Chapter Text
Chapter 1; off to the fair we go.
It was finally here, the long weekend that Danny's been looking forward to since the day he and Tucker found out they not only won the science fair, but were even elected to go to the biggest invention convention being hosted at Gotham University!
Both Danny and Tucker were ecstatic, planning out how they would present their products to the crowds, hoping to maybe catch some attention. At the very least, they would have a fun time looking at other people's inventions as well as going to other areas of interest within Gotham and Metropolis since they were so close together.
Unfortunately, Tucker ended up catching some kind of flu just last weekend, and not wanting to get sick himself, Danny suggested that the other boy stay home. Even Tucker's parents weren’t wishing for another widespread illness event for everyone else or for him to get more unwell, so he had to sit this one out much to both his and Danny's dismay, but he promised to keep Tucker updated on how things went.
Despite the change of plans, Danny was trying to stay optimistic even though now it would only be him presenting. At the very least, he would still have his own folks there to support him. They had even booked a hotel for the event the first chance they got and talked non-stop about how proud they were of him.
It felt nice to have his parents be excited for him and actually stick around for a family dinner; that didn't happen too often, despite how much Jazz insists it's important to share meals together.
Like last night, Jazz wanted everyone to share dinner together, and it was kind of fun. Danny and her got to make a sort of edible meal together that for once only slightly came back from the dead. The point of the meal was more of family bonding than actually eating, so they tried to prod along some conversations, which did sort of work.
Their parents were happily raving about their new breakthrough on their inventions, which Danny took as a cue to remind them about the invention convention they were going to this weekend while Jazz got to relax at home for once.
Danny was so ecstatic about this trip he had to remind himself to not float off the walls as he headed downstairs, having packed both the inventions and his bags into the GAV last night, believing that the three of them would be heading out early that morning.
Yet, as he landed down the last step the only sounds were coming from Jazz, who woke up early for breakfast, with no sign of their parents anywhere.
With how Danny was almost jumping down the stairs, Jazz glanced up from her bowl of cereal, giving a soft smile.
“Morning, wonder boy, I'm guessing you're excited for the trip?”
Danny nodded as he paced around the living room, then the kitchen, acting like someone was just hiding out of sight in the most ridiculous places.
“Heh, yeah, I mean we've been planning this for almost a month...um, hey have you seen mom or dad? I mean, I didn't hear any snoring from upstairs, so I'm guessing they're awake.”
Danny glanced over at Jazz, hoping that his suspicions weren't correct.
But seeing Jazz's own confused face for a moment before she went straight faced caused dread to build.
Trying to lighten the situation, Jazz quickly spoke up. "I haven’t seen them yet, but you know they are early risers when excited too, maybe they are just working on the GAV this morning. I can go check the garage quickly if you want.”
It was clear she was trying to convince herself and her brother that their parents hadn't forgotten about the trip, and were in fact preparing for it.
Danny just gave a small nod, rubbing his left arm and tracing his scars a bit as Jazz quickly put her dishes into the sink, ruffling his hair as she passed, then headed to the garage.
As Jazz disappeared into the garage, Danny decided to head to the basement, just to be sure. He was also hoping his sister was right, that they were working on the GAV or packing up too.
But as he headed down the stairs, he could hear the work of sparks and grinding tools, causing the hope to die out.
As Danny reached the bottom of the stairs, he could see both his parents hard at work, passing tools and building up different parts of whatever their next project was. It looked almost like they were dancing with each other, waving and picking up the others movements, hearing a love song no one else was included in.
Getting to the bottom of the stairs, Danny cleared out his throat, trying to get their parent’s attention, hey, I'm all ready and packed to go.”
Without even looking up, his mom hummed in slight acknowledgement.“That's fun dear, have fun at Tucker's this weekend. Jackie Bear, hand me the blow torch please.”
“Here you go my Maddie hare~” he passed over the torch while trading it for a screwdriver.
Danny sighed as he spoke a bit louder, hoping that would get his folks’ attention. "Tucker's sick, remember? His folks had to cancel to make sure he's okay.”
“Oh, so you're going to Sam's then? Well, don't have too much fun there, bud,” his dad semi-joked while test firing a new weapon at the wall, his mom letting out a surprise whoop and small laugh.
Danny ended up blushing in embarrassment as his body tensed in frustration, and he clenched his fists. "What?! No, I'm not–”
Yet his voice died out, not wanting to have that conversation yet, especially with his parents. Sighing to himself, Danny started back up the stairs, feeling like even trying anymore would be pointless.
He glanced back one last time as his parents danced around each other in the lab, humming disconnected tunes to one another.
Danny wanted to shout at them, to remind them about the trip they had planned, but it just fell on deaf ears anyways.
Even if he did manage to get them ready in time to go, it would just feel hollow or he would feel guilty because most likely during the whole trip they would be focused on not getting to work on the new ‘breakthrough’ they seem so focused on.
As he got back to the living room, he could see Jazz had come back, both sharing the same defeated look as she came over to hug him tightly, ruffling his hair while glancing at the basement door.
