Adult-FanFiction.org : Cartoons

Experimental Love	By : Kyuugi Category: +1 through F > Danny Phantom > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 4392 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Danny was up early the next morning, his excitement had made it hard to sleep, and was eagerly surfing the web to find tips on teaching.
So far, however, all he’d found was a bunch of porn, a few websites extolling the wonders of a certain teacher, and an interesting website on the use (or misuse) of Engrish.
Nothing remotely helpful on teaching English other then the obligatory ‘start young for best results.’ Bleah.
Danny was not feeling very happy. He’d spent 4 hours on the computer and hadn’t found anything that he really could use, and NOW he was tired. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and cursed softly. This was not working out the way he had hoped.
Jazz was always an option. She knew a lot about tutoring, she was the best one at Casper High, and she knew the rules of the language inside and out. Danny just hadn’t wanted to depend on her so early. Hell, before he’d even really gotten started.
But… Danny didn’t really know his way around the Library, and Jazz wouldn’t turn him down if he asked nicely.
‘Jazz it is.’
Danny hopped out of the chair he’d been sitting in and went to find Jazz. It was still early enough in the morning that she probably wasn’t gone yet, so Danny headed to the kitchen first. He hadn’t eaten anything, his excitement overpowering his need to eat.
Eat. Wait, eat! This would be the perfect time to start teaching the Phantom to eat!
Danny eagerly scrounged around the kitchen for different kinds of food. Cereal might be fine, without the milk. Danny wasn’t sure that he could eat cereal lying down, so he was sure the boy couldn’t. Fruit, everyone loved fruit right? Danny carefully cut up an apple and a banana and peeled an orange, setting a few slices of each on a small plate, and then poured a tiny amount of the Frosted Flakes onto the plate. He grabbed a cup and filled it with apple juice, slopping some over the side in his haste.
Food and drink in hand Danny made his way down to the lab, carefully swinging the door open and stepping inside the dark room. He set the plate on the floor and fumbled for the light switch, lights flooding the room a few seconds later. Danny picked up the plate and walked slowly over to the metal bed.
He set the food on the tray next to the head of the table, then pulled a chair over and sat down, bumping the bed by accident.
Green eyes snapped open and his mouth opened to scream. Danny quickly put a hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“It’s alright! It’s just me, you’re fine.”
Danny’s voice was low and soothing, his grip warm and firm, and the boy visibly relaxed.
Danny gave him a grin and pulled back his hand. “You get to eat today!”
The boy cocked his head, obviously not understanding, but recognizing that Danny was excited about something. He wanted to know what those noises were that everyone around him was able to make. It was clear to him that they were communicating; he was just unable to connect the words with the action. It frustrated him. He wanted to know what they were saying, and he wanted to communicate with them too.
Danny saw a flash of frustration in the boy’s eyes and realized that it bothered him that he couldn’t understand Danny.
Well, soon enough, right? Danny picked up an apple slice.
“Apple.”
He held the slice out for the boy to look at and repeated himself.
“Apple.”
Danny saw an understanding in the green eyes.
“Aaaallleee.”
The word was drawn out and slurred horribly, Danny nearly jumped up and danced, but it was a start. He nodded his head enthusiastically and tried again.
“Apple.”
“Aaapllleee.”
“Apple.”
“Aappllee.”
Danny’s grin was ear to ear.
“Apple.”
“Apple.”
“YES! Good job!”
The boy looked uncertain, but Danny was happy, so that must have meant that he’d done something right. He looked again at the small white looking thing Danny held.
“Apple.” He said it again. “Apple.”
Danny was close to exploding with joy. He carefully pressed the slice to the boy’s mouth.
The boy recoiled, so Danny pulled back and put it to his own mouth, closing his teeth over it with exaggeration, chewing slowly and deliberately. He offered it to the boy again and this time, the boy opened his mouth and allowed Danny to place the ‘apple’ inside.
Danny nearly laughed as the boy mimicked his exaggerated movements, but instead just nodded and smiled.
The boy was shocked. This ‘apple’ was good! He didn’t yet know what ‘sweet’ and tangy’ were, all he knew was that he wanted more. He chewed until the slice was mush in his mouth, unsure of what to do next, but the mush in the back of his throat made him swallow involuntarily and the taste became dimmed. He was not happy about that.
Danny looked at the furrowed eyebrows and was unable to hold in a giggle. The boy looked funny!
The boy opened his mouth and made a demanding noise. He wanted more!
