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Love?

They both knew it was only a matter of time until they were caught.

Frantic, hurried touches between classes, smothered moans and gasps at night. Each unwilling to leave until the last second, creating more and more uncomfortable situations that were increasingly harder to get out of.

Sam had caught them once, a split second glance before Phantom vanished, but Danny had tried to convince her that she was seeing things. He had, after all, destroyed the Fenton Splitter after that nasty business with 'fun' Danny and 'superhero' Danny. So there was no way she could have seen them together.

Danny didn't think Sam was entirely convinced, but as long as she didn't press the subject he was perfectly happy to keep his mouth shut. The old saying about not biting the hand that feeds you and all.

Phantom, for his part, accepted the fact that Danny didn't want anyone to see them together. Not only because it would be awkward within the small circle who thought they were one person, but also because Danny wanted to keep as low a profile as possible. A low profile would be near impossible to maintain if they were ever caught together, especially doing the things that they did.

So while Phantom was loath to leave the warm bed each morning, he always woke Danny with a soft kiss before allowing his essence to be pulled back into the depths of Danny's mind.

The conversations between the two were silent and frequent, often occurring in the middle of Danny's classes. Confusing and scaring his classmates and teachers when Danny would seemingly choke on nothing, face turning bright red as his body jerked in surprise at yet another of Phantom's comments.

The teachers, for their part, were past hoping for normlacy. They did live in Amity Park, the ghost attack capital of the world.

So they ignored Danny's outbursts and plodded onwards. Not really caring if the students fell behind. No amount of pay was worth dealing with kids and ghosts, and the teachers had simply decided that the kids would get it, or not. Their job was to lecture.

Sam and Tucker had jumped the first few times it had happened, thinking it was another ghost attack, but after a while(and a long talk with Danny) they simply ignored the outbursts along with the rest of the class.

Danny, for his part, really tried to contain himself. He really did. The fact was, however, that Phantom was incredibly skilled at coming up with statements that were so extreme and in so many different directions that Danny could not keep up. His own brain could not even fathom some of the things that his other half put forward to him.

Then of course, were the days when Phantom was REALLY bored, and would slip out of the confines of Danny's mind to torture and tease his lover with insubstantial and unfulfilling touches.

It still shocked Danny at how much of a sex maniac Phantom was.

Granted that they were both teenage boys, and that certainly contributed to a continuously spiked libido...

but Phantom took being horny to a completely different level, leaving Danny exhausted half the time just TRYING to keep up.

Now Danny was far from innocent.

FAR from innocent.

Yet he was constantly surprised by Phantom's ingenuity in coming up with different ways to make him jump and blush like a girl.

Danny had asked Phantom about it once, only to receive the snippy reply of, "YOU try being stuck in your mind with nothing to do!"

Danny had tried to suggest Phantom go flying or something during school hours. With the link they shared, Danny would be able to call Phantom back easily if there was trouble, so there was no reason for Phantom to pester Danny all day just because he was bored.

Danny had slept alone for a week after that, and when Phantom finally returned to his bed the subject had been buried. Never to be brought up again.

No sex to a teenage boy who was used to having it upwards of 4 times a week was torture, and torture that was to be avoided at all costs in the future.

Regardless of the risks, the two boys found ways to physically be with each other during part of the day, and of course, throughout the night.

Danny had become an expert at keeping quiet.

Almost as good as Phantom was at making Danny scream.

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Bliss.

Despite the problems in his life, namely Vlad, Valerie, and nearly every freakin' ghost in the world, Danny felt happy.

Comfort.

Danny loved Phantom. Danny knew few things with absolute certainty, but this was one of them.

Danny LOVED Phantom.

Phantom cherished Danny.

It was a fact.

Phantom cherished the life Danny embodied. The vitality, the emotion, the desire. Danny lived a life, however imperfect, that Phantom wanted to live. So Phantom cherished the life Danny shared with him.

