Chapter 6
Peter sat in his labs, twiddling his thumbs. Summer had rolled around, and with it, an exceptional amount of free time. Danny had been busy doing ghost things, and Peter hadn’t talked to him as much as he would have liked to. Peter sighed, sitting back in his chair. He was trying to incorporate ghost fighting tech into his suit, but it wasn’t going very well.
Suddenly, Peter’s phone rang, and he scrambled to answer it.
“Hey, Spidey, what’s up?” Danny’s familiar voice asked.
“Not much, I’m just trying to incorporate ghost fighting tech into my suit, it’s not going too great. What about you? I thought you were stuck in the realms doing some top secret ghost stuff?” Peter asked, spinning in his office chair.
Danny laughed on the other end of the line.
“Yeah, it’s actually not a secret anymore. I can come over and tell you about it, if you want, and I can probably help with your sit, too,” he offered.
“That would be great! I’ve missed you this summer!” Peter agreed, enthusiastic.
“Missed you too, Spidey. I’ll be there soon.”
The phone clicked. Sure enough, a moment later, a portal opened in Peter's lab and Danny drifted out in his ghost form, a bag slung over his shoulder.
“Peter!” Danny exclaimed.
Peter was already on his feet, and Danny pulled him into an icy hug. When they pulled back they were both smiling.
“Okay, first do you wanna hear about my time in the realms or work on your suit?” Danny asked, taking his usual seat.
“Not even a question, tell me all your secrets,” Peter joked.
Danny chuckled and started talking.
“So, you know how that night a while ago, when we talked about ghost hierarchy and stuff, I told you Scarlett or I would probably be the next ruler of the Realms?” Danny asked, tearing a hand through his hair as he spoke.
“Wait, are you telling me you were busy getting crowned king of the Realms?” Peter asked, already freaking out.
Danny winced.
“Well, sort of. It’s kind of complicated,” he answered.
“So explain it,” Peter demanded, crossing his arms over his chest. There was something Danny wasn’t telling him, something bad, and he needed to know it. Danny refused to meet his eyes, then sighed.
“Ok, so, becoming ghost king is really, really complex. There are, like, all of these requirements you have to meet. And right now I meet all of them except one. Well, two, technically. The first is power. I’ve beaten two of the Ancients in battle, and a few other powerful ghosts, so I definitely fit that. The next is having some Obsession that has to do with help, or protection, or justice. Which I’ve got. Then, the hard one is having an understanding of the timeline. Which is why Scarlett is out. I’ve been apprenticing with Clockwork for a while, so I’ve got that down, much better than most past kings and queens have. Then, probably the hardest one, is you have to have approval from the heart of the Realms. I told you once that the Realms are sort of sentient, and that was sort of an oversimplification. The heart of the Realms, the core, is sentient. She..talks to us. Communicates. In dreams, in real life, in...other things. But when you become monarch of the Realms, you become...connected to the core, in a way no one who hasn’t experienced it quite understands. So, naturally, the core has to...like you, to accept you to an extent. Which, apparently, I’ve been accepted. Then the Ancients have to appoint you. Which, they have. Then come the two that I don’t fit, yet. The first one is that you have to be an adult ghost. Which obviously, right now, I’m not. But apparently there’s a loophole that if one of your ghost guardians is an Ancient, you can still be a child ghost when you take the throne. Which is weird, if you ask me, but whatever.”
Danny stopped talking, his eyes downcast.
“Okay, that doesn’t sound so bad, but something is obviously wrong, and you’re freaking me out. Danny, just tell me? Please?” Peter pleaded, trying to catch his friend’s eyes.
“Maybe, maybe we should call Tony. I think you’ll probably freak out, because when they told me I totally freaked out, and I’m trying really hard not to freak out, so Tony should be here, so if you freak out someone can help you,” Danny rambled, his face desperate.
Peter’s stomach dropped.
“Danny. Phantom. Daniel. What are you talking about?” he insisted, trying not to freak out.
Danny sighed. “Friday, can you ask Tony to come down here, please? Now?”
“Of course, Phantom,” Friday answered in her pleasant accent. “He says he’s on his way.”
Danny floated up off his seat, curling his knees into his chest and wrapping his arms around his legs. Peter had never seen him curl in on himself that much, especially in his ghost form. His starry cloak was wrapped around his shoulders. A moment later, Tony stepped out of the elevator, his gaze flicking from Peter’s worried face to Phantom floating in midair, curled in on himself.
“What’s wrong?” Tony demanded, striding over to Peter and pulling him into a hug.
Peter melted against him.
“I have something I have to tell, well, both of you, actually. But I freaked out when I was told, and I’m still doing my best to hold it together, so if you two freak out, I need you to have each other,” Danny said, worry clear in his eyes.