Danny laughed again and pushed another small slice into the boy’s waiting mouth. This was way more fun then he’d though it would be.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danny was back in his room, sitting on his bed, and glowering at the wall. He had been doing great with the boy, who now could say the names of each item that Danny had fed him, until his father had come into the lab.
The boy had clammed up as soon as the door had started opening, and no amount of food bribery had been able to make him open his mouth again. His father had finally kicked him out, saying that he had important tests to run and the boy was obviously not going to cooperate.
Danny hadn’t said anything to this, instead giving his father a somewhat snooty look before gathering his trash and leaving the lab. The plaintive whine behind him pinching his nerves even more as he dumped the plate and cup into the sink and fleeing to his bedroom.
Danny knew he was being a brat. He had agreed to the terms his mother had set out, and angering his father was not the best way to keep his agreement. Though his mom was most assuredly in charge, his dad did have sway in her decisions.
So, mental note number one, be courteous to dad. Don’t piss him off, do something nice for him, talk to him about ghosts, try not to get on his bad side even more then Danny already had. He had passed his father on the couch this morning, so Danny knew that already this was a bad argument between his parents. Best to try to sugar coat it a little bit.
So Danny got up and promptly smacked himself. Hard. Every time he did something that jeopardized his chances to be allowed to keep the agreement he’d made, he was going to hit himself.
Danny didn’t allow himself to rub the sting on his cheek, just went out in search of Jazz, he needed to talk to her about the tutoring thing.
Sunday morning Danny was in a slightly better mood. His parents had been in the lab all day yesterday, but he was hoping to set up a time when he could have the boy all to himself. He’d worked for hours with Jazz’s help, putting together reports for the next month. Each one outlined the words he hoped to teach, and the concepts he hoped the boy would pick up. Everything outlined and planned out to perfection, as Jazz did well, and at the end was a sheet that Danny would fill each Saturday night. It filled in what had been learned, what hadn’t, what was difficult, and what was easy, making it easy to tell the progress made.
Jazz had also suggested a chart that Danny could use for quick reference, so he’d added that too, along with a note that stated that this was unfinished. Each week he would draw in the lines that showed an increase, or decrease in progress, and would make it easy to see what the boy was good at, and what he struggled with.
All in all, Danny was proud of his reports. Jazz had been amazed at the ferocity with which Danny had attacked the project, injecting jibes every now and then about the state of his GPA, and if he worked as hard at school as he was on this…
Danny had merely smiled and stuck his tongue out at her, making her sigh and roll her eyes.
So he was sitting at the table, explaining his plans to his parents. Jack looked like he really didn’t want to be there, but with Maddie’s hand digging into his thigh there wasn’t much he could do except look disinterested. Even though he thought that Danny had done a great job on the reports, and was impressed that so much work had clearly been put into them.
When Danny was finished with the summary Maddie had released her hold on Jack’s thigh to clap, much to his relief, and had started asking Danny questions.
Jack noted that even though Danny looked fairly nervous, like if he answered wrong he would be unable to keep going with this, he still kept his voice steady and his answers sure. ‘He really wants this project.’ Jack thought. His reserves were still there but he found himself, if just a tiny bit, relenting. Danny wanted this enough to push for it.
Jack was startled out of his thoughts to see his wife and son looking at him expectantly.
“Uhhh…”
Maddie gave an exasperated sigh. “He asked if he could have a set time to be alone with the boy every day.”
Jack felt himself tighten up again, he had been furious when he’d found Danny alone with the boy this morning, Danny didn’t know what the kid was capable of. He and Maddie barely knew. He did not want Danny alone with that boy. Not at all.
Maddie’s expression grew tight and he knew that even if he voiced his concerns, she would override him. So Jack just nodded his head, not trusting himself to be calm or even within the broad range of his ‘inside’ voice.
Danny grinned widely at his father, gratitude in his gaze, and turned back to Maddie.
“Because you have school during the weekdays, I can give you a choice. You can get up early each morning, or you can have the time after dinner.”
Danny thought for a minute. He was willing to get up early. The boy would probably be easier to teach when Danny was the first person he would see, but then again, after his parents had been in the lab with him all day. The boy might need him more then, and might be more receptive to what Danny said. Or it might be the other way around.
He furrowed his eyebrows.
“How about,” he started slowly, “weekdays I get the mornings, and then nights on the weekends. I want to find out when he is most receptive, so can we try this for a month and then renegotiate?”
Maddie looked at Danny with shock before pride took over. He really had thought everything through. He was testing his waters to get a bearing and wasn’t excluding the possibility of emotions interfering with his lessons. She had been sure that this was a temporary excitement, but Danny had shown more determination and drive in the past few days then he’d ever shown in his life. Maybe she had underestimated her son.
