only once by Phantom whispering to Danny to let him know the clones were fighting but Dipper got a handle on it, and then Soos announced, “Let the party crown voting commence!”

Danny and Stan cheered loudly for Mabel, alongside half of the crowd. Soos lifted his arm to indicate the amount, and then did the same for Pacifica. 

It was a tie… Until it wasn’t, all thanks to Pacifica bribing old man McGucket. 

Danny frowned as the crowd carried Pacifica away for an after-party party. Mabel slumped sadly and turned to face her friends. “Sorry I let you guys down… I understand if you wanna leave.” 

“But then, we will miss the sleepover!” Candy exclaimed. 

“The what?” Mabel gasped. 

“We want to call our moms and see if we can sleep over here with you. You’re like- a total rock star!” Grenda cheered. 

Candy pulled out some magazines. “I have magazine boys?” 

Mabel’s eyes widened and a beaming grin spread across her face, “Really?! You guys!” She turned to Danny. “Can they Danny?! Please, please, please?!” 

Danny grinned. “Sure thing, Mabel. But you three have to help clean this place in the morning, ok?” 

“Deal!” The trio cheered, and Mabel called to Soos, “Soos! Play another song! This thing’s going all night!”

“Way ahead of you, hambone!” Soos called back as a new song played and the trio began to dance. 

Stan slid up to Danny and nudged him in the side. “Wanna dance?” 

Danny burst out laughing. “That’s gay, Stan.”

“What?! I didn’t mean it like that, Spooks!” Stan laughed. The comment made Danny’s heart ache suddenly, as his mind flashed to his old best friends, but he quickly shoved the feeling away.

Danny grinned and grabbed the old man’s hand and pulled him onto the dance floor, and they joined the girls in partying.

When Dipper came inside moments later, Mabel immediately called him over to meet her friends and all of them enjoyed the rest of their night with beaming joy. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I can’t believe you got locked into the stocks!” Danny cackled, holding his stomach as he doubled over with laughter. 

It was Pioneer Day in Gravity Falls, an event that came up every summer, and Stan somehow managed to piss off the police enough to lock him up in the stocks. Again. 

“Ya ya, laugh it up and let me out of here, Spooks.” Stan grumbled.

Danny hummed in amusement, leaning against the wood with one elbow resting on the top as he tapped his chin with the other hand. “Hmm… Normally I would but I distinctly remember this morning a certain somebody ate my breakfast burrito… Ya know, the special one I make when I’m feeling nostalgic and/or if my ghost side is craving ectoplasm I can’t consume?” 

Stan’s eyes widened as his face paled. “Oh no… That uh- That was Soos!” 

“You see, normally I’d believe that except for the fact that I saw a certain somebody hiding the plate from me and tossing it in the sink when he thought I wasn’t looking…” Danny mused.

“Spooks, please! I’m sorry! Get me out of this thing!” Stan cried, struggling to get himself free. 

“You know, I think I should use this pioneer day opportunity to see if the journals could be around here-”

“Spooks, no!” 

“So I better get going now! See ya Stan~!” Danny sing-songed as he waved, walking away. 

“Spooks, get back here! Don’t leave me! Spooks! Danny! DAANNNYYY!”

Danny laughed hysterically as he ran. 

He did actually use the pioneer day to try and find the journals, to no avail, and ignored Stan as the man was getting pelted with tomatoes by Little Gideon and then later Pacifica’s posse. He also used the empty shack as an opportunity to see if Ford could’ve hid the journals there too, but again, nothing. 

Danny sighed heavily and slumped into the couch in defeat. 

“Who am I kidding? We’re never gonna find it, are we?” He sighed. 

“Now, Daniel, I do believe you’ve never been one to quit, hm?” A familiar-sounding voice spoke into his ear. 

Danny yelped and jumped up in surprise, whipping around and turning into Phantom at once. “Whose there?!”

One moment there was nothing, and the next… A figure appeared hovering above the couch, purple cloak flowing around him with his hood pulled high onto his head. His blue skin and red eyes seemed more transparent than normal, and he was practically fading in and out of existence, but Danny knew exactly who it was nonetheless 

His eyes widened in shock. “Clockwork?” He whispered in disbelief. Was he hallucinating? 

The time-ghost smiled. “Indeed, Daniel. I was almost worried you had forgotten about me.” 

“I- Never! It’s- I-  you- How-?!” Danny gasped, hands flying to grab at the ghost, only to fade through him as if Danny wasn’t in ghost form himself. 

“I am not physically here, Daniel. Merely an illusion of myself. I come bearing a message,” Clockwork said. 

“What?! How?! And A message? Wait- does that mean you know I’ve been here the whole time?!” Danny asked, a million questions running through his head. 

“All in due time, Daniel. I will say this, though; I knew something like this would happen to you. I did not know when, and the where was blurry until it happened. I cannot give you more information than that… I can only project myself for a short while, so heed my words, ok?” 

Danny nodded. Even though it had been 30 years since Danny had seen his old mentor, he would always listen to what Clockwork had to say. 

“Listen well,” Clockwork said, then began: “ 60 degrees that comes in threes. Watches from within birch trees. Saw his own dimension burn, misses home and can’t return. Says he’s happy, he’s a liar. Blame the arson for the fire. He shall make your home hurt, if you do not hear my words. One way to defeat the cipher, allow him to become another. ” The words whispered and echoed around the room, ringing in Danny’s head like some sort of bell chime. 

“Huh? Clockwork, what does that all mean?” Danny questioned, eyebrows furrowed. 

“I cannot tell you further, Daniel. I must leave, my presence in this world will make it too unstable.” Clockwork stated, starting to fade.

“Wait!” Danny cried out, throwing himself at the disappearing form. “Don’t go! Don’t leave me! Clockwork!” But his old mentor- his friend- was gone. 

It had been 30 years since Danny had seen anybody from his former life, and now- all at once- they were in his grasp and gone again. Heartbreak shot throughout his whole body, simultaneously alongside guilt that bubbled when he realized he almost had forgotten his old home until now, as Clockwork had joked. Had he been joking? Did Clockwork know? Or was that just a figment of his imagination, coming to haunt him after all this time? After finally feeling at peace in being in Gravity Falls? After 30 years of not seeing his past life again? 

Danny collapsed to the floor with a sob, gripping at the cushions of the couch as if it would somehow bring Clockwork back or reveal all the answers he needed. 

No, no… That was real . That was Clockwork, it had to be. But why now? All of a sudden, without warning? What was the endgame here?

One way to defeat the cipher, allow him to become another. What did that even mean?! Why would Clockwork tell him all of this and then just- just leave him?! He didn’t understand. He didn’t understand !

Danny lay there for what must’ve been hours, at some point turning back into Fenton without really processing it. He didn’t move, even as his tears ran dry and his body ached from the position, the death grip he had on the couch tearing holes into the fabric. Danny knew he was dissociating, not fully aware of his body and mind at the moment, and just letting the world pass him by.

He heard the front door open, not really paying attention, and could hear Stan chatting with the twins. The conversation paused when they entered the living room. 

Danny could practically feel Stan’s worry roll off of him in waves. “Kids, go to your room.”

“Is Danny ok?” Dipper fretted. 

“Grunkle Stan-“ Mabel started.

“ Now. ” Stan snapped. After a second, the stairs creaked as the twins hurried to their room. 

“Spooks?” Stan asked softly. Danny could feel him kneel down beside the halfa and rest his hand on Danny’s upper back. “What happened? Are you ok?” 

Danny stayed silent, unsure of what to say as he slowly came to from his disassociation. . 

“C’mon Danny. Talk to me,” Stan pressed, gently lifting Danny’s upper body up to look the man in the eyes. 

“I saw him,” Danny suddenly gasped out, “I saw Clockwork.” 

Stan’s breath inhaled sharply as his eyes widened. He recognized the name immediately; after 30 years of hearing stories of Danny’s adventures, Clockwork came up often. He was not only the ghost who helped Danny through his future self and dealing with Vlad Masters, but Clockwork was the one to initiate Danny as the new Ghost King and was considered the hafa’s mentor and most trusted advisor. 

“What?” Stan asked softly. 

“He- he appeared- Appeared before me. Couldn’t stay, said he was just an illusion but- but had a message for me-“ Danny stuttered out, suddenly feeling cold for the first time since he became the ghost king, shaking with nerves. 

Stan hauled his friend up and onto the couch, sitting next to him and wrapping his arms around Danny. The shock was clear on Stan’s face but he listened intently as Danny explained everything that transpired, and what Clockwork said. 

“It was some sort of warning but I don’t- I don’t know what he means- “ Danny whined pitifully. 

“You probably won't find out for a while… But that might mean we're getting close to getting you home?” Stan theorized. 

“You think so?” Danny doubted. 

“Danny. You haven’t heard from the people in your dimension for 30 years . And now all of a sudden you see one of them? There has to be something there… we must be getting closer to the other journals. We’re getting close to bringing you home. It’s going to be okay. It has to be,” Stan assured. 

Danny nodded slowly, deciding to cling onto the hope Stan was presenting him with. 

Was it a sign they were getting close to bringing Danny and Ford home? 

Was he finally going to see his family and friends again?

… Did he want that to happen?

Did he want to leave Gravity Falls…? 

The thoughts whirled around Danny’s head as it fell against Stan’s shoulder, but they soon faded from his mind like Clockwork did hours before, and Danny soon fell asleep, slumped against his best friend.

Chapter Text

It's been a few days since the Clockwork incident. Danny wasn’t… better per-se, but he wasn’t as overwhelmed anymore. Stan certainly helped in that regard, doing whatever he could to distract Danny, be it putting him to work, talking his ear off, or watching shows with him. 

Danny appreciated his best friend’s efforts (and wasn’t that a thought on its own?) and made sure to do little things for him as thanks. Like making his favorite lunch (a peanut brittle sandwich, which Danny couldn’t even look at let alone stomach) or finishing long-overdo chores around the shack. Whatever he could to show his appreciation. 

Dipper and Mabel helped a bit too, but they didn’t know Danny as well so they mainly just rattled off to him about their adventures. It was nice to hear what the crazy kids got up to, and a good distraction since they didn’t know his situation at all and couldn’t accidentally bring it up like Stan sometimes did. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stan’s latest scheme, to simultaneously distract Danny and make money, was hosting a carnival. He came to Danny with the idea literally the day before and somehow managed to find cheap rides and pop-up stands to rent, encouraging Danny to help set things up. Once everything was done, he made Danny stand right by the dunk tank while Soos welded the target to the tank. 

“I’m gonna trick these suckers out of their money, Spooks! Just you wait and watch!” He cackled.

“Isn’t this, ya know, cheating?” Danny questioned, leaning against the tank with his arms loosely crossed. 

Stan waved him off. “Maybe so but that won’t stop me! Your job is to collect money and hand out the balls alright?”

“Got it,” Danny replied with a chuckle at his friends antics. 

. 

