Chapter Text
Jazz stood on the doorstep of the unassuming townhouse, bouncing on her toes and resisting the urge to ring the doorbell for a second time. She’d heard it go off, she told herself. He’d been here in a minute. There was no need to be anxious.
Sure enough, only a few seconds later she heard the lock flip, and then the door swung open. Her younger brother’s future self stood in the doorway, his hair tied back in his usual braid and his plaid shirt still covered in oil stains and grease. He must have just gotten home from the garage.
“Hey! There you are,” Danny greeted her, stepping back so that she could enter. “Come on in. I just got the kettle going.”
“Thanks,” she said, following him into the house. She toed off her shoes onto the front mat, and then trailed after Danny into the kitchen, adjusting her book bag over her shoulder.
“Did they figure out yet who let the Emu loose in the library?” Danny asked her absently as he puttered around the kitchen, gathering the fixings to make a pot of tea.
“No,” she said with an unhappy sigh. “But it figured out how to use the elevator to get to the second level, so I have a feeling it’ll be a while before I can head back there to study. Thanks for letting me come here instead.”
“No problem, you’re welcome here whenever you like,” Danny told her, setting a plain white mug in front of her. She thanked him, watching as he set out the teapot, sugar, and milk next.
“In fact, didn’t I give you a key?” he asked as he offered her a spoon to measure out her sugar.
“You did,” she replied, adding two scoops of sugar to her cup, “but I figured you’d be home. I didn’t want to just burst in on you.”
“Fair,” Danny laughed, before he moved towards the living room. “I’m just going to finish getting changed, I’ll be right back. Help yourself to whatever you like in the kitchen.”
She watched him go, and then turned towards digging her study supplies out of her bag. Before she had even finished laying everything out, he returned, dressed in a much cleaner and more comfortable t-shirt and jeans. He still had a smudge of dirt on his cheek, but she decided not to mention it.
“Geez, Jazz, did you take the whole library home with you?” he joked, looking at the textbooks, notes, and writing implements covering his entire kitchen table.
“Oh hush,” she huffed, sticking her tongue out at him. It felt kind of odd to be playing the younger sibling with this version of Danny, but she had to admit that sometimes she rather liked having an older brother to tease her and help her out for a change. “For the record, it’s for statistics, and you know how bad I am at stats.”
“Yeah, you got a ninety-eight percent on a test once instead of one hundred,” Danny teased, taking a seat across from her and making up his own cup of tea.
“Oh Danny!” she cried in exasperation. “You know how important this is to me.”
“Yeah, I do,” he agreed good-naturedly. “And hey, it’s Lucas now, remember?”
“Oh god, I still can’t believe you let Tucker make your fake name be Luke Skywalker,” Jazz groaned at the reminder.
“Technically it’s ‘Lucas Skylar Walker’,” Danny countered, digging his wallet out and showing her the driver’s license inside that displayed that exact name next to a picture of Danny looking a little bit sheepish and confused. “See? Just got it yesterday, perfectly legit.”
“You can’t even drive.”
“Neither can dad.”
“Touche,” Jazz laughed. She held out her hand, and Danny passed her the license. She studied it for a moment, checking the picture and the information displayed, but she had to admit, it looked very real. “Did Tucker make this?”
“Nah, it’s a real license,” Danny said, taking a sip of his tea.
“So Tucker hacked the DMV for you?”
“Actually, Phantom handled that one,” Danny admitted. “We went to the DMV and he overshadowed the guy, got me all set up. If you’ve got a real license, it makes getting other documentation a hell of a lot easier, so we wanted to make sure it was as authentic as possible.”
“Wow. Well, normally I wouldn’t approve of overshadowing random office workers, but in this case I think exceptional circumstances apply,” she sighed, handing the license back for Danny to tuck away in his wallet.
“It’ll make Dave happy too,” Danny said with a chuckle as he shoved his wallet back into his pocket. “I think he was half convinced I was some kind of genius runaway living on the rail lines or something.”
“So things are going well at the garage?” Jazz prompted, finally picking up her tea. It was a bit too hot still, so she took only a tiny sip, before putting the cup back down to cool for a bit longer.