She gave him a nod and picked up the report he’d given her. “You got it kiddo.”
Danny grinned and gave his mother a hug.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danny was sure that school would never end. His father had added a few extra rules to the agreement; one being that Danny would not on any occasion miss school unless he or Maddie gave him permission, two being that Danny would not neglect his schoolwork to focus on his project, and three that Danny was to maintain at least a 3.0 GPA.
Danny had not been especially happy with the added rules but hadn’t argued them, reminding himself of his own personal deal.
So Danny was trying to pay attention. His GPA was close to being unacceptable at the moment and he needed to do well for a while to bring it up. Meaning no daydreaming or pretending to work while he passed notes with Sam or Tucker.
Because of that Danny was at the moment actually taking notes from the lecture Lancer was giving, as he had been for the past week. It was boring as hell, but Danny was NOT about to let Lancer ruin anything more in his life then he already had.
That being said, even Danny was surprised when he‘d answered Lancer’s question of, “Mr. Fenton. Can you tell us why Romeo and Juliet is considered an immature play?
Danny had frozen for a second, his classmates waiting for one of his wonderfully BS’d answers, then had looked at his notes.
“Be-because,” Danny was stuttering from nervousness. At what? Giving the right answer?
He cleared his throat and tried again. “Because it was Shakespeare’s first attempt to mix comedy with tragedy.”
Short, not really an entire answer, but enough to keep Lancer off his back and off his grade he hoped.
Tucker was looking at Danny with an open mouth and Sam was eyeing him warily. The rest of the class seemed disappointed that Danny wouldn’t be getting into trouble and Lancer had stopped talking. He looked at Danny with narrowed eyes before going back to his lecture.
Danny let out a soft sigh. Good enough.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danny carefully stepped into the shower at home. The boys in Gym had been particularly nasty today, and had stood around to guard the locker room so that Danny had been unable to get in. So he had walked home in his gym outfit, embarrassed and aggravated and ready to snap at the first person who talked to him.
Except it had been his father who had met him at the door, so Danny had sucked up his anger and had a somewhat congenial conversation with his father before excusing himself to take a long shower.
He’d whipped his clothes against the door after stripping. His anger nearly causing him to rip his shirt as he’d pulled it off.
The only thing that was going right was his lessons with the boy, and even those were becoming stressful. It had only been 2 weeks…
He’d asked his mother if the kid had a name and she’d told him that she tried to make it a point not to name the experiments. They just used the experiment number for identification.
Danny had been a bit shocked at first, but he’d seen tears in his mother’s eyes and had kept his mouth shut.
So he called the teen Phantom. It sounded cool, the kid had been created with ectoplasm, and it was like a code name for when he talked about him with Sam and Tucker.
At first, Phantom had been open to anything Danny wanted to show him. He absorbed everything he was taught quickly and was eager to learn about what this was, what that was, what-what-what-what.
Danny had answered the questions as best he could, and was happy that Phantom seemed so enthusiastic about learning.
Except for the last few days, Phantom had been moody and unresponsive, glaring at Danny and pointedly turning away from him during their lessons. Not eating, or getting up to use the restroom anymore, though he’d mastered that within the first week.
He was sullen and moody.
Danny had been as patient as he could; offering to play a few games of go-fish to loosen Phantom up, but the only response he’d received had been a sour look.
So as thankful as he was that this was Friday, it also meant that he had a lesson with Phantom tonight; Danny really just wanted to curl up with a decent comic book and can of Coke and forget that the world seemed to hate him.
Except, that really, he couldn’t.
So he stepped out of the shower and toweled himself off, pleased that at the very least, being more involved in school meant that he had to be more involved in gym. Which for him meant that he was sporting the start of a six pack.
Looking at himself in the mirror Danny flexed, and started to laugh. Alright, he’d proven to himself, through the minor flexing of his belly muscles, that not everything was bad. Maybe he just needed to ask Phantom what was wrong.
Satisfied that he’d avoided temper overload for now, Danny gathered his dirty clothes and went to go over his homework before heading down to the lab.
Phantom was not cooperating tonight.
Despite Danny’s ‘calm down’ shower, Phantom was pushing his patience to the limit. So Danny took his own advice.
“Phantom, what is wrong. You have been fighting with me for days now. What do you want?”
Phantom’s head whipped around.
“I want! I want go OUT! No fun in here! All times other people come in and touch! You said not touch except for asking!”
Phantom had learned quite a bit, but an entire language in less then three weeks was hard.
Danny’s eyes softened. “You know I can’t take you out. The other people would get mad at me. You remember what I told you about me coming here right?”