“Step right up and dunk me folks! I’m talking to you, Cut-offs!” Stan shouted into the megaphone an hour later, causing Danny to cover his ears at the sharp sound, still leaning against the side of the dunk tank. The carnival was well underway and Stan was already insulting the guests. “That’s right! Muffin-Top, High-Pants! Who wants a piece of me?!”

Danny handed out the baseballs and collected tickets and money as people gathered around. All at once, they threw the balls and Danny dodged behind the tank. Of course, it didn’t work due to the welding. Which Stan proceeded to cackle over, taunting, “Come back anytime folks! Hahaha!”

“You know they’re going to realize you rigged it eventually, right?” Danny inquired and Stan shrugged. 

“I’d like to see them do anything about it! The only person who’d get through this bad boy is you, and that’s why you’re collecting the money!” Danny snorted in response and rolled his eyes. 

People came and went all day, losing over and over again due to Stan’s rigging. At one point, Mabel came trotting over with a beaming grin and carrying a young pig.

“Danny! Stan! Look who I won! His name is Waddles cause he waddles!” She exclaimed. 

Danny and Stan shared an uncertain glance but Danny smiled back at the pre-teen. “That’s- Uh- Awesome, Mabel. Just… Be careful, ok?”

“Will do! Have fun!” She cheered, running off with her new pet pig. 

Stan called after, “You’re going to be the only one taking care of it! I ain’t wasting my money!” 

Danny chuckled. “We’re gonna have our hands full, eh Stan?”

Stan rolled his eyes. “I don’t care what she has, Spooks. So long as she cleans up after the swine.” 

The rest of the day came by and soon, Danny was helping Stan count the money they earned for the day in the old man’s office. Danny leaned back against the chair and folded his arms against the back of his head, closing his eyes…

Only to open them while, once more, standing beside the dunk tank.

“Step right up and dunk me folks! I’m talking to you, Cut-offs!” Stan shouted into the megaphone, causing Danny to cover his ears at the sharp sound, still leaning against the side of the dunk tank. “That’s right! Muffin-Top, High-Pants! Who wants a piece of me?!”

Danny frowned, confused while looking around. “Huh?”

“Spooks! Collect the tickets!” Stan called and Danny automatically began handing out balls and collecting tickets. 

All at once, they threw the balls and Danny hid behind the tank so as not to get hit. Of course, it didn’t work as Stan had rigged the game. Which he proceeded to cackle over, taunting, “Come back anytime folks! Hahaha!”

“That’s- strange…” Danny murmured to himself. 

“You alright, spooks?” Stan asked, still cackling from his successful rigging. 

“Ya, I just… had a serious sense of deja-vu-” Danny frowned further. 

Stan shrugged. “Probably the stress from earlier is messing with your head.”

“Ya… Ya, maybe that's it.” Danny shrugged, leaning against the tank and handing out balls and collecting tickets as before. He saw Mabel running by with her pig, Waddles.

“Danny! Stan! I got a pig! His name is Waddles!” Mabel called as she ran by.

Wait… How did he know the pig’s name was Waddles before Mabel told them…?

Danny blinked in confusion and rubbed at his eyes…

But as he opened them, he heard Stan shout, “Step right up and dunk me folks! I’m talking to you, Cut-offs! That’s right! Muffin-Top, High-Pants! Who wants a piece of me?!”

“Wait- What-?” Danny didn’t have time to question it, as he was forced to collect money and hand out baseballs.” 

When the rush was done and Stan was cackling as before, Danny turned to look at him with confusion. “Didn’t that already happen? Was there a second rush?”

Stan glanced at Danny in confusion, laughter immediately fading. “What? That was the first dunk set of the day. You ok, Spooks?”

“I just- That happened already, didn’t it?” Danny questioned, looking around at the carnival… 

Where he saw Dipper and Mabel standing together and holding some sort of… tape measurer? They pulled it, and suddenly began to glow. The light was bright enough that Danny was forced to close his eyes…

Only to snap them wide open as he heard the megaphone shriek and Stan shout, exactly as the previous times before, “Step right up and dunk me folks! I’m talking to you, Cut-offs! That’s right! Muffin-Top, High-Pants! Who wants a piece of me?!”

Realization hit Danny as he scrambled to collect and hand out. Dipper and Mabel were going back in time with that weird contraption. They had to be!

But why was Danny affected by it? No one else seemed to realize what was happening… Could it be because he’s from another dimension? That’s the only explanation he could think of. And that also meant he couldn’t let the kids know he was aware of what was happening…

They did it a few more times, with Danny starting over at the dunk tank every time, until the supposed last one appeared. Danny saw Mabel startling, as Danny came-to at Stan’s shouting. The young girl beamed, as if she suddenly got the best news ever, and she ran towards the pig stall again and grabbed Waddles.

Danny collected money and, behind the crowd, saw Dipper being tackle-hugged by his sister. Something must have happened during the time-warping, but Danny wasn’t aware of it… Strange. Wouldn’t Danny have witnessed all of their time-mess ups? What did they do?

Danny got distracted by people failing to dunk Stan, and glanced back up after he heard shouts, seeing some men who looked straight out of a sci-fi movie, dragging a balding man in a gray suit between them. 

Stan was taunting the crowd, who were all booing him, “Boo! Ha! Boo! I love it! Hey, biceps!” Stan called to the scifi-men. “I’m talking to you, haircut! Take your best shot!”

The two men looked at each other, before one pulled out some sort of gun and instantly shot at the target before Danny could react.

Stan immediately was thrown into the tank and the crowd cheered as the people laughed. Danny tried to stifle his laughter, but failed upon seeing Stan’s disgruntled expression, doubling over as he cackled. He was confused by all hell with what just happened, but something felt finalized about that. 

It seems the weird time-looping stuff was finally over. Hopefully. 

Chapter Text

“And then he said something about a Clockwork, but Mabel and I ended up running off before we could hear everything. She figured it was too personal and made me leave it alone,” Dipper explained as they snuck into a back room of the arcade. “I'm just worried about him, Wendy. Somethings wrong, I know it but- I don't know how to help and it keeps bothering me! I've been trying desperately to find out what I could do for him to no avail. I really could use advice. What do I do? ”

“I get you want to help dude, but there isn't much you can do without any information. Just leave it be, and let Danny know you'll be there for him if he needs it. That's the best thing you could do,” Wendy suggested. 

“I suppose you're right… Now, where are we exactly?” Dipper asked, changing the subject. 

Wendy grinned. “I have this epic game I gotta show you dude! Me and my friends found it a while back when we broke into the arcade late at night, come on!” Wendy grabbed his hand and dragged him over to a machine in the back of the room. Dipper tried not to blush too hard at the contact. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“King me!” Mabel laughed as she placed down the cards and drew the crackers close. 

“Aw, come on!” Dipper and Soos groaned. 

“It's not fair! She doesn’t even know what we’re playing!” Stan complained. 

“Go fish?” Mabel asked. 

Danny was sitting on the couch, reading a magazine. He would normally join in, but after he used his clones to cheat against Stan one time, he’s been banned. He chuckled. “Poker, Mabel. You’re playing poker.” 

“Ooohh right!” Mabel giggled. 

It was then that the walls began to vibrate at the sound of an electric guitar. Everyone frowned and Danny stood up, setting his magazine aside. “What the…?”

Soos looked concerned as he looked around. “Dude, I think I’m picking up a radio station inside my head…”

Mabel grinned. “Try blinking to see if you can change the channel!” Soos did just that, to no avail.

Danny snorted. “Guys, that's not how that-”

“Wendy~!” A voice sang from outside. 

“Ugh, sounds like Robbie,” Dipper huffed. 

“That’s Wendy’s boyfriend right? The emo/goth one?” Danny asked. 

“Oh ya, that jerky twerp I see making goo-goo eyes at Wendy all the time?” Stan added. 

“Ya, that’s the one!” Danny agreed. 

“He called me ‘big dude’ once. I mean, I know I’m a big dude, but it kinda hurt…” Soos pitched in. 

“Should I sic Waddles on him again?” Mabel asked, patting the head of her pig. He immediately began to chew on her sweater sleeve and she giggled. “Woah! Easy, tiger!” 

Danny was about to say he’d take care of it, when Dipper stood up from the table. “I’ll handle it.” The tween decided, marching out to confront Robbie.

Everyone except Danny went “Ooh!” as Dipper left, but Danny followed behind the 12 year old quietly. He had a feeling this wasn’t going to end well… 

“Wendy~, Wendy~, Wendy~!” Robbie sang as Dipper walked over. Danny stood by the door, leaning against the frame with arms crossed, and watched as Robbie paused his guitar playing to call, “Wendy! Come on out, girl! Come on down!” 

Dipper’s arms were crossed as he glared at Robbie. “You realize she’s not here, right?”

Robbie scoffed. “Yes!” Then his eyes shifted around awkwardly. “… What?”

Dipper huffed, gesturing towards the woods. “She’s out camping with her family today.” Then he added, in a mutter that Danny heard via his sensitive hearing, “Maybe if you listened to her for once, you’d know that…”

Robbie’s eyes immediately narrowed. “What was that?”

“I just said she’s not here.” Dipper stated.

“No no no, you wanna get into it huh?” Robbie asked as he set down his guitar. Danny immediately started towards the pair as Robbie’s finger jabbed towards Dipper. “Let’s get into it, kid. You think I don’t know what’s been going on, huh?” Robbie started approaching Dipper and the younger backpedaled. “You got a thing for my girlfriend. Don’t you? Don’t you?”

“What!? No! Come on, man!” Dipper hastily argued. 

“Hey!” Danny called as he got closer. “Leave him be!”

Robbie glared at Dipper and said, in a sarcastic voice, “Oh sorry, Mr. Fenton, I was just trying to get him to admit he likes my girlfriend, that’s all I was doing.” He smirked at Dipper and added, “I’m sure Wendy is dying to ask out a 12 year old kid who wears the exact same shorts every day. 

“Hey, here’s an idea!” He continued as he pulled out his cellphone. “Why don’t I call her right now and see if she’d like to go out on a date with you!” He began to type the number in.

“H-Hey! Don’t!” Dipper tried.

“Robbie, he’s just a kid, leave him be!” Danny snapped. 

“Oh! Don’t! Please man! Leave me and my uncle be or else! What are you really gonna do? Huh? Huh?” He pressed call on his cell and Danny went to grab it when he saw the horrified look on Dipper’s face.

But before he could, Dipper smacked the phone out of Robbie’s hand. The three of them watched as it fell to the ground and shattered. 

“My phone!” Robbie’s expression turned furious as he whirled towards Dipper. Before the teen could do anything, Danny stepped between them. 

“We can buy you a new one, he didn’t mean it-” Danny started. 

Robbie interrupted him. “Oh no! He’s not getting off that easy!”

Before he could continue, Stan poked his head out of the window. “Hey! I know a fight when I see one, stay right there!” And then the man was gone. 

Danny resisted the urge to face palm as Robbie’s glare burned into him and Dipper. 