From the bright sparkle in Danny’s eye, she already had a feeling she knew the answer. “Yeah, really well!” Danny told her brightly, confirming her thoughts. “Dave really likes my work, says I’ve got a good head for it. I’ve actually started teaching a couple of classes on weekends to a bunch of high school kids who want to know more about how cars work. Don’t worry, none of them are from Casper High, so I don’t think I need to worry about anyone recognizing me or linking me to Danny.”
She had subconsciously tensed when he mentioned teaching high school students, but his reassurance allowed her to relax. “That’s good to hear,” she said, pleased to see how well he was settling into his new life in the past. Well, present for her, past for him. Ugh, time travel. “I know it wasn’t exactly your dream job…”
“Nah, it’s okay,” Danny brushed her off. “Working for NASA would have been really cool, but I’m happy where I’m at right now. Besides, I’d rather avoid working for the government given I’m basically a time-displaced illegal immigrant. I’ve been looking into some online classes though. And Dave said he might know an electrician who’s looking for an apprentice. I’ve got some options, if I ever want a change from the shop.”
Jazz studied him for a moment, a slow, warm smile spreading across her face. “It sounds like you’re really settling in,” she said quietly. “I’m really glad to hear it, Danny.”
“Lucas.”
“Danny. It’s your name, and I’m going to keep using it.”
“Fine, but only when we’re alone,” Danny sighed. “You’re going to have to get used to calling me Lucas eventually, though.”
She sighed. “I suppose. It’ll just take me a while.”
“That’s fair.”
They fell into companionable silence for a while, Jazz working on her schoolwork while Danny puttered around the kitchen, cleaning up dishes and making a grocery list. Eventually, though, Jazz found herself watching Danny closely as he moved around, noting how he set aside a ghost-themed mug filled with what looked to be ectoplasm off to the side on the counter. Unless Danny had taken up some sort of really strange diet, it must have been for Phantom. Her mind wandered to the other half of her older brother, and she absently tapped her pencil on her notebook as she wondered what he was up to.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Danny suddenly asked her, knocking her out of her musings. When she blinked at him in confusion, he smiled and pointed at her pencil. “You used to only do that when you were thinking really hard about something. And I know it’s not statistics, because you haven’t taken any notes in the past five minutes.”
“Oh? Oh!” She glanced down at her blank paper, and then looked back up with a blush. “Yeah, you caught me. I guess I was just wondering how Phantom was doing. It’s been even longer since I last saw him than the last time I saw you.”
“He has been pretty busy,” Danny admitted, opening the fridge and starting to pull out various vegetables and sauces. “Do you want to stay for dinner, by the way? I was going to do a stir fry.”
“I don’t want to impose,” she said demurely, to which he shot an unimpressed look over his shoulder. Immediately she caved. “Yeah, okay, that would be nice. Pretty sure my Danny managed to weasel his way over to Tucker’s for dinner again, and with mom and dad working on something new in the lab, I wasn’t looking forward to cooking for myself. Thank you.”
“You’re actually helping me out, I’ve got a bunch of beef I have to use up before it goes bad and it’ll be too much for me to eat on my own.”
He started prepping dinner, whistling some tune from the 80s that Jazz only half recognized. Jazz let him be for a bit longer before her curiosity got the better of her.
“How is Phantom, anyways? I heard about his fight with Ember last week, but otherwise I haven’t heard any details. I know my Danny has been doing leaps and bounds better now, in school and in general, since Phantom has stepped in to help protect Amity, and we’re both really grateful, but I can’t help but worry he’s taking on too much. Is he doing alright?”
“He’s doing good!” Danny replied, slicing up some peppers. “Like I said, he’s been pretty busy between the ghost-fighting and spending time with Clockwork getting to know his new powers, but he seems to enjoy it. Though honestly, sometimes it feels like he works more than I do, these days. If only that translated to helping me pay rent,” he joked with a laugh.
“You don’t need - “
“No, no, just a joke, Jazz. Dave pays me more than enough to afford this place,” Danny quickly reassured her.
