Chapter Text
Amity Park had been a growing city for half a decade now, thriving on the tourism and tech industries. The long term mayor Vladimir Masters maintained the highest approval rating of any long term politician to date. Tucker could see why as he drove through well maintained streets and past several public gathering locations on his way to what would be his new apartment. Rent was also surprisingly affordable on a college student budget for an apartment building near the college campus, something else that likely contributed to public satisfaction overall. After several days of travel he was pulling into the small parking lot next to his building and cutting the engine.
Keys clipped to his belt he stepped out onto the blacktop and headed inside to check the place out before bringing anything in. Second floor, number fourteen. Before he’d unlocked the door someone was leaving their own apartment across the hall, number eleven it looked like. Tall, lithe blond in a fitted white tee decorated in a flower pattern, capris jeans and black flats. Tucker flashed a smile when she noticed him.
“Oh! You must be the new guy Mr. Kole has been going on about. Don’t let his grumpiness fool you; he's a great landlord and maintenance guy. Out of towners just don’t usually last long is all.” She offered a hand which he accepted. “Names Star, welcome to Amity Park.”
“Tucker Foley, that’s TF for Too Fine~” He purred easily in response and topped the greeting off with a kiss to her knuckles. Unlike in most of the girls he’d used it with before this time earned him an almost charmed giggle.
Tucker had in fact grown into his Too Fine quip since coming up with the pickup in ninth grade. He stood at a respectable five foot six and hard earned muscle definition and his fathers solid jaw line. He’d left the half moon spectacles behind just after his nineteenth birthday and settled on a pair of rectangular thin rimmed glasses instead. He’d grown out his hair enough his dreads reached his shoulder blades now, held in place for his trip with one of the pastel blue hair scrunches his younger cousin bought him as a going away gift.
“Easy there mister Foley. You can reel in the charm a little, I'm taken.” He feigned hurt at the easy left down and leaned on his door.
“Oh what cruel twist of fate is this? That not even ten minutes in and I’ve already been betrayed by cupid's arrow.” The giggling increased at his antics and Tucker couldn’t help joining in even while trying to maintain a straight face. “I guess I’ll have to live with just making a new friend then. Pleasure meeting you Star.”
“Likewise.” She said and pat his shoulder sympathetically. “And don’t worry there’s plenty of attractive single women around here. You’re bound to hook one of them into hunky guys like you.” Tucker, being no man's fool, picked up on the hint easily enough and tipped his beret up in her direction as he walked off.
Neighbor met and an acquaintance made, he stepped into his half furnished apartment. It came with all the appliances and two small older model tvs. Clunky but something he could work with. The couch was comfortable and clean and the queen sized bed frame was sturdy. The renters insurance and building lease covered replacement of those items in case of damage from ghost attacks, which Tucker found both terrifying and hilarious at the same time.
That was all just part of the City charm for tourists right?
Either way it had been a small fee to add any other items he might want covered and he was quick to add on his computer system and other electronics. The insurance didn’t cover anything happening outside of school but momma didn’t raise no fool. So as ridiculous as it seemed he got the coverage.
He might get it for being outside his place as well, just in case. He hadn’t decided yet.
Two hours later Tucker was nearly finished moving in. All his boxed things were in the respective rooms and he was just calculating how he was going to get the larger furniture inside when his phone rang. “Yo Sam, what’s up?”
“Don’t what’s up me, are you here yet?”
“Yeah I was just working on moving in to get rid of this rental.”
“Forget the rental, I told you Danny and I would help. Now lock up and come find us at the Nasty Burger so we can go before I puke.” Tucker barked out a laugh and closed the truck, clicking the lock. “Front of your building, take a left. Three blocks down.”
“You guys couldn’t meet me here?”
“Food first you nerd. Come on, I want to introduce you to Danny before we get started.”
“Alright chill, I’m on my way. Is your chronically late boyfriend even there yet?”
“Irrelevant. He’s on his way and there was a hold up downtown.” Tucker rolled his eyes but if it didn’t bother Sam then it wasn’t a big deal. She wasn’t shy about voicing her opinion or grievances which was something Tucker appreciated. While he was a master at picking up on cues relating to flirting, other subtleties often flew right by him. Even the ones he did pick up on were hard won through many, many, many rejections and let downs. Tucker held the title of School Flirt with pride toward the end of his high school run.
“Robbery or traffic?” He joked, spotting the fast food place that was only found in Amity Park. Probably hard to franchise outward with a name like that.
“Both.” Sam waved a hand to him and he nodded to his friend before jogging across the street. She didn’t look much different from her online pictures, not that he doubted who she was. Black leggings under a black skirt with a green spiderweb pattern. Silver studded belt and fitted black tank top. At least it looked like a tank, on the second pass over the sleeves were just a lace pattern that matched the spiderweb of the skirt, various spots on it looked like prey caught and wrapped with two or three black spiders on either sleeve.
“Nice top, new one?” He asked with a low appreciative whistle. He knew Same worked out but in person it was easier to see how buff she actually was. Considering she told him she and her boyfriend had joined Amity Park Search and Rescue last year made a lot of sense. Same undercut ponytail look though the extra star and bat piercings in her ears were new.