“You, me, circle park, 3 o’ clock, twerp. And you better be the only one of your family  fighting, got that?” Robbie snarled at Dipper, sending a glare at Danny. 

“And what would you do if he wasn’t there? Or if I fought you instead?” Danny glared back. 

“Then I’ll make sure his summer here is a living hell. We'll finish this then, or else.” Then Robbie turned on his heel, and marched away. 

Stan walked out right as Robbie left. “Aw, he’s gone. I was just gonna call the boys over to place a few bets.” He looked disappointed and Danny smacked him upside the head for it. “Ow! What was that for, Spooks?!”

“Your great nephew is about to get into a fight with a guy twice his size, and you’re more worried about money! That's what that's for!” Danny snapped. 

“Sheesh! I was just messing around, I knew he was gonna be fine with you there.” Stan huffed.

Danny rolled his eyes. “Maybe right now , but he just threatened Dipper and if he doesn’t fight then that boy will ruin him! He’s 12, Stan! I know what it’s like to get beat up at that age, it’s not fun! I don’t want that happening to him and you worrying about money isn’t the solution!” Danny’s gaze turned to Dipper, who had somehow fallen to his butt and was hyperventilating. As Stan stood there stunned, Danny quickly helped Dipper up and led them inside. 

Once everyone was gathered at the dining table, Dipper began to pace back and forth. Danny tried to interrupt his thoughts. “What was I thinking?!” “Kid-”  I can’t fight!” “Calm down-”  “I’ve never been in a fight before!” “Dipper-” “Look at these noodle arms!”

“Dipper!” Danny finally snapped, causing the tween’s head to snap over to him. “You might not have been in a fight before, but I have. I can help you.”

“Ya, listen to Spooks! And if all else fails, bonk him over the head. It's nature's snooze button!” Stan added. 

Mabel rolled her eyes. “Boys, why can’t you learn to hate each other in secret? Like girls do!”

“Sure, listen to your sister!” Stan chuckled. “Maybe you can share dresses too! Boom!”

“Stan Pines, you are not helping. And Mabel, I wish it worked that way but guys handle things more- physically. I mean, I personally do that when I don’t want to start trouble but… It doesn’t work for every guy, ya know?”

Dipper was still in his existential crisis, ignoring the comments his grunkle and sister were making. “Maybe he’ll just forget about it? Maybe it’ll all blow over?”

“I don’t know Dipper,” Soos piped in, “teenagers are dangerous. Those hormones turn ‘em into, like, killing machines.” 

“Really?” Dipper asked weakly. 

“Oh ya dude,” Soos confirmed. 

Stan and Danny shared a look, an inside joke running in their heads as they tried not to snicker. Maybe not most teens, but Danny sure as hell was one!

“My cousin Reggie got into a fight with a teen once. The guy broke, like, all his arms, all his legs, and I think killed him or something, I don’t know. Me and Reggie were just talking about it.” Soos said.

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Soos, your cousin Reggie is alive… You mean the teen died?”

“Uhh, maybe, I don’t really know.” Soos shrugged. 

“So you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Danny sighed. “Look, Dipper-”

But it was too late. The poor boy was full on panicking as he backed into a corner and slid down to the ground. His eyes were wide. “I can’t stay here! What if Robbie comes back?! I gotta hide!”

“Look, kid,” Stan started, “You got yourself a choice here. You could either go face him like a man, or you could hide indoors like a wimp. What’ll it be?”

Danny knew what it would be and quickly stood to grab Dipper just as the boy started to run. “Dipper! Look at me.” Dipper did. “Breath. In, out. Follow my lead.” He led the boy through a few deep breaths and then gave him a reassuring smile. “I know you’re scared, but you got this. I can help you, ok?” Dipper nodded. “Ok. I’m gonna let you go and when I do, you and I can go train for this fight. Ready? 3, 2 1…” Right as Danny let him go, Dipper bolted for the door. 

“I’ll go after him,” Soos said as he stood and walked out. 

Danny sighed and brushed a hand through his hair. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned his gaze to Stan, who was smiling at him assuredly. “You tried, spooks. He’s just not ready yet. Leave him be, he’ll come crawling to us when he feels more confident, ok?”

Danny nodded. “I suppose you're right… I just- I can’t help but worry-”

“I know. But he’s not like you when you were his age, and he certainly didn’t have family like me encouraging boxing lessons, ya know? When he comes back then we’ll figure it out, ok?”

A while later, Mabel was laying upside down on the couch with Waddles beside her. Danny was sitting atop the giant skull coffee table next to her, watching TV. As the commercials came on, Mabel sighed. “Poor Dipper… Hiding from Robbie, unable to face his fears.” Waddles snorted in agreement. 

“Fears are for chumps!” Stan called from the dining room. “That's why I don't have any.” Danny inhaled sharply on a snort, and began to go into a coughing fit that devolved into laughter. “What?! I don’t!”

Stan stood and marched over to the fish tank, reaching up for the glue in the cabinet. He grunted as he struggled to reach it. “Come on Danny, stop laughing and get your tall behind over here.”

Mabel stood and walked over. “Do you want me to get a ladder?” 

Danny began to laugh harder. “We- We don't ha-have any! W-wanna tell her why-why Stan?!”

“What?” Mabel’s eyebrows rose in surprise. 

Stan rolled his eyes. “You know, studies show that keepin’ a ladder inside the house is more dangerous than a loaded gun. That's why I own ten guns, in case some maniac tries to sneak in a ladder! Besides, I have Danny. He’s tall enough to reach everything.”

“Grunkle Stan, why you actin’ so cray-cray?” Mabel questioned, mimicking the show she was previously watching on TV. 

“You’re the one who's actin’ cray-cray!” Stan accused. “I gotta go now.”

Danny’s laughing fit eased up and he watched in amusement as Stan started to walk away. 

“Why would Grunkle Stan be so weirded out by ladders?” Mabel questioned suspiciously when it finally hit her. “Of course! I think he has a secret fear of heights!”

“Bingo kid!” Danny confirmed, “Stan has had a fear of heights for as long as I’ve known him. He acts like nothing scares him, but the one and only time I’ve seen him up in the sky, he was freaking out so badly he dang near had a panic attack. It was the last time I put him up on the roof, that's for sure.” It wasn't the only time, given that they faked Stan’s death together, but the first time Danny did was way before that. 

That had been hilarious to Danny, speed flying back to the shack and leaving Stan on the roof, only to pull him through with intangibility. Needless to say, the day Danny told Stan about his ghost powers was bitter sweet and totally worth it for that prank. 

“Woah… Poor Stan.” Somehow she completely missed the roof comment, which Danny was grateful for but found amusing. “Hm… Maybe we can help him!” Mabel suggested. 

Danny raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we need to get him over his fear of heights! But in order to do that, we need supplies…” Mabel said thoughtfully. 

“Like what?” Danny asked.

She grinned. “High heels!”

Later, Danny was trying to keep a serious expression as Mabel gave Stan her “great-uncle’s day” gift; a pair of bright red high heels that Mabel, apparently, borrowed from her mother when she came up. Of course, the cat was out of the bag pretty quickly. 

“I don’t have a fear of heights!” Stan groused as he adjusted the antennas on the TV. 

“That’s a lie Stan, and you know it. Come on, let her help,” Danny tried. 

“Can it, Spooks! I do not have a fear of heights!” The older man snapped, but just as he said as much he managed to tune the TV back in. 

On the screen was a man getting ready to jump out of a plane, the announcer cheerfully exclaiming, “ We now return to World’s most terrifying skydiving! ”

Stan’s response was immediate as he screamed, “Turn it off!” and stumbled backwards, away from the TV and tripping over the coffee table. Danny and Mabel frowned at each other before looking down at Stan. Stan was silent for a minute then glared. “So maybe I have a fear of heights.” Then his expression turned worrisome. “Is that really so cray-cray?” 

Danny snorted and helped Stan up. “Well, your great niece seems to think so.”

“I’ll be in the kitchen, don’t bother me!” Dipper’s voice called out in the hall as footsteps went into the kitchen. The three of them looked at each other and shrugged, deciding not to worry about it. 

“Well Danny, this calls for some serious intervention! Come on, let's come up with a plan!” Before he could react, Mabel grabbed him by the hand and dragged him upstairs to decide what to do about Stan’s fear. 

“How am I gonna get Stan over his fear of heights?” Mabel mumbled as Danny watched her pace back and forth. He was sitting criss-cross on her bed with Waddles beside him. 

“Well, maybe-” he started before the door opened and in walked Dipper and… a video game character?

“Hey Mabel, hey Danny, have you met my new bodyguard?” Dipper asked cheerfully. Danny’s mouth gaped. This town never ceased to surprise him. 

“The child gave me a taco!” The character said, just like the cheesy lines you’d hear in fighting games. 

“Wow! He’s got a crazy voice!” Mabel exclaimed. 

“Where the hel-eck did you find him?” Danny questioned, correcting himself before he swore in front of them. 

“From the arcade!” Dipper responded, as if that explained everything. 

“Dipper, that explains nothing.” Danny deadpanned. 

Mabel grabbed a pen and paper from beside her bed and wrote something down while Dipper responded, “I don’t know what happened! I found a cheat code on the side of the fight fighters game and out popped Rumble! But this is great, isn’t it?!”

“How on earth is this great ?” Danny questioned. 

“Because now-” Dipper started until Mabel interrupted by handing the video game guy– Rumble, Dipper had said-- and told him to “Here! Say these words!”

Rumble grabbed the paper from her and proceeded to repeat what she wrote, with enthusiasm only a game can produce. “Effer-vescent! Apple-Fritter! RIBO-FLAVIN!”

“Mabel! Stop it, he’s not a toy! He’s a fighting machine and he’s gonna help defend me from Robbie.” Dipper huffed. 

“Dipper, that is a horrible idea and it's going to go very wrong, ” Danny expressed. 

“Plus,” Mabel added, “Isn’t that kinda like cheating?” 

Dipper thought for a minute and then shrugged. “It could go wrong, and I guess it’s kind of cheating…” 

“So…?” Danny prompted, silently encouraging Dipper to do the right thing. 

“So i’ll see you after the fight!” Dipper enthused, dragging Rumble after him as he left. The character was still quoting from Mabel’s list. 

“Dipper, damn it, wait!” Danny called after, jumping up from the bed. But Dipper was gone. Danny sighed and ran a hand down his face. 

He felt a pat on his arm and looked over at Mabel, who was giving him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry Danny, he’ll be fine. Dipper can handle himself! And if all else fails, Soos can help him!” She paused and frowned. “Wait- where is Soos anyway?”

“I think he’s still stuck in the arcade machine. I’ve been meaning to he- I mean, to ask Phantom, if he can phase Soos out of the machine if he doesn’t get freed within 24 hours,” Danny replied. 

A light bulb seemed to go off in Mabel’s head and she suddenly grinned. “That gives me an idea! You know how to get in touch with Phantom, right?”

