.

Perspective

Characters: Danny, OC

Summary: When the world knows that you're a superhero, even shopping is an adventure...

Maddie ended up chasing her son out of the house with the Jack-O-Nine Tails. He'd been holed up inside for the majority of the fortnight since they returned from saving the world, and it was high time for the boy to get some fresh air and 'social' interaction. Stumbling out onto the pavement, Danny sent his home a withering glare as it was encased with a halfa-proof ghost shield.

"Could you grab some milk as well, Danny-boy? We seem to be out," Jack called through the door, bursting into laughter when the ghost boy redirected the glare towards him.

Turning on his heel, Danny marched down the footpath. The paparazzi parted for him like the red sea before Moses, and Danny kept his gaze straight ahead, acting like they weren't even there. Shoving the twenty dollar bill into his pocket, the halfa took a couple more steps before halting.

"What do you want? All I'm going to do is buy some things Mum forgot when grocery shopping yesterday. Nothing exciting like saving the world or whatever," he exclaimed, rounding on the cameramen. "I gave you your press conference three days ago, so unless there's some sort of problem, I'd appreciate it if you guys left me alone! "

The assembled journalists and camera crews took one look at eyes that flashed green with frustration and began to immediately pack up their stuff. Scowling, Danny turned away from them and fumed as he stomped the three blocks to the local supermarket.

Acting like the busy store hadn't suddenly fallen silent at his appearance, Danny strolled down the aisles, filling the plastic basket with milk, fudge, lettuce, and sour cream. In each aisle, people stopped what they were doing to send him curious stares, and one middle-aged woman followed him blatantly, putting into her cart the same items that Danny had grabbed as though taking advice from a professional chef.

Grinding his teeth in frustration, the glowering ghost boy moved towards the checkout. He got in line and made a show of fiddling with his phone, trying to avoid the stares that he knew were currently levelled at him.

A peal of delighted laughter from behind him and a tug at the hem of his shirt initially had Danny ready to scream to the high heavens that he was sick and tired of being treated like a celebrity , but when he looked down, the halfa couldn't help but smile.

"Hi, Phantom!" the little boy giggled, tugging a second time on Danny's shirt.

"Hi," the teen responded, crouching down to the child's eye level. "What's your name?"

"'M Spider-man!" the child announced, pointing at the costume that he wore.

"Wow," Danny responded with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. "That's a pretty awesome outfit, Spider-man! What have you been doing today?"

"Fighting bad guys!"

Danny's stretched smile instantly melted into a genuine one. "Same here," he confessed, "but I just fight the really spooky ones. Us heroes have gotta stick together, right?"

The boy sent him a brilliant grin, showing off an impressive gap left by a recently lost tooth. "But you're not in uniform anymore! Why not?"

Danny widened his eyes comically, making a show of looking down at himself. "What, I'm still plain old Fenton?" he gasped. "Oh, the horror!"

The boy giggled, and Danny winked at him. "Well, there's only one way to fix that. Going Ghost!"

Several customers shielded their eyes at the bright flash, and the kid gave a squeal of delight as Phantom crouched in front of him. "It's really you!" he screamed, jumping from foot to foot in excitement. "It's really you, isn't it? Mum, come quick, look at me! I'm with Danny Phantom!"

Danny chuckled despite himself, ruffling the boy's hair. "Thanks for helping protect the town, Spider-man," he said brightly.

A small set of arms were thrown around his neck, and Danny froze in place in shock as they tightened into a hug. "Phantom," the kid wailed, sobbing into the shoulder of Danny's suit. "I'm friends with Danny Phantom!"

Danny briefly returned the hug before disentangling himself. A woman who was obviously the boy's mother hovered next to them, her hand fluttering through the air in frenzied gestures as she rushed forwards to pull her boy away and apologise to the amused halfa. "I'm really sorry, Phantom! I promise that Connor here won't disturb you anymore!"

Danny got to his feet, dusting off the gloves of his suit and switching back to Fenton. "Don't worry about it," he assured her. "If everyone reacted like Spider-man here, I'd be a lot better off, to be honest."

The woman seemed at a loss for words, so she simply nodded at the halfa before tugging her child back to a seperate checkout where she had been purchasing her own shopping.

Danny smirked before turning to his own cashier. She barely batted an eyelid, scanning the hero's groceries and wishing him a nice day as though he hadn't just changed to a ghost and back in front of her. To be honest, the halfa found this refreshing, and put as much emphasis into his thanks as he could when she handed him his change.

He strolled out of the supermarket and grinned as Connor's voice rang across the parking lot from where his mother was packing groceries into the car. "Thanks for being my friend, Phantom!"

Danny raised a hand in farewell. "No problem. See ya later, Spidey!" he called before turning in the direction of home with a smile on his face and a newfound spring to his step.