“Oh yeah! You like it? Danny found it at the new goth indie place that just opened up. I took some fabric marker to the spiders to make ‘em pop.” Tucker nodded and checked his PDA for any new messages when it was snatched up by Sam. “Did you already get coverage for this thing?”
“Yo, careful with Veronica! And no, not yet why?”
“Because you need it dumbass. I can’t believe you still have this thing and it’s compatible with the modern age still. What is this like thirty years old? There, you’re covered for your electronics and I paid the first two months so you can’t bitch about it. Trust me you’ll thank me sooner than later.”
“Come on Sam, ghost protection ?” He followed her inside and rolled his eyes. “That’s not serious right?” He watched as she ordered two mighty nasty meals to go and a separate salad and vegan burger. Then stepped aside for him.
“Still a skeptic huh?” Tucker opted to go with the same mighty order Sam did to give it a go.
“I mean yeah, it’s just tourist nonsense right? I can dig the kayfabe of it but it’s not like it’s actually dangerous right?” Sam gave him what he called her, ‘Are you seriously that dense.’ stare. It never failed to make him feel like he’d asked the dumbest question while also feeling like she felt sorry for his naivety.
“Tucker, I care about you, you’re one of my best friends, so I’m going to help you out here. Ghosts are very real and when you get the alert on your PDA; because you can’t own a real phone for some reason, make sure you get to cover.” She ignored his raised eyebrow as the two of them made their way down the street toward the campus. “Danny’s going to meet us at the arcade.”
“Cool, eta? I’m pretty excited to get to meet this guy. You’ve been dating what? Dating a year now?”
“Yeah, you remember Ghostboy in Doomed?” Tucker nodded, settling into one of the tables set up in a corner of the arcade. “That’s Danny, I met up with him not too long after we moved here that summer before senior year.”
“What seriously? That’s crazy. Why didn’t you tell me about this? That is some serious need to know information Sam! We still game together! All three of us!” Along with some meathead going by BaxinBlack, who wasn’t so bad and was one of Danny’s friends.
“Slipped my mind, also he’s not too keen on sharing personal information with people outside Amity Park.” Sam ignored his pointed look and instead focused on her salad like she hadn’t just told him something clearly concerning. “You’ll get it once you get to know him better, swear. He’s a real sweetheart. Too nice for his own good sometimes.”
Tucker wasn’t so sure he believed it. It wasn’t like Sam hadn’t told him about Danny during the years since her family had moved away, but he’d never gotten pictures of the guy or even of the two of them together. Which was weird and left him a little skeptical but Danny also had never wanted to video chat either. Not since their early high school days.
“So is he still a short baby faced nerd?” Sam smacked his arm and he snickered, digging into his burger. It was the greasiest, thickest pattied burger he’d ever bitten into. Usually a super greasy burger would turn his stomach but there was something insanely different about this burger.
“Oh no, there it is.”
“Sam, Sam holy shit this is amazing.” He looked between her and the burger with wide eyed excitement. “How the fuck isn’t this place more popular?” Tucker dug back in, uncaring of the grimace on Sam’s face as she watched him eat a moment. She did make another disgusted sound and returned to her own food.
“I can’t believe this. I knew this would happen and yet I’m still surprised and disgusted.” Tucker had all but inhaled his food and was now wiping his face with a napkin. “You’re both lucky I love you or I’d kill you on the spot.”
“Awww Saaaam~” He cooed, leaning forward as he leaned back and held up a finger. The grimace on her face was a clear warning not to get any closer until he brushed his teeth or otherwise replaced the smell on his breath. She opened her mouth to speak when her phone gave off a loud series of chimes. The sound echoed by the phones of other people in the arcade.
“Everybody out!” Sam was on his feet a moment later, alarm spread through the place like wildfire and everyone made for the doors. It was a lot more organized than a panicked evacuation would usually be. “Tucker come on, we need to get out of the build-” She was cut off by the wall beside them exploding. Tucker barely jumped out of the way of falling bricks and under a table in time.
“Sam!”
“Civie down Table left side!” Sam shouted out to someone, it wasn’t him that was for sure. Tucker moved to stand and winced, a sharp pain shot through his leg. It wasn’t difficult to see the cause was a beam that had landed across it when he dove out of the way. There was a sound like static in the air and laughter but it was hard to tell for sure. Looking up he could see the cause of the explosion.
The guy was green, a white cape and black clothes. He had an undercut like Sam but his stark white hair was longer. He looked kind of like a bad Matrix cosplay with a dash of Doctor Octopus given the metal tube arms with pinchers. He was working on yanking out the wires of the arcade games.
“Hey!” The word was loud enough to catch his attention but clearly intended to avoid drawing more attention. Looking away from the floating guy Tucker locked eye contact with the bluest pair of eyes he’d ever seen. They were set and focused on him and Tucker swallowed the surprised yelp he almost made jostling his trapped leg. The stare was broken when he looked down briefly to take in the situation and moved the beam like it was a god damn tooth pick.