Danny frowned in confusion. “Ya… Why..?”

“I know how to get Grunkle Stan over his fear of heights!”

Which is how, an hour later, Danny was now Phantom waiting by the water tower. He could’ve summoned a clone, but he figured it would be so much funnier to be there first-hand. 

He did summon one to pretend he was talking to Phantom first hand, in case Mabel snuck after him, and then gave her the excuse that he didn’t want to leave the shack unattended while the owner was being scared to death. 

So, Phantom waited until Mabel came walking up with Stan by her side, the older man being blind folded and totally confused. She gave him a wink and started to climb up the water tower while Phantom flew over to Stan and grabbed him by under the arm pits. 

Stan immediately knew what was up. “Wha- What the?! Let me go!” 

“Sorry Mr. Pines, Fenton’s orders!” Phantom snickered, flying up to the top of the water tower and plopping him down behind the railing. 

Mabel reached the top and immediately exclaimed, “Take off your blindfold now!”

Stan ripped the fabric off and Phantom saw the color drain from the old man’s face and he clutched the railing tight. “Ya, that’s pretty much what I was expecting.” Then he glared at Phantom, hovering a foot above them, “I’ll get you back for this you little-”

Phantom grinned cheekily. “Hey man! I was just helping out your great niece!” 

“You’re doing better than I thought!” Mabel beamed. “Now just let go of the hand rail…”

“Nope!” Stan squeaked out, beginning to shake. 

Which is when Phantom noticed a figure climbing onto the water tower while Mabel questioned, “Hey, do you smell anger and hormones?”

Robbie suddenly appeared at the top of the ladder, pinning himself against the wood. “Finally! I’m safe!”

“Hey Robbie! Get your own water tower!” Mabel snapped.

“Shhhh!” Robbie hissed. Keep it down! He’ll find us!”

Phantom frowned, flying closer. “Who will find you?”

Robbie startled, eyes wide as he gaped at Phantom. “Who are-?!”

Before the comment could finish, there was a loud, “Challenger Sighted!” 

Robbie screamed as the voice called, “You can hide! But you cannot hide!” 

Phantom flew away from the water tower, looking down to see Dipper’s video game character standing at the bottom of the tower. Dipper was running over, calling, “Rumble! This has to stop! Please! Listen to me!” 

“Shit.” Phantom muttered, starting to dive down when Rumble kicked the water tower, making it lean.

Everyone beside Phantom screamed and he quickly doubled back, flying up to Mabel and Stan. 

“What’s happening?! What was that?!” Mabel screamed as the tower shook again. 

The tower began to tilt and Mabel and Stan screamed, running to the safer side as Robbie slipped and began to fall.

Phantom flew after him, catching him a couple feet before he hit the ground and flying away from Rumple. There was a sound of surprise from the character as a voice announced, from literally nowhere, “A new challenger approaches!”

“What the- Holy cow! You saved me man!” Robbie gasped in relief. 

“Ya ya, you’re not welcome, you were going to fight a twelve year old and that just ain't okay. Wait here-” He plopped Robbie on a high tree branch and flew over to Rumble, landing on the ground in front of him. 

“You! How dare you interfere with this battle!” Rumble called. 

“Ya, well, I can’t exactly have you killing a kid.” Phantom replied. 

“He killed this boy's father!” Rumble gestured towards Dipper, who was frozen in a weird mixture of surprise and shock. 

Phantom raised an eyebrow. “Ya, actually, he didn’t.” 

Rumble pointed at Phantom accusatory. “You are a liar!”

Dipper seemed to physically shake himself out of his trance and called. “Rumble!” 

The pair looked over as Dipper marched up to them. “I have something to tell you!” He paused when he got close and took a deep breath. “Phantom’s not lying! Robbie… Robbie didn’t kill my father.”

Rumble’s face turned to shock. “HUUUHHH?! THEN WHO DID?!”

“Wh-What? No one! I-” Dipper frowned. “… I lied to you.”

“HUUUUHHHH?!?!” Rumble gasped dramatically. “WELL THEN YOURE ACTUALLY A… BAD GUY!”

Dipper rubbed his arm sheepishly. “I guess I kinda am…”

Rumble’s expression looked remorseful as he stood on a rock, hair dramatically flowing and what could only be described as a cut scene began to sound around them. Phantom took the opportunity to fly over to Dipper. “It takes a lot of courage to admit you were in the wrong, kid. Proud of you.”

Dipper smiled slightly, but he still looked remorseful. “Thanks, but I-”

Before he could finish his response, Rumble turned to them, calling“If Robbie V is not the last stage, then it must be…” He pointed at Dipper, yelling, “YOOOOUUUU!”

A ‘Start’ button appeared next to Dipper, flashing red. The pair startled, glancing at each other and then it. 

Soos came running over, panting as he said, “Dude! Don’t fight him man! That guys got like- a black belt wrapped around his black belt! You could get killed!”

“I won’t let that happen.” Phantom said firmly. “I’ll fight him instead.”

“No.” Dipper declared. “I started this by having someone fight for me. This is my fault and I have to at least try to stop it.”

“Dipper-” Phantom tried.

“Phantom, go help Grunkle Stan and Mabel. They’re still on the water tower, right? Get them to safety. I got this.”

“You sure you wouldn’t rather hide like a wimp?” Soos asked.

Dipper slammed his fist into the start button. 

“Fight like a man it is,” Soos confirmed. 

Dipper looked at Phantom and smiled. “Go. I got this.”

Phantom glanced between Dipper and Rumble as a disembodied voice announced, “Ready?!” and the pair took fighting stances. 

There was a look of determination in Dipper’s eyes and Phantom recognized it instantly.

It was the same look he gave when he fought. 

Even if he lost, Dipper was going to fight to the bitter end.

Phantom gave Dipper a nod as the announcer exclaimed, “Fight!” and as the video game and human charged at each other, Phantom flew up to Stan and Mabel. 

Both were clinging to the water tower as explosions sounded behind Phantom. 

Mabel was crying to her Grunkle, eyes squeezed shut, “I’m sorry Grunkle Stan! I thought this would help, but I was wrong! I was so wrong!”

“Hey! Hey it's okay, you guys are safe, I’m right here!” Phantom called as he flew over. “I’ll get you down!”

Stan blinked his eyes open, which widened as he saw Phantom then looked down at himself. “I- I survived! I survived and I feel great!” Phantom raised an eyebrow as Stan monologued to himself, looking over at Dipper as he heard thumping. 

Rumble was charging up and Dipper looked worried, then accepting as he closed his eyes and held out his arms. Phantom’s eyes widened as Dipper was suddenly punched repeatedly and, in the distance, the announcer was calling out what the move was. The last punch threw Dipper to the ground and Phantom was about to fly over when Stan said, “Hey Casper! A little help here?” 

Phantom’s ghost core throbbed as it practically begged him to go help Dipper, to save the boy. This is your town, you need to protect it- But he shook himself when he heard Mabel whimper, turning to her and gently scooping her up. She tried to keep clinging to the rail, but Phantom made her hands intangible so that she let go. 

“Hey hey, it's ok, you’re ok. I’ve got you. You’re safe. Let's get you home, ok?” Phantom murmured to her. She nodded quickly, eyes still shut tight as she clung to him. He looked to Stan. “Can you get back by yourself?”

The old man gave a thumbs up and Phantom nodded, started to fly away. As he did, he glanced down and saw Dipper standing next to Robbie. 

He was okay.

Phantom breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Wendy beginning to approach them, and headed back to the Mystery Shack with Mabel. 

A while later, once Mabel was settled firmly on the floor wrapped in a blanket and watching cartoons, Phantom flew away. He landed in his room and turned into Danny quickly, walking down the stairs and calling casually, “Hey Mabel, you home? How’d it go?”

Danny had to pretend like he didn’t know what had happened as he saw her shaking on the floor and he quickly ran over and checked on her, before sitting beside her with an arm wrapped around her and watching cartoons. 

Shortly after, Stan walked in, saw them, and plopped himself on the couch behind them. He nudged Mabel with his foot gently until she looked over. “Think on the bright side, kid. You got me over my fear of heights.”

Mabel sniffed, looking up at him. “I did?”

“Yup! I ain’t scared of anything now!” Stan grinned. 

Mabel grinned back, standing up and climbing into her grunkle’s lap. He grunted but accepted, wrapping his arms around her. 

Danny grinned at the pair and stood. “I’m going to go see if Dipper’s back.” 

He walked out of the house to give them their moment, walking outside to see Dipper sitting on the couch watching the world go by. 

Danny plopped beside him, humming in concern as he gently pulled Dipper’s head over to look at the black eye and lump on his head. “Guessing the fight didn’t go as planned?”

“Ya… But I owed up to it and faced the problem head on. That’s got to count for something, right?” Dipper asked, pulling his head out of Danny’s grip.

Danny moved his arm around Dipper, tugging the younger into a side hug. “Always. I’m proud of you, Dipper.” Dipper beamed up at him. 

Hopefully this will teach him a valuable lesson about taking responsibility. 

As well as encourage him to not hire video game characters as bodyguards again.

Chapter Text

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~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny’s powers were acting up again.

It's been four times within the past hour and a half that Stan has had to make Danny go to his room or the bathroom to hide until the well of toxic green energy subsided. He would stare at the mirror in the bathroom, gripping the sides of the sink, just breathing and willing his ghosty half to calm down. 

Thankfully, Stan distracted the twins so they never realized Danny was gone until he returned. It used to be more common for him to disappear randomly during the beginning of summer, but now he hated being away from the pair and they were more used to him being there then not. Him disappearing so constantly was… abnormal, to say the least, and he didn’t want them to worry or suspect anything. 

Especially when he didn’t know why this was happening all of a sudden. 

Were they getting closer to returning to Amity Park? That didn’t seem too likely, they still worked on the portal every night but there wasn’t any noticeable progress being made. 

Was it because he was shifting into Phantom more often to protect the twins? No, that’s not right, he still constantly switched between the two halves of himself before the twins came here.

Could it have been because of the Clockwork incident? But his powers were acting up far before then, albeit maybe less often than now.

It didn’t make any sense. 

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the doorbell ring. Frowning, and knowing the ghostly energy wasn’t calming down anytime soon, he decided to switch into Phantom and intangibly sank through the floor to the entryway. There was a man entering the house as Stan was panicking in the living room, clinging to a money bag. 

“Which one of these is the trap door?! Damn it! Danny, stop taking so long to pee!” Stan stressed, patting the wall to find a button. 

Phantom stifled a snort as he watched the strange man walk into the house. “Mr. Pines, I’m from the Winninghouse Coupon Savers Contest,” The man began as he stepped into the living room, before a grin broke out across his face. “And you are our biiiggg winner!” 

 Two girls holding a giant check and a camera man ran into the room as Dipper, Mabel, and Stan, cheered for the new money earnings. But Phantom noticed another person enter sneakily into the house, hiding behind the check….

He flew over to Stan, still invisible, and whispered, “Gideon is behind this.” 