Phantom enjoyed Danny's company.

Both as a bed partner and a debate partner, or truly, in anything. Phantom enjoyed the fire in Danny's eyes when he spoke on a subject he was passionate about. Or in bed when he was trying so hard to keep silent so his parents wouldn't rush in again to question about the strange mewling noises coming from Danny's room in the middle of the night.

Phantom was unsure about love.

Phantom had been created from Danny, so he understood most of the emotions that passed through their bond, but love was strange. To want to save someone at the risk of your own life baffled Phantom. He couldn't understand it.

He felt the feeling, he knew that if Danny were ever in danger he would give up his essence to save Danny... but he did not understand the reasoning behind the emotion. Or why it even existed.

It defied logic. In the world Phantom had observed a pecking order of sorts. Where the strong prevailed and the weak were cast by the wayside.

Did it not make sense to keep the experienced warrior and sacrifice the trainee?

It was not uncommon for the younger, less experienced members of gangs to take the heat for crimes committed by the leaders.

The leaders did not sacrifice themselves for the subordinates.

So why should the strong sacrifice themselves for the weak.

Why?

Why did Danny feel the need to protect the town where half of the population hated his family, and the other half hated Phantom. Why go out of his way to make sure no one was hurt even if it ment taking an extra shot to the body already battered and bruised so horribly?

Danny said that it was because he loved the town, that was why he wanted to protect it.

Phantom was unsure...

but, as with nearly all things pertaining to Danny, he accepted this as something the living did. Something that he didn't NEED to understand.

Danny did not ask Phantom, "Don't you love me?" the way he saw girlfriends push towards their cowering boyfriends. Nor did he ask Phantom to be something he could not.

Danny merely accepted Phantom as he was, and Phantom accepted Danny.

There were no questions, no secret tryst with other lovers to be guiltily explained after they were inevitably found out. There were no expectations beyond sex and comfort. The two boys understood each other in that fairytale way that needed no talking.

That only needed a touch on the hand to invoke the warm, fuzzy feelings associated with Love.

Acceptance.

Danny felt that emotion strongly when thinking about Phantom. Danny knew that the emotion of Love was illogical. Never had love been talked about as such in the past, nor would it be talked about as such in the future.

Love was an illogical emotion.

Truth.

So while Danny yearned for the words, "I Love you." to come from Phantom, he knew that while Phantom would SAY the words to placate Danny, Phantom would feel uncomfortable doing so. Phantom was a logical creature.

Strange for one who was born of an experiment that was considered illogical.

There had been no logic in making the Ghost Portal, Jack and Maddie had been constantly reminded of their failings and data that clearly stated that the Ghost Zone did NOT exist. Yet they pressed onward, failing in some aspects of research, but progressing in others, until they finally achieved their goal thanks to Danny...

Not that the elder Fentons knew what had happened besides that Danny had plugged in the portal...

They didn't need to know about Phantom. Not yet, maybe not ever.

It almost made Danny laugh at Phantom's obsession with logic, except, Danny knew WHY Phantom was that way.

Logic was the only thing Phantom could really grasp in the living world. It was like an equation where you could plug in a number and get the same answer every time.

Predictable.

Absolute.

Danny thought it was adorable that Phantom enjoyed math for the same reason. Absolute. One plus one will always equal two.

A plus B will always equal C.

Consequently, that was really the only class he was passing at the moment, much to the surprize of the teacher.

Phantom would sit down each night with Danny and they would do the math homework assigned. Or rather, Phantom would do the math homework assigned. Danny would sit in his lap, or rest in bed while Phantom was lost in the language of math.

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It was late... but Danny was having an incredibly hard time sleeping.

Not for lack of trying, and this time it wasn't even Phantom's fault.

He and Phantom were naked and spooned against each other, flesh warm not only from the heat Danny's body provided, but from the friction of a bit earlier when they had fallen onto each other in a frenzy.

