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Description
The Suave and the Awkward

Pairing: Pitch Pearl (DPxDF) and minor DannyxValerie
Rating: T
Genre: Romance
Characters: Danny and Phantom

Chapter 2
Practice

---
"Sometimes two people need to step apart
and make a space between
that each might see the other anew,
in a glance across a room
or silhouetted against the moon."
~Robert Brault
---

Danny's fingers twitched against his desk, the only sign of his agitation as he once again sensed someone staring at him. A few seconds later, the person turned away, apparently bored by the lack of anything extraordinary, and Danny breathed a little easier…until another kid looked at him. Danny clamped down on the impulse to jump up and start demanding answers, and to hell with his social image. Acting like a lunatic would at least give them a reason to stare at him.

Grumbling under his breath, Danny fiddled with his turtleneck collar, pulling the red cloth higher up his neck. He doubted it was the hickey drawing his classmates' attention. He had a girlfriend. They would assume he received it from her. Paranoia, however, couldn't be rationalized, and the thought of people witnessing the bite mark filled Danny with shame.

"That is all I have for you today, class," Mr. Lancer said. "As much as it pains me to say this, you may use the rest of class time to—quietly—discuss the last few chapters of Midsummer Night's Dream. There is a test next week—" The class erupted into action, the social climbers running to Paulina's desk and the rest breaking off into groups to gossip loudly. "Silent Spring, people, I said quietly!"

Danny glanced at Valerie and felt his stomach churn at the murderous expression she still wore on her face. She was glaring at what looked like a newspaper on her desk, so Danny knew he wasn't the cause of her anger…well, not him, her boyfriend. She had acquired the look sometime after the end of lunch, after her talk with Paulina, so Danny assumed her anger was directed towards Danny Phantom. Although, she had been among those throwing Danny Fenton sidelong glances all day…

Danny bit his lip, hesitating. She looked so beautiful with her dark hair falling in waves around her face, her soft, smooth lips pursed together and her eyes ablaze with intense emotion. Just staring at her made Danny's heart quicken in excitement.

Tucker elbowed Danny in the ribs. He offered his friend a thumbs up when he faced him. "Go for it, dude."

Danny smiled at him before looking at Sam. Approval, acceptance, advice, he wasn't sure what he was looking for; he just knew he needed it from his only female friend.

Sam broke eye-contact and crossed her arms over her chest. "Go do what you have to do, Danny. We'll be here in case her bad mood makes her turn on Danny Fenton too."

Danny gave her a lopsided smile. "Thanks, Sam." She waved him off, sighing.

With both of his friends' support at his back, Danny pushed himself out of his chair and strode towards Valerie's desk, his pace calm and confident despite the nerves eating at his belly. The closer he got to her, the faster his heart beat against his chest.

"Hey, Val," he said. "I was wondering if—"

Valerie stabbed the newspaper with her finger, still glaring down at it. "Have you seen this?"

Danny closed his mouth, frowning slightly. He looked at the newspaper and almost instantly winced. A dedicated news reporter or an obsessed fan had captured a photo of Danny Phantom flying into Fenton Works. Danny Fenton's bedroom to be exact.

That would explain the stares, Danny thought. I need to be more careful… He shook his head, saying aloud, "Valerie, I—"

"What was he doing? Did he want something? Did he threaten you?"

"Valerie—"

"Did he hurt you? I swear if he so much as touched you—"

"You'll what?" Danny interrupted, his frustration with her prejudice making his tone harsher than he intended. "Beat him with a baseball bat? Come on, Val. You're a normal kid just like me. What could you do to a ghost?"

Valerie froze. Frowning, she looked away.

"My parents are ghost hunters, Val," he said, softly to make up for his harsh tone. "If I'm ever in danger, all I have to do is shout down the hall and they'll come running with guns blazing. Can't get much safer than that."

Valerie said nothing, although Danny knew what she must be thinking. That his parents were useless against ghosts. That they couldn't catch the Box Ghost, let alone Danny Phantom. That they were no Red Huntress.

Facing Danny again, Valerie asked, "What did he want?"

Danny shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't even see him. He must have just been passing through on his way to the Ghost Zone."

The muscles in Valerie's face and shoulders eased, the tense air about her beginning to melt away. "He left you alone?"

"Yeah. I mean," Danny forced a chuckle, "what would a superhero want from a loser like me anyway?"