“Oh. Okay. Because if you needed any help…”
“Relax, Jazz,” Danny sighed good-naturedly. He shot her an amused smile over his shoulder as he began mixing up the stir fry sauce. “I’m the older sibling now, remember? It’s my job to worry about you, not the other way around. Here, try this. Tell me if it’s too sweet.”
He handed her a spoon, and she dutifully tasted it. After smacking her lips together, considering the taste, she hummed, and then said, “Could use some more ginger.”
“Damnit, I knew I forgot something.”
“And I can’t help it, Danny. Even if you’re older than me now, part of me is always going to see you as my little brother.”
“Maybe if you called me Lucas, that would change,” Danny pointed out teasingly.
“Ugh, fine! Lucas!” she threw up her hands in exasperation, and then immediately wrinkled her nose in distaste. “That just feels too weird.”
“Try hearing it.”
Their conversation trailed off, and Jazz once again returned to her homework. This time she managed to stay focused until Danny quietly announced that dinner was ready. Almost as if signaled, her stomach let out a loud growl, making her blush.
Danny laughed. “I take it that means you’re ready too.”
“Guess so. It smells really good,” Jazz told him as she tucked her books and papers back in her bag to clear the table. When Danny set her plate down in front of her, her eyes went wide in delight. “Oh, it looks good too. Thank you, Da - uh - Lucas.”
He laughed again. “There you go, now you’re getting it.”
They settled in to eat, and for a while the only sounds that filled the kitchen were their forks scraping plates and the quiet hums of enjoying a well made home cooked meal. But eventually the plates were emptied, and one of the thoughts that had been chewing at the back of Jazz’s mind started to gnaw at her again. She glanced up at Danny from across the dinner table, biting her lip with indecision. They were having such a pleasant evening. Did she really want to spoil things by asking such difficult questions?
Her conflict must have been more visible than she thought, because as soon as Danny finished his last bite, he sighed, set his fork down on his plate, and pushed it away. His eyes locked with her, and his serious expression was such a sharp contrast to the gentle smiles he’d been wearing all evening that she knew she’d been caught out.
“Come on, Jazz. Just…ask,” he sighed, suddenly looking ten years older than he actually was.
“I just…I’m sorry, I really shouldn’t.” She looked down at her plate, pushing the last few grains of rice around to distract herself.
“It’s okay, Jazz. Worst case, I just won’t answer, right?”
“No, worse case I trigger some kind of flashback,” Jazz argued. She knew she’d made her point when Danny looked away this time instead.
The silence that filled the kitchen this time was stifled rather than comfortable, and Jazz internally kicked herself for ruining the atmosphere. Curse her Fenton curiosity! She knew it was just going to make things awkward.
But then Danny sighed, and reached across the table to hold her hand. “Jazz, look. I promise, if whatever you want to ask makes me uncomfortable, or touches on something I don’t want to talk about, I’ll tell you. I trust you to drop it if I ask, and I trust you to both know me and know enough about mental health at this point to recognize if I’m in trouble. But something is clearly eating at you, and I know you well enough to know whatever it is, it’s going to bug you until you just let it out. So. Ask.”
She stared at him for a moment with wide eyes, before she suddenly blurted out, “How do you know I’m real?”
He blinked, clearly caught off guard. Whatever he’d been expecting, it obviously wasn’t that. “Huh?” he asked eloquently.
Jazz winced, and then tried to ask her question again. “I just…my Danny had said that…that Phantom told him…Not that they were talking about you behind your back! Phantom was just worried about you, and was asking Danny and I to keep an eye on you whenever he wasn’t around so he warned us…he said…he said you sometimes…see things?”
“Oh,” Danny said with surprising calm, given Jazz was all but questioning his mental state. “Oh, he told you about the hallucinations.”
“...yeah,” Jazz admitted in a small voice.
“Hey, no, it’s okay. It’s…probably a good thing that he did. He’s right, if he’s not around and I have an episode, it’d be a good idea for someone else to know what’s going on.” He gave her a tight smile, the hand wrapped around hers squeezing gently. “It’s okay. I’m glad you know.”
Then he let go of her hand and leaned back in his chair, sighing. “But you don’t have to worry about the hallucinations.”
“You’re not having them anymore?” she asked hopefully.
