Chapter Text
The blanket wrapped around his body did nothing to stop Danny from shivering when a chill that was becoming much too familiar ran down his spine, and he squeezed his eyes shut in a vain attempt to ignore how his breath fogged the air in front of his face.
He was cold, everything was always so cold since the accident: the lab, the hospital room, his house, his bed, his chest.
If I ignore it it’ll stop if I ignore it it’ll stop if I ignore it--
He kept his eyes tight shut and tangled his fingers in his hair, tugging the short black locks to distract himself from the shivering. He could feel the ghost in the basement, his chest ached and his body screamed that he was in danger, everyone is in danger I need to protect them .
The likelihood of the ghost downstairs leaving him alone was slim. They came through the portal to explore the human world or play games with its inhabitants, but many would get distracted once they sensed the scared kid who straddled the veil, both alive and dead.
He wished his parents were home. He wanted to stay wrapped in his favorite blanket, comforted by the familiar constellations that covered the plush fabric. He wanted them to trap whatever ghost just came through the portal in some Fenton-patented contraption -- don’t think about what they might do to it don’t think about what they might do to it don’t think about what they might do to me -- before his mom would come upstairs and hug him and kiss his forehead and he’d know he was safe, that he didn’t have to protect anybody because they could protect him.
Would his mother still hug him and kiss his forehead if she knew the extent of what the portal did to him? Would he still be safe in his own home?
His eyes stung with the threat of tears. It had only been a week since the accident and he was already tired, so fucking tired of the cold and the ghosts and living a lie and dear God I wish the portal had just finished me off please --
He shook the thought from his head before it could develop further, and the tears escaped down his cheeks.
He’d have to deal with the ghost, welcome the split-second agony in which he relived the feeling of the portal activating around him while he transformed into a stranger with his face, an inversion of himself, an abomination in the eyes of everyone he loved.
(Except Sam and Tucker, but would they be able to keep him safe if his parents discovered he was half-ghost?)
Danny dragged himself from the comfort of his blanket. He felt the ghost getting closer, navigating the house to find him, to gawk at him or torment him or both.
He wiped the tears from his face and tugged the cold feeling from his chest to the rest of his body, a flash of light and
burning burning BURNING
and then the feeling was gone as he looked down at his faintly glowing, white-gloved hands.