Stan paused for a moment, as the man held out a contract and told Stan to, “Just sign here for the money!”

Stan grinned. “You bet!” He wrote on the paper and Phantom frowned. Did Stan hear him…?

As soon as Stan finished signing, Gideon burst through the check. “Ha! Stanford you fool! You just signed the Mystery Shack over to widdle Ol’ Me!” He did an excited little jig as Dipper and Mabel gasped in shock. 

Stan smirked. “Uh, you might want to take another look there.”
A smirk crossed Phantom’s own face as Gideon read off, “The shack is hereby signed over to-” His eyes widened and he pulled the paper closer. “Suck a lemon, little man?!” 

Stan cackled as Gideon ripped up the paper. “Besides! You’d have to get Danny’s signature too, twerp. He's the co-owner of the shack! You’d have to get the full deed if you’d really want to take my earnings!”

Phantom grinned as he flew back upstairs and landed in his room, turning back into Fenton, hearing Gideon complaining downstairs. He checked the mirror and saw that his shift over to Phantom worked; his powers calmed down once more, green eyes turning blue and staying that way. 

He walked downstairs just as Gideon had tucked tail and ran off. Danny joined the others by the couch once more, settling on the arm rest next to Stan to continue watching TV. 

A few days later, Danny was sitting on the counter of the gift shop watching as Dipper and Mabel played chess. “Oh! Dipper wins again!”

“What?! Boo!” Mabel complained.

Dipper pulled out a notebook with tallies of their chess game, where Dipper was very much winning when Danny glanced over top of the boy’s head.

He raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you should go against someone who actually knows how to play?”  

Dipper perked. “Like who?”

“Well me, for starters, but your Grunkle is actually pretty decent at chess too.” Danny shrugged.

“You play chess Mr. Fenton?” Soos asked from up on his ladder.

Danny nodded as a fond smile spread across his face. “Ya, not only did my sister play but my best friend Sta-” he paused, frowning and then shook his head with a chuckle. “I mean Sa-Sam! Sam. She used to play too.” 

“Huh, I didn’t even realize you had friends other than Stan,” Soos hummed before gesturing to a set of jars on the shelf. “Speaking of, can you pass me that brain in the jar? The lady one?”

Danny pretended to try and reach it, before flopping against the counter. “Too… far…” He groaned. Mabel giggled and Dipper rolled his eyes. 

“Well then, Mabel, can you?” Soos asked. 

Dipper stood. “I got it.”

“Thanks, but Mabel’s taller,” Soos said. 

“What? No, she’s not! We’re the same height, we’ve always been!” Dipper spluttered. 

“Identical twins can still be taller than each other,” Danny pointed out, “I read about it being determined by genetics mostly and sometimes environmental or something? But I don’t know what you’re talking about Soos, they’re the same height.” 

“See!” Dipper gestured wildly at Danny. 

“Better check again dudes,” Soos commented. 

And that's how Danny had to watch when Dipper and Mabel stood back to back with a tape measure beside them, Soos determining their heights. 

“Yup, she’s got exactly one millimeter on you!”

Danny snorted as Dipper exclaimed, “What?!”

Mabel’s eyes widened. “Woah, don’t you see what’s happening Dipper?! This millimeter is just the beginning! I’m evolving into the superior sibling! Bigger, Stronger!” She exclaimed. 

“Like some kind of Alpha-twin!” Soos added.

“Alpha twin! Alpha twin!” Mabel chanted. 

“Millimeters don’t really count Mabel,” Danny voiced. “No one really uses them.”

“Ya! They only make you taller than me in, like, Canada!” Dipper added. 

“You know, Dipper, I’ve always wanted a little brother. Who knew I already had one!” Mabel snickered. 

“Mabel-” Danny tried but was interrupted by Stan entering the gift shop in his tank top and underwear. 

“I was awoken by the sound of mockery. Where is it? Show me the object of ridicule!” 

Danny sighed in annoyance. Of course Stan had to show up. “Mabel is taller than Dipper and now she’s making it a big deal.”

“By one millimeter!” Dipper snapped. 

“Hey hey, don’t get…” Stan started and a mischievous smirk crossed his face, “ short with your sister!” He cackled at his joke.

Of course Stan was gonna add fuel to the fire. 

“Now Grunkle Stan, I hope you don’t think little of him!” Mabel commented. 

“Ha ha! Yeah! And, and, uh… He’s short!” They laughed. 

“Mabel, Stan, stop it,” Danny said. 

“Ya, maybe lay off a tiny bit.” Soos added. 

“Ha! Tiny! Soos is in on it now!” Stan cheered. 

“No he isn’t- Dipper, wait-!” Danny called as Dipper marched off. 

“No, no! I didn’t mean that!” Soos fretted. 

“Oh, don’t you worry boys! Dipper will forget. He’s got a-” she gave her grunkle a knowing smirk-” 3, 2, 1…”

Together they exclaimed, “Short term memory!” And laughed. 

“Pow! We are on fire!” Mabel cheered and high fived her grunkle. 

The older man winced. “Ow! Ooh… That’s, ah…”

“I high five hard.” Mabel deadpanned. 

Danny rolled his eyes. “Ok you two, that's enough of that. I’m gonna check on Dipper.” And he walked off with Stan and Mabel snickering in the background. 

Danny was about to knock on Dipper’s door, when the preteen flung it open himself and blew past him. “Dipper, wait-!”

“Not now Danny, I have an idea!” Dipper called from behind him, before running out of the shack. Danny sighed and rubbed his eyes. 

This isn’t gonna end well, is it? 

Danny was proven right a few hours later, when he heard a crash from up in the attic while he was chatting with Mabel and Wendy in the gift shop.

 Dipper had gotten back not long ago, refusing to talk to anyone, and Danny resigned to leave the boy to his chaos. He was going to go check on the boy, but decided against it. Instead, he walked into the gift shop and began restocking the merch while listening in on Mabel and Soos chatting about her height. 

“Not only am I making my sweaters bigger, but I’ve been buying big clothes! I’ll grow into them,” Mabel said and Danny glanced over. 

“With what money? And where?” 

She just gave him a mischievous smile and Danny sighed, about to respond when Dipper walked in. 

“Hey guys! Notice anything different about me?” Dipper asked. 

Danny, Mabel, and Soos looked over and Danny raised an eyebrow. “Nope, not at all.”

“Wait a second…” Soos began, “Holy hot sauce! You’ve grown an extra millimeter!”

“Wha, wha, what?!” Mabel gasped.

Danny looked at Soos in confusion. “How the he- Heck. I mean heck. How the heck do you know that?!”

“I have my ways dude!” Soos nodded sagely to himself as Dipper slid up beside Mabel with a smirk. 

“What can I say sis? Growth spurt.”

Mabel huffed. “Ya, well, mine happened first. I’m gonna be taller in the end, it's science Dipper!”

“What?!” Dipper sputtered, “But we’re the same height now!”

“Alpha-twin! Alpha-twin!” Mabel chanted and Dipper glared. 

“Oh ya? Something tells me I’ve got another growth spurt comin’ on right now!” And he turned and marched off. Danny frowned, sharing a look with Soos as Mabel ran after. 

“Something tells me this isn’t going to end well.”

Everyone really needed to start listening to Danny’s warnings more, because he was proven completely right a little while later when he heard shouts coming from first the stairs, then the yard. He had been laughing alongside Stan for sending termites into Gideon’s hair not a moment earlier, and Stan went to get a camera from Soos when Danny noticed Dipper and Mabel stumbling into the yard and landing on the ground together. 

Then he watched in a mix of awe and horror as a flashlight fell from their grasps and lit up a blue hue, which grew a caterpillar up to 10 times its size. The beast crawled over a pair of cars, totalling them, and went into the woods. Danny quickly ran out to them as Mabel grew her hand with a start. He arrived just as Dipper shrunk it back down, with a “See?”

“Normal hand karate chop!” Mabel exclaimed and hit the light out of Dipper’s hand, and took off running. 

“Hey!” Dipper called and Mabel whipped around and grew Dipper’s head to triple its size. The preteen stumbled into a beam of the shack, before barreling towards Mabel and yanking the flashlight from her. Quickly, he shrunk his own head to normals and her to mini. Mabel squealed and ran after Dipper, grabbing the flashlight and growing her head before trying to shrink him back. 

The pair tousled, tugging the flashlight between them before Danny yanked them apart. “What on Earth are you two doing?!” He yelled as the flashlight flew into the air. 

But the pair didn’t answer, watching in shock as the flashlight landed right at Gideon’s feet. “My, my,” The southern boy questioned as he picked up the light, “What delightful manner of doo-hickery is this?”

Mabel stage whispered to Dipper and Danny, back of her hand covering half her mouth as she spoke, “Maybe he didn’t see us use it and doesn’t know it’s a magic flashlight that can grow and shrink things?”

The boys stared at her and then looked over at Gideon, standing a couple feet away. “Seriously?!” Danny groaned. 

Danny quickly tried to grab the light from Gideon’s hand, but was stopped in his tracks when a magenta light crossed over him, and gasped as the world began to grow, and grow. He heard a similar noise behind him and turned back to see the twins were shrinking right alongside him

He grabbed their arms and tried to run away, but was stopped as a glass wall intercepted them. Gideon cackled as he scooped up and closed the jar, quickly marching away from the shack. 

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!” Danny yelled, banging against the glass as Gideon walked, his arm blocking the world from view. Then he whipped around to face Dipper and Mabel, who were hugging each other tight. “Are you kidding me you two?! Why the hell- Of all the stupid-! A fucking shrink ray Dipper?! Really?! Gah!” Danny plopped hard onto the glass below him, gripping his hair tight. 

Dipper and Mabel glanced between each other, taken aback by Danny’s frustration, then lowered their gazes as they sat down as well. 

“We’re sorry Danny…” Dipper mumbled. Mabel nodded in agreement. 

Danny sighed, letting go of his hair and rubbing down his face with the palms of his hands. “I know, I know you are. I’m sorry for snapping, I just- Don’t know how we’ll get out of this one…”

“Maybe you can call Phantom?” Mabel asked hopefully.

Danny frowned and shook his head. “I left my phone at the shack and I don’t exactly have a telekinetic way to communicate with him.” Which is technically true, Danny thought miserably. “Besides, the last time he dealt with a shrink ray it… didn’t go so well…”

The situation with Dash had been beyond stressful, trying desperately to hide his identity while also dealing with his slow lack of power. It was horrifying at the time, although somewhat funny looking back. Dash had been terrified, which was a bit satisfying to witness.

“What do we do then?” Dipper questioned and Danny was about to respond when the world began to tilt. 

Gideon’s room came into view but Danny couldn’t pay much attention to it as Gideon screwed off the lid and shook the trio out of it. Danny grunted as the twins landed atop him, all three of them landing on the wooden surface of Gideon’s desk. 

“You three,” Gideon glared at them. 