“No, they still come and go,” Danny admitted plainly. “But they happen less often, and I can tell when they show up.”
“Phantom said you hallucinate…me,” Jazz said, not sure if she wanted him to refute it or not.
Sure enough, he confirmed it right away. “Yeah, that’s right. The most common one is my Jazz.”
“So how do you know I’m real? How can you tell me apart from the hallucination?” she couldn’t help but ask.
The smile he gave her was so broken and sad, she started to tear up at the sight of it.
“You’re not burning,” he said simply.
She could only stare at him in blank shock.
“I’m guessing that wasn’t what you actually wanted to ask me about,” Danny eventually added when she could only look at him with teary eyes, too horrified to find a response. “If it was, you probably wouldn’t have just blurted it out like that. You usually think your questions through first.”
“Y-you’re right.” Jazz hastily wiped her eyes, grateful for the change of subject. God, the mental image of what he must be seeing every time he looked at her, Tucker, or Sam was just too painful to contemplate. She hadn’t spent too much time thinking about what had happened to her future self, but now a part of her couldn’t help but resent her alternate for leaving Danny in such a state, even if that Jazz had no control over what had befallen her.
“You’re right,” Jazz repeated, a bit stronger. “I was actually wondering about you and Phantom…and how you’re still separate. You were one person, once. Will you two ever fuse back together, do you think?”
To her surprise, Danny actually burst out laughing. “God, I’ve been asking myself the same damn question!”
“You have?” she boggled.
“Yeah,” he chuckled, standing up to take their plates to the sink. “At this point, I’m pretty sure it’s only a matter of time. I mean, I’m still aging, right? I’m older, so duh, I must be. And I highly doubt that Clockwork and the Observants are cool with letting a functionally immortal human run loose forever. I’m sure it’ll happen eventually. I just need to wait until Phantom’s ready.”
“Oh? What do you mean?”
Danny paused, letting the sink start to fill up with warm water as he considered his words. “This is a lot of speculation, based on what others have told me, and from watching Phantom,” he admitted, “but I think the problem is, after seeing what happened to our Vlad, Phantom is scared that if we fuse back together, I’ll die. Like, Danny Fenton, the human part, will die and we’ll be all ghost forever. I think, even though he’s coming to terms with things, he still hasn’t fully forgiven himself for everything he’s done, and it translates to that fear that he’ll hurt me again.”
“But you don’t think that’ll happen?” Jazz prompted, watching him thoughtfully.
“Nah. I’ve still got my issues, sure, but I’m in a much better place now, both physically and mentally. I’ve had a chance to come to terms with what happened, for the most part. If we were going to fuse back together, I think I’d be okay. But Phantom’s not ready, and that’s fine. I can wait.”
Jazz breathed out slowly. “Wow. You really are doing better,” she told him fondly.
He grinned at her, flicking some soap bubbles her way. “I told you, I’m doing fine. You seriously have to stop worrying about me so much. Save that for your Danny.”
“I’m perfectly capable of worrying about both of you,” she informed him primly, making him laugh again. “I’m a master worrywart. You should see my diploma.”
“Oh I have. It’s right next to your Know It All certificate, isn’t it?” Danny teased, and the mood finally lightened as they started joking around and poking fun at each other again.
Jazz ended up staying for dessert - oreos dipped in large glasses of milk, just like dad used to show them - before she finally had to admit it was getting late enough that she needed to head home.
“Do you need a lift?” Danny offered, already reaching for his keys by the door.
“You don’t know how to drive,” Jazz reminded him with a mix of exasperation and fondness.
“Again, you don’t see that stopping dad.”
“That’s not a good argument. Besides, I drove myself,” she said, digging her car keys out of her pocket. “I’m good.”
“Well, if you’re sure.” He hung his keys back up, before turning to face her. “Hey, just remember, you’re welcome here whenever you want. I gave you and Danny spare keys for a reason.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she promised.
He held his arms open wide, and she stepped into them, hugging him back just as tightly as he hugged her. For a moment, she just let herself bask in the feeling of finally knowing what it felt like to get a hug from a big brother. It was a feeling she could honestly get used to.