"He's no more a superhero than you are a loser, Danny." She looked down at the newspaper again, her lips pursed in thought. "And just because you didn't see him, doesn't mean he wasn't there…Ghosts are tricky like that…"

"I guess…but I don't want to talk about him right now." He grabbed the paper out of Valerie's hands and flipped it over so Phantom's image was hidden from sight. An uneasy pressure in his shoulders lessened, allowing him to breathe easier. "I actually came over to ask you something…"

Valerie raised an eyebrow, a corner of her lips lifting in a smirk. "Finally over your embarrassment, Fenton?"

Danny's cheeks flushed. "I-I wasn't embarrassed."

"It sure seemed that way. You have been avoiding me ever since our first kiss. You even cancelled our date last weekend."

"I…L-last weekend…" Danny winced, his cheeks burning. He had been thoroughly burnt out on kissing after the…incident last weekend. But this time was special. He had been planning it ever since he and Valerie hooked up.

"There's nothing to be ashamed about, Danny," Valerie continued. "A lot of guys I've dated didn't know what they were doing when it came to kissing."

A lot of guys she's dated…Danny thought, wincing. Urgh, feels like I've just been punched in the gut…

"As long as you're willing to learn and…" her eyelids lowered over her eyes, "practice, you'll get the hang of kissing in no time."

Practice? Danny swallowed, feeling sick. I barely survived teaching myself how to kiss! Now I'm supposed to practice?

Valerie frowned, leaning forward in concern. "Danny?"

"Oh, uh, sorry. I was just thinking to myself." He shook his head forcefully. I'll worry about it later! "I…there is supposed to be a meteor shower tomorrow night. I was wondering if…you would like to watch it with me on Lookout Hill."

Valerie's worried expression blossomed into one of delight, and Danny felt his chest fill with warmth at the sight. "I would love to," she said.

A large, goofy grin spread across Danny's face. "Great! It's supposed to start around nine, so how does eight-thirty sound?"

"It sounds like a date."

The bell rang. Students leaped from their seats, rushing out of the classroom. Valerie placed her hand on Danny's bicep and gently kissed his cheek before following the crowd out the door.

Sam halted beside Danny, took one look at his face and said in a monotone voice, "Judging by the goofy grin, Valerie said yes?"

"She said yes." Danny threw his hands into the air and shouted, "She said yes!"

The few students still in the classroom threw him odd looks before continuing on with their own business.

"Nice going, dude!" Tucker said. He high-fived Danny, but as soon as his hand returned to his side, a teasing smirk spread across his lips. "Don't blow it with another lousy kiss."

Danny paled.

"Tucker!" Sam scolded.

"Oh, come on, Sam!" Tucker said, still grinning. "I rarely get to tease Mr. Heartthrob of the school over here about anything important."

"How is his kissing ability important?"

Tucker's smirk grew. "Don't you think it is?"

Sam scowled at him, her cheeks dusted a light pink.

"Tucker's right, Sam," Danny said, his shoulders slumping. "What am I going to do? I can't ruin another date with Valerie!"

"Just stop worrying about it, Danny," Sam said. "There is no secret to being a great kisser. You just have to go with what feels natural, and with enough practice, you'll do just fine."

Danny winced. There's that word again.

"Sam's right, dude," Tucker said. "Practice makes perfect, and if it's practice you need, then I'm sure Sam can—"

Sam slammed her steel-toed boot on Tucker's foot. Tucker chocked on a scream and hopped around on his uninjured foot, holding the other in his hands. "You had it coming," was all Sam said.

Danny backed away from his friends, edging towards the door. "Uh, I have to go, guys…"

"Ghost trouble?" Sam asked.

"…You could say that."

"We can help—"

"No! I-I can handle it. Besides, I have, like, loads of homework to catch up on." He turned and ran into the hall, shouting over his shoulder, "I'll see you guys Monday!"

Danny sprinted around the teenagers still loitering in the hallways, causing a few to shout as he ran past them—sometimes through them—on his way to the janitor's closet. Danny slipped inside the tiny room, transformed into Danny Phantom, and then shot through the ceiling and into the free open sky. After setting his course for Fenton Works and turning invisible to avoid paparazzi, the hero closed his eyes and buried his hands in his hair, his thoughts in turmoil.