Danny glared right back, standing up quickly and immediately guarding the kids. “Gideon,” Danny growled. “What’s your plan here?”

“What are you going to do with us?!” Mabel fretted. 

Gideon laughed. “Why Mabel, I wouldn’t hurt a hair on your itty bitty head!” He reached out and stroked Mabel’s head with a single finger, and added darkly, “If you agree to be my queen.”

Danny shoved Gideon away from Mabel, just as Mabel yelled back, “We live in a democracy! And never!”

Gideon clenched his fists. “Maybe you’ll change your mind after this!” He grabbed Mabel by the back of her shirt, and Danny and Dipper yelled as they tried to grab her but were too late. 

Then Gideon moved her as she yelled, “No! I will fight you until the day I-!” Then she gasped as Gideon plopped her down into a bag of gummy candies. “Gummy Koalas!” She immediately began to eat one as Gideon gently set the bag down. 

Then he turned his eyes to Danny. “As for you…” And paused. 

“What?!” Danny snapped, glaring. 

Gideon tilted his head in confusion. “Weren’t you wearing jeans?”

Danny blinked a couple times, dumbfounded. “What?”
“Your pants! You were wearing jeans! How in the world did you change them to leggings?”

Danny looked down at his legs and froze upon seeing the unmistakable bottom half of his Phantom bodysuit. His shoes had become white boots and, as Gidoen pointed out, his pants were slick black leggings. “I was always wearing them,” Danny lied. “But that’s not the point! What do you want with us?!”

Gideon frowned but shook his head as he grabbed the lamp on his desk and aimed it towards the halfa. “Give me the deed to the mystery shack or I’ll make sure you will never see these two again!”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Not in a million years. You ain’t gonna touch them, Gideon.”

Gideon laughed and grabbed Danny in his fist. “Danny!” Dipper yelled as the older man struggled in the boy’s grasp. 

Gideon pulled him closer to his face with a snarl. “You mark my words Daniel Fenton. I can do a lot worse. And as for you…” Gideon turned his lamp towards Dipper with his free hand, then gestured to the flashlight tucked into his pants pocket. “Tell me, boy, how exactly did you come upon this magic item hmm?!”

Dipper flinched as the light shone in his eyes, trying to shield them, as Gideon continued. “Did somebody tell you about it? Did you read about it somewhere?” 

Read about it? Danny thought in confusion. How would he have read about it…? He couldn’t mean…

But he couldn’t dwell any longer than a moment as Dipper gestured for Gideon to get closer, and blew an airhorn directly into the boys ear. He yelped, dropping Danny back onto the desk and covering his ears with both hands, turning away from them. 

Danny landed hard on the wood but quickly stood and pulled Dipper closer as Gideon tensed and then whipped around, knocking the lamp off of the desk with a ferocity no 10 year old should wield. He raced a fist, screaming, “I could squash you right now!”

Danny yanked Dipper behind him and watched as Gideon forced himself to calm down, bringing his hands in front of him as he said, “Steel yourself Gideon, you can use them.” Then his voice grew low as he tapped his fingers together. “You can use them…” 

Gideon then turned away. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a phone call to make.”

He walked over to a vanity and picked up his phone and rung someone up, evidence of who when he said, “Stanford Pines. Listen to me very carefully, I have your niece, nephew, and co-owner. Hand over the deed to the Mystery Shack right now or great harm will befall them! This is Gideon by the way.”

While Gideon was on the phone, Dipper ran over to the bag Mabel was in and Danny leaned towards the vanity, his heightened hearing picking up the other end of the conversation as Stan laughed at Gideon. “Oh yea, this has gotta be your worst plot yet! They’re fine, I saw them playing in the yard minutes ago!”

It had been longer than that really, and Danny rolled his eyes at how neglectful Stan was about this sort of thing. Seriously Stan, no questions asked? Really?

“I have them in my possession! You don’t believe me?!”

“Not a chance! Even if ya did, which I doubt, you say you have Danny there too? Then you’re really pulling my leg! Danny’s cleverer than that!” Stan chuckled. 

“I will text you a photo!” Gideon snapped. 

“Text me a photo? Now you’re not even speaking english.” Danny snorted at that, Stan really needed to get caught up on technology.

Stan hung up immediately after as Gideon tried to stop him, before growling in anger and throwing his phone hard against the wall. 

Danny jumped back as broken pieces of phone flew towards him, quickly jumping in front of Dipper to shield him. 

They watched in horror as Gideon slowly started chuckling, then full-blown cackling maniacally as he spoke to himself, “What am I doing?! I don’t need ransom!” Then he pulled the flashlight out of his pocket. “I have this! I’ll shrink Stan and take the shack for myself!”

“Don’t you dare!” Danny snarled. “Leave him alone!”

Gideon cackled more. “As if you can stop me! You’re helpless!” He marched over and scooped up something from behind them, then pulled out 4 wooden carved dolls, painted like Dipper, Mabel, Stan, and Danny. “And if any of you step out of line… Smash!” And he grabbed the dolls heads, yanking them off. 

He chucked them in front of the trio and Mabel gasped in horror, as Dipper stared at the wood with a similar expression. Danny’s gaze stayed on Gideon as the young boy laughed maniacally again. 

“Mark my words Gideon…” But Danny was cut off when Bud Gleeful’s voice called from downstairs. 

“Gideon! The ice cream truck is here!”

It was like the menace in Gideon faded for a moment as he called back, “Ooh! Coming!” and started to walk towards the door before pausing, grabbing a hamster cage from his bedside table, and setting it beside the trio. He opened the cage, pulling out the hamster and sternly told it to, “Guard them, Cheekums.” Before turning back to the door and running out with an “I’m coming!”

And then he was gone. 

Dipper picks up a q-tip nearby and poked the hamster as Danny helped Mabel out of the gummy koala bag. Cheekums didn’t move an inch, not even processing being poked. Then Dipper ran over to the others. 

“We gotta get out of here and save Stan!”

“I know!” Mabel agreed as she tucked the head of a Koala into the pocket of her sweater with a “I will see you later.”

“Ok, we need to come up with a plan, how are we going to do this?” Danny asked, as Dipper paced ahead of them.

Dipper hummed, one arm behind his back as the other scratched his cheek. “Gideon’s got magic and like- a zillion inches on us… On the bright side,” he turned to Mabel with a smile. “At least we’re finally the same height again!”

Mabel’s eyes narrowed in thought. “Actually…”

“Oh no,” Danny groaned. 

Chapter Text

“So what's your game plan, Cipher?” Vlad questioned as he screwed a knob tighter into the machine above him.

The looming metal above would've taken much longer, had he not forced Shulker and Technus to help with the initial building process. Now was just the finer details, the ones he had to carefully attach else the whole thing blow up in his face.

The triangle demon hummed in thought, floating in the air behind the halfa. “Isn't it obvious?”

“Well I know it's to merge two worlds, but I mean what's your plan . The machine, what exactly is it for?” The ghost stood, turning to face the demon. “You've had me working on this for, what, a year and a half now? And yet you haven't told me what it's for, exactly. How it’s supposed to help.”

Bill stared unblinking at Vlad for a few minutes too long. The temporary king of the ghosts resisted the urge to squirm at the scrutiny, face pulled into his best poker face, the kind he used when trying to make deals with big corporations. 

Finally, Bill spoke. 

“An opening.” 

Vlad frowned. “What?”

“ An opening. ” Bill reiterated with a huff, floating down and patting Plasmius on the cheek in a condescending manner. “You're not very smart aren'tcha?”

Plasmius frowned and swatted Bill’s hand away. “Would you just clarify?”

Bill rolled his eye. “I sent your little ghost king to another dimension for a reason. I'm having you build a portal to another dimension. Put it together genius!”

It took a moment before Vlad’s eyebrows shot up. 

“You’re using this to create a rift between the two worlds…” he murmured.

Cipher let out a cackle, high pitched and grating making the other wince. “And Bingo was his Name-o! Right you are!” Cipher swooped into the air, arms spread wide. “The time is fast approaching, two worlds forced to join together! A perfect cocktail of chaos, one that will be ours for the taking!” He cheered. 

Vlad was still trying to wrap his head around the concept when Bill suddenly snapped his fingers, making the halfa float immediately towards him.

Eyes to eye, Bill’s voice was sinister. “And Daniel is the key! One you'll help me use to unlock these binds of reality! Then we’ll be able to take over both these universes, and more to come after! Doesn’t that sound just fabulous ?!” 

Vlad gulped but nodded just the same. What else would he say to that? 

He couldn’t give his cards away just yet, after all. He couldn’t do anything to the demon here and now. Not until Daniel was safe.

He could maybe try and delay this project but that could risk his own plan, risk the manipulation he’s been slowly trying to craft against the Cipher demon. 

Vlad already made the deal with this devil. 

If he wanted his plan to work, he had to play the part. 

Had to work plan this out, carefully

For now?

He was trapped.

Chapter Text

How Danny got wrapped up in measuring Dipper and Mabel with Gideon’s ruler, he couldn’t tell you. But yet here he was, holding it up with an annoyed expression on his face and foot tapping in irritation as the twins compared heights. 

“You’re still taller?! How did this happen?!” Dipper groused as he realized that Mabel was a millimeter taller once more. 

Mabel shrugged. “I guess it’s another mystery!”

“One that doesn’t matter! ” Danny snapped. He tossed the ruler aside, ignoring the sharp thud of wood on wood. The twins flinched back and both flushed in embarrassment. “We have to get that flashlight back and fix this . That’s whats important now.”

Dipper nodded in agreement. “Danny’s right, but what can we do…?” He walked over to the edge of the dresser, looking down at the height with concern. 

Danny chewed his bottom lip, looking around himself. If only he could become Phantom right now, but with the twins unaware of his ghostly half being apart of him, he couldn’t-

“Cheekums!” Mabel exclaimed, running over to the hamster and climbing onto its back. “To freedom!” She patted his back and paused. When he didn’t move, she exclaimed again, “To freedom!” Then she giggled, petting him. “Aww, you’re just a big old dummy-dum!”

Danny shook his head at Mabel’s antics and looked around once more. Finally, his eyes settled on the hair brush Gideon set aside earlier. He glanced at Dipper, who was looking the same way. 

The pre-teen looked over to Danny with a determined expression. “I have a plan.” 

Carefully, the trio combined managed to cut strings out of the hair brush, using Dipper’s utility knife, and tie them together, forming a rope that lowered to the floor. Then Danny tied the end to the brush and climbed down first, followed by Dipper and then Mabel. 

He led the way out of Gideon’s room, checking for the coast to be clear as the twins followed. They managed to make it down the stairs to the living room and hide behind a shoe, peering into the living room.

Gideon was sitting on an armchair eating ice cream, with his dad nearby, the flashlight abandoned on the coffee table. When the brat was satisfied, he sat the empty container aside and raised his hands. “Clean me!” He demanded.