Danny could feel his sister tense up as she glanced down at him with a determined spark in her sea-green eyes. "Danny, I have to ask, do you really badly want to go to this convention?”
He nodded, trying to wipe away a few stray tears. “Yeah, but I won't be able to go with how busy they are.”
The disappointment and defeat echoed in his voice, yet Jazz lifted his chin to look at her.
“Then we just have to go without them,” she declared.
“Wait, what?! But..what about your weekend? This was supposed to be your chance to have fun,” Danny tried to protest.
“And I will have fun by going on a road trip and spending time with my most favorite sibling in the world. The reservations for the hotel are on the computer, right?”
Danny nodded as he followed after his sister as she rushed to the computer. “Yeah, it should be saved on it. Mom booked it early on so we could get one close to the campus.”
Within a moment, Jazz sent the confirmation email to her phone. “Alright, got all the information for us to sign into our room.”
Before Jazz pushed forward, Danny let out one last protest. He really didn't want to inconvenience her for his sake. “Jazz, I really do want to go, but I know you're also bu-”
He was cut off as Jazz rolled her eyes with a smile and ruffled his hair again. “It's fine, Danny, Gotham University is on my list of schools I wanted to visit to figure out where I want to go, I'll just be getting a sneak peek of the tour. I want to go with you.”
With that, she checked the time on a nearby clock, heading for the stairs. “Now, just give me 15 minutes then we can head out. Does the GAV have enough food in it?”
Danny rubbed his arm, tracing his scars again. “Um, well, it has chips and instant noodles..”
“Danny…” Jazz scolded softly.
“What? I wasn't expecting to eat healthy on this trip! Plus, if Dad was driving, it would be hard to eat any proper meal without it splattering across something,” Danny defended himself in a huff, crossing his arms tightly against his body.
With a tired sigh. Jazz stopped with one foot on the stairs as he quickly thought of something. “Do we still have some granola bars left?”
“Yeah, half a box, I think? I stored it in the cabinet so it wouldn't risk coming to life” Danny slowly relaxed his body while glancing at the kitchen.
“Well, that's at least something. Grab it so you can at least have some healthy snacks while on the road, I need to pack.. oh, and Danny?”
“Yeah?” He tilted his head to the side.
“No matter how ‘inconvenienced’ I may be, you'll always be my little sibling, so I'll be there when you need me, okay?”
“Okay, Jazz…and thank you, I'd do the same for you in a heartbeat.”
With that, Jazz climbed up the stairs and headed to her room, leaving Danny to do some last minute packing.
Not wanting to waste any time, Danny sprinted to the kitchen, glancing through the cabinets to find the box of granola bars.
It took only a moment to find it buried behind some cans in the cabinet above the counter, and he placed the box under his arms as he climbed down.
With that goal achieved, Danny had another task in mind, trying to find the keys to the GAV. This was a little tricky because, depending on who drove last, the set of keys would be in widely different spots, especially if he had to figure out how to find it using his mom's or dad's logic.
If Danny remembered correctly, the last one to drive was his dad, meaning that it would be…Taking only a few steps to the fridge, he opened it, finding the keys behind the bowl of green jello.
“Dad may be weird, but he is predictable,” Danny mumbled to himself as he reached for the keys, only to hear some kind of growling noise.
Before he could reach his hand too far, the green jello in the bowl squinted at him, growling and whining at Danny for turning on the fridge light and causing it to wake up.
Danny sighed as he crept his hand back enough to start scratching the globby green mess of undead food on top of its… head?? It started to purr, making the jello body vibrate.
This was why Danny couldn't take a side of being a meat eater or vegetation, because when either food would come to life he would still need to eat it eventually or face the wrath of a rebellion. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to hurt it this time, maybe because it reminded him too much of a blob ghost.
Opening up the freezer above, Danny grabbed a small chunk of family fudge, it's a Fenton recipe, but his mom made it taste actually edible.
Danny passed the piece to the undead jello, letting it munch away at it with its gummy teeth, letting him finally grab the keys and slowly close the fridge.
With food and keys in hand, Danny made a beeline to the GAV to unlock it.
After unlocking the vehicle, Danny double checked to make sure that everything was secure, and that there wasn’t any damage to it since the GAV did get roughed up on occasion.
While doing so, Jazz walked into the garage with a suitcase in tow, having taken exactly 15 minutes like she promised.
Danny opened the side door, helping Jazz load in her suitcase as she climbed in.
“Got everything? Toiletries? Bearbert?” Danny asked while climbing into the passenger seat as Jazz was buckling in.
“Yes, and I should be asking you the same thing, especially with deodorant, you brought extra, right? And Lil Crully?” Jazz slightly teased back.
“Heh, yeah, yeah, I got everything. Now let's hit the road!” Danny was practically bouncing in his seat as Jazz started the GAV.
It was actually happening, he was getting to go to Gotham and have fun!
Excitement was in the air as Jazz pulled away from Fenton Works, finally on the road to their destination. The road ahead stretched out as they drove out of town, heading towards Gotham just as the dawn was breaking over the horizon.