With a top speed reaching over 112 mph, it didn't take long for Danny to reach Fenton Works. He flew into his bedroom and, in a flash of light, landed on the floor as Danny Fenton. The boy stared at his red shoes for a moment before his gaze traveled to the blanket-covered Ghost Catcher.

Swallowing his nerves, the boy grabbed a fistful of the shroud and yanked it off the large device. He stepped back, staring up at the green glowing net, a persistent, uneasy feeling twisting his gut. In less than thirty minutes, this invention had managed to make a mess of his life. Not to the degree of the Portal, of course, but pretty close. He couldn't even stomach the thought of kissing his girlfriend without remembering how…how he had…

Danny shuddered, his face contorted in an expression of disgust. He had kissed himself. He had enjoyed kissing himself.

Groaning, he scrubbed his face with both hands. "I really am a freak…"

He peaked through a crack in his fingers, looking at the mirror across his room. Overcome by a familiar urge, Danny's feet brought him to the mirror. He pulled down the red collar of his turtleneck and traced his finger along the outside curves of his own personal hickey. Because of his ghost powers, the bruise had already started to heal, albeit slower than it should, resulting in a sickly yellow-ish color in the center and a darker brown oval where his ghost half's teeth had marked his human half's skin. Danny's nose wrinkled in disgust, but his finger continued to explore the contours of the vanishing hickey.

This overwhelming urge to see the hickey happened every time he passed a mirror. He knew this fascination stemmed from the part of his personality Phantom had claimed when Danny passed through the Fenton Ghost Catcher last week, but he couldn't identify the reason behind the fascination. That, more than the creation of the hickey, frightened him.

Danny groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. With his hand still tangled in the black strands, Danny activated the change that transformed Danny Fenton into Danny Phantom. He watched as his hair became as white as snow and his eyes changed from pale blue to neon green, and upon staring into his altered reflection, Danny felt the uneasiness in his gut grow.

Danny released his hair and hooked his finger in the white collar of his jumpsuit. He took a deep breath and then pulled it down, revealing pale, unblemished skin where the hickey had been on his human form. Scowling, he jerked his hand away. His wounds always transferred through his forms. Always. Whatever injuries his ghost form sustains, his human form receives and vice versa.

Looking over his shoulder at the Ghost Catcher again, Danny shivered. It scared him, what something as innocent looking as a dream catcher could do to him. If he could understand what had happened last time, it wouldn't be as frightening, but he didn't know if the mess the kiss had descended into was just another side effect of the Catcher, or if it was something else. Something he didn't want to even think about.

According to Valerie and Sam, though, he didn't just need to know how to kiss. He had to practice kissing. As loath as he was to admit it to himself, he really had…enjoyed the kiss. If he had enjoyed it, would Valerie? He could perhaps take the experience and knowledge he had gained last time and hope it satisfies Valerie.

But if it wasn't enough…if she laughed at him again…

Danny groaned and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. He couldn't face that again. Her laughter—and later everyone's teasing remarks—tore at Danny's heart and made him feel ill. It made him feel more ill than even the thought of kissing himself did.

"I—" Danny took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. I can do this. Just this once. Just separate, get it over with, remerge, and spend the rest of my life never thinking about this again. Ever."

A second deep breath later, Danny faced the Ghost Catcher. He squared his shoulders, lifted his chin, and, before he could allow himself time to reconsider, jumped through the net. The last sound Danny heard was his scream issuing from two separate mouths.

---

Dizziness struck Phantom the second he separated from Fenton, his vision swirling as he fought to regain a semblance of self. He saw Fenton's black hair below him and quickly grabbed his arms before the earthbound boy could plummet to the floor like last time, but Fenton thrashed against his hold, causing Phantom sway even more unsteadily in the air.

"Let go!" Fenton shouted. "Stop touching me! Let go!" His fist collided with Phantom's jaw, and the ghost grunted in shock, accidently releasing Fenton. The human gasped as he fell, yelped when he collided with the floor, and lay there, groaning, as pain and dizziness assaulted him.

Phantom rubbed his sore chin. "I was merely trying to be helpful."

"I don't need your help," Fenton muttered into the floor.

Phantom rolled his eyes and floated further away from the human boy. He stared down at his other half warily, a look that was soon returned once Fenton picked himself up. "Well, this is…unexpected."

"You're telling me!" Fenton fisted clumps of his black hair and began pacing in chaotic circles. "I can't believe we did this! Again! I thought we agreed not to make a habit of this?"