Danny cringed. If they ever managed to make it out of here, he could have a field day psychoanalyzing the insanity of this kid. His sister would’ve-

He frowned and shooed the thought away, distracting himself by watching Gideon throw a temper tantrum over being tickled, treating his father like a disobedient dog for doing so. 

“That’s one nasty child,” Danny mumbled. He heard Dipper and Mabel hum in agreement. 

As Gideon grabbed the flashlight and stormed out of the house, literally throwing a side table against the wall, Danny grabbed the twins and ran to the front door with them, pushing open the doggy door and helping them through it. He climbed out himself, and the trio looked around, losing sight of Gideon and the flashlight. 

“We need to get higher,” Danny said. 

“Ya, especially Dipper!” Mabel chimed in, “Cause he’s short.”

Danny rolled his eyes. Dipper glared at his sister before pointing up towards a floating dollar balloon. “Up there!”

They ran over to the rope tying the dollar down. “Are you sure you kids can climb this?” Danny questioned. 

“We got it, Danny!” Mabel replied, grabbing the rope and pulling herself up impressively fast. 

“Ya, we’ve always been climbers!” Dipper agreed with a grin, climbing after his sister. 

Danny shrugged and began to climb too, which is when he noticed his arms. 

Instead of his bare arms, they were covered in black latex. The kind on Phantom’s suit . He glanced down at his shirt and noticed that that was still the same, like the sleeves appeared but nothing else. Danny frowned and decided to ignore it, quickly climbing onto the top of the balloon with the kids and looking over the edge. 

They could see Gideon sitting at the bus stop, talking with Lazy Susan for a moment before climbing onto the bus. 

“He’s heading to shrink Stan!” Dipper gasped. 

Danny snarled. “We have to find a way after him!”

“If only we had Phantom… Oh, flying discount dollar,” Mabel pouted, nudging the balloon with her feet. “If only you could fly us back to the Mystery Shack like Phantom!”

Danny perked. “Maybe it can! Dipper, hand me your pocket knife.”

Dipper handed the knife and his eyes widened as he realized Danny’s plan. “Mabel! Each of us grab a wing! We’ll have to steer this thing.”

Danny flipped open the scissors, carefully cutting into the rope tying the balloon down. As soon as it was free, the dollar began to float in the air. The kids desperately clung to the wings, tilting them this way and that to keep them in the right direction. 

As they did, Danny slid down the balloon and held onto the end, willing some of his ghost half’s abilities out. As soon as he did, it was like a sense of relief washed over him.

He hadn’t realized the shrinkage was causing his power to bubble forward, which explained his clothes. The– albeit minor– use of his flight was like cold water on a hot day, letting some tension he didn’t know he had out. 

But he didn’t have time to dwell on it. He had to focus. 

 While the kids steered, following the bus, he made sure the balloon stayed even in the air instead of flying higher . 

The trio cheered and Danny could barely make out Bud Gleeful’s cry of disbelief. He smirked. Suck it, Gleeful!

“To the Mystery Shack” Mabel cried, standing up before shrieking, having to sit back down to stay on. 

“Be careful up there!” Danny snapped. 

They managed to reach the shack, crashing into the totem poll and sticking. Danny quickly climbed up to the others, helping them onto the wood. 

“Danny, what happened to your shirt?” Dipper questioned. 

“Nows not the time, there’s Gideon!” Danny pointed out the bus nearing the shack. 

Dipper nodded. “Right, how are we going to stop him?”

The trio looked around and Mabel grinned. “Leave that to Mabel! First, we’ll have to zipline over to the shack!”

Danny grinned back. “Great idea! Use your sleeves Mabel! Dipper, hold onto me!” 

Dipper nodded, climbing onto Danny’s back and hanging on tight with his arms and legs. Mabel went first, grabbing one of her sleeves with the other hand and using it to zip down the banner wire to the roof of the shack, landing just above the front door’s roof. Danny followed shortly after, using Phantom’s sleeve in the same way and making sure Dipper was holding on. 

As the pair landed, Mabel had grabbed her gummy koala head and tossed it down, just as Gideon had stepped up to the door. “I’m sorry, gummy friend.” 

Gideon immediately started complaining, dropping the flashlight and stepping away to fix his hair in the nearby mirror advertising a mirror maze (Danny nearly forgot about that plan of Stan’s). 

“It’s for the greater good. Come on!” Danny responded, helping the twins crawl down the side of the house, sliding down one of the polls. 

The trio landed and quickly rushed to the flashlight. Danny climbed on top, flipping the crystal to the ‘grow’ side and gesturing for the pair to get in front. “Hurry! I’ll regrow you!”

Dipper and Mabel rushed in front but before Danny could turn the light on, Dipper stopped him. “Wait! You’ll grow us both back to equal height, right?”

“Dipper!” Mabel snapped. “That doesn’t matter right now!”

“Well if it doesn’t matter, why doesn’t Danny just do it?!” Dipper snapped back.

Danny groaned. “Kids, nows not the time! Let me just grow you back!”

“Ya, Dipper! Stop acting so weird just because I’m a little bit taller than you!” Mabel cried. 

“Oh, I’m acting weird? You’re the one calling me names and stuff.” Dipper huffed back. 

“Guys, stop it!” Danny snapped.

Neither heard him, Mabel responding, “Oh what, you mean like Little-”

“Don’t say it!”

“Little Dipper,” A voice interrupted. 

The trio gasped as they were suddenly grabbed by the backs of their shirts, the flashlight in Gideon’s other hand. Danny could feel anger surge through him, snarling and struggling in Gideon’s grip. 

“I dare say you would’ve defeated me, if it wasn’t for your sibling rivalry!” Gideon cackled, adjusting his grip so the trio was in his fist before bursting through the shack door. “The shack is mine, Stanford Pines!” 

“ No! ” The kids and Danny screamed, as the flashlight shrank the person before them, hiding their body beneath the fez as it landed on the floor. Danny could feel his ghost core pulse , his protective obsession trying to consume him as he stared horrified. 

If Gideon hurts a hair on Stan’s head, I swear to the Ancients, I’ll-

Gideon smirked, marching toward the object, “Well, well, Stanford, it appears I’ve finally gotten the best of-!” and lifting it up…

Only to reveal Soos beneath. 

“What?!” Gideon shrieked. 

Soos looked around confused as Danny sighed in relief. “Alright, something’s definitely different here…” Then he screamed as he and the trio were thrown into the glass jar from earlier. 

Gideon pressed his face to the glass as Danny and Soos stood defensively in front of the kids. “Tell me where Stan is!” Gideon snarled, shaking the jar and knocking everyone over. 

“Never!” Soos cried. “You’ll never find Stan! On the second door to the left down the hall… Wait, why did I say that?!”

“Soos!” Danny berated. 

Gideon beamed maliciously, tucking the jar into his suit jacket. They all immediately began to try and break the glass, to no avail. 

Soos sighed, plopping down to the ground. “I guess I really soosed that one up, didn’t I?”

Danny frowned, sitting beside Soos and patting his shoulder. “It's not your fault, Soos. You just get nervous under pressure.”

“If its anyone’s fault, its mine,” Dipper said miserably. “I’m the one who put together that shrinking device…” 

“Which begs me to ask, why the heck did you do that, Dipper?” Danny asked. 

Dipper frowned, rubbing his arm sheepishly. He then turned to his sister. “I guess it's just- you kept teasing me, Mabel, like- All day. It really started to bother me. What was that all about?”

Mabel frowned back, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the notebook from their chess game. She handed it to Dipper as she replied, “I guess it’s that, you’re better than me at like- everything. And you always rub it in my face… Chess, checkers, ping pong. I guess I finally felt like I was winning at something for once…”

Dipper grimaced. “Aw man, now I feel like a big jerk…” 

“Don’t you mean… a little jerk?” Mabel teased. Dipper and Mabel laughed. 

“Alright, I walked into that one… Are we cool?” Dipper questioned. 

“We’re cool.” Mabel responded, giving her brother a fist bump. 

“Am I cool?” Soos asked, holding out a fist. 

“You’re cool, Soos!” Mabel gave him a fist bump.

“Hey, don’t leave me out!” Danny grinned, holding his own fist out. 

“Hmmm, I don’t know…” Dipper teased, a mischievous grin on his face. 

Danny gasped mock-offendedly and everyone laughed. 

“You’re cool too, Danny,” Mabel decided, giving him a fist bump. 

Danny stood, beaming. “I’m glad you two have come around. Now, let’s figure out how to get out of here! We have to get that light before Gideon gets Stan. ”

“Maybe we can try and unscrew the jar top?” Soos suggested, standing as well. 

“Great idea! Soos, can I climb on your back?” Danny asked.

“You bet, dude!” He helped Danny up to his shoulders. “Man, you’re really light Mr. Fenton. Have you been eating enough?”

Danny didn’t reply, just reached for the top of the jar and was a bit too short. “Dipper or Mabel, someone climb onto my back!”

“On it!” Mabel replied, her brother quickly helping to lift her up so she could climb up to Danny’s shoulders. 

She managed to twist the jar enough to get the lid to pop off, then quickly climbed out. Dipper climbed up Soos and Danny’s back, both men grunting in response, and climbed out as well. 

Dipper and Mabel reached into the jar and helped pull Danny out, and together they pulled Soos out (which Danny was able to do without the twins’ help, technically, but he didn’t comment on that). 

They used what remained of the jar lid to climb up and out of Gideon’s pocket, seeing the flashlight on the other side. 

“There it is! We need to get over there!” Dipper cried. He looked around then climbed up Gideon’s shoulder and crept along the back of his neck. The rest followed after, and Soos and Mabel’s eyes widened at the shiny skin of the boy’s hair and neck. 

“Woah… His hairs so shiny…” Mabel gasped, reaching for the hair. Dipper yanked her away. 

“No! Don’t look directly at it, come on!”

Soos, meanwhile, jumped onto Gideon’s neck and began to make snow angels, laughing. “His neck is really squishy! Look, I’m making fat angels!” 

Dipper and Mabel screamed when Gideon’s hand suddenly came flying toward them, knocking Soos off the neck and causing him to slip, starting to fall to the floor. “Soos!”

Danny’s eyes widened and he had a split second to make a decision. With the size Soos was, and the height of Gideon, there’s no telling what could happen if the man landed on the wooden floor. But he couldn’t reveal he was Phantom-

A thought crossed his mind, one he had to act on face , and he immediately cried out, “Phantom! Ghost mode!” And letting the power bubbling under the surface creep out some more. 

He could feel his eyes glow bright green, and he quickly held his hands toward Soos. Danny made the telekinesis wash over the repair man, gently lowering him onto the rug rather than fall harshly to the floor. The twins gasped behind him and Danny quickly turned toward them. They all flinched when pink light flew around the room, as Gideon ducked and unbeknownstly shielded them. 

He didn't expect the echo while he spoke, “What’s the plan?” 

“Phantom? Is that you?!” Mabel gasped. 

“No time to explain. Whats. The. Plan.” Danny repeated, letting the power flow just enough through his veins. 