Tucker took a moment to take in his rescuer and felt a rollercoaster of things he hadn’t been expecting. Messy black hair that had a natural blueish shine in the lighting, not like Sam’s dyed black color, sharp jawline and broad shoulders. The white tee sporting a nasa logo was just the right amount of tight to leave something to the imagination at least until the point the sleeve ended just a few inches below his shoulder.
“I’m gonna get you out of here.” The way he said it was so sure that Tucker had no room to doubt he was perfectly safe. Before he could get distracted in those gemstone eyes again the table had been shifted aside and Tucker was lifted into a fireman’s carry. It was like he weighed absolutely nothing to this guy who was moving quickly through the trashed arcade and barely jostling him.
Tucker Foley was not a light man, one hundred and sixty something pounds of beef on his own. It also wasn’t like this guy didn’t feel that weight. He could feel this dude's muscles move and strain under him, and Tucker wasn’t sure what to make of the warmth in his face at that realization. The whole encounter lasted less than two minutes and he was set down on his good leg and handed off to Sam who helped steady him.
“I’m going back for a second sweep.” He said before darting back into the building.
“What the fuck is happening?!” He demanded, allowing himself to be led over to where there were already paramedics on the scene.
“Ghost attack, Phantom should be here any minute.” Sam explained, helping him sit down and started to ease up the pant leg of his jeans. Luckily they managed to expose the injury without needing to cut the fabric. Pray for him he was going to be scrubbing out blood later though.
Up in the air Tucker could see another figure was engaging the guy who blew in the arcade wall. He also had shaggy white hair that seemed to wisp in it’s own breeze. His skin was a tan color instead of green though, looking pretty human despite the almost ethereal glow around him. When he stopped moving long enough Tucker was able to make out the black spandex suit he was wearing that stopped at his wrists and disappeared down into the black jeans he wore. On his chest in white was something that looked like a stylized letter P where the curve didn’t fully meet the line. To top off the look he wore a white jacket with black trim, the sleeves half rolled half bunched up above his elbow.
Oh great, one hot mystery guy Tucker could deal with, but two ?
“Are they really..?”
“Ghosts? Yeah, also good news nothings broken but you’re not going to be doing a lot with this leg for a few days. Your PDA is also still fine.” Sam said and offered it to him. He took the welcome distraction and huffed.
“Does this happen.. A lot?” He winced on reflex when the Superboy knockoff ghost crashed into the street. Not too much later there was a beam of bluish white light and the matrix doc ock was gone.
“Not too often but at least twice a week. Not all of them are so destructive though.”
“Did you know that guy who carried me out?”
“Oh that was Danny.” She grinned at him, raising an eyebrow in a way that let Tucker know she knew something was up. Lord have mercy on him and don’t let anyone know about the heat rising in his face again.
“No,” He said, trying to play it off as surprise, which wasn’t too hard because he was surprised. “Damn Sam, For a vegan you sure did pick up some beef to take home. Ow!” He yelped and rubbed his arm when she punched him. “You can’t hit an injured man! It’s rude.”
“Don’t be weird Tuck. He’s a good guy and you know it isn’t like that.” He put his hands up placatingly as the hunk known as Danny hurried back over to them.
“Are you guys okay? How’s your leg?” and oh the rough baritone of that voice should not twist his stomach like it did. He was going to need to either repress or reevaluate a lot of things very quickly if this kept up.
“Uh, fine, it’s fine. Bruised and nothing broken.” Tucker accepted the hand Danny offered him and did not think a little too long on the size or fit of their hands together. “Tucker Foley. Sam and I grew up together, just moved here today.”
“Oh! Right! Sam told me all about you. Hell of a welcome but at least it’s out there early. Welcome to Amity Park. I’m Danny Fenton. Please call me first if you have ghost problems. My parents can get uh, a little over eager to handle trouble.” He laughed and Tucker was pretty sure his hair was on fire. “This is yours right? It was on the ground near where I found you so I figured I’d ask you first.”
With a steadier hand than he expected, Tucker took his red beret and positioned it onto his head. “Thanks. It’s my lucky hat.”
“Guess it works! So Sam mentioned you might need help moving in and we might want to get that leg elevated for a while. Why don’t we head to your place and you can direct me on what goes where and we’ll order pizza on me after!”
“Sounds good to me, Sam?” She nodded, grinning and helped Tucker stand. Thankfully it wasn’t so bad he could limp himself back home. They were still fairly close by even if his injured leg was throbbing by the time they reached the building. “Just a couple bookshelves, my mattress and the electronics.”
“No sweat. We’ll have you moved in and these boxes disposed of before the van needs to be returned.” Tucker spent the next three hours hanging out with Danny and Sam. That was great. It was good to spend time with his childhood friend again and Danny was a pretty cool guy. They shared a lot of interests.
And if he also spent the first half of that time in a sexually confused fuzz while watching Danny carry in too many heavy things on his own? Well, he wasn’t admitting anything yet.