"Apparently, combined, we did not agree as much as we thought."

Fenton snorted. "Gee, I wonder whose fault that is…"

Although he had mumbled it, Phantom heard the accusation in his tone. He raised an eyebrow. "You're blaming me for this?"

"No, I'm blaming the Grim Reaper." Rolling his eyes, Fenton shouted, "Of course I'm blaming you! You gave me a freaking hickey!"

"You asked for that 'freaking hickey'," Phantom said, eyes narrowing. "And if I'm not mistaken, you received far more pleasure from the act than I."

Fenton's face lit up like a stop light. The boy sputtered incoherently, his arms performing wild gestures that made less sense than his words. Phantom crossed his own arms over his chest and stared down at his human self, smirking slightly. Fenton could deny it all he wanted, but he and Phantom had been one less than a minute ago. Phantom knew on an intimate level just how much Fenton had enjoyed it. Fenton noticed Phantom's smirk and snapped his own mouth shut. Scowling, he looked away, reminding Phantom more of a disgruntled child than of the embarrassed half of hero.

"You were still the one fascinated by the hickey," Fenton grumbled. "Always making us look at it and…" He paused and glanced at Phantom out of the corner of his eyes. "Why were you so fascinated?"

"We were the same person moments ago. Shouldn't you know the answer to that yourself?"

"Yeah, but it was confusing then and even more so now. Is it some sort of ghost thing?"

Phantom shrugged. "It could be for all I know. I don't fully understand it myself. All I know is that…the notion that I can…touch and leave evidence of that touch on the half of me that survived the accident…that I am not just…" He sighed, rubbing his arms. "The reason for my fascination is not something that can be easily explained, Fenton."

"It's not going to make you…um…"

Phantom arched an eyebrow. "Won't make me what?"

"Make you…uh…" Again, odd hand gestures.

"…Kiss you?"

"No—well, yeah, but I mean, it won't make you, uh, take it as far as last time, will it?"

Phantom's eyebrows lowered over his eyes, a mischievous smirk shaping his lips. "It is a possibility. If things become as heated as last time, I may be unable to control myself."

Fenton flushed all the way to his hairline. He stumbled back a step, shaking his head wildly as he frantically tried to articulate full sentences.

Phantom chuckled at his reaction. "Teasing, Fenton. Only teasing."

His face slowly returning to its natural hue, Fenton glared at his ghost half and growled, "Stop doing that."

"But it is fun to watch you flounder."

"Yeah, because I live to entertain you…"

Phantom's eyes crinkled at the sides as he once again smiled teasingly. "Don't you?"

Fenton shook his head forcefully. "This is serious, Phantom! If we're going to practice, then we can't let things go as far as last time."

"Why not? We both enjoyed it."

"Th-that's not the point! Y-you were going to t-t-touch…a-and I…I-I would have…"

The smile slipped from Phantom's face. "And you would have let me," he finished softly.

Fenton scowled down at his shoes, a blush coloring from his neck to the tips of his ears. "This is all your fault…"

"It takes two people to kiss. It only takes one to say no."

"But I did—"

"You voiced some doubt, but you did not push me away."

The human grimaced. "I…" He took a deep breath and then said, "Okay. Okay, we need some ground rules this time. Restrictions."

Phantom frowned. "Restrictions?"

"Yeah, like—"

"I am not going to restrict myself," Phantom said. "If we restrict our learning now then we may be hampered by it later on. Just because you are afraid of—"

Fenton recoiled for an instant and then snapped into defensive mode, blue eyes narrowed and his fists clenched at his side. "I'm not afraid! I just want some boundaries!"

"Yes, but you want those boundaries because you are afraid of what might happen if we don't have them. You do not trust yourself to say no because you liked what we did last time. You enjoyed it. You are afraid you will enjoy it again."

Fenton could only gape like an angry fish as his mind failed to supply the words he needed to refute Phantom's claim. Smirking, Phantom landed on the floor in front of Fenton, and the human tensed like he wanted to jump back. Phantom leaned inches away from his face, but still Fenton's pride kept him immobile, the desire to prove he wasn't a coward stronger than the desire to avoid Phantom's touch.

"The difference between you and me, Fenton," Phantom said, lowering his voice for effect, "is that I don't shy away from something just because it frightens me." He flashed the human a wicked grin full of teeth. "I face it head on."