It felt like putting on your favorite comfort clothes, like the power of Phantom was aching to break free and take full control. Like the power wanted Danny to let loose… But he kept it back, kept it from taking over his entire being and turning him into Phantom. No. He had to play the part, had to appear possessed if he wanted to keep the twins from suspecting anything. 

The twins quickly shook out of their shock when they heard Grunkle Stan arguing with Gideon. 

“Grunkle Stan is doomed!” Mabel cried.

“Not completely doomed! To his armpit!” Dipper responded, dragging Danny and Mabel toward the kids shirt.

Mabel cringed, trying to pull away. “Nuh uh!”

“Come on kid, lets save your grunkle, quick!” Danny grabbed Mabel and yanked her down with him and Dipper.

The trio quickly began to tickle his armpit. They could feel, more than hear, Gideon starting to giggle then grow full on hysterical. 

As the twins continued tickling, Danny crawled out and crept toward Gideon’s hand, tickling the inside of his wrist just as Stan started to slowly kick and roll Gideon out of the Shack. Danny managed to turn Gideon’s hand intangible right as they hit a bump by the door, knocking the flashlight out of the kid’s hand and causing Danny to fall after it. He heard the twins yelp, and noticed they fell as well. The trio quickly ran into the shack right as Stan closed the door, with a “Your the light of my life too pal” To Gideon. 

Dipper grabbed the flashlight, flipping it to the grow side, and adjusted it to face Mabel. “After you!”

Mabel tried to argue, but Dipper quickly grew her back, then grew Danny shortly after.

As soon as Danny was at his full height, he felt his clothes turn normal. But the power was still bubbling underneath the surface, he could feel it trying to take control. He shoved it down as fast as he could, struggling harder than ever to keep it under wraps. 

Just a moment longer, I just need a moment longer, He begged his powers silently, blinking the green away from his eyes and seeing Dipper and Mabel hugging. The flashlight was in Dipper’s hand. 

“Kids?” He murmured, purposefully swaying his feet as if to appear dazed.

“Danny!” The pair cried, rushing over to his sides. 

“Did we win?” He asked. They nodded. “Did you grow Soos yet?” 

The pair blinked in surprise and looked around. 

“There you dudes are!” A tiny voice of Soos called out, the trio turning towards the shrunken man, pieces of glass behind him spelling out ‘Help Soos’. “I’ve been trying to get your attention!” 

Dipper aimed the light at Soos, quickly growing him back to full. 

“Gimme that,” Danny mumbled, pretending to be whoozy and limpy holding his hand out to Dipper. “I’ll hide it away or break it later, I just- I need to lie down-”

Dipper frowned, handing the flashlight to Danny. Soos quickly walked over to Danny’s side, letting the man lean against him. 

“Are you ok, Danny…?” Mabel questioned. 

“Ya, ya, I’m fine just- Haven’t- Done that in a long time-” Danny groaned, tucking the flashlight into his pocket. 

“What was ‘that’ exactly?” Dipper questioned, the group slowly walking back towards the living room from the parlor. 

Danny dragged his feet behind him, slumping against Soos’ side as they entered the hallway, “Possession. I’ll- explain more later, just-”

They entered the living room and Stan’s eyes landed on the group.

“Woah, what the heck happened?!” Stan called, rushing to Danny’s side and practically picking Danny up by his side. Dipper and Mabel immediately began trying to explain, talking over each other and fretting over Danny. 

Danny whispered into Stan’s ear. “Power surge. Room. Now.”

Stan cut the twins off. “Relax, kids. Danny just gets like this sometimes. I’m going to bring him to his room.”

Stan quickly hurried up the stairs into Danny’s room, setting Danny down and closing the door behind him.

Danny let the power wash over him as soon as the pair was alone, white lights flashing and consuming his form until he was fully Phantom. He could feel his core pulse, the defensive anger from earlier threatening to overwhelm him. He sat criss cross, floating in the air and holding his head in his hands. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down his core. 

Stan turned to Danny, arms crossed. “Alright Spooks, spill. What happened?”

“Gideon shrunk and kidnapped us, and-”

Stan cut him off. “Wait, he was serious about that?!”

Danny deadpanned at the older. “ Duh. Anyway- I don’t know why, but for some reason Phantom’s clothing was starting to take over… Like the opposite of the shrink ray incident I told you about.”

“The one with your bully, Run or whatver his name was?”

Danny snorted. “Dash, ya. Anyway- We managed to escape and get to the shack as Gideon barged in to attack you, only to get captured again when it was Soos he shrunk and not you. He locked us up again. This time, we climbed up his back to try and reach his otherside, steal the flashlight which was the shrink ray… and Soos fell off.” He could feel his core pulse again, the fear of Soos getting hurt crushing his very soul…

Stan’s eyes widened. “Oh shit… Is he hurt?!”

Danny shook his head. “I had to act fast, so I pretended like Phantom possessed me and I used my telekinesis to slow his fall… But for some reason, its like- My powers tried to stay? Like- they were trying to take control of me… I managed to get them under wraps to get to you, but… well… Here we are now.”

Stan frowned. “Your powers have been seriously acting up, Danny…”

Danny threw his hands in the air. “I know, and I don’t know why . Its freaking me out Stan!”

“Hey, hey,” Stan grabbed Phantom’s hands in his own. “There’s gotta be a reason, right? We’ll figure it out. Maybe Ford’s journal has some clues… But for now, why don’t you go out and find a way to calm down and turn human. I’ll tell the kids you passed out, maybe lie and say you have some sort of medical condition.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “You do realize they think I was possessed. You could just say it was Phantom.”

Stan snorted, shaking his head. “Nah. We already have one person who knows, well, you . I don’t want the kids to have any idea I’m involved in this mess. Otherwise, they’d pester me for questions or try and search my rooms for more info. It’s safer for them to pretend I’m oblivious.”

Danny shrugged, pulling his hands away from Stan. “Guess so. I’m gonna go scream at a pond for a bit, see you when I’m back?”

Stan chuckled and nodded. “See ya.”

~~~~~~~

It was an hour or so after the incident with Gideon. Danny was still passed out in his bedroom, so Dipper decided to bring Mabel into the woods to show her where he found the crystals, and maybe see what other creatures he could find along the way. He figured they’d better both know where they are, just in case something happened that made them need the grow or shrink abilities again (he couldn’t shake the feeling that they would…). 

As they entered deeper into the woods, shoving aside branches and jumping over fallen logs, they came across a clearing with a pond in the center. There were tons of fallen trees surrounding the water, like some big storm had blown them over. 

But what was surprising to the pair of them, was the figure sitting crisscrossed on the forest floor, staring into the pond’s reflection. 

“Is that… Phantom?” Dipper muttered, sharing a look with his twin. 

They carefully crept out from the trees and headed over to the ghost. 

Phantom’s eyes were glowing bright, illuminating the water to a toxic green, and his fists were clenched in his lap like he was angry. Despite there barely being a breeze, his snow white hair was flowing around him. 

“Phantom?” Mabel questioned.

The ghost startled, going invisible for a second before appearing again, hand on his chest. “Jeez, kids, don’t sneak up on me like that!”

Mabel giggled and Dipper raised his hands in surrender. “Sorry man, we just saw you sulking over here and came to check on you. You good?”

Phantom gave the pair an uneasy smile, turning back to the water with a shrug. Dipper frowned, glancing at his sister and noticing she wore a similar expression of concern. 

They moved to either side of Phantom sitting next to him. 

It was silent for a few moments, save for the wildlife around them. After a while, Phantom spoke, “Sorry if I scared you kids earlier…”

“A little… But its ok!” Mabel assured.

“What happened, by the way? How did you possess Danny?” Dipper questioned. 

A million thoughts had been swirling through his head since the incident. How did Danny do that? Did Phantom possess him often? Why hadn’t they heard about it before? What was Danny and Phantom’s connection?

Phantom answered his earlier questions. “I only possess Danny during absolute emergencies. The ability really drains him, his body isn’t used to being put through such power. I mean- Imagine getting possessed yourself! I’m sure it isn’t pleasant… But he can sort of… Invoke me? I guess? If he needs to.”

Dipper nodded in understanding. “So when he called out for you earlier, he essentially called you to him and allowed you to possess him? So that you could save Soos.”

“Bingo, kid. Like I said, we can’t do it often. I’m scared I could hurt him if I did… I felt like I almost did tonight!” Phantom chuckled humorlessly.

Mabel patted Phantom’s shoulder. “He’s ok though! Stan put him to bed, said he was sleeping peacefully and should be ok!” 

“Though, he doesn’t seem to know about you…” Dipper added. 

Phantom smiled at Dipper, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “That’s because Danny and I agreed to keep it a secret from him.”

He looked… tired, now that Dipper was close enough. Like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He even had bags under his eyes, despite being a ghost (but Dipper wasn’t sure if maybe he had those when he died, and he wasn’t going to ask). He also looked… young. Barely an adult, maybe. He had to have been younger than Danny, though, given that Dipper knew Stan’s best friend was in his mid 40s at least (though, now that Dipper was looking at Phantom, they did look shockingly similar… Their noses had the same point to them, their eyes the same shape. If it wasn’t for the fact that Phantom was more buff, had white hair and green eyes, the pair could have been twins…. Maybe they had been… Why else would they look so similar? Why would Danny even let Phantom possess, let alone interact, with him? How did Danny even actually meet Phantom? What is their actual connection…?)

“Why?” Mabel asked, startling Dipper out of his thoughts. 

Phantom shrugged. “Danny asked me to. Wouldn’t give me a clear answer other than not wanting to scare his friend away. Which, mind you, is stupid. He knows Stan wouldn’t abandon him!” Phantom threw his arms in the air, incredulous. “I told him it was a stupid idea but noooo , he had to claim a physical illness or something and keep me secret!” Then he crossed his arms with a pout. 

Mabel giggled. “I’m sure Danny means well! He probably doesn’t want Stan to freak out, he doesn’t exactly believe in the paranormal. 

“He’s a huge skeptic,” Dipper agreed, “and probably would have a heart attack if he found out the truth.”

Phantom chuckled. Dipper noticed his eyes have started to dim, no longer shining so brightly. The ghost gave the pair each a smile. 

“You’re probably right. Anyway, I better head out. Got places tobe and all that.” Phantom stood and the twins quickly followed suit. 

“Maybe we can chat like this again some time? Learn a bit more about you?” Dipper asked hopefully. 

Phantom grinned, starting to float in the air. “Maybe, sometime. See ya around, kids.” Then he flew away. 

Dipper and Mabel watched as Phantom faded from the skies, then turned to each other. 

“There’s got to be more to Phantom and Danny’s relationship than they’re letting on…” Dipper thought aloud. 

Mabel shrugged. “Maybe. But let’s worry about it later! C’mon, let’s find those crystals before it gets dark!” She grabbed her brother’s wrist, tugging him back towards the woods. 

Dipper laughed, “Ok ok, I’m coming!” And led Mabel back on their adventure.