“Phantom, please, what’s going on?” Peter begged, defaulting back to the old name as he pulled away from Tony and turned to face one of his best friends.
“I...god, this is so hard to say. Okay. So, Tony, I was telling Peter that I’m going...I’m going to be ghost king. I’ve been chosen, and it’s not something you turn down. It’s not a choice, not really, even though everyone says it is. And, god, this is so hard. There’s a requirement, one that’s not a big deal for most ghosts because they don’t have a lot of people they care about anyway….god, okay, okay. I have to drink from the Lethean waters. To be king, I have to drink from the Lethean waters.”
Danny’s voice was choked and quiet by the time he finished speaking, and when he went quiet, he buried his face in his hands.
“What does that mean?” Peter nearly whispered.
Danny laughed, hysterically, and tore a hand through his hair. “Ohh my god, I didn’t even think that you wouldn’t know what that means. Oh god. Drinking Lethean waters erases memories. Like, almost all of them. The select ones, that you need to rule, those stay. But all the connections? All the people I love? All of you? I won’t remember. I won’t remember at all. Anything. I won’t remember Scarlett or Clockwork either, but I’ll still feel my connection to them, so I’ll be able to get to know them again. I’ll have to, I need them. But they’re...they’re not allowed to tell me anything that I don’t remember. Anything about you guys. Nothing. I...I’ll be like a different person than the one you know. There are some things I won’t mind forgetting, I mean, sometimes life sucks, but god, I’m not going to remember you, I’m going to leave you, and I’m not even going to miss you because I won’t remember, and god, this is so hard.”
Danny had buried his face in his arms, and Peter was pretty sure Danny was crying, because his voice was all choked and sad and now Peter was crying, and Tony was hugging him, because Phantom was leaving. And he didn’t want to, not really, and he sounded so broken.
Tony was crying too, and they were crying together, and god this sucked so much. And why did Phantom have to do it and why did he have to erase his memories and if he wouldn’t remember anyway what was the point?
“How long?” Tony choked out.
“A week,” Danny answered, his voice meek.
“Come here, Danny,” Tony said, roughly, holding out an arm.
Danny drifted to the floor, changed to his human form, and threw himself against Tony and Peter. They adjusted to include him in the embrace, and they were all crying, because nothing would be the same. Peter’s suit lay on the table, enhancements forgotten.
The next day, Peter padded into the kitchen for breakfast, early in the morning. And there was Danny, in his ghost form, floating above one of the chairs, as he had a habit of doing. Tony was there, too, hunched over a cup of coffee, looking half dead. If Peter assumed he hadn’t slept, then he would be right. Phantom had his cloak on, just like the day before, wrapped around his shoulders. Cap was standing at the stove, flipping pancakes. Nat was sitting at the table, looking from Tony to Phantom, seeming concerned.
“Good morning, Peter,” Danny said, politely, when he noticed him.
“Morning, Danny. Um, not that I’m not happy to see you, but can I ask why you’re here?” Peter asked, tugging on his sleeves.
“I have a week, Peter. A week to make sure you’re all as prepared to be without me as you can be. A week to say my goodbyes. Where else would I be?” Danny asked, softly, and Nat and Cap looked startled.
“What do you mean?” Cap was the first to ask.
Danny sighed. “In a week, I'm leaving. I was chosen as the next ghost king. One of the requirements is that I have my memory wiped. I’m not going to remember any of you, anything, really. So I’m trying to make sure you’ll be safe. Impart wisdom. All that,” he explained, sounding exhausted.
“Oh,” Cap said, softly.
“Oh indeed,” Nat echoed.
“So, Peter, we’ll start with your suit. I’m not gonna be around to help you fight ghosts off much longer, and since the Paris sisters won’t give you the tech, I guess I’ll have to. I’m not letting you guys be helpless when I’m not around to come drag you out of the fire.”
So that was how the next few days went. Danny helped Peter modify his suit to include ghost fighting tech, and tried to simultaneously cram as much knowledge about ghost tech into Peter’s brain as he could. Next they worked on Tony’s suit, and once again, they modified it as Danny tried to cram into their brains as much about ghost fighting tech as possible. The next day was spent with all the Avengers in a room as Danny frantically spoke about anything and everything he could think of that they might need to know about ghosts, or ghost tech, or ghost fighting, or the Realms. Friday dutifully recorded the whole thing so they would have it on file. Everyone seemed to tiptoe around Peter and Tony, not wanting to upset them any more than they were already upset.
All too soon, the day before Danny would have to leave arrived. They were in the kitchen that morning, just like every other morning, but today Danny was quiet. It had become commonplace over the last few days for Danny to never stop talking, trying to tell them everything he could possibly think of that they might need to know, and everyone listened. His silence was eerie.