Fenton's face darkened. The boy's jaw tightened as he ground his teeth together, his eyes flashing with emotion even without a ghostly glow to aid them.

Phantom stared into those blue eyes, intrigued, before closing his own and standing up straight. "But if you are unable to face your fears—"

"If I'm not allowed boundaries, then I want to be in control of the kiss."

For a moment, Phantom froze, his mouth hanging open. Then he snapped it shut and glared at his human half. "No."

"You were in charge last time and look where that got us!"

"It was our first real experience," Phantom said. "I was simply overwhelmed!"

"Overwhelmed? You were seconds away from shoving your hand down my pants!"

"We're sixteen-years-old! It is not like we haven't masturbated before."

"M-m-masturbated?" Fenton's voice cracked on the word.

Phantom smirked impishly, amused as his human self continued to stammer. "It is an apt description of what we were about to do. Unless you prefer to believe we are separate beings, in which case it would be more accurate to call it a hand-job."

Fenton sputtered, his face as red as Phantom had ever seen it. "What is the matter with you? Do you even hear yourself?"

"Do you disagree? You said earlier that you would not have stopped me from—"

"Shut up!" Fenton clamped his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

Phantom threw his head back and laughed. Fenton scowled and clamped his hands harder over his ears, trying to block out the sound of the other boy's amusement.

Still chuckling, Phantom grabbed Fenton's wrists and forced them away from his ears. He smiled as Fenton glared at him. "If you expect to lead me in a kiss, Fenton, then you cannot be shy about this."

Fenton blinked, staring at him uncertainly. "You're…you'll let me lead?"

"Sure. It may be fun." Phantom released Fenton's wrists. "Just this once, though. Next time, I dominate."

"Uh, no, because there won't be a next time."

Phantom lifted his shoulder in a half shrug. "If you say so."

Fenton scowled at him. "There won't be!"

"If you say so."

"There won't be, Phantom!"

Phantom let his smirk talk for him.

Fenton scowled at him a while longer before crossing his arms and looking away with a huff. "There better not be…"

"Let us worry about this moment in time," Phantom said. He grabbed Fenton's chin and forced the human to look at him again. "You should always maintain eye-contact with the person you are about to kiss, Fenton."

Fenton flushed to the tips of his ears. He slapped Phantom's hand away and said, "Don't rush me."

"I am not rushing you. I'm merely offering guidance." The ghost cocked his head to the side as Fenton once again turned away. "Eye-contact. Shyness becomes girls, Fenton."

Grumbling something about impatient ghosts, Fenton faced Phantom again and stared into the ghost's green eyes. Although a blush quickly stained his cheeks, the boy raised his chin defiantly and his gaze remained unwavering.

"Good, but," Phantom placed a hand on Fenton's warm shoulder, "this is not a competition. Relax yourself."

Fenton breathed in and out steadily, and soon the rigid shoulder beneath Phantom's hand loosened, becoming limp and flexible. Fenton lowered his chin to a normal angle but narrowed his eyes slightly, trading defiance for determination. The determined look on his human half's face awoke something in Phantom's core, and the ghost unconsciously shifted a little closer to him.

"Good," Phantom said. "Now your favorite part. Physical contact." To show what he meant, Phantom drummed his fingers against Fenton's shoulder blade.

The human shifted on his feet, frowning slightly. He placed his hand on Phantom's opposing shoulder, mirroring Phantom's arrangement, but then he trailed his warm hand along the curve of Phantom's neck until he cupped the base of his head, his fingers combing through the ghost's white hair and his thumb stroking his cold skin.

"Okay…" Phantom licked his lips. His eyelids lowered over his eyes, and Fenton unknowingly copied the action. Swallowing, the ghost whispered, "Whenever you are ready…"

Fenton stared into his eyes, hesitating, and Phantom had to clamp down on the urge to force his other into the kiss already. Fenton drifted towards the ghost until his warm lips brushed against Phantom's. The human paused, his hot breath tickling Phantom's mouth. Phantom returned Fenton's half-lidded gaze, his other's blue eyes centimeters away from his own, and tried to ignore the searing heat that was suddenly radiating from Fenton's hand and shoulder.