Phantom answered sullenly. “Other people not let you come back if I get out. I have stay here all times.”
“I know it’s hard, but if I want to see you I have to make sure that you stay here.”
Danny was silent for a second.
“I can bring you pictures though.”
Phantom perked up. “What is?”
“I’ll be able to show you the outside, would that make you happy?”
Phantom nodded. “I see what you see?”
Danny grinned. “Sure, I’ll take pictures of my house and school and bring them for you to see. I can show you my friends and sister too.”
Phantom wilted a bit. “I not friends?”
Danny’s mouth dropped open. “Of course you are! I told you that you were my friend remember? Just because I have other friends doesn’t mean that you aren’t.”
Phantom looked confused. “Okay have more one friends?”
Danny nodded back vigorously. “Yes. And no matter how many friends I have you will always be one of them. Okay?”
Phantom nodded, but his eyes were still wary. “Can hug?”
Danny reached over and hugged Phantom tightly. Because of Jack’s reservations, Phantom was confined to the lab, but Maddie had allowed Danny to let him off the bed as long as he was strapped back in at the end of each lesson.
Because Phantom had been difficult to get back up on the bed yesterday however, Danny hadn’t undone the straps to his legs today.
Danny could feel the metal edge of the table digging into his side, but above that he could feel Phantom shaking as though he was trying not to cry. Danny realized that really, he was the only good human contact that Phantom had. He didn’t know that it was alright to be friends with more then one person because he didn’t have more than one person to be friends with. Phantom didn’t trust his parents and hadn’t seen anyone else, so when Danny had mentioned other friends he had assumed that Danny wasn’t his friend anymore.
So Danny ignored the discomfort and held Phantom even tighter, letting the teen cry onto his shoulder.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Who is that?”
“That is my sister.”
“Sister is…” Phantom thought for a second. “Sister is girl born to same parents?”
Danny nodded. “Right. My mom says that she looked like Jazz when she was younger.”
Phantom went to the next picture.
“Who is that?”
“That is Mr. Lancer. He teaches English at my school.”
“Why he does not have hair?”
Danny grinned, his hand going to the thick white braid of Phantom’s hair, “I dunno, when humans get old they lose their hair. Guess he is a bit on the early side.”
When Phantom felt the hand on his hair, he immediately situated himself so that Danny could brush it out and re-braid it. Just like he always did at the end of each lesson. Phantom flicked to the next picture as Danny pulled the elastic out of the braid.
“Who are that?”
“Who are they?” Danny corrected as he undid the braid.
“Who are they?” Phantom obediently repeated.
“That is Sam and Tucker, the friends I told you about.”
Phantom looked hard at the picture. Danny had reassured him constantly over the course of the past week that he and Phantom were, and would always be, friends. Phantom was still a bit unsure about it however, and it had become a bit of a fear that he would lose his Danny to these other friends.
Danny slid the brush through Phantom’s silky hair. His parents had wanted to cut it short, but he had compromised with them. He would cut it up to Phantom’s waist and keep it clean and pulled back. His parents had thought it to be because of some psychological reason, but really it had been for Danny. He loved the long white hair. He loved to brush it out and play with it, and pull it into all sorts of styles, joking with himself that he could always become a hairdresser if school didn’t work out.
Phantom hadn’t minded. He’d been glad for the attention and now would situate himself to be pampered, even though it meant the end of the lesson.
Danny noticed that Phantom had set the pictures down carefully and was leaning back into his touch. He smiled as he brushed, eventually putting the brush down and just running his fingers through the silky strands.
After a few minutes Danny ruefully began braiding. He wasn’t great at it yet, in fact really, he still stunk at it, but he was getting better each night, and had even convinced Jazz to let him practice on her.
She’d agreed, but teased him each time he did it, making him blush as he struggled to keep the portions even and loose enough not to hurt her head.
After Danny put the elastic band back in he gently shook Phantom’s shoulder.
“I have to go; we need to get you back onto the table. Do you need to go to the bathroom again?”
Phantom stood slowly, eyes halfway closed, and nodded. So Danny directed him in the direction of the bathroom and gave him a light push.
When Phantom returned, Danny vaguely realized that another bath was in order for tomorrow, and climbed into the table/bed, wrinkling his nose at the coolness of the metal through the thin sheet. Danny pulled the straps out and put them back on, sighing as he did so, and pulled the blanket up to Phantom’s chin.
“Sleep tight.” He said softly.
“Don’t let bedbugs bite.” Was Phantom’s soft reply.
- 4
- 5
- 6
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Experimental Love