But eventually she had to reluctantly pull away. It really was getting late.
“Alright, I better get going,” she sighed.
“Drive safe,” he told her, opening the door for her to let her out.
“I will!”
She bounced down the path back to her car, pausing at the end of the driveway to wave at Danny standing there in the doorway, watching her go. He waved back, making sure she made it into her car safely. Only as she started to back out of the driveway did he finally head back inside.
As she drove home, Jazz couldn’t help but notice that despite the heavy topics at the end, her visit with older Danny had left her feeling lighter than when she’d first arrived. Maybe things weren’t always okay, and they’d likely have some trying times in the future. Things were always a bit crazy when your parents were professional ghost hunters and your little brother was half ghost. But if Danny and Phantom could go through the hell they’d been through and make it out the other side mostly okay, then maybe there was hope for the rest of them yet.
She smiled to herself, and then turned up the radio. She belted along to the songs the rest of the way home, feeling surprisingly carefree.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
“Honey, I’m home,” Phantom groaned as he stumbled through the front door of their shared townhouse well past midnight. With a half-hearted wave of his hand, he changed his outfit from the flowing cloak and loose tunic he always wore when he visited Clockwork to a more modern look of a cozy hoodie and sweats. As much as he found his new role as Master of Space fascinating, and as much as he enjoyed learning about his new powers, Clockwork was not a lenient teacher. He’d had Phantom patching up gravity wells in distant galaxies within his first week of lessons, and today he’d guided Phantom through the creation of a new star system. It was mind-bogglingly cool, and Phantom couldn’t wait to tell Danny all about it, but it was also incredibly draining, and now that he was home all Phantom really wanted to do was flop face down on the couch and just turn into a puddle of ooze for a while.
Shuffling through the front hallway, mind empty of all thoughts except the couch, he emerged into the living room just as Danny exited the kitchen, a mug of glowing ectoplasm in one hand, and a startlingly familiar blanket draped over his other arm.
“Welcome home,” Danny greeted him warmly. “I figured you’d probably be pretty wiped, so I got you some ecto to give you a boost.”
But Phantom wasn’t paying attention to the cup in Danny’s hand. Instead his eyes were focused on the blanket, a rich navy blue in colour, dotted with constellations and planets that looked like they might just glow in the dark.
“Where did you get that?” he asked quietly.
“Hmm?” Danny hummed, before following Phantom’s gaze. “Oh, this? Heh, I had Dani steal it for me. I figured we could get younger Danny a new one later, if he really wants one, but I…I kinda missed it, you know?”
“...yeah. Yeah, me too,” Phantom said quietly, his shoulders relaxing as warmth began to fill his core. Seeing Danny holding that blanket, after he thought he’d destroyed it forever, just let something relax within him.
“C’mon, you need to drink this,” Danny said, gesturing Phantom over towards the couch. “And then you need to tell me all about the crazy stuff you got up to today with Clockwork. I want to hear all the details.”
They settled down on the couch side by side, Phantom leaning into Danny’s shoulder while Danny draped the space blanket over both their laps. It was so soothing and domestic, that Phantom couldn’t help it when his core started to let out a quiet hum, not unlike a cat’s purr.
If Danny noticed, he was kind enough not to mention. Instead, he threw his arm around Phantom’s shoulder, cuddling him in closer, and then gently nudging the mug of ectoplasm to prompt Phantom to drink.
He obliged and took a sip, before setting the mug down in his lap, and getting more comfortable. “So,” he began. “You know how Clockwork had helped me pick out a section of space to make a new star?”
Danny let out a small gasp of childlike wonder, and Phantom launched into his story, painting the picture of the birth of a new star system with his words and gestures. Around them, the world settled into a quiet night, the moon shining above them while the stars twinkled down between the drifting clouds passing by.
As Phantom began to trail off, too tired to continue speaking, he heard Danny let out a low chuckle, before he leaned down and rested his head atop Phantom’s, humming happily as they both settled more comfortably into the couch.
“Welcome home,” Danny murmured again into Phantom’s hair, resting snuggly against him.
“Glad to be here,” Phantom replied, his eyes sliding peacefully shut in happiness.