Fenton gasped and jerked away from Phantom, shivering slightly. "What the…"

"Why—" Phantom froze, staring down at the blue vapor emanating from his mouth. "Crap…"

A relieved smile split Fenton's lips. "Ghost alert! Guess that's the end of our first and last kissing practice!" His hand slipped from Phantom's neck, and he turned around and marched toward the Fenton Ghost Catcher, a bounce in his steps. "We'll just have to merge back and—"

Phantom flew in front of Fenton and grabbed the other boy's shoulders. "I have a better idea." Fenton tensed beneath his hands, staring at him warily. Phantom smirked. "I will go capture the ghost while you stay here and work on our homework. We can continue where we left off once I return."

"What?" Fenton traded his wary stare for wide-eyed panic. "No! Tha-that's not fair! I don't want to do homework!"

"We would have to do it anyway," Phantom pointed out. "This way, only one of us has to suffer."

"Yeah, me!"

"Better hope I return soon then," Phantom said and then flew towards their window.

"Only so that I can kick your—"

Phantom phased through the window, cutting off the rest of Fenton's speech. He smirked at his human self through the windowpane and performed an exaggerated wink. Fenton scowled, going so far as to bare his teeth at his ghost half. He reached for the closest thing at hand—a pencil—and chucked it at the window. Phantom laughed as it bounced harmlessly off the glass, and, with a taunting flick of his ghost tail, flew off in search of the ghost who had interrupted them.

---

Once Phantom landed safely on his bedroom floor, he dropped his invisibility and the thermos he held loosely in his hand. "I apologize, Fenton," he said as he rubbed his eyes. "I did not mean to leave you all day. Johnny refused to return to his girlfriend, and…"

A faint snore interrupted him. Frowning, Phantom lowered his hands and stared at his human half. Fenton was draped over their desk, his head using their math book as his pillow and drool oozing from his mouth onto the pages. Despite the bright light shining on his face from the table lamp, Fenton appeared fast asleep and dead to the world.

Phantom glanced at their alarm clock and sighed when he saw it was an hour past curfew. Curfew meant little to parentless Danny Phantom, but Danny Fenton would surely lecture the ghost for leaving him with all the homework.

It wasn't Phantom's fault, though. Johnny had led Phantom on a wild chase through town, randomly ordering his shadow to attack this lamp post or that bystander whenever Phantom came close to catching him. Perhaps he was just unused to fighting ghosts while separate from his human half, but capturing Johnny and his shadow had taken far longer than Phantom expected. Another hour had been lost trying to lose the paparazzi, a difficult task when one can no longer become an invisible nobody…

A particularly loud snore brought Phantom's attention back to Fenton. Phantom's lips quirked up in an amused half-smile when he saw his other feebly trying to escape the light shining into his eyes. The ghost floated over to the desk and flicked the light off for him, instantly descending the room into darkness.

Fenton exhaled softly and snuggled against the pages of his math book. The ethereal glow Phantom produced gave a soft radiance to the objects closest to him, but the sleeping human didn't seem to notice the dim light highlighting his facial features. Phantom pursed his lips, considering the human half of himself for a moment, wondering how…strange it was to see himself from a different point of view.

Phantom's gaze lowered to Fenton's neck, where the top half of the hickey had escaped the confines of the red cloth, and the ghost frowned. He shook his head a second later, and, before his thoughts could wander again, wrapped an arm around Fenton's chest. He hooked his other arm under Fenton's knees, and after making a slight adjustment to his position, stood up with Fenton in his arms.

Fenton's head lolled against Phantom's chest, his black hair tickling Phantom's neck. Fenton shivered slightly, but for Phantom it felt like he held a too-warm heating pad. Not as hot as earlier when his ghost sense went off, but hot enough to be uncomfortable. Within seconds, however, the heat became less noticeable and Fenton's shivers less severe as Fenton's body heat warmed Phantom's skin and Phantom's core cooled Fenton's body temperature.

Fenton mumbled something unintelligible as he nestled his face against Phantom's chest. Rolling his eyes at his sleeping half's behavior, Phantom nevertheless allowed the other boy to drool on his suit. The ghost flew over to their bed and, gently, lowered Fenton onto the mattress. Using his intangibility, Phantom pulled the blanket out from beneath Fenton's body and then draped it over the human's form.

The only half of Danny that required sleep taken care of, Phantom floated back to the desk. Much as he didn't want to, he supposed it was only fair that he finish whatever homework that remained uncompleted. Technically speaking, it was his homework as well. The drool-drenched Algebra homework, however, could be dealt with later.

With Fenton's snores as background noise, Phantom grabbed the Earth Science book and began reading the assigned chapter.