No, Danny was tired, just not able to sleep. His mind was running in a million different directions at once, trying to sort things out.

Sort what out?

Sort what out...

Danny didn't really know.

He wasn't even sure that these particular thoughts were his, he only knew that he needed to sort them out.

A strange feeling, no... more then one. Several strange feelings ran through him at once.

They stopped...

Then started up again.

It took Danny a minute before he realized that he was catching part of Phantom's dreams.

This had happened before, but after reliving the future Evil Danny lived in more then once, Phantom had shut his mind to Danny while they slept. Trying to protect Danny from the nightmare that seemed to grow worse with each passing.

Danny was intrigued. He was starting to recognize some of the feelings flitting through his mind.

Anger.

That wasn't that bad, Danny had strong feelings of anger towards his older self.

Despair.

That one frightened Danny, but he knew that it was from the realization that he had been alone. When he had fought Evil Danny, he had felt despair. He thought he would never be able to see his family again, never again...

Hatred.

Again, not an unfamiliar feeling toward his older self, nor really an unwelcome one. Just... there.

Love.

Danny nearly shot up in his bed, making Phantom unconsiously tighten his hold on Danny.

Danny had himself had that nightmare many times, but never had it included love.

Danny also hadn't known he wasn't really Phantom then either.

Maybe... maybe Phantom had known?

Of course Phantom had known, he had told Danny at their first meeting that he had been aware of everything since the day he was 'born,' lending Danny his powers because he hadn't known how to seperate them without hurting one or the other.

Maybe this was Phantom's dream...

Danny slipped inside their shared mind, floating softly towards the space Phantom had 'claimed.'

Danny was pulled roughly inside Phantom's dream, and saw Amity Park destroyed, just like he knew it would be.

He floated down the streets, trying to recognize the place in the dream.

"AAAHHHHHHHH!!"

That was his Ghostly Wail!

Danny zoomed towards the noise, his form insubstantial in Phantom's dream.

He reached the Nasty Burger in time to see Evil Danny stick his family and friends to the boiler with ectoplasm.

Even though Danny knew this was a dream, and this time he wasn't even the one dreaming it... the image still hurt.

Danny felt arms wrap around his waist.

"Why are you here?"

"I felt something... am I not allowed to be here?"

Phantom pulled Danny closer. "I did not think you would want to see this again."

Danny was close to tears as he watched the dream continue to unfold.

"I just," he began. "I just felt something, something I've never felt before from this dream..."

If Phantom's grip could have gotten tighter, it would have.

"What did you feel."

Danny was hesitant, this was one subject they tried to avoid, so neither of them would end up upset or hurt.

Phantom's hand grasped Danny's as the tank exploded in front of them, Danny's dream form letting out a final, haunting Ghostly Wail.

Danny tightened his grip on Phantom.

"I felt Love." he said quietly, freverently wishing his voice wouldn't crack.

His blurred eyes took in his own tattered form, lying on the ground in front of the ruined Nasty Burger.

"I feel Love."

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Phantom pulled them both out of the nightmare, their bodies still lying comfortably on the bed.

Danny was crying softly, trying to stifle his tears in his hands.

Phantom curled his body around Danny's, tucking the human boy into his chest. Letting Danny cry for the people he nearly lost, and for the Love he had felt.

Phantom was still unsure about the reasons for the weak, soft emotion called love...

but Phantom loved Danny.

Maybe you didn't have to understand love...

Danny gave a weak chuckle at Phantom's thoughts, eyes still wet with tears.

"You don't have to UNDERSTAND Love, you just have to FEEL it."

Phantom gave Danny a soft smile and gently kissed away the tears he saw on his other's face.

He didn't have to understand love.

"I Love you Danny."

Danny broke into a dazzling smile, his entire demeanor shifting in seconds as he pulled Phantom as close to his body as was possible.

"I Love you too Phantom."

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