“So, what are we doing today?” Peter asked, after he grew unnerved by the silence.
Phantom flipped down from his position floating on his back above the table. Then, he sat in the chair next to Peter, actually sat, not floated above it. He had Peter’s full attention in an instant. It was early enough in the morning that no one else was in the kitchen.
“Go on a date with me. To Pride. It starts today,” Danny said, matter of factly, though his eyes were full of fear.
Peter sucked in a breath. “I-I...you like me, too?”
Danny chuckled, sadly. “Petey, I’ve had a crush on you for way, way too long. And I know my timing is absolutely awful but-”
“Yes,” Peter cut him off.
“Yeah?” Danny asked, his smile becoming more genuine and less forced.
Peter laughed, full of a million emotions.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
Then Danny was in his arms, on his lap, squeezing him tightly.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“Don’t be,” Peter answered, equally softly.
“We have to be the stereotypical Pride people. We have to wear our flags as capes, and have little heart flags on our cheeks, and be covered in glitter, and wear rainbow crocs, and just everything. I’ve...I’ve always wanted to do that,” Danny admitted, softly, still holding onto Peter for dear life.
“Me, too,” Peter agreed.
And that was how they found themselves leaving the mall, their hands full of bags, Tony walking in between them. They went back to the Tower and got ready. They wore matching black ripped jeans, and matching rainbow t-shirts. Danny was in human form, and the Avengers were mildly confused as to where this boy had come from, but when Tony told them not to question it, they didn’t. Wanda carefully face painted little hearts of their cheeks, one rainbow and one the bisexual flag pattern. Nat and Wanda did their rainbow eyeshadow, and Cap took great pleasure in covering them both with glitter body spray. They both had bi pride flags, and they wrapped them around their shoulders like capes, smiling like idiots the whole time.
They went. They marched in the parade together, laughing and talking, and for one day they were allowed to be two teenagers at a Pride parade. They listened to the music, and laughed and talked with strangers, and danced like idiots. They got rainbow ice cream, and laughed at the pictures of the Avengers scattered around. When the sun faded, neon lights came on, and they kept dancing. They had ended up on the stage somehow, with the singers, and everyone was cheering.
So Peter turned to Danny, both of them blushing furiously, and they kissed. Neither of them had kissed anyone before, so it was sloppy, but it was loving, and they were both grinning wildly when they pulled away, their little flag hearts long since ruined. And everyone cheered more, and the singers had them surf the crowd, and they both laughed furiously. When they got set on their feet they kissed again, a kiss just for them, and when they pulled back they were both crying a little, but it was okay. Eventually, it was late enough that they trudged back to the tower.
After the glitter and makeup had been scrubbed off, and normal clothes donned, Danny turned back into his ghost form and settled on the couch next to Peter. After a while, he turned to Peter, his face serious.
“I want you to have this,” he said, firmly.
Then, he pulled the starry cloak off his shoulders and secured it on Peter’s.
“I...I can’t,” Peter protested, weakly.
“You should take it, Petey. You’ll be safer this way. And..and this way, maybe, maybe we’ll meet again, and I’ll recognize you, and this won’t have to be the end. And even if we don’t meet again, if you have this, you’ll be safer. So please, please take it,” Danny pleaded, crying openly now.
“Okay,” Peter agreed softly, tears welling in his eyes.
Then they were in each other’s arms again, crying. That’s how they fell asleep.
“Daniel,” a smooth voice woke the pair, “it’s time.”
Clockwork floated over them, his face regretful. They were both awake now, and they hugged each other tightly, but the time for tears had passed. They pulled back from the hug and kissed again, gentle and loving and the last time.
“I love you. I know I have to forget, but just know that, right now, I love you,” Danny whispered into Peter’s ear, fiercely.
“I know you can’t say the same, but I won’t forget you. Not ever. I love you, too,” Peter whispered back.
They pulled apart, and Danny drifted up, towards the already open portal. He paused, looked down at Peter again.
“Goodbye, Spider-Man, Spidey, Peter Parker,” he said, gently, teasing Peter one last time.
“Goodbye, Danny,” Peter whispered.
And then Danny was gone, and Peter was crying again, and Tony was there, and he didn’t know what to do anymore.
Peter was quiet for days. He cried, and he hugged Tony, and he clutched Danny’s cloak tighter around his shoulders. Then, he got out of bed, and he started living again. He went out on patrols, he trained, he talked to people.
“I’m glad you’re doing better, kid,” Tony had said, clapping Peter on the shoulder.
Peter shrugged. “Danny said I had to. He said, when everything falls apart, I have to pick myself up and keep moving, because the pain is never going to go away if I don’t. So I’m trying. I’m trying so hard, Tony.”
“I’m proud of you,” Tony said, then pulled him in for a hug.